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Title: The New Avatar and The Destiny of the Soul
       The Findings of Natural Science Reduced to Practical Studies
       in Psychology

Author: Jirah D. Buck

Release Date: October 12, 2008 [EBook #26893]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE NEW AVATAR
and
The Destiny of the Soul

THE FINDINGS OF NATURAL SCIENCE
REDUCED TO PRACTICAL STUDIES IN PSYCHOLOGY

By
JIRAH D. BUCK, M.D.

Author of
"Mystic Masonry," "A Study of Man," "Christos,"
"The Genius of Freemasonry," "Constructive Psychology,"
"The Lost Word Found," "Browning's Paracelsus," and other MSS.

SECOND EDITION
1916

INDO-AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY
(Not Inc.)

5705 SOUTH BOULEVARD
CHICAGO
ILL.




COPYRIGHT
STEWART & KIDD CO.
1911
Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England

All Rights Reserved




TO THE

GREAT FRIENDS

THE HELPERS--VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE--WHOSE
DEEPEST MOTIVE AND HIGHEST AIM
ARE TO ENCOURAGE, UPLIFT, AND INSPIRE

THOSE WHO NEED;

THAT ALL, AT LAST, MAY STAND

TOGETHER

IN THE MIDST OF
THE
RADIANT SPLENDOR
OF

ETERNAL
TRUTH




CONTENTS

         FOREWORD                                               xi

         INTRODUCTION                                         xvii

SECTION ONE

STUDIES IN PSYCHOLOGY

     I.  CLASSIFICATION OF FACULTIES, CAPACITIES, AND POWERS     3

    II.  EMPIRICAL AND SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE                       9

   III.  MEDIUMSHIP, SEERSHIP, AND HYPNOSIS                     18

    IV.  THE MEASURE OF VALUES                                  29

     V.  SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS                                50

    VI.  THE CROSS IN RELIGION AND THE CRUX IN SCIENCE
         WITH THE GREAT WORK IN AMERICA                         68

   VII.  THE MODULUS OF NATURE AND THE THEOREM OF PSYCHOLOGY    93

SECTION TWO

THE NEW AVATAR OF NATURAL SCIENCE

  VIII.  OUR INDEBTEDNESS TO ANCIENT INDIA                     111

    IX.  HERO WORSHIP AND FOLKLORE                             136

     X.  CORROBORATIVE EVIDENCE                                146

    XI.  CONCEPTIONS AND PORTENTS OF AN AVATAR                 151

   XII.  PORTENTS OF THE PRESENT TIME                          164

  XIII.  THE SEPARABLE SOUL IN FOLKLORE                        171

   XIV.  FROM CONFUSION TO CONSTRUCTION                        191

    XV.  THE SCIENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY AS A KNOWLEDGE OF
         THE HUMAN SOUL                                        208

   XVI.  THE NEW AVATAR                                        218

         NOTES                                                 223




FOREWORD


The reader who is willing to give the following pages a careful reading,
and a courteous hearing, is entitled to know the basis of study,
observation or experience from which the suggestions, inferences and
conclusions proceed, in order that he may fairly estimate their value.

At the age of seventy-two, my egotism is at least softened by the
discovery of the many things I do not know; and my dogmatism, so far as it
ever existed, is equally relaxed by the realization that it is a bar to
light and knowledge, which rest so largely on demonstration.

For more than forty-five years I have been engaged in the active practice
of medicine with consultations extending over three States.

For an equal length of time I have lectured in Medical Colleges, fifteen
years on the subject of Physiology, an equal number on Therapeutics
(including Pathology and Histology), and for the last fifteen years on
Psychology, Mental and Nervous Diseases, and all this time with a large
College Clinic from the poorer classes.

From first to last, my "Study of Medicine" has been generically and
specifically a "Study of Man," physical, mental, ethical, and psychical.

Outside of Medicine as a "Calling" or a "Profession" my real interest has
been to unravel the nature of man, grasp the problem of human life, and to
apprehend the nature, laws, and destiny of the human soul. My library
covers a rather continuous thread from 1543, and the time of Paracelsus,
to Profs. James, Ladd, Lombroso, Sir Oliver Lodge, and Muensterberg.

My reading dips into the Sacred Books of the East, the records of the
Past, and particularly the psychic phenomena of different ages, finding at
last the Constructive Theorem clearer than anywhere else in the "School of
Natural Science," from the fact that it is demonstrably cognizant of all
preceding work, and definitely conforms to the strict demands of
Science--Physical, Mental, Ethical, Psychical and Spiritual, and proves to
be the very thing for which I have searched for nearly half a century.

The foregoing statements are not made to force credulity nor to assume
authority. They simply mean--This is how, and where, and how long, I have
been searching, largely, also at the bedside of the sick, the deranged and
the dying; from the first breath of the little one that comes--

                "Out from the shore of the Great Unknown
                Weeping and wailing and all alone,"

to the death-damp and the last sigh of the aged; in one case at nearly one
hundred and four years.

Once I found an old lady of eighty, dying. The "death-damp" on her brow;
the "death-rattle" in her throat; the chin dropped, and no pulse at the
wrist. She had a wayward son who had been promised due notice of any
change, and he had been sent for. Speaking distinctly in her ear _I called
her back_; the motive being the grief of her son at not bidding each other
good-bye. The response was immediate. The "rattle" in her throat ceased.
The pulse promptly returned. The mouth closed. Then I said--"open your
eyes," which she promptly did with a gentle smile. "You are not going to
do it," I said. "No," she replied. The son soon came in and received his
mother's caress and blessing. At the same hour on the following day, she
passed peacefully to the beyond, dying of old age. Had it been a "crisis"
in disease, she might have recovered.

As a psychic phenomenon I never saw anything just like it. Had I before
doubted the existence of a "separable soul," it would have ended all
doubt. From the magnetic border of the "Great Divide" _with a sufficient
motive_, I literally "called her back."

The evidence of the concreteness, and wholeness and self-awareness of the
Individual Intelligence, functioning in and through, and separable from
the physical body, was complete. No other explanation or conclusion would
fit or cover the case at all. Had I been clairvoyant and able to _see_ the
entity, it would have been another link in a chain whose sequence pointed
all one way. But even here I was not without a witness.

In another case, an old lady was dying. A "Platform Lecturer"
(Mediumistic) was present and described, incidentally, what she saw. She
was a good, clean, ignorant woman and only "controlled" on the Platform.

She described a vapor emanating from the body, as the "death-damp"
increased, and outer "awareness" failed. This vapor seemed to adhere
together until it stood near the head, rounded and nearly reaching the
ceiling. Then the "spirit form" passed out from the top of the head, was
inclosed in the ball of "vapor," and together they "floated away."

I found that she had never heard of the "Auric-egg" nor read a page of the
old Eastern philosophy, and yet she had accurately described, step by
step, what the Masters for ages declare occurs at death.

Science is the careful observation, demonstration and record of Facts,
their orderly grouping or classification, and the logical and sequential
conclusions resulting therefrom.

It is not a matter of opinion and belief, nor dogma and denial, no matter
how large, respectable, and sincere may be the army of the dogmatists.

Take these suggestions and conclusions--my friend--for what you think them
worth, since now you know how far they have grown from experience and the
love and search for the simple Truth.

The temptation to quote and annotate from many authors is very great, but
the material is so abundant that one scarcely knows where to begin, where
to end; and as the address is solely to the reader of "average
intelligence," and argument is eliminated as far as possible, many
quotations could do little more than confirm opinions, and would extend
beyond the limits designed by the author, or the brief space and popular
form more desirable for the average reader.

Repetitions in the text seemed unavoidable for the reason, that at every
phase of the subject I have continually to regard the Individual, and that
aggregate called Society; the inner conscious life of _one_, and the
associate elements and conditions regarding the many, and from different
viewpoints.

Man, the Individual, is like a "wheel within a wheel," the larger circle
being Humanity as a whole.

Nor does the thought or concept stop here. There is the relation of the
Individual Intelligence we call MAN to the Universal Intelligence we call
GOD, which as related to Nature is "In All, Through All, Over All, and
Above All."

Not an "Absentee God," but Illuminant within and without revealing itself
in what we call Love and Law.

Here "in brief" I rest the case and proceed to the evidence.




INTRODUCTION


In "A Study of Man, and the Way of Health," first published twenty-one
years ago, as a general outline for my classes of Medical Students, to
enable them to grasp the real problem of life, and to emphasize the Study
of Man, as basic in the Study of Medicine, the following epitome was
placed in the Preface.

  "The cosmic form in which all things are created and in which all
  things exist is a Universal Duality.

  Involution and Evolution express the two-fold process of the One Law
  of Development, corresponding to the two planes of being, the
  Subjective and the Objective.

  Consciousness is the central Fact of Being.

  Experience is the only method of knowing.

  Therefore, to Know, is to Become.

  The Modulus of Nature, that is, the Pattern, after which she
  everywhere builds, and the _Method_ to which she continually conforms
  is an Ideal, or Archetypical Man.

  The Perfect Man is the anthropomorphic God. A living, potential
  Christ in every human soul.

  Two natures meet on the human plane, and focalize in man.

  These are the Animal Ego and the Higher Self. The one, an inheritance
  from lower life. The other, an overshadowing from the next higher
  plane.

  The Animal Principle is Selfishness. The Divine Principle is
  Altruism.

  However defective in other respects human nature may be, all human
  endeavor must finally be measured by the principle of Altruism and
  must stand or fall by the measure in which it inspires and uplifts
  Humanity.

  The highest tribunal is the criterion of Truth, and the test of truth
  is by its use and beneficence. 'BY THEIR WORK YE MAY KNOW THEM.'

  Superstition is not Religion; Speculation is not Philosophy;
  Materialism is not Science; but true religion, true philosophy and
  true science are ever the handmaids of Truth, and will at last be
  found in perfect harmony."

After more than twenty years of continuous and careful study since the
foregoing was written, I must still confirm and emphasize these basic
propositions to-day.

The attempt is herein made to apply them more particularly to the study of
Psychology. To add to what was then discerned and designated as "the
Modulus of Nature," an exact and comprehensive Theorem of Psychology.

I am well aware how presumptuous this would in certain quarters be
considered, if there were the least probability that "those in authority"
would read these pages at all. The motive is involved in the modulus, and
I am quite content to leave it there, while the "common people," it is
hoped, may find herein, as I have found in the search for more light,
encouragement, inspiration, and hope. And these may lead to
Understanding.

It is the farthest possible from my thought or wish to ignore or belittle
the labors of earnest students and writers on Psychology.

But there is a habit of conservatism in Physical Science to-day, that in
spirit and effect differs very little from Dogma and Orthodoxy in
Religion. It concerns methods rather than results. It is generally
incredulous through fear of being over-credulous. It is bound by
tradition, or the records of the past, and its dogmas are deductions from
the consensus of _opinions_, rather than "decrees in councils" or
"Infallible Popes."

Occasionally a Scientist, like Sir Oliver Lodge, seems to be utterly rid
of both credulity and incredulity, and for these, Science really means--
"the Facts of Nature, demonstrated, classified, and systematized."

But for the "Common People," the average intelligent student, for whom
Science and the pursuit of Knowledge is not a Profession, but a desire to
know, and to understand, in order to be able to use wisely and well, it is
of far less importance to know what others think or believe, deny or
affirm, on the subject of Psychology, than to _realize_ what are the
faculties, capacities, and powers of their own souls.

Knowledge for the sake of knowledge, like "Art for Art's sake," is one
thing, Knowledge for _use_ in daily life, and for illuminating its pathway
and revealing the purpose and destiny of man, is something different
indeed.

This hunger of the individual soul for real knowledge is perhaps the most
patent "Sign of the Times."

The average intelligent individual has broken away from the traditions of
the past, and yet found nothing to take their place. One result is empty
churches, and the race for wealth, display, position, and power. Increased
idleness begets dissipation, Paresis and Insanity increase, while wasted
opportunity both shortens and embitters life.

A very large number of intelligent men and women realizing all this, and
repelled by the almost contemptuous conservatism of so-called Science,
swing to the side of credulity, and are robbed and exploited by
charlatans. They believe the Truth _ought_ to be forthcoming, and their
intuitions and demands, though oft leading to sore disappointment, deserve
a better fate.

It is for these, and for these reasons, that these pages are written, and
with no other hope of fame or reward.

The demand is everywhere for Knowledge of the soul. Facts there are in
abundance, but how far these facts are _demonstrated_, so as to constitute
a basis of exact science, and how to classify and systematize them, the
average intelligence does not know.

The Psychical Scientist claims to know, and undoubtedly does know, but he
busies himself almost exclusively in gathering and verifying _more facts_.
When asked by the average intelligence, "What does it all mean?"--the
answer is, "Ah! there's the rub. _Wait!_ Some day we _may_ know."

The simple fact is that the Scientist is bewildered, while the theologian
and the dogmatist appeal to Faith without Knowledge, and invoke miracle as
in all past times.

Spiritualism has had its day and left an immense body of facts, while
Mediumship and the dark circle are more often repudiated by intelligent
professed Spiritualists. Satisfied as to conscious existence after death
as a _fact_, they have learned how generally unreliable are many messages
from departed friends, owing to conditions beyond their control; while the
effect of surrender to so-called "spirit-control" contributes to neither
health nor a well-balanced mind or character.

Hypnotism maintains a precarious hold, simply through juggling with the
words, "Suggestion" and "Hypnosis." The professional hypnotist, yielding
as he must to the public fear and condemnation of Hypnotism, advocates
_Just a little of it!_ under the false title "Suggestion," for the good it
is claimed to do in such cases as the drink and drug habit. As though a
little further _weakening of the will_, would ultimately tend to restore
and strengthen it!

One is reminded of the baby in "Pendennis." The Mother "hoped the Lord
would forgive her, because it was such a little one!"

Even the leaders in the "Emmanuel Movement" have deceived themselves by
this sophistry, and while they applaud the temporary results, they seem
unaware that they are still further weakening self-control and real
character, by dominating the Will.

It is thus that ignorance, confusion and unrest, like waves of ocean, ebb
and flow in the great human tides.

Through impatience and discouragement alone, many give up the quest for
knowledge as hopeless, and while too well-balanced to drift into
dissipation, they suffer from _ennui_ and become pessimistic.

Real knowledge will not come all at once, like a vision, or a complete
revelation.

The first real Light that comes will be that of Faith, a term generally
misunderstood and misused.

Faith is the complete antithesis of blind dogma and superstition. It is
born within the soul, and never imposed by outward authority enforced by
fear.

"Faith is the soul's _intuitive conviction_ of that which both reason and
conscience approve."

To give intellectual assent to belief in God is one thing; to be able to
declare with light and warmth that uplifts and inspires, "_I know_ that my
Redeemer liveth" is another thing entirely.

The impatience above referred to would see the end from the beginning, and
know all about the development and destiny of the soul before it has
learned the first lesson that guides and determines both.

When, however, Science and Religion clasp hands, and the facts of nature
guided by the light of Faith, build character and guide progress, there is
revealed a Philosophy of Life that needs little revision. It is like the
compass that points continually to the pole, and gives unqualified
assurance as to the _direction_ we are going.

So also every step in the past enables us to get our bearings and verify
our course by checking backward.

Faith is no longer a blind dogma, but a compass in the box of experience,
the wise mariner's guide in the voyage of life.

If neither Science, Religion nor Philosophy, nor all together can thus
come to the service of man, can not do it _now_, after all the weary
centuries since Plato and Aristotle, we may as well write _qui bono_ on
our banners and trail them in the dust!

Even the theologies of the day, recognizing the dilemma and the
difficulties, still cling to the miraculous, and to make the best of a bad
bargain, offer dogma in the place of demonstration, and contradictory and
blind belief in place of the light of Faith.

While they count thousands as nominally in their communion, the
intelligent among all these have many "mental reservations."

The intelligent thought of the world flows past and beyond them.

The "Soul's intuitive conviction" agreeing with "both reason and
conscience" holds and guides them, in spite of the verbal "confession of
faith."

The Divinity of Jesus, the Christ, can be fully explained under natural
and divine law, without invoking miracle.

The result of such explanation is to dethrone him from the altars of dogma
and superstition, and enthrone him on the altar of Love in the heart of
Humanity.

This is long delayed, but cannot be defeated.




STUDIES IN PSYCHOLOGY




CHAPTER I

CLASSIFICATION OF FACULTIES, CAPACITIES, AND POWERS


Starting with the _Modulus of Nature_--an Ideal or _Archetypal Man_, and
coming down to practical things in daily life--

1. Man _is_ an _Individual Intelligence_. This is taken as an empirical
_fact_, patent to every intelligent individual.

The source and nature of intelligence itself need not here concern us. We
may call it an _ultimate_ that all the philosophies of the world have
signally failed to explain. It is something that grows, increases or
decreases, expands, becomes confused, according to the conditions of
bodily organ and function, heredity, environment, personal effort and the
like; but so far as we know, it is the same thing, large or small, wise or
foolish. It is still, measure for measure, Individual Intelligence.

2. The term _Individual_ means distinct, concrete, relatively separate.
Man being an Individual Intelligence; God is the Universal Intelligence.
Just as the organism of man is involved in, and evolved from Universal
Nature; so the Intelligence of man is involved in, and evolved from
Universal Intelligence.

The empirical fact of the intelligence of man presupposes a "sufficient
reason" or source. Still we do not know what God and Nature and
Intelligence are. We only know _how they manifest_. Our intelligence
enables us to observe, reflect, reason, and in some measure apprehend the
_method_ and _manifestation_.

I am not seeking to build nor unfold a "Philosophy." "Yes," someone
replies, "but a philosophy is implied or involved."

Very well, let _it_ unfold _itself_.

3. The next empirical fact of prime importance is, The Individual
Intelligence, not of man, but which _is_ man, is _aware of itself_, i.e.,
"self-conscious." It is able to distinguish between the self and the
non-self.

4. Again, as to _consciousness_, as with intelligence: We know that man
has it and uses it, and what it _does_ to some extent; but we do not know
what it _is_, intrinsically, nor do we need to know any of these
_ultimates_. The effort to explain them has never ended in anything but
confusion. We shall herein name them, and then pass them.

5. We have now postulated a self-conscious, Individual Intelligence, as
the real man. Next we find this Man can _do_ things, or _refrain_ from
doing; act, or refrain from action. This is called Initiative, Volition,
Will.

6. This power of action and of choice, inspired by intelligence, aware of
the self, adapts actions to ends. This involves reason and judgment.

7. In the course of experience along the lines of action or restraint, and
observing results in either case, the individual desiring or preferring
certain results to others, acquires more or less self-control. He controls
himself to secure desired results.

Here then, in brief outline, are the basis and the elements of our
Psychology. They are drawn from common observation and experience, and are
verified by the facts of daily life--generally complicated, confused, or
lost sight of in treatises on psychology.

Two of these factors, viz.: Consciousness and Will, enter into all
psychological phenomena such as Hypnotism and Mediumship, and into every
form of mental alienation, insanity, obsession and the like.

Moreover, by building out of mental phenomena a distinct entity--largely
independent of the self-conscious Intelligence, and almost equally so with
consciousness--our "philosophies," "metaphysics," and explanations have
become as confused and unreliable as the psychical phenomenon itself.

Hudson's so-called "Law of Psychic Phenomena," "Subliminal" and
"Supraliminal Consciousness," and the juggling with the terms "suggestion"
and "hypnosis" may serve as sufficient illustrations. In each instance
phenomena are made to take the place of principles and the core of the
problem is ignored, confused, or lost sight of.

In the meantime these empiricists are hunting in the "rubbish of the
temple" (which temple they have _metaphysically_ destroyed), for the Human
Soul--i.e. the concrete, intrinsic Individual Intelligence, which is ONE,
and which the Master Builder (Universal Intelligence) placed on the
Trestle-board of Creation and Time, for the building of character, and the
evolution of the Human Soul.

If the Ideal, Archetypal, or Divine Man, is recognized as the _Modulus_ of
both Nature and Divinity, our Theorem must consist in adhering to the
Modulus and working out the problem.

Q. E. D., if applied to man's completion of his own individual Temple,
might stand for the last words of Jesus, "It is finished," The problem is
solved; "I have finished the Work Thou gavest me to do." Science, Religion
and Philosophy have clasped hands. Divinity revealed in Humanity is
triumphant over Death. "There is a Natural (physical) body and there is a
Spiritual body," and the Individual Intelligence is ONE in each, or in
both; viz.: The Human-Divine Soul.

To recognize the _Modulus_ and intelligently to apprehend the _Theorem_ is
the foundation and the first step in the scientific solution of the
problem of life, and the progressive and continuous evolution of the human
soul. To use the term "Science" (as applied to the study of psychology) in
any other way, is pure empiricism, is wholly unscientific, and has never
yet resulted in anything but confusion and in laying a foundation for
belief, conjecture, theory, dogma, superstition, and fear.

The step of next importance, both in the scientific study of psychology
and in individual progress and evolution, is the mental attitude of the
individual; his point of view; his open-mindedness and utter refusal to
_pre_judge anything. He will often say, "I do not know." He will sometimes
say, "I do not care." That phase or presentation does not appeal to, nor
interest him.

This is what the Vedic philosophers called, "making the mind _one
pointed_" and like a search-light, with the ability to concentrate it on a
given point or subject.

Bias, prejudice, preconceived opinion, credulity and incredulity, are all
like a crooked lens to the eye of the mind, or to the perception of the
simple truth.

Not only are these principles basic in the scientific study of psychology
and the evolution of the individual intelligence, but their neglect and
oversight are solely responsible for the confusion everywhere manifest on
the subject, as well as for _every form of subjective control_,
mediumship, psychical epidemics, and obsession, and they enter into every
form and phase of insanity.

If this be true, and it is readily demonstrable, what subject is of equal
importance; and what facts and considerations are so transcendent as
these?

The difference is that between a mad-house with its frenzied and
frightened mob of helpless victims, and a palace of the gods in which
dwelleth Righteousness, Love, Peace, and Eternal Joy.

Is it not _worth while_?

This Modulus and Theorem of the School of Natural Science involve
Religion, Regeneration, Redemption, and the well-being of Souls here and
hereafter.

They separate Religion from Superstition, Duty from Dogma, cast out Fear,
release the wings of aspiration and faith; and where "the mourners went
about the streets" is heard a new song of rejoicing that binds up the
wounds and sorrows of the brokenhearted.

Again I ask, "Is it not worth while?"




CHAPTER II

EMPIRICAL AND SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE


Let us bear in mind that man _is_ an Individual Intelligence; that this
involves self-consciousness, or awareness of Self, the innate ability to
distinguish between the Self and the non-Self. Hence arises the power of
choice, discernment, or discrimination.

There also arises the impulse to _act_, or the Initiative, called the
Will. This also involves the power of restraint, the act or the refraining
from action.

This action, under the basic endowment--intelligence--is called _Rational
Volition_.

There is thus, Intelligence; the Power to choose; the power to act and the
adaptation of acts or restraints to ends, or to desired objects or
results.

Experience teaches the individual, thus endowed, that he is responsible
for all he thinks, feels, acts and does; and this, under his endowment of
Intelligence, is what we call _Conscience_.

We are not building up a theory, but simply analyzing psychological facts,
demonstrated as true in the experience of every intelligent individual.
Just as the chemist analyzes a compound he finds in his laboratory.

Our _Modulus_ is the Perfect Man. Our _Theorem_ is the method of use that,
by experience and observation everywhere, has been demonstrated as
Constructive, enabling the Individual to build toward, and to realize the
Modulus.

The power to discriminate, choose and act, when normally exercised,
implies judgment and understanding.

Hence, we have perception, rational choice, intelligent action and desired
results, for which we recognize our personal responsibility. Hence arise
our ability and necessity to _review_ our actions, motives, aims and their
results, and to pass judgment upon them in the Light of Conscience
(Con-Science, to know the Self) to pass judgment upon ourselves as to
motives, aims, results, and consequences.

The Brain is a center of consciousness with avenues of perception and
impulse and departments that by aggregation, separation or association,
enable the Individual Intelligence to determine the relation in time, or
duration, force and orderly relation of perceptions, desires, motives,
actions (or thoughts and feelings) as to sequence or results.

This whole conscious realm is the Mind. It is the _inner chamber_ of the
_Soul_. It is in no sense an entity. The actor, the real entity, is the
Individual Intelligence.

To say, therefore, that "Man is all mind," or that the mind does this, or
that, is simply nonsense. It is like saying that the little room in which
I am now writing, with its books and pictures, with my thoughts, feelings,
emotions, and magnetism, is _I_! Perhaps it is _like_ me, or _full_ of me,
but _I_ am something _else_ and something _more_.

Let us get rid of this "confusion of tongues"; this "babel of Psychology";
"New Thought" (as old as man); "Metaphysics"; "Christian Science" _et hoc
genus omne_, and come down to common sense and the facts of nature. The
aim and the results along these lines are often good and helpful; then why
clothe them in the garb of absurdities?

Recognize the facts, and express them intelligently, and they may do ten
times more good, for then we could understand them. They are, one and all,
a weak dilution of the old Hindoo Yoga, thrashed over there for thousands
of years; straining after _results_, while ignorant of, or ignoring _basic
principles_.

Aside from the "Eight Systems of Philosophy" now recognized in India,
there are hundreds of varieties and classes of _Yogis_.

"To acquire powers" is one thing; self-mastery and self-knowledge are
quite another. Thus the one is often distorted and always transient; the
other constructive, regenerative, and enduring.

To illustrate by contrast what Constructive Psychology, or the building of
character, _is not_, we may now take some of the forms of diseased action
known to all time, occurring in individuals and in epidemics, and which
to-day fill our Insane Asylums with "Incurables."

The point of first importance in all these cases, is the _lack_ of
self-control. Weakness, aberration or disease of the Will. The Individual
Intelligence fails to exercise its divine prerogative and be _Master_ in
and of its _own house_.

In the place of this control, sensations, feelings, emotions, desires,
appetites, passions, and ambitions run riot. The _Servants_ of the Master
war among themselves, quarrel with each other, bind the Master hand and
foot, wreck the furniture, and at last destroy the house. The Master has
become the victim and at last the slave of his own servants. His Will is
in abeyance; his perceptions distorted; his feelings and emotions
aggravated; his "Reason Dethroned"; his judgment impaired; he has an
"Unbalanced Mind."

What is here needed but _Christos_ in the Temple, "turning over the tables
of the money-changers and the seats of them that sold doves," and
restoring the High-Priest in the Holy Temple--the Human Soul, viz.: the
intelligent Will of Man, determined to govern his own house, and
responsible for results?

In place of Rational Volition, clear, just and true perceptions, sound
judgment and clear understanding, we have "Illusions," "Hallucinations"
and "Delusions." In other words, the Individual is _Insane_!

It all goes deeper than the _Mind_; the Soul, the Individual Intelligence
is dethroned in his own Kingdom; Body, Mind, and Soul are out of joint.

Not only does this condition exist without being recognized; not only just
here lies the whole secret and field of _Education_ in child, woman and
man, but so ignorant are thousands as to these patent facts and basic
principles, that they covet and strive after this confusion, this
devolution, in the vain search for knowledge, light, and truth.

These are the office, the function and the result to the subject (or
victim) of Mediumship and Hypnotism. They yield the Will, the mastery of
their own house, to another.

The servants may be tractable for a while, but an _alien_ is seated upon
the throne, and the Master is no longer King in his own realm.

Others may indeed learn something from his undoing, from the crimes
committed upon him, just as we learn from criminals how we _ought not_ to
live.

Whether ignorantly, voluntarily, by persuasion, or by force of a stronger
will, the medium and the hypnotic subject are victims either of ignorance
or of design, to their own undoing.

These psychical experiences have been found in all ages and among every
people of whom we have any valid history, from the red Indians of the
North to the Voodoos of Africa, and from the Hill Tribes of India to the
earliest Scandinavian Tribes and the islands of the sea.

As civilizations advanced, the more intelligent and unscrupulous
individuals, ambitious of knowledge or power, regardless of the rights or
well-being of others, and discovering these powers, exercised them for
their own aggrandizement. This has been known through the ages as _Black
Magic_, and is laughed at to-day by so-called "Scientists" as "nothing but
the fears, credulity, and superstitions of the ignorant multitude." This
was the core of Egyptian Paganism, and is the very genius of Clericalism
to-day--the domination of the Individual Will, through superstition and
fear.

Owing to seismic and cataclysmic shocks, volcanic eruptions, tidal waves,
and great epidemics of disease, whole peoples have been dominated by fear
or frenzied by superstitious dread, so that whole villages and cities
became literally "mad-houses," and were often depopulated.

Read the story of "Peter, the Hermit," and "The Crusades," the "Black
Death," the "Great Plague" that swept over Europe in the Thirteenth
century; or that of the "Flagellants," and the "Dancing Mania," where
whole villages became "Dancing Dervishes," samples of which may
occasionally be found to-day in the cities of America, the "Yogis" that
are "Buddhas" or "Christs" in New York, and the Dowies that were "Elijahs"
in Chicago, the Genius of Point Loma, Obispo, Santa Rosa, "Oahspe,"
"Solar-Biology," and again, _et hoc genus omne_! Verily! "there is nothing
new under the sun."

Contrast these individuals with an individual of sound mind, good
judgment, and a well-ordered life, and see how and where and why the wreck
inevitably follows.

The pressure outside changes continually, and these things spread and grow
like all contagions. Nature at times seems wrathful and destructive, and
there are, no doubt, deep-seated conditions and changes in the magnetism
of the earth and air, not yet comprehended by modern science.

In stamping out contagious and epidemic disease, simple cleanliness has
been like a revelation from the gods, and modern surgery has only stopped
short of the miraculous.

Society is but the aggregation of individuals, and on the one principle of
_Self-Control_ every individual is related to the negative or the positive
side of psychical and physical epidemics.

There is scarcely an avenue along these lines that has not been more or
less explored by modern science.

That knowledge is still incomplete; that mistakes have been made; that
matters have been contemptuously set aside, belittled, or declared to be
not worth investigation, was to have been expected. But the progress has
been immense, and the light shines on many obscure and difficult problems,
where before was the utter darkness of superstition and fear, dirt,
degradation, and death.

These phenomena manifest on the physical plane, disturb the social state,
and the relations of individuals to each other. They concern the
environment of man in a world of matter, sense, and time.

But the Individual Intelligence, which is Man, lives also in another
world, related to, but within, around, and beyond the physical.

Man senses or feels it as anterior to birth and extending beyond death. He
calls it the subjective or Spiritual World.

The realm of his consciousness is related to it, as the body is related to
the physical plane and the things of sense and time. His consciousness
seems _aware_ of both planes or both worlds, though ignorant of the real
nature and meaning of both, and capable of interpreting neither
correctly.

Man feels his way through the life on the outer plane guided by his
experience of weight, measure, distance, resistance, and the like.

The other world--the inner, or subjective--seems distant, evasive, and
unreal, and in contemplating it he is filled with uncertainty, dread,
fear, and superstition.

Our friends die and disappear; we miss them, and mourn for them. Where are
they? What will become of us when we die? Shall we ever meet them again?

Passing by religion and revelation, as we are dealing with facts and
phenomena in the natural life of man, rather than with creeds and dogmas
that undertake to cut the "Gordian Knot," these questions stare everyone
in the face, and in every age man has tried to solve them by actual
knowledge.

Belief in ghosts, angels and demons is practically universal; and just
here comes in the whole range of psychical phenomena, facts and fantasies,
illusions, hallucinations and delusions, rational volition, reason
dethroned, and the Will in Subjection, already referred to.

As individual experiences, subjective or objective, all are real. The fear
incited by illusions and hallucination, or by "seeing a ghost," regardless
of the fact of its actual existence, is as real to the individual as that
of meeting a serpent in the grass, or a tiger in the jungle.

Soothsayers, diviners, prophets, mediums, conjurers, and seers
consequently have been found in every age and among every people.
Ignorance, fear, dread of death, desire to know, have always provided them
with patrons, followers, or disciples.

