COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



nomena are the manifestations cannot be re- 

 garded as either single or multiple. Neverthe- 

 less, as was hinted a moment ago, by the very 

 relativity of our thinking we must speak of it 

 as either the one or the other. From this 

 dilemma there is no escape. Yet, provided we 

 recognize the purely symbolic character of the 

 language employed, we may speak of Absolute 

 Existence in the singular number ; especially if 

 we bear in mind that by such a mode of ex- 

 pression we mean merely to indicate that while 

 the nature of That which is manifested in phe- 

 nomena proves to be inscrutable, " the order 

 of its manifestations throughout all mental phe- 

 nomena proves to be the same as the order of 

 its manifestations throughout all material phe- 

 nomena." ^ 



Here we touch upon a point which cannot 

 profitably be considered until after we have ex- 

 pounded the axiom of the Persistence of Force 

 and the Doctrine of Evolution which is founded 

 thereon. And before we can even begin with 

 this exposition, there remain to be discussed 

 sundry preliminary questions, which will occupy 

 us through several chapters. For the present 

 it will be enough for us to carry in mind, as 

 the net result of the whole foregoing inquiry, 

 the conclusion that the doctrine of relativity, 

 when fully stated, affirms the objective existence 

 * Spencer, op. cit. vol. i. p. 627 [§ 273]. 



