MAN 239 



But what of our tendencies to specialization in edu- 

 cation and business ? Are these wrong and injurious ? 

 Specialization, like great wealth, is a great danger 

 and a fearful test of character. It tends to nar- 

 rowness. If you will know everything about some- 

 thing, you must make a great effort to know something 

 about, and have some interest in, everything. The 

 great scholar is often anything but the large-minded, 

 whole-souled man which he might have become. He 

 has allowed himself to become absorbed in, and fet- 

 tered by, his specialty until he can see and enjoy 

 nothing outside of it. There is no selfishness like 

 that of learning. 



We can accomplish nothing unless we concentrate 

 our efforts upon a comparatively narrow line of work. 

 But this does not necessitate that our views should be 

 narrow or our aims low. Teufelsdrockh may live on a 

 narrow lane ; but his thoughts, starting along the nar- 

 row lane, lead him over the whole world. The nar- 

 rowness of our horizon is due to our near-sightedness. 



But the only absolutely safe specialization is the 

 highest possible development of our moral and relig- 

 ious powers. For their cultivation only enlarges and 

 strengthens all the other powers of body and mind. 

 " But," you will object, " does religion always broad- 

 en ? ' Yes. That which narrows is the base alloy of 

 superstition. But a religion which finds its goal and 

 end in conformity to environment, character, and god- 

 likeness can only broaden. 



But there is the so-called " breadth " of the shallow 

 mind which attempts to find room at the same time for 

 things which are mutually exclusive. God and Baal, 

 right and wrong, honesty and lying, selfishness and 



