Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1960-02-07
SPIRES OF THE SPIRIT
Living in the Basement

Gays thinking. mat SOphlS-
try is that the chief objective
is to furnish all people with
an escape from misery. This
false assumption is that if
you can but bring all men
comfort every problem which
vexes humanity will be
solved.
OF course. it Is true, as
Shylock said, We all have
"eyes, hands, organs, dimen-
sions. senses, affections and
passions. If you prick us we
bleed. If you tickle us we
laugh. If you poison us we
die"-and so on. All that is
as old as Shakespeare and as
new as this weeks Saturday
Evening Post. Every human
being does have wants and
needs. There is the desper-
ate necessity for food, cloth
ing, shelter and medical care.
A welfare state" is keenly
aware Of all that. But one
OF the most profound thinkers
and doors of the goth CEN
tury, Rufus Jones, whose
heart was moved with COM
passion at all human suffer-
ing, declared that the mean
ing of what is usually put in
the category of desperate
need is only to build the
foundation of a more abun-
dant life. He insists: These
are only the basement of real
living. We want a democracy
that is supremely concerned
with the development Of per-
sonality and with the spirit
ual organization of society"
He is pointing there to rooms
built above the basement.
Without that conception Of
life all that We may build for
mankind is but a cleaner sly
and a more amply filled
trough where will be heard
but satiated and satisfied
grunts.
The basement of life is a
long way from the spires of
the spirit. The temple of
abundant living which rises
above the basement is a
sanctuary where the real
values OF life are to be found
in all their uplifting beauty
and glory. 1t is these values
alone that give an inner
meaning to life and make all
the welfare" worth while
Without the preservation and
cultivation Of values which
grow out of mans kinship
with the eternal. life be-
comes a dissertation rather
than a conservation.
In these days of chaos
and catastrophe we are
reaping the bitter harvest
OF a vicious philosophy
whose chief objective seems
to be to make life easier in
stead Of stronger. The mania
for comfort, security and
safety first" has resulted in
a terrible slump in moral
standards and values. OF
course, no good American
would go as far as Lenin in
declaring that for "the
cause" it is permissible to
lie and cheat and steal and
kill-thus entirely disre-
garding what had been con-
sidered by the effete West as
moral standards. Oh, no.!
That, of course, is lust a
horrible Soviet perversion.
But without announcing it
and, perhaps. while still
prating the watchwordS of
Christian civilization there
are millions in. this sweet
land Of liberty" who prac-
tically accept Lenin's die
tum and are conducting the
business of their lives in the
basement. That is where
they really live. 1t is true of
large areas of our society as
Edmund Burke said it was
of his time, following the
French Revolution: Gone is
that sensibility of principle,
tn at chastity of honor
which felt a stain like a
wound"
What, alas, may be called
the discarded virtues in the
present glittering American
scene are spoken of with
nostalgia reverence and with
a sense of irreparable loss
in current magazines by the
well-known writer. Dorothy