T H E TORCH OF R EA SO N , S IL V E R T O N , OREGON, AUGUST 9, E. M. 300 (¡9 0 0 )
5
The New S p irits an d M ythology nor light a corpuscle, nor a th u n d e r | the
purposes for which they by the great modern poe»s and art-
in the New World.
bolt, any m atter at all; and th a t N a were originally composed and ists. To understand them we m ust
ture does not ‘‘abhor” a vacuum , w ritten, there is not now a learn how religions become “ mate-
BY T. B. WAKEMAN.
j and so on to th e end of the “ revela word of tru th in them , for the rialized” into Theologies; how Sci-
tions” of Science.
world in and for which they were ence in time tran slates those into
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One trouble all emigra
But in the domain •: •ISÍigá?*} composed and w ritten
a is le d Mythologies; and then th e creative,
.... ..»• ■-«» V
When thcy «<ry to settle
in < A pw few irords jv<x>gGÌ& tfcàt a l i total!}, wois. :r.an tin
•. ¿s s} ¡tiu e u T , a r t i s t i c power of linagin-
their new country, m any of th eir the old Theology is now M ythology, fabric of a dream , for they have ative thought uses their old words,
old words won’t fit. They have to th a t it is an old home of hum an been reversed. Nothing is true names and forms, as sym bols and
let them have new m eanings, or thought? and affections from which th a t was true. W ith the New descriptions.
Thus they become
else learn new words outright. In we have moved out aud passed on. W orld and E ra of the Copernican true names of and for the new pro-
the greatest change ev^r m ade by In the new world in which we aie and B runo A stronom y (1600), came cesses, feelings, thoughts and ideals
the hum an race, the change from uow living, the old m eauings of the A rt prefiguring its new “ Re- which m ake tim e a never-ending
the old statio n ary “ firm am ent,’’ God, Devil, Angel, H eaven, Hell, ligion.” Shakespeare was its m orn transform ation scene before ever
three-story tenem ent house of The- Soul, Ju d g m en t Day, Im m ortality, ing staT; then cam e V oltaire, its growing M an . The poets m ake no
ology to the new Infin ity of m odern etc., have no applicatiori; th e re in tighter; then Goethe, its reconciling secret of this transform ing of the
Science, with its ro tatin g aud sun- nothing w hatever left for them to realizer; and then Shelley and his old into the new, for the New
encircling earth , of course a corres apply to. So with M etaphysics, its compeers, its prophets. Now, this W orld and its feelings, ideals and
ponding great word change m ust be world has faded into nothingness galaxy of Poetic Art has revived purposes. Goethe did it confess
made. W ords are undergoing th a t with the Theology, of which it was and paved the Soul of the New E ra edly. Of his Iphigenia at T auris,
process now, and we m ust recog the m inor rainbow reflection. There by m ethods of evolutional tra n s he gave the key to K ruger, its
nize it and help it on, aud not get are no more “ S p irits” or “ en tities,” form ation of words, m yths and actor, in a presentation copy, th us:
left, or stupidly fight it. In the or “essences,” “ v irtu es,” or “ p rin c i m ythologies, as above intim ated.
W h at to th is Book th e Poet
H opefully, helievingly e n tr u s te d —
old A stronom y the sun, moon and ples, or “ a u ra s,” etc., etc.— now all, All of the old has become to them
May it, th ro u g h G erm an L ands
stars used to move around the all gone “ the dream s of things th a t the background, m eans and m a
By th y A rtist work, l>e know n :
So then in action, as in w ords,
earth an d “ spheres.” Now we kuow were” not. T he trouble is th a t the terials for expressing the higher
Ijove in sp ired , proclaim it far—
th a t there are no such m otions or masses of m ankind have not been m ental, m oral, social, esthetic, pro
T h at for all h u m an failings
P ure H u m a n ity ato n es.
spheres, but we have found a plenty th in k ers, aud have been and are phetic and even ecstatic forefelt re
of uses for the word “ sphere”—such now living upon these words as if alities of the New H eaven, the
The often quoted words by which
they
were
things,
realities,
and
as “ spheres of influence,” etc.
“ E arth ly P aradise.” Shakespeare Coleridge expanded the fine th ought
Still, much of our old language upon them have rested all their really commenced this New E ra of of Schiller, th a t “ The old F airy
still rem ains and expresses the re hopes and physical existences. the new religious art. “ The T em Form s (m eaning the old gods and
verse of the facts, as “ sunrise,” W hen Science sweeps them all pest” was w ritteu to lull and allay religions) have em igrated,” should
“sunset.” W ho will in v en t a con down and out it seems as though the discords and tem pest of the past. he re-read and preserved as scien
venient su b stitu te for these false the S cythe of Death had cut all of It is the great poem of obliviscence, tific and practical Liberal educa
hoods? So in Physics we still talk the flowers, fruits au a seeds of life hope and prophecy on E a rth , for tion in A rt; and in this grand
T his is the “ this place is Paradise; here let me work an d duty of Ideal tran sfo rm
of thunderbolts and lightning, and a t one fell stroke.
in th e organic world, we speak of greatest difficulty Liberalism has to live ever.” Let “ The T em pest” he ation:
Life or “ soul” as a thing or entity; meet. When the u n th in k er loses re-read from this point of view. The fair h u m an itie s of old relig io n ,
and “ d e a th ” as an en tity or a p er his m eaning of a word he th in k s he Notice how all of the old words and The Power, th e B eauty and th e .Majesty,
T h a t had th e ir h a u n ts in dale o r piny
son, or worse, the “ King of T er has lost all it 6tood for, and he m ythologies are sim ply p ain ters’
m o u n tain ,
Or
forest
by slow stre am , or pebbly
looks
upon
the
Scientific
Philologist
and poets’ m aterials to help him to
rors.” But we now kuow th a t they
spring,
and the soul are processes, and as a robber. The great Liberal get the sunshine of Heaven on Or chasm s and w at’ry d e p th s ; all these
have v an ish ed .
