THE CO SM IC

CO M M O NWE ALTH
E D M O ND H O LM E S
1:

LONDO N
CO NS TA BLE 8: CO M P A NY LTD .
 CO NTE NTS

C H A PT E R

OUR NEE D OF AN I DEAL

A WO R D T O T H E ORT H O D O X

TH E PH I LO SOP HY OF T HE S U P E RN A TU R A L

TH E AUTO CRA T op T HE UNI VE R SE

Tm : FEUDAL OV E R LOR D

TH E AP OT HE OS I S OF S E LF I S H NE SS

A S E CULAR AG E

HU M A N E "UA LI TY

D IVI N E I M M A NE N C E

TH E LI V I N G WH OLE
TH E "I N G D O M OF G OD

EA C H F OR ALL

ALL F OR EA C H

TH E A NT I D OT E TO ANAR C HY .

TH E HU M A N C O M M O NWEA LTH

E D U CA T I O N F OR Co s m e S E R V I CE

XVI I . P o s s m xm n ns
 The C o s m ic C o m m o n w e a lt h

CHAPTER I

OUR N E ED O F A N I D EA L

HE Great War has revealed t o u s the h ollowness

of the materialistic civilization on Whi ch we ha d
prided ourselves The social order W hich our armies
.

and police forces ha d maintained is breaking u p In .

many lands settled government is gi v i n g place to anarchy ,

and the semblance of prosperity to the reality of m i s e ry

and want Even in those Whi ch are more fortunate the
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turmoil is great and there is a gro wi n g sense of insecurity

,

and a vague foreboding o f disaster We are being borne .

hither and thither by s wi rli n g cross currents of hatred -

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j ealousy greed ambition and self Will There are other

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currents than these larger deeper saner p urer B ut .
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in this world Wide c ri s i s the more turbulent currents

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have ri s e n to the surface and human society has become

a veritab l e Maelstrom strewn With the wreckage of many
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institutions and traditions and threatening shipwrec k t o

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many more .

No wonder that the idea of social reconstruction is in

the forefront of o u r thoughts The theme is o n e W hich
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touches all interests and attracts all classes and all types
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 TiIR "
c o s m o CO
—
MMONWEALTH
of mind Those who have suff ered under the o ld order
.

of things clamour for a new order Those who have .

ro fi t e d by t h e old order are beginning to rea l ize that

p
things cannot remain as they were and that their own
tenure of the good t hi ngs of life is to say the least , ,

insecure Politicians promise u s a better and a happier

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world S tatesmen are busy with schemes of practi cal

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reform Each clique each party each group of e n

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, ,

t hu s i a s t s or faddists — Trade Unionists S tate S ocia l ists , ,

Guild S ocialists S yndica l ists Anarchists Individualists

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Teetota ll ers Tari ff Reformers Currency Reformers

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Land Reformers — has its own formula for reconstruction .

O pinions and proposa l s are m any and various and such

features as they have in common a re negative rather than
positive In particu l ar there are two factors in the great
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,

prob l em which a ll the bui l ders seem to have agreed to

ignore Education a n d Religion ( the essentials of each
—
,

not the externals ) Yet to reconstruct society without

.

regard to education is to build without laying f o u n da

tions ; and to reconstruct without regard t o religion is
to build without a plan .

How can we best repair these vital omissions Let u s

begin with religion Religion controls all things i n
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,

cluding education Wi thout a ground plan o f o u r pro

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-

posed e difi c e we cannot s o much as stake out its f o u n da

tions When I speak of building without a plan I am
.
,

thinking of an architect s p l an not of a speculative ’

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bui l der s The spec u l ative builder works to a plan no

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,

doubt but his p l an is p l anless His aim in running up .

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a house is to se ll it at a p ro fi t as soon as possible and

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then f orget a ll about i t The p l an as such has no interest

.
, ,

for him What does interest him is t o get a quick return

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 OUR N EED O F AN IDEAL 3

fo r h is mo n ey Fo r t h e architect o n the other hand if

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and so far as he is an artist the plan is everything His , .

aim in designing a house is to realize an ideal —a n idea l

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of comfort convenience durability inward harmony

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outward beauty If our reconstruction of society is to

.

be successful w e m u st work a s architects not as specu l a

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tive builders We must not be content to meet immediate

.

demands to satisfy c o n fl ic t i n g claims to provi de t his

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thing here and that thing there We must try to embody .

—
an ideal in our social structure a spiritual idea " a dream ,

of a perfect world .

No w our architectonic ideals are all in t he keeping of

religion For what i s religion 3 From one point of V iew
.
,

a struggl ing science From another a struggling art .

, .

The subj ect matter of religion as a science is s upre m e , ,

re a li ty the popular name for which is God When m an s ’

.
,

vision of supreme reality becomes the obj ect of desire

rather than of thought it transforms itself into his ,

u lti m a te i de a l And to realize ultimate ideals is the

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f u nction of religion as an art ,

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Religion then whether we accept or rej ect it whether

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w e reckon with it or ignore it is in command of the w h ole ,

situation I f and so far as o u r religion is false our vision

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, , ,

of supreme reality will be defective o u r ultimate ideal ,

will be inadequate an d the structure of our social life

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will be badly planned But the structure will be still .

worse planned if w e do what we are n o w intent on doing ,

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ii we ignore religion in o u r attempts at social recon
struction and think t o dispense with its inspiration and
,

guidance For then w e shall be building without a plan

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— building as speculative builders not as arc h i tects And .

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the result o f o u r labour wi l l be a n ill built inconvenient -

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4 THE C OSMIC COMMON W EALTH

insa n itary peris h able structure not the realization o f a

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h igh ideal not an enduring monument o f vision and

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f o re t ho right and skill .

That t he existing social structure w as badly planned ,

that it embodies an inadequate idea l is proved by its ,

present col l ap s e If the ideal which it embodies is in

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ad e q u ate the architect s V is i on of supreme rea l ity must

,
’

have been defecti v e and the centra l conceptions of his

,

religion must have been at fault These considerations .

point to one momentous conclusion Tb e re co n s tru c ti o n .

l i n m u n : b o tb re ce de a n d a c c o m a n b
o
f re ig o p p y t a r e co n

s tru c ti o n of s o c i e ty
.

What form will the reconstruction of religion take "

We must go back to fi rs t principles We have been the .

victims of an u n worthy conception of God We have .

thought of God as the supernatura l Creator and there

fore as the a utocratic Ruler of the Universe And we .

have gone on to think of him a s the fountain head of -

irresponsible authority ; a s the O verlord of a feudal

hi erarchy which is secular as well as spiritual ; a s the
guarantor of t he divine rights of kings and princes
and multi millionaires ; as the arbitrary dispenser o f
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prop e rty power position and privilege and all the other
, , , ,

good things which the feudal magnates and their

modern successors have claimed for themselves and denied
to their fellowmen The social structur e which embodied
.

this Vision of supreme reality after having long shown ,

ominous cracks and other signs of decay is n o w tumbling ,

to pieces What course then is O pen to u s if we are to

.
, , ,

b ui l d a better structure but to revise our conception of

,

God P
 CHAPTER I I

A WO RD TO TH E O RT H O D O X

HAT course is open t o u s if we are t o rebuild

,

—
society as architects that is as artists an d ,

—
idealists but to revise our conception of God " We
have too long thought of God as the autocratic O verlord
of the Universe Has not the time come for u s to think
.

of him as t h e symbol and centre of Cosmic unity as the ,

Presiding Genius or President (if w e are to continue to

u s e the notation of political life ) of the Cosmic Common

wealth "
I mean by God what is supremely and ultimately real
what is supreme in man s vision of reality what is u l ti
’
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mate in man s search for rea l ity Those whose inter

’
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p re t a t i o n of the root idea

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of God di ll ers materially
from this W ill do well to rea d no further for I shall be ,
'
using a language which they will n o t understand l
.

Those who accept this de fi n it io n of God but Who still ,

cling to the conception of God which I am asking men

to abandon the conception of an omnipotent autocrat
, ,

who governs the world from without instea d of directing

its vital processes from w ithin may rea d this book if
,

they please — indeed it is my earnest desire that they

shoul d do s o — but I warn them at t h e outset that they
will almost certainly approach the study o f it wit h postu
6 THE CO SMI C COMMONWEALTH

lates Whi ch I cannot grant and that it will therefore be

,

very diffi c u lt for u s to meet on the s ame platform of

thought .

For high thinking i s necessarily circular The con .

elusions of the thinker are latent in hi s primary as s u m p

tions If they were n o t he would have undermined his
.
,

o w n foundations in the course of constructing his s o

called system of t h ought The outcome of his thought

.

will be a particular conception of life and destiny which ,

will be t he realization in consciousness of a particu l ar w ay

of looking at things a way which has always been his
, .

And t hat way of looking at things will have both f u rnished

him with the data for the solution of his problem and
determined his whole line of approach .

It is the same m u ta tis m u ta n dir with those whose con

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”
elusions have been dictated to them by authori ty .

When their beliefs are called in question they will bring ,

those beliefs with them as fundamental assumptions to

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the study of the argu ments of their critics The ortho .

do x believer for example will assume at the outset

, ,

that the truth of things has been supernatural ly com

m u n i c at e d by God to man and therefore that scepticism
,

is the outcome not of an honest search for truth but

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of wilful rebellion against God ; and his analysis o f the

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sceptic s arguments will be controlled by this instinctive
assumption It wi l l be difii c u lt for him to realize that
.

the idea of a s upernatural reve l ation is one of the postu

lates which the sceptic has found cause to rej ect .

From fi rs t to last then I who plead for a revision of

, , ,

our conception of God and those of my readers who

,

b elieve that the current or orthodox conception of God

ha s been dictated t o u s by God himself will be moving ,
 A WOR D TO THE ORTHODOX 7

along di fi e re n t lines o f thought And they will be even .

less able to enter into my line of thought than I into

theirs For their point of view is fami l iar to me F rom
. .

my earliest days I W as taught to look at things from it

and I did so for many years not as a child only but also , ,

as an a dolescent and even as an ad u lt Before I fi n ally .

abandoned it I passed through many stages of perplexity

and doubt But because the process of my conversion
.

o r perversion as they would call it w as slow and painf u l

( , ) ,

the outcome of i t when I had gone through W ith it w as

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fi n al I cannot by any e ff ort of mind or heart or so ul

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o back t o the orthodox point of view I have aban

g .

do n e d it for ever Yet I can understand and sympathize

.

with it as one understands a nd sympathizes with one s ’

o w n past life It is ot her wise with those who stand where

.

I once stood Wh ose faith (as they call it ) is still unshaken

, .

They cannot understand my point of view and their ,

attitude towards it can scarcely fail to be one of indignant

protest Therefore while I ask them to hear what I
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,

have to s ay I warn them that it will be easy for them to

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make nonsense of it and if this warning will not deter

them I will ask them to realize or try to realize that of
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the things whi ch they take for granted there are many
—
a nd they the most important which I ca n no longer
grant .

For example to those w ho t ake the orthodox view of

,

revelation who hold in a l l seriousness that religious

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”
faith sho ul d be based on theological information the ,

sugges tion that man should n o w revise his conception of

God may seem to savour of b l asphemy Yet it is in a .

spirit of reverence that I make it and out of the depths ,

of my faith in God For if we mean by God what is .

,
8 THE C O S MI C C OMMON W EALTH

supremely and ultimately real then w e must regard the ,

Universe (if it s being is a life ) as the self revelation of -

God And inasmuch as growth is the counterpart o f

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life we must regard the Universe (if its being is a life)

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as still in proces of development and mus t therefore

s
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think of Creation and Revelation as alternative names

for the same evolutionary movement It follows that .

the ever c h anging conception which man in the dawning

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light of his consciousness forms o f God — the conceptio n

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which makes and unmakes his thousand creeds — is
the self revelation of God to the mind of m an and it
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follows further that whoever will take the trouble t o

think honestly freely and adventurously about God
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i s a n instrument both of God s gradual unvei l ing of his

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essential nature and of his creative will And s o when I

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s ay that the time has come for u s to make a revolutionary

change in o u r conception of God I mean that a re v o lu ,

t io n a ry change is taking place in the communal life

and therefore in the inward and spi ritual life — o f man ,

and that in that change we are witnessing a new phase

—
in the process of God s creative self revelation a phase
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which we shall he l p to bring about by becoming con

scious of its advent and which W i l l present itself to our
,

consciousness if we will keep our minds open and ex

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p e c t an t as
,
a n e w conception of God .

I need not shrink then from asking men to change

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their conception of God For in t he fi rs t place I shall

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, ,

be asking them not to learn of me or any other teacher

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but to become aware of a change in their own inner

consciousness which has long been in progress And
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in the second p l ace if they do change their conception

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o f God it will not be they who have accomplished so

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 A W ORD TO THE ORTHODOX 9

great a revolution but the grace of God which is in

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”
them .

Let u s n o w s e e what are the leading features of the

conception of God w hi ch has swayed the hearts and minds
o f men for so many centuries ,
and from which as it
,

seems t o me t h ey are n o w beginning to turn away

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 CHAPTER II I

T H E P H I LO S O P H Y OF T H E SU P ER N A TU R A L

H AV E based my o w n theory o f revelation on the

assumption that the being o f the Universe is a life .

This is my starting point in t h e adventure o f t h inking .

It is also as it happens the goal o f my thoughts Have

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.

I not done well then to remind mysel f and my readers

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that those who exercise themselves in great matters are

predestined to move in (logical ly) vicious circles and ,
“
that where there is no common measure o f minds
”
there is no common measure o f arguments What is .

to me a sel f evident truth — t h at the Universe is a liv in g

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wb o le — the religion which I a m supposed to pro fess

implicitly denies For the orthodox theory o f revelation
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bases itsel f on the assumption that the being o f the

Universe is not a li f e or even a process but a s ta te or
, , ,

at best a succession o f states .

Have I misinterpreted the teaching o f Christianity "

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I do not t hink s o When I use the word Christianity
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,

I am thinking not so much o f the f ormularies o f the

,

Church or the theories o f theologians as o f what the ,

peop l e the ran k and fi le o f the f aithful have made o f

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the re l i g ious instruction that they have received and

the reli g ious atmosphere that t h ey breathe In t h e .

”
beginning God created the heaven and the earth This .

IO
 PH I LO S O PH Y OF THE S UPE R NATUR A L 1 1

is t h e fi rs t sentence in o u r sacred S cripture What h ap .

pened be f ore the beginning we are not told But it .

seems to be taken for granted that God dwelt in a

s ta te o f sel f centred per fection and glory
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Why did he .

create t h e Universe " We are not told Per h aps he felt .

lonely Perhaps he wished t o see ho w his handiwork

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wou l d behave What we are told is that when he had

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created the Universe h e placed it in the person o f

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Man in a s ta te o f prob ation an d that it will remain in

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that state till the Day o f Judgment when its framework ,

will pass away and Man in whose being it centres will

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enter into one o f t w o alternative J td i é f salvation or per ’

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dition Heaven or Hell In fi n e popular religion 1i n

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, ,

presenting to u s the drama o f existence divides it not , ,

—
into Acts and sub Acts but into three S tates a state o f
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divine solitude be f ore the fi rs t day a state o f probation ,

b etween the fi rs t and the last day and a state o f e v e rlas t

1
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ing salvation (o r perdition) a fter the last day It is true .

that the act o f Creation (with its predestined sequel the ,

F all) comes between the first and the secon d states and ,

that the act o f Judgment will come between the secon d

and the third states But the duration o f those acts is
.

so brie f as to be almost timeless whereas the fi rs t state ,

”
occupies the whole o f from everlasting the t hird state ,
”
the wh ole of to everlasting and the middle state the ,

whole course o f time .

1
The stat e o f pro b ti o n may b e d ivi de d into t wo su b
a

stat e s —( I ) A stat e o f inn o c e nc e o r p o t e n tia l sa lvati o n With t he

, ,

o s s i b i lity o f p e r d iti o n thr o u gh d i s o b e d i e nc e T his e nde d

p .

with t he F a ll ( 2) A stat e o f wrath o r p o te n tia l p e r diti o n with

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, ,

t he p o s s i b i lity o f sa lvati o n thr o u gh o b e d i e nce This wi ll la s t .

ti ll t he D ay o f Ju dgme nt .
 THE CO SMI C COMMO N WEALTH

It is to this tendency to think statically rather than ,

dynamically about the world in which he fi n ds himself

, ,

that man owes that conception of God as an omnipotent

and irresponsible autocrat which has so long s at is fi e d him ,

but is now ceasing to respond to his vi tal needs Or .

perhaps it wou l d be more correct to say that the static

V iew of the Universe and the orthodox conception o f
God are so intimately related that each may be regarded
a s being at once the cause and the effect o f the other .

If this is s o they must both have sprung from the

,

same root What is that root Let u s try t o go back t o

.

fi rs t principles .

Of systems of philosophy there are many Of phil .

osophies of ways of looking at things there are in the

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last resort only t wo There is the phi l osophy of man s

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conscious thought And there is the philosophy of his

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sub conscious vision We ca l l the former m a te ri a lis m

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. .

We ought to call the latter sp ir i tu a lis m but the word

has contracted other associations and i de a lis m has taken ,

its place The basis of m aterialism is acceptance

.

of the outward or material world as intrinsical l y

real. The basis of idea l ism is acceptance of the
inward and S piritual world the world of soul life as ,
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,

intrinsically real I f matter is intrinsically real then the

.
,

deeper we descend into i t the nearer we are to u l timate ,

rea l ity If soul life is intrinsically real t hen the more

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spiritual the more complex the more highly organized

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the l ife the nearer we are to u l timate reality In order

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to descend into matter we must fol l ow the path of

analysis of disintegration We must break things up
,
.

into their constituent elements I n order to ascend to .

highe 1 levels o f so ul life we must follow t h e p at h o f

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 PH I LO S O PHY OF THE S U PE R NATUR A L 1 3

synt h esis of integration We must build things up by

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.

the process of our o w n growth or by the grasp of our ,

thought or by the sweep of our vision into complex

, ,

— —
wholes In the last the v e ry la s t resort our choice lies
.

between ascribing reality to w h at is ultimate in analysis ,

a nd ascribing it to what is ul timat e in synthesis between ,

deifying the atom or the electron or whatever else may

, ,

s eem for the moment to be unanalys a ble and ultimate ,

and deifying the living Whole .

There are f e w men who are not both materialists a nd

—
i dealists materialists on t h e surfa ce of the mind
, ,

idealists in the depth of the heart Torn asunder .

between these c o n flic t in g p hilosophies man has tried to ,

reconcile them by inventing a thi rd The third philo .

s ophy the p hilosophy which mediates between m aterial

,

ism and idea l ism is s up e rn a tu ra lis m Believing as he

, .
,

does in his heart of h earts that li f e so ul life the li fe of

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which he is dimly conscious in himself is supremely real , ,

m a n must somehow or other reconcile thi s sub—conscious

conviction with his conscious acceptance of the intrinsic
reality of the outward world There is only o n e way i n
.

whi ch he can do t his H e must t hi nk of the outward

.

world — Nature as he calls i t — as h aving been cre a te d

, ,

called into it s present state of being out of the void of

nothi ngness by a S pirit aki n to his o w n but a S pirit
, ,

wh i ch is above and beyond Nature and dwells apart ,

from it enfolded in it s own transcendent glory i n a c c e s

, ,

sible to human imagination and though t In other .

words he must divide the Univer s e into Nature an d the

,

S upernatural world and must place between them an

,

unfathomable and impassable g u lf As the source of .

Nature s life the dynamic principle o f its b e l n g I S o n

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1 4 THE CO SMI C C OMMO NW EALTH

t h e far side o f the g ul f o f separation Nature itself b e

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comes under t hi s conception of its origin a fi n it e state

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instead o f an i n fi n it e process a manu f actured product

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instea d of an eternally self evolving life The material

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.

world i s real but only because God has made it s o

, .

I t is in itself what it seems to b e but only because God

,

has willed that it shoul d be s o The source of its reality

.

is the will o f the supernatural G o d and the supernatural

God is the proj ection into an invisible and immaterial
medium of the spirit of man Thus there a re t w o kinds
.

of reality i n the Universe the delegated reality o f the

,

—
natural or outward world and the self dependent reality
of the spirit o f G o d .

Let u s see what this attempt t o reconcile the material

ism of the mind with the idea l ism of the heart involves .

I n other words let u s try to follow the philosophy o f the

,

supernatural into some o f it s necessary consequences .

 CHAPTER IV

TH E AUTO C R A I OF T H E U N I V E R S E
’ ‘

ROM the supernatural Creator of the Universe to

the autocrati c Ruler there is less than a single step .

The former conception carries the latter With it The .

world which God has ma de is at his mercy He can do .

with it what he pleases The consequences of the

.

—
worship of an autocratic Deity s piritual moral po l itical , , ,

social — are momentous and far reaching The i deal -

.

attitude of each of u s towards the order of t hings in

which he fi n ds himself is in any case one of loya l s u b
, ,
”
mission . In his will is our peace But there is a
.

profound di ff erence between the will whi c h declares

itself in and through the evolution of Nature in general
and human nature in particular and t h e will which is
,

communicated to man by a s upernaturally accredited

envoy and imposed upon him from without The pres .

sure of the fo 1 mer wi l l is freedom and submission to it ,

is life The press ure of the latter will is despotism pure

.
,

and simple and sub m ission t o it may well firo v e t o be

,

living death .

Let u s fi rs t disting u is h between t h e being o f Nature

( i n the popular interpretation o f the word ) and the being
of Man B elow t he level of hu man life Nature is left
.

in the main to it s o wn devices Freedom of choice hav i n g

’

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1 6 THE CO S MIC COMMONWEALTH

been denied t o it it is a complex o f automatic mac hinery

,

rather than a living whole Its Creator endowed it with .

a fund of energy which will neither increase n o r decrease

til l he choose t o withdraw i t and with a system of laws
s
,

which he and his chosen delegates alone have the right

to s uspend Born into maturity it will n ever grow u p
.
, ,

it will never grow old S uch as Nature — the out w ard

.

world the framework of the Universe — was when the

,

process of creation w as over s uch it is now such it will , ,

be to the end of time Its being is static n o t dynamic

.
,
.

The wo rld s u n withe r e d c o unte nance

’

I s b ri ght a s at C reation s d ay ” ’
.

The world of which this could be said exists but it , ,

does not live When the Last Day comes its existence
1
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,

will be cancelled and it will melt away into nothingness

, .

Nature is the stage on which man plays his part

while he is in a state of probation Interference o n God s .
’

p art with the course of Nature is very rare and is always

subordinated t o God s purposes i n dea l ing with man
’
.

What God does interfere with is the moral life o f man

and the manner o f his interference is such that it n e c e s
s arily a fi e c t s the whole of m an s inner life He regulates
’
.

man s conduct either by a supernatura l ly communicated

’

L aw or by a supernatura l ly commissioned Church

,
and
he calls upon man to obey his will as revea l ed to him
through those channels In doing this he deprives him .

of freedom whic h is the essential principle of what I

,

$3 I f
1
t he w o r“
ld s c o u n t ’
e nanc e is ( a n d a lways wi ll b e
)
unwithe r e d t he r e a l r e as o n is that C r e ati o n s d ay has
”
,
’

n e ve r r e ache d an d w i ll n e ve r r e ach its me ri di an I mmo rta l

, , .

yo uth is t he co unt e rpart o f n e ver e n di n g gr o wth -

.
 THE AUTOCRAT OF THE UNIVER S E 1 7

may call S piritual vitality and which t h erefore di ff eren

,

t i a t e s man from the rest of living things It i s true that .

man is free to choose between obedience and dis o b e di

ence to God s wi ll But what are the motives which
’
.

determine his choice " Bribes and threats Hope of .

reward and f ear of punishment Blessing and cursing . .

