THERE IS an ancient Oriental fable which runs as follows: There was once a fabulously rich potentate, who died bequeathing all his property to Yusef, his favorite slave, with the one reservation that each of his sons was to be allowed to select some one thing of value, which should be set aside from the residue of the estate for the son to have and to hold forever, with all appertaining thereto. The sons each selected some one valuable piece of property. The eldest selected the royal palace; the second, the famed hanging gardens; the third, the jeweled peacock throne bestudded with precious stones of great value, and so on. Each son made his choice, and yet each bewailed the fact that the great bulk of the potentate’s possessions must pass into the hands of Yusef the slave.
Awaiting his turn sat the youngest son, a mere stripling. When his elder brothers had each made his choice, and the time of the youngest had come, he turned to the executors, saying: "I choose Yusef the slave!" A cry of wonder and admiration went up from the assembled judges, courtiers, and soldiery, for the stripling youth had displayed the greatest mental keenness and cunning. He had chosen as his one piece of property the favorite slave to whom the potentate had bequeathed the bulk of his estate. As the will provided that with each piece of property chosen by the sons should also go "all appertaining thereto," the owner of the slave thus became owner of the enormous possessions forming the residuary bulk of the estate. Under the law the slave's possessions became the property of the owner of the slave. By owning the slave the lad became the owner of all except the comparatively trifling things that the brothers had chosen. He had chosen the only possible thing which, when owned, made him the owner of all the rest of real and permanent value.
And so, in the spirit of the allegory, the attainment of the knowledge of REALITY causes one to become the attainer of All Truth, for All Truth is included in the content thereof. REALITY is the "one thing which, when known, all is known." It is the primal and elemental Truth-of-All-Truth.
THE PATH OF ATTAINMENT.
Truth is discovered only by those who have the courage, faith, and persistency to climb the steep Path of Attainment; by those who brave the rocky, narrow footpath; by those who are appalled not when they gaze down upon the canyons far beneath them, seeing the multitude of crawling, creeping things that look like tiny ants—the world of men living on the lower planes of thought. A clear head, steady nerves, sound lungs, strong muscles, and sure feet are needed by him who would attain the heights. Do you possess these?
Have you the courage to leave behind you all preconceived notions, superstitions, and prejudices of finite life? Have you the intellectual daring which alone will enable you to make foot places along the jagged cliffs in which your feet must be placed one after the other as you mount higher and higher? Have you the persistency which will cause you to proceed thus, step by step, mounting higher and higher toward Truth without becoming dizzy when you chance to look downward over the immense distances which you have traversed? Have you the constancy which will enable you to look upward and not downward, forward and not backward, on the Path, caring for naught except to reach the summit of the highest peak of the mountain of Truth?
If you have these, O Seeker! then are you invited to participate in the Quest for Truth, in the Inquiry for Ultimate Reality, which is Spirit. You are invited to pursue the quest for this underlying, fundamental, actual, enduring, absolute Truth, this Ultimate Verity—Reality. The journey is long, arduous, and tedious. Its path is strewn with jagged rocks, which torment and bruise the feet of the intellect. Its grade is steep, and the traveler ofttimes loses his breath and feels insecure of his footing. His head swims and becomes dizzy. The spiritual air is very rare, and the unaccustomed lungs of thought pant with the unusual exertion. For remember, the Path of Knowledge leading to the recognition and realization of Reality winds around the sides of the steepest and highest mountain of human mentation. He who reaches its summit—he who gains its highest peak—has found "that which, when known, all things are known."
THINKING MEN and women have ever meditated upon the nature, meaning, and reason of the Universe and of the Self. Beneath the popular creeds, philosophies, and dogmas of his particular time and place, man has always felt there must exist an inner Truth which, if known, would make all else intelligible. Hence the endless search for REALITY which has distinguished thinking men and women in all ages and all lands. Hence the ever present queries: "What am I?" "Whence come I?" "What is the object of my existence?" Hence the eternal "Why?" on the lips of thinkers of the past and present, in every clime, in every civilization, and among every people of the race.
REALITY.
"REALITY" is a term used by philosophers to designate that SOMETHING which is fixed, eternal, and unchangeable, and which underlies the universe of changing forms, shapes, and conditions of things, and which is the primal cause of them. Perhaps the best and clearest definition of REALITY—as the term is used in philosophy—is the following:—
"REALITY is that which does or may exist by itself, and is not considered as forming part of any other thing."
