![]() ![]() You have no idea how pallid the workday boundaries of ordinary existence seem, after such an ecstasy.We read a good novel not in order to know more people, but in order to know fewer. It's more as if the universe expands to fill the boundaries of the self. Duality ceases to exist there is no ego, no 'I,' and yet it's not at all like those horrid comparisons one sometimes hears in Eastern religions, the self being a drop of water swallowed by the ocean of the universe. Something changeless and joyous and absolutely indestructible. Time is something which defies spring and water, birth and decay, the good and the bad, indifferently. Mean we think of phenomenal change as being the very essence of time, when it's not at all. Vines grew from the ground so fast they twined up the trees like snakes seasons passing in the wink of an eye, entire years for all I know. It was like a film in fast motion, the moon waxing and waning, clouds rushing across the sky. Wolves howling around us and a bull bellowing in the dark. If science is to bring happiness and real progress to the world, it needs the warmth of man's heart just as much as the cold inquisitiveness of his brain.” While analytical intellect may well be called the most precious fruit of the Modern Age, it must not be allowed to rule supreme in matters of cognition. If pursued through the course of years, something will begin to stir in the human soul, a sense of kinship with the forces of life consciousness which rule the world of plants and animals, and with the powers which determine the laws of matter. Such efforts are like journeys beyond the boundaries of narrow self-love and, although the process of intuitive awakening is laborious and slow, its rewards are noticeable from the very first. Gradually, however, he must silence his thoughts and, for moments at least, forget all his personal cares and desires, until nothing remains in his soul but awe for the miracle before him. But what he can do is to give undivided attention, at times, to a natural phenomenon, observing it in detail, and recalling all the scientific facts about it he may remember. Modern man, with his reduced capacity for intuitive perception, is unlikely to benefit from the contemplative life of a hermit in the wilderness. ![]() Modern man need not become a hermit to achieve this goal, for it is neither ecstasy nor world-estranged mysticism his era demands, but a balance between quantitative and qualitative reality. “Not too long ago thousands spent their lives as recluses to find spiritual vision in the solitude of nature. The religion of blood and war is face to face with that of peace.” The forces of progress clash with those of reaction. In each case civilisation is confronted with militant Mahommedanism. Thus the Turks repel their enemies, the Arabs of the Soudan break the British squares, and the rising on the Indian frontier spreads far and wide. While the more generous spirits among the tribesmen become convulsed in an ecstasy of religious bloodthirstiness, poorer and more material souls derive additional impulses from the influence of others, the hopes of plunder and the joy of fighting. Seizing their weapons, they become Ghazis-as dangerous and as sensible as mad dogs: fit only to be treated as such. All rational considerations are forgotten. The more emotional Pathans are powerless to resist. In a moment the fruits of patient toil, the prospects of material prosperity, the fear of death itself, are flung aside. It was originally propagated by the sword, and ever since, its votaries have been subject, above the people of all other creeds, to this form of madness. “.But the Mahommedan religion increases, instead of lessening, the fury of intolerance. ![]()
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