The God who found himself, or, the god of science and the illusion of self : an interpretation of the philosophy, religion, and ethics of a rational and scientific monism

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Introduction i

I The World op Illusion .... 1

Introduction

THE GOD WHO FINDS HIMSELF, OR THE SELF- DISCOVERY, SELF-KNOWLEDGE AND SELF-RE- ALIZATION OF THE ONE AND ONLY REAL BEING OF THE WORLD.

The Spirit of the universe is eternally striving to realize and find itself in the world and man. Self-realization, self-discovery and striving is the law of God's life just as certainly as it is of man's. In fact, it is the law of man's partial and earthly life, only because it is originally the law of God's whole and universal existence. It is man's duty to strive and realize himself, only because it is primarily the law of God's whole universe to strive and realize itself. The law of cosmic evolution, in truth, is nothing but the law of the striving towards self-realization of the universal Being or God of the world. Evolution is the fact and principle of God's endless seeking and striving towards self-development, self-discovery, self-realization and self-perfection. Evolution signifies the self-realization of God, and hence it is a law of self-realization to man because he is, in truth, but a part, — organ and function of the divine whole. The Spirit of the universe is always seeking to find itself, and always striving to realize itself in the life of man. But man, who is a product of the evolutionary process, grows intelii THE GOD WHO FOUND HIMSELF

ligent and enlightened only by slow degrees. He is primitively but an intellectual and spiritual child, and grows to mental maturity and spiritual manhood only by steps and stages. He is at first the inevitable victim of ignorance, stupidity, and fear; of mental immaturity and spiritual childishness. He is easily led astray into false and plausible pathways that lead him away from his true self and true God, and lure him on to the belief in a false self and in false and futile gods. He thus becomes the inevitable and innocent dupe of illusions and superstitions at a certain early stage of his mental and spiritual career, and it is as appropriate to this period of man's mental and religious life that the following parable of the Swami Vivekananda applies.

" If the king goes mad," he says, " and goes about to find the king in his own country, he will never find him, because he is the king himself. It is better that we know we are the king, and give up this fool's search after the king."

This parable of the Hindu monk and philosopher gives the keynote to the following discussion. Its meaning is perfectly simple and plain, and, briefly interpreted, it would read like this: If the God of the world, — or, as Monism claims, the one and only real and complete Being of the world, — is blind and ignorant in its human form of its own very self-hood, and goes groping to find some other being than itself as a whole, it will never find it, because this other and second

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being is unreal, and exists only in its own beclouded mind and immature imagination. It is better, therefore, that this one and only real Being shall know, in its human form, that it is God, and give up this foolish and futile search after an imaginary God outside and beyond itself, as a universal and organic whole.

Still more fully interpreted and understood, this Hindu parable would mean this: The one and only Being of the world, — the infinite, eternal, and all-embracing organism of the universe, — exists: here on this earth and in the mind of man as an evolving, slowly learning, immature, and groping intelligence. It is still in its period of childhood, or immaturity ; its mental eyes are still half-closed; it sees nothing clearly and truly as yet. Everything is vague, dim, shadowy, and uncertain. It is the credulous and uncritical victim of illusions, appearances, and imaginations. It does not even see or know itself truly ; it does not know what it is, or where it is, or why it is. (And to an intelligent being no greater spiritual tragedy is conceivable than this. This is the supreme tragedy of human life.) It is all at sea. It cannot locate or orient itself, or get its true bearings in the vast and vague ocean of being. It cannot truly find itself, see itself, or know itself. It is a lost being, because it is still a half-blind eye, and a half-grown intelligence. It has not yet come to its full, mature intelligence, nor to its full, open, and unclouded vision. It has been for iv THE GOD WHO FOUND HIMSELF

ages groping in the dark, grasping at shadows, and searching for the imaginary, non-existent, and impossible creatures of its imaginations, fears, and hopes ; and never has it succeeded in finding or securing them because, forsooth, they did not exist except in its own beclouded and undeveloped mind; and, further, because, as it is beginning to know, the only real being that exists is itself; that is, its whole, universal self; and man exists here on earth as the brain and consciousness, the head and intelligence of the universal cosmic organism, whose evolving and slowly maturing organ, structure, and psychic function it is. Outside of this perfect, indivisible, all-embracing cosmic organism, of which man is a psychic organ, no other and second being exists, as man is beginning to surmise, or to know.

