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diff --git a/42683-0.txt b/42683-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baa4fc --- /dev/null +++ b/42683-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,714 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42683 *** + + Transcriber's Note: + + Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as + possible. + + Italic text has been marked with _underscores_. + + + + +GOD: OUTLINES OF THE NEW THEOLOGY. + + + + + GOD: + + OUTLINES OF THE + + NEW THEOLOGY, + + BASED ON + + FACTS, SCIENCE, NATURE, REASON, + INTUITION, REVELATION AND + COMMON SENSE. + + BY T. D. CURTIS, + AUTHOR OF "THE NAZARENE," "CROSS AND CROWN," + "RESURGAM," AND OTHER POEMS. + + CHICAGO: + PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR + + 1889 + + + + + COPYRIGHTED BY THE AUTHOR, T. D. CURTIS, OF + CHICAGO, IN THE YEAR 1889. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The New Theology is a gathering up of the fragments, antagonizing none +of the Old Theologies, while harmonizing the essential parts of all, +by omitting excrescences and supplying deficiencies. All others have +failed because they are fragmentary and narrow. They do not recognize +the Female principle of Being and its true relation to the Male. They +do not recognize the results of endless Progression, or the outcome of +an infinite and eternal sexual union of the primal principles Love and +Wisdom, which generates the motive power of Being and causes evolution +and all the innumerable manifestations of progressive existence. They +do not explain the origin of the idea of a personal God, nor of the +doctrine of emanation from Him, or the God-Pair. They do not explain +whence the idea of a non-personal Being, pervading everything. None +of them catch a glimpse of the conjugal pair unfolding and rising to +Godhood, when their sphere becomes the parent of universes, by natural +development, thus completing another of the cycles of Being, as we see +in two infants growing into the adult estate and becoming the parents +of other infants. In place of the rule of Law and Order, rising into +the rule of Equity and Love, they substitute the arbitrary rule of a +monarch, full of partiality, favoritism and vindictiveness. The time +has come for something more humane, consistent and rational, more +progressive, comprehensive and complete. This the New Theology supplies +to the advanced mind. Mankind are sloughing off the Old Theologies, and +coming up higher. We are at the turn of the tide, and the New Theology +is a safe craft on which to ride the spiritual waves, in the light of a +new and better era, to a higher condition. + + THE AUTHOR. + + + + +GOD. + + + 1. + + Of all that is incomprehensible + The name--in English language known as GOD, + The Force of which all forms and things are full-- + The Source of Being--otherwise were null + All things that now exist--at whose great nod + The Universes come to light--whose will + Omnipotent rules with Discretion's rod + Of Love and Mercy, Equity and Skill:-- + Thou art my theme--into my brain thy light instill! + + + 2. + + Others have speculated on this theme; + Then why not I, who feel impelled to try + My feeble power upon the waking dream + Of all the ages? Though presumptuous seem + My efforts, there can be no reason why + The least may not divulge the thoughts that rise + Within the soul so eager to descry, + As wide it opes its ever-straining eyes, + The visions that might daze the more profoundly wise. + + + 3. + + Throughout all animated nature we + Behold the presence and the power of Sex; + From Man to lowest forms of Life we see + All things are joined together sexually + For Reproduction; simple or complex, + 'Tis Evolution's ever-acting law; + We trace through brutal matter the reflex + Of this all-potent force, and view with awe + The deep conclusions which from it we're forced to draw. + + + 4. + + Female and Male all things at last appear; + Thus Sex thro'out all Nature's realms controls; + From lowest upward to the highest sphere, + So far as mortal eye beholdeth here, + Through Sex conjunction everything unfolds; + As positive and negative, when met + In union chemical, the union holds + True to proportions which the law hath set + For simples, and they thus new elements beget. + + + 5. + + Together these two forces act as one; + Without the one, the other were as nought; + They are the Heat and Light thrown from the sun + Which warm and vivify the earth as run + The planets in their courses; nor is ought + Upon the face of earth they did not bring; + Through these life-giving rays to us are brought + All earthly blessings--Life and every thing + That blooms and fructifies to which we fondly cling. + + + 6. + + Our sun, like every other sun we see, + Is a reflex of its Great Prototype, + The Spirit Sun, from which perpetually + Is drawn all that is possible to be-- + That is, all primal principles, when ripe + Are the conditions for them to descend + Into this outer sphere, where Pan's rude pipe + Breaks forth in music, as the forces tend + To consummate through Nature Being's aim and end. + + + 7. + + The home of God, as it to me appears, + Is the Great Spirit Sun, whence emanate + All things beheld by scientists and seers-- + The births of countless myriads of years + Wherein the sexual forces procreate + The suns and universes, and the forms + That naturally fill each vast estate, + Preparing, through each sun that lights and warms, + Abodes for future life's innumerable swarms. + + + 8. + + God is a highly conjugated Pair, + Once lowly born