Page:What I believe - Russell (1925).pdf/72

WHAT I BELIEVE imposes some limitation of sympathy, but not such a degree as that. Ina democratically-minded society, only a maniac would behave in this way. The limitation of sympathy involved in the aristocratic ideal is its condemnation. Salvation is an aristocratic ideal, be- cause it is individualistic. For this reason, also, the idea of personal salvation, however interpreted and expanded, cannot serve for the definition of the good life.

Another characteristic of salvation js that it results from a catastrophic change, like the conversion of Saint Paul. Shelley's poems afford an illustration of this conception applied to societies; the moment comes when everybody is converted, the "anarchs" fly, and "the world’s great age begins anew". It may be said that a poet is an unimportant person, whose ideas are of no consequence. But I am per-