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IV.
The Spiritual and the Material Principles in Man
1. What are you? A man. What sort of man? Wherein do you differ from others ? I am the son of such and such parents, I am old, or young, rich or poor.
Each one of us is a specific individual, different from all other people: man, woman, adult, boy or girl; and in each one of these specific individuals dwells a spiritual being, the same in all of us, so that each one of us is at one and the same time an individual, John or Natalie, and a spiritual being which is the same in all. And when we say: '*! will," it means that John or Natalie will, or sometimes it may mean that the spiritual being, which is the same in all of us, wills something. And thus it may happen that John and Natalie desire one thing, and the spiritual creature that dwells within them does not desire that same thing at all, but wills something entirely different.
2. Someone nears the door. I inquire: "Who is there?" The answer is: "It is I." "What I?" "I who came," is the answer, and a peasant boy enters. He is surprised that anyone should inquire who is meant by "I." He is surprised because he feels within himself that one spiritual being which is one in us all, and wonders why I should inquire about something which should be clear to everybody. His answer refers to the spiritual "I," but my question referred to the little window through which thaJt "I" peeps out into the world.
3. Some say that what we call our self is merely the body, that my reason, my soul and my love, all of these come from the body; we might with as much right assert that what we call our body is merely the food by which the body is nourished. It is true that my body is merely the transformed food that has been assimilated by my body,
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and that there would be no body without food, but my body is not the food. Food is requisite for the life of the body, but it is not the body.
The same is true of the sout. It is true that without ttie body there would be no soul, yet my soul is not the body. The body is merely requisite for the soul, but the body is not the soul. If it were not for the soul, I should not know about my body.
The principle of life is not in the body, but in the soul.
4. When we say: "It was, or it will be, or it may be," we speak of bodily life. But besides the bodily life which was and will be, we know of another life, the spiritual life. And the spiritual life is not something that was, or that will be, but something that is right now. This is the real life. Happy is the man who lives this life of the spirit, and not the life of the body.
5. Christ teaches man that there is something within him that raises htm above this life with its vanities, fears and passions. The man who has received the doctrine of Christ shares the experience of the bird that has lived in ignorance of his wings, and suddenly realizes that it has them, and that it may soar, be free and fear nothing.
Conscience is tbt Voice of tiie Soul 1. In each man dwell two creatures: one blind and carnal, and the other seeing and spiritual. The first, the blind creature, eats, drinks, labors, rests, multiplies and performs its functions like clockwork. The other, the seeing, the spiritual creature, does nothing of itself, but merely approves or disapproves what the blind, the animal creature is doing.
The seeing, the spiritual part of man we call conscience.
This spiritual part of man, or conscience, acts like the compass needle. The compass needle moves only when he who is carrying it strays from the path pointed out by the needle. It is the same with the conscience: it is silent as long as the man is doing what is right.
But the moment he strays from the right path, conscience shows him where and how far he had erred.
2. When we hear that a man has committed an evil deed, we say that he has no conscience.
What is then the conscience?
It is the voice of that one spiritual being that dwells in all of us.
3. Conscience is the consciousness of the spiritual being that dwells in all men. And only when it is such consciousness is it the true guide of human life. Otherwise what people call conscience is not the realization of that spiritual being, but the recognition of what men among whom we live consider good or evil.
4. The voice of the passions may be louder than the voice of the conscience. But the voice of the passions is very different from the calm voice of the conscience. And yet no matter how loudly the passions roar, they subside before the still, calm, persistent voice of the conscience. For it is the voice of the Eternal, the Divine that dwells in man. Channing,
5. Kant, the philosopher, remarked that two things excited his wonder above all others: first the stars in the heavens, and second the law of goodness in the soul of man.
6. The genuine good is in your own self, in your soul. He who seeks good without himself is like the shepherd seeking among his herd that lamb which he has sheltered in his own bosom. Hindu wisdom.
VI.
The Divinity of the Soul
1. The first consciousness that awakes in man is that of being apart from all other material things, or the consciousness of his body. Then the consciousness of that which is thus separated, or the consciousness of his soul, and finally the consciousness of that from which this spiritual foundation of life is set apart, the consciousness of All—of God.
And that something which is conscious of having been severed from All, from God, is the one spiritual being that dwells in every man.
2. Xo be conscious of self as a separate being is to be conscious of the existence of that from which one has been separated, to be conscious of the existence of All—of God.
3. Verily, verily, I say unto you. He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
Verily, verily, I say unto you. The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself^ John, v, 24-26,
4. A drop of water entering the ocean becomes the ocean. The soul uniting with God becomes God.
Angelus.
5. When a truth is uttered by man it does not mean that the truth came forth from the man. All truth is from God. It merely passes through man. If it passes through one man instead of another it is merely because one has
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succeeded in making himself so transparent that the truth can pass through him. Pascal.
6. God says: "I was a treasure unknown to anyone. I desired to be known, and I created man." Mohammed.
7. God can not be comprehended by reason. We know that He is, only because we are conscious of Him within, and not because we recognize Him with our minds.
In order to be a true man, man must be conscious of God within.
To ask: "Is there a God ?" is like asking: "Do I exist ?" That whereby I live is God.
8. The body is the food of the soul, it is like the scaffolding used in erecting the structure of true life.
The greatest joy a man may know is the joy of realizing the existence within himself of a free, rational, loving and therefore happy being, in other words the consciousness of God within.
9. If a man does not know himself, it is useless to counsel him to endeavor to know God. This advice may be given only to such a man as knows himself. Before a man may know God, he must know himself.
10. If I melt in God's crucible. He will impress His image upon me. Angelas,
11. The soul is a glass, God is the Light that passes through the glass.
12. Do not think: it is I that live. It is not I that live, but that spiritual being that dwelleth in me. I am only the opening through which this creature appears.