262 "MAN AND THE WORLD. 



Becoming there would be no Time. And may we 

 not then say that what Becoming is without Being, 

 that Time would be without Eternity, viz., self- 

 contradictory and unmeaning ? 



Thus we begin to perceive the nature of the 

 limits of Time. The beginning of Time and the 

 birth of our present universe (cp. ch. ii. § 20 s.f.) 

 must have been a coincident transition from equable 

 and unchanging Being, from the harmonious Now of 

 Eternity into the unrest, struggle and discord of 

 ^Becoming, and the self-contradictory flow of Time. 

 Thus Time might be called a Co7''ritption of Eter- 

 mity, just as Becoming is a Corruption of Being. 

 For in either case the change must be conceived 

 as one of decadence, and Being and Eternity as 

 the positive conceptions from which Becoming and 

 Time represent a partial falling away. 



And both Time and Becoming- may be called 

 corruptions of Eternal Being also with reference 

 to their intimate connection with Evil and Imper- 

 fection. For in the ever- chan 2^1 nor world of Time 

 complete adaptation and adjustment, a perfect har- 

 'mony between a thing and its environment does 

 not and can not exist, and it is just certain aspects 

 of this non-adaptation, non-equilibrium and discord, 

 that we denominate evil (oki, iv. § 4). Thus Time, 

 Becoming, and Evil form part of the same problem 

 (cp. ch. V. § 2 s.f.), and to recognize that the question 

 as to the origin of each is a question as to the origin 

 of all, is the first great step towards the solution 

 of this triune perplexity of philosophy. And the 

 mystery of Time is in a fair w^ay of solution when 

 we can express it in terms of the others, and say 

 that Time is btU the measure of the impermanence of 

 the ijitperfect, and that the reason why we fail to 



