persistence with which the
philosopher has taken himself seriously and endured the poor opinion of
the world. But the pride of the philosopher has done more than
perpetuate the philosophical outlook and problem; it has led to the
formulation of a definite philosophical conception, and of two great
philosophical doctrines. The conception is that of the _absolute_; and
the doctrines are that of the _absolute being_, and that of the
_absolute self_ or _mind_. The former of these doctrines is the topic of
the present chapter.

Among the early Greeks the role of the philosopher was one of
superlative dignity. In point of knowledge he was less easily satisfied
than other men. He thought beyond immediate practical problems, devoting
himself to a profounder reflection, that could not but induce in him a
sense of superior intellectual worth. The familiar was not binding upon
him, for his thought was emancipated from routine and superficiality.
Furthermore his intellectual courage and resolution did not permit him
to indulge in triviality, doubt, or paradox. He sought his own with a
faith that could not be denied. Even Heraclitus the Dark, who was also
called "the Weeping Philosopher," because he found at the very heart of
nature that transiency which the philosophical mind seeks to escape,
felt himself to be exalted as well as isolated by that insight. But this
sentiment of personal aloofness led at once to a division of experience.
He who knows truly belongs to another and more abiding world. As there
is a philosophical way of thought, there is a philosophical way of life,
and _a philosophical object_. Since the philosopher and the common man
do not see alike, the terms of their experience are incommensurable. In
Parmenides the Eleatic this motive is most strikingly exhibited. There
is a _Way of Truth_ which diverges from the _Way of Opinion_. The
philosopher walks the former way alone. And there is an object of truth,
accessible only to one who takes this way of truth. Parmenides finds
this object to be the content of pure affirmation.

"One path only is left for us to speak of, namely, that _It
is_. In it are very many tokens that what is, is uncreated and
indestructible, alone, complete, immovable, and without end.
Nor was it ever, nor will it be; for now _it is_, all at once,
a continuous one."[308:2]

The philosophy of Parmenides, commonly called the Eleatic Philosophy,
is notable for this emer