diff options
Diffstat (limited to '2513-h/2513-h.htm')
| -rw-r--r-- | 2513-h/2513-h.htm | 2174 |
1 files changed, 2174 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/2513-h/2513-h.htm b/2513-h/2513-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..21c71b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/2513-h/2513-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2174 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + God the Known and God The Unknown, by Samuel Butler + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +Project Gutenberg's God the Known and God the Unknown, by Samuel Butler + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: God the Known and God the Unknown + +Author: Samuel Butler + +Release Date: December 14, 2008 [EBook #2513] +Last Updated: January 25, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOD THE KNOWN AND GOD THE UNKNOWN *** + + + + +Produced by Elliot S. Wheeler, and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + GOD THE KNOWN<br /><br />AND<br /><br />GOD THE UNKNOWN + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Samuel Butler + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <p> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> Prefatory Note </a><br /> <br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0002"> GOD THE KNOWN AND GOD THE UNKNOWN </a><br /> + </p> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a> + </td> + <td> + INTRODUCTION + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a> + </td> + <td> + COMMON GROUND + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a> + </td> + <td> + PANTHEISM. + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a> + </td> + <td> + PANTHEISM. + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a> + </td> + <td> + ORTHODOX THEISM + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. </a> + </td> + <td> + THE TREE OF LIFE + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. </a> + </td> + <td> + THE LIKENESS OF GOD + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. </a> + </td> + <td> + THE LIFE EVERLASTING + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. </a> + </td> + <td> + GOD THE UNKNOWN + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Prefatory Note + </h2> + <p> + "GOD the Known and God the Unknown" first appeared in the form of a series + of articles which were published in "The Examiner" in May, June, and July, + 1879. Samuel Butler subsequently revised the text of his work, presumably + with the intention of republishing it, though he never carried the + intention into effect. In the present edition I have followed his revised + version almost without deviation. I have, however, retained a few passages + which Butler proposed to omit, partly because they appear to me to render + the course of his argument clearer, and partly because they contain + characteristic thoughts and expressions of which none of his admirers + would wish to be deprived. In the list of Butler's works "God the Known + and God the Unknown" follows "Life and Habit," which appeared in 1877, and + "Evolution, Old and New," which was published in May, 1879. It is scarcely + necessary to point out that the three works are closely akin in subject + and treatment, and that "God the Known and God the Unknown" will gain in + interest by being considered in relation to its predecessors. + </p> + <p> + R. A. STREATFEILD <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + GOD THE KNOWN<br /> and GOD THE UNKNOWN + </h1> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION + </h2> + <p> + MANKIND has ever been ready to discuss matters in the inverse ratio of + their importance, so that the more closely a question is felt to touch the + hearts of all of us, the more incumbent it is considered upon prudent + people to profess that it does not exist, to frown it down, to tell it to + hold its tongue, to maintain that it has long been finally settled, so + that there is now no question concerning it. + </p> + <p> + So far, indeed, has this been carried through all time past that the + actions which are most important to us, such as our passage through the + embryonic stages, the circulation of our blood, our respiration, etc. + etc., have long been formulated beyond all power of reopening question + concerning them—the mere fact or manner of their being done at all + being ranked among the great discoveries of recent ages. Yet the analogy + of past settlements would lead us to suppose that so much unanimity was + not arrived at all at once, but rather that it must have been preceded by + much smouldering [sic] discontent, which again was followed by open + warfare; and that even after a settlement had been ostensibly arrived at, + there was still much secret want of conviction on the part of many for + several generations. + </p> + <p> + There are many who see nothing in this tendency of our nature but occasion + for sarcasm; those, on the other hand, who hold that the world is by this + time old enough to be the best judge concerning the management of its own + affairs will scrutinise [sic] this management with some closeness before + they venture to satirise [sic] it; nor will they do so for long without + finding justification for its apparent recklessness; for we must all fear + responsibility upon matters about which we feel we know but little; on the + other hand we must all continually act, and for the most part promptly. We + do so, therefore, with greater security when we can persuade both + ourselves and others that a matter is already pigeon-holed than if we feel + that we must use our own judgment for the collection, interpretation, and + arrangement of the papers which deal with it. Moreover, our action is thus + made to appear as if it received collective sanction; and by so appearing + it receives it. Almost any settlement, again, is felt to be better than + none, and the more nearly a matter comes home to everyone, the more + important is it that it should be treated as a sleeping dog, and be let to + lie, for if one person begins to open his mouth, fatal developments may + arise in the Babel that will follow. + </p> + <p> + It is not difficult, indeed, to show that, instead of having reason to + complain of the desire for the postponement of important questions, as + though the world were composed mainly of knaves or fools, such fixity as + animal and vegetable forms possess is due to this very instinct. For if + there had been no reluctance, if there were no friction and vis inertae to + be encountered even after a theoretical equilibrium had been upset, we + should have had no fixed organs nor settled proclivities, but should have + been daily and hourly undergoing Protean transformations, and have still + been throwing out pseudopodia like the amoeba. True, we might have come to + like this fashion of living as well as our more steady-going system if we + had taken to it many millions of ages ago when we were yet young; but we + have contracted other habits which have become so confirmed that we cannot + break with them. We therefore now hate that which we should perhaps have + loved if we had practised [sic] it. This, however, does not affect the + argument, for our concern is with our likes and dislikes, not with the + manner in which those likes and dislikes have come about. The discovery + that organism is capable of modification at all has occasioned so much + astonishment that it has taken the most enlightened part of the world more + than a hundred years to leave off expressing its contempt for such a + crude, shallow, and preposterous conception. Perhaps in another hundred + years we shall learn to admire the good sense, endurance, and thorough + Englishness of organism in having been so averse to change, even more than + its versatility in having been willing to change so much. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, however conservative we may be, and however much alive to + the folly and wickedness of tampering with settled convictions-no matter + what they are-without sufficient cause, there is yet such a constant + though gradual change in our surroundings as necessitates corresponding + modification in our ideas, desires, and actions. We may think that we + should like to find ourselves always in the same surroundings as our + ancestors, so that we might be guided at every touch and turn by the + experience of our race, and be saved from all self-communing or + interpretation of oracular responses uttered by the facts around us. Yet + the facts will change their utterances in spite of us; and we, too, change + with age and ages in spite of ourselves, so as to see the facts around us + as perhaps even more changed than they actually are. It has been said, + "Tempora mutantur nos et mutamur in illis." The passage would have been no + less true if it had stood, "Nos mutamur et tempora mutantur in nobis." + Whether the organism or the surroundings began changing first is a matter + of such small moment that the two may be left to fight it out between + themselves; but, whichever view is taken, the fact will remain that + whenever the relations between the organism and its surroundings have been + changed, the organism must either succeed in putting the surroundings into + harmony with itself, or itself into harmony with the surroundings; or must + be made so uncomfortable as to be unable to remember itself as subjected + to any such difficulties, and therefore to die through inability to + recognise [sic] its own identity further. + </p> + <p> + Under these circumstances, organism must act in one or other of these two + ways: it must either change slowly and continuously with the surroundings, + paying cash for everything, meeting the smallest change with a + corresponding modification so far as is found convenient; or it must put + off change as long as possible, and then make larger and more sweeping + changes. + </p> + <p> + Both these courses are the same in principle, the difference being only + one of scale, and the one being a miniature of the other, as a ripple is + an Atlantic wave in little; both have their advantages and disadvantages, + so that most organisms will take the one course for one set of things and + the other for another. They will deal promptly with things which they can + get at easily, and which lie more upon the surface; those, however, which + are more troublesome to reach, and lie deeper, will be handled upon more + cataclysmic principles, being allowed longer periods of repose followed by + short periods of greater activity. + </p> + <p> + Animals breathe and circulate their blood by a little action many times a + minute; but they feed, some of them, only two or three times a day, and + breed for the most part not more than once a year, their breeding season + being much their busiest time. It is on the first principle that the + modification of animal forms has proceeded mainly; but it may be + questioned whether what is called a sport is not the organic expression of + discontent which has been long felt, but which has not been attended to, + nor been met step by step by as much small remedial modification as was + found practicable: so that when a change does come it comes by way of + revolution. Or, again (only that it comes to much the same thing), a sport + may be compared to one of those happy thoughts which sometimes come to us + unbidden after we have been thinking for a long time what to do, or how to + arrange our ideas, and have yet been unable to arrive at any conclusion. + </p> + <p> + So with politics, the smaller the matter the prompter, as a general rule, + the settlement; on the other hand, the more sweeping the change that is + felt to be necessary, the longer it will be deferred. + </p> + <p> + The advantages of dealing with the larger questions by more cataclysmic + methods are obvious. For, in the first place, all composite things must + have a system, or arrangement of parts, so that some parts shall depend + upon and be grouped round others, as in the articulation of a skeleton and + the arrangement of muscles, nerves, tendons, etc., which are attached to + it. To meddle with the skeleton is like taking up the street, or the + flooring of one's house; it so upsets our arrangements that we put it off + till whatever else is found wanted, or whatever else seems likely to be + wanted for a long time hence, can be done at the same time. Another + advantage is in the rest which is given to the attention during the long + hollows, so to speak, of the waves between the periods of resettlement. + Passion and prejudice have time to calm down, and when attention is next + directed to the same question, it is a refreshed and invigorated + attention-an attention, moreover, which may be given with the help of new + lights derived from other quarters that were not luminous when the + question was last considered. Thirdly, it is more easy and safer to make + such alterations as experience has proved to be necessary than to forecast + what is going to be wanted. Reformers are like paymasters, of whom there + are only two bad kinds, those who pay too soon, and those who do not pay + at all. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. COMMON GROUND + </h2> + <p> + I HAVE now, perhaps, sufficiently proved my sympathy with the reluctance + felt by many to tolerate discussion upon such a subject as the existence + and nature of God. I trust that I may have made the reader feel that he + need fear no sarcasm or levity in my treatment of the subject which I have + chosen. I will, therefore, proceed to sketch out a plan of what I hope to + establish, and this in no doubtful or unnatural sense, but by attaching + the same meanings to words as those which we usually attach to them, and + with the same certainty, precision, and clearness as anything else is + established which is commonly called known. + </p> + <p> + As to what God is, beyond the fact that he is the Spirit and the Life + which creates, governs, and upholds all living things, I can say nothing. + I cannot pretend that I can show more than others have done in what Spirit + and the Life consists, which governs living things and animates them. I + cannot show the connection between consciousness and the will, and the + organ, much less can I tear away the veil from the face of God, so as to + show wherein will and consciousness consist. No philosopher, whether + Christian or Rationalist, has attempted this without discomfiture; but I + can, I hope, do two things: Firstly, I can demonstrate, perhaps more + clearly than modern science is prepared to admit, that there does exist a + single Being or Animator of all living things—a single Spirit, whom + we cannot think of under any meaner name than God; and, secondly, I can + show something more of the persona or bodily expression, mask, and + mouthpiece of this vast Living Spirit than I know of as having been + familiarly expressed elsewhere, or as being accessible to myself or + others, though doubtless many works exist in which what I am going to say + has been already said. + </p> + <p> + Aware that much of this is widely accepted under the name of Pantheism, I + venture to think it differs from Pantheism with all the difference that + exists between a coherent, intelligible conception and an incoherent + unintelligible one. I shall therefore proceed to examine the doctrine + called Pantheism, and to show how incomprehensible and valueless it is. + </p> + <p> + I will then indicate the Living and Personal God about whose existence and + about many of whose attributes there is no room for question; I will show + that man has been so far made in the likeness of this Person or God, that + He possesses all its essential characteristics, and that it is this God + who has called man and all other living forms, whether animals or plants, + into existence, so that our bodies are the temples of His spirit; that it + is this which sustains them in their life and growth, who is one with + them, living, moving, and having His being in them; in whom, also, they + live and move, they in Him and He in them; He being not a Trinity in Unity + only, but an Infinity in Unity, and a Unity in an Infinity; eternal in + time past, for so much time at least that our minds can come no nearer to + eternity than this; eternal for the future as long as the universe shall + exist; ever changing, yet the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. + And I will show this with so little ambiguity that it shall be perceived + not as a phantom or hallucination following upon a painful straining of + the mind and a vain endeavour [sic] to give coherency to incoherent and + inconsistent ideas, but with the same ease, comfort, and palpable + flesh-and-blood clearness with which we see those near to us; whom, though + we see them at the best as through a glass darkly, we still see face to + face, even as we are ourselves seen. + </p> + <p> + I will also show in what way this Being exercises a moral government over + the world, and rewards and punishes us according to His own laws. + </p> + <p> + Having done this I shall proceed to compare this conception of God with + those that are currently accepted, and will endeavour [sic] to show that + the ideas now current are in truth efforts to grasp the one on which I + shall here insist. Finally, I shall persuade the reader that the + differences between the so-called atheist and the so-called theist are + differences rather about words than things, inasmuch as not even the most + prosaic of modern scientists will be inclined to deny the existence of + this God, while few theists will feel that this, the natural conception of + God, is a less worthy one than that to which they have been accustomed. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. PANTHEISM. + </h2> + <p> + THE Rev. J. H. Blunt, in his "Dictionary of Sects, Heresies, etc.," + defines Pantheists as "those who hold that God is everything, and + everything is God." + </p> + <p> + If it is granted that the value of words lies in the definiteness and + coherency of the ideas that present themselves to us when the words are + heard or spoken-then such a sentence as "God is everything and everything + is God" is worthless. + </p> + <p> + For we have so long associated the word "God" with the idea of a Living + Person, who can see, hear, will, feel pleasure, displeasure, etc., that we + cannot think of God, and also of something which we have not been + accustomed to think of as a Living Person, at one and the same time, so as + to connect the two ideas and fuse them into a coherent thought. While we + are thinking of the one, our minds involuntarily exclude the other, and + vice versa; so that it is as impossible for us to think of anything as + God, or as forming part of God, which we cannot also think of as a Person, + or as a part of a Person, as it is to produce a hybrid between two widely + distinct animals. If I am not mistaken, the barrenness of inconsistent + ideas, and the sterility of widely distant species or genera of plants and + animals, are one in principle-sterility of hybrids being due to barrenness + of ideas, and barrenness of ideas arising from inability to fuse + unfamiliar thoughts into a coherent conception. I have insisted on this at + some length in "Life and Habit," but can do so no further here. (Note: + Butler returned to this subject in "Luck, or cunning?" which was + originally published in 1887.} + </p> + <p> + In like manner we have so long associated the word "Person" with the idea + of a substantial visible body, limited in extent, and animated by an + invisible something which we call Spirit, that we can think of nothing as + a person which does not also bring these ideas before us. Any attempt to + make us imagine God as a Person who does not fulfil [sic] the conditions + which our ideas attach to the word "person," is ipso facto atheistic, as + rendering the word God without meaning, and therefore without reality, and + therefore non-existent to us. Our ideas are like our organism, they will + stand a vast amount of modification if it is effected slowly and without + shock, but the life departs out of them, leaving the form of an idea + without the power thereof, if they are jarred too rudely. + </p> + <p> + Any being, then, whom we can imagine as God, must have all the qualities, + capabilities, and also all the limitations which are implied when the word + "person" is used. + </p> + <p> + But, again, we cannot conceive of "everything" as a person. "Everything" + must comprehend all that is to be found on earth, or outside of it, and we + know of no such persons as this. When we say "persons" we intend living + people with flesh and blood; sometimes we extend our conceptions to + animals and plants, but we have not hitherto done so as generally as I + hope we shall some day come to do. Below animals and plants we have never + in any seriousness gone. All that we have been able to regard as personal + has had what we can call a living body, even though that body is vegetable + only; and this body has been tangible, and has been comprised within + certain definite limits, or within limits which have at any rate struck + the eye as definite. And every part within these limits has been animated + by an unseen something which we call soul or spirit. A person must be a + persona—that is to say, the living mask and mouthpiece of an energy + saturating it, and speaking through it. It must be animate in all its + parts. + </p> + <p> + But "everything" is not animate. Animals and plants alone produce in us + those ideas which can make reasonable people call them "persons" with + consistency of intention. We can conceive of each animal and of each plant + as a person; we can conceive again of a compound person like the coral + polypes [sic], or like a tree which is composed of a congeries of + subordinate persons, inasmuch as each bud is a separate and individual + plant. We can go farther than this, and, as I shall hope to show, we ought + to do so; that is to say, we shall find it easier and more agreeable with + our other ideas to go farther than not; for we should see all animal and + vegetable life as united by a subtle and till lately invisible + ramification, so that all living things are one tree-like growth, forming + a single person. But we cannot conceive of oceans, continents, and air as + forming parts of a person at all; much less can we think of them as + forming one person with the living forms that inhabit them. + </p> + <p> + To ask this of us is like asking us to see the bowl and the water in which + three gold-fish are swimming as part of the gold-fish. We cannot do it any + more than we can do something physically impossible. We can see the + gold-fish as forming one family, and therefore as in a way united to the + personality of the parents from which they sprang, and therefore as + members one of another, and therefore as forming a single growth of + gold-fish, as boughs and buds unite to form a tree; but we cannot by any + effort of the imagination introduce the bowl and the water into the + personality, for we have never been accustomed to think of such things as + living and personal. Those, therefore, who tell us that "God is + everything, and everything is God," require us to see "everything" as a + person, which we cannot; or God as not a person, which again we cannot. + </p> + <p> + Continuing the article of Mr. Blunt from which I have already quoted, I + read:— + </p> + <p> + "Linus, in a passage which has been preserved by Stobaeus, exactly + expresses the notion afterwards adopted by Spinoza: 'One sole energy + governs all things; all things are unity, and each portion is All; for of + one integer all things were born; in the end of time all things shall + again become unity; the unity of multiplicity.' Orpheus, his disciple, + taught no other doctrine." + </p> + <p> + According to Pythagoras, "an adept in the Orphic philosophy," "the soul of + the world is the Divine energy which interpenetrates every portion of the + mass, and the soul of man is an efflux of that energy. The world, too, is + an exact impress of the Eternal Idea, which is the mind of