It is the source of all real progress; even to strive after
the impossible has a concrete value. But that does not mean that we
shall succeed in what we undertake."
"It is possible that we may not succeed for ourselves and our
children; it is, even more, probable. Perhaps our unhappy nation, the
entire West is on the downward path. There are many things that make
me fear that we are hastening to our fall; our vices and our virtues,
which are almost equally injurious, the pride and hatred, the jealous
spite worthy of a big village, the endless chain of revenges, the
blind obstinacy, the clinging to the past with its superannuated
conceptions of honour and duty, which causes us to sacrifice the
future for the past; all these make me fear that the terrible warning
of this war has taught nothing to our slothful and turbulent heroism.
There was a time when I should have been overwhelmed by such a thought
as this, but now I feel lifted above it, as I am above my own mortal
body; the only tie between me and it is made of pity. My spirit is
brother to that which, on the other side of the globe, is now touched
by the new fire. Do you remember the beautiful words of the Seer of
St. Jean d'Acre?[1]"
[Footnote 1: Reference to Abdul Baha, at present the head of the
Babists or Bahaists.
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