property of water is humidity; it cannot separate itself from this
property by its own will. Likewise, all the properties of nature are
inherent and obedient, not volitional; therefore, it is philosophically
predicated that nature is without volition and innate perception. In this
statement and principle we agree with the materialists. But the question
which presents food for reflection is this: How is it that man, who is a
part of the universal plan, is possessed of certain qualities whereof
nature is devoid? Is it conceivable that a drop should be imbued with
qualities of which the ocean is completely deprived? The drop is a part;
the ocean is the whole. Could there be a phenomenon of combustion or
illumination which the great luminary the sun itself did not manifest? Is
it possible for a stone to possess inherent properties of which the
aggregate mineral kingdom is lacking? For example, could the fingernail
which is a part of human anatomy be endowed with cellular properties of
which the brain is deprived?

Man is intelligent, instinctively and consciously intelligent; nature is
not. Man is fortified with memory; nature does not possess it. Man is the
discoverer of the mysteries of nature; nature is not conscious of those
mysteries herself. It is evident, therefore, that man is dual in aspect:
as an animal he is subject to nature, but in his spiritual or conscious
being he transcends the world of material existence. His spiritual powers,
being nobler and higher, possess virtues of which nature intrinsically has
no evidence; therefore, they triumph over natural conditions. These ideal
virtues or powers in man surpass or surround nature, comprehend natural
laws and phenomena, penetrate the mysteries of the unknown and invisible
and bring them forth into the realm of the known and visible. All the
existing arts and sciences were once hidden secrets of nature. By his
command and control of nature man took them out of the plane of the
invisible and revealed them in the plane of visibility, whereas according
to the exigencies of nature these secrets should have remained latent and
concealed. According to the exigencies of nature electricity should be a
hidden, mysterious power; but the penetrating intellect of man has
discovered it, taken it out of the realm of mystery and made it an
obedient human servant. In his physical body and its functions man is a
captive of nature; for instance, he cannot continue his existence with