They have often reaped a rich harvest, and not unfrequently dominated a
race or a people, as the Papacy does to-day.

Where they have failed to create belief, they have often triumphed through
fear and anathema, and often supplemented these weapons by persecution,
imprisonment, torture, and death, and so held sway.

Revelation begs the question; dogma forces the conclusion; and both
dominate the soul without convincing and without _knowledge_.




CHAPTER III

MEDIUMSHIP, SEERSHIP, AND HYPNOSIS


Into this arena of the inquiring soul of man, came Modern Spiritualism.

It contained little or nothing new, as to methods, aims, or results.

The Church, Protestant and Catholic alike, uttered their warnings, called
it "dealings with the devil," but divested of political authority and
without power to arrest or persecute, as in the past, were unable to stay
the tide. It swept the country like a whirlwind. The average individual,
desiring to know and to get tidings from departed friends, was
unrestrained and unterrified.

He could not see why, if the gates were really ajar, angels might not
communicate, no less than devils.

Then came the cry of "fraud," often amply justified, and a cloud of
uncertainty and unreliability settled over the phenomena generally.
Unscrupulous men and women seeing their opportunity, sophisticated and
exploited it, and "exposures" of these became common.

But in spite of all this, there remained facts, and groups of phenomena
impossible to explain away.

Finally, men like Crookes and Wallace took up the subject and investigated
the phenomena, not from the emotional, expectant, or fraternal aspect, but
from the purely scientific, and rendered their verdict, which, though
frequently ignored or treated with contempt, remains practically
unaltered.

Thousands became convinced of the _fact_ of life beyond the grave, and at
the same time of the unreliability of many so-called "communications."
Finally the "Society for Psychical Research" was formed; phenomena were
searchingly examined, verified, and recorded as a basis for further
research.

The posthumous work of F. W. H. Myers, "Human Personality and its Survival
of Bodily Death," added to the Society's records and many other
publications a record of verified facts in psychic phenomena such as never
before existed, and which nothing short of a cataclysm can destroy.

In the meantime, the "dark circle" went into desuetude, and Spiritualism,
as a cult, declined. Accepting the broad conclusion of a life after death,
and with no very clear demonstration as to exactly where, or how, the case
rested largely.

The reason for this obscurity was to be found in the absence of clear
conceptions as to the nature of the human soul, and what life on the
spiritual plane really signifies.

In other words, the foundation was laid empirically to await
classification and conclusions in a comprehensive Philosophy of
Psychology, consistent with a science of the soul; and there it remains
to-day with the average individual, and the average man of physical or
psychical science.

Returning now from this brief excursion into the social status, to the
problem as related to the mental, moral, and physical health of
individuals, and bearing in mind our Modulus of Man, and Theorem of
Constructive Psychology, we find the annals of Spiritualism, Mediumship,
or subjective control, of exceeding importance.

Another plane of life exists. Individuals on either plane communicate with
the controlling entity on the supra-physical plane.

The Medium is invariably subjective and controlled. He has no choice of
controls, and often no knowledge (never reliable knowledge) as to who or
what controls him. He is sometimes informed by his "guide" as to the
control's identity, and learns, often, that he and his circle have been
deceived by ignorant or "lying spirits."

The whole process reverses our Modulus and Theorem of Constructive
Psychology, the building of character and normal evolution.

The most important consideration at this point is its relation to the
sanity of individuals.

There are thousands of individuals to-day, who, failing in rational
volition, or self-control, are controlled by entities on the subjective
plane. They are _obsessed_.

This subjective control without the knowledge or consent of the victim,
and unrecognized and generally called "absurd" by "Alienists" and
"experts," constitutes a very large per cent, of the insane to-day, and
because ignored or unrecognized, these cases are classed as "Incurable."

It should be remembered that the annals of Spiritualism, and the records
of scientific Psychical Research, have _demonstrated_ the possibility and
the _fact_ of such control. It should also be remembered that the average
"expert alienist" is guided solely by results of such obsession, where it
occurs; that he is blind to causes, liable to exclude or taboo obsession,
and therefore largely liable to err.

In other words, he is prejudiced; and his bias and incredulity blind him
to the facts and to the real causes.

He could hardly be expected to make the obsession _let go_, while denying
that it exists. But he _might_ help the victim gain _Self-control_ if he
but recognized the facts and knew how.

Realizing the fact of the connection of the two worlds, the physical and
the spiritual, and communication between them in the subjective or
irresponsible way, the question naturally arises, "Is there not another
way of communication? May not the Individual Intelligence on the physical
plane communicate with the denizens of the spiritual plane _at his own
volition, independently_? May he not learn to see and hear them without
attempting, or desiring to _control_ them, more than he does his
associates, his friends and neighbors on the physical plane, or allowing
them to control him?"

Is it not purely a question of _fact_, and of scientific demonstration, to
be determined by experiment?

This question leads us to another phase of psychology and the records of
the past. There have been Seers, Clairvoyants, and Clairaudiants in all
ages.

Unlike the psychical phenomena already referred to,--and belonging to the
positive and initiative, rather than the negative and subjective side of
the psychical equation,--these seers have been fewer in number, and are
always individuals showing a high degree of self-control, and of
intellectual and moral evolution.

Admitting the general propositions involved, it can readily be seen that
this must be so from the very nature of the case. The Masters of mankind,
in any and all directions have been few. The slaves, through ignorance,
superstition and fear, have been legions. Those who have gained habitual
self-control, and finally self-mastery, knowledge and power, have been
few; while the majority have been controlled by their own appetites and
passions, and by other individuals.

This self-mastery and higher evolution also includes another element
beside strength of character, and that is, Refinement.

In other words; it is, from first to last, a journey from the gross and
sensuous physical plane, toward the refined and spiritual plane, involving
all the faculties, capacities, and powers, feelings, sensations, emotions,
intuitions, and aspirations of man. It is, in short, a normal, higher
evolution.

All the elements of this higher evolution are basic and innate in the
original endowment of man. By exercise, the latent faculties, capacities
and powers grow, expand, and develop. Self-control, rational volition, and
the sense of personal responsibility, (conscience) make the evolution
conformatory to the Modulus--the Perfect Man.

As this human being, dwelling on the physical plane, _e_volves, the
spiritual faculties of the Divine Man are _in_volved from the spiritual
plane. When this simultaneous and co-ordinate development is complete, the
Human and the Divine are _at-one_ in the Individual.

This at-one-ment is the exact opposite of "vicarious." It is the result of
personal effort and self-mastery.

The dogma of the church has so completely sophisticated it as to turn
normal evolution into _devolution_; and, so far as it has any effect, or
is operative at all, to turn man backward toward the animal, instead of
upward toward the Divine.

Seership and Spiritual powers, therefore, as the result of "Living the
Life," are _Evolutionary_. Mediumship, subjective control, and obsession
in any form, or in whatsoever degree, are _Devolutionary_.

Progress along either line may be very slow, but the trend is as opposite
as is the East from the West, as Light from Darkness, as Good from Evil.

By classifying these powers of man and psychical phenomena to which they
give rise, whether in the conscious, inner realm, in functions of the
bodily organism, or observable to others, we are able to assign each to
its proper class with considerable accuracy.

Both evolutionary and devolutionary progress, with the ordinary
individual, are slow processes. Seldom is either process a designed and
straightforward climbing, or a quick descent "into the dark abyss."

Consequently, as the human race evolves as a whole, relatively more and
more individuals are found who "get flashes" of sight or sound, more or
less from the subjective or spiritual plane of being. There are
intuitions, "warnings," and premonitions of coming events. Some seek and
cultivate, others fear and avoid them.

They are mostly on the "border-land," if not on the "ragged-edge" of
insanity. It is only necessary to further weaken the will, or to indulge
the passions and emotions, in order to decide the matter, derange the
mind, and send the individual to an asylum.

On the other hand, with individuals who lead a clean, cheerful,
well-ordered life, these experiences may mean encouragement, confirmation,
and progress toward the spiritual realm of being. They should be observed
carefully, but not _cultivated_. They may serve as guide-posts and as mere
incidents of a day's journey.

The average popular cult to-day, as often in the past, where psychical
phenomena are involved, results in converting the normal mental realm, the
realm of normal self-consciousness, into a vaudeville performance; a mere
"Variety Show," where all due sense of proportion and relation is lost.

In place of the normal Individual Intelligence, sitting serenely on the
throne of life and ruling his Kingdom with justice, wisdom and paternal
love, the king joins the melee of acrobats and dancing girls, encourages
the orchestra till, in a pandemonium of revelry, he puts out the lights,
or in wild frenzy fires the building.

Sometimes it claims to "command success" by _demanding_ it; or wealth
without earning it; or health without regard to hygienic law; or by
"taking a Mantram" to open the gates of heaven. Or again, by servile
obedience to the freaks or dogmas of a "Leader" or "Official Head" and
adulation _ad nauseam_, to gain admission to the "Elect."

One and all of these, from first to last, tend toward Devolution. They are
destructive, not constructive, in building character and true manhood and
womanhood.

Again, the Monk or the devotee abandons society, becomes a recluse, flees
into the desert or the mountain, subsists upon roots or herbs, sits in one
posture till the joints of the body become fixed, holds the arms above the
head till they become immovable, and the finger nails _turn and grow
through the palms of the hands_; or sits gazing at the navel and repeating
the word _Om_.

Indeed, it would seem that the ways and means to stop normal growth,
constructive evolution and healthy living, had been well-nigh exhausted.

The enthusiast, the fanatic and the "easy mark" of to-day are seldom aware
of any of these things, and so they are bled, fleeced, and exploited
accordingly. "All is Mind!" "Great is Elijah!" or "Mrs." Elijah, and
Oahspe is his Prophet! while Babel reigns in the place of Natural
Science.

The Theosophical Movement inaugurated in this country by H. P. Blavatsky
in 1875, differed essentially and radically from all others; first, in
placing ethics as the first stone in the foundation of a real knowledge of
the nature of man. Its objects as concisely stated at the time were--

First: To establish a _nucleus_ for a Universal Brotherhood of Man.

Second: To study ancient religions, philosophies and sciences, and
determine their relations and values.

Third: To investigate the Psychical Powers latent in Man.

Hospitality to Truth from any source and under any name, was
characteristic of the movement during the entire lifetime of the
Founders.

Dogma was eliminated, Authority beyond facts and demonstrated truth
denied, and Superstition regarded as only another name for ignorance.

While the facts and the demonstrations of Science were recognized, and
given the largest hospitality, nevertheless, the "Secret Doctrine" and, in
a broad sense, the whole movement was an effort to present to modern
times, and particularly to the Western world, the most ancient and pure
philosophy of old India, the _Vedanta_ or "Wisdom-Religion."

An immense work of rejuvenation has gone on in India, particularly in the
establishment and maintenance of Schools for Girls, and in the relief of
poverty and discouragement of the teeming millions.

An immense literature was created, not yet appreciated, except by students
here and there, who found light, explanation, and encouragement in their
studies of the mysteries of Nature and of life.

Since the death of the founders of the Society, in this country at least,
only a few branches and fragments of the original organization now
remain.

"Leaders" and "Official Heads" often wholly ignorant of the Philosophy,
which colossal egotism and exploitation could hardly supply, have brought
the very names "Theosophy" and "Brotherhood" into contempt and ridicule in
many sections.

As some of these "official heads" are still in evidence, final results
cannot now be formulated, and need not be here considered or forecast. The
evidence is not all in.

Personally, I desire to record my great indebtedness and highest
appreciation of a noble life and a magnificent work accomplished by one of
the most remarkable and unselfish women known to history, and for the
light and knowledge which she made accessible, and which I still hold,
practically unchanged, but with the theorems of Natural Science, in place
of the postulates of Philosophy as better fitting "the progressive
intelligence" of the present time.

The two lines of presentation when clearly apprehended are not
antagonistic, but supplementary. Their aims and purpose are the same.




CHAPTER IV

THE MEASURE OF VALUES


This is a very utilitarian age. Start almost any subject, propose almost
any scheme, adventure, or investment, and the question is asked, "Will it
pay?" The multitude are cautious; the lower stratum, the unsuccessful--the
poor and the oppressed--are envious and often bitter and resentful; the
successful are often reckless, dissipated, and proud.

I am not writing an essay on Economics, but on Ethics and Psychology; on
the character, value, and use of the resources _within_ ourselves; our
_real possessions_. Here only may be found _actual values_.

I am not considering the "hereafter," as to "rewards and punishments";
what gods, devils, angels, or men may do _to us_, here or hereafter; but
what we may (if we choose) do _for ourselves_.

This question is practical to the last degree. Put the question, "does it
pay?" and I answer: It pays like nothing else on earth; it is the only
thing that is independent of time, place, or circumstance.

It concerns man's _actual possessions_, of which nothing in "the three
worlds" can ever dispossess him. I know of nothing so beneficent, in any
concept of God or Nature, Providence or Destiny, as this birthright and
opportunity of man, to build character, and _be_ what he chooses to be.

He who knows his power, realizes his opportunity and utilizes his
resources, may build a Palace of the Soul, in which he may dwell,
literally, in a "kingdom of heaven." And because God is the Architect, and
Man the Contractor and Builder, working strictly to the "plans" and the
designs, "that house shall stand." It is founded on the "Rock of Ages."

Did anyone ever know or see a noble character that was not built by the
Individual himself, by personal effort, by self-control, by self-denial,
by justice and kindness to others; often in the face of Poverty; often in
spite of wealth; often in the face of sickness, pain and deformity;
perhaps deaf and dumb and blind; and yet, like Helen Keller, the soul
triumphant and glorified?

To-day, as I write, I went to the Crematory to see the dissolution of a
poor, twisted, deformed, and tortured body of a woman past fifty, in which
had dwelt a soul so serene, cheerful, and patient, that the beatitudes
clustered around her, like doves in a garden of roses. It required no
stretch of the imagination to determine what society she had entered.
"Like seeks like," and each "goes to his own place." Her motive, the
day-star of her life, was the Mother-Love for an only son. In spite of
poverty and pain, she must reward him for love and loyalty, by being
bright and cheerful and by belittling her own discomfort to save him
sorrow.

Her reward was the growth of the soul that has now risen to its great
reward, and dearer and sweeter than all this to the Mother-heart, was to
see and realize the growth, the tenderness, and the beautifying of the
soul of the Son.

Did it pay? I can almost hear her shouting for joy as she joins the anthem
of the Invisible Choir of Helpers that welcome her just over the border.
She prayed many times, even the last time I saw her, before the great
change, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me." I could only say,
"Wait just a little longer," with the assurance that every shadow of
darkness shall be transformed into dazzling light, and every drop of
bitterness into the nectar of the Gods. She was almost deaf and blind, but
you should have heard the sweetness in her voice and seen the radiance in
her face. I did not know that the end was so near.

To the son, the sweetest sound on earth was that mother's voice, but,
though silent for a thousand years, he would not recall her to one moment
of the old torture. His sorrow for _himself_ is swallowed up and glorified
in his joy for her release.

And what is all this but a lesson in practical psychology, the growth of
the soul?

Does it pay? Ask that Mother; ask that Son now. "How do you know?" How do
you know anything, except as you see, or experience it?

Character reveals itself. It cannot long hide itself. When the check goes
to the bank the resources are there. The Bank of God, and of Nature, and
of Compensation, and Eternal Justice, cannot fail. Its resources are
infinite.

Independent of time, place, or circumstance, I said: Intrinsic,
Inalienable.

Take another illustration almost at random. A cultured soul, winning its
way alone, and at great disadvantage.

In the middle of the tenth century lived Farabi, or Alfarabi. He did not
confine himself to the Koran, but fathomed the most useful and interesting
sciences. He visited Sifah Doulet, the Sultan of Syria. The Sultan was
surrounded by the learned who were conversing with him on the sciences.

Farabi entered the salon where they were assembled and remained standing
till the Emperor desired that he should be seated; at which the
philosopher, by a freedom rather astonishing, went and sat on the end of
the Sultan's sofa. The Prince, surprised at his boldness, called one of
his officers and commanded him, in a tongue not generally known, to put
out the intruder. The philosopher heard him, and replied in the same
tongue, "O Signor! he who acts so hastily is subject to repent." The
Prince was no less astonished by his reply than by his manner and
assurance.

Wishing to know more of him, he began a conference among his philosophers,
in which Farabi disputed with so much eloquence and energy that he reduced
all the doctors to silence. Then the Sultan ordered music, and when the
musicians entered, Farabi accompanied them upon the lute with so much
delicacy as to win the admiration of all present. He then drew out, at the
Sultan's request, a piece of his own composition, and sang it with his own
accompaniment, and had the audience first in laughter, and then in
tears--and to complete his Magic, changed to another piece and put them
all asleep.

The Sultan in vain urged Farabi to remain near his person, and offered him
a high position in his household.

Voluminous writings of Farabi are preserved in the library at Leyden.

"A tale of the Arabian Nights," you may say, and yet it is historic. It
reveals the fact that resources, character, and wisdom, in the end triumph
and surmount all obstacles. They are intrinsic and permanent values.

They may remain unknown or unappreciated by others, but they are none the
less riches to him who possesses them.

It was during this same tenth century in which Alfarabi lived, that there
existed at Baghdad a Society composed of Mohammedans, Jews, Christians,
and Atheists, for the purpose of Philosophical discussions and scientific
investigation; and it was doubtless under this influence that Alfarabi was
educated and enabled to cope with the philosophers of the world. Here in
Arabia was the highest culture known at the time, in Medicine and all the
Arts and Sciences, while the Ecclesiastics were inaugurating the dark ages
elsewhere, to eventually spread over the whole of Europe.

Here and there have always appeared individuals superior to their age and
time; men who dug to the foundations of knowledge, built character,
accumulated resources, and left their impress upon all subsequent time.

Nor has this accumulation of real knowledge been derived from books and
schools, though these resources have not been neglected.

Real culture of the Individual has always consisted in the realization of
the latent powers of man, in bringing these to light, in learning by
experience how to use them. Hence arise self-knowledge, self-control, and
a higher evolution.

It is not a mere technical, intellectual acquirement, the ability to
define principles and formulate propositions. It rather consists in
testing them out in actual experience; first by self-analysis to become
familiar with the real self, its capacities and powers, its motives and
aims in life; and having grasped and adjusted all these, then to start
consciously, deliberately, determinedly, and intelligently, on "the road
to the South," on the upward climb toward the Light.

"Possessions," with the great majority of individuals, mean something
outward, in space and time; what we have, and, for the time hold, rather
than what we are. The average idea of enjoyment is something altogether
superficial and transient. It is found, or supposed to be found, in
variety of sensations, emotions and feelings; in ringing the changes on
these, till vitality fails, disillusion or satiety supervenes, and old age
or death closes the play. Often the appetite remains, when vitality fails,
and Faust rejuvenated, would run the same gauntlet again. The pity of it
is that thousands of these victims of either satiety or Tantalus seem
never to dream that there are other values, or anything else, or better,
in life.

And yet there is not one of these faculties, capacities and powers that is
useless, or, in itself, evil or degrading. They are, one and all,
resources of the Individual Intelligence; tools for the day's work;
materials for the building of the Temple; whereas, they most frequently
are made the motive and the aim of life. They are means to a higher end,
and not the end itself.

Without the latent passions, emotions, and feelings, man would be a mere
mechanism. If all were mind, or mere intellect, there could be neither the
creation nor the appreciation of beauty. Every work of art would be
soulless; music might amuse the intellect by intricate chords and
variations, like a colorless kaleidoscope, but it could never touch the
heart nor elevate the soul.

Music and art, in the highest sense, through consonant vibrations in us,
open the doors and windows of the soul, put us in touch and tune with the
Infinite, and _then_, the real harmony begins. We live for the time in
another world and return with a sigh and recover the bated breath, as
though we had seen a vision beyond words. Music is an agent, a talisman, a
means to an end. It strikes in us chords that lie at the foundation, the
combinations that unlock the doors, and the "Imprisoned Splendor" wings in
and out like the doves of Hesperides.

Blunt the passions, the feelings and the emotions by over-indulgence, by
vice and dissipation, and the royal guests desert the banquet hall, the
doors of the soul creak on their hinges; and in place of the "music of the
spheres" you have a devil's dance, and the orgies of despair!

_Does it pay?_ It all depends on _use_. Here lie the resources, the real
possessions of man. Here lies the "Parable of the Talents."

Look at the profusion, the prodigality, the beneficence of Nature, Flowers
and Fruit, Beauty and Bloom and Fragrance everywhere. Where there is no
eye to see, no hand to pluck, Mother Nature delights in profusion,
seemingly because she is made that way and cannot help it. And yet, in
this little Rose-garden of ours--the Human Soul -we tramp down the
flowers, plant loathsome weeds and poisons that kill and degrade and besot
us, set up the tables of the money-changers, drive out the doves of
Hesperides, and turn the temple into a shambles for wild beasts. "Nothing
pays." "Let us curse God and--die!"

Is there not something after all in the _Measure of Values_, and in the
inexorable _Law of Use_?

And who _constrains_ us but _ourselves_?

Can God and Nature be so prodigal, noting even the sparrows fall, and yet
disregard the children of men?

What our resources are we can never imagine till we draw upon and begin to
utilize them as others have done throughout the ages.

The "average sinner," seemingly to justify or excuse his own failure, will
not believe that any have ever achieved. _But there they stand_ all down
the ages! Ecclesiastics help the deception and keep up the illusion by
calling it _Miracle_ or "Special Providence," and so prevent man from
entering his birthright, _to possess it_; and so we sell our birthright
for a mess of pottage. It is like the dissipated, poverty-stricken
spendthrift, who shuts his eyes and refuses to believe that any, by
industry, economy, integrity and hard work have secured a competency. And
so he cries, "Come on, boys! let's have another drink, and then rob this
bond-holder, who has more than his share."

The Measure of Values, and the Law of Use _hold everywhere_, in every
department of human life; and the question, "Does it pay?" is practical
and scientific to the last degree, and no one can answer but ourselves. As
we answer will be the results, and nothing but ourselves can change them.

We must realize that the human body, the organism of man, with all its
faculties, capacities and powers, is but an _instrument_ of the Individual
Intelligence; and that every experience in life, every episode in our
career, is like a day's work; perfecting the instrument for more and
better work, if used rightly; till we advance from height to height of
being; to larger and still larger and more glorious fields of work and
experience.

There would seem to be no limit to this evolution, this upward and onward
journey of the human soul. The more good work done, the larger the
capacity and the broader the field opening before us. "From height to
height the spirit walks."

The primary endowment of man is Life and conscious Intelligence, with the
power to use both.

This would seem to be the only gratuity, and whether we regard it as a
blessing or a curse, depends on how we regard and use them.

The great majority in all time, through ignorance or recklessness, seem to
have misused them.

Hence sickness, disease, deformity, and degradation.

It is a wonderful thing--this Law of Normal Use--from which health,
harmony, comfort, joy, growth, and development result, while misuse and
abuse degrade and destroy.

Divinity seems to have put within the grasp of man's Intelligence (if he
_chooses and wills_) an almost infinite range in power, variety and
application, of that subtle and basic Principle of affinity, balance and
equilibrium, that unites the atoms in a molecule, or a chemical substance;
that law of attraction and repulsion--the Parallelogram of Force--that
holds the planets in their orbits. Divinity seems to have taken man into
council and offered him, not only the Kingdom of Nature, but the royal
domain of his own soul, as a reward for co-operation and loyal service, on
condition that he shall use wisely, intelligently, loyally, and kindly,
and not misuse or abuse.

Is it _worth while_? Will it _pay_?

Nor is this all, beneficent as it seems. The whole journey of life on the
physical plane here below is so designed and planned as to make the
natural aging and decay of the physical body supplement, unfold and
develop the Spiritual Body, through the right use of the faculties,
capacities, and powers of the Human Soul--the Individual Intelligence.

These are aspects, uses and powers of that subtle _something_ we call
_Life_; that _Principle_ that

          "Runs through all time, extends through all extent,
          Lives undivided, operates unspent."

Normal use that insures growth and development, range and power of action,
is also, from first to last, a _refining_ process; while misuse and abuse
of these powers degrade and brutalize _inevitably_.

It follows, therefore, as the bodily structure and functions fail _under
normal use_ those of the spiritual body open, develop and unfold. First
the seed, then the plant, then the flower and finally the fruit "of a
well-spent life."

There is no "theory" or "guess-work" about it. It becomes, step by step, a
matter of conscious, intelligent, individual experience. We know it just
as we know that fire will burn or that we are here now, living, breathing,
and acting.

If I thrust my finger into a flame, all the philosophers and
metaphysicians of the world could not "argue" me out of the experience of
the fact of "burn" and "pain"; nor could theologians succeed any better by
quotations from Scripture! Man is so constituted that the _facts_ of
_experience_ are stubborn things; and the more open to reason the
individual the more convincing the facts of experience. Ignorance,
superstition, and fear recede in the presence of these Lights of man's
intelligence, as do dogma and despotism, that seek to enslave the human
soul.

Theologians tell us that it is exceeding dangerous to take all this
responsibility upon ourselves, thus appealing to ignorance, superstition,
and fear.

I would answer: I refuse to take the responsibility of _disregarding_ or
_disobeying_ the Law which the Divine and Universal Intelligence has
placed at the _very foundation_ of man's being; and I am so _un_orthodox
as to imagine and believe that God knew what he was about, even better
than the theologians, or the "Infallible" Italian who misinterprets God,
Nature, and Man.

To-day, as I write, "God's Vicegerent" is instigating and promoting a
"Holy War" in Priest-ridden Spain, over the temporal power of the Vatican,
angered to the point of murder over the "posting of notices of places of
public worship," other than Catholic.

They would rather turn the world into one "City of the Dead," than yield
_one point_ of Freedom, Enlightenment, or Self-government to man.

And men still call this _Religion_, and cast aside the crucifix for the
sword, the gun and the firebrand. The _Inferno_ has never yet been
portrayed or even outlined. Its name is Priestcraft and Intolerance under
the name of "Religion."

And is this a "Study in Psychology"? Yea, verily! Scientific Psychology is
the only thing that goes to the very bottom of it, and defines and
classifies every element, every fact in human experience. Man cannot build
a _home_ on a piece of ground where a slaughter-house disputes every
square yard of ground with the tombstones of a graveyard. Clericalism is
ever the one or the other, and frequently both; denying to man the right
to build a _home_ for himself anywhere, except by its permission and
according to its plans and specifications, fixing the rent and the
revenues for all future time.

The Premier of Spain to-day is disputing this prerogative of Rome, and the
graveyard has been thrown open. The pity, the marvel of it all is, that
the people generally do not seem to care, and call any statement of facts
"sensational" or "panicky."

I am told by some very good people that these references to Popery seem
irrelevant, and by others, that they mar the symmetry of my essay.

They are reminded that we are dealing with real and permanent values, and
with what man may do and ought to do for himself.

Lying squarely across this upward pathway of man, to be pursued by free
choice and personal effort, is the dogma of the Vicarious Atonement and
the forgiveness of sin, of which "His Holiness" claims to hold the
_exclusive agency_.

Through appeal to superstition and fear this preposterous and sacrilegious
claim to-day, as in all the past, paralyzes the will and discourages the
personal efforts of millions of men and women. Between that blind
credulity which makes personal effort unnecessary, and the miracle and
dogma which make it seem useless, the upward and onward march of man is
hindered or annulled, notwithstanding the fact that many men and women
lead noble lives who are yet communicants of the Church, both Catholic and
Protestant. True, they may, with little thinking, reason and reflection
from early education and "lip-service," give intellectual assent to these
dogmas. But the lives they lead and the personal effort put forth prove
them "better than their creeds." They say with the lips, "Christ has
forgiven us," or "Jesus will save us," and while they are _saying_ these
things they _go to work saving themselves_ by "leading the life" through
personal effort and experience.

In other words, they "save themselves" in spite of their creeds and
superstitions.

It is, therefore, with this exact "measure of values," that we are
dealing; and the necessity and value of these considerations are nowhere
so plain to-day, or so imperative, as just here, in the face of these
demoralizing dogmas and pretensions of men, who contradict all natural law
and steal unblushingly the prerogatives of God, as his "Vicegerent." The
marvel of it is that it excites neither surprise nor protest, but is
treated with a smile of good-natured complacency outside its circle of
dupes.

He who treats it seriously, as a thing that, more than any other,
demoralizes, discourages and paralyzes _millions_, is regarded as
"sensational," "emotional," or an "alarmist."

In the face of all the facts, of which the daily papers are full, and the
record of the Vatican crowded, I prefer that my own arraignment _shall
stand_. No one who knows half these facts can dispute or gainsay them. We
are making history here to-day, as mankind has had to make it in all the
past, in the face of these "Lions in the path" of civilization and
progress.

If I must choose between being superficial, ignorant and insincere, or
being an "alarmist," I certainly and unhesitatingly choose to be an
_alarmist_! The strongest ally of Superstition to-day is credulity, or
indifference. The average man says, "I do not _believe_ there is any
danger"; and if he "spoke his heart" would add, "if there is, I do not
_care_."

I would only reply, "If you mean to be honest, read, observe, and see."
You may wait too long. Spain and Portugal are just awakening from the
priest-ridden lethargy of centuries, and are making history anew. May a
just God and all the angels help and protect them.

The great daily newspapers of the country are very conservative wherever
Rome is concerned. She is too powerful and her resources too well
organized and available to be disregarded.

It is therefore very significant that an editorial in one of the largest
and most influential of these papers to-day gives a clear, concise, and
impartial epitome of the "_Row in Spain_," clearly locating its cause and
animus in the Vatican, and showing how unbearable this tyranny and
exploitation had become to a large portion of the people of Spain.

I refer to this here for a special purpose, which involves and lies at the
foundation of all other issues and considerations. And that is the
statement in this editorial, that while the Church of Rome has held
practically _undisputed sway_ in Spain _for centuries_, with immense
tracts of land, houses and revenues, independent of civil authority, with
20,000 priests, 5,000 communities with 60,000 inmates in a population of
only 20,000,000 of people--_Seventy per cent. of the people are entirely
uneducated._ With every opportunity, plenty of time and almost boundless
resources, _Rome has kept the people in ignorance, the easier to rob
them_; determined to _own_ the land, the resources, and the people--body
and soul--as the _Autocrat_ of heaven and earth! A slavery in the name of
"Religion" found nowhere else on earth to-day.

So much for Spain and the Vatican to-day. For the sequel, watch the daily
papers.

And what has this to do with America? With Psychology? With the Measure of
Values?

Simply this: Is anyone so dense as to suppose that the _Seventy per cent._
of dense ignorance in Spain is an accident, or an oversight of the Vatican
and its servants? There lie the "policy" and the secret of the power of
Rome.

In America our foundations, our bulwarks, and our hope and security of
Freedom, Enlightenment, and Progress lie in our Free Public Schools. These
Rome hates, condemns as "Godless," and would destroy if she could, as
continually proved by the letters and edicts of the Popes.

Seeing, however, that she cannot do this, and fearful of losing her hold
on her thirteen or fourteen million of communicants in America, she rushes
the building of Parochial Schools, and threatens her people with dire
penalties who patronize any other. Since she cannot _prevent_ education
here, as in Spain, she must "educate" _in her own way_, in order to retain
her power over the rising generation. The basis of this education are
ignorance, superstition, and fear; its crown, the slavery of conscience
and the "Dogma of Obedience." The brutality of Ignorance in Spain is the
sophistry of Priestcraft under the name of "Religion," in America.

The Genius of the Vatican is "Infallibility." It not only never errs, but
it never changes. It dons another mask, adopts another slogan, and is now
engaged in a great crusade to _educate_!

Constructive Psychology, the building of Individual Character, means the
_precise opposite_ of every principle, proposition, and practice of
Popery. I desire to make this plain and unmistakable.

Nothing on earth transcends in importance this basic, universal, and
_eternal antithesis_. It marks and monuments, in all time, the _Parting of
the Ways_ between Good and Evil; between Liberty and Despotism; between
Light and Darkness; between Evolution and Devolution; between "Modernism"
and Paganism; between Civilization and the Dark Ages; between the "Sermon
on the Mount"--the Beatitudes, and the _Spanish Roman Vatican
Inquisition_!

