INTRODUCTION xxiii 



deep sea of unrealities, and take a look round upon the upper 

 world of realities. 



At the back of the phenomenon we call a Horse, a Cat, or any 

 other animal, there is a whole chain of phenomena — its evolution 

 — which in ancient time was not suspected. All this chain of 

 phenomena, leading up to what you actually see, has to be dis- 

 covered by the aid of the imagination, which does not always tell 

 the truth. 



Without a free use of the imagination a dog is a dog, a cat is 

 a cat, a cloud is a cloud, and nothing more. They are facts, like 

 so many soldiers scattered on a iield of battle without discipline 

 or organisation. The function of the imagination is to group these 

 scattered units into companies, regiments, and armies, and fight 

 imaginary battles with them, all manoeuvred by a general called 

 ' Logic,' who has his eyes open, and insight to discover what is 

 going on around him. What this general has to be particularly 

 careful about is, not to let his imagination wander loosely, and see 

 all sorts of things that are not justified by ascertained facts. 



Some persons pride themselves upon not possessing any power 

 of imagination, as if it were so very meritorious a feature of their 

 ' grey matter.' They say they deal exclusively with facts. They 

 do not, however, see that through this deficiency they lose that 

 insight which is the work of what we call the imagination, and so 

 they fail to notice what is behind the facts. They may perhaps 

 not be aware that a great deal of the charm of life consists in 

 possessing a vivid imagination, provided the possessor of it is able 

 to keep it under control. By this faculty we are enabled, in a way, 

 to picture what would otherwise be a wholly invisible past world. 

 To exercise the imaginative power is to cultivate a most useful 

 implement of research. 



There is so much to learn in one's short life. Every branch of 



