INTRODUCTION 



ment under discussion reminded him. The con- 

 trast between the Fiske of the " Cosmic Philoso- 

 phy," of whom I already knew something, and 

 the expression of his mind as I then heard it, 

 struck me at once, although I do not remem- 

 ber feeling disposed to interpret the contrast as 

 an inconsistency. 



As a fact, there is nothing in the positive as- 

 sertions of the essay entitled " The Unseen 

 World " which is at all opposed as yet to the 

 theses of the " Cosmic Philosophy." Fiske first 

 defines, in the speculation contained in this es- 

 say, " A World made up of Psychical Pheno- 

 mena." With such a world, he then points out, 

 it would be impossible for beings subject to our 

 present physical conditions to communicate. 

 This world, in strict accordance with the results 

 of his former discussions on matter and mind, 

 he then hypothetically describes as one that need 

 not be discontinuous with our own present 

 psychical phenomena, while it would "be demar- 

 cated by an absolute gulf from what we call the 

 material universe." Into such a world, as Fiske 

 points out, it would be possible for our own life 

 somehow to pass at death, without thereby run- 

 ning counter to any law now known regarding 

 the present connection of mental and material 

 phenomena. On the other hand, this supposed 

 psychical world would be utterly beyond our 

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