Spencer Heath Archive

Item 2993

Fragment of random taping by Spencer MacCallum from conversation with Heath.

HOW and WHY

. . . It is not entirely inconsistent, as I see it, although to the why of anything there can be no ultimate or final answer. Nevertheless, there are things that mystify us for want of knowledge of how. When the time comes that we can discover the how of this obscure thing as operating in the same manner as other and more familiar things, the how of which is understood, we feel an easing of mental tension with respect to the obscure thing. Although we have discovered merely the how of it, we feel that we have discovered a why, and so speak of it. With respect to familiar things, whose mode of operation we are accustomed to, we can easily recognize our ignorance of why. But when we first come into the how, or the previously obscure manner, our relief and excitement makes us feel for the moment, at least, that we have discovered the why of it instead of merely the how.