The Tree of Enlightenment

that when we speak of the four primary elements of matter, we
are concerned not with earth, water, fire, and air in themselves
but with the sensory qualities of these elements – the qualities
that we can feel and that give rise to the experience of matter.
us we are concerned with sensory qualities like hardness and
softness, which belong to the principle of extension, and warmth
and cold, which belong to the principle of heat. We are not dealing
with essences. Rather, we are dealing with qualities that are
experienced.
is means, in turn, that we are dealing with a purely phenomenological
treatment of matter, in which sensory qualities
function as the definitive characteristics of matter. It is the sensory
qualities that constitute ultimate realities. In other words,
it is neither the table nor my body, but the sensory qualities of
hardness and softness that belong to both the table and my body,
that give rise to the experience of matter. In this context, the
objects of my experience (such as the table and my body) are
conventional realities, whereas the sensory qualities of hardness,
softness, and so forth that give rise to the experience of matter
are ultimate realities.
is is what is called in philosophy a ‘modal view,’ a view
that concentrates on the qualities of experience rather than on
the essence of experience. To seek the essence of matter is to
enter the world of speculation, to go beyond our empirical experience;
to deal with the qualities of matter is to confine ourselves
to phenomena, to experience. It is interesting to note that this
modal view of matter is shared by some modern philosophers,
Bertrand Russell perhaps being the best known among them. It
is this modal view of reality which also informs much contem-
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