Page:What We Want.djvu/45

 of his own spirit, in his affections, in all the stir of the energies of his own subconscious ego, the practical reason of his own actions, the direction and sure guide of his life. And since the laws which regulate the individual spirit arc the same as those which regulate the collective spirit of the masses, and have always and invariably guided humanity throughout the centuries towards its own mysterious destinies, the attempt was made to solve the problem of the worth of human life on the ground of the social sciences, which had taken a historical and psychological direction.

All this confusion has reduced the minds of men to an uncomfortable condition of disturbed equilibrium. What was to become of religion and morals, which had hitherto been presented as a method and form of life imposing themselves from without upon men's consciences by way of deduction from universal principles? When once these