INTRODUCTION xv 



alchemist Mind who transmutes the symbols. The 

 sparsely spread nuclei of electric force become a tangible 

 solid; their restless agitation becomes the warmth of 

 summer; the octave of aethereal vibrations becomes a 

 gorgeous rainbow. Nor does the alchemy stop here. In 

 the transmuted world new significances arise which are 

 scarcely to be traced in the world of symbols; so that 

 it becomes a world of beauty and purpose — and, alas, suf- 

 fering and evil. 



The frank realisation that physical science is con- 

 cerned with a world of shadows is one of the most sig- 

 nificant of recent advances. I do not mean that physicists 

 are to any extent preoccupied with the philosophical impli- 

 cations of this. From their point of view it is not so much 

 a withdrawal of untenable claims as an assertion of free- 

 dom for autonomous development. At the moment I am 

 not insisting on the shadowy and symbolic character of 

 the world of physics because of its bearing on philosophy, 

 but because the aloofness from familiar conceptions will 

 be apparent in the scientific theories I have to describe. 

 If you are not prepared for this aloofness you are 

 likely to be out of sympathy with modern scientific 

 theories, and may even think them ridiculous — as, I 

 daresay, many people do. 



It is difficult to school ourselves to treat the physical 

 world as purely symbolic. We are always relapsing and 

 mixing with the symbols incongruous conceptions taken 

 from the world of consciousness. Untaught by long 

 experience we stretch a hand to grasp the shadow, 

 instead of accepting its shadowy nature. Indeed, unless 

 we confine ourselves altogether to mathematical sym- 

 bolism it is hard to avoid dressing our symbols in deceit- 

 ful clothing. When I think of an electron there 

 rises to my mind a hard x red, tiny ball; the proton simi- 



