CHAPTER TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. The Definition of Metaphysics 3. The Assumptions of Metaphysics III VIII. THE NATURE OF OBJECTIVE REALITY 7. General Characters of the World In Him we live and move and have our being. - PAUL. Take all in a word: the truth in God's breast There is an inmost center in us all, - BROWNING. Where truth abides in fullness; and around, Supposed to be without. Watch narrowly And you trace back the effluence to its spring And source within us; where broods radiance vast, - BROWNING. Dark is the world to thee: thyself art the reason why; For is He not all but that which has power to feel 'I am I'? Speak to Him thou, for He hears, and Spirit with Spirit can meet Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet. THE WORLD A SPIRITUAL SYSTEM CHAPTER I THE NATURE OF METAPHYSICS I. THE DEFINITION OF METAPHYSICS METAPHYSICS is the science of being. To understand this definition, which compresses a vast system of thought into a single, short sentence, we must unfold its meaning. There are many sciences which deal with limited areas or aspects of being, each special science investigating and systematizing the facts and laws of its own field. Thus astronomy studies the heavenly bodies, determining their sizes, distances, orbits, motions, weights, temperature, and composition, with a glance backward into their origin and forward into their destiny. At the other extreme, molecular physics studies molecules and atoms, endeavoring to measure these minute masses and to resolve the atoms into swarms of electrons and possibly to dissolve the electrons into ether whirls or centers of electricity or energy. In a similar way, botany studies plants, and zoölogy studies animals. Biology strikes deeper and enters the region of life as it is exhibited in both plants |