It will probably make
you very happy, and an absolutely insufferable person! I have
little doubt that the tiny prig was saying to herself, "I dare say
that all these men are wondering who is the clever-looking little
girl who is walking in the opposite direction to the match, and has
probably something better to do than look on at matches." It is a
great question whether one ought to wish people to nourish
illusions about themselves, or whether one ought to desire such
illusions to be dispelled. They certainly add immensely to people's
happiness, but on the other hand, if life is an educative progress,
and if the aim of human beings is or ought to be the attainment of
moral perfection, then the sooner that these illusions are
dispelled the better. It is one of the many questions which depend
upon the great fact as to whether our identity is prolonged after
death. If identity is not prolonged, then one would wish people to
maintain every illusion which makes life happier; and there is
certainly no illusion which brings people such supreme and
unfailing contentment as the sense of their own significance in the
world.
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