CHAPTER V 



I SHALL attempt not much of correlation of dates. A mathe- 

 matic-minded positivist, with his delusion that in an interme- 

 diate state twice two are four, whereas, if we accept Continuity, we 

 can not accept that there are anywhere two things to start with, 

 would search our data for periodicities. It is so obvious to me that 

 the mathematic, or the regular, is the attribute of the Universal, that 

 I have not much inclination to look for it in the local. Still, in this 

 solar system, "as a whole," there is considerable approximation to 

 regularity; or the mathematic is so nearly localized that eclipses, 

 for instance, can, with rather high approximation, be foretold, 

 though I have notes that would deflate a little the astronomers' 

 vainglory in this respect or would if that were possible. An as- 

 tronomer is poorly paid, uncheered by crowds, considerably isolated: 

 he lives upon his own inflations: deflate a bear and it couldn't 

 hibernate. This solar system is like every other phenomenon that 

 can be regarded "as a whole" or the affairs of a ward are inter- 

 fered with by the affairs of the city of which it is a part; city by 

 county; county by state; state by nation; nation by other nations; 

 all nations by climatic conditions; climatic conditions by solar cir- 

 cumstances; sun by general planetary circumstances; solar system 

 "as a whole" by other solar systems so the hopelessness of finding 

 the phenomena of entirety in the ward of a city. But positivists 

 are those who try to find the unrelated in the ward of a city. In 

 our acceptance this is the spirit of cosmic religion. Objectively the 

 state is not realizable in the ward of a city. But, if a positivist 

 could bring himself to absolute belief that he had found it, that 

 would be a subjective realization of that which is unrealizable ob- 

 jectively. Of course we do not draw a positive line between the 

 objective and the subjective or that all phenomena called things 

 or persons are subjective within one all-inclusive nexus, and that 

 thoughts within those that are commonly called "persons" are sub- 

 subjective. It is rather as if Intermediateness strove for Regularity 

 in this solar system and failed: then generated the mentality of 

 astronomers, and, in that secondary expression, strove for convic- 

 tion that failure had been success. 



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