The Little Review, May 1915 (Vol. 2, No. 3) — John Shaqi
The Little Review, May 1915 (Vol. 2, No. 3)Various
General
The Little Review, May 1915 (Vol. 2, No. 3)
Various
Literature, Modern -- 20th century -- Periodicals
... The quickened pulse of America did not appear with the outbreak of
war. It came with the winter cold, like all revival spirit—a strange and
fervent heat, breaking down the old, vitalizing the new everywhere. No
one doubts now—no one who can tear his eyes from the ground even for a
little—doubts now that the new social order is upon us.
America, in opening her breasts to the agony of Europe, in her giving of
solids and sympathy, has stumbled upon the ancient and perfect formula
for receiving the greater good. In forgetting herself a little, her own
human spirit has been ignited.
If someone announced that there lived in the Quattor Islands a man who
knew the exact way to bring into the world, not only the spirit, but the
action of _brotherhood_ and _fatherland_, there would be some call for
maps and steamship passages. If the Quattor Islands were not already on
the maps, they would presently appear, but not before the earliest
pilgrims had set out. And if someone should add that all expression of
the arts so far in the world is wumbled and imperfect compared to that
which is about to be, if a certain formula is followed; and that this
man in the Quattor group has the formula—many more would start on the
quest, or send their most trusted secretaries.
And yet the truth and the way is all here, and has been uttered again
and again by every voice that has lifted itself above the common din.
The wise men carried gifts. You would expect to give something for the
secret. You might expect to be called upon to sell all you have and give
to the poor. You would not be surprised even if the magnetic Islander
said:
“It is not your frankincense and myrrh that I want, though I thank you.
That which I have is for you. I am more anxious for you to know and live
it, than you can be to have and hold it. But the mystery is that it will
not come to abide with you, while you are passionate for possession. The
passion to give to others must be established within you before you can
adequately receive—”
You are beginning to see how ancient is the gospel. It is old, older
than that. It belongs to the foundations. Personally and nationally, the
law works the same way. That which is true, is true in all its parts.
There is an adjustment by which that which is good for the whole is good
for the part; that which is good for the nation is good for the man; but
each, whole and part, nation and man, must have for the first thought
not self-good but the general good. One nation, so established in this
conviction that its actions are automatically founded upon the welfare
of the world, could bring about the true fatherland in a generation; and
one human heart so established begins to touch from the first moment the
profound significances of life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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