And this "antithesis," this issue, is as imminent, as active, as burning
in America to-day, as it is in Spain. It only faces different ways.

Spain is _compelled_ to redeem her _past_; America to guard and protect
her _future_.

It is, from first to last, a Psychological Problem.

It is an analysis by fire, in the crucible of fate and destiny, to
determine _accurately_ the measure of values to the Individual, to
Society, and to Civilization.

No man, woman or child, no society, no civilization ever has, or ever can,
escape this issue.

It is the design on the trestle-board of Time.

It is the Modulus of both God and Nature regarding Man.

It is the Theorem of Psychology.

It involves the Evolution and Destiny of the Human Soul.

As civilization in many places showed an advancing tendency from the
darkness, despotism and brutality of the Dark Ages, the "Robber Barons"
began to disappear. Their slogan was, "He may seize who hath the power and
he may hold who can." Serfdom also began slowly to recede. Popery and
Priestcraft assumed the role of these Barons, changed the slogan from
brute force (reserving that for emergencies) to "Divine Prerogative,"
"Infallibility" (later), and pagan mummeries in the name of "Religion."

_The result, to the common people, remained unchanged_ to the present
day--poverty, ignorance, and oppression.

Popery boasts that it never changes, never relents, nor forgives an enemy,
nor forgets an injury, nor fails to "get even," like any brute, whenever
she can. And this _Power_ is not only the assumed custodian of the
religion of Jesus, but stands in the place of it, as a substitute, and the
world tolerates it in the name of _Religion_!

As a problem in Psychology, we have been considering the nature, use, and
measure of values of the resources, faculties, capacities, and powers of
man as an Individual Intelligence.

Facing opportunities, we have seen that there is a Law of Use and
Responsibility which cannot be evaded.

Institutions and societies of men are, one and all, from first to last,
under the same law. It is simply an aggregate, into which not a new
principle enters, nor one principle is changed. The recognized and
scientifically determined value of man to himself, is the measure of his
value to the State.

The reverse proposition is equally true.

The value of any Institution to the individual, or to the State, must be
measured and determined in the same way and under the same law.

It may thus be seen that Institutions, like Popery, are deeply involved in
this Law of Use and Measure of Values. This is simply making use of, and
putting in practice, these basic principles.

_Of what use to man_, measured by these scientific standards of value, are
Popery and Priestcraft?

I answer unhesitatingly and unqualifiedly _An unmitigated Curse!_

This answer is justified by all history, and is as true and as exact
to-day, up to the latest act and message from Rome, as it was during the
horrors of the Inquisition; and there are evidence and specific statements
to show that Rome would re-establish the "Holy Inquisition" to-day, _if
she dared and had the power_.

It is this power, exercised through fear, on the basis of ignorance and
superstition so instilled by what Popery calls "Religious Education," that
prevents the majority of fourteen millions in America to-day, as
everywhere and in all time, from exercising their prerogative and doing
their duty as _Individuals_.

Is it not plain, therefore, how impossible it is to separate the
Individual and the Social status?

Psychology and Sociology are departments of one Science, viz.: the Science
of Man, Anthropology. Individuals and Institutions are under one law, one
law of use, one measure of values.

He who ignores, evades, or belittles these plain issues and scientific
principles, can settle with the law in his own time, though he cannot
evade them always.

Note.--During the last week of the year 1910, the daily papers announced
that before the beginning of 1911 _every Priest in the Diocese_ was
required to take an oath to oppose and resist _Modernism_ and to _obey_ in
all things the dictum and dogmas of His Holiness. As everyone knows that
under the term _Modernism_ is included all progress, investigation, and
civilization condemned by the Vatican, everything that even questions the
dogmas and despotism of Rome, the meaning of this required _oath_ is
plain.

It is doubtless renewed by reason of (among others) a book,--"Letters to
His Holiness by a Modernist," which, written seemingly by a Priest, makes
exceeding plain the meaning of Modernism and the relation of the Vatican
thereto. The book marks an epoch in the close of the old year and the
beginning of the new, and Rome has acted accordingly. She can delay the
stream of progress as she has always done, but she cannot turn it
backward. It will eventually overwhelm her.




CHAPTER V

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS


The problem of the continued conscious life of man after the death of the
physical body, concerns the _where_ and the _how_, and does not, and need
not, concern us at all now. It is, literally, an "after consideration."

Who and what man is, here and now, is the real problem. Only when, or in
the degree in which, we master this problem, can we really know anything
definitely of the other.

The complete separation of these two problems, and the exact definition
and formulation of each, is the first step on the road to knowledge of the
Science of the Soul.

For the time being, in the study of Psychology, "other worldliness" should
be absolutely abandoned.

Almost everyone finds it difficult to do this. Many find it impossible.

The fear and uncertainty with which almost everyone faces the inevitable,
the loss of friends, the broken lute, the empty chair, the lonely
life--all these make us cry out in anguish--_where_ and _how_ and _when_,
and overlook the "_what are we_?"

So-called Religion in all time has almost hopelessly mixed and confused
these problems.

The various concepts and doctrines of rewards and punishments hereafter,
have put ulterior motives in the place of actual values, weakened the will
and hindered man from doing his best.

A still further confusion follows, in the measure of assets, that leads to
time-serving and false values.

Satisfy the average individual that "death ends all" and he will cry, "Let
us eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we die," notwithstanding the
fact that he sees others who have "gone the pace," realized only "dust and
ashes," declared it "all a mistake," and that if they had the chance they
would "do it all the other way."

Remember, we are dealing with _actual values_ here and now, divested of
both fear and anticipation of the hereafter.

On the other hand, who ever saw an individual die, who had led a clean,
upright, kindly life, indulge in regret or remorse, or declare life a
disappointment or a failure?

The first is anchored to the physical plane by insatiate appetite and
passion, or desire to reform, which might soon be forgotten.

The other has found sweetness and joy in life, in conscious growth, in
doing good; and his soul is illumined and transfigured as the body fails
and he approaches another plane, and this often independent of any
formulated religious belief.

It all depends on what the man is _within_ himself, his intrinsic
character, his _real self_; and no matter where he goes, that character,
that self, goes with him. It _is_ Himself.

The "change in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye," is not in the _man_
and cannot be. It is in the plane, or sphere, or world he inhabits, or to
which he goes. It is a change of garments, of habitat, of houses in which
we live--if we live at all.

This much we _know_, and should not forget or confuse it. We know it, as
we know that "twice two are four"; that fire will burn, or that bodies,
unsupported, fall to the ground. We know it from the fact of our own
self-conscious identity. Radically or suddenly to change that essentially
is to annihilate _us_.

The preacher says, "Study the Bible." He might say, "Study yourself!" The
preacher says, "Look to Jesus." He might say, "Look within!" The preacher
says, "Repent and pray." I would say, "After an inventory of your inner
possessions, clean up the house and _go to work_ to improve it in every
way."

When "cleaning day" is well under way, if the "sure-enough" preacher drops
in, and you show him the house and what you are trying your best to do, he
will just start "Old Hundred," and will be too happy for anything else.

I am not criticising the preacher, nor opposing religion, but getting
ready for it, laying the foundation of Morals and the building of
character. "Religion" cannot do this. _You_ and _I_ have to do it, or it
is never done.

Without this work of _ours_, religion is little more, or else, than
passing emotion or lasting superstition, "lip service," cant, hypocrisy,
and then cold heartless dogmatism, a measure and jingling of words that
never touch the heart, but leave the individual ready to throw stones and
light brands of torture: a case-hardening of the affections and the
aspirations, that wraps the soul like the bandages of the mummied
Pharaohs, a mere petrifaction.

We know, or may know, as much actually and scientifically of the growth of
the soul as of the growth of the body. The average individual knows more
of the soul than of the body, but his knowledge is in confusion. It is a
matter of hourly, daily, life-long, and changing _experience_. He knows
little of physiology, except feelings, sensations, desires, and results.
How and why the mechanism of the body works he knows not.

Body and soul are organically identified, intimately associated and
interwoven, and act and react on each other. They are functionally
synchronous in all movements. The analogies between them are numberless
and easily traced.

The physician and physiologist does not stop to inquire, "What _is_ Life"
and refuse to move till someone gives a satisfactory answer; yet he is
dealing with Life in its numberless manifestations in the human, organism
continually.

But this same physician is likely to debate and deny the existence of the
Soul, demanding that you define and demonstrate it.

The term "Individual Intelligence" is as definite, specific, and
demonstrable in Psychology as the term "Life" in Physiology.

We are alive and we possess a certain degree or measure of intelligence.
These are facts in our conscious experience.

We may shape or mold our lives. We may do this according to our ideals, or
we may drift with the tides of circumstance, or of passion and caprice,
and this is what most persons do.

So also with that intelligence which is the guiding light in our lives. It
may illumine our pathway, or it may flash and fitfully glare, with the
shadows, rendering our pathway obscure and uncertain, illusory and
deceitful, or dangerous and fearful.

The soul is in the body; and this light of intelligence is in the soul,
its center, its very essence.

All else in us, and round about us, is diversity and multiplicity. This
light of intelligence in us is _One_ and unchanging.

Our experience in life, however varied and diversified, is co-ordinated
and unified by this Intelligence in us. It is that which puts all our
experiences together and views them through a single lens. It stands by
itself alone, and all else pays tribute to it.

It is the pronoun "I" and it stands for, speaks and acts for, all else in
us.

It is not alone the only _unity_ in us, but it is that which unifies all
the rest, uses the "possessive case," and may subordinate all else in us
to its Will.

Does it, then, do violence to common sense and hourly experience, or is it
any stretch of the imagination to speak of this unity as an entity, and
call it the human soul?

If we live after the change called death, in a spiritual world, in place
of the physical we now inhabit, and with a spiritual or refined body to
correspond with that plane of refined or etherialized substance, the
Individual Intelligence must function in that body and on that plane as it
does now in the physical body on the physical plane.

Either something very like this takes place, or we cease to exist as a
self-conscious individual intelligence. There must remain and continue
man's self-conscious identity.

Furthermore, if this be true, the _real nature_ of this individual
intelligence we call the _Self_, in the last analysis, is likely to be as
much a mystery as ever. We may know _who we are_ without knowing _what it
is_.

Now the composite nature of man, as we know it, not only justifies all
these analogies, but seems to show that the modulus, the germ at least, of
the spiritual body exists now within the physical; that it does not
disintegrate when the physical body dies, but separates and coheres more
closely than ever; and is still inhabited or possessed by the individual
intelligence.

Moreover, it has often been seen by clairvoyants at the time of death,
thus verifying the Biblical declaration, "there is a natural (physical)
body, and there is a spiritual body."

The composite structures of man's organism above referred to are well
known. They are called "systems." The bony or Osseous system, the muscular
system, the circulatory system, the lymphatic system, and the two nervous
systems, serve as illustrations of the composite nature of man.

All of these "systems" more or less inter-penetrate and diffuse each
other.

There is also a chemico-vital, kinetic, or magnetic body, diffused through
and inter-penetrating all the rest. This gives the contrast between the
living organism (with the flush of health upon the cheek and the light of
intelligence in the eyes), and a corpse.

Death is often instantaneous, while decomposition often waits for days.

There is a still further analogy regarding a single function, like a
sensory or motor impulse, passing to or from the central brain, the organ
of consciousness. The journey is one of relays and orderly sequences.

This is proven in a great variety of forms of paresis. I cannot, as an
individual intelligence, _directly_ move my hand any more than I can move
a mountain. I conceive the object or act and set the will in motion. The
impulse traverses the nerves, is transferred to the muscle, and then, when
the circuit is complete, _I_ move my hand.

The gap between my conscious intelligent wish and will, and my physical
hand, is very great. One is metaphysical, the other physical. There is,
therefore, a point of correlation where the one is converted into the
other.

The knowledge of these facts, and of this orderly sequence and
correlation, constitutes the Science of pathology and enables us to locate
the lesion or disease. I cannot move my hand, and the pathologist locates
the "short-circuit" in brain, or nerve, or "terminal plate," or muscle, as
the case may be.

Now it is this _system_ of _composite systems_ that deserves special
attention. We know that it exists as a series of relays and refining
processes. In disease it is interrupted, or out of joint, or broken down.

Health means harmony, concord, rhythm between every part, and the power of
the one individual intelligence to use it all, to act or refrain from
action, and to hold and maintain through all, repose, equilibrium, and
self-mastery.

The physical body we know to be a thing of sense and time. We know its
beginning, its gestation, its entrance and exit on this material plane.
Its secrets are all involved in the subtle relations it bears to the soul
that inhabits, unifies, and utilizes it.

The Individual Intelligence, Ego, Soul, or Entity, is as patent to us in
our _awareness of self_ as is the body it inhabits. It is our _very self_.
Our knowledge of it is a _direct personal experience_, so direct,
immediate, and constant that we overlook its significance.

I can see no reason to imagine that a human being, passing from the
earthly plane and consciously living on the spiritual plane and
recognizing itself as the same individual, would be any wiser as to the
exact nature and origin of the Individual Intelligence than he is now;
though his field of vision and range of conscious experience had so
immeasurably increased and expanded.

If he had solved this problem of _ultimates_, he would be at the end of
his thread of life and would compass the Infinite. He would be no longer
Man, but God.

So, from all these considerations, and from all directions, we come back
to human evolution, the upward and onward journey of the human soul.

As man's health, usefulness, and happiness here depend on the perfection
and utility of the physical body he inhabits, and its maintenance in
health and harmony, have we the least reason to imagine that the same
individual, dwelling on the spiritual plane, will not be under the same of
analogous laws and relations there, since we have assumed the persistence
and conscious identity of the soul there as here?

I hold, therefore, that man possesses, now and here, the structure of a
_Spiritual_ Body; and that the "growth of the soul" and our status and
relation to the soul, and our status and relation to the life after death
on the spiritual plane, depend _very largely_ on the character and
integrity of this spiritual body, the "house we have builded."

The whole of life, therefore, here, is what gestation of the infant body
is before birth. When the child is born it is a separate personality, a
distinct individuality.

There has been woven into its organism a distinct and synchronous
correspondence with that of the mother.

During gestation it has passed through every plane of organic life, from
_amoeba_, or mollusk, to man.

It is thus in touch with every phase and quality of life. It epitomizes
them all, transcends them all, and _may co-ordinate_ them all.

On the other hand, the individual intelligence of the child, a distinct
and separate _unity_, is in vital, spiritual, and synchronous relation to
that of the mother that enfolds it.

It is either building or rejuvenating a new spiritual body, as the
"essential form" of the physical, organic, chemical, and kinetic or
magnetic body.

What we call "Life," or "Vitality," runs like a "dominant chord" in the
harmonic scale of the whole. Each part, organ, and function is related to
every other and to the whole by definite vibrations and the laws of
harmony.

If, from the beginning, it is an "unwelcome child," the higher and subtler
elements of the mother's nature, and all her emotions are turned against
it, are discordant and not constructive and harmonic.

Discord is thus ingrained at the foundations and woven into the "subtle
body" of the child.

Nature is so persistent in its determination to preserve and perpetuate
the human race, that the building of the organic body of the child goes
on; and the Individual Intelligence is so potent that it often triumphs
over these prenatal obstructions, but by no means always. If "there _is_ a
spiritual body" in the mother organism during the present life, as I am
_entirely satisfied_ there is; and if the child is laying the foundation
and weaving the pattern and fabric of a spiritual body of its own for the
present life and that immediately beyond; then these psychological
influences and conditions are of _transcendent importance_ and _may_ be
largely determined by our intelligent choice.

A higher race of beings will never inhabit this earth till these
fundamental laws are recognized and regarded.

We may illustrate and symbolize this spiritual habitation we are building
by the over-tones and the harmonics in music.

Its nature and function and the whole process of building and development
are a refining and purifying process.

It may be conceived in the vito-magnetic field of man, as that which is in
nearest relation and closest touch with the soul, the Individual
Intelligence, and through, and by which the soul acts.

Being in synchronous relation with the physical organs and functions, like
a chord in music, a high with a lower tone (but still harmonic), the
_direct_ vehicle and agent of the soul would be this spiritual body; and
when the physical body or vehicle dies, or is cast off, the spiritual body
_with the soul_ escapes.

Empirical evidence along just these lines is so abundant in the annals of
every people, and in all ages, that it is unnecessary to quote it here.
Whole volumes are filled with it, outside the annals of Spiritualism and
the Psychical Society, and antedating them by centuries and millenniums.

The most important consideration is that the building of character by
voluntary choice and personal effort, the "growth of the soul," and the
evolution of this spiritual body are _inseparable_. This trinity which is
man, is _potentially_ (and may be _actually_) a _unity_.

The evolutionary and devolutionary lines run in precisely opposite
directions, are easily differentiated and defined, are usually recognized
by observation and by the individual himself. It is very difficult and
takes a long time to deceive ourselves with regard to the upward or
downward trend of our own life, till we have blunted by misuse and
degraded all the finer faculties, capacities, and powers of our being.

A quickened conscience, a moral uplift, a desire to do right, a noble
ideal, mark the beginning; but self-study, a rigid and persistent
self-analysis, taking account of stock of all our resources and
capacities, all our real possessions and opportunities, is the scientific
process by which man may become master of his own life and evolve to
higher and still higher planes of being, even here in the present life.

The question of rewards and punishments hereafter, and what we may expect,
or hope, or fear, that we will _get_, will sink into utter nothingness
before the great and ever-growing question of what we _are_, and what we
are determined to _become_.

Incidentally with this dominating impulse and determination will be the
growth and development of the spiritual body, and the intuition and
guiding light of the Individual Intelligence. We shall become consciously
_aware_ of this as a constant personal experience demanding no further
proof. It is _knowledge_ of the soul _direct_.

Every faculty, capacity, and power of the soul will be our willing
servant.

This is Constructive Psychology, and is a normal evolution under both
Natural and Divine Law: "Living the Life that we may know the doctrine."

It is practical, scientific Psychology worked out and demonstrated in the
Laboratory of Life. Religions and Revelations will no longer be mysteries,
but open books; for we shall be in touch with their source and at-one with
their inspiration.

This is what is meant by "The School of Natural Science."

Nor is it an idle speculation, nor merely a thing "devoutly to be
wished."

If the whole nature of man is built and operated under law; if he is, as
he seems to be, an aggregate of all substances, an epitome of all
principles and processes; then it follows that to understand these laws,
processes and correspondences, is to become _master_ of them and of life.

Wonderful as have been the discoveries in nature's finer forces and in
applied science, all that science has discovered or invented, or art has
devised, is like children's toys, when compared with the subtle and
marvelous mechanism of man's organism.

The rhythmic beating of the heart, synchronous with respiration and the
circulation of the blood, are sufficient illustrations. But even this
concerns the vehicle, not the driver; the instrument, not the player upon
this "harp of a thousand strings."

When it comes to the mental and psychical realm, cognition is direct and
immediate. We become "aware" of relations and processes, of sequences and
powers, by intuition, as we are _aware_ of the Self.

This is _apperception_ in its highest sense. Not through the mind, which
is a _process_ and a function, but through that which uses, controls and
dominates the mind, viz.: the Individual Intelligence, the Soul.

In the mind, in daily life, _we_ weigh and measure, reason, choose,
compare, and adjust. In intuition or apperception it is borne in, or comes
like a flash of light, and seems as if "we always knew it."

We may somewhat haltingly describe the process, but we can never impart
the knowledge to another, because it is an _individual experience_. As
easily could another feel, sense, and _realize_ the pain of thrusting our
finger into the fire, as to receive vicariously, from us, a _real_
physical experience.

Here lies the difficulty, often the impossibility, of the teacher or the
Master, in imparting his knowledge.

I am _entirety satisfied_ that by personal effort and experience along
these lines of normal higher evolution, there comes a time and a degree of
unfoldment and power when, from knowledge and self-mastery, the
Master--the Individual Intelligence--having evolved and learned to
_control_ the spiritual body, can consciously and deliberately pass out of
the physical body and return to it at will. He can do this as consciously
and completely as it occurs at death; can go where he pleases, within the
range of his unfoldment or spiritual experience, and retain conscious
memory of it all after his return to the physical body.

And suppose this all to be true, how can he demonstrate the fact, or
transmit the experience to another; and particularly if that other
declared to begin with that, "the whole process is absurd and
impossible"?

Nor is mere credulity here a highway to knowledge. It is merely the
opposite pole of incredulity, and both are begotten by ignorance.

Analogy and the basic principles and laws of scientific psychology are
very different matters indeed. They point in this direction like a theorem
in mathematics. The principles and laws being grasped and apprehended, the
solution becomes only a question of _work_; and at every step the law is
verified, "Backward and forward it still spells the same."

What is this but the _methods_ of Natural Science applied to Psychical
Science upon the basis of the Unity of Natural Phenomena and Universal
Law?

There is nothing to prevent any of us from starting on this upward journey
of the soul, if we choose; and never till we do, shall we really begin to
_know_, to realize our birthright, and progress toward the realm of
eternal day.

The science of ethics, the basis of morals, is the starting point, the
first step; and _leading the life_, the way. And there is no climbing up
some other way. So said the Master of Galilee, and so say the real Masters
in all times.

When Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life," he doubtless
meant that these were all _in him_, and he at-one with them.

When Jesus said, "I and the Father are _one_. No one cometh to the Father
but by me," he doubtless referred to this at-one-ment as the only way by
which the natural man--Adam--could become the Spiritual man--_Christos_.

When he said, "The kingdom of heaven is within you," he undoubtedly meant
that "heaven" is a condition, a harmonic state, and not a place.

We undoubtedly create our own "hell" and our own "heaven," and people them
with "devils" or with "angels."

True Science and true Religion clasp hands, and are like the two hands of
the one body of Truth. They check each other, supplement each other,
harmonize each other.

Superstition and blind dogma are the enemies of true Science;
Religion--never.

Science and Religion are the handmaids of Truth; because both are the
children of Divinity, the agents of Light and of Eternal Progress for
Man.

This building of character, this growth of the soul, this Harmonic of
Evolution, is a matter of _work_; of personal endeavor, of valid, real,
personal experience.

Its results are our _real_ possessions, our "treasure in heaven" that
nothing can ever destroy. Life and Death may ebb and flow, and come and
go; but _we_ may, if we will, go on forever; or we may turn the other way
and go down to death. _Some day_ every human soul will elect, choose, and
decide and then start on the journey, North or South.

This is the meaning of Soul, of Individual Intelligence, of Rational
Volition, of Personal Responsibility.

It is the Science of Nature aligned with Divinity, and compassing
Humanity.

The purpose of these outlines, suggestions, analogies, and inferences, is
to show that this life is a period of gestation, in close analogy and
comparable with that of the child _in utero_; that with the web and woof
of character, organ and function, impulse and use, opportunity and
destiny, we are building a spiritual body, the _immediate vehicle_ of the
soul, as literally as is the physical body on the outer material plane;
that the laws of Spiritual health and vitality are as concrete,
apprehensible, and demonstrable as those of physiology.

Normal use under law develops health, harmony, and strength, in the one
case as in the other, demonstrably; and these laws, accurately formulated
and demonstrated, constitute the School of Natural Science, accessible to
all prepared to receive and wisely use them; advancement depending on
progress, thoroughness, and loyalty, in all preceding degrees.

Is it worth while?




CHAPTER VI

THE CROSS IN RELIGION AND THE CRUX IN SCIENCE
WITH THE GREAT WORK IN AMERICA


With the progress of civilization and the general growth and diffusion of
intelligence everywhere, there is one problem upon which all else
focalizes, though the fact seems to be seldom clearly apprehended or
realized.

Not only do science and religion face each other at one point, but the
life of each is at that one point involved. It is not only the often
recognized "conflict between Religion and Science," which was long ago
worn threadbare. It is the fact that both Science and Religion are out of
joint with themselves.

The battle-ground may, in a broad way, be named Psychology. All problems
and all discussions of the real issues arise from, involve, or center
around, the nature, laws that govern, and destiny of the Human Soul.

From the very nature of these problems, their intricacy and diversity,
they remained the latest in the categories of Science to be seriously
investigated.

For the same reasons they have been the subject of dogma and revelation in
religion, with doors slammed in the face of all investigation as not only
useless, but wicked, and often made dangerous.

Between the agnosticism of Science, and the dogmatism of Religion,
knowledge has been crucified, and there it hangs to-day, a crux to the
one, and the Cross to the other: The same problem, only facing different
ways.

And yet the Reconciliation is not far to seek. It is difficult for the
average churchman, or theologian, to apprehend and remember, that a
_fact_, in nature or in life, is one thing; and that the _interpretation_,
or _explanation_ put upon that fact, by any man, or body of men, is
another thing entirely. Here is where Belief, Dogma, and Heresy come in.
As soon as one denies the interpretation, he is accused of denying the
fact, no matter how illogical or absurd the interpretation may be, on the
one hand, or how openly he admits the fact as the basis of his own
conclusions, on the other.

Few individuals will be found nowadays who deny the _fact_ of the birth,
life, mission, and death of Jesus of Nazareth. But the interpretations
read into the fact differ so widely as to result in almost numberless
sects, and an endless war of words. All this theological wrangling may be
focalized at one point, almost on a single word. Did Jesus of Nazareth
differ in kind or in _Degree_, from the rest of Humanity?

If he had "a like nature with ours," as he and his disciples took the
utmost pains to declare, and to demonstrate, then he differed in _degree_
of unfoldment, and was indeed, our Elder Brother; He differed as the holy
differs from the unholy; as the pure differs from the impure; as the kind
and charitable differ from the unkind and the uncharitable. It is just at
this point that all the theological juggling comes in, in the effort to
reconcile contradictions and irreconcilable paradoxes, under the
designation--Mystery, Miracle, and Faith. Few theologians would admit that
it is desirable, even if possible, that the mystery and miracle should
disappear, and that wisdom and understanding should take their place. In
other words, that Jesus should be proved an evolution under both natural
and divine law, as the result of "Living the Life."

Bear in mind that we are dealing with _Interpretations_ only, and with the
opinions of men; and that there is nothing "sacred" or "holy" about these
opinions, no matter how they may be hedged about by dogma, or ecclesiastic
authority. The Immaculate Conception; the Virgin Birth; the Resurrection
of the physical body, and the Vicarious Atonement, are each and all
Dogmas; the opinions of men, in _interpreting_ the mystery, and miracle,
they have assigned to the nature of Jesus, in what they call the "plan,"
or the "Scheme of Salvation."

If the nature of Jesus were radically and essentially different from ours;
if he differed from us in _kind_, instead of in _degree_; if he were "very
God," instead of a perfected man, as the result of "Living the Life"; then
he can have little in common with us; and, so far as "like natures,"
"common temptations," and human sympathies, and destinies, are concerned,
he might as well have been born on the planet Mars.

But suppose that psychic and spiritual science could so define the
faculties, capacities, and powers of man, and the nature and laws of the
human soul, as to demonstrate the fact that Jesus became _Christos_
through "living the life," and "doing the will of the Father," in strict
conformity to both Natural and Divine Law, thus revealing the fact that
these _potencies_ are _latent_ in every human soul: that it does not
depend so much upon what we _believe_, as upon what we _do_; not so much
upon what we _profess_, as upon what we _are_; not so much upon what Jesus
did for us, as upon what we do for ourselves and for others, in strict
analogy with the life and the teachings of Jesus. Would not Jesus become,
indeed and in truth, a _Living Example_, in place of a "Blood Offering"?

Theology ignores and sophisticates _Personal Responsibility_, which
everything else, and every experience in life, justifies and enforces as
the basis of Morals.

On the other hand, so-called Psychic Science misapprehends, belittles, and
sophisticates the Human Will, the prime Motor Power of Man. It then
confuses Rational Volition and Domination by juggling with the words
_Suggestion_ and _Hypnosis_.

This reveals the fact that they have no rational concept whatever of the
psychical nature of man, not even a "working hypothesis" of the Human
Soul. Theologians affirm, "Science" denies, and so they still face each
other in this Twentieth Century with "A war of words," though, to a
considerable extent, they have ceased making faces and calling each other
names, because there is a deeper struggle going on.

The Theological Hierarchy, worldly-wise in every generation, has dropped
the cry of _Heresy_ and gone to the very foundations of our civilization.
They are sapping and mining the foundations of civil Liberty, the
"self-evident truths," and the "Inalienable Rights," upon which this
government was founded.

Here is a thoroughly-organized, relentless determination, openly declared,
and well under way to destroy our "Free Public Schools," and substitute
that "Organized Ignorance," the Parochial Schools, as the first step in
reuniting Church and State, through dogmatic authority instilled into the
youths of this country. Not one citizen in a thousand seems to realize
what is here being attempted, how thoroughly organized it is, or what
immense progress in this direction has already been made; or, if they
know, they do not seem to care.

It may thus be seen what practical and vital issues we are facing and how
much is involved in the "Cross of Religion," and the "Crux of Science."

Intelligence, Education, the Light of Science, and the Illumination of
true Religion, are pitted in a conflict with Ignorance, Superstition, and
Fear; dogmatism, degeneration, and devolution.

Science and Religion represent different departments in human interests
and the life of man. So far as they are each true, they must eventually,
and inevitably clasp hands, instead of working at cross-purposes.

Actual knowledge of the human soul, as a Science of psychology, on the one
hand; and the duty of man to himself, to his fellows, and to God, and the
destiny of the human soul as essential religion, on the other; must
constitute the basis of union, and the point of agreement.

The accredited psychology of to-day has hitherto failed to demonstrate any
actual knowledge of the human soul, or even to postulate its existence, as
a fact in nature.

The theologies and religions of to-day appeal largely to superstition and
fear, and support their dogmas by "revelations," the diverse
interpretations of which have segregated religions into a large number of
sects with no bond of union or basis of agreement.

Competition here, in securing proselytes, differs little, except in name,
from that everywhere in evidence between commercial organizations. It is
hardly "the survival of the fittest," but rather, as everywhere, and in
all ages, the triumph of the most powerful, aggressive, and unscrupulous.
The Roman Hierarchy is still in the lead, with its Pope "infallible," and
anathematizing all progress and enlightenment, under the designation of
"Modernism," and all its energy exerted to perpetuate the "Dark Ages."

It is thus that priestcraft masquerades in the name of religion to enslave
the human soul. Still outside this Babel of religion and science, lie
numberless cults and organizations professing both liberty and
enlightenment along the lines of man's spiritual nature, not one of which
puts forth any _clear and definite theorem_ of the human soul. With mere
assertions, instead of demonstrated facts, and appealing often to the
desire for wealth, health, and comfort in their followers, they often
declare that one has only to "_demand_" these things, in order to have
them. Justice and the law of compensation are often entirely ignored, and
the methods employed are _un_moral, to say the least, almost without
exception, unscientific, and wholly empirical.

Occasionally we find "Leaders," or "Official Heads," whose colossal
ignorance of either moral or spiritual Law, is only equaled by their
monumental egotism, and this does not prevent them from gaining
proselytes, and amassing fortunes in their own name.

It would be difficult to see how many of these cults differ, either in
principle or practice, or in the results wrought out in their disciples,
from the Priestcraft already referred to.

They advertise an open thoroughfare, and seem to promise something for
nothing, but from the vicarious atonement, up or down the scale, the
votaries pay in "mint, anise, and cummin," while ignorantly blind to the
weightier matters of the law.

To one who for half a century has studied these personal and social
problems, and witnessed the rise and fall of many of these cults, from the
Fox Sisters and Spiritualism, to Braid and Hypnotism, while Priestcraft
and Popery, like Tennyson's brook, "go on forever," it all seems pitiful
that mankind must pay so dearly for freedom, enlightenment, and
knowledge.

And yet, when the real teacher comes, the rabble so long exploited cry,
"Away with him," "Crucify him." When the rabble at last repent,
Priestcraft shifts its tactics and deifies the sacrifice, which it
instigated, and so perpetuates the eternal tragedy.