God." John + Scotus Erigena taught that "all is God and God is all." William of + Champeaux, again, two hundred years later, maintained that "all + individuality is one in substance, and varies only in its non-essential + accidents and transient properties." Amalric of Bena and David of Dinant + followed the theory out "into a thoroughgoing Pantheism." Amalric held + that "All is God and God is all. The Creator and the creature are one + Being. Ideas are at once creative and created, subjective and objective. + God is the end of all, and all return to Him. As every variety of humanity + forms one manhood, so the world contains individual forms of one eternal + essence." David of Dinant only varied upon this by "imagining a corporeal + unity. Although body, soul, and eternal substance are three, these three + are one and the same being." + </p> + <p> + Giordano Bruno maintained the world of sense to be "a vast animal having + the Deity for its living soul." The inanimate part of the world is thus + excluded from participation in the Deity, and a conception that our minds + can embrace is offered us instead of one which they cannot entertain, + except as in a dream, incoherently. But without such a view of evolution + as was prevalent at the beginning of this century, it was impossible to + see "the world of sense" intelligently, as forming "a vast animal." + Unless, therefore, Giordano Bruno held the opinions of Buffon, Dr. Erasmus + Darwin, and Lamarck, with more definiteness than I am yet aware of his + having done, his contention must be considered as a splendid prophecy, but + as little more than a prophecy. He continues, "Birth is expansion from the + one centre of Life; life is its continuance, and death is the necessary + return of the ray to the centre of light." This begins finely, but ends + mystically. I have not, however, compared the English translation with the + original, and must reserve a fuller examination of Giordano Bruno's + teaching for another opportunity. + </p> + <p> + Spinoza disbelieved in the world rather than in God. He was an Acosmist, + to use Jacobi's expression, rather than an Atheist. According to him, "the + Deity and the Universe are but one substance, at the same time both spirit + and matter, thought and extension, which are the only known attributes of + the Deity." + </p> + <p> + My readers will, I think, agree with me that there is very little of the + above which conveys ideas with the fluency and comfort which accompany + good words. Words are like servants: it is not enough that we should have + them-we must have the most able and willing that we can find, and at the + smallest wages that will content them. Having got them we must make the + best and not the worst of them. Surely, in the greater part of what has + been quoted above, the words are barren letters only: they do not quicken + within us and enable us to conceive a thought, such as we can in our turn + impress upon dead matter, and mould [sic] that matter into another shape + than its own, through the thought which has become alive within us. No + offspring of ideas has followed upon them, or, if any at all, yet in such + unwonted shape, and with such want of alacrity, that we loathe them as + malformations and miscarriages of our minds. Granted that if we examine + them closely we shall at length find them to embody a little germ of + truth-that is to say, of coherency with our other ideas; but there is too + little truth in proportion to the trouble necessary to get at it. We can + get more truth, that is to say, more coherency-for truth and coherency are + one-for less trouble in other ways. + </p> + <p> + But it may be urged that the beginnings of all tasks are difficult and + unremunerative, and that later developments of Pantheism may be more + intelligible than the earlier ones. Unfortunately, this is not the case. + On continuing Mr. Blunt's article, I find the later Pantheists a + hundredfold more perplexing than the earlier ones. With Kant, Schelling, + Fichte, and Hegel, we feel that we are with men who have been decoyed into + a hopeless quagmire; we understand nothing of their language-we doubt + whether they understand themselves, and feel that we can do nothing with + them but look at them and pass them by. + </p> + <p> + In my next chapter I propose to show the end which the early Pantheists + were striving after, and the reason and naturalness of their error. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV. PANTHEISM. + </h2> + <p> + The earlier Pantheists were misled by the endeavour [sic] to lay hold of + two distinct ideas, the one of which was a reality that has since been + grasped and is of inestimable value, the other a phantom which has misled + all who have followed it. The reality is the unity of Life, the oneness of + the guiding and animating spirit which quickens animals and plants, so + that they are all the outcome and expression of a common mind, and are in + truth one animal; the phantom is the endeavour [sic] to find the origin of + things, to reach the fountain-head of all energy, and thus to lay the + foundations on which a philosophy may be constructed which none can accuse + of being baseless, or of arguing in a circle. + </p> + <p> + In following as through a thick wood after the phantom our forefathers + from time to time caught glimpses of the reality, which seemed so + wonderful as it eluded them, and flitted back again into the thickets, + that they declared it must be the phantom they were in search of, which + was thus evidenced as actually existing. Whereon, instead of mastering + such of the facts they met with as could be captured easily-which facts + would have betrayed the hiding-places of others, and these again of + others, and so ad infinitum-they overlooked what was within their reach, + and followed hotly through brier and brake after an imaginary greater + prize. + </p> + <p> + Great thoughts are not to be caught in this way. They must present + themselves for capture of their own free will, or be taken after a little + coyness only. They are like wealth and power, which, if a man is not born + to them, are the more likely to take him, the more he has restrained + himself from an attempt to snatch them. They hanker after those only who + have tamed their nearer thoughts. Nevertheless, it is impossible not to + feel that the early Pantheists were true prophets and seers, though the + things were unknown to them without which a complete view was + unattainable. What does Linus mean, we ask ourselves, when he says:—"One + sole energy governs all things"? How can one sole energy govern, we will + say, the reader and the chair on which he sits? What is meant by an energy + governing a chair? If by an effort we have made ourselves believe we + understand something which can be better expressed by these words than by + any others, no sooner do we turn our backs than the ideas so painfully + collected fly apart again. No matter how often we go in search of them, + and force them into juxtaposition, they prove to have none of that innate + coherent power with which ideas combine that we can hold as true and + profitable. + </p> + <p> + Yet if Linus had confined his statement to living things, and had said + that one sole energy governed all plants and animals, he would have come + near both to being intelligible and true. For if, as we now believe, all + animals and plants are descended from a single cell, they must be + considered as cousins to one another, and as forming a single tree-like + animal, every individual plant or animal of which is as truly one and the + same person with the primordial cell as the oak a thousand years old is + one and the same plant with the acorn out of which it has grown. This is + easily understood, but will, I trust, be made to appear simpler presently. + </p> + <p> + When Linus says, "All things are unity, and each portion is All; for of + one integer all things were born," it is impossible for plain people-who + do not wish to use words unless they mean the same things by them as both + they and others have been in the habit of meaning-to understand what is + intended. How can each portion be all? How can one Londoner be all London? + I know that this, too, can in a way be shown, but the resulting idea is + too far to fetch, and when fetched does not fit in well enough with our + other ideas to give it practical and commercial value. How, again, can all + things be said to be born of one integer, unless the statement is confined + to living things, which can alone be born at all, and unless a theory of + evolution is intended, such as Linus would hardly have accepted? + </p> + <p> + Yet limit the "all things" to "all living things," grant the theory of + evolution, and explain "each portion is All" to mean that all life is + akin, and possesses the same essential fundamental characteristics, and it + is surprising how nearly Linus approaches both to truth and + intelligibility. + </p> + <p> + It may be said that the animate and the inanimate have the same + fundamental substance, so that a chair might rot and be absorbed by grass, + which grass might be eaten by a cow, which cow might be eaten by a man; + and by similar processes the man might become a chair; but these facts are + not presented to the mind by saying that "one energy governs all things"-a + chair, we will say, and a man; we could only say that one energy governed + a man and a chair, if the chair were a reasonable living person, who was + actively and consciously engaged in helping the man to attain a certain + end, unless, that is to say, we are to depart from all usual + interpretation of words, in which case we invalidate the advantages of + language and all the sanctions of morality. + </p> + <p> + "All things shall again become unity" is intelligible as meaning that all + things probably have come from a single elementary substance, say hydrogen + or what not, and that they will return to it; but the explanation of unity + as being the "unity of multiplicity" puzzles; if there is any meaning it + is too recondite to be of service to us. + </p> + <p> + What, again, is meant by saying that "the soul of the world is the Divine + energy which interpenetrates every portion of the mass"? The soul of the + world is an expression which, to myself, and, I should imagine, to most + people, is without propriety. We cannot think of the world except as + earth, air, and water, in this or that state, on and in which there grow + plants and animals. What is meant by saying that earth has a soul, and + lives? Does it move from place to place erratically? Does it feed? Does it + reproduce itself? Does it make such noises, or commit such vagaries as + shall make us say that it feels? Can it achieve its ends, and fail of + achieving them through mistake? If it cannot, how has it a soul more than + a dead man has a soul, out of whom we say that the soul has departed, and + whose body we conceive of as returning to dead earth, inasmuch as it is + now soulless? Is there any unnatural violence which can be done to our + thoughts by which we can bring the ideas of a soul and of water, or of a + stone into combination, and keep them there for long together? The + ancients, indeed, said they believed their rivers to be gods, and carved + likenesses of them under the forms of men; but even supposing this to have + been their real mind, can it by any conceivable means become our own? + Granted that a stone is kept from falling to dust by an energy which + compels its particles to cohere, which energy can be taken out of it and + converted into some other form of energy; granted (which may or may not be + true) also, that the life of a living body is only the energy which keeps + the particles which compose it in a certain disposition; and granted that + the energy of the stone may be convertible into the energy of a living + form, and that thus, after a long journey a tired idea may lag after the + sound of such words as "the soul of the world." Granted all the above, + nevertheless to speak of the world as having a soul is not