Page:Mind (Old Series) Volume 9.djvu/395

 THE OBJECT OF KNOWLEDGE. 383 life at its present height, and may continue to elevate it still more. Conceptual understanding has no virtue in itself. It serves us merely as unifying guidance in the suitable elaboration of our multiform environment- Only results organically wrought through beneficial influences within our natural being have real value for us. And only the diligent cultiva- tion on our part of such beneficial influences secures a last- ing possession of values thus realised. Knowledge is no end in itself. Its object lies not in an intelligible sphere, but in the sphere of sensorial influences. Its practical aim is not liberation from its natural entanglements, but, on the con- trary, rational elaboration of such entanglements. In fine, our being and its knowledge are wholly natural, and as mysterious or as intelligible as the rest of nature.