Power of Comprehension* 25 1 



And first of all, as a means of rightly performing 

 this work, there must be Comprehension. The man 

 must, by some power or set of powers, be as capable 

 of understanding all his own powers, from the low- 

 est to the highest, in their capabilities, and uses, as 

 he is of comprehending any thing in the world with- 

 out him, upon which he can experiment to advan- 

 tage. 



This comprehending power must, also, be able 

 to give to the man an understanding of his relations 

 to the world, — to make him a progressive being, 

 this power must furnish the means of constantly 

 adding to his knowledge — of widening its own 

 sphere, and improving its own action. 



The full comprehension of all the powers, activ- 

 ities and impulses, and of the relations of the man 

 possessing these to the world, is the highest intel- 

 lectual act possible, so far as the well-being of the 

 man himself. In this world, is concerned. It is a 

 thing so seldom done, that It is no wonder that, 

 *' Know Thyself," should, for so many ages, have 

 been considered one of the wisest of all sayings ; 

 and that the practice of the precept, should be con- 

 sidered wisdom itself. This precept has, perhaps, 

 never been perfectly obeyed, either in the knowing 

 of one's self or in the action, which seems to be 

 necessarily implied, as the result of knowing. And 

 as society becomes more complex in its organiza- 

 tion, and the relations of every man become more 

 widely extended, this knowledge of self as related 

 to the world, becomes more difficult. Perhaps the 

 difficulty of the problem increases as fast as the 