Heaven and Hell The freedom which takes the form of

.

a choice between obedience and disobedience to certai n

formulated commands ,

un d e r pain
O i ever lasting pena l ti e s i f b r o k e, ,

and which is limited t o that choice is the mockery not , ,

the reality of freedom

,
.

If a man bade me sign a certain document which I ,

might or might not have read and stood over me with a ,

pistol ti l l I signed it it coul d scarcely be said that I ha d

,

been a free agent in the matter that my s e lf my real , ,

se l f w as behind my signature Freedom to know to

, .
,

understand to desire to purpose t o plan —thi s and

'

, , , ,

nothing less than this is the freedom which is the counter

part o f spiritua l life .

The forcible curtailment of freedom by autocratic

authority wi l l have grave consequences When morality .

takes the form o f submission to the will of an a utocrat ,

obedience becomes the fi rs t and last o f virtues Let u s .

see what this i nvolves O bedience to one s o w n higher

.
’

self with the i n fi n it e demands which it makes upon

,

o ne is indee d the fi rs t and last of virtues B ut it

, .

is not obedience of this kind which supernaturalism

g lo r ifi.es It is obedience to external authority ,

to a formulated will t o a series o f commands

, ,
 I HE
’
CO SMIC COMMONWEALTH

whether s e t o u t in a dead Law or issued by a living

Church And it is compulsory obedience obedience
.
,

which you withho l d at your peri l As such it must .

,

needs direct itself towards the l etter not towards the ,

spirit of what is commanded For apart from the fac t

,
.
,

that when morality is a matter of bargaining neither ,

party to the bargain ca n be expected to g o beyond the

terms of his contract literal obedience is the on l y kind
,

of obedience which the passive recipient of form u l ated

directions can safely venture to give To interpret o r .
,

try to interpret the spirit o f his instructions is the work

,

o f a free man o f o n e wh o i s in the c o n fi de n c e of h

,
is
master B ut the autocratic demand for obedience
.

reduces its victim to the status of a slave It is possible .

to transgress the letter of a commandment in one s very ’

zeal for t he S pirit of it ; and he w ho does this lays

himself open t o the charge of having broken the Law .

In the eyes of the Pharisees who accused C hrist of break

ing the Fourth Commandment the rej oinder The ,
”
s abbath w as made for man not man for the sabbath
, ,

w a s no excuse Nor i s this the only reason why correct

.

ness of outward action is rega rded as all important -

.

Under the autocratic control of mora l s only two motives

—
to a ction are recognized the fear of e x ternal pu ni shment
and the hope o f ex t ernal reward The inward motive .
,

which really determi nes the worth of moral actio n but ,

which happens to be variable and incalculable counts ,

under this r é gime for nothing .

D e v o t io n t o the letter of a law tends t o de idealize -

man s l ife The i deal is the object of man s highest and

’
.
’

purest d esire and of hi s most far rea chi ng and penetrative

-

vision Wh ere obedie n ce is the be ginnin g and end o f

.
 THE AUTOCRAT OF THE UNIVE RS E 1 9

virtue aspiration spiri tual desire recedes into the back

, , ,

ground and the s e lfi s h desire to enj oy a reward a nd

,

escape a punishment takes its place It is not because .

the heart of man turns towards the ends which are set
before him that he obeys the commands of his Lord and
,

Master but because obedience Will be rewarded and

,

disobedience chastised The ideal does not a dmit of

.

being formulated or the w ay to it accurate l y mapped

,

out There is an element o f mystery of i n fi n i t u de in i t

.
, ,

which at once b afile s calculation and attracts desire .

When the way of life is set o u t in a series of commands ,

each of which i s to be obeyed because it has been s o

”
commanded the true end of life has w e may be sure
, , ,

been lost sight o f For if the true e nd of life was behin d

.

those commands their attractive force would be so grea t

,

that the autocratic demand for obedience would become

unnecessary and bribes would be spurned and t hreat s
,

despised by the a dventurous soul The profound dis .

trust of Nature which underlies supernaturalism and ,

which has found doctrinal expression in the story of the

Fa l l and t he theory of Original S in leads of inner ,

necessity to the assumption that it is not in m a n t o

desire good to respond to its magnetic appeal
,
.

This assumption rea dily transforms itself into another

-
that it is not in man to think out that it i s not for man
,

to exercise himself i n the m aster prob l ems of life I

,
.

have sai d that the ideal is the object of vision as well

a s of des ire There are t w o elements in vision each of
.
,

which should for i t s o w n s ake balance and be balanced

, ,

—
by the ot h er reason and intuitio n the critical a nd t h e ,

imaginative tendencies of thought I n the atmosphere .

o f supernaturalism b ot h t h es e sovereign fa culties are

20 THE CO SM I C COMMONWEALTH

doomed t o wither for the plain reason that neither is

,

allowed to function When the way of life is accurate l y

.

m apped out by high a uthority there is no need and no ,

opportunity for one either to see into the heart of thi ngs
o r to meditate o n their inner meaning Even n o w in .
,

the twentieth century the orthodox Christian will settle

,

momentous questions such a s that o f divorce or the

, ,

after life of the soul by reference t o t h e letter of a text

,
.

H e will count it impiety t o bring either hi s reason or

his intuition t o bear o n the problems that confront him 1
.

1 A preache r in an Anglican church recently t o ld his au di e nce

that i f they di d n o t communicate fasting the y wo uld g o t o
He ll . The preach e r no d o u b t b e lieve d that he was d e c lari n g
t o his au di ence t he authe ntic wi ll o f G o d B ut i f o wh t an
. s ,
a

insan e ly whimsica l d e ity he wo rshipp e d " To d o o m a man t o

eterna l punishme nt f o r having b ro ke n his fast b e fo re c o mmu n i
e ati n g wo u ld b e an act o f g r o t e s que i n j u s tic e r e pug n ant li k e
,
a

to right reas o n t o co mmo n se nse an d t o t he mo ra l j u dgme n t

, .

”
B ut G o d s ways are n o t o u r ways t he pr e ache r wo uld answe r
’
, ,
”
an d w e cann o t g o b e hin d his r e ve l ati o n o f his wi ll Thi s .

i s t he f avo urit e argu me nt o f t he ortho d o x ap o l o gist I t is at .

once t he lo gica l wo rki n g o u t an d t he re du c tio a d a bru rdu m o f

t he fi r s t pri n cip le s o f sup e rnatura lism Fo r it r e s o lve s it s e lf
.

int o t he assump tio n that wh e re co n duct is r e gulat e d by d ivine

autho rity blin d li t e ra l me cha ni ca l o b e d ie nc e is t he o nly thing
, , ,

that m att e rs an d that t he high e r faculti e s which w e sum up

,

un d e r t he h e a d s o f r e as o n an d intuiti o n do n o t c o u n t an d have
n o part t o p l ay B ut w hy have tho se ta le nts b e e n e ntruste d
.

t o man i f he i s n o t t o u s e th e m " An d ho w can he do fu ll

j ustic e t o the m i f he may n o t u s e the m in what is pre suma bly
t he hi ghe st fi e ld o f th e ir activity " An d i f th e y have n o t b e e n
trai n d b y app ro p riat e xe rci s e ho w c an the y t ll him whe th r
e e ,
e e

an a ll ge d c o mmun icati o n fr o m G o d is g e nui n e o r sp uri o us "

e

That the r e is s o me thi ng in man whichcan r e co g n ize an d r e sp o n d

to the D ivine is the only rationa l b asis o f b e li e f in a supernatura l
 THE AUTOCRAT OF THE UNIVER S E 21

Forbidde n t o energize in the sphere o f high thinking

these sovereign faculties have sought out other fi e lds o f
activity Reason has devoted itself to the investigation
.

of physical phenomena the held in which it is freest ,

from ecclesiastical interference and in whic h a s it , ,

happens it has least need of the c o operation of intuition

,
-
.

Intuition deserted by reason has evaded the control of

, ,

authority by plunging deep into the innermost

mysteri e s of things where it can work beyond the r each
,

of the theologian s inquisitorial eye and beyond the grasp

’

of his commonp l ace mind Thus in forbidding reason .

and intuition to work in the sphere in which each has

most need of the other supernaturalism has driven them ,

apart as it W ere and sowed misunderstanding between

, ,

them And s o when they return to the 1 n v e s t ig at io n of

.
,

ultimate questions instead of combining their forces ,

for the greatest of all tasks they continue to work ,

separate l y and in a S pi rit of mutual antipathy and mis

,

trust reason giving u s a one sided interpretation of things

,
-

which it cal l s ra ti o n a lis m and intuition an equa ll y one ,

sided interpretation of things which it calls mys ti c is m ,

while the truth of things lies somewhere between thes e

t w o or rather is in itself the resultant o f their respective
,

tendencies .

If autocratic control can produce such fatal results in

the sphere of high thin king an d deep feeling it s action ,

in the sphere o f conduct proper wil l be at least equally

harmful Here the cult of the letter will make for
.

hypocrisy for evasion for casuistical h air splitting for

, ,
-
,

r e ve l ation To ask that something to accept or rej ect a reve la

.

ti o n as a who le whi le fo r b i dding it to criticize its d e tails is an

, ,

illo gica l a b sur dity which d oes not a dmit o f serious d e f ence .
22 THE C OSMI C COMMO NWEALTH

dishonest quibbling f o r censoriousness f o r

,
right ,
self -

e o u s n e s s f o r all those vicious tendencies which external

,

i s m in morals necessarily tends to gene rate and which ,

we sum up under the general head of Pharisaism And .

the authoritative debasement of the dominant motive to

a ction from the high level of aspiration and love to the
lo w level of cupidity and fear will make for s e lfi s hn e s s
, ,

for individualism for materialism for a general lowering

, ,

o f the plane o f man s life

’
.

Rightly conceived the higher life o f man is perpetual

,

—
self transcendence In other words it is an adventure
.
,

into the in fi n it e By substituting f o r this high adventure

.
’

the deliberate and systematic cult o f fi n alit y by laying ,

itself o u t to satisfy the demand f o r formulated c o n c e p

tions of life and c o difi e d rules of conduct supernatural ,

ism has ever tended and o f inner necessity wil l ever tend
, ,

to arrest the growth o f the soul I use the words o f .

inner necessity advisedly S upernaturalism owes it s .

origin to the as c e n de n c y i n the world of ideas of material

, ,

ism over idealism o f the static over the dynamic view of

,

—
life ih other words t o the so u l s reluctance t o grow ’
.
, ,

If it is not t o forfeit it s charter it must duly minister t o ,

Man s spiritual indolence t o his desire t o play for safety

’
, ,

to his reluctance to take up the burden of his o w n

i n fi n it u de of his potential oneness with God
,
To do .

this is to arrest his spiritual growth and to arrest growth

is t o starve a n d sterilize life .
 CHAPTER V

TH E F E UDA L O V E R L O RD

0 much f o r the pressure of supernatural authority o n

the life of the individual Let u s n o w consider its
.

i n fl u e n c e on the communal life of mankind Man s ’

.

religious ideas ha v e on the whole and in the l ong run

, ,

r e fl e c t e d his political experiences The idea of a divine

.

autocrat who rules or overru l es the Universe arose in

the East where the autocratic rule of a Great King
,

w as a fami l iar S pectacle . In the West when it ha d

,

accepted Christianity the Great King of heaven and

,

earth transformed himself into the Feudal Overlord .

This brings u s down to the present day The autocrat .

of the Universe has been the mainstay of feudalism .

And how great has been the power of feudalism and how
deeply the iron of it has entered into our souls is proved ,

by the fa ct that to its dying convulsions w e o w e the

titanic struggle which for more than four years has deso
lated a large part of the world an d profoun dly agitated
the rest.

The feudal magnate derived his authority from his

o w n overlord and through him from the king of kings
,

and only ruler of princes The divine right of kings and

.

s u b kings w as o n e o f the cardinal articles of his faith

-
.

He w as responsible t o his overlords human and divine

, ,

23
24 THE COSMIC COMMONWEALTH

for the way in whi c h b e exercised his delegated authority .

To the mass of hi s subjects he recognized no responsibility

whatever Withi n his o w n domain his authority w as
.

virtually absolute ; and like the Deity by whose grace

,

he held his fi e f or sub—kingdom he combined in his own ,

person the functions o f legislator a dministrator j udge , , ,

and executioner If he misgoverned his people they

.
,

might appeal to his overlord for redress and that appeal

might or might n o t be heard Or they m i ght appeal t o .

God in their prayers ; and their lord if he was unj ust ,

a nd tyrannica l w as well content that they should do

,

so. Fo r his deference t o G o d was a mere formality ;

and in e ile c t he held that his right t o rule w as inherent
in his might By paying the semblance of homage t o
.

the divine autocrat he w as a ble t o claim the reality o f

,

power for himself His religion went as far as that but

.
,

n o further Against their lord as their o w n immediate

.
,

ruler the peop l e ( ap art from the tenants wh ose relations

, ,

with him were contractual ) had no means of redress .

The rank and fi le were entire l y at his mercy the serfs ,

being his chattels while the status of the villein o r roturier

,

w as but one degree removed from serfdom Like his .

horses and his live stock they came into his possession
, ,

s o to speak with the lands which he inherited o r a cquired

,
”
and he could do what he pleased with his o w n Re .

s i s t an c e to hi s tyranny w as rebellion against the Lord s ’

anointed and if it failed it w as punished with atrocious

severity .

The feuda l system of which the feudalism of more

,

recent times is the heir a t l aw covered Western Europ e

- -
,

with a multitude of petty autocrats the Feudal Lords ,

or Barons of the Middle Ages and s o gave rise t o ,

 THE F E U DA L OVERLORD 25

an aristocracy o r ruling caste which is still with u s , ,

becoming as time passes less and less dependent on the

, ,

possession of land for i t s power over others and more ,

and more dependent on the possession of capital Where .

ever there is a ruling caste which bases its authority and

i n fl u e n c e on property arrogance rapacity and s e lfi s hn e s s
, , ,

may be expected to fl o u ris h In feudal times the ruling

.

caste w as deeply infected with those vices but it ha d no ,

monopoly of them On the contrary they were ever

.
,

tending to descend by force of moral gravitation

, ,

through all the strat a of society It is but natural that .

men shoul d imitate to the best of their ability those

, ,

who are high a bove them and whom they are compelled
,

to look up to and defer to and w e cannot wonder that

the evil example which was set by the feudal aristocracy
w a s faithfully copied as far as circumstances permitted
, ,

by all the social grades below them down to the rank an d

fi le of the people . And as it w as in feudal times so it ,

has been in all the intervening ages so it is to day The ,

-
.

assumption that power position an d property are the

, ,
”
good things of life the things that are best worth
,

working for and fi ght in g for has led to a general perver

,

sion of ideals from which we are still su ff ering and must

,

long continue to s u fi e r .

Nor is this the only injury to morals and c h ara cter

that feudal tyranny has wrought The denial of freedom .

does t w o things to i t s victims which a ct and react o n

,

each other and produce evil consequences whic h are not

the less evil because in their development they are
, ,

o bscu1 e,
tortuou s and difli c ul t t o trace It represses
,
.

natural tendency and it atrop hies nat u ral fa cul ty .

Psychologists are begin n ing t o realize that though natural

26 THE CO S MIC COMMONWEALTH

te n dencies can be repressed they cannot be era dicated ;

t h at o n the contrary they accumulate when repressed
, , , ,

in the subconscious regions of the soul and t h ere gener ,

ate explosive energies which may lead at last t o their

forcing at whatever cost exits for themselves When
, ,
.

the time comes for them t o break forth the fact that ,

faculty has been atrophied and that therefore they ,

cannot be properly controlled and directed may lead t o ,

great social and moral convulsions The communal .

self mediating as it does between the individual and the

,

ideal self is an essential element in personality ; and a

,

m an must t ake a share in the governme n t of the c o m

mu nity t o w hi c h he belongs if he is t o master the art o f
governing himself Therefore t o deprive the masses as
.
,

feudalism did o f political power and responsibility is t o

, ,

g o far towards incapacitating them for the exercise o f

self control The orga nized anarchy which is n o w deso
-
.

lating Russia and whi ch threatens t o spread t o neigh

b o u rin g countries like the excesses o f the French Revol a
,

tion is the afte rmath o f centuries o f tyrannical re p re s

,

sion ; and such c at astrophes in the life o f the com

1

munity have their equivalents in the life o f the individual , ,

in that disruption o f perso n ality whi ch t o o often issues

in madness .

The concentratio n o f power and aut h ority in a few

h a n ds has h ad ot h er consequences The undue aseen .

The sava ge ry o f the R ussian r e v lutio narie s has appalle d u s

1 o .

Le t u s re min d o urse lve s in e xt e nuati o n o f it that t he arr o g ance

, ,

o f a ru lin g caste— whethe r the caste b e fe u d a l a s in pre ,

R evo luti o nary F rance mi litary a s in G e rma n y or b ur e au

, , ,

cratic as in R ussia— e a s ily d e gene rat e s into b ruta lity an d that

, ,

b ruta lity b rutali zes its victims .

 THE F E U DA L O VERL O RD 27

deney o f the State in t h e spheres o f moral and spiritual

life is one o f these When the S tate is as it ought to b e
.
, ,

the whole community a cting through a system of nerve

,

centres t h e spirit of comradeship will be the main

,

spring o f it s activity ; and the spirit of comradeship

will sooner or later transcend the limits of nationality
, , ,

and the cognate sense of sympathy with an d duty t o

wards one s fellow citizens will gradually expand into a
’
-

s e nse of sympathy wit h and d uty towards one s fellow ’

men It is otherwise whe n the S tate is embodi ed in an

.

”
autocratic monarch ruling by divine right or in an
, ,

autocratic caste ruling by its o w n inherited prestige and

,

power Then t h ere is a dange r lest the rulers should

.

infect wit h their o w n arrogance rap acity and s e lfi s hn e s s , , ,

not the lower strata of society only but also the com
munity as an organic whole There i s a da n ger lest in.
,

their desire t o aggrandize themselves th ro u gh the aggran

diz e m e n t of the community they should hold up the ,

latter to the individual citi zen as the supreme end of

action and shoul d use the m achinery of the S tate — legisla
tive administrative milita ry educational ecclesiastical
, , , ,

to dri v e him towards that goal There is a danger lest .

t hey sho ul d deliberately inculcate anti human sentiments -

under the guise of patriotism should give duty to the ,

S tate precedence over duty t o G o d and m an should ,

count wrong as right criminality as virtue so long as it

, ,

served or seemed t o serve the interests of the c o m

munity ther eby completing the per v ersion of i deals
,

and c o 1 ru p t i o n of morals whic h their own evil example

had already begun That t his is n o imaginary danger the
.

history of modern Germany has f u lly proved The .

w ar wh ich has j ust ended ha d been systematically pre

28 THE CO SMI C COMMONWEALTH

pared for over a lo n g term through the u n of years —

scrupul ous u s e of all the complicated machine ry o f an

O ppressive and i n qu is it 0 1 i al government and of all the
s u btle in fl u e n c e s which emanated from the Court and
i t s entourage b y t he real ru l ers of Germany the General
-
,

S t afi . The corruption of the morals of a great people ,

by the exaltation of false ideals and the appeal to base

motives w as but the means to that sinister end
,
.

The arrogance o f the ruling caste in feudal times w as ,

as w e have seen compounded in the main o f class s e lfi s h

,

ness and pride of property place and power But there , ,

.

w as another element in it which was even more baneful

in its ulterior consequences The r u ling caste looked .

upon the rank and file o f the people as dirt beneath their
feet Having degraded them by their unjust and 0 p
.
,

pressive rul e to a leve l which w a s but little highe r than

,

that of the beasts of the fi e ld they despised them for ,

having sunk t o that lev e l and S poke and thought of them

,

with contempt and disgu s t They did worse than this

' l
. .

The y as s u m e d that the lower ord e rs were a n inferior

breed to themselves t hat they were by n a tu re base b orn
,
-
,

—
coars e fi b re d slow witted fo ul mouthed mere animals
- -
, , ,

in their habits and propensities The words that they .

applied t o them — pop ulace masses m o b rabble c a n a ille, , , ,

-
were so f ul ly charged with suggestions o f social i n
f e rio rit y and moral degradation that they became and ,

still remain terms o f derision and abuse For this c o n

,
.

t e m p t u o u s attit ude o f the upper towards the lower

orders of society is o n e o f the features o f feudalism whic h

have survived t o the present day The educated classes .

in this and other countries are still apt to assume that the
masses — those w ho send their children to elementa ry
 THE FE U DA L OVERLORD 2
9

schools let a s s ay—

are a di fferent order o f beings from
,

themselves congenitally inferior in physique in mentality

, , ,

in manners in morals and all that goes to the making

, ,

o f the soul And as the despised masses form nine —tenths

.

o f the human race the current underestimate of their

,

powers and possibilities readily transforms itself into a

serious underestimate o f the powers and possibilities of
normal Humanity T h e theological doctrine o f Original
.

S in with it s assumption that the natural man is a child

,

o f wrath that t h e n ature o f man i s corrup t and fallen

, ,

that t h e best of men are miserable sinners that the grace ,

which redeems and s aves comes down from a super

natural source has reinforced and bee n reinforced by
,

this quasi feudal contempt for Hu manity and the e il e c t

-
,

o f their j oint action has been to paralys e m an s higher

’

a ctivities and blind him to t h e greatness of his heritage

and his destiny
—
Feudalism w as of t w o kinds secular and spiritual .

S o far I have been dealing with the former I will n o w .

s ay a f e w words about the latter As there w as a descent .

of secul ar aut h ority from the S upreme Overlord t h rough ,

emp e ror king and baron to the villein and the serf so
, , , ,

there w as a descent of spiritual authority from the same

source through Pope and bishop and priest to the lay
, ,

churchman and the catechumen Priestcraft like prince .

,

craft has its characteristic v ii t u e s and vices As t h ere

,
.

were wise and good ru l ers according to t h eir lights , ,

among the feuda l magnates so there were and are —

,

wise and good teachers and directors in a pries thood .

But as the feudal magnates being (as they believed) a ,

divinely commissioned caste were exposed to the t e m p t a ,

tion to hold themselves aloof from the res t o f the com

 THE CO S MI C C OMMO N WEALTH

munity t o look down upon them t o brow—beat them

, , ,

to oppress them s o the pries thood being (as they believe )

, ,

a divinely commissioned caste have been exposed to the ,

—
temptation to become i h Luther s words the proud
’

”
est asses under Heaven .

On this however we need not dwell

, ,
The evil that .

spiritual feudalism does lies deeper than this T h e real .

analogue of feudal arrogance is not ecclesiastical p ride

and pomposity but p riestly dogmatism We have seen
,
.

that the pressure of supernat u ral authority o n human

life by depriving men o f spiritual freedom has tended
, ,

t o pervert their ideals t o corrupt their morals t o a rres t

, ,

their growth t o strangle their l ife The pries thood has

,
.

been the appointed channel for the transmission o f that

pressure And the more conscientious the priest the
.
,

more e ffectively has he t ran s m it t e d it Torquemada was .

,

I believe an exce l lent man according to h is lights but

, ,

his lights were a lurid darkness .

Ou the whole it may I think be said that the p ressure

, ,

of secul ar feudalism has bee n felt by the community

more than by the individual and the pressure of spiritual
,

feudalism by the individual more than by t h e com

munity But it is as a member o f a community that a
.

man lives the larger part o f his life and what he receives ,

from the community he gives back to it It follows that .

secul ar feudalism has a ff ected the community directly

and affected the individual through his membership of
the community while spiritual feudalism has aff ected
,

the individual directly and a fi e c t e d the community

through the reaction on it of the individual s i deals and ’

ways and works It follows in other words that the two

1
.
, ,

1
Se cu lar fe u d alism has afl e c t e d the i n divi dua l an d spiritua l ,
 THE FE U DA L OVERLORD 3 1

kinds o f feudalism are vitally interconnected and that ,

their respective streams of tendency are not t w o but ,

one It is true that they move or seem to move in

.
, ,

separate channels but they fl o w through the same river

valley and belong to the same system of drainage .

S ecular feuda l ism has been dying for centuries and is ,

n o w on its deathbed Its passing is a verit able ago n ie

. .

Convulsion fo l lows convulsion and the end is not yet

,
.

The Great War has been by far the most violent o f all
its convulsions but it is not the last and it is possible
that it will be followed by convulsive movements which ,

if not more violent will be more protracted and on an

,

even vaster scale What is it that hinders the passing of

.

the old order of things " Each of it s deathbed c o n v u l

sions is the birth—throe of a n e w order of things What .

is it that hinders the n e w order o f things from being

born The children are come to the birth but there ,
”
is not strength to bring forth It is di ffi c u lt t o interpret
.

the past and ras h to forecas t the future Yet I cannot .

he l p thinking that what has delayed the passing of sec ul ar

feudalism and delayed the social reconstruction which
,

will follow its passing is its v ital connexion with spiritual

,

feuda l ism and our failure to recognize that the latter

,

too is dying and that the time has come for it to die .

The on l y possible successor to secu l ar feudalism is

democracy ; and if the world i s to be made safe for
democracy and if our democratic experiments are not
to be so many grafts on a feudal stock we must make ,

an end o f spiritu al as well as of sec ul ar feudalism ; we

f e u d a lism has a ffe ct e d t he co mm unity d ir e ct ly as we ll as in
"

d ir e ct ly ; b ut in e ach c as e t he dire ct p r e s s ur e tho ugh b y no

,

m e a n s we a k has b e e n le ss str o n g t han t he in dir e c t

, ,
 THE CO S MIC COMMONWEALTH

must de feudalize not o u r social life only but o u r soul

-
,

life on all its planes ; we must de—feudalize our fi rs t

principles our s tandards of value our tests of right and
, ,

wrong ; w e must go to the fountain hea d o f ideas and

-

i deals w e must revolutionize our conception of ultim ate

reality our vision of God
,
.
 CHAPTER VI

TH E A P OT H E O S I S OF S E LF I S H N E S S

HE supernatural autocrat of the Univers e is a par

tis an God a God who takes sides This he is pre
,
.

destined to b e . For he exists objectively so to speak , ,

beyond the c o n fi n e s of Nature an d from that mysterious

wor l d he comes down to earth at his good pleasure and ,

reveals himse l f to certain chosen ins truments of his will .

The recipients o f the divine revelation are f e w — ii they

were many revelation would be a more or less natural
process — b u t the claimants t o t h e honour o f having t e
c e iv e d it are innumerable .

For difi e re n t races diff erent peoples di ff erent com

, ,

m u n it i es
,
di fferent types of mind form di ff erent con
c e t i o n s of the supernatural God ; and each o f these
p
will insist that its own conception is the true conception ,

and that all t h e ot h ers are false This true conception o f

.

”
Go d will be p e rs o n ifi e d as the true God and a l l other ,
”
conceptions will be p e rs o n i fi e d as false gods S trictly .

speakin g the di ff erence between true and false is tha t

,

the true God has revealed himself to hi s worshippers ,

“ ”
whereas the false gods are mere inventions of man s ’

mind But this distinct i on 1 s not always observed In

. .

their zeal for their o w n God men are apt to invest his
riva l s with s ome measure of objective existence and to ,

33
34 TH E CO S MIC COMMONWEALTH

think of them as rebellious claimants to the throne of

the Universe .

To fi g ht for the true God against the false gods and

those who worship them is of course the fi rs t duty o f the
believer and in this fi ght he naturally expects God
-
his God — to take his side and put his enemies (who are
also God s enemies ) to confusion Now it is impossible
’
.

to give absolute l y disinterested servi ce to such a Deity .

I f you ask God to fi ght for you a g ainst your enemies ,

who are a l so his there is sure to be some taint of self

,

seeking in your prayer For in saying that prayer you

.

run two deadly risks The fi rs t is that of identifying

.

your o w n persona l enemies with the enemies of God .

The second is that of dedicating your o w n evil passions

—
and desires the passions and desires which may be
s ummed up under the general heads of uncharitable
—
ness and s e lfi s hn e s s to the service of God .

As l ong as religions were tribal or national the Gods ,

dwelt on earth or in heaven in mutual tolerance o r at

, ,

worst in intermittent hostility B ut when men rose

,
.

to the conception of a Universal God the c l ash of religions

began And with the c l ash of re l igions came the clash
.
, ,

of s e lfi s h passions and s e lfi s h ambitions If in the course

.

of their re l igious wars and persecutions men had thought

on l y of the honour and gl ory of their God those wars ,

and persecutions woul d have formed a dark enough chap

ter in their history What made that chapter the darkes t
.

of a ll was that secul ar ambitions p l ayed a large part in

the re l igious wars and that the horrors o f re l igious per
,

s e c u t io n were in t e n s i fi e d by private greed and private

spite .

The truth is that the desire to appropriate the Universal

 THE APOTHEOSI S OF SELFI SH N E S S 35
’
God ,
claim him as one s o wn is of all desires the most
to ,

s e lfi s h I ndeed it is the apotheosis of s e lfi s hn e s s the

.
. ,

raising of it t o the highest imaginable power We are .

given a great choice in life We can try to expand se l f

.

till it becomes all —embracing and in doing s o inter

,

mingles itself in peace and goodwill with all other

, ,

expanding selves Or we can try t o draw down all

.

t irings — in clu ding G o d b im m lf — into the vortex of a n

ever—narrowing self The ma n who seeks to appropri ate
.

God to himse l f will be an egoist in his whole attitude

towards life For to introduce the venom of self seeking
.
-

into the head waters of desire and purpose is to poison

—

the whole stream .

It is a s ignifi c an t fact that in t he late w a r t h e nation

which had wanton l y provoked the w ar and had waged
i t with conspicuous inhumanity and trea chery w as the ‘ -

one nation w hich open l y boasted that God w as on it s

side The Entente Powers were wisely reticent on this
.

point B ut the German Emperor assured his people

.

”—
that God the good old German God w as their
unconditional a ll y and the Lutheran pastors ,

inspired by the same perverted faith and true to the

logic of it s implied assumptions went s o far as to s ay
,

that God had chosen the German people for the express
”
p urpose of crucifying Humanity and that they must ,

therefore prove their loyalty to him by perpetrating

every conceivable atrocity on their enemie s To take .

our evil passions and lusts to God and so l emnly dedicate

them to his service is to sound the lowest depth of spiritual
wickedness In the current theology the autocrat of
.

the Universe has a rebe l lious riva l w ho is known as the

Devil If Hell is reserved for those who openly serve
.
 THE CO S MIC COMMONWEALTH

the Devil what punishment is due t o those who serv e

,

the Devil under the pretence of serving God

There is always a taint of s e lfi s hn e s s in a man s devo ’

tion to the divine autocrat There are traces of it .

even i n the other worldliness of the saint Does he

-
.

serve God for naught " I doubt i t In the ages of .

faith the main concern of t he believer w as to secure

his o w n individual s alvation 1
Even the most hardened .

of sinners looked forward to cheating the Devi l on his

deathbed by confessing his sins and receivi ng absolution
from the Church B ut what of the saint " Al as " he
.

co uld look forward n o t merely with equanimity but even

,

1
A s e c o n d ary b ut by n o me ans inc o nsi d e ra ble c o nc e rn was
to s e cur e mat e ria l b e n e fi t s fo r him s e lf Whe re v r t he s up e r. e

natura l G o d is wo r s hippe d the t w o kin d s o f s e lfi s hn e s s — t he

,

wo r ldly an d t he o the r wo rldly— c o e xist in varyi n g pr o p o rtio n s

-
.

The m o r e sup e rstiti o us t he r lig i o n — t he mo r e d e e p ly it is

e

impr e gnat e d with sup e rnatura lism— t he str o n ge r is t he d e m a n d

f o r d ivin e i n t e r f re nc e in t he o r d inary a fi airs o f li f e
e An d t he .

d e man d is pr e d o m i n ati gly s e lfi s h I n B rittany fo r e xample

n .
, ,

G o d an d his d e puti e s a re e xp e ct e d t o ta k e a l ive ly int e r st in e

t he ve ntur e s o f t he fi s he r f o lk ; an d in a dd r e ssi n g praye r s t o

—

t ho s e highe r p o we rs e ach fi s hin g vi llage think s o f its e lf a lo n e .

With t he naiv e go ism says t he writ e r o f a re c e nt wo rk o n

e ,
”

E ast e r n B ritta n y ,
w ith whic h r e ligi o nist s o f a ll cr e e d s f ancy
th e ms e lve s t he c e ntr e o f cr e ati o n t he wo me n fo lk o f I s la n d ais
,
-

supp licat e n o rthe r ly win d s at t he same tim e that tho s e o f

Te rre n e u ie rs a re imp o rtuning Pr o vi d e n c e t o s e n d the m fr o m
v

t he we st .
”
The s lfi s hn e s s o f the s e p e titi o n s is o b vi o u s
e No r .

d o e s it c e as e t o b e s e lfi s h b e cau s e the r e is wo ve n int o it a stra n d

o f u n s e lfi s h l o ve B ut t he s e lfi s hn e s s o f t he b e li ve r w ho is
. e

i n t e nt o n his o w n s a lvati o n is far mo re i n s i dio u s f ar m o r d p ,

e ee

s e at e d an d far mo r r e a dy t o mi s tak e its e lf f o r p i ty than is

,
e e

t h n a iv e e g o i s m o f t ho se who pray f o r f avo uri n g wi n d s o r

e

oth e r mun d ane ble ssings .

 TH E APOTHEOSI S OF S ELFI SH N ES S 37

with rapture t o being admitted into a Heaven from

,

which the greater part of his fellow—men would be for

ever excluded Nor would their a w f u l fate cast any
.

shadow on his happiness the sympathetic pity that he ,

might have felt for them being submerged by his blissful

assurance that he for one would enjoy God for ever
, ,
”
and ever .To wi n for himse l f the boon of s alvation
w as the end that the believer whether saint or sinner , ,

set before hi mself in his religious exercises in his prayers , ,

in the conduct of his life That in many cases the devo.

tion which he gave to God w as as far as he knew dis , ,

interested is possible and even probable But in the

, ,
.

court of an a bsolute monarch the 1 ine between loyalty .

and courtiership between u n s e lfi s h and s e lfi s h devotion

, ,

is all too easily overstepped And s e lfi s hn e s s is never s o .

insidious or so poisonous a s when a man believes himself

to be giving to another what he is real l y givi ng in p art ,

at least to himself If this is true when the other is

,
.

his neighbour ho w much truer will it be when t h e

,

other is God .

I have s aid that secular feudalism is o n its deat h bed ,

but will not be able to die till spiritual feudalism dies

with it What hi nders the coming of that vast system
.

of social and political changes — with their far reaching -

—
social and spiritual consequences which w e speak of
co l lectively as democracy is the s e lfi s hn e s s of man s
,
’

heart In the ideal democracy where e ach lives f o r all

.
,

and all f or each there is no place for s e lfi s hn e s s It

,
.

follows that in a society which like that of the feudalized

, ,

West is deeply tainted with s e lfi s hn e s s both individual

, ,

a nd corporate in which each member o f the community

,

plays for his own hand or combines wit h ot h ers o nly

 THE COSMI C COMMONWEALTH

fo r the a dvancement o r protection o f his o w n material

interests in which inequa l ity provokes j ealousy inj ustice
, ,

rancorous resentment and class pride class hatred — it

,
- -

follows that in s uch a society democracy cannot begin

t o be born The overthrow of absolutism in Russia w as
.

followed after a brief interval by the establis h ment o f a

, ,

tyranny far more cruel oppressive and unj ust than t h at

, ,

whic h had preceded it a tyranny which was based o n

,

the deliberate exploitatio n of passion and lust of class ,

hatred and industrial greed S u p e rfi c ial observers see

.

in Russia s desperate plight the failure o f democracy

’
.

What t h ey ought t o s e e in it is the fi n al failure

the cons u mmation o f the pre destined failure — o f -

autocrati c repression and bureaucratic s e lfi s hn e s s and

corruption .

The triump h of Bolshevism in Russia is a lesson and a

warning If s e lfi s hn es s is t o be held in check s o as t o
.
,

make possible the advent of democracy the constant ,

reinforcement o f it from what is supposed t o be the

—
highest of all levels the level of religious faith and de
v o t io n -
m u st at all costs be stopped In other words .
,

if we are t o reconstruct society on a sound and durable

basis we must revolutionize our spiritual ideals through
,

the radical transformation o f our conception o f God .

We must wors h ip a G o d in whose Court there are n o

courtiers in whose Kingdom (which is his only Court )
,

—
patriotism is the truest loyalty a God to whom it is
impossible to give any but disinterested service to o ff er ,

a ny but u n s e lfi s h prayers S o long as we t hi nk of God

.

as a supernatural autocrat we shall be tempted t o exploit

him for more o r less s e lfi s h p urposes o f o u r o w n And .

s o lo n g as t h at tempt ation besets u s t h e spirit o f c o m

,
 THE APOTHEO S I S OF S ELFI S HNE S S 39

r a de s hip — o i
which the courtier spirit is the negatio n ,

and without which democracy is so much political

machinery the p l aything o f c l iques and caucuses the
, ,

- - —
happy hunting ground of wire pullers and log rollers
cannot awake in our hearts .
 CHAPTER VI I

A S E C U LA R AC E

OWvital a part religion plays in human life is shown

“
by the fact that even in this irreligious age it is in
command though we may not know it of the whole
, ,

situation We have seen that secular feudalism is o n its

.

deathbed but cannot die ; and t h at democracy has

,
“ ”
come to the birth but is stil l powerless to be born
, .

The reason why secular feuda l ism cannot die is t h at

spiritual feuda l ism its other se l f though also dying is
, , ,

not yet on its deathbed And the reason why democracy

.

cannot be born is that the re l igion which is at the heart

of it has not yet come to the birth .

We are passing through an age of religious indi fference .

The supporters of t h e old order t ake but little interest

in re l igion and the advocates of the new order if not —

openly anti religious — take none The a l liance between

-
.

the s quire and the parson which is symbolical of the

,

alliance between secular a nd spiritua l feuda l ism still ,

continues but the s quire though he goes to ch u rch is

, ,

probab l y an agnostic a nd there may well be a strain of

,

s cepticism in the orthodoxy of the p arson Ne v e r t he le s s

.

the formal alliance between the t w o does continue and

s o lon g as it continues it will he l p to keep feuda lism a l ive .

On the other hand the democratic movement which

, ,

40
 A SE C UL A R AGE 4 1

for t h e t 1 me being has i de n t ifi e d itself wit h the Labour

move ment is at present frankly secular It does not
,
.

even pretend to have any spiritual ideal The avowed .

a 1 m o f Labour is to secure for itself higher wages and

shorter hours of work Its covert aim is to destroy what .

it be l ieves to be its arch enemy Capitalism In the

-
,
.

latter aim it makes its nearest approach to an ideal but ,

it is an inverted idea l an ideal whi ch is negative not , ,

positive ; destructive not constructive ; the outcome ,

o f hatred not o f love Ho w little there is o f spiritual

,
.

idea l ism in the Labour movement is proved by the fact

that it is to a large extent dominated by a clique o f
extremists who while bribing the labourers with
1
, ,

promises o f short hours and high wages are working ,

unceasingly f o r a l l round nationa l ization in the hope

-
,

that when Labour triumphs at the po l ls they as its , ,

leaders will be ab l e through their command o f the

, ,

main s ources o f production and distribution to establish ,

a rigid S tate despotism o f which the capitalists g reat

-
,

and small wi l l be the fi rs t victims For patriotism

,
.
,

which is the on ly avenue to humanism Labour so far as , ,

it is under the control o f this clique would substitute ,

an internationalism which is at the O pposite pole to the

,

pan humanism o f those who advocate a League o f

-

N a t io n s an internationalism o f class —s e lfi s hn e s s class

r
-
,

hatred and intestine strife The aim o f these inter

,
.

The pr o g ramme o f t he s e e xtr e mist s t h

c o n fi s c at o r e ir o p e n
1
y ,

a dvo cacy o f dir e ct actio n an d the ir avo we d symp athy With

t he cru e l a d i ui s it ri l d e s o tis m
n n
p o f th
o B
a o l s h vi s t g a g e e n
q
i R us s i
n r s u gg s tiv
a, a e o f what m i ght h
e e e n i f a La b o ur a
pp
G o vern m e n t ca m e i n t o b ein g u n d e r the ir au s p ic e s in this
c o un try .
4 2 THE COSMI C C OMMO N WEALTH

nationalists is t o unite the f orces o f Labour in hostility

to C ap it al in all countries an d s o develop a line o f cleavage
'
,

which will cut acros s all distinctions o f nationality and

will en d by b olshevizing the world That this is the .

true voice o f Labour I do not f o r a mome nt believe .

The labouring masses are still inart iculate ; but it is a

s ig n ifi c a n t fact that a clique which is anti idealistic -
,

anti humanistic and even anti patriotic should have

-
,
-
,

succeeded in capturing their collective vote 1

.

I do not wish t o reproac h Labour for it s s e lfi s hn es s .

For centuries the rich ground the faces o f the p o or ;

and it is but natural that the poor when union has given ,

them strengt h shoul d seek to grind the faces o f the rich

,
.

The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children s ,

’

”
t eeth are set o n edge For centuries the upper classes
.

despised and v ilifi e d the lower ; and it is but nat ural

that class arrogance should be requited by class hatred ,

and that the memory o f bitter wrongs o f injustice , ,

oppression and cruelty should generate deep seated

,
-

s uspicion and even a thirst for revenge 2

No r do I .

think the worse o f the Labo u r movement for being ope nl y

non religious In one respect indeed it s secularism is its
-
.

salvation The feudal magnates were s e lfi s h and arrogant

.

because they believed that their position their power , ,

1 I n he G e n e ra l El e cti o n o f D ecem b er 1 8 this c li ue was

t 9 1 ,q ,
”
sno we d un d e r c hie fly I think on acc o u n t o f i t s anti
, , ,

patri o tic b ias b ut it s e e ms t o have gr at w i ght in t he co unci ls

e e

o f La b o ur an d it i s carryi n g on an active pr o pa g an da am o n g
,

t he yo un g e r m e m b e rs o f t he vari o us Tra d e Uni o ns .

2 I n p int
o o f f act th e r e is I b e li e ve m o r e o f suspici o n an d
, ,

mistrust than o f actua l vin dictive ne ss in t he attitu d e o f the

w o rk in g c la s ses t o war d s the upper c lass e s in ge n e ra l an d the
e mplo ye rs o f la b o ur in particu lar .
 A SE C UL A R AG E 43

their possessions and their privileges had been bestowed

upon them by God and that their title to them was
,
”
therefore indefeasible And their aristocratic suc .

—
cess rs landowners capita l ists bureaucrats a n d the rest
e , ,

— if they have any religious faith believe that the class

,

distinctions by whi ch they p ro fi t so greatly have been

ordained by God The leaders of the Labour movement
.

have avoided this dead l y pitfall Th ey have not claimed .

divine s anction for their materialistic ambitions On .

the contrary they carry secularism t o the verge of hos

,

t ilit y to religion partly because they believe not without

, ,

reason that o ffi c ial religion has usually allied itself With

,

property and privilege and that t h e Feuda l Overlord ,

whom t h ey were taught to worship 1 8 the God of the rich

rat h er than the poor 1
They mean to seize what they
.

—
can by force b y the force of organized labour and —
they wi ll pay homage for it to n o overlord huma n or ,

divine The h ypocrisy o f those who held

. by the
grace of God what they had seized by the might of
their arms is n o t theirs .

I have no quarrel with the Labour movement but I ,

wish to look facts in the face The body of feudalism .

,

1 Po
pe Pius X wh e n r e b ukin g t he socia lism o f the I ta lian
,

M o d e r n ists t o ld th e m that it is in c o n fo rmity w ith t he o r d e r

,

esta blishe d b y G o d that th e re sh o u ld b e in human soci e ty

princ e s an d su bj e cts e mplo ye rs an d pr o le tarians rich an d
, ,

p o o r le ar n e d an d i gn o rant n o ble s an d p le b e ians

, ,
”
The D utch
.

C atho lic b i s ho p s have r e c e nt ly issu e d a past o ra l c o n d e mnin g

S o cia li s m a s inc o mpati bl e with C ath o lic C hristia n ity To .

”
b e a C at ho lic an d a S o c ia li st at t he same time is imp o ssi bl e .

An d a R ussian stat e sman is sai d to have d e fe n d e d aut o cracy in

R ussia o n t he g r o un d t hat the Univ e rse is ru l e d b y an aut o cratic
D e ity La b o ur can scarc e ly b e expect e d to l e n d a wi lling ear
.

to such t e aching as this .

44 TH E C O SMIC COMMONWEALTH

though worn o u t cannot die because the time has not

, ,

yet come for the passing of its sou l In the Labour .

movement as at present conducted the converse of

, ,

this is ta k ing place The body of democracy is struggling

.

to be born but its soul has not yet taken possession of

i t and therefore the hour of i t s deliverance has not yet
,

come If democracy is to conquer the world it must

.

fi rs t fi n d i t s own sou l It must use spiritual not material

.
,

weapons It must present a high ideal to the mind and

.

heart of m an And that ideal it must fi n d in itself in

.
,

the religion which is at the heart of i t in the conception ,

of God which is shaping itself in it s subconscious self .

In a secular age an age of religious indi fference great

, ,

convulsions and c a t as t m p he s may be expected to t ake

—
place for such spiritual in fl u e n c e s as are at work will
be too weak to ho l d anger s e lfi s hn e s s a nd rapacity i n
,

—
check but there can be no social revolution which will
permanent l y trans f orm man s life The reconstruction’
.

of re l igion must both precede and accompany the recon

struction of society The indifference of the present
.

g eneration to religion means that the old conception of

God with the ideals which emerged from it is wearing
, ,

out That being s o our e ff orts to ga l vanize into the

.
,

semblance of l ife the churches and sects the creeds and ,

codes of the old r égime are a waste of labour They

,
.

are worse than a waste of labour for they tend to per ,

p e t u at e and intensify the existing c on f usion If the .

protracte d struggle which is from one point of V iew

an agony of dissolution from another a n agony of
,

parturition is to come to an end a new conception of

, ,

Go d pregnant with new ideals of duty and destiny must

, ,

come forth and rule the world .

