violent state of movement. They apparently always HAVE BEEN, and
always WILL be,--therefore they are all that can be called 'eternal
realities.' Sir Norman Lockyer tells us that the matter of the
Universe is undergoing a continuous process of evolution--but even
if it is so, what is that to me individually? It neither helps nor
consoles me for being one infinitesimal spark in the general
conflagration. Now you believe--"

"In the Force that is BEHIND your system of electrons and atoms"--I
said--"For by whatever means or substances the Universe is composed,
a mighty Intelligence governs it--and I look to the Cause more than
the Effect. For even I am a part of the whole,--I belong to the
source of the stream as much as to the stream itself. An abstract,
lifeless principle without will or intention or intelligence could
not have evolved the splendours of Nature or the intellectual
capabilities of man--it could not have given rise to what was not in
itself."

He fixed his eyes steadily upon me.

"That last sentence is sound argument," he said, as though
reluctantly admitting the obvious,--"And I suppose I am to presume
that 'Itself' is the well-spring from which you draw, or imagine you
draw, your psychic force?"

"If I have any psychic force at all," I responded,--"where do you
suppose it should come from but that which gives vitality to all
animate Nature? I cannot understand why you blind yourself to the
open and visible fact of a Divine Intelligence working in and
through all things. If you could but acknowledge it and set yourself