The period must eventually come, in the normal growth and evolution of the human, and earthly mind of the universe, when, reaching towards its intellectual maturity and spiritual manhood, it will finally, definitely, and clearly find itself, and know itself and its own real world. The cosmic intelligence manifested here on this earth in the evolving, growing, and maturing mind of man must finally discover, when it reaches its full powers, — maturity and manhood, — the gross deceptions and plausible illusions of which it has been the childish and credulous victim in the past and early periods and stages of its growth and development. And then it will see and know, as with

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a truer and higher vision, that the other and imaginary beings it was seeking, — the other and impossible gods it was groping after, — were nothing but the ghostly shadows of itself and its cosmic organism as a unitary, indivisible, and perfect whole. The God outside the world, it will finally find, is only the ghostly shadow of the real, living, and conscious God within.

The mad king of the Hindu parable, after his native reason has been restored, finds that he himself is the king that he, in his delusion, has been seeking. And so he gives up his delusive and futile search for an imaginary, impossible, and non-existent king that existed only in his clouded mind and imagination. And so the king, his reason being fully restored, finds himself at last, but never did he find, and never would he find, that other, imaginary king which existed only in his diseased imagination, and which was only a ghostly shadow and reflection of himself.

So the cosmic being and intelligence manifested here on this earth in the growing and maturing mind of man is finally coming, in the normal course of its growth and evolution, to its full maturity, and intellectual and spiritual manhood ; and as it does so it is beginning to find itself, and know itself and its own real world of being. Man, as the human brain and the earthly mind of the cosmic organism, is beginning to find that this true cosmic organism of which he is the true psychic organ and spiritual function is the true Being, vi THE GOD WHO FOUND HIMSELF

the true God, that he, in his intellectual immaturity and spiritual childishness, has so long been seeking elsewhere, outside, and always in vain. Always in vain has been his search for this other being outside, because this other being existed only in his own immature and childish mind, and was nothing but the ghostly apparition and reflection of himself and his own real world as a unitary whole.

As the mad king of the parable, after his native reason had been restored and he had found himself, gave up his mad and fruitless search for an imaginary king, so the cosmic being and intelligence manifested in and through the mind of man, — now that it is coming, in the due and normal course of its evolutionary growth, to the full and perfect maturity and manhood of its reason and spiritual powers, and is beginning to clearly and surely find itself and know itself, — is also beginning to give up its immature, childish, and fruitless search after an imaginary and impossible Being and God outside of itself and its real world as an organic and perfect whole. For it is beginning to see clearly, surely, and finally that this vast and varied cosmic organism of which it is a spiritual organ and function is the one and only possible Being that exists ; and the one and only possible God there is. And so the time is coming, and has already come for some, when it will be better, far better, that man should know that he and his real world are God and should give up for

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good and forever his delusive and childish search for a shadowy, ghostly, and imaginary God oui> side the universe and the life of man.

So God, — the infinite, eternal and perfect organism of the universe, — through man and in man, as through and in his earthly mind and human brain, is beginning at last to find himself and know himself; and to find and know himself as God, as the supreme, one, and only Being of the world. Man is an eye of the universe, through which it sees itself clearly and surely at last, and perceives itself divine. Man is a brain and mind of the cosmic organism as a whole, through which, at last, it clearly and surely knows itself, and knows itself divine. Here, on this earth and in the mind of man, the universe becomes conscious and self-conscious, and finds and knows itself. Man is a head upon the cosmic body, a mind within the cosmic brain, an eye within the cosmic skull; and through this human head and brain, this earthly eye and mind, the cosmos sees, and finds itself, and knows itself at last. When man thinks, the cosmos thinks ; and when man knows, the cosmos knows ; and when man finds and knows and realizes himself, then the Universe finds and knows and realizes itself. For man is not one being and the Universe another, but they are one, — as organ and organism are one, as brain and body, as part and whole, as flower and plant are one, — one indivisible, cooperative, and organic whole.

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As the poet Shelley said :

" I am the Eye, with which the Universe Beholds itself, and knows itself divine."

As the eye and brain is to the whole human body ; as the rose is to the rosebush ; as the little carbon filament in the electric lamp is to the whole lighting system; so is man, — the cosmic organ and function, — to the whole cooperative cosmic organism. As the whole human body displays its vision through the eye, and its reason through the brain; as the rosebush exhibits its beauty and perfume through the rose; as the lighting system manifests its radiance and light through the little carbon filaments ; so the cooperative cosmic organism displays its self-consciousness and reason, its self-discovery and self-knowledge, through the brain and mind of man, and others like him in other worlds or planets.