Those familiar with the "Seeking after God," and for real knowledge of the
essential nature of man, in all ages, are aware that there have always
been, in every age, those who have achieved it. It has been known, or
rather concealed, under many names. Its possessors and teachers have been
reviled, persecuted, crucified, and thus their work has been hindered and
often defeated.

The ignorant and superstitious feared it. The vicious, ambitious, and
time-serving hated it, because it prevented the few from dominating and
exploiting the many; liberating, as it does, the earnest seeker after
truth and enlightenment from the bondage of ignorance, dogma,
superstition, and fear, in every form.

Hence Institutional Religions, Schools of Philosophy, Coteries,
Syndicates, and many other organizations of men, constituted to dominate
and rule the masses, have been the sworn foes of individual liberty and
enlightenment, and of the "Illuminati," or real teachers in every age, and
a perpetual menace to their work.

Real knowledge of the nature and destiny of man, has first to be
discovered, then recovered, and possessed. To become available, it must be
simplified, formulated, and finally promulgated in some form, so as to
reach those ready and capable of receiving it.

It must be sought earnestly and deservedly. The candidate must demonstrate
that he is duly and truly prepared, worthy, and well qualified. Every step
in advance is determined by his understanding and use of what he has
hitherto received.

The real possession of this sublime wisdom is an evolution from within and
not something communicated from without.

It is, literally, the building of character and the growth of the soul, as
the highway of knowledge.

To discover, possess, exemplify, and promulgate this knowledge, this
higher evolution of the Individual Intelligence, in the face of all
obstacles and difficulties, has been known and designated for ages as the
_Magnum Opus_, the "Great Work." It is, indeed, the greatest work either
known, permitted or possible to man. It solves the riddle of the Sphinx of
Life and makes Man Master of his own destiny.

Such a Master lives in a new world, untrammeled by the things of sense and
time. He has indeed, "lived the life to know the doctrine," and can say
with Jesus, in sincerity and truth, "I, and the Father, are One," because
we are _at-one_.

There is not a particle of evidence in history, in philosophy, or in
science, to show that anyone has ever reached such knowledge, liberation,
and enlightenment, in any other way than that in which Jesus attained it;
viz.: by renouncing the ordinary ambitions of life, wealth, fame, and
power, and by overcoming selfishness and the lusts of the flesh; devoting
their lives to the good of mankind, "without the hope of fee or reward."
As the whole work is a spiritual unfoldment, and from beginning to end a
refining process, it is easy to see how and why the conditions are what
they are, and have always been the same.

This is why those who have no apprehension or conception of the process,
can see only mystery and miracle in the result.

If anyone cites the so-called "black magicians" of Egypt, and of
antiquity, to refute the moral code as the essential condition of
attainment, they will find that these priests and "magi climbing up some
other way," and whom Jesus designated as "thieves and robbers," could
never function or pass beyond the so-called "astral plane." Here is where
the Sibyl and the "virgin seer" came in.

This is clearly shown in that little book "The Idyll of the White Lotus,"
as in several of Bulwer's novels. Hypnotism and Ceremonial Magic, as
revealed in the writings of Abbe Constant, represent ambition for
knowledge and power without "living the life," and at any cost to mankind.
These _Margraves_ have often existed, sealed their own fate, and "gone to
their own place." H. P. Blavatsky referred to them as "lost souls," or
"soulless individuals." They are also graphically described in "The
Strange Story of Arinzeman."

There was always the "Right-hand Path," and the "Left-hand Path."

Even a slight familiarity with ancient literatures and philosophies
reveals the fact, that all these things have been known for ages. The
subtlety of the Hindoo mind has been such as to leave no phase of mental
or psychic phenomena uninvestigated.

To the casual and uninstructed reader, it often seems like an endless and
hopeless jungle, and he is unable to bring order out of the seemingly
endless confusion.

There is not a single percept or concept in what is now called "New
Thought," that may not be found repeated with almost endless variations
thousands of years ago.

Reference has already been made to the conditions imposed upon the student
who aspires to know, and to become.

The obligations upon the teacher are no less stringent, for both are, from
first to last, working under both natural and spiritual law to which they
are bound to conform.

To be possessed of such knowledge the teacher must have abandoned worldly
ambition, the love of wealth, and the applause of men. All motives of
time-serving and self-seeking must assail him in vain. He becomes the
almoner of the treasure-house of Light and Knowledge. He must exemplify
what he teaches. If he can impart his knowledge, or assist an aspiring and
worthy brother, it must be in the way he has himself received it, "without
money and without price," or any "hope of reward or fee," and the brother
so receiving, in his own degree, must be ready to pass it on under
precisely the same terms and conditions.

The teacher, therefore, must be in a position to give or to withhold;
promulgate or conceal; teach or refuse to teach; governed solely by Truth
and Law, and the solemn obligation under which he has himself received
it.

The meaning of the saying, "strait is the gate and narrow is the way, and
few there be who find it," may thus be made apparent.

Fragments of this wisdom are found scattered through the ages, with here
and there one who has achieved it.

For two or three centuries the early Christian Church undertook to work on
these lines, and instituted three degrees, as abundantly shown in the
writings of many of the so-called "Christian, or Church Fathers."

Jesus said to his disciples, "I have many things to say unto you, but ye
cannot bear them now." And again, "The works that I do, ye shall do also,
and greater things than these shall ye do, because I go to the Father."
And again, "Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of
heaven, but to them who are without, it is not given."

Mysteries, indeed, to the ignorant monks who were already wrangling over
creed, and dogmas, and who, in 325 at the First Council at Nice, fought it
out surrounded by the soldiers of the Pagan Emperor, Constantine; and thus
settled the "orthodox _interpretation_," of what they were wholly
incompetent to understand. Their successors are still engaged in the same
wrangle of interpretation, so far as the "Infallible Pope," and dogma of
obedience, at Rome has been unable to suppress it.

Somewhere between the middle of the first and second centuries, an effort
at union and reconciliation arose from another quarter. Ammonius Saccas, a
Neo-Platonist, endeavored to unite men of different cults and beliefs on
the lines of the Great Work, precisely as the Philalethean Society is
doing in New York to-day; but his movement was soon engulfed and lost
sight of by the tide of Ecclesiasticism, or suppressed by the soldiers of
Constantine.

I am not attempting a history, for that would fill volumes. I am only
giving a few sidelights of the Great Work.

In the Tenth Century, at Baghdad, a society was formed admitting Jews,
Christians, Mohammedans, and atheists, with a similar purpose.

During the time of Martin Luther, John Reuchlin made a similar attempt.
Both Reuchlin and Luther were pupils of Trithemius, the Abbot of St.
Jacob's at Wuerzburg, one of whose books I possess, printed in the year
1600, and also another book, "The Theosophical Transactions of the
Philadelphian Society," printed in London in 1697. Browning's "Paracelsus"
gives a splendid outline of the philosophy and teachings of Trithemius,
and rescues Paracelsus with all who can understand, from the vile slanders
of his monkish enemies; and Robert Browning wrote his "Paracelsus" at the
age of twenty-three! Can you wonder why so few "understand Browning"?

For more than fifteen hundred years mankind has been involved between the
speculations of Philosophy, on the one hand, and the creeds and dogmas of
Theology, on the other.

There was also the deliberate destruction of ancient monuments, scrolls,
and records, by religious fanatics. Diocletian, in A.D. 296, burned the
books of the Egyptians. Caesar burned 700,000 Rolls at Alexandria, and Leo
Isaurus 300,000 at Constantinople in the eighth century. Then came the
Mohammedans, who destroyed the remainder of the accessible scrolls at
Alexandria. Gangs of fanatical Monks, Christian and Pagan, roamed over
Europe destroying and defacing everything upon which they could lay their
hands, as witnesses against their dogmas and superstitions. Even to-day,
in India, it is difficult for Europeans to gain access to genuine ancient
records. The records of these barbarities are still fresh in the minds of
the guardians of sacred lore.

Even with such a record for thousands of years, Ecclesiasticism is as
arrogant and rampant as ever to-day. The wonder is, that there is anything
left but barbarism.

Two writers declare that the most ancient and valuable of the records of
the Alexandrian Library were kept in secret crypts known only to the
highest officials, and preserved still in secret crypts known only to the
Illuminati. In Baalbec and all through the East to-day these underground
temples are being explored, and even the fragments found excite wonder and
admiration. Ignorant Barbarians may be destructive on general principles,
but fanatical Ecclesiasticism has ever been destructive of all light,
knowledge and civilization, through insane hatred or pure "cussedness"! We
need only to regard intelligently what it has done, and is doing for
Southern Europe to-day.

Can you wonder that the real science of the Human Soul found little
recognition, or that it was denied as possible to man?

As already shown, the Science of to-day has neither recognized nor worked
up to it; and the Theology of to-day covers it with fable, mystery, and
miracle as of old.

In spite of both these the "Philalethean Society" exists, the "Seekers
after God" were never more numerous than now, and the _Magnum Opus_, the
Great Work, was never, in the whole history of man, more in evidence than
it is to-day.

               "Truth crushed to Earth shall rise again,
               The Eternal years of God are hers."

Can it be that there is no great truth back of all these struggles and
aspirations of the human soul? That there is no possible realization back
of these soulful endeavors?

Is Tantalus, after all, the creator and Father of Man? inspired only by
love of disappointment, defeat, and despair, in his children?

_For one, I do not believe it._

To plant these aspirations in the soul of man, and doom them to
everlasting disappointment and defeat, would brand the creator of man as
an Infinite Liar, instead of a Loving Father.

The earnest student must first learn to recognize, and to discriminate;
for the "blind leaders of the blind" are always legions.

This power of discrimination, to which I have referred, goes deeper, and
means far more, than most persons ever realize, and this is why so many
are continually deceived.

It is the light of understanding, of spiritual intelligence, within the
soul of man.

It may be likened to a traveler in a foreign country, and a strange land,
suddenly hearing one speaking fluently his own language, his native
tongue. It is impossible to deceive him. In this case, however, it is not
the mere words, the inflection or pronunciation, but the ideas,
sentiments, and principles expressed.

"Liberty, Fraternity, Equality," for example; or sympathy, Charity, and
loving kindness.

The "sign of the Master" is at once recognized by one already prepared to
receive and to understand it. The soul that really desires truth and
wisdom above all things, has thereby developed the power to recognize it.

This is the discrimination referred to. It is not what someone else tells
you, or what another claims. It is what _you_ discern and recognize, and
the teaching and the life are in perfect harmony, like chords in music;
and they strike a harmonic chord in you, that may be first a surprise, and
soon a great joy and a bright light.

It is not a question of authority, and of credentials, but of intrinsic
reality. You must know how to assay and test the gold yourself. This is
where the "Alchemy of the Great Work" comes in, and here lies the
beginning of Adeptship, the preparation for the "Great Work." I can
demonstrate this from a score of old books, some of them going back many
centuries.

It has also been symbolized and picturegraphed 'til the imagination ran
riot, and ingenuity and fancy became lost, like ideas in a fantasy of
words.

I know of but one place, one Institution, in modern times, where these
essential truths of the Great Work have been preserved as a consistent
whole, and that is in the symbolism of Free Masonry, but the craft long
ago lost the real interpretation, though many to-day are on the lines that
lead to it.

The whole symbolism and ritual of the Blue Lodge in Masonry is, from
beginning to end, _a symbol of the journey of the human soul on this
earth_, from darkness to light; from sin to righteousness; from ignorance
to wisdom and understanding.

In other words, it is an exact _theorem_ and solution of the _Magnum
Opus_; a symbol of the philosophy and accomplishment of the GREAT WORK.

The science and the theology of the present day have been briefly
contrasted. Neither of them pretends to give us any real science of the
human soul.

Science says frankly she "does not know." Theology bids us believe and
obey; trust and hope. Philosophy speculates and reasons, while amusing
itself with the kaleidoscope of "postulates" and "categories."

Science must deal with facts, demonstrate their actuality, and classify
them; that is, find their natural order and sequence.

In psychology, the facts are _within_ the realm of consciousness, and
therefore their demonstration is a matter of individual experience. This
is why psychology differs from all other sciences.

No one can transfer his individual experiences directly to another. He can
describe how he gained them, and give the result and conclusions, and here
is where those who know nothing of the real problem, are often both
incredulous and contemptuous. The only answer to these is, "they are
joined to their idols, let them alone." "They would not believe though one
arose from the dead," and yet we are told again and again that the "School
of Natural Science" is the "school of personal experience."

It may be well to reflect a moment, and ask ourselves, how it is that we
really know anything? Is it not through personal experience? Real
knowledge comes, and can come, in no other way.

No teacher of the real science of psychology can ever transmit or transfer
his knowledge to another. All he can do is to describe the methods, and
steps, by which he acquired it, and assist the student in acquiring it for
himself in the same way, or under the same processes and laws.

We have only to reflect on the ordinary experiences of life, to realize
that this is a universal principle and rule. In the deeper science of the
soul, and the higher life, instead of this law being relaxed, it becomes
all the more binding.

Do not the principles that adhere in atom, molecule and mass, still hold
in worlds and solar systems? Is not this precisely what is meant by "The
Reign of Law"? If man were built upon some other scheme or plan than the
rest of nature, how could he apprehend or adjust himself to Nature? The
very _concept_ of miracle is _lawlessness_, and mystery is but another
name for _ignorance_.

Knowledge means experience and apprehension of Law.

Neither can the laws of Nature and the laws of God be at cross-purposes,
for that would make harmony impossible and inconceivable.

The confusion and discord are all in us, and the Great Work means
adjustment, harmony, and then Knowledge.

It is the journey of the human soul on the Royal Highway to Light,
Liberation, and Eternal Day.

For many centuries those who have achieved this Wisdom, this "Great Work,"
have been trying to make it accessible to mankind, and to place it in such
form that the ethical, scientific, and philosophical principles involved,
and upon which it is based, should not again be lost. Every such effort
has hitherto failed.

The scientific spirit of the present age, in a very broad way, seemed to
offer a new and a more advantageous opportunity; for the whole process is
one of strict science.

The Psychology of the present day has become involved in phenomena and
automatism, and is in no sense _constructive_. It is one thing to build
theories, and quite a different thing to systematize demonstrated facts,
through the recognition of co-ordinate relations, and underlying law.

The work is open and accessible to all who manifest real interest, an open
mind, and who have the intelligence and discrimination to recognize the
character of the work. It has never, in the history of man, been open in
any other way, on any other terms, or to any other individuals.

Those who can fill these requirements constitute to-day a larger number
than have before existed at any one time, for perhaps many centuries.

The "School of Natural Science" is in evidence. The "Great Work" is
carefully outlined.

There is no bar to one's making a beginning on the path, except
indifference, incredulity, preoccupation, or prejudice; and these need not
be in the least disturbed, for they will be kindly and courteously passed
by.

Arguments, controversy, and proselyting, have no part in the Great Work,
as there is no organization, and no personal ambitions to serve.

Those who speak a common language, are inspired by a common purpose, and
aspire to a common and universal good, will, soon or late, find themselves
associated together and co-operating.

It is like a chorus of voices when an old song is started that we loved in
childhood. Each takes up the strain, falls into his own part, and helps to
swell the harmony, from the joy of his own heart.

Those who "never did like the song," will "quietly steal away." Both
Swedenborg and Emerson have sufficiently illustrated the "Law of
Correspondencies," and "compensation," to reveal the basis of all
harmonious human associations, whether on the earth, or on other planes of
being. Hence the "Harmonics of Evolution," was the forerunner of the
"Great Work."

The pitiable byplay and claptrap of "Affinities" so often seen and heard
nowadays, where all previous obligations are ignored, and personal
responsibilities set at naught, only serve to emphasize the real law of
harmony and constructive evolution, by showing what it is not.

The Great Work digs to the very foundations of life, and all human
associations, and reveals the Good, the True, and the Beautiful, in the
building of character, and the adornment of the Temple of the Human Soul.

This is indeed----

                 "Eternal Progress moving on,
                 From state to state the spirit walks."

Death is neither the end nor the beginning. It is only a change in pitch,
a shifting of keys, and the same old Song of Life goes on, if we have but
learned the score, and caught the harmony.

Salvation is not a thing accomplished once for all. We have only to
consider the monotony, the poverty of invention, and imagination, of those
who have tried to portray the joy of the Redeemed in heaven, in order to
realize what a bore it would soon become, if that were all.

Inspiration, achievement, and eternal progress, with more and more
helpfulness to others, with plane after plane achieved, revealing plane
after plane beyond--does not this appeal far more strongly to the highest
and best in us all?

And pray, what is this, but the _Great Work_, that I have tried herein to
outline, and as taught and lived by Jesus, and every great Master the
world has ever known? Each has achieved in his own degree, worded it in
his own way, and "stepped out of sunlight into shade, to make more room
for others."

Long before the birth of Jesus, it was said, "The wise and peaceful ones
live, renewing the earth like the coming of Spring." And having themselves
crossed the ocean of embodied existence, help all those who try to do the
same thing, without personal motive.

I have endeavored to give a general outline of the Great Work, drawn from
history, tradition, philosophy, and symbolism, down to the present year of
grace. I find many corroborations, many things pointing in the same
general direction. But I find but one concise and definite _formulation_
of the _scientific theorem_, in which the outline is clear, and the
analogy complete, and thereby made accessible and apprehensible to the
open-minded and intelligent student.

Such students need experience no real difficulty in finding a clew to the
labyrinth of life, or, as our ancient brothers put it in regard to the
_Magnum Opus_--"a key to the closed palace of the king."

This is the purpose of the "Harmonic Series" of books. They need rest upon
no authority beyond the intrinsic evidence of truth, on every page. If
they are not consistent in themselves, then they must fall in pieces. The
only appeal to the reader is: read them carefully, analyze your own mind
and soul, and come to your own conclusions. If they find no response, no
answering chord in you, then they were written for someone else, or in
vain.

One further consideration remains to be noted at this time, as the
question is sure to arise: "How about woman in the Great Work?" Seldom in
the past has she received recognition, since the earliest days in Old
India, though here and there have been the most noble women.

I heard Anna Dickinson, many years ago, open one of her famous lectures
with these words, "I claim for man and woman alike, the right to attempt
and win. I claim for man and woman alike, the right to attempt and fail."

It seems to me to-day, as it did more than thirty years ago, that this is
the whole problem in a nutshell, and that any number of words could add
nothing to the statement.

The Great Work is as open to woman as to man, and on the same terms. They
have perhaps more to overcome in some directions, and men more in others.
This is like saying, "man and woman are different," that is all.

One thing is certain; there will never be an ideal social state on earth,
or a heaven anywhere, except as men and women _co-operate_ together for
the happiness of each, and the highest, noblest, cleanest good of all, and
this is only another phase or department of the Great Work.




CHAPTER VII

THE MODULUS OF NATURE AND THE THEOREM OF PSYCHOLOGY


The Science of Psychology, like any other science, must deal with
demonstrated facts, classify them, and systematize the resulting
categories.

Strictly logical conclusions drawn from categories of facts so derived,
deserve the name of Science.

Science is, therefore, a definite method of arriving at exact conclusions.
No other method can legitimately bear the name of science.

No one pretends to dispute the conclusions logically involved in the
Binomial Theorem; or in the Parallelogram of forces; or in correlative
mechanical equivalents; or in many of the known laws of chemistry and
physiology.

When, however, we come to mental processes and psychical phenomena, the
facts are so redundant, and so differently reported and apprehended, that
argument, belief and prejudice, credulity and incredulity, overshadow and
drown with a war of words all clear, scientific methods or conclusions.

But if man, as a whole, is a fact in nature; or if "God made Man a Living
Soul," then the whole nature of man exists under law, and is apprehensible
to science.

Man's function as a scientist is to read, to reflect, to weigh, to
measure, and to understand.

There are those who object to Natural Science as applied to "Divine"
things. They would preserve the mystery, and seem to prefer miracle and
dogma to knowledge and law.

Their preference is to be respected, even though ignorance and
superstition result. Since the domain of science, in America at least, is
no longer restricted by ecclesiastic law, the conflict between Religion
and Science has gradually disappeared, and the conflict is rather that
between knowledge and ignorance, with ignorance on the wane.

"Things settled by long use, if not absolutely good, at least fit well
together."

This transition period seems confusing to many earnest souls with its "New
Thought," its "occultisms" and its "Lo here's" and "Lo there's." But
through and beneath it all, may be heard a note of harmony, the promise
and the potency of the triumph of light and knowledge.

We may not know the final results, but every sincere and earnest seeker
may have the peaceful assurance that he is on the open highway that leads
to the noblest and the best.

The assurance of knowledge but makes clearer the revelations of faith.

That "absentee God"--of which Carlyle wrote, has been discerned as the
Universal Intelligence, and equally Love and Law.

Among recent writers and books on the subject of psychology, Professor
Hugo Muensterberg's "Psychotherapy" occupies a very high place. It appeals
especially to the physician, more familiar than others with morbid
psychical states. Here I can look back on almost half a century of
experience, the most active, in dealing with these cases.

But I am at present less concerned with mental pathology and therapy, than
with the general psychological basis; the _causative_ categories upon
which they are based, and which occupy the first half of Muensterberg's
book.

Dividing the whole subject--the content of consciousness, all the
faculties, capacities and powers, all processes and sequences--into two
general groups or classes, the _purposive_ and the _causal_, Muensterberg
declares that "the _causal_ view only is the view of psychology"; "the
_purposive_ view lies outside of psychology." (P. 14.)

I hold, that without the _purposive_ view equally included and
co-ordinated, there can be no such thing as Scientific Psychology. Half
views will hardly admit of synthetic generalizations.

The complete separation here instituted, between the purposive and
causal factors, in itself, for purposes of definition and study, need not
be objected to, if it were consistently carried out, which it is not. He
so nearly pre-empts the whole ground for the _causal_, giving scant
courtesy to the _purposive_, merely a few crumbs of comfort, so that
it cannot be said to be ignored altogether, and drops the scientific
method entirely in dealing with it; assenting to moral precepts and
principles, without a clew to any scientific basis, that one must object
to the _name_--Psychology--as being applied to it at all. It contains
no hint of a "knowledge of the Soul."

It is the Vito-Motor mechanism of the Mind. The Automatism of the
elements, incidents, changes, and sequences of our states of
consciousness; based upon, and including all that we know of physiology.
Along these lines, Muensterberg's work has probably never been equaled. It
is concise, comprehensive, and exhaustive.

His physical, physiological, and mental syntheses are well-nigh complete.

Whenever, in the future, what he calls "the _purposive_ view" shall be
resurrected from the obscurity and nescience to which he has assigned it,
and really habilitated in the garb of Science, and recognized as the
lawful spouse of the _causal_, we shall indeed have a true Psychology, a
Science of the Human Soul.

Muensterberg neither scouts nor denies the possibility of such a future
discovery. In the meantime, his viewpoint, and necessarily some of his
conclusions and generalizations, are one-sided, and out of focus.

Emphasizing the _causal_ as he does, this could hardly be otherwise; and
from this point of view, and for this reason, his practical Psychotherapy
is purely empirical.

We need not deny his facts, or his results, even when mixed with hypnosis,
more than he does the "cures" in "Christian Science," "Faith Cures," at
Lourdes, or by the "laying on of hands." All these things are too well
known, and not one of them deserves the name of Science. They are solely
empirical methods. Muensterberg's broader view and deeper analysis give to
his methods great prominence, and he can point to no results that
transcend the others. These facts and these results are as old as the
history of man. They have, even as he points out, constituted epidemics of
"cure."

There is, moreover, a scientific view and method regarding what he calls
the purposive view which he overlooks entirely, and which by emphasis of
the causal, makes seemingly impossible. It is our purpose to try and make
this clear.

His analysis of Suggestion, though largely automatic, is well-nigh
exhaustive. Awareness, and Attention, are illustrated copiously; but not
clearly differentiated as they may be, and actually are in the experience
of individual life.

Fortunately, and wisely, he eliminates the "Subconscious" as having no
real meaning or scientific value as now used.

But it might be applied to the Mental awareness of physiological
automatism (bodily habits, often beginning in an act of will, or
attention; writing, speaking, music, dancing, and the like, and in less
degree, all life impulses and movements below the line of attention or
awareness).

If, by courtesy, these might be called sub-conscious, then there is
another group above the habitual plane of awareness, that, by equal
courtesy, might be called Supra-conscious. But, unless it is remembered,
as Muensterberg points out, that, regardless of phenomena, _Consciousness
is one_, these terms can only lead to confusion.

Certain cases designated "multiple" or "dissociated personalities" have
only served to increase this confusion still further; and more especially,
when the effort has been made to patch them together, or to control them
from without, by hypnosis. The well-known case of "Sally," reported by Dr.
Morton Prince, stands at last, as a "personally conducted" psychological
excursion, with Sally still preserving her incognito, and as much a
mystery as ever.

That automatism incident to all progressive organization and perfection of
function, and through which physical, physiological, mental, and psychic
synthesis becomes possible, has been allowed to usurp the place of the
"Builder of the Temple," the "Driver of the Chariot," and the "Player"
upon the "Harp of a thousand strings." Harmony and equilibrium are
incidents resulting from _causative_ processes! We need only to know the
construction, relations of parts, and principles involved in the
vibrations of the Harp, in order to understand and appreciate the music.
The player, the musician--drunk, or sober, tone-blind or genius--is a mere
incident, and however _purposive_ or competent, is admitted by courtesy
only, and warned not to interfere too much with the Harp!

To build, and keep in order, and tune the Harp, constitutes the science of
music. Some day, when we have leisure and inclination, we may turn our
attention to the Musician, but that day seems far off. We admit that his
function is _purposive_. He, no doubt, has designs on the Harp, and upon
us, but we are handling musical instruments at present, and if he objects
to our calling ourselves "Musicians" (psychologists) he is impertinent,
and should study the science of music, or keep silent.

I am not "begging the question" in regard to the human soul. I am simply
emphasizing the fact of the Individual Intelligence, which, at the point
of equilibrium, sweeps the strings with that harmony which is the soul of
music.

This Harp of a thousand strings, is indeed, "fearfully and wonderfully
made." Its physics and kinetics; its consonants and dissonants; its
shifting keyboards; its changes in pitch, rhythm, and harmony from atom
and molecule, to neurons, cells and mass; with the tides of life--blood,
plasma, water, air, magnetism--sweeping the whole at every breath or pulse
beat, to the cry of the builder--Life--"out with the old! in with the
new!" and yet the _conscious identity_ in health, typically unchanged and
unchanging--_causative_, _designed_, _scientific_--yea verily! and
_purposive_, _human_, _intelligent_, _spiritual_, _divine_, but a dead
corpse, given over to decomposition the moment it is bereft of that
something we feel, and know, and name--the _Individual Intelligence_--the
Master Musician; or the staggering, drunk, crazy fiddler, with this Harp
of a thousand strings, twanging perhaps in a mad-house!

Put the house in order; analyze, and classify; adjust the furniture with
the handmaids of science, art, and beauty in evidence and at call; but for
goodness' sake! stop hypnotizing the musician--"Just a little"--under the
fallacy or the pretense of _strengthening_ the Will by _weakening_ it just
a little more! This is "giving your patients fits, because you are death
on fits"! Rescue Science from this atheromatous degeneration, and then
suppress the dabblers in "black magic" who pose as Hypnotists, as
Muensterberg advises.

For clear intelligence and exhaustive analysis, Muensterberg's
"Psychotherapy" is a masterpiece, but his psychic equation of _causative_
and _purposive_, with all his mathesis, not only remains unsolved, but
leads to confusion, from the false light shed on the unknown quantity, and
his failure to indicate the gnosis; the demarcation between automatism and
purposive Intelligence.

That this confusion exists in the daily life of the average individual
whose evolution is still incomplete; that it constitutes a large per cent.
of all cases of "dominant ideas," obsessions, riotous emotions and
passions; that it is nowhere recognized and defined in modern psychology,
or made synthetically clear in modern philosophy, all these lapses make it
all the more necessary that it should be clearly defined and made plain as
the basis of Scientific Psychology.

In addition to all this, if Muensterberg's conclusions and applications are
unsound because psychologically unscientific at the point; for example,
where he almost hesitatingly indorses hypnosis, however qualified or
safeguarded, he is certain to be quoted as authority on the subject by
those who will ignore all his qualifications to justify the practice.

In order to meet these imperative conditions, the attempt to formulate any
philosophy of psychology will not be made.

Even were such an attempt made successfully, that would remove the
discussion from the field of science, where it should by all means remain.
What we need is a real science of life, and this should involve the whole
mental and psychical realm, and lead ultimately to a knowledge of the
human soul.

Recognized facts in common experience only need be appealed to, though
different values will have to be placed upon some of these facts as their
importance is made plain.

We begin with the fact of consciousness. What it is, we do not know. What
it means and does, we know very largely and broadly. In itself, it is
purely passive. It never acts. Like space, it is the "all container." It
is the background, the theatre of our intelligence.

With the individual intelligence, plus, or with consciousness, we have
awareness. This is perception, or cognition, still negative.

These basic conditions, faculties and capacities, are like a company of
soldiers on parade. Now comes the "word of command"--_Attention_!

Latent consciousness--awareness--now becomes concentrated, focalized on
one point, one feeling, or emotion, or act. The soldiers "dress up,"
glance down the line, and are ready to act. Then comes the action, the
movement, the drill, or the fight.

The drill master is also a soldier, but he is in command. He is called the
Will. Without him and his recognized authority, the soldiers may be a mob,
or a rabble. With him, they "fall in line," give "attention," "dress up,"
and are ready to act.

These are facts, and are basic and primary in our conscious _awareness_
and _attention_ in consciousness; the one negative, though inclusive; the
other positive, and motor, or active.

In his "Psychotherapy" under the heading "The Subconscious," Muensterberg
has much to say upon the meaning and differentiation of awareness,
attention, and recognition, but he fails to point out in direct relation,
at this point, the primary power--the Will, moved by the Individual
Intelligence.

Later in his work the will is recognized and frequently referred to, but
from beginning to end he makes it incidental, rather than basic. When he
comes to broad groups of psychic phenomena, or pathological symptoms, the
sounding board of Rational Volition is cracked and there is where hypnosis
slips in.

Broad as he has laid his foundations in physical and physiological
synthesis, he loses sight of its importance in the psychological;
regarding as an incident that which is a basic principle of prime
importance. Schopenhauer went, perhaps, as far to the opposite extreme.
Perhaps "the truth will be found in the middle of the road."

The heir apparent, the prince regent, the lawful Sovereign, by heredity,
by the laws of Nature, and "by the Will of God," in this Tabernacle of
Man, is the Individual Intelligence; no matter whether we recognize or
dispute his rightful authority. His Prime Minister is the Human Will;
whether conspiring against, or co-operating with, the King. We may analyze
the foundation of the kingdom, and the affairs of state, and designate
them as _causative_, or _purposive_. We may see monarchy, or anarchy;
democracy or republicanism; we may dethrone the king, and turn the state,
literally, into a mad-house; but all the facts of nature, conscious
awareness, and Scientific Psychology, cry, with one voice, Hail to the
King! Long Live the King! I! Me! Mine! Myself! A fact so basic, that it is
as patent to the child as to the man.

Now comes the Juggler, the little Joker. Muensterberg has sufficiently
revealed the variety-stage, "the Subconscious," and his biography of the
various individual players and troupes is very elaborate. They are, one
and all, _Suggestions_. And suggestion is the "Juggler," and the "little
Joker."

After the Intelligence and the Will, our awareness finds subjects and
objects, ideas, images, pictures, percepts and concepts.

That all these, both within and without, are Suggestive; that one idea, or
image, or object, suggests another, or others, no one will deny, who has
ever _thought_ about his own thinking. It is like saying, all mental
pictures are composite; the elements of many kinds coming from many
sources.

So far, _Suggestion_ is all right. It is awareness of an idea, percept,
concept, or act awakened, called to attention by another, with the
question, how does it strike you? what do you think of it? what, if
anything, do you wish, or propose to do about it?

