involved pain of a high order,
restraint, and one-track minds,
whereas the human mind moves
naturally toward ease, freedom,
and multiplicity.
B.
So begins the Century of the
Common Sense. We all start
grubbing for roots or rooting
for grubs, as the case may be.
But what happens if we get
bored with our Laws of Nature?
A.
It's the old liberal dodge to cry
"greed" or "vapid scientific cu–
riosity." We do it ourselves now
-very effective, too. My boss
and the Inquisitor's descendants
are quite thick these days. No,
the
"distinctively human,"
which you lump together as
Spirit, was exploited out of a
sense of adventure. That sense
is gone now. When Kenneth
Burke calls for a new Amer–
ican Imperial myth to match
the myth of Augustan Rome,
nobody can take him seriously,
much as we might like to.
Your manias of intensification
reached dazzling climaxes at
various times, but it was always
an equilibrium, never absolute
achievement. Culture is a de–
gree of vitality, not a species of
value-engineering, as many of
you seem to think.
B. Pardon me, then, if I don't un–
derstand where your "secure
torment" fits in.
A.
He seems to have been the ex-
1254
plosion of the whole dignity no–
tion into a more difficult mode
of existence. His shadow has
been too long for the Church
and its pathos of time.
B. He was not the last man of
spirit, though. You've said so
yourself.
A. No, he wasn't. There continued
to be revolts, spontaneous efforts
to emerge from the shadow.
But your friends, Toynbee's
"creative minority," if you like,
weren't able to keep it up.
For generations they had been
shouting, "Come on men, the
summit is over the next rise,"
but finally the so-called summit
was reached. It was rather
cold and barren; the men be–
gan thinking of home at the
bottom. They felt duped, and
nobody had the energy to stop
the fighting that had gone on
among them as they competed
for first place in the ascent. So
down they went, your friends
marching along resolutely with
the others-only backwards.
B.
See here, you're not falling for
Toynbee's line, are you?
A. No, certainly not all of it–
only for my metaphor's sake.
Your current Great Historian
is often your popular poet. But
Toynbee can break into a sweat
of inconsistent hopes that make
my boss look like an angel of
honesty.
