Still more is this true of thy social relations. Detach thyself means relax thy hold on what is transient in those relations. Cling all the more firmly to what is spiritual in them. The earth is thy foundation, thou art Ant?us as long as thou remainest in contact with the earth. Until the very last thou must lean for strength upon the earthly bases and substrata.
Consider the drive of the human race through the time and space world, and its net result. Thou standest now on a high tower. Lean over the parapet and peer as far out into the future as thou canst. Thou standest as did Moses on Mount Pisgah. Strain thy eyes to catch sight of the Promised Land. But remember that the Promised Land turned out to be a land still of promise, not of fulfilment,—a land in which the prophetic soul of Israel matured its visions of a fulfilment never on earth to be attained10.
Remember that as thou art linked to thy ancestry11, so art thou linked to posterity12. The future centuries of the human race are like the future years of an individual. Thou art keenly interested in what may happen hereafter to the race with which thou art interlinked. But the race, like the individual, will be cut off and become extinct before ever the ideal is reached. Remember, therefore, that the purpose for which humanity exists is achieved at every moment in everyone who appropriates the fruits of partial success and356 frustration13. Whosoever standing14 on the earth as a foundation builds up for himself the spiritual universe attains15 the purpose of human existence. There is indeed progress in the explicitness16 with which the spiritual ideal is conceived, and we are immeasurably interested in the greater light to be attained by our posterity. But the essential fruition of the contact of the infinite that is in us with the finite world is achievable at every moment in every human being. And this gives an entirely17 new meaning to the spiritual gains achieved in solitude18, which seem vain because there are no witnesses. But neither will there be witnesses when the last human beings perish on earth. The spiritual bravery of the shipwrecked man who sinks on the lonely ocean springs from the conviction that though the sea can overwhelm him there is that in him greater than ocean’s immensity; a conviction achieved through the experience of living in the life of others. The same is the gain achieved by the sick man who lies in solitude like a helpless log in the darkened room. The altruistic19 philosophy fails in accounting20 for the moral grandeur21 that attaches to the spiritual victories gained in silence and solitude.
Face the terrors of life before you leave life. Be resolute22 to the last not to cherish illusions. Face the terrors of life, the absence of observable design, the cruelties, the ferocities. Think of William Blake’s poem “The Tiger”: “Did he who made the lamb make thee?” In your philosophy there is no question any longer of a Creator. Creation is an attempt to explain the coexistence of the imperfect with the perfect, to ac357count for a lower stage in terms of a higher. The ultimate inability of man to understand, to explain, is one of the principal frustrations23 he meets with, is the crucifixion of man at the point of his intellect.
The radical24 incompetence25 of man to grasp with his intellect the world as a “universe,” is to be faced by him and accepted without qualification. It marks off this philosophy of life from those philosophies and theologies which have attempted to explain the universe, and which, while affecting humility26, are the dupes of an unwarranted self-confidence. Unqualified admission of the incompetence of the human intellect to resolve the world riddle27 is the determining factor in the more profound humility which characterizes the religion of ethical28 experience. Agnosticism on the intellectual side is the very condition of the transcending29 ethical conviction subsequently attained. Without intellectual agnosticism there is no ethical certainty.
Consider now frustration and its supreme30 outcome, or the various points at which man is crucified. I have mentioned the intellectual crucifixion, due to the incompetence of the mind to understand. I must now speak of still more poignant31 experiences due to the incompetence of man adequately to fulfill32 the moral law, or to carry out the spiritual relation in finite terms.
