“One word suggests itself here before any other: you must simplify your life. You have a difficult journey before you — do not burden yourself with too much baggage. Perhaps you are not absolutely free to do this, and so you think there is no use laying down rules. That is a mistake. Given the same external circumstances, a desire for simplification can do much, and what one cannot get rid of outwardly, one can always remove from one’s soul.”
Sertillanges, Antonin G., O.P. The Intellectual Life: its Spirit, Conditions, Methods. (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1987), p. 41.
Pathology: the Study of a Path 
It feels like there is freedom in what he is advocating.That last line strikes me..”What one cannot remove outwardly one can always remove from one’s soul.” I’m wondering what he means by that, exactly.
LikeLike
I think what he means by that line is that sometimes our circumstances require certain things of us, but that we need not be attached to them. So outwardly we would still have that thing, but inwardly not.
Other places in this book he writes about people who have family obligations, for example, that necessitate a certain income or work schedule. Fine, he says, take care of your family. But don’t become so wedded to your work life that it defines you; let go of it when obligations change. And always find ways to carry out your vocation as an intellectual worker (if that is your vocation).
LikeLiked by 1 person