sufficiently in + harmony with our common notions, nor does it go sufficiently with the + grain of our thoughts to render the expression a meaning one, or one that + can be now used with any propriety or fitness, except by those who do not + know their own meaninglessness. Vigorous minds will harbour [sic] vigorous + thoughts only, or such as bid fair to become so; and vigorous thoughts are + always simple, definite, and in harmony with everyday ideas. + </p> + <p> + We can imagine a soul as living in the lowest slime that moves, feeds, + reproduces itself, remembers, and dies. The amoeba wants things, knows it + wants them, alters itself so as to try and alter them, thus preparing for + an intended modification of outside matter by a preliminary modification + of itself. It thrives if the modification from within is followed by the + desired modification in the external object; it knows that it is well, and + breeds more freely in consequence. If it cannot get hold of outside + matter, or cannot proselytise [sic] that matter and persuade it to see + things through its own (the amoeba's) spectacles-if it cannot convert that + matter, if the matter persists in disagreeing with it-its spirits droop, + its soul is disquieted within it, it becomes listless like a withering + flower-it languishes and dies. We cannot imagine a thing to live at all + and yet be soulless except in sleep for a short time, and even so not + quite soulless. The idea of a soul, or of that unknown something for which + the word "soul" is our hieroglyphic, and the idea of living organism, + unite so spontaneously, and stick together so inseparably, that no matter + how often we sunder them they will elude our vigilance and come together, + like true lovers, in spite of us. Let us not attempt to divorce ideas that + have so long been wedded together. + </p> + <p> + I submit, then, that Pantheism, even as explained by those who had entered + on the outskirts only of its great morass, nevertheless holds out so + little hope of leading to any comfortable conclusion that it will be more + reasonable to occupy our minds with other matter than to follow Pantheism + further. The Pantheists speak of a person without meaning a person; they + speak of a "him" and a "he" without having in their minds the idea of a + living person with all its inevitable limitations. Pantheism is, + therefore, as is said by Mr. Blunt in another article, "practically + nothing else than Atheism; it has no belief in a personal deity overruling + the affairs of the world, as Divine Providence, and is, therefore, + Atheistic," and again, "Theism believes in a spirit superior to matter, + and so does Pantheism; but the spirit of Theism is self-conscious, and + therefore personal and of individual existence-a nature per se, and + upholding all things by an active control; while Pantheism believes in + spirit that is of a higher nature than brute matter, but is a mere + unconscious principle of life, impersonal, irrational as the brute matter + that it quickens." + </p> + <p> + If this verdict concerning Pantheism is true—and from all I can + gather it is as nearly true as anything can be said to be which is + predicated of an incoherent idea—the Pantheistic God is an attempt + to lay hold of a truth which has nevertheless eluded its pursuers. + </p> + <p> + In my next chapter I will consider the commonly received, orthodox + conception of God, and compare it with the Pantheistic. I will show that + it, too, is Atheistic, inasmuch as, in spite of its professing to give us + a conception of God, it raises no ideas in our minds of a person or Living + Being—and a God who is not this is non-existent. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V. ORTHODOX THEISM + </h2> + <p> + We have seen that Pantheism fails to satisfy, inasmuch as it requires us + to mean something different by the word "God" from what we have been in + the habit of meaning. I have already said-I fear, too often-that no + conception of God can have any value or meaning for us which does not + involve his existence as an independent Living Person of ineffable wisdom + and power, vastness, and duration both in the past and for the future. If + such a Being as this can be found existing and made evident, directly or + indirectly, to human senses, there is a God. If otherwise, there is no + God, or none, at any rate, so far as we can know, none with whom we need + concern ourselves. No conscious personality, no God. An impersonal God is + as much a contradiction in terms as an impersonal person. + </p> + <p> + Unfortunately, when we question orthodox theology closely, we find that it + supposes God to be a person who has no material body such as could come + within the range of any human sense, and make an impression upon it. He is + supposed to be of a spiritual nature only, except in so far as one part of + his triune personality is, according to the Athanasian Creed, "perfect + man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting." + </p> + <p> + Here, then, we find ourselves in a dilemma. On the one hand, we are + involved in the same difficulty as in the case of Pantheism, inasmuch as a + person without flesh and blood, or something analogous, is not a person; + we are required, therefore, to believe in a personal God, who has no true + person; to believe, that is to say, in an impersonal person. + </p> + <p> + This, as we have seen already, is Atheism under another name, being, as it + is, destructive of all idea of God whatever; for these words do not convey + an idea of something which human intelligence can understand up to a + certain point, and which it can watch going out of sight into regions + beyond our view, but in the same direction-as we may infer other stars in + space beyond the farthest that we know of; they convey utterly + self-destructive ideas, which can have no real meaning, and can only be + thought to have a meaning by ignorant and uncultivated people. Otherwise + such foundation as human reason rests upon-that is to say, the current + opinion of those whom the world appraises as reasonable and agreeable, or + capable of being agreed with for any time-is sapped; the whole thing + tumbles down, and we may have square circles and round triangles, which + may be declared to be no longer absurdities and contradictions in terms, + but mysteries that go beyond our reason, without being contrary to it. Few + will maintain this, and those few may be neglected; an impersonal person + must therefore be admitted to be nonsense, and an immaterial God to be + Atheism in another shape. + </p> + <p> + On the other hand, if God is "of a reasonable soul and human flesh + subsisting," and if he thus has the body without which he is-as far as we + are concerned-non-existent, this body must yet be reasonably like other + bodies, and must exist in some place and at some time. Furthermore, it + must do sufficiently nearly what all other "human flesh" belonging to + "perfect man" must do, or cease to be human flesh. Our ideas are like our + organisms; they have some little elasticity and circumstance-suiting + power, some little margin on which, as I have elsewhere said, side-notes + may be written, and glosses on the original text; but this power is very + limited. As offspring will only, as a general rule, vary very little from + its immediate parents, and as it will fail either immediately or in the + second generation if the parents differ too widely from one another, so we + cannot get our idea of-we will say a horse-to conjure up to our minds the + idea of any animal more unlike a horse than a pony is; nor can we get a + well-defined idea of a combination between a horse and any animal more + remote from it than an ass, zebra, or giraffe. We may, indeed, make a + statue of a flying horse, but the idea is one which cannot be made + plausible to any but ignorant people. So "human flesh" may vary a little + from "human flesh" without undue violence being done to our reason and to + the right use of language, but it cannot differ from it so much as not to + eat, drink, nor waste and repair itself. "Human flesh," which is without + these necessary adjuncts, is human flesh only to those who can believe in + flying horses with feathered wings and bills like birds-that is to say, to + vulgar and superstitious persons. + </p> + <p> + Lastly, not only must the "perfect man," who is the second person of the + Godhead according to the orthodox faith, and who subsists of "human flesh" + as well as of a "reasonable soul," not only must this person exist, but he + must exist in some place either on this earth or outside it. If he exists + on earth, he must be in Europe, Asia, Africa, America, or on some island, + and if he were met with he must be capable of being seen and handled in + the same way as all other things that can be called perfect man are seen; + otherwise he is a perfect man who is not only not a perfect man, but who + does not in any considerable degree resemble one. It is not, however, + pretended by anyone that God, the "perfect man," is to be looked for in + any place upon the surface of the globe. + </p> + <p> + If, on the other hand, the person of God exists in some sphere outside the + earth, his human flesh again proves to be of an entirely different kind + from all other human flesh, for we know that such flesh cannot exist + except on earth; if in space unsupported, it must fall to the ground, or + into some other planet, or into a sun, or go on revolving round the earth + or some other heavenly body-or not be personal. None of those whose + opinions will carry weight will assign a position either in some country + on this earth, or yet again in space, to Jesus Christ, but this involves + the rendering meaningless of all expressions which involve his + personality. + </p> + <p> + The Christian conception, therefore, of the Deity proves when examined + with any desire to understand our own meaning (and what lawlessness so + great as the attempt to impose words upon our understandings which have no + lawful settlement within them?) to be no less a contradiction in terms + than the Pantheistic conception. It is Atheistic, as offering us a God + which is not a God, inasmuch as we can conceive of no such being, nor of + anything in the least like it. It is, like Pantheism, an illusion, which + can be believed only by those who repeat a formula which they have learnt + by heart in a foreign language of which they understand nothing, and yet + aver that they believe it. There are doubtless many who will say that this + is possible, but the majority of my readers will hold that no proposition + can be believed or disbelieved until its nature is understood. + </p> + <p> + It may perhaps be said that there is another conception of God possible, + and that we may see him as personal, without at the same time believing + that he has any actual tangible existence. Thus we personify hope, truth, + and justice, without intending to convey to anyone the impression that + these qualities are women, with flesh and blood. Again, we do not think of + Nature as an actual woman, though we call her one; why may we not conceive + of God, then, as an expression whereby we personify, by a figure of speech + only; the thing that is intended being no person, but our own highest + ideal of power, wisdom, and duration. + </p> + <p> + There would be no reason to complain of this if this manner of using the + word "God" were well understood. Many words have two meanings, or even + three, without any mischievous confusion of thought following. There can + not only be no objection to the use of the word God as a manner of + expressing the highest ideal of which our minds can conceive, but on the + contrary no better expression can be found, and it is a pity the word is + not thus more generally used. + </p> + <p> + Few, however, would be content with any such limitation of God as that he + should be an idea only, an expression for certain qualities of human + thought and action. Whence, it may be fairly asked, did our deeply rooted + belief in God as a Living Person