Article September 3, 1910 Issue

WHERE ARE THE BEAUTIFUL AND GOOD?

EZRA W. PALMER.

THERE is a tradition that the philosopher Socrates once met the youth Xenophon, afterward so famous through his "Anabasis." The philosopher, barring the way with his leveled staff, began to ask him questions where this or that commodity could be bought. The boy answered readily. Finally the sage inquired, "Where can the beautiful and good be found?" To this the youth shook his head in perplexity.

Does not the failure of the youthful Xenophon to make satisfactory reply, illustrate a common failing of mankind? Men take keen interest in material things, frequently to the exclusion of spiritual verities which are vital to their highest welfare. Doubtless, had the youth been questioned further, he would have admitted that the gaining of right ideas of the beautiful and good was the most desirable possession a man could acquire, and yet he would have then been compelled to admit that most men, blinded by the illusion of material sense, are perplexed and confused when called upon to decide questions which concern their true spiritual being.

Happily for mankind, the question of Socrates as to where the beautiful and good are to be found can be answered more readily in our day than in the time of the Athenian philosopher. Socrates had an understanding of reality far beyond the period in which he lived, but even his vision was not sufficiently clear to comprehend in any marked degree so important a problem. So, although Xenophon became his disciple, it is not apparent that the young man received such illumination as would change his thought from a material to a spiritual basis.

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WHERE ARE THE BEAUTIFUL AND GOOD?

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