There is no greater error than that of making psychical and physical phenomena the two faces, the two manifestations of the same substance. By this means nothing is explained: the concept _"substance"_ is utterly useless as a means of explanation. _Consciousness_ may be regarded as secondary, almost an indifferent and superfluous thing, probably destined to disappear and to be superseded by perfect automatism-- When we observe mental phenomena we may be likened to the deaf and dumb who divine the spoken word, which they do not hear, from the movements of the speaker's lips. From the appearance of the inner mind we draw conclusions concerning invisible and other phenomena, which we could ascertain if our powers of observation were adequate for the purpose. For this inner world we have no finer organs, and that is why a _complexity which is thousandfold_ reaches our consciousness as a simple entity, and we invent a process of causation in it, despite the fact that we can perceive no cause either of the movement or of the change--the sequence of thoughts and feelings is nothing more than their becoming visible to consciousness. That this sequence has anything to do with a chain of causes is not worthy of belief: consciousness never communicates an example of cause and effect to us. 524. _The part "consciousness" plays,_--It is essential that one should not mistake the part that "consciousness plays" it is our _relation to the outer world; it was the outer world that developed it._ On the other hand, the _direction_--that is to say, the care and cautiousness which is concerned with the inter-relation of the bodily functions, does _not_ enter into our consciousness any more than does the _storing activity_ of the intellect: that there is a superior controlling force at work in these things cannot be doubted--a sort of directing committee, in which the various _leading desires_ make their votes and their power felt. "Pleasure" and "pain" are indications which reach us from this sphere: as are also _acts of will_ and _ideas._ _In short:_ That which becomes conscious has causal relations which are completely and absolutely concealed from our knowledge--the sequence of thoughts, feelings, and ideas, in consciousness, does not signify that the order in which they come is a causal order: it is _so apparently,_ however, in the highest degree. We have _based_ the whole of our notion of _intellect, reason, logic,_ etc., upon this _apparent truth_ (all these things do not exist: they are imaginary syntheses and entities), and we then projected the latter into and _behind_ all things!