The Ministry of the Spirit-Man

[o]thers are themselves this sea of dark vapors which hide from it the light of its sun, and constrain it to remain in a painful inaction, if it does not wish, at the slightest movement, to break itself and plunge into precipices. original: "vapeurs ténébreuses." In the mystical tradition of the author, these "dark vapors" represent the sensory and material distractions that cloud the soul’s spiritual perception of divine light.

Men quick to judge, no doubt my writing should not expect a very brilliant success among you. You will not forgive me for believing entirely in a truth, since by dint of teaching doubt, you allow us at most only half-beliefs, not to say that you allow us none at all.

If, however, I had the happiness of doing some good, I would easily console myself for making no noise original: "bruit." In the 18th century, "making noise" meant achieving public fame, notoriety, or becoming a fashionable topic of conversation.; I would even consider myself amply rewarded and would not complain at all about the sentence of my judges; especially since if they had thought me worthy of being enlisted under their banners, I would also have had to take a side for the opinions that dominate them, and for the principles they profess; now, I could not have served for long under such standards.

Moreover, if I must renounce the incense original: "l’encens." A metaphor for the flattering praise and adulation of the public. of the many, my cause will not be lost because of it, because it has the right to be brought before a fixed and competent tribunal, whose judgments are not exposed to the fluctuations of human opinions.

Perhaps even the time is not far off when Europeans will eagerly cast their eyes upon objects that the majority among them view only with distrust, and even with contempt. Their scientific edifice original: "édifice scientifique." The author is likely referring to the strictly materialist and rationalist science of the Enlightenment, which he views as having a fragile or incomplete foundation because it ignores spiritual origins. is not solid enough