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Modern Saints and Seers By: Jean Finot (1858-1922) |
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TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF JEAN FINOT
BY EVAN MARRETT LONDON WILLIAM RIDER & SON, LTD. CATHEDRAL HOUSE, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. 1920
PREFACE
THE FOREST OF ILLUSIONS "Listen within yourselves, and gaze into the infinity of Space and
Time. There resounds the song of the Stars, the voice of Numbers, the
harmony of the Spheres." HERMES TRISMEGISTUS.
In these days the phenomenon of religion, which we believed to have
receded into the background of human life, is reappearing among us,
more vigorous than ever. The four years' desolation into which the
world was plunged has rendered the attraction of "the beyond"
irresistible, and man turns towards it with passionate curiosity and
undisguised longing. The millions of dead who have vanished from
mortal sight seem to be drawing the present towards the unsounded deeps
of the future. In many cases their loss has taken all joy and colour
from the lives of those who survive them, and tear stained faces are
instinctively turned towards the portals of the Great Mystery. Occultism is triumphant. In its many different forms it now emerges
from obscurity and neglect. Its promises excite our deepest thoughts
and wishes. Eagerly we examine the strength of the bridge that it has
built between this world and the next; and though we may see our hopes
slip down between the crevices, though we may find those who have been
disappointed in a more despairing state than before what matter? We
still owe thanks to occultism for some cherished moments of illusion. The number of its followers increases steadily, for never before has
man experienced so ardent a desire for direct contact with the
Unknowable. Science will have to reckon with this movement which is
carrying away even her own high priests. She will have to widen her
frontiers to include the phenomena that she formerly contemned. The supernatural world, with its abnormal manifestations, fascinates
modern humanity. The idea of death becomes more and more familiar. We
even demand, as Renan happily expressed it, to know the truth which
shall enable us not to fear, but almost to love, death: and an
irresistible force urges us to explore the depths of subconsciousness,
whence, it is claimed, may spring the desired renewal and
intensification of man's spiritual life.
But why is it that we do not return to the old established religions?
It is because, alas, the Great Agony through which the world has passed
has not dealt kindly with any form of established faith. Dogmatic
theology, which admits and exalts the direct interference of the
divinity in our affairs, has received some serious wounds. The useless
and unjustifiable sacrifice of so many innocent lives, of women, of old
men, of children, left us deeply perplexed. We could not grasp the
reason for so much suffering. Never, at any period in the past, have
the enemies of humanity and of God so blasphemed against the eternal
principles of the universe yet how was it that the authors of such
crimes went unpunished? Agonising doubts seized upon many faithful hearts, and amid all the
misery with which our planet was filled we seemed to distinguish a
creeping paralysis of the established faiths. Just at the time when we
most had need of religion, it seemed to weaken and vanish from our
sight, though we knew that human life, when not enriched and ennobled
by spiritual forces, sinks into abysmal depths, and that even any
diminution in the strength of these forces is fatally injurious to our
most sacred and essential interests. Attempts to revive our faith were bound to be made sooner or later,
and we shall no doubt yet witness innumerable pilgrimages towards the
source of religion.
The psychology of the foundations of the spiritual life; the
mysterious motives which draw men towards, or alienate them from,
religious leaders; the secret of the influence exercised by these
latter upon mankind in the mass all these things are now and always of
intense interest... Continue reading book >>
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