Mind and Matter 109 



inmost nature they may be quite other 

 than what they seem, and are in no way 

 dependent upon our perception of them. 

 So, also, our actual personality may be some- 

 thing considerably unlike that conception of 

 it which is based on our present terrestrial 

 consciousness a form of consciousness 

 suited to, and developed by, our temporary 

 existence here, but not necessarily more than 

 a fraction of our total self. 



Take an analogy : the eye is the organ of 

 vision ; by it we perceive light. Stimulate 

 the retina in any way, and we are conscious 

 of the sensation of light ; injure or destroy 

 the eye, and vision becomes imperfect or 

 impossible. If eyes did not exist we should 

 probably know nothing about light, and we 

 might be tempted to say that light did not 

 exist. In a sense, to a blind race, light 

 would not exist that is to say, there would 

 be no sensation of light, there would be no 

 sight ; but the underlying physical cause of 

 that sensation the ripples in the ether 

 would be there all the time. And it is 



