which the
whole trend of modern Science is tending to break down. It seems to
imply the old Greek conception of an inert, passive, characterless _hule_
which can only be acted upon from without. The modern Physicist, I
imagine, knows nothing of an inert matter which can neither attract nor
repel, even if he does not definitely embark on the more speculative
theory which actually defines the atom or the electron {49} as a centre
of force. Activity belongs to the very essence of matter as understood
by modern Science. If matter can exist without mind, there is (from the
scientific point of view) some difficulty in contending that it cannot
likewise move or act without being influenced by an extraneous Mind. If,
on the other hand, with the Idealist we treat the notion of matter
without mind as an unintelligible abstraction, that line of thought would
prepare us to see in force nothing but a mode of mental action. The
Idealist who has already identified matter with the object of thought
will find no difficulty in going on to see in force simply the activity
or expression or object of Will. And if he learns from the Physicist
that we cannot in the last resort--from the physical point of
view--distinguish matter from force, that will fit in very well with the
metaphysical position which regards thought and will as simply two
inseparable aspects of the life of mind.

And now I will return once more for a moment to the idealistic argument.
I have no doubt that many of you will have felt a difficulty in accepting
the position that the world with which we come in contact is merely a
state of our own or anybody else's consciousness. It is so obvious that
in our experience we are in contact with a world which we do not create;
which is what it is whether we like it or not; which opposes itself at
every turn to our desires and {50} inclinations. You may have been
convinced that we know nothing of any external world except the effects
which it produces upon consciousness. But, you will say to yourselves,
there must have been something to cause these effects. You are perfectly
right in so thinking. Certainly in our experience of the world we are in
contact with a Reality which is not any state of our own mind, a Reality
which we do not create but simply discover, a Reality from which are
derived the sensations which we cannot help feeling, and the objects
which we cannot help thinking. So far you are quite right. But very