A WORKING PHILOSOPHY

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 56, 15 September 1928, Page 21

A WORKING PHILOSOPHY

"The Conquest of Illusion." By Dr. J. J. van der Leeuw, LL.D. Loadon and New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Dr. van der Leeuw will be remembered in the Dominion, which he has twice visited, for his lectures and views expressed on matters philosophical and educational, showing himself to be an original thinker. It is therefofe with interest that one turns to his recently published book, "The Conquest of Illusion," which is an amplification of one of the lectures he delivered in Wellingtoji. "When a thing is clear to a philosopher," says Dr. van der Leeuw, "ho must be able to say it in simple and intelligible language. If he fails to do so, and if many volumes must needs bo written to expound what he might have meant, it is a certain sign that his knowledge was confused. Only imperfect knowledge goes hidden under a load of words." Judged by his own standard, Dr. van der Leeuw wins right out. In a little over a couple of hundred pages he elucidates a philosophy which is not divorced from everyday life. Once we have seen the vision of Kcality, says the author, our world is changed, utterly and almost beyond recognition-, and yet' nothing has changed in things as they are, it being we purselves who have changed. It is in ourselves that the key to onr world-chango is to be found, this is the point that is emphasised. In the words of Shelley, "the man remains," and in him is found the secret of reality. Dr. van der Leeuw's book will help to clarify the thought of many who are groping for a satisfactory expression of the Universe. That it is dedicated to Krishnamurti i need not frighten those to whom theosophical teachings do not appeal.