EUCKENS PERSONALITY AND INFLUENCE
In this chapter an attempt will be made to present in a brief form some
of the most important aspects of Eucken's personality and influence. His
training and the relation of his teaching to the German philosophical
systems of the present have already been touched upon in some of the
earlier chapters. But no account of Eucken's teaching is complete
without a knowledge of his personality.
We cannot understand his personality without bearing in mind Eucken's
nationality. He is a man of the North. A mere glimpse of the deep blue
eyes reveals this immediately. His ancestors lived in close contact with
Nature, and faced the perils of the great deep. The history of the men
of the North has witnessed, along the centuries, a struggle for
existence as severe as any struggle known in the history of our world. A
trait of Eucken's character almost entirely unknown in England is his
deep sympathy with the small nations [p.228] of Europe, and especially
with those of the North. He has written and pleaded on behalf of Poland,
Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. He finds that small nations, when
their independence is preserved, have the tendency to bring forth
original characteristics of thought and life, which are only too apt to
get lost in the bustle and mechanism of the great nations. He has shown
us on several occasions how much the world is indebted to its small
nations for the ideas and ideals which have shaped its destiny. He
believes with his whole soul that _size_ does not necessarily mean
_greatness_. When we compare the greatness of Palestine and Greece with
that of the larger countries of the world, the latter sink into
insignificance when weighed in the balances of the spirit. He has,
during the past few years, several times pointed out a danger to
personality and character from the vast organisations which have been
created in the various departments of life during the latter half of the
nineteenth century. The deeper personality of man has receded more and
more into the background through the growth of such organisations. This
fact is clear in the realms of commerce and of politics. We call a
nation "great" in the degree in which it succeeds in outstripping other
nations in its exports and imports, or in forming alliances with its
neighbouring states or with other nations. A large portion of the gains
which accrue from such [p.229] unions is purely accidental, and these
gains cannot possibly touch the essentials of life. The explanation of
this is the fact that the centre of gravity has been shifted from mental
and moral racial qualities to qualities which are far inferior in mental
and moral potency and content. Thus, we witness the painful inversion of
values which has taken place during the past fifty years. Every "small
nation" has to take a secondary place, has to become subservient to a
nation which may possess for its inheritance but few qualities besides
those of expansiveness and force. The small nation is forced to submit,
to develop on lines entirely alien to its original potencies, and to
labour with might and main to fill the coffers of the rich nation. The
old calm and peace, as well as the originality of the small nations have
thus too often been cruelly uprooted; the characteristics of working on
their own original lines, and of producing something of essential value
in the history of the world, have been largely shorn of their initiative
and freedom in the case of several of the small nations of Europe.
Superficiality and indifference to deep national and spiritual traits
become the primary things, and the life of the small nations, as time
passes, tends to become mechanical and servile.
When we survey the work of the small nations of the Western world, we
discover achievements which have been of immense [p.230] value in the
civilisation, culture, morals, and religion of Europe. And what a
distressing sight it is to witness the attempts of larger nations to
crush the spirituality of the smaller ones! The attitude of Russia
towards Finland and Poland is known to all. A greed for territory and a
passion for ready-made values are characteristics which are only too
evident to-day in the case of some of the Great Powers of Europe. We
need, as Eucken points out,[83] a new standard of valuing the national
characteristics and the relationship of nation with nation. Such
standard must include moral judgments and human sympathy. It is the
presence of spiritual powers such as these which constitute the really
deep and durable elements in a nation's progress. "When righteousness
goes to the bottom, then there is nothing more worth living for on the
earth." Eucken's philosophy cannot be understood apart from his intense
interest in mankind and its spiritual development. He goes, indeed, so
far as to say that this is the sole goal of philosophy; its message is
to create new spiritual values in the life of the individual and of the
race. Our systems of philosophy are painfully defective in this respect
to-day. Man, as a being with a soul, is little taken into account in
most of them. Is it surprising, therefore, that philosophy has not
succeeded, [p.231] for centuries, in interesting or influencing the
intelligent world at large?[84] It will not succeed in doing this until
the deepest needs of mankind are taken to be something more than objects
of psychological analysis or of logical generalisations.
