This universal "something" must be regarded, in spite of its double
nature, as one and the same, since it is dominated by one and
the same space. The fact that the material aspect of this
psycho-material element is constantly plastic to the creative energy of
the soul does not reduce it to the level of an "illusion." The mind
recreates everything it touches; but the mind cannot work in a
vacuum. There must be something for the mind to "touch." What
the soul touches, therefore, as soon as it becomes conscious of
itself is, in the first place, the "material element" of its own inmost
nature; in the second place the "material element" which makes it
possible for all bodies to come in contact with one another; and in
the third place the "material element" which is the original
potentiality of all universes and which has been named "the
objective mystery."
To call this universal material element, thus manifested in a
three-fold form, an illusion of the human mind is to destroy the
integrity of language. Nothing can justly be called an illusion which
is a permanent and universal human experience. The name we select
for this experience is of no importance. We can name it _matter_,
or we can name it _energy_, or _movement_, or _force_. The
experience remains the same, by whatever name we indicate it to
one another.
The philosophy of the complex vision opposes itself to all
materialistic systems by its recognition of personality as the
ultimate basis of life; and it opposes itself to all idealistic systems
by its recognition of an irreducible "material element" which is the
object of all thought but which is also, in the substratum of the
soul-monad, fused and blended with thought itself.
We now arrive at the conclusion of our philosophical journey; and
we find it to be the identical point or situation from which we
originally started. Once and for all we are compelled to ask
ourselves the question, whether since personality is the ultimate
secret of life and since all individual personalities, whether human,
sub-human, or super-human, are confronted by one "material
element" dominated by one universal material space, it is not
probable that this "material element" should itself be, as it were,
the "outward body" of one "elemental soul"? Such an elemental
soul would have no connexion with the "Absolute Being" of the
great metaphysical systems. For in those systems the Absolute
Being is essentially impersonal, and can in no sense be regarded as
having anything corresponding to a body.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account