Section 11

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ian, while naught Taut iuvincible law can, in any way, call up reverence in the mind of a modern physicist. The parallel lies in the fact that reverence and submission are excited, and that reverence and submission are the same wherever found. What stim- ulates these qualities is not the question, but the qualities themselves are the all im- portant. According to our definition of re^ lig^on, all men are religious. There may be "Ten Great Religions," but there are countless others that are small, and finally descending from their parents, the Atheistic and Theistic, passing through innumerable divisions and subdivisions, we arrive at indi- vidual man, and observe that each has set up within his own. breast his peculiar idol, which is in no way identical with that in any other, save in its power to excite adora- tion, and compel submission.
Thus far we have dealt only with religion as it manifests in the soul, but as the ideal ever seeks to perpetuate itself in some outer expression, we can partially get at the inner idol by the external. We have boldly
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stated that all men have religion; we now dare to assert that all men are idol-worship- ers. This will need no argument as re- gards the great religions, with their manifold expressions, but it may be somewhat diffi- cult to convince you that a Spencer or a Huxley also sit at the feet of an inner god, which in spite of themselves takes expres- sion.
The idol of primitive man was a terrific affair. If it were a ghost only, it was so fearful and alarming that it seemed ever necessary to propitiate it with offerings of flesh and blood. It was believed that this wandering, ostracized ancestor was aggrieved and dissatisfied with his position in the Universe; that death had done him a great wrong and consequently he was more or less malignant and jealous. A dread of being haunted by the phantoms of ages, that had acquired mysterious and revolting powers, caused those still alive and fortunate, to eternally grovel at these unseen feet, which might, if outraged, tread upon them at any moment. This ghost-idol was a veritable
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entity in the soul of primitive man, and alas! even to this day, dominates afar greater num- ber of humans than the world is aware of
Ascending a step higher on the ladder of religion, we discover animal and symbol worship. In the first case, the idol is al- ready provided; it may be a terrible python, a sacred cow, or even a cat. It is a ready- made sotnethiftg, which allows of a great saving in marble and bronze. Or if it is sculptured, the live specimens receive also their due share of applause and libation.
No "Heathen" (and we use the term reverently) worthy of the name, for an instant believes that his bronze Buddha or his stone image of whatever title, amounts to auything in itself, except as a reminder of some principle or force, which might be forgotten otherwise. The Buddha appears in many aspects, sym- bolizing different emotions by attitude and expression, crude to be sure, yet subtle to those who understand, bringing man to a consciousness of his limitation in self, by its very suggestiveness.
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"The wicked Orient,'' to which country we of the Occident send missionaries, is gemmed or marred by these marvels or monstrosities, according as the case may be; while temples ranging from a pearl mosque, or the tomb-splendor of a Taj Mehal, to the humble Indian Pagoda, cover and protect countless other idols, smaller but as benefi- cent or malignant as they.
In our self-satisfaction, we of the West call these people heatben, and ourselves — well, what? You answer, "Christians;" but let us see. All over "civilized" Europe we discover cathedrals whose splendor rivals the Kast; we catch a glimpse of the ponder- ous dome of St. Peters, and the spires of Milan, or farther North the dim nave of the York, or the outliue of St. Paul. In an humbler way, rises the church spire of America, or the bam-like extensiveness of a people's tabernacle. Shrines! shrinesi nothing more nor less, sheltering, pro- tecting, something — a statue of the Virgin, a Christ on the cross, a picture, or a Bible; as surely as the temple rises, the
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fetjch is inside, which calls for, aye de- mands satisfaction. Or if an anchoret or a poet seek the Temple of Nature, whose dome is more lofty than St. Peter's, whose aisles outdo the naves of Peterborough, his goddess takes form in guise of a divine be- ing whom he sexes, fears and adores. Or, here we tread on dangerous ground, if we follow the man of science, stripped as he says of superstition, uninfluenced by revela- tion save that of Truth, fearless of the anathema of the priest, indifferent to a Hell or a Heaven, self-annihilated in facts, one who can neither be bribed nor scared, we shall find ourselves in the halls of learning and shall listen to his wranglings over that unknown x, which he is obliged to posit, ere he can get the first idea of an hypothe- sis, to say nothing of a premise. And this queer symbol, the x itself, is the Al- mighty Non-Understandable, which chills the blood in his veins; it is so tiny in ap- pearance, and requires such a little altar, that it swells to immensity in meaning, and may have a damning property that
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shall put its shivering devotee out of ex- istence. It is a speck of combustible, that is liable at any minute to blow its worship- ers up. Altogether this bit of an x (which requires in the making two strokes of a pen) , in despicable body, is the most pow- erful Deity on earth; and is as much an objective god as is a bronze Araidabutsa, or a vision of Truth conjured by the imag- ination. It is outside of pure Ego, and implies an object and subject, an observer and something observed ; no matter to what fineness you shave your abstraction, it takes form in figures and words if in noth- ing else, and is only thinkable as it, in a degree objectivates into interior or exter- ior statue or symbol. The Physicist, then, is the most religious man on earth; he worships unceasingly and everywhere ; he carries his god in his brain in the form of X, and shrines it in the temple of him- self. The boundary of his empire expands each day of his life, unless he be supremely orthodox, when alas ! he has perchance planted a hedge which he finds it hard to
