The Star in the West

THE NEW WINE 203 Mysticus , we , if we enter the vortex of subjectivity and objectivity , " shall be tossed about as the world this 2,500 years . "11 IDEALISM In the philosophy of Plato idealism took the shape of a strictly formal characteristic , there was nothing in itself, as Kant might have explained it , an idea however dating back long before either Plato or Kant , and to be first found in any degree of maturity in the Upanishads of post-vedic India . Form was reality, and nothing else , it was the sole and only essence . From such metaphysics rose numerous modified forms which may be roughly classed under the name of Spiritualism (Malebranche). They asserted that matter objectively was illusion or maya , and that the world problem could only be considered as a reality sub jectively in the thoughts as “ thinks ”, in fact the world real was simply an elaboration of these “ thinks." These spiritualistic philosophies stagnating for a time were soon mystified by man's inherent longing for the wonderful ,' and developed into various systems of Spiritism and Mysticism , both high and low . Of the latter the most renowned , and in many ways the most profound , was the Philosophy of the Qabalah . 1 Time , vol . ii , p. 268. 2 “ The imagination of man is naturally sublime , delighted with whatever is remote and extraordinary, and running with out control into the most distant parts of space and time in order to avoid the objects, which custom has rendered too familiar to it. " - An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding , Hume (Religion of Science Library ), p. 172.