" Yes, it is thus we should
act; and though we cannot always smile as the black sail heaves in
sight, yet is it possible for us to find in our life something that
shall absorb us to the exclusion of sadness, as her love absorbed
the woman whose words I have quoted. Complaints of injustice grow
less frequent as the brain and the heart expand. It is well to
remind ourselves that in this world, whose fruit we are, all that
concerns us must necessarily be more conformable with our existence
than the most beneficent law of our imagination. The time has
arrived perhaps when man must learn to place the centre of his joys
and pride elsewhere than within himself. As this idea takes firmer
root within us, so do we become more conscious of our helplessness
beneath its overwhelming force; yet is it at the same time borne
home to us that of this force we ourselves form part; and even as we
writhe beneath it, we are compelled to admire, as the youthful
Telemachus admired the power of his father's arm. Our own
instinctive actions awaken within us an eager curiosity, an
affectionate, pleased surprise: why should we not train ourselves
thus to regard the instinctive actions of nature? We love to throw
the dim light of our reason on to our unconsciousness: why not let
it play on what we term the unconsciousness of the universe? We are
no less deeply concerned with the one than the other.
Pages:
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168