Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-11-08
THE FEAR OF LIFE.
The Newest Product Of What We Call
"CiviIization."

The curse of the elaborate civiliza-
ton of the Roman Empire was DIS
gust OF life, taedium vitae. Tic curst
of oar civilization, even more clabor-
ate, is rather the fear of life. And II
is strange that the first disease should
have fastened upon society that
would commit any crime to anuse ~
self; the second upon society that
has taken enormous pains to make IT
self secure. One might suppose that
the effort to find amusement and tn"
effort to attain to security We're the
results of disease. The fact rather Is
that in each case the appetite has
grown with eating. Roman society
must have been exciting; but it was
always insecure. Yet it continued TO
desire rather excitement than secur-
ity Ours, compared with II, is I'M
exciting and very secure. Yet we
continue to desire security more than
excitement. We are not subject to the
caprices of a despot, nor are we
threatened by barbarian world Of
unknown strength hidden from us by
screen of forests, nor by plaques
against all medical skill is helpless.
Yet we are more apt to be afraid or
life than weary of it, and we find II
mere difficult to take no thought Tor
the morrow than to live soberly, pure
ly and honestly.
One cause of our modern fear of
life is cur sense of the elaborate and
delicate structure of our civilization.
A primitive society is as hard to de-
st;1py as a primitive organism. But
our society needs vast deal Of cner-
gy, and for that reason it seems pre-
carious to us. There is prevailing
sense among US that we live In =
house Of cards which might collapse
at IL breath and bury US all in the
ruins. This is mainly an Illusion. f0I
tn. energy that maintains our clViil-
zation has become a habit which only
some fearful catastrophe could de-
strOV. The very wants that nave
grown with it bind men together i'll The
work Of maintaining il. They arc
stronger than those primitive Instincts
which seem to Us to threaten 1t; or
rather they are transformations Of
those instincts which become primitiE"
again only at moments Of intolerablc
strain. We are apt to think of the
wild beast as always lurking i'll man
for lis opportunity. We forget that
tic vast majority of men hate the
wild beast in themselves and that so
ciety is the result of their cooperation
to suppress him.
Even in war ne is suppressed; for
he can never win battles. He fights
to preserve his own life. not to Win;
and an army wins only when thr-nom-
berS of ii are careless Of their own
lives. Another cause of the fear OF
life is our considerable, though still
most imperfect, power of forecaStlnS
the future. Science has taught US
enough to make MS specuiat" about
what is going to happen. but not
enough to make Us feel secure in our
specuiations. We know enough about
our bodies to be on the watch for any
symptoms of disease, but not enough
to preserve US from false fears. We
have an elaborate machinery for bring
ing Us news from all the world, but
no machinery for insuring that it shall
be always true or wisely selected.
Everywhere there are Self-appointcd
prophets who warn US of dangers, nor
with the supernatural airs of the past.
but With a pretence of scientific pre-
ciSion that is just as absurd. These
dangers may be physical or political
or celestial. They may or may not
exist. But in any case the ordinary
man will usually be wise not to trouble
his head about them. but to cultivate
his own garden. That is the best of all
remedies for the fear of life. The
more we can give our minds to what
We do understand the less we are like
~ to fear what we do not.
For the mere mastery Of a definite
task fills US with a sense of the ra-
tional order of the universe. II IS
when men neglect their work ana
whisper together in clubs and public
places that they become panicstrickcn
and perhaps the chief cause. after all,
of oar prevailing fear of life is our
increasing habit Of talking about VIVA,
We DO not understand. If that is SO,
every man has the remedy in his own
hands. He may not he able to cure
all the ills Of society, but he can cure
good many of his own, and benefit
society in the process. by minding his