righteousness
goes to the bottom, then there is nothing more worth living for on the
earth." Eucken's philosophy cannot be understood apart from his intense
interest in mankind and its spiritual development. He goes, indeed, so
far as to say that this is the sole goal of philosophy; its message is
to create new spiritual values in the life of the individual and of the
race. Our systems of philosophy are painfully defective in this respect
to-day. Man, as a being with a soul, is little taken into account in
most of them. Is it surprising, therefore, that philosophy has not
succeeded, [p.231] for centuries, in interesting or influencing the
intelligent world at large?[84] It will not succeed in doing this until
the deepest needs of mankind are taken to be something more than objects
of psychological analysis or of logical generalisations.

Eucken's personality is rooted in a deep love for humanity and its
spiritual qualities; and herein lies the essential reason of his
championing of weak nations and pleading for the preservation of their
original spiritual characteristics. These qualities are pearls of too
great a price to be lost in a world where so much tinsel passes as what
possesses the highest value.

It is not difficult to see why the small nations of the North feel that
in Eucken they possess a true friend who sees clearly what they feel
instinctively, and who points out to them the path of their spiritual
deliverance.

It is impossible, also, to understand Eucken's system of philosophy
without taking into account his religious experience. This aspect has
already been touched upon, but it requires elucidation from a more
personal point of view. Eucken's philosophy is the result of the
experience of his own soul. It is something which can never be
understood until it is lived through. Everything is brought back to its
roots in the needs, aspirations, and inwardness of the soul. One must
become "converted" [p.232] before he can understand Eucken's teaching.
Something has not only to be understood but to be lived through; the
body and the external world have to be relegated to a subsidiary place;
the intellect has to merge into the spiritual intuition which is deeper
than itself. It is after one has been willing to pass through this fiery
furnace that the great "illumination" begins to appear. And such an
illumination will increase in the degree that service and sacrifice are
willingly undertaken for the sake of