Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1899 edition. Excerpt: ... II. HAS MAN A SOUL?* From one point of view, it seems absurd to ask if man has a soul; for do we not feel its presence within and commune in sympathetic affinity with those who speak its silent language? Surely, no one could impart in words the meaning and beauty of this inmost essence of life. Even to attempt it seems to profane the most sacred part of our being, and he who has penetrated deepest into the soul's unmeasured realms is most likely to be silent concerning its treasures and its joys. Yet it is equally true that all life is grounded in feeling. It may be that here within us now, and around us, is all the wisdom or power we seek, and that in the truest sense there is no progress to distant attainment, but only an awakening to the beauty in which all existence forever reposes. But it is just this awakening which concerns us. The perfected universe exists for you and me so far only as we have advanced in discriminative thinking. Life is known to be life by living it, but feeling is not all of life. The pure white ray of light * A paper read at the Psychological Conference, Greenacre, August, 1897. is not apprehended in its full beauty until one has seen the colors of the spectrum. Thought irresistibly demands to know both what feeling is and what it means; and man will never be satisfied until he not only lives and feels, but also comprehends. And the real object of all human thinking is to comprehend the soul: the goal of all endeavor is to manifest the soul in fuller and richer life. It behooves us, then, again and again to readjust ourselves to our own deepest thoughts concerning the soul; for all wisdom, both practical and philosophical, is measured by our knowledge of self. In one sense, we know more about self than about...
