第一百三十章 一 作为抽象概念的修院
本书是一部以无限者为主角的戏剧。 人类居于次位。
既然如此，而修道院又恰好出现在我们的道路上， 我们便不得不进入其中。为何？因为修道院—— 既属于东方也属于西方，既属于古代也属于现代， 既属于异教、佛教、伊斯兰教，也属于基督教—— 是人类用以探索无限的光学器具之一。
此处不宜过分铺陈某些观念；然而，在绝对保留我们的保留、限制乃至愤慨的同时，我们必须坦言：每当我们在无限中遇见人类——无论其理解深浅——我们都不禁心生敬意。犹太会堂、清真寺、佛塔、棚屋中，既有我们憎恶的可怖面，也有我们崇拜的崇高面。对于心灵而言，何等深邃的沉思！对于思想而言，何等无尽的食粮！那是上帝在人类墙壁上的回响！
This book is a drama, whose leading personage is the Infinite.
Man is the second.
Such being the case, and a convent having happened to be on our road, it has been our duty to enter it. Why? Because the convent, which is common to the Orient as well as to the Occident, to antiquity as well as to modern times, to paganism, to Buddhism, to Mahometanism, as well as to Christianity, is one of the optical apparatuses applied by man to the Infinite.
This is not the place for enlarging disproportionately on certain ideas; nevertheless, while absolutely maintaining our reserves, our restrictions, and even our indignations, we must say that every time we encounter man in the Infinite, either well or ill understood, we feel ourselves overpowered with respect. There is, in the synagogue, in the mosque, in the pagoda, in the wigwam, a hideous side which we execrate, and a sublime side, which we adore. What a contemplation for the mind, and what endless food for thought, is the reverberation of God upon the human wall!
