Man. A philosophical treatise on the human race, in three books

Preface

In Countries, as the Occidental, where the religion teaches that Man is Lord over everything, and that beyond him and Grod there is nothing worthy of our serious consideration ; and in an age when materialistic views are swaying men and things ; when the social standing is without virtue as a basis to rest on, and the marital tie but a connecting link with anarchy; when Mammon and their bellies are the gods of men; when Christ and his religion are but a piece of mockery to reach another end, a stricter moral Code becomes a matter of divine right. To this end, therefore, laboring from a natural and moral impulse, does the author lay this work before the world.

St. Louis, March, 1888.

Book I. Man As A Natural Being

MAN AS A NATURAL BEING.

1. This Globe is a huge Carcass, on and near the surface of which are bred by the heat of the Sun all living creatures, whether animate or inanimate; and, ' according to all scientific researches, it is the only part of the Universe that has living beings in it. Animals are bred from the earth and from the substance of each other, the Sun being in all cases the generator. The same matter that constitutes the one, also constitutes the other, the only difference being in its form.

2. Our Globe, in consequence of its distance from the Sun, has been so influenced by it since its own heat has left its surface (for we have no evidence that the interior heat of our planet has any influence on the living beings on its surface), that man and all animals are constituted as we see them. Should the Globe again undergo a radical change, of course this would cause an annihilation of everything on it in its present form. We see that heat causes everything to come into existence, and as the Sun is the only source of heat, on which our artificial heat is undoubtedly dependent, it looks wise to regard him as the Creator of all things, and therefore, by the way, if worship be in order, to worship him, as the American Indian does, and as all fire- worshippers regard fire.

3. In all existences there are two divisions that are visible, the organic and the inorganic. Taking it in a closer sense, there is but one existence, and what we call divisions or classes relates only to their respective forms; and every existence contains an organ more or less developed; how otherwise could a change occur in its form ?

But the only bodies that have self-motion in them, are those that have intellect or instinct; all other existences in their growth and vitality being in an adhesive state to the earth itself. Yet man and all other animals adhere also to -the earth and move around in its atmosphere in the same manner as the roots of the tree move around in its soil, and can no more extricate himself than they can. The intellect and instinct seem to have been given to man and all animals as a means of simply greater action, to answer more ends than other existences.

4. Man eats the animal and the animal eats the man ; thus the one partakes of the other. In this way they mingle each other's blood. It is impossible for man and the lower animal to be independent of each other, for like takes to like. The blood of all animals is blood, the difference being only in the quality. Neither do we have different names for the bodily organs of different animals.

5. The animal serves to the production of the plant in tilling the ground, and supplying the soil with manure ; whilst the plant serves to the existence of the animal. As relates to the benefit that man does for the plant, he does more for it than any other animal So, for the services that the lower animal, for instance, the domestic animal does for him, man is compelled to supply it with food, keep it in a state of cleanliness, and is thus compelled to serve it in a more menial capacity than what it serves man, so equally are all things balanced eventually.

When one part of matter undergoes a change, another is benefited by such change. The different natural productions are only a change as they have taken place in a part of the whole ; but they are not thereby in the least independent of one another, or disconnected from the whole.

6. In the whole kingdom, the different species of animals bear a relationship to each other, and undoubtedly had but one origin ; this origin still exists in every creature, but the different capacities have been assumed only by natural selection in consequence of the necessity of things. Every production of nature is but the result of one all-powerful force existing in nature, to which every existence is subject. The different forces and capacities of existences arise from the different degrees of this force that is in them. The result of its action is birth and death in infinitum — mere transfiguration in substance. All substance is but one, and it is therefore improper to use the word in the plural. After the breath leaves the body, the latter is nothing but dead substance —like wood or stone —the moist part of it having evaporated or mingled with the atmosphere, the rest having become dust.

It is by continual gradation that man has reached the position he now occupies, and his vaunting that he stands above all things surrounding him arises out of his conceit and vanity, which also are necessary characteristics, especially with the common man. We praise a man of humility, because he closely adheres to the original type, and treats with contempt anything that tends to draw a line between man and the rest of the Universe. Superiority only lies in the degree of mental capacity, as classified by man. In nature the different animals possess a different degree of mental capacity, in consequence of which they assume a different relation to each other, the one is king and the other subject, etc. Ambition in man is nothing else but that by which the force in nature makes him assume a higher position in life as compared to the rest of animals. It is the vigor of his desires that drives him on to conquests and a high intellectual position. And what is desire but an acting of the force in nature to preserve each species in its particular position ?

