If I was going to summarize this chapter with one simple sentence it would just be this: Monasteries are complicated. Hugo posits that there are aspects of their existence that must be affirmed and simultaneously aspects of their reality that must be denied. They are always “yes” and “no”.
At the heart of this complication he sees a paradox that takes the good aims of the monastery and effectively ensures they will never be reached. This perversion must be resisted while the aim of connection to the infinite is something Hugo is committed to affirming. He says it this way:
The monastery is a contradiction. Its aim is salvation, its method is sacrifice. It is the supreme egotism, and its outcome is supreme abnegation. One might indeed say that “abdicate that you may rule” is its motto.
Interestingly, while I might agree with Hugo that many of the restrictive approaches to enacting this in contexts like the monasteries he describes effectively ensure the enlightenment they seek will never happen, I don’t think the paradox he’s describing should be rejected completely. Many wisdom traditions are full of paradox, and it is in embracing unknowing that we often find ourselves arriving at understanding, or at least a peace with what we can never fully know.