“ To merge his life in the common tide of other lives was harder for him than any fasting or prayer and it was his constant failure to do this to his own satisfaction which caused in his soul at last a sensation of spiritual dryness together with a growth of doubts and scruples. ”
James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916). copy citation
| Author | James Joyce |
|---|---|
| Source | A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man |
| Topic | society spirituality prayer |
| Date | 1916 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4217/4217-h/4217-h.htm |
Context
“Images of the outbursts of trivial anger which he had often noted among his masters, their twitching mouths, closeshut lips and flushed cheeks, recurred to his memory, discouraging him, for all his practice of humility, by the comparison. To merge his life in the common tide of other lives was harder for him than any fasting or prayer and it was his constant failure to do this to his own satisfaction which caused in his soul at last a sensation of spiritual dryness together with a growth of doubts and scruples. His soul traversed a period of desolation in which the sacraments themselves seemed to have turned into dried up sources. His confession became a channel for the escape of scrupulous and unrepented imperfections.”
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