A.G.

Sertillanges' The Intellectual Life: Part I More than ever before thought is waiting for men, and men for thought. The world is in danger for lack of life-giving maxims. We are in a train rushing ahead at top speed, no signals visible. The planet is going it knows not where, its law has failed it: who will give it back its sun? (A.G. Sertillanges, The Intellectual Life, 15). Many of wish in later years that, when we were younger, someone would have told us about certain things, often certain books that, as we look back on them, would have greatly helped us know the truth of things. Some of these books are directed to what is true, to reality, to what is, but a certain number are rather directed to the question of how do I go about knowing? --Father James Schall, from the Foreword of A. G. Sertillanges, The Intellectual Life Man of us li!e much, "erha"s most, of our intellectual life on #logs. I $on%t con$emn this, of course, for the iron an$ h "ocris of such a con$emnation &oul$ #e off the charts. 'et, the (in$ of intellectual ha#its that &e are forming an$ the )ualit of intellectual fare of &hich &e are "arta(ing*the o!erall character of the intellectual life &e are li!ing*in an$ # long-term, !irtual inha#itation in #log culture is something &e !itall +literall , nee$ to consi$er, e!en if such consi$eration ta(es "lace right smac( in #log countr . So, tal(ing a#out a book on a blog isn%t the &orse thing one coul$ $o, for &e might #e tal(ing a#out a #log-a#out-a-#log on a #log, or some such ri$iculous c #er-iteration. In$ee$, tal(ing a#out a #oo( that &as &ritten #efore com"uters e-iste$, let alone the Internet, # an ol$-school, French, .ominican Thomist, &ith the title The Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods is, all-things-consi$ere$, a#out the #est thing one coul$ #e tal(ing a#out on a #log. Such tal( is #oun$ to she$ rare light on our contem"orar situation as !irtual intellectuals. Let me #egin this four-"art series of reflections on Sertillanges% magnificent #oo( &ith some &or$s of his that "ro!i$e a "rofoun$ criti)ue of an$ &arning against our #log culture &ith regar$ to soulcraft: We want to develop breadth of mind, to practice comparative study, to keep the horizon before us; these things cannot be done without much reading. But much and little are opposites only in the same domain. . . [M]uch is necessary in the absolute sense, because the work to be done is vast; but little, relatively to the deluge of writing thatfloods our libraries and our minds nowadays. . . . What we are proscribing is the passion for reading, the uncontrolled habit, the poisoning of the mind by excess of mental food, the laziness in disguise which prefers easy familiarity with others thought to personal effort. . . . The passion for reading which many pride themselves on as a precious intellectual quality is in reality a defect; it differs in no wise from other passions that monopolize the soul , keep it in a state of disturbance, set it in uncertain currents and cross-currents, and exhaust its powers. . . . The mind is dulled, not fed, by inordinate reading, it is made gradually incapable of reflection and concentration, and therefore of production; it grows inwardly extroverted, if one can so express oneself, becomes the slave of its mental images, of the ebb and flow of ideas on which it has eagerly fastened its
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attention. This uncontrolled delight is an escape from self; it ousts the intelligence from its function and allows it merely to follow point for point the thoughts of others, to be carried along in the stream of words, developments, chapters, volumes. . . . [N]ever read when you can reflect; read only, except in moments of recreation, what concerns the purpose you are pursuing; and read little, so as not to eat up your interior silence. There coul$ har$l #e a more so#ering criti)ue of #log a$$iction than this, &ritten #efore there &as e!en an information a#out the information age. 'et, Sertillanges &as not a Lu$$ite +he instructs us ho& to ta(e notes on note car$s an$ categori/e then in ca#inets, not #ecause of an "eculiar "rimiti!ism, #ut #ecause the filing ca#inet &as the latest technolog at han$,, an$ if he &ere ali!e to$a , he &oul$ certainl ma(e goo$ use of the incre$i#le min$-e-"an$ing an$ ca!e-esca"ing "otential of the Internet. 0f course, of all "eo"le, Sertillanges &oul$ #e (eenl a&are of its s"ecial soul-suffocating an$ ca!econstricting $angers. 1ut all this is to sa that The Intellectual Life is a #oo( as rele!ant to$a as it &as almost a centur ago &hen it &as &ritten. The intellectual life has not e!ol!e$, mutate$, or corru"te$ in its essence, for it is the life of the human soul ma$e in the image of li(eness of Go$, an$ thus can change as little as Go$ can change. Perha"s it is a #oo( e!en more rele!ant to$a , as intellectual life in the "ost-mo$ern, "ost2hristian, "ost-in$ustrial, "ost-3m"ire, "ost-rational*an$ "ost-intellectual4*age*#ecomes e!en more !irtual, artificiall sustaine$, an$ counterfeit. Alas$air MacInt re &rites: 5hat the set themsel!es to achie!e . . . &as the construction of ne& forms of communit &ithin &hich the moral life coul$ #e sustaine$ so that #oth moralit an$ ci!ilit might sur!i!e the coming ages of #ar#arism an$ $ar(ness. . . . 