CASTING BREAD UPON THE WATERS 183 



and attainable; — yet we are moving, be it ever so slowly, in the 

 right direction. 



On the other hand, there is perhaps too much boasting about 

 the progress of knowledge, especially by those who are foreign to 

 it and understand it least. The knowledge revealed by scientific 

 research is undoubtedly wonderful; but the wonder does not 

 necessarily increase with the size and complexity of the universe, 

 and the latest achievements of science are not more marvelous 

 (as achievements) than the earlier ones. Some simple-minded 

 people exult because the universe of modern science is immeasur- 

 ably larger than that of Ptolemy or even of Herschel, but it does 

 not make such a great difference after all, if they continue to be 

 such fools and humbugs. It is equally silly to disdain scientific 

 endeavors or to overestimate them to the detriment of others, 

 such as the creation of beauty or justice. The best fruit of these 

 endeavors is not any definite result, but a new attitude of mind : 

 the appreciation of truth. Veracity, complete and unrestricted, is 

 a conquest of science, even of modern science, and earlier people 

 could have no conception of it. It is significant that "to tell the 

 truth" was not one of the Ten Commandments; it is more signifi- 

 cant still that lying, or tampering in various ways or degrees with 

 the truth is not yet the disgrace that it ought to be, except within 

 the narrow scientific field. This shows that however deep and 

 comprehensive our scientific knowledge may be, our scientific 

 spirit is still very weak. The progress of veracity — which ought to 

 be our measuring rod for the real scientific advance — is just as 

 slow and precarious as social progress. Hence there is nothing 

 much to boast about. It is clear that scientific enlightenment can 

 purify life only to the extent that veracity favors its diffusion. All 

 the social evils will eventually wither in the light of knowledge, 

 but this can only happen when that light actually reaches them 

 and is not screened off by our greed and hypocrisy. 



Knowledge is not valuable in itself but in relation to other 

 things. Like any other form of power, it may be (and often is) 



