The Star in the West

208 THE STAR IN THE WEST Why do our thoughts so idly clatter ? I do not care one jot for matter , One jot for spirit , while you say One is pure ether , one pure clay .' In pure Idealism , objects have no independent exist ence ; but in the above , which is no less than pure Hylo -Idealism , they have . Yet none to the individual brain , until they have been brought into reciprocal relationship to it. If the outer world is an illusion , then the inner world of self is but a delusion , a mere mirrored reflection of shadows cast by some blinding sun ; so hope some of us , as Orpheus did when he sang : This world is shadow -shapen of The bitterness of pain . Vain are the little lamps of love ! The light of life is vain ! Life , death , joy , sorrow, age and youth Are phantoms of a further truth . This is but the chant of the Brahmin and the Buddhist as it has risen and fallen over the East for hundreds and thousands of years . There no sun shines , no moon , nor glimmering star , Nor yonder lightning , the fire of earth is quenched , From him , who alone shines , all else borrows its brightness , The whole world bursts into splendour at his shining . Kathaka Upanishad , v, 15 . The veil of Maya shrouds the true aspect of things ; it cuts off the outer from the inner world , rendering the former esoteric , and the latter exoteric . This idea of the All as the One , is magnificently described in 1 The Sword of Song , Pentecost , vol . ii, p . 183 . The Argonauts , iv, vol . ii, p . 110 .