7. In all his workmanship, man is employed only on those materials that he is surrounded by, not created by himself any more than he himself is; the perpetual store for application in workmanship, either by handicraft or the mind, is homogeneous to himself. He builds as the beaver does, and eats as the dog does; he propagates as the rabbit does, and fights as the tiger does. His whole efforts, either in the direct necessaries of life or the arts, are only a means to maintain his present condition; the pleasures of life are invented by nature, through man, as being as much of a necessity for his present position as is bodily exercise for his animal life. His high position requires that the time that is not absolutely necessary in which to earn means for sustenance, should be consumed by the diversion that his ingenuity invents.

All animals love their time of play as well as man, either with their fellows or by themselves. Such diversion is always in proportion to the degree of intelligence. Nature keeps every animal so continually engaged, either bodily or intellectually, to make life fleeting, that before we have disposed of one thing, we are about to engage in another. Man's existence is nothing but animal employment.

8. The whole animal kingdom is nothing but one family, subdivided into genuses and species. Man admits his relationship to the rest of animals by calling himself an Animal. All animals are created by the same laws, and also destroyed by the same laws; the one is subject as well as the other to the inevitable decrees of fate, from whose hard and relentless execution the highest intellectual being is no more exempt than the lowest insect.

9. It is reflections like these, and convinced that they are correct, that prevent man from assuming that vanity that is so characteristic of him ; nothing better reminds human nature of its insignificance than to compare it to an animal of an inferior grade. The conceit and vanity with which he has during all ages inflated himself has and does lead to those disappointments in life that too frequently bring a victim to the grave. The wise man sees that he was born as all animals are, sees that he must perish as all animals do; from these he sees that his present existence must be that of an animal, and therefore lives accordingly.

10. The works of the intellect are alone what draw a line of distinction between man and the lower animal ; but with the majority of mankind, it is nothing but intelligence serving the same purposes as the instinct does with those animals that lack it.

11. There is even a friendship between man and certain of the lower animals, so that many men, for instance, prefer the company of their dogs to that of their fellow men, just as a man will prefer his particular friends to the people in general. Some animals possess certain qualities, such as fidelity, Obedience, cleanliness and others, that take the place of intellectuality, and which, therefore, make thein very agreeable to us. The Great Frederick was better entertained by his dogs than by "that dainued race,' 7 and so every great Frederick says. The fact that every organic being is as much complete in itself as man is, is what makes the natural equality so manifest. The same water that quenches our thirst, also quenches that of the dog, and the same stroke that inflicts pain on the naked body of the man, also inflicts pain on the bare body of the horse. Hence a man of humanity is as much shocked at the cruelty done to an animal as he would be were it one of his fellow men or himself; he feels the blow himself, because he and the animal are one. From this equality it follows that the lower animal is justly entitled to our protection ; it is not a favor to it, but it is a right which it can claim, especially considering the friendship and services that many animals favor us with.

12. If man had an active brain for thinking, without being confused by the illogical reasoning of school-men and the folly that his religious prejudices have caused him, he would clearly see and recognize the close resemblance there is between all bodies, animate or inanimate ; how they are brought into the world, all thrown in together, intended to breed and to propagate on each other; every animal and body at every movement of its life being born and dying.

13. The plant has its desires as well as the organic body ; it has its stages of health and prosperity ; it is even sexual. We see that the plant, for want of moisture or fertile ground, becomes sick and before many days is dead, in the same sense as an animal. We even undertake to treat it as a physician would his patient.

14. The fuel that is placed in the furnace to cause steam to put the engine in motion is the same, artificially, as the victuals placed in the stomach to produce blood, which is also heat, to put the human organization in motion.

15. "So animal can exist long without a proper use of its members, and if the struggle for existence does not yield sufficient exercise of the body, planned exercise must be resorted to. It is a fact that all plants, as well, require movement by the wind, in order to cause the sap (blood) to better circulate through the body, and, if entirely deprived of it, will eventually die; a plant having suffered greatly from a storm or sickness seems to become regenerated and prospers so much the better, in the same manner as an animal after it has recovered from a sickness, or as the human mind after it has undergone great suffering and anguish, has thereby become more purified and strengthened.

