How Do We Know

EXERTING A USEFUL INFLUENCE

He who wishes to exert a useful influence must be careful to insult nothing. Let him not be troubled by what seems absurd, but concentrate his energies to the creation of what is good. He must not demolish but build. He must raise temples where mankind may come and partake of the purest pleasures.

—GOETHE

What did the great Goethe mean by the admonition that you, I or anyone, wishing to exert a useful influence, “must be careful to insult nothing”? The meaning of insult is to “affront, outrage, degrade, debase.” His reference was not to disagreement but to verbal slaughter. We of the freedom faith—Goethe being outstanding—do not agree with communists but we only damage our way of life and thus ourselves by filthy name-calling. Away with this derogatory tactic!

Let him not be troubled by what seems absurd. The English poet, Alexander Pope (1688-1744) gave a good reason for not being troubled: “To pardon those absurdities in ourselves which we condemn in others, is neither better nor worse than to be, more willing to be fools ourselves than to have others so.”

Reflect on the numerous politicians, and those not in office, who condemn the freedom philosophy and at the same time never give a thought to the absurdities of socialism which they so heartily sponsor. We would, indeed, be fools were we to pardon defects in ourselves or others which we believe to be contrary to liberty for one and all! Socialism is foolishness; freedom is wisdom. Stand for a righteous freedom regardless of the opposition. Let the others be foolish but not those of us who are freedom devotees!

. . . but concentrate his energies to the creation of what is good. Wrote the English philosopher, A. A. C. Shaftsbury (1671-1713): “To love the public, to study universal good and to promote the interest of the whole world, as far as it lies within our power, is the height of goodness and makes the temper which we call divine.”

To do good is man’s most glorious undertaking but, as Thoreau wrote, “Be not merely good but be good for something.” There is indeed a distinction between ambition and accomplishment.

We who really love the public—the welfare of everyone in the U.S.A.—will strive to understand and to explain all inhibitions to their creative actions that such monstrosities may be removed. Our goal? Let all people be free to achieve their unique potentialities, that is, free to produce what they please and to exchange thoughts or products. Briefly, a grand togetherness—ideological and economic!

Why is it so important to strive for creativity at home? Such an endeavor teaches us how we should deal with the whole world. Production and exchange should be just as free between nations as it ought to be among Americans.

Today, such international freedom is no more than a dream of a very few. Today our ambassadors are only from the political realm. Why should representation be so limited? Free traders work for peace among nations, based on voluntary exchanges within nations. Wrote the English novelist, Henry Fielding (1701-84): “There is nothing so useful to man in general, nor so beneficial to particular societies and individuals, as trade. This is that alma mater, at whose plentiful breast, all mankind are nourished.”

How make our dreams come true? Emulate that wise observation by the English poet, John Milton (1608-74): “Give me the liberty to know, to think, to believe, and to utter freely, according to conscience, above all other liberties.”

We must not demolish but build. Wrote Emerson, “Every violation of truth is a stab [injury] at the health of human society.” Man is at once an individual and a social being, therefore, each of Us should scrupulously avoid declining in either respect. Mind intelligently employed is mind and life enjoyed. A highly developed consciousness is the source of joy!

“To build,” as Goethe urged, one must begin building “castles in the air,” as the saying goes. Thoreau wrote: “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; there is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.”

To what should we aspire? A freeing of the human spirit; the millions of American citizens no longer wards of our more or less 78,000 governments. What then? Growing, emerging, self-responsible citizens, each his own man or woman. Castles in the air? Let us build foundations under those worth keeping!

We must raise temples where mankind may come and partake of the purest pleasures. The clergyman, William Mountford (1816-85), wrote: “Often and often to me, and instinctively, has an innocent pleasure felt like a foretaste of infinite delight, an ante-past of heaven. Nor can I believe otherwise than that pure happiness is of a purifying effect; like the manna from heaven, no doubt it is meant to invigorate as well as to gratify.”

Let us raise temples in which an increasing number of us may worship the truth of freedom!