CIVILIZATION AN INTERIM

cendent above it. The same one thing which drives the xnan into the arena and fiUs him with the lust and passion of battle gives him also his vision which the dust and smoke never quite becloud, and to" which his eyes are always returning.

Slowly eut cl the niins of tbe past — like a young fem-frond uncurling out of its own brown litter —

Ont of the litter of a decaying sodety, out of tfae confosed mass of broken-down creeds, customs, ideab,

Out of distrust and unbelief and dishonesty, and Fear—

Out of the cant of Commerce, tbe crocodile sympathy of nation with nation ;

Tbe despair and unbelief possessing ail sodety — rich and poor, educated and ignorant, the money-lender, the wage-slave, the artist and the vrasherwoman alike ;

AU feeUng the terrible pressure and tension of the modem problem ;

Out of the litter and muck of a decaying world,

Lo ! even so

I see a new Ufe arise.^

If civilization is, as hère defined, an intérim stage, full of turmoil and dis-ease, between a lower and a higher social unity, there is no " cure " for it in any therapeutic sensé. It has to be lived through. It cannot suddenly be brought to an end. It has its own time. The demand upon the man of eamestness and wisdom is that he should discem and establish, so far as may be, the permanent éléments at work within it. It will be necessary to look at one or two practical

S40 RECEIVIN6 THE VISION

détails wfaen we corne to examine the social inir plications of Carpenter's teaching; but it will suffice hère to pennit him to utter two exhortations to the eager soûl who is confronted by the welter and confusion, and desires to play his part in it. What shall he do ?

In the first place, he will prépare his own heart for the prévision and réception of the higher unity; and this is ail the more important because, as we hâve so often seen, thèse things begin in the individual heart.

Our towns are copied fragments of our breast. And aU man's 6ab34ons do bat impart The grandeur ol bis Babylonian heart.

This préparation in the heart for the vision — which is the ReaUty existing as sure promise — can be compassed chiefly by simplifying one's lif e, getting nearer to Nature, keeping scrupulously clean both body and mind, cleansing the mirror of sensation and perception so that the image of the heavenly dty may fore-shine therein. It may be truly said that no man ever made himself a worthy temple but that the présence of the Spirit fiUed it with the train of glory. It may be that ail men cannot do this ; but such as can, he (for that reason, and by that sign) in the direct Une of true human progress. Having received the vision, a man must tell it, despite the possible scom of the world ; the light must be sent gleaming through the world ; with f rank-

j^ TRUTH TO VISION 241

ness and courage and persistence, he must say

1 what he sees. He must conform his heart to the

\^',Truth that is in him ; he must answer the demand

'for such new life-habit and self*orientation as

may be necessary. He must be no longer divided "'against himself. He must antidpate, in vision

and in practice, the higher world-unity in himself.

ii' When a new désire has dedared itself within tfae ^';^ human heart, when a fresh plexus is fonning among the -îç; nerve»— then the révolutions of nations are already decided, and historiés unwritten are written.^

The second and subséquent thing to be done is that he should fling himself ynih zest and whole-heartedness into the oppositions which characterize the civilization-period. He must s^ fight hard, but without bitterness of spirit. He ^ must avoid compromise of the prudential and calculating tjrpe. He must not be over-anxious to compose différences. The thing has to be fought out. He need not fear mistakes, for it does not matter that the whole truth and nothing but the truth should be with him. Truth is less in fact than it is in spirit. The Une of human progress is along the diagonal of a parallelogram of forces, and is energized by and determined through the divergencies and oppositions represented by the adjacent sides. What powers he has of mind, imagination, insight, will, must be faithfully used for the création and establish-

242 FAITHFULNESS IN ANTAGONISM

ment within the présent imperf ect and temporary order of such structure as shall correspond to and realize the vision in bis heart. By loyalty to himself in action he must make ' ' the golden beam incline/' The way is long, but there is plenty of time. " Do not hurry ; hâve faith."

The man who would answer to the full détail of this requirement would be an idéal man indeed. Most ordinary men will discover self-deficiencies somewhere. The intuitive imagination is rarely combined with the constructive imagination. Conception and exécution do not always keep house together. Each man must move in the direction of his strength, sure in his heart that what he lacks is provided for somewhere and will not fail him.

Carpenter, as we hâve already seen, is weak in constructive ability. He can see the *' cause of Civilization " much more clearly than he can suggest a *'cure." He can see the goal much more plainly than he can engineer the road thither. But if he has seen the Truth, then it is certain that over ail the world every reforming agency, every actuarial office, every sdentific laboratory, every committee-room, is co-operatîng to find scaffolding, material, and hands for the érection of such social structure and organization as shall give efiect to his vision.