16. With the exception of the time necessary to supply the male with seinen, he is always prepared to have intercourse with the other sex. So it is also with the female, after she has disposed of her young, so that they can provide for themselves, and has had sufficient time to let her propagating organs become restored. Thus it seems that there is no time allowed to pass away without begetting; in fact, animal existence means nothing but begetting and producing, and when this is impossible, caused by age or imbecility, nature has no need of the individual, and now lets him perish; or, from that time, at least with man, she probably uses him to assist those who have taken his place.

17. In all the attention shown by a man to a woman, or vice versa, one can see nothing but the preliminary movements leading to propagation. This is even somewhat noticeable in play between boys and girls. All the gifts made by the one sex to the other mean nothing else than to tempt the one lover to be within reach of sexual enjoyment of the other.

18. Excepting for the purpose of cleanliness, all clothes about the body, a well made toilet and ornaments, are nothing but the bestial passion in operation to attract the other sex. Woman shows this passion better than man, for she makes the attractiveness of her body her next greatest employment, as long as the sexual desire lasts, and there is the least ray of hope to have it quieted. He who discloses the greatest passion for attracting, thereby discloses the greatest animalism. The fop and coxcomb are never considered men, because their whole vocation in dressing betrays the beast.

19. The reason why lovers carry on their amours secretly, and steal their glances when in the presence of others, is because they are playing the lower animal, and thereby are depriving themselves of the dignity that man as a being of morality is entitled to; there is nothing so degrading to man as to be reminded that m this respect he stands on the same level as the brute ; there can be nothing more humiliating to a man of intellectuality than to be called a lover, because here his whole intellectuality is forgotten. Sexual love belongs to brutes, and not to men.

So the blushing of the bride at being reminded of her nuptials, or of a beautiful young woman when stared at by men, and the offence that mankind generally take in being reminded of sexual intercourse, even if it be with one of the other sex to whom they are lawfully married, are from the fact that it indirectly charges them with propagation— animalism.

20. The reason why a woman's beauty is so striking at first, is because it is sexual, and therefore acts on the animal part of man; but when the animal part, the desire for sexual connection, has ceased to act, he will not be affected by it as before. But the beauty of a man is not so sexual, and will therefore not have that same physical effect; the effect will be to cause awe mingled with sexual admiration ; such beauty will be considered such, more or less, even by those who have no power of propagation, and is lasting, whereas sexual beauty lasts only as long as it is necessary to attract one of the other sex, whether it be in the male or the female. And as there are women who have very little or no sexual beauty, in some cases even a certain intellectual beauty, so there are men who have nothing but sexual beauty.

21. Though they be apparently opposite, yet all beings and things have a similarity, even intellectually and morally; for instance the just and the wicked are both punished, the just man being punished for his justness simply because it is out of order according to the state af things; the poet and the lunatic have something very similar, and the wise man and the fool; the two latter instances on the same principle as the former.

22. The animal always predominates over the man; the animal is man directly, whilst man is natural only indirectly; the latter is civilization, nature's secondary object. Thus we see that as soon as the animal nature and the intellectual nature come into conflict, the man must yield to the animal.

23. It is a rare occurence in the creations of nature to gift a man with such high and extraordinary intellectuality as to be able to control the animal that is in him; and there never was and never will be a being born in whom the animal is completely subdued, for this would be a contradiction in itself. Intellectuality is only an adjunct, for it never was the object of nature for man to transcend his boundaries as a civilized animal.

24. The two sexes seek each other under the continual error that in possessing each other, they obtain the happiness that is sought; the lover has not the remotest idea of the real object that lies in the admiration he has for his mistress. Man, rationally, is unwilling to assume the responsibility of his young, and, therefore, to compel him to produce them requires him to be blindfolded, the animal power in him being so great that for the moment it commands the intellect to be silent, until the act has been performed, when it again comes forward and charges the will with bestiality. Only under such a delusion and tyrannical control that the will has over the intellect, can propagation be reached with an intellectual being.

