HIGH ADVENTURE IN THOUGHT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23489, 28 October 1939, Page 4 (Supplement)

HIGH ADVENTURE IN THOUGHT

Mr. J. B. Priestley READERS who may expect from Mr. J. B. Priestley's "Rain Upon Godshill" exciting "slices" from the life of a popular author will find something better, even more exciting. This is the record of a thoughtful man|s adventures among thoughts—with some travel scenes and personal encounters, admirably described, interwoven to illustrate the thinking. It is ardent, emphatic, kindly, provoking. attractive, and, as important as its other merits, spontaneous. Another quality should bo mentioned—its freedom from literary egotism. Surprising Excursion What first strikes the reader as being a rationalistic mind makes a surprising excursion into a region of mysticism. There is something of paradox m the position; the speculation of the philosophical scientists, notably Mr. Dunne s Time Theories and Einstein's hypotheses, have provided the means for this excursion. "The notion that we see the whole real world is laughablo," Mr. Priestley writes; "our senses respond to a few limited wave-lengths, and out of them wo have to construct the universe." The main line of progress runs through the consciousness; "we have been trying for centuries to discover tho clue to tho mvstery somewhere outside ourselves. wo must now, if only for a change, reverse this process and try to find the clue insido ourselves." This escape from rationalism into mystery leads to affirmation of religious principles and of human dignity, which are so deadly menaced by materialist forces to-day. Machines and Men Wo have worshipped tho machine till it has become more important than tho men who work it:— "The State, that gigantic machine, is considered to be of more consequence than ajl the people it governs, because it apparently belongs to some higher order of being. These absurd values are possible in our time because, while our mechanisms . seem to us superb, we have tended to form a .lower and lower opinion of our common human nature. First tho soul went, then most of the rational mind, until what was left was without dignity and nobility. Nonrly all the great movements of this age have at their start-ing-point a contempt for the individual human being. The results are all around us. Everywhere the engines of destruction are massing. ■ "Rain Upon Godshill." A further chapter of autobiography, by J. B. Priestley. (Heinemann.)