228 THE WORLD-ENEEGY 



And the boundless confidence which man has in the 

 absolute perfection of the system of thought unfolded 

 in the world or universe as a whole, is shown in the fact 

 that he unhesitatingly accepts that system as the ulti- 

 mate standard by which the validity of his own thought 

 is to be measured. One "fact" is declared to be worth 

 more than a thousand theories only in the sense, and in so 

 far as,the theories are proven to lack validity by failing 

 to harmonize themselves with the great system of facts 

 constituting the world or universe. Thus the "fact "is 

 taken (perhaps unconsciously) in its true sense of deed, 

 act, actuality, genuine thought unfolded in concrete 

 form, and hence as an essentially valid, indestructible 

 phase nay, as the very essence of the world-system. 



Thus the great thinkers of the world are they who 

 have most adequately comprehended and most consist- 

 ently given expression to the thought which constitutes 

 the world-system. For this reason are they the typical 

 discoverers, though the whole human race has partici- 

 pated in the explorations, and aided by its whole cumu- 

 lative power in the effort to bring to light the indivisible 

 totality and perfect self-consistency of Thought. And 

 this entire struggle, let us remind ourselves again, is in 

 reality nothing else than the struggle for self-develop- 

 ment on the part of human thought itself. 



We have now, thirdly, to remark that there is no dif- 

 ference in essence or type between the thought of man 

 and the thought unfolded in the activity of the World- 

 Energy. The one real difference consists in this: That 

 the latter is the absolutely actual and complete system of 

 thought forever self-realized in the universe or cosmos 

 as a whole, while the former is the same ideal system 



