Now in this way I got what I conceived to be knowledge. It was of no use or beauty apparently, but I had no reason to use it or to show it.
It is about this bit of knowledge that I want to speak now—a block of cubes, and the cubes are known each one where it is.
Sometimes I have been tempted to call this absolute knowledge, but have been reminded that I did not know the cube itself. Against this I have argued. But in argument we say many things which we do not understand, and my conclusion is, on the whole, that the objection is well founded. Still, if not knowledge absolute, the knowledge of this block approaches more nearly to knowledge absolute than any other with which I am acquainted, because each cube is the same as its neighbour, and instead of an arrangement of all sorts of diverse ignorances we have only one kind of ignorance—that of the cube. Each of the cubes was an inch each way, and I learnt a cubic yard of them. That is to say, when the name of any cube was said, I could tell at once those which it lay next to; and if a set of names were said, I could tell at once what shape composed of cubes was denoted. There were 216 primary names, and these, taken in pairs, were enough to name the cubic yard.
For the practical purpose of this paper, however, it will suffice if the reader will imagine a block of twenty-seven cubes, forming a larger cube, each cube being denoted by a name (see Diagram I. below). Then it is evident that two names mean a certain arrangement consisting of two cubes in definite places with regard to one another—three names denote three cubes, and so on. And I would ask the reader not to mind taking a little trouble at this point, and to look at the diagram for a little while. If there is anything about which we can form perfectly clear ideas, it is a little heap of cubes. And if the reader will simply look at them for a little space of time, he will realize clearly every word of what I have to say; for I am going to talk about nothing else than this little block of cubes.
Thus, looking at the cube with the figure 1 upon it, this numeral will serve for the name of the cube, and similarly the number written on every cube will serve for its name. So if I say cubes 1 and 2, I mean the two which lie next to each other, as shown in the diagram; and the numbers 1, 4, 7, denote three cubes standing above each other. If I say cubes 1 and 10, I mean the first cube and one behind it hidden by it in the diagram.
Diagram I, a block consisting of 27 cubes.
Diagram II.
Now this is the bit of knowledge on which I propose to demonstrate the process of casting out the self. It is not a high form of knowledge, but it is a bit of knowledge with as little ignorance in it as we can have; and just as it is permitted a worm or reptile to live and breathe, so on this rudimentary form of knowledge we may be able to demonstrate the functions of the mind.