CHAPTER IX.

THE IRRATIONAL MIND.

Reason is rationality and irrationality is the defi-
ciency thereof, is small, narrow, contracted, deficient
in brilliancy, void of charity, envious, jealous, covet-
ous, full of censure, blame and fault-finding, ready
to condemn and to believe ill of others, egotistical,
vain, proud, selfish and void of sympathy, quick to
judge but void of justice : these qualities and many
more, show the clouded mind and soul, in which the
great God hides his face and turns his back upon
heaven.

Reason is not a product of nature nor of the
natural mind, since it does not enter into man
through the physical senses. It is in the action of
the will that the Supernatural meets man and becomes
man by transforming the natural mind first into the
rational then into the Divine.

No man can ascend unless thought lift him up.
One can ascend on the thought of another, only by
reaching up and grasping such thought, and making
it his own. This is a lifting of the eyes heavenward,
to examine the self who stands in the way, shutting
out the rational light. He who is fully rational, un-

108 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS.

derstands all things, which consist first of all of self-
knowledge or the knowledge of God ; since He is in
the shadow of things, and is only found by passing
them by. That light is a weak light which reflects
objects only. It is the irrational mind, which is on
the surface, stupid and insensate ; while the X-Ray
light, which penetrates and reflects formless princi-
ples, combining them into forms of beauty and use,
is Divine reason, which descends from the soul
only in answer to effort of will, and elevates man to
meet it in Rationality.

How natural for light to flow outward. To cause
it to flow inward is supernatural — or a work against
nature.

Oh, how we love "the babbling brook," the green
trees, the fragrant flowers, the majestic hills, the
far-stretching landscape, the soothing hum of insect
life, the woodland songs of the feathered hosts, the
shout of merry childhood, the rhythm of machinery,
the tread of busy feet, the rush and roar of business :
all these things have a deathless fascination for the
natural mind, to lure its flames outwardly to the for-
getting of an inward flame and the lesson these things
are designed to teach.

We forget ourselves in this out-reaching flame
and, falling down in abject worship of things, — learn
nothing. Youth departs and beauty fades. Are
they worthless then ? Are these worldly, sensuous
things to be ignored and treated as false? By no
means. They are created by something ', and if ere-

THE IRRATIONAL MIND. IO9

ated things are beautiful and valuable, how much
more beautiful and valuable must be the Creator, than
the things he has made.

In the contemplation of loveliness, the Creator of
all beauty and grandeur is stirred in the soul to
create loveliness of character and expression in the
one who contemplates. And in like manner will He
create pain and deformity in him who, in thought,
dwells among unlovely things and acts irrationally.

The things in which the natural mind delights, are
for use ; and they should not become rivals of the
Creator in the worship and thought which we give
them.

The natural mind scatters thought, force, life and
energy upon the things which very soon fade and
lose their loveliness in life, and man passes away with
them as a dream passes.

The constant contact of the natural mind with
trifles, speedily dulls the brilliancy of its light, till it
changes into dull and criminal irrationality, the ex-
treme of which is insanity.

Self, the center of being, is a necessity which
man cannot ignore and of which he cannot "let go : "
yet, as an excess of self-consciousness is weakness,
the further he removes his consciousness from the
self, the greater he becomes and the more power he
possesses. The more one lives in others, the greater
and more rational he becomes ; because reason con-
sists of relationship. "To do as you would be done
by/' is true relationality.

IIO THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS.

Shrewd business intellect is in no sense reason.
The accumulation of wealth is irrational, inasmuch
as it is done at the expense of others and of a personal
loss of love in the one who so accumulates. To lose
love is to lose the soul.

The outer, extreme, projecting flame of the nat-
ural mind, the plotting, scheming, over-reaching
thought, is but an impermanent thing, — a flame
which dies of its own force, — which discovers noth-
ing in nature, nor in itself, save that which increases
crime and misery, — and produces only physical
things beautiful and fascinating for a moment, as
inventions and labor saving machinery which in-
crease wealth, and build palaces for the rich but turn
the poor out of doors and make tramps and slaves of
skilled workmen. This is the work of the irrational
mind ; while the inner flame of the same mind, which
is the persistent thought of the true value and re-
lationship of things and of a higher manhood, carries
with it a high and noble, — because unselfish, —
motive that regulates all acts. This creates a moral
nature, a nature of mercy, charity and justice, free
from pride and vindictiveness, whose elongated
flame, far flashing and brilliant, made telescopic by
effort of will, dispels the darkness of the inner man,
and reveals as the crowning glory of true manhood,
the Divine reason, that light of rationality which
spans the universe.

This inner force of mind is a restraining power
which holds in check the outer or aggressive tendency

THE IRRATIONAL MIND. Ill

of man's savage wildbeast nature ; and, in the hush
and silence of contemplation, creates pity, — the
great civilizer of the race.

Pity is not a mental characteristic, it is of the
soul, — the messenger which carries telegrams be-
tween man and his Maker.

112 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS.