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Greek or Christian in the primitive stage, the
Asiatic movement clung to the heights longer,
sank more gradually, and never sank so low.
These facts are painful, but patent ; they
require explanation.
Why is Oriental art generally superior to
European ? Bearing in mind what has been
said about the nature of the greatest art, we
shall it expect to be because in the East they
have kept in closer touch with reality. That is
precisely what has happened. The emotional
life has never been in the East what it has
become in the West, the rare possession of a
fortunate few. There the practical life has
been kept subordinate, a means to supporting
the emotional. In China men still go about
their business that they may purchase leisure
in which to contemplate reality. In Europe
and is
reality banished from
we are
practical ;
the life of the practical man who regards all
things as means instead of contemplating them
as ends. He sees just what is of use to him,
and no more. He sees enough for identification
and recognition in ; fact, he reads the labels
on things. The labels are all he requires.
In the emotional life things are valued for
their significance for what they are, not for
what they can be made to do ; they are seen
whole because they are seen as ends. The
practical man sees only a part the part that