are  suspended  between  two  finite  forms  of  thought,
and  can  regard  the  infinite  only  as  the  absolute  reality
which  is  determined  and  limited  in  both,  but  of  which
in  itself  we  can  say  nothing  except  that  it  is.  "  See
then  our  predicament,"  says  Mr.  Spencer,  "  we  can  ex-
plain matter  only  in  terms  of  mind  ;  we  can  think  of
mind  only  in  terms  of  matter.  When  we  have  pushed
our  explanation  of  the  first  to  the  furthest  limit,  we
are  referred  to  the  second  for  a  final  answer ;  and,
when  we  have  got  the  final  answer  of  the  second,  we
are  referred  back  to  the  first."  ^

We  may  then  sum  up  the  whole  matter  thus.
According  to  Mr.  Spencer,  we  have  and  can  have  no
knowledge  of  the  ultimate  unity  beyond  all  difference
except  as  '  Being '  in  the  abstract,  infinite  Being,  or,
what  is  the  same  thing  for  Mr.  Spencer,  Being  without
any  determination.  We  cannot  grasp  it  as  a  pro-
ductive principle  which  explains  difference  and  at  the
same  time  overcomes  it.  It  is  the  dark  in  which  all
colours  become  grey.  When  we  reach  this  unity,  it
only  remains  for  us  to  lose  ourselves  in  it ;  for  the
ascent  to  it  is  by  the  way  of  pure  abstraction,  and
pure  abstraction  as  it  ascends  draws  the  ladder  after
it.  When  we  proceed  merely  by  omitting  elements,
what  is  left  does  not  afford  any  clue  to  what  is
omitted.  So  conceived,  the  idea  of  the  infinite  has  no
dialectic  in  it  to  bring  us  back  to  the  finite ;  in  other
*  Principles  of  Psychology,  I.  627,  §  272.