5hat matters at this stage is the construction of local forms of communit &ithin &hich ci!ilit an$ the intellectual an$ moral life can #e sustaine$ through the ne& $ar( ages &hich are alrea$ u"on us. The 6the 7 to &hom MacInt re refers here are St. 1ene$ict an$ his follo&ers in the si-th centur , &ho $i$ all the coul$ to "reser!e the "recious 2hristian an$ classical ci!ili/ation, the literature, histor , "hiloso"h , an$ s"iritualit that ha$ forme$ the #asis of ci!ili/e$ societ u" to then. 65e,7 ho&e!er, are charge$ &ith "reser!ing the e-istence an$ character of, not 8ust the artifacts of intellect, #ut intellect itself, &hich seems in real $anger of #eing su""lante$ an$ re"lace$ &ith some sort of communal electric #rain a la The Matrix or 2.S. Le&is%s That ideous Strength of &hich in$i!i$ual human "ersons are to #e its &illing, min$less circuits. The #ar#arians are not 8ust among us #ut ha!e #een ruling us for some time, as MacInt re has "ointe$ out, an$ if &e &ant our culture once again to #e rule$ # Intellect, the Goo$, the True, an$ the 1eautiful, then &e oursel!es must #e so rule$, an$ so &e must rea$ Sertillanges. In the ne-t installment, &e shall #egin our e-amination of The Intellectual Life # loo(ing at the !reface an$ first three cha"ters 6The Intellectual 9ocation,7 the 69irtues of an Intellectual,7 an$ :The 0rgani/ation of Life.:

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A.G. Sertillanges' The Intellectual Life, Part II: The Intellectual Vocation, Solitude, and Attention
Do you want to have a humble share in perpetuating wisdom among men, in gathering up the inheritance of the ages, in formulating the rules for the present time, in discovering facts and causes, in turning mens wandering eyes towards first causes and their hearts towards supreme ends, in reviving if necessary some dying flame, in organizing the propaganda of truth and goodness? That is the lot reserved to you. --Sertillanges, The Intellectual Life, 11-12. In the last installment, &e $iscusse$ the im"ortance of Sertillanges% #oo( as an anti$ote to our antiintellectual culture, an$ as a lens # &hich to $iscern its m ria$ "seu$o-intellectual surrogates an$ e-"ose its $angerous $istractions. In the ne-t three installments &e shall atten$ to the #oo( itself, e-amining its ma8or themes an$ commenting on selecte$ "assages. This is es"eciall not a #oo( that can #e a$e)uatel summari/e$, for it is essentiall a set of a"horisms, though s stematicall an$ a$e"tl com#ine$ into a flo&ing &hole, so I shall )uote often an$ generousl . As the a#o!e )uote re!eals, Sertillanges sees the intellectual life as essentiall a #ocation, an$ in the most s"iritual sense of the &or$. It is, as he sa s, 6a sacre$ call.7 Thus, it is not for e!er one, in the same &a that a !ocation to the religious life is not for all 2hristians. It is, of course, an o#ligation for e!er human #eing to $e!elo" his intellectual life, since the intellect is at the heart of our #eing, an$ our 8o# in life is, if nothing else, the care of the soul. 'et the s"ecial calling to the intellectual life is $istinct from the uni!ersal call to soul-craft, 8ust as the call to the religious is $istinct from the uni!ersal call to holiness. Moreo!er, it is, li(e the religious life, onl for an elite fe&: It implies a serious resolution. The life of study is austere and imposes grave obligations. It pays, it pays richly; but it exacts an initial outlay that few are capable of. The athletes of the mind must be prepared for privations, long training, a sometime superhuman tenacity. We must give ourselves from the heart, if truth is to give itself to us. Truth serves only its slaves (4). For Sertillanges, the intellectual !ocation is a calling to $isco!er, articulate, an$ transmit truth. ;o& far this is from the un$erstan$ing an$ "ractice of the intellectual life in contem"orar aca$emia, in &hich one%s soul #ecomes grist for the collecti!e aca$emic mill, the function of &hich is to recu"erate a "er"etuall $ ing, artificial, still#orn 6intellectual life7 of truth-in$ifferent an$ 8argon-ri$$en 8ournals, ruthless career-&orshi", status-)uo o""ortunism, an$ inner-circle gossi"-mongering. Tr to li!e a genuinel intellectual life in the mi$st of that< 1ut there is ho"e, for Sertillanges notes more than once that the intellectual%s #est an$ most essential frien$ is solitude, though isolation is to #e a!oi$e$: 6The man &ith too much solitu$e, 6gro&s timi$, a#stracte$, a little o$$: he stum#les along ami$ realities li(e a sailor &ho has 8ust come off his shi"= he
