ACCEPTING THE UNIVERSE 



something above us and superior to us, a finer 

 world, nearer God, lighted by the stars, the abode 

 of spirits, the source of all good, our final celestial 

 home. Did not Elijah ascend into heaven? Did not 

 Paul have heavenly visions? Have not the saints 

 in all ages turned their faces and lifted imploring 

 hands to heaven? How these things have burnt 

 themselves into our minds! We cannot escape 

 them. 



In our floods of religious emotion we instinc- 

 tively look away from the earth. The mystery, the 

 immensity, the purity of the heavens above us make 

 us turn our faces thitherward, and as naturally 

 make us turn downward when we consider the 

 source of evil. The poor old earth which has moth- 

 ered us and nursed us we treat with scant respect. 

 Our awe and veneration we reserve for the worlds 

 we know not of. Our senses sell us out. The mud on 

 our shoes disenchants us. It is only Whitman with 

 his cosmic consciousness that can closely relate the 

 heavens and the earth: 



" Underneath the divine soil, 

 Overhead the sun." 



To most of us the morning stars that once sang 

 together are of another stuff. The music of the 

 spheres must be vastly different from the roar and 

 grind of our old rusty and outworn planet. So we 

 turn to the heavens, the abode of purity and light. 

 So do we discount and black-list the earth where we 



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