I. There is in me a something which is called mind. I do not know what
it is. I can neither tell whence it came, nor whither it will go when
it ceases to inhabit this body. That in me, which is thus ignorant
concerning the mind, is the mind itself. There are therefore matters
beyond my mental range. That is, my mind is limited, bounded, finite
in its powers. What is true of my mind is true of all human mind. Here
then is one of the first results of consciousness: FINITE MIND IN THE
WORLD.
II. This finite mind did not produce itself; it sees in the body which
it controls evidence of a design of which it is not the author. It
turns to the phenomena of the universe and discovers in them the same
evidences of design. It seeks the attributes and character of the
designer or designers of human body and of natural phenomena, and finds
them to be unlimited in action, unbounded by time or space, infinite in
power, and uniform in manifestation. It therefore concludes that there
is but one designer of all the phenomena of created nature, and that
he is both intelligent and infinite. Here then is a second result of
consciousness: INFINITE MIND IN THE UNIVERSE.
III. We have so far brought to view two powers, infinite mind in the
universe and finite mind in the world, and between them a distance
immeasurable and impassable from the finite side. They are extremes in
the progression of the universe. Let us notice some facts concerning
each of these powers: