THE RADICAL FALLACY OF MATERIALISM. 359 



these bases are totally beyond the range of knowledge. Our persisting 

 symbol of matter is extension ; of energy, motion ; and of conscious- 

 ness, feeling. We cannot reduce our conception of matter to unex- 

 tended points of force, nor can we think of either energy or conscious- 

 ness as latent. The words but cover a vacuity of thought. 



Any system of philosophy that denies a substantive basis for the ego 

 feeling, exclusive of the bases of matter and energy, virtually denies 

 the existence of knowledge of every kind, and so stamps itself as false. 

 Our only assurance of the existence of anything outside of ourselves is 

 the effect produced on consciousness. If the perceiving consciousness 

 is not real, how can we assert that the perceived matter is ? Action 

 and reaction are equal and opposite. If consciousness has not persist- 

 ence and permanence of its own, how can it gauge persistence and per- 

 manence in matter and energy ? But for consciousness we could know 

 of the existence of nothing else. Is it logical to claim that our conclu- 

 sions are permanent and real, while asserting that our premises are un- 

 substantial and unreal ? Yet this is what every materialist is com- 

 pelled to do. No theories of "double-faced entities," "results of 

 organization," or " remodeled definitions of matter and energy," can 

 ever be conceived to explain the facts. 



One of the strongest proofs of the independent existence of the soul 

 is seen in the fact that at no two consecutive moments of our lives does 

 the ego feeling rest upon the same matter or energy. The systems of 

 waves within my brain will all have radiated away many times before 

 this paragraph is completed. The matter giving out, the energy will 

 pass away as waste, and the arteries bring back a new supply. For 

 days, weeks, months, and years, matter and energy will thus pass while 

 the identical consciousness will persist, and can be traced through 

 every change precisely as energy can be traced from matter to matter. 

 To say that energy is a two-sided entity, one side of which constitutes 

 sensation, is against the facts. The energy my body has to-day is not 

 that of yesterday. Yesterday's energy has all radiated away and car- 

 ried both its sides with it ; but consciousness the same consciousness 

 is still here. The closeness of analogy between the conduct of energy 

 toward matter and of consciousness toward energy is remarkable. Let 

 M' M" M'" M"" represent four pieces of elastic matter, and e a quantity 

 of energy. By collision, e will travel from matter to matter thus : 



First position Me' M" M"' M"" 



Second " M'Me"M'"M"" 



Third " M'M"Me"'M"" 



Fourth " M'M"M'"Me"" 



As e travels from M to M it can be no part of M, so must have a dis- 

 tinct existence of its own. Now let E' E" E" E"" represent the brain- 

 waves of as many consecutive moments and c our conscious identity. 



