The Salvaging of CivilizationWells, H. G. (Herbert George)
Philosophy
The Salvaging of Civilization
Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)
Civilization, Modern -- 20th century; Education
But I will not go on turning over the pages of books and reciting prose
and poetry to you. I cannot even begin to remind you of the immense
treasure of noble and ennobling prose and verse that this world has
accumulated in the past three thousand years. Not one soul in ten
thousand that is born into this world even tastes from that store. For
most of mankind now that treasure is as if it had never been. Is it too
much to suggest that we should make some organized attempt to gather up
the quintessence of literature now, and make it accessible to the masses
of our race? Why should we not on a large scale with a certain breadth
and dignity set about compiling the Poetic Books, the Books of
Inspiration for a renewed Bible, for a Bible of Civilization? It seems
to me that such a Book made universally accessible, made a basis of
teaching everywhere could set the key of the whole world's thought.
§ 4 Today
There remains one other element if we are to complete the parallelism of
the old Bible and the new. The Christian Bible ends with a forecast, the
Book of Revelation; the Hebrew Bible ended also with forecasts, the
Prophets. To that the old Bible owed much of its magic power over men's
imaginations and the inspiration it gave them. It was not a dead record,
not an accumulation of things finished and of songs sung. It pointed
steadily and plainly to the Days to Come as the end and explanation of
all that went before. So too our Modern Bible, if it is to hold and rule
the imagination of men, must close I think with a _Book of Forecasts_.
We want to make our world think more than it does about the consequences
of the lives it leads and the political deeds that it does and that it
permits to be done. We want to turn the human imagination round again
towards the future which our lives create. We want a collection and
digest of forecasts and warnings to complete this modern Bible of ours.
Now here I think you will say--and I admit with perfect reason--that I
am floating away from any reasonable possibility at all. How can we have
forecasts and prophecies of things that are happening now? Well, I will
make a clean breast of it, and admit that I am asking for something that
may be impossible. Nevertheless it is something that is very necessary
if men are to remain indeed intelligent co-operating communities. In the
past you will find where there have been orderly and successful
communities the men in them had an idea of a Destiny, of some object,
something that would amount to a criterion and judgment upon their
collective conduct. Well, I believe that we have to get back to
something of that sort.
We have statesmen and politicians who profess to guide our destinies.
Whither are they guiding our destinies?
Surely they have some idea. The great American statesmen and the great
European statesmen are making To-morrow. What is the To-morrow they are
making?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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