Civilisation : Its Cause and Cure 



an external support, and, when the true life of 

 society comes, all its forms will be fluid and spon- 

 taneous and voluntary. 



IV 



And now, by way of a glimpse into the future 

 — after this long digression what is the route that 

 man will take ? 



This is a subject that I hardly dare tackle. 

 *' The morning wind ever blows," says Thoreau, 

 ** the poem of creation is uninterrupted — but 

 few are the ears that hear it." And how can we, 

 gulfed as we are in this present whirlpool, conceive 

 rightly the glory which awaits us ? No limits 

 that our present knowledge puts need alarm us ; 

 the impossibilities will yield very easily when the 

 time comes ; and the anatomical difficulty as to 

 how and where the wings are to grow will vanish 

 when they are felt sprouting ! 



It can hardly be doubted that the tendency will 

 be — indeed is already showing itself — towards a 

 return to nature and community of human life. 

 This is the way back to the lost Eden, or rather 

 forward to the new Eden, of which the old was 

 only a figure. Man has to undo the wrappings 

 and the mummydom of centuries, by which he 

 has shut himself from the light of the sun and 

 lain in seeming death, preparing silently his glorious 

 resurrection — for all the world like the funny old 

 chrysalis that he is. He has to emerge from houses 



5« 



