ACCEPTING THE UNIVERSE 



tions or possess these qualities. She is terrifying be- 

 cause we have a capacity for terror. She is soothing 

 when we are in a mood to be soothed. She is sublime 

 only so far as we have the capacity to experience 

 this emotion. 



It is our reactions to N ature that give rise to. the 

 q ualities we ascribe to her. The music of the seolian 

 mrp is not in the wind; its origin is the reaction of 

 the harp to the wind, but it is not music until it 

 reaches the human ear. The colors of the landscape 

 are not in the rocks and trees and waters, but in the 

 experiences of the eye when the vibrations of ether 

 which we call light are reflected back to it from 

 these objects. 



We create the world in which we live. I love Na- 

 ture, but Nature does not love me. Love is an emo- 

 tion which rocks and clouds do not feel. Nature 

 loves me in my fellow beings. The breezes caress 

 me, the morning refreshes me, the rain on the roof 

 soothes me — that is, when I am in a mood to be 

 caressed and refreshed and soothed. The main mat- 

 ter is the part I play in these things. All is directed 

 to me and you because we are adjusted to all. No 

 more is the kite or the sail adjusted to the wind, the 

 water-wheel to the falling water, than are we ad- 

 justed to outward Nature. She is the primary and 

 everlasting fact; we, as living beings, are the sec- 

 ondary and temporary facts. 



£36 



