Page:The Philosophy of Creation.djvu/337

 knowledge employed in the use of the senses and that which is acquired by means of them.

Science being acquired to some extent, combinations of facts are made, and conclusions deduced by a rational process. This faculty is proper to the Rational plane, e. By means of the facts of the Scientific plane, rational truths are deduced, and the Rational plane developed and filled. It is evident that the Rational differs from the Scientific as deduced truths differ from the facts upon which they are based, and that the Rational is superior to the Scientific as philosophy is higher than a mere collection of facts.

By means of rational truths or the Rational plane, the spiritual-natural or external laws of the spiritual world, of the mind, and of man as a spiritual being can be received and confirmed. Spiritual-natural laws are perceived by a plane of the mind coincident therewith, which is the Spiritual-Natural, d. This plane is opened and developed by the perception and knowledge of the laws natural to the soul and to the spiritual world, and by the reception of the life proper to these laws. These laws, as they are the outward laws of the spiritual world, necessarily