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726
THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
is subject to the force of gravitation only in so far as the association of matter renders it liable to be dragged along with its bodies. Besides, if the soul were characterised by motion, the body would never know rost, for it cannot separate itself from its occupant whose slightest wish suffices to put it in motion,
It is true that the soul continues in time, but the idea of continuity implies motion of a very different kind from that which we perform when moving from one place to another. “To be" and "to continue to be” not being the same thing, the difference between them is precisely what underlies the idea of continuity; and consists in the discharge of functional activity, which is not taken into account in the one case and is mentioned as being continuously performed in the other. But so far as the nature of the motion implied in the idea of continuity is concerned, it is obvious that it cannot be one of translation from one place to another, since a function may be discharged without moving away from any particular place. Motion in Time, as a matter of fact, is not to be measured in terms of distance in space; it is a qualitative alternation of moments,' or attributes--intense, less intense, and again intensewhich is certainly not motion in the spatial sense. It is thus clear that the soul is not characterised by motion.
We may make a little halt here to rectify a few of the common errors into which philosophers unconsciously fall when they try to define certain terms. Since the only purpose which definitions serve is to enable us to understand things as they exist, it is clearly of the utinost importance to realize the necessity of being very
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