aining hid in the "past," or "future,"
is likewise a question of phase, and, just as the range of vibrations
perceived might be increased by the development of finer senses, so
the perception of things past, and things to come, may be easy from
a higher point of view.

15. The paths of material things and of states of consciousness are
distinct, as is manifest from the fact that the same object may produce
different impressions in different minds.

Having shown that our bodily condition and circumstances depend on
Karma, while Karma depends on perception and will, the sage
recognizes the fact that from this may be drawn the false deduction
that material things are in no wise different from states of mind. The
same thought has occurred, and still occurs, to all philosophers; and,
by various reasonings, they all come to the same wise conclusion; that
the material world is not made by the mood of any human mind, but
is rather the manifestation of the totality of invisible Being, whether
we call this Mahat, with the ancients, or Ether, with the moderns.

16. Nor do material objects depend upon a single mind, for how could
they remain objective to others, if that mind ceased to think of them?

This is but a further development of the thought of the preceding
Sutra, carrying on the thought that, while the universe is spiritual, yet
its material expression is ordered, consistent, ruled by law, not subject
to the whims or affirmations of a single mind. Unwelcome material
things may be escaped by spiritual growth, by rising to a realm above
them, and not by denying their existence on their own plane. So that
our system is neither materialistic, nor idealistic in the extreme sense,
but rather intuitional and spiritual, holding that matter is the
manifestation of spirit as a whole, a reflection or externalization of
spirit, and, like spirit, everywhere obedient to law. The path of
liberation is not through denial of matter but through denial of the
wills of self, through obedience, and that aspiration which builds the
vesture of the spiritual man.

17. An object is perceived, or not perceived, according as the mind is,
or is not, tinged with the colour of the object.

The simplest manifestation of this is the matter of attention. Our minds
apprehend what they wish to apprehend; all else passes unnoticed, or,
on the other hand, we perceive what we resent, as, for example, the
noise of a passing train; while others, used to th