" The
"Fanaticism for Veracity" is satisfied with what is. Not the ultimate
truth which is God's alone, but the highest attainable truth, is the aim
of Science, and to translate Science into Virtue is the goal of
civilization.
The third question which Science may ask is the direct one. In what part
of the universe are you, and what are you doing? Thoreau says that
"there is no hope for you unless this bit of sod under your feet is the
sweetest to you in this world - in any world." Why not? Nowhere is the
sky so blue, the grass so green, the sunshine so bright, the shade so
welcome, as right here, now, today. No other blue sky, nor bright
sunshine, nor welcome shade exists for you. Other skies are bright to
other men. They have been bright in the past and so will they be again,
but yours are here and now. Today is your day and mine, the only day we
have, the day in which we play our part. What our part may signify in
the great whole we may not understand, but we are here to play it, and
now is the time. This we know, it is a part of action, not of whining.
It is a part of love, not cynicism. It is for us to express love in
terms of human helpfulness. This we know, for we have learned from sad
experience that any other course of life leads toward decay and waste.
What, then, are you doing under these blue skies? The thing you do
should be for you the most important thing in the world. If you could do
something better than you are doing now, everything considered, why are
you not doing it?
If every one did the very best he knew, most of the problems of human
life would be already settled.
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