 CHAPTER V I II

HUM A N E "UA LI TY

F the world is to be made safe for democracy w e ,

must do more than destroy mi l itarism we must do

more than democratize the countries which are still
strongholds of feudalism We must destroy the spiritual
.

headquarters o f militarism ; w e must democratize our

conception of God .

H o w is this to be done " B ehind the democratic i m

p u lse there is a certain spiritual idea l And behind that
.

S piritual ideal there is a certain conception of God If .

we could l ift that conception of God into the l ight of

consciousness w e should have begun to liberate the soul
o f democ racy .

What is the spiritual ideal which is behind the demo

-

cr atic imp ulse E qu a li ty Democracy has been de fi n e d

.

”
as t h e government of a ll by all and for all an d this
, ,

de fi n it io n can scarce l y be improved upon What is it .

that qu alifi e s the a l l f or government " That the

—
ru l ers of a country shou l d be the best of i t s citizens the
strongest the ablest the wisest the most u n s e lfi s h— is a
, , ,

truth too obvious to need demonstration Now it is . .

certain that we cannot al l be the best B ut is there any .

r i or i reason w h w e should not all be equally good "

a
p y
I t is o n l y on the assumption that men are equ a l that
4 6 THE C OSMIC C OMMON W EALTH

democracy can make good its claim In the famous .

“ ”
formula liberty equality fraternity ,
equality is , ,

rightly placed in the middle There are many criti cs of .

the formula w ho approve the ideas of liberty and

fraternity but ridic ul e the idea of equality T his is
,
.

shallow c riticism It is faith in equality which j u s t ifi e s

.

the demand for liberty and countenances the dream of

fraternity As a political theory democracy is domin
.
,

ated by the i de a of equality As a political dream as a .

,

social sentiment it is inspired by the i de a l of equality

,
.

In fi n e equality — the fundamental equality of all men

,

-
whether we regard it as an idea o r an ideal is the real ,

basis of democracy .

B ut are men fundamentally equal " Is it conceiva ble

that they s h o u ld ever be s o i Is not society based on
inequality on a bewildering diversity of gifts attain
, ,

ments and achi evements on inequality in material

, ,

possessions i n social position in i n fl u e n c e in education

, , , ,

in learning in cultur e in mental abi l ity in aptitudes in

, , , ,

accomplishments in moral qualities in spiritual gifts "

, ,

S o some of my readers will protest ; and I will s ay in

rep l y that they h ave not overstated and cannot pos s i bly ,

overstate t heir case In what sense then do I u s e

,
.
, ,

t h e word equality " In the sense in whi ch Christianity

uses it wh en it teaches u s that all men are equal in the
sight of God — e qual because they have immortal souls
to be lost or s aved The notation in which this teaching
.

is set fort h may not commend itse lf to a l l of u s but the ,

psychology which underlies it is I t hi nk profound l y , ,

tru e When w e s ay that all men are equal in the sight

.

of God we mean I imagine that they are intrinsically

, , ,

equal equal by reference to an a bsolute and infallible

,
 H UM AN E "UALITY 47

standard o f wort h And they are intrinsica lly equal

.

because t h ey all have immortal so ul s to be lost o r s aved .

What does this mean It means I imagine that in each , ,

of u s there are in fi n it e potentialities waiting to be realized ;

that so far as we realize these we s ave our souls in the ,

sense of fi n din g them that so far as we neglect to realize

them we lose our so u ls in the sense of failing to fi n d
, ,

them By comparison wit h thes e i n fi n it e potentialities

.
,

the actual inequalities in which life abounds and of ,

which w e make so much shrink to zero and men a re , ,

seen to be fundamentally equal And if men are funda .

menta l ly equ al the right to share in the government of

,

the community to which one belongs and to that extent ,

to shape one s own destiny to give e fife c t to one s own

’
,
’

ideals to order one s o w n goings is o b v iously i n he re n t in

,
’
,

the right to live one s o w n life and realize one s o wn soul

’ ’
.

”
I n fi n it e potentialities Am I j u s t i fi e d in using
.

these words " Actually men are unequal in every con

c e iv a b l w a O n this poi n t t h ere cannot be two opinions
y
e
. .

Their equality then must be potentia l An d it that .

potentia l equality can dwarf to zero a l l those actual

inequalitie s whi ch b ul k so large in our eyes it m us t be ,

rooted in the in fi n it e This is the on l y pos sible solution

.

o f the problem — half riddle and half paradox — whic h

con f ronts u s Life is se l f—rea l ization Actually we are
. .

fi n it e
. Potential l y w e are in fi n it e We rea l ize self in .

di ff erent directions and difi e re n t degrees In respect of .

these we are unequa l But w e ha ve limitless reserves of

.

potentia l ity to draw u pon ; and in 1 e s pe c t of this we

are equal And this equality being roo t ed in the in fi n it e
.
, ,

overpowers and e fl ac e s our inequalities which are always

'

measura ble and hu ite .

 THE CO S MIC COMMONWEALTH

To prove that man is i n fi n it e is beyond the power of

human reason The problem is not amenable to the
.

r ul es of proof The in fi n i t u de of the soul must prove

.

itself And t his it is ever s n uggling to do But for the

. .
,

process of proof to complete itself an in fi n it y of time or , ,

perhaps some mysterious transcendence of time is needed ,

.

Meanwhile t he more free l y our minds p l ay round the

,

idea o f the in finite and the more successfu l w e are in

,

freeing ourselves f rom bondage to our experiences o f

the fi n it e the stronger wi l l the attractive force of the
,

idea become We t hink too much a bout t he actual

.

man the man who has hardened in the mou l d of a par

,

t ic u la r environment And we think too l itt l e of the

.

possible man of what the man had it in him to become

, .

Is it a paradox —o r is it a truism — to say that the

norma l chi ld a t birth has it in him to speak a thousand
di fferent languages t o be l ong to a thousand di fferent
,

communities to adapt himself to a thous and di ff erent

,

en vi ronm e nts to play a thousand di fferent parts to look

, ,

at l i f e f rom a thousand di ff erent points of view Whi ch

language the child sha ll speak w hich community he shall,

belong to which environment he shall adapt himse lf t o

, ,

which part he shal l play f r om which p oint of view h e

,

w r —
s hal l look at l ife ill be dete min e d in each case e it h e r
,

—
wholly 0 1 in large measu r e b y w hat we ca ll the acci de nt
of his birth But the accident of his birt h is one thing
.

his inher e nt capacity is another As he grows u p circum .

,

stances wi ll severely restrict his f ree d om an d limit the

scope o f his activity ; and if he is the victim as most ,

men are o f a narrow environment we sha ll probab l y

, ,

ta k e for granted that he is whatever he has becom e

because he w as predestin ed to be so in the hour of his
 H UM AN E "UALITY 49

birth and that the powers and possibilities w hich he has

,

not been able to develop were never his .

S uch an assumption wo ul d be wholly fallacious A .

single concrete case will disprove i t There is a school 1

.

in this country — a n elementary school for girls — in which

the older pupils have a remarkable love of literature ,

write charming verses and do prose compositions of

,

v arious kinds — n arrative descriptive imagina t ive drama

, , ,

tic and even critical — whi ch surprise all w ho read them

,
'
.

Wherein do t he s e girls di ff er from girls of the s ame age

in other schools in t h eir own tow n and elsewhere .

Potentially they do not differ from them in any respect o r

,

deg ree And yet if you went into a hundred elementary

.
,

s choo l s in succession you would almost certainly fi n d

,

that the pupils cared little or nothing for good literature ,

that they could not write a line of verse and that their
prose compositions were of a meagre conventional all , ,

o f one pattern type

- -
What advantage then do these
.
, ,

girls possess Whatever it is it i s not racial If it were

,
.
,

if the children in that town ha d literary proclivities in

”
their blood one would expect to fi n d evidences o f
,

literary t aste an d capacity in other s c h ools in their

neighbourhood B ut one would I fear look for such
.
, ,

evidences in vain Th e girls live in a third rate manu

.
-

f a c t u ri n g town . Their homes are of the type whi ch one

usua l ly huds in such towns Their surroundings are .

most uninspiring B ut they have had one a dvantage

.

over other girls ( and boys ) An inspired and g ifted .

teacher ( assisted by a sta ff which she has trained) has

brought them into touch wit h good l iterature has he l ped ,

them to build up a library of books which are worth read

”
I ou ght n o w to say w as
1
.
5 0 THE CO S MIC COMM O NWEALTH

ing and has encouraged t hem to expr e ss themselv e s freely

,

in prose and verse In othe r words their literary capacity

.
,

has been liberated by j u di cious and sympathetic training .

But the capacity was there waiting to be li berated ,

1
.

If it had not been there the teachers of those girls would

,

h ave laboured in vain And if it was latent in ea ch of

.

those girls waiting for some magician s wand to liberate

,
’

i t we may be s u re that it is latent in nearly every norma l

,

c hi l d And not that pa rtic ul ar capacity only Y o u wi ll

. .

fi n d ot h er schools in which other kinds o f capacity have

been liberat e d with equal ski l l and success artistic —
, ,

capacity in one school dramatic in another constructive

, ,

in a third and so o n The capacity o f the normal c hild

,
.

is in brief limitless Wh en I s ay this I mean t hat we are

, ,
.

n o t in a position to assign any limits to i t The child s ’

.

personality is a mine in which there are mysterio u s and

apparent l y inexhaustible treas ures waiting to be explore d
a n d developed To explore and develop those buried
.

treasures to sink shafts here and drive ga l leries there to

, ,

1
A cu l tur e d stran g e r who pai d his fi rs t visit t o an e l me ntary e

sch o o l o f t he o r dinary typ e an d fo un d that t he pupi ls e ve n in

, ,

t he hi gh e st c l ass car e d n o thi n g f o r p o e try o r any o t he r kin d o f

,

lit e ratur e an d c o u ld n o t e xpr e ss the m s e lve s in pro se o r ve rs e

,

t h e ir c o mp o siti o ns b e i n g o f a pr e scri b e d a n d f o rma l ty e an d

( p
in n o s e n s e the ir o w n ) wo uld pro b a bly j ump t o t he c o n clus i o n
,

that th e ir i n capacity was co ng e nita l an d was d e t o the ir b e i n g u

ma d o f co mmo n c lay B ut he wo uld b e quit e wr o ng We

e . .

are all ma d e o f c o mmo n c l ay b ut t he c lay o f th o s e chi ldr e n

,

wo uld n o t b e a whit mo re c o mmo n tha n that o f t he gir ls who s e

lite rary tast e an d cap acity surpris e a ll w ho k n o w t h ir s cho o l e .

The o n ly d i ff e r e n c e b e twe e n t hat scho o l an d a ho st o f o t he rs

is that i n t he l att e r t he t e ach e rs e ns lave d t o a b a d tra diti o n
, ,

have re pr e ss e d capacity whe re as in t he fo rme r an o ri gina l

,

t e ache r has li b e rat e d it .

 H U M AN E "UALITY 5 1

help the child t o realize his in fi n i t e potentialities is t h e ,

function of education When will it be able t o f u lfi l

.

that function " Not until men have convinced them

selves that the rea l ization of potentialities is life and that ,

the aim of the educator should therefore be to liberate

not to repress .

The in fi n it u de o f the inheritance which the c hild

brings with him into t h e world is of many dimensions .

The religious phenome n on known as conversion (if I

may be allowed to repeat words which I have used else
where) wit h t h e s udden transition which it sometimes
1

e fi e c t s from the very worst in a man t o the very best ;

the winning of V C s and other rewards of courage and

. .
’

devotion by criminals and other detrimentals on the

fi e ld of battle ; the u p surging i n seasons of supreme
-
,

crisis of herois m and self s ac rifi c e from unsuspected

,
-

a b ysses in some seemingly commonplace soul the sudden

melting of a hardened heart in the sunshi ne of sympathy
and kindness the transforming in fl u e n c e of the pas sion
of personal love on a man s whole attitude towards life
’

—these and other phenomena of a kindred nature which

, ,

though necessarily rare (for only exceptional combina

tions of circumstances can produce them) are not there ,

fore to be regarded as abnormal seem to show that the ,

unfathomed depths of man s nature are as illimitable as ’

”
i t s lateral range . It is a wonder wrote one of our ,

newspaper correspondents during the late War that ,

never palls but is always n e w : the spirit which these

,

men of ours possess from n o matter wh at corner of the

,

Empire they may h ave come One wonders where the .

grumblers t h e cowards the mean people whom o n e

, ,

1
The S ecr e t o f Happiness .
5 2 THE C OSMIC COMMO N WEALTH

thought o n e met i n ordi n ary life h ave go n e T h ey are .

not here Or if they are they are uplifted and trans

.
, ,

fi g u re d. They doubtless many o f them could not

, ,

explain or express i t but some wind has blown upon

,

them ; the inspiration o f a great cause has come into

them some sense o f comrades hip and brotherhood
,

i n spires them something has made true soldiers and

,
”
gallant men of them all The t ra n s fi g u rat io n of the
.

plain average man which is described in this passage

proves conclusively that there are immense reserves of
spiritual vitality i n his soul and that though for the
,

most part those forces lie dormant and undreamed o f ,

they can awake and energize whenever some great crisis

makes its mute appeal t o the man s highest self ’
.

I have said that the real basis o f democracy is the

equality o f all men in the sight o f God When we say .

that men are equal in the sigh t o f God we mean that ,

there is an equalizing principle in them which dwarfs t o

nothingness all the di fferences and distinctions to whi ch
they cling s o fondly We can n o w see that this equal
.

izing principle — the immortal soul the in fi n it e in man ,

is no metaphysical abstraction n o shadowy mystery no , ,

elusive p h antom but an ever pres ent reality an in e x

, ,

ha u s t i b le fountain o f potentiality o n which we are always

drawing and in reali zing which as we take it u p litt l e
, , ,

by little into our conscious being we carry on all but the

, ,

purely physical processes of o u r life ; a fountain f rom

which spring unceasingly all the higher energies which
are characteristic of man as man ; a fountain of latent
capacity latent versatility latent power latent character
, , , ,

latent will If men are equal in this sense of the word

.
,

democracy as a principle of government is founded o n

, ,
 H U M AN E "UALITY 53

a rock Fo r t h e righ t t o share i n the gover n ment o f o n e s

.
’

country means the righ t to control the enviro n ment in

which a man lives and into which his chi ldren are born
,

and if every man without regard to class or position o r

,

property or any other source of inequality had unlimited ,

reserves of potentiality in himself and if the realization ,

of potentiality is e ffected through reaction t o environ

ment the claim of the lowliest of men to regulate the
,

a ffairs of the community to which he happens to belong

is as strong as the c l aim of the mighties t .

Let u s now go back to the democratic formula

Liberty Equality Fraternity Th e words h ave bee n
, ,
.

placed in their righ t order Equality is the keyword

. .

Apart from equality there is n o m eaning in liberty and ,

no hope of fraternity If men are equal because t h ere

.

are i n fi n it e possi bilities in each of them they have the ,

right to demand liberty for the realization of those

possibilities t h ey have the right t o demand release from
needless and inj urious pressure Th e pressure of govern
.

ment on the individual citizen cannot be dispensed wit h

if social order is t o be maintained and wit h the adva n ce ,

o f s cience and the increasing ce n trali zation o f social

life it will become more stringent as time goes o n

, But .

in the ideal democracy t h e pressure is less inj urious than

under any ot h er type o f gover n m ent because it emanates ,

from all the members o f the community ; because it is

submitted t o by each as being the will o f all ; because
—
each citizen as a member o f a self governing community
, ,

has imposed it on himself Pressure from wit hin is free

.

do m . This is as true o f the life o f a community as o f the

individual soul Equality again is the fountain hea d o f
.
, ,

fraternity o f comradeship Fo r t h e chief hindrance t o

, .
54 TH E C O SMI C COMMO N WEALTH

t h e spread o f t h e spirit o f comrades h ip is the existenc e o f

t h ose invidious and oppressive distinctions o f class and
caste in whi ch s e lfi s hn e s s has entrenched itself and which
, ,

seem all important to o u r purblind eyes B ut by c o m

-
.
,

parison with the in fi n it e possibilities which are in all

men distinctions o f class and caste count f o r nothing ;
,

and in proportion as men realize their latent possibilities

and become aware o f their o w n in fi n it u de the social ,

and economic barriers between man and man wi ll lose

their sinister s ig n ifi c an c e and the sense o f fraternity o f
, ,

universal comrades hip will begin t o possess men s hearts

,
’
.

Then and n o t till then will it become possible f o r the

, ,

government o f all by all and f o r all t o establish itself

, ,

o n earth .

In conclusion If liberty is the breath o f democracy s ’

being fraternity is it s life blood But what o f equality

,
-
.
,

without which there can be neither liberty n o r fraternity "

Is it n o t the soul o f democracy its other self ,
 CHAPTER IX

D IVI N E I M MAN E N C E

HE problem o f h uman e quality may be looked a t

from a somewha t different point of view The dream .

of the democrat is that instead of being in bondage to

,

socia l and economic distinctions men of all sorts and

,

conditions should meet on the platform of their common

humanity and there work together fi rs t for the good of
,

their respective communities and t h en for the good of

,

the whole human race .

Wh at do w e mean by the words common humanity

Wh at is the co m mo n element in human nature " If we
took the fi rs t hundred numbers and asked what w as
their greates t common measure (o r as arithmeticians ,

n o w call i t,
their highest common factor ) the answer
would be unity ; and unity i s but o n e degree removed
from zero If we took a hundred s and heaps varying
.
-
,

i n size from a single grain t o a s andhill i n the desert ,

and asked wh at they had in common the an swer would be

,

a single grain of s and From these examples w e se e t h at

.

when we are dealing wi th a bstract or inanimate things

the greatest common measure is a minimum Wh en .

w e p ass o n t o things W hi ch live and grow the problem ,

change s its c h aracter If w e took a hundred peac h es

.
,

r anging in size and co n ditio n from t h e minute green

55
5 6 TH E c o s m rc C O MMONWEALTH

knob which has only just set to the fully ripened fruit ,

and asked what they had in common the answer would ,

be twofold actua l ly nothing or next to nothing ;

,

potentia l ly the perfection of peach hood In the case

,
-
.

of living things what is common t o a l l the members o f a

,

given species is the type itself the ideal perfection which ,

each mem ber is striving to attain This exists in each .

member as a possibi l ity and as such it is their bond o f

,

union the basis of their fe llowship in t he community t o

,

which they belong It is the same with man What is

. .

common to a l l men is the ideal o f manhood the perfect ,

man .

We have seen that all men are equal because there are
i n fi n it e possibilities in each o f them We can now .

identify the i n fi n it e in m an with the ideal of m anhood .

We can see that if we could t e aliz e all o u r possibi l ities we ,

sho u ld have f u lfi lle d o u r destiny we shoul d have found ,

the ideal man Ideals are always and o f inner necessity

.
, ,

unattainable Even the ideal peach I S S t l ll a dream

. .

And what of the idea l man Is he not a dream beyond

a l l dreams beyond all possibiliti e s of dreaming " Yet
,

he is in each of u s as a dream to be realized — t h e paradox

is unavoidable ; and because he is in eac h of u s we are
all equal in the sigh t of God .

For in truth that indwelling ideal at once nearer to ,

u s than breathing and further from u s than the f ai t h est

—
star that ever to b e rea l ized yet ever u n realizable p e 1
- - -

f e c t io n which w eighs and meas u res and j udges all our

,

a ctualities o f development and achievements —is God , .

If it is not God what is it i And where is God t o be

,

found " The conception of a G o d w ho is a bove and

beyond Nature h as been tried and found wanting Its .
 DIVINE IMMANENCE 57

practical failure is it s fi n al disproof An d if G o d is not .

a bove and beyond Nature where is he but at the heart,

of Nat u re " And is not the heart of Nature for u s ,

men the heart of human nature the hea r t of man "

, ,

The conception o f a God w ho is above and beyond

Nature has I s ay failed in practice Does it not also
, ,
.

fail as a theo ry whenever we come t o close q uarters with

it and try t o determine What it really means i The i dea
o f a supernatural revelation bases itself on the a s s u m
p
tion that it is possible for absolute reality t o unveil itself
to h uman eyes This is a n obvious delusion In enter
. .

ing into relation with man absolute reality at once ,

ceases t o be absolute What the recipient of the revela

.

tion sees is not God as he is in himself but just so much ,

of God as he being what he is is able to apprehend

, ,
.

If a supernatural revelation were possible the words i n ,

which the divine message w as formulated the text —

of the sacred scripture the clauses of the authentic
,

—
creed wo ul d be absolutely valid intrinsically true .
,

B ut a message from God is n o message if it is not charged

with spiritual truth And spiritual trut h appeals t o the
.

emotional imaginative side of a man and therefore has

,

di ff erent meanings for diiI e re n t minds and says di ff erent

things t o difi e re n t hearts The prophet w ho took upon
.

”
h i m self to say ,
The wor d of the Lord came to me ,
”
or Thus saith the Lord ha d no doubt a clearer and
,

deeper 1 n s 1 ght into reality than ordinary men ; and s o

far as he had such insight he w as the re c 1 p 1 e n t if we c h oose ,

to put it s o of a divi ne revelation B ut the revelation

, .

came to him from wi t hi n his o w n being n o t from ,

without the c o n fi n e s o f N ature Hi s t h oughts hi s .

,

visions his words surged up from the mysterious dept h s

,
 5 8 THE CO S MIC COMM O NWEALTH

o f hisburied life If they came from . the —

God and
response that they won guarantees their divine origin
they ca m e from n o supernatural deity but from the ,

God who is at the heart o f man At the heart o f man .

,

and therefore at the heart of Nature at the heart o f the ,

Universe .

This is the immanent o r indwelling God I s he all .

that there is of God I do not s ay s o No man can see .

God as he is in himself Yet some men see far more of

.

God than others ; and there are men who from the ,

spiritua l h eights to which they have climbed see so ,

much that the desire t o s e e more and sti l l more merges

itself at last in the dream o f seeing all S o many and s o .

great are the variations within the limits of human ,

experience in man s v ision of reality ranging as they do

,
’
,

from almost total blindness t o the highest level o f spiritual

clairvoyance that they suggest t o u s that there may be
,

—
such a thi ng as ide a l v is io n the counterpart o f ideal
—
being and t h at somehow somewhere i n some timeless , ,

moment it may be possible to see God as he really is

,
.

Possible — ye s but for God alone The Universe the

,
.
,

All of Being seen as it really is seen by it s o w n a l l seeing

, ,
-

eye seen as God sees it is very God o f very God divine

, , ,

in the ul timate sense o f the most ultimate of all words .

This is the transcendent God Let u s leave him in .

his transcendence i n his Holy of Holies

,
The thought .

of him will always haunt u s ; but we must forbear t o

hold intercourse with it or we shall run the risk of
profaning the most s acred of a l l mysteries Transcendent .

though he b e he is no more beyond Nature than he is in

,

Nature His Holy of Holies i s everywhere It is in the

. .

world without u s It is in our h earts But wherever

. .
 D IVINE IMMANENCE 59

it may b e it is still the Holy o f Holies and we m ay

, ,

n e ver enter i t The glory of the transcendent G o d is

.

for hi mself alone If w e would see even the re fl e c t io n

.

of i t we must strive wit h a lifelong striving to enter

,

into oneness with the source of it w e must strive t o ,

become divine In other words we must be true a t

.
, ,

all costs to the light that lighteth all men ; for it is

,

through the immanent God that the transcendent Go d

reveals himself to man .

