But
I comprehend these same things also through need and craving and
enjoyment. It is not the conception--no, it is hunger and thirst and
the satisfaction of these that makes anything food and drink to me.
Of course, I am constrained to believe in the reality of that which
threatens my sensuous existence, or which alone can preserve it.
Conscience comes in, at once hallowing and limiting this impulse of
Nature. "Thou shalt preserve, exercise and strengthen thyself, and
thy sensuous power; for this sensuous power forms a part of the
calculation, in the plan of reason. But thou canst preserve it only
by a suitable use, agreeable to the peculiar interior laws of such
matters. And, besides thyself, there are also others like thee, whose
powers are calculated upon like thine own, and who can be preserved
only in the same way. Allow to them the same use of their portion
which it is granted thee to make of thine own portion. Respect what
comes to them, as their property. Use what comes to thee in a suitable
manner, as thy property." So must I act, and I must think conformably
to such action. Accordingly, I am necessitated to regard these things
as standing under their own natural laws, independent of me, but which
I am capable of knowing; that is, to ascribe to them an existence
independent of myself. I am constrained to believe in such laws,
and it becomes my business to ascertain them; and empty speculation
vanishes like mist when the warming sun appears.
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