I have reached the bourne, or am very near it. The shadows lengthen1, the twilight33 deepens. I look back on my life and its net results. I have seen spiritual ideals, and the more clearly I saw them, the wider appeared the distance between them and the empirical conditions, and the changes I could effect in those condi358tions. I have worked in social reform, and the impression I have been able to make now seems to me so utterly34 insignificant35 as to make my early sanguine36 aspirations37 appear pathetic. I have seen the vision of democracy in the air, and on the ground around me I have seen the sordid38 travesty39 of democracy—not only in practice but in idea. I have caught the far outlook upon the organization of mankind, the extension of the spiritual empire over the earth by the addition to it of new provinces, and I do not find even the faintest beginnings, or recognition of the task which the advanced nations should set themselves. I scrutinize40 closely my relations to those who have been closest to me,—and I find that I have been groping in the dark with respect to their most real needs, and that my faculty41 of divination42 has been feeble. I look lastly into my heart, my own character, and the effort I have made to fuse the discordant43 elements there, to achieve a genuine integrity there, and I find the disappointment in that respect the deepest of all.
These are the various points of my life at which I have undergone the crucifixion. I am like Arnold Winkelried, who gathered the sheaf of spears into his breast, and even pressed them inward, to make a way for liberty. So do I press the sharp-pointed spears of frustration into my breast to make way for spiritual liberty. For these cruel spears turn into shafts45 of light, radiating outward along which my spirit travels, building its final nest—the spiritual universe.
Consider the new and profounder humility. In ethical experience is revealed the plan of the spiritual359 relations, but the entities46 or substances which are thus related are incognizable, unknowable. Did I know them I should be able to solve the riddle of the universe. I should know how it is that the finite exists side by side with the infinite. But I cannot know. I cannot enter into the counsels of the multiform godhead. There are the mighty47 powers that weave and interweave behind the veil, but the veil between them and myself is down, not to be lifted. Within the palace of light is the solemn and serene48 assembly of the gods: I, man, stand at the gate.
The world as we know it is itself the veil, the screen, that shuts out the interplay, the weavings and the interweavings of the spiritual universe. But at least at one point, in the ethical experience of man, is the screen translucent49. The plan of the spiritual relation is there traced in outline. It is this plan that conveys the certainty as to what verily exists beyond, within, beneath.
As to my empirical self, I let go my hold on it. I see it perish with the same indifference50 which the materialist51 asserts, for whom man is but a compound of physical matter and physical force. It is the real self, of which the empirical was the substratum, upon which I tighten52 my hold. I do not assert immortality53, since immortality, like creation, is a bridge between the phenomenal and the spiritual levels. Creation is the bridge at the beginning; immortality the bridge at the end. Were I able to build the bridge, I should know. I do not affirm immortality. I affirm the real and irreducible existence of the essential self. Or rather, as my last act, I affirm that the ideal of perfection which360 my mind inevitably54 conceives has its counterpart in the ultimate reality of things, is the truest reading of that reality whereof man is capable. I turn away from the thought of the self, even the essential self, as if that could be my chief concern, toward the vaster infinite whole in which the self is integrally preserved. I affirm that there verily is an eternal divine life, a best beyond the best I can think or imagine, in which all that is best in me, and best in those who are dear to me, is contained and continued. In this sense I bless the universe. And to be able to bless the universe in one’s last moments is the supreme prize which man can wrest55 from life’s struggles, life’s experience.
I look back upon my life once more, and am grateful for the eternal worth which it was permitted me in this frail56 vessel57 of my mortal existence to hold, for the shimmer58 of the spiritual reality of things which I was permitted to see; grateful especially to those who loved me, and whom I was permitted to love, and who were to me in some measure revealers of the eternal life.
Consider lastly the peace that passeth understanding. Now, if ever, this peace should descend59 upon me. There is a kind of peace that is accessible to the understanding, and there is the peace that passeth understanding. The peace that can be understood is that which consists in the relief of pain. It arises in various ways. After an acute attack of physical pain how like balm is felt the succeeding absence of pain. After a prolonged sickness, when the convalescent takes his first walk, what a sweet tranquillity60 fills his mind! There is also the mental relief that comes when some danger361 has been safely passed; the peace of the sheltered fireside to one who has passed through a storm. Again, there is the peace that follows pecuniary61 anxiety, or the removal of some carking care, as when an erring62 son is reclaimed63, or an estranged64 wife or husband is found anew.
