Random Reflections.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 43, 5 January 1912, Page 4

Random Reflections.

By KIAROSKURO. Of Illusions. A '"Worker" reader who signs liim-a-'lr "Idealist" is Jiot inclined to alI >»■ iv\ remarks oh illusions, agnostit'!s?n uiid the materialist conception of ■Jii.-iiii'v to go unchallenged. I an , . i!,l><] oi' that. I write to provoke criticivii. I was in hopes some of those iv!'.i make a fetish of the Materialist <■-•;:■■. ption of History would tell mc c lm-'Lhiiig about it, and thus add to m> extensive and peculiar stock of I;i< .vlcdgc, but I am disappointed. I-jii-.-i.-ver, I am used to being disappuM'u'd. I am a philosopher, and pla.v t.K.- part with becoming modesty and dijji.iy. As regards illusions; no tloubt ti'.-it.. are harmful as well as harmless — 'Mil to say necessary—illusions. The 3;,i:ni!iil ones I call superstitious, and r!'- my best to dethrone. For instance, Ix'Si"! in' the vicarious atonement, wi.<-heraf.t. the necessity of capital- '«?;•. arc illusions and delusions and el i ■■"ild be jrot rid of- Rut to belie re in i ini"s and the Greek theocracy, and T<i.••■ and the. goodness of woman are t)M!f i'ial, -illusions, and ds good to m-iikind. They provide subjects for |k> ' ry ; and poetry helps us to bear the bTT'ci;* of life. Wo tend to become too iiwving .in these days. For my part I a i>l largely Keltic by nature, and en , , believfi in fairies, ghosts, niystir'sii;. reincarnation, and a lot of other j Hpessible things. For oven if these b> not true, they lift my imagination ff'im the -earth to the clouds, and I find I e:ui think better and dream moir» li'.Titiful dreams in cloudland than in t;.> polluted atmosphere of earth. JV'ift give up all your illusions, brother They are good things in their firiHor place. Of Doubt and Doubters. The agnostic prides himself on his "honest doubt." But doubt doc 3 not ituko a man strong. Doubts weaken us. The strong men of the past were tliixo who believed in themselves and in their faith. When Paul tlio Apostle was a doubter lie was a scholarly ti'k'Uaute. He lay at ithe feet of Gamaliel and held the clothes of those who stoned Stephen the Martyr. But whon he threw away doubt he became etnv.ig—ho defied principalities and powers, argued with kings and beat ■t-lwiii, fought with beasts at Ephesus, arid gave his life for the faith that was i« him. Cromwell made himself mas-

ter of because lie- had purged himseif of doubt. It was not doubters who ma.!..- the Reformation in Germany and B vita in possible. These men were strong because they believed —to doubt was not permissible at all. It boots not to -uy they were mistaken: all men' are mistaken. The Socialist to-day is strong in proportion to his belief iv his social creed. Agnostics never create revolutions. Doubt is negativo; belief is positive. It seems to mc. that a man has no justification for denying that lie is i:uniortal. He might as well deny his own existence. An American psychologist, who is thoroughly scientific in his methods/ declares his belief that a confirmed doubt of immortality makes immortality impossiblo for th# doubter. A great truth beneath this statement —which, however, I must reject. The mind is infir.ite and can create. The man suffering from delirium tremens actually sees snakes. And the man who persistently doubts that he lias a soul — an immortal substance greater than his objective mind, stultifies that soul, and becomes maimed, for life. Let man know he is immortal, and he will tend to live up to the dignity of-nn^lifiiuc: , -* tal being. ,_.-—- ~~~ Feeling and Truth. There arc certain matters which appear to mc to be above argument... That there is a great Fir-st- Cause, that man is immortal, are the fundamentals of my faith. I cannot add to these j nor take away from them. I must believe in them. So also with the right to strike. I do not admit that this is a matter for argument at all. I have an inherent right to refrain from working, if my seire of justice is outraged, yl fee! that right—it is not the result tjf thought. I feel also that what I demand as a right for myself ought to be the right of my brother man. There are certain great Facts of Life that can be feitj known intuitively, and on which reason is only an impertinence. Strip yourself bare of all acquired ideas, brother, and discover what you believe as a raw product of Nature —that is a standard of your real manhood and worth as an individual. If an agnostic tells mc he became a doubter by reading books, I retort that my belief in God and Immortality wa3 not derived from books, and is consequently based on something hotter and more lasting than human philosophy. Of Success in Life. Thi3 is another fetish of modern life. To be successful 13 to be great to-day. But success is only a sign that

a man ha* used liis animal faculties t< the exclusion of his spiritual. No reallj groat tin.il desires "success" in the modern sense. The acquisitive instincts, '"iiieh man shares 'with the beaver and the ant, will help a man to bo suecc;v:Pi!, whereas the wisdom of Socrates would only ' keep him poor. Genius, pur" and simple, is never successful. StH'.' men achieve success by sheer stupidity They never venture, but they iK'ver lose. They-stay in the same old and success comes to them. Having only mediocre talouts. they use th-':u in safe channels, and success is i>.i!y a matter-of..time and J chance. To bi» successful M-day means that a man has to be self-assertive, selfish, cruel, and acquisitive—not qualities calling i'or admiration. No man can become successful by huniility, philantliropy, and justice. These are qualities that 'don't pay" in the business world, where morality is brute morality. Consider the successful men of our time, brother. Outside of business they are mostly fools; void of talent, taste, or usefulness to society. Failure J is often mure creditable than success, and much more difficult" u> achieve.. .. •Kof "in proportion to ilia -height ■of a man's ambition. aiW his purity of motives, will success be hard to win. Which fact should niako ir.-en tike Carnegie and Rockefeller humble. Social Aristocracy. Socialism has less in common with democracy than aristocracy ' Dftrtiucracy to-day is taken to moan that on-e man is a.-> >j,ood as another; hence a levoHing-do'vn process. ou the other liji'd, demands thebest —the best of ev'M-vthinp;. It wants to mako humanity an aristocracy by .throwing open to all 'Ik- possibility of being and having the best. The ablest men would j be employed to govern the nations, the best writers to provide literature, the best thinkers to mould the thought of the age, and the best artists to give expression to its ideals. The luxury of the coming commonwealth will bo communal; that is, every man and woman will be an aristocrat and have [ access to all the wealth, culture., re- ! fitiomontj and all the arts and grace.? j of life now usurped by tlte sham oris- j tocracy. The horny-handed suns of j toil will ziot bo degraded wage-slaves, I but noble, educated, dignified superior alike to the proletariat and aristocrat of to-day. "What is Socialism but a claim (or the rights and privileges now held by tho so-called upper classes —which are only possible by the, robbery from the workers ot the fruits of their labor?