TWO DECLARATIONS BY ANDRE GIDE
397
convince me, with ample evidence, that such a common ground def–
initely exists. Yet I must confess that this great joy is accompanied
by a most serious feeling not far removed from anguish: the feeling
of responsibility. You are certainly right in stating that our culture is
the very result of a struggle of non-conformism against the gregarious
instincts of humanity, the result of the triumph (sooner or later, but
often how painfully slow in coming ) of a few individuals "who re–
lied solely on themselves, who looked at everything with their own
eyes, felt with their own hearts, and sought out unflinchingly the
possibilities of their own selves." You quite correctly add: "and
.an intelligent public capable of appreciating them, always, to be
sure, after a certain interval." This is just what made me say, as
a conclusion to a recent lecture (given in Brussels and later in
Lebanon): "The world will be saved by a few."
When it is a matter of
revealed
truth, the line of behavior is
simple: one has only to listen, to submit, to follow, whatever may be
the dogma. This was, this still is the slogan of fascism in any coun–
try whatever:
"Credere, Obbedire, Combattere."
I have seen the
walls in Italy plastered with posters repeating this slogan. We have
seen to what wholesale slaughter this doctrine led entire nations. And
we have not ceased to see such things. But it is so easy, so comfortable
to provide the unthinking masses, the vast majority of men, with such
apparently altogether unselfish reasons for sacrificing themselves. The
least interrogation seems impious that urges man to raise his head and
ask, even of himself: "Believe in
what?
Obey
whom?
Fight
what?"
And yet the salvation of each one among us (and of each nation)
lies in interrogation, in skepticism. To speak frankly, I fear that for
a long time all such refusals to conform
will
be dominated by force
and that everything that constituted our culture (which, as I see
from your letter, is yours also, so that today one can speak much
more generally than one dared do even yesterday), that
human cul–
ture
is
in great danger.
Alas, I am too old and too weary to reply as fully and as
explicitly as I should like to the anxious questions of your letter. I
once wrote, I don't recall just where but it was many years ago: "We
are like unto one who, to light his way,
is
following a torch that he
himself is carrying." That image, even today, strikes me as excellent,
for it contains its own criticism: it does not attempt to hide the
