THE QUESTION OF PONTIUS PILATE
in one of the theories he tears to pieces; while Schopenhauer, in his Literary Essays, clothes Hegel in transcendental rags, sets him up as a target, and proceeds to exercise upon him his dialectic skill. This, in the way of evolving a noble theory of life, or answering the query of Pilate. For the privilege of philosophers, enjoying the respect of the world, is such that they can only flay each other under the deluding assumption that they are flaying Error and Falsehood. Indeed, their generalizations often cover many a sore spot in their hearts. Envy, envy, thou Persephone of this lower world, even philosophers are counted among thy slaves. For instead of the truth, or as much as a taste of its kernel, we get the thorny husks of their egotism. And yet, they are the psychologists and metaphysicians who have tried to approach the Creator in a scientific manner!
Even a popular Handbook on Mind Power, for instance, and How to Get It, I find more satisfactory. For in it are no
[85]
