The Salvaging of CivilizationWells, H. G. (Herbert George)
Philosophy
The Salvaging of Civilization
Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)
Civilization, Modern -- 20th century; Education
We have already stated the clear necessity, if mankind is not to perish
by the hypertrophy of warfare, for the establishment of an armed and
strong world law. Here in this spirit that has already gleamed upon the
world is the possible force to create and sustain such a world law. What
is it that intervenes between the universal human need and its
satisfaction? Why, since there are overwhelming reasons for it and a
widespread disposition for it, is there no world-wide creative effort
afoot now in which men and women by the million are participating--and
participating with all their hearts? Why is it that, except for the weak
gestures of the Geneva League of Nations and a little writing of books
and articles, a little pamphleteering, some scattered committee
activities on the part of people chiefly of the busybody class, an
occasional speech and a diminishing volume of talk and allusion, no
attempts are apparent to stay the plain drift of human society towards
new conflicts and the sluices of final disaster?
The answer to that Why, probes deep into the question of human motives.
It must be because we are all creatures of our immediate surroundings,
because our minds and energies are chiefly occupied by the affairs of
every day, because we are all chiefly living our own lives, and very few
of us, except by a kind of unconscious contribution, the life of
mankind. In moments of mental activity, in the study or in
contemplation, we may rise to a sense of the dangers and needs of human
destiny, but it is only a few minds and characters of prophetic quality
that, without elaborate artificial assistance, seem able to keep hold
upon and guide their lives by such relatively gigantic considerations.
The generality of men and women, so far as their natural disposition
goes, are scarcely more capable of apprehending and consciously serving
the human future than a van full of well-fed rabbits would be of
grasping the fact that their van was running smoothly and steadily down
an inclined plane into the sea. It is only as the result of considerable
educational effort and against considerable resistance that our minds
are brought to a broader view. In every age for many thousands of years
men of exceptional vision have spent their lives in passionate efforts
to bring us ordinary men into some relation of response and service to
the greater issues of life. It is these pioneers of vision who have
given the world its religions and its philosophical cults, its loyalties
and observances; and who have imposed ideas of greatness and duty on
their fellows. In every age the ordinary man has submitted reluctantly
to such teachings, has made his peculiar compromises with them, has
reduced them as far as possible to formula and formality, and got back
as rapidly as possible to the eating and drinking and desire, the
personal spites and rivalries and glories which constitute his reality.
The mass of men to-day do not seem to care, nor want to care, whither
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