Exfoliation 



tion as a man examining and analysing Nature 

 by purely scientific or intellectual methods. He 

 would discover the recurrence of certain groups 

 among the notes, he would establish laws of their 

 sequences, would make all kinds of curious generali- 

 sations about them, and point out some remark- 

 able exceptions, would even very likely be able 

 to predict a bar or two over the page ; his treatise 

 would be very learned, and from a certain point 

 of view interesting also, but how far would he be 

 from any real understanding of his subject ? 

 Let him change his method : let him train his ear, 

 let him hear the symphony performed, over and 

 over, till he understands its meaning and knows 

 it by heart ; and then he will know at any rate 

 something of why each note is there, he will see 

 its fitness and feel in himself the " law " of its 

 occurrence, and possibly in some new case will 

 be able to predict several bars over the page 1 

 The symphony is not understood by examination 

 and comparison of the notes alone, but by experi- 

 ence of their relation to deepest feelings ; and 

 Nature is not explained by laws, but by its be- 

 coming — or rather being felt to be — the body 

 of Man ; marvellous interpreter and symbol 

 of his inward being. 



There is a kind of knowledge or consciousness 

 in us — as of our bodily parts, or affections, or 

 deep-seated mental beliefs — which forms the base of 

 our more obvious and self-conscious thought. This 

 systemic knowledge grows even while the brain 

 sleeps. It is not by any means absolute or infalli- 



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