English prose literature; Exposition (Rhetoric); Readers -- Science
Assume, then, that mind, intellect, personality, the ego, were forms of
a third entity, an entity "X," correlated in nature with the entities
energy and matter. Then, just as energy and matter continuously change
their forms, so with the transformations of energy and of matter, entity
"X" would continuously change, disappear in one form and reappear in
another form. Entity "X" could therefore not exist permanently in one
and the same form, and the permanency of the ego--that is,
immortality--would still be illogical, would not exist within the realm
of science, but would carry us beyond the limitations of the human mind
into the unknowable. Permanency of the ego--that is, individual
immortality--would require a form of entity "X," in which it is not
further transformable. This would be the case if the transformations of
entity "X" are not completely reversible, but tend one definite
direction, from lower-grade to higher-grade forms, and the latter thus
would gradually build up to increasing permanency. There is nothing
unreasonable in this, but a similar condition--in the reverse
direction--exists with the transformations of energy. They also are not
completely reversible, but tend in a definite direction, from higher- to
lower-grade form--unavailable heat energy (the increase of entropy by
the second law of thermodynamics). Thus in infinite time the universe
should come to a standstill, in spite of the law of conservation of
energy, by all energy becoming unavailable for further
transformation--that is, becoming dead energy. If entity "X" existed,
could it not also have become unavailable for further transformation by
reaching its maximum high-grade form and thus become not susceptible to
further change--that is, "immortal"--just as the unavailable heat of the
physicist is "immortal," and not capable of further transformation? Here
we are again in the fog of illogic, beyond the limitations. However, it
sounds familiar to the Nirvana of the Buddhist.
Physics and chemistry obviously could not deal with entity "X," and the
most delicate and sensitive physical or chemical instruments could get
no indication of it, and all attempts at investigation by physical or
chemical means thus must be doomed to failure. But such investigations
of entity "X" belong to the realm of the science of psychology, or,
rather, a broader science, of which psychology is one branch dealing
with one form of entity "X," mind, just as, for instance,
electro-physics is one branch of the broader science of physics, dealing
with electrical energy, while physics deals with all forms of energy.
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