15. Cause

Causes are generally of two kinds: things thought of as not moving, or noun ideas; and things thought of as moving—that is, happening—or verb ideas.

For example, the fact that milk is on the table can be seen as having a cow, thought of as such, as a cause; and a happening, the dairyman milking the cow, as a cause. And you can think of the milkman, as such, as a cause; and also the happening—that the milk was brought to one’s door or table—as a cause.

Everything is a cause, and everything is a cause all the time. For everything is always doing something to things; and what is done, could not be without the things doing it. And everything is also an effect.

16. Effect

Cause is, then, a thing thought of as changing. Effect is a thing thought of as changed. Everything is changing something and being changed by something, all the time.