that he would
not be drawn into the whirlpool, that he would intermingle long spaces
of eager solitude with his life, that he would meditate, reflect,
enjoy; that he would try to discern the significance of all things seen
or felt, and practise a disposition to approach all phenomena, whether
pleasant or painful, in a critical mood; and at the same time he
resolved that his criticism should not be a mere solvent; that he would
strive to discern not the dulness, the ugliness, the dreariness of
life, but its ardours, its passions, its transporting emotions, its
beauties. That was a task for a lifetime. Whatever was doubtful, this
was certain, that one was set in a mysterious, attractive, complex
place; if one regarded it carelessly, it seemed a commonplace affair
enough, full of material activities, dull necessities, foolish
stirrings, low purposes; but if one looked a little closer, there were
strange, dim, beautiful figures moving in and out, evanescent and
shadowy, behind the nearer and more distracting elements. Here was
hope, with a far-off gaze, beauty with mournful yearning eyes, love
with finger on lip and dreamful gaze. It was here that the larger, the
holier life lay. What was necessary was to keep apart, with deliberate
purpose, from all fruitless vexations, dull anxieties, sordid designs.
To detach oneself, not from life, but from the scum and foam of life;
to realise that the secret lay in the middle of it all, and that it was
to be discerned not by fastidious abstention, not by a chilly
asceticism, but by welcoming all nobler impulses, all spiritual
influences; not by starving body or mind, but by selecting one's food
carefully and temperately. If a man, Hugh thought, could live life in
this spirit, reasonable, kindly, humble, sincere, he could encourage
others to the same simplicity of aim. To be selfish was to miss the
beauty of the whole; for the essence of the situation was to reveal to
others, by example and by precept, what they already so dimly knew.

To find out what one could do, where one could help, and to work with
all one's might; to live strongly and purely; not to be dissuaded by
comment or discouraged by lack of sympathy; to meet others simply and
frankly; to be more desirous to ascertain other points of view than to
propound one's own; not to be ashamed to speak unaffectedly of one's
own admirations and hopes; not to desire recognition; not to yield to
personal motives; not to assent