This book is an outgrowth of a series of articles originally

published in The Progress Magazine under a pseudonym, in

which I sought to account for the prevailing mental unrest
regarding subjects of religious and philosophical import. These
articles attracted much attention from careful students of the
times, and there have been many requests for the republication
thereof in book form under my own name. Accordingly, the
publishers of the articles requested me to revise the several
papers, and to add thereto such further matter as I might think
proper. I have gone over the original articles, taking away a little
here and adding much there. Several entirely new subjects have
been considered and inserted in their proper places in the text.
At least one-third of the present book is entirely new, having
been added to the revised form of the original articles. I have
purposely quoted freely from good authorities, that the reader
may have the benefit of the thought of a number of competent
persons upon the various phases of the subject, in addition
to what I have personally thought and written. I have sought
merely to tell my story in a plain, simple manner, without
any attempt at fine writing, literary excellence, or display of
technical philosophical knowledge. My desire has been to place
in the hands of the everyday busy man and woman a book
The Crucible of Modern Thought
x
from the pages of which they may gain a general knowledge
of the causes of the modern mental unrest an idea of what is
going into this great melting pot of thought; what is happening
there; and what is likely to be poured forth from it. To many,
the numerous new isms,
ologies and cults, are entirely new
something sprung full-grown from the brains of their founders.
The absence of an elementary acquaintance with the history of
philosophy, on the part of the average man and woman, has
given to many new prophets and founders of cults an unmerited
and unwarranted importance and authority. I trust that this
book will enable some of those who have been perplexed and
worried over these new (?) isms, and teachings, to learn the
true sources of those startling conglomerations of metaphysics,
philosophy and theology, and thus once more to regain their
mental bearings. It is also my hope that some who have a
tendency toward philosophical study may be inspired by this
book to go to the proper sources of such knowledge to the
masters of this branch of thought instead of sitting at the feet
of the, too often, freakish, irresponsible, and bizarre founders
and teachers of the pseudo-schools and cults, who have been
revamping the old teachings, dressing them in fantastic garb,
and offering them (usually at a high rate of compensation)
to those who have felt the hunger for wisdom and the thirst
for information, but who lacked the knowledge of the places
where these things could be had at first hand, pure and free
from the adulterations of these self-constituted middle-men in
the great market of Philosophy.