alousy or envy; but it certainly implies the presence
of an element which has its origin in the sinister side of the
great duality. The pleasure which certain minds derive from a
contemplation of the "deadness of matter" is closely associated
with the voluptuousness of cruelty drawn from the recesses of the
sexual instinct. Such cruelty finds one of its most insidious
incentives in the phenomenon of humiliation; and when the
philosopher contemplates the "deadness of matter" with exquisite
satisfaction, the pleasure which he experiences, or the "sweet pain"
which he experiences, is very closely connected with the cruel
idea of humiliating the pride of the human soul.

The duality of pleasure and pain helps us to understand the nature
of the duality of good and evil, for it helps us to realize that good
and evil are not separate independent existences; but are--like
pleasure and pain--emotional conditions of the soul. Thus when
we say that the ultimate duality of good and evil, or of creation
and what resists creation, is the thing upon which the whole
universe depends, we must not for a moment be supposed to mean
that the ultimate reality of the universe consists of two opposed
"forces" who, like blind chemical energies, struggle with one
another in unconscious darkness.

The ultimate reality of the universe is personality, or rather, let us
say, is the existence of an innumerable company of personal souls,
visible and invisible, each of whom half-creates and half-discovers
his own universe; each of whom finds, sooner or later, in the
objective validity of the "eternal ideas," a universe which is
common to them all. The unfathomable duality upon which this
objective world, common to them all, depends for its existence is a
duality which exists in every separate soul. Without such a duality
it is impossible to conceive any soul existing. And directly such a
duality were resolved into unity such a soul would cease to exist.
But because, without the presence of evil, good would cease to
exist, we have no right to say that evil is an aspect of good. We
have no right to say this because, if good is dependent for its
existence upon evil, it is equally true that evil is dependent for its
existence upon good.

The whole question of ultimate issues is a purely speculative one
and one that does not touch the real situation. The real situation,
the real fact of our personal experience--which is the only
experience worth anythi