None of the arguments that have so far been referred to carry us much beyond the recognition of a certain validity in the general conception of the Divine .sx I have tried to get somewhat beyond this by urging that the aspect of creativeness has to be emphasised as belonging to the Universal Mind .sx This somewhat a priori contention has now to be met by considerations of a more a posteriori character .sx The argument that we have now to notice is that which is generally referred to as the argument a contingentia mundi i.e. , it proceeds from the contention that the finite Universe is not self-explanatory , and calls for an explanatory principle beyond itself .sx We have then to urge that such a principle may be found in the conception of a Universal Mind containing the aspect of creativeness .sx If we were to rely entirely on the kind of argument that has so far been considered , it would seem that we were led to a general conception like that which was taken by Spinoza i.e. , to the conception of an absolutely perfect and all-inclusive Being , having ( as Spinoza thought ) the two aspects of consciousness and spatial extension .sx The particularity of the existent Universe , as we know it , is not easy to reconcile with such an idea of absolute completeness .sx This has been elaborately brought out by Mr. Alexander in his great work on Space , Time and Deity , which is largely an attempt to modify Spinoza's conception , so as to reconcile it with modern scientific knowledge , especially by the recognition of a real temporal process .sx But , if we recognise that creativeness is an essential aspect of a Universal Mind , the apparent imperfection of the world , as it is known to us , may become more intelligible .sx For , in a creative process , as Sir Henry Jones has well urged , perfection can only be looked for at the end .sx In a Shakespearean play , it is only at the end that the significance of the whole becomes apparent ; and , if the Universe in which we live is to be regarded as a creation , we should naturally expect to find that its significance is only gradually unfolded through stages that seem imperfect and even accidental .sx It is in this way that the idea of contingency that we seem to find in the Universe gives support to the idea of a creative Intelligence .sx This , however , calls for some further explanation .sx 3 .sx THE CONTINGENCY OF THE PARTICULAR .sx It is sometimes contended that we have to recognise an element of Chance in the world as it is known to us .sx Even Plato assigned a place to ?sx in the Timaeus .sx But pure Chance can hardly be recognised in a world that is held to be an expression of a perfect Mind .sx Among modern writers who have recognised an element of Chance in the world , the best known in English are Dr. F. C. S. Schiller .sx and Mr. Douglas Fawcett ; but there have been several others .sx Pure Chance , however , can hardly be accepted as an explanatory principle ; but it would seem that contingent Choice may be so regarded .sx Any particular thing must be regarded as one of a conceivable number .sx There may be some explanation of the existence of that particular thing ; but , if we go back far enough , it would seem that we might have to be content to say that it has somehow been so ordained .sx Hence the absurdity of Herr Krug's request that Hegel should deduce the existence of his pen .sx It is true , as we have already noted , that Hegel never quite satisfactorily met Krug's demand .sx In other words , he did not sufficiently explain the necessity of contingency , if such a paradox may be allowed .sx Particular things must be regarded as having been somehow selected ; and to say , as Leibniz did , that the existent universe of things is the best that is possible does not carry much conviction ; for what is to prevent anything from being possible ?sx We can hardly set limits to the power of the Universal Mind ; but to say that particulars are necessarily determined would surely be to deny creativeness altogether .sx Free choice has never been regarded as an imperfection .sx How far an entirely free choice can be ascribed to a finite mind , is a question that we shall have to consider later .sx But to a Universal Mind having creative power it may surely be ascribed .sx Mr. Alexander has contended that there may be many independent universes ; and , so far as I can see , this appears to be a quite possible supposition ; though it is not at present clear to me that there is any definite ground for believing it to be true .sx I may make some further reference to it at a later stage .sx It does not appear that , if there is a number of separate universes , they might not all be equally good .sx At any rate , how they came to be what they are can only be explained if there can be any explanation at all by an act of creative choice ; and choice , in the case of a freely creating Power , may be supposed to be completely undetermined , except by the general conception of Good .sx 4 .sx CREATIVE IMAGINATION .sx The considerations that have now been indicated point to the conclusion , which has already been to some extent anticipated , that the formation of the Universe may best be conceived on the analogy of the work of a creative artist .sx Probably the best analogy would be that of a great poet , such as Shakespeare or the unknown author of the Homeric epics .sx Mr. Douglas Fawcett , as I have already noted , is the writer who has most definitely conceived the Universe as having been produced by a creative Power similar in its working to that which we may ascribe to Shakespeare .sx I had already adopted a similar conception , which was suggested to me by Edward Caird ; and probably it may have occurred to many other people .sx The difference , .sx of course , is that what the divine Artist creates has the kind of reality