{"id":"01KG8AK9ZHMCT2HZ34309VX57M","cid":"bafkreibosbzxnb2uqmr2qfyovwkpw5dddbvykixyt65h3vdj4bgqd64nei","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":8675,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:57.725Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","start_line":8617,"text":"CHAPTER XXXVII\r\n\r\nTHE MYSTICAL MASTER INTRODUCES THE PRACTICAL DISCIPLE.\r\n\r\n\r\n\"Both, the subject and the interlocutor,\" replied the stranger rising,\r\nand waiting the return towards him of a promenader, that moment turning\r\nat the further end of his walk.\r\n\r\n\"Egbert!\" said he, calling.\r\n\r\nEgbert, a well-dressed, commercial-looking gentleman of about thirty,\r\nresponded in a way strikingly deferential, and in a moment stood near,\r\nin the attitude less of an equal companion apparently than a\r\nconfidential follower.\r\n\r\n\"This,\" said the stranger, taking Egbert by the hand and leading him to\r\nthe cosmopolitan, \"this is Egbert, a disciple. I wish you to know\r\nEgbert. Egbert was the first among mankind to reduce to practice the\r\nprinciples of Mark Winsome--principles previously accounted as less\r\nadapted to life than the closet. Egbert,\" turning to the disciple, who,\r\nwith seeming modesty, a little shrank under these compliments, \"Egbert,\r\nthis,\" with a salute towards the cosmopolitan, \"is, like all of us, a\r\nstranger. I wish you, Egbert, to know this brother stranger; be\r\ncommunicative with him. Particularly if, by anything hitherto dropped,\r\nhis curiosity has been roused as to the precise nature of my philosophy,\r\nI trust you will not leave such curiosity ungratified. You, Egbert, by\r\nsimply setting forth your practice, can do more to enlighten one as to\r\nmy theory, than I myself can by mere speech. Indeed, it is by you that I\r\nmyself best understand myself. For to every philosophy are certain rear\r\nparts, very important parts, and these, like the rear of one's head, are\r\nbest seen by reflection. Now, as in a glass, you, Egbert, in your life,\r\nreflect to me the more important part of my system. He, who approves\r\nyou, approves the philosophy of Mark Winsome.\"\r\n\r\nThough portions of this harangue may, perhaps, in the phraseology seem\r\nself-complaisant, yet no trace of self-complacency was perceptible in\r\nthe speaker's manner, which throughout was plain, unassuming, dignified,\r\nand manly; the teacher and prophet seemed to lurk more in the idea, so\r\nto speak, than in the mere bearing of him who was the vehicle of it.\r\n\r\n\"Sir,\" said the cosmopolitan, who seemed not a little interested in this\r\nnew aspect of matters, \"you speak of a certain philosophy, and a more or\r\nless occult one it may be, and hint of its bearing upon practical life;\r\npray, tell me, if the study of this philosophy tends to the same\r\nformation of character with the experiences of the world?\"\r\n\r\n\"It does; and that is the test of its truth; for any philosophy that,\r\nbeing in operation contradictory to the ways of the world, tends to\r\nproduce a character at odds with it, such a philosophy must necessarily\r\nbe but a cheat and a dream.\"\r\n\r\n\"You a little surprise me,\" answered the cosmopolitan; \"for, from an\r\noccasional profundity in you, and also from your allusions to a profound\r\nwork on the theology of Plato, it would seem but natural to surmise\r\nthat, if you are the originator of any philosophy, it must needs so\r\npartake of the abstruse, as to exalt it above the comparatively vile\r\nuses of life.\"\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJMVSA4NXGJQR1B6SVQ0B","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AK9ZHGXJ3CQJTXBCJ7W4G","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:59.985Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:13.790Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}