206 LIFE AND HABIT. 



If this is not due to memory, even an imperfect 

 explanation of what else it can be due to, "would be 

 satisfactory." 



" Intelligence gropes about, tries this way and that, 

 misses its object, commits mistakes, and corrects them." 



Yes. Because intelligence is of consciousness, and 

 consciousness is of attention, and attention is of uncer- 

 tainty, and uncertainty is of ignorance or want of con- 

 sciousness. Intelligence is not yet thoroughly up to its 

 business. 



" Instinct advances with a mechanical certainty." 



Why mechanical ? Should not " with apparent cer- 

 tainty " suffice ? 



" Hence comes its unconscious character." 



But for the word " mechanical " this is true, and is 

 what we have been all along insisting on. 



" It knows nothing either of ends, or of the means of 

 attaining them ; it implies no comparison, judgment, or 

 choice." 



This is assumption. What is certain is that instinct 

 does not betray signs of self-consciousness as to its own 

 knowledge. It has dismissed reference to first prin- 

 ciples, and is no longer under the law, but under the 

 grace of a settled conviction. 



" All seems directed by thought." 



Yes ; because all has been in earlier existences directed 

 by thought. 



" Without ever arriving at thought." 



Because it has got past thought, and though " directed 

 by thought" originally, is now travelling in exactly the 

 opposite direction. It is not likely to reach thought 



