When Shakespeare declared that "all the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players," he gave out an aphorism the truth of which is obvious chiefly because the self-importance of the average player tends to eclipse the purpose of the play. The true function of the actor is fidelity to the ideals of the artist whose thought he images. It is the idea of the author projected through the play, and not the egotistic posing of the player, that should challenge our attention. It is Hamlet we wish to understand, not Booth; and if the personality of the actor concerns us at all, it is only that it shall not obscure the part with which he would please us.
The same law holds true in the exhibition of those moral and spiritual qualities which determine character. Mrs. Eddy says: "We learn somewhat of the qualities of the divine Mind through the human Jesus. . . . The Principle of these marvellous works is divine; but the actor was human" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 199). True spirituality finds expression in meekness, sincerity, courage, honesty, and the like, and these qualities are valid if they ring true to their divine source; they are false if they are trained to the securing of stage effects. They are vital if they are God-centered; they are shallow conceit if they are humanly self-centered. The hypocrite who clothes himself in false meekness in order, forsooth, that he may more amply inherit the earth, and the autocrat who puts on the garments of benevolence the better to hide his lust for deeds of hate, are merely dramatic bunglers doomed to dishonor through the certain exposure of their cheap stage tricks.
The true definition of meekness particularly concerns the world today because of the fact that a very mistaken concept of this quality is making mischief in the earth, is being staged by the so-called powers of evil for their own selfish ends, and is sapping the moral energy of individual and group forces which now as never before should be keyed to the very highest pitch of righteous devotion. That a sham meekness characterized by solicitude for person, for privilege, and for self rather than for the dictates of Principle should have held a place in religious and political dogma, may not be strange in view of the fear aroused by those who have claimed authority not only to interpret the law but to have power to enforce their rule. Now that the autocracies of church and of state, of medicine and of business, of pride and of precedent, seek to unite their desperate campaigns for the extension of selfish privilege, it is time for all those who are alive to the situation to clear their thought of the last remnants of that old superstition which alone gave birth to such an imposition.
