Page:The Philosophy of Creation.djvu/177

 in its substance by the use of the senses or of the Sensual plane. Or it may be said that the Scientific plane is formed from scientific life and knowledge. It is composed of effects that are received through the Sensual, together with effects that are derived from the higher planes of the mind, and is separated from the Sensual as effect is from cause. This relation of cause and effect exists between adjacent planes of the mind.

The Scientific plane having acquired impressions through the use of the senses whereby there is the knowledge of facts, the Rational plane, d, uses that knowledge, and deduces a series of rational conclusions distinctly superior to the plane of scientific facts. It is a scientific fact that the earth appears flat; also that as a ship approaches, the top of the mast is first visible, and the hull last: but it is a rational truth that the earth must therefore be a globe. It is a scientific truth that the sun gives heat and light; and it appears that, as vegetation will not grow without heat and light, the sun makes it grow; but it is a rational truth that the sun merely furnishes condition while other forces give shape to plants. The child, because the Rational plane is not yet formed, wonders if there are mermaids in the ocean or centaurs on the land: the scholar from his knowledge of the unity of plan concludes