Temples of Thought

Miss Mona Haik is one of the most profound young women of this country in thought and culture. She holds the higher degree in law, though she does not practice at the bar, for she believes that woman sustains life for something loftier than the bar and medicine... And The Woman's Voice is very proud to present this strong voice among its strong and distinguished voices, on a subject which is indeed among the most delicate and sensitive of subjects.

I have found nothing in the world whose small size is so out of proportion to its great work as the book. A few sheets of paper that the grasp of a hand can hold — and they contain an entire world.

Through it we have inherited the thoughts of the ages, the civilization of the peoples, and the culture of the scholars and men of letters among the ancients. In it are the sayings of the prophets; in it the tablets of learning and letters; in it the traditions of the forefathers; in it man's longing to know the eternal truth. The philosophers in their retreats and towers, the thinkers in their cold cells, the poets in their valleys of fancy, shroud their souls in the worn pages of books. The book is a spirit bearing the trace and the image of man in his intellectual and material work. It carries to us the thoughts of the heroes of the peoples, from Confucius to Socrates and Plato, to Ali ibn Abi Talib, al-Ghazali, and Jalal al-Din al-Rumi, to Copernicus and Pasteur.

What is the book we may take as our friend?

Pasteur said, addressing the young: spend your hours in the calm, tranquil atmosphere that reigns in libraries and laboratories. For these are the temples of human thought and of the human spirit.

Yes! We shall spend most of our hours in libraries — but which books shall we choose? I believe that the great and cultivated [...]

The first is the classic book — the book that has been read and studied for many centuries, and those who study it believe that it will go on being studied for a long time in the future as well. There is in it something permanent and immortal of human nature. Peoples have beliefs and fixed ideas, absolute in their eyes, by which they steer their lives and without which they cannot face the future. And these ideas are born in the classic books, in the books of the leaders of the world's thought. There are books that have exerted a profound and mighty influence on the history of the human soul. For genuine feelings and strong ideas are the same in the human creature, whether he lived in the remotest centuries and in the noondays of the equator, or in this age of ours on the flanks of the pole.

Or do you suppose the black Negro mother in the heart of Africa loves her Negro child less than the Beiruti mother loves her beautiful fair-haired baby? Do we not feel, even today, when we read the farewell of 'Hector' to 'Andromache' in Homer's Iliad, the greatness and majesty of Hector, and the gentleness of Andromache, her grace, her love for her husband and her only son, as though the event had happened among us and in our own circle? And so it is with Molière's 'Miser,' which was performed for six unbroken months — not in seventeenth-century France, but in 1938, on the stages of Tokyo.

And beside these classic works, which set down the genuine stirrings of the human soul and thereby rise above time and place, stand works that pass from outward historical events to an understanding of their causes and consequences, sifting the past, comprehending the present, and divining the future. These are those sweeping views of historical, social, and human affairs, such as the works of Bossuet, Pascal, and Montesquieu — not to speak of the works of the Greek philosophers and the great figures of world literature, such as Dante, Cervantes, Shakespeare, Goethe, and Tagore.

These works man will study so long as he remains man, and he will revere them because they express the truth; and one becomes wiser and better guided upon making their acquaintance.

Books such as these instill in us a spirit of humility, for we understand that there exists an independent truth which does not hang upon our own essence — an absolute, detached truth which others have seized upon, and known, and tried to explain to us for the benefit of mankind. Yet we must, with the help of their interpretation and their books, test it ourselves too, and understand it. And this is what drives us out of our torpor and brings us forth toward something better and finer. Likewise we look upon what the leaders of thought have created, from whatever lands they came, and we see the point of view of others; thus we understand them and understand their claims, and peace prevails in the world. And there is no peace among peoples without mutual understanding.

And how can we come to understand one another by any better way than the way of books and culture? The international organization for education, science, and culture has considered this question, and has resolved to publish the world's books in all countries.

