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TOPIC: Gordon, Samuel Dickey - Quiet Talks on Personal Problems (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 20. The World's Under-Master.
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The World's Under-Master.
If a man is climbing a mountain he needs some road marks, or an object to guide by, else he will not get anywhere. He may enjoy the climb, and get some pretty glimpses of scenery, but he never reaches the top, and is apt to lose his way. If he is in a large crowd he needs to have some definite aim or he will lose himself in the crowd, and come to the end of the day tired out and with nothing done. If he is crossing the sea, or the desert, he needs a compass to guide by, or he is likely to lose his life.
And if he is simply trying to make his life count for what it was intended to, he needs something to guide by. For sometimes the path is hidden and overgrown. And oft times there is the confusion of a big crowd, with shuffling feet making both dust and noise. And many times the path seems as difficult to find as on the pathless sea or desert. And a good many seem to go astray and spend the day of life on the less important things, and then towards its twilight, feel sharp twinges of regret. So that we want to talk together quietly a bit about the North Star of life, the compass, the true road-marks, that we may aim straight, and travel steady, and reach the top.
There are three great forces in the world of matter, fire and wind and water. And the greatest of these is fire. There are two great forces in the world of men, organization and the individual; a group of men acting together and the man himself in the group; and the greater of these is the individual, the man. The organization is dependent upon the men composing it, and even more upon the man who is the leader. It is limited to the things upon which these men can agree. The more men there are, the fewer the things on which they will agree. The organization is a composite, not of the men, but of so much of them as can get together in agreement on a particular subject. By far the greater of the two is the man.
The world of matter belongs under man's thumb. It was given to him to subdue and develop and control. The greatest force in the world of matter and of man is a man. The greatest factor in human life is a man, with clear brain and of fine grain,, with clear light in his eye, and the hue of health on his cheek, with poised judgment and rugged will, with sweet spirit and pure heart.
Every great movement in history has revolved about a man as its pivot, or found embodiment in him. To recall the great invasion of southern Europe by the hordes of northern barbarians is to think of Alaric, the foremost of all their leaders, sacking the world's capital. To think of the second most stupendous movement among the peoples of the earth, the Reformation, is to see Luther, the greatest of its leaders. The French Revolution found its embodiment in Mirabeau. To speak of law and legal codes is to call up Moses, chiefest of all; and of autocratic government, Julius Caesar, whose name still survives in the titles of the Russian Czar and the German Kaiser.