Henri Bergson

‘It was then that God’s pity caused us to find Henri Bergson’

Raissa and Jacques Maritain at the point where their disillusionment was complete were encouraged by the poet Charles Péguy to attend a lecture by the philosopher Henri Bergson, that was taking place at another academic institution near to the Sorbonne. The hall was packed, everyone crowding in to hear the speaker.

So, what was it that Bergson offered on the meaning of life? Raissa writes that Bergson speaking energetically seemed to carry everyone there along in the development of his discoveries. ‘Our attention did not wander for an instant; nothing could break the precious thread of the discourse’.  This included the assurance that each person is capable of knowing reality, and that through intuition it is possible the Absolute can be attained.

For Raissa, Bergson competently dispelled all the prejudices she had found in the scientific community and reminded her that spiritual freedom could be found: ‘…spiritual perspectives of life and of intellectual certainty were again opening up before us.’ He also restored in her ‘an overwhelming curiosity and a sacred expectation.’ Attending more of Bergson’s teachings, she notes that Bergson’s thought reached one of its heights on the day when he said, in allusion to a sentence in St Paul, an illusion Raissa did not at the time know:

“‘In the absolute we live and move, and have our being”, he created in us an enthusiasm and a joyous gratitude which was to last throughout the year, even through grave philosophical differences and despite sustained criticism.’

Bergson is known for his arguments that processes of immediate experience and intuition are more significant than abstract rationalism and science for understanding reality. Raissa describes this as calling the mind back to the inward activity where real life is, and back to the qualitative depths of consciousness.

‘One day, trembling all over, I went to Bergson to ask his advice about my studies, and even more, no doubt, about my life. It was the first time I had ever done anything of this kind. A few words of what he said to me are forever engraved in my memory. “Always follow your inspiration.” Was this not to say, “Be yourself, always act freely”? Much later, when I reminded him of this advice, which I had set about following indeed. Bergson, smiling at his imprudence, said kindly: “That was not advice I could have given to many people …”’