with it the witness and "imprimatur" of
the gods; and although no man has ever "beheld" the gods, and
although the gods by reason of their omnipresent activity, cannot
be thought of as being "incarnated," yet since they are living souls,
even as we are, and since every living soul has, as the substratum
of its identity, what might be called a "spiritual body," there is
nothing in the revelation made to us through the activity of our
complex vision to forbid our free and even fanciful speculation as
to its use, by the very highest of superhuman personalities, even,
let us say, by the Christ himself, of this mysterious energy of the
soul which I have named the "apex-thought."

CHAPTER IV.

THE REVELATION OF THE COMPLEX VISION

Using then, as our instrument of research, that totality of attributes
by which the soul in its rare moments of rhythmic consummation
visualizes the world, the question arises--what, in plain
untechnical terms, is the revelation made to us by this complex
medium? Here, as before, I am anxious, before I venture upon
such a hazardous undertaking as an answer to this question, to
indicate clearly that what I am attempting to state is a revelation
which is common to the experience of all souls, wherever such a
thing as the soul exists. The question as to whether or not such an
universal revelation is an illusion does not concern us. To call any
universal experience "an illusion" is no more and no less
illuminating than to call it "an ultimate truth." It is the only
reality we are at present in possession of; and we must accept it,
or remain in complete scepticism; which is only another name for
complete chaos.

The first important discovery which the complex vision makes is
the fact that the revelation, thus half-offered to it and half-created
by it, is presented simultaneously in all its various aspects. It does
not appear to us bit by bit or in succession but "en masse" and in
its complete "ensemble." It is of course unavoidable that its
aspects should be enumerated one by one and that in such an
enumeration one aspect should be placed first and another last.
Nevertheless, this "first" and "last" must not be regarded as of any
reasonable importance; but as nothing more than an accident of
arbitrary choice. All the aspects of this original revelation are
linked together. All are dependent upon one another. Among them
there is no "first" and "last." All are equally real. All are equally
necessa