In Chr istian belief the immanent God is known as the

Holy S pirit Unfortunately the doctrine of the Holy
.

S pirit has fallen into the hands of theologians w ho h ave ,

dealt with it a ccording to t he ir w o n t They have de

. .

spiritualized and de vitalized what is really a poetical

-

—
idea true with the deep truth of the soul s subconscious ’

—
poetry and transformed it into a quasi s c ie n t ifi c con -

c e t io n
p .They have presented the Holy S pirit t o

conscious thought as the Third Person o f the Blessed

Trinity and have taken great pains t o s e t forth in a
,

series o f propositions his precise relations t o the other

—
Persons the Father and the So n 1
An d s o the faithful
.
,

1
O ffi c ial Christianity has a lways worshippe d or tri e d to
wo rship t he transc e n d e nt G o d I t has i n de e d pai d f o rma l
.

ho ma g e (as in t he d o ctrin e o f t he H o ly S p irit) t o t he imma n e nt

G o d, b ut it has n o t r e a lly b e li e ve d in him If it had, it wo uld
.

have un d erst o o d that whe n C hrist s ai d I an d my F athe r are

o ne,
”
he was s p e a ki n g f o r the wh o le human race
«
I t has l e f t
.

t he cu lt o f t he imman e nt G o d to t he mystics , whom it ha s

a lways r e gar de d with suspici o n an d mistrust , an d who m at
time s it ha s d e n o unc e d an d p e r se cut e d The st o ry o f Bo ss u e t s
.
’

p e rs e cuti o n o f M a d ame Guyon an d F en e lo n is fami liar t o the

s tu d e nt o f F rench hist o ry Y e t t he spirit o f M a d am e G uyon s
.
’

t e achin g is summe d up in the saying I t is ne c e ssary to lo ve

,
60 THE C O SMIC COMMONWEALTH

without troubling t h emselves about t h o se metaphysical

details have t h ought o f the Holy S pirit as a ghostly
,

person fl itting about (in the guise of a dove) from man

,

to man entering i nto the hearts that are worthy t o

,

receive him withdrawing himself from the wicked and

,

the worldly directing the a fi airs o f the Church in the

,

absence of its ascended Lord and performing s undry ,

mirac l es s uch as changing the bread and wine of the

Lord s S upper into the body and blood of Christ And
’
.

a l l the whi l e the Holy S pirit has been at the heart o f

the Universe at the heart o f Nature at the heart of
, ,

Man .

For the immanent God is the life o f all life and t h e

soul of every soul He w ho believes that life is the
.

highest form o f energy and that soul life is the highest -

form of life will go on to believe bo rne along as it

,
—
,

were by the impetus o f his faith — that there is a high er

,

reality which is to soul life what soul life is t o life and

- -
,

what life is to energy And as he means by God s upreme

.

reality he will ca ll that well spring of his being and

,
— ~

of all being — Divine And if you question him f u rther

.

as to his faith he will tell yo u that the lines o f h

,
i s desire ,

his hope his aspiration his adoration his life all c o n

, , , ,

verge on that centra l alt ar on the One which is the ,

fountain head of all u n ity o n the I n fi n it e which is the

-
,

fountain head of all in fi n it u de o n the S pirit whi ch is

-
,

the fountain head o f all spirituality on the Life whi c h is

-
,

the fountain head o f soul life o f l ife o f energy

- -
, ,
.

G o d fo r himself a lo ne inspir e d n e ither b y hope o f eterna l

,

happ iness n o r b y dr e a d o f eterna l pain D i d B o ssu e t eve r s ay

”
.

a n ythi n g as true as this "

 CHAPTER X

TH E LI V I N G W H O L E

UPER NATURA LI S M is a compromise between the

idea l ism of man s heart and the materia l ism of his
’

conscious though t If s upernaturalism is rej ected we

.

must make our choice between materialism and i dealism

as rival philosophies and therefore a s rival schemes of

life .

The basi c assumption of materialism is that what is

ultimate in analysis is supremely real The basic as s u m p .

tion of idealism i s that what is ul timate in synthesis is

supremely real What is ultimate in analysis is an (a t
.

present ) unknown in fi n it e s im al 1
Wh at is ul timate in .

synthesis is the totality of things conceived of as an

organic whole .

To which of thes e O pposites are w e to ascri b e reality "

.

I do not pr e pose to discuss this question In the fi rs t .

p l ace the controversy as a controversy is necessarily

, , ,

f uti l e for the plain reason that the u l timate appeal in

,

it is not to logic but to temperamental or quasi —tempera

mental bias I have indeed in the course of communing
.
,

With myself tried to think out the problem but I know

, ,

1
Or so it s e e ms B ut t o o far e ast is we st an d it is p o ssi bl e
.

that t he path o f ana lysis le a d s t o a d i ffe re nt g o a l fr o m this .

This , ho weve r , is the go a l o f mat e ria li s tic th o ught .

61
62 THE COSMI C C OMMO N WEALTH

no w t h at long ago temperamental bias decided the issue

o f my thinking In t he s e c o n d place t o take p art in the
.
,

controversy would be beside my present purpose For .

my obj ect in writing this book is to plead for a revision

of our conception of God B ut materialism so far as it
.
,

is self c o n s c io u s an d s in c e 1 e rej ects the idea of God

-
, .

Could it do otherwise Materia l ism makes for atomism

in thought and therefore in life as far as it comes under
,

the contro l of thought and atomism is the negation of

religion Fo r t h e mainspring of religion is the sense o f
.

obligation tow ards what is regarded as ultimate l y real ;

and to deify a n unknown in finitesimal o r t o feel any ,

sense o f obligation towards ir is beyond man s power ,

’
.

Besides as a matter o f experience the thoroughgoing

, ,

materialist is always either an avowed atheist o r one who

conceals his atheism behind the conveniently vague name
of agnosticism He fi n ds o r tries to fi n d the motives
.
, ,

and sanctions and principles of conduct in his relations

to his fel l ow men ; but he has no commerce with the
-

idea of God As I have de fi n e d his position f o r him I

.
,

cannot do less than de fi n e my own I have taken the .

vali dity of the idea of God for granted and as the basic
assumption of idealism is one o f the constituent elements
of that idea I have obviously committed myself t o the
,

idealistic view of things .

In doing this I h ave but lifted into the light of con

s c io u s n e s s the subconscious faith of the average man
"

If I were disposed to argue on beha l f of my creed I would

appeal to this fact as an unanswera ble argument The .

materia l ism of the average man is on the surface o nl y .

In his subconscious depths he is a n incurable idealist .

The supernaturalism whic h has so long dominated his

 THE LIVI N G W HOLE 63

life is as we h ave seen his attempt t o s e t fort h idealistic

, , ,

prepossessions and longings in a materialistic notatio n .

As s upernaturalism is being discredited by the logic of

experience he must n o w make his choice between the
,

materialism of his consc ious thought and t h e idealism

of his heart of his subconscious v ision To formulate
,
.

t h is choice to present it to consciousness is t o solve the

, ,

corresponding problem Wh en man re a liz e : that he has

.

t o choose between materialism and idealism as philo

sophies of life he will surely choose the latter Men

,
.

believe what they do belie v e not what they think they

,

believe still less what t h ey s ay they believe The time

,
.

has come for man to do for himself wh at I have been '

trying to do for him H e m u s t b e c o m e aware of what

.

he does believe He must lift the idealism of his h eart

.

into the light of consciousness and adopt it as his creed .

Let u s return to the immanent God In t he do c t i in e .

of divine immanence the dynamic view of the Universe

triumphs o v er the static The transference of c 1 e at iv e
.

activity from Nature to a s u pernatural Deity h ad re duced

Nature to the level of a state (as O pposed to a process ) .

W ith t h e recall of God from his exile in the supernatural

world Nature becomes a perennial fountain of creative
,

activity— the fountain head being that inne rmost reality

-

—
which we may n o w call God and the being of Nature ,

becomes a life And becaus e the being o f Nature is a

.

life the world in which w e fi n d oursel v es the Universe

, ,

as w e call it is indeed a universe —u n ifi e d by the l ife

, ,

which is in it an all embracing organism a living whole

,
- -
, .

B ut is the Universe a living whole P Who ca n answer

this question " The unity of t h e Universe is as unde
m o n s t ra b le as is t he i n fi n it u de of t h e s oul of m an B ut if .
,
64 THE C OSMIC C OMMON WE ALTH

while rej ecting the idea o f t he supernatural we retain ,

the idea o f the O ne S upreme God we commit ours elves ,

to the assumption that the Universe is a living whole .

For God as t h e fountain head of life and energy mus t

,
—
,

needs be the fountain head of all life and all energy If

-
.

he were not he would be neither One nor S upreme for

, ,

he would be exposed t o the 1 iv alry of other Gods When .

proof (in the strict sense of the word t h e proof which ,

warrants o n e in s aying Thi s is s o is in the nature ,

of things impossible we must be content to approach

, ,

reality through the medium of o u r o w n ideas B ut the .

obligation which o u r o w n ideas lay upon u s m u st be

accepted To e v ade it is t o st u ltify the whole proces s
.

o f o u r t h ought .

From the idea o f universal life we p ass on t o that o f

universal growth Wherever there is life there is growth
.
,

o r the opposite of growth — decay ; and decay which is ,

the undoing of growth ends in death When the ,

.

organism is fi n it e its l ife has an u pward cur v e which we

,

call growth a turning point whi ch we ca l l maturity and

,
—
,

a downward curve which we ca l l decay B ut i f the organ .

m m 1 3 i n fi n i t e it s growth must be eternal

,
The tur ni ng .

point is never reached The upward curve is — o r at

.

—
least may be a nd sho ul d b e for ever .

We have hitherto thought of the Universe as the fi n

is he d product of a creative will We mus t now think of it .

as the apocalypse of a s e lf e v o lv in g life We must think

~
.

of it as being in process of development as growing to ,

wards an unattainable maturity B ut growt h is the .

realization o r attempted realization of an ideal The

, ,
.

type the ideal is in the seed ; and its e fi o rt to realize

, ,

itself is the e fficient principle of the growt h and ther e

 THE LIVI NG WH O LE 65

fore of the life of the organism In the case of plants .

and animals the pursuit of the i deal as an ideal a s , ,

that which is i n fi n i t e and unattainable as the arc h etype ,

rather than the realizab l e type is for the species not for , ,

the indi v idual The indivi dual arrives at m at u r1 ty

.
,

which is a partial realization of the ideal and then decays ,

and dies The species if it is not trampled down in the

.
,

general struggle for existence or starved and stunte d by

its e ffort to adapt itse l f to unfavourable conditions con ,

tin n es to e v o l ve it s latent potentia l ities and to move to ,

wards its a1 c he t yp al goal 1

The pursuit of the ideal by
.

the species is spoken of as evolution the pursuit of it by

the individua l as growth In t he case of the Universe
,
.
,

which is presumab l y in fi n it e and a l l embracing e v o lu -

,

tion and growth are one The self realization of the ideal
.
-

is an eternal process There is no turning point no

.
,

maturity no decay ,
.

S o at least it seems to u s w ho are in the midst of the

process For u s the ideal is indeed an i deal — u n at t ain
.

able unapproachable unima g inable and yet an e v er —

, ,

present rea l ity t he true li f e of the whole and the refore

,

of each o n e o f u s intimately o u r o w n nearer i ndeed t o

, ,

the heart of a man t h a n is his o w n self conscious self -

.

An d our name for the ideal is God .

If these things are s o if the equalizing element in

,

human nature which is the real basis of communal life

, ,

1
Whe n m an tak e s a s p e ci e s in han d an d ai d s its d e ve lo pme nt
with j u dici o u s b r e e di n g an d cu lture t he s lf—r e a li z ati o n o f it s
,
e

arche typ a l i d e a l m k e s rap i d pr o gr ss B ut t he mo ve me n t

a e .
,

tho ugh it may go o n fo r ve r has limits which it may n e ve r

e ,

o ve r as s
p I
. t i s n o m o r e an a d ve n ture i n t o t he in fi n it e than i s

t he arithm e tica l s e ri e s which may struggle o n fo r

e v e r b ut wi ll n e v e r uit e attai n t o 2
q .
 THE CO S MIC COMMON WE ALTH

is the presence in each o f u s of the ideal man ; and if

the ideal man is the individualization o f the immanent
—
God then it may be possible for the ideal community
,

to evolve itself on earth but only because — and so far

,

as — it wi l l have at the heart of it as i t s i8 or principle

,
’
ea

of development the ideal of a ll communiti e s the

, ,

King d om o f God .
 CHAPTER XI

TH E "I N G D O M OF G OD

OD, —
the self realizing ideal of the Universe works in ,

and through each of u s for purposes of his o w n It is .

open to u s to make those purposes o u r o w n Indeed it i s .

our destiny to do s o B ut it is also open to u s if not t o

.
,

defeat that destiny at l east to t h wart an d retard it

, .

When we say that the Univers e is in process of develop

ment w e imply that the work of creation is sti l l g oing
o u —
an d that since in no respect to grow is t o cease
,

to live — i t will g o on for ever We as conscio u s beings

.
, ,

are taking part in i t How shall w e best play our parts

.

And to begin with how are w e to think of the Uni v erse

, ,

We are assuming that it is a living whole To what .

further conception does t hi s assumption open the way "

There are I belie v e men of science who have per
, ,

s u a de d themselves that this little planet of ours is the

on l y world which s u pp orts l ife There is nothing t o be

.

s aid in defence of this theory except that the precise

physical conditions under which life evolves itself i n
this world are probab l y not repeated elsewhere To .

assume that life cannot evolve itself under a ny other

physical conditions is to carry geocentricity too far In .

the Kingdom of God there are surely many mansions ,

as many perhaps as t h e s ands o f t h e sea .

67
68 THE CO S MIC COMMONWEALTH

Geocentricity is a partic u lar species o f egoism So is .

that complacent acceptance of o u r own positive e x p e ri

e mees as authoritative and fi n al which is responsib l e f or
,

the assumption that the physica l plane of being is the

only plane and the kindred assumption that man s life
,
’

in the fle s h is his only life These are assumptions pure

.

and simple There is nothing that has been or can be

.

s aid in s upport of them which is n o t either mere asser

tion or a fl ag ran t begging of the question Their claim .

to control our whole outlook o n life t o clip the wings ,

of imagination to limit the range o f our speculative

,

enterprises may therefore be ignored

,
.

There is however no reason why we should not argue

, ,

from the act ualities of our life on earth to the possi

b ilit ie s of the cosmic life 0 1 rather there is every reason
.

why we should For every adventure into the unknown

.

a base of operations is needed If we are to investigate

.
,

speculatively and imaginatively the constitution of the

,

Universe we must make this planet of ours and our

,

experiences on it our base for the most audacious of all

enterprises Thi s is the right use to make of experience
. .

The wrong use is t o fall b ack upon i t as a defeated ,

general falls back upon his f o rt ifi e d base and shut o u r ,

selves up in it and refuse t o look beyond i t s wal l s .

The planet on which we l ive pulsates with life This .

is the fi rs t thi ng that we can say about it And where it .

does not pu l sate with life it is built up of energy The

, .

very prim o rdi a re ru m are dynamic not static The ,

.

”
bricks of the Universe which we once believed our
,

selves to have discovered have l ong since me l ted away

, .

What seems to u s to be dead inert matter is rea ll y a

storehouse of latent ener gy Explosive forces are locked
.
 THE KINGDOM OF GOD 69

up in it which like the explosives that are used in w ar

, ,

can either ferti l ize or desolate the world forces of suc h

—
,

tremendous potentia l ity that the release o f them (ii that

were possib l e) according to the w ay in which it w a s
,

done and the end that was in V iew woul d either trans ,

form earth into a garden of Eden or lay it in ruinous

heaps And physical energy is next of kin to physical
.

life the boundary line between the t w o being in fact

,

u n de fi n a b le And physical l ife has soul life at the heart

.
-

of it May it not b e then that the earth our microcosm

.
, , , ,

is a l iving organism the body of a mighty so u l and that

,

in this respect it is at once a symbol and a s amp l e of the

macrocosm which we have assumed to be the epiphany
,

of the indwel l ing spiri t of God " If we m u st leave this

question unanswered w e may at l eas t conj ecture that the
,

greater like the lesser cosmos is bui l t up of physical

, ,

ener g y and pulsates with life .

Let u s n o w turn to the a ctua l ities of life on earth I .

a m a conscious being and a m a ddressing myself to con

scious beings It is with conscious life then t h at I a m

.
, ,

main l y concerned I fi n d that with the dawn of con

.
,

s c i o u s n e s s life tends to become communal

,
The higher .

organisms come together and form communities for ,

purposes of mutual help and protection in such wise ,

that the communal or herd life becomes an integra l p art

of t h e l ife of each member of the community This is .

true of many beasts and birds not to speak of bees and

—

—
ants the c hi ef exceptions being the c a rn iv o r e: and
r a to re f
p ,
the destroyers of life on their o w n plane which ,

pair and rear families but otherwise lead solitary lives 1

.

1
The re are o f c o urse exce ptio ns to this su b rule F o r
, ,
-
.

examp le wo lves an d j ack als hunt in pack s

, .
7 0 THE CO S MI C COMMONWEALTH

And it is pre eminently true o f man Here where w e

-
.
,

rise to high levels of consciousness the social instinct is ,

irresistibly strong And the higher the l evel of con

.

s c io u s n e s s the more do communities mu l tip l y and the

, ,

more highly organized do they become the growing ,

complexity of a community manifesting itse l f of inner ,

necessity in the outgrowth of sub communities o f

,
-

v arious grades and sizes j ust as in a hig hly developed

,

organism the nervous system has many centres and sub

centres the more vital of whi ch are under the control
, ,

direct or indirect of the r u l ing centre the brain In

, ,
.

civilized countries each citizen belongs t o many com

m u n it ie s ra n ging in size from his own f amily t o his own
,

country besides be l onging s u b consciously to t w o com

,
-

m u n t ie s which are l arger than the largest of these

i —the ,

Human Commonwealth and the Cosmic Commonwealth ,

the Kingdom of Man and the Kingdom of God .

Then again each individual organism is also a com

munity an organized society of l iving beings a common
, ,

wealth My body for example is a commonwea l th of

.
, ,

living cells And so is e v ery p hysical organism Life is

. .

built up of life What is organized when an organism

.
,

is evolved is living matter not dead

, ,
.

With these facts before u s may we not think o f t h e,

Universe the all embracing organism as a social com

,
-
,

munity built up no doubt of many sub communities

,
-
,

each of which is a world in itself yet being in some sort ,

the fatherland of u s dwellers on earth in that as conscious ,

beings we are numbered among it s citizens and can play

o ur parts a ccordingl y if we wi l l but rise to the level of
,

our high calling and take up the burden of our in fi n it e

responsibility
 TH E KINGDOM o r G OD 7 1

Of all the communities t o which a man cons ciously

be l ongs the one which means most to him and with
,

which his life is most intimately connected is his country .

For to his country if it is wel l governe d he owes most of

, ,

the things that make life worth living security from

—
,

hostile action legal protection social order o p p o r

, , ,

t u n it i e s for self development a tradition whi ch he under

-
,

stands and loves Wh at is the relation between his

.

country and himself In the ideal community t h e

people are the S tate The so u l of the people is the real
.

ruling power It symbolizes itself in King or President

.

but it works t h rough the peop l e as a whole incarnating ,

itself as it were in each memb er of the community

, , ,

constraining him to identi f y himself with its aims and

plans its successes and fai l ures its j oys and sorrows it s
, , ,

—
hopes and fears to make all these his o w n to glow with
, ,

pride when it does we ll to blush with shame when it ,

does ill inspiring him to dedicate himself to its service ,

—
to live for i r if need b e to die for i t Wh en the life of .
, ,

the individual is dominated by the sense of oneness

with the life of the community when each citizen feels ,

that he owes a l l and t h at he cannot do less than give all

,
1
,

to his country then we have the ideal commonwea l th

, ,

and the problem which s ums up in itself all other social

and political problems has been solved .

May w e not conjecture that the Universe is organized

in some such fashion as this ; or rather that it is the
1 S u bj e ct , o f c o urse , t o t he pri o r c l aim s o f the "ing d o m o f
M an an d t he "ingd o m o f G o d H e l o ve s his c o untry b e st who.

r e g ar d s his fe llo w citi z e ns as his f e ll o w m e n an d he l o ve s his

- -

fe llo w m e n b e st who r e gar d s th e m as his b r e thr e n , as t he childr e n

-

o f hi s a ll l o vin g F at he r
-
.
7 2 THE CO S MI C COMMONWEALTH

archetyp a l commonwealth o f which the ideal S tate

, ,

when — i f —
ever it is realized o n earth wi ll prove to be
,

a copy " May w e not conj ecture that the sou l of it ,

incarnating itse l f in each member of the community

f rom the highest to the lowest is its ru l er in the true
, ,

—
sense of the word no irresponsible a utocrat directing
,

its a ff airs from without but a fountain of love and wis dom
,

a nd power control l ing its corporate life and gui ding its
evolution f rom within " An d may we not identi f y this
sou l of the Uni v erse — this presiding genius of the
,

” “
Cosmic Commonwealth this symbol of its organic
,
” ”
unity this source and goa l of a l l its vital energies
, ,
”1
th1 s central p l exus of a l l i t s e ff erent an d a ff erent nerves
,

— with the Al l F ather with the Immanent God "

,

These are extracts fro m a passage in The S e cre t o f t he

1

C ro s s i n whic h I fi rs t o ut li n e d t he i dea o f t he C o smic

”
,

C o mmo nwe a lth .

 CHAPTER XI I

EA C H F OR A LL

OW can the citizen of the Cosmic Commonwealth

best serve the community " H o w di d the wor
shipper of the autocrat of the Universe hear him
se l f towards the k ing of kings and his a l l embracing
.
-

k ingdom " For the l atter he cared little or nothin g .

The a ffairs of the Universe were no concern of his H e .

may have been ta u ght to love his fellowmen B ut he .

w as also taught that all w ho were not of his faith were

outside the pale of s a l vation the enemies of God and
—
,

therefore (ii he and his teachers were true to the logic

of intolerance) his o w n hereditary enemies Even in his
.

o w n re l igious community he did not learn the lesson of

comradeship of disinterested dev otion to the common

,

weal To his Ch u rch he owed ( as he believed) the means

.

of grace and s a l vation What did he gi v e it in return "

.

It w as on l y through membership of it a n d through

obedience to its directions that he could hope to b e saved .

Therefore he believed whatever it told him to believe ,

and did (if the world the fl esh and the de v il were not
, ,

too strong for him ) whatever it told him to do Further .

than t h is his loyalty did not go The Church w as

.

di v inely commissioned and was therefore in safe hands .

Its salvation w as fully pro v ided f o r He could thus

.
74 TH E CO S MI C COMM O NWEALTH

concentrate all his energi e s o n provi ding f o r his o w n .

To secure for himself — whatever might happen to othe rs

— the boon of salvation to be plucked as a brand from the
,

burning w as his fi rs t and last concern

, .

It was as a courtier then with a l l the vices of the

, ,

cou rtier not as a patriot that h e approached the throne

, ,

of God What f orm did his service take " God had
.

given him rules for the conduct o f his life Whether .

these were ela borated into a Code or interpreted to him

by his Church mattered little What did matter w as
, .

