The Conventional Lies of Our Civilization (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Conventional Lies of Our CivilizationThis book claims to be a faithful presentation of the views of the majority of educated, cultivated people of the present day. There is no doubt but what millions living in the midst of our civilization have learned by their own re flection and experience to regard and criticise the existing conditions of State and society as they are criticised in the following pages, and will coincide in the Opinion expressed in them, that the present social, political and economic institutions are utterly at variance with the views and con ceptions of the universe based upon natural science, and therefore untenable and doomed to destruction. Notwith standing this fact, the author knows that many people will hold up their hands in holy horror when they read it, and not the least ostentatiously those who find their own most secret sentiments expressed in it. This is the very reason why the author believed that it was necessary, that it was imperative upon him, to write this book. The greatest evil of our times is the prevailing cowardice. We do not dare to assert our opinions, to bring our outward lives into har mony with our inward convictions; we believe it to be worldly policy to cling outwardly to relics of former ages when at heart we are completely severed from them. We do not wish to shock anyone, nor ofiend anyone's prejudices, and we call this respecting the convictions of others those others who in return do not respect our convictions, who ridicule them, who persecute them, and who would like best to exterminate them and us at the same time. This lack of sincerity and manly courage prolongs the period of falseness, and postpones indefinitely the triumph of truth. The author at least wished to fulfill his duty to himself, to truth, and to his comrades in sentiment. He has expressed his convictions openly and without the slightest hesitation. If all those who are dissembling - acting contrary to their convictions, diplomatizing and feigning-were to do the same as the author, they would find perhaps to their amaze ment that they formed the majority in many places, and that it would soon be to their advantage to lead sincere and con sistent lives, instead of their present careers of hypocrisy and double dealing.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.