The disclosures of the universal mysteries

Front matter

1^

Cliap. Copyright No.

Shell L>-' ^■

Preface

The title of this book, "The Disclosures of the Universal Mysteries," designates the matter set forth herein. Thousands upon thousands of years have elapsed, and of all the theologians, philosophers and men of science who have concerned themselves with the subject, not one has hitherto found the key of the universal mysteries. Whether or not I have found this key, I leave to the calm judgment of the reader, after a careful study of this book.

It will encourage the reader to give thoughtful attention to my work, when he finds by the quotations which follow, from eminent men whose judgment may be relied upon, that other writings of mine have merited their serious consideration, if not approval.

THE AUTHOR.

The author will deem it a privilege if persons noticing this work, whether favorably or otherwise, will send him a copy of their criticism. He will be pleased to afford any further explanation of his position herein set forth.

311 East 74/A street, New York, UTevtmber, 1696

CONCERNING THE AUTHOR'S WRITINGS.

Professor William James, of Harvard University, in a letter to Professor Edwin R. A. Seligman, of Columbia College, regarding the author's MS. "Divinity and the Cosmos:" "There is a spiritedness about his whole attempt, a classic directness and simplicity in the style of most of it, and a bold grrandeur in his whole outlook, that give it a very high aesthetic quality, reminding me forcibly of Spinoza himself, opposed as are many of Silberstein's views to those of his great forerunner."

In a second letter to Professor Seligman :

"There is really a grand style about his writing — quite a native kinship to Spinoza."

In a letter to the author Professor James states:

"Your style is wonderfully spirited and direct; your attitude is noble and the simplicity of your outlook sublime. You are really a first cousin ot Spinoza, and if you had written your system then, it is very likely that I might now be studying it with students, just as Spinoza's now is studied."

Professor Josiah Royce, of Harvard University:

"Your discussions, both of the history of philosophy and of the fundamental metaphysical problems, show, even in their fragmentariness, in the present MS., an acuteness and skill that makes me wish that I could see in print your treatment of the fundamental question of philosophy. In this region your peculiar experience, your independence, your courage of conviction, produce results which reveal you in a very interesting light."

"I have read a portion of the manuscript of Mr. Solomon J. Silberstein, setting forth his views in a new system of philosophy. These views are obviously the result of wide study and serious, prolonged and profound reflection. I should be very glad to have them published, so that they might be made accessible to all students of philosophy."

Vm THE AUTHOR AND HIS WRITINGS

Professor Sterrett, Columbian University, Washington, D. C. : ''I have only been able to read enough of your MS. to be convinced of two things: First.— That you have the genuine philosophical spirit and insight. You know its central problem and its ancient and mediaeval solutions. You have done genuinely philosophical work. Second. — That your terminology and method place you without the sphere of much of the current thinking. This argues nothing against the intrinsic worth of your thought. I believe that the work is well worth publishing, and that it will command the interest and attention of students of philosophy. I trust that you will have it published. I shall be glad to purchase a copy and to read it.

Professor Geo. M. Duncan, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. : "I have read the first chapter of Mr. Silberstein's work, ' Divinity and the Cosmos,' and am impressed with its acuteness and originality of view. Much in it reminds me of Spinoza, and impresses one as being the production of a vigorous mind that has worked on the profound questions of philosophy in isolation from the general currents of modern speculation. It is all the more noteworthy from this fact. The writer is evidently a philosophical thinker of ability and originality, and I should be glad to see his work in print."

Dr. K. KoHLER, New York, writes: (November 4th, 1889.)

" Mr. S. J. Silberstein has written a Hebrew work on ' Religion and Law.' I gladly testify that the book in question shows profoun<i and original research and vast erudition ; and no matter whether the author may or may not expect to create a new cosmotheological system surpassing that of Leibnitz and Spinoza, he certainly has the philosophical equipment, the love of truth and the self-denial of a real scholar, which entitle him to the respect and to the support of all those who, in our age of materialistic pursuits, still worship at the shrine of the ideal and honor the idealist, in whatever garb, as its priest and prophet."