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scale ; for there are men of science whose ideas are as narrow as the way to heaven. Science in its fullness is inclusive as well as exclusive, and embraces highways and byways as well as straight roads. » tt » * * *
The religion of a Hottentot or an Eng- lishman is by its nature sacred ; whatever really is a man's religioUj if by it he is bound, inspired, awed and humbled, is highest and holiest, and dominates all else. Here we make another bold statement; each man's religion is, in a sense, true, whether it be phallic-worship or adoration of a Supreme Being ; by this we mean that, tearing away the tinsel and the false, the center, the core of each man's religion (not his hypocrisy but his religion) is true. In the first place, you will find no self-con- scious being who does not fear, and conse- quently adore something. A cur will lick the hand of the master that strikes him, and the wickedest wretch in the Universe will cringe before, and therefore worship, some awe-inspiring, unknown thing, hav-
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ing for ttat vile god, exactly the same sen- timent as the devotee has for the Virgin.
Each human being feels within him the same emotion, and has, as far as the emo- tion goes, the same truth. Love is love, wherever it strikes, be the object or sub- ject vile, it matters not. Love is love, hate is hate, fear is fear, adoration is adoration; its quantity may vary in indi- viduals, but its quality never. So then all religions have in them an element of truth.
Remember we base all these startling and positive statements upon our defini- tion of religion. Here please note the dif- ference between our position and that, say, of the ardent Catholic; he will assert to you that the church, meaning the only church, has the one real religion, and that there is none other. In the face of this assumption, the Protestant will declare emphatically that his people have found the right way; that there is but one path, and it is traveled by all the honest Protestants of Christendom. Upon this, Luther fights
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the Pope, the Pope excommunicates Luther, and each damns the other to a hell blazing with fire and brimstone.
But behold a second anomaly; these "ab- solutely right" Protestants, break up into sects innumerable, battle among themselves, oft-times to the death, and show to the whole world the paradox of fallible infallibility, which puzzles it even to this day.
On earth, the famed Prince Sidartha has a larger following than any other of the sublime Masters of religious thought, and yet, alas! the Tripitika is interpreted to please the sect that reads; each one positive of correct rendering, and challenging the other to a disproval of the same.
In the realms of science and art, there are conservative schools which will brook no assertion on the part of others that their platform can in any way be shaken. Against this "I am all right and you are all wrong" idea, we bitterly protest; what- ever of truth there is in a man's cult, is be- littled and degraded the moment he takes this ground. Do not mistake us, we have
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no objection to the iconoclast, lie is neces- sary and cleansing; we would above every- thing be iconoclastic ourselves, but we dig away the rubbish to discover the gem, not for the purpose of betraying a vacuum. We strike at error, that we may uncover truth; not to show to the world that we, of all others, have reached the mountain peak, which, by the way, is too small for any save ourselves. Never attack a man's religion; aim at his hypocricJes, his shams, his "dressed-up" idols; but the real thing — let it alone; it is as sacred as your own, and as unassailable.
There are signs in the air of better days. Long since, in most countries, have the cru- elties of the cross and the stake been abol- ished. Witches are no more tortured nor hung, and the lights of generosity and lib- erty are beginning to beam on the brows of men. An unusual thing happened a few years since; representatives of all the great religions on earth met in parliament, clasped hands and sat side by side. There was a calmness and benignity manifested by them
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which a century ago would have been im- possible; there were no defiant glances and but few sarcasms; there seemed among them a spirit of tolerance, and a willingness to listen to all sides of the argument, far re- moved from that of an earlier epoch. It was as though for the 6rst time in history, the representatives of all creeds and cults saw swinging in the sunlight a huge brilliant called religion, which, as it swayed, flashed a myriad tints, each more dazzling than the other, yet blending and melting in one white glow. On this great magnet the Par- see fixed his glance, and, hypnotized, gazed on; the Brahmau, Buddhist, Jain, Confu- cianist stared and stared entranced. The Christian defied its glitter, all its sects were raptured, and discovered in this immense reflector, the wondrous gleam of their Mas- ter's eyes. If, perchance, there sat among them one who gave allegiance to naught save abstract truth, even he, held spell- bound by the x of his enigma, even he, felt the unknowm abstraction expanding far
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beyond his mental grasp into the dinn inscrutible Divine.
