258 HAS SCIENCE DISCOVERED GOD? 



kind of illusion, and that these mysterious functions 

 could probably be reduced to mechanism if only we 

 had sufficient knowledge. But the formation of such 

 a hypothesis as that is conspicuously irrational. It is 

 leaving the safe ground of science, the exploration of 

 reality, and denying some parts of reality itself. Such 

 denials are illegitimate, and are themselves supersti- 

 tious. 



It has become pretty obvious that human nature is 

 more than mechanism. The mechanism is at work 

 and demands study. Physical energy and the physical 

 and chemical processes are utilised in the working of 

 the organism, but in every important aspect the indi- 

 vidual transcends those processes. Even the mere sen- 

 sations of colour and tone are more than belong to 

 the physical world: physically there is nothing except 

 vibrations of different frequency. Emotion, again, 

 the emotion raised by poetry, drama, music, far tran- 

 scends the admittedly physical basis of these things. 

 Man plans and contrives and directs the forces of na- 

 ture to higher ends : he uses and dominates the mate- 

 rial universe : he has some understanding of it : he feels 

 sympathy and affection: he has faith and hope and 

 love. These elements in his nature are far more than 

 chemical processes going on in the brain. These 

 higher attributes are displayed and manifested by 

 chemical processes, but in themselves they transcend 

 and outlast them; they belong to another order of 

 existence, interpenetrating and utilising the material, 

 but not limited by or coextensive with it. 



Well, that is the view to which some of us have 

 been led: that is the view which most philosophers 