Chapter 1. The Idea Of God: Absolute Intellectuality

n^HE mechanic lias a mental image in his brain of the machine which he intends to build. He builds his machine after the models or images which his brain creates. Thus, the knowledge of a machine creates a mental image in his brain in exactly the same form as the machine will be which he will afterwards construct in actuality. The intellect constructs that mental image before the physical machine is formed ; in other words, the physical machine is only a copy of the image which was previously formed by the intellect. The universe, containing all the physical objects, all the machines that ever can be in an actual existence by one general relation, as an infinitely great machine — must be the intellectual result of an intellectual image which was previously formed by an intellect. Thus, the intellect of the universe constructed that mental image of the entire universe before the physical universe was formed. The physical universe is only a copy of the intellectual image — b THE UNIVERSAL MYSTERIES

of the mtellectual universe which was and ever is previously formed by an intellect.

It is true, the mechanic has the uiental image in his brain of the machine which he intends to build before it is formed in actuality, because that mechanic has the knowledge of some preliminary propositions and axioms, as that of the logical and mathematical calculations, and has already experienced and experimented with many single phenomena by his senses ; so that the mental image of that machine does not .seem to be absolutely previous to the machine, but it is found and contained in other existing objects and is collated in the human brain of the mechanic from the ideas of many physical things that are previous in existence. But the truth itself, by teaching us that the mechanic forms his mental image of that machine only because he has the knowledge of some preliminary propositions and axioms, and only because he has experienced and experimented with many single objects that are previous in existence, teaches us plainly that the newly constructed machine is a mathematical inference from many physical objects that are previous in existence. Calculating the force in one compound object, regarding the amount of matter, or "mass " of the object, the magnitude and direction of the force, which impulse compels the object to be in a certain state and form, in its peculiarity, in comparison with many other forces in many other objects and systems of bodies (machines), which impulses compel the objects to be in their different states and forms, in their different pecnliarities — the mechanic has obtained by such a calculation his project to build a new machine, a new system of forces, which should possess a certain amount of matter, a certain magnitude and direction of forces, which impulse should compel the machine to be in a new state and form, to possess a nev/ peculiarity, by the mathematical inferences.

Thus, the science of mechanics, by teaching us that given the mass of a body, the force acting on it, and the time during which it acts, we can calculate the change of motion, teaches us that the change of motion is a mathematical inference from the mass of the body, from the force acting on it, and from the time during which it acts. Teaching us again that given the mass and the change of velocity, we can calculate the magnitude and direction of the force acting, teaches us that the magnitude and direction of the force are mathematical inferences from the mass of the body and from the change of velocity. And teaching us that we can find the one force which is equivalent, in its action, to any given set of forces ; for, however many changes of motion may be produced by the separate forces, they must obviously be capable of being compounded into a single change, and we can calculate what force would produce that, teaches us plainly that just as a certain magnitude and direction of any given force is said to compel, as a mathematical inference, a certain change of state in a certain body, bodies are so also said to mutually act on one another, by mathematical inferences, through certain impulses. A certain impulse compels a certain change in a body ; a certain change is a certain product of a certain impulse of a body. A certain impulse again, being itself a certain change in a body, must be, inevitably, the certain product of a previous impulse of that body, or of another body acting on it. Thus, every physical phenomenon, every change, effect and impulse of any physical object, is a certain product, as a mathematical inference, from previous physical phenomena, from previous changes, effects and impulses of physical objects that are previous in existence, and those previous objects must be certain products, by mathematical inferences, from more previous objects, and so forth without end. So also the last physical phenomenon, the last change, effect and impulse of the last physical object is forced to generate another product, by the mathematical inference, which shall bring another physical object into actuality to follow it, and so on without end. So that all physical objects that exist in actuality in the whole endless universe are thus joined together one with the other and coming one from the other, by mathematical inferences, which spring one from the other and one after the other in one mathematical bond without beginning and without end.

