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the figure of a gray…bearded man dressed in a pepper and salt
suit； squeezing himself under the crack of the door and moving
across the floor of the room towards a sofa。 The blind subject
of this quasi…hallucination is an exceptionally intelligent
reporter。 He is entirely without internal visual imagery and
cannot represent light or colors to himself； and is positive that
his other senses； hearing； etc。； were not involved in this false
perception。 It seems to have been an abstract conception rather；
with the feelings of reality and spatial outwardness directly
attached to itin other words； a fully objectified and
exteriorized IDEA。
Such cases； taken along with others which would be too tedious
for quotation； seem sufficiently to prove the existence in our
mental machinery of a sense of present reality more diffused and
general than that which our special senses yield。 For the
psychologists the tracing of the organic seat of such a feeling
would form a pretty problemnothing could be more natural than
to connect it with the muscular sense； with the feeling that our
muscles were innervating themselves for action。 Whatsoever thus
innervated our activity； or 〃made our flesh creep〃our senses
are what do so oftenestmight then appear real and present； even
though it were but an abstract idea。 But with such vague
conjectures we have no concern at present； for our interest lies
with the faculty rather than with its organic seat。
Like all positive affections of consciousness； the sense of
reality has its negative counterpart in the shape of a feeling of
unreality by which persons may be haunted； and of which one
sometimes hears complaint：
〃When I reflect on the fact that I have made my appearance by
accident upon a globe itself whirled through space as the sport
of the catastrophes of the heavens；〃 says Madame Ackermann； 〃when
I see myself surrounded by beings as ephemeral and
incomprehensible as I am myself； and all excitedly pursuing pure
chimeras； I experience a strange feeling of being in a dream。 It
seems to me as if I have loved and suffered and that erelong I
shall die； in a dream。 My last word will be； 'I have been
dreaming。'〃＇26＇
＇26＇ Pensees d'un Solitaire； p。 66。
In another lecture we shall see how in morbid melancholy this
sense of the unreality of things may become a carking pain； and
even lead to suicide。
We may now lay it down as certain that in the distinctively
religious sphere of experience； many persons （how many we cannot
tell） possess the objects of their belief； not in the form of
mere conceptions which their intellect accepts as true； but
rather in the form of quasi…sensible realities directly
apprehended。 As his sense of the real presence of these objects
fluctuates； so the believer alternates between warmth and
coldness in his faith。 Other examples will bring this home to
one better than abstract description； so I proceed immediately to
cite some。 The first example is a negative one； deploring the
loss of the sense in question。 I have extracted it from an
account given me by a scientific man of my acquaintance； of his
religious life。 It seems to me to show clearly that the feeling
of reality may be something more like a sensation than an
intellectual operation properly so…called。
〃Between twenty and thirty I gradually became more and more
agnostic and irreligious； yet I cannot say that I ever lost that
'indefinite consciousness' which Herbert Spencer describes so
well； of an Absolute Reality behind phenomena。 For me this
Reality was not the pure Unknowable of Spencer's philosophy； for
although I had ceased my childish prayers to God； and never
prayed to IT in a formal manner； yet my more recent experience
shows me to have been in a relation to IT which practically was
the same thing as prayer。 Whenever I had any trouble； especially
when I had conflict with other people； either domestically or in
the way of business； or when I was depressed in spirits or
anxious about affairs； I now recognize that I used to fall back
for support upon this curious relation I felt myself to be in to
this fundamental cosmical IT。 It was on my side； or I was on Its
side； however you please to term it； in the particular trouble；
and it always strengthened me and seemed to give me endless
vitality to feel its underlying and supporting presence。 In
fact； it was an unfailing fountain of living justice； truth； and
strength； to which I instinctively turned at times of weakness；
and it always brought me out。 I know now that it was a personal
relation I was in to it； because of late years the power of
communicating with it has left me； and I am conscious of a
perfectly definite loss。 I used never to fail to find it when I
turned to it。 Then came a set of years when sometimes I found
it； and then again I would be wholly unable to make connection
with it。 I remember many occasions on which at night in bed； I
would be unable to get to sleep on account of worry。 I turned
this way and that in the darkness； and groped mentally for the
familiar sense of that higher mind of my mind which had always
seemed to be close at hand as it were； closing the passage； and
yielding support； but there was no electric current。 A blank was
there instead of IT： I couldn't find anything。 Now； at the age
of nearly fifty； my power of getting into connection with it has
entirely left me； and I have to confess that a great help has
gone out of my life。 Life has become curiously dead and
indifferent； and I can now see that my old experience was
probably exactly the same thing as the prayers of the orthodox；
only I did not call them by that name。 What I have spoken of as
'It' was practically not Spencer's Unknowable； but just my own
instinctive and individual God； whom I relied upon for higher
sympathy； but whom somehow I have lost。〃
Nothing is more common in the pages of religious biography than
the way in which seasons of lively and of difficult faith are
described as alternating。 Probably every religious person has
the recollection of particular crisis in which a directer vision
of the truth； a direct perception； perhaps； of a living God's
existence； swept in and overwhelmed the languor of the more
ordinary belief。 In James Russell Lowell's correspondence there
is a brief memorandum of an experience of this kind：
〃I had a revelation last Friday evening。 I was at Mary's； and
happening to say something of the presence of