Evening star., 1939-01-04
BY H. G. WELLS.
CHAPTER XIV,
Inner Life.

S41A1 A<Ats
Inner Life.
Rud's moods in those early davs
fiuctuated widely. There were those
narrow and intense moods of fear
and hatred. from which he never
freed himself. There were simply
base phases when he schemed
treacherously. There were un-
ruffled moods of lucid understand
ing, when everything in life seemed
cold and clear and plain but these
were comparatively rare. Things
he had read, things Bodisham had
argued, stray comments of Chiffan's
would flash together then into a
transparent realization. "Of course"
he would say to himself. Rare as
they were, these clairvoyant inter-
ludes supplied the living material
for most of his political utterances.
He knew their value, he listened to
himself then with a detached re-
spect, and he made the fullest use
of them.
Beneath all these again, there
were moods, more and more exalted
moods, of pure reverie. They were
no longer the objective reveries of
his boyish days, dreams of battle
and conquest. Now they were an
ticlpations of subtler and more
intimate ascendency. They were
concerned now with will power and
domination over minds. They were
pervaded by an intensifying self
appreciation. He kept them secret,
as he imagined, from every one
He would have hesitated to let any
one suspect how highly he could
think of himself. He had a power
over people. He had something
peculiarly great in himself. But
not a word about that. He had a
feeling that ultimately recognition
must come from some outside source
some one must be found to an
nounce his true quality, but until
that realization came from without
his true quality must remain secret
within himself.
Brilliant Inspiration.
In these phases of private eX-
altation, it seemed to him that his
idea of identifying himself with the
common man was one of the most
brilliant inspirations that had ever
come to mortal intelligence. It had
arisen in his mind with scarcely
any generalization. in the course
of speeches and talking. 1t had
seemed at first the merest poetry,
just new bright phrasing of the
al iv,
ocratic faith. Then he began to
realize that it penetrated to the
very core of the human situation, as
he beheld it. He was something
greater than the minds about him.
He really was greater His rev.
cries nowadays were more and
more in the fashion of imaginary
critical biography. He projected
himself outside of himself in order
to get better view of himself.
The common man emergent," )"
that was one of the phrases he
found most acceptable in those
opium dreams of his, dreams that
he needed no opium to produce. The
common man gathered together hu-
manity, purified it, rendered it. The
common man emergent became his
mystical self f-divinity.
In his private reveries the identifi-
cation of the common man with
Rud was plainly visible. And in the
undlSclosed depths of that reverie
his feeling toward every previous
exponent of the common man idea
was one of embittered rivalry. There
was no limit to his jealousy.
When some one in the group sug-
gested that the common-sense
movement was really practical
Christianity, Rud blew up and re-
vealed something of what he had
hidden away in his mind.
Begin Again on History.
"Augh!" he cried in querulous pro-
test. Clean all this past stuff off
history and begin again. If, after
Ell, we are only going back to primi-
tive Christianity, whatever it was,
che Simple teaching of Jesus and
all that (only don't believe we are
for momenD then let these Chris
tians find it out We can't 20 into
all these old disputes of theirs about
their blessed Founder, what He was
and what He wasn't, what He did
and what He didn't do, now. They
don't know themselves. He had His
chance and lost it. Well, didn't He,
breed? Very fine chap no doubt,
but His ineficiency was awful. And
the inefficiency of every one about
him. Think of the march on Jeru-
salem and compare it with the
march on Rome. Think of wander
Ing about in garden until they
came for Him He's smothered
up, they lost Him, and it's for them
to find Him again. Not us. He's
lost under 10 centuries of theological
deposits. Well isn't He? Any living
leader is worth dead one, particu-
larly dead one who wasn't prop
erly reported. What's the good of
pretending He was? What's the
good of all this smarming over what
the Christians have? They haven't
got anything clear and sound. Moth
ing at all.
IF we've got his stuff as you say
SAASAAs ~ Ap 1Cdllly IIlcy care
for and not just name, let them
fall in with us. Follow us. Wffy
not? Why should we 60 after them?
Let them sort out their Jesuses until
they've got Mr.. Right. But it isn't
His stuff they care for. They never
cared for His stuff. They care less
for His stuff than I do. I'm a bet
ter Nazarene than any Christian
alive. It's the name. What's in a
name? What is there in a name?
Will human beings never grow out
Of name magic? Christianity, if il
is all they say it is, by any other
name would smell as sweet. Modern
common sense, that's what we stand
for, and let other people make the
identif1cations.
Historical Speculation.
Maybe He was the first modern
radical. Maybe, I say. But that's
1T