ACCEPTING THE UNIVERSE 



having their spiritual life discussed in terms of 

 psychology, because psychology smacks of science 

 and science acts like a blight upon religion. It dispels 

 mystery and lets the light of day — the garish, 

 irreligious day — into the twilight or the darkness 

 of religious emotion. We do not want our relation to 

 the spiritual world explained in terms of our com- 

 mon knowledge — such is our hankering after the 

 unknown, the mysterious, the transcendent. 



One side of our nature fears the Infinite, and we 

 experience a chill when the methods of this world 

 obtrude themselves there. We have convinced our- 

 selves that the part of our inner life which we call 

 the soul is something more sacred and mysterious 

 and nearer to the Infinite than our ordinary facul- 

 ties. What victims we are of words! What is the 

 value of this feeling, and how did it arise? Our ap- 

 preciation of the beautiful, in art and nature, is 

 equally extra and transcends our practical faculties. 

 Man's belief in another world — an ideal world of 

 the absolute good — »s, of course, the result of his 

 strong reaction from the pain, the struggle, the in- 

 completeness of this world. Evolution is a hard road 

 to travel. Being born is evidently not a pleasant 

 experience for the baby, and in this world man is 

 constantly struggling through new experiences into 

 a higher and larger life. His measure of happiness is 

 never full and he looks for compensation in another 

 and better world. He does not see that there can be 



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