Nothing Is More Vain Than To Seek

Nothing Is More Vain Than To Seek To Unite Men By A Philosophic Minimum.

Art And Poetry Cannot Do Without One Another. Yet The Two Words Are Far From Being Synonymous. By Art I Mean The Creative Or Producing, Work-making Activity Of The Human Mind. By Poetry I Mean, Not The Particular Art Which Consists In Writing Verses, But A Process Both More General And More Primary: That Intercommunication Between The Inner Being Of Things And The Inner Being Of The Human Self Which Is A Kind Of Divination (as Was Realized In Ancient Times; The Latin Vates Was Both A Poet And A Diviner). Poetry, In This Sense, Is The Secret Life Of Each And All Of The Arts.

Since Science's Competence Extends To Observable And Measurable Phenomena, Not To The Inner Being Of Things, And To The Means, Not To The Ends Of Human Life, It Would Be Nonsense To Expect That The Progress Of Science Will Provide Men With A New Type Of Metaphysics, Ethics, Or Religion.

The Sole Philosophy Open To Those Who Doubt The Possibility Of Truth Is Absolute Silence -- Even Mental.

The First Step To Be Taken By Everyone Who Wishes To Act Morally Is To Decide Not To Act According To The General Customs And Doings Of His Fellow-men.