I Wonder; Essays for the Young People (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1920 edition. Excerpt: ...against many of our diseases. Up, up, to the sheep: our vices, our offences, are gone: the sheep is practically sinless. High above the sheep, behold the oyster: he has conquered pain, he has ascended out of the reach of all passion, all falsehood, all uncharitableness, all discord. Highest of all, strain your vision to that zenith where, at the vanishing-point of Life, is the vanishing-point of Death, and the last enemy is overcome. Ah, let me talk sense. You and I know well that I have not yet touched, nor been within a mile of touching, the true wonder of Self. All this talk about time and space, and men and mice in round rooms, has nothing to do with it. The true wonder of you and me is not an affair of logic nor of science: it is an affair of will and of conduct. Though it is wonderful, past all telling, that a man is able to distinguish red from blue, and his fingers from his toes, and to-day from to-morrow, yet the wonderfullest fact about him is, that he can distinguish I will from / will not, and right from wrong; that he possesses not only consciousness but a conscience; that he not only is here, but is here for purposes which are outside all that we usually mean by the word Nature. THE WONDER OF PAIN Fools, says Pope, rush in where angels fear to tread: but I am sure that angels rush in where fools fear to tread. There are many fools who are afraid of treading anywhere. But angels rush in, without fear, everywhere: and, the more fearsome a place looks, the more haste they make to tread it. They leave the fool outside, shuffling with embarrassment, self-conscious, half-hearted, wondering if and whether, and letting / dare not wait upon / would. For instance, when the people next-door lost their only child, there was a fool who...