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THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
have the consciousness of the outside object. This capacity really means the power to vibrate in sympathy with, that is to say, at the same rhythm* as the incoming stimulus. It will be now evident that an impression in or on consciousness differs from a statue in marble, in so far as it does not signify the chiselling off or removal of any part of its bulk, but resembles it, inasmuch as it is brought into manifestation from within the soul's being itself. Thus, while all impressions may be said to lie dormant in the soul, in the same manner as all kinds of statues remain unmanifested in a slab of
* That an impression is in reality a kind of rhythm is clear from the nature of recollection which implies a revived impression, Memory, it has been seen, is not a picture gallery containing ready-made photos or reprints of past events. If any one still doubt the truth of our proposition, let him reflect on the fact that the images that arise in recollection are, in many instancos, bigger than the perceiver thereof. This is especially the case with dreams which, at times, reproduce large cities, oceans, and the like. This shows that recollections do not lie stored up in the form of ready-made images in the body or brain, but are formed and projected outside, there and then. But the only other thing that visual memory can be, if not a collection of roady-made images, is the capacity to produce images, that is to say, the power to mould the material which enters into the composition of memory-images into characteristic shapes and forms. This means neither more nor less than the capacity to vibrate at different intensities or rhythm which by acting on a kind of very fine matter give rise to forms. The same is the casc with respect to the recollection of impressions formed through the media of the senses other than sight. They are not images in their inception, and cannot but exist in memory as so many different kinds of potencies or possibilities of recollection. It is these potencies of recollection which we have designated as different kinds of rhythm for want of a more suitable term.
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