i88o/| Mysticism and Asceticism . 699 
adept represent opposite poles of humanity. The more 
closely we approach the position of the one the more widely 
we are separated from that of the other. Hence I see no 
hope that occult science even if it should succeed in sub- 
stantiating its claims, can supplement and extend our present 
knowledge. . . 
But I may raise the question whether a course of training 
such as that undergone by the fakir is not eminently calcu- 
lated to promote hallucinations and delusions of every kind? 
One of the main points of his discipline is a reduction as far 
as possible of the respiratory process. He must learn to 
breathe slowly, and the atmosphere of his underground cell 
will undoubtedlv become very foul. 
As a matter of course the aeration and purification of the 
blood will be very imperfectly performed, a state of things 
that cannot but reaCt injuriously upon the brain, especially 
in conjunction with the exercise of standing upon the head. 
It would be hard to conceive a mode of life more unfitted 
for a sober truth-seeker. That by these means the adept 
ultimately becomes capable of existing in a state of trance 
for weeks or even months, during which circulation and 
respiration are apparently suspended, seems fully proven. 
But this sham-death is after all merely an artificial repro- 
duction of the winter-sleep of certain animals and can scarcely 
be accepted as a higher life than that of waking man. Such 
an adept seems to me rather an objeCt for observation and 
experiment than as being himself an investigator and dis- 
coverer. 
There is another feature in the teachings of the lheo- 
sophists which must not be overlooked the glorification of 
asceticism. I have very little sympathy with or respeCt for 
the sensualist, but the asCetic I regard with loathing mingled 
with dread. The austerities and torments which he mflidts 
upon himself he is ever ready, if opportunity offers, to force 
upon others. Almost every persecutor, every ecclesiastical 
tyrant, of whatsoever creed, is recorded as given to fasting 
and penances. 
An every-day observation proves the demoialising ten- 
dency of asceticism. Every man is harsher, moie seveie, less 
obliging when hungry than when satisfied, a tiuth which 
extends to the very beasts.* What then must be the 
accumulation of “ envy, hatred, malice, and all unchaii- 
tableness” in a man who is always hungry ? 1 he ascetic, if 
sincere, is a Torquemada, a Tilly, or a Cotton Mather; it 
* The Lent of the Greek Church and the Rama lan of Islam are saturnalia 
of all crimes of violence and cruelty. 
