Some Turns of Thought in Modern Philosophy: Five EssaysSantayana, George
Philosophy
Some Turns of Thought in Modern Philosophy: Five Essays
Santayana, George
Locke, John, 1632-1704; Philosophy, Modern
was concerned to arrange them in a hierarchy, according to their moral
dignity.
Not only is infinite Being an incongruous and obstructive term to describe
the substance of the world (which, if it subtends the changes in the world
and causes them, must evidently change with them), but even mathematical
space and time, in their ideal infinity, may be very far from describing
truly the medium and groundwork of the universe. That is a question for
investigation and hypothesis, not for intuition. But in the life of
intuition, when that life takes a mathematical turn, empty space and time
and their definable structure may be important themes; while, when the
same life becomes a discipline of the affections, we see by this latest
example, as well as by many a renowned predecessor of M. Benda, that
infinite Being may dominate the scene.
Nor is this eventual dominance so foreign to the natural mind, or such a
miraculous conversion, as it might seem. Here, too, there is no derivation
of object from object, but an alternative for the mind. As M. Benda points
out, natural interests and sympathies may expand indefinitely, so as to
embrace a family, a nation, or the whole animate universe; we might even
be chiefly occupied with liberal pursuits, such as science or music; the
more we laboured at these things and delighted in them, the less ready
should we be for renunciation and detachment. Must conversion then descend
upon us from heaven like a thunderbolt? Far from it. We need not look for
the principle of spiritual life in the distance: we have it at home from
the beginning. Even the idea of infinite Being, though unnamed, is
probably familiar. Perhaps in the biography of the human race, or of each
budding mind, the infinite or indeterminate may have been the primary
datum. On that homogeneous sensuous background, blank at first but
secretly plastic, a spot here and a movement there may gradually have
become discernible, until the whole picture of nature and history had
shaped itself as we see it. A certain sense of that primitive datum, the
infinite or indeterminate, may always remain as it were the outstretched
canvas on which every picture is painted. And when the pictures vanish, as
in deep sleep, the ancient simplicity and quietness may be actually
recovered, in a conscious union with Brahma. So sensuous, so intimate, so
unsophisticated the "return to God" may be for the spirit, without
excluding the other avenues, intellectual and ascetic, by which this
return may be effected in waking life, though then not so much in act as
in intent only and allegiance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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