ja «J
T H E TORCH OF REASON, SILV ER TO N , OREGON, JA N U A R Y 24, E. M. 301 (1901.)
for me
wise as to m ake it far easier
to’ adopt the view of E uripides,
th a t what we call death may be but
the daw ning of true knowledge and
of true life The greatest philoso-
pher of modern times, the m aster
and teacher of all who shall study
peculiar to the earlier period, we see
at once th at the larger union is of a
nature to foster our sense of dignity,
the more irtim a te to secure fixity of
existence. The fam ily is the basis
of the state, hut it requires the in-
fluence of the state upon it to per-
purely personal elements uo longer
interfering.
No am ount of supeiority, how-
ever, can call the subjective life
imo existence, or give it perrna-
nence ; for this is dependent on the
objective. The living, it is true,
from their inadequate estim ate of
the benevolent in stin cts, these two
ru d im en tary religions were found
irre c o n c ila b le with the ulterior
progress of our intellectual an d ac-
tive powers. T heir triu m p h an t ad-
vance broke through the earlier
tuttiAhri S WtawiitlnT tihrir
fr pfoC<‘.'-S Oi • . i'.iio.’i r-T --
«1 ■- ... •
' - but,
•
. . o
th a t the con- and are thus seen to be both êqüâtîÿ
on^The^ther
hand, the dead
control gave rise to an ad-
day to come, holds th a t the con-
#
,
scious soul is not the product of a connected vzith the term
which cannot exercise their power save m irable attem p t to reconstruct the
collocation of m aterial particles, Completes the series of collective ex- through the medium of the living, suprem acy of the heart. I he ulti-
though it is not open to the latter m ate result of the effort was, how-
but is in the deepest sense a divine istences.
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to refuse their co-operation, even eveG to show the increasing loss of
effluence. According to Mr. Spen
The Great Being is the whi le when rebelling against the inevit- P ° " er in the fictitious synthesis in
cer, the divine energy which is
manifested throughout the knowa constituted by the beings, past, fut- able yoke. The objective life i s j rega rd to this capital problem, the
ble universe is the same energy that ure and present, which co-operate direct and complete, its chief char- true solution of which necessarily
wells up in us as consciousness. willingly in perfecting the order of acteristic is will ; the subjective devolved on the principle which
Speaking for myself, I can see no the world. Every gregarious a n i-p a s s e s under the em pire of fate, gave to reality the sanction of u til
insuperable difficulty in the notion n:al race has a natural tendency to The function of the dead is to form ity. The gradual outcome of the
th a t at some period in the evolution such co-operation. But it is only the immovable foundation, th a t of unfettered evolution of thought and
of H um anity this divine «park may the param ount ra te on each planet the living to introduce the secon activity, the positive spirit, has a
have acquired sufficient coucentra- 'h e ' ean attain unity as a ta te , for dary modifications of m an ’s destiny n atural tendency to restore to feel
tion and steadiness to survive the its ascent to power necessarily The direct service of H um anity, ing its ascendancy, the better to
wreck of m aterial forms and endure checks th a t of the lower anim als. then, has its source in the will, the place under its direction the norm
This justifies, in our system ic defi condensed expression of all our al developm ent of our powers.
forever.
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nition of the composite being, our brain action ; for the will, in its
*
Only on some such view can the
om itting its peculiar species. On proper sense, com bines the im pulse
And yet the idea were incom plete
reasonableness of the universe
the other hand, the spontaneity of given by the heart with the light w ithout a direct exam ination of the
which still rem ains above our finite
the co-operation and its external derived from the intellect and the phief attrib u te of hum an unity,
power of comprehension, m aintains
end are clearly indispensable con- guidance furnished by the charac viz., the necessary coincidence of
its ground. There are some minds
ditions, if it is to be consistent and ter. And the will has a natural duty and happiness, both equally
inacessible to the class of consider
perm anent. E lim inating, then, what safeguard against caprice, in th at placed in Living for Others. Com
ations here alleged, and perhaps
may be understood without indis- ¡ js efficiency depends on the main plete as is the sanction, and n a tu r
there alw ays will he. But on such
tinctness, we confine our definition tenance of the subordination of the al as complete, given by the sym-
grounds, if on no other, the faith
of the G reat Being to: the con - living to the dead. Em ancipated phatetic instincts to every rig h t ex
in im m ortality is likely to be shared
TINOUS W H O LE EORM ED BY T H E BEIN GS from this control the will loses its ertion of our intellect, every right
by all who look upon the genesis of
W H IC H converge . In this condensed power for good, and becomes a mere exercise of our active powers, such
the highest spiritual qualities in
form I shall often make im plicit source of distubance.
efforts are alw ays urged as m eans
Man as the goal of N ature’s crea
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.
