But Amroth showed me
that the danger of it lay in the tendency to consider the intellect to
be the basis of all life and progress. "The intellectual man," he said,
"is inclined to confuse his own acute perception of the movement of
thought with the originating impulse of that movement. But of course
thought is a thing which ebbs and flows, like public opinion, according
to its own laws, and is not originated but only perceived by men of
intellectual ability. The danger of it is a particularly arid sort of
self-conceit. It is as if the Lady of Shalott were to suppose that she
created life by observing and rendering it in her magic web, whereas her
devotion to her task simply isolates her from the contact with other
minds and hearts, which is the one thing worth having. That is, of
course, the danger of the artist as well as of the philosopher. They
both stand aside from the throng, and are so much absorbed in the aspect
of thought and emotion that they do not realise that they are separated
from it. They are consequently spared, when they come here, the
punishment which falls upon those who have mixed greedily, selfishly,
and cruelly with life, of which you will have a sight before long.
Pages:
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187