Los Angeles herald., 1908-05-03

attain a higher plane of living and
would be more as God would have us
to be.
Noblest of Pagans
The noblest character, perhaps, and
the grandest intellect of the pagan
world was Socrates. By the force of his
wonderful mentality he reasoned out
the mortality of the human soul. He
maintained that virtue is knowledge
and vice is ignorance; and upon this
basic teaching, Plato built the first
school of what is known in philosophy
as idealism. And SO the philosophy OF
the world divided itself into two great
schools or systems, known as idealism
on the one hand and materialism on the
| other hand.
Ihe question as to which of these
schools any modern system of philoso-
/ ply belongs, is to be determined by the
ratio of ascendency ascribed by it to
Mind or matter. If it holds that Mind
is independent of matter, that its ac-
t1Vities are determined by its own in
herent laws and energy, it is idealism;
| If it holds that mind is passive merely,
receiving its information from without
by means of material sensations maxi
ing themselves felt in a merely passive
consciousness, it is materialism.
| 1t is plain to see that idealism honors
Mind, while materialism seeks to re-
duce life and all mental activities to
mechanical or material basis. For in
stance, Plato, who has been called the
father of idealism, based his moral sys-
tenn upon the distinction between the
bodily or sensual. and the spiritual or
mental parts of our nature; the first
being, in his estimation, the sign of our
degradation, and the second of our
dignity.
1t is easy to see which of these sys-
TENS most nearly resembles Christian
ity. Indeed, Christianity presents a
strikingly pure form of idealism. 1t
honors Mind above every system of
philosophy, to such an extent, indeed,
that Christian Scientists believe it
teaches that Mind is all. Naturally
enough history records the fact that
the atheists and infidels have generally
belonged to the school of materialism
In view of what has already ap-
peared, is it not an occasion of surprise
to you that in this conflict concerning
Mind and matter Christian people, and
especially Christian ministers, should
feel called upon to rally around the
standard of matter, and should dis
play such unwonted zeal in defence of
that which has done more than every
thing else to defeat Christianity in it's
effort to spiritualize human life?
Deiusions of Discernment
Admitting this antagonism between
Mind and matter, there arises the ques-
tion, How are we to establish or bring
about any recognition between them in
human consciousness? It is certainly
true that, however surely a thing may
exist in reality, it exists for us to the
extent only that we are aware of its
existence. If we cannot recognize mat
q a
exists? This difficulty, in my opinion,
cannot be surmounted by any theory
or resource of material philosophy. Sup
pose we refer this difficulty to some ac-
modern materialist for So
luton Prof. Noah K. Davis of the |
University of Virginia has written a |
book on this very subject. DR.. Pierce
used it as textbook in our Kentucky
Wesleyan college. Professor Davis is
not an extreme materialist. He adopts
a dualistic philosophy which embraces
both the materialistic idea and a modi-
fed form of idealism, which he states
to be the only escape from pure ideal
ism: an admission highly significant in
itself.
Now, if I were to refer this difficulty
to you, or possibly to ninety-nine out
Of every hundred thoughtful men, the
solution would come quickly enough.
L
table or a horSe-of course | see it"
and you would laugh at me for jes-
ter if | should question the accuracy
IF your statement But If Professor
Davis and other learned college pro-
fessors and scholars are to be believed,
you would see nothing that bears any
resemblance whatever to the object
you thought you saw. You did not
see a chair or table, or horse at all;
Ill that you behld was a vibratory
notion in the inner sensorium of your
brain. Absolutely, according to Pro-
essor Davis, the only thing that you
see is a vibration, and to the extent
,nly that a vibration may be said to
ook like a horse can you be said to
laVe seen a horse. You may call this
but | beg you Will bear in
mind that it is Professor Davis non
sense, and not mine nor Mrs. Eddys
70 be sure, there are those who will
insist that the thing they see is a chair,
,r table, or horse, just as one may
INSIST that he sees the sun rise. or
Knows the earth Is fiat; nobody would
quarrel with him. but every
,ody would know he was either an
gnoramus or a very obstinate fellow,
Views Held by Savants
I have no doubt you feel very much /
hooked at the views which l have as
TlDeQ TO ,1TOleSSOT DdNlS, anu yet, L
ell you plainly, they are the views ,
maintained in textbooks or psychology !
nd physiology which are daily used in I
ur colleges and in our public and pri-
ate schools. You should bear in mind l
t is generally conceded that the only {
we have of external objects,
r of the fact of the existence of eX- s
renal things must come to us through ]
ne or more of our material senses, {
H., heaing, seeing, tasting, smelling,
r touching. And yet, we are told by i
Davis that we can get no l
whatever of the existence a
f an external world by means of these t
enSes. b
On page 25 of Elements of Psychol- n
gy'' he says: "If the foregoing views I
re correct, it is evident that, We're we [
United to the perceptions of sense, we a
would be shut up from a knowledge I
f the outer world, for no one of the Il
enses, nor any combination of them, |
eveals TO us aught beyond certain [
tates of our own nervous organism" [
The position Professor Davis takes d
s to these various senses is that they v
re states of mental consciousness, c
lere vibrations or excited states of r
he brain, AS to the senses of smell j
nd taste, he says on page 6: what
as said of odor in the preceding sec
on, may be said of SAVIOR. 1t is mere +
an excited state of an intracranial p
ansory, and what is Immediately per- a
eived is not something in the mouth, a
ut something in the sensorium." u
gain, on page s. he says Hearing o
specific sense-perception, a state r.
f mind; sound is it's object the thing e
ApralNan Sound then nhRn0n0-