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018 - Of the Mystery of Life Part 3 · Sesame and Lilies

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  Speaker 1: Section eighteen of Sesame and Lilies Revised and enlarged edition
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  Speaker 1: by John Ruskin. This LibriVox recording is in the public
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  Speaker 1: domain recording by Oxen Handler of the Mystery of Life
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  Speaker 1: and Its Arts, Part three. But what then, is the
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  Speaker 1: message to us of our own poet and searcher of hearts?
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  Speaker 1: After fifteen hundred years of Christian faith have been numbered
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  Speaker 1: over the graves of men? Are his words more cheerful
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  Speaker 1: than the Heathens? Is his hope more near, his trust,
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  Speaker 1: more sure, his reading of fate more happy? Ah? No,
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  Speaker 1: He differs from the Heathen poet chiefly in this that
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  Speaker 1: he recognizes for deliverance no gods nigh at hand, and
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  Speaker 1: that by petty chance, by momentary folly, by broken message,
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  Speaker 1: by fool's tyranny, or traitors snare the strongest and most
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  Speaker 1: righteous are brought to their ruin and perish without words
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  Speaker 1: of hope. He, indeed, as part of his rendering of character,
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  Speaker 1: ascribes the power and modesty of habitual devotion to the
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  Speaker 1: gentle and the just. The death bed of Catharine is
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  Speaker 1: bright with vision of angels, and the great soldier King,
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  Speaker 1: standing by his few dead, acknowledges the presence of the
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  Speaker 1: hand that can save alike by many or by few.
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  Speaker 1: But observe that from those who with deepest spirit meditate
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  Speaker 1: and with deepest passion mourn, there are no such words
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  Speaker 1: as these, nor in their hearts are any such consolations.
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  Speaker 1: Instead of the perpetual sense of the helpful presence of
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  Speaker 1: the Deity, which through all heath and tradition is the
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  Speaker 1: source of heroic strength in battle, in exile, and in
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  Speaker 1: the valley of the shadow of death, we find only
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  Speaker 1: in the great Christian poet the consciousness of a moral
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  Speaker 1: law through which the gods are just, and of our
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  Speaker 1: pleasant vices make instruments to scourge us, and of the
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  Speaker 1: resolved arbitration of the death destinies that conclude into precision
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  Speaker 1: of doom what we feebly and blindly began, and force
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  Speaker 1: us when our indiscretion serves us and our deepest plots
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  Speaker 1: do Paul to the confession that there's a divinity that
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  Speaker 1: shapes our ends, rough hew them how we will. Is
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  Speaker 1: not this a mystery of life? Be it so? Then?
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  Speaker 1: About this human life that is to be, or that
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  Speaker 1: is the wise religious men tell us nothing that we
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  Speaker 1: can trust, and the wise contemplative men nothing that can
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  Speaker 1: give us peace. But there is yet a third class
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  Speaker 1: to whom we may turn, the wise, practical men. We
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  Speaker 1: have sat at the feet of the poets who sang
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  Speaker 1: of heaven, and they have told us their dreams. We
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  Speaker 1: have listened to the poets who sang of earth, and
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  Speaker 1: they have chanted to us dirges and words of despair.
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  Speaker 1: But there is one class of men, more men not
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  Speaker 1: capable of vision, not sensitive to sorrow, but firm of purpose,
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  Speaker 1: practiced in business, learned in all that can be by handling,
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  Speaker 1: known men whose hearts and hopes are wholly in this
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  Speaker 1: present world, from whom therefore we may surely learn at
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  Speaker 1: least how, at present conveniently to live in it. What
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  Speaker 1: will they say to us, or show us by example,
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  Speaker 1: These kings, these counselors, these statesmen and builders of kingdoms,
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  Speaker 1: these capitalists and men of business, who weigh the earth
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  Speaker 1: and the dust of it in a balance. They know
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  Speaker 1: the world surely, And what is the mystery of life
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  Speaker 1: to us is none to them. They can surely show
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  Speaker 1: us how to live while we live, and to gather
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  Speaker 1: out of the present world. What is best? I think
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  Speaker 1: I can best tell you their answer by telling you
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  Speaker 1: a dream I had once, for though I am no poet,
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  Speaker 1: I have dreams. Sometimes I dreamed I was at a
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  Speaker 1: child's May Day party, in which every means of entertainment
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  Speaker 1: had been provided for them by a wise and kind host.
