In short, Mr. Kensit, and those who agree
with him, may think, and quite sincerely think, that men give too
much incense and ceremonial to their adoration of the other world.
But nobody thinks that he can give too much incense and ceremonial
to the adoration of this world. All men, then, are ritualists, but are
either conscious or unconscious ritualists. The conscious ritualists
are generally satisfied with a few very simple and elementary signs;
the unconscious ritualists are not satisfied with anything short
of the whole of human life, being almost insanely ritualistic.
The first is called a ritualist because he invents and remembers
one rite; the other is called an anti-ritualist because he obeys
and forgets a thousand. And a somewhat similar distinction
to this which I have drawn with some unavoidable length,
between the conscious ritualist and the unconscious ritualist,
exists between the conscious idealist and the unconscious idealist.
It is idle to inveigh against cynics and materialists--there are
no cynics, there are no materialists. Every man is idealistic;
only it so often happens that he has the wrong ideal.
Every man is incurably sentimental; but, unfortunately, it is so often
a false sentiment. When we talk, for instance, of some unscrupulous
commercial figure, and say that he would do anything for money,
we use quite an inaccurate expression, and we slander him very much.
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