From the Unconscious to the Conscious 



an idea destructive of itself, a pseudo-idea, a mere 

 word.' 



* When I say, " there is nothing," it is not that 

 I perceive " a nothing," I can perceive only what is; 

 but I have not perceived that which I sought for and 

 expected, and I express my disappointment in the 

 language of my desire.' 



In fine, it is only by an illusion of reason that the 

 idea of Void is opposed to that of All. It is to ' oppose 

 a plenum to a plenum,' and * the question why a certain 

 thing exists is consequently a meaningless question 

 a pseudo-problem built on a pseudo-idea.' 



The creative processus cannot therefore not exist, 

 and there is no mystery in verifying the existence of 

 matter, life, or consciousness. They are functions of 

 1 duration.' 



The only mystery lies in the relations between 

 Creative Evolution, matter, life, and consciousness. 



M. Bergson rejects materialist theories. Conscious- 

 ness is not the result of the working of the brain : 



* Brain and consciousness correspond because 

 each measures the amount of choice which the living 

 being has at disposal, the one by the complexity of 

 its structure, the other by the intensity of its awake- 

 ness. But this correspondence is not an equivalence 

 or a parallelism. Precisely because a cerebral 

 condition merely expresses the action nascent in the 

 corresponding psychological condition, the psycho- 

 logical condition vastly outstrips the state of the 

 brain.' 



M. G. Gillouin 1 says: 



* M. Bergson's writings abound in ingenious 

 and striking similes to bring out the solidarity sui 



1 Essai suv Us Donnees Immediates de la Conscience. 

 167 