It is purely negative, and suggests action or inhibition, without the
slightest domination.

Remember that the Will--rational Volition--is that power, which, from the
point of attention enables the individual to act, or refuse to consider,
as he pleases.

If I suggest to my friend here in my library, that it is near train time;
that he can go if he chooses or remain with me all night, he is free to
act on the suggestion and go or stay as he chooses. I have called to his
attention certain facts of time, place, or circumstance, but left his will
untrammeled. If I am tired of him and wish him to go, or really wish him
to stay, in either case it is still a suggestion, because I have left him
free to act or not. But in this case certain tones of my voice, not direct
by touching the will, but coloring the feelings or emotions, color both
his preferences and my own. Even persuasion, the power of another example,
the placing of certain views or considerations before another, all these
but make the more clear and specific the suggestion. They reach the will
through the inside, in the realm of ideation, and not from the outside, in
the way of domination. All these things are essential elements in social
intercourse.

If, however, I have a motive in wishing my friend to go, or to stay, and
have determined in my own mind which it shall be; ignoring or overriding
his own choice; and if I use my will, or passes, or touch his eyes, or
forehead, with the purpose of concentrating _his_ attention or will, on
_my_ wish, or idea, or command, it is no longer free choice with him, but
domination; no longer suggestion, but hypnosis, pure and simple.

The confusion and juggling at this point has been made the sole excuse for
hypnotism, through belittling or ignoring the importance, normal action,
and supremacy of the human will.

No one denies that the exchange or forcible expression of ideas, percepts,
mental pictures, or concepts, is suggestive. But the normal individual is
free to accept or reject them.

Education, bias, prejudice, and the like, have also much to do in
determining results.

But the moment you interfere with the free choice of the individual and
dominate toward your choice, regardless of his own, you enter the realm of
hypnosis; deprive him, just to that degree, of free choice, and might as
well call it "fiddlesticks" as "suggestion." It is domination, the
mastery, so far as it goes or exists at all, of the will, voluntary
powers, and sensory organs of one individual, by the will of another; thus
reversing completely the process of nature.

To dominate the will of another is to weaken it. Timidity, apprehension,
fear, are in inverse ratio to confidence, self-assurance, courage, and
self-control.

Health, happiness, and self-development lie along the lines of man's
higher evolution, and the basic principle, the primary power, the minister
of state, is the rational and intelligent Will.

The scientific theorem of Psychology can be nothing else than Nature's
Modulus of Man, with its root in Universal Intelligence. Man
individualizes and involves this Intelligence as he evolves form,
function, adaptation, and adjustment, and at least secures and maintains
perfect equilibrium.

This is Nature's Modulus, else the whole of human life is purposeless and
meaningless.

Given, then, an Individual Intelligence, endowed with self-consciousness;
with Rational Volition, the power to choose and to act or refuse to act;
how shall it master its environment; adapt itself to any conditions;
secure adjustment and become _Master_?

The starting point and the keynote from first to last is Self-Control.

Then come high Ideals, intelligent choice, and the will backed by
discrimination and judgment. These lead to understanding and wisdom.

The "courage of one's convictions," can be neither conceited nor blatant
egotism, but a readiness to assume full responsibility of motives, acts,
and results.

This recognition of Personal Responsibility is what we call _Conscience_.
It is the Judgment-seat of the Individual Intelligence in the Kingdom of
its own Soul, or realm of consciousness. The moment this throne totters,
or is obscured, devolution begins, and degeneration, insanity, and Inferno
lie that way.

It does not change one principle involved, or weaken either Modulus or
Theorem when we reflect that most equations are ended by death, long
before being brought to successful solution. For the time they are
certainly interrupted.

Neither do the babel of tongues, the theories, theologies, or philosophies
change either Modulus or Theorem, because they are grounded in
demonstrated facts, recognized, either vaguely or clearly, in the
conscious experience of every intelligent thinking man and woman.

Constructive Psychology, based upon Science, for the building of character
by persistent effort, increasing continually all personal resources, means
the normal higher evolution of man.

So-called religions and the life after death have been purposely left
unconsidered.

If we really have a Science of the Soul--the Individual
Intelligence--based upon psychological facts, demonstrated in the
daily experience of every healthy individual, it touches religion at
its most vital point, viz.: ethics or morals. If these ethical
principles are true and demonstrable, they must constitute the foundation
of religion as of ethics. If morals are strengthened and made clear,
and Personal Responsibility as Conscience, is recognized and accepted,
the Vicarious Atonement will have to go, and Theologians will have to
change their mystical and miraculous interpretations from Vicarious
Atonement to personal at-one-ment with _Christos_.

The "miraculous conception," and "virgin birth," held equally in regard to
Christna centuries before, and also the literal resurrection of the
physical body will have to be otherwise explained.

The purposive view as one full term of the psychological equation, will
find uniform law and order in place of the credulous legends of ignorant
and superstitious monks, while the Divine Man will be taken down from the
cross and restored to the heart of humanity, as the Modulus of Nature,
_realized_ as a normal evolution, under natural and spiritual law.

Salvation from sin, ignorance, superstition, and fear, will be recognized
as the result of "Leading the Life," and Vicarious only through a divine
example; or, if you please, _legitimate Suggestion_; with personal effort,
rational volition, and personal responsibility working in harmony toward
the desired result.




SECTION TWO THE NEW AVATAR OF NATURAL SCIENCE




CHAPTER VIII

OUR INDEBTEDNESS TO ANCIENT INDIA


It is more than thirty years since in Southern Europe, England, and
America, a genuine Renaissance of Vedic literature, philosophy, and
religion began to assume a popular form and to become accessible to the
general reading public.

Scholars, like Sir William Jones, had for the past century been familiar
with the ancient civilization and the Vedic literature and the study of
Sanscrit had made some progress in the Universities.

The idea, however, that these antiquities had any vital interest to us,
beyond curious myths and obsolete superstitions, had not been perceived,
much less admitted.

The antiquity of man, and the Philosophy of Evolution, had opened new
fields for thought, and necessitated a revision of all previous concepts
of man and nature.

Old records and interpretations were everywhere revised, and the
interpretations of the Mosaic records were challenged at every point.

Popular religions were up in arms and were compelled to adjust themselves
to the new regime.

But even after this century of progress and enlightenment, it has scarcely
yet dawned on the mind of theologians that the challenge of science was,
after all, insignificant, compared with that which was to come, and for
which modern science had paved the way.

The whole realm of theology, and the foundations of religion, were to
undergo revision.

Facts incontestable were being gathered and proofs established beyond all
possible denial, or controversy, that all modern theologies and religions
were copied and adapted from Vedic and ante-Vedic sources, antedating our
present era by more than two thousand years.

The superficial and devout churchman, whose faith is fortified on the one
hand by superstition, and on the other at least borders on fanaticism, is
apt to be resentful in the presence of these facts, and, falling back on
the infallibility and plenary inspiration of the Bible, to declare that if
his own superficial interpretations are questioned or denied, Religion
will be done for and mankind left in utter darkness.

He does not perceive that the facts of nature and the essentials of
religion are one thing, and man's _interpretation_ of them another thing
entirely.

He does not perceive how these ignorant and superstitious interpretations
of men have set at naught the real life of Jesus and the teachings of the
Christ.

He does not realize how doctrine has usurped the place of duty, and
dogmatism has hardened the soul of man.

One thing, however, is inevitable. Facts and evidence as to origin,
analogies, and adaptation of the Christian Mysteries from ancient India,
are widely known, and the time has come when these mysteries are being
examined as to their intrinsic meaning and their bearing on the daily life
of man and the progress of the human race.

The author of this little book has only attempted a bare outline of these
great facts, and to put them in such shape that the reader may perceive
their general bearing, and the sources whence they are derived.

The following extracts made almost at random, the quantity of evidence
being so redundant, from Jacolliot's "Bible in India," a translation of
which was made in this country as early as 1873, and Prof. Max Mueller's
Lectures, "India, What Can It Teach Us?" printed here more than a quarter
of a century ago, will give the reader the evidence and the assurance that
these ancient sources of wisdom are scarcely yet known in outline to the
Western World.

Jacolliot spent many years in India, studying its present civilization and
its ancient lore, while Prof. Max Mueller derived his knowledge largely
from study of Sanscrit and the Vedanta.

"Soil of Ancient India, cradle of humanity, hail! Hail, venerable and
efficient nurse, whom centuries of brutal invasion have not yet buried
under the dust of oblivion! Hail, fatherland of faith, of love, of poetry,
and of science. May we hail a revival of thy past in our Western future.

"I have dwelt 'midst the depths of your mysterious forests, seeking to
comprehend the language of your lofty nature, and the evening airs that
murmured 'midst the foliage of banyans and tamarinds whispered to my
spirit these three magic words: Zeus, Jehovah, Brahma.

"I have inquired of Brahmins and priests under the porches of temples and
ancient pagodas, and they have replied:

"'To live is to think, and to think is to study God, who is all, and in
all....

"'To live is to learn, to learn is to examine and to fathom in all their
perceptible forms the innumerable manifestations of celestial power.

"'To live is to be useful; to live is to be just; and we learn to be
useful and just in studying this book of the Vedas, which is the word of
eternal wisdom, the principle of principles as revealed to our fathers.'"
("The Bible in India," p. 15.)

Plotinus, the Neoplatonist, said: "God is not the principal of beings, but
the principle of principles."

This was the Hindoo concept of _Para Brahm_ two thousand years before.

"In the whole world there is no study so beneficial and so elevating as
that of the Upanishads. It has been the solace of my life--it will be the
solace of my death. [Schopenhauer, quoted by Max Mueller.] ... If I were to
look over the whole world to find out the country most richly endowed with
all the wealth, power and beauty that nature can bestow--in some parts a
very paradise on earth--I should point to India. If I were asked under
what sky the human mind had most fully developed some of its choicest
gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life, and has
found solutions of some of them which well deserve the attention even of
those who have studied Plato and Kant--I should point to India. And if I
were to ask myself from what literature we, here in Europe, we who have
been nurtured almost exclusively on the thoughts of Greeks and Romans, and
of one Semitic race, the Jewish, may draw that corrective which is most
wanted in order to make our inner life more perfect, more comprehensive,
more universal, in fact more truly human, a life, not for this life only,
but a transfigured and eternal life--again I should point to India."

The reader should remember that this is not the _opinion_ of an ignorant
enthusiast, but the mature judgment of one of the most profound scholars
and Sanscritists in Europe in his day--Prof. Max Mueller.

"The study of Mythology has assumed an entirely new character, chiefly
owing to the light that has been thrown on it by the ancient Vedic
Mythology of India.

"Buddhism is now known to have been the principal source of our legends
and parables."

The story of the two women who claimed each to be the mother of the same
child is found literally in the Kanjur, translated from the Buddhist
Tripitake, and the "Judgment of Solomon" is only a copy of the older
story.

"The history of all histories, and yet the mystery of all mysteries--take
religion, and where can you study its true origin, its natural growth and
its inevitable decay better than in India, the home of Brahmanism, the
birthplace of Buddhism, and the refuge of Zoroastrianism.

"Take any of the burning questions of the day--popular education, higher
education, parliamentary representation, codification of laws, finance,
emigration, poor-law, and whether you have anything to teach and to try,
or anything to observe and to learn, India will supply you with a
laboratory such as exists nowhere else.

"And in the study of the history of the human mind, and the study of
ourselves, of our true selves, India occupies a place second to no other
country. Whatever sphere of the human mind you may select for your special
study, whether it be language, or religion, or mythology, or philosophy,
whether it be laws or customs, primitive art or primitive science,
everywhere, you have to go to India, whether you like it or not, because
some of the most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of
man are treasured up in India, and in India only.

"Sleeman tells us men (in India) adhere habitually and religiously to the
truth, and 'I have had before me hundreds of cases,' he says, 'in which a
man's property, liberty, and life have depended upon his telling a lie,
and he has refused to tell it.' Could many an English judge say the same?"
(Remarks by Prof. Mueller.)

Prof. Mueller quotes from an Arabian writer of the thirteenth century, "The
Indians are innumerable, like grains of sand, free from all deceit and
violence. They fear neither death nor life."

And again, from Marco Polo, in the thirteenth century, "You must know,
Marco Polo says, that these Abralaman (Hindoos) are the best merchants in
the world, and the most truthful, for they would not tell a lie for
anything on earth."

"In the sixteenth century Abu Fazl, the minister of the Emperor Akbar,
says in his 'Ayin Akbari,' 'The Hindus are religious, affable, cheerful,
lovers of justice, given to retirement, able in business, admirers of
truth, grateful and of unbounded fidelity, and their soldiers know not
what it is to fly from the field of battle.'"

(How badly these "poor heathen" were in need of the Jesuit missionary, and
the British government and civilization!)

Prof. Mueller quotes Warren Hastings regarding the Hindus in general, as
follows, "They are gentle and benevolent, more susceptible of gratitude
for kindness shown them, and less prompted to vengeance for wrongs
inflicted, than any people on the face of the earth--faithful,
affectionate, submissive to legal authority."

Bishop Heber said, "The Hindus are brave, courteous, intelligent, most
eager for knowledge and improvement, sober, industrious, dutiful to
parents, affectionate to their children, uniformly gentle and patient, and
more easily affected by kindness and attention to their wants and feelings
than any people I ever met with."

Elphinstone said, "No set of people among the Hindus are so depraved as
the dregs of our own great towns." (It might have been wiser to have
employed English missionaries at home.)

Sir Thomas Munro bears even stronger testimony. He writes, "If a good
system of agriculture, unrivaled manufacturing-skill, a capacity to
produce whatever can contribute to either convenience or luxury, schools
established in every village for teaching reading, writing and arithmetic,
the general practice of hospitality, and charity among each other, and
above all, a treatment of the female sex full of confidence, respect, and
delicacy, are among the signs which denote a civilized people--then the
Hindus are not inferior to the nations of Europe--and if civilization is
to become an article of trade between England and India, _I am convinced
that England will gain by the import cargo_.

"Even at the present moment, after a century of English rule and English
teaching, I believe that Sanskrit is more widely understood in India, than
Latin was in Europe at the time of Dante.

"There are thousands of Brahmans, even now, when so little inducement
exists for Vedic studies, who know the whole of the Rig-Veda by heart, and
can repeat it, and what applies to the Rig-Veda, applies to many other
books." (Ten thousand and seventeen hymns.)

Speaking of other and later literature, Prof. Mueller says, "It is
different with the ancient literature of India, the literature dominated
by the Vedic and Buddhistic religions. That literature opens to us a
chapter in what has been called the Education OF THE HUMAN RACE, TO WHICH
WE CAN FIND NO PARALLEL anywhere else. Whoever cares for the historical
growth of our language, that is, of our thoughts; whoever cares for the
intelligible development of religion and mythology, whoever cares for the
first foundation of what in later times we call the sciences of astronomy,
metronomy, grammar and etymology; whoever cares for the first intimations
of philosophical thought; for the first attempts at regulating family
life, village life, and state life, as founded on religion, ceremonial,
tradition and contact (Samaya), must in future pay the same attention to
the literature of the Vedic period as to the literature of Greece and Rome
and Germany.

"I maintain then that for a study of man, or, if you like, for a study of
Aryan humanity, there is nothing in the world equal in importance with the
Veda.

"The aristocracy of those who know--_di color che sanno_--or try to know,
is open to all who are willing to enter, to all who have a feeling for the
past; an interest in the genealogy of our thoughts, and a reverence for
the ancestry of our intellect, who are, in fact, historians in the true
sense of the word, i.e. inquirers into that which is past, but not lost.

"But if we mean by primitive the people who have been the first of the
Aryan race to leave behind literary relics of their existence on earth,
then I say the Vedic poets are primitive; the Vedic language is primitive;
the Vedic religion is primitive, and, taken as a whole, _more primitive
than anything else that we are ever likely to recover in the whole history
of our race_....

"For this reason, because the religion of the Veda was so completely
guarded from all strange infection, it is full of lessons which the
student of religion could learn nowhere else."

The foregoing quotations have been made from a little volume, "India: What
Can It Teach Us?" published by Funk and Wagnalls in 1883, and sold at 25
cents, so that these statements of Prof. Max Mueller have been accessible
for more than a quarter of a century.

Since 1883, however, we have heard more and more of the "Wisdom of Old
India."

The whole Theosophical movement, degenerate as it may have become in some
directions, and much as it has been misinterpreted, and ridiculed and
exploited in others, was primarily a sincere and earnest attempt "to bring
the Secret Doctrine of ancient India within reach of Western students," to
promote the brotherhood of man; the study of ancient philosophy and the
psychical powers latent in man. There are thousands of intelligent and
earnest students all over the world who have been uplifted, illuminated,
and encouraged by these studies. When the true history of the present
epoch comes to be written, there can be no shadow of doubt as to the
recognition that will be accorded to H. P. Blavatsky and her aims, her
life, and her work.

But such movements as are going on in the world, continually change their
base, their methods, and their prospective. While the new awakening
unmistakably goes back to old India, and compels a review and a
readjustment of all our knowledge, and all our hopes and aims, another
spirit has entered our intellectual realm, and compelled attention and
recognition.

It has made for itself a habitation and a name, and nothing less than a
cataclysm can altogether overthrow it.

It is the Genius of Scientific Criticism, Research, and Demonstration.

The "Mistakes of Moses" may indeed be paralleled by those of modern
physical science, and these are being revealed side by side with those of
theology and dogmatic assertion.

It has hardly yet dawned upon the mind of the physical scientist that the
concept of the psychical and spiritual life and nature of man comprises,
with the world of matter and form, a complete theorem of human life. He is
often as incredulous, resentful, and contemptuous as the creed-bound
religionist at the approach of more light, and the suggestion that all
these essential problems were included and solved ages ago in ancient
Aryavarta; and that "the few who know," the ancient order of the
_Illuminati_, now designated the "School of Natural Science," has
treasured this knowledge for ages.

The Vedas are not only ancient, but complicated and diffuse, and the busy
life of the modern student will hardly suffice for the mastery of their
wisdom, or the understanding of their secrets.

When, however, this ancient wisdom is condensed and epitomized, in perfect
harmony with the concepts, the methods, and the demonstrations of Natural
Science, the "Jewel in the Lotus,"--to use a Vedic synonym,--will appear
in all its beauty and glory, to all who have eyes to see, and ears to
hear, with determination to "honor every truth by use," and loyal
service.

In the foregoing quotations it may be seen what this real knowledge did
for the people of ancient India in building character on constructive
lines, promoting justice, equity, charity, and kindness among the common
people, and the teeming millions of India, when our Saxon and Norman
ancestors were still barbarians, and before the Jew or the Christian were
even dreamed of.

In the following quotations from Jacolliot's "Bible in India," an outline
will be given as to the source of some of our myths, pantheons, and
religions.

These brief and imperfect outlines from two small and generally forgotten
books, ought to satisfy any intelligent and unbiased student how
completely the general thesis may be demonstrated from the ancient records
themselves.

The books from which these quotations are made are like kindergarten
primers for the use of beginners.

The present writer's interest in and study of Theosophy and the Secret
Doctrine were instigated by Schopenhauer's "World as Will and Idea." He
found how largely Schopenhauer had drawn from the Upanishads (see previous
quotation), and how little, after all, his "Philosophy" had utilized the
ancient Wisdom. Hence he resolved to seek the ancient sources of
knowledge, and has been trying his best to apprehend and utilize them, the
hoarded wisdom of the ages.

He is not in the least anxious to gain recognition for, or to seek to
rehabilitate old India, for its own sake. She speaks for herself, through
the centuries of the past, and will continue to speak and to influence all
coming time.

Jacolliot shows, however, a little irritation at this point over the
suppression of facts, the brutality of marauding invaders, and the
wholesale and brazen appropriation without the least credit to India's
store of wisdom.

The present writer is, however, exceedingly desirous that his
fellow-students in the West should discover, recognize, and utilize this
ancient mine of wisdom for themselves.

Its day of recognition is just now at the dawn, and the most pressing
problems concerning the real nature, the spiritual possibilities, and the
eternal destiny of the soul of man, are pressing and burning questions
to-day.

That these problems do not wait solution by modern physical science and
physio-psychology, but await only the understanding and acceptance of
every earnest and intelligent student, is easily demonstrated. It
challenges the world to-day, as it has not done before for many
millenniums, and the issues are to be tried out to a scientific
demonstration.

The preferences and prejudices of partisans will not be consulted, nor
will they in the least interrupt the progress, nor interfere with the
solution.

The question is no longer, "What think ye of Jesus?" but "What _know_ ye
of your own soul?" A new faith will supersede the old superstitions.

Faith, from the viewpoint of Natural Science, is "the soul's intuitive
_conviction_ of that which both reason and conscience approve." Blind
faith, or belief, is ever the handmaid of superstition. The new faith is
the harbinger, the promise, and the potency of knowledge, the anchor of
the soul, and the armor of righteousness.

This is indeed the language of confidence, and it should be put to the
test of science and experience.

The scornful and the contemptuous are not even _invited_! They are left
alone with their Idols.

Coming now more directly to the splendid work of Jacolliot, one thing I
think ought to be apparent to every honest and intelligent reader of "The
Bible in India," and that is, that its author is in no sense a partisan of
Hinduism, but a searcher and witness for the simple Truth as he finds and
apprehends it.

He puts aside mystery, miracle, and Divine Revelation, as dispassionately
in the Vedic, Brahmanical, and Buddhistic cults, as in the Mosaic and
Christian. Belief in God, and reverence for Truth in the light of reason
and conscience, shine from every page of his work.

To flippantly call him an "atheist," or a "destroyer of holy things," as
though that were in any sense an answer to his thesis, and which formerly
was the rule, and may even now be attempted in certain quarters, will
simply brand the bigot as by no means intelligent--if indeed honest--who
attempts it. The majority of such sectarians have grown wise or prudent
enough to ignore all such issues.

There has been a great change in public sentiment since Jacolliot went to
India as an earnest student of these subjects, and in the nearly forty
years since he wrote this book.

The saying that "Truth passes through three phases before being accepted,"
specially applies here. First, people say, "It is not true." Second, "It
contradicts Scripture," and when it at last is triumphant, that
"_Everybody knew it before_."

The truths of which Jacolliot writes have already reached at least the
beginning of the third stage. Of course, "Everybody" here means those who
read, and think, and dare to use conscience and reason.

In referring to a religious debate between a missionary and a Brahman, and
the universal interest manifested among all classes as to the outcome of
the encounter, "hooting the vanquished in either case with strict
impartiality," Jacolliot adds, "We shall be less surprised at this when it
is known that there is not a Hindoo, whatever his rank or caste, who does
not know the principles of the Holy Scripture, that is, the Vedas, and who
does not _perfectly know how to read and write_."

Three hundred and forty millions of people, thousands of them pariahs and
outcasts, sharing refuse with the dogs, with no rights that any one else
is bound to respect, bowing their faces in the dust when a Brahman passes
ten paces away--and yet everyone can read and write!

Max Mueller said he had had in his study at Oxford a young Hindoo who could
repeat the whole of the Mahabharata _without missing a word or an
inflection_ from beginning to end.

These are some of the _remnants_ in the decline of old India after
thousands of years of Brahman rule and slavish domination of the people to
preserve their own exclusive caste and exploitation. Western people have
yet to learn the inevitable tendency, and the invariable rule of
exploitation of the people, by a dominant priesthood, and the poverty and
degradation of the masses that always results. It has never once failed in
this result in three thousand years.

The whole of Southern Europe is already awakening to a realization of this
result to-day. It is accomplished in the name of "Religion" by those who
call themselves "Viceregents of God," and who arrogantly trample on the
rights of conscience, and the freedom of man.

Brahmanism first set the example as originators of this slavish
abomination.

The studies and investigations of Jacolliot in India, go back to the Vedic
or pre-Brahmanic age; then to the rise, development, and slow decline of
Brahmanism; then the epoch of Christna; the influence of Buddha, and his
being driven out of India by the powerful Brahmans; and finally, to the
present poverty and degradation of the millions through foreign invasion
and domination.

The ruling Brahmans had neither thought nor desire for _Constructive
Nationality_. In their pride and lust for power and gold, even in their
just pride over their inheritance from Vedic ancestors, and wisdom,
Patriotism was unknown to them. Invaders contended with them in robbing
and enslaving the people.

The people who despised and hated the foreign invader dare not, even yet,
to rise against their real despoilers--the Brahmans--or defy or break
their power.

It is the Vedic literature, and the earliest, or pre-Brahmanic time that
Jacolliot lauds so highly, and in which he finds and demonstrates, the
existence of the sources of all human knowledge.

It will be ignorant folly, therefore, for the bigot and the sectarian to
attempt to answer or oppose him, by referring to the condition of the
people of India as it is to-day.

Jacolliot simply shows the causes that have led to the present
degradation.

It is _priestcraft_, despite the Vedic wisdom, and the missions and
teaching of Christna and Buddha.

All this Jacolliot demonstrates beyond all controversy.

The bulk of his work consists in demonstrating the source of Greek and
Roman Mythology, Language, Law, Philosophy, etc., and equally of every
Jewish and Christian doctrine and tradition.

Jacolliot shows that as the French code is copied or adapted from the
Justinian, so equally the Justinian was derived from that of Manu, many
centuries previously. And what is true of Law is equally true of
philosophy, theology, morals, and the principles of science, art,
architecture, and all the rest.

The Hindoos were demoralized by the priests, but the moral degradation
extended even to them, and the arms they employed were turned against
themselves.

"The first result of the baneful domination of priests in India was the
abasement and moral degradation of woman, so respected and honored during
the Vedic period.

"If you would reign over the persons of slaves, over brutalized
intelligence, the history of these infamous epochs presents a means of
unequaled simplicity. _Degrade and demoralize the woman_, and you will
soon have made of man a debased creature, without energy to struggle
against the darkest despotisms; for, according to the fine expression of
the Vedas, 'the woman is the soul of humanity.'"

As did the Brahman priesthood, when through greed and ambition they
forsook the ancient wisdom, so do the priesthood of Rome, with their
celibacy added to the abominations and opportunities of the confessional.

Search the records of all time, and the traditions and customs of every
people, and you will find nowhere else such recognition and reverence paid
to woman as in the early Vedic days.

"Let it be well understood," says Jacolliot, "that it was but sacerdotal
influence and Brahminical decay that, in changing the primitive condition
of the East, reduced woman to a state of subordination which has not yet
disappeared from our social system.

"Let us read these maxims taken at hazard from the sacred books of India."
(I quote only a few.) "Man is strength--woman is beauty; he is the reason
that governs, but she is the wisdom that moderates; the one cannot exist
without the other, and hence the Lord created them two, for the one
purpose.

"He who despises woman, despises his mother.

"Who is cursed by a woman, is cursed by God.

"The tears of woman call down the fire of heaven on those who make them
flow.

"The songs of women are sweet in the ears of the Lord; men should not, if
they wish to be heard, sing the praise of God without women.

"Women should be protected with tenderness, and gratified with gifts, by
all who wish for length of days.

"It was at the prayer of a woman that the Creator pardoned man; cursed be
he who forgets it." (See the Vedic "Garden of Eden.")

Moses, trained only in the decay of the old religion by the degenerate
priests of Egypt, while drawing his legend of creation from the ancient
Vedic source, reverses all this and places the blame of the "Fall" on
woman, and the women of the Bible are more often concubines and
prostitutes than Love's pure evangels as in the ancient days. Jacolliot
proves this from many citations, as witness also the following: (Numbers,
Chapter XXI.)

"And Moses was enraged against the chief officers of the army, against the
tribunes, and the centurions who returned from battle.

"And he said unto them, Why have you saved the women and the children?

"Slay therefore all the males amongst the children, and the women who have
been married.

"But reserve for yourselves all the young girls who are still virgins."

Moses spoke "in the name of God," as does his Holiness at Rome to-day.
Comment is hardly necessary. A few more quotations from the Vedas:

"A virtuous woman needs no purification, for she is never defiled, even by
contact with impurity.

"Women should be shielded by fostering solicitude by their fathers, their
brothers, their husbands, and the brothers of their husbands, if they hope
for great prosperity.

"When women are honored, the divinities are content, but where they are
not honored, all undertakings fail."

The sacerdotal caste in Egypt followed the inspiration of the Brahmans,
and took care to make no change in that situation.

And Moses followed the example of the priests of Egypt, where woman was a
slave or a prostitute in the temples as out.

The degeneracy of a people, the decay of religion, and the degradation of
woman are inseparable, and it is so-called "religion" that institutes the
change, and sets the pace, "down the steep descent."

The Brahmans "forgot God" and instituted the worship of saints and holy
men, and mythological characters, just as Rome does to-day. The women of
America to-day by a consensus of public opinion should make auricular
confession _disreputable_.

Excommunication, which is such a power in the hands of Rome, is merely a
subterfuge and substitute for the degradation of "outcasts," and pariahs,
instituted by the Brahman priests to terrify the disobedient and retain
their power.

If the reader cares to know the danger and the degradation to woman
fostered and protected through the Confessional by the Celibate Roman
priesthood, he should read "The History of Auricular Confession," by De
Lasteyrie, translated into English and printed in London in 1848. Now and
then a Pope or a council undertook to institute reform, but found, as in
Spain, prostitution of women by priests through the confessional so
widespread and universal that they more often gave up the attempt through
fear of scandal and contempt for the Church itself.

Lecky, in his "History of European Morals," records the case of "the
abbot-elect of St. Augustine, at Canterbury, who in 1171 was found on
investigation to have _seventeen illegitimate children in a single
village_; or, an abbot of St. Pelayo, in Spain, who in 1130 was proved to
have kept no less than seventy concubines; or Henry III, Bishop of Liege,
who was deposed in 1274 for having sixty-five illegitimate children."
(History of European Morals. P. 350.)

If the reader remarks that "this is ancient history," he should remember
that a celibate priesthood to-day have the same opportunity, through the
secrecy and power of the Confessional, as ever.

I have barely touched on this disgusting but all-important question on the
general thesis of Jacolliot, viz.: "The first result of the baneful
domination of priests in India was the abasement and moral degradation of
woman."

Rome, who derived her religious code from paganized Egypt, added celibacy
to the opportunities and inducements for the degradation of woman. Rome
never attained the heights from which the Brahman priesthood plunged into
debauchery. Even to-day in the festivals in the Brahman temples wholesale
orgies of prostitution are sometimes found, as witnessed and recorded by
Jacolliot. From the first, Brahman priests have married and reared
families. Their degradation and debauchery, therefore, cannot be charged
to their original "Divine Revelation," but to their corruption of it.

I have given a few brief quotations among hundreds recorded by Jacolliot
as to the respect and veneration accorded to woman in early Vedic times,
and in the Laws of Manu.

"The Brahman may not approach the altar of sacrifice _but with a soul
pure, in a body undefiled_.

"Spirituous liquors beget drunkenness, neglect of duty, and they profane
prayer.

"The antiquity of India stands forth to establish its priority of
religious legislation in prohibiting to priests the use of spirituous
liquors, and especially in forbidding the pleasures of love when they are
about to offer sacrifice.

"The woman whose words and thoughts and person are pure is a celestial
balm.

"Happy shall he be whose choice is approved by all the good.

"It is ordained that a devotee shall choose a wife from his own class.

"The Brahman who marries a woman who is not a virgin, who is a widow, or
divorced by her husband, or who is not known as a virtuous woman, cannot
be permitted to offer sacrifice, for he is impure, and nothing can cleanse
him from his impurities."

And Jacolliot adds, "It is not recorded, says the divine Manu, that a
Brahman has ever, even by compulsion, married a girl of low class.

"Let the Brahman espouse a Brahmine, says the Veda.

"Let him take a well-formed virgin, of an agreeable name, of the graceful
carriage of the swan, or of the young elephant, whose body is covered with
light down, her hair fine, her teeth small, and her limbs charmingly
graceful."

Jacolliot compares these early Vedic injunctions with Leviticus, Chapter
XXI, and the absurdities introduced by Moses as to a "crooked nose or a
squint eye."