originate? The idea of him as of an + inconceivably vast, ancient, powerful, loving, and yet formidable Person + is one which survives all changes of detail in men's opinion. I believe + there are a few very savage tribes who are as absolutely without religious + sense as the beasts of the field, but the vast majority for a long time + past have been possessed with an idea that there is somewhere a Living God + who is the Spirit and the Life of all that is, and who is a true Person + with an individuality and self-consciousness of his own. It is only + natural that we should be asked how such an idea has remained in the minds + of so many—who differ upon almost every other part of their + philosophy-for so long a time if it was without foundation, and a piece of + dreamy mysticism only. + </p> + <p> + True, it has generally been declared that this God is an infinite God, and + an infinite God is a God without any bounds or limitations; and a God + without bounds or limitations is an impersonal God; and an impersonal God + is Atheism. But may not this be the incoherency of prophecy which precedes + the successful mastering of an idea? May we not think of this illusory + expression as having arisen from inability to see the whereabouts of a + certain vast but tangible Person as to whose existence men were + nevertheless clear? If they felt that it existed, and yet could not say + where, nor wherein it was to be laid hands on, they would be very likely + to get out of the difficulty by saying that it existed as an infinite + Spirit, partly from a desire to magnify what they felt must be so vast and + powerful, and partly because they had as yet only a vague conception of + what they were aiming at, and must, therefore, best express it vaguely. + </p> + <p> + We must not be surprised that when an idea is still inchoate its + expression should be inconsistent and imperfect-ideas will almost always + during the earlier history of a thought be put together experimentally so + as to see whether or no they will cohere. Partly out of indolence, partly + out of the desire of those who brought the ideas together to be declared + right, and partly out of joy that the truth should be supposed found, + incoherent ideas will be kept together longer than they should be; + nevertheless they will in the end detach themselves and go, if others + present themselves which fit into their place better. There is no + consistency which has not once been inconsistent, nor coherency that has + not been incoherent. The incoherency of our ideas concerning God is due to + the fact that we have not yet truly found him, but it does not argue that + he does not exist and cannot be found anywhere after more diligent search; + on the contrary, the persistence of the main idea, in spite of the + incoherency of its details, points strongly in the direction of believing + that it rests upon a foundation in fact. + </p> + <p> + But it must be remembered there can be no God who is not personal and + material: and if personal, then, though inconceivably vast in comparison + with man, still limited in space and time, and capable of making mistakes + concerning his own interests, though as a general rule right in his + estimates concerning them. Where, then, is this Being? He must be on + earth, or what folly can be greater than speaking of him as a person? What + are persons on any other earth to us, or we to them? He must have existed + and be going to exist through all time, and he must have a tangible body. + Where, then, is the body of this God? And what is the mystery of his + Incarnation? + </p> + <p> + It will be my business to show this in the following chapter. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI. THE TREE OF LIFE + </h2> + <p> + Atheism denies knowledge of a God of any kind. Pantheism and Theism alike + profess to give us a God, but they alike fail to perform what they have + promised. We can know nothing of the God they offer us, for not even do + they themselves profess that any of our senses can be cognisant [sic] of + him. They tell us that he is a personal God, but that he has no material + person. This is disguised Atheism. What we want is a Personal God, the + glory of whose Presence can be made in part evident to our senses, though + what we can realise [sic] is less than nothing in comparison with what we + must leave for ever unimagined. + </p> + <p> + And truly such a God is not far from every one of us; for if we survey the + broader and deeper currents of men's thoughts during the last three + thousand years, we may observe two great and steady sets as having carried + away with them the more eligible races of mankind. The one is a tendency + from Polytheism to Monotheism; the other from Polytypism to Monotypism of + the earliest forms of life-all animal and vegetable forms having at length + come to be regarded as differentiations of a single substance-to wit, + protoplasm. + </p> + <p> + No man does well so to kick against the pricks as to set himself against + tendencies of such depth, strength, and permanence as this. If he is to be + in harmony with the dominant opinion of his own and of many past ages, he + will see a single God-impregnate substance as having been the parent from + which all living forms have sprung. One spirit, and one form capable of + such modification as its directing spirit shall think fit; one soul and + one body, one God and one Life. + </p> + <p> + For the time has come when the two unities so painfully arrived at must be + joined together as body and soul, and be seen not as two, but one. There + is no living organism untenanted by the Spirit of God, nor any Spirit of + God perceivable by man apart from organism embodying and expressing it. + God and the Life of the World are like a mountain, which will present + different aspects as we look at it from different sides, but which, when + we have gone all round it, proves to be one only. God is the animal and + vegetable world, and the animal and vegetable world is God. + </p> + <p> + I have repeatedly said that we ought to see all animal and vegetable life + as uniting to form a single personality. I should perhaps explain this + more fully, for the idea of a compound person is one which at first is not + very easy to grasp, inasmuch as we are not conscious of any but our more + superficial aspects, and have therefore until lately failed to understand + that we are ourselves compound persons. I may perhaps be allowed to quote + from an earlier work. + </p> + <p> + "Each cell in the human body is now admitted by physiologists to be a + person with an intelligent soul, differing from our own more complex soul + in degree and not in kind, and, like ourselves, being born, living, and + dying. It would appear, then, as though 'we,' 'our souls,' or 'selves,' or + 'personalities,' or by whatever name we may prefer to be called, are but + the consensus and full-flowing stream of countless sensations and impulses + on the part of our tributary souls or 'selves,' who probably no more know + that we exist, and that they exist as a part of us, than a microscopic + insect knows the results of spectrum analysis, or than an agricultural + labourer [sic] knows the working of the British Constitution; and of whom + we know no more than we do of the habits and feelings of some class widely + separated from our own."-("Life and Habit," p. 110.) + </p> + <p> + After which it became natural to ask the following question:—"Is it + possible to avoid imagining that we may be ourselves atoms, undesignedly + combining to form some vaster being, though we are utterly incapable of + perceiving this being as a single individual, or of realising [sic] the + scheme and scope of our own combination? And this, too, not a spiritual + being, which, without matter or what we think matter of some sort, is as + complete nonsense to us as though men bade us love and lean upon an + intelligent vacuum, but a being with what is virtually flesh and blood and + bones, with organs, senses, dimensions in some way analogous to our own, + into some other part of which being at the time of our great change we + must infallibly re-enter, starting clean anew, with bygones bygones, and + no more ache for ever from age or antecedents. + </p> + <p> + "'An organic being,' writes Mr. Darwin, 'is a microcosm, a little + universe, formed of a host of self-propagating organisms inconceivably + minute and numerous as the stars in Heaven.' As these myriads of smaller + organisms are parts and processes of us, so are we parts and processes of + life at large." + </p> + <p> + A tree is composed of a multitude of subordinate trees, each bud being a + distinct individual. So coral polypes [sic] form a tree-like growth of + animal life, with branches from which spring individual polypes [sic] that + are connected by a common tissue and supported by a common skeleton. We + have no difficulty in seeing a unity in multitude, and a multitude in + unity here, because we can observe the wood and the gelatinous tissue + connecting together all the individuals which compose either the tree or + the mass of polypes [sic]. Yet the skeleton, whether of tree or of polype + [sic], is inanimate; and the tissue, whether of bark or gelatine [sic], is + only the matted roots of the individual buds; so that the outward and + striking connection between the individuals is more delusive than real. + The true connection is one which cannot be seen, and consists in the + animation of each bud by a like spirit-in the community of soul, in "the + voice of the Lord which maketh men to be of one mind in an house"-"to + dwell together in unity"-to take what are practically identical views of + things, and express themselves in concert under all circumstances. + Provided this-the true unifier of organism-can be shown to exist, the + absence of gross outward and visible but inanimate common skeleton is no + bar to oneness of personality. + </p> + <p> + Let us picture to our minds a tree of which all the woody fibre [sic] + shall be invisible, the buds and leaves seeming to stand in mid-air + unsupported and unconnected with one another, so that there is nothing but + a certain tree-like collocation of foliage to suggest any common principle + of growth uniting the leaves. + </p> + <p> + Three or four leaves of different ages stand living together at the place + in the air where the end of each bough should be; of these the youngest + are still tender and in the bud, while the older ones are turning yellow + and on the point of falling. Between these leaves a sort of twig-like + growth can be detected if they are looked at in certain lights, but it is + hard to see, except perhaps when a bud is on the point of coming out. Then + there does appear to be a connection which might be called branch-like. + </p> + <p> + The separate tufts are very different from one another, so that oak + leaves, ash leaves, horse-chestnut leaves, etc., are each represented, but + there is one species only at the end of each bough. + </p> + <p> + Though the trunk and all the inner boughs and leaves have disappeared, yet + there hang here and there fossil leaves, also in mid-air; they appear to + have been petrified, without method or selection, by what we call the + caprices of nature; they hang in the path which the boughs and twigs would + have taken, and they seem to indicate that if the tree could have been + seen a million years earlier, before it had grown near its present size, + the leaves standing at the end of each bough would have been found very + different from what they are now. Let us suppose that all the leaves at + the end of all the invisible boughs, no matter how different they now are + from one another, were found in earliest budhood to be absolutely + indistinguishable, and afterwards to develop towards each differentiation + through stages which were indicated by the fossil leaves. Lastly, let us + suppose that though the boughs which seem wanted to connect all the living + forms of leaves with the fossil leaves, and with countless forms of which + all trace has disappeared, and