ACCEPTING THE UNIVERSE 



comes our life; out of the sea of impersonal energy 

 come our personalities; out of the rocks comes the 

 soil that sustains us; out of the fiery nebulae came 

 the earth with its apple-blossoms and its murmur- 

 ing streams; out of the earth came man. If the cos- 

 mic forces were not merciless, if they did not go 

 their own way, if they made exceptions for you and 

 me, if in them there were variableness and even a 

 shadow of turning, the vast inevitable beneficence 

 of Nature would vanish, and the caprice and uncer- 

 tainty of man take its place. If the sun were to stand 

 still for Joshua to conquer his enemies, there would 

 be no further need for it to resume its journey. 

 What I am trying to get rid of is the pitying and 

 meddling Providence which our feeble faith and 

 half-knowledge have enthroned above us. We need 

 stronger meat than the old theology affords us. We 

 need to contemplate the ways of a Providence that 

 has not been subsidized; we need encouragement in 

 our attitude of heroic courage and faith toward an 

 impersonal universe; we need to have our petty an- 

 thropomorphic views of things shaken up and hung 

 out in the wind to air. The universe is not a school- 

 room on the Montessori lines, nor a benevolent in- 

 stitution run on the most modern improved plan. It 

 is a work-a-day field where we learn from hard 

 knocks, and where the harvest, not too sure, waits 

 upon our own right arm. 



