To Thomas Archer Hirst   Ap. 16/49

[Ap. 16/49]¹

My Dear Tom,

The old christians and the serious folk who lived in the old time before them had the habit of blessing God for every thing, whether a gift or a deprivation it was all the same. Job exclaims ‘The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away &c’² Paul³ glories in tribulations,⁴ another cries it is well that I am afflicted,⁵ and they one and all have a hymn of praise for the bounties of heaven, for the bright sunshine and the fruitful dew. These old people seem to have thrown discredit on the creed of circumstances, they seem to have possessed the power of bending all circumstances to their profit and out of seeming evil to extract good. A stout wholesome feeling this, and much needed in our own times. It refreshes with its presence wherever it oozes out, and when I hear my friend and fellow thinker Tom muttering ‘I am rather glad than otherwise’⁶ I fancy that an echo reaches me from those healthy primeval ages when men rested more upon their own inherent energies than upon external props and pillows – That your mother⁷ should call you young and inexperienced is the most natural thing in the world – It is moreover quite true; but experience is a thing of secondary character, what is it at bottom but the solidification of a few energetic thoughts, who are the creators of experience? men – For my part I accept your resolution ‘to live honestly by your own labour’⁸ as an indication of a healthy, manly, fearless view of the case, and I would lay a small wager that notwithstanding the nullity of his progenitors good intentions, Tom Hirst will compel the world to afford him bread & butter.

Emerson is strongly tinged sometimes with the philosophy of Kant,⁹ and without an acquaintance with the critical philosophy of the latter it is almost impossible to unravel some of his passages. Kant sets a thing called Reason down as a kind of master principle in human nature, this reason is in a state of perpetual longing after unity, to gratify its longing it compels Intellect into its service whose office it is to discover relations and connect facts by laws – when you look at the balance wheel of a watch you are not satisfied. Reason prompts intellect to enquire further, to ask after the cause of its motion, and to harmonize its seeming incongruities; intellect sets to work and not until the dependence of each particular part and its relation to the whole are understood can Reason find repose. This thing called Reason then, lying as it does behind intellect is altogether beyond the inspection of the latter and must be accepted as a fact and not explained as an effect. Men may strive to push their hidden feelings forward, as it were, so to enable the understanding to look at them, but in most cases they will find the attempt futile, The man who pretends to know the why for all these things is a shallow man; and you must not think meanly of yourself if you find many of your emotions beyond the plumbline¹⁰ of your intellect – Resignation and humility with regard to such emotions is the best philosophy – A man shews his wisdom sometimes by quietly & humbly yielding himself up to the spirit within him without any attempt to determine its mathematical relations – The passage you have selected is difficult, it is grounded on the Kantean philosophy (though I am not going to say that without a knowledge of the latter the substance of the thought is unattainable) Kant proves, that Space and Time, which are the forms of all ideas, flow from the mind – Space is the form of all sensible appearances, and knowledge of Space and Time is not a knowledge of objects from without but only a knowledge of our mental organization. ‘Hence Emersons expression ‘“know thyself” and “study nature” become at last one maxim’¹¹ I have once gone through the philosophy of Kant but only superficially – it will require my entire undivided thought to get to the bottom of it, and on that account I have referred the sifting of it to a future day, not having time at present. Perhaps we <shall> read it together –

I have not seen yeast, but the extract is exceedingly good.¹² The prophet¹³ is doubtless the embodiment of some spiritual force possessed by Launcelot¹⁴ himself – when a man turns his thoughts inward he will find many such offering themselves, they are best & most agreeably illustrated under the forms of an angel, a prophet, a demon, a bunch of fairies &c.

Wishing you health & courage in your progress my Dear Tom, & with kind wishes to your mother, believe me

You affectionate friend | J Tyndall

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