also with a single root-have become + invisible, yet that there is irrefragable evidence to show that they once + actually existed, and indeed are existing at this moment, in a condition + as real though as invisible to the eye as air or electricity. Should we, I + ask, under these circumstances hesitate to call our imaginary plant or + tree by a single name, and to think of it as one person, merely upon the + score that the woody fibre [sic] was invisible? Should we not esteem the + common soul, memories and principles of growth which are preserved between + all the buds, no matter how widely they differ in detail, as a more living + bond of union than a framework of wood would be, which, though it were + visible to the eye, would still be inanimate? + </p> + <p> + The mistletoe appears as closely connected with the tree on which it grows + as any of the buds of the tree itself; it is fed upon the same sap as the + other buds are, which sap-however much it may modify it at the last + moment-it draws through the same fibres [sic] as do its + foster-brothers-why then do we at once feel that the mistletoe is no part + of the apple tree? Not from any want of manifest continuity, but from the + spiritual difference-from the profoundly different views of life and + things which are taken by the parasite and the tree on which it grows-the + two are now different because they think differently-as long as they + thought alike they were alike-that is to say they were protoplasm-they and + we and all that lives meeting in this common substance. + </p> + <p> + We ought therefore to regard our supposed tufts of leaves as a tree, that + is to say, as a compound existence, each one of whose component items is + compounded of others which are also in their turn compounded. But the tree + above described is no imaginary parallel to the condition of life upon the + globe; it is perhaps as accurate a description of the Tree of Life as can + be put into so small a compass. The most sure proof of a man's identity is + the power to remember that such and such things happened, which none but + he can know; the most sure proof of his remembering is the power to react + his part in the original drama, whatever it may have been; if a man can + repeat a performance with consummate truth, and can stand any amount of + cross-questioning about it, he is the performer of the original + performance, whatever it was. The memories which all living forms prove by + their actions that they possess-the memories of their common identity with + a single person in whom they meet-this is incontestable proof of their + being animated by a common soul. It is certain, therefore, that all living + forms, whether animal or vegetable, are in reality one animal; we and the + mosses being part of the same vast person in no figurative sense, but with + as much bona fide literal truth as when we say that a man's finger-nails + and his eyes are parts of the same man. + </p> + <p> + It is in this Person that we may see the Body of God-and in the evolution + of this Person, the mystery of His Incarnation. + </p> + <p> + [In "Unconscious Memory," Chapter V, Butler wrote: "In the articles above + alluded to ("God the Known and God the Unknown") I separated the organic + from the inorganic, but when I came to rewrite them I found that this + could not be done, and that I must reconstruct what I had written." This + reconstruction never having been effected, it may be well to quote further + from "Unconscious Memory" (concluding chapter): "At parting, therefore, I + would recommend the reader to see every atom in the universe as living and + able to feel and remember, but in a humble way. He must have life eternal + as well as matter eternal; and the life and the matter must be joined + together inseparably as body and soul to one another. Thus he will see God + everywhere, not as those who repeat phrases conventionally, but as people + who would have their words taken according to their most natural and + legitimate meaning; and he will feel that the main difference between him + and many of those who oppose him lies in the fact that whereas both he and + they use the same language, his opponents only half mean what they say, + while he means it entirely... We shall endeavour [sic] to see the + so-called inorganic as living, in respect of the qualities it has in + common with the organic, rather than the organic as non-living in respect + of the qualities it has in common with the inorganic."] + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII. THE LIKENESS OF GOD + </h2> + <p> + In my last chapter I endeavoured [sic] to show that each living being, + whether animal or plant, throughout the world is a component item of a + single personality, in the same way as each individual citizen of a + community is a member of one state, or as each cell of our own bodies is a + separate person, or each bud of a tree a separate plant. We must therefore + see the whole varied congeries of living things as a single very ancient + Being, of inconceivable vastness, and animated by one Spirit. + </p> + <p> + We call the octogenarian one person with the embryo of a few days old from + which he has developed. An oak or yew tree may be two thousand years old, + but we call it one plant with the seed from which it has grown. Millions + of individual buds have come and gone, to the yearly wasting and repairing + of its substance; but the tree still lives and thrives, and the dead + leaves have life therein. So the Tree of Life still lives and thrives as a + single person, no matter how many new features it has acquired during its + development, nor, again, how many of its individual leaves fall yellow to + the ground daily. The spirit or soul of this person is the Spirit of God, + and its body-for we know of no soul or spirit without a body, nor of any + living body without a spirit or soul, and if there is a God at all there + must be a body of God-is the many-membered outgrowth of protoplasm, the + ensemble of animal and vegetable life. + </p> + <p> + To repeat. The Theologian of to-day tells us that there is a God, but is + horrified at the idea of that God having a body. We say that we believe in + God, but that our minds refuse to realise [sic] an intelligent Being who + has no bodily person. "Where then," says the Theologian, "is the body of + your God?" We have answered, "In the living forms upon the earth, which, + though they look many, are, when we regard them by the light of their + history and of true analogies, one person only." The spiritual connection + between them is a more real bond of union than the visible discontinuity + of material parts is ground for separating them in our thoughts. + </p> + <p> + Let the reader look at a case of moths in the shop-window of a naturalist, + and note the unspeakable delicacy, beauty, and yet serviceableness of + their wings; or let him look at a case of humming-birds, and remember how + infinitely small a part of Nature is the whole group of the animals he may + be considering, and how infinitely small a part of that group is the case + that he is looking at. Let him bear in mind that he is looking on the dead + husks only of what was inconceivably more marvellous [sic] when the moths + or humming-birds were alive. Let him think of the vastness of the earth, + and of the activity by day and night through countless ages of such + countless forms of animal and vegetable life as that no human mind can + form the faintest approach to anything that can be called a conception of + their multitude, and let him remember that all these forms have touched + and touched and touched other living beings till they meet back on a + common substance in which they are rooted, and from which they all branch + forth so as to be one animal. Will he not in this real and tangible + existence find a God who is as much more worthy of admiration than the God + of the ordinary Theologian-as He is also more easy of comprehension? + </p> + <p> + For the Theologian dreams of a God sitting above the clouds among the + cherubim, who blow their loud uplifted angel trumpets before Him, and + humour [sic] Him as though He were some despot in an Oriental tale; but we + enthrone Him upon the wings of birds, on the petals of flowers, on the + faces of our friends, and upon whatever we most delight in of all that + lives upon the earth. We then can not only love Him, but we can do that + without which love has neither power nor sweetness, but is a phantom only, + an impersonal person, a vain stretching forth of arms towards something + that can never fill them-we can express our love and have it expressed to + us in return. And this not in the uprearing of stone temples-for the Lord + dwelleth [sic] in temples made with other organs than hands-nor yet in the + cleansing of our hearts, but in the caress bestowed upon horse and dog, + and kisses upon the lips of those we love. + </p> + <p> + Wide, however, as is the difference between the orthodox Theologian and + ourselves, it is not more remarkable than the number of the points on + which we can agree with him, and on which, moreover, we can make his + meaning clearer to himself than it can have ever hitherto been. He, for + example, says that man has been made in the image of God, but he cannot + mean what he says, unless his God has a material body; we, on the other + hand, do not indeed believe that the body of God-the incorporation of all + life-is like the body of a man, more than we believe each one of our own + cells or subordinate personalities to be like a man in miniature; but we + nevertheless hold that each of our tributary selves is so far made after + the likeness of the body corporate that it possesses all our main and + essential characteristics-that is to say, that it can waste and repair + itself; can feel, move, and remember. To this extent, also, we-who stand + in mean proportional between our tributary personalities and God-are made + in the likeness of God; for we, and God, and our subordinate cells alike + possess the essential characteristics of life which have been above + recited. It is more true, therefore, for us to say that we are made in the + likeness of God than for the orthodox Theologian to do so. + </p> + <p> + Nor, again, do we find difficulty in adopting such an expression as that + "God has taken our nature upon Him." We hold this as firmly, and much more + so, than Christians can do, but we say that this is no new thing for Him + to do, for that He has taken flesh and dwelt among us from the day that He + first assumed our shape, some millions of years ago, until now. God cannot + become man more especially than He can become other living forms, any more + than we can be our eyes more especially than any other of our organs. We + may develop larger eyes, so that our eyes may come to occupy a still more + important place in our economy than they do at present; and in a similar + way the human race may become a more predominant part of God than it now + is-but we cannot admit that one living form is more like God than another; + we must hold all equally like Him, inasmuch as they "keep ever," as Buffon + says, "the same fundamental unity, in spite of differences of + detail-nutrition, development, reproduction" (and, I would add, "memory") + "being the common traits of all organic bodies." The utmost we can admit + is, that some embodiments of the Spirit of Life may be more important than + others to the welfare of Life as a whole, in the same way as some of our + organs are more important than others to ourselves. + </p> + <p> + But the above resemblances between the language which we can adopt + intelligently and that which Theologians use vaguely, seem to reduce the + differences of opinion between the two contending parties to disputes + about detail. For even those who believe their ideas to be the most + definite, and who picture to themselves a God as anthropomorphic as He was + represented by Raffaelle, are yet not prepared to stand by their ideas if + they are hard pressed in the same way as we are by ours. Those who say + that