The Mystic Will | Page 5

this, is it not clear that Art and Romance, Poetry and
Literature, as hitherto understood or felt, are either to utterly vanish
before the stupendous advances of science, or what is perhaps more
probable, will, coalescing with it, take new forms, based on a general
familiarity with all the old schools or types? A few years ago it seemed,
as regarded all æsthetic creation, that man had exhausted the old
models, and knew not where to look for new. Now the aim of Art is to
interest or please, by gratifying the sense or taste for the beautiful or
human genius in making; also to instruct and refine; and it is evident
that Science is going to fulfill all these conditions on such a grand scale
in so many new ways, that, when man shall be once engaged in them,
all that once gratified him in the past will seem as childish things, to be
put away before pursuits more worthy of manly dignity. If Art in all
forms has of late been quiet, it has been because it has drawn back like
the tiger in order to make the greater bound.
One of the causes why some are laying aside all old spiritualism,
romance and sentiment, is that their realisation takes up too much time,
and Science, which is the soul of business, seeks in all things brevity
and directness. It is probable that the phrase, "but to the point," has
been oftener repeated during the past few years, than it ever was before,
since Time begun, of which directness I shall have more to say anon.
And this is the end to which these remarks on the fin-de-siècle were
written, to lay stress upon the fact that with the year Nineteen Hundred
we shall begin a century during which civilized mankind will attain its
majority and become manly, doing that which is right as a man should,
because it is right and for no other reason, and shunning wrong for as
good cause. For while man is a child he behaves well, or misbehaves,
for reasons such as the fear of punishment or hope of reward, but in a
manly code no reasons are necessary but only a persuasion or
conviction that anything is right or wrong, and a principle which is as
the earth unto a seed.

For as the world is going on, or getting to be, it is very evident that as it
is popularly said, "he who will tell a lie will generally not hesitate to
commit perjury," so he who cannot be really honest, per se, without
being sustained by principle based only on tradition and the opinion of
others, is a poor creature, whose morality or honesty is in fact merely
theatrical, or acted, to satisfy certain conditions or exigencies from
which he were better freed.
This spirit of scientific directness, and economy of thought and trouble
by making the principle of integrity the basis of all forms, and cutting
all ethical theories down to "be good because you ought," is rapidly
astonishing us with another marvellous fact which it illustrates, namely,
that as in this axiom--as in man himself-- there are latent undiscovered
powers, so in a thousand other sayings, or things known to us all, used
by us all, and regarded as common-place, there are astounding
novelties and capacities as yet undreamed of. For, as very few moralists
ever understood in full what is meant by the very much worn or
hackneyed saying, "we ought to do what is right," so the world at large
little suspects that such very desirable qualities as Attention, Interest,
Memory and Ingenuity, have that within them which renders them far
more attainable by man than has ever been supposed. Even the great
problem of Happiness itself, as really being only one of a relative state
of mind, may be solved or reached by some far simpler or more direct
method than any thinker has ever suggested.
It all depends on exertion of the Will. There are in this world a certain
number of advanced thinkers who, if they knew how to develope the
Will which exists in them, could bring this reform to pass in an
incredibly short time. That is to say, they could place the doctrine or
religion of Honesty for its own sake so boldly and convincingly before
the world that its future would be assured. Now the man who can
develope his will, has it in his power not only to control his moral
nature to any extent, but also to call into action or realize very
extraordinary states of mind, that is, faculties, talents or abilities which
he has never suspected to be within his reach. It is a stupendous thought;
yes, one so great that from the beginning of