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has lost the sense of the human lot= he seems to loo( on ou as if ou &ere a >"ro"osition% to #e inserte$ in a s llogism, or an e-am"le to #e "ut $o&n in a note#oo(7 +?@,. The intellectual%s &orst an$ most $angerous associate is the world, es"eciall a &orl$ li(e contem"orar aca$emia< When the world does not like you it takes its revenge on you; if it happens to like you, it takes its revenge still by corrupting you. Your only resource is to work far from the world, as indifferent to its judgments as you are ready to serve it. . . . Do not busy yourself with the sayings and doings of the world, that is with such that have no moral and intellectual bearing; avoid useless comings and goings which waste hours and fill the mind with wandering thoughts. These are the conditions of that sacred thing, quiet recollection (xxiii, 47). 0f course, most of us ha!e no choice #ut to $&ell in the !engeful, &orl$l an$ &or$ halls of aca$emia, &here much thought is 6&an$ering,7 an$ &here #ureaucratic 6useless comings an$ goings7 are en$less. 5hat Sertillanges counsels is not a flight from the &orl$ #ut, sim"l , balance. For e-am"le, the intellectual $es"eratel nee$s the su""ort of a ro#ust an$ authentic communit of fello& intellectuals, #ut sometimes it is enough, he sa s, 8ust to (no& there are others la#oring at the same tas(, &hether or not there is face-to-face or close "ro-imit to such a communit . Perha"s #log communities fulfill this "ur"ose in our communit -star!e$ $a < 5ith regar$ to solitu$e, s"ecificall , the amount of concentrate$ intellectual &or( that is re)uire$ in the intellectual !ocation, Sertillanges% "rescri"tion is )uite sur"rising: Have you two hours a day? Can you undertake to guard them jealously, to use them ardently, and then, being of those who have authority in the Kingdom of God, can you drink the chalice of which these pages would wish you to make you savor the exquisite and bitter taste? If so, have confidence. Nay, rest in quiet certainty (11). T&o hours a $a , &hen one thin(s of it, is not an inconsi$era#le amount, es"eciall &hen &e consi$er the $ifficult of engaging in e!en a fe& minutes of genuine, contem"lati!e intellectual acti!it in a culture 6$istracte$ from $istraction # $istraction7 to use T.S. 3liot%s incre$i#l a"t "hrase. For Sertillanges, the fun$amental !irtue re)uire$ of the intellectual is attention, an$ t&o hours a $a of it is "lent . ;ere he is in accor$ &ith Simone 5eil in her fantastic essa , 6Aeflections on the Aight Bse of School Stu$ies &ith a 9ie& to the Lo!e of Go$7: 6Although "eo"le seem to #e una&are of it to$a , the $e!elo"ment of the facult of attention forms the real o#8ect an$ almost the sole interest of stu$ies.7 Li(e 5eil, Sertillanges sees the "ursuit of (no&le$ge as the "ursuit of Go$, a form of "ra er, an$ 8ust as attention is the sine %ua non of the contem"lation of Go$, so is it the in$is"ensa#le !irtue for the attainment of (no&le$ge an$ the $isco!er of truth. ;o& to $e!elo" one%s facult of attention4 Li!e a moral life< Sertillanges ma(es this a#solutel clear. Inor$inate an$ uncontrolle$ "assions $estro the intellectual life more than an thing else. 5hat to gi!e our attention to "recisel 4 This )uestion is a #it more com"le-= Sertillanges% $irection on the organi/ation of the intellectual%s life an$ &or( shall #e the to"ic for the ne-t installment, #ut for no& &e conclu$e &ith Sertillanges% almost m stical a""roach to (no&le$ge:
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Every truth is a reflection; behind the reflection and giving it value, is the Light. Every being is a witness; every fact is a divine secret; beyond them is the object of the revelation, the hero witnessed to. Everything true stands out against the Infinite as against its background; is related to it; belongs to it. A particular truth may indeed occupy the stage, but there are boundless immensities beyond. One might say a particular truth is only a symbol, a symbol that is real, a sacrament of the absolute (31). Part III Having in the first three chapters provided the raison detre of the intellectual life, its precise essence, a vocation, its efficient causes, the moral and intellectual virtues, and its telos, the discovery, contemplation and transmission of truth, in the remaining six chapters Sertillanges uncovers for us the matter, as it were, of the vita intellectus, that is, its proper conditions. When, what, and how to study? In what spirit? How, and how much, to sow the seeds of reading and memory to reap a fruitful harvest of creative production? How to strike the right balance between life qua intellectual and life qua human being? St. Paul tells us to pray constantly, meaning that prayer is to be engaged in not only during those hours set-aside daily for liturgical and vocal and mental prayers, but at every moment. Prayer is spiritual breathing, the heartbeat of the soul. For Sertillanges, the intellectual life must be similarly continuous and perpetual. How? What do we need, in order to utilize this permanent life in the service of truth? Discipline only. The dynamos must be connected to the turbines; the turbines must be turned by the steam; the desire to know must, regularly and not intermittently, set the conscious or unconscious activity of the brain in motion (71). And the intellectual life must not only be unlimited temporally, but also spatially, with an ubiquity analogously equal to its all-the-time operative dynamism. This is a tall order. Perhaps the best section of The Intellectual Life is Sertillanges