The science of mechanics again, teaching us that when one kind of energy disappears or is expended, energy of some other kind is produced, and that, under proper conditions, the disappearance of any one of the known kinds of energy can be made to give rise to a greater or less amount of any other kind ; and teaching us that the total amount of energy possessed by any system of bodies (the parts of a machine) is unaltered by any transformation arising from the action of any part of the system upon another, and can only be increased or diminished by effects produced on the system by external agents ; and the observation of Renkine teaching us the remarkable consequence of the mutual convertibility which has been shown to exist between heat and other forms of energy ; that the quantity of heat and that of any kind of work, or of any other form of energy balance each other and change one into the other, — teaches us plainly that none of the physical forces, none of any kind of energy, no impulse, no effect and no change has any real existence in itself, as it is always changing ; and that the non-real existence of those forces is contained in a real existence of a poteittial force^ or a potential lO THE UNIVERSAL MYSTERIES

energy^ in which all forces, impulses, effects and changes are absolutely one, and which reveals and modifies itself in physical waves, to appear in all kinds of energy, impulses, effects and changes, by mathematical inferences, in order to be individualized in all kinds of the different and varying objects and forces, and to balance each other and to change one into the other, in the one mathematical bond. And again, the science of mechanics, teaching us that a certain state and form of a physical object, of any material thing, is a product of a certain kind of energy, either through chemical combinations or through' physical compositions, teaches us also plainly that matter, in its objective existence, has not any real existence in any state and form, which are always changing, and that the non-real existence of the objective matter is contained in a real existence of a potential matter^ or a potential essence^ in which all states and forms are absolutely one, and which reveals and modifies itself in physical waves, to appear in all kinds of states and forms, by mathematical inferences, in order to be individualized in all kinds of the different and varying objects and forces, and to be conserved in an objective existence, in actuality, in all balancing of each other and in all changing one into the other in the one mathematical bond, without beginning and without end.

The science of mechanics, therefore, while its business is to find what objective fact corresponds to the subjective data of sensation, in order to realize the objective appearances of the objective world as a conservative reality, compels us at the same time to pass over its limits, and to come to the inevitable conclusion that the objective realities in the physical world, which are realities to the sensual perception of man, are realities only to the subjective data of sensation, not to the subjective data of pure conception. All objective realities, the conservation of matter, and the conservation of momentum (force and energy) and of moment of momentum, in their times and places, which are perceived as realities by the muscular senses, correspondented to the subjective data of sensation, are not contained in the objective physical phenomena themselves. Objective matter, to our perceptions, is the infinite number of those physical waves, in the infinite space ^ in the form of physical objects in their different states and forms, in a non-absolute existence, coming one from the other and changing one into the other, from a deeper unity of absolute existence, from a subjective world beyond our sensual perceptions. The objective momentum and the moment of momentum, to our perceptions, is the infinite number of those physical waves, in the infinite time in the form of physical forces, in their different magnitudes and directions, in a non-absolnte existence, coming one from the other, balancing each other and changing one into the other, without beginning and without end, from a deeper unity of absolute existence, from a subjective world beyond oiir sensual perception.

So that the physical universe, matter and force in actuality, does not contain its existence in itself. But universal existence as a whole, its potential beings gives existence to the particularized objects which are contained in it ; and its quiddity, in its deeper unity, stands altogether by itself. All the compound objects in the physical universe which were, which are and which ever shall be, reveal but one manifestation of potential matter or potential essence. For, every manifestation we perceive is the effect, by a mathematical inference, of a manifestation which preceded it, and in its turn the cause of a manifestation that will follow it in the universal existence, in the one mathematical bond. That the existence of every compound object in manifestation does not lie in the object itself, but lies in the universal existence which is an absolute unit, containing in itself all that is manifested. All the particularized beings, therefore, the temporal causes in manifestation in the endless and multifarious, various and varying aspects as they appear in the universe are incessantly changing one into the other, coming and going, forming and dissolving through the one universal cause of the potential universe^ which is the absolute unity of universal existence, depending on the one general law, the one mathematical bond, which is the absolute being, and it changes not in all eternity. Thus, the potential force and the potential matter are absolutely one in their generality, it is the universe as a whole, 171 its potential being, from which the physical . universe is individualized ; and its being is a mathematical inference from a mathematical or an intellectual universe which was and ever is previously formed by an intellect standing and existing by itself. This mathematical or intellectual universe I call Absolute Intellectuality, the God of the Universe.

