which virtue would consist in conformity to the divine will. But at this point his pessimism leads
to a different development. The cosmic will is wicked; will, altogether, is wicked, or at any rate is
the source of all our endless suffering. Suffering is essential to all life, and is increased by every
increase of knowledge. Will has no fixed end, which if achieved would bring contentment.
Although death must conquer in the end, we pursue our futile purposes, "as we blow out a soap-
bubble as long and as large as possible, although we know perfectly well that it will burst." There
is no such thing as happiness, for an unfulfilled wish causes pain, and attainment brings only
satiety. Instinct urges men to procreation, which brings into existence a new occasion for suffering
and death; that is why shame is associated with the sexual act. Suicide is useless; the doctrine of
transmigration, even if not literally true, conveys truth in the form of a myth.
All this is very sad, but there is a way out, and it was discovered in India.
The best of myths is that of Nirvana (which Schopenhauer interprets as extinction). This, he
agrees, is contrary to Christian doctrine, but "the ancient wisdom of the human race will not be
displaced by what happened in Galilee." The cause of suffering is intensity of will; the less we
exercise will, the less we shall suffer. And here knowledge turns out to be useful after all,
provided it is knowledge of a certain sort. The distinction between one man and another is part of
the phenomenal world, and disappears when the world is seen truly. To the good man, the veil of
Maya (illusion) has become transparent; he sees that all things are one, and that the distinction
between himself and another is only apparent. He reaches this insight by love, which is always
sympathy, and has to do with the pain of others. When the veil of Maya is lifted, a man takes on
the suffering of the whole world. In the good man, knowledge of the whole quiets all volition; his
will turns away from life and denies his own nature. "There arises within him a horror of the
nature of which his own phenomenal existence is an expression, the kernel and inner nature of
that world which is recognized as full of misery."
Hence Schopenhauer is led to complete agreement, at least as regards practice, with ascetic
mysticism. Eckhard and Angelus Silesius are better than the New Testament. There are some good
things in orthodox Christianity, notably the doctrine of original sin as preached,