"form" as its ultimate life, and yet as having no kind of
"matter" or "energy" or "form." The soul must be regarded as
"something" which is living and real and concrete, and which has a
definite existence in time and space, and which is subject to
annihilation; but the stuff out of which the soul is made is not
capable of analysis, and can only be accepted by such an act of faith
as that which believes in "the impossible."

The fact that the philosophy of the complex vision assumes as its
only axiom the concrete reality of the "soul" within us which is so
difficult to touch or handle or describe and yet which we feel to be
so much more real than our physical body, justifies us in making an
experiment which to many minds will seem uncalled for and
ridiculous. I mean the experiment of trying to visualize, by an
arbitrary exercise of fancy, the sort of form or shape which this
formless and shapeless thing may be imagined as possessing.

Metaphysical discussion tends so quickly to become thin and
abstract and unreal; words themselves tend so quickly to become
"dead wood" rather than living branches and leaves; that it seems
advisable, from the point of view of getting nearer reality, to make
use sometimes of a pictorial image, even though such an image be
crudely and clumsily drawn.

Pictorial images are always treacherous and dangerous; but, as I
have hinted, it is sometimes necessary, considering the intricate and
delicately balanced character of man's complex vision, to make a
guarded and cautious use of them, so as to arrive at truth
"sideways," so to speak, and indirectly.

One of the curious psychological facts, in connection with the
various ways in which various minds function, is the fact that when
in these days we seek to visualize, in some pictorial manner, our
ultimate view of life, the images which are called up are geometrical
or chemical rather than anthropomorphic. It is probable that even
the most rational and logical among us as soon as he begins to
philosophize at all is compelled by the necessity of things to form in
the mind some vague pictorial representation answering to his
conception of the universe.

The real inherent nature of such a philosophy would be probably
understood and appreciated far better, both by the philosopher
himself and by his friends, if this vague pictorial projection could
be actually represented, in words or in a picture.

Most minds see the universe of their mental co