The students of the positive school, being dependent upon inductive method alone, have made up their conclusion that we have a relative knowledge only of the single things which we can analyze and experiment with, whose qualities and quantities enter within the range of our perceptions. But we can have no knowledge of things that we do not perceive They will not busy themselves about things not manifested to the perception, nor search for the origin of temporal causes which flow from and merge into the one universal cause. Philosophers and scientists of this description have made the argument that natural science consists of the knowledge of things as they are and is the only knowledge attainable by man. But, they opine, transcendental philosophy, which searches for the causes of single phenomena in their relation to the general universal existence, can never be attained by man. The truth, however, teaches us plainly that the cognition of man is not the wisdom of the mind, and therefore, the cognition is no knowledge at all. Human cognition is limited by the perceptions of the senses — the perception of the particularized compound objects, each in its particularized state and limited capacity. The same is the cognition of the animal, the bird, the reptile — each, according to the senses he possesses and their development. The life of the animal as well as that of man consists of the possession of senses and brain. The senses convey their perceptions to the brain, and in the latter images are formed of the objects perceived.

The formation of such images is cognition. Thus " the ox knoweth his owner and the ass the manger of his master." Each one according to the manner in which his senses come in touch with the outward appearance of particularized objects and according to the reflection which his perception casts on the brain. In this wise the cognition of man is constituted of the knowledge of individual objects in their particularized states as we perceive of tlieir outward being by our individual experiments and perception. But wisdom, the true wisdom of the mind, teaches us that the being we perceive is not absolute, that the outward form of a compound object is not the object itself, that the real being of every compound object is part of universal existence. The outward being of every individual compound object lies in the inward existence of the universe itself; for the existence of every particular object comes from the existence of a particularized object which preceded it in time, and the cause of the previous object was in an object still more previous, and so forth in an unlimited range of changes. Thus, if we want to know by pure wisdom the real being of any particular object, its real quantity, quality and intensive properties, we must search it by the a priori method of pure reason, by deduction from the universal to the particular ; we must begin with forming an idea of existence in general. The being of the bread and the being of the man are two distinct beings outwardly at one certain time. But the being of the bread at that time is not its true being, nor is the being of the man in its time his real being ; for in the course of time the bread becomes man and the man is converted into bread. The bread eaten by man is de facto man, and the man dissolved into his component elements turns into bread in the process of time. The bread which man eats becomes

I 6 THE UNIVERSAL MYSTERIES

by the process of digestion blood, muscle, bone and all the other substances of which the human frame is formed ; and when the man dies, his body is dissolved in the elements of which vegetables are composed and bread is made. Now, if the temporal being of any individual object were its real existence, its entity, entirely dependent on itself — it could never be transformed into any other compound object. If the identity of bread, while it is bread, were in itself as regards its quality, quantity and intensive properties as we perceive them with our senses, how could it ever become man ? The entity of the bread in its time and the entity of man in his time are quite different from each other. If they were real entities how could they merge one into the other ? We are consequently forced to assume as a positive fact that the entity of any compound object as it appears within the limits of time is not real. Thus the entity of every individual compound object within the limits of time lies in and consists of the entity of all individual compound objects in their universal generality, in the intensive universal existence which the senses cannot perceive but which the mind can conceive of. Thus, the science of experience and experiments alone, of which our naturalists are so proud and which they call " exact knowledge," is only a delusion, and all principles built upon it and all inductions drawn from it are not true. The laws which our scientists have discovered may hold good only in as far as practical machinism is concerned as a separate and distinct means by which man can make use of the particularized objects and already developed forces he knows by his experience. But they are not laws whose activity controls nature in general, or even the universal mechanism as an integral part of the wisdom of universal existence. We can have no knowledge of the real nature of any compound object, even in its singularity, as it appears before us, before we have a pure intellectual conception of universal existence in general.

The question whether a man is able to possess a pure intellectual conception or not, will be proven in the following pages. The reader will please follow me step by step until we arrive together at the highest wisdom and the pure knowledge of the universe in general and in its particularizations.

We know clearly that everything that exists in actuality was brought into existence by a cause which preceded it, and that cause was forced to become a cause by still earlier causes, and so forth without end. So also the last cause, which has brought the thing into actuality,is forced to generate another cause which shall bring another thing into actuality to follow it, and so on without end. All the thingrs that exist in actuality in the whole endless universe are thus joined together one with the other, and come one from the other by temporal causes which spring one from the other and one after the other in one bond without beginning and without end. Now, if we wish to know a thing that exists in actuality, we must know the cause which has brought it into existence ; for every cause contains in potency the thing which is to exist in actuality, as it should exist in actuality. But from the thing itself which exists in actuality we cannot know the cause which has brought it into existence. The image of every thing existing in actuality as recognized by the senses, which is but the outward appearance of every compound object -as it cannot convey to us the knowledge of the quiddity of that object, of its real quality, intensive properties and the order of its constitution, so can it not give us the knowledge of the cause which preceded it. For the image of every thing existing in actuality is nothing but its outward form, while the cause which preceded it contains in itself and produces in the object its quality, quantity, quiddity and all its intensive properties, its constitutional formation together with its outward form or image. Thus, if we wish to know a cause which has brought a certain thing into existence, we must know the cause which preceded that cause and then the precedent cause of that earlier

