282 REALITY 



We should suspect an intention to reduce God to a system 

 of differential equations, like the other agents which at 

 various times have been introduced to restore order in the 

 physical scheme. That fiasco at any rate is avoided. For 

 the sphere of the differential equations of physics is the 

 metrical cyclic scheme extracted out of the broader 

 reality. However much the ramifications of the cycles 

 may be extended by further scientific discovery, they 

 cannot from their very nature trench on the background 

 in which they have their being — their actuality. It is 

 in this background that our own mental consciousness lies; 

 and here, if anywhere, we may find a Power greater than 

 but akin to consciousness. It is not possible for the con- 

 trolling laws of the spiritual substratum, which in so far 

 as it is known to us in consciousness is essentially non- 

 metrical, to be analogous to the differential and other 

 mathematical equations of physics which are meaningless 

 unless they are fed with metrical quantities. So that the 

 crudest anthropomorphic image of a spiritual deity can 

 scarcely be so wide of the truth as one conceived in terms 

 of metrical equations. 



The Definition of Reality. It is time we came to grips 

 with the loose terms Reality and Existence, which we 

 have been using without any inquiry into what they are 

 meant to convey. I am afraid of this word Reality, not 

 connoting an ordinarily definable characteristic of the 

 things it is applied to but used as though it were some 

 kind of celestial halo. I very much doubt if any one of 

 us has the faintest idea of what is meant by the reality 

 or existence of anything but our own Egos. That is a 

 bold statement, which I must guard against misinter- 

 pretation. It is, of course, possible to obtain consistent 

 use of the word "reality" by adopting a conventional 



