Lotze somewhere says that to be an
entity all that is necessary is to _gelten_ as an
entity, to operate, or be felt, experienced, recognized,
or in any way realized, as such.(1) in
our activity-experiences the activity assuredly
fulfils Lotze's demand. It makes itself
_gelten_. It is witnessed at its work. no matter
what activities there may really be in this extraordinary
universe of ours, it is impossible
---
1 [Cf. above, p. 59, note.]
168
for us to conceive of any one of them being
either lived through or authentically known
otherwise than in this dramatic shape of something
sustaining a felt purpose against felt
obstacles and overcoming or being overcome.
What 'sustaining' means here is clear to anyone
who has lived through the experience, but to
no one else; just as 'loud,' 'red,' 'sweet,' mean
something only to beings with ears, eyes, and
tongues. The _percipi_ in these originals of experience
is the _esse_; the curtain is the picture.
If there is anything hiding in the background,
it ought not to be called activity, but should
get itself another name.
This seems so obviously true that one might
well experience astonishment at finding so
many of the ablest writers on the subject
flatly denying that the activity we live through
in these situations is real.
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