this secret journey are they forgetful to erase
their footsteps from the sand, so that when they publicly set forth it
shall appear to those who follow them that they are guided not by
previous knowledge of the way but by the inevitable necessity of
pure reason.

I also, like the rest, must begin with what will turn out to be the
end; but unlike many I shall openly indicate this fact and not attempt
to conceal it.

My starting-point is nothing less than what I call the original
revelation of man's complex vision; and I regard this original
revelation as something which is arrived at by the use of a certain
synthetic activity of all the attributes of this vision. And this
synthetic activity of the complex vision I call its apex-thought.

This revelation is of a peculiar nature, which must be grasped, at
least in its general outlines, before we can advance a step further
upon that journey which is also a return.

It might be maintained that before attempting to philosophize upon
life, the question should be asked . . . "why philosophize at all?"
And again . . . "what are the motive-forces which drive us into this
process which we call philosophizing?"

To philosophize is to articulate and express our personal reaction to
the mystery which we call life, both with regard to the nature of that
mystery and with regard to its meaning and purpose.

My answer to the question "Why do we philosophize?" is as
follows. We philosophize for the same reason that we move and
speak and laugh and eat and love. In other words, we philosophize
because man is a philosophical animal. We breathe because we
cannot help breathing and we philosophize because we cannot help
philosophizing. We may be as sceptical as we please. Our very
scepticism is the confession of an implicit philosophy. To suppress
the activity of philosophizing is as impossible as to suppress the
activity of breathing.

Assuming then that we _have_ to philosophize, the question
naturally arises . . . _how_ have we to philosophize if our
philosophy is to be an adequate expression of our complete reaction
to life?

By the phrase "man's complex vision" I am trying to indicate the
elaborate and intricate character of the organ of research which we
have to use. All subsequent discoveries are rendered misleading if
the total activity, at least in its general movement, of our instrument
of research is not brought into focus. This instrument of research
which I have named