Book | The Human Machine by Arnold Bennett

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Considering that we have to spend the whole of our lives in

this human machine, considering that it's our sole means that

of contact and compromise with the remainder of the world, we

very do devote to that little or no attention. once I say 'we,' I

mean our inmost spirits, the self-generated part, the mystery among that exists. And when I say 'the human machine' I

mean the brain and therefore the body—and primarily the brain. The

expression of the soul by means of the brain and body is

what we decision the art of 'living.' we actually don't learn

this art at school to any considerable extent. at college we

are tutored that it's necessary to fling our arms and legs to

and fro for thus several hours per diem. we have a tendency to also are shown,

practically, that our brains are capable of playacting

sure helpful tricks, which if we do not compel our

brains to perform those tricks we shall suffer. therefore sooner or later

we run home and proclaim to our delighted oldsters that

eleven twelves are 132. A effort of the brain! So it goes on

till our oldsters begin to seem up to us as a result of we are able to

chatter of cosines or sketch the foreign policy of louis

XIV. Good! however not a word concerning the principles of the art

of living yet! solely some detached rules from our parents,

to be blindly followed once explicit crises supervene.

And, indeed, it might be absurd to speak to a pupil

about the expression of his soul. He would in all probability mutter

a monosyllable which is not 'mice.'

Of course, school is just a preparation for living;

unless one goes to a university, during which case it's a

preparation for university. One is supposed to turn one'

attention to living once these preliminaries are over—say

at the age of concerning twenty. Assuredly one lives then; there

is, however, nothing new in that, for one has been living all the time, during a fashion; all the time one has been using the

machine without understanding it.