Woman here in the West is just emerging from the slavery and degradation
of ages, and she _ought_ to know that that degradation was not the
handicap of barbaric and undeveloped races, so far as the Aryan race is
concerned, but a demoralization and degradation instituted by priests, in
the name of religion, through which they have sought to rule the world,
and so far as institutional religions are concerned, woman has had to
progress _in spite of them_.

Without the aid and influence of woman to-day, neither Protestant nor
Roman Church could exist at all, as witness almost any Sabbath service
where women outnumber men often ten to one.

One day woman will be wise enough and brave enough to dictate terms, as
she did ages ago in old Aryavarta. When that day comes, and the really
Divine Motherhood planted in every true woman's soul is recognized by man
and woman alike, God grant that she may thenceforth hold the fort till the
Kali-Yuga is at full tide, and the Spiritual Evolution of our present
Humanity is fully accomplished.

In the meantime the world will have learned to _know_ Jesus, who and what
he was, and how he became the Christ, and will have joined in his Divine
Mission to man, as the teeming millions joined in old India under Christna
ages ago.




CHAPTER IX

HERO WORSHIP AND FOLKLORE


The history of every people, of all time, and of every religion of which
we have any record, reveals a similar origin, course, and destiny.

We of the present day have the advantage of these records upon which to
institute comparisons, ascertain relations, and draw conclusions.

True, the partisans and postulants of all these religions at the present
day will claim exception in favor of their own cult, and regard as
sacrilegious and profane any attempt to institute comparisons and draw
general conclusions.

Any attempt to persuade them of their error would be useless.

The essentials of their religion will not be called in question, but on
the other hand, they will find that it is impossible to escape from the
habitual and universal tendencies in which they are involved.

However veritable may have been the original revelations, the tendencies
and habits of weaving around them the traditions and superstitions of
folklore seem to have been inevitable and universal.

It is the province of Science to ascertain the facts in any given case, to
institute comparisons, and to draw deductions and generalizations
dispassionately and relentlessly.

It is thus that every tradition, superstition, creed, dogma, and
revelation comes under review, and is placed on trial.

True science has no preconceived notion, no foregone conclusion. Each
subject examined must tell its own story and in its own way, and stand or
fall measured by intrinsic evidence and revealed fact.

To this tribunal every episode in the life of man and the history of the
human race must at last come.

What are the _facts_? What do they reveal and signify?

To most religionists this method and aim of science seem as relentless and
dogmatic as their own creed or dogmas.

It is a sifting and discriminative process, that, while relentless, is in
the end eminently Just, and in the end will be found to be the revealer of
all that is essential and true in religion itself.

In itself, science is not and never can be a religion.

It is a _method_ only, which, like a search-light, reveals all religions
in all their essentials, and places them in their true light.

Religion _per se_ is an essential element in the nature and life of man
and of the human race.

Science is a method, a way of procedure in the intelligent mind of man in
its search for truth.

Religion is vital, essential, basic. It is born of the relation which
inheres in the kinship of the individual intelligence to the Universal
Spirit of Nature and of all life.

Science is the intelligent and rational use of the mental powers of man.

Religion is intuitional, spiritual perception, involving the heart, the
affections. Man aspires, worships, adores, and by the light of Faith or
intuitive conviction, recognizes that which he cannot explain and cannot
get rid of if he tries.

Science is the just weight and measure of things seen, and of the natural
causes of phenomena.

Religion--the evidence of things unseen. Religion, as a _fact_, can never
be explained away by Science.

The so-called science that assumes or undertakes to do that, is
materialism and nescience.

Superstition is the false interpretation of religion, and folklore and
tradition are the accretions that gather around the foundations and
original revelations of religion, and lead at last to obscuration and the
need of a new revelation.

Each genuine new "revelation" is but the rehabilitation of the primeval
religion in which accretions, false interpretations, and dogmatic
assertions are cast aside.

Religion represents man's endeavor to apprehend and interpret the unseen;
that "something more" and "something beyond" the visible, the sensuous,
and the tangible.

It is this conscious _awareness_ of something more and something beyond
the visible and the tangible, that furnishes man with a conception of God
and of the human soul. This is a natural intuition, inseparable from the
_awareness_ of self. It lies at the foundation like man's self-conscious
identity, and can neither be explained nor explained away.

Here lies the root of all religions. The imagery of man's imagination, in
his effort to apprehend the unseen, and to formulate the unknown, gives
rise to myths, allegory, tradition, folklore, and in the end, to
superstition, creed, and dogma.

Then come priestcraft, oppression, persecution. The death of religion, the
deification of the revealer or _Avatar_, and the substitution of the
priesthood as of divine authority, in place of the _revealer_ or the
revelation.

Jove, Orpheus, Jehovah, and at last Jesus, are enthroned beyond the
clouds, and priest or church assume the earthly prerogative, speak in
their place, assume dogmatic authority, promise heaven and happiness for
obedience, and dire penalties for disobedience, and resort to persecution
to maintain their authority.

The traditions, mythologies, and folklore of all the past have thus
arisen. The creeds and dogmas of the present constitute the effort of man
to assume exclusive dominion, and to exercise divine authority over the
masses of mankind. It is only another form of the ambition of individuals
for wealth, fame or power, lifting them to a "class" above the toiling,
suffering, and sorrowing masses.

There are exceptional individuals all along the way, who conceive, hold,
and exercise the spirit of the Master, and sink self in the service of
man, and but for these the organized priesthood would be execrated by
mankind long before.

The organized church deifies, where the true disciple humanizes and helps
mankind in the name and in the spirit of the Master.

This is the spirit, the origin, the genius and the history of every
Avatar, of Christna, and all the Buddhas, the Saviors and Redeemers of
history.

The orthodox Christian of to-day, whether Catholic or Protestant, will be
likely to admit the foregoing outline except as it applies to his own
religion. Whereas it is abundantly proven to-day regarding his own
religion as nowhere else in history.

The histories of former religions are vague, distant, and so covered over
by tradition, myth, and folklore, as to be difficult to trace.

The beginnings, history, and progress of the Christian religion are
comparatively nearer at hand, and the process above outlined readily
demonstrable.

Not only so, but the recognition of the facts and processes is everywhere
in evidence.

This fact, however, by no means ends the controversy.

Traditions, creeds, and dogmas die hard, and fight to the last extremity.
Nothing else known to man fights so desperately and dies so hard as an
organized priesthood, and beyond this, they are upheld by the ignorance,
superstition, the fear, and the faith of the masses.

Their adherents often believe and assume that they have discovered final
truths, essential and unalterable verities. They undertake to support and
to maintain these by dogmatic authority, a holy book, a "thus sayeth the
Lord."

"There it is, down in black and white." No further evidence is required.

To question such authority is to be damned. To believe, accept, and to
conform, is to be _saved_.

Difference of opinion and of interpretation inevitably arise, even among
those who dare not question the ultimate authority and genuineness of the
original revelation. Hence arise sects, schisms, and theological warfare.

Notwithstanding all this, the original revelation becomes a matter of
thorough investigation and of criticism.

The so-called "higher criticism" had already discovered errors in
translation, and contradictions in interpretation, resulting in a "revised
edition" of the sacred books, while under the name "_Pragmatism_," certain
metaphysical writers and accredited teachers have undertaken to determine
essential meanings and interpretations, and to submit religious
revelations, creeds, dogmas, and theologies to critical analysis.

How far this analysis has gone, and how little of the original
interpretation actually remains, only they are aware who keep abreast of
current thought, and who with open mind care more for the simple truth
than for custom, tradition, theologies, and the folklore of the past.

Dogmatic theological authority is completely undermined, and its days are
numbered.[1]

With the masses there is the habitual unrest, the feeling of uncertainty,
the social upheaval, with the inevitable tendency to confusion and
anarchy. A new religion is already in the formative stage, a new Avatar
inevitable.

It is to be less a repudiation than a revision and rehabilitation of the
old religion.

People everywhere are looking for the new revelation, for the coming of
_Christos_, for the new Avatar, and few are aware that he is already
here.

It should be borne strictly in mind that in every instance in the past,
the advent of the Avatar has been unattended by signs and wonders, has
come upon the stage of human action in the most commonplace way, and that
myth, miracle, and folklore have followed as time went on.

To the people of his time Jesus was the "son of the carpenter," whose
family was obscure. He came "eating with publicans and sinners."

Jesus, the demigod of to-day, was unknown and undreamed of in Galilee.
Philo Judaeus seems never to have heard of him.

What and who Jesus was, and what he did, is separated from what the church
and theologians have made of him by a gulf that seems almost impassable,
and yet this gulf has already been bridged and passed.

The new Avatar has for its mission the rehabilitation of Jesus as he
actually existed, divested of all myth and miracle, while the mission for
which he came, and the doctrines for which he lived and died are to be
completely restored to mankind in their purity.

The old Hindoos would call this transformation a "reincarnation of
Vishnu," a "new Avatar."

It will mean Jesus the divine Man, the master, _Christos_, restored to the
heart of Humanity from the mysticism and miracle of monks and theologies,
from the superstitions and folklore of the multitude.

This means a reconstruction and a restatement of the religion of Jesus.

Jesus remaining what he actually was and is, it will be the province of
Natural Science to explain and to demonstrate by natural and spiritual
law, how, without mystery or miracle, Jesus became the Master _Christos_
and so remains to-day.

Natural Science is not the invention of man, more than is the law of
gravitation, the law of equilibrium, or the binomial theorem. Man may
discover these laws from the phenomena of Nature, and demonstrate their
existence and mode of operation like any others.

It is a question of dispassionate and intelligent apprehension and
demonstration.

All actual progress of man up to the present time lies along these lines.
Beyond this all is conjecture and guess-work. Natural Science, however, is
far more than modern physical science so-called. It includes physical,
mental, moral, and spiritual science.

Its _methods_ everywhere and at all times are the same.

It may theorize, but never dogmatize, and it must _demonstrate_ at every
step. Facts must not only support the theorem, but demonstrate the
conclusions as inevitable, and the basis of all such actual demonstration
must be a verifiable individual experience, with formulated laws and
processes for its repetition, just as in physical science, in chemistry,
and mathematics. Nothing less than this on any plane or in any department
of investigation can enable the individual to declare "_I Know_."

Demonstration is the sign manual of knowledge; Dogmatism the arrogance of
ignorance.

It is impossible to make these radical distinctions too clear and
specific.

When this method of Natural Science is applied to the investigation of
religions, tradition is separated from fact, dogma from demonstration,
miracle from natural law, mythology and folklore are found to be the
fabric woven by the imagination of mankind around the receding
revelations, deifying their authors, and mingling fact with fable, till
the originals become unrecognizable.

Romance and superstition become substitutes for simple Faith, moral law,
and social Justice.

To question or to repudiate the dogmas of superstition becomes a "mortal
sin," even when the most plain and specific moral or ethical obligations
are entirely subverted or reversed by dogmatic authority.

It is thus that the original revelation is subverted and at last
overthrown.

From first to last, the whole fabric is claimed to be "sacred and divine,"
and to question it, "sacrilege" and "profanation of holy things." Thus,
that which seemed originally as wings to the toiling, sorrowing children
of men, becomes at last a "millstone about the neck," a "burden grievous
to be borne."

Then comes protest, repudiation, reform, and usually a new revelation,
embodying the primitive faith, and adapting it to modern times and
conditions.

This is, in brief, the history of the Avatars of Ancient India, the
Buddhas and the Zoroasters of later centuries; of the Greek Orpheus; of
the legends and folklore clustering around many of the sages of Israel,
and though in a less miraculous fashion, of Confucius and Laotse. But most
patent of all does this principle apply to the founder of the Christian
religion, because less ancient and more readily verifiable.

Though no new Avatar is yet recognized, the _spirit_ of _modern science_
does not hesitate to repudiate myth, miracle, and superstition, and to
insist on fact and natural law.

-----

  [1] See President Eliot's latest utterances.




CHAPTER X

CORROBORATIVE EVIDENCE


The devout and conscientious believers in the Christian Religion of to-day
often view with sorrow and alarm the encroachments of modern science.

Unable to prevent these encroachments, they stubbornly resent them. Once
admitted, it seems to them that nothing sacred or worthy the name of
Religion would remain. To shift to other and more ancient faiths can never
be considered at all, for the "higher criticism" and "pragmatism" have
left them all in even a worse plight.

It seems to these devout souls like the death of religion itself, and its
elimination from the life of man.

The intuitive basis and the intrinsic necessity of religion in some form
have already been considered.

This point is often overlooked or ignored by the Iconoclasts.

Their position would seem to be, "Unravel the superstition, disprove the
possibility of miracle, and let the deluge come if it must."

Neither pragmatism nor higher criticism has been in any large sense
constructive, but more largely destructive. The really spiritual element
in all religions, already referred to, is generally lost sight of.

Modern psychology is no nearer a science of the soul, than are folklore
and superstition to true religion. It should be recognized and granted
once for all that psychology, as a department of modern physical science,
has no substitute whatever to offer in the place of Religion.

It is gathering facts, classifying, and labeling psychic phenomena.

Here and there an advanced scientist, like Sir Oliver Lodge, ignores
tradition, repudiates orthodox scientific restraints, and steps over the
border of actual or implied nihilism.

This smug nihilism with its superior air of scientific wisdom, is often
only the opposite pole of the dogmatic certitude of the churchman. Actual
knowledge of the human soul is quite as far removed from the one as from
the other. Credulity and Incredulity simply annul each other; often make
faces at each other; while Progress stalks alone in the middle of the
road, a "tramp" or a "vagabond," like Paracelsus, "reading the leaves of
the book of Nature," laughing at poverty, fleeing from persecution, yet
_knowing_, and "becoming a light to man forever."

The consensus of opinion among the presidents and professors in the
leading colleges and universities of this country, their unhesitating and
unqualified denial or repudiation of the claims set up by the church
regarding revelation and the basic dogmas of the Christian Religion, and
which his "Holiness" of the Vatican designates as "Modernism," reveal, not
only the "signs of the times," but show indisputably that modern education
has shaken itself free from the superstitions of the past, and repudiated
the old restraints to free thought and modern progress.

Orthodoxy in religious matters has often nothing to do in determining
college curriculums, in the selection of presidents, or in filling the
chairs.

Bright young men and women, the advanced students of the schools of
to-day, who are to become the leaders of thought and the teachers of
to-morrow, find little restraint and no formative element in the creeds
and dogmas that in the past have been so much in evidence, and so
constraining. Intensity of feeling has given place to breadth and
inclusiveness, and under the name of "Comparative Religions," ancient
faiths and modern, are classified, and studied like fossils in the
different ages of the past.

The "crusader impulse" has rather settled down in each individual breast,
as the master passion, to do, to dare, and to become something more and
better than the individual, or than the past has hitherto known. Such a
general period of intellectual activity, with so few restraints, history
nowhere else records, and the world has never before known.

Here lie the elements, the impulses, and the formative stage of the new
Avatar.

At this stage of our discussion it is of exceeding interest and importance
to bear in mind one great fact. The average intelligent student of to-day
may take this fact tentatively, reserving final judgment till accumulative
evidence becomes satisfactory and conclusive.

No one who is dominated by shallow incredulity, and who attempts to close
this door contemptuously, will ever arrive at the real truth. The judgment
of such individuals is simply worthless, notwithstanding the smug conceit
of their own opinions.

The important fact referred to, is the demonstrated existence, all through
the ages, of the so-called _Mysteries_.

Their existence is beyond all question. What they concealed and taught is
sometimes difficult to determine.

There were also the genuine and the spurious Mysteries, and a fair
appreciation of their origin, purpose, methods, and genius, as illustrated
by Plato, Pythagoras, Zoroaster, and nearly every great sage of antiquity,
leaves no possible doubt that in these "Secret Orders" were preserved the
loftiest and the most profound mental and spiritual achievements of all
previous human history.

If there were no other evidence in existence at the present day except the
traditions, landmarks, ritual, and Genius of Freemasonry, a careful and
intelligent study of that Ancient Order would be sufficient.

Whether one Mason in a thousand to-day apprehends and realizes this fact,
has nothing whatever to do with the real question. The evidence is there,
and the indifference or superficial intelligence of numbers cannot alter
it.




CHAPTER XI

CONCEPTIONS AND PORTENTS OF AN AVATAR


The conflict between Science and Religion has been thoroughly thrashed out
during the last half century, and the "reign of law," and orderly, and
progressive evolution, have made for themselves a habitation and a name
that nothing is likely to overthrow.

It is recognized that every effect has a sufficient and a commensurate
cause, not _en bloc_, but in matter, energy, mind, and spirit. Action and
reaction are definite mathematical processes. The parallelogram of force
tends everywhere to equilibrium and secures further action and new
processes under universal law.

The "special creation" theory--everything made out of nothing by a
personal God--is no longer regarded as tenable by intelligent individuals,
though miracle and special providence are often included in accounting for
the vicissitudes of life, just as the so-called scientist superficially
and flippantly uses the word "coincidence," as though it really explained
anything.

"The rational order that pervades the universe," as Prof. Huxley defined
the concept and aim of scientific discovery, has steadily gained
ascendancy, until it dominates and measures individual intelligence.

The criticism is still occasionally made that this means Pantheism,
overlooking the fact that in all mythologies and cosmologies, an ideal and
pure theism was recognized as lying back of and beyond the pantheons of
the gods and the deification of the powers of Nature.

This was true in the Greek, Persian, Egyptian, and Hindoo mythologies.
Back of the many, and beyond the transient and contending divinities, was
the _One_, postulated, but unknown and changeless.

Every religion known to man, with the advancing civilization of a people,
copied, modified, adopted, and adapted the mythology and folklore of some
pre-existing religion and people. This is readily demonstrable with the
Hebrew, Greek, and later Christian dispensations, notwithstanding the most
strenuous and persistent determination to deny, disprove, and destroy the
ancient records.

It is embodied in the etymology of the very names of heroes, gods, and
demigods. A new language arising with any people _de novo_ can nowhere be
found.

Phonetics and picturegraphs, the various alphabets and glyphs, are mixed
and modified, but never invented nor altogether changed.

Complicated as they may be, it is thus that philology, ethnology,
theology, and anthropology constitute a consistent whole, the mythology
and folklore of mankind. This reveals the practical unity and solidarity
of the human race.

The tradition and prophecy among the ancient Hebrews of the coming of the
Messiah, the portents that heralded, and the signs and wonders that
preceded or accompanied his appearance, are merely translations or
adaptations from previous eras, Buddhas, or Avatars.

Whether Christian or non-Christian, the object of the advent is always
identical.

The light of the spirit having become enfeebled or obscured, the people
are left in darkness and given over to sin and wickedness. Moral ruin
seems inevitable unless there is a divine influx, a new Avatar, or Buddha,
or Advent of the God-man.

God incarnates himself as the son of Mary, and Jesus says, "I am come a
light into the world that whosoever believeth in me should not abide in
darkness."

Christna says, "Though I am unborn, and my nature is eternal, and I am the
Lord also of all creatures, yet taking control of my nature-form, I am
born by my illusive power. For whenever piety decays, O son of Bharata,
and impiety is in the ascendant, then I produce myself. For the protection
of good men, for the destruction of evildoers, for the re-establishment of
piety, I am born from age to age." (Bhagavadgita.)

The historical Buddha taught that he was only one of a long series of
Buddhas, who appear at intervals in the world, and who all teach the same
system. After the death of each Buddha his religion flourishes for a time
and then decays, till at last it is completely forgotten and wickedness
and violence rule the earth. The names of twenty-four of these Buddhas who
appeared previous to Gautama have been handed down to us, just as the
"second coming of Christ" is believed in and referred to among the
Christians.

Even the Mohammedan Koran refers to this succession of prophets and
messengers of Allah. The same is true of the Parsis.

"I have said that I first of all chose Abad, and after him I sent thirteen
prophets in succession, all called Abad. By these fourteen prophets the
world enjoyed prosperity."

"Tradition informs us that when these auspicious prophets and their
successors behold evil to prevail among mankind, they invariably withdraw
from among them--as they could not endure to behold or hear wickedness."

This is precisely what happened to Egypt after the ambitious priesthood
had gained the ascendency. The Master Builders retired.

Bonwick says ("Egyptian Belief and Modern Thought"): "What is commonly
called the _Christ idea_ of humanity, thus appears to have been the hope
and consolation of the ancient Egyptians so many thousand years ago."

That which thus appears and disappears, dies out and is born again, is the
spiritual light in the soul of man.

The diversity of man's intellectual activities exercise, elaborate, and
deepen his mental perceptions, and these largely concern the things of
sense and time, his appetites, passions, desires, and ambitions.

Back of and beyond all these lie the things of the spirit. On the physical
plane of life the former obscure and crowd out the latter, which are thus
continually in need of renewal.

In adapting the new revelation to the conditions of life on the physical
plane, it is intellectualized and theologized. Pundits and theologians
undertake to _explain_ what it all means and how it happened to be. Hence
arise wrangles, disputes, and finally creeds, dogmas, and persecution.

"Men fight like devils for the love of God." This is the ultimate history
of every religion known to man.

Meantime, the soul of man, a spiritual being dwelling in a material body
on the physical plane, is seeking real knowledge of spiritual things.

This real knowledge is an experience of the soul. It concerns, and is
comprised in, the _living of a life_. It is more than mind or intellect.
It is _knowledge_ gained by experience. "This only I know, that whereas I
was blind, now I see."

"Whether in the body or out of the body, I know not, but I saw things
impossible to utter."

Gradually man's _idea_ of God and his conception of Nature have changed
and enlarged.

Man, as a spiritual being, is part of a spiritual universe. He has been
able to harmonize his concept of God and Nature progressively as he has
gained larger views and deeper insight of both. He is no longer a puppet
of infinite caprice, nor a somewhat "improved animal."

The idea of man as a "fallen god" with the capacity to regain his heavenly
estate, is far nearer the truth.

As man advances in knowledge through the combined experiences of his
spiritual nature and his physical embodiment, his beliefs change, his
horizon enlarges, and his concepts become elevated and purified. The past
is apprehended and utilized and the future intelligently anticipated. He
begins to understand.

This means the recognition of law and order, permanency, _Foundation_, and
stability.

The birth stories, the portents, signs and wonders that announce,
accompany, or follow the birth of a Messiah or Avatar, are almost
identical. A common instinct seems to have led all scripture-compilers to
infer a simultaneous stimulus of nature and man upon the appearance of
what the Hindoo calls an Avatar.

Men, too, seem prepared to expect such an advent as its necessary time
approaches. It is an instinct which tells them that "the darkest hour
precedes the dawn."

In the Christian scriptures the premonitions and birth stories are found
largely in the Apocryphal books. Doubtless the copying and substitution
from the lives of Christna and Buddha were too plain.

At the death of Jesus the seismic, astral, and cosmic disturbances are
graphically described, as befitting the death of a god. "The veil of the
temple was rent in twain," etc.

The simple fact is that mankind feels instinctively in the soul the
far-reaching influences at work. The spiritual nature is stirred to its
depths, and when he tries to describe what he sees and feels, his
emotions, fears, or aspirations being at white heat, his imagination draws
from the folklore of other times, races, and religions, to express what he
so powerfully, but vaguely senses.

But beyond all this, the time of great religious revivals and social
upheavals is likely to coincide with seismic disturbance, tidal waves and
the like, owing to the conjunction of planets under the general law of
cycles. Man is completely involved with and evolved from the bosom of
Nature. His freedom is determined by knowledge and obedience to Law.

From the mystic Hymns of Orpheus, with the legends of Gods, demigods, and
heroes, and the personification of the varied powers of man and nature,
arose the Greek Pantheon, which, in poetic concept, romantic and dramatic
embodiment and expression, as a concise and complete whole, has probably
never been equaled by man.

True, every essential element, under a different name and detail, may be
found elsewhere, but never equaled in concise and constructive folklore
and mythology.

But running underneath all this, like a vein of gold under the mountain,
was the philosophy of Plato. Grasping the _One_ from the many, Unity from
the fantastic diversity, he came to the individual experience of the human
soul and its conscious mastership over the body and the things of sense
and time.

Civic pride, patriotism, and heroism, walked side by side with dialectics,
and the pantheon of the gods and the achievements of warriors rivaled each
other on the stage, as themes for the poetic philosopher and dramatist.

Mythology and folklore here furnished a background from which the
philosophy of the mysteries and the real science of life gained a
hearing.

Plato and Pythagoras generalized, and with many reservations represented
that which they had been taught in the mysteries of Egypt.

Greece, with its triumphs in literature, in the drama and in art, and all
its magnificent civilization, knew no Avatar.

Jacolliot, in his "Bible in India," has shown conclusively that not only
the whole Greek pantheon, its folklore and mythology, and even its civil
code were adopted from the Laws of Manu and the far older Aryan
civilization, including even the names of heroes.

The fame of Greece rests upon its _Genius fo Construction_ in Art and
Architecture and the Drama, and upon the open door it gave to Philosophy.
There was no dominant priesthood to close the door of progress.

It utilized all the past and built and beautified the present.

It bequeathed no creed nor dogma to the future, and yet its civilization
was transcendent and is immortal.

It had its canons of Art and of Architecture. These it demonstrated by
constructive work. It illustrated, explained and exemplified, but it did
not argue nor dogmatize.

The world for two thousand years has been "going back to Greece" and
trying to explain how it all happened, just as we have been trying to
explain Goethe's "Faust."

Genius is transcendent and immortal.

With the decline of Greece there arose the Genius of the Tiber, Imperial
Rome, and the Caesars.

Rome created an _Avatar_ out of the "Babe of Bethlehem." Having enthroned
Jehovah, it proceeded to deify Jesus, and then by substitution to take the
place of both.

Imperial Rome, the "Scarlet Mother of the Tiber," assumed the government
and dictatorship of the world. Imperial, dogmatic, relentless, the arbiter
of the fate of humanity on earth and beyond.

Here was arbitrary, relentless _power_ at any cost, to be maintained on
any terms. "The end always justified the means."

In the civilization of Greece, the Individual, the citizen was first, and
association and co-operation built the State.

With Rome the Individual is nothing but a pawn, an accessory to the
Church. It was and is the Church first, last, and all the time. The
Individual can claim no right nor prerogative except as a concession from
the Church.

The contrast is extreme and absolute between the Genius of Greece and that
of Rome.

As the Genius of Greece was adapted from the older Aryan, so also was that
of Rome, from the Brahmans, through Egypt.

Among the various Avatars of old India designated as "Incarnations of
Vishnu," Siva "_the destroyer_," was often in evidence.

Rome proceeded to adopt the Hindoo Trinity--Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva--(the
Creator, the Preserver, and the Destroyer), and to so shape its creed and
dogmas as to secure and maintain the power of Mother Church, simply with a
change of names--"Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."

It has enslaved nations and slaughtered millions in order to maintain its
power. For more than fifteen hundred years it has maintained its
relentless warfare against the inalienable rights of the Individual, and
the inevitable progress of humanity.

It has escaped the execration of the world only by its priestly trick of
deifying Jesus and sophisticating every doctrine that he taught.
Supporting its pretensions by Mariolatry, the Auricular Confession, and
its army of spies and inquisitors, it has dominated mankind, impoverished
whole nations, devastated provinces and murdered all who opposed its
progress wherever and whenever it has gained civil power.

Rome is to-day the literal and visible reincarnation of _Siva_, the
_Avatar of Destruction_. She has originated nothing. Her mass and all her
ritualistic mummeries are adopted from paganism at its worst stage and in
its most degenerate form, and she awaits the fate that befell Egypt and
all her predecessors, "Sodom, Gomorrah, and the cities of the plain."

Protestantism has hitherto "protested" only in part. Refusing Mariolatry
and auricular confession, Protestantism, by accepting the miraculous
conception, the deification of Jesus and the vicarious atonement, has kept
Rome in countenance.

When these are swept away, and their doom is already declared by the
leaders of thought in nearly all our institutions of higher learning, the
Roman _Avatar_ will stand revealed in all its nakedness and villainy to
the execration of mankind. It is this "_Modernism_" that "His Holiness" so
much fears and is trying to arrest. It is too late, unless civilization
and the march of time move backward.

The most amazing thing about it all is, how the world, with its present
intelligence and culture, can be so indifferent to this most aggressive,
cruel, and relentless Avatar of all the ages, instead of repelling it with
contempt and execration.

Thirty-seven Italian Cardinals,[2] proud and arrogant, rule the Church,
elect the Pope, and assume dictatorship of the earth, as also arbiters of
human destiny, here and hereafter. America, the corn-bin of this modern
Egypt, by courtesy has _one cardinal_, just to keep her in countenance.

The effrontery is cyclopean, but our supineness and indifference are
deplorable and inexcusable.

Shipping her impoverished, degraded, criminal, and priest-ridden hordes to
America by the million every year, Rome is massing her army for the
overthrow of our government and all our present civilization. With her
dogma of obedience, her army now _votes_ and will, by and by, _fight_
under the dictatorship of the Cardinals at Rome. Already undermining our
Public Free Schools, boycotting the public press, with their army of
Jesuit spies and secret assassins of every liberty prized by man, the
"merry war" goes on right under our eyes, and we sleep and dream and
blindly assume that "there is no danger."

Read the history of the Crusaders, of the Protestant Reformation and of
the "Holy Inquisition," and if further enlightenment is needed, study the
origin, history, and denouement of all the Avatars of the past, the fate
of Egypt, the cities of the plain, where paganism and a degenerate
priesthood usurped the place of pure and undefiled religion, and literally
wiped from the map of the world the civilizations of the past. _Nemesis_
is written in letters of flame across the starry heavens, as an atonement
for the blood of nations and the degeneracy and diabolism of an ambitious,
cruel, relentless, and unrestrained priesthood. And it is all being
literally repeated to-day without the novelty of a new idea, or method, or
device, or motive. It is _The Reincarnation of the Avatar of Siva, the
Destroyer_.

-----

  [2] At the death of Pope Leo there were 65 Cardinals, 39 of
      whom were Italians.




CHAPTER XII

PORTENTS OF THE PRESENT TIME


There is no disguising nor denying the fact that during the past half
century institutional religion in the West has steadily lost its hold upon
the great mass of the people. Creeds and dogmas are denied and
repudiated.

The "higher criticism" represents the reluctant yielding of theologians to
the existing conditions. In order to maintain any hold whatever upon the
people and retain a semblance of the old faith, they have revised and
modified beliefs and interpretations, and relaxed completely the former
demand for the confession of faith and acceptance of the old creeds. Mere
general verbal assent admitting of many mental reservations is now often
deemed sufficient.

In the meantime, the living of the life and the doing of the work demanded
by Jesus have come more and more into demand and general recognition.

The "Emmanuel Movement," now gaining such recognition and making such
rapid progress, is sufficient evidence at this point.

With the Church of Rome no such change is manifest. By keeping its people
in ignorance, by condemning all change or any improvement under the name
of "Modernism," and by insisting upon the dogma of infallibility and blind
obedience, Rome thus far has resisted all change and refused all
compromise.

The change in Protestantism represents the growth of intelligence, the
recognition of the rights of conscience, and individual and intellectual
freedom.

The stability so apparent in Romanism relies solely on Ignorance,
Superstition, and Fear, enforced by the dogma of "_Infallibility_," and
reinforced by the power of "Excommunication" and the penalty of
"Anathema."

The unity and stability of the Roman Church, thus secured by force, will
presently be found to be apparent only. It could only work and hold in the
dark ages. Internal division and dissension, now known to exist, await
only some fresh act of oppression, or some new abomination, or abuse of
political power, to disrupt its solidarity.

In the meantime physical science has steadily advanced, opening new
avenues of wealth, industry, and opportunity, and so developing the
resources of this Western world.

But more important and far-reaching still have been the discoveries
regarding the finer forces of nature.

The wonderful development and application of discoveries in Electricity
have not only opened a new world previously unknown and unsuspected, but
have seemed to endow these subtle forces almost with an intelligence of
their own. Crass materialism is dead and space practically annihilated.