But the peace that passeth understanding is that which comes when the pain is not relieved, which subsists65 in the midst of the painful situation, suffusing66 it, which springs out of the pain itself, which shimmers67 on the crest68 of the wave of pain, which is the spear of frustration transfigured into the shaft44 of light.
It is upon those we love that we must anchor ourselves spiritually in the last moments. The sense of interconnectedness with them stands out vividly69 by way of contrast at the very moment when our mortal connection with them is about to be dissolved. And the intertwining of our life with theirs, the living in the life that is in them, is but a part of our living in the infinite manifold of the spiritual life. The thought of this, as apprehended70, not in terms of knowledge, but in immediate71 experience, begets72 the peace that passeth understanding. And it is upon the bosom73 of that peace that we can pass safely out of the realm of time and space.
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1
lengthen
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| vt.使伸长，延长 | |
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lengthening
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| （时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的现在分词 )； 加长 | |
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ripple
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| n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进 | |
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faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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crumble
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| vi.碎裂，崩溃；vt.弄碎，摧毁 | |
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anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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monk
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| n.和尚，僧侣，修道士 | |
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hieroglyphs
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| n.象形字（如古埃及等所用的）( hieroglyph的名词复数 )；秘密的或另有含意的书写符号 | |
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attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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ancestry
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| n.祖先，家世 | |
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posterity
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| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
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frustration
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| n.挫折，失败，失效，落空 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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attains
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的第三人称单数 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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explicitness
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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altruistic
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| adj.无私的，为他人着想的 | |
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accounting
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| n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表 | |
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grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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frustrations
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| 挫折( frustration的名词复数 )； 失败； 挫败； 失意 | |
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radical
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| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
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incompetence
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| n.不胜任，不称职 | |
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humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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riddle
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| n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜 | |
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ethical
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| adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的 | |
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transcending
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| 超出或超越（经验、信念、描写能力等）的范围( transcend的现在分词 )； 优于或胜过… | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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poignant
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| adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的 | |
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fulfill
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| vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意 | |
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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sanguine
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| adj.充满希望的，乐观的，血红色的 | |
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aspirations
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| 强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音 | |
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sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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travesty
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| n.歪曲，嘲弄，滑稽化 | |
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scrutinize
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| n.详细检查，细读 | |
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faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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divination
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| n.占卜，预测 | |
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discordant
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| adj.不调和的 | |
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shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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shafts
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| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
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entities
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| 实体对像； 实体，独立存在体，实际存在物( entity的名词复数 ) | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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48
serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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49
translucent
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| adj.半透明的；透明的 | |
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50
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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51
materialist
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| n. 唯物主义者 | |
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52
tighten
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| v.(使)变紧；(使)绷紧 | |
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53
immortality
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| n.不死，不朽 | |
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inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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wrest
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| n.扭，拧，猛夺；v.夺取，猛扭，歪曲 | |
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frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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shimmer
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| v./n.发微光，发闪光；微光 | |
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descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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pecuniary
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| adj.金钱的；金钱上的 | |
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erring
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| 做错事的，错误的 | |
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reclaimed
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| adj.再生的；翻造的；收复的；回收的v.开拓( reclaim的过去式和过去分词 )；要求收回；从废料中回收（有用的材料）；挽救 | |
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estranged
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| adj.疏远的，分离的 | |
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subsists
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| v.（靠很少的钱或食物）维持生活，生存下去( subsist的第三人称单数 ) | |
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suffusing
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| v.（指颜色、水气等）弥漫于，布满( suffuse的现在分词 ) | |
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shimmers
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| n.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的名词复数 )v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的第三人称单数 ) | |
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crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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vividly
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| adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地 | |
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apprehended
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| 逮捕，拘押( apprehend的过去式和过去分词 )； 理解 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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72
begets
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| v.为…之生父( beget的第三人称单数 )；产生，引起 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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