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Page 1 of 11909 · PDF PAGE 11
…nd off the stars from collision! A mystery of the fulness of things ; a mystery of the emptiness of things! Yet, as we go, there grows a sense, an instinct, a premonition—what shall I call it ?—that Being is One, and Thought is One, and Law is One—until we ask What is that One? Then again we spin words—words—words. And we have got no single question answered in any ultimate sense. What is the moon made of? Science replies ‘Green Cheese.” For our one moon we have now two ideas: Greenness, and Cheese. Greenness depends on the sunlight, and the ey…
1909 · PDF PAGE 5
…ioning, investigating. One must pass by contemptuously the Christian liar’s gloss which interprets “ sceptic” as “ mocker” ; though in a sense it is true for him, since to inquire into Christianity is assuredly to mock at it ; but I am concerned to intensify the etymological connotation in several respects. First, I do not regard mere incredulity as necessary to the idea, though credulity is incompatible with it. Incredulity implies a pre- judice in favour of a negative conclusion; and the true sceptic should be perfectly unbiassed. Second, I e…
1909 · PDF PAGE 7
…es of y and g for x, and values of ¥ and zg for y—all our equations are indeterminate; all our knowledge is relative, even in a narrower sense than is usually implied by the statement. Under the whip of the clown God, our performing donkeys the philosophers and men of science run round and round in the ring; they have amusing tricks : they are cleverly trained ; but they get nowhere. I don’t seem to be getting anywhere myself. II A fresh attempt. Let us look into the simplest and most certain of all possible statements. Thought exists, or if yo…
1909 · PDF PAGE 16
…ns, even on so simple a matter as a boiling-point determination! —and as for his (usually her) future, I content myself with mere common sense about the probable end of a fool. So that after all I keep my scepticism intact—and I keep my Samadhi intact. The one balances the other; I care nothing for the vulgar brawling of these two varlets of my mind! . Vil If, however, you would really like to know what might be said on the soldierly side of the question, I shall endeavour to oblige. It is necessary if a question is to be intelligibly put that …
1909 · PDF PAGE 26
… some schoolboy poet repeatedly wrote, his rimes as poor as Edwin Arnold, his metre as erratic and as good as Francis Thompson, his good sense and frank indecency a match for Browning! “Can’t be helped; must be done— So...” Nay! ’tis a bad, bad rime. And only after the scourge that smites shall come the rod that consoles, if I may borrow a somewhat daring simile from Abdullah Haji of Shiraz and the twenty-third Psalm. Well, I would much prefer to spend my life at the rod ; it is wearisome and loathsome to be constantly flogging the tough hide o…
1909 · PDF PAGE 9
…CK What is Existence? The question is so fundamental that it finds no answer. The most profound meditation only leads to an exasperating sense of impotence. There is, it seems, no simple rational idea in the mind which corresponds to the word. It is easy of course to drown the question in definitions, leading us to further complexity—but “ Existence is the gift of Divine Providence,” “ Existence is the opposite of Non-Existence,” do not help us much ! The plain Existence is Existence of the Hebrews goes farther. It is the most sceptical of stat…
1909 · PDF PAGE 13
…uppose then we accept our scepticism as having destroyed our knowledge root and branch—is there no limit to its action? Does it not in a sense stultify itself? Having destroyed logic by logic—if Satan cast out Satan, how shall his kingdom stand? Let us stand on the Mount, Saviours of the World that we are, and answer “Get thee behind me, Satan!” though refraining from quoting texts or giving reasons. Oho! says somebody; is Aleister Crowley here ?—Samson blinded and bound, grinding corn for the Philistines! Not at all, dear boy! We shall put all…
1909 · PDF PAGE 15
…ask for facts, for observation. Under Scepticism, true, one is just as much a house of cards as the other; but only in the philosophical sense. Practically, Science is true; and Faith is foolish. Practically, 3 x 1 = 3 is the truth; and 3x 1 =1 isa lie; though, sceptically, both statements may be false or unintelli- gible. Practically, Franklin’s method of obtaining fire from heaven is better than that of Prometheus or Elijah. I am now writing by the light that Franklin’s discovery enabled men to use. Practically, “I concentrated my mind upon a…
1909 · PDF PAGE 14
…scientific studies, mere straws before the blast of our hunchback friend! Well, one of the buttresses is just the small matter of common sense. The other day I was with Dorothy, and, as I foolishly imagined, very cosy: for her sandwiches are celebrated. It was surely bad taste on the part of Father Bernard Vaughan, and Dr. Torrey, and Ananda Metteyya, and Mr. G. W. Foote, and Captain Fuller, and the ghost of Immanuel Kant, and Mr. Bernard Shaw, and young Neuburg, to intrude. But intrude they did; and talk! I never heard anything like it. Every …