Anything that does not answer the above definition is held by philosophy to be non-reality, or mere appearance.
REASON.
While there have been some who have held that man can never hope to know aught regarding REALITY by the exercise of his reason, nevertheless the wise in all ages and all lands have held the inquiry to be legitimate and proper, maintaining that there is no finite limit to the reach of the human reason. This has been the report of the reason of the wisest of the race, as we may discover by a study of the philosophic thought of the past and present.
"There is no scientific problem which we may dare to say the mind of man will never solve; no mystery so deep or profound; no question has or ever will be asked but a mind or brain will be evolved capable of solving and answering."—Haeckel.
"If it becomes essential for mankind to know, infinite nature will evolve an organ of mind that can comprehend."—Stevens.
INTUITION.
In addition to reason, the faculty with and by which man forms judgments regarding phenomenal facts, there exists the faculty of intuition or direct knowledge of the inner facts of life, which is a higher phase of perception, and by which man receives more or less clear reports regarding the inner verities of his being. The perception of intuition is examined and passed upon by the reason, is associated and correlated to the report of the latter, and a new judgment—an intuitive-intellectual judgment—is formed and becomes a part of the "belief" of the man. Man, trusting to his intuition, and combining the perception thereof with the purely intellectual reports, is enabled to reach a higher consciousness of BEING than is possible by purely intellectual processes alone, or by pure intuition alone.
A GLIMPSE OF THE HEIGHTS.
In these lessons we shall ask you to consider certain fundamental reports of the reason, and the conclusions arising therefrom. In order that you may understand that which the Axioms of REALITY are designed to unfold into your conscious recognition,—that you may see in advance the aim and goal of the journey,—we invite you to carefully consider the following Fundamental Postulate in which is condensed the spirit of the basic teaching embodied in these lessons. A "Postulate" is "something asserted, to which assent is challenged or demanded."
In the Axioms of REALITY, and the teaching based thereon in the following lessons, the points covered by the Fundamental Postulate will be unfolded gradually, argued logically, and the reports of reason stated. In the Fundamental Postulate we are afforded a glimpse of the Path over which we shall travel, and the heights which we shall attain. In the Axioms of REALITY we have the various ledges or planes of the inquiry. Step by step we shall advance on the Path. Each Axiom affords a resting place and a halt. The student should master each step, and never leave the resting place of any Axiom until he has fully acquainted himself with it and associated it with those which precede it.
FUNDAMENTAL POSTULATE.
I. There exists an ultimate, infinite, and eternal principle of REALITY which is the essence, nature, substance, and principle of All-that-is. This principle of REALITY is the certain Something which abides, invariable and constant, as the essential principle in all things, all creatures, all entities, all beings, and which precedes and survives all their changes of form, shape, state, and condition. This principle ever remains itself, notwithstanding the infinite and eternal change in form, shape, state, and condition in which it may occur, appear, or present itself. This ultimate, infinite, and eternal principle is known as REALITY.
II. REALITY is Absolute Unity. It is Independent and Free; Whole, Complete, and Perfect; Original and Causeless; Eternal; Infinite; Ultimate; Absolute; Formless; Indivisible; and Immutable. REALITY is Infinite Substance, Infinite Energy, Infinite Life, Infinite Law, and Infinite Mind.
III. REALITY is in Eternal Creation. It is the support and background for the phenomenal appearance of numberless universes incessantly manifesting and disappearing. It is the changeless REALITY manifesting the eternal law of change. It is the unconditioned and absolute ground for all that exists conditionally. In Itself it is All-That-Is. In its Creation it is All-that-Appears; uncreate, it is The-All. Its Creation appears as the Cosmos.
IV. The Universe, with all contained therein, is created in and by REALITY considered as Infinite Mind. All Creation exists as Idea in the Infinite Mind of REALITY. The Will of REALITY is Universal Energy. The Pure Logic of REALITY is Universal Law. The Being of REALITY is Universal Life. The Substance of REALITY is Universal Substance. The Infinite Mind of REALITY, in its Ideative and Volitional activities, is the Creative and Conative Power of the Universe.
V. REALITY is immanent in its Creation, and in every part thereof. In the characters of its conscious creations it manifests itself as the artist in his work, the poet, playwright, or writer in his characters. The created universe is the cosmic dramatization of REALITY, through which it lives and acts, moves and plays its infinitude of parts. REALITY, being indivisible and immutable, is immanent in each of its creations in its Totality of Being. In and back of each conscious being is the Presence and Power of REALITY. REALITY is immanent in You. Hence the following
MESSAGE OF REALITY.
