For example, Einstein tells us that what we call the “ether” has no existence. It is merely a “void.”—But how can we call that void which contains something—undulations, to wit?
“Nay!” you argue; “the undulations traverse the ether, but they are not it. The ether is a non-entity. It has no existence. It is nothing.”
To which I reply: “But ‘nothing’ is an absolute term. It means ‘no thing.’ How, then, can undulations, or anything else for that matter, pass through nothing?”
“What nonsense!” you cry; “this kind of verbal poser is just the silly old metaphysicians’ parlour game of playing with words.”
I know it is. But the word-play has its uses. It demonstrates to us that words, language, logic, all alike, fail our thought, not so much because those instruments are limited in power as because the thought itself is lacking in precision and comprehensiveness.
It is when our word-play probes the expression that the vagueness of the idea is made manifest. Our foil, even with the button on, goes clean through the phantom.
The mind, in short, has not absorbed, nor can it absorb, the fact. We seize a glass of water to drain it, and presently, like Alice, we find ourselves swimming about in an ocean! Obviously the universe is beyond our comprehension, a conclusion desperate if you like, yet undeniable.
But how very annoying it is, after all our heavy labour, to hear the ancient scoff of Zophar the Naamathite still ringing triumphant:
“Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?”
(Still we mean to go on trying!)