Civilisation : Its Cause and Cure 



In a thousand ways : through heredity and the 

 fact that common ancestral blood flows in our 

 veins though we be only strangers that pass 

 in the street ; through psychology, and the 

 similarity of structure and concatenation in our 

 minds ; through social linkage, and the necessity 

 of each and all to the others* economic welfare ; 

 through personal affection and the ties of the 

 heart ; and through the mystic and religious 

 sense which, diving deep below personalities, 

 perceives the vast flood of universal being in 

 these and many other ways does this Common 

 Life compel us to recognise itself as a fact per- 

 haps the most fundamental fact of existence. 



To teach this simple foundational fact and 

 what flows from it to every child not only as 

 a theory, but as a practical habit and inspiration 

 of conduct is not really difficult, but easy. Chil- 

 dren, having this sense woven into their very being, 

 grow up in the spirit and practical habitude of 

 it, and from the beginning possess the inspira- 

 tion of what we call Morality far more effectu- 

 ally indeed than copy-book maxims can provide. 

 Respect for truth, consideration towards parents 

 and elders, respect for the reasonable properties, 

 dignities, conveniences of others, as well as for 

 one's own needs and dignities, become perfectly 

 natural and habitual. And that this is no mere 

 hypothesis the example of Japan has lately shown 

 where every young thing is brought up so far 

 drenched in the sentiment of community that 

 to give one's life for one's country is looked upon 



252 



