THE NEW WINE
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“ We
must , therefore , know both
the
cause
and
effect ,
and
the
relation
between
them .
But
do
we
pretend to be acquainted
with the nature of the human
soul and the nature of an idea , or the aptitude
of one
to
produce
the
other
? This is a real creation , a pro
duction
of something
out of nothing ... such a power
is
not felt, nor known , nor even
conceivable
by the
mind
We
are now fairly
on our road
to Crowleyanity .
Having left Berkeley in the dark , feeling
on the dusty
shelves
of his
reason
for
a flint
and
steel
in
the
spirituality of God , whereby
he may burn in twain the
gordian knot into
which he has
tangled
his
under
standing ; we now find Hume , in a similar manner ,
groping for the handle of some bricked-up door, which
will lead him forth from the depths of that same night
in which Berkeley has already
lost his way .
When Hume states :
“ he
feels
events
to
be con
nected in his imagination
”; he is only reiterating the
words of Philonous , when
he says :
“
I have a notion
of Spirit , though I have not, strictly speaking , an idea
of it .
I do not perceive it as an idea , or by means
of
an idea , but know it by reflexion .” To which Hylas
very properly replied : “ Words are not to be used with
out
a meaning .
And , as there is no more meaning
in
spiritual Substance than in material Substance , the one
is to be exploded
as well as the other .”
Philonous , in
answering Hylas then asserts
acquaintance
with that
nature of the human
soul which Hume declared
be
inconceivable
.
“ How
often must I repeat , that I know
or am conscious
of my own being ; and that I myself
am not my ideas , but somewhat
else , a thinking active
· An Enquiry concerning
Human
Understanding
, p. 69.