thoughts shall be conducive to human welfare. Let this century be the sun
of previous centuries the effulgences of which shall last forever, so that
in times to come they shall glorify the twentieth century, saying the
twentieth century was the century of lights, the twentieth century was the
century of life, the twentieth century was the century of international
peace, the twentieth century was the century of divine bestowals and the
twentieth century has left traces which shall last forever.
MAN AND NATURE
From the time of the creation of Adam to this day there have been two
pathways in the world of humanity; one the natural or materialistic, the
other the religious or spiritual. The pathway of nature is the pathway of
the animal realm. The animal acts in accordance with the requirements of
nature, follows its own instincts and desires. Whatever its impulses and
proclivities may be it has the liberty to gratify them; yet it is a
captive of nature. It cannot deviate in the least degree from the road
nature has established. It is utterly minus spiritual susceptibilities,
ignorant of divine religion and without knowledge of the kingdom of God.
The animal possesses no power of ideation or conscious intelligence; it is
a captive of the senses and deprived of that which lies beyond them. It is
subject to what the eye sees, the ear hears, the nostrils sense, the taste
detects and touch reveals. These sensations are acceptable and sufficient
for the animal. But that which is beyond the range of the senses, that
realm of phenomena through which the conscious pathway to the kingdom of
God leads, the world of spiritual susceptibilities and divine religion,—of
these the animal is completely unaware, for in its highest station it is a
captive of nature.
One of the strangest things witnessed is that the materialists of today
are proud of their natural instincts and bondage. They state that nothing
is entitled to belief and acceptance except that which is sensible or
tangible. By their own statements they are captives of nature, unconscious
of the spiritual world, uninformed of the divine Kingdom and unaware of
heavenly bestowals. If this be a virtue the animal has attained it to a
superlative degree, for the animal is absolutely ignorant of the realm of
spirit and out of touch with the inner world of conscious realization. The
animal would agree with the materialist in denying the existence of that
which transcends the senses. If we admit that being limited to the plane
of the senses is a virtue the animal is indeed more virtuous than man, for
it is entirely bereft of that which lies beyond, absolutely oblivious of
the kingdom of God and its traces whereas God has deposited within the
human creature an illimitable power by which he can rule the world of
nature.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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