death is the ceasing of the vital Poets and Scientists have seen aud ea rth ; and because Juno, Ceres and
They live no longer in th e faitli of reason
process— aud no en tity , or thing, felt this difficulty, and have done Iris were not sufficient, he invents B u t still th e h e a rt d o th need a la n
g u ag e; still
or king a t all. In the physical and good work towards obviating it. Sycorax, C aliban and Ariel! The
Doth th e old in stin c t b rin g hack th e old
biological dom ains these changes Their m ethod, in short, to give the thing to notice is th a t the new state
nam es ;
And
to
yon
sta rry w orld th ey now are
new
m
eanings
to
the
old
words,
of mind and feeling, of im m easur
make trouble enough, b ut when we
gone,
*
»
get to the dom ain of m ind, P sy symbols and Mythologies, and so able value in the peaceful evolution S p irits or gods, th a t used to sh a re th is
e a rth
chology, Sociology, A rt, E sthetics, use them as bridge» by which the of the E nglish and other peoples,
W ith m an as w ith th e ir frie n d ; an d to
Religion, etc., we have the sam e thoughts, feelings, hopes—the Re could never have been realized and
th e lover
Y
onder
th ey m ove, from y o n d er visible
ligious,
Esthetic,
im
aginative
and
pictured
to
us
except
upon
an
“en
difficulty as the fabled builders of
sky
Babel. We have not only differ creative powers — may gradually chanted islan d ,” th a t no one has Shoot influence down : and even a t th is
day
ent languages, but in each language pass over from the old so as to fit, ever seen, and by an old and new
’Tis J u p ite r who brings w h a te ’e r is
ever so m any words th a t only m is till up and m ake habitable, com fort M ythology, whose forms were “ the
g reat,
And
V
enus
who brings e v ery th in g t h a t ’s
able
and
joyous
the
life
of
the
new
baseless
fabrics
of
the
vision”
they
describe the new processes, con
fair!
cepts and im aginings. “ These airy world. They found that as the wore. There is not a word of tru th
*
V
Such
specim
ens
as
Iphegenia
be
higher
faculties
of
m
an
evolve,
his
in
the
m
aterials
and
characters
of
nothings,” which are the syntheses
of feelings which build our govern words and. symbols m ust grow into “ The Tem pest,” yet such was the long to the crowing flowers of this
ing or a ttra c tin g Ideals, have now a power to be the instrum ents and creative power of the m ighty im m odern A rt. B u t on the first page
to get “ th eir local h ab itatio n and m eans of expression of their new agination and fancy th a t “ m a te ria l of this paper we give an in tro
nam e,” and th e ir very forms of be requirem ents. And so the M yth ized” and used them th a t no higher ductory lesson from Shelley’s P ro
ing, from a world quite distin ct ologies of Theology and M eta tru th or step has been taken to m etheus, which is unequalled in
from th a t in which they originated. physics become the m aterials, the , wards the Heaven on E a rth , “ where sim plicity, beauty and prophetic
If --we go to the bottom of frames, canvas and pigm ents by H eaven never yet could be.” Goethe power. It shows how thè m ean
th in g s,, things are
all, even which the new “sp iritu al” world is afterw ards, by sim ilar a rtist m a ingless word, “ sp irit,” like the word
the stones, now known to be very to be “ bodied forth,” as the new terials and powers, sta rtin g with “ soul,” is to he saved for Liberal
different from what our F ath ers home of the hum an “soul.” The Ariel, disclosed by pictures, which use by a new and true m eaning.
supposed, and not a single word cure for the “ devastation of Icono- were transform ation scenes, the rise
longer a breath, gas, a u ra or
spook”
of any kind, «•
it describes
they used can possibly have th e clastic Infidelity” is m o d e rn Scien- | and • --------------------
’ •• ------ and
progress of the individual
SAME m eaning to us now th a t it did tific, constructive Art. T h at is the race “ soul” of M an in the second now the continuous fact or process
to them . The total change of em otional realizer and exponent of p a rt o f Faust; and then Shelley, of feeling, im pulses and purposes of
worlds has m ade a total change in the new “ R eligion,” the Religion of also by sim ilar M ythologic m ate- life considered as the resu ltan t of
the m eaning of the language by Liberty,Science and H u m an ity . Let rials and power, fore-felt and aduin- m aterial nerve activity. As light
no longer a corpuscle, but a vi-
which we try to describe it to each us take a long th in k over where wej brated its future in his “ Prom e-
O ther great bration of ether, so soul and spirit
other, so th a t we are only beginning are- Hom er, Virgil, The Bible, theus U nbound.”
to really live intelligently in it. Dante and M ilton were all poets of questions and m eans of progress are no longer entities, but the con-
We are beginning to get it through the old world —of the past theolo- there certain ly are, b u t none higher tinuous fact of life and feeling, and
us th a t m atter is active, th a t elec- gies. They have all become m yth-, th an the evolution of the F u tu re as 80 a Pa rt of and “come from th e
tricity is not a fluid, nor heat caloric, J ologies. In the BenH€ and fo ri the heaven and hom e of our Ideals, j
C oncluded on 8th page.