ding. Even the
greatest individuality (may it be Caesar, or Raphael, or Luther) is no
more than a brick in the panhuman building of history. The lives of
individuals are only the points, whereas the life of mankind is a form,
a deep, high and large form.

If a great and original individuality were the aim of history, I think
history should stop with the first man upon earth, for our first
ancestor must have been the most striking individual who ever existed.
Men coming after Adam have been like their parents and each other.
Kaiser William is not such an interesting and striking a creature by far
as the first man was. When Kaiser William opens his mouth to speak, he
speaks words that are known. When he moves or sits, when he eats or
prays--all that is a _nuance_ only of what other people do, all is
either from heritage or imitation, and quite an insignificant amount is
individual. Whereas every sound that the first man uttered was quite new
for the Universe; every movement striking and dramatic; every look of
his eyes was discovering new worlds; every joy or sorrow violently felt;
every struggle a great accumulation of experiences. And so forth. Well,
if one striking individuum is the aim of history, history should close
with the death of Adam. But history still continues. Why? Just because
not Adam was its aim, but mankind; not one, or two, or ten heroes, but
millions of human creatures; not some few great men, but all men, all
together, all without exception.

From this point of view we get the true ideal of education. The purpose
of education is not to make grand personalities, but to make bricks for
the building, i.e., to make suitable members of a collective body and
suitable workers of a collective work.

COLLECTIVE WORKS

Are greater than personal works. A pupil from the old, individualistic
school would object:

--And what do you think of the work of Ibsen?

_I:_ I think it is incomparably smaller than the ancient Scandinavian
legends.

_He:_ Do you not grant that Alfred the Great was the real creator of the
English Kingdom?

_I:_ Never. Millions and millions of human creatures are built into this
building that we call England, or English history, or English
civilisation.

_He:_ And what about the man who built St. Paul's Cathedral?

_I:_ It is a collective work, as are all the great works that have been
done. The architecture of St. Paul's is one of the ancient styles, and
no style in architectur