To leave no door unopened. To pass freely in and out. To leave no heart
unopened. To leave no life unopened. To get everything between out of
the way. To make it possible for desire to reach across the gap. That is
your business and mine. That is what we owe ourselves and each other. To
make light of boundary lines. To efface barriers. To abolish tollgates.
All civilization is the opening of doors. All art is the opening of
doors. And science. It, too, is the opening of doors. We have been out
of sight of each other. Too many of us sit in perpetual executive
session. Most of us exclude. We dont include. We close ourselves in
somewhere. We look down and up but we dont look face to face. Not
because we dont trust others. Rather because we dont trust ourselves. We
think the trouble is with them. The trouble is with us. We withdraw. We
get away. Crawl into holes. Into incomes and fames. Crawl into them and
draw the covers over. We dont welcome life. We shrink from it. We never
keep open house. We live in prisons and we are our own jailers. We are
not trying to live as big as we can but as little as we can. What are we
after? You: what are you after? And I: what am I after? I say we must
step out and around and over and under and across. We must do all we can
to discredit what holds us down and keeps us in. It is not life but
death for us to shrink from the alternatives of liberty. I give a free
pass to the universe. For day and night. For always. For the suns and
stars to walk in any time. For the seasons to come and go as they
choose. That is, I declare myself wide open. I take all the shutters
down. I put all the doors back on their hinges as far as they will go. I
throw all keys away. Then I invite the world in. I say to the world:
Possess yourself of me. I say to the world: I dont want to deny you
anything. I want the world to take me at my word. And you, my brother: I
want you to take me at my word. If life is a monastery then I choose
death. If life is asceticism then I choose death. If life is classes and
superiors and owners then I choose death. If life is a stockade. If life
is the sacrifice of all to a few. If life is being blind and deaf and
dumb. If life is living back of a high wall. If life is this sort of
thing then I choose death. The path of life is not to the grave but to
the cradle. The signal, the symbol, of life is not division but unity.
What is the use of living if you cant be alive? Why should I hide in a
hole when I should be a rover? Why should I keep myself out of the main
currents of experience? Man from the start has been breaking loose from
the drag of the dust. He has sometimes resorted to violent means to his
end. He has dashed thrones to the earth and killed tyrants. He has gone
to war. He has robbed his neighbor. He has so far not called his brother
by his right name. He has lived inside himself. But that's only half a
life. You live a whole life only when you live inside others as well as
inside yourself. But with all his pausings and writhings he has helped
himself along towards deliverance. For there is only one deliverance.
The deliverance of a man to his brother. The unimpeded approach of one
man to another. All time, all space, are for that. That is what time and
space are. That is what civilization is. Getting acquainted. That is
civilization. Mercilessly wiping out the last atom between. So that
there is not only nothing to climb over but nothing to stumble over in
passing to and fro. That is what it was and is and must hereafter all be
for. Life. Art. Everything. It must all be for that. To get armies and
navies and properties from between. If it was not all for that then it
would all be for nothing. If it left that unachieved then it would leave
life unachieved. If it is right for anything to remain between then I
see no reason why everything you please should not remain between. Do
you see a door anywhere? Throw it open wide. Do you see an interfering
income or ambition anywhere? Throw it open wide. I do not say: Be gentle
in doing it. I say: Throw it open: dont wait a minute: throw it open.
To leave no door unopened. Is there any short cut from a man to himself?
Every time you shut a door you shut it on yourself. When you close one
out you are one time shut in. When you close the people out you are
millions of times shut in. You cant shut out without shutting in. Every
dollar you lay away against others is laid away against yourself. The
barrier you set up against the world. It's as hard for you to get over
it as for the world to get over it. It's like hating somebody. You may
do him some harm. But you do yourself worse harm. Your hate could not
stick to him. But it sticks to you. The hater always wears the scars of
hate. You cant have yourself unless you have others. The penalty of
being exclusive is exclusion. You feed only one light. If you put that
light out for me you put it out for yourself. I know you think you can
go it alone. But you cant. You may stand very firm. But you are on the
common ground. There is no other ground. You may breathe in the air off
your housetop. But you breathe the common air. There is no other air.