And as it is the whole human organism that sees through the eye, and not the eye merely that sees for itself; and the whole human body that thinks through the brain, and not merely the brain that thinks for itself ; as it is the whole rosebush which displays its beauty and sheds its perfume on the air, and not merely the blossom itself; and as it is the whole lighting system which cooperatively and jointly displays its radiance, brilliance, and light upon the nightly scene, and not the little carbon filaments selected and delegated to immediately perform this specific function; so it is the

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whole cooperative and indivisible cosmic organism which is conscious and self-conscious, — which thinks, and knows, and finds when man thinks, and knows, and finds, — and not merely that little cosmic organ called a man, which, so to speak, has been selected and delegated by nature, along with similar intelligences in other worlds, to immediately perform that particular and most important function for the universe as a whole.

Man is merely one of nature's brains and minds, and Nature thinks, and knows, and discovers her truths through these human brains and earthly minds of hers. As the eye is something more than itself, separately considered; as the brain, the flowers, and the lights, are something higher than themselves, regarded in isolation; so is man something more and something higher than himself; something more and something higher than a little microscopic man. He is a genuine organ and function of the universe; an eye and soul of the world, a mind and heart of God. So when man finds and knows himself, when he truly orients and locates himself and gets his real bearings and place in the world, it really means and signifies this: that the Universe, or cosmic organism, or God, has found himself in his world of being as a whole. Thus God finds and knows himself in man and through man ; and thus man finds himself in God and of God ; for man and God are not two separate beings, but are as the organ and organism, the function and being, the brain and x THE GOD WHO FOUND HIMSELF

body, of one indivisible and cooperative unit and whole.

Is this monistic theory and organic conception of the universe and man the true one? Is this conception of the universe as a vast, varied, and genuine organism; of the solar system as a bona fide sub-organism, branch or limb of it; and of man as a true psychic organ and spiritual function of the unitary whole, the true one? What is an organism? It is, essentially, a unitary system of interdependent parts and organs which divide their labors and functions, and cooperate in harmony and mutual reciprocity, to realize the ends or results for which the whole unitary and indivisible system exists. Is the universe an organism according to this definition? I believe it certainly is. The solar system is certainly such a differentiated and cooperative system of parts and organs, the sun acting as a vast transmitting dynamo of living and conscious energies, the planets acting as receiving stations, and man, especially, acting as the efflorescence and spiritual achievement of the whole cooperative activities and energies of the system, Man is the blossom and the solar system is the plant; and man blossoms, not by himself or through himself or for himself, but as the representative and delegated function of the whole system. But the solar system itself is not the whole organism of being ; it is only a sub-system, sub-organism, or branch of the universe as a unitary whole ; and it must stand

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in some dependent or interdependent relation, be a differentiated and cooperative part and organ of the reciprocally related and mutually reacting system of the universe as a whole.

That we do not know much about the universe as yet, nor the exact place and function of the solar system in the cosmic system, is true; but that the latter has some place and function is certain, and is already known in part. The solar system cannot be an independent and isolated body any more than man is, or the earth and other planets are. It must form a part of a larger and truer cooperative organism and whole of being, — the universe, — the final, complete, and perfect organism of all existence, the God of modern science and philosophy. The universe might be rudely likened to a vast and perfect cosmic plant, of which the solar systems were the branches, the planets were the branchlets, and the conscious intelligences like man were the flowers, the beauty, the color, and perfume — in fact, the efflorescence, end, and result of the vast, varied, and cooperative efforts of the cosmic organism as a unit and a whole. The flowers, eyes, and minds are never independent and separate things, representing and functioning for their little separate selves alone; they are delegated functions, which rep-= resent and function for the whole of which they are mere parts. They are differentiated, specialized, and set apart, simply to perform their particular functions for the whole cooperative xii THE GOD WHO FOUND HIMSELF

body. It is here in the mind of man, — and other beings like him in other worlds, no doubt, — that the Cosmos comes to self-consciousness, self-discovery, self-knowledge and self-realization. It is here that a head, brain, and mind of the universe is located. Its consciousness is specialized, localized, and focalized in this particular planet and in these human forms. So when man thinks and knows, the universe thinks and knows, as in and through its human head and brain. Man does not think and function for himself alone ; he thinks and functions as the delegate and representative of the universe at large. He does not think through or by himself alone any more than the flower blossoms through and by itself alone. He thinks through the powers and labors of the whole infinite and eternal universe, as the flower blossoms through the powers and efforts of the whole plant. Man is an efflorescence, here on this earth, of the vast cosmic plant ; he is an eye of the world and a mind of the universe. Man is something more and something higher than himself, something vaster and something grander than a mere and little man. He is an organ, function, and representative of the infinite and eternal universe. He is an eye and soul of the universal world. He is the intelligence and heart of God here on this earth, at least, as other rational beings are, undoubtedly, in other worlds and planets.

