APHORISMS AND REFLECTIONS 45 



millions of particles, moving with inconceivable 

 velocity in a dance of infinite complexity yet perfect 

 measure ; harmonic with like performances through- 

 out the solar system. If there is good ground for 

 any conclusion, there is such for the belief that the 

 substance of these particles has existed and will 

 exist, that the energy which stirs them has persisted 

 and will persist, without assignable limit, either in 

 the past or the future. Surely, as Heracleitus said 

 of his kitchen with its pots and pans, " Here also 

 are the gods." Little as we have, even yet, learned 

 of the material universe, that little makes for the 

 belief that it is a system of unbroken order and 

 perfect symmetry, of which the form incessantly 

 changes, while the substance and the energy are 

 imperishable. 



CLXVII 



Of all the dangerous mental habits, that which 

 schoolboys call " cocksureness " is probably the most 

 perilous ; and the inestimable value of metaphysical 

 discipline is that it furnishes an effectual counter- 

 poise to this evil proclivity. Whoso has mastered 

 the elements of philosophy knows that the attribute 

 of unquestionable certainty appertains only to the 

 existence of a state of consciousness so long as it 

 exists ; all other beliefs are mere probabilities of a 

 higher or lower order. Sound metaphysic is an 

 amulet which renders its possessor proof alike 

 against the poison of superstition and the counter- 

 poison of shallow negation ; by showing that the 

 affirmations of the former and the denials of the 

 latter alike deal with matters about which, for lack 

 of evidence, nothing can be either affirmed or 

 denied. 



If the question is asked, What then do we know 

 about matter and motion ? there is but one reply pos- 

 sible. All that we know about motion is that it is a 



