"There is a tide in the affairs of men."
The Law of cycles has been often noted and frequently commented on in Theosophical literature. It is embodied in the second of the three fundamental postulates of the Secret Doctrine. Without a knowledge of this law the fluctuating tides of time and the ever changing panorama of events are without coherence or sequence; nature is at cross-purposes with herself; and both progress and decay, evolution and atavism, mere fortuitous impulses reducible to no order, apprehensible under no known law. As is a single day in the life of an individual, so is an epoch in the life of humanity. It matters not how barren or how eventful the day or the epoch may be, it is but a part of the connected whole, and can never be correctly measured by itself. All history, whether of nations, or of epochs, and even all geological changes in the transformation of the earth must be thus considered, and it is from observations of such changes, extending over long periods of time, that the law of cycles has been deduced.
There is thus to be observed not only continual changes and unending diversity, but order and law governing all changes and a sequence not otherwise discerned. We are apt to look upon present conditions as indicative of a final consummation, and thus to predicate triumph or pending catastrophe as the inevitable result. The pathway of progress, or the signs of degeneracy, seem, to the short-sighted observer, to lead unfailingly to a cul-de-sac, from which there is no path of exit. Events are thus either magnified or dwarfed out of all proportion to their real significance; their lesson and meaning lost, and all human conduct being thus influenced, judgment biased, and knowledge obscured, confusion and bewilderment must result. To correctly apprehend passing events in the light of the past, is to furnish a sure foundation for forecasting the future. It is thus that the prophetic spirit is born and nourished by knowledge derived by observation and reflection.
The present epoch is unique in the history of man, simply because written history is so meagre and so unreliable. If, however we regard its characteristics and events, its nature and manifest tendencies as part of a connected whole, a few links in a measureless chain, and as in no sense a culmination tending to catastrophe or consummation of any sort we may be able to understand and to utilize its lessons and its opportunities.
What Max Nordau designates as the "fin de siecle" and "the Dusk of the Nations" and probes so mercilessly, and generally so unerringly with the practiced hand of the pathologist, is the hyperesthesia resulting from the sudden rush of invention, and the change of pace in the mental activity of the world. He substantiates his diagnosis beyond all controversy; hysteria, and almost universal emotionalism as the result of exhaustion. As to "degeneracy" being an adequate term by which to designate the ego-mania and moral insanity which he so clearly depicts as the result of exhaustion, opinions may differ. The Mysticism, Symbolism, Naturalism, etc., which he so critically examines and describes are indisputably pathological states, generally recognized by physicians for the demented and the insane. Vital exhaustion, giving rise to emotional and moral insanity, is clearly discerned, and the prognosis, and treatment recommended by Nordau, are in every way commendable. He has put the stigma of leprosy upon the ego-mania and eroto-mania of certain writers of recent times, who have unblushingly paraded their own diseases under the pseudonyms of their heroes and heroines, and divested these writers of all pretence to motive other than the insane impulse of parading their moral turpitude in print.
The service which Nordau has thus so faithfully and courageously rendered to society will long be remembered and more and more appreciated as time passes. The unwholesome tendencies which Nordau discerns; by their origin, nature and results, belong, it is true, to the present age, and in a marked degree. But the reason lies far deeper than he has pointed out. Nordau is here a physician investigating disease, rather than a philosopher concerned with the broad sweep of human evolution, and he necessarily confines himself to the legitimate sphere of his subject. The breadth of information evinced in his work and the canons of criticism in literature and in art which he lays down will not easily be ignored or turned aside.
There is, however, a further meaning to the emotionalism of the present epoch, and while its diseased and irrational forms threaten to engulf society in a reign of licentiousness and madness, debauchery and crime, there is also a healthier and more rational side to the whole problem. Just as there could be no counterfeit without true coin, so the normal organ and function underlies and pre-exists before any pathological manifestation can arise. In other words, pathology always presupposes physiology. Nordau may seem to condemn "mysticism," "symbolism," "egoism" and "naturalism" in toto, because of such glaring abuses as it is his function to lay bare; and it might be better to leave them untouched, were it possible, than to risk the misuse and misinterpretation which his treatment renders inevitable. And this brings us back to the meaning of the cycle, the epoch in which we live.
