Mystic Immanence, the Indwelling SpiritWilberforce, Basil
Religion
Mystic Immanence, the Indwelling Spirit
Wilberforce, Basil
Immanence of God; Mysticism
This "sense sublime," which is spiritual consciousness, is a sense
which, once awakened, Materialism can never stamp out, though it is very
possible to be unfaithful to it. It is a thrilling consciousness of
penetrating Divine Mind everywhere. This "sense sublime" is an
hereditary instinct in our nature which makes "feeling after God"
automatic. This "sense sublime," added to the natural demand for a
conception of God under some conditions of personality, has been the
foundation of all religions. It was the foundation of the higher Deism
of the Jewish theology, which possessed beautiful characteristics in
spite of its anthropomorphism. Isaiah was full of the "sense sublime,"
and he bids us create "thought-forms" and think of Infinite Spirit as
men would think of their mothers—"As one whom his mother comforteth, so
will I comfort you." "Use your imagination," he would say, "to conceive
that the tenderness of a mother feebly represents the watchful love, the
protecting care, of Jehovah towards the human race; for a human mother
may forget her child, ’Yet will I not forget thee,’ saith the Lord."
Beautiful and consoling as is Isaiah’s conception of God as Universal
Mother, it is still Deistic, it still leaves the Infinite Intelligence
as a Person, which He is not. It does not answer the philosophic
problem of how mentally to specialize the Infinite Mind while at the
same time preserving mentally the conception of its universality. The
Gospel of the "Word made Flesh," the revelation of the Incarnation,
solves that problem.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account