Patience and constancy

Meaning

Patience and constancy are qualities required of the person who would know Nature. Part I: entrance and preparation · unit 6 places them beside truthfulness, simplicity, fear of God and harmlessness toward the neighbour. They are not merely strategies for waiting through a long experiment: they belong to the depiction of a regenerated person whose character corresponds with Nature. The English's 'patient and steadfast' keeps endurance and stability distinct. The same unit warns that beginning without true knowledge of Nature is uncertain and dangerous, so patience does not substitute for understanding or justify persisting blindly in an unsuitable work.