God became man and took flesh upon Him, and that He is now perfect + God and perfect man of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting, will + yet not mean that Christ has a heart, blood, a stomach, etc., like man's, + which, if he has not, it is idle to speak of him as "perfect man." I am + persuaded that they do not mean this, nor wish to mean it; but that they + have been led into saying it by a series of steps which it is very easy to + understand and sympathise [sic] with, if they are considered with any + diligence. + </p> + <p> + For our forefathers, though they might and did feel the existence of a + Personal God in the world, yet could not demonstrate this existence, and + made mistakes in their endeavour [sic] to persuade themselves that they + understood thoroughly a truth which they had as yet perceived only from a + long distance. Hence all the dogmatism and theology of many centuries. It + was impossible for them to form a clear or definite conception concerning + God until they had studied His works more deeply, so as to grasp the idea + of many animals of different kinds and with no apparent connection between + them, being yet truly parts of one and the same animal which comprised + them in the same way as a tree comprises all its buds. They might speak of + this by a figure of speech, but they could not see it as a fact. Before + this could be intended literally, Evolution must be grasped, and not + Evolution as taught in what is now commonly called Darwinism, but the old + teleological Darwinism of eighty years ago. Nor is this again sufficient, + for it must be supplemented by a perception of the oneness of personality + between parents and offspring, the persistence of memory through all + generations, the latency of this memory until rekindled by the recurrence + of the associated ideas, and the unconsciousness with which repeated acts + come to be performed. These are modern ideas which might be caught sight + of now and again by prophets in time past, but which are even now mastered + and held firmly only by the few. + </p> + <p> + When once, however, these ideas have been accepted, the chief difference + between the orthodox God and the God who can be seen of all men is, that + the first is supposed to have existed from all time, while the second has + only lived for more millions of years than our minds can reckon + intelligently; the first is omnipresent in all space, while the second is + only present in the living forms upon this earth-that is to say, is only + more widely present than our minds can intelligently embrace. The first is + omnipotent and all-wise; the second is only quasi-omnipotent and quasi + all-wise. It is true, then, that we deprive God of that infinity which + orthodox Theologians have ascribed to Him, but the bounds we leave Him are + of such incalculable extent that nothing can be imagined more glorious or + vaster; and in return for the limitations we have assigned to Him, we + render it possible for men to believe in Him, and love Him, not with their + lips only, but with their hearts and lives. + </p> + <p> + Which, I may now venture to ask my readers, is the true God-the God of the + Theologian, or He whom we may see around us, and in whose presence we + stand each hour and moment of our lives? + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII. THE LIFE EVERLASTING + </h2> + <p> + Let us now consider the life which we can look forward to with certainty + after death, and the moral government of the world here on earth. + </p> + <p> + If we could hear the leaves complaining to one another that they must die, + and commiserating the hardness of their lot in having ever been induced to + bud forth, we should, I imagine, despise them for their peevishness more + than we should pity them. We should tell them that though we could not see + reason for thinking that they would ever hang again upon the same-or any + at all similar-bough as the same individual leaves, after they had once + faded and fallen off, yet that as they had been changing personalities + without feeling it during the whole of their leafhood, so they would on + death continue to do this selfsame thing by entering into new phases of + life. True, death will deprive them of conscious memory concerning their + now current life; but, though they die as leaves, they live in the tree + whom they have helped to vivify, and whose growth and continued well-being + is due solely to this life and death of its component personalities. + </p> + <p> + We consider the cells which are born and die within us yearly to have been + sufficiently honoured [sic] in having contributed their quotum to our + life; why should we have such difficulty in seeing that a healthy + enjoyment and employment of our life will give us a sufficient reward in + that growth of God wherein we may live more truly and effectually after + death than we have lived when we were conscious of existence? Is Handel + dead when he influences and sets in motion more human beings in three + months now than during the whole, probably, of the years in which he + thought that he was alive? What is being alive if the power to draw men + for many miles in order that they may put themselves en rapport with him + is not being so? True, Handel no longer knows the power which he has over + us, but this is a small matter; he no longer animates six feet of flesh + and blood, but he lives in us as the dead leaf lives in the tree. He is + with God, and God knows him though he knows himself no more. + </p> + <p> + This should suffice, and I observe in practice does suffice, for all + reasonable persons. It may be said that one day the tree itself must die, + and the leaves no longer live therein; and so, also, that the very God or + Life of the World will one day perish, as all that is born must surely in + the end die. But they who fret upon such grounds as this must be in so + much want of a grievance that it were a cruelty to rob them of one: if a + man who is fond of music tortures himself on the ground that one day all + possible combinations and permutations of sounds will have been exhausted + so that there can be no more new tunes, the only thing we can do with him + is to pity him and leave him; nor is there any better course than this to + take with those idle people who worry themselves and others on the score + that they will one day be unable to remember the small balance of their + lives that they have not already forgotten as unimportant to them-that + they will one day die to the balance of what they have not already died + to. I never knew a well-bred or amiable person who complained seriously of + the fact that he would have to die. Granted we must all sometimes find + ourselves feeling sorry that we cannot remain for ever at our present age, + and that we may die so much sooner than we like; but these regrets are + passing with well-disposed people, and are a sine qua non for the + existence of life at all. For if people could live for ever so as to + suffer from no such regret, there would be no growth nor development in + life; if, on the other hand, there were no unwillingness to die, people + would commit suicide upon the smallest contradiction, and the race would + end in a twelvemonth. + </p> + <p> + We then offer immortality, but we do not offer resurrection from the dead; + we say that those who die live in the Lord whether they be just or unjust, + and that the present growth of God is the outcome of all past lives; but + we believe that as they live in God-in the effect they have produced upon + the universal life-when once their individual life is ended, so it is God + who knows of their life thenceforward and not themselves; and we urge that + this immortality, this entrance into the joy of the Lord, this being ever + with God, is true, and can be apprehended by all men, and that the + perception of it should and will tend to make them lead happier, healthier + lives; whereas the commonly received opinion is true with a stage truth + only, and has little permanent effect upon those who are best worth + considering. Nevertheless the expressions in common use among the orthodox + fit in so perfectly with facts, which we must all acknowledge, that it is + impossible not to regard the expressions as founded upon a prophetic + perception of the facts. + </p> + <p> + Two things stand out with sufficient clearness. The first is the rarity of + suicide even among those who rail at life most bitterly. The other is the + little eagerness with which those who cry out most loudly for a + resurrection desire to begin their new life. When comforting a husband + upon the loss of his wife we do not tell him we hope he will soon join + her; but we should certainly do this if we could even pretend we thought + the husband would like it. I can never remember having felt or witnessed + any pain, bodily or mental, which would have made me or anyone else + receive a suggestion that we had better commit suicide without indignantly + asking how our adviser would like to commit suicide himself. Yet there are + so many and such easy ways of dying that indignation at being advised to + commit suicide arises more from enjoyment of life than from fear of the + mere physical pain of dying. Granted that there is much deplorable pain in + the world from ill-health, loss of money, loss of reputation, misconduct + of those nearest to us, or what not, and granted that in some cases these + causes do drive men to actual self-destruction, yet suffering such as this + happens to a comparatively small number, and occupies comparatively a + small space in the lives of those to whom it does happen. + </p> + <p> + What, however, have we to say to those cases in which suffering and + injustice are inflicted upon defenceless [sic] people for years and years, + so that the iron enters into their souls, and they have no avenger. Can we + give any comfort to such sufferers? and, if not, is our religion any + better than a mockery-a filling the rich with good things and sending the + hungry empty away? Can we tell them, when they are oppressed with burdens, + yet that their cry will come up to God and be heard? The question suggests + its own answer, for assuredly our God knows our innermost secrets: there + is not a word in our hearts but He knoweth it altogether; He knoweth our + down-sitting and our uprising, He is about our path and about our bed, and + spieth out all our ways; He has fashioned us behind and before, and "we + cannot attain such knowledge," for, like all knowledge when it has become + perfect, "it is too excellent for us." + </p> + <p> + "Whither then," says David, "shall I go from thy Spirit, or whither shall + I go, then, from thy presence? If I climb up into heaven thou art there; + if I go down into hell thou art there also. If I take the wings of the + morning and remain in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there also + shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say + peradventure the darkness shall cover me, then shall my night be turned + into day: the darkness and light to thee are both alike. For my reins are + thine; thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. My bones are not hid from + thee: though I be made secretly and fashioned beneath in the earth, thine + eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect; and in thy book were all my + members written, which day by day were fashioned when as yet there was + none of them. Do I not hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am I not + grieved with them that rise up against thee? Yea, I hate them right sore, + as though they were mine enemies." (Psalm CXXXIX.) There is not a word of + this which we cannot endorse with more significance, as well as with + greater heartiness than those can who look upon God as He is commonly + represented to them; whatever comfort, therefore, those in distress have + been in the habit of receiving from these and kindred passages, we + intensify rather than not. We cannot, alas! make pain cease to be pain, + nor injustice easy to bear; but we can show that no pain is bootless, and + that there is a tendency in all injustice to right itself; suffering is + not inflicted wilfully, [sic] as it were by a magician who could have + averted it; nor is it vain in its results, but unless we are cut off from + God by having dwelt in some place where none of our kind can know of what + has happened to us, it will move God's heart to redress our grievance, and + will tend to the happiness of those who come after us, even if not to our + own. + </p> + <p> + The moral government of God over the world is exercised through us, who + are his ministers and persons, and a government of this description is the + only one which can be observed as practically influencing men's conduct. + God helps those who help themselves, because in helping themselves they + are helping Him. Again, Vox Populi vox Dei. The current feeling of our + peers is what we instinctively turn to when we would know whether such and + such a course of conduct is right or wrong; and so Paul clenches his list + of things that the Philippians were to hold fast with the words, + "whatsoever things are of good fame"-that is to say, he falls back upon an + appeal to the educated conscience of his age. Certainly the wicked do + sometimes appear to escape punishment, but it must be remembered there are + punishments from within which do not meet the eye. If these fall on a man, + he is sufficiently punished; if they do not fall on him, it is probable we + have been over hasty in assuming that he is wicked. