H.P. Lovecraft - At The Root

H.P. LOVECRAFT

AT THE ROOT

Written in July 1918
First published in The United Amateur, July 1918
Reprinted in Something About Cats & Other Pieces, 1949

AT THE ROOT

To those who look beneath the surface, the present universal war drives home
more than one anthropological truth in striking fashion; and of the verities
none is more profound than that relating to the essential immutability of
mankind and its instincts.

Four years ago a large part of the civilised world laboured under certain
biological fallacies which may, in a sense, be held responsible for the extent
and duration of the present conflict. These fallacies, which were the
foundation of pacifism and other pernicious forms of social and political
radicalism, dealt with the capacity of man to evolve mentally beyond his former
state of subservience to primate instinct and pugnacity, and to conduct his
affairs and international or interracial relations on a basis of reason and
good-will. That belief in such capability is unscientific and childishly naive,
is beside the question. The fact remains, that the most civilised part of the
world, including our own Anglo-Saxondom, did entertain enough of these notions
to relax military vigilance, lay stress on points of honour, place trust in
treaties, and permit a powerful and unscrupulous nation to indulge unchecked
and unsuspected in nearly fifty years of preparation for world-wide robbery and
slaughter. We are reaping the result of our simplicity.

The past is over. Our former follies we can but regret, and expiate as best we
may by a crusade to the death against the Trans-Rhenane monster which we
allowed to grow and flourish beneath our very eyes. But the future holds more
of responsibility, and we must prepare to guard against any renascence of the
benevolent delusions that four years of blood have barely been able to discard
forever the sentimental standpoint, and to view our species through the cold
eyes of science alone. We must recognise the essential underlaying savagery in
the animal called man, and return to older and sounder principles of national
life and defense. We must realise that man's nature will remain the same so
long as he remains man; that civilisation is but a slight coverlet beneath
which the dominant beast sleeps lightly and ever ready to awake. To preserve
civilisation, we must deal scientifically with the brute element, using only
genuine biological principles. In considering ourselves, we think too much of
ethics and sociology�too little of plain natural history. We should perceive
that man's period of historical existence, a period so short that his physical
constitution has not been altered in the slightest degree, is insufficient to
allow of any considerable mental change. The instincts that governed the
Egyptians and the Assyrians of old, govern us as well; and as the ancients
thought, grasped, struggled, and deceived, so shall we moderns continue to
think, grasp, struggle, and deceive in our inmost hearts. Change is only
superficial and apparent.

Man's respect for the imponderables varies according to his mental
constitution and environment. Through certain modes of thought and training it
can be elevated tremendously, get there is always a limit. The man or nation of
high culture may acknowledge to great lengths the restraints imposed by
conventions and honour, but beyond a certain point primitive will or desire
cannot be curbed. Denied anything ardently desired, the individual or state
will argue and parley just so long�then, if the impelling motive be
sufficiently great, will cast aside every rule and break down every acquired
inhibition, plunging viciously after the object wished; all the more
fantastically savage because of previous repression. The sole ultimate factor
in human decisions is physical force. This we must learn, however repugnant the
idea may seem, if we are to protect ourselves and our institutions. Reliance on
anything else is fallacious and ruinous. Dangerous beyond description are the
voices sometimes heard today, decrying the continuance of armament after the
close of the present hostilities.

The specific application of the scientific truth regarding man's native
instincts will be found in the adoption of a post-bellum international
programme. Obviously, we must take into account the primordial substructure and
arrange for the upholding of culture by methods which will stand the acid test
of stress and conflicting ambitions. In disillusioned diplomacy, ample
armament, and universal military training alone will be found the solution of
the world's difficulties. It will not be a perfect solution, because humanity
is not perfect. It will not abolish war, because war is the expression of a
natural human tendency. But it will at least produce an approximate stability
of social and political conditions, and prevent the menace of the entire world
by the greed of any one of its constituent parts.

THE END