Too Long; Didn't Read

We have shown that a belief in the reality of the existence, both of mind and of matter, as causes, is one of the implanted principles of mind. Some philosophers have claimed that there is nothing in existence but mind, and that all that is called matter is simply ideas of things in the mind itself, for which there is no corresponding reality. Others have claimed just the opposite: that there is no such existence as an immaterial spirit, but that soul is the brain, or some other very fine organization of matter. In both cases, the assumptions not only have no evidence to sustain them, but are contrary to the common sense or reason of all mankind, and never can be really believed. When perceptions are called into existence by the agency of the senses, we can not help believing that things are as they appear to us, unless we have some evidence of deception either from disordered sensation or some other cause. But in regard to our conceptions we have two classes. One class is attended with the belief that they correspond with realities, or the things they represent. The other class is not attended with this belief. For example, we can conceive of a house of a color, form, and details such as we never saw, and this conception is not attended with any belief of the reality of such {166}an existence; but when we conceive of the home of our childhood, this conception is attended with a belief of the reality of the thing conceived. This illustration furnishes the means of defining "truth" as "the reality of things." We conceive the truth when our conceptions represent correctly the reality of things, and we believe the truth when we feel this correspondence to exist. We believe falsehood when we have a conception attended by a feeling that it represents the reality of things when it does not. All our comfort, success, and happiness depend upon believing the truth; for just so far as our belief or faith varies from the reality of things, we shall meet with mistakes, disappointment, and sorrow.