The Star in the West

298 THE STAR IN THE WEST because empirical . An unwarranted reverence has overlaid the watchfulness which science would have enjoined , and the result is muck and misery , the wreck of a noble study. But what is the fact upon which all agree ? The one fact whose knowledge has been since religion began the all sufficient passport to their doubtfully - desirable company ? This : that “ I see a cat " is not only an unwarranted assumption , but a lie ; that the duality of consciousness ceases suddenly , once the rate of change has been suffici ently slowed down , so that , even for a few seconds , the relation of subject and object remains impregnable .' This state of relationship is either a very high stage of Dhyâna or Samâdhi itself , the whole quintessence of the five senses reflecting their full glory on the mirror of their own quiescence : the sun raised to the power of a quintillion flaming on the surface of an in finite facetless diamond . There is a lake amid the snows Wherein five glaciers merge and break . Oh ! the deep brilliance of the lake ! The roar of ice that cracks and goes Crashing within the water ! Glows The pale pure water , shakes and slides The glittering sun through emerald tides , So that faint ripples of young light Laugh on the green . Is there a night So still and cold , a frost so chill , That all the glaciers be still ? Yet in its peace no frost . Arise ! Over the mountains steady stand , O sun of glory in the skies Alone , above , unmoving ! Brand Thy sigil , thy restless might , The abundant imminence of light ! 1 Science and Buddhism , vol . ii, pp . 207-208 .