254 THE WORLD-ENERGY 



required to create a world is also necessary to its pres- 

 ervation. For " creation" and "preservation" are but 

 different names for one and the same eternal deed. 

 Thus, all "final causes" coalesce into the one eternal 

 purpose of the self-realization of the divine Reason. So 

 that once more the Final Cause is simply the absolute 

 method by which the Primal Cause forever works, and in 

 its consistent working preserves its own absolute equi- 

 librium at the same time that it creatively preserves its 

 own eternally complete self-realization. 



All "causes" then, are but the partially understood 

 phases of the one absolute self-cause, or self-existent 

 Substance, as Spinoza defines it. This is the true teleo- 

 logical principal which has been coming into more 

 and more explicit utterance throughout the present 

 discussion. 



There remains to be considered the process of the 

 development of life as one of the fundamental modes of 

 manifestation of the World-Energy as spirit. But to 

 this we must devote a separate chapter. 



