202 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY 



by a sensation in the eye, and we say we have 

 applied force. The two factors, conscious move- 

 ment and a new conscious phenomenon, are essential 

 to the concept force. When we talk of blind, un- 

 conscious force, we are guilty of a contradiction 

 in terms ; force necessarily connotes conscious 

 movement. We cannot empty the idea of force 

 of its psychical significance. The term and the 

 idea are derived from our own conscious action. 

 The moment we identify matter with force, we 

 identify it with Conscious Will and Conscious 

 Being. There is no way out of it. What was 

 formerly called the substance of matter is now 

 known to be Force ; and the Force is recognised 

 to be the Soul or Will of God. 



" I consider," says Schopenhauer, " every natural 

 force as a will [i.e. conscious will]. Will is essenti- 

 ally identical with all the forces which act in Nature, 

 the various manifestations of which belong to the 

 species of which Will is the genus. It is the 

 direct consciousness which we have of Will which 

 alone conducts us to the indirect Knowledge of 

 the other forces." 



"In that peculiar mental sensation," says Sir 

 John Herschell, " clear to the apprehension of every- 

 one who has ever performed a voluntary act, which 

 is present at the instant when the determination 

 to do a thing is carried out into the act of doing 



