H EVOLUTION AND ETHICS 07 



representative, Gautama proceeded to eliminate 

 substance altogether ; and to reduce the cosmos 

 to a mere flow of sensations, emotions, volitions, 

 and thoughts, devoid of any substratum. As, on 

 the surface of a stream of water, we see ripples 

 and whirlpools, which last for a while and then 

 vanish with the causes that gave rise to them, so 

 what seem individual existences are mere tem 

 porary associations of phenomena circling round a 

 centre, &quot; like a dog tied to a post.&quot; In the whole 

 universe there is nothing permanent, no eternal 

 substance either of mind or of matter. Person 

 ality is a metaphysical fancy ; and in very truth, 

 not only we, but all things, in the worlds without 

 end of the cosmic phantasmagoria, are such stuff 

 as dreams are made of. 



What then becomes of karma ? Karma re 

 mains untouched. As the peculiar form of energy 

 we call magnetism may be transmitted from a 

 loadstone to a piece of steel, from the steel to a 

 piece of nickel, as it may be strengthened or 

 weakened by the conditions to which it is sub 

 jected while resident in each piece, so it seems to 

 have been conceived that karma might be trans 

 mitted from one phenomenal association to another 

 by a sort of induction. However this may be, 

 Gautama doubtless had a better guarantee for the 

 abolition of transmigration, when no wrack of 

 substance, either of Atman or of Brahma, was 

 left behind * when, in short, a man had but to 



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