95/115 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS By FRANK H. SPRAGUE
Plato conceived this world to be the “diversified appearance of Ideas,” which the soul, having known in a pre-existent state, previous to its birth into this relative sphere, is able to recognize, in some measure, in all things, but, in most instances, in a confused and obscured manner; so that the earthly life is a process of recollection or rediscovery of the essential nature of things.
The man who aspires to a higher life, who earnestly desires to become acquainted with his deeper Self and more fully conscious of the spiritual Essence of things, the perduring basis of all manifested life, will seek every opportunity to commune with the Infinite as it is reflected in the starry heavens, the ocean, the woods, the mountains, flowers, birds, insects and countless myriads of exquisitely formed creatures too minute to be visible to the naked eye.
The genuine lover of Nature breathes in and absorbs her spirit whenever he comes into her presence. He sees with a vision deeper than the physical. Seers and poets almost invariably have been enthusiastic devotees of Nature. Even Jesus was frequently constrained to retire from the discordant suggestions of public life,
and go apart by himself into the mountain solitudes, where he found the Infinite revealed outwardly in perfect beauty. Every man enlarges his appreciation of the real, by living in the presence of Nature and becoming familiar with her language.
In the course of human evolution, man received in the world of Nature his earliest inspiration and incentive to bring into active expression the deeper things of life. The charm of natural landscape impresses, in some degree, even the rudest type of mind. It arouses not alone ecstasy, but awe, reverence and devotion, as well. The savage is conscious of the presence of a Great Spirit, however crudely his ethical and religious standards reflect the divine ideal.
Evolution in the religious, as in the natural world, has been so gradual as to be scarcely perceptible from generation to generation. The religious instinct in man first assumed the guise of superstitious fear, and led him to worship the heavenly bodies, natural forces, wild animals, and images designed to personify invisible powers, which his fancy clothed with attributes utterly abhorrent to the more refined instinct of a later period.
Each individual mind, and each race, from primitive man to the highest type of the present day, has entertained some characteristic conception of the Supreme Being. Ethical standards vary according to the measure of goodness men are capable of appreciating.
As the world of Nature appears to each observer an embodiment of beauty to the extent that he has “eyes to see,” so the world of Religion reveals to every individual just as much divinity as his power of discernment enables him to feel. Every man’s God and every man’s religion reflect his ideal of life.