—
that they should be obeyed o beyed because he had
b een commanded to obey them and because obedience ,

would be rewarded a nd disobedience punished ever

lastingly not because they appealed to his conscience and
,

his heart H e w as to honour his father and his mother not

.
,

because he loved them but because he was comman ded

,

to honour them and because he woul d be rewarded for

,

doing s o He was to a bstain from adultery not o u t of

.
,

regard for his neighbour and his neighbour s wife but ’

,

o ut of regard for the S eventh Commandment and for

the penalty attached to the breach of it And s o o u . .

Under this scheme of life obedience to the letter of

God s la w took the place of devotion to the spirit ;
’

regard for material considerations o f devotion to a spiritual

,

ideal regard for one s o w n individual salvation of devo

’
,

tion to the common wea l The truth is that patriotism

.
,

t h e di sinterested surrender of self to the community ,

presupposes free dom The worshipper of the Divine

.

Autocrat w as a co urtier because he w as also and —

—
primarily a slave .

I n the Cosmic Commonwealth there is n o place for

the courtier The fi rs t and last lesson w hich t h e citizen
.
 EA CH FOR ALL 75

has to learn is t h at of u n s e lfi s h devotio n and t h e u lti

mate obj ect of his devotion is the Commonwealth itself ,

the I n fi n it e Whole He will indeed have to go throug h

.

a long apprenticeship before he will be able to prove hi s

loyalty to the widest of all communities Yet in each .

stage in his apprenticeship that s eemingly impossible

loyalty W1 1 1 though he may not know it sustain and guide
, ,

him .

H e will begin by doing his duty to his neighbour his ,

fellow citizen the fellow member of this or that com

-
,
-

munity He will do his duty to him not because he has

.
,

been commanded to do s o not because the path of his ,

duty has been a ccurate l y pres crib ed for him not because ,

he hopes to be rewarded for walking in it or fears to be

punished for straying from it but because the sentiment ,

of comra des hip of fe l lowship of loyalty to the com

, ,

munity as a whole and therefore to eac h o f i t s members is ,

both a constraining force and a gui di ng light .

In doing his duty t o his neighbour he will be learning

to surrender self S elf is his great enemy S e lfi s hn e s s the
. .
,

vice which is behind all other vices is essentially anti ,

social It tends to isolate a man from his kind But what

. .

do w e mean by self " As t h e being of man admits of

i n fi n it e development we cannot say what self really is
,
.

The true the i de al s e lf has yet to declare it s elf The self

,
i .

which makes u s s e lfi s h is the a ctual self claiming t o be

ideal and therefore seeking to arrest the growth of the
so u l To subdue that self and keep on subduing it is at
.

once to serve the community and to s ave one s o w n ’

soul alive .

Our citizen has broken for good and all with legalism
, , ,

the morality of mec h anical obedience t h e morality o f ,

7 6 THE CO S MIC COMMONWEALTH

slaves B ut he is n o antinomian H e will c h eerfully

. .

yield t o the pressure of tradition code and custom , , ,

except so far a s in doing s o he is dis l oyal to a higher law

, ,
.

Nor is he a mere sentimentalist in mora l s a creature of ,

mood and whim and impulse H e realizes for example .

, ,

that to give alms to the fi rs t beggar you meet is an anti

social act His neighbour is his comrade because for one
.
,

thing he is a member of the s ame community ; and his

,

attitude towards his neighbour will be control l ed if not ,

determined by regard for the well being of the com

,
-

munity as a whole .

Duty to one s neighbour as a fellow member of a

’
,
-

community and duty to the community a s such may

,

almost be said to coincide The same may be s aid of

.

the spirit of comradeship and t h e spirit of loyalty to the

common weal The citizen o f the Cosmic Common
.

wealth w h o has learnt the lesson of communal devotion

wi l l have gone far along the path to his ideal goa l The .

well being of this or that community is not however

-
, ,

an end in itself If it were the loyalty of a robber to

.
,

his gang would be worthy of a l l praise Communal .

devotion may be s e lfi s h to the core A m an should be .

ready to live and die for his country B ut he should also .

be ready on occasion to absolve himse l f from obedience

, ,

to it s orders and in no case sho ul d he a l low regard for

,

its interests to determine his outlook on life and his

standard of right and wrong It is the assumption that .

the claim of the S tate on the devotion of the citizen is

a bsolute and fi n al which has demoralized Germany and
brought about her downfall A man must serve his .

neighbour not on l y because he is his fellow citizen but

,
-
,

also because he is his fellow man ; and he must s erve his -

 EA CH F OR ALL 77

country not only be cause it i s b i; country but also

, ,
.

because to serve it is the best w ay as far as he ca u see , ,

in which he can serve his kind .

Does his duty end with service to his kind 3 Not if he

believes in the Universal God The ass umption that the .

li f e on earth is the only life and that the physical plane

is the only sphere of man s a ctivity is as we have seen
’
, ,

assumption and nothing more The positive evidence .

for there being other lives and other spheres of life is

accumul ating fast B ut there is other evidence ; and
.

f or some of u s this other evidence intangible and i m ,

ponderable though it b e wi l l more than s u ffi c e The

,
.

ca ll of the I n fi n it e is ever ri n gin g t hro u gh the soul The

stars of midnight have their mess age for i t The .

Eternities and Immensities c l aim it as their o w n Man .

feels in his heart of hearts that he has laid hold upon

, ,

the pillars of the Universe and that nothing can destroy

him but the downfall of the whole cosmic temple — in ,

other words that if he is unreal there is no such thing as

,

reality And when as sometimes happens the spirit of

.
, ,

man grows younger as his body grows older the sense ,

of his o w n indestructibility overwhelms him and he ,

laughs the sophistries of sense bound reason to scorn -

.

To look beyond death is to widen i n de fi n it e ly the sphere

of civic duty If a man is to serve his neighbour not
.
,

on l y because he is his fellow—citizen but also because he

i s hi s fel l ow man he must g o on to serve him not only
-
, ,

because he is his fel l ow man but also because he is his

-
,

brother in a deeper and more intimate sense of the word

, ,

because both are sons of the All Father the Universal -

,

God and therefore members through that mystic

, ,

kinship o f the One all embracing State

,
-
.
7 8 THE C OSMI C COMMON W EALTH

How is a man t o prove his loyalty to the Cosmic

Commonwealth " He has some idea as t o how he can
best serve his neighbour his country and his kind B ut
, ,
.

he has no idea how he can best ser v e the Universe He .

c annot foresee what part will be allotted to him when he

h as played his part on earth No r can he see how the.

part that he is playing on earth contributes to the wel

fare of the I n fi n it e Whole There is however one .
, ,

thing which he can do while he is waiting and wondering .

H e c a n try to fi t b im re lf f o r s e rv i c e How " By develop

.

ing himself to the uttermost By transforming se l f in .

every possible direction Above all by learning and never

.
, ,

ceasing to learn the great lesson of u n s e lfi s h devotion

,
.

By learning everywhere and at al l times to live for the

, ,

universal rather than for the individual self The s upreme .

choice the choice between the Universe and self has

, ,

been with hi m from the very beginning has been present , ,

unknown to him in every decision that he has ever made

,
.

Consciously to surrender se l f to t h e Universe wi l l be the

last stage in his spiritual development and it is a stage
which wi ll last for ever Unconsciously he has been
.
,

learning to make that great surrender from the fi rs t day

on which he subdued sel f —will .

When he has made his choice between the Universe

and self when he has responded to the ca l l of the I n fi n i t e
,

and the I deal the greatest o f all a dventures w i ll await

,

him Where shall he look for guidance in that adventure "

.

To the Inward Light To the Holy S pirit To the

. .

Immanent God The soul o f the Universe the so u l of

.
,

the Cosmic Commonwealth will teach him ho w best t o

,

fi t himself for its service .

 CHAPTER XI I I

A LL F O R E ACH

“
HE motto of the ideal commonwealth is eac h for
”
al l and a l l for each . In the Cosmic Common
wealth the citizen owes e v erything to the community ,

an d the good citizen does his best to p ay his debt What .

is this debt wh ich can never be paid in full What does

the largest of all communities do for each of its c 1 t 1 z e n s
It doe s many things for him B ut it does o n e thing which
.

includes a l l other things it brings sanity perfect health , ,

the health of growth of everlasting youth withi n his

, ,

r e ach This is the best thing that it can do for him

. .

—
It is also since perfect health qu alifi e s for perfect
service — the best t hi ng that it can do for itself .

What is the secret of sanity " I have j ust i de n t ifi e d

sanity wit h perfect health This is the fi n al meaning of
.

the word Let u s begin with its initial meaning We

. .

mean by sanity normal hea l th If w e would know what

1
.

constitutes norma l ity we must study departures from

the norm The more fl agran t t he departu re from the
.

norm the more deeply wi ll it initiate u s into the mysteries

of normality In the case of the human psych e when
.
,

departures from the norm are fl agran t and persistent ,

1
I n t he l ast r e so rt the i n itia l an d t he fi n al me aning s co inci d e
Se e p 86
. .
80 THE CO S MI C COMMONWEALTH

we arrive at last at insanity Wh at then is t h e secret of

.
, ,

insanity " The question is one for psychology The .

l atest word in psychology is psycho—analysis ; and as it

happens it is to a systematic study of the phenomena
,

of insanity that psycho analysis owes it s origin and the

-

genera l course of its development S o let u s turn t o the .

psycho analyst for instruction and guidance

-
.

Insanity takes many forms O ne of the commonest .

of these and from the point of V i e w of psychology the

, ,

most s ig n ifi c an t is what is known as dissociation of

,
”
consciousness We are told that a vast number of
.
“

a bnormal phenomena ranging from ha l lucination and

delusion to complicated phantasy production
”1
are to be regarded a s examples of dissociation What .

do we mean by dissociation of consciousness We mean

that the mind has lost that homogeneity which is the
ideal of the normal persona l ity and has become disi m
t e g r at e d into more or less independent portions each ,

pursuing its own course and deve l opment without refer

”
ence to the we l fare o f the who l e An d this disintegra
.

tion invariably owes its existence to the presence of a

c o n fl ic t . By a c o n fl i c t is meant an internal c o n fl ic t a ,

civil w ar in the kingdom o f the mind The parties to .

this internal c o n fl ic t are o n the one hand the personality

,

a s a whole on the other hand what is known to psych

,

ology as a c o mple x .

What is a comp l ex " O ne authority de hu es it as a

system of connected ideas with a strong emotional tone
”
and a tendency to produce action of a de fi n it e character .

1
All t h p a s s ag e s qu o t e d in this chapt e r with o n e s p e c ifi e d
e ,
”
e xc e ti o n
p ar
,
t kee n fr o m
a T he P s yc ho l o gy o f I nsanity b y ,

D r B e rnar d Hart
. .
 ALL F O R EA CH 81

Another authority tells u s that when a mass of i deas

and emotions col l ect round a nucleus in the mind a
system is formed which wi ll react in a particu l ar way to
”
incoming stimu l i and that this system is ca ll ed a
,
”1
complex .

A complex is not a thing to be ashamed o f If w e ha d .

not each of u s many complexes w e should be less than

, , ,

human ; or rather we should fall below the level of

,

organic life A comp l ex is nothing more nor less than a

.

sub centre of the soul s life analogous (within limits ) to

-
’
,

a nerve centre in the body or to a centre of local govern

-
,

ment in a w ell organized state A hobby as psycho

-
.
,

ana l ysts remind u s is a particular variety of complex

, .

S o is each of the many sub se l ves which each of u s i s -

aware of in himself the domesti c se l f ; the social self

—
,

t he professional self the commercial self the artistic

, ,

sel f the re l igious self and so o n If a man is deeply

, , .

interested in a subj ect of study a c o n e s p o n din g complex ,

is formed in his mind If he takes up a cause with energy

.

and enthusiasm such as the emancipation of woman

, ,

social reform educatio nal reform the remedying of a n

, ,

evil or an inj ustice a mass of ideas and emotions wi ll

,

collect round this centre of interes t and a complex wi l l ,

be f ormed Difi e re n t men take up di fferent hobbies

.
,

di fferent subj ects of study and di ff erent causes and the , ,

corresponding complexes are therefore not strict l y

analogous to the nerve—centres of the body which are ,

common to all men This di fferentiation is due to the

.

fact that the constitution of the so ul is far more com

p l icated and much farther removed from fi n alit y than
that of the body and that consciousness extends indef
1
D re am Psycho lo gy b y D r M aurice Nic o l"
”
, . .
82 THE CO S MI C C OMMO N WE ALTH

i n it e ly the
environment of the race whereas circumstances ,

rigorously limit the environment of the individua l the ,

res ult being that no t wo individuals have exactly the same

environment or the s ame opportunities for the formation
of complexes B ut however great may be the diversity
.

of complexes however much they may vary from man

,

to man the fact remains t h at they are sub centres of the

,
-

so ul s life
’
.

How then does a complex cause insanity By drawing

, ,

to itself more than it s share of the man s thoughts and ’

emotions and so impairing the inward harmony of his

soul More especial l y is thi s the case when the complex
.

has a morbid origin when it has no right to be a sub

,

centre as f o r example when a man broods over a wrong

, , ,

which has bee n done to him or feels remorse for a crime

whi ch he has committed The loss of inward harmony
1
.

need not amount to insanity There are f e w men whose .

inward harmony is even approximate l y perfect Hyper .

trophy of a comp l ex is a very common phenomenon .

A man may easily ride a harmless hobby to death His .

devotion to a worthy cause may amount to fanaticism .

H e may overdo a good habit (such as economy) till it

becomes a ba d habit (such as stinginess ) H e may b e .

come a monom aniac a man of one idea of one absorbing

, ,

interest of one c ankering grievance And yet he may

,
.

be far removed from the insanity which necessitates

C o mp l e x e s
may p e rhaps b e c las s ifi e d as e n e n tz a l der m ble
' '

1 z
, ,

u s e u l b a rm le rr an d m b i d A m o r b i d c o m l e x i f n o t d u ly
f , ,
or .
p ,

c o n tr o lle d may e a s i ly b e c o m e m li gn a n t Bu the r e is n o

,
a .
"

c o m p le x which wi ll n o t i f hyp e rtr o phi e d b e yo n d m e asure

, ,

b e c o m e fi rs t mo r b i d an d the n mali g n ant an d the r e fo re a me n ace

,

t o t he sa n ity o f t he s o u l .
 ALL FOR EA CH 83

co n fi n em en t and restraint He is h owever o n the road .

, ,

to that g oal ; and if he does not keep himself in hand

he may possibly arrive at i t When hypertrophy of a .

complex is carried so far that what ought to be (at most )

a mere sub centre of a man s life becomes wh e ther
-
’
,

permanently or t e mporarily tb s centre o r in its attempt , , ,

to become the centre disintegrates the man s personality

,
’
,

then we have insanity in the strict sense o f the word , .

In other words when a complex becomes a centre of

,

r ebel l ious and therefore disruptive te n dency when it ,

provokes a civil w ar whi ch will l e ad to its divi ding with

the ruling self the kingdom of the man s life and m ay ’
,

even in extreme cases end in it s forcibly usurping the

, ,

throne then its victim is said t o be insane and for his

, ,

o w n sake as well as for the sake of h

,
is neighbours he has ,

to be interned .

According to psycho—analysts the c o n fl ic t whic h p ro ,

duces insanity is as a rule one between pri mi tive

, ,
”1 ”
instinct and herd instinct I doubt if the problem .

of con dict is q u ite so simple as t h is The soul is a complex .

of many complexes and the civil w ar whic h sometimes

a filic t s it may be expecte d to have many causes and t ake

many f o 1 m s It is not easy to s ay where primitive

.

instinct ends and herd instinct begins And it is possible .

to exaggerate the importance o f the part that herd

i ns ti n ct plays in man s life We are told t h at from it’
.

( herd instinct ) the tendencies generally ascribed to tradi

”
tion and education derive most of their power It .

wo ul d I t hink be equally correct to say that from tradi

, ,

1
D r Fr ud
. e fo un d r o f psycho analysis re s o lves all
,
t he e -
,

primitive i n sti n ct into s e x i n stinct b ut fe w o f his fo ll o we rs go

s o f ar as this .
84 THE C OS MIC C O MM O NWEALTH

tion and education the tendencies sometimes ascribed to

herd insti nct derive much of their power In any case it
‘

is well to remember that in our complicated modern

society each of u s belon g s to many herds There is the .

f amily herd for example the clan herd the class herd
, , , ,

the pro f essional herd the religious herd the politica l

, ,

herd the national herd the human herd And any one
, ,
.

o f these if its claims are undul y insistent may give rise

, ,

to a complex which will upset the balance of one s life ’

.

O n the whole then it is safer to say in g eneral terms

, , , ,

that the normal cause of insanity is a c o n fl ic t between a

us u rping self—assertive sub—self and the sel f which ought
,

to rule Even the enthusiasm of humanity if the e n

.
,

t hu s i as t brings too much self into it — ii for example , ,

he insists o n reforming the world in his own particular

way— may become a rebe l l ious and dissociative complex ,

and may even in the last resort give rise to actual insanity .

8 0 may devotion to God if it is al l owed to de g enerate ,

into religious fanaticism or into undue concern f or one s ’

o w n salvation S e lfi s hn e s s in the sense of absorption in a

.
,

narrow and ever narrowing self is of the essence of

-
,

insanity The rebellious complex if we may for the

.
,

moment personify i r thinks on l y of itself and subordinates

,

to its own ima g ined interests the we ll being of the who l e -

personality And this inward s e lfi s hn e s s this claim o f the

.
,

subordinate part to dominate the whole o f the man s ’

l i f e has its counterpart in outward s e lfi s hn e s s in ca l lous

, ,

indi ff erence to the c l aims and interests of others and to

the demands of social life The patients in an asylum
.

have l ost the gregarious instincts of the normal m an ,

and the sanctions of tra ditional conduct have no longer

a ny s ign ifi c an c e for them In the milder cases this shows
.
 ALL F OR EA CH 85
"

itself as a loss o f interest in the a ff airs o f their fellows a ,

tendency to be solitary and unsociable an atrophy of ,

their a fi e c t io n s for friends and re l ations and an i n difi e r

,

ence to the ordinary conventions of society In the .

advanced cases the change is much more marked and ,

the mind is comp l etely withdrawn from participation in

the life of the herd The code of conduct imposed by
.

convention and tradition no longer regulates the p atient s ’

behaviour and he becomes sloven l y fi lt hy degraded and

, ,

shame l ess .

When the con flict between the rebellious complex or

sub sel f and the self which ought to rule ends in act ual
-

insanity what has happened " The ruling self has not
,

been strong enough to enforce its authority This is .

the answer which common sense and psycho analysis

- -

unite in giving Psycho ana l ysis sets forth the answer

.
-

in its o w n peculiar notation In cases of insanity homo

.

g e n e it
y ( W hich is the idea l of normal personality
has disappeared because the mind contains elements
which are incompatible with each other and dissociation,

has arisen as a means of avoiding the storm and stress

which the warring of these mutually hostile elements
”
woul d otherwise inevitably produce . Is not this e qu iv a
lent to s aying that the r ul ing self has so far yielded to the
pressure of the rebellious sub self as t o consent to divide
-

the kingdom with it j ust as in history we sometimes read

,

of a monarch w ho ended a rebe l lion by allowing the rebel

leader either to share the central authority with him or
to become ruler of p art of his realm The monarch w ho
.

cou l d do this w as a weak ruler w ho had never been fi rm ly

seated on the throne and the ruling self whi ch allows a
rebellious sub self t o usurp its authority either in part
-
, ,
86 THE C OS MI C C O MMONWEALTH
as in cases o f dissociation o r as sometimes happens in
, , ,

full proves it s incapacity by its failure to put down the

,

rebellion against it s lawful rule .

The antidote t o civil strife in a community is twofold

t o remove legitimate grievances and to strengthen the
-

ce n tral authority S hould it not be the same in the soul

.

S hould n o t our aim be t o relax the pressure of tradition

and convention o n primitive instinct o r o n any other
natural instinct s o far as that pressure is injurious and
,

provocative and at the same time t o streng t hen the

,

authority o f the ruling self Psycho—analysts seem to be

more concerned with relaxing pressure than with strength
e n in g authority . S ome o f them indeed go perilously
, ,

near t o s uggesting that the only way t o prevent insanity

is t o make concessions t o pri m i tive instinct 1
Yet unless .

the central authority is concurrently strengthened the ,

policy o f indulging primitive instinct by relaxing the

pressure t o w hich traditions and codes have s ubj ected it ,

can lead to nothing but general demoralization .

The truth is that when we are dealing with problems

o f insanity we are t o o ready t o assume that what is n o t

actually o r approximately insane is s ane and that if ,

dissociation o f personality can be avoided all is well ,

.

I doubt if we shall ever really master the psychol o gy of

insa nity until w e have materially widened the scope
o f the idea of sanity ; until we have risen t o the c o n
c e t io n of perfect or idea l as distinguished from normal
p , ,

sanity o r rather until we have realized that in the world

o f life and growth the ideal is the norm Between actual
.

insanity and perfect sanity between disintegration of

,

”
1
S e e in particu lar The Ps ycholo gy o f I nsanity b y D r ,
.

B ernar d Hart pp 1 7 1 1 72
, .
, .
 ALL F OR EA CH 87

personality and perfect homogeneity o r inward harmony ,

there are many intervening stages which partake in vary

ing degrees of disharmony o f want of sanity If w e
,
.

could fi n d a remedy for all these short comings w e shoul d

have made the best possible provision against the out
break of insanity whi ch is the natural goal of ment al
,

a nd spiritual disharmony— a goal which the latter may

never reach but towards which it necess arily tends
,
.

The problem of securing sanity covers and far over l aps

the problem of preventing ( and curing) insanity ; and
it is to the former problem that the psychologist should
give h is closest attention and his deepest thought .

I have s aid that for the cure of the civil strife which
—
we call insanity t w o things are needed the redress of
grievances by the removal of inj urious pressure and the ,

strengthening of the central authority The two .

remedies are really o n e To redress grievances is t o

.

strengthen the central authority What causes the .

growth of a morbid complex is as a rule either ille git i , ,

m ate pressure or legitimate pres sure carried t o o far

,
.

In the latter ca se which is the more common the

, ,

source of the pressure is undue regard for tradition and

convention the authority of whi ch is a ccepted as full
,

and fi n al instead of a s partial an d provisional In other .

words the source of the pressure is the weakness of the

,

ruling self which led astray by the desire for fi n alit y

, , ,

leans exclusively on tra dition an d convention instea d of ,

trying to walk in part at least by its own inward light

, ,
.

And the eff ect of the pressure which it exerts is t o

increase its o w n weakness For repression when carried
.
,

t o o far starves and stunts natural tendency wit h the

, ,

result that if the pressure is evenly distributed g rowth is ,

88 THE CO S MIC COMMONWEALTH

arrested and if it is unevenly distributed certain ten

, ,

de n c i e s only being selected for repression growth b e ,

comes inharmonious and one sided and ba l ance and -

,

symmetry are l ost B ut whatever tends to arres t o r

.

distort the growth of the soul must needs weaken the

central authority for the ruling self i s the whole per
,

s o n alit
y
,
j ust as in a well ordered commonwealth -
the
whole community acting through a hi erarc hy of nerve
,

centres is the S tate

,
.

