The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home

CHAPTER LIII 242
"Don't you feel it?" rejoined the old man, sitting up in his bed. "Ah, that is because you haven't seen the past,
you haven't studied the effect of European immigration, of the coming of new books, and of the movement of
our youth to Europe. Examine and compare these facts. It is true that the Royal and Pontifical University of
Santo Tomas, with its most sapient faculty, still exists and that some intelligences are yet exercised in
formulating distinctions and in penetrating the subtleties of scholasticism; but where will you now find the
metaphysical youth of our days, with their archaic education, who tortured their brains and died in full pursuit
of sophistries in some corner of the provinces, without ever having succeeded in understanding the attributes
of being, or solving the problem of essence and existence, those lofty concepts that made us forget what was
essential,--our own existence and our own individuality? Look at the youth of today! Full of enthusiasm at the
view of a wider horizon, they study history, mathematics, geography, literature, physical sciences,
languages--all subjects that in our times we heard mentioned with horror, as though they were heresies. The
greatest free-thinker of my day declared them inferior to the classifications of Aristotle and the laws of the
syllogism. Man has at last comprehended that he is man; he has given up analyzing his God and searching
into the imperceptible, into what he has not seen; he has given up framing laws for the phantasms of his brain;
he comprehends that his heritage is the vast world, dominion over which is within his reach; weary of his
useless and presumptuous toil, he lowers his head and examines what surrounds him. See how poets are now
springing up among us! The Muses of Nature are gradually opening up their treasures to us and begin to smile
in encouragement on our efforts; the experimental sciences have already borne their first-fruits; time only is
lacking for their development. The lawyers of today are being trained in the new forms of the philosophy of
law, some of them begin to shine in the midst of the shadows which surround our courts of justice, indicating
a change in the course of affairs. Hear how the youth talk, visit the centers of learning! Other names resound
within the walls of the schools, there where we heard only those of St. Thomas, Suarez, Amat, Sanchez, [139]
and others who were the idols of our times. In vain do the friars cry out from the pulpits against our
demoralization, as the fish-venders cry out against the cupidity of their customers, disregarding the fact that
their wares are stale and unserviceable! In vain do the conventos extend their ramifications to check the new
current. The gods are going! The roots of the tree may weaken the plants that support themselves under it, but
they cannot take away life from those other beings, which, like birds, are soaring toward the sky."
The Sage spoke with animation, his eyes gleamed.
"Still, the new seed is small," objected Don Filipo incredulously. "If all enter upon the progress we purchase
so dearly, it may be stifled."
"Stifled! Who will stifle it? Man, that weak dwarf, stifle progress, the powerful child of time and action?
When has he been able to do so? Bigotry, the gibbet, the stake, by endeavoring to stifle it, have hurried it
along. E pur si muove, [140] said Galileo, when the Dominicans forced him to declare that the earth does not
move, and the same statement might be applied to human progress. Some wills are broken down, some
individuals sacrificed, but that is of little import; progress continues on its way, and from the blood of those
who fall new and vigorous offspring is born. See, the press itself, however backward it may wish to be, is
taking a step forward. The Dominicans themselves do not escape the operation of this law, but are imitating
the Jesuits, their irreconcilable enemies. They hold fiestas in their cloisters, they erect little theaters, they
compose poems, because, as they are not devoid of intelligence in spite of believing in the fifteenth century,
they realize that the Jesuits are right, and they will still take part in the future of the younger peoples that they
have reared."
"So, according to you, the Jesuits keep up with progress?" asked Don Filipo in wonder. "Why, then, are they
opposed in Europe?"
"I will answer you like an old scholastic," replied the Sage, lying down again and resuming his jesting
expression. "There are three ways in which one may accompany the course of progress: in front of, beside, or
behind it. The first guide it, the second suffer themselves to be carried along with it, and the last are dragged
after it and to these last the Jesuits belong. They would like to direct it, but as they see that it is strong and has