The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1898-03-14
THE PHILOSOPHY OF SELF.
Dr. william Howard Addresses tie
Secular League.

dress by MI. W imam howard, on LIE =
Philosophy Of Self" He prefaced his |
discourse with the observation that "A
person in perfect health is not con-
scious Of self; is not conscious of any
part Of self, except as he would be Of
objects outside OF self; is not conscious
of what transpires within him; is not
conscious of the organs which bring
him in contact with the exterior world;
and to such person, the self is non
entity"
DR., Howard said of people; The hair
lengthens, darkens, whitens; the nails
grow, the stomach dgests, the liver
secretes. chyme and chyle are formed,
blood is created; nay, more; the body,
from womb to tomb. is being unceasing-
Iy torn down rebuilt, enlarged, reduced;
yet the normal, the perfect self is un-
conscious Of these wonderful activities
and transformations"
The speaker held that the normal
self is not conscious of heart, lungs,
viscera, veins or features, and is even
50 obivious to the existence of brain
/ that when it thinks, it cannot of it
| self locate the seat of thought.
Although for ages there has been
| constant rhythmical movement of the
| heart. yet only recently has that par
ticular rhythm been determined. Only
after untold millions of years did Har-
vey demonstrate the circulation of the
blood-a circulation so rapid that only
half a minute eIapses from the time
the blood leaves the heart till it re-
turns after a circuit of the body. Yet,
said DR.. Howard. the perfect self is
not conscious of this flood on which ex-
istence depends"
When" continued the speaker, self
becomes conscious of itself, it is be-
cause of something abnormal, some
thing antagonistic, something to which
we have applied the names discom-
fort, irritation, pain, sickness. Each of
these conditions indicates departure
from the perfect self"
often the self is unconscious of even
serious arrangement. The soldier in
the heat of the fray knows nothing of
a shattered arm or a severed artery
After following this line of thought
Dr. Howard came to the conclusion
that self has no will or authority over
the inherent vital processes which con-
stitute self He pointed out that "a
newborn babe has no Will power Its
muscular movements are involuntary
being merely witches and jerks due
to physical irritation, which the infant
is unable to locate or express, until att
er many repetitions of the annoyance
the contortiOns give place to something
akin to an intelligent direction Of the
limbs. The cerebral impressions of a
born babe are too slight for stable
recognition, much less for control
The self, having no will power, no
authority over the organs constituting
it. it followed. said DR.. Howard, that
the perfect self has no knowledge OF
their existence. The perfect self be-
| comes conscious of color perfume,
flavor. sound and touch, but it does not
know anything of eyes, nose, palate,
ears and body.
This brought DR.. Howard to the CON
sideration of self from another point of
view which is, that self receives no
sensation from it's surroundings, but
obtains all sensation from the organs
which constitute the self. DR.. Howard
held that the sensations impaired by
the organs have no external existence
but are created out of the impalpable,
the incorporeal, or "theselectric emana-
what we call light, heat color, Odor,
flavor and sound. have no existence in
nature apart from the self but are all
Of them creatures Of the organs which
, constitute self.
Another contention Of the speaker
| was that we never see our surround
ings. All that the self sees are solar
or artificial emanatons reflected from
. | these surroundings, and agreeably to
what the eye creates out Of these re-
+ hected cmanatiOns. so are the visual inn
} | pressious the self gets to that which
is exterior to it. While, however the
eye creates the light and color of which
= the self becomes conscious, self has nc
{ will power over the creative processes
q Of the eye No one has been able tc
. present as tangibes. either electricity
= solar emanations, or the emanations
\ | produced by disrupted or contacted
}, matter.
= The speaker followed line Of reason
= ing which led TO the conclusion that the
i brain receives nothing but what the
= organs of self convey to 1t, and these
organs convey only what they create
. out of impOnderable and impalpa blt
; external emanatiOns DR.. Howard
: said: philosophers hampered with &c.
j cleefastical and theological fables, con
. tend that the human brain receives
priori extra mundane, supernatural
;, intimations and impressions concerning
= time. space and a gOdhead in addition
,, 10 what it acquires through the organs
- Of self But advanced thinkers who
n are guided by the truths of science
d have adopted a rational belief-tha
: there is nothing in intellect that wa
not first in the senses.
i When Dr. Howard retired from th'
e platform Mrs f. c. Compton read ;
f poem President Kirk presented a few
S of Col. Ingersolls views on self
= The address was discussed by Maur
ice Pechin, Prof. w. NJ. Coleman am
Mrs. s. NJ. Kendall.
The venerable John Hutchinson, TIN
surviving member Of the Hutchinson
= family Of singers. was present, ant
=. sang - Good Time Coming, Boys
~ The following resolutions were adopt
, ed.
" "Whereas it is the policy of this Gov
> crnment to make no appropriation to in
dividuals for property destroyed by rea
son Of the late civil war, unless the 10y
= atty Of the individual be fully proven
y and. whereas it is the further policy o
= the Government to dissOciate Churct
" with state; therefore be it
.Resolved. That the Secular Leagu
= Gcnuunccs and earnestly deplores the re
u cent action Of Congress and the Prcsden
Of the United States in paying $2Ss 900 t.
the Methodist Church South for propert,
alleged to have been used during tn
civil war as an unjust and unreasonable
! discrimination in favor of ecclesastica
institutions, the said church having beer
uotoriousIv disoyal to the Union an,
having done its utmost from the begin
/ | ming to the end Of the war to promote tn,