The course of history has taught us, too, that great ideas have come to individuals and have been rejected by the masses for long periods of time.
The immediate effect of the failure of socialism is the encouragement of _individualism_, for indeed some of the arguments against the former are arguments in favour of the latter.

Individualism opens up a new life, a life which is free, joyous, and unconventional.
But can individualism give a meaning and value to life as a whole?
Man cannot from his own resources produce a high ideal which compels him to fight for higher development, and it is not possible for him from an individualistic standpoint to regard himself as a manifestation of a larger life.

His whole life must be spent in the improvement of his own condition.

Even in the case of strongly marked personalities, they can never get beyond themselves and their own subjective states, for they must always live upon themselves, and eternally reflect upon their own doings.
But such a view of life cannot satisfy man; he is a contemplative being, and he must find some all-inclusive whole, of which he is a part.

If he fails to find it, life for him must become a blank, and he must fall a prey to boredom and satiety.