without love, how tasteless all its joys, and how vacant every scene.
If we have the spirit of love we will live for others. Auguste Comte
inscribed on the first page of his work, "Politique Positive," wherein
he depicted in systematic form, life that had been forming itself
throughout human history, these words: "Order and progress--live for
others." The force of this thought is, in accord with Odd-Fellowship,
which teaches love of our kind, love of right, zeal for the good.
Man's happiness consists in living as a social being, living for self
in order to more truly live for others. This is summed up in the word
humanity. But affection, as the true motor force of life, must have a
foundation, must stir us not only to the right things, but to the right
means; in other words, action must be guided by knowledge. Improvement
must be the aim of social life, as it is the incentive to individual
effort. It is not enough to desire the good, or to know how to achieve
it, we must labor for it. Associated effort gives the opportunity for
gaining grander results than centuries of divided activity. The
conception of humanity has grown nobler. The good of the vast human
whole is now acknowledged as the end of all social union. Humanity
embodies love; the object of our activity; the source of what we have;
the ruler of the life under whose span we work, and suffer and enjoy.
All religions, all social systems worthy of the name, have sought to
regulate human nature and perfect the organization of society by
proclaiming as their principles the cultivation of some grand social
sentiments. Philosophers, moralists, preachers have united in saying:
"Base your life upon a noble feeling, if you are to live aright; base
the state upon a generous devotion of its members to some great ideal,
if it is to prosper and be strong." All have agreed that the
difference of life could only be harmonized by placing action under the
stimulus of high unselfish passion. Odd-Fellowship has grown strong
under this governing law. The banner it bears aloft proclaims
sentiments that are attractive to all the nations of the earth. We are
strong in as far as we truly interpret, for the good of humanity, this
elevated aim, this devotion to fraternal ends.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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