After reading the passage, answer the questions that follow:
Unhappiness and discontent spring not only from poverty. Man is a strange creature, fundamentally different from other animals. He has far horizons, invincible hopes, creative energies, spiritual powers. If they are left undeveloped and unsatisfied, he may have all the comforts which wealth can give, but will still feel that life is not worthwhile. The great humanist writers, Shaw and Wells, Arnold Bennett and Galsworthy, who are regarded as the prophets of the dawn, expose the foibles, inconsistencies and weaknesses of modern life, but they ignore the deeper currents and sometimes misrepresent them. At any rate, they give nothing in their place. In the void left by the removal of tradition, morality and religion, others are putting in vague sentiments of race and power. The modern mind is shaped by Rousseau's Social Contract, Marx's Capital, Darwin's On the Origin of Species and Spengler's The Decline of the West. The outward chaos and confusion of our life reflect the confusion of our hearts and minds. Constitutions, says Plato, "are but the reflections in the outside world of the values which prevail in men's minds." There must be a change in the ideals we cherish, in the values we adopt, before we can give social expression to them. We help to secure the future only to the extent to which we ourselves are changed. What is missing in our age is the soul; there is nothing wrong with the body. We suffer from sickness of spirit. We must discover our roots in the eternal and regain faith in the transcendent truth which will order life, discipline discordant elements, and bring unity and purpose into it. If not, when the floods come and the winds blow and beat upon our houses, it will fall.
According to the author, the humanist writers have ignored ______.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → The spiritual aspect of life
The author says the humanist writers expose the weaknesses of modern life, "but they ignore the deeper currents" and give nothing in their place. The rest of the passage makes clear what these deeper currents are: man's spiritual powers, the soul that is missing in our age, and faith in the eternal. So the writers ignore the spiritual side of life.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: Religion and rituals — Incorrect. Not mentioned: Rituals are religious ceremonies performed in a fixed way. The passage mentions the removal of religion from modern life, but it does not say the writers ignored rituals; its concern is the soul, not ceremonies.
Example: The wedding rituals went on till midnight.
Option 3: Cultural progress — Incorrect. Not mentioned: the passage does not accuse the writers of ignoring culture; their failing is that they miss the deeper, spiritual currents.
Option 4: Material welfare — Incorrect. Not mentioned: the author says that in our age there is "nothing wrong with the body"; what is missing is the soul. The passage never blames the writers for neglecting material welfare; what they ignored is the spiritual side.