We begin to make headway with the distinction already insisted upon between mere experience or expression and the principles by which we endeavour to interpret the experience under consideration. Of far more consequence than an experience which leaves us with a sense of mystery, as if by miracle we could read the human heart, or receive the secrets of heaven, is the possession of a first principle by which we may classify all our experiences according to their value in a system. For we may then distinguish between the first form of an experience, the channel through which it comes, and the thought through which we analyse and explain it; we may single out a first impression of human character and relate it to our general knowledge and our second thought; and we may rise above the conservatisms of our vocation or creed to the level of disinterested insight.

Assuming, then, that insight may be acquired, we may proceed to consider its nature, its sources, and its fruits. This inquiry should enable us to pursue insight as an ideal. Looking first at the reasons why insight is not more widely sought, we note, in addition to man's subserviency to impulse, habit, and emotion, that there is widespread dependence on authority; an erroneous conception of feeling, intuition, and all that pertains to the immediate side of man's nature; also disparagement of intellectual processes such as analysis, judgment,