“Philosophy must finally endeavour to be itself constructive.” Here Professor Seth laid stress on the necessity of a teleological view of the universe, not in the paltry, mechanical sense sometimes associated with the word teleology, but as vindicating the existence of an end or organic unity in the process of the world, constituting it an evolution and not a series of aimless changes …. As Goethe taught, in one of his finest poems, we do well to recognize in the highest attributes of human-kind our nearest glimpse into the nature of the divine. The part was not greater than the whole, and we might rest assured that whatever of wisdom and goodness there was in us had not been born out of nothing, but had its fount, somewhere and somehow, in a more perfect Goodness and Truth.—Review of Professor Seth’s address.
Believe nothing which is unreasonable, and reject nothing as unreasonable without proper examination.—Gautama Buddha.
I do not believe that matter is inert, acted upon by an outside force. To me it seems that every atom is possessed by a certain amount of primitive intelligence.—Edison.
History tells us that Pythagoras would not allow himself to be called a sage, as his predecessors had done, but designated himself as a lover of wisdom; ardent in the pursuit of wisdom, he could not arrogate to himself the possession of wisdom. Yet, in our time, so unwilling are the searchers after wisdom to admit that there can be anything “new under the sun,” anything that they do not already know, that we find the number of men of science to be marvellously small who possess the first condition of success in scientific research, as set down by Herbert Spencer, very few who do not arrogate to themselves too much learning to permit them to admit the possibility of any new revelation of truth. In every age of our world, to meet the requirements of the age, in its step-by-step progress from barbarism to civilization and enlightenment, there have appeared extraordinary men, having knowledge far in advance of the era in which they lived. Of such, among many, were Moses, Zoroaster, Confucius, Plato, and above these, Gautama the Buddha. But Moses, with all his knowledge of bacilli and bacteria, could not have met the requirements of any later age. The “eye for an eye” and “tooth for a tooth” period passed, and King David, who was so superior to other Kings of marauding tribes, that he was called “a man after God’s own heart,” satisfied his desire for punishment, to be meted out to his personal enemies, by prayer to God to “put out their eyes,” and to “let them fall from one wickedness to another.” This was a step in advance, for it gave those who had offended him a chance to escape all such summary proceedings as Moses had authorized. Still, the time was a long way off before a greater than Moses appeared to teach the world that such prayers are unavailing, that we can hate sin without hating the sinner, and that the Alpha and Omega of religion is to live in love and in the performance of duty. The Jewish prophets foretold the coming of Jesus of Nazareth; and the interpreters of Scripture are not alone now in having predicted that we are approaching a new dispensation, an age of harmony, which the twentieth century is to usher in, according to Biblical prophets. Renan has said that he envies those who shall live to see the wonders which the light of the new dawn that is breaking upon the world of science will unfold; that those who live in this coming age will know things of which we have no conception. Morley, in the spirit of prophecy, has said that in the near future a great intellectual giant will arise to bless our globe, who will surpass all other men of genius, reasoning that the representative of a larger age must be greater in genius than any predecessor. When the system is made known by which Keely dissociates the molecule and atoms by successive orders of vibration, proving two laws in physics as fallacious, we shall not hesitate to say that “the light of the new dawn” has now broken upon the world of science, and that the discoverer of the divisibility of the atom and of the absorption of energy in all molecular aggregation is the genius foretold by Morley. One quality of true genius is humility. “What a brain you must have!” said a man of science to Keely, not long since, “to have thought this all out.” This man of genius replied, “I was but the instrument of a Higher Power.” We are all instruments of a Higher Power, but the instruments chosen and set apart for any special work are always choice instruments which have been fitted or adapted to that work—the furnace perhaps seven times heated before the annealing was perfected.
It has been said that man enters upon life as a born idiot; and there are many who think that, in comparison with the possibilities which the future promises in the way of the physical evolution of the race, we are but as idiots still. Having reached our present stage of physical and mental development, the history of the civilization of our race cannot but lead reflecting men and women into the opinion that the work of evolution will become more purely psychical in future. After which, as a consequence, there can be no doubt that physical development will again take its turn; for, as Tennyson has said,—
“When reign the world’s great bridals, chaste and calm,
Then springs the coming race that rules mankind.”
Not the least among the many applications of Keely’s discoveries will be that which will prove, by demonstration, whether the chord of mass in a man and woman is near enough in the octaves to be beneficial, or so far apart as to be deteriorating.
“There is no truer truth obtainable
By man than comes of music.”