timelets


...the idea of God. 

We have not 
          the slightest ground 
                             absolutely 
                                     to admit the existence 
of an object 
          corresponding to 
                           this idea; 
for what can empower 
                  or authorize us 
                               to affirm 
                                        the existence 
of a being 
           of the highest 
                          perfection — 
a being 
         whose existence 
                         is absolutely necessary — 
merely because 
               we possess 
                         the conception of 
such a being? 

The answer is: 
                It is the existence 
of the world 
              which renders 
                          this hypothesis 
                                     necessary. 

But this answer 
                makes it perfectly 
                                     evident that 
                                                   the idea of 
this being, 
           like all other speculative ideas, is 
                                                essentially 
nothing more 
              than a demand upon 
                                  reason 
that it shall regulate 
                       the connection which it 
                                          and its subordinate 
faculties introduce into 
                          the phenomena of 
the world 
             by principles of 
                              systematic unity 
and, consequently, 
                  that it shall regard 
                                      all phenomena as 
originating from 
                   one 
                         all-embracing 
being, 
        as the supreme 
                            and 
                                  all-sufficient 
                                                   cause.