Many an individual, under the belief that sexual connection is bliss, finds to his misfortune that in a few years' time his labors of so-called pleasure have fully satisfied the demands of nature, to the extent of having created for her a half dozen or more of beings that he is actually not in a condition to supply with the necessary daily food; he then first sees how much of the beast and how little of the man he is. Take man as an animal, and in one sense he stands lower than the lower animal ; take him as a being of intellectuality, and he has not his equal, such a contradict tion is he in himself.

25. Hunger and the desire for sexual intercourse are the two greatest powers on earth, in man as well as in every other animal; this must be so, since it is on these that rests the existence of all beings, by virtue of the former the individual is preserved, and by virtue of the second, the species is preserved. It is on this principle, namely, that nature demands that her claims must first be satisfied, that a lover will forsake and abandon all moral and intellectual ties merely to answer this end— even when he sees disgrace and contempt foreshadowing his future career Of course, I am now speaking of animals, not men; there are, undoubtedly, here and there, human beings who, with a powerful will, resist the demand of propagating, but yet who can never decline that of hunger unless they contemplate a voluntary death.

26. The same law of nature tbat causes and compels a connection of the two sexes, out of which springs a human being, also causes and compels the different particles of sand to connect themselves, from which comes stone.

27. See, for instance, the equality that exists between man and the lower animal, by noticing that aJl his actions drift into the best manner for propagating, subsistence or self-defence; entertainments among people of fashion are to bring together the different animals of their acquaintance, or strangers as visitors to make acquaintance, thereby opening the avenue to a conjugal relation. Tou there find that the conversation is not on what is moral or civilized; not on what would be the best means of ennobling themselves, in the proper sense of the word, but it is on the best woman, marrying, money, ibegetting children, the fastest horse or the best dog ; everything to disclose the beast, but nothing to reform the man. Such people only make an outward appearance of civilization and arts ; we there find all the luxuries and articles of art that the ingenuity and genius of man has been able to invent; we there find in their exterior deportment some of the finest manners, from all of which, if one did not know the contrary, he would suppose that here alone is the civilized and the moral man ; that here alone art is recognized and genius compensated as it deserves. But upon closer examination, it will be seen that all the difference there is between this class and the lower class is, that whilst the latter do tlieir acts more openly, on the principle that they have nothing to jeopardize or lose, the former do their acts, such as are bestial, in secresy and silence; that, although their parlors are filled with statues and paintings, there is no more true taste or judgment of art in the owner than there is in the commonest cobbler, who has never seen any. For genius in art and philosophy we have to seek other abodes.

Wealth has that advantage that it doe» not tempt its possessor to little thefts and certain criminalities that the poor man is tempted to, and also enables its possessor to show high-handed acts of charity and a spirit for advancing education, if he possesses such a heart. But human nature in all classes is the same ; if the poor man had the rich man's purse, he too would be charitable and benevolent, and if the rich man had the poor man's wants, he too would pilfer and steal ; every station of life has its good qualities and its bad qualities. It depends on every man's particular individuality, whether that be in a palace or a hut, whether he is to stand on the level of a Genius or on the level of an ordinary human animal.

28. The lower animal has a social instinct as well as man, though not so developed; therefore the lower animals congregate in groups as man does in society, doubtless on the same principle, namely, that of self-defence. The greater the lack of intellect, the greater is the social instinct, and vice versa.

29. There is certainly no more savage creature in the whole animal kingdom than man; his brutality is exceeded by nothing. To such a degree does he carry his fiendishness, that he is even compelled to authorize certain other of his fellow men to protect and guard the rest of mankind against evil-doers of all kinds; and even they, the public ministers and constables of justice, in their turn, require to be guarded against. And yet, with all his foresight in the enactment of laws to meet all the exigencies imaginable, with the equipment of a full force of police to scrutinize every man's deportment as he passes along the public thoroughfares, in the very midst of what he calls a highly civilized community, how does he not fail to prevent and guard against the brutalities and crimes that are continually being committed! Is there anything more brutal than wars, where thousands of innocent human beings are slaughtered to satisfy the whimsicalities of probably a blockhead or simpleton, being in the position of a king, statesman or general? Does the lower animal have anything to equal this ?

