Philosophy

Write this: Man! What is he? Whence did he come? Whither does he go? – God? Nature? Creation? The world? Its eternity in the past, in the future! The limit of Nature, the relations of the infinite being with the particular being? The passage from the infinite to the finite? — Questions that man ought to have asked, still a child, when for the first time he saw, with his reason, above his head, the mysterious march of the stars; beneath his feet the earth, alternately clad in festive garments, under the tepid breath of spring, or covered with a mantle of mourning, beneath the icy blast of winter; when he himself saw himself, thinking and feeling, cast for an instant into that immense vital whirlwind between yesterday, the day of his birth, and tomorrow, the day of his death. Questions that have been proposed to all peoples, in all ages and in all their schools, and which, nevertheless, have remained no less enigmatic for the generations that followed. Yet questions worthy of captivating the investigative spirit of your century and the genius of your country. – If, then, there were among you one man, ten men, conscious of the high gravity of an apostolic mission and willing to leave a trace of their passage here, to serve as a point of reference for posterity, I would say to him: For a long time you have compromised with the errors and prejudices of your age; for you, the period of material and physical manifestations is over; that which you call experimental evocations can no longer teach you great things, because, most often, only curiosity is at stake. But the philosophical era of the doctrine draws near. Do not remain any longer fixed upon the laths of the portico, soon worm-eaten, and penetrate without hesitation into the celestial sanctuary, proudly carrying the banner of modern philosophy, upon which write without fear: mysticism, rationalism. Make eclecticism within modern eclecticism; make it as the ancients did, leaning upon historical, mystical, and legendary tradition, but always taking care not to depart from revelation, that torch which was lacking to us all, having recourse to the lights of the superior Spirits, dedicated as missionaries to the march of the human spirit. However elevated they may be, these Spirits do not know everything; God alone knows it. Moreover, of all that they know, they cannot reveal everything. Indeed, what would become of man's free will, his responsibility, merit and demerit? And, as sanction, punishment and reward? Meanwhile, I can mark out the path that we show you, with a few fundamental principles. Listen, then, to this: 1st The soul has the power to withdraw itself from matter; 2nd To raise itself far above the intelligence; 3rd This state is superior to reason; 4th It can place « man in relation with that which escapes his faculties; 5th Man can provoke it through prayer to God, through a constant effort of the will, reducing the soul, so to speak, to the state of pure essence, deprived of sensible and exterior activity; in a word, through the abstraction of all that is diverse, multiple, indecisive, whirling, exterior in the soul; 6th There exists in the concrete and complex self of man a force completely ignored until today. Seek it, therefore.

Moses, Plato, then Julian. n [1]

[v. Moses.

— Plato.

— Flavius Claudius Julian.]