ABSTRACT

The adaptation of the human mind, and, indeed, of the human being as whole, to its world is reflected by the channels in which human interest naturally flows. The attempt to rise towards spiritual enlightenment tears the being away from the conditions of adaptation: yet the adapted characteristics follow and influence and hamper the higher characteristics. A man who has led a selfish and perhaps even a criminal life may, in a crisis, perform a noble act of self-sacrifice. The deeper meaning of human life comes from beyond the range of the adapted mind, and the latter is incapable of seeing it. Until this is realized, the human picture remains one of baffling confusion and apparent senselessness. Human rationality is not complete but is partial and problematical, shot through and through by instinct, struggling to rise to freedom amid violent oscillations, successes and relapses.