The senses not being absolutely reliable, knowledge acquired by means of them is not absolutely reliable either.

So the ultimate difference between the Asiatic saint and the European man of science is, that while the former believes all knowledge to be directly within the grasp of the soul, under certain conditions, the latter, on the other hand, denies that any knowledge can be absolute, being all obtained indirectly through a medium not absolutely reliable.

The reasoning, by which the Western mind allows itself to act fearlessly on information which is not (according to its own verdict) necessarily accurate, depends on a clever use of the infinite in unconsciously calculating the probabilities of that accuracy--and this entirely falls in with what you said about the application of transcendental analysis to the affairs of everyday life." "I see you have entirely comprehended me," I said.

"But as for the Asiatic mind--you seem to deny to it the use of the ealculus of thought, and yet you denned adepts as attempting to acquire specific knowledge by general and transcendental methods.

Here is a real contradiction." "No; I see no confusion, for I do not include the higher adepts in either class, sinoe they have the wisdom to make use of the learning and of the methods of both.