ce
in the evolution of "souls."

_The Dreariness of One Line of Conduct_

We have lots of ways of expressing that a man is in a "rut" without ever
giving the real reason of our adverse criticisms. An author who has
"written himself out," an artist whose pictures we can recognise without
ever looking at the catalogue, the "conventional," the "dull," the lovers
who have fallen out of love--these are all so many victims of the "rut"
in life. It is not their fault either. "Ruts" seem so safe, so
delightful--_at the beginning_. We rush into them as we would rush into
Heaven--and Heaven surely will be a terrible "rut" unless people have
described it wrongly! But, although "ruts" may often mean a comfortable
existence, they are the end of all progress. We dig ourselves in, and
make for ourselves a dug-out. But people in dug-outs are only _safe_;
they've got to come out of them some time and go "over the top" if they
want to win a war. Unfortunately, in everyday life, the people who
deliberately leave their dug-outs generally get fired at, not only by
their enemies but also by their friends. But they have to risk that. So
few people can realise the terrible effect which "staleness" has upon
certain minds. Staleness is the breeding ground for all sorts of social
diseases which most people attribute to quite other causes. There is a
staleness in work as well as in amusement, in love as well as in hate.
Variety is the only real happiness--variety, and a longing for the
improbable. What we have we never appreciate after we have had it for
any length of time. Doctors will tell you that an illness every nine
years is a great benefit to a man. It makes him appreciate his health
when it returns to him; it gives his body that complete rest which it can
only obtain, as a rule, during a long convalescence, while "spiritually"
it brings him face to face with death--which is quite the finest thing
for clearing away the cobwebs which are so apt to smother the joy and
beauty of life. In the same way a complete change in the mode of living
keeps a man's sympathies alive, his mental outlook clear, his enthusiasms
bright; it gives him understanding, and a keener appreciation of the
essentials which go to make up the real secret of happiness, the real joy
of living. The people we call "narrow" are always the people whose life
is deliberately passed in a "rut." They may have health, and wealth, and
nearly all those other t