Life as a Fine Art. 423 



shadows against which the beautiful outlines of his noblest 

 qualities are limned. 



In the attitude of the individual soul toward the prob- 

 lems of life this doctrine is nothing else than a restatement 

 in the terms of modern philosophic thought of the Chris- 

 tian law of liberty as opposed to Hebraic legalism. 



Infinite in the variety of its manifestations, life never 

 palls to the mind which " accepts the universe," and dwells 

 in this higher region of philosophic thought. It recog- 

 nizes with Goethe that " Nature's play is ever new, since she 

 ever creates new spectators. Life is her finest invention, 

 and death is her artifice to get more life." With the same 

 great thinker, it adjures man to "live resolutely in the 

 Whole, in the Good, and in the Beautiful " * a trinity in 

 unity which embodies the ideals of the Art-Spirit. Noth- 

 ing so deepens and energizes the individual life as moral 

 earnestness, conjoined with a hopeful and optimistic spirit. 

 In the rhythmic play of all natural forces or phenomena ; 

 the alternation of day and night, of work and rest, of reflec- 

 tion and executive activity ; the varied sequence of the sea- 

 sons, the pulsing of the blood, the never-ceasing antithesis 

 of good and evil in the soul the awakened mind of man 

 perceives what Curtis has well termed " the systole and dias- 

 tole of the visible heart of beauty." 



This, then, is the final word of counsel which the phi- 

 losophy that makes of life the finest, the noblest of all the 

 arts, has for all men, and especially for the young. 



Think. Do not let your mind lie fallow. Satan finds 

 mischief for idle minds no less than for idle hands. Think 

 high and noble thoughts, wide-reaching and beneficent; 

 thoughts which memory can not recall without arousing a 

 thrill of thankfulness and satisfaction. Remember that 

 memory is built up of daily experiences, and contains the 

 material of future joy or pain. There is no more terrible 

 retribution than the memory of unworthy thoughts and evil 

 deeds. Seek, then, for the highest truths, each one for 

 himself. Keep an open mind; do not be content to take 

 truth at second hand. Ideas which your mind has not as- 

 similated are stolen property; they are not truly yours. 

 Creeds conventionally professed, formulas mechanically re- 

 peated, " ossify the organs of intelligence." Do not avoid 

 considering the graver problems of life; regard them not 



* " Im Ganzen, Guten, Schonen, resolut zu leben." 



