Civilisation : Its Cause and Cure 



forms of government which belong to the Civilisa- 

 tion-period are only the expression in separate 

 external symbols of the facts of the true inner life 

 of society. 



And just as thus the various external forms of 

 government during the Civilisation-period find 

 their justification and interpretation in the ensuing 

 period, so will it be with the mechanical and other 

 products of the present time ; they will be taken 

 up, and find their proper place and use in the time 

 to come. They will not be refused ; but they 

 will have to be brought into subjection. Our 

 locomotives, machinery, telegraphic and postal 

 systems ; our houses, furniture, clothes, books, 

 our fearful and wonderful cookery, strong drinks, 

 teas, tobaccos ; our medical and surgical appliances ; 

 high-faluting sciences and philosophies, and all 

 other engines hitherto of human bewilderment, 

 have simply to be reduced to abject subjection to 

 the real man. All these appliances, and a thousand 

 others such as we hardly dream of, will come in 

 to perfect his power and increase his freedom ; 

 but they will not be the objects of a mere fetish-wor- 

 ship as now. Man will use them, instead of their 

 using him. His real life will lie in a region far 

 beyond them. But in thus for a moment denying 

 and " mastering " the products of Civilisation, 

 will he for the first time discover their true 

 value, and reap from them an enjoyment unknown 

 before. V 



The same with the moral powers. As said 

 before, the knowledge of good and evil at a certain 



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