The Detroit times., 1915-03-13
MYSTICISM
~ on. FRANK CRANE
Copyright, 1915. by Frank Crane)

downright. 1915, by Frank crane)
There are two classes of thoughts
man has, two worlds In which ne lives.
The one is clear, practical lSgical: Inc
other is dim and not practical nor iosica
at all.
The latter comprises the sensations
Wordsworth calls;
Those obstinate questionings A
OF sense and outward things. On
Falhngs from us, vanishings,
Blank misgivings Of a creature
Moving about in worlds not realized.
This is the area of mysticism. Some
of us turn from il impatiently, because
its borderland is so infested with cheats
and charlatans. But. for that mattar,
there are quite as many frauds in thsN
realm in solid business; yet for this
cause shall there be no more groceries!
Mystic literature Is older than books
on trade and stone-masonry. The fringe
Of fog around all movable things has
lured and charmed men from the begin\
ming.
Mysticism is not dead, never will die.
It will last as long as the race. Maeter-
linck, frankly n mystic, is one OF the
most widely read authors Of this age OF
steel and cannon. In his recent book,
The Unknown Guest" he speaks OF
something in US strange, inconsistent,
whimsical, and disconcerting.
During the Dark Ages mems minds
fed to those hazy matters; to no place
else could they direct their hungry curry
osity. Christianity was flooded with they
widest extravaganza of supersensuous
imagery. Julian of Norwich describes
his communion with God as Him verify
seeing and fully feeling, Him spiritually
hearing, and Him delectably smelling and
sweetly swallowing" God was "the
light seen by Suso, the music heard by
Role, the celestial perfumes which filled
S. Catherine of Siena's cell, the physical
wounds felt by S. Francis and S.
Theresa" Evelyn Underhill)
Much Of this persists in present day
Protestant formulas. In churches ons
yet hears of being safe in the arms Of
Jesus" He is mine and ! am His, :"
leaning on Jesus BOSOM" and the like
The same kind Of spiritual content, ex-
pressed in different terms, has always
filled the letters of the Orient, particu-
larly India. Rabindranath Tagore's
books have been eagerly read by western
civilization. They gave US the old mystic
matter put in a new and piquant way,
Tagore has recently published TIN
Songs Of Kabir" in England. Kabir
lived about 1440 and exercised a strong
influence among the Hindoos.
These poems are striking, and, to
those who love the overtones Of life.
most welcome. For instance, in "Sahab
ham men sahab tum men" he writes:
The lord Is In me, the Lord is in you,
as life is in every Seed.
"A million suns are ablaze with hight,
: THE sea of blue spreads in the sky,
The fever Of life Is stilled, and al
stains are washed away, when sit hsN
the midst Of that world.
"Hark to the innsbruck bells and
drums!
Zone love II is that pervades the
whole world, few there are who know 1t
fully.
They are blind who hope to see II by
the light of reason.
The House of Reason is very far
away
The secret of life is to have as many
escapes as possible. Not the least city
Of refuge Is the rainbow city of mysti-
cism, where the subtle intuitions are
acknowledged, where thoughts are not
four-squared and definite, but paS-,
across the mind cas- great white birds
across the sky"
II seems odd that the message of the
east should strike US as so fresh, the old.
old message of the mystic, that union
with God Is the most simple and natural
thing in the world, the only cure-all, the
Open Secret