And
therefore the judgment seems to depend rather upon what men desire
than upon what they effect, upon attitude rather than upon
performance. But it is all a great mystery, because no amount of
desiring seems to give us what we desire. The two plain duties are
to commit ourselves to the Power that made us, and to desire to
become what He would have us become; and one must also abstain from
any attempt to judge other people--that is the unpardonable sin.
In art, then, a man does his best if, like Goethe, he works his own
situation into art for the consolation of gods and men. His own
situation is the only thing he can come near to perceiving; and if
he draws it faithfully and beautifully, he consoles and he
encourages. That is the best and noblest thing he can do, if he can
express or depict anything which may make other men feel that they
are not alone, that others are treading the same path, in sunshine
or cloud; anything which may help others to persevere, to desire,
to perceive. The worst sorrows in life are not its losses and
misfortunes, but its fears. And when Goethe said that it was for
the consolation of gods as well as of men, he said a sublime thing,
for if we believe that God made and loved us, may we not sympathise
with Him for our blindness and hopelessness, for all the sad sense
of injustice and perplexity that we feel as we stumble on our way;
all the accusing cries, all the despairing groans? Do not such
things wound the heart of God? And if a man can be brave and
patient, and trust Him utterly, and bid others trust Him, is He not
thereby consoled?
In these dark months, in which I have suffered much, there rises at
times in my heart a strong intuition that it is not for nothing
that I suffer.
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