Liber Secundus, Caput X. Tertium membrum considerationis sui, nempe Qualis sit, exponit.
The Call to Stand in the Middle
Bernard urges the reader to know themselves truly, neither sinking below nor rising above their measure, but holding to the safe middle ground where virtue dwells.
So if you consider how great a person you are, think also about what sort of person you are, and above all. This kind of reflection truly keeps you grounded in yourself; it won't let you fly off into abstraction, won't let you walk among great matters, or among wonders beyond your reach. Stand firm in yourself. Don't be cast down below yourself, don't lift yourself up above yourself, don't drift off into what's farther, don't stretch yourself out into what's wider. Hold to the middle, if you don't want to lose all sense of measure. The middle ground is a safe place. The middle is the seat of measure, and measure is a virtue. Every dwelling beyond measure, the wise person considers an exile.
The Four Excesses of a Restless Life
Bernard warns that reaching beyond one's bounds in length, breadth, height, or depth leads to destruction, division, ruin, and absorption.
So it's not fitting for him to dwell in what is excessive, since it's beyond measure; nor in what is broad, since it's outside the norm; and not in what is high or low either, since one is above and the other below. Length tends toward destruction, expansion toward division, height toward ruin, and depth toward absorption. I say this more clearly so you don't think I'm speaking of what the Apostle encourages us to comprehend with all the saints: the breadth, length, height, and depth, which belong to another realm and to a discourse of time. Now, I speak of length when a person promises themselves a longer life; breadth when the mind is stretched by unnecessary cares; height when one presumes too much of themselves; and depth when one sinks too low. So whoever measures out long stretches of time for themselves isn't truly setting out on a path of destruction, passing beyond the boundaries of life with excessive worry. As a result, people in the present are exiles from themselves through forgetfulness, drifting through the ages in vain anxiety, neither for what is to come nor for what lies ahead. In the same way, a mind stretched too thin by many things will inevitably be torn apart by many cares. Indeed, excessive expansion leads to diminishment, and excessive diminishment leads to division.
The Virtues That Keep the Soul Steady
Bernard concludes by showing how strength, prudence, modesty, and justice guard the soul against presumption, despair, and self-exaltation.
But what is this lofty presumption if not a ruinous downfall? You've read, "Before ruin, the heart is exalted." What is it, except a certain desperate absorption, that comes from excessive faintheartedness? The strong one won't be cast down into this. The prudent one won't be led away by uncertainty in life. The modest one will moderate cares, tempering them from the superfluous, and won't lack for the necessary. Moreover, the just one won't presume higher things of himself, but will speak with the just: "If I am just, I won't lift up my head."
Read the original Latin
Proinde si consideras quantus es, cogita etiam qualis et maxime. Haec te sane consideratio tenet in te; nec a te avolare sinit, non ambulare in magnis, neque in mirabilibus super te. In te consistito. Non infra dejici, non attolli supra, non evadere in longius, non extendi in latius. Tene medium, si non vis perdere modum. Locus medius tutus est. Medium sedes modi, et modus virtus. Omnem extra modum mansionem, sapiens exsilium reputat.
Propterea non est illi habitare in longo, quod ultra modum sit: sed ne in lato quidem quod extra sit: porro nec in alto vel imo, quod alterum supra, alterum infra sit. Denique et longitudo exterminium habere solet, et dilatatio scissuram, et altitudo ruinam, et profundum absorptionem. Dico haec planius, ne me putes ea loqui quae Apostolus comprehendere hortatur cum omnibus sanctis, longitudinem, latitudinem, sublimitatem, et profundum,: quod alterius erit et disputationis, et temporis. Nunc autem longum dico, cum sibi homo longiorem promittit vitam; latum, cum in superfluas animus distenditur curas; altum, cum de se plus praesumit; profundum, cum se plus dejicit. Qui ergo longa sibi metitur tempora, nonne vere ingreditur iter exterminii, transiens vitae terminos productiori sollicitudine? Inde est, quod homines in praesenti a sese exsules per oblivionem, in alia per inanem sollicitudinem migrant saecula, non profutura, imo nec futura. Similiter animus distentus in multa, multis laceretur curis necesse est. Nempe immoderata extensio extenuationem, et extenuatio nimia scissionem facit.
Jam vero alta praesumptio, quid nisi ruinosa praecipitatio est? Legisti namque, Ante ruinam exaltatur cor. Quid e regione nimiae pusillanimitatis dejectio, nisi desperata quaedam absorptio est? In hanc fortis non dejicietur. Prudens longioris vitae non abducetur incerto. Modestus moderabitur curas, temperabit a superfluis, non deerit necessariis. Porro justus altiora se non praesumet, sed loquetur cum justo: Si justus fuero, non levabo caput.
De consideratione (On Consideration) companion
Make consideration a daily appointment
Bernard told Eugene to set aside time every day. Chosen Portion holds that time for you, free.
Bernard's core prescription — a fixed daily time reserved for examining the soul — is exactly the habit Chosen Portion installs with its daily devotional portion.
- One 10-minute daily portion for self-examination and prayer
- Reflection prompts drawn from historic texts, not improvised journaling
- A visible streak that protects the daily interval Bernard insisted on