Note 45 — Chapter IV
Reading edition
The society was entitled “The Fellowship of the New Life,” and its first manifesto was entitled Vita Nuova. The following was its original basis, as drawn up by Mr. Maurice Adams, and adopted on November 16th, 1883:
“We, recognizing the evils and wrongs that must beset men so long as our social life is based upon selfishness, rivalry and ignorance, and desiring above all things to supplant it by a life based upon unselfishness, love and wisdom, unite, for the purpose of realizing the higher life among ourselves, and of inducing and enabling others to do the same.
“And we now form ourselves into a Society, to be called the Guild of the New Life, to carry out this purpose.”