ST AELRED OF RIEVAULX
(1110-1167)
Walter: I confess that I am still moved by the opinion of those who think they live more safely without friends….
Aelred: This is astonishing, since without friends absolutely no life can be happy.
Walter: Why, may I ask?
Aelred: Let us imagine that the whole human race has been taken out of the world leaving you as the sole survivor. Now see before you all the delights and riches of the world—gold, silver, precious stones, walled cities, turreted camps, spacious buildings, sculptures, and paintings. And consider yourself also as restored to that ancient state, having all creatures “under your feet. / All of them, sheep and cattle, / Yes, even the savage beasts, / Birds of the air, and fish / That make their way through the waters.” (Psalm 8:7-8). Tell me now, whether without a companion you could enjoy all these possessions?
Walter: No, not at all.
Aelred: But suppose there were one person, whose language you did not know, of whose customs you were ignorant, whose love and heart lay concealed from you?
Walter: If I could not by some signs make him a friend, I should prefer to have no one at all than to have such a one.
Aelred: If, however, one were at hand whom you loved as much as yourself and by whom you were similarly loved, would not all these possessions, which before seemed bitter, become sweet and full of savour?
Walter: Indeed, they would.
Aelred: Would you not think yourself happier in proportion to the number of such companions?
Walter: Yes, certainly.
Aelred: This is that extraordinary and great happiness which we await, with God himself acting - circulating, between himself and his creatures… so much friendship and charity, that thus each loves another as he does himself; and that, by this means, just as each one rejoices in his own, so does he rejoice in the good fortune of another, and thus the happiness of each one individually is the happiness of all, and the universality of happiness is the possession of each individual. There one finds no hiding of thoughts, no dissembling of affection. This is true and eternal friendship, which begins in this life and is perfected in the next….