21 AUGUST 1936, Page 28

• THE ACHIEVEMENT OF HAPPINESS

By Boris Sokoloff

The nineteenth century in Western Europe and the present century in Russia and Japan have been the climax of the endeavour to live from the will and the intellect in the effort to lay the material foundation of our civilisation. Long hours of work and continuous intellectual responsibility have destroyed the ease and leisure necessary for the fully personal life. The problem that modern romantic philosophy, whether in psycho-analysis, professional philosophy, art or literature, is trying to solve, is how to create, as it were, a rational spon- taneity. The strongly instinctive thinkers, Lawrence, Freud and Bergson, all in different ways, have attacked the tyranny of the will and intellect, believing that they will thus be able to distinguish between what is political morality and what is true religion, -As a part of this new tradition of thought Dr. Sokoloff has written his book (Denis Archer, 8s. 6d.) ; it is sentimental, rambling and muddled, but the importance of its attitude and its chief ideas make it valuable. " Unhappiness and intellectual dominance," Dr. Sokoloff writes, " are inseparably bound together." He teaches, that the intellect must' know- when to abdieite as well as when to dictate and that care and understanding of the body is as important as scientific training for thought—In fact, that it Is an all-Important part of real thought,