The Power of Truth: Individual Problems and PossibilitiesJordan, William George
Philosophy
The Power of Truth: Individual Problems and Possibilities
Jordan, William George
Conduct of life
He must not expect the tortoise to sympathize with the flight of the
eagle. A great purpose is ever an isolation. Should a soldier leading
the forlorn hope complain that the army is not abreast of him? The
glorious opportunity before him should so inspire him, so absorb him,
that he will care naught for the army except to know that if he lead
as he should, and do that which the crisis demands, the army _must_
follow.
The reformer must realize without a trace of bitterness that the busy
world cares little for his struggles, it cares only to joy in his final
triumph; it will share his feasts but not his fasts. Christ was alone
in Gethsemane, but—at the sermon in the wilderness, where food was
provided, the attendance was four thousand.
The world is honest enough in its attitude. It takes time for the
world to realize, to accept, and to assimilate a large truth. Since
the dawn of history, the great conservative spirit of every age, that
ballast that keeps the world in poise, makes the slow acceptance of
great truths an essential for its safety. It wisely requires proof,
clear, absolute, undeniable attestation, before it fully accepts.
Sometimes the perfect enlightenment takes years, sometimes generations.
It is but the safeguard of truth. Time is the supreme test, the final
court of appeals that winnows out the chaff of false claims, pretended
revelation, empty boast, and idle dreams. Time is the touchstone that
finally reveals all true gold. The process is slow, necessarily so,
and the fate of the world's geniuses and reformers in the balance of
their contemporary criticism, should have a sweetness of consolation
rather than the bitterness of cynicism. If the greatest leaders of the
world have had to wait for recognition, should we, whose best work may
be but trifling in comparison with theirs, expect instant sympathy,
appreciation, and coöperation, where we are merely growing toward our
own attainment?
The world ever says to its leaders, by its attitude if not in words,
"If you would lead us to higher realms of thought, to purer ideals of
life, and flash before us, like the handwriting on the wall, all the
possible glories of development, _you_ must pay the price for it, not
we." The world has a law as clearly defined as the laws of Kepler:
"Contemporary credit for reform works in any line will be in inverse
proportion to the square root of their importance." Give us a new fad
and we will prostrate ourselves in the dust; give us a new philosophy,
a marvelous revelation, a higher conception of life and morality, and
we may pass you by, but posterity will pay for it. Send your messages
C.O.D. and posterity will settle for them. You ask for bread; posterity
will give you a stone, called a monument.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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