The immense increase in general activity already referred to, and the mental strain and nervous exhaustion consequent thereto, are by no means apprehended as degeneracy. These results are unquestionably disease, but they form the exception in an almost universal advancement of the present humanity; an expansion of consciousness, and an awakening as from sleep of the sensibilities of the soul. Not only the range but the quality and intensity of conscious activity has greatly and rapidly increased. It is as though the soul in man were approaching the surface of things, penetrating with greater force and subtlety the avenues of sense, trying its powers, and recognizing its possibilities. The boundaries of creed have been overthrown; traditional restraint defied; and, scorning dictation or restraint, the soul, long fettered and narcotized, cries — Room, and Space! Make way! Make way. That here is delirum and anarchy is undeniable. That it is, in a certain measure, a reaction, a normal rebound from previous dogmatism, mental tyranny, and ecclesiastical dominion, is equally certain.
We may imagine all the diseased manifestations so graphically portrayed by Nordau removed, but we can not imagine the present range of consciousness and qualities of action as being circumscribed by the ideals and aims, by the conventionalities and restraints, of even two decades ago. Old things have passed away, have disappeared like a dissolving view, and the men and women of the present generation cannot if they would return to the bibs and nursery lore of twenty years ago. If the fin-de-siecle that Nordau describes be a disease, the breath of the new age that is surely dawning should be an inspiration and lead to a genuine rejuvenescence. In order that this may come to pass, the moral obligation which Nordau clearly defines as Altruism, must be generally recognized, and emotionalism controlled.
That there is an immense increase everywhere of the sentiment of equity and fraternity is undeniable. That this sentiment is strange and in its intensity often overpowering is both natural and inevitable. That higher ideals, really born of an influx of the spiritual element in man, should thus move him to emotion, is not in itself a sign of disease, and that the broader view of ethics, the increased sensitiveness to moral obligations, together with the breaking away from traditional restraint should go beyond the bounds of reason or prudence might have been expected.
Nothing can so aid in restoring a normal equilibrium as the recognition of the real origin, nature and meaning of the epoch in which we are involved. The indifference and rigid conservatism of the past faces the enthusiasm and liberalism of the present, and old traditions are but a valley of dry bones, scorned no less by the latter, than monumented by the former; and meanwhile the cycle advances with widening sweep toward the twentieth century.
It is the emotional nature of man that is thus involved, and both science and philosophy agree in assigning to it an immense potency for good or for evil. It is capable of both diseased and healthy action. Emotion must be subordinate to reason, and judgment and will. It is in the realm of feeling and emotion that the recognition of all principles of ethics takes rise, but the exercise of these principles and the building of character depend on the judgment and the will. It is thus that the building of individual character, and the exercise of moral obligations having their roots in the emotional life of man must be subordinated to higher control or be defeated in the conflict of daily experiences. A healthy sentiment may readily degenerate into maudling sentimentality: and engrafted as it is on the emotional nature of man, may serve only to excite the pelvic ganglia and lead to licentiousness, insanity, and degeneracy as shown in so many cases of neuro-pathology. These principles have all been traversed and defined in theosophical literature. The meaning of concentration and its normal relation to the emotional life of man has often been pointed out, on the basis of the science of psychology, so that the normal growth and higher evolution of the individual might occur simultaneously with the highest offices performed by the individual for the whole of humanity. It has been clearly shown that the evolution of the individual to higher planes of consciousness is possible in no other way.
The present epoch has, moreover, been clearly characterized in its philosophical and cyclic relations to the whole trend of human evolution, and it has been shown that with the opening spiritual perceptions of the present generation and the needs of a guiding light in shaping its course, there has come the inspiration and peace of higher intelligences untrammeled by the dangerous and often degrading obsessions of the seance room on the one hand, and dogmatic domination on the other.
That the great majority even amongst intelligent persons, neither recognize as yet the spirit of the age nor the forces that are shaping it toward future results, need not be matters of surprise. As the need of such aid becomes more and more apparent the recognition is sure to follow.
With the mad rush of emotionalism and the spread of licentiousness and insanity on the one hand, there is the steady awakening of serene compassion, and the exercise of devotion on the other; and these may in the long run be found to be, at least with the thoughtful and sincere, as "contagious" as disease. Much that Nordau regards as "degeneracy" may eventually be found to be retarded evolution, or lack of development. The higher faculties in man are the last to develop; and modern science has hardly yet discerned that there are spiritual faculties latent in man as much above the intellect as the intellect and judgment are above the emotions. Health implies the subordination of the lower to the higher, according to an orderly sequence. The order of evolution is determined by natural law. The conquest of the lower, and the achievement of dominion falls to man's share. It is the conquest and sovereignty of his individual kingdom. This kingdom won from nature by conquest of self can only permanently endure when its behests are for the good of all, and
when it is synchronous with universal life and at one with universal nature. The final consummation may be in the far distant future, but as an ideal and aim, giving meaning to life, it maybe brought within the apprehension of a child, and the educational systems of the future will be based upon it.