Schrotter held aloof from
this cult. He appreciated Dorfling's character, his consistency, his
strength of will and highmindedness as they deserved, but he was
never tired of preaching and demonstrating to Wilhelm that all these
admirable qualities had been turned out of their proper course by a
disturbing morbid influence. It was monstrous, he contended, that a
system of philosophy should arm you for suicide. What if the
premises should prove false? Then your voluntary death would be a
frightful mistake which nothing could retrieve. One has no right to
risk making such a mistake. He believed in development, in the
progress of the organic world from a lower to a higher stage.
Progress and development, however, were conditional upon life, and
he who has recourse to self-destruction sets an example of unseemly
revolt against one of the most beautiful and comforting of all the
laws of nature. Moreover, suicide was a waste of force on which it
was simply heartrending to have to look. There were so many great
deeds to be done which called for the laying down of life. In a
thousand different ways one might benefit mankind by Winkelried-like
actions. If one was determined to die, one should at least render
thereby to those left behind one of those sublime services which
demand the sacrifice of a life.
Pages:
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283