ABSTRACT
The hope for the progress of civilization to-day has probably a more substantial basis to rest upon than at any other period in the history of the human race. Measure as we may the advance the world has made in the invention of mechanical appliances and in scientific achievements, in the greater interest in sociological methods and in the improvements in the conditions of living, to those who estimate progress by the law of the greatest happiness to the greatest number, one other advance has recently come to be of immense import for the furtherance of that happiness: man, driven largely by the events of the past six years, is to-day at the point of deciding whether he really cares to know himself, and whether he wishes to discover the laws controlling his emotional life, directing his aspirations, and extending his intelligence. The shock of war and its attendant misery should not be allowed to shake our confidence in the latent possibilities of this new attitude of man toward himself, nor should we permit any signs of disaster to obscure the fact that very old problems of living have recently been presented to our attention, not only in new forms but in a manner to suggest a rational basis for belief in their ultimate successful solution. A brief résumé of the evidence favorable for this present outlook will suggest practical applications of this knowledge that should benefit a world now discouraged with only partial success or often with downright failure. *