masterful treatment of that most thorny issue for the scholar: how to achieve expertise in one area of study without thereby sacrificing ignorance of othershow to attain both breadth and depth? It would seem futile nowadays (and ever since, say, the Middle Ages) to aspire to anything other than a mastery of a very narrow fieldand even then, can we attain complete mastery anymore?the sheer amount of accumulated knowledge seems virtually infinite. On the other hand, to attain an educated gentlemens acquaintance with all fields of knowledge would seem to be the dilettantes errand. Is it possible now to become educated in the Aristotelian sense? Every systematic science, the humblest and the noblest alike, seems to admit of two distinct kinds of proficiency; one of which may be properly called scientific knowledge of the subject, while the other is a kind of educational acquaintance with it. For an educated man should be able to form a fair off-hand judgement as to the goodness or badness of the method used by a professor in his exposition. To be educated is in fact to be able to do this; and even the man of universal education we deem to be such in
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virtue of his having this ability. It will, however, of course, be understood that we only ascribe universal education to one who in his own individual person is thus critical in all or nearly all branches of knowledge, (Parts of Animals 639a1-6). Critical in all or nearly all branches of knowledge?! Sertillanges has done the best job of anyone of solving this dilemma in his chapter The Field of Work. And here, in condensation, is his solution: We may assert without any paradox that every branch of science pursued home would lead to the other sciences, science to poetry, poetry and science to ethics, and then to politics and even to religion on its human side. Everything is in everything, and partitions are only possible by abstraction. . . . When one knows something thoroughly, provided one has some inkling of the rest, this rest in its full extent gains by the probing of its depths. All abysses resemble one another, and all foundations have communicating passages (102, 120). Sertillanges is telling us that specialized knowledge is not only helpful for the scholar, but absolutely necessary; but at the same time, we are not to think that specialization necessarily excludes generalization, or vice versa. The key is somehow to balance depth with breadth, for only when these are properly balanced can the intellectual obtain either of them. But its more than a balance, for Sertillanges: breadth is depth, and depth is breadth. This doctrine is Sertillanges most brilliant and hard to grasp, and so most difficult effectively to summarize. Let me quote his distinct advocacies of both breadth and depth, and then try to convey how they are to be brought together, indeed, identified. On breadth: If you want to have a mind that is open, clear, really strong, mistrust your specialty in the beginning. Lay your foundations according to the height that you aim to reach; broaden the opening of the excavation according to the depth it has to reach. . . . A specialist, if he is not a man, is a mere quill-driver; his egregious ignorance makes him like a lost wanderer among men; he is unadapted, abnormal, a fool. The intellectual Catholic will not copy such a model (103). Okay, so we lay the liberal-arts foundations down in college, most effectively (in my opinion) by an integrated curriculum a la Thomas Aquinas College, University of Dallas, Wyoming Catholic College, etc., and then we begin to specialize in graduate school, after our foundations have been widely laid and our excavation widely dug, after which we specialize further, digging deeper in whats left of our professional life into our initial masterpiece with specialized research.

Not quite, says Sertillanges, for the widening process is never-ending as well, lest we become a fool: To follow up to a certain point the explorations of every seeker is for you an obligation which results at last in a tenfold capacity for your own research. When you come back to your special study after having thus made a special survey of different fields, widened your outlook, and acquired the sense of deep underlying connections, you will be quite a different man from the prisoner of one single narrow discipline (104). And, now, the obligation of specialization: Science is knowledge through causes, and causes go down deep like roots. We must always sacrifice extent to penetration. . . . When the whole field of study has been surveyed and its connections and unity estimated in the light of fundamental principles, it is urgently necessary, if one does not want merely to mark time, to turn to some task which is precise, defined in its limits, proportioned to ones strength; and then to throw oneself into it with ones heart (119). How to integrate, balance, synthesize, and even identify these two apparently antithetical pursuits will be examined in the next post. A hint: It involves Sertillanges solemn command to the aspiring intellectual--Ite ad Thomam!