Chapter 94 Epistle twenty-seven replies

Be assured that I am not angry; your letter pains me more than anger.I am not hurt by your unintentional debauchery this time, but you.It pains me most; I would rather see you hurt me than fall, and the only thing I cannot forgive is that you hurt yourself. In view of this mistake of which you are ashamed, your crime is not so serious as you think, and in this matter I can only blame you for your lack of caution.However, there is a reason for this, and the roots are deep, but you are not aware of it, so I must extend a friendly hand to help you dissect it. Your first mistake is that you entered society with an ill-chosen path, so that the further you go, the more you go astray.And I found out with horror that if you don't rein in the precipice, you will be ruined and ruined.You are being led unwittingly into a trap I feared.The lure of vulgarity doesn't lure you in the first place, but the crooked friends have begun to mess with your sanity, and then your morals, and have put your moral code to the test for the first time.

Although you haven't told me specifically what you usually do in Paris, it's easy to tell from your letters what kind of friends you've made and how they see you as yourself The method of things shows you various things.I don't want to hide from you that I am very dissatisfied with the tone of your letter, which is always so unkind, and I feel more and more unhappy in my heart.In fact, I should regard your letter as the sarcastic letter of a dandy rather than of a philosopher, and I find it all the more difficult to believe that it was written by the same hand that you wrote to me before. .how!You want to study human beings through the cleverness of phony women and idle men!That unsightly and capricious appearance, which should not have attracted your attention, has become the basis for all your judgments!Why is it necessary to spend so much energy to collect these customs and etiquette?You must know that they may no longer exist in ten years.Why don't you study the eternal dynamics of the human heart and the lasting action of emotions?Take this letter of yours about women as an example. What can I learn from it to understand them?Learned to describe something about their dress, but that is known to everyone, and some sarcasm about their speech and manners; Sincere feelings are gone, and all the women go to the theater in a carriage, and they seem to be sitting upstairs in the front box!Why don't you tell me anything about their tastes, standards of behavior, real characters, etc., which are very instructive to me?Is it not strange that, when talking about the women of a country, a sensible and open-minded man should forget to talk about them as regards the education of their children?There is only one thing in which you seem to be right in this letter, and that is that you commend their good natures, and your own, with pleasure.By doing this, are you giving justice to women in general?But in the world, is there any country where women do not have a gentle and kind nature?

Your description would have been very different if you had described to me what you had seen instead of what someone had told you, or at least consulted some knowledgeable people!You have always been careful to keep your own independent opinions, and now you seem to throw away your judgment and deliberately associate with some frivolous young people.But you must know that the purpose of this kind of people associating with wise men is to seduce them, not to learn from them!You notice that they do not match your age, but you forget that for you, the compatibility of intelligence and reason is the most fundamental.In spite of your irascibility, you are the most easygoing of men; in spite of your mature mind, you allow yourself to be led by the nose of those you have made your acquaintance with, in the presence of a man your own age. When people come and go, you often forget your identity and become like a child.Therefore, if you want to be in the company of those people, you are degrading yourself; if you do not choose friends who are smarter than yourself, you are degrading yourself.

I never want to reproach you for being taken unknowingly to a dirty house, but I do blame you for letting some young officers take themselves to such a place.These are the people you shouldn't be dating, or at least you shouldn't be letting them dictate your interests.As far as trying to draw them into your mindset, I think your plan is more enthusiastic than cautious.If you are too serious to be their partner, you are too young to be their mentor.When you yourself have been perfect, then consider trying to transform others. Your second mistake is even more serious and even more unforgivable.You are quite willing to go away for a night where you are not supposed to be, and when you find out what kind of place you are in, you don't run away immediately.Your justification is feeble.What else do you say "it's too late to say no".It seems that such a place still talks about etiquette, righteousness and shame, and it seems that etiquette has the upper hand than morality.It's never too late to stop being bad!As for what you said that you are very disgusted with that kind of thing and can keep yourself clean, I don't want to say anything more about it. The matter is already there, and it is impossible to keep clean.I understand your thoughts, so please speak frankly, I think you stayed because of your shyness.You are afraid that if you leave, people will laugh at you when they come out, and they will definitely "boo" you, and you can't stand it, so you would rather regret it later than be laughed at.Do you know what rules you follow in this matter?The maxim is, first bring evil into a good soul, then stifle your inner cries with the laughter of everyone, and then use the fear of being reprimanded to suppress your bold ideas of doing right.He who overcomes temptation succumbs to a bad example; he who is ashamed of cowardice is overcome by shame and becomes impudent.And this undue shyness does more damage to a man's integrity than bad tendencies.You should therefore take special precautions against this, for the fear of ridicule--and you have never cared about ridicule--will make you involuntarily at the mercy of others, whatever you do.You would rather risk a thousand times than be ridiculed once; never have I seen a man so strong and brave and so cowardly at the same time.

