The New Avatar and The Destiny of the Soul Part 7

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 a.s.sumed custodian of the religion of Jesus, but stands in the place of it, as a subst.i.tute, 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.

Inst.i.tutions 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 Inst.i.tution 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 Inst.i.tutions, 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 superst.i.tion 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 Inst.i.tutions 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 a.s.sets, 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 antic.i.p.ation 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 anch.o.r.ed to the physical plane by insatiate appet.i.te and pa.s.sion, 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 ident.i.ty. 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 pa.s.sing emotion or lasting superst.i.tion, "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 a.s.sociated and interwoven, and act and react on each other. They are functionally synchronous in all movements. The a.n.a.logies 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 circ.u.mstance, or of pa.s.sion and caprice, and this is what most persons do.