and dwelling on some earth + So far remote that no one may declare + Or comprehend the stretch of time, or dare + To picture them at the domestic hearth, + Where first they felt the flame of love divine + To which their dawning future gave the birth; + Then through their consciousness began to shine + Their vast unfolding, as their lives should intertwine. + + + 9. + + They too sprang from a God who had before + Been born as they, and like to them did grow + A Mutual Pair, unfolding Being's door + For earthly suns and planets to outpour + And then become with light and life aglow; + As closer still their sexual union grew, + Life and intelligence unfolded more, + Until the Pair we call our God, with due + And orderly succession, sprang to earthly view. + + + 10. + + They lived and died, as men and women now + Are seen to live and die, in earthly sense; + They entered spirit life, and then the vow + Of love renewed was made, and on each brow + The blazing star of faith shone most intense; + They rose to higher spheres, and all aglow + They moved in Love's own aura, issuing hence + And forming round them in a glorious bow, + Until a sun began its radiance to throw. + + + 11. + + The elements of Being evermore + Joined in a closer union, as they must; + As they recede, they form a darksome shore + Like what remained when earthly life was o'er + And the God-Pair behind them left their dust; + Upon this outer sphere, surrounding all, + The only sphere where burneth selfish lust, + The inner heat of Life began to fall + And suns to burn and throw off earthly ball on ball. + + + 12. + + Thus came our universe with all its stars, + Its suns and planets--all that these contain; + Our earth rolls on among the planet-cars, + Freighted with life and death, with peace and wars, + With all the good and evil in its train; + And we, the tiny mortals struggling here, + Hoping and fearing, vexing heart and brain, + Have much our weary, drooping souls to cheer-- + For what is mystery now will soon be plain and clear. + + + 13. + + Our destiny is that which is our God's, + Who has so many ages gone before; + The heights sublime whence he now smiling nods + One day we all shall reach, though great the odds + Now stretching out from hence to that bright shore; + For time and space are nothing; the same laws + That governed him, unfolding evermore + Those sprang from him, still working without pause, + Must lift us to his plane, as end doth follow cause. + + + 14. + + Meantime, he will go on as we come up, + Since our unfolding must depend on his; + For we must drink from out the self-same cup, + And at the self-same table we must sup; + But he, gone on beyond to higher bliss, + Will be our leader still, above all strife; + We from his realm, as now we do in this, + Like branches of the tree with sap grown rife, + Draw elements of fruit, which sprout new shoots of life. + + + 15. + + But, did our Heavenly Parents not progress, + There would be no progression for us here; + All stagnant would become, and motionless, + With utter silence and obliviousness + As infinite as Being's boundless sphere; + Progress for one involves progress for all, + As long as Love its mate delights to cheer; + As long as Love responds to Love's sweet call, + No cataclysmal force can Being's tide forestall. + + + 16. + + But does it seem too much for mortal hope + To dream of a career so far above + And still advancing as conditions ope + The way of endless progress? Who can cope + With infinite progression, born of Love, + And say where it shall end? Our destiny, + With all eternity in which to rove, + Must have unbounded possibility; + Oh! glorious broadening ages that are yet to be! + + + 17. + + We only have a glimpse, and yet behold + How vast the scene stretched out before our eyes! + We start from seeming nothingness of old; + As we our dawning consciousness unfold, + What strides we make! How vastly do we rise + From knowing nought to science quick with sight + To penetrate the earth and scan the skies, + So eager is the soul in search of light, + Full of its destiny to grasp the infinite! + + + 18. + + Who cannot see eternal progress must + Have infinite results, and no one can + E'er be so far advanced beyond the dust + That, progress ended, he will stop and rust + Mid Evolution's ever-onward plan? + If dreams of a progressive life are not + A vain delusion, then must rising man + Become more than the mind conceives of what + Befits a God--beyond all reach of earthly thought. + + + 19. + + And who shall say it is so very strange + That suns and systems should be born and reared + Amid the ceaseless and unfolding change + Through which evolving souls are made to range + In their progression, marvelous and weird, + When mere conjunction of the sexes gives + To human beings form and life endeared + To parents and to other relatives-- + The highest type of Being here on earth that lives? + + + 20. + + The emanations from the wedded Pair, + When truly wed, forever conjugate; + In closer union constantly they are + Combining in the form of substance rare, + And building of the aura they create + A sphere around the couple joined as one, + Which ever is extending as they mate + In their unending journey here begun, + Until their sphere is a prolific Spirit Sun. + + + 21. + + We are unable here to further trace + Their grand career beyond this Spirit Sun; + We have no evidence on which to base + Their further progress, nor a clue to place + Conjecture or belief upon; but none + Can doubt the bliss and glory of the vast + Unfolding of the future here begun; + It seems impossible