Over the course of a life, or the history of a nation, we can find ways to bring values together. As we practice freedom, we climb higher and see new vistas. Simone Weil, musing about “contradictory virtues in the souls of saints,” envisioned a winding elevation: “If I am walking up the flank of a mountain, I might first see a lake, and then, after a few steps, a forest. I have to choose between the lake and the forest. If I want to see both the lake and the forest, I have to climb higher.”
