22 THE WORLD-ENEKGY 



value fluctuate, they cease to have reality as standards. 

 It is rightly assumed that the value of the changing can 

 be estimated only in comparison with that which is abso- 

 lutely unchanging, with that which is permanent, in the 

 ultimate and legitimate sense of the term. Even stand- 

 ards of weights and measures are assumed to be unchang- 

 ing. Not a single transaction in commerce, nor an exper- 

 iment in science ever occurs that does not involve this 

 assumption. Otherwise, indeed, no sane people, and 

 therefore no people at all, would exist to pursue .either 

 commercial or scientific or any other interests. 



To this it need only be added here that any change in 

 consciousness that is not subordinated to the unity and 

 therefore permanent identity of consciousness could be 

 nothing else than a complete break in, and hence the utter 

 annihilation of consciousness. And this is as much as to 

 say that consciousness, in its universal character, in its 

 ideal nature or type, can never undergo any change. 

 Underlying the unity of the self, and constituting its 

 fundamental characteristic, is the law of self-consistency, 

 which may be stated in the following form : Perfect con- 

 sistency in consciousness is the ultimate and absolute 

 ground of all certitude. 



By this standard every " fact " must be accepted or 

 rejected, every " theory " approved or condemned. Here 

 is the ultimatum of " experimental," as of all science. It 

 is upon the results of the supreme, inner experiment 

 which thought performs upon thought that all knowledge 

 must ultimately rest. 



Thus while all really systematic, scientific research 

 begins with the outer or physical, it culminates and 

 must ever culminate in the inner or spiritual. And while 



