The Denver Jewish news., 1923-06-20

olOgy; on the psychicnl level there are
the laws OF psychology that we are just
beginning TO understand ;on the level
of our spiritual life there is the law
Of holiness. Life is physical in its
origin, as one great thinker phrases
ii, but spiritual In its possibilities. We
are more than biological beings: we
have risen to the estate OF manhood
and womanhood. md 1t the duty Of
every one Of MS to raise the whole Of
our life to the highest level That we
know. 1t is our duty to create a per-
sonality not that shall incorporate the
low desires of the body, hut that shall
enshrine the highest aspirations of the
spirit. This IL what we should have
tnught and must teach our children and
that we must retench ourselves.
Another cause of our confusion Is the
literature that some Of us are reading
and the plays that some Of us are see
ing and the motion pictures that some
of us are witnessing. When ! see some
of these plays, as i must; when i
read some of these novels. as l am CON-
PEELED to do. do not wonder that many
Of ms are losing our sense of direction
in the moral life. These novels and
plays make me feel ms IL were sitting
In n room slowly filling mp with deadly
vapors and poisonous gases. Something
should le done to save us from COM
plete moral anaesthesia. But the solu-
tion IL not. / believe, In censorship. as
some propose. Freedom of the press
IL too precious possession to sur
render; 1t liz nm essential instrument of
democracy and social advance. MiltOn's
great defense is still valid. ! do not
believe in censorship, hut l do believe
In fumigation. and the place to begin
the fumigating process IN In our own
home.
she had just finished novel that she
would under no circumstances allow
her daughter to touch. ! think 1t was
called white Cows" or Red Heif
crs," or perhaps some other animal OF
some other color. l inquired why she
would not allow her daughter to touch
this book. 1T IL the worst book
have ever read" Is 1t necessary for
you to read the worst book you have
ever read? Or to see the worst play
you have ever seen? II we preserve
ourselves from pollution there Is less
danger that our children will Ike con-
taminated.
Consider for moment just what Is
the trouble with our literature. The
chief trouble IL not that the authors
discuss the wrong subjects, though this
they may do ut times 1t Is that they
discuss the subjects In the wrong way.
They write in the wrong spirit: they
create the wrong .atmosphere: they ex-
crcise the wrong influence. The great
mnsters in literature do not make these
mistakes. Thackeray and George Eliot
both describe states Of society. In LOn-
don or in Florence. that are evil and
corrupt, but they do It In such a way
that they make us feel the wickedness
of the conditions Of which they speak.
Dante and Robert Browning both write
OF the complexities that develop now
and then In married life. But in the
Divine Comedy we feel the poets hat
red OF wrong. his everlasting love of
right. his unabatnble belief that sin
can bOnst no Immunity. In the Ring
and the Book. ''the story of the Roman
murder case." of Guido with his twitch-
ing brow and wincing lip, Of Caponsac-
CHI the warrior priest, the soldier saint
Of POmpiIia. the rose gathered from
the breast of GOd-in this poem we
have not only BrOwning's poetic master
piece. but his supreme message upon
the reality OF the moral life. Eschylus,
Shakespeare, Goethe. NIL portray de-
ception md infidelity; but they never
fail to lift us to the heights. The
fall of Faust is tragedy indeed; but
the greater tragedy, the one that bows
our head In sorrow, that fills our heart
with tears that purges and purffies.
Is the cruel, cunning. mephistophelian
betrayal and destruction of Marguerite.
This Is the trouble with most Of our
writer's today, nOvelists, poets. dra-
matists. They lack the ethical pas
sion they do not exalt and cnnOble life.
Those who have studied the develop
ment of our religion know that the ideal
Of holiness does not appear as matter
of chance. 1t arises out of the soul of
Israel rs n flaming protest against the
corruption that desecrated the. affairs
of other religions, and that from time
to time invaded the sanctuary even
of our own people. 1t is not our part
to initiate the corrupt customs of the
nations among whom we dwell. 1t is
for us to rededicate ourselves, as have