INTRODUCTION xxxiii 



It is not In the estimation of those who say that the 

 creative genius is unknowable. But Is it unknowable? 

 Chapter by chapter the book of knowledge of the 

 eternal meaning of things unfolds. As rapidly as the 

 human race can assimilate new facts they are impinged 

 on some human brain. Philosophy will help in this 

 ultimate solution; so will religion. But their function, 

 probably, is not that of discovering Cosmic Reality; 

 but of conserving the best in experience, to reassure, 

 to visit the widow and the fatherless in their affliction, 

 noble enough callings. 



Leaders of religion, of course, will question this 

 position. They will ask: Is not the great and final 

 function of religion discovery and Interpretation of 

 Cosmic Reality? Perhaps so. Yet religion has not 

 found that Reality, much less interpreted it, in the 

 estimation of many thoughtful and devout men, par- 

 ticularly when the terms Cosmic Reality and God are 

 thought of synonymously, as they usually are in com- 

 mon thinking. We are not so disturbed over the fact 

 that traditional religion interprets the God-Reality 

 with some hundreds of different definitions, as we are 

 that not one of them proves much of anything to 

 thoughtful, honest seekers. These seekers admire the 

 devotion and self-denial of the devout religionist. 

 They may envy him his assurance, and the consolation 

 his convictions afford him in times of distress; but his 

 attempted demonstration that God exists does not con- 

 vince them. Why? Because, for the most part, re- 

 ligion has been seeking and describing a God of three 

 dimensions, a being to conform to its earthly notions 

 of time, space and measurement. In speaking of 



