Caderousse was visibly losing his powers. The bastard Benedetto, who fatally wounded me, he will escape though, he groaned with his last breaths.
- No one will escape, I’m telling you. Like you, Benedetto will also receive his punishment. Like you, he carries deep within his being the seed of betrayal, as the snake carries its venom within it.
- Then, you will also be punished, said Caderousse. Because you have not done your duty as a priest. You should’ve stopped Benedetto from killing me.
- Me? Said Monte-Cristo with a smile that terrified the dying. Me, to prevent Benedetto from killing you, in the moment you struck your knife into the armor that covered my chest? Yes, maybe if I’d have found you humble and penitent, I wouldn’t have let Benedetto kill you. But I saw you arrogant and with a bloodlust, and I let the will of God be fulfilled.
- I do not believe in God ! – howled Caderousse. And neither do you. You lie… you lie ! I will not repent. There is no God, there is no providence, there is only chance !
- But there is providence, and there is a God, said Monte-Cristo, shadowed by his priestly robe that hid his true identity. And the proof is that you are here, lying in despair, denying Him. Whereas I, untouched by the evil you wanted to inflict upon me, stand before you rich, happy, unharmed, and joining my hands together in the face of this God in which you try not to believe, however believing, in the bottom of your heart.
- Who are you, really, Father? I find that I have met you, once… Why do you let me die?
- Because nothing can save you now, Caderousse, for you are mortally wounded. If you could’ve been saved, I would’ve seen in this one last mercy of the Lord, and, I swear on my father’s grave, I would’ve still tried to give you back your life and repentance. *
Always the man who aims to reveal the truths that make up his existence sees himself in relation with all those unknown, of which he is not yet aware of, but to which contributed multiple and varied experiences. And only some of these are fundamental to his becoming. And perhaps that is why the significance of these truths on which human character is based, truths such as “I am not God” or “any evil is punished”, have as a margin of appreciation the strength to resist temptations, responsibilities and trials adjacent to circumstances that often prevented you from rising to the height of the potential of a good, soulful, righteous man.
The first unknown is God, whom we do not see, so we might think it does not exist. Another unknown is temperance, which we only take into account when we are in trouble. Another unknown is gratitude or remorse, which we do not give the correct interpretation due to lack of values, lack of thinking, lack of spiritual progress. Many of these unknowns, along with endless questions that seek their answers, represent potential "unfortunates" of relative experiences from the past, expressions of states that have come and gone after a moment of despair or wandering, which have isolated you or made you feel alone for the moment.
But other unknowns, imposed by the variety of protective and providential factors that have conditioned the appearance of exceptional life situations, which you would’ve have experienced otherwise, are revealed to you in the position of the man who apparently doesn’t mean much in the general course of things, but who, from an intellectual standpoint, has the ability to penetrate into the ends of the universe. Where are you in this story?
If you treat reality according to the unique way of seeing things, practiced through a form of association with what you do not know, in situations caused by hazard, with a revealing potential, then you will benefit from the experience of exiting the normal accepted by the beliefs that accompany you. And you will experience a new reason: that of existing as an echo of a higher meaning of life. Otherwise, you will perceive yourself as being a victim of life’s circumstances.
One of the basic faculties of the leader is that of spiritual intelligence through which he acts and harmonizes with all events (apparently chaotic, absurd) around a universal algebra. Here we perceive God as the savior of an imperfect world, so constantly subject to error, and this God leaves us free will to decide our own fate, but he who lacks faith will surely be lost in a labyrinth called “Chaos”, because nothing in his life will acquire the coherence of a destiny capable of defying the inherent ephemerality.
This faculty resides from that continuity of experience suggested by faith, not of knowledge and not of "recommendations" of the moment, therefore, that of the experience that supports the intervention of a reasoning placed higher than your own beliefs in an existential-worldly context, where everything has its pay and reward, causes and effects.
Spiritual Intelligence, according to the experiencing of a present that decides its future through the will of an infinite power, is assigned to the leader who evolves as a servant of Providence, who has turned faith into the cornerstone of his purpose and existence. Such a man will himself lead the "happening" by unreservedly accepting the force of an unlimited, superior intervention.
* Note: Alexandre Dumas - The Count of Monte Cristo , Publishing Youth, 1957.