The Star in the West

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