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The Ideal State 



. . . none the less spirit " — is obscured and submerged. 

 But the spirit of man — his inner and true nature — 

 is essentially free, and man himself is therefore re- 

 sponsible. It therefore rests with himself to rise above 

 the merely surface nature — the " cloak of self," " the 

 carnal mesh," " the muddy vesture of decay," as it has 

 been so aptly termed by some of the great and good of 

 the past — and give full play to the essential good in 

 him — the soul or spirit — by means of which he acquires 

 potential union with God. Man is miserable when he 

 does evil because it is foreign to his real nature. We 

 will do well to recall here some of the utterances of the 

 greatest of modern prophets. In " Sartor Resartus " x 

 we read : " Well did the wisest of our time write ! 

 It is only with Renunciation that Life, properly speak- 

 ing, can be said to begin." . . . " Art thou nothing other 

 than a Vulture then, that fliest through the Universe, 

 seeking after somewhat to eat ; and shrieking dolefully 

 because carrion enough is not given thee ? Close thy 

 Byron; open thy Goethe." . . . " Esleuchtet mir ein: I 

 see a glimpse of it ; there is in man a higher than love 

 of Happiness : he can do without happiness, and instead 

 thereof find Blessedness. Was it not to preach forth 

 this same Higher that sages and martyrs, the Poet and 

 the Priest, in all times, have spoken and suffered ; 

 bearing testimony through life and through death of the 

 God-like that is in Man, and how in the God-like only 

 has he strength and freedom ? Which God-inspired 

 doctrine art thou also honoured to be taught ; O, 

 Heavens ! and broken with manifold merciful afflic- 

 tions, even till thou become contrite, and learn it ! O 

 thank thy destiny for these ; thankfully bear what yet 

 remain : thou hadst need of them ; the self in thee 

 needed to be annihilated. By benignant fever-par- 

 oxysms is Life rooting out the deep-seated chronic 

 1 The everlasting Yea, Chapter IX, " Sartor Resartus." 



