Falling Behind
Sorry, I’m a bit behind on my reviews. I’m still reading, of course, just haven’t managed to write anything meaningful about them yet. My spring break is coming up soon, and I hope to have time then to write some meaningful posts.
For now, here is a great quote I came across while reading Jane Eyre, when she is faced with Mr. Rochester’s pleas that she stay with him as his not-quite-legal wife, since she has no relatives to object:
Still indomitable was the reply–”I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself. I will keep the law given by God; sanctioned by man. I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad–as I am now. Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth? They have a worth–so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane–quite insane: with my veins running fire, and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs. Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have at this hour to stand by: there I plant my foot.
What an awesome rational for the purpose of sustaining faith and morality. Faith is not for the times when everything is right with the world, but for when our world is turned on its head. It is for the times when we are tempted to act differently from our beliefs, so that no matter what we may think we want in our “insane” moments, we still know and can do what is right.
March 10, 2008
Posted in: Uncategorized
Leave a Reply