onths I have been pondering this
topic incessantly. I find that I can agree, in a measure, with those
scientists who regard the physical universe as composed of only a few
elementary constituents, namely, matter, energy, space, and time--"

"Each one of these elements is mental," interrupted Carmen.

"Exactly!" replied Hitt. "And the physical universe, even from the
human standpoint, is, therefore, wholly mental."

"Well, but we see it!" ejaculated Haynerd. "And we feel and hear it!
And I'm sure we smell it!"

Hitt laughed. "Do we?" he asked.

"No," interposed Father Waite; "we see only our mental concept of a
universe, for seeing is wholly a mental process. Our comprehension of
anything is entirely mental."

"But now," resumed Hitt, "to get back to the supposed reality of the
physical universe, let us examine its constituents. First, let us
consider its unity established by the harmonious interplay of the
forces permeating it. This great fact is what led Herbert Spencer to
conclude that the universe could have but one creator, one ruler, and
that polytheism was untenable."

"We are quite agreed regarding that," said Father Waite. "If the
Creator is mind, He is of very necessity infinite and omnipotent;
hence there can be but one Creator."

"Very well," continued Hitt. "Now as to time. Is it material or
tangible? Would it exist, but as a convenience for the human mind? Is
it not really a creation of that mind? And, lastly, is it not merely a
mental concept?"

"Our consciousness of time," replied Carmen, "is only our awareness of
a continuous series of mental states."

"That classifies it exactly," said Hitt, "and renders it wholly
mental. And now as to space," he resumed. "We are accustomed to say,
loosely, that space is that in which we see things about us. But in
what does the process of seeing consist? I say, I see a chair. What I
really mean is that I am conscious of a chair. The process of seeing,
we are told, is this: light, coming from the chair, enters the eye and
casts an image of the chair upon the retina, much as a picture is
thrown upon the ground glass of a camera. Then, in some way, the
little rods and cones--the branching tips of the optic nerve which
project from the retina--are set in motion by the light-waves. This
vibration is in some mysterious manner carried along the optic nerve
to a center in the brain, and--well, then the mind becomes cognizant
of the chair out there, that's all."