The New OptimismStacpoole, H. De Vere (Henry De Vere)
Philosophy
The New Optimism
Stacpoole, H. De Vere (Henry De Vere)
Evolution; Faith; Social problems; Stacpoole, H. De Vere (Henry De Vere), 1863-1951 -- Philosophy
“But you have indicated one point I would like to dwell on. The
absolute essentiality of material objects and conditions now in the
advance of the ‘spiritual’ and intellectual world, and the absolute
necessity of discarding dreams and fallacies. In the last great
advance, Hoe’s machine has done what all the doctrines could never
have done, yet Hoe’s object was not to construct a machine for the
improvement of ethics. He was, in his labours, a materialist, pure
and simple; his object was the improvement of a machine for the rapid
production of printed stuff. He did not work at all in the matter with
an eye to great and abstract improvements. He just did his little job
well and with all his energy.
“Stephenson, Watt, Wheatstone,—and ten thousand of others, including
the whole army of Science, Invention, and Labour—whose combined work
has produced the Universal Mind, who have, in fact, created Man, each
one of these had only one object: the extension of material knowledge
and the improvement of certain material objects and conditions. They
were not idealists, they were not teachers; they laboured to produce
no doctrines or airy formulæ. They were honest workmen in the cause of
material progress, each with his eye fixed on his job.
“Contrast with these the preachers and teachers—all excellent, mind
you, and making, in their way, for good, yet all, by their combined
efforts, useless for the great uplift that was coming and that could
only come through the work of Scientific men in the field of Science,
and Mechanicians in the field of material improvement.
“And this fact is a perfect lamp for all who would join in the work of
world development. _He who would assist in the development of the world
must work not in the field of dreams and theories, but in the field of
matter._ That is the doctrine of the spirit of the world whose great
hands laboured to make the hills and seas, and flung the moon to the
skies for a lamp and a tide-maker, who moulded the chimpanzees into
men, and men into civilised men. Dreams and theories and doctrines,
preachers, transcendental philosophers and teachers, and even
priests—we want all of them, but they are by-products. The work of the
world remains the essential thing, and the pioneers of the world are
the workers, not the dreamers.
“For, though the universal brain has subordinated the individual,
as the whole organism subordinates the cell, the universal brain
lives, alone, by the individual, and can only grow through material
means. And though the universal brain is better, infinitely, than the
individual, it can only exercise its power for good on the individual
through material means.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account