A Lil' Bit o'George Berkeley

George Berkeley wrote this beautiful paragraph about perception and existence:

"...there is an infinite number of parts in each particle of Matter which are not perceived by sense. The reason therefore that any particular body seems to be of a finite magnitude, or exhibits only a finite number of parts to sense, is, not because it contains no more, since in itself it contains an infinite number of parts, but because the sense is not acute enough to discern them. In proportion therefore as the sense is rendered more acute, it perceives a greater number of parts in the object, that is, the object appears greater, and its figure varies, those parts in its extremities which were before unperceivable appearing now to bound it in very different lines and angles from those perceived by an obtuser sense. And at length, after various changes of size and shape, when the sense becomes infinitely acute the body shall seem infinite. During all which there is no alteration in the body, but only in the sense."

I think it applies to objects as much as it does to individuals and our perceptions of them; character, mind, even physical characteristics morph and enhance as our senses become more acutely in tune with an individual's complexities.

But this is not his point (I wondered if G. Berkeley ever had a girlfriend?). He goes on to draw the conclusion that:

"Each body therefore...is infinitely extended, and consequently void of all shape and figure. From which it follows that... neither the particular bodies perceived by sense, nor anything like them, exists without the mind."

BOOM!!

(as J.T. say.)