登陆注册
4619900000017

第17章

THE HERO AS PROPHET. MAHOMET: ISLAM.

From the first rude times of Paganism among the Scandinavians in the North, we advance to a very different epoch of religion, among a very different people: Mahometanism among the Arabs. A great change; what a change and progress is indicated here, in the universal condition and thoughts of men!

The Hero is not now regarded as a God among his fellowmen; but as one God-inspired, as a Prophet. It is the second phasis of Hero-worship: the first or oldest, we may say, has passed away without return; in the history of the world there will not again be any man, never so great, whom his fellowmen will take for a god. Nay we might rationally ask, Did any set of human beings ever really think the man they _saw_ there standing beside them a god, the maker of this world? Perhaps not: it was usually some man they remembered, or _had_ seen. But neither can this any more be. The Great Man is not recognized henceforth as a god any more.

It was a rude gross error, that of counting the Great Man a god. Yet let us say that it is at all times difficult to know _what_ he is, or how to account of him and receive him! The most significant feature in the history of an epoch is the manner it has of welcoming a Great Man. Ever, to the true instincts of men, there is something godlike in him. Whether they shall take him to be a god, to be a prophet, or what they shall take him to be? that is ever a grand question; by their way of answering that, we shall see, as through a little window, into the very heart of these men's spiritual condition. For at bottom the Great Man, as he comes from the hand of Nature, is ever the same kind of thing: Odin, Luther, Johnson, Burns; I hope to make it appear that these are all originally of one stuff;that only by the world's reception of them, and the shapes they assume, are they so immeasurably diverse. The worship of Odin astonishes us,--to fall prostrate before the Great Man, into _deliquium_ of love and wonder over him, and feel in their hearts that he was a denizen of the skies, a god!

This was imperfect enough: but to welcome, for example, a Burns as we did, was that what we can call perfect? The most precious gift that Heaven can give to the Earth; a man of "genius" as we call it; the Soul of a Man actually sent down from the skies with a God's-message to us,--this we waste away as an idle artificial firework, sent to amuse us a little, and sink it into ashes, wreck and ineffectuality: _such_ reception of a Great Man I do not call very perfect either! Looking into the heart of the thing, one may perhaps call that of Burns a still uglier phenomenon, betokening still sadder imperfections in mankind's ways, than the Scandinavian method itself! To fall into mere unreasoning _deliquium_ of love and admiration, was not good; but such unreasoning, nay irrational supercilious no-love at all is perhaps still worse!--It is a thing forever changing, this of Hero-worship: different in each age, difficult to do well in any age. Indeed, the heart of the whole business of the age, one may say, is to do it well.

We have chosen Mahomet not as the most eminent Prophet; but as the one we are freest to speak of. He is by no means the truest of Prophets; but I do esteem him a true one. Farther, as there is no danger of our becoming, any of us, Mahometans, I mean to say all the good of him I justly can. It is the way to get at his secret: let us try to understand what _he_ meant with the world; what the world meant and means with him, will then be a more answerable question. Our current hypothesis about Mahomet, that he was a scheming Impostor, a Falsehood incarnate, that his religion is a mere mass of quackery and fatuity, begins really to be now untenable to any one.

The lies, which well-meaning zeal has heaped round this man, are disgraceful to ourselves only. When Pococke inquired of Grotius, Where the proof was of that story of the pigeon, trained to pick peas from Mahomet's ear, and pass for an angel dictating to him? Grotius answered that there was no proof! It is really time to dismiss all that. The word this man spoke has been the life-guidance now of a hundred and eighty millions of men these twelve hundred years. These hundred and eighty millions were made by God as well as we. A greater number of God's creatures believe in Mahomet's word at this hour, than in any other word whatever. Are we to suppose that it was a miserable piece of spiritual legerdemain, this which so many creatures of the Almighty have lived by and died by? I, for my part, cannot form any such supposition. I will believe most things sooner than that. One would be entirely at a loss what to think of this world at all, if quackery so grew and were sanctioned here.

Alas, such theories are very lamentable. If we would attain to knowledge of anything in God's true Creation, let us disbelieve them wholly! They are the product of an Age of Scepticism: they indicate the saddest spiritual paralysis, and mere death-life of the souls of men: more godless theory, I think, was never promulgated in this Earth. A false man found a religion? Why, a false man cannot build a brick house! If he do not know and follow truly the properties of mortar, burnt clay and what else be works in, it is no house that he makes, but a rubbish-heap. It will not stand for twelve centuries, to lodge a hundred and eighty millions; it will fall straightway. A man must conform himself to Nature's laws, _be_ verily in communion with Nature and the truth of things, or Nature will answer him, No, not at all! Speciosities are specious--ah me!--a Cagliostro, many Cagliostros, prominent world-leaders, do prosper by their quackery, for a day. It is like a forged bank-note; they get it passed out of _their_worthless hands: others, not they, have to smart for it. Nature bursts up in fire-flames, French Revolutions and such like, proclaiming with terrible veracity that forged notes are forged.

