Page:Psychology and preaching.djvu/57

 MENTAL SYSTEMS 39

in the more complex and problematical situations that may arise.

If one is a philosopher, or in so far as one proposes to himself as an aim the correlation of the systems of ideas corresponding to the several fields of his experience, he may approximate mental unity and consistency more closely. He will construct a consciously held philosophy. I say &quot; consciously held,&quot; because most men perhaps all men do form a philosophy, i.e., do come to have a more or less unified view of the &quot; world,&quot; which means, of course, the totality of experience ; although in many cases the man him self does not realize what his philosophy is. A philosophy is the unification of all one s knowledge in one system ; and even when pursued as a conscious end with great and long- continued labour never attains to absolute consistency. When it grows up not as an end sought but as a result of activities directed to quite other ends, as is the case with most men, it is a more or less accidental by-product and is most likely to be full of inconsistencies, because in practical life the ideas and systems of ideas are brought into con sistency only so far as it is necessary to do so in order to attain the more proximate ends toward which most of our daily acts are directed. Often a correlation of ideas which is sufficient to guide action in simple situations and to the attainment of proximate ends proves quite insufficient in more complex situations and the attainment of more distant ends. A man may be, for instance, an unqualified pacifist, and in ordinary simple situations may be able to see how the national life can be conducted on that principle ; but when a world-war, such as has convlused the whole human universe, threatens the very life of nations and apparently the most precious interests of humanity, it is not so easy to see how to steer the ship of State through these troubled waters by that simple principle. A philosophy is an organization of one s experience intended to serve as a guide of action in the attainment of the ultimate and most general end of exist ence. When consciously undertaken and wrought out with

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