"It seems plain that the need of a primary intelligent and coordinative creative medium such as the ether asserts itself on all sides...

"The ether, as interpreted by scientists, meets all these conditions and is the only medium known to science that is capable of doing so. It is invisible, permeates all matter and pervades all space by wave motion, without limit in the universe. It offers practically no resistance to radiant energy, even to light from the sun and the most distant stars discovered. It is the medium which transmits 'radio' waves, wireless telegraphy waves, Becquerel rays, X- or Roentgen rays, etc. [67]

"The ether is endowed with creative power in space and on earth... The ether of space, therefore, builds solar systems as it does matter, with coordination and intelligence, and endows all chemical elements it forms with the properties they are known to possess..."
- Sajous, Chas. E. de Al., M.D., ScD., LLD., Strength of Religion as Shown by Science, pp. 152, 153.

Dr. Joad of Oxford University pictures for us the activity of this vital force, of the 'livingness' animating matter and shows the relationship between life and form. He comes close indeed, to the Eastern theory of the etheric counterpart and the energy functioning through it.

"The Life Force. Let us suppose that in the first instance the universe was purely material. It was chaos, deadness and blankness, without energy or purpose, and devoid of life. Into this inorganic universe there is introduced at some stage or other, and from some source unexplained, a principle of life, and by life I mean a something which is not expressible in terms of matter. At first blind and stumbling, a purely instinctive thrust or pulse, it seeks to express itself by struggling to achieve an ever higher degree of consciousness. We may conceive the ultimate purpose of the life force to be the achievement of complete and universal consciousness, a result which can only be secured by the permeation of the whole universe with life and energy, so that beginning as a world of 'matter' it may end as a world of 'mind,' or 'spirit.' With this object it works in and through matter, infusing and permeating matter with its own principle of energy and life. To matter so infused we give the name of a living organism. Living organisms are to be [68] regarded in the light of the tools or weapons which the life force creates to assist it in the accomplishment of its purpose. Like the universe itself, each living organism is formed of a substratum of matter which has been animated by life, much as a length of wire may be charged with an electric current. It is a current of life which has been insulated in a piece of matter.

"The life force is far from being all-powerful. It is limited by the matter which it seeks to overcome, and its methods are experimental, varying according to the stage of evolution which, in the persons of the organisms created by it, it has succeeded in reaching. Different types of beings best serve its purpose at different stages."
- Joad, C. E. M., B. A., Mind and Matter, pp. 178, 179.

Will Durant, doubtless the most widely read and popular author on philosophical subjects, says:

"The more we study matter the less we see it as fundamental, the more we perceive it as merely the externality of energy, as our flesh is the outward sign of life and mind... In the heart of matter, giving it form and power, is something not material, possessed of its own spontaneity and life; and this subtle, hidden and yet always revealed vitality is the final essence of everything that we know... Life is first, and within; matter, coeval with it in time and inextricable from it in space, is second to it in essence, in logic, and in significance; matter is the form and visibility of life...

"The life is not a function of the form, the form is a product of the life; the weight and solidity of matter are the result and expression of intra-atomic energy, and every muscle or nerve in the body is the molded instrument of desire." [69]
- Durant, Will, Mansions of Philosophy, pp. 66, 67, 80, 81.