THE IDEA OF GOD I9

cause, and so forth without end. If we wish to know one cause we must know all the causes of the endless universe which were and are in existence. But man — who in his body is limited in time and by the perception of his senses — as he is not able to know all the causes, he is unable to know any single cause. On about the same principles is based the " relative knowledge " of our scientists and the whole system of Scepticism, from the ancient philosopher Pyrrho of Elis till Emmanuel Kant. But the truth itself teaches us quite differently.

This, however, we do know clearly : that every effect, every existing thing, is a product, by a mathematical inference, from a previous cause, as it is the case in the whole science of mechanics ; and, therefore, we do know clearly that if man were able to know clearly one cause in the universe, he would through that knowledge know also the cause which is to follow it even before the latter will become a cause. That the knowledge of the cause is previous to the cause. Thus, as every cause by which a thing is wrought in actuality is previous to the thing itself, so also is the knowledge of the cause previous to the cause itself And since we clearly know that all the things of actual existence, the various and differing compound objects of the universe, are intertwined one with the other and come one from the other in the succession of causes which preceded them in universal existence in general, we know clearly that all the causes existing in particularization in actuality — as well as those which exist in potency in the universe in general — are bound up one with the other in the knowledge of the causes, in the mathematical bond, which preceded them ; and we know also that in the mathematical knowledge of every cause is contained the knowledge of all the causes which preceded it without beginning and which are to follow it without end ; that the knowledge of one cause contains in itself the knowledge of all the causes of eternal existence, as one mathematical inference is inferred from and contained in every one of the whole mathematical bond. And since we know already clearly that the knowledge of every compound object is not contained in the object itself, but the object is contained in the knowledge of the cause that preceded it and brought it into actual existence by precedent knowledge, and that precedent knowledge, again, is contained in the knowledge of a cause still more precedent which contained it in potency and wrought it in actuality, and so forth without end, we thus come to the above conclusion clearly, that the knowledge of the universe as a whole and in its particularization is contained not in the physical universe itself, but is one Absolute Knowledge standing by itself beyond the physical universe and preceded it. We also came to knowclearly that all the particularized things that exist in the physical universe exist only according to the mathematical inferences, to the previous general knowledge that preceded them. There is not a thing known in the general knowledge which is not found in the universe in particularized actuality, as a mathematical inference, just as there is not a thing in particularized actuality which is not contained in the general knowledge in the mathematical bond.

We thus arrive at a new conclusion — that the human intelligence is identically the same with the one Absolute Knowledge. We know clearly that the knowledge of one cause contains in itself the knowledge of all the infinite causes of the universe ; that the knowledge of the universe in general and in its particularization is contained in each instance of knowledge of each of the causes of the universe. The very being of the absolute general existence of the universe is the very absolute being of every one of its particularizations. The intelligence of man, therefore, is the knowledge of that knowledge. It tells man what is the knowledge which causes the understanding of the human mind. By that intelligence itself which man possesses, he knows that, as man, he is unable to know. His intelligence tells him that he is an individual compound object, formed by a previous cause according to his time and according to his place, and by that he knows that he cannot know himself with all his intensive qualities, because he knows not the previous cause of his existence, and this, again, because that previous cause has become a cause only through another cause which was still more previous, and so forth without end. Thus, man, in that he knows that he cannot know, knows also that all the causes which are active in the universe are joined together in a chain of eternal succession in the one absolute general cause. And in that man knows that he cannot know one single cause because every cause is but the mathematical result of a previous cause, he knows that, if Jie know one cause in the universe, he could know the cause from which it developed before it has become a cause, Man, therefore, knows that the mathematical knowledge of a cause is previous to the cause itself.