Eucken's personality is rooted in a deep love for humanity and its
spiritual qualities; and herein lies the essential reason of his
championing of weak nations and pleading for the preservation of their
original spiritual characteristics. These qualities are pearls of too
great a price to be lost in a world where so much tinsel passes as what
possesses the highest value.
It is not difficult to see why the small nations of the North feel that
in Eucken they possess a true friend who sees clearly what they feel
instinctively, and who points out to them the path of their spiritual
deliverance.
It is impossible, also, to understand Eucken's system of philosophy
without taking into account his religious experience. This aspect has
already been touched upon, but it requires elucidation from a more
personal point of view. Eucken's philosophy is the result of the
experience of his own soul. It is something which can never be
understood until it is lived through. Everything is brought back to its
roots in the needs, aspirations, and inwardness of the soul. One must
become "converted" [p.232] before he can understand Eucken's teaching.
Something has not only to be understood but to be lived through; the
body and the external world have to be relegated to a subsidiary place;
the intellect has to merge into the spiritual intuition which is deeper
than itself. It is after one has been willing to pass through this fiery
furnace that the great "illumination" begins to appear. And such an
illumination will increase in the degree that service and sacrifice are
willingly undertaken for the sake of the infinite spiritual gains which
remain in store.
This element in Eucken's personality draws him to everybody he comes in
contact with, and draws everybody to him. He has drunk so deeply of the
experiences of Plato and Plotinus, of the great Christian mystics and
moralists of the centuries, that he sees the value of every soul that
comes to him for help. It is far from Eucken's wish for these matters to
be published. And the present writer will only state the fact that
nobody, however ignorant and obscure, has failed in Eucken to find a
father and guide. Hundreds of men who had either lost or had never found
their moral and spiritual bearings in life have succeeded in doing so
through coming into contact with him. The present writer remembers well
many a conversation among students of six or more different
nationalities, concerning the secret of Eucken's teaching [p.233] and
influence. Imagine Servians, Poles, Swedes, Scotch, English, and Welsh
meeting together after a philosophical lecture to discuss the question
of the spiritual life and wondering how to discover it! Eucken's
personality had created in their deepest being a need which could never
more be filled until the Divine entered into it. In the class-room the
great prophet makes it impossible for us to content ourselves with
merely preparing for examinations. The teacher's exposition and
inspiration are creating a deep uneasiness in us. We feel how limited
and shallow our nature has been when we are face to face with a man who
reveals to us the eternal values of the things of the spirit; and who
reveals them not as they have merely been revealed by the great thinkers
of the world, but as he himself has felt and lived them. We all become
impressed with the fact that we are in the presence of a power above the
world; and the feeling of pain is changed into a feeling of strong
optimism in regard to the possibilities of our own nature. We feel that
we, too, in spite of our limitations, can become the possessors of
something of the very nature akin to that which our great teacher
possesses. Eucken works a change in every man and woman who remain with
him for a length of time. Many of us understand something of what Jesus
Christ meant to his disciples; how he created an affection within their
souls which all the obstacles of the world [p.234] could never
obliterate. Eucken has done something of the same kind, on a smaller
scale, for hundreds of his old pupils.
These pupils are found to-day from Iceland in the North to New Zealand
in the South, and from Japan in the East to Britain and America in the
West.[85] Many of them have risen to eminence, and all of them have
experienced something of a spiritual anchorage in the midst of the
tempestuous sea of Time; all alike cherish an affection for their old
[p.235] teacher--an affection which is one of their dearest possessions.
They have helped to spread his spiritual teaching, and, along with his
books, have made his name known in all the civilised countries of the
world. Some of Eucken's most important works have already appeared in
half a dozen languages. The demand for them increases everywhere. This
receptivity is a good omen of better days. The world is beginning to get
tired of the mechanism and shallowness of our age, and is once more on
the point of turning to the spiritual fountains of life. Where can it
find a better guide to lead it to the waters of life than in Rudolf
Eucken?
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