I say no man has ever yet been half devout enough, None has ever yet adored or worshipped half enough, None has begun to think how divine he himself is, and how certain the future is. For the highest pleasure is only in this highest ecstasy. And therefore these ideals of Verhaeren are not cold, sober commandments, but a passionate hymn. Aimer avec ferveur soi-même en tous les autres Qui s'exaltent de même en de mêmes combats Vers le même avenir dont on entend le pas; Aimer leur cœur et leur cerveau pareils aux vôtres Parce qu'ils ont souffert, en des jours noirs et fous, Même angoisse, même affre et même deuil que vous. Et s'énivrer si fort de l'humaine bataille --Pâle et flottant reflet des monstrueux assauts Ou des groupements d'or des étoiles, là-haut-- Qu'on vit en tout ce qui agit, lutte ou tressaille Et qu'on accepte avidement, le cœur ouvert, L'âpre et terrible loi qui régit l'univers.[17] _To raise these mystic moments of ecstasy, these seconds of identity, which every one in his life experiences in quite rare and strange moments, to permanency, to a constant, unconquerable feeling of life--this is Verhaeren's highest aim_. His cosmic conception is concentrated in this supreme ideal of an incessantly felt identity of the ego with its environment, of an identity ever fired anew by passion. For not till nothing more is contemplation and everything is experience, not till this vast enrichment is accomplished, does life cease to be vegetative, indifferent, and somnolent, not till then does it turn to pure delight. Not to feel individual feelings of pleasure, but to feel life itself in all its forms as supreme pleasure, is the last goal of Verhaeren's art. What he says of Juliers, the hero of Flanders, 'son existence était sa volupté,'[18] _the fact of life itself was his pleasure_, is also his own highest longing. He does not want life that; he may fill out the span that is allotted to every mortal, but that he may consciously enjoy, and to the full, every minute of life as a delight and as; happiness. And in such a moment of ecstasy he says, Il me semble jusqu'à ce jour n'avoir vécu Que pour mourir et non pour vivre,[19] lines that seem to me unforgettable, as the highest ecstasy of vitality.