Page:Chaos, a vision of eternity.djvu/16

x advantage, Paganism runs rampant with poisonous fangs aimed at the heart of all religion. Races, too, are stirred again to selfish rivalries. Imperialism, for the destruction of which the war was fought, still lurks in unexpected places and diplomats are still striving to solve international problems by the methods of Machiavelli. In short, we are wearing the habiliments of civilization; but our culture is largely cold formula. We speak the phrases of the Twentieth Century; but cherish in our hearts the fears, the hates, and the passions of Medievalism.

Sooner or later, it will be realized that there exists in the universe a law of retributive justice, akin to, and as inexorable as, the law of compensation. For thousands of years mankind has been fluctuating between the extremes of individual selfishness and race selfishness. It is only a short step from Emerson's philosophy of Self-Reliance to the arrogant Superman theory of Nietzsche. The individual must be taught that what is best for the community is best for himself; and races must learn that what is best for mankind is best for every race in common. In this lies the hope of the world.