SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED.
To the rule given in the foregoing chapter may be added another of
equal importance in the selection of suitable books to read.
Generally speaking, all books that draw too much on the imagination
may be considered as dangerous. You are well aware, and it has been
frequently said, in the course of this little book, that the
imagination is precious and useful when regulated with discretion,
and directed with prudence; but the moment that it is allowed to
assume a preponderance which does not belong to it, it becomes
noxious to our spiritual and temporal welfare. Moreover, it is united
to the senses by the most intimate ties, through which it receives
impressions and images that keep it in constant activity; we should
constantly labor to check, rather than to encourage its development;
while we should spare neither pains nor diligence to develop the
intelligence which, when left in ignorance of truths that could
enlighten and elevate it, becomes the victim of cruel doubt,
idleness, effeminacy and pleasure.
There are books said to be useless, and consequently harmless, but
the conclusion, without being false, is not just; for we have just as
much reason to believe they are dangerous as to admit the contrary.
Now, if a book is indeed useless you cannot bear to read it, and
since you do read it, it must certainly contain something interesting
which renders it agreeable to you; it pleases some faculty of your
soul, some habitual thought of your mind, some predominating
disposition of your heart.
That a book may be read without profit is quite true. But that the
same book can be read without danger of sustaining some loss is
evidently false, unless that it be maintained that we are justified
in having no proposed end for our actions; or that we may act solely
for pastime which is diametrically opposed to the end for which we
were created: Our time is too precious to be used indifferently.
Again if there is in life anything that may be read or omitted
without losing some advantage, or committing some evil, it is
certainly not a book, for it always contains either some facts or
some pictures, or some maxims capable of making an impression on your
mind and heart.
The intelligence is formed and developed by means of language, and
language, considered from this point of view, furnishes us with no
idle words. Hence a useless book is, in the true acceptation of the
term, a book that amuses the imagination and the heart. Now, whatever
the soul receives through these channels must be of some importance
for good or evil. Hence we are not justified, on the plea of
indifference to accept any book that falls under our hands without
being thoroughly examined and competently recommended.
Here, of course, a new difficulty occurs: at your age, and with your
experience, you are unable to judge what books you should read; you
are therefore obliged to follow the advice of others in the matter,
but not the advice of all indiscriminately, as all are not competent
to direct you in a matter of such grave importance. Popularity will
give a wide circulation to a book bat can by no means recommend it;
hence public opinion is not a rule that will guarantee you against
deception.
Those in whom you place entire confidence to choose a book for you
should themselves be recommended by their sincere and generous piety,
the dignity of their life, the solidity of their judgment,
strengthened by an extensive knowledge of men and things. Above all
things be on your guard against the books recommended by worldly
women, lovers of pleasure and parties; those whose light and
frivolous minds sicken at serious thoughts, who are on their guard
lest they may do too much for God, and who vainly endeavor to
reconcile, in a monstrous union, the maxims of the world with those
of the Gospel, the seductions of pleasure with the austerities of
virtue, desiring to serve God and mammon.
If, by some negligence, or even in good faith; you open one of those
books against which you have been warned, shut it the moment you feel
your imagination excited by the images it offers, or when you
perceive that the mind's curiosity becomes aroused to its agreeable
narration of incidents, for it is almost always an unfavorable sign
of a book that produces those and similar effects. Such is not the
manner in which truth and virtue affect us. Their action is milder
and calmer, and has the heart and will, rather than the imagination
for its object. Hence, be on your guard, lest by some indiscretion
you allow a poison to enter your soul, which is never more dangerous
than when it seems least to be feared.
Finally, to resume in a few words, all that we have considered on
the subject: If you would place the moral merit of a book beyond
question, ask yourself if you would like to have its author for your
spiritual director; do not think that this precaution is exaggerated
or uncalled for; for between the author of a book and the reader
there are relations established so intimate that they beget a kind of
intellectual paternity, which produces deeper and more durable
effects than you may be aware of.
To express the influence that our actions exercise over our life and
over our fate, man is said to be the son of his works. For similar
reason, it may be said of him, but more especially of woman, that he
is the son of his readings, for reading forms such an important
factor in the formation of the heart and mind that it often modifies
our whole being. Besides, if you wish to profit by your reading, read
only a few books, but read them well, with close attention,
reflecting long and often on what you have read, identifying your
very thoughts and sentiments with the subject matter of their pages.
But let all this have its practical utility, let all those advantages
find a living expression in your language, in your actions, and in
your whole life.
END.