MAN'S SELF-MASTERY

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 48, 26 February 1927, Page 20

MAN'S SELF-MASTERY

WORLDS TO CONQUER WITHIN

HIMSELF.

It is stated of the History of Political Science from Plato to the Present, by the Rev. Robert H. Murray, Litt.D., that "with a due Bense of historical perspective the author analyses the main conceptions of the politi' cal philosophies of the past. There 'is no other book available covering the same ground, and contained in such a short compass." The following strik ing passage is from Dr. Murray's final chapter on "Recent Political Theory": "People, require knowledge for the guidance of their political life just as much as their leaders require enlighten ment. A'brilliant American, Mr. Lipp mann, postulates the theory that the new ideal can be found in the idea of Mastery—an ever-increasing mastery founded on an ever-increasing know ledge of man over Nature, and equally —this is very important—-over himself.

"Let us imagine the vision that it would imply. On the material .side we might see disease and suffering reduced to narrower and narrower limits; the soil rendered productive to the utmost limits of its capacity; the amenities of life in town and country made as sweet and wholesome, and therefore as beauti ful, as art and science can together ac complish; and, above all, as William Morris imagined, the joie de vivre made as real in work as in recreation "On the moral side we might see the full and fearless mastery of man over himself; the principle of religion recognised and acted upon; the stud; of the human intellect, emotions, and instincts undertaken in order that their limita tions might be guarded against, and their potentialities developed, and institutions adapted to the known needs of human nature, and not constructed to a priori principle. "Science —that is, exact and ordered knowledge in all departments, and not merely the subjects discussed at the meetings of the Royal Society—would be enthroned as the arbiter of affairs, and every problem would be approached upon a foundation of the best know lodge available. One has only to look at any aspect of life to realise how far j such an ideal is from being conceived, much less realised; in fact, in many of | the most important departments oil life exact knowledge is regarded; as an impertinence rather than, as an, essential. '-'■