Such  a  notion,  as  a  little  reflection  will
show,  is  unmeaning  and  not  really  held.
The  states  of  consciousness  are  each  of
them  the  entire  mind  in  one  of  the  phases
of  its  continuous  movement.  And  common
sense  understands  this,  though  it  expresses
it  so  ill.  It  is  aware  that  the  states  of
consciousness  are  not  parts  or  fragments  of
the  mind,  members  in  an  endless  series
which,  for  no  reason,  we  choose  to  regard
as  a  unity  and  call  by  a  single  name.  The
consciousness  at  any  moment  is  the  whole
1  £v.  Crt.,  77.
36


LIFE

mind,  but  with  now  this  now  that  aspect
salient,  now  this  now  that  in  the  back-
ground. The  more  we  take  note  of  our-
selves, the  more  we  shall  find  that,  though
it  is  quite  impossible  to  avoid  speaking  of
"  parts  "  in  our  momentary  frame  of  mind,
we  do  not  in  the  least  take  them  to  be  really
parts  having  a  certain  independence,  but
feel  them  to  be  colouring  one  another
throughout.  No  better  proof  can  be  given
of  this  than  Bergson's  admirable  examina-
tion l  of  the  common  idea  that  psychical
states  are  capable  of  some  sort  of  measure
ment,  that  effort  or  emotion  or  sensation,
remaining  the  same  in  quality,  may  be  more
or  less  intense.  The  fact,  is  that — to  take
one  of  the  instances  he  has  so  luminously
studied — joy  becomes  more  intense  by
spreading  to  and  colouring  more  and  more
elements  of  our  consciousness.  The  modern
psychologist  says  that,  as  it  grows  intenser,
it  "  irradiates  "  to  other  elements  ;  but  in
fact  the  intensity  is  the  irradiation,  and  is

1  Donnees,  Ch.  I.
