第 9 节
作者:
点绛唇 更新:2021-02-20 15:51 字数:9322
must have guessed all this long ago。
For the truth is that Mr。 Shaw has never seen things as they really are。
If he had he would have fallen on his knees before them。
He has always had a secret ideal that has withered all the things
of this world。 He has all the time been silently comparing humanity
with something that was not human; with a monster from Mars;
with the Wise Man of the Stoics; with the Economic Man of the Fabians;
with Julius Caesar; with Siegfried; with the Superman。 Now; to have
this inner and merciless standard may be a very good thing;
or a very bad one; it may be excellent or unfortunate; but it
is not seeing things as they are。 it is not seeing things as they
are to think first of a Briareus with a hundred hands; and then call
every man a cripple for only having two。 It is not seeing things
as they are to start with a vision of Argus with his hundred eyes;
and then jeer at every man with two eyes as if he had only one。
And it is not seeing things as they are to imagine a demigod
of infinite mental clarity; who may or may not appear in the latter
days of the earth; and then to see all men as idiots。 And this
is what Mr。 Shaw has always in some degree done。 When we really see
men as they are; we do not criticise; but worship; and very rightly。
For a monster with mysterious eyes and miraculous thumbs;
with strange dreams in his skull; and a queer tenderness for this
place or that baby; is truly a wonderful and unnerving matter。
It is only the quite arbitrary and priggish habit of comparison with
something else which makes it possible to be at our ease in front of him。
A sentiment of superiority keeps us cool and practical; the mere facts
would make; our knees knock under as with religious fear。 It is the fact
that every instant of conscious life is an unimaginable prodigy。
It is the fact that every face in the street has the incredible
unexpectedness of a fairy…tale。 The thing which prevents a man
from realizing this is not any clear…sightedness or experience;
it is simply a habit of pedantic and fastidious comparisons
between one thing and another。 Mr。 Shaw; on the practical side
perhaps the most humane man alive; is in this sense inhumane。
He has even been infected to some extent with the primary
intellectual weakness of his new master; Nietzsche; the strange
notion that the greater and stronger a man was the more he would
despise other things。 The greater and stronger a man is the more
he would be inclined to prostrate himself before a periwinkle。
That Mr。 Shaw keeps a lifted head and a contemptuous face before
the colossal panorama of empires and civilizations; this does
not in itself convince one that he sees things as they are。
I should be most effectively convinced that he did if I found
him staring with religious astonishment at his own feet。
〃What are those two beautiful and industrious beings;〃 I can imagine him
murmuring to himself; 〃whom I see everywhere; serving me I know not why?
What fairy godmother bade them come trotting out of elfland when I
was born? What god of the borderland; what barbaric god of legs;
must I propitiate with fire and wine; lest they run away with me?〃
The truth is; that all genuine appreciation rests on a certain
mystery of humility and almost of darkness。 The man who said;
〃Blessed is he that expecteth nothing; for he shall not be disappointed;〃
put the eulogy quite inadequately and even falsely。 The truth 〃Blessed
is he that expecteth nothing; for he shall be gloriously surprised。〃
The man who expects nothing sees redder roses than common men can see;
and greener grass; and a more startling sun。 Blessed is he that
expecteth nothing; for he shall possess the cities and the mountains;
blessed is the meek; for he shall inherit the earth。 Until we
realize that things might not be we cannot realize that things are。
Until we see the background of darkness we cannot admire the light
as a single and created thing。 As soon as we have seen that darkness;
all light is lightening; sudden; blinding; and divine。
Until we picture nonentity we underrate the victory of God;
and can realize none of the trophies of His ancient war。
It is one of the million wild jests of truth that we know nothing
until we know nothing;
Now this is; I say deliberately; the only defect in the greatness
of Mr。 Shaw; the only answer to his claim to be a great man;
that he is not easily pleased。 He is an almost solitary exception to
the general and essential maxim; that little things please great minds。
And from this absence of that most uproarious of all things; humility;
comes incidentally the peculiar insistence on the Superman。
After belabouring a great many people for a great many years for
being unprogressive; Mr。 Shaw has discovered; with characteristic sense;
that it is very doubtful whether any existing human being with two
legs can be progressive at all。 Having come to doubt whether
humanity can be combined with progress; most people; easily pleased;
would have elected to abandon progress and remain with humanity。
Mr。 Shaw; not being easily pleased; decides to throw over humanity
with all its limitations and go in for progress for its own sake。
If man; as we know him; is incapable of the philosophy of progress;
Mr。 Shaw asks; not for a new kind of philosophy; but for a new kind
of man。 It is rather as if a nurse had tried a rather bitter
food for some years on a baby; and on discovering that it was
not suitable; should not throw away the food and ask for a new food;
but throw the baby out of window; and ask for a new baby。
Mr。 Shaw cannot understand that the thing which is valuable
and lovable in our eyes is manthe old beer…drinking;
creed…making; fighting; failing; sensual; respectable man。
And the things that have been founded on this creature immortally remain;
the things that have been founded on the fancy of the Superman have
died with the dying civilizations which alone have given them birth。
When Christ at a symbolic moment was establishing His great society;
He chose for its comer…stone neither the brilliant Paul nor
the mystic John; but a shuffler; a snob a cowardin a word; a man。
And upon this rock He has built His Church; and the gates of Hell
have not prevailed against it。 All the empires and the kingdoms
have failed; because of this inherent and continual weakness;
that they were founded by strong men and upon strong men。
But this one thing; the historic Christian Church; was founded
on a weak man; and for that reason it is indestructible。
For no chain is stronger than its weakest link。
V。 Mr。 H。 G。 Wells and the Giants
We ought to see far enough into a hypocrite to see even his sincerity。
We ought to be interested in that darkest and most real part
of a man in which dwell not the vices that he does not display;
but the virtues that he cannot。 And the more we approach the problems
of human history with this keen and piercing charity; the smaller
and smaller space we shall allow to pure hypocrisy of any kind。
The hypocrites shall not deceive us into thinking them saints;
but neither shall they deceive us into thinking them hypocrites。
And an increasing number of cases will crowd into our field of inquiry;
cases in which there is really no question of hypocrisy at all;
cases in which people were so ingenuous that they seemed absurd;
and so absurd that they seemed disingenuous。
There is one striking instance of an unfair charge of hypocrisy。
It is always urged against the religious in the past; as a point of
inconsistency and duplicity; that they combined a profession of almost
crawling humility with a keen struggle for earthly success and considerable
triumph in attaining it。 It is felt as a piece of humbug; that a man
should be very punctilious in calling himself a miserable sinner;
and also very punctilious in calling himself King of France。
But the truth is that there is no more conscious inconsistency between
the humility of a Christian and the rapacity of a Christian than there
is between the humility of a lover and the rapacity of a lover。
The truth is that there are no things for which men will make such
herculean efforts as the things of which they know they are unworthy。
There never was a man in love who did not declare that; if he strained
every nerve to breaking; he was going to have his desire。
And there ne