RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT. 475 



living thing from the beginning. But when 

 it becomes fully explicit and works in its own 

 right, active in itself and self -creative, we 

 have not only transcended the Biocosmos, but 

 the entire realm of Nature. The soul now 

 has its own body, not that of matter nay, it 

 can in its way reproduce its own body, and 

 does so in every conscious act. 



Still the chasm between Life and Conscious- 

 ness remains impassable by science ; no micro- 

 scope can see and describe the conscious act, 

 which must see and describe itself. A self- 

 seeing microscope has not yet been invented; 

 in fact it is just that which invents micro- 

 scopes. In previous chapters we have often 

 noted the gap between Unlife and Life, that 

 transition from the Inorganic to the Organic. 

 But having taken Life and observed its va- 

 rious evolutionary stages, we have reached 

 the second scientifically impassable limit, 

 which lies between vital and mental action. 

 The Biocosmos is, accordingly, bounded defi- 

 nitely at beginning and end by science-defying 

 barriers. As Chemism would not go over into 

 Life, so Life refuses to turn into Mind. Still, 

 if looking at the evolution of our planet, we 

 have to postulate the transition from Unlife 

 to Life, so likewise we have to postulate the 

 transition from Life to Consciousness. Where 

 and how man first broke through into his self- 



