Oscar Wilde on Jesus Christ, the individualist

Oscar Wilde, in his De Profundis, states:

"...he who would lead a Christ-like life must be entirely and absolutely himself...[for] more than anyone else in history [Christ] wakes in us that temper of wonder to which romance always appeals. ...as he passed by on the highway of life people who had seen nothing of life's mystery saw it clearly ... And above all, Christ is the most supreme of individualists. ...It is a man's soul that Christ is always looking for. ...That is because one realizes the soul only by getting rid of all alien passions, all acquired culture, and all external possessions, be they good or evil. ...Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. Christ was not merely the supreme individualist, but he was the first individualist in history. ...He appeals to the temper of wonder, and creates that mood in which alone he can be understood. ...He was the first person who ever said to people that they should live 'flower-like lives'. ...He felt that life was changeful, fluid, active, and that to allow it to be stereotyped into any form was death. ...He saw that people should not be too serious over material, common interests; that to be unpractical was a great thing; that one should not bother too much over affairs. ...Christ had no patience with the dull lifeless mechanical systems that treat people as if they were things, and so treat everybody alike: for him there were no laws... That which is the very keynote of romantic art was to him the proper basis of natural life. ...Like all poetical natures he loved ignorant people. ...But he could not stand stupid people, especially those who are made stupid by education; people who are full of opinions not one of which they even understand, a peculiarly modern type... He would not hear of life being sacrificed to any system of thought or morals. ...He showed that the spirit alone was of value. ...In opposition to [the] tithing of each separate day into the fixed routine of prescribed duties...he preached the enormous importance of living completely for the moment." (excerpted from pgs165-178)

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These excerpts on following the heart and aimless wandering are taken from unpublished chapters of THE WAY OF WONDER, by Jack Haas