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Butler, Samuel, 1835-1902

"The Note-Books of Samuel Butler"

Heat and
cold are always relative to one another, they are never absolute. So
with life and death, there is neither perfect life nor perfect death,
but in the highest life there is some death and in the lowest death
there is still some life. The fraction is so small that in practice
it may and must be neglected; it is neglected, however, not as of
right but as of grace, and the right to insist on it is never finally
and indefeasibly waived.
iii
An energy is a soul--a something working in us.
As we cannot imagine heat apart from something which is hot, nor
motion without something that is moving, so we cannot imagine an
energy, or working power, without matter through which it manifests
itself.
On the other hand, we cannot imagine matter without thinking of it as
capable of some kind of working power or energy--we cannot think of
matter without thinking of it as in some way ensouled.
iv
Matter and mind form one another, i.e. they give to one another the
form in which we see them. They are the helpmeets to one another
that cross each other and undo each other and, in the undoing, do
and, in the doing, undo, and so see-saw ad infinitum.

Organic and Inorganic

Animals and plants cannot understand our business, so we have denied
that they can understand their own. What we call inorganic matter
cannot understand the animals' and plants' business, we have
therefore denied that it can understand anything whatever.


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