' "'The universe'!" they chuckle--"his speech
bewrayeth him. He stands confessed of monism out of his own mouth."
Well, let things be one in that sense! You can then fling such a
word as universe at the whole collection of them, but what matters
it? It still remains to be ascertained whether they are one in any
other sense that is more valuable.
2. Are they, for example, CONTINUOUS? Can you pass from one to
another, keeping always in your one universe without any danger of
falling out? In other words, do the parts of our universe HANG
together, instead of being like detached grains of sand?
Even grains of sand hang together through the space in which they
are embedded, and if you can in any way move through such space, you
can pass continuously from number one of them to number two. Space
and time are thus vehicles of continuity, by which the world's parts
hang together. The practical difference to us, resultant from these
forms of union, is immense. Our whole motor life is based upon
them.
3. There are innumerable other paths of practical continuity among
things. Lines of INFLUENCE can be traced by which they together.
Following any such line you pass from one thing to another till you
may have covered a good part of the universe's extent.
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