Now, when man has not
learned the art of living and conversing with himself, he becomes
wearisome and sometimes dangerous to himself when alone; because the
mind, not knowing how to occupy itself, and not finding in its own
resources the thoughts that elevate and nourish it, is obliged, in
order to avoid lonesomeness, to dwell upon images which at least
distract and weaken it, and not unfrequently disturb the peace of the
heart.
Religion, always inspired by God in the choice and formation of the
terms which it employs to convey the ideas that it wishes to impress
upon the heart, has invented two words, which admirably express the
meaning of the concentration of the faculties of the soul,--in other
words, that society or cohabitation of man with himself--they are
_self-composure and recollection._
These words express that state or power of the will by which it
holds complete control over all the faculties of the soul; so that
sensibility can have no command over any of their operations. Thus
shielded from this turbulent disturber they are enabled to labor
peacefully and efficiently in their interior province or the soul.
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