Encyclopedia of sacred theology - pagina 156

132

FAITH

§ 46.

[Div. II

And

no demonstration, but allows none. referred to

own

ing our ego in our

in that sense

we

the certainty concern-

in the first place, as

it

which precedes

self-consciousness,

every act of thought or observation, and which can only be established in us by faith, or, if you please, is not acquired by us, but

is

a received good, of

which no account

can be given.

This

is

equally true of the starting-point of perception.

All perception takes place through the senses, whether you allow them to

them by

act

naturally,

or

a technical apparatus.

whether

The

case,

you

reinforce

however,

is

not

that our senses perceive, for our ego perceives by means of

The sick man who lies in bed with his eyes those senses. wide open, but whose mind is affected, perceives nothing even though the images of his surroundings are reflected on While you sleep, many sounds the retina of his eyes. may vibrate in the air-waves of your room, but not waken To stop short with the you to hear and perceive them. The senses is, therefore, both unscientific and superficial. way of knowledge certainly leads through the senses, but It is also continued from the sense it extends farther. through the nerves and the brain, and back of these out of our sensorial avenues to that mysterious something which we call our consciousness, and, in the centrum of that con;

sciousness, to so-called

what we

exact sciences,

call

our

who

The students

ego.

of the

think that their as yet un-

demonstrated, immediate knowledge of the object rests exclusively upon the action of the senses, are thus entirely mistaken, and allow themselves a leap to which they have no right. If their ego is to obtain knowledge of the object,

they must not stop with the action of the senses, but ask how the ego acquires certainty of the reality of the percep-

By means

of your senses, you receive sensations and but in your consciousness the result of this consists of forms, images, shapes, and figures, which are not dissimilar to those which loom up before your mind outside

tion.

impressions

;

of perception,

ecstasy.

— in imagination, in dreams,

Your perception by means

of

or in

moments

of

your senses acquires

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