•J* ^^ ^^
To synthesize religions is to find the common property belonging to each, and he who unveils idols, elucidates creeds, and tears out the hearts of bibles, is the greatest Master of them all.
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THE ILLUMINATI.
You will notice, if you scan the sky on a clear night, that stars of the first magnitude are comparatively few, while those of a les- ser order gem all heaven. When the Dog Star catches your glance, and hypnotizes you into seeing naught but itself, the specks of gold dust with which the blue is powdered, melt and flow into it, till grown to an enor- mous sun, it envelops and enthralls you.
*afe sSfi sic sifi sSfi
Wf^ w^ «J* •!« w^
We read of the lUuminati, and we close the book and wonder. Are they the bap- tized who carry the tapers, or mystics con- cealed in hollow rocks ; are they among us or far oflF? Are they perfect, or endowed
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with supernatural powers? Having won- dered long, we appeal to reason, and answer our own questions.
To be illuminated, must necessarily mean to be flooded with light, either in the intellectual or spiritual sense — to have superior wisdom and insight because of fire. This fire, whether within or without, casts a glow over things, where the enlight- ened walk, and transforms, by its gleam- ing, all upon whom it flashes, as does the sun. Here we pause, and wonder again. To say that this must be, if there are II- luminati, is not to prove their existence. We might posit a fiery rose, a veritable incen- diary, that throws sparks and sets aflame a whole garden. But is there such a rose?
We cease wondering and search for data; one datum is enough, only one. Let a bot- anist produce such a blossom, in a flower pot, or on a garden bush, allow us to exam- ine and watch it, and though there is no other on earth, we have our proof that such a rose can be.
The Illuminatill We search for data,
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one datum. We eliminate at tlie start, all imaginary beings of wliom other people liave dreamed, also all those wlio claim en- lightenment and bring no proof. Assertion amounts to nothing in this investigation; we get rid of all legend and myth; we care naught for the laying on of hands, nor unc- tions experiences. We search the broad earth over for proof, in the form of some- thing left behind by these Beings called II- luminati, or for the sacred One himself in person, who, like the Dog Star, can illumin- ate and enthrall us. We are willing to take as evidence either himself, or the work that he is doing or has done. It is not necessary that we raid the den of an author, if we hold his book in our hand; the picture of an artist is his verification; the statue of a Phryne proves the existence of Praxitiles, or some one else thus labeled. That Soc- rates is lost in Plato, and Plato merged in Socrates is immaterial, when the "Apology'' lies open upon our desk; whether there were two Sapphos or one, is out of the ques- tion, while the "Hymn to Aphrodite ^^
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thrills the nerves of man. The Immortalsl Their works compel us; and uncovering our heads to the Illuminati, we quiver with strange rapture, and lite the moon, catch and throw o£F fire.
But please notice, by this severe method of getting rid of all unknown quantities, and dealing only with the known, we have simply ascertained that the Illuminati are possible; of this we have the best of evi- dence. Every work of genius, that which endures the onslaught of time, and appeals to man as complete and perfect, is evidence supreme. And more, even now, before your eyes, creations are evolving which are des- tined to live; principles are embodied, and Ideals realized. All this overwhelms us with the consciousness that the Illuminati are with us even to this day. Our concep- tion of the Illuminati may not be entirely acceptable to those who believe in the super- natural, who hinge their faith upon miracle or something out of the order of things as we know them; those to whom transcen- dentalism means a defiance of laws, and a
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working by a method, for the explanation of which, there is no language.
If there were bodies of men in Belgium, or anywhere, that answered to this descrip- tion, we implore proof; we know that, if there were not one Jesus, at least there were those who conceived of the " Sermon on the Mount," for we have read it. If the story of Bhagavat is a myth, the "Three Baskets " are still teeming. Let us see if these far-famed lUuminati of the Mystics have left anything as verification of them- selves. But wait, we must be more care- ful. Is there a flawless gem ? Perfection, what does it mean ? We can grasp but one definition. If all things are undergoing endless change by the law of Rythm, wherein lies perfection? Simply in this, that the highest tide means the ultimate as to aim ; the thing, whatever it be, re- treating, to rise again to another climax. A perfect rose is one which manifests in every particular the qualities of a rose; so with man, so with an angel. For a man to evolve an angel out of his decayed old age,