If a single wire or a vibrating disc cannot originate intelligent speech,
it can retain, repeat, and transmit the qualities, tones and inflections
of the human voice in a way that seems miraculous and uncanny. It is thus
that our concepts of nature have been enlarged, refined, and actually
spiritualized. "Brutal" and "dead" matter are no longer in evidence nor
even mentioned.

With the advent of modern spiritualism came another group of phenomena.
Making the largest allowance for fraud, self-deception, and all the
vagaries of the imagination, no intelligent individual, familiar with the
phenomena, will attempt to deny the extension of man's psychic world of
consciousness and the manifestation of intelligence in ways and under
conditions previously unknown. The identification of these intelligences,
always difficult, and generally problematical, need not here be discussed
at all. The facts and the phenomena are all that we are here concerned
with.

The most important consideration regarding all these phenomena is that
they do not _develop_, but on the contrary _dominate_ the individual. They
are, in fact, altogether subjective. The medium may put himself in the
negative or passive condition to be controlled, but he cannot _command_
nor _control_ the influence nor the "entity" that influences him, and
eventually he loses the power to resist it, and likewise the power of
self-control.

Science demands _facts_, and here are facts in abundance. These facts
supplement the discoveries in electricity and nature's finer forces, and
pass from physics to metaphysics, from physiology to psychology, and push
back the veil of the unseen, and hitherto unknown, many degrees.

The trend of all this progress, and of these discoveries, is exceedingly
plain.

Our concepts of Nature, of Life, and of Man have been almost immeasurably
enlarged, refined, and elevated.

Expectancy is in the air. "What next is going to happen?" is the question
everywhere asked. The conditions and portents, in a general way, are those
that herald a new Avatar; an Avatar now, of science rather than of
religion; of knowledge rather than of faith, and this knowledge is to be
of spiritual things, the foundations of which are already in evidence.

This science is not to be time-serving, but man-serving; not so much a
renewal of faith as a revelation of knowledge; less anxious for the glory
of God than for the elevation of man, which is the more direct and certain
way of honoring Divinity.

This does not mean the decay nor the repudiation of religion, but a
_realization_ of _true_ religion, such as heretofore prophets have
foretold, revelation has forecast, and toward which humanity has toiled
and journeyed in sorrow and pain; the very religion that Jesus lived and
taught. "A clean life, an open mind, an unveiled spiritual perception, a
brotherliness for all, and human life a journeying upward toward the
realms of eternal day, 'with no night there, and no sorrow.'"

_And why not?_ If man can conceive it, why may he not _realize_ it? The
"Old Adam" as an excuse is exploded. The "New Adam" is indeed "a
quickening spirit."

Nothing is plainer nor more demonstrable at the present day than the fact
that mankind is slowly but surely shaking off the traditions and the
superstitions that have bound it in the past, rising above the myths and
the folklore of every age and clime, and awaking as if from slumber, to
behold a new day and a new world.

This awakening is even more in evidence and remarkable in the case of
woman than of man. Progress here during the last decade has been such as
the world has never before seen on any such scale, and it means more to
the elevation of humanity than anyone has hitherto been able to forecast
or to measure.

In the meantime social and economic conditions with the great masses of
the people are very far from what they should be.

Unrest and confusion are strongly in evidence. On the whole, there is far
less suffering and destitution than ever before. Oppression and
abominations meet with quick and powerful protest from all classes, when
exposed, and at least temporary relief is quick to follow.

The blame is confined to no one class, rich or poor. The equitable
distribution of wealth, resources, and opportunity that have developed
beyond all precedent during the last half century, requires time. Justice
and equity are not dead, but everywhere in evidence, dominating mankind at
large. Public sentiment was never more keen and never nearer right than
to-day. There is general confusion, however, as to methods and ways and
means. The cunning shark and the selfish brute resort to concealment,
cunning and subterfuge, to deceive the people and often succeed for a
time, only to meet with condemnation and execration later. Injustice is
often in evidence, but it is neither rampant nor dominant. It stands in
fear of public sentiment.

These, in brief and in outline, are the conditions, the portents, to-day,
everywhere in evidence:

1. The decay of creeds and dogmas.

2. Great progress in Science, Art, and the Crafts.

3. Immense discoveries regarding Nature's finer forces and the psychical
powers latent in man.

4. Great expectancy as to new revelations.

5. Unprecedented increase in wealth and the development of natural
resources.

6. Enfranchisement of woman, and immense progress as to her rights and
opportunities.

7. Economic Justice recognized and aimed at, and fortified by public
sentiment, with strong efforts to secure and maintain it.

The present age or epoch is not one of darkness, but of light; not of
discouragement, but of hope. It is neither retrograde nor stagnant, but
progressive to a degree never before witnessed in the history of man on so
large a scale and involving all classes and so many people at one time.

Organized or institutional religion alone is on the wane. Evidence and
utility are everywhere demanded. Nothing is sacred simply because it is
old; nor true merely because it is dogmatically asserted so to be.

Holy books, holy men, and holy days are matters of evidence, and not of
blind credence.

What will the new religion--the new revelation--be? and whence will it
come?




CHAPTER XIII

THE SEPARABLE SOUL IN FOLKLORE


Belief in a separable soul in man is virtually universal. Such belief is
found amongst the lowest races, and in the few instances where it has not
been clearly discovered it is admitted that it may still exist and be
disguised by the native meaning of words or signs that escape the
explorer.

The universality of this belief has often been urged as an evidence of its
validity and proof of the soul's existence.

Modern physical science deduces this belief from the phenomena of daily
life and the analogies of individual experience, thus giving precedence to
material causes for mental concepts, or universal ideas. This view is, I
think, entitled to the most careful consideration, but it cannot once for
all be admitted, nor is it consistent with the general theory and progress
of evolution that the phenomenal stands to the noumenal, the actual to the
ideal, as cause to effect. These two groups of experiences are alternate
and coincident; and, as to priority, it is only the old question in a new
form, as to which was first, the bird that laid the egg, or the egg that
hatched the bird.

This distinction is particularly pertinent to the present subject, for the
reason that by the method of modern physical science, in dealing with the
belief in the existence of the soul, the whole of this universal belief is
swept away. Its origin is found in the ignorance, superstition, and false
analogies of barbarous races, and the inference is that the belief can
only linger as a remnant of superstition among civilized men. This method
prejudges the whole question, and (while it must readily be admitted that
the opposite method equally prejudges it), my contention is for neither
the one nor the other, but for the careful consideration and final
blending of both. If at first sight these two theories, which form the
basis of the working hypothesis of the materialist and the spiritist, seem
paradoxical and wholly irreconcilable, with careful consideration and
unbiased investigation of both sides of the problem the paradox will
disappear.

With both the lowest and the highest races not only do we find the
existence of belief in the existence of a separable soul in man, but of
ghosts, gods, genii, a spirit of the air, and hierarchies of celestial and
infernal beings.

In this regard, philosophers like Plato and Pythagoras, the intellectual
giants of the human race, may be said to have elaborated and specialized
the rude conceptions of the Fiji Islander, and to vie with him in peopling
space with invisible entities and potencies. In spite of the dictum of
science, the world, intelligent and ignorant alike, believes, and will
continue to believe, in the reality of the unseen universe, and the
Platonic doctrine of "emanation" and the "world of divine ideas" not only
begin where modern physical science leaves off, but at this very point
science either begs the question, or ignores it entirely.

How things come to be what they are, and to evolve as they do, science
nowhere declares. It simply takes things as it finds them, and dubs
the ultimate and antecedent causation the _Unknowable_. The philosophy
of Plato, it is true, reaches at last the unknowable and the
incomprehensible, but only after revealing another universe, the
metaphysical and spiritual, entirely unknown to, or ignored or derided by
the materialist.

It is, however, from this invisible realm that all visible things have
come forth, the two being not only under absolute and universal law, but
bearing everywhere definite analogies to each other. Hence Plato says,
"God geometrizes." Absolute mathematics determines the relations of atoms
to suns, and the circulation of the blood in man to the revolutions of
suns and solar systems.

A further general consideration remains to be noted before taking up the
evidence of belief in the separable soul, and that is, the evolutionary
life-wave of humanity on our earth.

The progress of man for some millions of years past has by no means been a
straightforward climbing from barbarism to civilization. The wave of
evolution has ebbed and flowed. While at one place man has slowly emerged
from savagery, at another he has as surely sunk to it. Continents and
islands have risen from and again sunk to the bottom of the sea, bearing
the races of men in their upheavals or descent, and cataclysmic and
seismic or volcanic upheavals have blotted out in a day the accumulated
progress of centuries. The poles of the earth have shifted with results to
the life of the globe more awful than the imagination can portray. Bodies
of people like our North American Indians represent the remains of many
peoples, as in Russia or India to-day, fragments of many nationalities are
being absorbed in one.

Bearing in mind, therefore, that owing to many causes a nation may descend
to barbarism or disappear entirely, we shall find everywhere the fragments
and decay of the old belief no less than the dawn of the new. A noble
creed, or a philosophical concept of a highly advanced race, may exist as
a transformed and degrading superstition with a race, or a fragment of a
people, undergoing degeneracy.

Every religion known to man has gone through just this transformation. The
tendency is innate and inevitable and no civilization or religion has ever
yet been able long to resist it. If we bear this in mind we shall be less
surprised at anthropogeneses, cosmogeneses or psychologies found sometimes
among otherwise rude or savage peoples, and be better able to understand
the incongruities and lack of symmetry in their evolution. It would be
easy to cite instances and draw comparisons at this point.

Bearing in mind, then, these general considerations underlying all
interpretation, and nowhere more applicable than to our present subject,
the following illustrations of belief in the separable soul, gleaned
largely from Spencer's "Descriptive Sociology," may be of interest. It is
drawn largely from the lower civilizations, as all are more or less
familiar with the mythologies of the Greeks, Babylonians, Phoenicians,
etc., all of which are accessible. The material available is embarrassing
on account of its magnitude alone.

Oscar Peschel, in his "Races of Man," says that "perhaps the Brazilian
Botocudos, of all the inhabitants of the world, are most nearly in the
primitive state, and yet," he adds, "possibly we may be altogether
mistaken in this regard, as their languages are very imperfectly known."

Humboldt rescued the Caribs from such an impeachment and declares that
their language "combines wealth, grace, strength, and gentleness. It has
expressions for abstract ideas, for Futurity, Eternity, and Existence, and
enough numerical terms to express all possible combinations of our
numerals." It might be noted in passing that it was these same Brazilian
natives that the Portuguese settlers sought to decimate by spreading
smallpox and scarlet fever amongst them, as the English colonists in
Tasmania shot the natives when they had no better food for their dogs.

Hariot says that "many of the Indian natives of North and South America
believe that the soul, after its separation from the body, enters into a
wide path crowded with spirits which are journeying toward a region of
eternal repose. They have to cross an impetuous river on a trembling
wicker bridge which is very dangerous."

Some Greenlanders believe that the soul can go astray out of the body for
a considerable time. Some believe that they can leave their souls at home
when going on a journey, and others believe in the migration of souls.

Belief in the soul and a future state is universal among the Indians of
North America. All are familiar with the tradition of the "Happy Hunting
Ground." With them the future life is patterned after the present.

Schoolcraft says that the Chippewas believe that there are duplicate
souls, one of which remains with the body, while the other is free to
depart on excursions during sleep. After death the soul departs to the
Indian Elysium and a fire is kept burning on the newly-made grave for four
days, the time required for the soul to reach its destination.

The Dakotas stand in great fear of the spirits of the dead, who they think
have power to injure them, and they recite prayers and give offerings to
appease them.

The Mandans, according to Schoolcraft, have anticipated Prof. Lloyd's
Etidorhpa, even to the beautiful maiden. They believe that they were the
first people created on the earth, and that they first lived inside the
globe. They raised many vines, one of which having grown up through a hole
in the earth, one of the young men climbed up until he crawled out on the
bank of the river where the Mandan village stands. (Jack and the bean
stalk.) The young man returned to the nether world and piloted several of
his companions to the outer world, and among them two very beautiful
virgins. Among those who tried to get up was a very large and fat woman,
who was ordered by the chiefs to remain behind. Her curiosity prompted her
secretly to make the trial. The vine broke under her weight and she was
badly hurt by the fall, but did not die, and was ever after in disgrace
for having cut off all communication with the upper world. Those who had
already ascended built the Mandan village, and when these die they expect
to return to the nether world from which they came. They also believe the
earth a great tortoise, and have a tradition of a universal deluge.

The Indians of Guiana believe in the immortality of the soul, as do also
the Arawaks. The Brazilians are said by Spix and Martins to have had no
religious belief whatever before mingling with the civilized races. The
Guaranis believed in a soul which remained in the grave with the body.

The Patagonians believe in a country of the dead which they call Alhue
Mapu and they kill the horses of the deceased in order that their owner
may ride in Alhue Mapu.

From the beliefs of the Negritto and Malayo-Polynesian races, I glean the
following: The Fuegians believe in a superior being, and in good and evil
spirits, in dreams, omens, signs, etc. Fitzroy says he could not satisfy
himself that they had any idea of the immortality of the soul.

The Veddahs believe in the guardianship of the spirits of the dead, who
visit them in dreams and minister to them in sickness, and they have
ceremonies of invocation.

Eyra says some at least of the Australians believe in the existence and
separability of the soul.

The Tasmanians believed in a future life as a tradition of a primitive
religion, and Bonwick says they conversed with the spirits of the dead.

The New Caledonians believe that white men are the spirits of the dead,
and that they bring sickness. They believe that the soul on leaving the
body goes to the Bush, and every fifth month they have a "spirit night" or
"grand concert of spirits." The gods of the New Caledonians are their
ancestors, whose relics they keep and idolize.

The Fijians believe in a separable soul, and dying is by them described by
the same terms as sunset.

Belief in a future state among them is said by Siemann to be universal. In
Fiji heaven the inhabitants plant, live in families, fight, and so repeat
the incidents of life on earth. They believe that the spirit of men, while
still alive, may leave the body and trouble other people when asleep.

The Sandwich Islanders believe that the spirit of the departed hovers
about his former home, appears to his relatives in dreams, and they
worship an image which they believe to be in some way connected with the
departed. They regard the spirit of one of their ancient kings as a
tutelar deity, and the king and the priest were believed to be descended
from the gods.

The Tahitians believe in a separable soul which, on leaving the body, is
seized by other spirits and conducted to the state of night, where it is
by degrees eaten by the gods. A few escape this fate, while others, after
being three times eaten, become immortal.

The Tongons believe that the human soul is the more ethereal part of the
body and that it exists in Bolotoo in the form and likeness of the body
the moment after death.

The Samoans believe that the spirits of the dead have power to return and
to cause disease and death in other members of the family, hence all are
anxious to part with the dying on good terms.

The New Zealanders believe that during sleep the mind leaves the body, and
that dreams are the objects seen during its wanderings. They believe in
two separate abodes for departed spirits, the sky, and the sea, and that
the abodes of souls are to be approached only down the face of a steep
precipice--Cape Maria Van Dieman.

The Dyaks have great difficulty in distinguishing sleep from death. They
believe that the soul during sleep goes on an expedition of its own, and
sees, hears, and talks. They believe in spirits, omens, and in all that
occurs in dreams as real and literally true.

The Sumatrans believe in spirits and superior beings, and are said to have
a vague idea of the immortality of the soul, and the Malays believe in
spirits, good and bad, and seem to have a vague idea of a separable soul.

The Mexicans believed in a separable soul, and distinguished three
different abodes for it after death.

Landa says the people of Yucatan have always believed more firmly in the
immortality of the soul than other people, though they were less advanced
in civilization. They believed that after death there would be a better
life, which the soul would enjoy after its separation from the body. They
worshiped their dead kings as gods. The mythology of the people of
Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua is extensive and complicated and their
National Book, the Popol Vuh, possesses intense interest for the student.
There can be no doubt that these people believed in a separable soul, as
did also the Chibchas.

It was the belief of the ancient Peruvians that the soul leaves the body
during sleep, and that the soul itself cannot sleep, but that dreams are
what the soul sees in the world while the body sleeps. Waitz says they
believed in the transmigration of human souls into the bodies of animals.

In the case of the Arabians the primitive belief, which was Sabianism, has
been altered far less by Mohammedan invasion than most persons suppose.
Burton says Mohammed and his followers conquered only the more civilized
Bedouins, and Baker says that the Arabs are unchanged, and that the
theological opinions which they now hold are the same as those which
prevailed in remote ages, and of this belief the soul and its immortality
formed a part.

In general the Hill Tribes of India share in the universal belief in the
soul, in spirits, gods, and devils, though of many of these tribes little
is really known in modern times.

Nearly all our North American Indians (I can find no exceptions) bury
objects with their dead, such as food implements, jewelry, etc., and kill
the horses of the deceased that he may ride in the Happy Hunting Ground.

With the Carib's death his wife and captives were killed, and food
utensils, etc., were buried with him.

A curious custom prevailed with some Brazilian tribes. After burying food,
utensils, arms, etc., with the body, a month after death the body was
disinterred, put in a pan over a fire, the volatile substances driven off,
the black residue reduced to powder and mixed with water and drunk by the
company.

The Patagonians bury all the possessions of the deceased with the body.

With the Hottentots, widows lose one joint of a finger as an offering to
the deceased husband every time they re-marry.

With the Kaffirs, the hut and utensils of the deceased are burnt. The East
Africans offer prayer to the dead.

The Congo people bury ornaments, utensils, arms, etc., and embalm the body
after one or two years. The body of the chief must be carried in a
straight line from the hut to place of burial, and if trees or huts impede
the passage, they are cut down.

The Coast Negroes bury property with the body and have a ceremony like an
Irish wake, as do also the Abyssinians.

With the Ashantis, gold dust and utensils are buried and human sacrifices
occur.

The wives of the Fijians are strangled that they may attend their lords in
the new country.

The people of Malagasy bury in vaults 10x12, and 7 feet high, and put in a
large quantity of property.

With the ancient Mexicans, wives, slaves, concubines, and chaplains were
slaughtered to attend the deceased.

The Arabs fasten the camels to the grave of their master.

The Todas cremate the dead and slaughter the whole herd of buffalo
belonging to him, in order to secure them to him in the after life.

I have by no means given a complete category of the primitive and
barbarous peoples who believe in a separate soul, and who believe in a
future state much like the present and in conformity with that belief bury
arms, ornaments, and utensils with the dead or place them on the grave,
and who slaughter horses, camels, wives, slaves, etc., in order that the
deceased may retain his possessions. How far these customs extend in case
of the death of woman I do not know, but as with most of these people the
women are regarded as chattels of the males, the case is doubtless very
different.

Now as to the origin of these beliefs and customs, their causes naturally
fall into two categories, the physical and the metaphysical. Modern
biological science regards the whole question from the physical side
almost exclusively, and facts and experiences that belong largely or
exclusively to the metaphysical realm are warped out of their natural
order to fit the theory of interpretation.

Every savage observes not only that he casts a shadow, but that shadows
attend all inanimate objects that stand so as to intercept the light, and
as shadows move as do objects that gives rise to the idea of animation.
Hence we have genii, dryads, naiads, ghosts, angels, demons, etc. To
fortify this belief we have echoes, which give voice to animate and
inanimate objects. Movement and voice are the universal accompaniment of
animation.

The part played by the breath, and its sudden cessation at death, are
believed to contribute to the belief in invisible existences.

The beating of the heart, and its cessation at death, adds another link to
the chain of phenomena, going to show that _something_ leaves the body at
death. This may be the origin of the sacrifice of the hearts of captives
to the gods, or to a deceased warrior or chief as with the ancient
Mexicans, with the belief that the heart is the seat of the soul, and the
soul of the captive or victim shall attend the departed chief in the other
world.

But the most important place should doubtless be assigned to dreams as
giving rise to belief in the world of spirits. Dreams are universal
amongst men, and animals like the dog also dream.

Most if not all primitive people are also aware that fasting promotes
dreaming, and while many of them practice long fasting, partly, no doubt,
to increase fortitude and bodily endurance, in very many cases it is known
to be practiced for the purpose of promoting dreams. Beyond this voluntary
fasting there is the enforced fast due to famine or the scarcity of food.

It will be noticed in many of the cases cited how much stress is laid on
the phenomena of dreams and how literally they are interpreted.

Among civilized races and those wise in philosophy dreams play a very
important part, and are classified as monitorial, prophetic, etc., etc.
The habit in modern times of regarding dreams as altogether fantastic and
unreal, is unscientific. In the mingling of the real and the apparently
unreal, in the dream state, while the experience itself is always real to
the dreamer, lies undoubtedly the source of many beliefs that influence
the lives of men.

Dreaming must be regarded as one of the states of consciousness, and
hence, of whatsoever stuff dreams are made, they represent an actual
experience of the individual. No greater mistake can be made than the
belief that no experience is real save that which brings us in contact
with gross matter through the agency of the five senses. The world of
ideas and the creations of the imagination are in fact no more evanescent
than matter itself. Here impermanency differs only in time. All in time
pass away.

I hold that dreams, in general, show more clearly the nature of the soul,
and the experiences of the waking state show the office of the bodily
organism, and that each _on its own plane_ is as valid as the other.

In other words, "the soul is such stuff as dreams are made of." It does
not hold true, nor need it, that the experiences in dreams shall be true
and valid on the physical plane, though this is often the case, or that
the experiences of the physical plane shall be literally repeated in
dreams, which, nevertheless, frequently happens.

It is an undeniable fact that the experiences of the conscious ego in man
compass the subjective no less than the objective planes of being. That
the subjective avenues should be closed when the ego is functioning on the
physical plane through the bodily organs by aid of the senses, is quite as
remarkable as that the physical avenues should be closed when in dreams,
or trance, or syncope, or under anaesthetics, the ego functions on the
subjective planes.

I hold, therefore, that here, more than anywhere else, is the source of
not only belief in the existence of the soul, but of the relatively
uniform conceptions everywhere attained. The common experience of man on
the one plane is as easily accounted for as on the other, and individual
experience differs no more widely in the one case than in the other. So
also is the persistence of the human type, or the _genus_, involved in the
one case no less than in the other.

All the agencies recognized in modern evolution tend to elevation only
through differentiation, and even the "eternal cell" of Weismann fails in
explaining permanency of form through any physical transmission. When
atavism and degeneracy are admitted as factors, as they certainly must be,
the perpetuity of the human species fails from physical causes alone.

I hold the idea of a separable soul to be innate in the human
consciousness, as a necessary deduction from the experience of the
continuity of self-consciousness which compasses both the objective and
subjective states. This deduction from experience occurs whenever the
evolving ego has advanced sufficiently above the animal plane to reason on
its own experience, and for this reason the belief in the separable soul
is universal.

It is no more strange that the experience of the individual should be
modified by traditions and the beliefs of others regarding, for example,
the dream state, than that the experience of the individual should in like
manner be modified or shaped by traditions and the ceremonies and usages
of others on the physical plane. The bond of unity and that of diversity
have one common root in humanity. What we need for larger knowledge is, I
think, a recognition of the breadth and sweep of human experience. To stop
either ignoring or quibbling over one-half of all our actual experience.

The inner world of thought and being is really the habitat of the soul,
while the physical body, like the diving-bell, enables us to explore and
gain experience on another plane which otherwise must remain to us forever
unknown.

The limitations of space and time are unknown to us in dreams. These are
the limitations of the fleshly casket. The consciousness of freedom, the
absence of pain and sorrow even under great trial, are often experienced
in the dream state. The range and character of experience in the
subjective state is modified, and held in check by that of the physical
plane, and the correspondence of an emotion to an idea, or of an act to a
thought, ought to give us the key to the two sets of experiences and
reveal the underlying basis of equilibrium.

A universal fact and a common experience argue a universal nature. Like
conditions everywhere come from like causes. These are neither accidental
nor incidental, nor are they left to the caprice of savages, nor to that
of the more advanced civilizations.

It is not at all strange that a common experience should result in a
universal belief. The range of experience and varying vicissitudes of life
on the outer physical plane differ as widely as do those of the dream
plane, and the conscious identity of the individual is equally preserved
on both planes.

I hold that here lies the origin of belief in the existence of a soul in
man, separable from the body, and the confines of matter, space, and time,
in an actual experience of every individual. The beating of the heart, the
phenomena of respiration, the cessation of these at death, and the shadows
cast by man and inanimate bodies serve as connecting links between the
experiences of the individual on the subjective and objective planes of
being.

The dream state and the experiences thence derived are subjects for
psychological science to investigate. The experiences allotted by du
Maurier to "Peter Ibbetson" are not altogether fantastic and unwarranted,
as the records of somnambulism and hypnotism abundantly prove. When we
remember that nothing deserving the name of Psychology or Psychic Science
exists in the western world to-day, we need not wonder why men eminent for
investigations in other departments prove themselves novices and
dogmatists here.

The folklore, the traditions, and the mythology of dreams would form a
very interesting subject for discussion. It is true that the literature of
the subject is fantastic, mixed with fable and often altogether
unreliable; but these difficulties offer no more formidable bar to
scientific investigation than many another problem already classified and
formulated for systematic study.

I know a lady of very superior ability, the mother of a prominent jurist,
who all her life has had distinct premonitions of many calamities and
coming events, and there are those who dream true in every community.
Fantasies, nightmare, dreams from indigestion and delirium, form a
separate class where the dreamer is entangled in the meshes of the bodily
functions.

Here fasting, either voluntary or enforced, comes in, and drugs known to
the remotest times are found to promote and to determine the character of
dreams. There are furthermore processes of mental gymnastics whereby the
thinker withdraws himself from the bodily avenues of sense and functions
at will on the subjective plane of being.

"When then," said Socrates, in the _Phaedo_, "does the soul light on the
truth? for when it attempts to consider anything in conjunction with the
body, it is plain that it is led astray by it."

"And surely," he continues, "the soul reasons best when none of these
things disturb it, neither hearing, nor sight, nor pain, nor pleasure of
any kind, but it retires as much as possible _within itself_, _taking
leave of the body_, and as far as it can, not communicating or being in
contact with it, _it aims at the discovery of that which is_."

I hold that the most valuable triumphs of science in the future lie in the
realm of psychology, and that by no means the least important contribution
in this direction will come from the study of Folklore, of which belief in
the separable soul, and the phenomena and universality of the dream state
must form a very important part.

One final consideration is suggested not without some degree of hesitation
and diffidence. If there be a soul in man destined to continued existence,
and if in any case perfection is the goal of evolution as formulated by
Herbert Spencer for a future residue of the human race, then this soul in
its essential elements is without beginning in time.

Pre-existence and evolution necessitate repeated re-embodiment on the
physical plane, and the continuity of self-consciousness in man I hold to
be the proof of life without beginning or end.

Viewed in this light, dreams and all subjective experiences in man must
mingle reminiscences of the soul with the experiences of the present life,
and the theory of innate ideas assumes a purely scientific form. We hence
arrive at the intuition of the soul to account for universal belief. The
experience of Socrates and the Fiji Islander agree as to the subjective
plane as perfectly as in regard to the beating of the heart. They differ
only in degree of evolution.




CHAPTER XIV

FROM CONFUSION TO CONSTRUCTION


A concise and detailed review of the past, in the long journey of man
toward civilization and independent self-knowledge, has not been herein
attempted. Only hints, here and there, and the barest outline have been
undertaken.

If, however, the intelligent student will follow these clews, he will find
a mass of material and abundant evidence to corroborate the general
thesis.

Every great religion has had its Avatar, its Redeemer, its _Christos_.

Each of these religions has adapted from its predecessors and transformed
the old, in whole or in part, to suit the conditions and apparent needs of
the time.

Each of these revivals of religion has been instituted on account of the
abominations of a dominant priesthood and the poverty and degradation of
the masses. What was at first claimed and instituted as a Divine
Revelation for the elevation and happiness of the whole people, has openly
and shamelessly degenerated into enslavement of the masses and the
creation of a despotic and arrogant class who enslaved both body and soul
in the name of Religion.

Priest, Prince, and Potentate generally, united to terrorize through
force, and by superstition and fear, in order to retain their power.

The reaction has invariably resulted from economic conditions, as in the
case of the Protestant Reformation, when the gold sent to Rome through the
shameless sale of Indulgences, threatened to impoverish the whole of
Northern Europe, and Princes broke allegiance to the Priesthood in
desperate self-protection.

Then, and then only, came sufficient protest and Reformation.

The religionist is apt to regard and designate Science as "profane," and
Religion _per se_, as essentially "holy."

Nothing can be really considered "holy" that does not elevate, encourage,
and inspire the whole human race and promote the Brotherhood of Man.
Whenever any religion fails to do this it becomes indeed a profanation of
holy things.

The only religion that ever became the inspiration of a whole people, so
far as history records, was that of Christna, with the teeming millions of
India. Buddhism was driven out of India by the powerful and unscrupulous
Brahmans, and took refuge in Ceylon, Thibet, and adjacent provinces.

The religion of Jesus met a similar fate from the Jews and the Roman
governors, until Pagan Rome adapted and transformed it on the principle of
dominance and exploitation inherent in the genius of the Latin Race.

Since which time no one will pretend to claim that the Religion of Jesus
has ever dominated the human race or any large part of it.

Rome to-day no more represents the religion of Jesus than the Brahmans of
to-day represent that of Christna, or Buddha, or the religion of the
Vedas.

Nothing is so amazing to-day as that the intelligence of the present age
fails to recognize this fact.

All of these religions of the past have adapted their teaching to the
multitude through parable and allegory. Nothing in literature can be found
more beautiful and inspiring, and at the same time comprehensible to the
commonest intelligence, than Christna's "Parable of the Fisherman."

Christna and Buddha, like Jesus, taught to their disciples a "Secret
Doctrine," apprehensible only to the few. "To you it is given to know the
mysteries," but to others, who are without, it is not given.

It can readily be proven from at least a half score of the early Church
Fathers (see page 70 _et seq._ of the author's "Mystic Masonry"), that the
early church practiced "Initiation," patterned after those of the
Gnostics, Therapeutia and the Mysteries of Egypt, and divided their
neophytes and postulants into three degrees, as in Blue Lodge Masonry
to-day.

While the great mass of mankind to-day are incapable of apprehending these
genuine mysteries of life, and of the individual soul of man, it is
doubtful if any civilization ever existed where so many were willing and
capable of understanding them as are found here in America to-day.

The reason for this and the growth of intelligence have already been
outlined.

A new race is slowly forming here, designated by the ancient Wisdom as the
"Fifth Race," and called the _Manasic_, the growth of Intelligence, or
"Mind."

It is above all things important that with this development of _Mind_
there should also develop that of _Buddhi_, or Loving Kindness, the
essential element in the Universal Brotherhood of Man; a thing largely
overlooked in the modern theory of Evolution, and ignored, or set at
naught by Romanism by its dogmas, anathemas, and persecutions. Instead of
the brotherhood of man, she has exhibited the cruelty and rapacity of
devils. (Establishment of Roman Catholic Caste.)

This all-around development of the whole man, as essential to human
evolution, is everywhere insisted upon by all the great Masters of
antiquity, and is illustrated and exemplified in the genuine Greater
Mysteries.

Hence, the saying in Kabala, "The wicked _obey_ the law through _fear_;
the wise _keep_ the law through _knowledge_." The Saviors all preached and
practiced the "Good Law," and obedience to legal mandates.

The explanation usually given of an Avatar by the ancient Masters, as "a
descent, embodiment, or incarnation of _Vishnu_," who is not only the
"Preserver," but the "Rejuvenator" of mankind, is rather a _blind_, and
was an interpretation given to the common people, or the "profane."

All things--even heaven and earth--pass away, and all things are renewed.

This renewal, or regeneration, through the constructive principle of
evolution, is "designed" to be continually on higher and still higher
planes.

It is not the range of experience, nor the growth of intelligence alone,
that elevates man, but the progressive and constructive growth of the
soul, from the physical toward the spiritual plane of Being.

This actual growth means Knowledge, Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge of
the Law, Obedience to its Commands, and Realization of its Rewards.

This Constructive Psychology is the _growth of the Soul_.