for seers to cast + Their vision farther on; it stops with God, at last. + + + 22. + + Nor can we farther backward go than this, + Our earthly plane, which emanates as waste + From the God-Pair, while every atom is + Instinct with all that an analysis + Could find in highest forms of what is chaste; + Though seeming void, chaotic, without trend, + As water seeks its level in its haste + To be at rest, so these rude atoms tend + To reproduce the human form--their aim and end. + + + 23. + + But this is clear, what _is_ forever _was_, + So far as actual substance is concerned; + We need not look for any primal cause + Of Being, nor of any of its laws; + They _were_, and _are_, and _will be_, when is burned + The last of all we now behold below-- + _Will be_ when countless cycles have returned, + And countless others shall return and go; + All _was_, and _is_, and _will be_--more we cannot know. + + + 24. + + Two Principles we recognize as first; + These primal principles unite as one; + All Being dual is; the sexual thirst + Felt by all sentient beings here is nursed + By virtue of these Principles, which run + Each into each as naturally as + The elements of water run, or sun + Draws up the waters for the thirsty grass, + Or streams to join the ocean ripple as they pass. + + + 25. + + The Swedish Seer went not astray when he + Named these two Principles Wisdom and Love; + Their junction formeth all that e'er can be, + Spirit or substance, matter, all we see, + Or feel, or think, or hope for from above; + Their union, growing closer hour by hour, + Oped infinite conditions when they clove + Unto each other with resistless power + That moves all Being--each the other's living dower. + + + 26. + + To show that Being must be dual, let + Us for a moment brief only suppose + One man alone, one sentient being, set + In utter nothingness, with nought to fret + Or to disturb the silence and repose-- + He could not even know he lived at all! + 'Tis moving contact that to each one shows + He has existence. If stark darkness fall, + One cannot feel his hand without some motion small. + + + 27. + + Love sleeping all alone could never wake; + Wisdom in lone repose could give no light; + The two brought into contact, Love would quake + With thrilling tremor that would warm and wake + Wisdom to knowledge and a joyous sight + Of his companion blushing to be seen; + The mutual recognition would be quite + A startling revelation in the sheen + Of Light and Life gendered by touch the two between. + + + 28. + + Then think with what attractive force the two + Great Principles of Being would be drawn + Together, with no other thing in view + To militate against the union true + Of every eager atom, which would yawn + With the intensest hunger to be wed + To its twin atom, waiting in the dawn + Of resurrection from the rayless dead, + To thus be on its everlasting journey sped! + + + 29. + + An illustration feeble this of how + The Principles of Love and Wisdom blend + In mutual accord, and thus endow + The Pair with the capacity to grow + Into a fonder union without end, + Evolving from their conscious being all + The forms and forces which forever send + The tide of Life through all that soar or crawl, + Wherever the conditions infinite may call. + + + 30. + + It matters not what we may choose to name + The element which we now contemplate; + It is the all-pervading vital flame + And moulding force that from the union came + Of Love and Wisdom, which forever mate; + If we so will, we may suppose it Mind, + And all things manifold and correlate + So many thoughts projected and defined + For use and contemplation of our human kind. + + + 31. + + So far as we can see, the moving force + Comes through and issues from a Human Pair + Who lived long ages since, and in the course + Of Evolution, have become the source + Of our vast universe, and to it are + As parents to their children, by a law + Of higher, broader scope, that may compare + With procreation here, but which may draw + From deeper source than even Gods themselves e'er saw. + + + 32. + + Man is the aim and end of what exists; + As forces at his earthly birth prepare + For him the needed food, and he subsists + Within the womb as kindly Nature lists, + So Love and Wisdom, present everywhere, + Provide the suns and earths for his abode + While, all unconscious, he is unaware + Of his condition, or whence leads the road + That he henceforth must tread, as others erst have trode. + + + 33. + + What Love suggests Wisdom is prone to do, + As far as laws eternal will permit; + Pervading all and ever working to + Whatever object seen they can pursue, + They find the highest form and type most fit + In Man and Woman, whom they ever aim + To reproduce and then unfold to sit + In higher realms, with Love and Light aflame, + Whence they survey new fields and those through which they came. + + + 34. + + The emanations from the Parent Pair + At first take forms of very low degree, + According to conditions, to prepare + The way for higher forms, which ever are + Ascending toward the human, as we see; + The motion of the atom designates + Condition and its due activity; + Sub-union of the elements creates + Varieties of forms and motions, and of states. + + + 35. + + Though Being is but one, within its scope + It takes on countless forms, ascending still + To higher harmonies, where new fields ope + To higher beauties and to brighter hope; + As music's octaves rise, progressive will + Ascends from sphere to sphere, thro' endless range; + The higher motion makes each sphere to thrill + With higher Life and