individual, as a moral being, that that which he is contemplating is
_not himself_[1]; and unless he can take this point of view, he will
not see things in a really true light, which is possible only if he is
alive to their actual defects, exactly as they are. Instead of that,
when a man sees himself in the glass, something out of his own
egotistic nature whispers to him to take care to remember that _it is
no stranger, but himself, that he is looking at_; and this operates as
a _noli me tang ere_, and prevents him taking an objective view. It
seems, indeed, as if, without the leaven of a grain of malice, such a
view were impossible.

[Footnote 1: Cf. _Grundprobleme der Ethik_, p. 275.]

* * * * *

According as a man's mental energy is exerted or relaxed, will life
appear to him either so short, and petty, and fleeting, that nothing
can possibly happen over which it is worth his while to spend emotion;
that nothing really matters, whether it is pleasure or riches, or even
fame, and that in whatever way a man may have failed, he cannot
have lost much--or, on the other hand, life will seem so long, so
important, so all in all, so momentous and so full of difficulty that
we have to plunge into it with our whole soul if we are to obtain a
share of its goods, make sure of its prizes, and carry out our plans.
This latter is the immanent and common view of life; it is what
Gracian means when he speaks of the serious way of looking
at things--_tomar muy de veras el vivir_. The former is the
transcendental view, which is well expressed in Ovid's _non est
tanti_--it is not worth so much trouble; still better, however, by
Plato's remark that nothing in human affairs is worth any great
anxiety--[Greek: oute ti ton anthropinon axion esti megalaes
spoudaes.] This condition of mind is due to the intellect having got
the upper hand in the domain of consciousness, where, freed from
the mere service of the will, it looks upon the phenomena of life
objectively, and so cannot fail to gain a clear insight into its
vain and futile character. But in the other condition of mind, will
predominates; and the intellect exists only to light it on its way to
the attainment of its desires.

A man is great or small according as he leans to the one or the other
of these views of life.

* * * * *

People of very brilliant ability think little of admitting their
errors and weaknesses,