Take life in the large view, and we are most reasonable when we seek
that which is most wholesome and tonic for our natures as a whole; and
we know, when we put aside pedantry, that the great middle object in
life—the object that lies between religion on one hand, and food and
clothing on the other, establishing our average levels of
achievement—the excellent golden mean, is, not to be learned, but to be
human beings in all the wide and genial meaning of the term. Does the
age hinder? Do its many interests distract us when we would plan our
discipline, determine our duty, clarify our ideals? It is the more
necessary that we should ask ourselves what it is that is demanded of
us, if we would fit our qualities to meet the new tests. Let us remind
ourselves that to be human is, for one thing, to speak and act with a
certain note of genuineness, a quality mixed of spontaneity and
intelligence. This is necessary for wholesome life in any age, but
particularly amidst confused affairs and shifting standards.
Genuineness is not mere simplicity, for that may lack vitality, and
genuineness does not. We expect what we call genuine to have pith and
strength of fiber. Genuineness is a quality which we sometimes mean to
include when we speak of individuality. Individuality is lost the
moment you submit to passing modes or fashions, the creations of an
artificial society; and so is genuineness. No man is genuine who is
forever trying to pattern his life after the lives of other
people—unless, indeed, he be a genuine dolt. But individuality is by no
means the same as genuineness; for individuality may be associated with
the most extreme and even ridiculous eccentricity, while genuineness we
conceive to be always wholesome, balanced, and touched with dignity. It
is a quality that goes with good sense and self-respect. It is a sort
of robust moral sanity, mixed of elements both moral and intellectual.
It is found in natures too strong to be mere trimmers and conformers,
too well poised and thoughtful to fling off into intemperate protest
and revolt. Laughter is genuine which has in it neither the shrill,
hysterical note of mere excitement nor the hard, metallic twang of the
cynic’s sneer—which rings in the honest voice of gracious good humor,
which is innocent and unsatirical. Speech is genuine which is without
silliness, affectation, or pretense. That character is genuine which
seems built by nature rather than by convention, which is stuff of
independence and of good courage. Nothing spurious, bastard, begotten
out of true wedlock of the mind; nothing adulterated and seeming to be
what it is not; nothing unreal, can ever get place among the nobility
of things genuine, natural, of pure stock and unmistakable lineage. It
is a prerogative of every truly human being to come out from the low
estate of those who are merely gregarious and of the herd, and show his
innate powers cultivated and yet unspoiled—sound, unmixed, free from
imitation; showing that individualization without extravagance which is
genuineness.
But how? By what means is this self-liberation to be effected—this
emancipation from affectation and the bondage of being like other
people? Is it open to us to choose to be genuine? I see nothing
insuperable in the way, except for those who are hopelessly lacking in
a sense of humor. It depends upon the range and scale of your
observation whether you can strike the balance of genuineness or not.
If you live in a small and petty world, you will be subject to its
standards; but if you live in a large world, you will see that
standards are innumerable—some old, some new, some made by the
noble-minded and made to last, some made by the weak-minded and
destined to perish, some lasting from age to age, some only from day to
day—and that a choice must be made among them. It is then that your
sense of humor will assist you. You are, you will perceive, upon a long
journey, and it will seem to you ridiculous to change your life and
discipline your instincts to conform with the usages of a single inn by
the way. You will distinguish the essentials from the accidents, and
deem the accidents something meant for your amusement. The strongest
natures do not need to wait for these slow lessons of observation, to
be got by conning life: their sheer vigor makes it impossible for them
to conform to fashion or care for times and seasons. But the rest of us
must cultivate knowledge of the world in the large, get our offing,
reaching a comparative point of view, before we can become with steady
confidence our own masters and pilots. The art of being human begins
with the practice of being genuine, and following standards of conduct
which the world has tested. If your life is not various and you cannot
know the best people, who set the standards of sincerity, your reading
at least can be various, and you may look at your little circle through
the best books, under the guidance of writers who have known life and
loved the truth.