70. Moritz Von Egidy

Died on December 29, 1898

What is so often said of personalities who die in their prime as an empty phrase can probably be said with full justification of Moritz von Egidy: he left us too soon. For one is probably right when one claims that this man still had the most important years of his development ahead of him. His blind followers and admirers will hardly have this judgment. But they are unlikely to be the right judges in this particular case. Rather, those who, despite the warmth that emanated from Egidy, remained cold to his words, and who, despite the likeability of his personality, could only be strangers to him, may be regarded as such.

Egidy was one of those people who will always exist as living proof that idealism is a necessary world view for the human race. He envisioned an ideal of human social order. His heart was set on this ideal. The right of the free personality, which can live itself out unconditionally, all-round, completely according to its abilities, belonged to the essential content of this ideal. Egidy had to give up his profession as an officer when he came to the realization that he had to seek his social ideal in personal freedom. And it must be acknowledged that, from this first step, he proved himself to be a courageous personality with a strong character throughout his entire public career, who remained true to himself at every moment to the greatest extent imaginable.

But why were there those who remained cold when they heard Moritz von Egidy speak of his ideals? The * answer to this is probably that this man did not have the vivid power of thought to meet the needs of his heart, which knows how to show the indeterminate, dark ideals the sure, clear paths. There was something hazy about all Egidy's statements. His followers were therefore not the minds that walk through life with sure instincts and know what they want. He was understood by those who wavered back and forth between ancient traditions and modern ideas. Those who shy away from scaring away the sense of well-being that lies in surrendering to undefined, mystical powers through the complete clarity of a world view. They also want to avoid the martyrdom of the soul that must be endured by those who seek to displace the elements of millennia of education with the ideas of a new worldview.

The people who have their hearts in the right place and reason in a somewhat lost position were Egidy's followers. Through such people, a tremendous amount of fruitful work can be done. One need only recall Egidy's manly advocacy in the Zietbens case to prove this. For the great tasks of the time, however, spirits of this kind will achieve less.

However, all of this would probably have been different for Egidy if he had been granted a longer life. It is true that until the end he was always to be found on the side of those currents of thought for which the lack of clarity of thought is an unconscious axiom. His position towards the Russian peace manifesto, which a clear head cannot imagine, proves this. But despite all this, a steady clarification of his views can be observed in Egidy's development. He has not yet come to ground his individualist-anarchist views in the ideas of modern thought. He spoke much of " development" and of the fact that the further progress of human society must be based on the idea of development. But there was little to be seen in his writings and speeches of the concrete laws resulting from the scientific theory of development and their application to human life. As a result, everything that emanated from him was alarmingly reminiscent of the "ethical culture" and the endeavors of Pastor Naumann - that is, of spiritual currents that are unable to reform life in the sense of new knowledge and therefore want to bring back to life in a new form the eternal truth - the so-called enduring moral ideas - in people's minds, according to the opinion of their supporters. There is a lack of understanding in these circles for what is untenable in these ideas. Their members do not know, for example, that the ideas of Christian moral teaching only have meaning for those who believe in the Christian world view. All those who have lost faith in this worldview cannot speak of a reform of the moral ideas of Christianity, but only of a rebirth of moral life out of the spirit of the modern worldview.

Ernst von Wolzogen pointed out in one of the last issues of the Viennese weekly "Die Zeit" the inconsistency that appears in our age in that, alongside the greatest advances in the field of thought and knowledge, the most outdated religious ideas are making their presence felt. Today, the worst reaction asserts itself alongside the proudest consciousness of freedom. Wolzogen is therefore not wrong to call our century the " unruly".

Personalities such as Moritz von Egidy will in the future be regarded as typical of the phenomenon Wolzogen is referring to.

There are two souls in her breast: the modern consciousness of the times in a general, confused form and the ancestral Christian feeling. They now tinker with both until one seems to match the other. The two currents, which are divided between two groups of people, a small progressive one and a large, powerful, reactionary one, unite them in one personality. They win supporters for the reason that they basically do not put a spoke in the wheel of either party. They will therefore find plenty of approval from all the "halves"; but the "wholes" will always be cold and alien to them with the cruelty that flows from knowledge. But these "wholes" will not be able to suppress a feeling of regret. And this feeling will be particularly clear towards personalities like Egidy. What effect could natures like these have with their warmth and boldness, with their honesty and ruthlessness, if they wanted to place themselves entirely at the service of the present! If, in addition to the modernity of their hearts, they also had that of the intellect!

In addition to the enthusiasm with which Moritz von Egidy spoke the energetic words: "It is blatant how one sins against the holiest of human beings, against their urge to grow and perfect themselves, by blindly, childishly and violently fighting against the omnipotent law of development", one would like to wish for a clear recognition of what is really fruitful for the future in terms of this law of development.