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CHAP. VII - OF NEGATION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 August 2010

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Summary

Wherefore do ye labour for that which is not bread?

Love is not-love

When it is mingled with respects that stand

Aloof from th' entire point.

King Lear.

THE universe is more than it is to man, and to think rightly of it man must remember this, and consider his defective being. The simplicity of the conception constitutes its sole difficulty. The change in our thought is, in truth, so slight, so amply prepared for, so little requiring subtlety of apprehension, that it is difficult not to think it greater than it is. Not a disc in the heavens and a moon besides, but the moon perceived as a disc; not a physical world and another spiritual, but the spiritual perceived as physical: too little to us, its life and being wanting, therefore inert, therefore transient and unreal. Not because there is that which is inert and transient, but because that which is is not felt by us as it truly is. Simply we do not know that which is, the true essential being; therefore, when that which seems the reality to us is treated as the true reality, inevitably it betrays itself as a delusion and a snare. Only a speculative opinion is given up in affirming nature to be truly spiritual. It is not denied that it is felt as physical by us. This is the proof of man's want of life. Feeling, acting, working, perceiving, remain the same; only our belief respecting their cause is changed, raised from less to more, from difficult to simple, from inadequate to worthy.

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Man and his Dwelling Place
An Essay towards the Interpretation of Nature
, pp. 187 - 198
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009
First published in: 1859

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  • OF NEGATION
  • James Hinton
  • Book: Man and his Dwelling Place
  • Online publication: 29 August 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511693052.015
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  • OF NEGATION
  • James Hinton
  • Book: Man and his Dwelling Place
  • Online publication: 29 August 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511693052.015
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • OF NEGATION
  • James Hinton
  • Book: Man and his Dwelling Place
  • Online publication: 29 August 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511693052.015
Available formats
×