"But I hate music!" you say. My dear sir, I respect you.
What applies to music applies to the other arts. I might mention
Mr. Clermont Witt's "How to Look at Pictures," or Mr. Russell
Sturgis's "How to Judge Architecture," as beginnings (merely
beginnings) of systematic vitalising knowledge in other arts, the
materials for whose study abound in London.
"I hate all the arts!" you say. My dear sir, I respect you more and
more.
I will deal with your case next, before coming to literature.
X
NOTHING IN LIFE IS HUMDRUM
Art is a great thing. But it is not the greatest. The most
important of all perceptions is the continual perception of cause
and effect--in other words, the perception of the continuous
development of the universe--in still other words, the perception of
the course of evolution. When one has thoroughly got imbued into
one's head the leading truth that nothing happens without a cause,
one grows not only large-minded, but large-hearted.
It is hard to have one's watch stolen, but one reflects that the
thief of the watch became a thief from causes of heredity and
environment which are as interesting as they are scientifically
comprehensible; and one buys another watch, if not with joy, at any
rate with a philosophy that makes bitterness impossible.
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