Note 24 — Chapter V · MYTH

Like consciousness, this word must be taken here in its very widest, metaphorical sense, as of a human ego “looking out” upon the world through the windows of memory, recognition, the senses, etc., and of the cosmos which it “sees” through those windows. It is obvious that the outlook of every individual will be slightly different from that of every other, also that there will be a great difference between the average outlook of broad contemporary classes, such, for instance, as learned and ignorant, artist and scientist, agnostic and Roman Catholic. The widest gulf of all is likely to be that between the average outlooks of different historical periods, and this will be increased if we are dealing with different races—such as, for example, ancient Egyptians and modern Americans—for in this case the dissimilarity will extend over nearly every experience of which the human outlook is composed.