THE EMOTION OF THE IDEAL 123 



an event in which we have but the record of the 

 creation and the use of cultural heredity directed 

 almost exclusively to the ends of war, and to the 

 fastening on the world of ideals founded on war, 

 and dependent on war for their maintenance. 

 Even so directed it has produced an example in 

 history of organized self-sacrifice so colossal and so 

 admirable as to appear, to use the words of a 

 recent American writer, " almost superhuman," 

 albeit an example of almost superhuman power so 

 misdirected as to constitute " one of the most 

 pathetic events in the history of mankind." l 



It is impossible to believe that civilization will 

 allow the limitless power which it thus possesses 

 to continue to be misdirected in this manner or to 

 continue to lie latent. The endeavour to impose 

 the idealisms of civilization collectively on the 

 mind of the rising generation on an immense scale, 

 with deliberation and intent, and with all the 

 machinery of high organization under conditions 

 in which the social emotion is profoundly moved is 

 bound to be made in the future on a great scale. 



The processes of the age have become a machinery 

 for presenting the idealisms of mind to the general 

 imagination with a hypnotic effect never before 

 possible. The significance of the new forces has 



1 " From an American," Times, n June 1915. 



