The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1915-03-13
MYSTICISM
Nv On. FRANK CRANE
Copyright. 1915. by Frank Crane)

~ CN. FNSNN SHkNE
H Copyright. 1915. by Frank Crans) I
There are two classes Of thoughts Q
man has, two worlds in which he lives.
The one Is clear. practical, logical The
other is dim and not practical nor logical
at all.
The latter comprises the sensations
Wordsworth calls:
Those obstinate questionings -
or sense and outward things,
Fallings from US, vanishings, M
Blank misgivings of a creature
Moving about in worlds not realized.
This Is the area of mysticism. Some
OF US turn from it impatiently, because
its borderland is so infested with cheats
and charlatans. But, for that matter,
there are quite as many frauds In the
realm in solid business; yet for this
cause shall there be no more groceriesi
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 win die.
1t will last as long as the race. Maeter-
inck, frankly 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
fled to those hazy matters; to no place
else could they direct their hungry curl
osity. Christianity was flooded with the
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 filed
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 one
yet hears Of being safe in the arms Of
Jesus" He Is mine and l 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 new and piquant way.
Tagore has recently published the
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 Won.
as life Is in every Seed.
"A million suns are ablaze with light,
THE sea of blue spreads in the sky,
The fever Of life Is stilled, and all
stains are washed away, when / sit In
the midst Of that world
"Hark to the innsbruck bells and
drums!
Zone love 1t is that pervades the
whole world, few there are who know It
fully.
They are blind who hope to see it by
the light of reason.
"The House Of Reason is very far
awayr
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 pass
across the mind "as 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.