The Orpheus Series No. 1
THE
HERO IN MAN
BY
A. E.
[Transcriber's note: "A.E." is a pseudonym of George William Russell]
The Orpheus Press, 1910
First Edition (1,000 copies), May, 1909.
Second Edition (1,000 copies), September, 1910.
[Greek: lampadia echontes diadôsousin allêlois.]—PLATO.
We who live in the great cities could not altogether avoid, even if wewould, a certain association with the interests of our time. Whereverwe go the minds of men are feverishly debating some new politicalmeasure or some new scheme for the reconstruction of society. Now, asin olden times, the rumours of an impending war will engulf the subtlerinterests of men, and unless we are willing to forego all intercoursewe find ourselves involved in a hundred sympathies. A friendly groupwill gather one evening and open their thoughts concerning theexperiences of the soul; they will often declare that only thesematters are of profound interest, and yet on the morrow the most ofthem regard the enthusiasms of the mind as far away, unpractical, notof immediate account. But even at noon the stars are above us andbecause a man in material difficulties cannot evoke the highestexperiences that he has known they have not become less real. Theypertain to his immortal nature and if in the circumstance of life heloses memory of them it is because he is likewise mortal. In themeasure that we develop our interior selves philosophy becomes the mostpermanent of our interests and it may well be that the whole aim of Manis to acquire an unbroken and ever-broadening realisation of theSupreme Spirit so that in a far-off day he may become the master of allimaginable conditions. He, therefore, who brings us back to ourcentral selves and shows us that however far we may wander it is thesehigh thoughts which are truly the most real—he is of all men ourgreatest benefactor.
Now those who thus care for the spiritual aspect of life are of twokinds,—the intellectual and the imaginative. There are men of keenintellect who comprehend some philosophic system, who will defend itwith elaborate reasonings and proclaim themselves its adherents, butthe earth at their feet, the stars in the firmament, man himself andtheir own souls have undergone no transfiguration. Their philosophiesare lifeless, for imagination is to the intellect what breath is to thebody. Thoughts that never glow with imagination, that are neverapplied to all that the sense perceives or the mind remembers—thoughtsthat remain quite abstract, are as empty husks of no value.
But there are those who have studied by the light of imagination andthese know well that the inner life of thought, of experiment, and ofwonder, though it may often be over-clouded, is the only life which canhenceforth give them content. They know that it was not when they weremost immersed in the affairs of the day but rather when the whole worldappeared for a little while to be pulsating with an almostuncontainable splendour, that they were most alive. For the best moodwe have ever known, though it be lost for long, is yet the clearestrevelation of our true selves, and it is then that we learn most nearlywhat marvels life may hold.
If we read with imagination the Dialogues of Plato we dwell for a whileamong those ardent Gre