Funny How The World Always Praises Its

There Are Two Insults Which No Human Being Will Endure: The Assertion That He Hasn't A Sense Of Humor, And The Doubly Impertinent Assertion That He Has Never Known Trouble.

Upon This Theology He Rarely Pondered. The Kernel Of His Practical Religion Was That It Was Respectable, And Beneficial To One's Business, To Be Seen Going To Services; That The Church Kept The Worst Elements From Being Still Worse; And That The Pastor's Sermons, However Dull They Might Seem At The Time Of Taking, Yet Had A Voodooistic Power Which 'did A Fellow Good-- Kept Him In Touch With Higher Things.

Think How Much Better It Is To Criticize Conventional Customs If You Yourself Live Up To Them, Scrupulously.

A Village In A Country Which Is Taking Pains To Become Altogether Standardized And Pure, Which Aspires To Succeed Victorian England As The Chief Mediocrity Of The World, Is No Longer Merely Provincial, No Longer Downy And Restful In Its Leaf-shadowed Ignorance. It Is A Force Seeking To Conquer The Earth. Sure Of Itself, It Bullies Other Civilizations, As A Traveling Salesman In A Brown Derby Conquers The Wisdom Of China And Tacks Advertisements Of Cigarettes Over Arches For Centuries Dedicated To The Sayings Of Confucius.

I Think Perhaps We Want A More Conscious Life. We're Tired Of Drudging And Sleeping And Dying. We're Tired Of Seeing Just A Few People Able To Be Individualists. We're Tired Of Always Deferring Hope Till The Next Generation. We're Tired Of Hearing Politicians And Priests And Cautious Reformers... Coax Us, 'be Calm! Be Patient! Wait! We Have The Plans For A Utopia Already Made; Just Wiser Than You.' For Ten Thousand Years They've Said That. We Want Our Utopia Now — And We're Going To Try Our Hands At It.