One Person Can And Does

It Is Through The Idealism Of Youth That Man Catches Sight Of Truth, And In That Idealism He Possesses A Wealth Which He Must Never Exchange For Anything Else.

What The Activity Of This Disposition Of Ours Means In The Evolution Of The World, We Do Not Know. Nor Can We Regulate This Activity From Outside; We Must Leave Entirely To Each Individual Its Shaping And Its Extension. From Every Point Of View, Then, World- And Life-affirmation And Ethics Are Non-rational, And We Must Have The Courage To Admit It.

I Do Not Believe That We Can Put Into Anyone Ideas Which Are Not In Him Already. As A Rule There Are In Everyone All Sorts Of Good Ideas, Ready Like Tinder. But Much Of This Tinder Catches Fire, Or Catches It Successfully, Only When It Meets Some Flame Or Spark From Outside, I.e., From Some Other Person.

Because I Have Confidence In The Power Of Truth, And Of The Spirit, I Have Confidence In The Future Of Mankind.

Rational Thinking Which Is Free From Assumptions Ends Therefore In Mysticism. To Relate Oneself In The Spirit Of Reverence For Life To The Multiform Manifestations Of The Will-to-live Which Together Constitute The World Is Ethical Mysticism. All Profound World-view Is Mysticism, The Essence Of Which Is Just This: That Out Of My Unsophisticated And Naïve Existence In The World There Comes, As A Result Of Thought About Self And The World, Spiritual Self-devotion To The Mysterious Infinite Will Which Is Continuously Manifested In The Universe.