MR. EDGER'S LETTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIV, Issue 5018, 15 December 1877, Page 1 (Supplement)

MR. EDGER'S LETTER.

TO THE EDITOK. Sir, —I often, i£ not always, read Mr. Edger's letters to the PreßS, but rise from the perusal with bat vague notions as to their drift. Ido not know whether other readers experience a similar difficulty, but it seems to me that on speculative subjects Mr. fcdger does not commit himself to any decided views. His mind is not one-sided, but rather a polygon reflector, which exhibits various views of the subject, bewildering the reader as to which i« the right one, and bafHing curiosity as to which is Mr. Edger's. It may, sir, be my stupidity that is to blame, but his letter on Charles Bright's lecture, which I have just read, leaves the same hazy, undefined impression on my mind. He does not seem to look at mental operation or phenomena from a rationalistic point of view, aud writes as if we possessed some arbitrary control over our thinkings. He writes of " being at liberty to think just what we like, or, if we prefer it, not to think at all," as if it were possible to do either. And he writes, '' in thought, X know of no freedom but the freedom to think aright." Who is to define what is thinking aright? Again, " all will agree thatolaim what freedom 1 may, 1 am bouud by certain logical principles, unless I mean to be a fool or an idiot, which I have no right to be." Whoever heard of anyone meaning to be a fool or an idiot ? And what has "no right" got to do with their cases, if there were such'! My views on this manner are: — The majority hold beliefs on these speculative subjects, and a minority have thinkings on them. They think as they can, and cherish the conclusion (if any) they may have come to. We cannot think as we like, but always like or cling to what we think. We cannot arrest thought or command it. In its million forms it presents itself at the vestibule of consciousness, and we know not that we have sent for it. It vanishes, and we cannot order it back ; nor can we find it by searching, yet the truant form will return again unexpectedly. Ideas and convictions are thoughts built up into structure. They are organised mental developments, as a plant or liower iB an organised vegetable development. Under the necessary condi tions of seed, soil, moisture, warmth, and shelter, the plant or flower grows; and under the necessary conditions of brain, education, and social surroundings, the idea and conviction grow. We have no power to fix what shall be the shape or texture of our ideas ; these will crystallise into forms consistent with the circumstances of their development. In Forster's life of Dickens we find that the great novelist had this experience in working up his tales ; some of the plots and characters developing iuto most unexpected forms, and occasionally with the rapidity of tropical (lowers. Enough said to point out that there is another idea of mental operations than the common one, and as fallacious as coinmou, that we can believe just as we like aud think quite as we please. Mr. Edgar writes : —" The evil of scepticism is not iu its critical scrutiny, but in its failing to put in the place of discarded superstitions some nobler convictions " It is evident that such is outside the province of scepticism, its action beiug simply criticism and the consequent result doubt. But scepticism is very frequently preceded and caused by "nobler convictions," particularly higher ideas of Divine character as compared with those imbibed in early religious teaching ; and though scepticism does not, has not offered uobler convictions in the place of discarded superstitions, sceptics have. Although it is paradoxical, yet it is true, that the sceptic if of a generous and ardent temperament, is the greatest of believers. He contemplates aud anticipates realisations on terra firma which the commercial and religious, or rather theological world, characterise as visionary and Utopian. Read the latter portion of Shelley's Queen Mab, and there you will find dreams of human happiness and perfection never surpassed. He was both sceptic and believer, and there have been multitudes known aud unknown who have held his doubts and shared in his aspirations. True, there are sceptics who take little note of how the world wags, but simply attend to the solution of their own bread and butter question, just as there are good, steady, plodding, unenthusiastic, punctual church-goers, whose hearts never felt a throb of devotion. These peculiarities are probably due to mental constitution and temperament. There are some men who onco having loved and been jilted never love again, but remain persistent bachelors, while there are others whom half a-dozen jiltings do not cure of their devotion to the sex. So there are sceptics who never return to a belief iu the supernatural, aud there are other sceptic* who have adopted Spiritism as a new loVfc, as David did the damsel Abishag, to comfort him iu his old age and dotage. Yes, I believe that as a closer acquaintance is made with our mental constitution, these aud far more striking peculiarities will become easily intelligible. Due more remark : The most practical idea of the age for the improvement wf the social condition of humanity, namely, that human character is deteriorated by adverse circumstances and improved by favourable circumstances, was persistently advocated and put iu practice by Kobert Owen, and to his advocacy is due in great measure the establishment of infant schools, improved workmen's dwellings, sanitary measures, reformatories, and all other institutions involved in the idea that character may be improved under improved circumstances. From the movement which followed Robert Owen's advocacy sprung the co operative stores and mills of Rochdale aud other localities in England. These, particularly that of Rochdale, have been eminently successful commercially, and also socially, as inducing habits of thrift and economy, and diffusing business notions aud habits amongst tho people. I cannot say that Robert Owen was a sceptic. He was not, I believe, a poet, but he was au enthusiast in the idea of improving the material condition of humanity by material means only, and spent a fortune in the cause.—l am, &c.,

A. Camphell. Ponaouby, December 14, 1577.