The herald., 1897-01-31
THE MoNISTIC PHILOSOPHY

The Herald is asked what the Society
Of Monists" teaches and if its doctrine
is materially different from the philoso-
ply of Theosophy We answer that the
Monist believes mind and matter and
their phenomena to be manifestations
or notifications of some one substance,
which is capable of an objective and
subjective aspect; that the universe Is
a whole is God, and that there is no God
but the combined forces and laws which
are manifested in the universe.
Theosophy teaches substantially the
same philosophy, only that 1t makes the
law of ethical causation the fundamen-
tai principle of existence, and holds 10
the doctrine of reward and punishment,
but that the individual himself inficts
his own punishment in accordance with
the decree of his own Karma. The So
called orthodox" Theosophist holds
that the ultimate evolution Of the ego
is into the universal whole-"the dew
drop slips into the sea"-but the liberal
Theosophist, or Buddhist, holds that ev
cry entity is potentially god; that every
ego retains It's individuality throughout,
and that working out your own. saliva
tion" means the releasing of the higher
from the lower nature of ones own In
dividual effort.
As a matter Of fact, however, the lib
eral schools Of Monistio philosophy
might be called Theosophical societies,
for they have abandoned the theory of
the survival of the fittest and of the
grave being the end of individual and
personal existence. The line Of thought
and argument Of the liberal Monist is
that when one takes note Of how unerr-
ing and persistent natural law is in its
operation and with what consumma.e
precision its processes reveal and unfold
the possibility of life forces, he is bound
to admit that there is a higher power
or divinity back of it all, which shapes
the ends of all things, material and splr-
itual. Not, however, that there was il
what some call "the beginning sepa-
rate creation of the material from the
spiritual, or that there was creation a
all, but rather that the supreme energy,
or divinity, which science calls first
cause" threw out or caused to emanate
from its own self manifestations and
notifications of it's own attributes and
qualities, which we call spirit and mat
ter.
That is to say, those things which we
call material do not differ from what
we call spiritual, except in quality so
to speak, because all things are inherent
ly one and the same material, only that
they are manifesto tions of the supreme
energy of the universe in different form
The Monist claims that in the earlier
manifestations of the supreme energy
that which we call material predominant
ed in all entities but each entity con-
tanned enough of what we call spiritual
to give it more or less of a personal
force of character, which enabled it to
| catch hold of and employ the processes
of evolution, and thus go from strength
to strength toward godhood. The pro-
cesses of evolution are themselves a
manifestation of the supreme energy,
and, moreover, they are the only law Of
being that enables the ego to acquire
those experiences of existence which
are necessary to become roundabout
intelligence, possessing individuality
and personality. 1t is held by this fra
ternity of thinkers that if there We're
no supreme force there would not be
anything, but there being supreme
force, which is also supreme conscious
ness, there is necessarily developed or
undeveloped consciousness in every
manifestation of the cause-conscious-
ness latent or active in everything.
Therefore, the bowlder that is hidden
IN the darkness of the mountain is a
manifestation of the supreme energy Of
the universe, and potentiality it is the
highest individualized intelligence, but
it does not know it. nor does it know
anything else. The tree knows how to
prepare itself for the change Of the
seasons and how to provide for its own
reproduction by cross -fertilizat ton. Tha
lower animal does all that the tree does
and, in addition to that it has the DOW er
of locomotion and perceptivity The ami
NAL cognizes objects and its instinct