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  Speaker 1: It was in a stately house with beautiful gardens attached
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  Speaker 1: to it, and the children had been set free in
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  Speaker 1: the rooms and gardens with no care whatever but how
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  Speaker 1: to pass their afternoon rejoicingly. They did not indeed know
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  Speaker 1: much about what was to happen next day, and some
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  Speaker 1: of them, I thought, were a little frightened because there
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  Speaker 1: was a chance of their being sent to a new
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  Speaker 1: school where there were examinations. But they kept the thoughts
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  Speaker 1: of that out of their heads as well as they could,
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  Speaker 1: and resolved to enjoy themselves. The house, I said, was
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  Speaker 1: in a beautiful garden, and in the garden were all
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  Speaker 1: kinds of flowers, sweet grassy banks for rest, and smooth
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  Speaker 1: lawns for play, and pleasant streams and woods and rocky
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  Speaker 1: places for climbing. And the children were happy for a
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  Speaker 1: little while, But presently they separated themselves into parties. And
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  Speaker 1: then each party declared it would have a piece of
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  Speaker 1: the garden for its own, and that none of the
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  Speaker 1: others should have anything to do with that piece. Next
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  Speaker 1: they quarreled violently which pieces they would have, and at
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  Speaker 1: last the boys took up the thing, as boys should
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  Speaker 1: do practically, and fought in the flower beds till there
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  Speaker 1: was hardly a flower left standing. Then they trampled down
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  Speaker 1: each other's bits of the garden out of spite, and
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  Speaker 1: the girls cried till they could cry no more. And
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  Speaker 1: so they all lay down at last, breathless, in the ruin,
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  Speaker 1: and waited for the time when they were to be
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  Speaker 1: taken home in the evening. Footnote. I have sometimes been
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  Speaker 1: asked what this means. I intended it to set forth
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  Speaker 1: the wisdom of men in war, contending for kingdoms, and
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  Speaker 1: what follows, to set forth their wisdom in peace, contending
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  Speaker 1: for wealth and a footnote. Meanwhile, the children in the
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  Speaker 1: house had been making themselves happy, also in their manner.
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  Speaker 1: For them there had been provided every kind of indoors pleasure.
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  Speaker 1: There was music for them to dance to, and the
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  Speaker 1: library was open with all manner of amusing books, and
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  Speaker 1: there was a museum full of the most curious shells
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  Speaker 1: and animals and birds. And there was a workshop with
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  Speaker 1: lathes and carpenter's tools for the ingenious boys, and there
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  Speaker 1: were pretty fantastic dresses for the girls to dress in,
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  Speaker 1: and there were microscopes and kaleidoscopes and whatever toys a
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  Speaker 1: child could fancy, and a table in the dining room
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  Speaker 1: loaded with everything nice to eat. But in the midst
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  Speaker 1: of all this it struck two or three of the
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  Speaker 1: more practical children that they would like some of the
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  Speaker 1: brass headed nails that studded the chairs, and so they
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  Speaker 1: set to work to pull them out. Presently, the others,
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  Speaker 1: who were reading or looking at shells, took a fancy
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  Speaker 1: to do the like, and in a little while all
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  Speaker 1: the children nearly were spraining their fingers and pulling out
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  Speaker 1: brass headed nails. With all that they could pull out,
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  Speaker 1: they were not satisfied, and then everybody wanted some of
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  Speaker 1: somebody else's. And at last the really practical and sensible
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  Speaker 1: ones declared that nothing was of any real consequence that
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  Speaker 1: afternoon except to get plenty of brass headed nails, and
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  Speaker 1: that the books and the cakes and the microscopes were
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  Speaker 1: of no use at all in themselves, but only if
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  Speaker 1: they could be exchanged for nail heads. And at last
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  Speaker 1: they began to fight for nail heads, as the others
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  Speaker 1: fought for the bits of garden. Only here and there,
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  Speaker 1: a despised one shrank away into a corner and tried
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  Speaker 1: to get a little quiet with a book in the
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  Speaker 1: midst of the noise. But all the practical ones thought
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  Speaker 1: of nothing else but counting nail heads all the afternoon,
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  Speaker 1: even though they knew they would not be allowed to
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  Speaker 1: carry so much as one brass knob away with them.
