CHAPTER XI

THE UNIVERSAL EGO

FOLLOWING the logical evolution of this theory from the elements of life to the constitution of the Greater Ego, and thence to the more speculative theory of the composition of Universal Noumenon, I have come to the hypothesis that the entire universe comprises one immeasurable Ego. Apart, however, from the method by which I arrive at this conclusion, I do not claim novelty for it, the ancient philosophers having conceived and taught the same dogma.

That there may be no confusion in the reader's mind with respect to terminology, let it be understood that whether I use the terms "God," the "Universal Ego," "Universal Being," the "Universal Cosmos," or the "Universe," I mean that, and only that, which we all know as the Universe as a whole; but by calling the universe the Universal Ego, I give to it a supreme and omniscient consciousness, made up, as in man, of a number of differentiated elements, or intelligences; and with our present knowledge of the mysterious properties of Matter, it is difficult to see how this consciousness, and intelligence, can be denied to the universe.

The Universal Ego would have no outer, or

brain, consciousness.

All His consciousness would

be similar to man's inner consciousness, or what

is called the unconscious mind.

The Universal Ego would have no need of a brain consciousness, as He cannot, like man, work as an Individual, because there is nothing outside Him. His parts only can work, and they of course must work co-ordinately with the Ego as a whole.

We have here to encounter an obvious difficulty, which must lead to inconsistency, for when we are writing about God - the Universal Ego or the Universal Being-we must give, according to custom, a capital letter to the personal pronoun, and then in another part of the work, when writing of the Cosmos, or Universe; all meaning precisely the same thing-custom compels us to use the neuter gender and omit the capital. In this matter I have thought it as well to conform to the usual custom, and apologise to my readers for the inconsistency.

We are now in the realms of the unknowable, and what can we possibly do but to take our knowledge of nature as we find her, and reason by analogy from nature up to God? Speculation to be of any use cannot go further, though there is no decidedly marked line which divides the knowable from the "unknowable," because the number of compounds which may be formed by the numerous elements or intelligences in our organisms, seems to be unlimited, and each compound as it rises to consciousness in the brain may give to the world valuable knowledge

which has not hitherto seen the light, just as a musician, Wagner, for instance, will produce from the well-known musical scale, harmonies and melodies which astonish the world by their originality, and this notwithstanding the millions of combinations which have been produced previously from the same scale. Elements must always be the same elements, therefore in this sense the oft-quoted proverb, "There is nothing new under the sun," is true, but the elements composing the Universal Ego are so numerous that the combinations which may be formed out of these elements are beyond conception, and we may readily believe, cannot be used up if the universe goes on "for ever and for aye.'

Since the dogma that a number of separate and independent substances can so perfectly compound as to become one uniform substance, is shown to be untenable, it will be necessary to infer that if two or more elements can compound so perfectly as to produce a single substance, that each of the elements must be deprived of its independence. We must also infer that the elements involved would have to equal in size the compound into which it became merged-that is to say, the elements must permeate, and fill into, one another, that the compound of them all would not occupy a greater space than was filled by each one separately.

It will also be necessary to infer that the character of each of the elements must be distinct from that of any of the others; and if we take the whole of

the elements of the Universal Ego, that the perfect unity of the combination, when effected, is the sum of all its constituent elements. And further, that the unity must come first; that it cannot be formed by the compounding of a number of separated and independent elements, but that the individual parts of the unity, although possessing a certain liberty, can never be separated from it; hence the nature of the Universal Ego must apparently be prescribed within certain limits.

This Universal Ego must comprise the entire universe, and not be BUILT UP of elements, although He must contain within Himself a great number of them. If there could, by any possibility, be anything outside the Universal Ego, to it the Universal Ego would appear as an omnipotent Entity. But with regard to the behaviour of the elements within the Universal Ego, it is clear that, although He may be able, by explainable means, to control them, yet as each individual element has an initiative of its own, the Universal Ego is unable to prevent phenomena occurring within Himself which may not be to His satisfaction or in harmony with His nature as a whole, just as unbidden and unwelcome thoughts of doubtful purity will occasionally rise to consciousness in even the most pure-minded individuals.

It seems evident to our senses that the Universal Ego is going through an eternal process of change, so His original condition must have been different from what He is now, yet not from what He may

become again. It may be that His elements were so equally distributed that there was nothing of what we call matter in existence-that is to say, some certain portions of the elements subsequently combined, in given necessary volumes, and so produced the apparently non-initiative substances which we call matter; and that other certain portions have combined, and produced what we know as the physical forces; and that still other portions have combined, and produced what is known to us as mind.

It must be obvious that if certain portions of the various elements combine into a dense volume, there must be some part of the Universal Ego wherein the elements have become more rarefied, or less dense, in inverse ratio, which would naturally have the effect of making the Universal Ego unequal in His parts. And this indeed appears to be actually the case. Yet despite this inequality-productive of matter in its various degrees of ponderability, leading probably to such phenomena as misery, pain, crime, and all the other ills of life, as well as all its blessings-pleasure, love, affection, and so on-there is withal a general system of order; the parts producing the inequalities must always remain as parts; no part, or parts, can overwhelm, or overpower, the rest. The Whole must always comprise the whole of His parts.

The noumenon comprising the Universal Ego was composed most probably of a substance which, for want of a better term, may be called ponderable