Full Idea
We can with difficulty comprehend the character of a cosmic mind whose purposes are fully revealed by the strange mixture of good and evils that we find in this actual world's particulars.
Gist of Idea
It is hard to grasp a cosmic mind which produces such a mixture of goods and evils
Source
William James (Pragmatism - eight lectures [1907], Lec 3)
Book Reference
James,William: 'Pragmatism - eight lectures' [Dover 1995], p.43
A Reaction
And, of course, what counts as 'goods' or 'evils' seems to have a highly relative aspect to it. To claim that really it is all good is massive hope based on flimsy evidence.
Related Idea
Idea 18977 The wonderful design of a woodpecker looks diabolical to its victims [James]