Les Misérables · Chapter
Prayer explained
This chapter is a philosophical meditation on the nature of prayer, the infinite, and the relationship between the human soul and God.
What happens
This chapter is a philosophical meditation on the nature of prayer, the infinite, and the relationship between the human soul and God. It explores the concept of two infinities—one external and one internal—and defines prayer as the contact between the lower infinity (the soul) and the upper infinity (God) through thought. The text advocates for reforming belief, purifying religion of superstition, and respecting the mysterious faculties of thought, reverie, and prayer as essential to human dignity.
Themes in this chapter
The Human Condition and Fate
The chapter reflects on the human condition by examining the soul's relationship with the infinite and the mystery of existence, framing prayer as a fundamental aspect of humanity's search for meaning.
Key passages
“To place the infinity here below in contact, by the medium of thought, with the infinity on high, is called praying.”
Prayer is the act of connecting our inner, finite self with the infinite divine through the power of thought.
This defines prayer as a bridge between the human soul and God.
“We have a duty to labor over the human soul, to defend the mystery against the miracle, to adore the incomprehensible and reject the absurd, to admit, as an inexplicable fact, only what is necessary, to purify belief, to remove superstitions from above religion; to clear God of caterpillars.”
Our responsibility is to cultivate the soul, protect genuine mystery from false miracles, embrace what is beyond understanding while discarding nonsense, accept only essential truths, cleanse faith of superstition, and strip away the distortions that obscure the divine.
This passage calls for a rational and purified approach to spirituality.