OF THE FALSE IDEAL:—FIRST, RELIGIOUS.
§ 1. Having now gained some general notion of the meaning of "great art," we may, without risk of confusing ourselves, take up the questions suggested incidentally in the preceding chapter, and pursue them at leisure. Of these, two principal ones are closely connected with each other, to wit, that put in the 12th paragraph—How may beauty be sought in defiance of truth? and that in the 23rd paragraph—How does the imagination show itself in dealing with truth? These two, therefore, which are, besides, the most important of all, and, if well answered, will answer many others inclusively, we shall find it most convenient to deal with at once.
§ 2. The pursuit, by the imagination, of beautiful and strange thoughts or subjects, to the exclusion of painful or common ones, is called among us, in these modern days, the pursuit of "the ideal;" nor does any subject deserve more attentive examination than the manner in which this pursuit is entered upon by the modern mind. The reader must pardon me for making in the outset one or two statements which may appear to him somewhat wide of the matter, but which, (if he admits their truth,) he will, I think, presently perceive to reach to the root of it. Namely,
That men's proper business in this world falls mainly into three divisions:
First, to know themselves, and the existing state of the things they have to do with.
Secondly, to be happy in themselves, and in the existing state of things.
Thirdly, to mend themselves, and the existing state of things, as far as either are marred or mendable.
These, I say, are the three plain divisions of proper human business on this earth. For these three, the following are usually substituted and adopted by human creatures:
First, to be totally ignorant of themselves, and the existing state of things.
"Secondly, to be miserable in themselves, and in the existing state of things.