The Star in the West

270 THE STAR IN THE WEST Until the lotus and the sea And snake no longer are , And single through eternity Exists alone the star , And utter Knowledge rise and cease In that which is beyond the Peace !! Buddhism may be called the religion of Science , notwithstanding the fact that it arose in the East hundreds of years before what we call modern science was born . The youth of systems , as of individuals , is lost in the mist of the past , unknown to themselves , dimly apparent to others , they proceed through won dering childhood , ambitious youth , maturity , and decay . The crucibles and retorts of the alchymists are but the toys of youthful Chemistry , its dolls and tin soldiers : God and devil , angel and goblin , are but the fairies of Grimm or Andersen , or the gnomes who spring through the flooring of Drury Lane to the amazement of little children . The human first adores images , then imaginations ; the little girl who loves her doll will neglect it to tend her youngest little brother or sister , whom she will kiss and pinch in the true fashion of the human ; and when scarcely in her teens will commence those necessary and attractive adornments to enable her shortly to have a real little doll of her own . The little boy will forsake his brave little man in tin , in order to watch the soldiers in the park , or turn the coal cellar into a robber's den , or the garden seat into a pirate's bark , poetically he is realizing the grim struggle which lies before him ; both doubt their toys , and eagerly peer into the dark corridor of Life , which , alas , is so often but a Blue Beard's chamber of despair . So with religions and | The Argonauts , vol . ii, pp . 110-111 .