irit (or, at least, the obviously single force to
which we give that double name) which composed them and whose fate
must be no more indifferent to us than our own fate; for, let us
repeat, from our death onwards, the adventure of the universe becomes
our own adventure. Let us not, therefore, say to ourselves:

"What can it matter? We shall not be there."

We shall be there always, because everything will be there.

XXVIII

QUESTIONS WITHOUT ANSWERS

Will all this to which we shall belong, in a world ever seeking
itself, continue a prey to new, unceasing and perhaps painful
experiments? Since the part that we were was unhappy, why should the
part that we shall be enjoy a better fortune? Who can assure us that
those unending combinations and endeavours will not be more sorrowful,
more awkward and more baneful than those which we are leaving; and how
shall we explain that these have come about after so many millions of
others which should have opened the eyes of the genius of infinity? It
is idle to persuade ourselves, as Hindu wisdom would, that our sorrows
are but illusions and appearances: it is none the less true that they
make us very really unhappy. Has the universe elsewhere a more
complete consciousness, a more just and serene principle of thought
than on this earth and in the worlds which we perceive? And, if it be
true that it has somewhere attained that better thought, why does the
thought that presides over the destinies of our earth not profit by
it? Could no communication be possible between worlds which must have
been born of the same idea and are steeped in it? What would be the
mystery of that isolation? Are we to believe that the earth marks the
most advanced stage and the most favoured experiment? What, then, can
the thought of the universe have done and against what darkness must
it have struggled, to have come no farther than this? But, on the
other hand, can it have been stayed by that darkness or by those
obstacles which, being unable to arise from any elsewhere, can but
have sprung from itself? Who then could have set those insoluble
problems to infinity and from what more remote and profound region
than itself would they have issued? Some one, after all, must know
what they ask; and, as behind infinity there can be none that is not
infinity itself, it is impossible to imagine a malignant will in a
will that leaves no point around it but what it fills entirely. Or are
the experiment