The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-03-21

pires with sacred vehemence to purer
spheres and fuller Weddings" Hence
the dramatic collision-a collision which
occurs in every human life-the conflict
with sin and temptation, the antagonism
of matter and spirit of freedom and ne
cessity. With either nature alone-animal
or angel-man would have doubtless got
ten along very we'll. Mephisto says to
the Lord; Better he might have Jared,
poor wight, hadst Thou not given him q
CLEAN of heavenly light" Or If the an
selic nature alone were his, and exs-
tence meant only the glad contemplation
of natures projections, then life would
have been the easy flow of uninterrupted
calm.
These thoughts come to mind whenever
man Is painfully conscious of the contra
diction of his own nature. While he re-
volts at the idea of being pure animal,
the thought suggests itself that 1t would
have been easy for God to have created
man holy from the start and without any
| temptation to sin.
| But the question is not what man.
would have preferred, or what God might
have done. Goethe wastes no time in
fruitless speculation. He takes the facts
of existence as they are, not as we might
dream them to be. He deals with man DIS
he lie, with his double nature, one of
which aspires to heaven, the other clings
| to the earth. He carries him through
the varied experiences of life, compels
him to work out his own salvation, TO
earn his own happiness and to acquire
freedom only by daily striving after it.
This is no easy task, as any one will adj
init who has tried tia repetition of Dan
ties purgatorial pains, only in another
| form.
For the composing of such a drama
Goethe was prominently fitted, both by
natural ability and experience. With his
wonderful gifts as a poet, he combined
the keen practical sense that is quick to
discern the necessary adaptation of
means to ends. With all his ready intu-
ition he was also the patient toiler In
every field of investigation. With his
keen eye steadily fixed on the ALL he
saw none the less the minutest detail.
| No question of art, philosophy or science
failed to interest him. The latest phases
of thought which are surprising us today
were anticipated by him. Stores of wealth
from all these sources were brought to
enrich his poem, as also that kind of
culture which makes for character, and
which means clearness of thought, Arm
ness of purpose and purity OF feeling.
His own life experience, too Is there;
for Goethe was man, not an angel. He
had the weakness as well as the strength
of a man. The gods did not lift him over
dusty highways, or make for him an
easy upward path He. too. like the rest
of mortals, had to gain possession Of
self by conquest of self-had to learn
wisdom from experience. Sweet sins were
alluring and attracting him as they
do other mortsls; and resistance was
no easier. The devious course of his own
| life is seen In that of Faust: but there
Ia ~,
retains his consciousness of right even
in the dire grasp of Ill.," and like unto
Faust comes off conqueror.
Faust, as Goethe represents him, is
the cultured man of modern times. He
| has reached that point of attainment,
made sooner or later by probably every
scholar or thinker, where he learns that
the result of all his efforts Ito know is
simply that he knows nothing absolutely,
a sentiment expressed by Socrates with
quite another meaning. Socrates intended
to convince his disciples of the narrow
limits of human understanding, as also
to assume the attitude of ignorance. in
order that they receive truth without
prejudice. This is quite a different atti-
tude from that of Faust, the modern
skeptic, as Goethe introduces him, who
denies the possibility of knowledge: that
| Is. denies mans ability to come to the
knowledge of pure truth--a knowledge OF
God, of freedom and Of Immortality de-
MES the possibility of knowing mans re-
lation to God, and consequently his obi
cation to God. Denying any obligation to
| God. he has no ground of obligation to
his fellow man. and duty becomes nothing
but an abstraction. Even nature, whose
secrets he had hoped to gaiis he finds
to be a 'wondrous show but alas, moth
| ing but a show--relativity everywhere,
not the reality which he Graves and
which alone can satisfy. Thrown back
on himself he finds that he knows moth
ing of SELF no more of self than OF God,
or of nature or duty. This dreary az
Mysticism leads Faust to pessimism. and
we see the man who once with untirng
zeal thought to know all and dare all.
we see him now crushed with disappoint-
ment and despair. He had aspired to be
as the gods He finds himself humbled
as an earth worm, feeding on dust, and
like the worm liable to be crushed at any
moment by passing chance. There Is no
use to lament A wall OF agony elicits
no pity. What joy comes Is mere Illusion.
Tasted 1t pals on the appetite Every
phase of life looked at squareiy is seen
to be only continuous transition from
desire to disappointment. Even the aspi-
rations which Faust had declared to be
the souls genuine life. when analysed,
are found TO be nothing but the con-
seriousness of limitation, want and pain.
This possession of Faust is no passing
melancholy that will vanish with the
morning sunshine. nor is 1t an impatient
outburst of series of disappolntments
that might we'll have been otherwise.
Neither Is 1t the hasty verdict of the
wording saying: All Is Vanity 1T is
the scholarly pessinlism of our time. deep
rooted and alas, far spread 1t. is the
conclusion reached by some earnest souls
after honest effort, careful investigation
and close reasoning. 1t may not be man
fest on the surface, for the sage-pessi-
mist will not increase the worlds mis-
cry by obtruding his individual grief; nor
Is he so stupid as to cry aloud over the
inevitable; but in his heart Is the utter
hopelessness of gaining anything that is
really worth striving for. For II he can
not arrive at the Knowledge of truth, Of
duty, il the significance Of life. the mean
ing of pain, and the value of discipline
what is there to make life worth living?
Like Schopenhauer, he sees that pro-
gress brings with it q clearer conscious
ness of the misery of existence, and the
Illusion of happiness. He begins to look
with envy upon inferior grades of mind
vino do not push beyond externals. and
who still cherish the belief that things
are what they seem-Just as Faust half
envied the Philistine Wagner. who
found heaven let down in dusty parch-
ments. He says to Wagner:
"One impulse thou art conscious Of at
best,
Oh never seek to know another"
And again when he is alone thinking of
Wagner, Faust SAYS