No greater insult, indeed, could be offered than to ask him to give up his rational self to the guidance of another's rational-self. Passions, alcohol, lustful amusements, certain conventionalities, and various temptations, lure many a man into other temporary "universes" which he does not consider as hia very own, and which afterward appear to him as a degradation of his dignity. But if he will not remain in his own proper sphere in which he can be conscientious, then he cannot expect to find abiding contentment. At least we hope that he will not. Practised virtue, and not the innocence which is carefully protected, is expected from men of strong character, and such nobility is the hope of the world. The choice is between reason and ignoble ambition.
All human development is dependent upon imagination, which is lacking in the lower animals. Wrong-doing is partly due to lack of reproductive imagination which should call up images that are stored in memory, and partly, also, to lack of creative imagination, which recombines former experiences into new images. Foresight, in addition, reminds us of yesterday and makes us provident for to morrow. These qualities, imagination and foresight, chiefly distinguish civilized men from savages, who exhibit provident care to about the same extent as dogs and foxes which bury food for future use.
There must be fighting, for the vicious do not love, but hate the virtuous, and strive to drag them down to their own level. The good are a reproach to the bad, and therefore are calumniated and ridiculed. Everywhere there is a tendency to develop units of a like kind, and leading spirits in groups of men either elevate their companions, or lead them into temptations and evil courses.
The force of example is so great that none of us is indifferent to the behavior of others. We either approve it or disapprove of it at once. Every act which one individual performs reacts on the whole community and either retards or advances progress. And, furthermore, every cell within us has a memory, and habits are created by but few repetitions, and these habits soon become firm characteristics of the individual and of the community. Rudeness, politeness, and kindness are contagious. We are imitators; we follow the fashions whether we approve of them or not, and we soon develop habits, at least the conventional ones, which are the prevailing practices in the environment.
But is a decent man called upon to be so amiable that he will practise pernicious things in order to gain the approval of dissolute or dissipated companions ? Is health of the soul to be sacrificed to such popularity? Moral goodness certainly is not synonymous with priggishness, unless holy airs are assumed without a true reverence for the value of the end in view.
The influence upon us of men whom we regard as contemptible, mean, and shabby, is invariably repellent. But the clean, the prosperous, the witty, the handsome, the prominent, and the well dressed set the fashions. Therefore it is a matter of extreme moment when those who appear to good advantage do things which are injurious to society. Thus when an attractive man acts rashly against the laws concerned in progress, he injures not only a few, but the whole fabric of society. Low acts of low men are less harmful. Individual morality is very good, but the morality of individuals acting concertedly is a far stronger force. Evil runs into organization smoothly and readily, and can be made to have an unfavorable appearance only by better forces which are really more attractive.
Our condition would now be immeasurably better if in years gone by reason had been obeyed. Instead of the wild ideas and mischievous carelessness which are so prevalent, we should now be governed by opinions of superior value, and there would be better people upon whom these views would work.