同类推荐
  • 因明入正理论

    因明入正理论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 曹溪大师别传

    曹溪大师别传

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 临池管见

    临池管见

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 謇斋琐缀录

    謇斋琐缀录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 瑜伽集要施食仪轨

    瑜伽集要施食仪轨

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 30岁前要学会的33堂领导课

    30岁前要学会的33堂领导课

    领导活动是一个不断实践、不断提高的过程,先当好士兵才能当好将军,先管理好自己才能管理好下属,因此对于有志于做领导的员工来说,必须在年轻时代特别是30岁以前就要学习一些重要的基础知识,掌握一些重要的领导能力,为今后走向领导岗位打下坚实的基础。本书结合当今中国的企业现状和管理实践,总结出33堂最重要的领导课,探讨了自我管理、用人、沟通、激励、体制、团队、授权、执行、决策、创新等领导过程中必须涉及的重大课题,提炼出一套切实有效的领导实践方案。通过本书你可以了解中国式领导艺术的精髓,感悟当一个好领导的奥妙所在,还可以学到非常实用的领导方法,为你今后的领导工作奠定基石,创造出非凡的业绩!
  • 劝读十则

    劝读十则

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 猜凶2

    猜凶2

    腹黑名侦探、伪科学节目主持人、招惹事件的倒霉蛋联手纯情刑警,再次出击,破解一个又一个离奇悬案。万人迷再会前妻,这场暌违十年的相逢,竟是血案的开始!倒霉名侦探这一次百口莫辩,难道他真是诡异的杀人事件的真凶?会杀人的钢琴曲,预知死亡的电话……是诡异的巧合还是人为刻意的安排?华丽喷血的思维撞击,腹黑名侦探和呆瓜剩男刑警又将怎样上演一段特别的友谊?
  • 摩诃止观义例科

    摩诃止观义例科

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 哈怂王爷捣蛋妃

    哈怂王爷捣蛋妃

    “衠王爷!自重……”“本王爷调戏自己的王妃,还用自重……”“如果没错我应该还叫你一声皇叔吧,衠王爷”“反正本王爷跟那皇帝老儿又没有什么关系,只是个挂名的王爷罢了!”说完就把阿九压在了身下。“衠椠,你这样欺负我真的好吗?”“娘子难道不是拿来‘欺负’的吗?”“……”“问你个问题你说不说?”“不说,你又能把我怎么滴!”“信不信老子当场把你上了!”“有种你就来呀!谁怕谁?谁人不知你有龙阳之癖,TM的不举!”“……”就这样本姑娘手撕了当朝宰相一家,顺道捉了位夫君在家养着!
  • 这就是台湾,这才是台湾

    这就是台湾,这才是台湾

    经常有大陆的朋友跟我分享他们去台湾的旅行,我突然发现他们并没有看到真实的台湾。我去书店买了大量的台湾旅行书,结果也是如此。于是,我决定从一个土生土长的台湾人的角度写一本与台湾有关的书。26万字,19个地方,从台北到澎湖,从城市到小镇,从热门景点到夜市、码头、老街、环岛公路、庙宇、高山族区、铁道,从台湾小吃到太平洋的风,从台湾的人到台湾的民俗,从台湾人的真实生活到台湾的小故事,从街上随处可见的现象到台湾的历史,我花了三年时间写出了我从小认识以及热爱的台湾。
  • 巨龙倒计时续

    巨龙倒计时续

    巨龙倒计时续篇: 千年前名为巨龙的怪物降临,袭击城镇伤亡无数,四方神殿拥护屠龙骑士崛起套讨伐巨龙。千年后,名叫克里斯蒂的贵族商人出现,遇见山城少女丹妮卡,巨龙袭击山城。之后,埃尔帝国的宫廷也发生一系列的事情,一切都与七把神剑有关,与四方神殿留下的预言有关…… PS:感谢水晶亲自做的封面,大爱啊~~~
  • 卓越领导的11项修炼

    卓越领导的11项修炼

    几十年公司治理心得,数十家企业成败得失,都归结成一句话:一个卓越领导者一定善于驾驭危机,懂得化危为机。危机无处不在,考验无时不有。伟大是熬出来的,领导就是修行。赶紧阅读本书,开始你成为卓越领导的修行之路吧。
  • 骗翻天(七)

    骗翻天(七)

    黄之白说:“宜早不宜迟,这就去。只是现在能见着吗?”尹大通假作皱一下眉,说:“你信不过你老哥?”说了也就笑了,又说,“只有一点,这个任市长最贪不过,可还最爱虚名,你要送他一份重礼,还要不露痕迹。想来你也有准备吧?”黄之白说了他的礼物,尹大通高兴得向黄之白竖起大拇指,黄之白也向尹大通竖起大拇指,两人哈哈大笑。黄之白由来人带着,路上又买了一副上好的网球拍,驱车就到俪园去了。
  • 佛说如意宝总持王经

    佛说如意宝总持王经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。