W. D. Wattles opens What Is Truth? by insisting that time is a real, ongoing succession independent of human measurement or the existence of heavenly bodies. He rejects the notion that time is merely an idea or a fiction, asserting that hours and minutes would continue even in formless chaos. This concrete, almost defiant claim sets the tone for a work that seeks to ground metaphysical speculation in what Wattles calls “realities” behind appearances.

The essay series, originally published in The Nautilus from April to September 1909, proceeds to treat space, substance, and motion as equally real. Wattles builds a systematic cosmology in which a single, conscious, fluid substance fills all space, and all motion arises from pressure—an idea he traces through gravity, light, heat, and electricity. His diction is direct and expository, often using analogies (a balloon and a stone) to collapse apparent dualities into one underlying force.

Time as a Reality, Not a Human Construct

Wattles devotes the first section to defending the reality of time against metaphysical writers who call it an illusion. He argues that time would continue at the same rate even if the heavenly bodies stood still, and that hours and minutes would persist through black, silent chaos. This is not a mere philosophical aside; it establishes his method of reasoning from everyday experience to first principles. He distinguishes between the succession of days and seasons—which depend on planetary motion—and the underlying duration of hours and minutes, which he treats as absolute. The argument is built on a series of hypotheticals: if the earth stopped rotating, day and night would become continuous, but time would not cease. Wattles’s language is plain and repetitive for emphasis, as when he writes “hours and minutes would go on forever.” This section reveals his commitment to a universe governed by fixed, independent realities rather than human perception.

Substance, Motion, and the One Force

Having established time and space as real, Wattles turns to substance and motion. He posits a single, conscious, fluid substance that fills all space. Motion, he argues, is caused by pressure of substance against substance, and all so-called forces—gravity, light, heat, electricity—are merely different rates and modes of this one pressure. He explicitly rejects the idea of universal attraction between bodies, replacing it with universal pressure that impels bodies toward each other in an orderly way. The prose is methodical, building from definition to conclusion: “force and motion are mutually convertible, each into the other.” Wattles’s vocabulary is technical but accessible, favoring terms like “pressure,” “density,” and “rigidity.” He does not cite experiments or authorities; instead, he relies on logical deduction from his initial premises. This section exemplifies his effort to construct a unified physical theory from metaphysical first principles.

Will-Pressure as the Origin of Motion

Wattles argues that motion cannot begin in conscious substance without an act of will. He asks readers to conceive of space filled with completely conscious, motionless fluid, and then to imagine motion starting—an act he says is unthinkable without will. From this, he deduces that the original creative motions of the universe could only have begun by an act of will of “Original Conscious Substance,” which he identifies with God. This will-pressure, he explains, packs substance together, making it dense and rigid, and originates light, heat, electricity, and magnetism. Gravity itself is defined as this will-pressure drawing substance together. Wattles uses the example of an apple falling and the earth holding its orbit as manifestations of the same divine pressure. He concludes that if God’s will were relaxed, the earth would instantly return to its original fluid state. The reasoning is circular but consistent: every phenomenon of force or motion traces back to a single, intelligent will.

Diction, Repetition, and the Rhetoric of Certainty

Wattles’s authorial voice is marked by declarative sentences, frequent repetition of key terms, and a refusal to qualify his claims. Phrases like “we see that” and “there is no accounting for” appear throughout, framing his deductions as self-evident. He uses analogies sparingly but effectively—the balloon and stone, the apple and earth—to collapse apparent opposites into a single cause. His paragraphs are dense, often containing multiple linked assertions without transitional hedging. The word “substance” recurs dozens of times, always treated as a real, conscious entity. Wattles also employs a distinctive rhetorical move: he anticipates objections (e.g., “Do not misunderstand me”) and then dismisses them with counterexamples. This style creates an impression of inexorable logic, even when the premises are speculative. Readers should note that the excerpts end before Wattles applies his cosmology to ethics or health, so the full scope of his argument remains incomplete in this edition.

Wattles’s essay series is best approached as a work of speculative metaphysics rather than empirical science. His arguments rely on logical deduction from a few chosen premises—time is real, substance is conscious, motion requires will—and he does not engage with alternative theories or evidence. Readers interested in early twentieth-century New Thought cosmology will find a clear, assertive example of its method. The text rewards attention to its rhetorical structure and the way Wattles builds a unified system from everyday observations.