Nothing will work if it is set up to separate individuals or peoples. It
may last for awhile. But it cant be perpetuated. That which is not
rooted in the people cannot survive in the person. You cant alienate
your life. You can kill yourself. But you cant alienate yourself. You
may do it through an income. You may do it through an art. You may do it
through ambition. It makes no difference how. But you are from then on
dead. You may still hang around. But you are dead. For no man can live
only in his own few feet and pounds of mortal flesh. He needs a world to
live in. To live in a world means to live the life of that world. Not
monkeyishly. Not as a slave. No. But within the horizon of its ideals
and sympathies. Living the world's life in your own way. Giving the
world's life your identity. But living it. Not trying to break with it.
Not using property or fame or anything as a pretext for isolation. Our
institutions and systems are arbitrary checks put upon the spirit. Even
seats of learning. Even exhibitions of pictures. The artist is used as a
check upon art. That is, upon life. He is put in the way instead of
leading the way. You cant steer a world into your back yard. But you can
steer your back yard into a world. You say man cant live by bread alone.
No. He cant. He must live by love. He cant live in himself alone. He can
only live in the crowd. How can you pass from yourself to yourself
again? With all the money between. With the power between. With the
pride between. With the ambition between. How can you? How can you hope
to live a true life in such a false relation? How can you expect to lead
a seeing life in such a blind contingency? You are all closed out as
well as closed in. It cant matter which side of the door you are on. It
is equally fatal either side of that door. Worse, if worse either side,
on the inside than the outside. It is better to be closed out than to
close out. It is better to be a pauper outside than a millionaire
inside. I would rather die in the life of the crowd than live in the
death of myself. You are in on the ground floor. The ground floor is
hell. Dont you feel the flames lick and bite at you? I cant put anything
between myself and others. It is perfidy. It is as if I sold the people
out. Any personal wish. Any individual instinct. Anything. Any
interrupting item however innocent is a crime. That is why our proud
profits are ignoble. That is why the professional successes are
cluttering debris. That is why nothing but absolute abandon will signify
in the last count. We dont want to be hid away in holes. Our fortunes
hide us away in holes. Our eminences hide us away. Getting ahead of
competitors hides us away. I get a little more money than the next man.
Then I hide away from him. Then I hide him away from me. A private
victory is not integration. It is dissolution. Social wealth stands for
the open door. Personal acquisition stands for the frowning wall. I
indict the systems because they drive men apart. Every institution
created for a caste sits with closed doors. It thinks itself the
custodian of a treasure. It is only the trustee of an assumption. For it
always closes out infinitely more than it closes in. I indict the
systems because they close their creators in. Because they make
themselves useless. Because they are arrayed against the mob. There's
only one good side to the mob. That's the inside. The mob. All. There's
only one good side to it. Nothing is so little as a big thing in a jail.
Nothing is so big as a little thing free out of doors. Our civilization
is a big thing. But it's in jail. We've got to get it out of doors. That
is, you've put our civilization in vaults and used it for the few
against the crowd. We've got to level the vaults. We've got to get our
civilization out of doors. We've got to hand it around. Open all the
doors. Let everybody in. Yes, even the derelicts. Hand civilization
around. Let everybody help himself. That's crazy? So it is. But nothing
in this world ever got its growth till it was crazy. No man ever did
anything to push things along beyond till he began to be called a fool
and a suspect and was avoided by his friends. Throw everything wide
open. Dont worry about the weather. The weather with love in it wont
hurt whatever it is. Your job, my job, is this: To leave no door
unopened.
To leave no door unopened. Do you know what that means? It means to
leave no heart unopened. To leave no income unopened. To leave no book
or picture or song unopened. It is a challenge. You are to trust
yourself to love not to a lock. You are to trust yourself to people not
to yourself. You are to trust yourself to the whole not to a part. You
will no longer trust yourself to your dollars. You will no longer fasten
yourself in. You will no longer worry to-night wondering about to-morrow
morning or worry to-morrow morning wondering about sundown. You have
great evidences. The vast properties. The cities and the farms. The
railroads and the telegraphs. The sure and the counterfeit. They are
immense. They cant be counted up. But there are better evidences. You
dont quote them. You sneer at them or you pass them by. The people. They
are better evidences. The love of the people. The idealism of the
people. The revolt of the people. They are better evidences. After all
your buildings are set on the ground. Your riches are hidden dead in
vaults. But the people are vital and flowing. People make houses. But
have houses ever made people? I have seen houses so large they became
aware of their littleness. I have seen people so modest they became
aware of their immeasurability. We have made our towns ruthless. They
are not fit to live in. We expect people to live in them without love.
We can live nowhere without love. It may be necessary to sweep half our
world away in the interest of the other half. It may be necessary to
stampede all values. To abrogate all treaties. To repeal all laws. To
annul all respectabilities. All in the interest of life. We have to open
all doors. No plea can resist this purpose. As sure as the sun comes up
this will come up. You have planned your world. But you have left love
out. You want everything protected. Especially property. Property. I say
take all your protectives off property. I say put all your protectives
on people. If no one owns no one will steal. If all own all will be fed.
Every time you write a deed a door is closed. Every time you repudiate
possession a door is opened. If you take down your shutters you will
find it is day. Matters have gone on farther than you suppose. Farther
towards love. Give them a show. Forget that you are a proprietor and
remember that you are a man. Forget that you own anything and remember
that you are something. I dont advise you to destroy your properties. I
only say: Take your name off them. How much better it looks not to be a
boss or a superior. How much more like opening doors. How much more like
fraternity. We cant have a world of brothers as long as any door is
closed any where against any body. Nor while any piece of land or goods
or any power of man's arms or brains is closed against any body. This
has got to be made a wide open world. I dont care where profits go. Nor
where privileges. Nor what becomes of the elect. Nor whether anyone ever
paints a picture again or preaches of beauty. I dont care. I am first of
all interested in men and women. I want to know first of all what
becomes of men and women. If men and women get what belongs to them the
graces will take care of themselves. But if the ornaments are put first
then they are discredited and must be dethroned. What we will do with
the esthetic will depend first and last of all upon what we do with men
and women. I want every door opened as far as it will go. And every
heart. And every fortune. And every opportunity. And every vista. I dont
want anybody standing anywhere asking anyone: Where's your ticket? As if
the sun before shining should ask: Where's your ticket? Or the air we
breathe: Where's your ticket? All have made what the few have. Yet the
few ask: Where's your ticket? As if love should ask: Where's your
ticket? There is no ticket. There is the open way. There is no ticket.
There is the eager willing impulse. There is no ticket. There is the
unhesitating sacrifice and consecration. There is no ticket. There are
only fields on which we share the harvest. There is no ticket. There is
the commune. There is no ticket. There are only people. When you push
through no one asks: Where are you going? Everybody says: Walk right in.
When you look for what you want no one asks: Will you pay cash down for
it or shall I charge it? Everyone says: Help yourself. You say: People
never will work in your world. I say: People who get too little so hard
will not stop work because they are to get enough so easy. Everywhere we
go now everything is closed and everybody is asked: Where's your ticket?
Everywhere we go then everything will be wide open and everybody will be
told: Make yourself at home. We are to continue on and on till the last
outcast becomes the first citizen. Till this generation of exiles
becomes the next generation of comrades. To leave no door unopened.
When you hear of a ship going down at sea do you say: That is the
conclusion?
When you see one man do a mean thing to another man do you say:
That is the conclusion?
When you see systems substituted for souls do you say: That is
the conclusion?
I love the people: I never see the enemy of the people as the
conclusion:
There is something more to come: after the shadow light is to
come:
When you fall down, when you are only half a man, I say there is
something more to come:
Why, dear comrade--after half a man a whole man is to come: out
of you, too, is to come:
For the conclusion of a man is only in the perfection of a man:
nothing else is a conclusion:
For the conclusion of sex is only in the perfection of sex:
nothing else is a conclusion:
And you may be sure that after all the black has come that can
come white will follow:
And you may be sure that after all the journeys down hill you
will find your way to the crest again.