ACCEPTING THE UNIVERSE 



midnight skies paved with stars which the guide 

 produces in the Mammoth Cave by hiding himself 

 and throwing the rays of his torch athwart the ceil- 

 ing set thick with transparent rock crystals. The 

 effect is quite startling. For the moment it is hard to 

 resist the conviction that you are actually looking 

 upon the cloudless sky at night. But in reality is not 

 the noonday sky just as much of an illusion, except 

 that there are no mimic stars? The blue dome over- 

 head is an illusion. There is no dome there. The 

 sky is a mere apparition. It is not a body or a 

 reality as it seems to be; it is mere empty space, 

 though it has the effect upon us of a vast blue dome. 

 How genial and inviting it looks when we see it 

 peeping through the clouds, and how glorious when 

 we see it swept free from clouds! Its purity, its 

 serenity, its elevated character, move us to regard 

 it as the abode of superior beings. The telescope 

 dispels our illusions; the sky is not a transparent 

 realm, but only an extension of earthly conditions. 

 Heaven, the abode of the blest, takes its name from 

 this negation of vacancy. Our notions of a personal 

 God are similar illusions. God is as real as the sky 

 is, and no more so, even though in our devout 

 moods we lift our eyes heavenward and identify him 

 with this comforting illusion. 



All our life illusions brood over us. The night 

 is only a shadow — the negation of light; and 

 yet it plays a part in our lives as real as that of 



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