There is one principle of REALITY—the essence, nature, substance, and principle of All-that-is. This principle— REALITY—always remains itself, indivisible and immutable, notwithstanding the infinity of apparent differences in manifestation of form, shape, state, or condition under which it occurs, appears, or presents itself in the phenomenal universe. You yourself are the Manifestation of that principle—REALITY. And, likewise, You are identical with it in the totality of its essence, nature, substance, and REALITY. The recognition of this Identity by the Intellect constitutes the perception of Truth; the realization of it by Intuition constitutes Illumination; the manifestation of it by Volition constitutes Mastery.
* * * * *
In this book you are invited to pursue the inquiry in detail, both in the examination and investigation of the Axioms of REALITY, the consideration of the Nature of REALITY, the Process of Manifestation, and the Facts of Immanence, Identity, and Mastery.
THE MEANING OF TERMS.
Before proceeding to the Axioms of REALITY the student is asked and advised to acquaint himself or herself with the definition of the principal terms employed in our inquiry. It is impossible for one to intelligently study the Axioms unless he or she be fully acquainted with and informed regarding the terms employed. A term is a peg upon which a thought is suspended. The association of each thought with its own particular term is needed in order that one may reason clearly. The clear and correct understanding of terms is the first requisite of logical thought and reasoning. Therefore, we say to the student: Master the definitions before you proceed further, and then as you proceed frequently refer to them.
FUNDAMENTAL DEFINITIONS.
ULTIMATE: Extreme, final; incapable of further analysis, division, separation, resolution, refinement, purification, or simplification.
INFINITE: Without limits, bounds, or measurements; ultimate capacity and possibility of expression and manifestation in time, space, quantity, quality, and variety.
ETERNAL: Without beginning or ending of existence; always existing; existence without intermission; ceaseless; constant; everlasting; perpetual.
PRINCIPLE: The source or origin from which anything proceeds; ultimate element or essence; the original inherent essence of a thing, and its final and ultimate essential nature.
ESSENCE: That which is the very and actual nature of anything.
NATURE: The inherent and essential "thingness" of the being of anything.
SUBSTANCE: That which underlies all outward manifestations; that which constitutes anything what it is; real and existing essence, nature, or being; that which constitutes the Thing-in-Itself, as distinguished from its appearances or outward manifestations.
YOU ARE now invited to acquaint yourselves with the Axioms of REALITY. An axiom is a self-evident and necessary truth—a proposition based on reason, which it is necessary to take for granted in subsequent thought; or a proposition which is so evident that when presented to the reasoning mind it requires no further demonstration but commends itself at once to the acceptance of everyone capable of thinking.
The science of logic, like that of higher mathematics, is based upon axioms. An axiom, being based upon the general and invariable report of reason of the race, is not subjected to the demand for repeated proof upon each occasion of its frequent employment as a basis for demonstration and argument. To dispute the evidence of the axioms of rational thought is akin to disputing the validity of human thought itself. In the latter case, however, even the validity of the disputation would be attacked at the same time that the axiom was attacked, for the disputation itself is a manifestation of human thought. The axioms hold ever, unless we deny the validity of reason.
In the Axioms of REALITY herein given will be found the fundamental and elementary reports of the reason regarding the Ultimate Principle of REALITY, which we have stated as the subject of our inquiry. These axioms should be carefully studied, considered, and committed to memory. They will be found to furnish an infallible touchstone with which to test the soundness of any philosophical or metaphysical doctrine, dogma, or teaching. They are the report of the highest philosophical thought of the ages directed to the subject. They represent the essence of the thought of the illumined of the race upon the subject of REALITY. With the Axioms of REALITY the student has at hand the master key with which to open the many doors of the temple of knowledge. Rightly used they will disclose the Truth-of-Truths.
We beg of the student to tarry awhile with the axioms, to dwell with them awhile before passing on. The mind that is saturated with the Truth embodied in the axioms cannot go far astray on the path of philosophical knowledge. They will serve as a constant series of infallible guideposts, pointing ever to the Truth. Do not pass them by as dull, dry, tedious, or technical, for in them you will find all the interest that is imaginable. In their few words is to be found the essence of all philosophy and metaphysics. Make them your own, treat them well, and in the hour of mental stress and trial they will be found by your side, whispering the word of Truth in your ear, clearing away all doubts, and brushing aside all conflicting and contradictory arguments. Hold fast to the axioms,—this is our first and last advice to the student,—hold fast to the axioms!
