History shows
approximations to this ideal man. Such a one, for instance, I conceive
to have been Loyola; such another, possibly, is Bismarck. Now these
men have ceased to be individuals in their own eyes, so far as concerns
any value attaching to their own special individualities. They are
devotees. A certain "conversion" has been effected, by which from mere
individuals they have become "representative" men. And we--the
individuals--esteem them precisely in proportion to the remoteness from
individualism of the spirit that actuates them. As the circle of
interests to which they are "devoted" enlarges--that is to say, as the
dross of individualism is purged away--we accord them indulgence,
respect, admiration and love. From self to the family, from the family
to the sect or society, from the sect or society to the Church (in no
denominational sense) and State, there is the ascending scale and
widening circle, the successive transitions which make the worth of an
individual depend on the more or less complete subversion of his
individuality by a more comprehensive soul or spirit.
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