I f then the relaxation o f injurious pressure is to be

, ,

accompanied by the strengthening of the central a u

t ho rit y o u r aim must b e not s o much t o cure this o r that
, ,

morbid complex as to secure the well being of the whole

,
-

personality by fostering mental and spiritual gro wth .

I t is when an organism is making vigorous growth that ,

t he inward harmony o f it s various vital parts is most

n early perfect ; for then all the parts are functioning
ith one end i n View that of furt hering the growth of
,

'
he whole orga n ism and as they draw to themselves a l l
the rising sap of the organism s life there is no Opp o r ’
,

tu i t for morbid sub —c e ntres t o es tablish themselves

n
y
at the expens e of the health and harmony of the com
munity It is to the organism as a who l e t ha t the variou s
.

parts o w e a ll egiance B ut what is t he organism " The

.

process of growth alone can answer t his question What .

the organism will be when it s process of growth (if h ealthy

and unimpeded ) is complete that it rea l ly is Th e refore ,
.

the parts owe a llegiance to the organism not a s it is at ,

the passing moment but as it wi ll be wh e n it has reach d

,
e

i t s maturity .In ot her words they are sustained and ,

animated and kept in harmony with o n e another by de

v o t io n to a common ideal .
 ALL F OR EA CH 89

It is the s ame with the human soul B ut there is a .

di fference between the growth of the soul and t he growth

of any physica l organism The organism do e s ar 1 ive at .

mat u rity I t has its moment of consummation B ut

. .

the growth of the soul goes o n or sho ul d g o o n for ever , ,

.

The potentialities of the soul are limitless and the pro ,

cess of realizing them is a veritable a dventure into the

i n fi n it e If w e would attain to s anity the s anity of
.
,

spiritual health we must pursue that a dventure to its

,

limitless limit We must always and at all costs resist the

.
, ,

lure of fi n alit y Devotion to an unatt ainable ideal.

alone can keep u s sane If w e forswear the service of the .

idea l and try to content ourselves with fi n it e ends the

, ,

worst type of dissociatio n dissociation of the actual from ,

the ideal self may be our doom ,

.

Let u s take the case of a man who is neit h er a criminal

nor a lunatic but who leads a sordid s e lfi s h s e If in
, , ,
-

—
du lg e n t immoral life an u n faithful husband an unkind
, ,

father a churlish neighbour a grasping and exacting

, ,

creditor a s hifty and evasive debtor unsymp at h etic

, , ,

uncharitable recognizing no ob l igation which is not

,

legally de fi n e d taking no interest whatever in the deeper

,

issues of life S uch a man is s ane enough as the lunacy

.
,

laws measure s anity B ut he is not s ane in the deeper .

,

sense of t he word H e has not attained to spiritual .

health What is wrong with him 3 No civil s trife mars

.

the harmony of hi s mean narrow i l l spent life His

—
, ,
.

being such as it is is a l l of a piece B ut his very harmony

, ,
.

is disharmony His very sanity is ins anity H e has n o

. .

more att ained t o wholeness than has a stunted diseased , ,

misshapen tree It is true that there is n o rebellious

.
,

dissociative complex t o upset his inward balance Yet .

90 THE C O S MI C COMMONWEALTH

that balance has been completely and as it s eems irre , ,

t ri e v a b ly upset For his whole persona l ity or what

.
,

passes as s uch has degenerated into a rebe ll ious dissocia

, ,

tive complex ; and what it is in rebellion against what ,

i t is dissociating itself from is his own real or ideal se l f

,
.

Or let u s take the case of the miser a fami l iar fi g u re ,

in the annals of the h u man race Here we have a typica l .

example not of a personality degenerating into a morbid

,

comp l ex s o much as of a morbid comp l ex overrunning

the entire held of consciousness and becoming appar ,

ently the whole man

,
The mis er is a monomaniac a
.
,

man of one ignoble but all a bsorbing interest Yet he -

.

seldom qu alifi e s for the madhouse The explanation of .

t his is that owing t o the completeness o f the victory won

,

by the complex over the persona l ity the former is able ,

to annex and use for it s own purposes a ll the psychica l

machinery of the latter including its power of reacting
,

t o a social environment .
—
In other words the sub se l f ,

has compelled the man the ruling self t o identi f y him

, ,

self with it and devote himself t o it s service Hence his .

app arent sanity Yet in the deeper sense of the word

.
, ,

he is insane and insane in the highest degree For in

,
.
,

the a ct of a bsorbing into itself the whole of his normal

personality the miser in him has dissociated itself and
, ,

therefore dissociated him from his real or i deal self ,

.

It has seated itself a lawless usurper on the throne of

, ,

his spirit ; and its reign though order l y t o outward ,

view is real l y a prolonged riot o f insanity For s anity is

,
.

h e alth ; and health comes with vigorous and successful

growth But the triumph of a rebe llious complex means
.

t h at all the forces which make f o r the growth o f the soul

are diverted into o n e narrow channel with the result ,
 ALL FOR EA CH 9 1

that the progress o f growth — which is nothing if not

—
harmonious and many sided is forcibly arrested and
-
,

degenerative ins anity takes its place

These are extreme cases Yet something akin to this
.

is happening to each of u s when an d so far as w e succumb

to the l ure o f fi n alit y and give up that adventure into
,

the in fi n it e which is of the essence of spiritual growth .

S elf integration which is the true antidote to insanity

-
, ,

in every sense of that word is to be achieved only by ,

realizing the limitless possibilities that are wrapped up

in the human embryo by gro w m g 1 nto oneness with
,

t h at soul of all things whic h is the true self of each of

us. The goal is unattainable Yet to p ause in the pur .

s uit of it is t o bring disharmony or the menace of dis ,

harmony into one s life The i n fi n it e i n man is the

,
’
.

l awful ruler of all his p arts and powers and passions ;

and it is rebellion against that ruler it is dissociation of ,

personality to a ccept any actual self as the true man

,
.

The secret of s anity then is devotion to the in fi n it e

, ,

—
and the ideal Dissociatio n disintegrati on of person
.

—
ality makes for ins anity If w e would be s ane we must
.
,

—
take the opposite path the path o f self integration the
, ,

path which leads to wholeness of spirit to inward ,

harmony I f inward harmony is to be achieved the

.
,

whole persona l ity must assert its s upremacy over each

of the subordinate centres and so prevent the hyper
,

trophy of any of these as well as the outgro w th of morbid

,

s ub centres wh ich cannot establish themselves as long

-
,

as the legitimate s ub centres are energizing vigorously

-

under the direction and in the service of the whole .

We can n o w see that in t h e Cosmic Commonwealth

the community renders o n e service t o each o f its mem
9 2 THE CO S MI C COM MO N WEALTH

bers — a service s o great that an eternity o f devotion could

not repay it By being in fi n it e by making demands o n
.
,

u s which we can never meet it makes it possible for u s ,

t o enj oy the ra di ant health of never ending growth -

.

The p atriot lives and is ready to die for his country

, , ,

because he has ide n t ifi e d himself with i t because he has ,

—
made not its interests only but also in some sort its —
,

very spirit his own ; in other words because he owes ,

to it an immense expansion of his own being As it is .

in a human commonwealth s o it is in the Cosmic The .

loyal citizen o f the Universe lives for his country loses ,

himself in service t o i t because in doing s o he widens

, ,

and never ceases t o widen the scope of his o w n life The

,
.

master aim of his being though he may not know it is

, ,

to fi n d his true self by growing into oneness with the

soul of a l l things with the S pirit of G o d This aim will
,
.

take him beyond a l l hori zons known and unknown , ,

imagined and unimagined imaginable and unimaginable ,

.

He may pursue it through an i n fi n it y of lives and in an

i n fi n it y of worlds but it will sti l l l u re hi m o u S o long .

a s he pursues i t so long as his quest is i t s o w n reward so

, ,

long as his soul continues to grow the subordinate centres ,

of his being will f ul fi l their several functions in obedience

to the will of the self evolving self revealing whole and
-
,
-
,

therefore in perfect harmony with o n e another This is .

s anity in the fullest sense of the word the sanity of

, ,

organic wholeness the sanity of immortal youth And

,
.

i t is because the freedom of the Universe has been

conferred upon him that it is open t o hi m to enj oy
,

that greatest of all blessings and t o enj oy it — if he will ,

f o r ever .
 CHAPTER XIV

TH E A N TI D OT E TO A NA R C HY

N the Cosmic Commonwealt h the relation between

what each does for the All and what the All does for
each is one of more than mere reciprocity The two .

services may almost be said to coincide What the .

community does for the citizen is to a llow him t o share

in its in fi n it u de and in doing this to make it possible for
,

him to outgrow himself unceasingly and therefore to

renew his youth for ever an d ever And what the loyal .

citizen does for the community is to lose himself in its

service and by ever renewing his youth through self
, ,

loss and se l f transcendence to fi t himself for furt h er

-
,

and ever higher service .

I n a human community loyal serv ice on the part of

the citizen has too often been rewarded by ingratitude
on the part o f the S t ate In the Cosmic Commonwealth
.

thi s cannot happen There the service and the reward

.
,

the reward and the s ervice are one The boon of ,

.

u
p
-
surging life of radiant
,
health of immortal youth ,
of ,

spiritual j oy is at the call of each of u s It is for u s to

,
.

claim it And the Giver asks for nothing more than that
.

w e should c l aim i t We c annot better prove our loyalty

.

and our love To claim the reward of loyal service is to

.

render a yet high er service than that w hich earned it

93
94 THE CO SMIC COMMONWEALTH

Fo r the Kingdom o f Heaven is o u r heritage ; but we

must m ake good our title by enforcing i t We must .

take the Kingdom by force We must prove that we are

.

citizens o f the Universe by making the Universal Wi l l

our own And in order to do this for paradox leads on
.
-

to paradox — w e must surrende r our o w n wil l s whol l y ,

a nd wit h out reserve ; we must lose self — and lose it

—
irretrievably in the All .

The relation between t h e citizen and the community

in the Cosmic Commonwealth is the arc h etypal relation ,

the perfect example of what s uch relations ought t o b e .

That is why I s ay that the transformation o f re l igion

must in some sort p 1 e c e de and control the transforma
tion of o u r social and political life It is in the service
.

of the greater commonwealth that we shall learn ho w

best to serve the lesser Until we can realize (in the
.

f u llest and most intimate sense of t h e word) that the

soul of all things is the true self and the true life of eac h
o f us ,
we shall not be able to master the lesson of dis
i nterested devotion ; and until we have mastered that
lesson our political ventures will all founder or be in ,

danger of foundering on the rock of re lf

,

The old order of t hings which was based almos t

,

openly o n self assertion ambition and greed is passing

-
, , ,

away but it is leaving a fatal heritage behind it Men .

still think tha t property position and power are the

, ,

good things o f life and that the secret o f happiness is to

acquire these good things and retain them B ut it is not .

the possessions of a man that matter but the f ul ness ,

and wideness of his life It is n o t wh at he is reported

.

to be t hat matters but what he is in himself and what h e

,

is tending t o become An d until t h e instinct t o live

.
,
 THE A N TIDOTE TO ANA R CH Y 95

to re n ew life t o expand life t o transform life has tri

, , ,

umphed over the instinct to grasp and hold and bul k

l arg e in purblind eyes the foundations of democracy
,

will have been laid in vain Collective s e lfi s hn e s s may

.

indeed take the place of individual s e lfi s hn e s s It has .

already begun to do s o Trade unionism for example

.
, ,

is stronger and be tter organized than it has ever been .

B ut what use is it making of it s strength " I s it not

trying to hold the whole community up to ransom "
Trade union after trade union is claiming the right t o
dislocate t h e life of the community in order to enforce
it s o wn demands 1
This is a policy of brigandage o r
.
, ,

at best of blackmail and it is of course the very negation

,

of democracy The truth is that collective s e lfi s hn e s s i s

.

only individual s e lfi s hn e s s writ large and that whatever ,

organization social or economic may be dominated by

, ,

the former will always ha v e the latter as a principle of ,

disintegr ation at the heart of i t

,
.

We have reached a grave crisis in the life of mankind .

O ur vaunted civilization is on trial ; and we are faced

wit h the possibility of a relapse into something worse
than barbarism With the downfa l l of absolutism
.
,

wh ether autocratic or o l igarchic and the consequent ,

dissolution of government in Eastern and Central ,

Europe ; with the widespread dis l ocatio n of existing

con ditions and upheaval of hi dden forces which the w a r
1
I n ma n y case s t he strik e s an d thre ats t o stri ke have b e e n
s e cti o nal lo ca l u n i o ns an d su b uni o ns havi n g s e t t he autho rity
,
-

o f t he ir o w n c e n tra l o r g a n i z ati o n s at de fi an c e Un s e lfi s hn e s s
.

i s a lways a b o n d o f uni o n A s e lfi s h aim o r a s e lfi s h p o licy m ay

.

ho ld m e n t o g e the r f o r a time b ut s o o n e r o r l at e r it Wi ll ma k e
,

f o r disint e g rati o n an d inwar d stri fe .

9 6 THE CO S MIC COMM O NWEALTH

has produced and whi ch

have gener ated a deep seated
,
-

feeling o f unrest and expectation with the difi u s io n o f

social chaos and economi c misery ( another result o f the
w ar) over a large part of the civi lized world) — there has
come a general re l axation of social ties and restraints a ,

general weakening of the authority of tradition and cus

tom and a general u p surging of primitive instinct and
,
-

passion The consequence is that o u r fami l iar ideals

.

and standards a nd s anctions are going into the melting

o t and that w e are threaten e d with political socia l and
p , , ,

even moral anarchy Never has the need for the con
.

trol ling and inspiring i n fl u e n c e of religion been greater

than it is t o day and never since the Christi an Era
-
,

began have the existing religions been less able to meet

,

that need The reason of t his is that s upernaturalism

.
,

centring as it does in the worship of an omnipotent

autocrat w ho s u rrounds himself with sycophant and s

courtiers and tending as it does to foster individualism

,

and egoism which it has even encouraged u s to dedicate

,

to the service of God has been the mainstay of the old

,

order of things and is n o w sharing in its downfa l l and

discredit .

For s o desperate a situation heroic measures are needed .

No mere tinkering with old forms old creeds and old ,

institutions will s u ffi c e A new wine turbid as yet but

.
,

surely predestined to clarify is fermenting in our hearts ,

and the o l d bottles cannot cont ain it B ut if we are to .

have n e w forms of thought and new s chemes of life we ,

must have n e w i dea l s to vitalize and orga n ize them ;

and if we are to have new ideals w e must remou l d our
conception of God For se l f is to day what it has ever
.
-
,

been our great enemy — the enemy of each and the enemy
,
 THE ANTIDOTE TO ANA R CH Y 97

o f all — the negation o f sympathy of comradeship of , ,

love the centre and mainspri n g of resist ance to the ex

,

a n s io n of li f e whether in the individual or the race

p , ;
and self is for the moment uncaged and unfette red and ,

freer than it has ever been to work its evil will A .

spiritual ideal alone can subdue it and if the spiritua l

ideal is to be e ffective it must be the outcome of a n e w
vision o f reality i n other words o f a n e w conception
,

of God .

I have convinced myself and tried to convince my ,

readers that the conception of God for whi c h we are

,

waiting is an inward a n d spiritual conception t h e c o n —

c e t io n o f God as t h e S oul of the Univer s e as dwelling
“

p ,

in the h eart o f Nature and t h e heart of Man This .

conception provides for t h e subdual and t h rough t h e ,

subdual for the transformation of self and is therefore , ,

an e ff ective antidote t o the anarchy wi t h w hi c h human

society is threatened For if God is at t h e heart o f man
.
,

he mus t be the true self of eac h of u s an d if we can live ,

to t h at true self which we s h are with all e t her men

, ,

and die to every s elf which s evers u s from it and from

them we s h all fi n d in oneness with it the reality o f self
,

hood of life of health of wealth of happiness C hrist

, , , ,
.

taught a s this lesson long ago ; but though we ha ve

learnt the lesson by rote w e have never fat h omed its
depths of meaning .

Let u s begin to do s o Let u s try to j oi n Christ in his

.

s e lfl e s s love of the All Fa t her in h is s e lfl e s s devotion t o

-
,

the all embracing commu n ity whic h he called t h e

-

Ki n gdom of God .

Then and not ti ll the n shall we begin to learn what

, ,

life means and what it ha s 1 n store for u s A n d in the .

H
9 8 THE C OSMIC COMMONWEALTH

light of that knowledge the great e t hi social problems

co -

which have s o long perplexed u s and which are now

,

pressing for restatement and retreatment will begin to

,

work thems elves o u t to t h eir ideal solution .

 CHAPTER XV

T H E H UM A N C O M M O N WE A L T H

N EW day i s dawning o n the world I t s s u n is

.

rising through wild storm clouds but it may yet ,

c l imb to a cloudles s noon Never since history began

.
, ,

have men been s o expectant o f change o r s o eager f o r

change as they are t o day Most o f u s feel sure that a
-
.

new social order is about t o be built up out o f t h e

wreckage of the o ld O thers go further and believe
.

that a n e w World race will arise o u t o f that mingling o f

-

all races w h ic h is going o n in America Others again .

, ,

wait for the a dvent of a n e w Prophet with their faces ,

turned towards India the land in w hic h men fi rs t realized

,

the unity of the U n iverse and t h eir o w n oneness with

the O ne Soul and the One Life .

To prophesy whi le a revolution is in progress is notori

o u sl rash B ut it is rasher still t o deride all prop h ecy
y . .

Men who idealize t h e actual and are in bondage to the

“
past think that by using the phrase A league o f dreamers
they have laugh e d the proj ect of a League o f Nations
out of court B ut t h ose w ho are in bondage t o the past
.

cannot interpret the past or apply it s lessons And o n e .

o f t h e fi rs t lessons w h i ch the records o f t h e past have t o

teac h u s is t h at t h e world s dreamers are also it s makers
’

an d its me n d e rs . In any case o n e n ee d n o t be a prophet

,

99
1 00 THE C OSMI C C OMMO N WEALTH

or even a dreamer in order t o feel assured t h at if i n o u r

inte rna tional relations c o operation does not t ake the
-

place of competition and sympathy and good wil l the

,
-

place o f envy and jealousy the world wil l have been ,

devastated and desolated to n o purpose and rivers of

blood will have fl o w e d in vain .

Those wh o aim at establis hing a League o f Nations

wish f o r o n e t hing t o police t h e world and s o abolish
, ,

w ar . Th ere are many reasons wh y this s h o u ld be done

but there is o n e w hich is urgent as well as strong In his .

mastery o f the secrets and command o f the forces o f

material nat ure man has in recent years gone far ahead
of h is o w n moral and s o c i al development To —day he .

has at his service means o f de s t i u c t io n whic h greatly

exceed in scope and power even the mightiest weapons
o f ten years ago And it is said that he is o n the verge
.
-

o f discovering yet deadlier secrets secrets s o deadly -

that only the pure in heart can s afely be entrusted with

them The ato mi c bombs o f M r H G Wells
.
“ ”
. . .
’

prophetic vision may yet be invented and it may yet be ,

possible for a single aeroplane to fly in a few hours t o a

great city hundreds o r even t h ousands o f miles away and
, ,

lay it in r u ins Wit h such weapons at man s command

.
’
,

—
the next war if waged n a large s cale and it is probable
o,

t h at in t h e next war there will be no neutrals — wo ul d b e

o n e o f racial suicide Civili zation would be e ntirely
.

o ve 1 wh e lm e d ; human life woul d be permanently de

b ased and impoveris h ed and we might even come
wit hin measurable distance of the des truction of the
h uman race The mere possibility of s o stupendous a
.

c atastrophe is s urely an unanswerable argume n t for the

e arly abolition o f war .
 THE H UM AN COMMO N WE ALTH 1 01

At the heart o f the dream o f a League o f N atio n s

there is anot h er dream o f whic h as yet w e are scarcely
,

conscious the dream o f constituting the Human o r Pan

,

human Commonwealth S o far I have s aid muc h a bout

.

the Cosmic Commonwealth and little a bo ut the Human .

The reason is t h at unless the foundations o f the Hum a n

Commonwealt h are cemented wit h devotion t o the Cosmi c ,

they will n o t endure t h e structure may last f o r a while ,

but when the rain descends and t h e fl o o ds arise and the ,

winds blow it wi ll fall and great will be the fall o f it

, .

If we would keep a river free from pollution w e mus t

purify it at its fountain head If it is s o p u rifi e d such
.
,

i n fl u x e s o f pollution as may invade it lower down will

be overwhelmed by t h e des cend ing stream and swept
away But if it is impure at its source it will be
.

foul and t u rbid everywhere and t o t h e V ery end .

I have said that devotio n t o an unattain able ideal

alone can keep u s sane This is as true o f the
.

community as it is o f the citizen as true o f H u ,

ma n ity as it is o f eac h individual man Our inter .

course with the ideal may be large ly if n o t wh olly , ,

subconscious B ut the ideal must be there and w e

.
,

must some h ow o r other be in touch with it .

If o u r aim in constituting the Human Common

,

wealth were t o provide men with materi al comforts

,

and improve t h e conditions under wh ich they lived

if i t amounted t o t his and n o more than this t h e unity ,

and inward harmony of the commonwealth would

gradually be lost For di ff erent peoples woul d form
.

di ff erent conceptions bot h o f wh at constituted material

,

comfort and o f wh at w as due t o them from those

w ho contro l led and administered the resources o f the
1 02 THE CO S MIC COMMONWEALTH

world ; and in trying t o secure wh at they desired they

would begin to quarrel among themselves and would at
last lose sight in their quarre l s of the end to which they
, ,

all owed devotion and service — the well being of the -

Pa n h uman S t ate
-
.

And once this process o f disintegration h ad begun it

would g o far The community which appeals to the
.

collective s e lfi s hn e s s o f it s citizens ca lls into being dis

ruptive forces which it may be unable t o control I .

have s aid that co llective s e lfi s hn e s s is only individual

s e lfi s hn e s s writ large It is this ; but it is a lso worse
.

than this One knows from experience that men w ho

.

are u n s e lfi s h in private life and who as individuals are

,

ready t o s ac rifi c e themselves freely t o their country o r t o

some great cause are apt t o become s e lfi s h when they
,

herd together a nd begin t o work f o r common ends .

Fo r this there are t w o reaso n s The fi rs t is that the .

sense of comrades hip o f mutua l obligation o f working

, ,

with others for a common end blinds a man t o the fact ,

that if that end is a s e lfi s h o n e he is really working f o r ,

his o w n interes ts In the late war individ u al citizens

.

vied wit h o n e anot h er in patriotic devotion and self

s ac rifi c e but wh en t h ey came together in communities
o f various kinds — political parties trade unions federa , ,

tions o f employers joint stock compani es and the like

,
-
,

- they were apt t o think more o f the welfare of their

respective communities than of the s afety o f their
country even in the supreme crisis of her life Could
,
.

anything for example be stronger than the contrast

, ,

be tween t h e h eroism and self devotion of the miners who -

—
fought in their hundreds o f thousands f o r their —

c ountry ,
a n d t h e reckless s e lfi s hn e ss o f t he s ectional
 THE H U M AN C O MM O NWEALTH

s trikes o f mi n ers whic h again and again restricted the o u t

put o f coal when the Nation s need of it both for itself
’
,

and for i t s Allies w as most urgent " S o far indeed are

, , ,

men from realizing the essential immorality of co l lective

s e lfi s hn ess
,
t h at they a ccept it as inevitable if they do
not actually count it a virtue The economic aspect of
.

socia l problems is apt to overshadow the ethica l ; and

men who wo ul d appea l to h igh motives if they were
a ddressing themselve s to individuals will come down t o
an altogether lower level when they are dealing with
communities o r classes . The most disquieting feature ,
” “
s ays a writer in the S pectator i n what is loosely
,

ca l led the democratic a dvent is that no one I care not ,

who ever speaks to the w o rki n g c las s e s ( as such) in the

,
'

name of honour or duty or u n s e lfi s hn e s s or appeals to ,

”
a ny thing but se l f interest
-
.