Man passes, therefore, from the age of Fable, Superstition, and Fear, to
the age of Faith and Obedience, and finally to that of actual Knowledge.

This _age of Knowledge_--not for all of mankind, but for a larger number
who are worthy and well-qualified, duly and truly prepared than was ever
known at one time before--has at last dawned.

The question is continually asked, "Why do the Masters of Wisdom Conceal
their Knowledge?"

The only adequate answer is that so few are ready, willing, and able to
receive it in the right way, and to use and not abuse it.

Those who deny that any such knowledge has ever existed, or exists to-day,
or can exist, had better waste no time over it. They cannot alter it, nor
destroy it, as their predecessors have tried to do for ages, often
murdering or crucifying all who were even suspected of possessing it. They
might as well try to destroy the law of gravitation, or imagine that by
murdering the foremost mathematician of the day that they had destroyed
the science of mathematics. I am speaking of _Knowledge_ of Spiritual
things.

A new Avatar, therefore, is not simply an individual, though many
individuals may understand and exemplify it--the Initiated, the
Illuminati--and one man may lead in representing it.

To call it "the descent and embodiment, or Incarnation of Vishnu," in a
metaphysical sense, the Spirit (generically), that renews, rejuvenates,
transforms, and regenerates, is by no means an empty metaphor.

In the same sense we speak of the "Genius of Greece," or of Rome, or of
Civilization.

The _idea_ is composite, and represents an underlying and _universal
principle and potency_.

But after all metaphor and generalization, each Avataric movement centered
around an individual _Man_, and this _Man_ embodied the principle and
undertook the special work of an evangel, or _Christos_, or "Avatar,"
amongst men.

Not only have there been many Avatars, and many Buddhas, but when we
realize the meaning of these terms and the mysteries they represent, we
discover that while it may be the special mission of one, like Christna,
or Buddha, or Jesus, to undertake the work of enlightening and redeeming
any age; there are other Masters, or Illuminati, engaged in other work, on
different planes, to promote the same general results.

The result with each of the great Saviors of mankind has been, that the
common people, or the priesthood, have eventually either crucified or
deified them.

In the case of Jesus they have done both. Eight separate and deliberate
attempts have already been made to assassinate the present representative
of the School of Natural Science, who was educated in the order of the
Illuminati, and delegated by that Order to present these great truths to
the world to-day.

This individual is only in the broadest _metaphysical_ sense (as already
defined), an Avatar, which, as shown, is a _composite idea_, _focused_ in
and _represented by_ an individual man or teacher.

The work of this Master is to instruct, to exemplify, and to demonstrate,
the ancient Wisdom on Scientific lines, in keeping with the needs, the
opportunities, and the scientific spirit of the present age.

He does not preach to the multitude in parables. He undertakes to instruct
the few who are ready and qualified to receive such instruction, and who
will properly use and not abuse it, and he does this "without money and
without price"; "without the hope of fee or reward." (Herein is the
Avataric Spirit of Freemasonry.)

What his reward will be with the rabble, or with the "money changers," he
knows too well, but to such as he, fear is unknown.

I am speaking not _for_ him, but _of_ him, after the blessed privilege of
seven years of the most intimate association, and such co-operation as I
have been capable of giving.

His plan and motive seem to be to get as much as possible of this
knowledge of the soul, and of spiritual things, to the attention of the
"progressive intelligence of the present age," in order that it may become
exemplified and diffused among all classes, and for the benefit of the
whole human race.

We have passed the age of fable, and of blind faith, and have come to the
age of fact and law. _Kali Yuga_ means the Iron Age.

As two natures, the physical and spiritual, meet and mingle in the
constitution of man, so do his faculties, capacities, and powers mingle
and function on the two planes, the physical and the spiritual, though
very largely on the former, with the great majority in any age or time.

There is implanted in the very foundation of man's being the idea or the
consciousness of a separable soul. It would seem to be an intuition, for
with nearly every people of which we have any knowledge, no matter how
near the animal plane, the belief or the folklore of a separable soul
exists, in many cases held to be separable during life, and in most cases
believed to survive the death of the physical body. (See folio editions of
Herbert Spencer's "Descriptive Sociology," and Chapter XIII, herein.)

It has generally been held by scientists and commentators, that this
intuition, or belief, results largely from dreams.

To say that dreams, in general, are mere fantasies, or the results of
imagination, and have no real basis in consciousness, is folly; for dreams
are of many kinds, and present great varieties.

They are, moreover, both reminiscent and prophetic, sometimes moving like
any other conscious experience, from fact to fruition, and in others, we
are unable to relate them to any other conscious experience.[1]

Hypnosis and Telepathy are related to the same states, so much so, that
the modern scientist has been constrained to coin two new terms to avoid
endless repetitions, viz.: "subliminal" and "supraliminal" states of
consciousness.

Bearing in mind all these subjective states and experiences, including the
whole range of so-called mediumship, the _theorem_ of the Masters and
adepts of all ages may be made exceeding plain.

[Footnote 1: For a very valuable and suggestive treatise on "Sleep," see
F. W. H. Myers "Human Personality," Chap. IV.]

It consists in the _dominance of the Will_ over all conscious states.

This is the _Alpha_ and the _Omega_--the principle, the potency, and the
act--of Mastership.

The mind of the Master no longer drifts in a boundless sea of fantasy, but
with rudder and compass, he guides his ship whithersoever he would go.

This does not mean that there are not still degrees and related states and
conditions of consciousness in his experience.

It does mean, however, that all these states and conditions, with all his
faculties, capacities, and powers, are _co-ordinated_, not only in his
_awareness_ of them as a whole, but in the exercise of each and its
relation to the others, dominated by his own Will.

He has "Mastered" them, and can incite or repress them, while they can no
longer dominate him. Can the reader imagine such a degree of
_Self-Control_?

This, however, is but the beginning, as the "Secret of Power," and by no
means the end.

Controlling the phases and forms of consciousness, there comes next the
determination to extend their boundary and to _refine and elevate the
powers of the Soul_.

In the first case, that of co-ordination, the ancient Wisdom admonishes
the student or _chela_ to "_make the mind one pointed, like a light
burning in a quiet place_." Light a candle and put it in a corner where no
draught can reach it, and the flame will seem as though cut out of solid
fire, and "one pointed."

It is at the point of refining and elevating the individual consciousness
that Ethics or Morals come in. It is just at this point also that the
_Path_ is determined.

What our ancient Brothers called "the power of Will and
Yoga"--self-control--_may_ ignore Ethics. Here the paths separate, and
are called "the Right-hand Path" and "the Left-hand Path," determining
the "White" and the "Black Magician," about whom so much is said in all
ancient scriptures and traditions regarding "Sorcery" and "Black Magic,"
of which Egypt and Rome and Modern Mediumship and Hypnotism, are
illustrations.

The _supreme importance_ of this natural division or "parting of the way"
reveals the real and final reason why the Masters of the "right-hand path"
conceal their knowledge from the profane and reveal it only after an
ethical formulary has been learned and once for all _ingrained_.

The "Thugs" of India are no more an idle dream nor a bugaboo to frighten
children and old women than are the Mafia and the Roman Jesuit to-day.

In Egypt the time came when these "Black Magicians" dominated the people
and drove out those of the right-hand path who built the great pyramid and
gave to Egypt the wisdom and glory of its prime.

The consciousness and power of these evil men, however, was limited to the
lower planes. Whenever they wished to transcend these lower planes they
were powerless. Hence arose the _Sibyl_; young boys or virgins were
hypnotized, and being pure, they could thus be inducted into a somewhat
higher plane. (See Mabel Collins' "Idyll of the White Lotus.")

Margrave, in Bulwer's "Strange Story," is a fine picture of an "adept of
the left-hand path." He would sacrifice the whole human race in order to
gain his personal and selfish ends, just as would "Mother Church" to-day.

The Master of the White Lodge would readily lay down his life for the
benefit of his fellowmen. Herein is the vital difference.

Here lies the meaning and the complete antithesis represented by
_Christos_ and _Satan_. Both names are generic and Avataric, and yet, may
be personified.

This elevating and refining process to which I have referred is not a
matter of sentiment or emotion, but a matter of fact, with a definite,
scientific formula.

In a previous chapter belief in the existence AND SEPARABILITY OF THE
HUMAN SOUL HAS BEEN SHOWN to be virtually universal, and in some cases,
even with people of very low development, the belief is held that the soul
may be separated from the body and reunited again during life.

This is, however, a _belief_, and proves nothing as to _fact_, _science_,
and _law_, beyond the existence of the belief, with all the appurtenances,
concomitants, and subjective experiences of individuals thereunto
belonging.

We thus arrive at the real _theorem_ as a cold psychological problem.

Can the existence and separability of the soul of man, during his physical
embodiment on earth, and its survival of the death of the physical body,
be scientifically demonstrated as a _fact_?

If so, then the principles involved, the methods employed and the whole
_modus operandi_ must be capable of exact, scientific formulation, the
same as any other theorem of science.

Furthermore, granting that this is true, and that it can be done according
to exact formulary, the value, the effect of such a demonstration upon the
character and the normal faculties, capacities, and powers of the
individual who undertakes and accomplishes such a demonstration, must be
revealed and taken fully into account.

Does it elevate or degrade him? Is it in line with normal evolution, and
therefore, potentially the birthright, and finally, through spiritual
evolution, the higher destiny of all men?

Nor is this all. The effect of the existence of such Knowledge and of its
teaching, upon communities, as a substitute for blind superstition,
credulity, or belief, must also be taken into account.

It may thus be seen how much even beyond the mere _fact_ of demonstration,
is included in this transcendent problem; this question of all ages, "If a
man die, shall he live again?" or, "Does the real man ever die at all?"

Now it is a demonstrated fact, proven in every case of a genuine Master,
and held inviolable in the "Greater Mysteries" of every age and time, that
the ethical question above raised, as to the effect upon individuals and
society, _comes first_, and is made a _test_ of the "first step" in the
way of demonstration.

This is the meaning of the oft repeated quotation, the candidate for
initiation must first be "worthy and well-qualified, duly and truly
prepared."

This comprises and constitutes the "Lesser Mysteries," as in the School of
Pythagoras, viz.: the instruction of the neophyte in ethics or morals.

Nor is this instruction sufficient in any case. The candidate must himself
demonstrate that he has absorbed, apprehended, and utilized such
instruction by "_Living the Life_."

In other words, it must have become so ingrained in his character as to
govern absolutely all his acts and impulses to action, i.e., automatic,
habitual, and natural.

In the School of Natural Science this comprises and constitutes the
"Ethical Section of the General Formulary."

In the School of Pythagoras we are informed that students sometimes
remained for years in the "outer court," and sometimes they failed
entirely and hopelessly, and went back to the outer world. Whereupon a
white stone was erected to their memory as though they were dead. They
were indeed, for the time being, dead to the School.

This fully answers the ethical question as to the effect of this real
knowledge on the individual and on mankind.

The real Master sees to it that all that precaution can provide, or human
wisdom can suggest, is done to insure beneficent _use_ of the knowledge
gained.

It is here that "degrees" in initiation become a necessity. Every step, or
passage of the candidate from a lower to a higher degree, is marked and
determined finally and solely by his "proficiency in the preceding
degree."

The question of Morals, or the ethical effect, therefore, is
pre-determined, and as far as possible, solved first.

But even with all this wise precaution, the unprepared and the unqualified
have sometimes entered the outer courts; and when compelled at last to
reveal their character, have turned to rend their teachers, and have done
their utmost to destroy the School and demoralize mankind.

If these moral renegades could only realize the _meaning to themselves_ of
thus entering the "Left-hand Path" of devolution and of starting
voluntarily "down the deep descent," as portrayed in Dante's "Inferno," or
in Ahrinzeman, they would, indeed, hesitate long before "turning to the
left," for inevitable destruction lies that way.

Here lies the scientific explanation of the "Fall of Lucifer," portrayed
in some form in the pantheons and mythologies of every philosophy and
religion known to man.

The ordinary "sinner" may yet possess an "average" of all the virtues, and
the ordinary "saint" an "average" of all the vices. Concerning these it
was said, "I would have you either hot or cold, but because ye are neither
hot nor cold, I have spewed you out of my mouth." No lukewarm soul ever
entered the Kingdom of Heaven.

But a time at last comes when the soul of man, enmeshed in the "lusts of
the flesh and the deceitfulness of riches," _must make his choice_. He
_realizes_ that he can no longer "serve two masters." He will make his
choice knowingly, deliberately, and voluntarily. Happy and blessed will be
he if with his whole soul, and with every impulse of his being, he
declares, "I know not what others may do, _but as for me and my house, we
will serve the Lord_."

If there are real Masters (and there are), they have to work under both
Natural and Divine Law, and in strict harmony with the higher evolution of
the whole human race.

It is only a low, feeble, and undeveloped intelligence that finds God and
Nature at cross-purposes.

He who has found "the place of peace," harmonized his own nature, purified
his own life, and elevated all his desires and aspirations, has discerned
the "harmony of the morning stars," and caught the symphony of the
heavenly hosts. In other words, he is already functioning on the Spiritual
Plane.

This would seem to make clear the ethical problem raised, the stress
placed upon it, and how it is met and answered by every genuine Initiate
throughout the ages.

It has to be solved _first_ in each individual case. Only "he who _lives
the life_ shall know the doctrine," or advance to power.




CHAPTER XV

THE SCIENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY AS A KNOWLEDGE OF THE HUMAN SOUL


The writer of the present treatise is quite well aware that the great
majority of intelligent and educated people at the present day will deny
that any real knowledge of the human soul as a spiritual entity, separable
from the physical body during life and demonstrably surviving its death,
exists now, has heretofore existed, or, if possible for man, is likely to
exist for some time to come. Some will unhesitatingly declare such a thing
_unknowable_ for man.

I hold the firm _conviction_ that this knowledge has been for ages the
possession of certain individuals, few in number in any age or country,
and that this knowledge has resulted through conformity to certain
definite and specific requirements, formulated under well-known laws of
man's spiritual being, involving a definite individual experience and
resulting in a scientific and exact demonstration.

I ask the reader to note two points in the foregoing statement: First,
that for myself I use the word "conviction," and not "knowledge"; and,
second, that the demonstration of real knowledge referred to, is made by,
and confined to an individual, in each instance.

With these individuals the knowledge is a _scientific demonstration
through personal experience_. With me, the "firm conviction" is a matter
of "circumstantial evidence," supported by analogy, and fortified by
empirical testimony, such as acquaint the world with the facts and
findings of science, and which I think admit of no other consistent and
rational interpretation.

In the foregoing pages I have endeavored to give outlines, analogies, and
suggestions which seem to fortify the conviction referred to.

While these are fragmentary and desultory, owing to the fact that the
circumstances are so varied, the subject so vast, and the materials so
abundant, yet, taken as a whole, they seem overwhelming, and, except to
the careful, persistent, and intelligent student, confusing.

It must be clearly apprehended that no one familiar with the subject can
reasonably suppose, nor has it ever been claimed by a real Master of the
"Art," that this knowledge ever has been, or can be, communicated to, or
acquired by groups of individuals at any time, or under any
circumstances.

Through all the past, and at the present time, it is designated as an
_individual experience_.

True, the ethics, and the philosophy, and even the principles of exact
psychic science that in the past constituted the "Lesser Mysteries," can
be, and often have been, taught to groups, or classes.

In the present "School of Natural Science," this preparatory training
constitutes the "Ethical Section."

But above and beyond all the foregoing general considerations the
"empirical facts" and the "circumstantial evidence," if we know personally
one who claims to have had the specific instruction, the personal
experience, and to have made the scientific demonstration referred to and
outlined in the problem, our opportunity for instruction, and for the
application of tests for validity and reasonableness as to the whole
problem, is exceedingly valuable.

This personal acquaintance may become the nearest possible criterion,
short of our own personal experience, as to demonstration.

In previous chapters this phase of the subject has, perhaps, been
sufficiently dwelt upon.

The Master may say, "I know; I have had the personal experience; I have
demonstrated."

The student may at last say, "I believe; I am convinced; I am satisfied."

All through the foregoing pages the effort has continually been made to
preserve clearly this distinction.

In tracing analogies through the history of the past, the conditions,
premonitory, present, and subsequent to great world-movements have often
been referred to.

Nothing is more common or more patent than the oft-repeated saying, "This
is the age of science." Any great movement that undertakes at the present
day to deal with the deeper problems of individual and social life, must
fit in and conform to the "spirit of the present age."

To that platform it must appeal; in that language it must be addressed,
and by such judgment and criterion must it stand or fall.

All these tests and criteria have been fully met by the School of Natural
Science, and they are clearly outlined and set forth in the "Great Work,"
addressed to "the Progressive Intelligence of the Age."

There need be no misconception or misinterpretation at this point.

It is true that superficial thinkers and readers, enthusiasts and
emotionalists, are likely to infer that the science of the soul can now be
had "for a consideration" and in "a dozen easy lessons."

All such are doomed to disappointment.

It is furthermore likely, if the average "physical scientist" pays any
heed at all, that he will devise a series of "tests" and "experiments" of
his own, to fit his preconceived notion of things psychical, with the
latent conviction, at least, that he will be able to prove the whole thing
a humbug.

These, also, are doomed to disappointment. Physical tests of psychical and
spiritual laws and processes are unscientific. No spiritual problem can be
solved in terms of physical matter alone.

So-called psychological science to-day is in the condition of one
possessing a fine piece of ground, and gathering materials for a house, a
superstructure.

The ground is already covered with bricks and stones, and sand and lumber,
piled in every direction, with the purpose of one day beginning the work
of construction, and the slogan, "Wait! Not yet!" "Some day we are hoping
to build."

No architect, "no designs on the trestle-board," and so they go on
accumulating "facts" and "evidence" day after day, year after year,
century after century.

They have a "working hypothesis," but no definite _theorem_, and they may
work till doomsday on this line without a glimmer of real scientific
knowledge of the human soul, yet with mountains of "facts" or of
"rubbish."

They can never prove the existence of a _spiritual entity_ in terms of
matter on the physical plane.

Their work has been, and still is, of great interest and value, but it is
in no scientific sense, _Constructive_, backed by the laws of proportion
and harmony, nor the "Canon of Architecture."

The apotheosis of Natural Science is like the "canon of proportion" in
architecture, introduced by Vitruvius (an Initiate) centuries ago. It is
the verification of Plato's saying, "God geometrizes," and his concept of
"the World of Divine Ideas."

Plato further declares, "He who knows not the common things of life is a
brute among men. He who knows the common things of life is a man among
brutes. But he who knows all that can be learned by diligent inquiry is a
god among men."

Natural Science, as shown in the Great Work, includes scientific knowledge
on all planes of being on which the soul of man functions: The physical,
moral, psychical, and spiritual; for man is a composite being.

The apotheosis of Natural Science, therefore, is Fact, Law, Demonstration,
and Knowledge; before theory, conjecture, creed, dogma, superstition, or
fear, intuition, inspiration, revelation, and "holy men" or "holy books"
that must be accepted without evidence, or "believed" against evidence.

The _Avatars_ of all the past have originated great reformations which
have at last degenerated into dogma and superstition.

The people, incapable of understanding the Law, have been taught in
parables, while the few in all religions and in every age have apprehended
the law and learned the "Secret Doctrine."

To-day, for the first time in centuries, for the reasons already assigned,
and in keeping with the scientific spirit of the age, and because
superstition in power, dogma, and persecution are politically dethroned,
these great truths, this Great Work, is openly declared and outlined so
that he who wills may apprehend.

Let no one say, "This is an effort to _deify_ an individual." It _is_ an
effort to enthrone Truth; to remove the barriers to the rights of
conscience, the shackles of reason, private judgment and Individual
Responsibility, and to free the soul of man from all the fetters of
ignorance, superstition, and fear, in order that he may be "first a man,"
"then a Master," and at length on a higher plane of being, something more
than man has yet realized, or ever dreamed.

Something "that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it yet entered
into the heart of man to conceive the glory that shall be revealed."

The beginning is here and now, when man shall achieve the Mastery of Self
and really possess his own soul, and not hold it tremblingly as a _pawn_
of some pretentious potentate of the soul.

The right of Light, Knowledge, and further progress by "_Being a Man_,"
and not a chattel, an asset, a pawn, or a slave.

This is the coming _Avatar_, and the dawn is already here.

Will the day darken, the Light be quenched? Who can tell?

The redemption of Woman from the slavery of all the past is well under
way, and it is indeed a glorious sign.

No lesson in history is plainer nor more readily demonstrated than the
fact that the degeneracy of a religion and the degradation of woman go
hand in hand.

Demonstrate to-day in any country on earth the status of woman as a whole,
and no mistake need be made as to the prevailing religion.

Woman's political disability is another matter entirely; for she is
dominated by man only because, and only so far as, she is handicapped or
degraded by the dominant religion.

Take woman from the churches, Protestant or Romish, to-day, and no church
could do business for a twelvemonth.

For these reasons the immense and rapidly growing movements, Women's Clubs
and the like, to-day, are of great significance, backed and illuminated as
they are by all past history.

In the new movement, the School of Natural Science, the door is as wide
open to woman as to man. I might paraphrase the slogan of the Robber
Barons of the middle ages. "_She_ may seize who hath the power, _She_ may
hold who can."

In the coming Illuminati woman will stand by the side of man in all
opportunity, endeavor, or achievement.

In the new age woman will be something few men have even yet dreamed of.

We might call this new age "_the Woman's Avatar_," without doing violence
to either religion, tradition, history, or science; while the sacred Hymns
of the Vedas, with the angel of the household and the inspirer of the soul
of man, the worship of Divinity, by both men and women, opened a new
heaven on this old earth.

And then--such children as will be born, without pain, not through chance,
caprice, nor under protest, but even as they were in Greece, as an
offering of Love on the altar of divine man-womanhood, with a song of joy
to heaven.

Prof. Fiske somewhere said, "The evolution of man by Natural Selection
draws near its close, to be followed by that of Divine Selection."

The Divinity _in_ man is _Christos_, the "son of the Father," the Divine
and Eternal _Avatar_.

Belief is rather a superficial process, the intellect ("mortal mind")
mingled with the emotions, changing and evanescent. "Now you see it, and
now you don't." It is mingled with hope that alternates with fear and
doubt.

Faith, when once analyzed and apprehended, is another thing entirely,
though nearly every one, and most writers, confuse "belief" and "faith."

"Faith is the soul's _intuitive conviction_ of that which both _Reason_
and _Conscience_ approve."

Genuine faith rarely wavers or changes, because it is an evolution, a
"growth of the soul," a spiritual experience, and it becomes the "dominant
chord" in the symphony of life, determining Harmony.

It is in this deliberate and discriminative sense that I have used the
term _conviction_ in relation to the Master and his "Great Work." He never
dogmatizes, nor undertakes to "indoctrinate."

In answer to a question on some deep and perplexing problem of the soul or
of the spiritual plane, he replies, "So far as we _know_, it is so and
so." "A new experience, or an added light, may alter our conclusion."

The average individual scarcely realizes what absolute sincerity, with no
motive save Love of Truth, and beneficence to man guided by clear
intelligence, and dominated by the rational Will, means, or can
accomplish.

These are the natural powers of the human soul. There is nothing
mysterious or miraculous about them, more than in the art of music of a
Beethoven or a Paganini, or in gymnastics and the winner of the Marathon.

                 "To _shape_ and _use_, arise and fly,
                 The reeling Faun, the sensual feast,
                 Move upward, working out the beast,
                 And let the ape and tiger die."

My _conviction_ is strong, and my Faith unwavering.

"The great and peaceful ones live, regenerating the world like the coming
of spring: and having themselves crossed the ocean of embodied existence,
help those who try to do the same thing without personal motive." ("Crest
Jewel of Wisdom.")




CHAPTER XVI

THE NEW AVATAR


From all the foregoing general considerations it may be discerned that the
"New Avatar" is strictly that of _Scientific Demonstration_.

As we use terms in vogue at the present day, it pertains to the field of
Natural Science.

This does not imply that it is irreligious, nor unreligious, nor
sacrilegious.

When it is clearly apprehended it will be found to be the only thing that
harmonizes--not the Institutions of man--but Science, Philosophy, and
Religion _per se_, as departments in human intelligence.

Man will thus discern "the rational order that pervades the universe."

The purpose and result of such knowledge to man are Harmony,
Enlightenment, Courage, and Hope.

Man _is_ the arbiter of his own destiny. He may _become_ the Master of his
own Fate. Such are the _Illuminati_, the "Masters of the Great White
Lodge," the Benefactors of the whole human race, the members of the
"School of Natural Science."

What would I have my readers do? I answer, _Investigate_! Study! Think!
Wait! Hope! Anticipate!

Careful, intelligent, and conscientious investigation will determine the
fact that we possess in America to-day _one_ who can fill all the
requirements that I have endeavored to designate and portray--not as a
"reincarnation" of Buddha or Jesus, but as a "Master"--one who has been
duly instructed and prepared, who has had the personal experience, and has
made a _practical demonstration_, that determines Mastership.

He has demonstrated that "there is no death," but transition only (except
through conscious and determined devolution, or _suicide of the soul_).
Man is, after all, and in the last analysis, a "free moral agent."

As a Member of the "Great School" he was educated and initiated many years
ago, and has consecrated his life to this service. He has demonstrated the
separability of the soul by leaving and returning to his body at will.

The School of Natural Science; the Great Work; the Individual
Representative; the conditions of the present age; the opportunities
offered; the demand for real knowledge everywhere; the falling in pieces
of creeds and dogmas; the expectancy so often voiced--all of these
correspond intimately with what the ancient Aryans designated as
"_Avataric_."

It is not now the deification of any Individual, but the "_apotheosis of
Natural Science_," as the foundation and method in the achievement of
actual knowledge.

From this actual knowledge will arise a new Faith, not a new religion, but
the old Religion of Humanity, precisely as taught and lived by Jesus,
Christna, Buddha, and all the other "Redeemers," and real Avatars of the
past.

The "Enemy of all Righteousness," as already said, have made many attempts
to assassinate this Representative of the Great School, but he goes
steadily about his own work. These enemies realize the danger to their
unholy work, but not the _Power_ back of this great movement. This they
can never destroy.

The day of enlightenment has come, and the cry has gone forth, Ho! all ye
who are heavy-laden, involved in fear and doubt and uncertainty;
bewildered, discouraged, despairing, and committing suicide! There is no
death! Man is the Arbiter of his own Fate! Look up and Live, and Hope and
_Realize_!

And there shall dawn for you a new heaven and a new earth in which
dwelleth Love and Peace and Righteousness; with Jesus--the
_Christos_--your "elder Brother," leading the way, and the downtrodden,
the poor and despised children of men, shouting Hosanna! for the Loving
Kindness that will have taken the place of selfishness, strife, cruelty,
superstition, and Dogma.

Religion will no longer be a matter of mere sentiment, nor of emotion, of
blind belief, nor of fear, superstition, dogma, nor creed--but a _Great
Work_. So Mote it be.

The author of this volume can lay no claim for it as a systematic treatise
on Psychology, either according to the rules of composition or the orderly
sequence of science.

It is rather a number of essays, some of which were written without
reference to publication, or the design, at the time, of putting them
together in a single volume.

There is, therefore, more or less repetition, the same subject under a
different title, viewed from a different aspect, yet involving the same
principles, motives, and aims.

But the subject of Psychology is so vast, so intricate, so interesting and
important, and yet, in the average mind, so confused, and so little known,
that considerations from many sides, and even repetitions in the
application of a given principle in various ways, are believed more likely
to make the whole subject apprehensible to the general reader to whom it
is addressed.

Moreover, the author believes that the time has come when Psychology, as a
_Constructive Science_ of the nature, laws, and destiny of the Human Soul,
need no longer be regarded as unknown or unattainable, but open to all who
seek it in the right way, giving to it the consideration, time, and
loyalty it so amply deserves.

To such as these, it is hoped, the foregoing pages may give many clews and
sidelights, suggestions, encouragement, and hope.

Psychology, to the Author of this volume, means literally _A Knowledge of
the Human Soul_, rather than of treatises upon the subject, or of the
opinions, beliefs, or dogmas of men.




NOTES


The oligarchy of creeds, and the autocrats of Rome no more represent the
"Coming of the Son of Man," the Divine Logos that was and is "in the bosom
of the Father in heaven," than do the Rockefellers, the Morgans and the
Harrimans, constituting the oligarchy of wealth, or than the political
grafters and bosses of our municipalities represent the "New Commandment,"
"that ye love one another." The barons of wealth have not yet resorted
directly to murder, as has Rome for ages.

St. Augustine says, "What is now called the Christian religion existed
among the ancients and was not absent from the human race until Christ
came, from which time, the true Religion, which existed already, began to
be called 'Christian.'" (See Heckethorne's "Secret Societies," page 12,
Introduction.)

As to the basis of scientific chronology regarding the Wisdom of the
Masters, and their indestructible records, I quote the following from a
modern student of Astrology. His method of reckoning is correct, even
though his dates may not be absolutely exact, as he is not a "Master."

CHRONOLOGY AND THE "RIDDLE OF THE SPHINX."

Ancient religious symbols bear a striking resemblance to the
constellations of the heavens, especially those of the Zodiac, and if this
be their true meaning, we have an infallible key to their chronology. At
the beginning of the Christian Era, the constellation Aries, or Ram,
occupied the equinoctial place, being in the first degree of that
constellation. About 2150 B.C. the first degree of Taurus, or Bull,
contained the Equinox. When the constellation Taurus, or the Bull, was in
the first division, or the equinoctial place, the people used a symbol
representing a bull, described as giving fecundity, a deity of vegetation
as at Dodona, in their religious ceremonies. One of the statuettes found
recently in the excavations of Crete, was a woman figured between bulls
and lions, with a dove or eagle on her head, and holding serpents in her
hand. This figure would seem to represent mother earth between the
constellations Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius. She is figured between
Taurus (the Bull) on one side, Leo (the Lion) at her feet, Aquila (or
Eagle) in the constellation, Aquarius on her head, and Scorpio (or the
Serpent) in her hand; all forming the sacred cross or 'Swastika,' with the
constellations Taurus in the vernal Equinox; Leo beneath the earth, the
Eagle or Aquarius overhead, and Scorpio held in her hand toward the west.

Archaeologists place the date in which this symbol was in use in Crete at
1100 to 1500 B.C. These dates are included between 2150 B.C. and the year
1 A.D. By the same method we are enabled to calculate the age of the
Sphinx.

This Sphinx apparently represents the constellations Leo (the Lion) and
Virgo (the Virgin). It has a lion's body, and a woman's head and breast.
When the Sphinx was built, it seems the spring equinox occupied a point
between these two constellations, and as the spring, or Easter, festivals
of the ancients were held on or about March 21st of our calendar, this
Sphinx was the representation of Leo and Virgo, the point in which the Sun
crossed the equator, or equinoctial line.

Now as the equinox retrogrades from east to west in the reverse order of
the constellations, as well as the reverse order of the movement of the
planets, the Sun will not cross the equator at the same point each year,
but at a point a little to the west, amounting to about fifty and a third
seconds of arc. At this rate the equinox will pass backward through the
constellations, making a complete revolution in a little less than
twenty-six thousand years, or at the rate of about twenty-one hundred and
fifty years to a constellation of thirty degrees. Now by taking the
present position of the equinox in the constellation Pisces, we find that
it has nearly reached the constellation Aquarius. About 1909 years ago it
was in the first point of Aries. If we begin at its present point in
Pisces, and count back to the Junction of Leo-Virgo, we will have to count
1909 years to first point of Aries; 2150 years to the first point of
Taurus; 2150 years to Camini; 2150 years to Cancer; 2150 years to Leo and
2150 years to the constellation Virgo. This indicates that the Sphinx was
built 12,659 years ago, or approximately 10,750 B.C. (John Kilduff.)




THE HARMONIC SERIES

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QUESTIONS ON NATURAL SCIENCE

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THE SPIRIT OF THE WORK

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_By TK._

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