before matter existed, and that all such knowledge is beyond the scope of humanity. To the question of the Emperor whether there is any limit to the expanse of the universe, the Minister replies by avowing his entire ignorance; and when the Emperor presses the matter home by saying that "where nothing exists, that is the Infinite, but where there is existence there must be finality," the Minister says plainly that nobody can know anything about the Infinite, as, by the nature of the case, human knowledge is confined to what is limited and finite. Heaven and earth are simply contained in the great whole of the infinite Universe. How, he asks, can we know that there is not a larger Cosmos, over and above the manifestation of Cosmos that we can see? Then the conversation tails off into a mass of mythology, more curious than important, into which we have no space to follow it.
Confucius at Fault.
