We must learn to see in this world. The new-born babe has no
conception of distance and will reach for things far, far beyond its grasp until it has
learned to gauge its capacity. A blind man who acquires the faculty of sight, or has it
restored by an operation, will at first be inclined to close his eyes when moving from place
to place, and declare that it is easier to walk by feeling than by sight; that is because he
has not learned to use his newly acquired faculty. Similarly the man whose spiritual vision
has been newly opened requires to be trained, in fact he is in much greater need thereof
than the babe and the blind man already mentioned. Denied that training he would be like a
new-born babe placed in a nursery where the walls are lined with mirrors of
different[pg 033]convex and concave curvatures, which would distort its own shape and the
forms of its attendants. If allowed to grow up in such surroundings and unable to see the
real shapes of itself and its nurses it would naturally believe that it saw many different
and distorted shapes where in reality the mirrors were responsible for the illusion. Were
the persons concerned in such an experiment and the child taken out of the illusory
surroundings, it would be incapable of recognizing them until the matter had been properly
explained. There are similar dangers of illusion to those who have developed spiritual
sight, until they have been trained to discount the refraction and to view the life which is permanent and
stable, disregarding the form which is evanescent and changeable. The danger of
getting things out of focus always remains however and is so subtle that the writer feels an
imperative duty to warn his readers to take all statements concerning the unseen world with
the proverbial grain of salt, for he has no intention to deceive. He is therefore inclined
rather to magnify than to minimize his limitations and would advise the student to accept
nothing from the author's pen[pg 034]without reasoning it out for himself. Thus, if he is deceived, he will be
self-deceived and the author is blameless.
Three
Theories of Life.
Only three noteworthy theories have been offered as solutions to
the riddle of existence and in order that the reader may be able to make the important
choice between them, we will state briefly what they are and give some of the arguments
which lead us to advocate the doctrine of Rebirth as the method which favors soul-growth and
the ultimate attainment of perfection, thus offering the best solution to the problem of
life.
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