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  Speaker 1: But no, it was who has most nails? I have
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  Speaker 1: a hundred and you have fifty, or I have a
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  Speaker 1: thousand and you have two. I must have as many
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  Speaker 1: as you before I leave the house, or I cannot
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  Speaker 1: possibly go home in peace. At last, they made so
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  Speaker 1: much noise that I awoke and thought to myself, what
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  Speaker 1: a false dream that is of children? The child is
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  Speaker 1: the father of the man, and wiser children. Such foolish
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  Speaker 1: things only men do. But there is yet one last
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  Speaker 1: class of persons to be interrogated. The wise religious men
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  Speaker 1: we have asked in vain, the wise contemplative men in vain,
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  Speaker 1: the wise worldly men in vain. But there is another
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  Speaker 1: group yet, in the midst of this vanity of empty religion,
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  Speaker 1: of tragic contemplation of wrathful and wretched ambition and dispute
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  Speaker 1: for dust. There is yet one great group of persons
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  Speaker 1: by whom all these disputers live, the persons who have determined,
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  Speaker 1: or have had it by a beneficent providence determined for them,
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  Speaker 1: that they will do something useful, that whatever may be
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  Speaker 1: prepared for them hereafter, or happen to them here, they
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  Speaker 1: will at least deserve the food that God gives them
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  Speaker 1: by winning it honorably, And that, however fallen from the
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  Speaker 1: purity or far from the peace of Eden, they will
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  Speaker 1: carry out the duty of human dominion though they have
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  Speaker 1: lost its felicity, and dress and keep the wilderness, though
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  Speaker 1: they no more can dress or keep the garden. These
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  Speaker 1: shoeers of wood and drawers of water, These bent under
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  Speaker 1: burdens or torn of scourges, These that dig and weave,
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  Speaker 1: that plant and build, workers in wood and in marble,
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  Speaker 1: and in iron, by whom all food, clothing, habitation, furniture,
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  Speaker 1: and means of delight are produced for themselves and for
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  Speaker 1: all men. Beside, men whose deeds are good, though their
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  Speaker 1: words may be few, men whose lives are serviceable, be
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  Speaker 1: they never so short and worthy of honor, be they
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  Speaker 1: never so humble. From these, surely at least we may
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  Speaker 1: receive some clear message of teaching, and pierce for an
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  Speaker 1: instant into the mystery of life and its arts. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: from these, at last we do receive a lesson. But
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  Speaker 1: I grieve to say, or rather, for that is the
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  Speaker 1: deeper truth of the matter. I rejoice to say this
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  Speaker 1: may message of theirs can only be received by joining them,
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  Speaker 1: not by thinking about them. You send for me to
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  Speaker 1: talk to you of art, and I have obeyed you
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  Speaker 1: in coming. But the main thing I have to tell
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  Speaker 1: you is that art must not be talked about. The
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  Speaker 1: fact that there is talk about it at all signifies
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  Speaker 1: that it is ill done or cannot be done. No
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  Speaker 1: true painter ever speaks, or ever has spoken much of
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  Speaker 1: his art. The greatest speak nothing. Even Reynolds is no exception,
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  Speaker 1: for he wrote of all that he could not himself do,
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  Speaker 1: and was utterly silent respecting all that he himself did.
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  Speaker 1: The moment a man can really do his work, he
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  Speaker 1: becomes speechless about it. All words become idle to him,
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  Speaker 1: all theories. Does a bird need to theorize about building
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  Speaker 1: its nest or boast of it when built? All good
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  Speaker 1: work is essentially done that way, without hesitation, without difficulty,
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  Speaker 1: without boasting, And in the doers of the best there
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  Speaker 1: is an inner and involuntary power which approximates literally to
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  Speaker 1: the instinct of an animal. Nay, I am certain that
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  Speaker 1: in the most perfect human artists, reason does not supersede instinct,
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  Speaker 1: but is added to an instinct as much more divine
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  Speaker 1: than that of the lower animals, as the human body
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  Speaker 1: is more beautiful than theirs. That a great singer sings
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  Speaker 1: not with less instinct than the nightingale, but with more,
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  Speaker 1: only more various, applicable, and governable. That a great architect
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  Speaker 1: does not build with less instinct than the beaver or
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  Speaker 1: the bee, but with more, with an innate cunning of
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  Speaker 1: proportion that embraces all beauty, and the divine ingenuity of
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  Speaker 1: skill that improvises all construction. But be that as it
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  Speaker 1: may be, the instinct less or more than that of
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  Speaker 1: inferior animals, like or unlike theirs, still the human art
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  Speaker 1: is dependent on that first, and then upon an amount
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  Speaker 1: of practice of science and of imagination by thought, which
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  Speaker 1: the true possessor of it knows to be incommunicable, and
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  Speaker 1: the true critic of it inexplicable except through long process
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  Speaker 1: of laborious years, that journey of life's conquest, in which
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  Speaker 1: hills over hills and alps on alps arose and sank.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think you can make another trace it painlessly
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  Speaker 1: by talking? Why you cannot even carry us up an alp?
