Men & Systems

"Man suffers through and himself. Where the effect is there is the cause. Its seat is within, not without. The things which men are reaping to-day are of the same kind which they formerly sowed. The good man of to-day may be reaping the results of past evil; the bad man of to-day may be reaping the results of past good. Seen thus, this divine principle throws an illuminating light on those cases (common enough) where the good suffer and fail, and the bad enjoy and prosper. Things as they are did not spring into existence without a cause. They have behind them a long train of causes and effects, and another such train will follow them in the future. In viewing the objects in a landscape we allow for perspective; we must do the same in viewing events.

This principle of Divine Justice is not distinct from Divine Law. It is the same. Partial men separate justice from love, and even regard them as antagonistic, but in the divine life they blend into one."

This is perhaps Allen's most directly sociological and philosophical work. In it, he treats of the evolution of the systems man has created to help navigate and manipulate the world.

Along the way, he unpacks the ways in which the new science of flight will lead to a different consciousness, just as the locomotive had done in his lifetime; the reason people so often misunderstand the meaning of 'survival of the fittest', and its appropriate application to human life; the nature of justice, whether worldly and law-bound or divine and universal; the nature of work, and our attitude towards and around it; and finally the birth of a new kind of courage, exceeding both physical and moral courage, that will be foundation of a greater humanity.