EAST AND WEST 165 



kind— by religion and morality. In any case, it must not be arro- 

 gant, nor aggressive, for it is like all other things human, essen- 

 tially imperfect. 



The unity of mankind includes East and West. They are like 

 two moods of the same man; they represent two fundamental and 

 complementary phases of human experience. Scientific truth is 

 the same East and West, and so are beauty and charity. Man is 

 the same everywhere with a little more emphasis on this or that. 



East and West, who said the twain shall never meet? They 

 meet in the soul of every great artist who is more than an artist 

 and whose love is not restricted to beauty; they meet also in the 

 soul of every great scientist who has been brought to realize that 

 truth, however precious, is not the whole of life, that it must be 

 completed by beauty and charity. 



Let us remember with gratitude all that we owe to the East — 

 the moral earnestness of Judea, the Golden Rule, the very rudi- 

 ments of the science we are so proud of — this is an immense debt. 

 There is no reason why it should not be indefinitely increased in 

 the future. We must not be too sure of ourselves; our science may 

 be great, our ignorance is greater still. By all means let us develop 

 our methods, improve our intellectual discipline, continue our 

 scientific work, slowly, steadily, in a humble spirit; but at the 

 same time let us be charitable and ever mindful of all the beauty 

 which surrounds us, of all the grace which is in our fellowmen 

 and perhaps in ourselves. Let us destroy the things which are 

 evil, the ugliness which mars our dwelling places, the injustice 

 which we do to others, above all, the lies which cover all sins; but 

 let us beware of destroying or hurting even the smallest of the 

 many things which are good and innocent. Let us defend our tra- 

 ditions, all the memories of our past, which are our most valuable 

 heritage. 



To see things as they are — by all means ! But the highest aspira- 

 tions of my soul, my nostalgia for things unseen, my hunger for 

 beauty and justice, these are also realities and precious ones. The 

 many things which are beyond my grasp are not necessarily un- 



