34/115 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS By FRANK H. SPRAGUE
An illustration of the narrowest imaginable thought of life is furnished by the individual who considers only the amount of personal gratification the present moment can be made to afford, e.g. the habitual drunkard, the reckless sensualist.
His thought, which embraces but a single instant of his own career in a personal sense, denotes an essentially animal type of life. Even on the lowest distinctly human plane, the individual who considers simply his own interests, usually looks ahead and takes into account, in some measure at least, the probable result of his immediate action in its bearing on his future comfort and happiness.
The most intelligent, cultured person may think only of his own wants and his own advancement, planning and scheming to achieve what seems likely to afford him the greatest amount of personal gratification, either at present or in the future.
His thought of life expresses virtually but one dimension length. He may be strictly honest, honorable and even charitable, in a narrow sense often finding his own pleasure enhanced by giving but always acting, primarily, with a view to increasing his own happiness and perpetuating his narrow, personal interests, either in this or some other world.
The conception of salvation embodied in the “old theology” was essentially of this everlasting sort. It considered the welfare of the individual apart from that of the race. It took into account only the linear aspect of life.
This elementary conception is fast being superseded in the race-consciousness by one which recognizes breadth as well as length of life, and includes within its scope other individuals family, friends, the nation, the race. In the latter thought, personal considerations are subordinated to the interests and well-being of a larger circle of individuals. Each personal life constitutes a segment of this circle.
We find elements of the heroic and tragic even on the surface of life. Their presence suggests breadth, as well as length of experience. Great breadth of thought leads to an utter abandonment of the personal attitude. It enables one to reach out beyond the restricted limits of personality, and embrace a broader life, without fear of losing his identity; for he is then conscious of possessing a larger selfhood.