Liber Primus, Caput V. Non gerendam aliorum curam cum sui ipsius incuria et neglectu.
The Reckless Scattering of Action
Bernard rebukes the reader for pouring all energy into outward action while neglecting interior reflection, warning that even apostolic adaptability is hollow if one excludes oneself from the care owed to all.
So hear what I'd call you out on, what I'd urge on you. If everything you live for and are wise about you give entirely to action, and nothing to reflection — am I supposed to praise you? In this I do not praise you. I think that even someone who has heard from Solomon — "The one who is lessened by activity will receive wisdom" —✦1 Certainly it doesn't even benefit action itself to be undertaken without prior reflection. If, likewise, you want to be all things to all people, like the one who became all things to everyone — I praise the humility, but only if it's complete.✦2 But how can it be complete when you've excluded yourself? And you are a human being.
Keep Yourself Among Those You Serve
Drawing on the Lord's word about gaining the world but losing oneself, Bernard presses the reader to receive a share of their own charity and not be the only one cheated of the gift they owe to all.
So so that your humanity might be complete and full, let the embrace that gathers everyone also gather you within itself. Otherwise what good is it to you, according to the word of the Lord, if you gain everyone else but lose yourself alone?✦3 Since everyone shares you, you too must be one of those who share. Why should you alone be cheated of your own gift? How long will your spirit keep going out and never coming back? How long will you not receive yourself, even as you place yourself among others in your own turn? You owe yourself to the wise and to the foolish alike, yet do you deny yourself to yourself alone? Foolish and wise, slave and free, rich and poor, male and female, old and young, cleric and lay, just and unjust.
Do Not Stand Apart from Your Own Fountain
Using the image of a public wellspring, Bernard shames the reader for letting others drink while remaining thirsty themselves, and urges at least sometimes to give oneself back to oneself.
Everyone takes part in you together; all drink from your open fountain. And will you stand apart, thirsting? If someone is cursed for making their portion worse, what of the one who makes themselves entirely worthless? Surely your waters should flow out into the streets; let people, beasts of burden, and flocks drink from them, and even grant a drink to the camels of Abraham. But among the rest, you too should drink from the wellspring of your own well. A stranger, he says, should not drink from it. Are you a stranger? To whom are you not a stranger, if you are to yourself? Finally, who is worthless to themselves? To whom are they good? Remember then—I'm not saying always or even often, but at least sometimes give yourself back to yourself.
A Modest Plea for Moderation
Bernard concedes that his advice may seem indulgent, yet appeals to the Apostle's even greater boldness and expresses confidence that the reader will abound rather than grow anxious.
You should also use yourself among many, or at least after many. What could be more indulgent? I say this according to indulgence, not according to judgment. I think even the Apostle is more indulgent than I am in this matter. Therefore, you say, it is more than it should be. I don't deny it. What if it is so? For you, as I trust, will not be anxious about our information, but you will abound more.
Boldness Tempered by the Fear of God
Bernard closes by distinguishing his own timidity from the reader's devotion, preferring holy caution before God's majesty, and commending the wisdom that grows when opportunity is given to the wise.
Truly, this is how it should be — yes, you’re more devoted, but I’m bolder. I also think it’s safer for me to show some timidity before the majesty of God than to act recklessly. And perhaps it’s only right that a wise person be warned otherwise, so that what’s written might hold true: Give an opportunity to a wise person, and that person will become even wiser.✦
Read the original Latin
Audi ergo quid redarguam, quid suadeam. Si quod vivis et sapis, totum das actioni, considerationi nihil; laudo te? In hoc non laudo. Puto quod et nemo, qui a Salomone audierit: Qui minoratur actu, percipiet sapientiam. Certe nec ipsi actioni expedit consideratione non praeveniri. Si item totus vis esse omnium, instar illius qui omnibus omnia factus est; laudo humilitatem, sed si plena sit. Quomodo autem plena, te excluso? Et tu homo es.
Ergo ut integra sit et plena humanitas, colligat et te intra se sinus qui omnes recipit. Alioquin quid tibi prodest, juxta verbum Domini, si universos lucreris, te unum perdens? Quam ob rem cum omnes te habeant, esto etiam tu ex habentibus unus. Quid solus fraudaris munere tui! Usquequo spiritus vadens, et non rediens! Usquequo non recipis te et ipse inter alios vice tua? Sapientibus et insipientibus debitor es; et soli negas te tibi? Stultus et sapiens, servus et liber, dives et pauper, vir et femina, senex et juvenis, clericus et laicus, justus et impius.
omnes pariter participant te, omnes de fonte publico hibunt pectore tuo; et tu seorsum sitiens stabis? Si maledictus qui partem suam facit deteriorem, quid ille qui se penitus reddit expertem! Sane deriventur aquae tuae in plateas; homines et jumenta et pecora bibant ex eis, quin et camelis pueri Abrahae potum tribuas: sed inter caeteros bibe et tu de fonte putei tui. Alienus, inquit, non bibat ex eo. Nunquid tu alienus? Cui non alienus, si tibi es? Denique qui sibi nequam, cui bonus? Memento proinde, non dico semper, non dico saepe, sed vel interdum reddere te ipsum tibi.
Utere tu quoque te inter multos, aut certe post multos. Quid indulgentius? Hoc enim dico secundum indulgentiam, non secundum judicium. Puto et ipso Apostolo indulgentiorem me in hac parte. Ergo plus quam oportet, inquis. Non inficior. Quid, si ita oportet? Nam tu, ut confido, nostra non eris meticulosa informatione contentus, sed abundabis magis.
Sane sic decet, te scilicet abundantiorem, quam me audaciorem esse. Ego quoque mihi tutius judico apud majestatem timiditate, quam temeritate periclitari. Et fortassis non secus moneri sapientem oportuit, ut sit quod scriptum est: Da occasionem sapienti, et sapientior erit.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Prov.11.2 — When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.
- ↩1Cor.9.22 — To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some.
- ↩Matt.16.26;Mark.8.36;Luke.9.25 — For what will it benefit a person if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will a person give in exchange for their life? Mark.8.36 — For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? Luke.9.25 — For what is a person profited, having gained the whole world but destroyed or forfeited themselves?
- ↩Prov.9.9 — Give instruction to a wise person, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous person, and he will increase in learning.
Notes
- 1 ↩The quotation 'Qui minoratur actu, percipiet sapientiam' echoes Proverbs 11:2 (Vulgate: 'Qui autem inest, sapiens est'), though the exact wording differs; candidate allusion awaiting Moses resolution.
- 2 ↩The phrase 'omnibus omnia factus est' alludes to 1 Corinthians 9:22 (Vulgate: 'omnibus omnia factus sum'); candidate awaiting Moses resolution.
- 3 ↩The conditional question echoes the synoptic word of the Lord on gaining the world or losing one's life/soul (cf. Matt 16:26; Mark 8:36; Luke 9:25).
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