444 CONCLUSION. 



attractions of bodies produce deviations from the 

 rectilinear motion. It could be realized, therefore, 

 only by the union of all the bodies in the universe. 

 Supposing this to have been accomplished, the 

 motion would go on with equable velocity to all 

 eternity. But though the body thus formed would 

 be in motion to the highest and most perfect degree, 

 // would yet be impossible for us to detect this fact 

 unless we knew it beforehand. It would be an 

 impossibility for one not in the secret to discover 

 any trace of this motion. For there would be no 

 inequality or distinction in Space, by which it would 

 be possible to determine its motion, and hence to 

 an outsider it would appear to be at rest. And yet 

 it would be in motion, regarded from inside. Now 

 supposing it were conscious ; it would be conscious 

 of being in motion, and conscious also that Its 

 motion was perfectly equable and rectilinear. 



And the case of the perfect activity of a state 

 of Being would be precisely analogous. It would 

 be an activity so perfect that the ordinary modes 

 of measuring activities would be no longer appli- 

 cable to it. And yet there would be an Internal 

 consciousness and fruition of activity. But, again, 

 as In the case of physical motion, that consciousness 

 could not be transferred to an outsider. We saw 

 above (§ 5) that the consciousness of perfection did 

 not involve self-consciousness, that it was neither 

 capable nor In need of reasserting itself against out- 

 side criticism : this would be as Impossible In the 

 case of perfect activity as It would be to prove that 

 the body was In motion. 



We may look forward, then, to a future In which 

 activity, ix., life, becomes ever more intense, more 

 sustained, and more harmonious, and finally cul- 



