Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1943-01-21
CONSCIOUSNESS

CONSEQUENCES
A little boy OF five Is sitting on a
woodpile AS he looks at it, there
comes to him a revelation, of him
self. He is not that woodpile! He Is
himself. It belongs to a different
order. It cannot think, the boy can.
He can jump, play, talk, sing, laugh
and smile. He is a person, conscious
Of himself, the woodpile is not.
Webster says consciousness is a
state of being aware, or sensible.
The boy will grow in awareness all
his lifetime, in an ever widening
circle of consciousness or sensibi-
lity, and it will go on forever. The
woodpile is different.
There is universal consciousness
everywhere. The woodpile was once
tree. Its little hungry rootlets Sc
lected its food. 1t put out leaves in
springtime. 1t colored them beauti-
fully in autumn It supplied every leaf
with breath and food. Each year 1t
wear (cambium) for it's body.
Everywhere there is order. life,
power, activity, intelligence that is
amazing. Something is alive with
energy, perpetual motion that is
not fanciful but real. There is the
dance of the atoms. But order, with
mathematical precision. presides
over it. Let them alone and they will
not collide. They swing in orbits as
true as the sun and planets. The
number is uncountable. If counted,
you could not find paper large
enough to set them down, the atoms
in this desk, this hand.
II we think of God as everywhere,
and He is, then He is in every parti-
Gle. as we'll as in the total. He i'm
parts energy. He presides at the lit
tie atomic marriages. The animation.
is not the atoms but
Gods. His alone.
That helps to understand the
plan. in their loveliness. God is in
every fiber. root seed. plow a grass
plot. and crop it for 20 years. wheat,
corn. oats, hay and when the mead
ow dwindles, a crop of bluegrass
springs again everywhere.
Forbidding Death Valley, barren
as . cement road, when rain falls,
springs to life with rare flowers. A
cleared forest will produce the
bright pink bloom Of Fireweed. The
seed vas there for decades. God stay
ed with it night and day, to awaken
it at the proper time, when the burnt
ashes sent the potash down through
the soil. Not one least fraction OF
time or space. but His brooding love
is there.
What consciousness there is in
domestic animals. the friendly dog,
the faithful horse! Where there are
tho five senses, Of course there is
intelligence. even reason, as well as
awareness and sensibility. From the
busy bee, down to the bacteria there
must be consciousness, more or less.
Cattle leave an electrified fence
alone. Wild things flee at the smell
of powder. God gives them instinct,
and memory. But of Him they are
not conscious. No sparrow falls with
out His presence at its bedside. But
no bird. animal, plant or atom, is
conscious Of God.
Man is conscious Of God. In him
ouly does 1t emerge. It has arrived
in 90% OF the race. Souls only are
aware Of Him. Compared with other
animals, man is suDersensible. They
have five sense. He has sixth sense
the spiritual: He grows in vastness OF
until he reaches out his
hand and touches tho stars. He mea-
sures. analyxes. weighs and cata-
logues them by millions. To the sem
ses Of the beast he adds, color art.
music. beauty. He IL . poet, . math-
. studsnt.
Tho spiritual sense teaches him
right and wrong. duty and response
bility. He hungers for the highest
things: for love, God. worship. Al
Spirit witnesseth with his spirit.
Descartes said II am, o God. and
surely Thou must be-" whittier
shall I 30 from Thy Spirit. and
whittier shah ] flee from Thy Pre-
yence?"
Take Christ - tho highest exam-
pie Of this. Read His works, think His
thoughts, feel % He felt. and serve
- He served. Then you will grow In
God-consciousness. He will show
10 our sin. He will show 10 the way
Dut Of self and sin. II honest with
Him He win give us pardon, peace.
purity and, power. He will walk with |
Us through nature and show no the |
majesty and goodness Of the Father. I
In autumn we will walk streets Of |
gold, every leaf nugget. different
iivine protraiture Of God. Sublime
will speak TO us Of His