184 THE LIFE OF SCIENCE 



misused, in which case it is evil and dangerous. Without being 

 misused it may be spoiled and made worthless and contemptible 

 by the lack of charity or the excess of conceit. We must try to 

 know things as they are : this is fundamental, but not final. There 

 is a world of difference between what we know on the one hand, 

 and what we are and do on the other. The perfect humanist must 

 take all this into account. 



We can only find ourselves by losing ourselves. This is in my 

 opinion the deepest saying of the Gospels, without exact equiva- 

 lent as far as I know in other Scriptures. There is much emphasis 

 of course in other sacred writings, especially those of India, on 

 the need of self abandonment to attain reality, but the implications 

 are metaphysical and mystical rather than ethical. People who are 

 always talking of metaphysical truth are just as likely as not to be 

 inveterate liars. I am not very interested in the theories of knowl- 

 edge; my concern is truthfulness as honest men and scientists un- 

 derstand it. Lawyers, theologians, and even philosophers may in- 

 dulge in distinctions and equivocations and get away with it; 

 scientists cannot do that without disgrace. 



To return to Christ's saying, it is often misinterpreted; it is con- 

 sidered unworldly, and indeed the climax of unworldly wisdom 

 and sanctity. To me it seems to be simply the expression of com- 

 mon sense. One may find verifications of it in almost every human 

 life — in frustrated ambitions as well as in those whose very fulfill- 

 ment could not conceal their vanity. The self-seeker finds nothing 

 but his own poor self, and sundry trifles, such as wealth, to which 

 his disorderly brain attaches a false value. He can reach nothing 

 but the phantoms of his own imagination, and this would not 

 matter so much if he did not abandon, for the sake of reaching 

 them, precious realities. It is not necessary to search for the abid- 

 ing values of life; all that is needed is to prepare oneself for them. 

 Utter renouncement is the shortest and surest road to the estab- 

 lishment of one's personality, or more exactly to the accomplish- 

 ment of what one was born to do. 



The love of truth and the search for it for its own sake are the 