30. All existences, taken singly, exist by way of opposition to each other. This is so as well in what we call dead matter as in organic beings. Man preserves his existence in this manner as well as the lower animal, that does it by personal bodily attacks and defences. In law the weaker party invokes the law's superior strength, and, if resistance be made to that, then the constable invokes the posse-comitatus; if this be not sufficient, then the nation, the military, is called out. With man, his opposition has become more or less indirect, through his intellect; and the greater development of it in its energy enables him to seek a better protection, which is necessary, considering that by his civilization he was compelled to give up certain bodily means of attack and defence. With the ordinary man, who may lack intellect or bodily strength, it may be through his money that he contends with the world, and the people in general, lacking bodily strength or intellect, therefore seek it.

31. All the enthusiasm that arises in man in a particular undertaking is nothing real or substantial ; it is nothing but the natural pressure to keep the individual in existence. His vanity is but that principle that is the incitement and temptation to him to lag along in the world for a limited period, then to find that his whole existence has been without an object for itself.

32. The only time we see the true existence of man, for him who lacks intellect, is when he is out of humor or sick or unfortunate; he now, to his own disgust, finds that the veil that before covered his eyes and prevented his seeing things as they are in reality, has been the cause of deception and imposition on him. But in spite of this sore experience, the common man plunges into the same misfortune, as soon as vanity has again blindfolded him.

33. With all of man's assistance from his fellow men, I find that every man in the end must rely on his own resources. The different courses of life that are pointed out to us may have their salutary effect so far as they can be imitated; but if they be not in accordance with our own nature, they soon lose their hold on us. The different biographies of great men show us the career of superior beings, yet what may have been salutary to them, may be disadvantageous to us. As there are no two natures alike in different beings, so there can be no two men who will lead the same life, though probably both lead a wise one. After the time has elapsed that the infant claims of the parent, one man can be of no more aid and assistance to his fellow man than to the extent that civilization has provided means, and this being so limited, as it is, that every man of ordinary good sense soon sees that it is a struggle with him as it is with every other being. His preservation is dependent on his animal parts, not on his intellectual. In fact, the latter even serve the former.

34. Every man that partakes merely of the animal is common, because the animal has no other object than propagating. But what partakes of the Mind, so far as it frees itself from serving the body, is uncommon, and, considering the desires of mankind in general, very uncommon indeed.

35. I have often been struck at the shape that man possesses in contradistinction to all other animals; he moves on two legs, that were it not for the equilibrium that he has assumed from use, he would be unable to hold himself erect. All other animals have a more mechanical shape and operation in their movements. Even man himself, when he imitates nature, has a tendency to follow nature, not as she is in himself, but as he sees her outside of himself; for instance, he finds it necessary to put four legs to a table or a chair, or when he wants to show the grandeur or beauty of nature, he will take any other creature but himself as a comparison. Man's position in the animal

IMAX AS A NATURAL BEING. 23

kingdom has something unnatural about it, and Schopenhauer's and Darwin's theory must be correct, namely, that man is descended from a lower animal, and therefore originally depended on his arms and hands for progression. Even those animals, such as the ape and kangaroo, that rely on their hind legs for progression, cannot entirely dispense with their fore legs, which they use as hands.

36. I find with La Eochefoucald that everything is done by man because of self-love. Such things as charity, benevolence, humanity and all the acts that apparently are done for the good and benefit of another, are a result of the particular nature of the well-doer to satisfy his own desires and reach his own ends, which ends may sometimes be very distant, and therefore he himself not even at the time be aware of them. Even Christ was not without compensation in his charity and humanity, namely, the satisfaction and contentment that his conscience left him after the act had been performed. But as long as a man receives no bodily or material benefit for such acts himself, and that he has the peace and quiet of having performed a moral duty, it is something sublime, considering that man is an animal.

But take the general acts that tend to the benefit of the rest of mankind, and there is no genuine love of humanity as the basis of them; it is nothing but self-love, either transitory benefit to be sooner or later received through them, or fame. With rich men, we see that it is not until they are about to leave the world or have left it, and therefore cannot absorb their riches, that they make public gifts, found universities, hospitals, orphan asylums, etc. So great is human vanity, that, being unable to perform great acts or produce great works, they have this pitiful way left of forcing their common selves on the public ; or else it is done to make their peace with God, as they call it, having lived in a continual state of warfare with him.