THE
NEW WINE
297
I
subsequently
discovered
this
peculiar
state
of con
sciousness
classified
in
the Abhidhamma .
That
it
is
a
contradiction
in terms I am perfectly aware ; to assign any
meaning to it is frankly beyond me ; but I am as certain
that such a state
once existed , as I am of anything .'
This
is quite true , for on attaining
to such an ad
vanced stage of illumination
, language
rapidly
fails
us , and we break through
the dialectic veil and enter
that
life
which
lies
“ behind , ” solely
expressed by
means of symbols .
“ What
can
I know ? "
asked
Kant ,
as we have
already seen .
“ What is Knowledge ? ”
asks the Yogi
or mystic , and his question is the right one of the two .
I see a cat.
Dr. Johnson says it is a cat.
Berkeley says it is a group of sensations.
Çankaracharya
says it is an illusion , an incarnation , or
God , according
to
the
hat he
has
got
on , and is talking
through .
Spencer says it is a mode of the Unknowable .
But
none
of
them
seriously doubt the fact that
I exist ;
that a cat exists ; that one sees the other .
All -- bar Johnson
---
hint
-
but
oh
!
how dimly
!
-at what
I
now know
to
be
true
?
-no
,
not
necessarily
true
,
but
nearer
the
truth
.
Huxley goes deeper
in
his demolition
of
Descartes
.
With
him
“
I
see
a
cat
proves
“
something
called consciousness
exists
."
He
denies the
assertion
of
duality
;
he
has
no
datum
to
assert the denial
of
duality
.
I
have
.
13
.
Their
(
the mystics
of
all
lands
)
endeavour has been
to
slow
the rate
of
change
;
their methods
perfect quietude
of
body
and mind
,
produced
in
varied
,
and too often vicious
,
ways
.
Regularisation
of
the breathing
is
the best known formula
.
Their results are contemptible
,
we must admit
;
but
only
so
|
Science and Buddhism
,
vol
.
ii,
p
.
256
.