COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



" One of two things must be asserted : either 

 the antecedents of each feeling, or state of con- 

 sciousness, exist only as previous feelings or 

 states of consciousness ; or else they, or some 

 of them, exist apart from, or independently of, 

 consciousness. If the first is asserted, then the 

 proof that whatever we feel exists relatively to 

 ourselves only, becomes doubly meaningless. 

 To say that a sensation of sound and a sensa- 

 tion of jar cannot be respectively like their com- 

 mon antecedent because they are not like one 

 another, is an empty proposition ; since the two 

 feelings of sound and jar never have a common 

 antecedent in consciousness. The combination 

 of feelings that is followed by the feeling of jar 

 is never the same as the combination of feelings 

 that is followed by the feeling of sound ; and 

 hence not having a common antecedent, it can- 

 not be argued that they are unlike it. More- 

 over, if by antecedent is meant constant or uni- 

 form antecedent (and any other meaning is 

 suicidal), then the proposition that the antece- 

 dent of sound exists only in consciousness is 

 absolutely irreconcilable with the fact that the 

 feeling of sound often abruptly breaks in upon 

 the series of feelings otherwise determined, 

 where no antecedent of the specified kind has 

 occurred. The other alternative, therefore, that 

 the active antecedent of each primary feeling ex- 

 ists independently of consciousness is the only 

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