Man and Nature 95 



the entire scheme of things, so far from 

 wishing to 



" shatter it to bits and then 

 Remould it nearer to the heart's desire," 



we should hail it as better and more satis- 

 fying than any of our random imaginings. 

 The universe is in no way limited to our con- 

 ceptions : it has a reality apart from them ; 

 nevertheless, they themselves constitute a 

 part of it, and can only take a clear and 

 consistent character in so far as they 

 correspond with something true and real. 

 Whatever we can clearly and consistently 

 conceive, that is ipso facto in a sense already 

 existent in the universe as a whole ; and that, 

 or something better, we shall find to be a 

 dim foreshadowing of a higher reality. 



Explanatory Note on Constructive Thought 

 and Optimism. 



{Partly reprinted from "Mind") 



It may be worth while to explain how it is that, 

 to a physicist unsmitten with any taint of solipsism, 

 a well-elaborated scheme which is consistent with 



