Page:The Praises of Amida, 1907.djvu/23

Rh secrets of the welfare and progress of the State or of Society? Or how can the man, who has no aim or object for his own life, set before his country, or before society in general, a definite object after which to strive? Or, again, can it be said that the life of a State or of Society, as contrasted with that of an individual, is eternal? Has the world ever seen a State that has lasted for ten thousand years? And cannot even the life of this Earth on which we dwell be summed up by a short row of figures? It will not be long ere things return to their primeval chaos in the course of mundane revolutions. Why then should we offer ourselves or sacrifice our lives for that which bears in it the seeds of decay? We cannot tell.

5. Seeing, then, that we do not understand the raison d'ĉtre even of the State or of Society, it follows that we cannot comprehend the meaning either of human life or of the Universe as a whole. Heaven stretches high above us: Earth is at our feet: the birds sing, the flowers bloom. But why? We cannot tell. We can only think