The Professor.—"That is all very well, and very well put from your standpoint in regard to man's work in the world, but possibly there is another standpoint from which the matter may be viewed."
Mr. Knowlton.—"And perhaps the very discontent which you fear, Doctor, would be just what is needed to lift the masses from their present almost hopeless condition. The discontent from which they suffer now will never cease through mere material means or scientific education, or the making and enforcing of new laws."
The Professor.—"They don't know the cause of their discontent. They think that if they could have money and material comforts they would be happy, but we know very well that these things do not bring happiness. It is the insanity of the age, this pursuit of the phantom of material prosperity, it is this that breeds all the selfishness, all the greed and lust of possession. By regarding physical life as all important, humanity has got off the track, has lost the way that leads to happiness. Material happiness, physical existence, as an end, is a veritable bottomless pit—the more it is sacrificed to, the more insatiable it becomes, the more it demands. The physical life and physical needs must not be neglected, but so long as these are regarded as an end and their gratification as the summum bonum, just so long will ever new needs arise, new forms of poverty, new distress."
Dr. Roberts.—"Professor, you startle me! I hardly know what to say. I cannot conceive how social reform can take place on any other lines than the material."
The Professor.—"It certainly requires courage, it requires first of all philosophy as a basis, to deliberately turn around and put physical existence and material comfort in a secondary place while aiming to develop man's inner faculties. Yet I maintain that this is the only way to bring hope and happiness to humanity. It will, as you say, make them discontented with their lot, but this will be but temporary. It will open for them a door to a higher life which alone through its reaction on the collective mind of humanity will make possible and bring about that active brotherliness which will ultimately remove poverty and distress wherever found."
Mr. Knowlton.—"Isn't it a law of Nature that the problems of one plane can ultimately only be solved by rising to the next higher plane? And it seems to me that this is one of Nature's methods in evolution, to create discontent with the lower by awakening that which is higher, thus creating a craving for the higher and a consequent output of energy to attain it."
The Professor.—"And, it should be added, ultimately making the lower of greater service and a more useful instrument."
Dr. Roberts.—"Granting all this for the sake of argument, how will you proceed to bring it about, for as I have said, this artistic appreciation is more a matter of the imagination than anything else and applies to a realm of which there is, so far as I know, no scientific knowledge and concerning which, consequently, there will be as many opinions and methods of procedure as there are teachers? Look for instance, at the many methods of voice training and all the schools of Art. Where is there any recognized starting point?"
The Professor.—"These are all very pertinent questions, Doctor. But before discussing them let me refer to your remark about imagination. Isn't it worth while to cultivate the imagination? Where would have been all the great discoveries in Science had not our scientific men used their imaginations? The pity is that there has been no training of this faculty, it is almost a terra incognita. But to come to your questions proper. How shall we proceed to awaken and train the love of the beautiful that it may work this miracle of regenerating the human race, for such I believe it will accomplish."
Dr. Roberts.—"One moment, Professor, let me interrupt you here. A little time ago we spoke of the lack of true appreciation of art among many of the so-called patrons of art, but surely that must to some extent be passing away, for nearly all the wealthy and even those of moderate means provide that their children shall have some education in art or music. Even in the public schools an important feature is made of drawing and class singing. Surely all this ought to bring about what you desire if your theory is correct, but for my part I cannot see that it will cause any appreciable change, or in any great degree affect the condition of the masses. I simply wanted to say this before you go further, in order that we might not overlook what is already being done and because I think this supports my position that art and music are all very well for recreation and pleasure but that the main thing to help the people is along what I call practical, material and scientific lines. Only in this way can they be fitted for their work in the world."