20 MATHESIS. 



idea ; but which is always withdrawing itself from our 

 view when we imagine or believe that we gaze upon it ; 

 in short, the Spiritual, which declares itself in everything 

 and yet always remains the same. The origin of all 

 action may be termed the primary force. 



b. MOTION, TIME. (Second form of 'tfo Primary Act .} 



72. The primary idea operates only, while it posits ; 

 through positing, however, arises a succession of positing, 

 or numbers ; positing and successive positing are one. 

 The function of the primary idea consists in an eternal 

 repetition of the essence ; the primary act is a continuous 

 self-repeating act. Repetition of the primary act devoid 

 of another substratum is Time. Time is none other than 

 the eternal repetition of the positing of the Eternal, cor- 

 responding to the series of numbers + l + l + l + n. 

 Time has not been created, but has emerged directly 

 out of the primary act and its position ; it is the function 

 of God himself. Something has thus already originated, 

 which appears to conduct us into the universe. Time 

 is the first portal through which the operation of God 

 passes over into the world. Time is the infinite succes- 

 sion of numbers or the mathematical nothings. The 

 mathematising, numbering act is Time. Numbers, how- 

 ever, are Singulars or finitudes, which constitute the 

 world. 



73. Time is infinite, for it is the totality of positing; 

 it is only the points or numbers in it that are the Finite. 



74. All things are created in time ; for time is the 

 totality of Singulars. Time is no stationary quantity, 

 which is always changing itself into something new 

 during its progressive flux. It is not a continuous stream, 

 but a repetition of one and the same act, namely, the 

 primary act, like as it were to a rolling ball, which con- 

 stantly returns upon itself. There is no endless, still less 

 an eternal thing ; for things are only positions of time. 

 Time itself is, however, only repetition, and thus also a 

 suppression of these positions. The vicissitude of things 

 is in fact time ; if there be no change, there is also no time. 



