CONTINUITY OF BERGSON S THOUGHT 201 



but these are means to an end, and not the end itself. Nothing has 

 any value in itself but only that value which is conferred upon it by 

 the needs of the human spirit in its fierce and splendid evolution. 



The greatest intellects have perhaps always felt this and it is only 

 necessary now that they should confess openly, or rather emphatically 

 assert, that the things of the spirit can only be apprehended spiritually. 



The reality of the soul, its freedom as the truest mark of our human 

 rank, the subordination of matter to our advance, these are the deep 

 and persistent truths, and we must concern ourselves rather with 

 finding the errors which have made the opposite views possible than 

 with serious doubts about fundamentals. 



If science accepts this new philosophy in this spirit, never again 

 shall we see the triumph of materialism and fatalism and pessimism 

 over all that makes life really worth living. 



This great anti-intellectualist, as some call him, is the greatest 

 exponent of what a scholarly and logical mind of wonderful caliber 

 can do in the service of a more perfect world. He differs from other 

 dreamers precisely in his unexampled force of intellect. He does not 

 persuade us to believe in the greatest things but by a prodigious effort 

 of intellect challenges us to refute his subtle arguments. Since Kant 

 there has been no such master of the deepest problems as we see 

 revealed in these works. 



Only the few will ever be able to comprehend these books as they 

 were meant. But the influence of the few is supreme in forming the 

 life and genius of peoples. 



There is sure to be a great onslaught upon this system. It will 

 be some time before the real significance of this beautiful and broad- 

 minded system is generally realized. It is astonishing in the flood of 

 reviews and criticisms to find hardly any who realize the underlying 

 thought of Bergson. We read a great deal about his view of evolution 

 and very little about his conception of time, real time, as equivalent 

 to life, and soul, and will and creation, and as opposed to space and 

 numbers and matter. 



The first enthusiasm over the work has subsided; but outside the 

 classes of the universities, the real enthusiasm has hardly begun. 