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use of the definition, leaving it to
to an end, the m eans adapted to
tive work. This view has survived
the reader to reintegrate the terms
Accept it in a right spirit, and in the overcom ing the difficulties o f
the Copernican revolution in science
suppressed.
this very dependence lies the chief m an’s position. The highest g ra ti
and it has survived the Darwinian
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source of our true greatness.
I fication they can afford is derived
revolution. Nay, if the fore-going
The direct service of the Great have shown in the last volume, th a t from their unavoidable and con-
exposition be sound, it is D arw in
Being is the exclusive appanage of I the a ttrib u te of om nipotence intro- s ta n t m inistration to the G reat
ism which has placed H um anity
our objective life; b u t the excellence duces a radical contradiction into Being. Set aside these w ants, and
upon a higher pinnacle than ever.
of H um anity can only be worthily the idea of God, from the impossi m an ’s happiness, as his true u n ity ,
The future is lighted for us with
shown by its subjective and extern- bility of reconciling om nipotence depends on his em otional nature.
the ra d ia n t colors of hope. Strife
al existence. Our nature needs to with wisdom and goodness. Com A wom an’s pen has fitly expressed
and sorrow shall disappear. P e a c e
and love shall reign suprem e. The be purified by death for its higher pare the two cases and we see more this prerogative of m an, and the ad
attrib u tes to be seen , they stand distinctly the logical connection be- m irable expression is her chief
dream of poets, the lesson of priest
out then clear of the grosser ac tween the dignity and the depen- claim to im m o rtality , ‘There is
and prophet, the inspiration of the
com panim ents which previously ob dence of the true G reat Being. I he nothing real in the world but love.’
great musecian, is confirmed in the
scured them.
condition of unity for man is
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light of modern knowledge; and as
com plete submission ; w ithout it,
T hus realizing the highest aspir-
we gird ourselves up for the work
of life, we may look forward to the
In lwo eense8> then» ,lle living as I have shown over and over ations of theology in its dream s,
time when in the truest sense the are brouSbt m re anil more under again, his feelings would be ill-reg- the kingdom of H u m an ity is a
kingdom s of this world shall be- lbe patronage of the dead, the dead ulated, his thoughts incoherent, his kingdom of love, perfecting our in
come the kingdom of Christ and being at once their protectors and actions a mere source of disorder, ward satisfaction by co-operation
he shall reign fo rev er and ever
The dead alone can represent We may regret th a t the order of from w ithout. Each makes others
King of kings and Lord of lords
H u m a n ity ; the living, born her things is not more within m an ’s his chief object, and as a n atu ra l
____________
children, as a rule become her ser- power to alter. But true wisdom result gains the support of others
S u b jectiv e or A ltru istic Im m or- vants, unless they degenerate into forbids our wishing it to be io any in his own need. But he m ay not
mere parasites. G ranting it nossi- p art open to indefinite modification, gain it, and if be gain it, it is not
ta lity .
ble to form a judgm ent of the ob- As we advance, so far from shrink- the motive of altruism , nor can it
jective life during its course, it sel- ing from this inevitable yoke, we be its adequate rew ard. We are
BY AUGUSTE COMTE.
dom is so fruitful in its results as to extend its range by paying to hu- liable to set too much store by such
secure its m ain achievement from man institutions the obedience we reciprocity of services, owing to
1 he kam ily and the Country, being obscured by subsequent de- cannot refuse the laws of nature.
habits contracted under the egoistic
these are the two collective beings generation. Till it be ended, even
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synthesis, and any over-value of it
which in due succession were to in the besi men, the true attributes
The composite nature of H um an- would endanger the unity of our
lead by a natural process to the of our nature cannot fully assert ity involves its having as its princ- sym pathetic, by stim u latin g our
conception and the feeling of Hu- themselves ; we have to make con- iple, love, the sole source of volun- personal, instincts. Even in the
inanity, which may be looked on as stant allowance for the defects due tary co-operation.
The constant anarchy of m odern tim es, the true
the common country or the uni- to the necessities of our physical suprem acy of feeling over thought moral conception found its spon-
versal family. I he three complex constitution. The true sphere of and action thus becomes the funda- taneous expressiou in the noble
term s will ever be the successive the soul’s superiority is the subjec- m ental law of the hum an consensus, wish of the great D anton, ‘Perish
steps of a natural progression indis- tive life ; th at, apart from excep- Love, as the principle of synthesis, my memory, only let my country
pensable for our heart and intellect tional cases of reprobation, belongs had been instinctively recognized be free.’
if we would reach the true synthesis, exclusively to such of its functions by Fetichism , and deliberately
Yet even in this heroic cry we
On a comparison of the two term s as are assim ilable by others, the J sanctioned by Theocracy. But apart trace the idea th a t the outw ard re-