Accepting the universe : $b Essays in naturalismBurroughs, John
Philosophy
Accepting the universe : $b Essays in naturalism
Burroughs, John
Natural history; Natural history -- Philosophy; Philosophy; Science
It is our reactions to Nature that give rise to the qualities we
ascribe to her. The music of the æolian harp is not in the wind; its
origin is the reaction of the harp to the wind, but it is not music
until it reaches the human ear. The colors of the landscape are not
in the rocks and trees and waters, but in the experiences of the eye
when the vibrations of ether which we call light are reflected back
to it from these objects.
We create the world in which we live. I love Nature, but Nature does
not love me. Love is an emotion which rocks and clouds do not feel.
Nature loves me in my fellow beings. The breezes caress me, the
morning refreshes me, the rain on the roof soothes me--that is, when
I am in a mood to be caressed and refreshed and soothed. The main
matter is the part I play in these things. All is directed to me and
you because we are adjusted to all. No more is the kite or the sail
adjusted to the wind, the water-wheel to the falling water, than are
we adjusted to outward Nature. She is the primary and everlasting
fact; we, as living beings, are the secondary and temporary facts.
X. THE FITTEST TO SURVIVE
The survival of the fittest does not mean the survival of the best
from the human point of view. The lower orders of humanity are better
fitted to survive than the higher orders--hardier, more prolific,
having a fuller measure of life. The cultivated plants--wheat, corn,
rye, barley, oats--are less fitted to survive than what we call
weeds. The latter can shift for themselves, but the former cannot.
We lament the decay of the native Anglo-Saxon stock in this country,
and the increase of the races from southern Europe and from the
Orient. They stand our pitiless sunlight better than do the
descendants of our Puritan ancestors. From our point of view this
rule of natural selection will not result in a superior race, but in
an inferior; not in better men, but in better animals. Character and
intellect win in those fields where character and intellect tell, but
where muscle and brawn and vitality tell more they fail.
The Japanese have great power of survival; they are hardy, prolific
and pushing. The Germans also have great survival power, greater
than the French; they are more prolific, more materialistic, nearer
the brutes; they are not handicapped with much soul. They are
morally blind, but intellectually clever. Their moral blindness and
insensibility have resulted in their downfall. Great Britain leads
the European nations because she is not only hardy and prolific, but
she also has the gift of empire; she builds upon law and order; she
establishes justice and fair play.
In the Darwinian sense the Jews are the fittest to survive of all the
races of man. They are prolific and grasping; they will always get
what belongs to them, and a little more; they are bound to possess
the earth. The only drawback I see is that they do not take kindly to
the soil. Trade alone will not give a nation the supremacy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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