XIV 



SOUNDINGS 



I. THE GREAT MYSTERY 



NO man in his senses can fail to grant the reality 

 of the Great Mystery, the inscrutable and un- 

 speakable Something which lies back of us and 

 works in and through us, the vast Cosmic Energy of 

 which we and all forms of life are manifestations, 

 and in which we live and move and have our being, 

 call it physical energy or psychic power, or what 

 you will. 



We are not here by our wills; we do not have our 

 eyes and ears, and the other wonderful mechanisms 

 of our bodies, and all our varied instincts and ca- 

 pacities and aspirations of our own will and in- 

 vention. We have little or nothing to do with the 

 functioning of our various bodily organs, scarcely 

 more than we have to do with the color of our eyes, 

 our innate dispositions, and our mental aptitudes. 

 In something not of us, at least not subject to our 

 wills and wishes, is to be sought the explanation of 

 our appearance, and that of all other forms of life, 

 in this world. In other words, we are an integral part 

 of a system of things which transcends our powers 

 and baffles our understanding. After we have granted 

 all this, can we still feel the solid ground beneath 



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