glories new and strange, + Perfection nearing through an everlasting change. + + + 36. + + "Is this the lot of all?" some one may ask; + "If so, how can there be the room for each + To thus unfold eternally and bask + In glory e'er increasing, with the task + Of guiding all in such a boundless reach?" + Do _my_ thoughts clash with yours, or yours with mine? + Have you not room to think, and act, and teach, + Because the world is full of thoughts that shine + In other brains or firmaments, which them enshrine? + + + 37. + + In spirit, there is room enough to think; + The mental realm has no material bound; + To space there is no all-confining brink, + Or wall of adamant against which clink + The thoughts of men and useless fall to ground; + Yet thoughts are things substantial as the rock, + But only tho'ts from higher source are crowned + Supreme and lasting; these, as real, knock + Against our weaker conscious being, shock on shock. + + + 38. + + Well the psychologist knows how he can + Create what seem material things unto + The sensitive whom he controls, and plan + Surroundings real to him as God's to Man; + His thoughts, more positive, come into view + As actual objects to the subject's mind; + So in our little realm, by law as true + As Life, our consciousness is all confined, + And we behold God's thoughts in matter's form designed. + + + 39. + + We nothing add and nothing do we take + By our unfolding, which but changes what + Already has existence, as we wake + From our unconscious state and slowly shake + The sleep of ages from our eyes, our lot + To find ourselves upon a higher plane + Of active life, which we had heeded not, + Because we had not risen yet, through pain, + Unto the higher level it was ours to gain. + + + 40. + + Our life henceforth is one eternal _Now_, + Based on the Past, with all it has achieved, + And looking to the Future with a brow + Beaming with keen anticipation's glow; + However in the past we may have grieved, + Now comes a state where grief is all unknown; + We rise above the brutal plane, relieved + From its relentless rule; we gladly own + Affection's sweeter sway, and ever cease to moan. + + + 41. + + As the conditions change, we rise to higher + Enjoyment of the life which they unfold; + We are not torn by false or vain desire, + Nor tortured with the slow but cleansing fire + That burns the dross and purifies the gold; + But calmly and serenely on we keep + Our course to beauties and to joys untold; + No more our eyes are called upon to weep, + No more we sink in dull and all-unconscious sleep. + + + 42. + + Our life, as then we find it, still unfolds + Through the resistless tide or undertow + Of an involuntary force, which holds + Us in the true unerring course--controls + The flow of voluntary, as below, + Yet gives a sense of acting from free will; + But well we know the power to will must flow, + With all our opportunities, from still + Profounder prior source, whence we derive all skill. + + + 43. + + 'Twas always so, and will be without end; + We cannot pierce eternity of Past + To find beginning, nor the future rend + To find the final goal to which we tend, + But be content to know that, first and last, + All was and will be as we find it now, + Changed only in condition, which is fast + Revolving the kaleidoscope to show + How multiform the Being first on earth we know. + + + 44. + + Mankind are Gods in embryo, and Gods + Are wedded Pairs advanced to higher life; + All are one substance, and the seeming odds + Are in conditions; he who patient plods + Through this dull sphere of ever-active strife, + Where hope and doubt a balance keep with fears, + Will one day join his true allotted wife, + And they together rise, as blend their spheres, + To God's estate and its unfolding lapse of years. + + + 45. + + All the surrounding vast array we meet, + The sphere of God and present home of Man, + Is part and parcel needed to complete + The home that every conscious life must greet-- + As in the womb the infant but a span + Has there prepared a world to meet its needs + Till Nature has completed every plan + For its reception, and where too she breeds + All things required to aid the destiny that leads. + + + 46. + + Behold, oh! Man, how glorious a thing + It is to be! Thou art the type supreme + Of all that is; and couldst thou only bring + Thine eyes to see the grandeur which I sing, + Thou wouldst not grovel in thy waking dream, + But rise to higher, nobler, juster aims, + And make the very vaults of Heaven gleam + With smiles of angels, whose prolonged acclaims + Would shake the earth, aglow with their ethereal flame. + + + 47. + + But now my task is done. I drop the pen + And turn to earth, where bodily affairs + Call me to tussle with my fellow men + For my small share of sustenance, and then + Essay to help the weaker gather theirs; + Would that I had the power to clearer make + The meaning of my theme; but all my prayers + Are vain to help my cause, or even wake + One echo in the mind that feels no thirst to slake. + + + 48. + + Perhaps some day some abler hand will string + The lyre to loftier, clearer, sweeter tones, + And of Man's joyous destiny will sing, + And o'er the earth its thrilling echoes fling, + Waking responsive feeling in the zones, + While listening from my spirit mansion I-- + Who long since in the ashes left my bones-- + Will smiling hear the notes that rise on high, + And fill with rapturous music the o'ervaulting sky. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of God, by T. D. Curtis + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42683 *** |