OF REALITY. 447 



the meaning of those dualities and contrasts which we 

 find around and in us, the difference of self and not self, 

 of mind and matter, of subject and object, of appearance 

 and reality, of truth and semblance. Fichte's endeavour 

 is to bring, in many ways, this truth home to his hearers 

 and readers : nor is there any doubt that he found as 

 much in them an expectant and appreciative audience 

 as they, on the other side, found in him an expositor 

 of these sublime reflections ; for he had understood the 

 signs of the times, the want of the age, and also the 

 way to satisfy it. The very fact that he appeared to 

 his listeners as continually seeking, and never quite 

 finding, the right expression for his central idea, kept 

 them alive and intent upon following and assisting him 

 in this arduous enterprise ; for he only gave ex- 

 pression to conceptions which others around him had 

 likewise, though vaguely, formed for themselves, and 

 to express which was the untiring endeavour of that 

 age. 



But it was not in the spirit of Fichte's philosophy to 

 remain content with an intuitive knowledge of the exist- 

 ence of this underlying unity of the Absolute. His was 

 not a contemplative nature like that of Spinoza, who, 

 before him, had given expression to the same idea, 

 whose writings were at that time much studied in the 

 circle to which Fichte belonged, and who had a growing 

 influence upon the successors of Kant. Fichte's was an 17. 

 eminently active and practical nature, not practical practical 



aims. 



indeed in the lower and everyday meaning of the word, 

 but practical in that elevated region in which the great 

 minds which surrounded him were living and into which 



