"After he has
become acquainted with the power that is in him," said a
philosopher, "one of the highest privileges of man is to realise his
individual powerlessness. Out of the very disproportion between the
infinite which kills us and this nothing that we are, there arises
within us a sensation that is not without grandeur; we feel that we
would rather be crushed by a mountain than done to death by a
pebble, as in war we would rather succumb beneath the charge of
thousands than fall victim to a single arm. And as our intellect
lays bare to us the immensity of our helplessness, so does it rob
defeat of its sting." Who knows? We are already conscious of moments
when the something that has conquered us seems nearer to ourselves
than the part of us that has yielded. Of all our characteristics,
self-esteem is the one that most readily changes its home, for we
are instinctively aware that it has never truly formed part of us.
The self-esteem of the courtier who waits on the mighty king soon
finds more splendid lodging in the king's boundless power; and the
disgrace that may befall him will wound his pride the less for that
it has descended from the height of a throne. Were nature to become
less indifferent, it would no longer appear so vast.
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