Editorial September 28, 1912 Issue

HEROISM AND SPIRITUAL PERCEPTION

John B. Willis

So much of history and of personal experience witnesses to the sordid commonplaceness of men, their apparently contented absorption in selfish satisfactions, that it is not difficult to account for the cynical skepticism which accepts the naturalness of the ignoble, and acts habitually on the assumption that "every man has his price." Every now and then, however, an event is recorded which, like a flash of light in the dark, unexpectedly discloses an element of greatness in some individual or group that cleaves to its center this low estimate and expectancy of men, and gives one an entirely different point of view respecting the subsoil possibilities of human nature.

How frequently of late years has this capacity for nobleness been revealed by miners as they have urged the hazard of their own lives in the effort to rescue their entombed fellow workers. How often do we witness the less spectacular but none the less quality-trying devotion of mothers to their unfortunate children, or learn of the unavailing struggles of vacation boys and girls to save their drowning playmates; and in the presence of these common-life heroisms how can one avoid recognizing that veiled nobleness of humanity which speaks for God's man. Heroic impulse is often misdirected, and for the reason that it is hampered by ignorance, prejudice, superstition, and personal mesmerism; nevertheless, how convincingly it always speaks for the genuine texture and fine quality of men at their best! Even though it lack the saving grace of a sufficient occasion, it never fails to thrill and stimulate. We need but put ourselves in touch with the educated sense of things entertained by those whose thought of self-giving cannot be approved by truly Christian ethics, to forget their deed in the inspiration we gain from the fine spirit of the doing. The heroism of the act appeals to all hearts, and leads one to wish that the lives of those who have a more enlightened thought of ministry were marked by more frequent exhibitions of this self-effacement. The supreme sacrifice of Socrates, St. Paul, Savonarola, and their kind, was fully justified, and fitting occasions for the manifestation of a kindred, unconscious greatness are sure to be found by every true Christian.

All real heroism is but the expression of the choice of a higher end and destiny, and the noble doing which may be explained in others as the fruitage of an instinctive impulse, must become for the spiritually enlightened a continuous habit, the natural product of their illumined sense of being. This explains why Christian Science can but multiply the nobilities of all who truly assimilate its teaching. It so intensifies one's realization that spiritual achievement is the only thing of real value, that opportunities for self-sacrifice come to be related to one's thought of the gain of good rather than the giving up of good. Fine thinking and doing is then no longer confined to rare occasions, but becomes a matter of continuous attitude and activity. He who through Christian Science acquires and is loyal to the Master's scientific sense of spiritual values, finds it not only possible but natural to live for hours and days, if not all the while, upon that plane of fealty to the ideal which he once attained to in now and then, never to be forgotten moments.

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