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20 exist under certain conditions subject to my examination and study; and I study myself and other objects, both animate and inanimate, and the con ditions in which they exist. And in accordance with this study I order my life. Questions as to origin I investi gate in the same way, both by observa tion and by experiment, and I attain a greater and greater knowledge of them. As to the question whence all this universe has proceeded, why it exists, and why I exist in it, I leave it un answered, as I do not see the possibility of answering it as definitely, clearly, and convincingly as I answer questions concerning the conditions of things in the universe. And therefore the answer to this question which consists in say ing that there exists a supposed rational Being, a God, from whom I have proceeded (it is generally said, 'from whom the world proceeds,' by which is meant the creation of the world, which the Christian teaching does not affirm), which Being, for some reason known to itself, has determined the law of my life—this answer to the question I do not accept, as it does not contain the clearness and demonstrability possessed by the scientific answers to the questions con cerning the causes and conditions of various natural phenomena."