A Plea for the Larger Life

A Plea for the Larger Life. BY MILTON BENNION, M. A., PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY, UNIVERSITY OF UTAH. Every year, in my classes in ethics, somebody suggests that our supposed regard for the welfare of others is, after all, only selfishness; that when we do good to others it is only because we think it will promote our own individual happiness. In other words, that we are purely selfish creatures, acting upon the law of self-preservation, which in man becomes self-aggrandizement. We sometimes look upon social and political organizations and pub- lic institutions in the same way. In this light, a political party is supposed to do whatever will perpetuate its own existence or further its own success. Even churches, and organizations within the churches, have sometimes taken this narrow point of view. We commonly justify the public school system on the ground that the state has the right of self-preservation, and that in a demo- cratic state, public education is necessary to the preservation of the state. There is no doubt but that the individual has the right of self-preservation, and that institutions have this right, so long as they are serving a useful purpose; but, so far, they have not risen to the plane of ethical living. They are on the biological plane, common to man and the lower animals. Let us look at human life from another standpoint. Mankind has two kinds of possessions, i. e., material and spiritual. The material possessions consist of the natural resources of the earth, which, in theory, belong to all mankind ; and the material products of labor, which become the property of the producer. The spirit-

A PLEA FOR THE LARGER LIFE. 1029 ual possessions are the product and the property of the whole race. Possession by one does not preclude possession by all, but rather helps others to like possession. The spiritual achievements of the race, including the knowl- edge underlying material progress, are acquired by a slow process of creation, discovery and invention, the results of which are accumulated and transmitted from one generation to another. Every man born into a civilized society is heir to this spiritual wealth. Each individual can be a partaker of the results of the labors of all, and each is involuntarily a partaker in a large degree. What he gets beyond this will depend in part upon his native capacity, but primarily upon his own efforts. In a survey of the history of civilization we are likely to under- value its foundational elements; to overlook the fact that the men who first invented the simplest tools, the use of metals and any method of extracting metals from their ores; and the men who first domesticated plants and animals and discovered how to till the soil, are the peers of Morse and Edison. We forget that our greater achievements of the present are not due to our superior native abilities, but to the vast inheritance that comes to us as a result of the labors of many generations of men. The labors of these unnumbered generations is constantly manifest in all our activities. As one writer has said, "The man who invented the pbw is invisible beside the plowman." As civilization passes its primitive stages it becomes neces- sary to have special institutions for the preservation and transmis- sion of the spiritual wealth that makes civilization. The school is such an institution. The common schools aim to transmit the knowledge and the tools of knowledge that are most essential to the well-being of all. The higher schools aim to perpetuate and augment all that is best in civilization. The ideal university aims to represent all the most fundamental branches of learning, and as far as possible, to master these fields and enlarge them by research. It is the proper business of all these schools, from bot- tom to top, to guard not only the purely intellectual and aesthetic products of the race, but, most of all, to preserve and foster the highest ideals of life and conduct. • In somewhat the same way, the state, the church, the family,

1030 IMPROVEMENT ERA. and other less universal institutions, each has its special function in caring for and advancing the co-operative business of mankind. The words of St. Paul, "We are every one members one of another," addressed to the members of the Christian Church, can be applied with equal force to the whole human race. The legitimate sphere of individualism consists in the right and duty of self-development on the part of each man and woman, but that development is unethical and onesided if it is not directed toward the service of humanity. We recognize, further, the right of the individual to judge moral questions that concern his own life, but that judgment must have respect to the well-being of the whole race. That moral philosophy, however, which gives the individual the right to do as he pleases, so long as he does not interfere with the like right of others, recognizes only a negative duty. No man can be thus free from positive obligation to his fellows. As partakers of the spiritual wealth of civilized society, we are debtors to humanity, and, as such, can fill our obligations to the race only by using our abilities and knowledge to the fullest extent for the benefit of mankind. This debt on the part of the one to the many is so great that no man can possibly do more than justice demands of him by way of service. Not how much, but how best can we serve, is the problem for each of us to solve. Let us find what we can do best that society needs most; then do it with the well-being of our fellows as a motive, and our own happiness will take care of itself. "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." No greater truth was ever written. It is also true that he that seeketh his own pleasure shall lose it; while he that loseth hirrself in the service of God and his fellowmen shall find an enduring happiness in fellowship with them. This is the proper end and destiny of man. Forest Dale, Utah.