Th e second reason w hy men are apt to be more s e lfi s h

collectively than individually is that the s e lfi s hn e s s of a
community tends to react upon the characters of its
members and infect them with its o w n poison In pre .

war Germany for example the S tate which was on

, , ,

pr i nciple self centred aggressive rapacious and i n dif

-
, , ,

f e re n t to the claims of Humanity infected the citizens

,

with its o wn s e lfi s hn e s s and went far towards m at e ri aliz

ing their aims and demoralizing their lives And it w as .

Germany the most s e lfi s h of all nations which set the

, ,

world on fi re Let her fate be o u r warning If peace

. .

is to prevail on earth each nation in turn must aim not

, ,

only at aggrandizing itself an d enriching its people but ,

also and above all at playing a worthy part in the

Human Commonwealt h both by working f o r t he estab
,

lis hm e n t of international law and order and by training,

1 04 TH E COSMI C COMMO NW EALTH

its people f o r citizens hip in t h e greatest o f all earthly

communi ties .

But if this aim is to be e fi e c t iv e the Human Common ,

wealth in it s turn must aim at something beyond itself

, , .

Wh at is true o f the lesser c o m m u n it y is true o f the greater .

Unless devotion t o a community o r a cause has devotion

to a yet greater community o r a yet greater cause at the
hea 1 t of it it s o w n tenure of life wi ll at best be precarious
,
.

The Human Commonwealth mus t aim at developing the

material resources o f the world with a view t o di ff using ,

material well being among men B ut it m u st also aim

-
.

at educating it s citizens in the true sense of the former ,

word at developing t o the uttermost their hi gher powers

,

and cap acities at fi t t in g them t o play t h eir parts as

,

citizens o f t h e Universe at dedicating them t o the service

,

of God And the latter aim must come fi rs t n o t

.
,

second .

If w e are t o be happy we must learn the lesson o f

complete self loss for if we allow ourselves t o be domin
-
,

ated by self life will sooner o r later become a burde n

,

and a curse The passion of personal love can teach u s

.

this lesson ; but t he passion of personal love is both

incalculabl e and transient The wind bloweth where it .

listeth and t h e greater its violence the shorter it s

d u r ation Wh ere then shall we learn the greatest o f all
.
, ,

lessons Wh ere but in the service o f the All 3 We know

,

from experience that however far w e may travel along

the p ath of self loss and self transcendence self still
- -
,

confronts u s We cannot get away from it The very

. .

word self loss s avours o f paradox What shall we do

-
.
,

then t o be s aved We m u st enrol ours elves as members

,

o f the o n e community in which a man becomes self

 TH E H U MAN C OMMON W EALTH

less o f in n er n ecessity in the very act o f living t o self

, , ,

i n Whi ch self as w e try t o realize it recedes for ever and

, ,

ever into the Infinite and the Divine We must become

.

citiz ens o f t h e Cosmic Commonwealth of the Kingdom

,

o f God .
 C HAPT E R XVI

E D UCAT I O N F OR COSM IC S E RV I CE

E
must dedicate ourselves t o the service o f the
Cosmic Commonwealth And n o t ourselves
.

only We must also dedicate o u r children 0 1 rather

. .

w e must make it possible f o r them t o follow the bent

of their real nature and dedicate t h emselves If the .

grown u p man fi n ds it hard t o enter the Ki ngdom o f

-

God the reason is that he was not allowed t o enter it

,

while he w as still a child .

Devotion t o t h e Cosmic Commonwealth is o f in ner

necessity disinterested If there is any taint o f self
.

i nterest in o u r service we may be sure that we are n o t

,

rendering it t o the in fi n it e Wh ole We cannot serve .

God and Mammon S ti ll less can we serve God and self

. .

Absolutely disinterested service is an ideal which we can

never hope t o realize In ot h er wor ds it is a true ideal
.
, ,

an en d w hich we must never cease to pursue It is in .

order t o learn the lesson of disinterested devotion that

we are living o u r lives o n earth ; and we cannot be gin
t o learn the l esson at t o o tender an ag e .

The world is sick of a grave ma l ady and it is n o w ,

passing through a dangerous crisis The symptoms have .

already been des cribed They amount t o this that the

.
,

o ld ideals are worn o u t that the o ld restraints have lost

,

1 06
 EDUCATION FOR CO S MIC S ERVICE 1 07

their power that a fl ood o f s e lfi s h desires and lawless

,

passions has been let loose and that w e are nearer t o

moral anarchy than w e have been for many centuries .

For so desperate a disorder there is but o n e remedy — a

n e w ideal or hierarchy of i deals a radical c h ange in the
,

inner man Apart from such a change our attempts at

.
,

reform are so much patc h work and our s chemes o f ,

reconstruction are t h e i dlest o f dreams W e may .

alleviate symptoms We cannot cure the diseas e B ut

. .

t o make s uc h a change — the change of being born

” —
again when o n e has reached adult l ife is a task o f ,

almost superhuman diffi c ul t y Conversion. the -

sudden transformation of the inner man — is a very rare

phenomenon It presupposes an exceptional combina
.

tion of circumstances It is n o t always a healthy move

.

ment It is sometimes hysterical o r otherwise morbid

. .

The n e w life doe s n o t always endure the violent change ,

being sometimes followed by an equally violent reaction .

If a change in the inner man i s to be permanent and c if e c

tive it must be evolutionary rather than revolutionary
, ,

the outcome o f a secret process o f growth rather than

o f a sudden reversal o f the current of one s being In ’
.

other words it must as a rule be begun in the nursery

, , ,

and carried o n through childhoo d and adolescence into

a dult life .

The cult o f the transcendent G o d has been the evil

genius o f education in Christendom The p arent and t h e .

schoolmaster have played the part o f t he God whom

they worshipped in the little worlds whi ch t h ey r ul ed
,
.

An d t hey have reproduced in the life o f the c hild and ,

t herefore o f t h e man all the evils which the tyranny o f the

,

om nipote n t autocrat h as wrough t in t h e life o f ma n ki n d .

1 08 TH E C OSMI C C OMMO N WE ALTH

They h ave applied the c hild —

applied that is t o t h e
to , ,

growing man at the time when his growth ought t o

,

have been most vigorous when the s ap o f his life w as ,

—
rising most strongly a steady and relentless pressure
wh ich has had behind it a heavy weight of ignorance ,
”
prej udice and will t o power
,
The result of t his .

pressure has been in p art t o arrest in part t o warp his

, ,

growth ; and as growth if healthy and harmonious i s, ,

the most emancipative o f all forces as it concentrates ,

in itself all emancipative forces the further res ult o f the ,

pressure of dogmatic education has been t o imprison the

child in hi mse lf And as the child animated by the in
.
,

s t in c t t o live has passively resisted this dea dly pressure the

, ,

autocratic contro l lers o f his de s t in yihav e tried t o overcome

his resistance by alternating rewards with punishments ,

bribes with threats In doing t his they h ave lowered the

.

w h ole plane o f his e ff ort and activity and de ideali zed -

his whole outlook o n life And when bribes and threats

.

have failed them they have gone further along t h e path

,

o f compulsory demoralization They have forced the .

c hild t o compete with his classmates f o r prizes a n d other

marks o f distinction and have thus tempted him t o
,

regard his comrades as rivals and possible enemies t o ,

pride himself o n his pet t y ac hievements t o look do w n ,

o n those whom he may have happe n ed t o surpass In .

other words they have deliberately exploited his s e lfi s h

,

ness his ambition and his vanity T h ey have done mo re

, ,
.

tha n this They have made him dependent on them

.

selves f o r instruction and guidance and have thus ,

paralysed his faith i n himself They have weakened his .

will partly by trying t o break it partly by giving him

, ,

n o opportu n ity f o r the exercise o f self discipline a n d self

”

-
 EDU CATIO N F OR C OSMI C SERVI C E 1 09

control They h ave made him blind o r at least dim o f

.
,

vision by assuming that he could not see They have

,
.

sterilized his intellectua l his artistic and his con s tructive

, ,

capacity by wilf ul l y narrowing the fi e ld o f hi s deve l op

ment and when his tastes and powers have died of
inanition they have taken for granted that they never
,

existed that he was by nature as stupid and he l pless as

,

he w as vicious an d p erverse Above all they have ta ught

.
,

h1 m to look without instead of within for his ideals his ,

motives his standards of value his tests of reality his

, , ,

proofs of failur e or succes s And as the crowning inj ury

.
, ,

they have tried to make him religious not by helping ,

him to discern and fo llow the light wh ic h lightet h all

men but by requiring him to take part in ceremonial
,

O bservances which have no meaning for hi m and by ,

forcibly dieting him on their o w n scriptures and

creeds .

T h e whole scheme of his education seems t o h ave been

framed for the express purpose of turning him o u t into
the world with f e w o r n o interests whi ch can take him
away from himself t h e victim of arrested o r at best of
,

—
one sided mental and spiritual developme n t imprisoned ,

i n a narrow and conventional mora l ity dominated by ,

the prej udices of his o w n soci al class absorbed in s e lfi s h ,

aims and ambitions destit ute of any sense of human

,

fellowship a materialist an individualist an externalist

, , , ,

asking from life too much of comfort and pleasure t o o ,

little of that deeper happiness whic h is at his service if

he will but claim i r There are many lessons whic h his
.

pastors and masters have omitted t o teach him B ut .

there is o n e w hic h t h ey seem t o h ave deliberately pre

—
ve n ted him from lear ni n g t h e lesson o f disinterested
 THE COSMIC C OMMO NWEALTH
devotion o f self realizatio n t h roug h self forgetf ul n ess
,
- -
,

o f losing the world that he may fi n d h is soul .

Yet he was ready t o learn that les son before they took
him in hand The pioneers in education who have based
.

their schemes o n trust in the n atural goodness and the

all round capacity o f the average child have proved thi s
-
,

t o t h e full. T h ere are s c h ools in t his co u n t ry whi ch are

—
i deal social communities s chools in w hich t h e ch ildren ,

released from needless press u re allowed t o expr e ss t h em

,

selves freely in many ways allowed t o develop themselves

,

in many directions h ave found in the j o y o f unim

, ,
”
e de d energy the sense o f oneness w ith t h eir fello w s
p ,

through partnership in a common life sc h ools in which

material rewards and punishments are unknown in w hic h ,

honest effort is its o w n reward i n whic h the success o f ,

each is a matter o f rejoicing f o r all in whic h the spirit ,

of comrades hip has killed the spirit o f competition ,

in which the whole atmosphere is electrical with life and

happiness and good will At present such schools may
-
.

be counted o n one s fi n ge rs but if t h e basis o f education

’

co u ld be changed they would multiply and as they ,

multiplied there woul d be a correspo n ding change in

the basis o f our social life .

The cult o f the transcendent G o d i n volving as it does ,

profoun d distrust of human nature is I rep e at the evil , , ,

genius of education Let u s n o w base education o n the

.

c u lt of the immanent God and o n the inexhaustible ,

trust in human nature which is at t h e heart of that cult .

It is not for me t o suggest ho w this is to be done The .

immanent God f u lfi ls himself in many ways

“
and in
the sphere of education if in n o other exclusive devotion
, ,
” ”
t o any custom however
,
good will soo n er o r ,
 EDUCATIO N FOR COSMIC SERVI C E 1 1 1

”
later corrupt the world . The ort h odox type o f
education has been a failure not only because its aims
,

and ideals have been at fault but also because of its

,

blind belief in stereotyped methods whic h it has forced ,

on the teacher as well as on the child In this it has .

been true to it s o w n master principle for if t h e immanent ,

Go d f u lfils himself in many ways the transcendent God,

reveals himself in only one Let the new education be

.

equally true t o it s master pri n ciple t h e princi ple which is

,

in h ere n t in its faith in divine imma nence At present .

t h e n e w education is a heresy Let it take care t h at i t

.

never degenerates into orthodoxy Let it give freedom .

and responsibility in generous measure t o the teacher ,

and through the teac h er t o t h e child Its c o n fi de n c e .

will n o t be misplaced What m atters it if each o f a

.

thousan d pioneers in education t akes a pat h of his o w n 1

If they are all animated by reverence for the indwelling
S pirit o f God a n d therefore for t h e unfolding nature o f
,

the c hild they will all arrive in the fulness o f time at

, , ,

t h e s ame goal
.

Fo r they will h ave taugh t t h eir pupils o r rat h er they ,

will have h elped t h em t o learn for themselves t h e great ,

lesson of disinterested devotion the great lesson o f ,

—
loyalty to the commu ni ty to an ever widening com -

—
munity in and through loyalty t o on e s o w n higher self ’
.

When t his lesson has been widely learnt and practised ,

the reform of o u r social life will become something more

than a politician s promise or an enthusiast s dream It
’ ’
.

is through i t s a ction o n the c hild even more tha n ,

through its action o n the a d u lt that the cult o f the auto

,

c r at of the Universe has corrupted man s n ature a n d

’

de mora lized his life The a d ult is Wh at h is u pbri n gin g

.
1 1 2 THE COSMIC C OMMONWEALTH

has made him and it is n 0t easy f o r him t o become any

thing else B ut the child may become anything The
. .

Kingdom of Heaven is as open to him as is the prison of

self We have hitherto gone out of our way to drive
.

him into the prison o f self Let u s now help him t o

.

enrol himself as a citizen o f the Kingdom Then in t h e

.
,

next generation w e shall perhaps have a better and a

,

happier world .
 CHAPTER XVI I

P O SS I B I L I TI E S

ET us take the wings o f imagination and pass

ne w
beyond the c o n fi n e s of this world and t his life .

The triump h of t h e dynamic over the static conception

of life and des tiny will revolutionize o u r es chatology .

O fficial Christianity teaches u s that after death comes

J udgment and after
, Judgment either Heaven ( w ith o r

without its anteroom Purgatory) o r Hell Of late years

,
.

t h e belief has grown up that men wi ll be j udged and

sentenced directly they die The more orthodox view .

is I believe that t h e dea d will have t o wait (whether

, ,

awake or asleep I cannot s ay) till the Last Day dawns

o n earth when they will be clot h ed again in their eart h
,
ly
bo dies an d appear before t h e j udgment seat o f Christ .

B eyond the grave there is neither progress nor deteriora

tion except indeed so far as the former is provided for
, , ,

in the Roman Cat h olic doctrine of P u rgatory B ut this .

exception does n o t affect the general principle that the

destiny o f t h e departing s pirit is fi x e d at the moment
o f death The duration o f Purgatory is limited and may
.

be materially shortened by the due performance of pur

chased m asses When it is over the s av e d will enter into
.

a state o f perfect h appines s a n d will remain in that state

for ever For the lost t h ere is n o equivalent of Purgatory
.
,

1 1 1 3
1 1 4 THE CO S MI C COMMONWEALTH

no place f o r repentance o r amendment o f life Wh en .

their doom is prono u nced they will p ass at once into a

state of hopeless misery which like the counter state of
,
-

bles se dness will endure for ever

,
.

Such is the es chatology whi ch has s at is fi e d the wor

s hippers of the transcendent G o d It res ts on the.

hollowest o f all foundations on the literal interpretation

,

— and therefore the radi cal misinterpretation — o f a

Master s words The Gospe l story o f the Last Judgment
’
.

is not a prophetic narrative not a mine of theological

,

information but a parable whi ch was obviously spoken

, ,

for no other purpose than that of glorifyin g u n s e lfi s h

l ove The defects o f the orthodox es chatology —it s
.
,

i n fi n it e inj u stice ; its separation o f the two worlds or

s tates by a great gulf into which the reality of each u m

c e as in gly drains away ; i t s debasement of the supreme

motives to action i t s tendency to paralyze spiritual
e ffort by the very vastness of the stakes for which it
compels u s to play ; its re du c tio a d a bm rdu m in the easy
going be l ief now widely prevalent that all men will
, ,

be saved in the sense of going t o Heaven when they

,

—
die these defects and others which fall into l ine with
, ,

these are too glaringly obvious t o need exposition

, .

For those who worship the immanent God the vision

o f the after life differs widely from t h
-
is As we live by .

the grace o f Nature so we shall continue t o live by it

,
.

If we are to realize our limitless potentiali ties if we are ,

t o exhaust the resources of our cos mi c environment we ,

s hall have to p ass through many worlds and many planes

o f being we shall have to live an i n fi n it y of lives

,
Life .

is education ; and education is life Here on earth we .

are probably in the nursery school o f a vast educational

 P O S SIB ILITIE S 1 1 5

system Death may possibly transfer u s t o a higher

.

s chool o r af least to a higher class In any case w e shall

, .

have to pass on f rom class to class and from school to

school And while w e are continuing our education t w o
.
,

—
proces ses will be carried on in our souls t w o processes
whic h are rea l ly one — the awakening of con s ciousness
in the h idden depths of our being and the transcendence ,

of self The immanent God is at the heart of each of u s

. .

In his life w e live In hi s i n fi n it u de we are in fi n it e In

. .

his eternity we are eternal B ut he is a hidden God

.

hi s light is for u s a great darkness The dawn of con .

s c io u s n e s s in our so u ls has admitted u s to citizenship of

the Cosmic Commonwealth To awaken consciousness .

in deeper and still deeper strat a of our subconscious

being is the task that awaits u s in this an d in all future
lives It is an arduous task and one which wi l l never be
.

completed The chief resistance to be beaten down

.

—
comes from self s elf which would fain hn d rest in
fi n alit y the a ctual se l f claiming to be i deal
,
Therefore .
,

what is from one point of view the continuous awakening

o f consciousness is from another point o f view the con
,

t i n u o u s transcendence of self The nearer we get as

.
,

we awake consciousness in our subconscious depths to ,

that central core of darkness whi ch is the I n fi n it e Light ,

the nearer we shall get t o the real self .

The life o f self illumination and self transcendence will

- -

be a life o f service and prep aration for further service .

The afi airs of the Cosmic Commonwealth are a dm in is

t e re d we may well believe by a h
,
i erarchy of great i n
,

t e llige n c e s To dream of being admitted into a lowly

.

grade o f that august hierarchy is a worthy ambiti o n ,

whic h opens up i n fi n it e vistas t o aspiration and love .

r1 6 THE C OSMIC COMMON WEALTH

There is n o reason why w e should not entertain the

dream B ut w e must not at present look beyond i t
. .

And what o f God and the worship of God " Is the

immanent God a s ubstantial reality " Or is he mere l y
an idea and a name " I have already given my answer
t o this question 1
F ar from being a mere idea o r a con
.

v e n ie n t name the immanent God is the innermost core

,

of reality In an ideal community the soul o f the people

.
,

symbolizing itself in King o r President and working its

will through a n organized system o f administrative
nerve centres is the true the only lawful r u ler In l ike
-
, ,
.

manner the true ruler o f the Cosmic Commonwealth is

the S oul of the Universe and o u r name for the S oul o f
,

the Universe is G o d .

Does this conception o f God content u s i 0 1 do we

crave f o r a more intimate experience o f t h e Divine for ,

an experience which will partake in some degree o f vision "

Ch rist has told u s that the pure in heart shall see G o d .

He spoke we may well be l ieve from his own sublimely

, ,

mystical experience In any case he pointed out t o u s a

.

path which cannot lead u s astray If we would see God .

we must pu rify the heart ti ll the las t dregs of self have

been strained away from it till self has been wh olly,

transcended wholly lost and wh olly found

,
This .

u rifi c at io n of the heart this infinite transcendence of

p ,

self will be accompanied by an in fi n it e inward illumina

,

tion by the awakening of consciousness in the inmost

,

depths of our being Then we shall be o n the threshold

.

of the Holy of Holies ; the curtain that veils the Real

Presence will become strangely luminous and the Be at ifi c ,

Vision will perhaps be something more than a dream .

1
S ee Chapter IX .
 PO S SIB ILITIE S 1 1 7

But I am looking far into a time transcending fut u re

-
.

How shall w e wors hi p Go d while w e are still o n earth "

The essence of worship is the dedication of the heart
to God The temple of God is everywhere The w o rt hi
. .

e s t off ering that w e can lay o n t h e altar i s se r v ice And .

the medium of communion wit h God is selfless love .

B ut the externals o f worship will always count for m u c h ;

and it is possible t h at cosmi c emotion will give a s in due ,

season nobler temples tha n any t h at w e have yet built

,

o r planned o r dreamed o f a mig h tier sacred music a n d a

, ,

more glorious plastic and pictorial art The temples .

,

feeding the higher emotions with their o w n maj estic

beauty as well as with the beauty of music and art would
, ,

be mostly used for p rivate meditation and prayer B ut .

public services too woul d be held in them when a ritual , ,

divorced from dogma and priestcraft and stately in its ,

very simplicity would help t o unite men in a common

,

aspiration or a common j oy .

And what o f prayer " We h a v e ha d ducking and

”
deprecating enough . We have t o o long mistaken
servility for adoration In prayer wh en we pray aright
.
, ,

the waters of life are seeking their own level B ut can I .

pray t o the immanent God wit h any h 0 pe o f my prayer

being heard A poet has well said that
Praye r is the sou l s sinc e re d e sire
’
,
”
Utt e re d or unexpress e d .

If the desire o f the soul is towards God life will be an ,

—
unending and self answering prayer And if this or tha t
.

desire o f the soul should be so strong and so urgent as

to compel o n e t o kneel in prayer and o ff er up petitions to
the Most High may not o n e believe t h at if the petitions
,
1 1 8 THE CO S MI C COMMO NWEALTH

are disinterested if they are dictated by u n s e lfi s h love

, ,

they wi l l be caught like wireless messages on a sym

, ,
“ ”
p athetic receiver and dealt with according to the
wisdom of the august recipient
These are possibi l ities What is certain is that love of
.

the All Father is the beginning and end of worship and

-
,

that desire to serve him and his chi l dren is the beginning
and e n d of prayer Here we are on safe ground ; and
.

we can remain on i t if we wi l l for ever We have seen

, ,
.

that devotion t o a commun ity must have devotion to a

larger community at the heart of i t if it is to be p u rifi e d ,

from any lingering taint of s e lfi s hn e s s and if its tenure ,

of life is thus t o be made sec u re B ut when the com .

munity is i n fi n it e in all it s dimensions the supreme ,

reward of service is the demand for further s ervice the ,

glory of Virtue is the glory o f going o n and sti l l

”
to b e and devotion to the community is therefore an
,

end in itself The end beyond all ends Devotion t o

. .

the Cosmic Commonwealth is at once the fountain head -

— —
and the f u lfi lm e n t from everlasting t o everlasting o f
duty of destiny of life
, ,
.

P rin te d in G re a t Bri ta i n Tlu M ayfl o w e r P r es s , P ly m o u t h

at

Willi am Bre n d o n a n d S o n , Lt d
.