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX. GOD THE UNKNOWN + </h2> + <p> + The reader will already have felt that the panzoistic conception of + God-the conception, that is to say, of God as comprising all living units + in His own single person-does not help us to understand the origin of + matter, nor yet that of the primordial cell which has grown and unfolded + itself into the present life of the world. How was the world rendered fit + for the habitation of the first germ of Life? How came it to have air and + water, without which nothing that we know of as living can exist? Was the + world fashioned and furnished with aqueous and atmospheric adjuncts with a + view to the requirements of the infant monad, and to his due development? + If so, we have evidence of design, and if so of a designer, and if so + there must be Some far vaster Person who looms out behind our God, and who + stands in the same relation to him as he to us. And behind this vaster and + more unknown God there may be yet another, and another, and another. + </p> + <p> + It is certain that Life did not make the world with a view to its own + future requirements. For the world was at one time red hot, and there can + have been no living being upon it. Nor is it conceivable that matter in + which there was no life-inasmuch as it was infinitely hotter than the + hottest infusion which any living germ can support-could gradually come to + be alive without impregnation from a living parent. All living things that + we know of have come from other living things with bodies and souls, whose + existence can be satisfactorily established in spite of their being often + too small for our detection. Since, then, the world was once without life, + and since no analogy points in the direction of thinking that life can + spring up spontaneously, we are driven to suppose that it was introduced + into this world from some other source extraneous to it altogether, and if + so we find ourselves irresistibly drawn to the inquiry whether the source + of the life that is in the world-the impregnator of this earth-may not + also have prepared the earth for the reception of his offspring, as a hen + makes an egg-shell or a peach a stone for the protection of the germ + within it? Not only are we drawn to the inquiry, but we are drawn also to + the answer that the earth was so prepared designedly by a Person with body + and soul who knew beforehand the kind of thing he required, and who took + the necessary steps to bring it about. + </p> + <p> + If this is so we are members indeed of the God of this world, but we are + not his children; we are children of the Unknown and Vaster God who called + him into existence; and this in a far more literal sense than we have been + in the habit of realising [sic] to ourselves. For it may be doubted + whether the monads are not as truly seminal in character as the + procreative matter from which all animals spring. + </p> + <p> + It must be remembered that if there is any truth in the view put forward + in "Life and Habit," and in "Evolution Old and New" (and I have met with + no serious attempt to upset the line of argument taken in either of these + books), then no complex animal or plant can reach its full development + without having already gone through the stages of that development on an + infinite number of past occasions. An egg makes itself into a hen because + it knows the way to do so, having already made itself into a hen millions + and millions of times over; the ease and unconsciousness with which it + grows being in themselves sufficient demonstration of this fact. At each + stage in its growth the chicken is reminded, by a return of the associated + ideas, of the next step that it should take, and it accordingly takes it. + </p> + <p> + But if this is so, and if also the congeries of all the living forms in + the world must be regarded as a single person, throughout their long + growth from the primordial cell onwards to the present day, then, by + parity of reasoning, the person thus compounded-that is to say, Life or + God-should have already passed through a growth analogous to that which we + find he has taken upon this earth on an infinite number of past occasions; + and the development of each class of life, with its culmination in the + vertebrate animals and in man, should be due to recollection by God of his + having passed through the same stages, or nearly so, in worlds and + universes, which we know of from personal recollection, as evidenced in + the growth and structure of our bodies, but concerning which we have no + other knowledge whatsoever. + </p> + <p> + So small a space remains to me that I cannot pursue further the + reflections which suggest themselves. A few concluding considerations are + here alone possible. + </p> + <p> + We know of three great concentric phases of life, and we are not without + reason to suspect a fourth. If there are so many there are very likely + more, but we do not know whether there are or not. The innermost sphere of + life we know of is that of our own cells. These people live in a world of + their own, knowing nothing of us, nor being known by ourselves until very + recently. Yet they can be seen under a microscope; they can be taken out + of us, and may then be watched going here and there in perturbation of + mind, endeavouring [sic] to find something in their new environment that + will suit them, and then dying on finding how hopelessly different it is + from any to which they have been accustomed. They live in us, and make us + up into the single person which we conceive ourselves to form; we are to + them a world comprising an organic and an inorganic kingdom, of which they + consider themselves to be the organic, and whatever is not very like + themselves to be the inorganic. Whether they are composed of subordinate + personalities or not we do not know, but we have no reason to think that + they are, and if we touch ground, so to speak, with life in the units of + which our own bodies are composed, it is likely that there is a limit also + in an upward direction, though we have nothing whatever to guide us as to + where it is, nor any certainty that there is a limit at all. + </p> + <p> + We are ourselves the second concentric sphere of life, we being the + constituent cells which unite to form the body of God. Of the third sphere + we know a single member only-the God of this world; but we see also the + stars in heaven, and know their multitude. Analogy points irresistibly in + the direction of thinking that these other worlds are like our own, + begodded and full of life; it also bids us believe that the God of their + world is begotten of one more or less like himself, and that his growth + has followed the same course as that of all other growths we know of. + </p> + <p> + If so, he is one of the constituent units of an unknown and vaster + personality who is composed of Gods, as our God is composed of all the + living forms on earth, and as all those living forms are composed of + cells. This is the Unknown God. Beyond this second God we cannot at + present go, nor should we wish to do so, if we are wise. It is no reproach + to a system that it does not profess to give an account of the origin of + things; the reproach rather should lie against a system which professed to + explain it, for we may be well assured that such a profession would, for + the present at any rate, be an empty boast. It is enough if a system is + true as far as it goes; if it throws new light on old problems, and opens + up vistas which reveal a hope of further addition to our knowledge, and + this I believe may be fairly claimed for the theory of life put forward in + "Life and Habit" and "Evolution, Old and New," and for the corollary + insisted upon in these pages; a corollary which follows logically and + irresistibly if the position I have taken in the above-named books is + admitted. + </p> + <p> + Let us imagine that one of the cells of which we are composed could attain + to a glimmering perception of the manner in which he unites with other + cells, of whom he knows very little, so as to form a greater compound + person of whom he has hitherto known nothing at all. Would he not do well + to content himself with the mastering of this conception, at any rate for + a considerable time? Would it be any just ground of complaint against him + on the part of his brother cells, that he had failed to explain to them + who made the man (or, as he would call it, the omnipotent deity) whose + existence and relations to himself he had just caught sight of? + </p> + <p> + But if he were to argue further on the same lines as those on which he had + travelled hitherto, and were to arrive at the conclusion that there might + be other men in the world. besides the one whom he had just learnt to + apprehend, it would be still no refutation or just ground of complaint + against him that he had failed to show the manner in which his supposed + human race had come into existence. + </p> + <p> + Here our cell would probably stop. He could hardly be expected to arrive + at the existence of animals and plants differing from the human race, and + uniting with that race to form a single Person or God, in the same way as + he has himself united with other cells to form man. The existence, and + much more the roundness of the earth itself, would be unknown to him, + except by way of inference and deduction. The only universe which he could + at all understand would be the body of the man of whom he was a component + part. + </p> + <p> + How would not such a cell be astounded if all that we know ourselves could + be suddenly revealed to him, so that not only should the vastness of this + earth burst upon his dazzled view, but that of the sun and of his planets + also, and not only these, but the countless other suns which we may see by + night around us. Yet it is probable that an actual being is hidden from + us, which no less transcends the wildest dream of our theologians than the + existence of the heavenly bodies transcends the perception of our own + constituent cells. + </p> + <p> + THE END <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's God the Known and God the Unknown, by Samuel Butler + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOD THE KNOWN AND GOD THE UNKNOWN *** + +***** This file should be named 2513-h.htm or 2513-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/1/2513/ + +Produced by Elliot S. Wheeler, and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + </body> +</html> |