South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1920-11-07
JUST A LITTLE THOUGHT FOOD FOR
LIGHT HEADED AND LIGHT HEARTED
SCOFFFRS AT DREAMS

= EMMANUEL. KANT who never in his life moved
more than 80 miles from the spot where he was
born. and wrote the best description OF the ALPS
ever put on paper-thoush ne never saw them
ought to be studied more; his philosophy, his vision
q life.
Kant believed IN the human imagination that
when backed BY intelligence. thought. and by con-
servatve application OF reason IT could travel every
distance see everything worth being seen. and
analyze It just as perfectly as though IT sub
jected to the scrutiny OF the senses.
He proved his philosophy in a number Of IN
stances. Always start open-minded was his rule.
and follow where honest constructive reason leads,
dropping all prejudIces all advance conclusions by
the roadside and that reason will lead you inevlta-
bly, TO the shrine OF truth
It is submitted for the contemplation OF yonng
men. young women and some older men, and older
women. Everybody will be older sooner or later:
indeed. old. Age with the years and It
on the life spent in leisure dollar-chas!ng.
TO philosophy that of physical self-gratifca-
tion and no vision save OF good times bank ac-
counts. and in consequence the pIaudits of admirng
snobs Is going to be awful lonesome with itself as
It approaches its western horizon.
II Is noticeable according to statistics that the
keen active minds, up through the years main
tain their keenness and activity to the last even
after the physical well-being falling away. No
amount OF wealth. hilarious surroundings. or pre-
tentous abodes compete with knowledge. men
tally and imaginative vision, trained through life,
when II comes the toys OF age.
Recently an old ignoramus died in an eastern
city. He counted wise IN dollars; a successful
business mar. II you please. and respected for his
millions However. when his body gave way there
nothing left OF him. and for months he lay
abed his only enjoyment consisting Of a daily
pilgrimage from daughter who whHed away her
presence. displaying her diamonds and counting
before him bundle Of bills His mind. what little
there OF It. a blank responding only by
virtue OF his eye to a display Of what had been his
lifes ambition His death was miserable; leap in
the dark.
Down the street lay another Of like years
but who had lived life of thought: Of service to
humanity His humble. his home simple.
his body numb. but when visitors came. and they
were frequent he conversed intelligently his fund
Of knowledge poured forth in streams. proved to be
keeping up the topics OF the day.-and looking
into the beyond which finally claimed him. his
philosophy his imagination his vision yea his rea-
son. had It all mapped out, and he entered upon #
with JOY.
Pain was TO him an incident which thought SEEM
ca to overcome; thought born not Of reading funny
columns. and comic strips. and silly poetry and &C
counts OF movie stars. but from contemplations OF
Emerson. and Thoreau and whitman and Kant
and Comte. and John Burroughs and even Of the
Christ. Bacon said reading maketh a full man."
but 1t makes some difference what he is full Of"
No. It was not below nor beyond this Son OF
Adam 20 read or think Of Christ visualize a world
a church. far removed perhaps from the world
and church Of now. in which that Christ was to be
fhs He cd nd cit of a
million souls mourned-though he was only a school
rnaam; a college professor. When his neighbor
went. his family alone followed him to the tomb
with TO one else so poor as to do him reverence.
Kant Analysing the future Of these two charac-
ters-these different minds,-would trail them into
the unknown. and to the satisfaction OF his logic
keep the mind or the thinker alive. progressing
and through eternity. because OF that bent or
the other hand that or him whose intelligence was
dependent uIon the material being fed only by the
senses. with imaginative thought unknown, he
would see languishlng and dying.
He must have been the tutor OF Henry Drum
rnond IN his Natural Law in the Spiritual World
Mortal minds ne held. not trained in this world
10 operate without the AID o. physical props must
anguish die IN the next. in proportion 10 its de-
pendence upon such props-that never get beyond
the grave.
Kant thus offers one OF the most logical indict
ments Of materialism. as a hinderant to immor-
taIity. that the world has known. You may no
agree with him at first flush but it is good foo5
for mental digeston-particuIary by light-headed
.ight-hearted pIensure-seeklng dollar-worshippine
exclusvists. who sneer at the idealist pirate about
the practical; to whom mind Is only a tool and in
telHsence merely process for the advancement oil
material self qualification
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