e
possibilities actual in our own experience. Art is not an escape from
life and a refuge; it is a challenge and reenforcement. Its action is
not to make us less conscious but more; in it we are not to lose
ourselves but to find ourselves more truly and more fully. Its effect
is to help us to a larger and juster appreciation of the beauty and
worth of nature and of life.

Art is within the range of every man who holds himself open to its
appeal. But art is not the final thing. It is a means to an end; its end
is personality. There are exalted moments in the experience of us all
which we feel to be finer than any art. Then we do not need to turn
to painting, music, literature, for our satisfaction. We are living. Art
is aid and inspiration, but its fulfillment and end is life.

"We live," says Wordsworth, "by admiration, hope, and love."
Admiration is wonder and worship, a sense of the mystery and the
beauty of life as we know it now, and thankfulness for it, and joy.
Hope is the vision of things to be. And love is the supreme enfolding
unity that makes all one. Art is life at its best, but life is the greatest
of the arts,--life harmonious, deep in feeling, big in sympathy, the
life that is appreciation, responsiveness, and love.

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