THE NEW WINE
241
with
the Absolute . ” ]
The two disputants , Scepticus
and Mysticus , set out by agreeing
that
the
unknow
able
is unreal , and as
the latter says with Berkeley ,
a thing is only real
to us so far as it
is known by
") 2
us. ”
When
Scepticus
asks
Mysticus ,
• How
old
are
you ? ”
and receives the answer ,
“
I
am
but
an ulti
mate truth , six world -truths , fourteen grand general
izations , eighty generalizations , sixty -two dilemmas ,
and the usual odd million impressions , "
he is receiving
a
much
more correct
and
scientific
answer
to his
question
than if Mysticus , like
Mahatma
Agamya ,
answered ,
“
sixty - two.”
Mysticus
then turning
to
Scepticus
asks
him
the
seemingly
simple question ,
“ What is a ' year ' ? ” . Scepticus answers something
about the earth moving round the sun , and is at once
shown by Mysticus
that a man stating a fact in refer
ence to “ Since the
Derby was
run ,” would
be more
intelligible
than he who would say , "
Since May , such
and such
a day ” ; . .
“ for his memory is of the race ,
and
not of a
particular
item
in
the
ever
changing
space
-relation of
the
heavens
, a relation
which
he
can never know , and of which
he
can never perceive
the
significance ; nay , which
he can
never recognize ,
even
by
landmarks
of
catastrophic
importance .
Scepticus
at
once
grasps
the
absurdity
of such
a
situation
by
picturing
the
cross - examination
of
a
farm
-hand by a lawyer :
«« • Now , Mr. Noakes , I must warn you to be very
careful .
Had Herschell occulted a Centauri before you
را5
| The Real History
of the Rosicrucians , A. E. Waite .
? Time , vol . ii , p. 269.
3 Ibid . vol. ii, p. 269.
4 Ibid . vol. ii, p. 270.
5 Ibid . vol. ii, p. 272.
R