That desire,strangely enough,hasn't lost its strength.We don't know whether there is a future life,but if there is,I think it must be a continuation of this."He paused."I told you I was glad you came in--I've been thinking of you,and I saw you in the hall last night.You ask what there is for you--I'll tell you,--the new generation.""The new generation.""That's the task of every man and woman who wakes up.I've come to see how little can be done for the great majority of those who have reached our age.It's hard--but it's true.Superstition,sentiment,the habit of wrong thinking or of not thinking at all have struck in too deep,the habit of unreasoning acceptance of authority is too paralyzing.Some may be stung back into life,spurred on to find out what the world really is,but not many.The hope lies in those who are coming after us--we must do for them what wasn't done for us.We really didn't have much of a chance,Paret.What did our instructors at Harvard know about the age that was dawning?what did anybody know?You can educate yourself--or rather reeducate yourself.All this"--and he waved his hand towards his bookshelves--"all this has sprung up since you and I were at Cambridge;if we don't try to become familiar with it,if we fail to grasp the point of view from which it's written,there's little hope for us.Go away from all this and get straightened out,make yourself acquainted with the modern trend in literature and criticism,with modern history,find out what's being done in the field of education,read the modern sciences,especially biology,and psychology and sociology,and try to get a glimpse of the fundamental human needs underlying such phenomena as the labour and woman's movements.God knows I've just begun to get my glimpse,and I've floundered around ever since I left college....Idon't mean to say we can ever see the whole,but we can get a clew,an idea,and pass it on to our children.You have children,haven't you?""Yes,"I said....
He said nothing--he seemed to be looking out of the window.
"Then the scientific point of view in your opinion hasn't done away with religion?"I asked presently.
"The scientific point of view is the religious point of view,"he said earnestly,"because it's the only self-respecting point of view.I can't believe that God intended to make a creature who would not ultimately weigh his beliefs with his reason instead of accepting them blindly.
That's immoral,if you like--especially in these days.""And are there,then,no 'over-beliefs'?"I said,remembering the expression in something I had read.
"That seems to me a relic of the method of ancient science,which was upside down,--a mere confusion with faith.Faith and belief are two different things;faith is the emotion,the steam,if you like,that drives us on in our search for truth.Theories,at a stretch,might be identified with 'over-beliefs'but when it comes to confusing our theories with facts,instead of recognizing them as theories,when it comes to living by 'over-beliefs'that have no basis in reason and observed facts,--that is fatal.It's just the trouble with so much of our electorate to-day--unreasoning acceptance without thought.""Then,"I said,"you admit of no other faculty than reason?""I confess that I don't.A great many insights that we seem to get from what we call intuition I think are due to the reason,which is unconsciously at work.If there were another faculty that equalled or transcended reason,it seems to me it would be a very dangerous thing for the world's progress.We'd come to rely on it rather than on ourselves the trouble with the world is that it has been relying on it.Reason is the mind--it leaps to the stars without realizing always how it gets there.It is through reason we get the self-reliance that redeems us.""But you!"I exclaimed."You rely on something else besides reason?""Yes,it is true,"he explained gently,"but that Thing Other-than-Ourselves we feel stirring in us is power,and that power,or the Source of it,seems to have given us our reason for guidance--if it were not so we shouldn't have a semblance of freedom.For there is neither virtue nor development in finding the path if we are guided.We do rely on that power for movement--and in the moments when it is withdrawn we are helpless.Both the power and the reason are God's.""But the Church,"I was moved by some untraced thought to ask,"you believe there is a future for the Church?""A church of all those who disseminate truth,foster open-mindedness,serve humanity and radiate faith,"he replied--but as though he were speaking to himself,not to me....
A few moments later there was a knock at the door,and the woman of the house entered to say that Dr.Hepburn had arrived.I rose and shook Krebs's hand:sheer inability to express my emotion drove me to commonplaces.
"I'll come in soon again,if I may,"I told him.
"Do,Paret,"he said,"it's done me good to talk to you--more good than you imagine."I was unable to answer him,but I glanced back from the doorway to see him smiling after me.On my way down the stairs I bumped into the doctor as he ascended.The dingy brown parlour was filled with men,standing in groups and talking in subdued voices.I hurried into the street,and on the sidewalk stopped face to face with Perry Blackwood.
"Hugh!"he exclaimed."What are you doing here?""I came to inquire for Krebs,"I answered."I've seen him.""You--you've been talking to him?"Perry demanded.
I nodded.He stared at me for a moment with an astonishment to which Iwas wholly indifferent.He did not seem to know just how to act.
"Well,it was decent of you,Hugh,I must say.How does he seem?""Not at all like--like what you'd expect,in his manner.""No,"agreed Perry agitatedly,"no,he wouldn't.My God,we've lost a big man in him.""I think we have,"I said.
