happy? Surely the signs are identical. There is the same self-
satisfaction and blind confidence that we, precisely we, and only
we, are on the right path, and that the real thing is only beginning
with us. There is the same expectation that we shall discover
something remarkable; and that chief sign which leads us astray
convicts us of our error: all our wisdom remains with us, and the
common people do not understand, and do not accept, and do not need
it.

Our position is a very difficult one, but why not look at it
squarely?

It is time to recover our senses, and to scrutinize ourselves.
Surely we are nothing else than the scribes and Pharisees, who sit
in Moses' seat, and who have taken the keys of the kingdom of
heaven, and will neither go in ourselves, nor permit others to go
in. Surely we, the high priests of science and art, are ourselves
worthless deceivers, possessing much less right to our position than
the most crafty and depraved priests. Surely we have no
justification for our privileged position. The priests had a right
to their position: they declared that they taught the people life
and salvation. But we have taken their place, and we do not
instruct the people in life,--we even admit that such instruction is
unnecessary,--but we educate our children in the same Talmudic-Greek
and Latin grammar, in order that they may be able to pursue the same
life of parasites which we lead ourselves. We say, "There used to
be castes, but there are none among us." But what does it mean,
that some people and their children toil, while other people and
their children do not toil?