SPACE AND TIME 157 



very approximately the same ? We express the problem 

 and the mystery wrongly when we ask " why space seems 

 the same to you and me " ; we ought more precisely to ask 

 " why your space and my space are alike." Because our 

 perceptive faculties are of the normal type, may be the 

 immediate answer ; but how similar organising centres 

 have come to exist in the chaos of sensations remains 

 still to be described. 



Some light perhaps may be thrown on this difficult 

 problem by considerations which will be more fully de- 

 veloped in our chapter on Life. Man has not reached his 

 present high stage of development solely by individualistic 

 tendencies, but also by socialistic or gregarious tendencies. 

 The struggle of man against man might suffice to bring 

 about a co-ordination of the individual man's perceptive 

 and reasoning faculties (p. 104), but in the struggle of 

 group against group, and of group with its environment, 

 it is clear that a great advantage would follow to any 

 group from a close agreement of the perceptive faculties 

 of its members, and great disadvantage to any group 

 without this agreement. The survival of the former 

 would be the natural result. 



S 2. — The Infinite Bigness of Space 



" How big is space ? " is a meaningless question as it 

 stands. " How big is space for me ? " admits, however, of 

 an answer. It is just so large as will suffice to separate 

 all things which coexist for me. Let the reader try to 

 imagine phenomenal space apart from groups of sense- 

 impressions and he will quickly discover how big space 

 is for him. Space, he will at once recognise, has no 

 meaning when we cease to perceive things apart — to 

 distinguish between groups of sense-impressions. We 

 ought constantly to bear in mind that space is peculiar 

 to ourselves, and that we ought not reasonably to be 

 stirred to greater admiration by any one descanting on 

 the " magnitude of space," than we are wont to be when 

 reflecting on the complex nature of our own perceptive 