which we call existence ; whereas what a poetic artist creates is what we call fiction ( which may , however , have some foundation in existence) .sx Shakespeare , in particular , seems to have created in a very varied way , partly determined by the traditions of the English stage , partly by more or less reliable historical records and the work of earlier poetic artists , and perhaps by other circumstances of which we know nothing .sx Evidently we could not ascribe any similar limitations to the creative Power on whose activity the existence of the Universe or Universes may be supposed to depend .sx On the other hand , it is not easy to see what grounds we could have for stating that any one Universe or all the Universes together are the best that is possible .sx There seems to be no ground , in this case , for setting any limits to what is possible or stating any criteria of what is best .sx 5 .sx PLAN AND PROCESS .sx If we are to think of creation in the way that has now been indicated , it would seem that the " mighty maze " about which we are gradually gaining some imperfect knowledge , is " not without a plan " ; and , though we are here trespassing on the region of the unknown , we can hardly do otherwise than suppose that , in some sense , the plan must be antecedent to the process through which it is carried out ; however wrong it may be to assume that the mode of precedence is comparable to that with which we are familiar in the spatio-temporal system though , indeed , we have recently been made aware that there are some difficult problems even in connection with that mode of sequence .sx To this we shall have occasion to refer more definitely at some later stages .sx In the meantime , it may suffice to think of it as similar to the antecedence of the general plan in the mind of a creative artist to the actual composition of his work .sx It may be noted , however , even at this stage , that the supposition of the existence of such a plan might help us to understand how it is sometimes possible ( as it appears to be ) to make definite predictions about future occurrences .sx But on this we need not at present dwell .sx 6 .sx THE VALUE OF CREATION .sx It is not unnatural , and surely it is not altogether unreasonable , to raise at this point the question What is the value of the creative process ?sx If the Absolute , it may be asked , contains all the ultimate values , why should it be either necessary or desirable for them to find expression in an imperfect creative process ?sx The answer , I think , is clear enough .sx The reality that is contained in the Absolute appears to be purely ideal .sx It consists in universal concepts , which are real in the sense that they are intelligible and coherent .sx To be real in that sense is one thing :sx to be realised in a particular embodiment is quite another .sx The concept of Benevolence , for instance , is real and has a certain value ; but a benevolent person performing beneficent actions , like the good .sx Samaritan , seems to have a much greater value .sx Even if it be true that there is a sense in which the benevolent actions may be held to issue from the creative power of the Universal Mind , yet this particularising action surely adds very much to the total value .sx Shakespeare may be held to be responsible for Caliban as well as for Miranda , for Goneril as well as for Cordelia ; but different values are brought into being by these different creations ; and the more positive values would be inconceivable without the more negative ones .sx Bradley said that a God who should be capable of existing would be no God ; but surely a God who should not be capable of producing existence would be still less worthy of the name .sx Shakespeare , in like manner , is not one of the characters in his plays ; but it is through these characters that the finer features in his own personality are made apparent .sx " If our virtues did not go forth of us , 'twere all alike as if we had them not " ; and surely the same may , without irreverence , be said of the Universal Mind .sx Goodness is a universal , but it is only through particulars that it gains complete reality .sx In other words , to create is one of its essential aspects .sx This certainly seems to me quite clear .sx 7 .sx DIFFERENT MODES OF CREATION .sx The sense in which cosmic creation is to be understood is evidently very different from that in which the term is applied to the work of a poet or artist .sx The latter is concerned with the transformation of an already existent material by reproducing it in a form in which its significance is made more apparent , or with the invention , by the exercise of imagination , of some new material more or less similar to things that have existed or that might exist .sx When the creation of the Universe is regarded as analogous to this artistic process , it has to be remembered that the creation in this case is original , and that the result is that comprehensive mode of existence which is now characterised as the spatio-temporal system .sx When this is described as an imaginative creation , it is not , of course , implied that it is to be regarded as , in any proper sense , unreal .sx No doubt , even the work of an artist is real , and has a place in the spatio-temporal system , just as dreams also have .sx Their place , however , is not that which , on a first view , they seem to have .sx But this is true also of our apprehension of the spatio-temporal system .sx The real place of our sun , for instance , is not that which it seems to have , when we think of it as rising and setting .sx The real system of existence would , presumably , be that form which it has from the point of view of the Universal Mind .sx But we must now proceed to consider more definitely how the created spatio-temporal Universe is to be understood .sx