From the Unconscious to the Conscious 



Manicheism appears only as a striking proof of the 

 impossibility of reconciling the hypothesis of a Provi- 

 dential creation with the problem of evil. It cannot 

 meet the argument that the hypothesis of a First 

 Cause external to the universe is a useless hypothesis. 



Since, in spite of ourselves, we must always come 

 to the concept of a First Cause, itself uncaused, it is 

 unnecessary to place this primal cause anywhere else 

 than in the universe itself. 



The notion of creation ex nihilo gives no solution to 

 the inherent difficulty that attends the search for a 

 First Cause. It only reveals that difficulty and increases 

 it by superadding the terrible problem of evil. 



