"The Tyranny of Shams" by Joseph McCabe. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.
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Joseph McCabe. The Tyranny of Shams
The Tyranny of Shams
Table of Contents
PREFACE
THE TYRANNY OF SHAMS
CHAPTER I. THE PHILOSOPHY OF REVOLT
CHAPTER II. THE MILITARY SHAM
CHAPTER III. THE FOLLIES OF SHAM PATRIOTISM
CHAPTER IV. POLITICAL SHAMS
CHAPTER V. THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH
CHAPTER VI. IDOLS OF THE HOME
CHAPTER VII. THE FUTURE OF WOMAN
CHAPTER VIII. SHAMS OF THE SCHOOL
CHAPTER IX. THE EDUCATION OF THE ADULT
CHAPTER X. THE CLERICAL SHAM
Отрывок из книги
Joseph McCabe
Published by Good Press, 2021
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It is quite easy to apologise for strong language: much easier than to justify the general lack of it. And this impatience cannot be rebuked by reminding us that the remedy of some of our ills is very obscure; because the majority of people are indifferent to the very idea of reform. They shoulder burdens which they might at any moment lay aside for ever. Some of the greatest reforms that are pressed on us are not obscured by any serious controversy. Yet in every civilised nation the mass of the people are inert and indifferent. Some even make a pretence of justifying their inertness. Why, they ask, should we stir at all? Is there such a thing as a duty to improve the earth? What is the meaning or purpose of life? Or has it a purpose?
One generally finds that this kind of reasoning is merely a piece of controversial athletics or a thin excuse for idleness. People tell you that the conflict of science and religion—it would be better to say, the conflict of modern culture and ancient traditions—has robbed life of its plain significance. The men who, like Tolstoi, seriously urge this point fail to appreciate the modern outlook on life. Certainly modern culture—science, history, philosophy, and art—finds no purpose in life: that is to say, no purpose eternally fixed and to be discovered by man. A great chemist said a few years ago that he could imagine “a series of lucky accidents”—the chance blowing by the wind of certain chemicals into pools on the primitive earth—accounting for the first appearance of life; and one might not unjustly sum up the influences which have lifted those early germs to the level of conscious beings as a similar series of lucky accidents.
