This is a moral maxim, one which very beautifully
expresses the superiority of ethical over material merit. It will do immense
good to mankind if the noble and lofty teachings embodied in this and other
such maxims were fully unfolded and their implications clearly explained.
Life is a development in which the endeavour of man
should be to travel daily towards greater and greater perfection. A life which
has no direction to move in and in which one only lives in the physical sense
is called ‘vegetation,’ which means living like a thing without mind, growing
merely physically. Such a life is a descending from the higher human level to a
lower unconscious and unthinking level. The superiority of man over the rest of
the creation consists in nothing but in this possession of mind and an urge to
excel in things of the mind and the spirit rather than in things of the body.
From this point we come to the next. What are the
great directions in which human life is to seek its perfection or the fullness
of its development? These directions are variously called moral aims, ideals or
values. An ideal is a state of perfection towards which we must endeavour to
travel, but which is so high that we human beings,, without limited span of
life and the so many weaknesses inherent in us, many never hope to achieve it.
But there is great merit even in having felt the urge and the pull of the ideal
and in having made an effort to rise towards it. A ‘value’ means an idea which
represents something which is good in itself rather than ‘he sake of something
else. A little distinction will make what we mean by value exactly clearly.
Wealth is a good thing, but it is a not good in itself. It is good only in so
far as it helps us to achieve some other ends, for example, the necessities of
life, power, influence, etc. These other things which come as consequence of
possessing wealth in their own turn may not be good in them, but may only be a
means to still further ends. On the other hand, contemplating nobility is
something good in itself; it is desirable in itself, and we cannot imagine it
to be only an intervening stage to the attainment of something higher than
itself. It is itself the highest. It is, therefore value’.
The maxim which stands at the head of this easy
expresses the conception of a value. Our criterion of judgement in life is
ordinarily limited and shallow. We are carried away either by stupidity or by
selfishness in valuing things of a lower kind.
Thus, we feel more pride in associating with a
stupid rich man than with a wise poor one; we regard a man who is socially
influential as fundamentally better than one who is not so influential. These
are all wrong criteria and wrong judgements. Goodness does not lie in wealth and
in power. These are merely amoral or non-moral things, neither good nor bad.
Their goodness or badness is to be determined by the direction which they take,
by the use of which they are put. The thing which is really good, arid which
determines whether a man is good or ‘handsome,’ whether he is worthy of our
praise or not, is this quality of doing something ‘handsome,’ that is morally
good.