479. What, then, is "substance" or "matter'? Where we can see substance or matter at close range, and therefore see it in its basic details, is there where we ourselves constitute a unit of matter; in other words the union or association, the trade movement or share-company we may be members of, or are representing. Here we have the greatest and sharpest view of the basic analysis of substance itself, with all its laws and principles, that can possibly be obtained from life itself. The "substance" consists of that very share-company or association mentioned above.
      Of what, then, does such an association consist? First and foremost, it consists of individuals. These are the association's basic elements. Without individuals the formation of a society would be impossible. Secondly, the association represents a purpose. This should fulfil an objective. This objective can only exist as the wishes or desires common to all the individual members of the association. As desire is the same as the power of attraction, which again is the same as a mental adhesive or means of binding, then that desire will be the inevitable means of binding in the formation of every society. Its individuals are held, mentally bound or adhered together, by the strength of their common wishes or desires.
      But when things adhere together they become a unit. In the same way the members of a society or union form a unit. But to the physical eyes this would appear more as a "herd" because the "matter" (that is, the society) is here at such close range that the eye easily grasps the basic elements, that is the individual members. If, now, we imagine that the "herd" or association moved to the farthest point on our cosmic horizon, its single details would naturally become more and more indistinct and finally vanish completely. All that would be left to see would be the unit itself. But when we are unable to see the individuals any more then, if anything, they will be perceived as an assembly of "matter". The "herd" becomes a "block" of something. And here we arrive at that condition of cosmic perspective which makes living beings appear as "matter" to our senses.