COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



which the latter would ignore. The sum of the 

 whole matter, according to Mr. Mill, is " the 

 fact that our sensations occur in groups, held 

 together by a permanent law, and which come 

 and go independently of our volitions or men- 

 tal processes." How comes it that our sensa- 

 tions occur in groups ? Why is it that they are 

 held together by a permanent law ? And, above 

 all, how does it happen that they come and go 

 independently of our voUtions or mental pro- 

 cesses ? Suppress the notion of a Something 

 outside of consciousness which determines this 

 coming and going of our sensations, and we 

 have no alternative but to regard them either 

 as self-determined, which leads us finally to 

 Hegelism, or as not determined at all, which is 

 inconceivable. Mr. Mill's statement is either 

 nonsense, or else it tacitly postulates that Ab- 

 solute Existence which it overtly professes to 

 ignore. It is as impossible, therefore, to ignore 

 as it is to deny Absolute Existence. Without 

 assuming Something independent of conscious- 

 ness, it is impossible for either Idealism or 

 Positivism to state the theorem in which it is 

 sought either to impugn or to ignore the exist- 

 ence of anything beyond consciousness. 



The suicide to which Idealism or Positivism 

 is inevitably driven is further exhibited in the 

 following citation from Mr. Spencer. After re- 

 minding us that all the arguments which go to 



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