Ought we to flee the world and live in ascetic disdain of its attractions? Or ought we to inlay a mystic-philosophic pattern into the picture of everyday duty? The answer is that both courses are correct. We must build sufficient strength to detach our hearts from enslavement to desire, and we must make practical the insights conferred by this quest of the Overself. We must learn how to do the first without shutting ourselves in monastic seclusion, and how to do the second without losing the proper balance between the universal and personal outlook, a balance which marks the sage. We must mingle with mankind to show them that a nobler existence is possible and to share with them whatever they can absorb of insights and experiences which only the elect usually have.
-- Notebooks Category 3: Relax and Retreat > Chapter 1 : Take Intermittent Pauses > # 85