If this universe is a genuine universe, then it must be a bona fide organism. If it is not a real

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organism, then it must be a mere aggregation and totality, an inexplicable sum-total of innumerable independent and separate beings and things. Whether it is a real organic universe or only a duiverse, or pluriverse, or multiverse, we hope to show, more or less, in the following pages. This problem of the unity, duality, plurality, and multeity of the world of so-called beings and things involves the important and vital questions, to us, of the positive individuality of man and the immortality of the individual soul; and we hope to throw some little light upon these absorbing questions. There has been of late years a remarkable revival of interest in, and advocacy of, spiritism among a number of prominent scientific men. Now there is a fundamental and irreconcilable antagonism between a thoroughgoing monism and spiritism. If monism is true, then spiritism must be false, for spiritism is really pluralism and atomism and dualism, as regards the mind and body ; while if spiritism is true, then monism and a perfectly organic conception of the cosmos must be false. There is no possible compromise between a bona fide monism and spiritist doctrines. One or the other must be repudiated by all honest thinkers. Two such irreconcilable theories cannot logically be entertained by the same mind. No honest and thoroughgoing monist can believe in the plurality of really separate spirits, or in the duality of mind and body, either during life or after death.

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Nor can he believe in the immortality of abstract psychic states, which is just what spiritism implies. To him, the immortality of a bald abstraction is nonsense and nothing less. In fact, he must deny the existence of any such abstraction as a pure soul, even during life. Monism discounts and discredits such theories, or assumptions, at the very start. It has " nothing to arbitrate " with spiritism at all, and it can easily prove that the notions of spiritism have not a logical leg to stand upon. Monism must logically deny, not only the immortality of the entity called a pure spirit after death, but also the existence of any such entity before death and during life. For a pure spirit is a pure mental abstraction of the analyzing intellect, and has no existence at any time, either during life or after death. Spiritism assumes a duality of soul and body and a plurality of separate and isolated spirits. Monism necessarily denies both this duality, and this plurality. Spiritism also assumes the continuance after death of a pure spirit, chained and imprisoned in a purely material body during life. Monism denies the existence of any purely material bodies, or of any purely psychical spirits during life. Hence there cannot be any continuance after death of something that never existed during life, — viz., a purely abstract psychical spirit.

" I look for ghosts, — but none will force Their way to me; 'tis falsely said

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That ever there was intercourse Between the living and the dead." 1

THE ONE AND THE MANY.

Modern science and philosophy are rapidly demonstrating to the minds of unprejudiced thinkers that there is but one real integer of being in existence in all this vast and varied universe. The scientists and philosophers of to-day are rediscovering, through the marvellous progress of modern science, that great and revolutionary truth which the sages of ancient India discovered thousands of years ago, and which they proclaimed in that significant saying of the Vedanta scriptures : there is but " one Being without a second." The universe, therefore, if this be true, which I no longer doubt, has but one real inhabitant. The entire population of the universe is one. The highest and greatest number in existence is the number one, which stands for, represents, and symbolizes the one and only real integer of being in existence. All other, so-called, higher and larger numbers, like 2, 3, 4», etc., to infinity, are, in reality and truth, nothing whatever but lower, smaller, and inferior numbers which stand for, represent, and symbolize not any integers of being whatever, but merely the many in/numerable fractions of being into which the one and only integer of being has superficially sub-divided, differentiated, and distinguished itself in the

i Wordsworth.

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process of its formal or morphological evolution. According to the Hindu scriptures, Krishna said, " I am the One and I wish to be the many " ; and so, out of his original and formless unity, he evolved the formful and innumerable many. Yet never for an instant did he lose his native and original oneness. The number one is the only whole number, the only integral number, the only infinite number there is. All other numbers are partial, fractional, and finite numbers. One is the supreme and transcendent number; it is the number of all numbers; it is the sum-total and footing up of all other numbers; for all other numbers added together only make up a total of one. It is the mother-parent of all other numbers ; for out of it all numbers originally came, and back into it all numbers will finally go. 2 It is the all-inclusive and all-comprehensive number because it includes and comprehends within itself all other numbers as fractions, fragments, and portions of itself. It is the unlimited and independent number, for it is not limited by, or dependent upon, any other number. One is the sublime, divine, and Godlike number, for this number, and this one alone, represents and symbolizes the sublimity, divinity, and deity of the world, — the transcendent Number One whom we call God, or the cosmic-social Organism and Intelligence of the world.

