The Story of the Mind Part 12

Now we may ask: Does not any theory of man which loses sight of the supreme sanity of Darwin, and with him of Aristotle, and Angelo, and Leonardo, and Newton, and Leibnitz, and Shakespeare, seem weak and paltry?

Do not delicacy of sentiment, brilliancy of wit, fineness of rhythmical and aesthetic sense, the beautiful contributions of the talented special performer, sink into something like apologies--something even like profanation of that name to conjure by, the name of genius? And all the more if the profanation is made real by the moral irregularities or the social shortcomings which give some colour of justification to the appellation "degenerate"!

But, on the other hand, why run to the other extreme and make this most supremely human of all men an anomaly, a prodigy, a bolt from the blue, an element of extreme disorder, born to further or to distract the progress of humanity by a chance which no man can estimate? The resources of psychological theory are adequate, as I have endeavoured to show, to the construction of a doctrine of society which is based upon the individual, in all the possibilities of variation which his heredity may bring forth, and which yet does not hide nor veil those heights of human greatness on which the halo of genius is wont to rest. Let us add knowledge to our surprise in the presence of such a man, and respect to our knowledge, and worship, if you please, to our respect, and with it all we then begin to see that because of him the world is the better place for us to live and work in.

We find that, after all, we may be social psychologists and hero worshippers as well. And by being philosophers we have made our worship more an act of tribute to human nature. The heathen who bows in apprehension or awe before the image of an unknown G.o.d may be rendering all the worship he knows; but the soul that finds its divinity by knowledge and love has communion of another kind. So the worship which many render to the unexplained, the fantastic, the cataclysmal--this is the awe that is born of ignorance. Given a philosophy that brings the great into touch with the commonplace, that delineates the forces which arise to their highest grandeur only in a man here and there, that enables us to contrast the best in us with the poverty of him, and then we may do intelligent homage. To know that the greatest men of earth are men who think as I do, but deeper, and see the real as I do, but clearer, who work to the goal that I do, but faster, and serve humanity as I do, but better--that may be an incitement to my humility, but it is also an inspiration to my life.

THE END.

THE

LIBRARY OF USEFUL STORIES

THE STORY OF EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST. By ROBERT E. ANDERSON. M.A., F.A.S.

THE STORY OF ALCHEMY. By M. M. PATTISON MUIR.

THE STORY OF ANIMAL LIFE. By B. LINDSAY.

THE STORY OF THE ART OF MUSIC. By F. J. CROWEST.

THE STORY OF THE ART OF BUILDING. By P. L. WATERHOUSE.

THE STORY OF BOOKS. By GERTRUDE B. RAWLINGS.

THE STORY OF KING ALFRED. By Sir WALTER BESANT.

THE STORY OF THE ALPHABET. By EDWARD CLODD.

THE STORY OF ECLIPSES. By G. F. CHAMBERS, F.R.A.S.

THE STORY OF THE LIVING MACHINE. By H. W. CONN.

THE STORY OF THE BRITISH RACE. By JOHN MUNRO, C.E.

THE STORY OF GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERY. By JOSEPH JACOBS.

THE STORY OF THE COTTON PLANT. By F. WILKINSON, F.G.S.

THE STORY OF THE MIND. By Prof. J. MARK BALDWIN.

THE STORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY. By ALFRED T. STORY.

THE STORY OF LIFE IN THE SEAS. By SYDNEY J. HICKSON.

THE STORY OF GERM LIFE. By H. W. CONN.

THE STORY OF THE EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE. By D. ARCHIBALD.

THE STORY OF EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE EAST. By ROBERT ANDERSON. M.A., F.A.S.

THE STORY OF ELECTRICITY. By JOHN MUNRO, C.E.

THE STORY OF A PIECE OF COAL. By E. A. MARTIN, F.G.S.

THE STORY OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM. By G. F. CHAMBERS, F.R.A.S.

THE STORY OF THE EARTH. By H. G. SEELEY, F.R.S.

THE STORY OF THE PLANTS. By GRANT ALLEN.

THE STORY OF "PRIMITIVE" MAN. By EDWARD CLODD.

THE STORY OF THE STARS. By G. F. CHAMBERS, F.R.A.S.