Page:The Science of Religion (1925).djvu/119

Rh what is the nature of that knowing? Is it merely an idea in our brain, or is it seeing the truth (unity in diversity) face to face, first-hand and direct? Does that form of knowing carry the same conviction which being one with it would carry? Surely not, for that knowing is very partial, defective. It is merely looking through a colored glass. The super-sensuous world lies beyond. These are the a priori arguments against perception as an instrument for knowing Reality, or God.

From calm experience, also, we find that we can not attain that Blissful state; which is Reality and the Ideal itself, as shown in the previous chapters, until we rise to a considerable extent from the restless, perceptual stage. The more we leave behind the disturbing perceptions and interior thoughts, the greater is the possibility of the dawning of that super-mental state of Bliss, or Bliss-God. Ordinary perception and Bliss seem to be mutually