496 



PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



be the imperishable and unchangeable substance of all 

 that appears. Wanting in every special determination 

 which could protect it from the many-coloured inter- 

 pretations of the changing moods of the human mind, 

 what we mean by the real world is a product of these 

 variable moods, iust as variable quantities determine 

 each other in nature : whilst in sublime and beautiful 

 moments it appears surrounded by all the splendour of 

 the most actual reality, it vanishes in moments of satiety 

 and reaction into absolute void and nothingness. It is 

 the fate of all such inspired vision to possess that which 

 seems to be an immensely rich and glorious content ever 

 only in fleeting transition to nothingness ; the beautiful 

 world of the one moment does not continue into the 

 next ; it is given only to a few beautiful souls to retain, 

 through the troubles of life, the old possession as a 

 reflection, it may be, but nevertheless as an enduring 

 mental undertone." ^ 



According to Lotze the truly Eeal is thus, as it were, 

 a silent possession of the human mind, which reveals 

 itself only in favoured moments and favoured individuals. 



1 Lotze, ' Metaphysik ' (1841), 

 p. 6 sqq. Lotze then goes on to 

 state that although we have 

 primarily to do with what is given 

 to us, as it were, only in re- 

 flected light, this reflection is not 

 meant to be merely that of a casual 

 and evanescent mood but should be 

 the reflection of the truly Keal, and 

 that to prove it such forms the 

 inducement to speculate, the im- 

 pulse which produces philosophical 

 thought. "That infinite content 

 must, if it is to be valid, present 

 itself to the thinking mind in single 

 definite thoughts'; only by gaining 

 such objective presentation can it 



be secured and elevated beyond the 

 uncertainty of sentiment. We can- 

 not abandon the content of that 

 inspiration ; . . . and thus it is a 

 duty to protect what we consider 

 to be the Highest from the fluctua- 

 tions of our own feelings, and to 

 advance from a purely subjective 

 aspect to the serious work of logi- 

 cal j-easoning which is the region 

 common to all thinking minds " 

 (p. 8). And tlius philosophy is at 

 one with other endeavours which 

 all have the aim to secure the real 

 content of our mental life from 

 being destroyed through the casual 

 nature of individual conditions. 



