Page:Philosophical Review Volume 27.djvu/669

has won in its long experience: the spiritual life is a life of truth and justice and mercy; the true self is the self that sets its mind "on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth." There is always more behind the formulas than in them, and they must be interpreted in the light of what is taken for granted. Professor Adler is no exception to the rule. We get a deeper insight into his real meaning as we go along, in the practical application of his philosophic theory, which comprises the larger portion of his book (pp. 147-372). And here we discover that the unique self does not differ much from the true self of his predecessors. Uniqueness finds its limitation in the universal; indeed, the only kind of uniqueness that is worthwhile is moral uniqueness. In his opposition to a levelling process that would blot out all originality and pound all men into a common pulp, and in his impatience with a civilization that turns out human beings like standardized factory-wares, billig und schlecht, to use Schopenhauer's phrase, Professor Adler overemphasizes the element of uniqueness. But it is, after all, always a moral uniqueness that he has in mind: "we can love only that which is lovable," the holiness and beauty concealed within our fellow-beings; "we must acquire the faculty of second sight, of seeing the lovable self as the true self" (p. 223). "The unique personality, which is the real life in me, I cannot gain, nor even approximate to, unless I search and go on searching for the spiritual numen in others" (p. 224). "For it is only face to face with the god enthroned in the innermost shrine of the other that the god hidden in me will consent to appear" (p. 225). Not every part of man is worthwhile. "Unless, then, there be some master end in everyone's life, one paramount to all others, to which all others are subordinate (the subordination and the renunciation being themselves means of spiritualizing one's nature) there is no point to the notion of service. That master end I have defined as the attainment of the conviction of one's infinite interrelatedness, the consciousness of oneself as a member of the spiritual universe ..." (p. 228). "The spiritual society of which the image is to be imprinted on human society is a society of indefeasible ethical personalities" (p. 247). "I must have the courage and the truthfulness to look upon neighbor, friend, wife, husband, son, daughter sub specie aeternitatis, that is, as primarily spiritual beings" (p. 228). I must help them to realize the better part of their nature, to arouse in them the consciousness of the true self, the consciousness of the universal good, the consciousness of the ideal society of ethical personalities. This is the teaching of all idealistic ethics.