2 This is the science and philosophy of number; as Professor Ladd says : " All numbers refer back to unity."

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The motto of the cunning and selfish men of the world is : " Look out for number one" they taking it for granted that each and every human being is, in some real sense, an integer of being and a real number one. But the foregoing philosophy of numbers shows how ignorant and futile they are. No, we human beings are not " number ones," nor integers of being at all ; we are merely the infinitesimal fractions of being, the infinitesimal functions of the one and only integer of being there is. We are not " number ones," but only number one nUlionths 3 of the original and only Number One. And as these number one-nillionths, these infinitesimal fractions of the real Number One, our divine and cosmic duty and devotion, loyalty and love, should be given it as to our God, — the Cosmic-social Organism and Intelligence of the World.

"E PLUBIBU8 UNUM."

There is " one Being without a second " ; there is but one integer of being, but there are many innumerable fractions of being contained within this whole and completed one. Thus is solved the pretended difficulty of the problem of the One and the many. " E pluribus unum " is the organic principle of the universe as it is the political motto of the United States. The One is the

3 The letter n is used as an algebraic symbol for the infinite or indefinitely great or numerous. A nillionth in this sense would be an infinitesimal fraction.

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organic integer; the many are the organic fractions; the One is the cosmic organism of the world ; the many are the cosmic organs, structures, and functions of the whole: the One is the superficially subdivided, differentiated, and distinguished, but still profoundly united and integrated organism of the world ; the many are the superficial subdivisions, differentiations, and distinguishable forms, parts, and organs of the still profoundly unitary whole : the One is the integral, cosmic, and social individual and person of the world; the many are the innumerable individualized and personalized organs and functions of this worldrpersonality, and worldintelligence. The One is the whole cosmic mind, soul, and spirit; the many are the innumerable partial minds, souls, and spirits. The One is the cosmic integer of individuality and personality; the many are the cosmic fractions of individuality and personality.

Because of the fact that the cosmic organism is not, and cannot be, a simple, undivided unit, but is, and must be, a complex and subdivided one, there arises the necessity for the social organization of the world. Hence the system of cosmic life is, of necessity, an associated and social system ; and so the cosmic organism becomes an associated and social organism, and the cosmic organs and functions become associated and social organs. The individuality of the world becomes, of logical necessity, a complex, multiple, and

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multiform individuality, a social individuality, a society of individuals. The personality of the world becomes a complex, multiple, and multiform personality, a social personality, a society of persons ; and so the mind, soul, and spirit of the world becomes a complex, multiple, and multiform mind, soul, and spirit, a social mind, a social soul, and a social spirit; a society of minds, a society of souls, and a society of selves and spirits.

" All are needed by each one, Nothing is fair or good alone." 4

THE SUPREME NAME.

By the word " God " we mean the supreme Being of the world; and this title, or name of God, is the supreme name which man can now bestow upon the supreme being of his conception. By religion we mean man's supreme belief in regard to this world; his supreme practice flowing from this belief, and the supreme emotions,— devotion, loyalty, love, and enthusiasm, — which this supreme belief inspires and calls forth. 5 The church, in the broadest possible sense of the word, is that supreme social institution which is devoted to the preaching and practice of this belief and to its utmost realization in the life of mankind.

* Emerson.

s Emotionally considered religion is a kind of cosmic patriotism; intellectually it is a cosmic philosophy; and morally it is a cosmic ethics.

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THE SUPREME BEING.

We have found that there is but one integral being and personality in the world; a being and a personality which includes within itself all other subordinate and partial beings and personalities. Hence this all-inclusive and comprehensive being of the world is, and must be, the supreme and transcendent being of the world. This supreme Being cannot remain nameless. This cosmic organism, world-individual, and world-soul is fully entitled to the name of the supreme being, — " God." If this cosmic organism and world-intelligence is not the supreme Being of the world, and is not the supreme Personality of the world, then there is and can be no supreme Being, and no supreme Personality at all. If this cosmic organism, this supreme Being, is not entitled to the name of " God," or is not worthy of it, then no being can be worthy of that supreme name, or be in any degree entitled to it. Either this being is God, or there is no God. But I believe that this cosmic organism of the world is God, and is fully worthy and entitled to bear that august and transcendent name to which now, in the normal course of human history and religious evolution, it has become the historical heir and natural evolutionary successor. It has become the divine heir and successor to all the gods that have gone before, of all past ages and of all past and passing religions. The true and final God