The Drama of Love and Death: A Study of Human Evolution and TransfigurationCarpenter, Edward
Philosophy
The Drama of Love and Death: A Study of Human Evolution and Transfiguration
Carpenter, Edward
Death; Love; Personality
And I think we may say that it is not merely the personal soul’s highest
duty and best welfare to turn in this direction; but that in a sense and
by the law of its nature it must do so. For even in those cases where
the man does not recognize this universal Being within, nor consciously
believe in and hold on to the same, still is it not true that
unconsciously he is very near and very closely related? For all the
great qualities which we have already described as characterizing the
most intimate human soul, are they not just those which must relate it
to the universal Self? I mean such things as Equality—the sense of
inner equality with all human and other creatures; Freedom—the sense of
freedom from local and material bonds; Indifference—indifference as to
fate and destiny; Magnanimity; abounding Charity and Love; dignity;
courage; power—all these things, are they not obviously the qualities
which dawn upon the personal soul and color it when it is coming into
touch with the universal? Are they not the natural ‘sign and symbol’ of
union or partial union with that Self? And more: are there not other
things belonging more distinctly to the unconscious and subliminal
region (which we shall deal with presently)—I mean such things as deep
memory, intuition, clairvoyance, telepathy, prophetic faculty, and so
forth—which point to the same conclusion?
The inner personal soul of man is surely already conjoined to the
universal, and must cling to it by its very nature. And though the man
may not exactly be conscious of this union; though he may hardly really
know the depth of his own nature; though, notwithstanding his own
splendid qualities of character, some thin film may yet divide him from
awareness of the all-redeeming Presence; yet none the less that Presence
is there; and is the core and centre of his being.
That being granted, it seems clear that in the disintegration of death
the inner personality (whether consciously or unconsciously) will cling
to the eternal self within it. And this seems to be the explanation of
the part played by Religion in the history of the world, and its close
connection with death. The different religions being lame attempts to
represent under various guises this one root-fact of the central
universal Life, men have at all times clung to the religious creeds and
rituals and ceremonials as symbolizing in some rude way the redemption
and fulfilment of their own most intimate natures—and this whether
consciously understanding the interpretations, or whether (as most
often) only doing so in an unconscious or quite subconscious way.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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