10.THE SPIRITUAL BASIS OF HEALTH. Viewed from its absolute center, life appears to be a perfect unit; while from any eccentric point, its proportions seem more or less distorted, and an infinite number of independent centers are seen. Each eccentric observer, on discovering what he imagines to be an unbalanced whole, tries to rectify matters, as far as possible, by forcing an adjustment of the world around his finite standpoint. But every effort of this description serves to aggravate the difficulty by conflicting with a Universal purpose. No man can…

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In a microscopic inspection of life, its negative features are magnified into prominence as evils. We need to stand off and look down on the finite spectacle from the view-point of eternity.The transcendental view of life is the only thoroughly satisfactory one. It is to obtain that view-point, that humanity yearns and strives, wittingly or unwittingly. Its scope is inclusive, not exclusive. If the aspect of things which the finite mind regards as evil, were eliminated from experience, life would be characterless. The severest trials are often invaluable. They subserve…

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In music, every major scale has its corresponding minor, and every scale its minor intervals. Minor intervals give it depth and richness. Without the minor quality, it would be tame and monotonous. Many of the deepest expressions are tinged with the somber, subdued undertone of the minor. Yet how different is the hopeless melancholy, represented by a doleful, unrelieved minor strain, from the spirit of joy and triumph revealed when the minor strain leads up to a full major chord! Should the music end in the midst of the minor…

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To appreciate the beauty and grandeur of the music in its entirety, we must get outside the din and inharmony attending the technical rendering of its several parts, and assume the standpoint of the conductor, or the composer. Then, for the first time, the work would appeal to us as harmonious and inspiring. Every detail of the performance would thus become intelligible, and more deeply significant than it would have been possible for it to appear without the practical observations acquired through experiences that were, in themselves, perhaps vexatious and…

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The endless array of forms in the world, as we interpret it physically, may be likened to separate threads or strands woven into a tapestry. One may trace the courses of individual threads, and even gain an exhaustive knowledge of their several characteristics, without entertaining the slightest idea of their superior worth and significance as necessary portions of the whole fabric. The chief value of the finished product depends on the faithfulness with which it embodies the idea of the designer. However beautiful and perfect the threads may seem individually,…

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Details are indispensable to the realization of a perfectly satisfactory effect. Phenomena that, distinguished separately, seem, in the act of perception, like flaws or blemishes in their relation to the whole, because they suggest imperfection or ugliness, are factors essential to the complete representation. Every detailed expression of a perfect ideal exhibits certain phases that may be construed as imperfect, in a way; and such imperfection must be accounted for, not on the supposition that the ideal is deficient, but solely on the ground of the inadequacy of our method…

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When we analyse the world of finite forms, we perceive evil, suffering, and abnormality. Only when the light of the Absolute Principle radiates through it, is it transformed into a world of beauty, truth, goodness and harmony. The steady, monotonous glare of light, untempered by shade, soon becomes as unendurable as the depressing gloom of darkness, unrelieved by light. Either condition tends to induce blindness. The significance of those factors of experience, commonly regarded as evil, depends on the interpretation we give them. If we regard them as intrinsically evil,…

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Darkness, as a phenomenon of the natural world, denotes merely the absence of light, in a relative degree. Even there, absolute darkness does not exist; it only seems to exist when contrasted with stronger light effects. But the phenomenon of darkness is essential to an appreciation of light effects. The negative element in perception is necessary in order that the positive factor shall be appreciable. One may be fully aware of the true character of a phenomenon, the value of which is purely negative; but that circumstance need not in…

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What explanation can be offered of experiences commonly termed “evil” pain, suffering, conflict, death, and the like.” How can their presence in the world be reconciled with the existence of a Supreme Being who “is love”? What are their true values in the picture of life? How shall we properly estimate their worth in the grand total of experience? Distinctions of good and evil originate in the mind of the thinker; they are not inherent in objects. Objective expressions are pronounced good or bad, according to our attitude toward them.…

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9.THE PROBLEM OF EVIL. Any scheme of philosophy that recognizes evil as a factor to be reckoned with, in dealing with problems of human existence, seems to some persons to savor of pessimism. In whatever light the theme may be presented, in whatever fashion it may be treated, they regard any serious consideration of it as altogether superfluous.They are satisfied either entirely to ignore it, or to dismiss it with the briefest negation. If evil is an illusion, they say, why recognize it, even in a doctrinal way? What profit…

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At present, every human being begins the brief period known as the “earthly life” heavily handicapped by a legacy of materialistic propensities, acquired prenatally; and, in most instances, this subconscious heritage is supplemented and reenforced by conventional education of a similar description; so that, arriving at the point where independent thinking and acting are possible, men find themselves bound hand and foot, like the fly in the spider’s web, by a network of traditional notions and habitual practices from which they must slowly, and often painfully, extricate themselves. All eyes…

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