OUR YOUNG MEN’S COLUMN.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2279, 14 November 1891, Page 2

OUR YOUNG MEN’S COLUMN.

[Br JUVENIS.]

METAPHYSICAL STUDY. There are but three possible motives for study of any kind; first, to become rich in thought; second, to become stronger in the power of thinking : third, to increase our power and elegance of expression. The true value of any knowledge or thought depends upon the relation it sustains to man’s progress and happiness. Many of the ablest thinkers hold that the power acquired in mastering a study is of more value than the knowledge gained. If this be the case, metaphysical study must indeed rank very high. There are few studies, if any, that require as close and severe thinking as do metaphysics. Here is a method by which we may arrive at the value! of metaphysical study : —ln a b'road general * sense there are but two things in ■ universe, matter and force. Matter, in of its multitudinous forms, is what it is because it lias yielded to the forces , that are playing through the universe of God. Matter in any proper sense is not a cause of anything. It does not act but is acted upon. A passive agent never can be of as much importance as an active one. According to Balfour Stewart there are four planes of physical existence which may be elevated one above another. “ There are : (1) The plane of elementary existence; (2) The plane of chemical compounds, or mineral kingdom; (3) The plane of vegetable existence; (4) The plane of animal existence. Now it is a remarkable fact that there is a special force, whose function it is to raise matter from each plane to the one above, and to exercise movements on the latter.

! “ Physical force ” acts on the first plane 1 (the plane of elementary existence); ', “ Chemical affinity” on: the second J ' (mineral kingdom). “Vegetable life force ” on the third (vegetableJangdom);— , “ Vital force” on the fourth (animal , kingdom). j To make this complete for our present . purpose we should place the “ rational f Idngdom,” (in which only man is found), 7 above thp animal kingdom. , 1 As we go up this arrangement of the i material world we find forms of matter 1 that are higher at each step. As we examine more closely the lower 7 . and higher forms of matter we find lower * ■ and higher forces working upon them. 3 If the form of matter is low, the force is , low that produced the fornu Forces that j, play in the mineral kingdom are lower . than those that play in the vegetable 3 kingdom, and those iii the : vegetable 1 are lower than those in the animal j kingdom, and those in the animal kingdom . :are lower than those in the “rational t 'kingdom,” b,l “ Metaphysics ” unfolds the laws and ■'[explains the operations through which ® this rational force passes. All of the 6 natural sciences rest upon the first four ® jplanes. c “ Chemistry ” deals with the uuiversal * kingdom , ; , i “ Botany ” with the vegetable kingdom. “ Physiology ” with the animal kihg--3 dom. r It is more important to understand the s laws underlying the proper development 5 'of the mind, than to understand the laws ■ underlying the formation of crystals, of . vegetable, or other matter. , Mind is a force capable of producing , , resul ts that elevate and ennoble, or degrade s and destroy the individual. No study s can deal like metaphysics with the powers s iand movements of the mind. The study 1 ;of metaphysics deals with the highest and most valuable force in the world—in fact, that force to which all others are made subservient. In this the value of other studies is not ignored. They are rather , the condition of metaphysical study. The failures in life do not depend so much upon a want of knowledge of facts as they do upon a want of mental power to understand the full import of the facts. The power to make a steam engine is much more valuable than to know the names of the different parts of the engine. The ability to paint a beautiful landscape is more important than to know the rules by which the landscape is painted. The study of metaphysics is one of the best mental gymnastics through which we can pass. It broadens the mind so that we can neither receive nor be convinced of anything at second hand. Here the individual must make the discovery for himself. Each student of metaphysics becomes a discoverer. The hour of supreme delight is the one in which some new truth passes across our intellectual horizon and opens to us fields hitherto unexplored.