INTRODUCTION 



WE are entering one of the most significant 

 periods in the records of the human race, 

 so far as man's attempt to explain himself 

 and his relation to the universe is concerned. This 

 is said, mindful of historic evolutions, revolutions and 

 reformations. 



The thought, perhaps oftenest in our mind, is that 

 about the meaning of life for us, personally, and the 

 meaning of the universe that envelops us. It may be 

 a narrow path that leads from the breakfast table to 

 the office and home again. Calls to household tasks 

 come day in, day out. The necessity for carrying on 

 the occupation, pleasant or unpleasant, through the 

 years in order to support the family may find us dis- 

 pirited and rebellious at times. But always, on the 

 elevations and in the depressions of experience, we are 

 thinking, thinking — why we are here, and what we are 

 here to do. 



Human beings are not flitting about like the moth 

 in a glare of light, without sense of direction. They 

 have definite sense of direction. This whole fabric of 

 education, industry, business, families, states, inter- 

 national combinations, is built up on the assumption 

 that life has purpose and meaning. Just what that 

 purpose and meaning may be we are puzzled to know. 

 But to conclude that it is not present constantly and 

 everywhere is to make life a trifling episode on the 

 one hand, or a grim punishment on the other. But life 



