system which is
the real substratum of my organism, and am made conscious of the series
of transmutations occurring at that particular point in it which is
represented by my sensory system. In the case of others, from certain of
the transmutations occurring in my Presentment, I am led to infer the
existence of other similar microcosmic systems in the energetic
macrocosm of the physical universe.

This is all very well as a theory, but if all I know is the series of
transmutations occurring in the portion of the system of Energy related
directly to my intelligence, how did I ever learn to infer from these
transmutations the existence of that Energy underlying them, and still
more of the whole energetic system extending far beyond my organism? How
do I deduce from transmutations proceeding in the portion of the
energetic system which constitutes the real substratum of my organism
the existence, not only of that substratum itself, but of other portions
of the system similarly related to other intelligences, and of the
energetic system as a whole? How do I get beyond my Presentment? How
pass from Ideality to Existence?

I answer that I never could by any chance or possibility have got beyond
it or got any suggestion of the Reality had I been merely related to my
Presentment as a passive and percipient subject. In point of fact,
however, I am in relation with the energetic system not merely or
primarily as an Intelligence percipient of the transmutations proceeding
in it at a particular point, but also as a Will initiative to some
extent of such transmutations and capable of influencing and directing
the physical process. Life necessarily involves a process of energetic
transmutation constantly proceeding at that portion of the system of
Energy which constitutes my organism, and I am there related as Will
with a larger system which embraces the part in which intelligence is
developed.

Fundamentally, life manifests itself in all grades of the zoologic
hierarchy as a union of Volition (or what appears in action as Volition)
with some particular point in the universe of physical Energy, the union
constituting what we call a living organism.

Despite its profound importance to us personally and to our race, we
should not forget that, objectively considered, the brain in man and the
higher animals is merely a special organ highly developed by use, as
the trunk is in the elephant, the middle phalanx in the horse, or wings
in