THE SECRET OF THE DAY 9 



language in this connection. Our concept of Nature 

 is formulated at the seat of thought with words, since 

 to our brains thought without words is impossible ; 

 but observe how these same syllables limit ideas and 

 produce merely relative definitions (bounded and 

 hedged and rendered precise) for those phenomena 

 that reason declares not relative but absolute. We 

 cannot define Nature, because her attributes are for 

 us unknowable ; but we see some of the results pro- 

 duced by these attributes, and we label, or libel 

 them by imparting thereto those qualities of which 

 we have perception. Nature is "kind," "cruel," 

 "indifferent," and so forth. Even while we speak 

 we know that the utterance is nonsense, yet it cannot 

 easily be escaped. We may only discuss this great 

 idea of Nature in our own terms ; we may only con- 

 ceive it as animated with those qualities we know — if 

 animated at all. We do indeed conceive the possibility 

 of other attributes as we do conceive the absolute, but 

 we lack the mental machinery to attain to it, and in 

 defiance of reason we are constrained to postulate and 

 limit even while we know the vanity of the process. 



But I would justify myself in this book before the 

 criticism of a thinker here and there. When I speak 

 of "Mother Earth," or the "Universal Mother," I do 

 so with open eyes. The futility of the phrase is not 

 hidden from me, but it is beautiful and convenient. 

 Moreover, in these papers frank beauty is all that I 

 pretend to be concerned with ; and the more rational 

 the outlook, the more beautiful does Nature become. 



