Man's reason for being is to be situated above the plane of existence upon which he has been projected, and this while adapting himself to the nature of that plane.

Serenity is resignation, at once intellectual and moral, to the nature of things: it is patience in relation to All-Possibility insofar as the latter requires, by its very limitlessness, the existence of negative possibilities, those that deny Being and the qualities manifesting It, as we have noted above. We would also say, in order to provide one more key, that

serenity consists in resigning oneself to that destiny, at once unique and permanent, which is the present moment: to this itinerant "now" that no one can avoid and that in its substance pertains to the Eternal.

 

The man who is conscious of the nature of pure Being willingly remains in the moment that Heaven has assigned him; he is not feverishly straining towards the future nor lovingly or sadly bent over the past.

The pure present is the moment of the Absolute: it is now - neither yesterday nor tomorrow - that we stand before God.

 

The quality of serenity evokes that of dignity: far from being merely a matter of outward demeanor, natural and sincere dignity has a spiritual basis, namely the quasi-existential awareness of the "prime mover"; the man who is concretely aware of greatnesses that surpass him could not disavow them in his behavior, and this is moreover what his deiformity demands; in fact, there is no piety without dignity.

 

Man's reason for being is to be situated above the plane of

existence upon which he has been projected, or upon which, in a certain respect, he has projected himself; and this while adapting himself to the nature of that plane. Man's cosmic

mission is to be pontifex, "bridge-builder": of the path that links the sensible and moving world to the immutable divine Shore.

Done