I do not want to enumerate for you the codes of morality which guard against this error, because you know it better than I do, but I want to offer you a method of insuring you against it, which may be more powerful than all philosophies. Theories are more reliable and easier to implement, that is, mentally, you mention the time a little bit ahead, a few minutes in advance, and think about what will happen.If you stood up for a moment of jeering from your guests at that damned dinner party, and imagined how you would feel when you were out on the street; Let me tell you that you took advantage of the opportunity and won easily, and then wrote to me to describe the joy at that time. Moreover, after receiving your letter, the more I read it, the happier I am. In this way, you will still Made that mistake?If you think about the consequences of this matter in advance, won't you immediately rein in the precipice?Isn't that much stronger than your momentary disgust?Also, since you despise these people, is their ridicule worth taking so seriously?If you think about it this way, you will definitely not go astray because you are afraid of being ridiculed by others for a while, and now you will not be so ashamed, regretful, and afraid.Let me tell you the truth, if you did this, your girlfriend would cry less.

You said that you wanted to take advantage of that evening to observe and understand.What kind of mind are you fucking with!You really take advantage of your time!Your justification really makes me blush for you!Do you also want to go to the den of thieves one day and study how they rob pedestrians?Don't you know that there are some very hideous things that a decent man can't see?Are there some evil scenes that a moral person hates and cannot bear to watch?The sages also study the immorality which they cannot prevent, and they observe it with the expression of anguish on their countenance which is caused by such shameful action.But with regard to private immorality, they objected, or turned their heads away, so as not to give the impression that they were present and necessarily involved.Besides, in order to study what those people did and said, is it necessary to go and see it?It seems to me that I can easily guess the others from one thing they did, without the description in your letter, which is not much.When I think about why those people love to go to that kind of place, I can understand who are the people who go there to enjoy themselves.

I do not know whether your flexible philosophy has adopted the laws which are said to have been instituted by large cities to tolerate the existence of such places.But I at least hope that you will not join with those who despise themselves, use that law for pleasure, and say that you don't know what it is that only bohemians have delusions: as if men and women Nature is different at this point, when the woman is not around or living a single life, it seems that the honest man has to do things that the honest woman does not need to do!If your mistakes have not gone so far as to lead you to brothels, I am still very much afraid that they will continue to lead you astray.well!If you are willing to give up on yourself, then at least you can do what you want, and stop making excuses, let alone making up some lies after asking for flowers.All these so-called needs have no natural cause at all, but are purely sensual self-indulgence.Even the illusion of love can purify a pure heart, but it can only injure a corrupted one.On the contrary, people with a pure heart can cherish and love themselves; the desires that have always been suppressed have gradually become used to them and will no longer arise, and the reason why temptations succeed every time is entirely because they are willing to be tempted.Friendship has twice overcome my disgust to discuss such matters with you.But this is the last time, because why should I expect from you what honesty, love, and reason demand from you, because you have refused them?

Now I come back to the important thing I mentioned at the beginning of this letter.When you were twenty-one, your letters from Valais were all about serious and serious things; and when you were twenty-five, your letters from Paris were about trivial things. Your cleverness and reason are everywhere in the letter, and there are only playful things that are not at all in your temper.I don't know what it is about you, your own talents seem to have faded since associating with talented people.You have grown talent among the peasants, but lost it among the literati.It is not the fault of the country in which you now live, but of the friends you have made there, for in a country where good and bad are mixed, nothing is more careful in choosing one's friends.If you want to study society, you should associate with wise men who know it well by long experience and sober observation, and not with rash youths who see things only on the surface, Just look at the absurd things they do themselves.In Paris, there are many scholars who are accustomed to thinking, and the big stage of Paris provides them with questions for thinking every day.If you say that these serious and studious people are like you, wandering from house to house, hanging out with one group and another, to please women and young people, and chattering about philosophy, then I am It is absolutely unbelievable.They attach great importance to their own dignity, and they will not lower their status or spoil their talents in this way. They should use themselves as an example to correct the customs they think should be corrected.While most people do it, there are some people who don't at all, and it's the majority of people you should associate with.

You yourself are guilty of the errors you accuse of those writers of contemporary comedy; Paris seems to you to be almost entirely of people of high rank; people.Aren't your views strange?You seem to feel that the idle prejudices of the aristocracy are not enough to be hated by you, and that you are degraded by the society of honest bourgeois, but perhaps the latter are the most respectable in the country where you are now. social level!It is useless for you to use Gentleman Edward's acquaintances as a shield, for with them you would have quickly gotten acquainted with people of lower ranks.Many, many, who try to go up, end up sinking down; and, according to your own statement, a people can only be known by studying the personal lives of the most numerous classes. The only way to get real customs, because if you look at only representative people, you see nothing but comedians.