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  Speaker 1: By talking you can guide us up it step by step?
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  Speaker 1: No otherwise, even so best silently, you girls who have
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  Speaker 1: been among the hills, know how the bad guide chatters
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  Speaker 1: and gesticulates, and it is put your foot here, and
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  Speaker 1: mind how you balance yourself there. But the good guide
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  Speaker 1: walks on quietly, without a word, only with his eyes
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  Speaker 1: on you when need is, and his arm like an
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  Speaker 1: iron bar if need be. In that slow way, also
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  Speaker 1: art can be taught. If you have faith in your guide,
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  Speaker 1: then will let his arm be to you as an
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  Speaker 1: iron bar when need is. But in what teacher of
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  Speaker 1: art have you such faith? Certainly not in me, For
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  Speaker 1: as I told you at first, I know well enough,
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  Speaker 1: it is only because you think I can talk, not
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  Speaker 1: because you think I know my business, that you let
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  Speaker 1: me speak to you at all. If I were to
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  Speaker 1: tell you anything that seemed to you strange, you would
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  Speaker 1: not believe it, And yet it would only be in
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  Speaker 1: telling you strange things that I could be of use
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  Speaker 1: to you. I could be of great use to you,
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  Speaker 1: infinite use, with brief saying if you would believe it.
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  Speaker 1: But you would not, just because the thing that would
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  Speaker 1: be of real use would displease you. You are all wild.
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  Speaker 1: For instance, with admiration of Gustave dorray Well, suppose I
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  Speaker 1: were to tell you, in the strongest terms I could
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  Speaker 1: use that Gustave Dorey's art was bad, bad, not in weakness,
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  Speaker 1: not in failure, but bad with dreadful power, the power
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  Speaker 1: of the furies and the harpies, mingled and raging and polluting,
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  Speaker 1: that so long as you looked at it, no perception
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  Speaker 1: of pure or beautiful art was possible for you. Suppose
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  Speaker 1: I were to tell you that, what would be the
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  Speaker 1: use would you look at Gustav d'orray less rather more?
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  Speaker 1: I fancy, on the other hand, I could soon put
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  Speaker 1: you into good humor with me, if I chose I
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  Speaker 1: know well enough what you like and how to praise
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  Speaker 1: it to your better liking. I could talk to you
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  Speaker 1: about moonlight and twilight, and spring flowers and autumn leaves,
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  Speaker 1: and the madonnas of Raphael, how motherly, and the sibyls
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  Speaker 1: of Michelangelo, how majestic, and the saints of Angelico, how pious,
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  Speaker 1: and the cherubs of Corregio, how delicious. Old as I am,
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  Speaker 1: I could play you a tune on the harp, yet
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  Speaker 1: that you would dance to. But neither you nor I
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  Speaker 1: should be a bit the better or wiser, or if
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  Speaker 1: we were, our increased wisdom could be of no practical effect.
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  Speaker 1: For indeed, the arts, as regards teachableness, differ from the sciences,
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  Speaker 1: also in this that their power is founded not merely
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  Speaker 1: on facts which can be communicated, but on dispositions which
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  Speaker 1: require to be created. Art is neither to be achieved
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  Speaker 1: by effort of thinking nor explained by accuracy of speaking.
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  Speaker 1: It is the instinctive and necessary result of powers, which
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  Speaker 1: can only be developed through the mind of successive generations,
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  Speaker 1: and which finally burst into life under social conditions as
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  Speaker 1: slow of growth as the faculties that regulate whole areas
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  Speaker 1: of mighty history are summed, and the passions of dead
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  Speaker 1: myriads are concentrated in the existence of a noble art.
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  Speaker 1: And if that noble art were among us, we should
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  Speaker 1: feel it and rejoice, not caring in the least to
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  Speaker 1: hear lectures on it. And since it is not among us,
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  Speaker 1: be assured. We have to go back to the root
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  Speaker 1: of it, or at least east, to the place where
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  Speaker 1: the stalk of it is yet alive and the branches
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  Speaker 1: begin to die. End of Section eighteen.