AXIOM OF ACTUAL EXISTENCE.
First Axiom of REALITY: REALITY is existent in truth, in verity, and in fact as the essence, nature, substance, and principle of All-that-is.
This axiom announces the actual existence of REALITY; not the imaginary existence, but the real, veritable, truthful, and in-fact existence; not the temporary or temporal shadow of existence, but the fixed, unalterable, eternal existence, which alone constitutes Real existence; not the existence of the fleeting form, but the existence of the eternal essence. This actual existence is the "REALITY" of philosophy. Only that which exists and remains unchanged, invariable, and permanent may be said to be REALITY in the strict philosophical sense of the term.
On every side, and in everything, we perceive the manifestation of constant change of form, shape, and activity; everlasting and ever-manifest transmutation of substance from one phase to another; impermanence in everything; nothing stable; nothing constant; nothing persisting; everything in constant motion; everything in a state of flux; everything flowing on like a river, never the same for two consecutive moments; everything the ever-changing particles of a huge cosmic flame; nothing permanently "being"; everything constantly "becoming" or passing from one state to another; action and reaction; cycles and rhythms; the beginningless and endless sequence of events; the constant operation of cause and effect; the Law of Change ever modifying and altering the shape, form, activity, state, and condition of everything, even from the very moment of its creation or birth.
BEING'S CEASELESS TIDE.
We are constantly aware of the chameleon-like nature and character of what Gautama the Buddha called
"Being's ceaseless tide,
Which, ever-changing, runs, linked like a river
By ripples following ripples, fast or slow,—
The same, yet not the same,—from far-off fountain
To where its waters flow
"Into the seas. These, steaming to the sun,
Give the lost wavelets back in cloudy fleece
To trickle down the hills and glide again,
Having no pause or peace.
"This is enough to know, the phantasms are;
The Heavens, Earths, Worlds, and changes changing them
A mighty whirling wheel of strife and stress
Which none can stay or stem."
THE QUEST FOR PRINCIPLE.
Turning in despair from this contemplation, thinking men and women have sought for a fundamental principle of REALITY underlying, supporting, and sustaining the universe of finite, transitory, changing shapes, forms, activities, states, and conditions,—that "unconditioned and absolute ground for all that exists conditionally," which Plato asserted to be the real subject-matter of the inquiry of philosophy.
The wise have ever refused to accept the changing, impermanent, phenomenal universe as the ultimate verity, truth, and fact of REALITY. They have always insisted upon looking behind and under the world of manifestation for the essence which they believed must lie back of it; for the infinite essence underlying the finite; for the immutable essence underlying the ever-changing; for the eternal essence underlying the transitory.
Gazing upon the universal manifestation of the law of change, the thoughtful ever have asked themselves and others the ultimate question: What is it that manifests change? What is it that is? What is it that is actually, verily, truthfully, and in fact REALITY?
While the majority of the race has contented itself with creating deities, gods, demigods, godlings, and minor supernatural entities in endless variety, number, and name, the wise of the race, discarding these creations of the naïve imaginations of their brethren, and ignoring the interested dogma of the various priesthoods attending the shrine of the local deities, tribal gods, and supernatural personages, have ever sought for the principle of REALITY which abides, lives, and has its existence in the infinity of manifested forms, shapes, activities, and existences of the universe, and in which they so abide, live, and have their being. Like old Omar, they have sought ever for that Abiding Presence, that Ultimate REALITY,—
"Whose secret presence, throughout creation's veins
Running Quicksilver-like, eludes our pains,
Taking all shapes from Mah to Mahi; and
They change and perish all, but he remains."
They have perceived that REALITY cannot be merely the outward forms, shapes, activities, states, and conditions of manifested existence, for the finite character of these were soon discovered. The material panorama of the manifested universe was recognized as a phantasmagoria, and all beings participating in it as mere actors on the great stage of the Cosmos. The wise have ever held that the manifested universe is akin to a cosmic dramatization of REALITY; that, as Omar says,
"We are no other than a moving row
Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go
Round with the Sun-illumined Lantern held
In midnight by the Master of the Show."
NOUMENON AND PHENOMENON.
The philosophic mind of the race has ever distinguished between the mere outward appearance of the universal activities and the essence