I would like your curiosity to go further afield.Why are the lives of the lower classes so miserable in such a rich city?And how are there so few abject poverty in our country, which has never had a millionaire?I think this question is worthy of your study, but the answer to this question cannot be found through the people you associate with.In a mansion of luxury a schoolboy acquires the mannerisms of society; a wise man studies its mysteries in the hovels of the poor.It is in such places that one can feel with emotion the consequences of the evils which some people disguise with flowery rhetoric; What unjust secret means of depriving the little bit of black bread that remains from the suffering sufferers whom they have hypocritically shown their pity in public.well!If what our veterans say is true, how many things you will learn in the garret on the sixth floor; all these things are tightly sealed in the big hotel on the outskirts of Saint-Germain.And many impassioned orators, if they are exposed by the poor they have killed, then all their humanitarian lies will be exposed, how terrified they will be!

I know that people don't like to see the spectacle of disaster they are powerless to alleviate, and the rich don't even want to see the poor they refuse to help, but the poor need more than just It is money, and those who are too lazy to do good do not want to do good even if they have money.Give the poor people comfort, advice, care and care, be friends with them, and protect them. Even if you have no money, your kindness is enough to bring them comfort and ease their pain.People who suffer are often oppressed because they have nowhere to complain about their suffering and nowhere to appeal for their grievances.Sometimes, it's just that they don't know how to express some words, and they don't know how to state some reasons.A disinterested and resolute moral support would suffice to relieve them of their innumerable difficulties, and a well-meaning eloquent could terrify the most powerful tyrants. So if you really want to be a real human being, learn to be a corporal.Humanity is like a stream of wholesome, pure water that fertilizes the lowlands.This water is always adjusting its level, and it will dry out the bare rocks and rocks that endanger the fields and cast shadows and broken stones on the surrounding lands. This, my friend, is how you learn from your present situation and think about the future.Kindness advances you to the teachings of the wise, so that when the knowledge we acquire is of no use, we shall not regret the time we spent acquiring it.No one can take too many precautions against their pernicious rules of conduct, who wish to mingle among men of honor and position.Only by constantly doing good deeds can we ensure that our kind hearts will not be seduced by careerists.Believe me, try this new research method, it will suit you better than anything you have ever used.As the mind narrows as the mind corrodes, you will soon feel it.On the contrary, the practice of high morality will enhance and develop your talents. If you have a sincere concern for the misfortune of others, you will be better able to find the source of misfortune, and keep us in every way from the evils that cause misfortune. I feel that you are now in a dangerous position, and as a friend I must be frank before it is too late, lest you fall again into the trap of dissoluteness.Now, my friend, I cannot hide from you that I was deeply moved by your prompt and sincere confession, for I felt that you were able to overcome your shame and confess your faults, at what cost you do not know. How heavy the weight of wrong and shame weighs on your heart.An inadvertent mistake is easily forgiven and forgotten.As for the future, you may well remember this maxim that I will never break: if a man makes the same mistake twice, it was no accident that he did it the first time. Goodbye, my friend, take care of your health, and think about it, don't make the mistakes I have forgiven. P.S. I have just seen copies of several of your letters to Gentleman Edward at Mr. de Orbe's, and I am compelled to correct some of your statements and observations. harsh criticism.I admit that your letter addresses important issues, and I feel that you are serious about your considerations.But it is evident that you have very little contempt for my cousin and me, or you take us very lightly, for you have nothing but depraved things to say about us, and nothing to do with your friend Edward. The gentleman is very respectful, and all good things are said to him.It seems to me that you disparage your own teaching by thinking that your two female students do not appreciate your talents; and that you are at least driven by vanity to pretend that we understand what you are saying. Make sense. Politics, I admit, is not a woman's strong suit; my uncle used to tire us out by talking about politics, so I understand that you might be afraid to talk like him and turn us off.I'll tell you frankly, I don't want to study politics at all, it doesn't do me much good to interest me, and it's too deep for me to understand.I am compelled to love this government because God put me under it, and I don't care whether it is a good government or not.I don't have the power to make decisions at all, so why should I study politics?So long as I see around me so many wretched beings to comfort and help, why should I trouble myself to think of great calamities which I can do nothing about?However, because I love you, although I am not interested in this question, I am interested in the man who studies it.With a kindly reverence I have gathered all the evidence of your talent, and I am so proud of you, who called my heart my own, that I ask love to give me enough intelligence to be more Take your thoughts well.Please don't deprive me of the joy of knowing and loving all the meaningful things you do.Do you want to humiliate me by thinking that although God has linked our destinies together, you don't think your partner is worthy to think with you about big problems?