Dr. Charles Malik proposed, in a speech dated December 5, 1946, at the United Nations organization, that the classic books be translated into all the languages of the world, so that every human being might become acquainted with the spiritual and intellectual discoveries the human mind has made in the pursuit of the knowledge of truth. Among his words: "Peoples live only by exchanging the fruits of their endeavor, and peace will not spread over the world unless all come to know one another through books, and unless the cultural differences between the peoples disappear. Therefore all the classic books must be translated into all the languages of the world, so that even he who has learned no European language may obtain them."

Shall we, in this age of ours, strive less in the cause of the book, and of the human culture it expounds, than our ancient forefathers did?

Nay — we must cultivate ourselves with a true culture, and so give Lebanon a countenance of its own, distinguishing it among all the nations. "Kipling," the famous English poet, said: "East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet." And yet they have met upon this land of ours, and they do not quarrel. And upon this land shall gather the greatest cultural, scientific, and social institution history and the world have known — Unesco. Let us profit by it, and contribute to the attainment of its peaceful and humane aims; and then there will return to us that great spiritual heritage which for an age we carried as a beacon upon the brow of the peoples.

The Lebanese Child-Welfare Society invited the men of the press and the heads of institutes and organizations to a family tea party, which it held at the Military Club on the afternoon of Tuesday, April 6. In the name of the society, Mrs. Husaynah Sa'id Farjahah welcomed the invited guests and thanked them for answering the invitation and for their effective contribution to the success of Child's Day and to the project for the child's welfare, and she presented some of the children of the homes in a varied program of songs that won the approval of all. Mrs. Zahia Salman, president of the society, delivered a speech in which she made plain the society's aims and drew attention to two happy departures in its work, which have had a great effect on the success of their labors. The first departure is the society's stepping beyond the stage of speeches and pronouncements into the field of fruitful work, proving thereby that a woman can be a model housewife and at the same time serve her community with fidelity and selflessness. The second departure is its successful endeavors toward fighting hateful sectarianism, for it is a national Lebanese women's association in its members and in the children it cares for. She then laid before the audience the society's preparations for Child's Day, which may be summed up as follows:

1. A party, as usual, under the patronage of Her Ladyship the First Lady of Lebanon, who — God preserve her — has been pleased to shower the society with her kindness, and has graciously consented to open Child Week with an appeal to be broadcast from Radio Lebanon.

2. The participation of most of the Lebanese towns and villages in its observance.

3. The participation of the other Arab countries in its observance as well.

4. The holding of a traveling festival of the children of the city's kindergartens, to go about the streets and draw eyes and ears to Child's Day.

5. Inviting a company of the men and ladies of Lebanon to write articles of guidance, to be published during Child Week.

6. Calling for volunteers, men and women, to collect donations, as usual.

7. Presenting a formal request to the government to recognize Child's Day officially.

In the course of the meeting the society received a letter from Miss Thurayya Malhas, secretary of the Jordanian Women's Union, saying that they had answered the request of the Child-Welfare Society and would celebrate Child's Day. The newspaper "Al-Urdun," for its part, carried a leading article under this headline: "Child's Day — the Jordanian Women's Union answers the appeal of the Lebanese Child-Welfare Society." Mrs. Salman closed her remarks by thanking the press, the institutes, the organizations, and the radio, announcing that the door of discussion stands open before all, and that the society welcomes every suggestion, guidance, or question addressed to it.

After an exchange of views, and the approval by those present of the broad lines of Child's Day as drawn by the society, the zealous patriot Mr. Zaki al-Naqqash, president of Makassed College, rose and delivered one of his splendid patriotic speeches, in which he praised the efforts of woman in the field of social service, saluted her activity in fighting sectarianism, and declared, in the name of the men present, that they are soldiers, in complete readiness to answer the call of the Child-Welfare Society and to work hand in hand with it toward the realization of its humane aims.