PEDIATRICS Vol. 56 No. 1 July 1975, pp. 44
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CHALLENGE AND PURPOSE

Lewis Mumford

Yet: there is an Ahab in every man, and the meanest member of the crew can be awakened to the values that Ahab prizes: given a storm and a stove boat, and the worse rascal on shipboard may be as magnificent as Odysseus. All men live most intensely when they are moulded by such a purpose-or even, wanting that, by an enterprise that counterfeits it. Art, religion, culture in general, all those intangible triumphs of the spirit that are embodied in forms and symbols, all that spells purpose as opposed to senseless energy, and significance as opposed to routine-these efforts develop human life to its fullest, even when they work contrary to the ordinary standards of the world.