Evening star., 1945-09-30

e.. ALDOUS HUXLEY.
terms Of the biography Of Father
Joseph of Paris. In Time Must
Have q Stop" he bodied it in a
novel. One notes an increasingly
popular character in the approaches
to the public which he has used.
Now he has produced the form
traditionally most appealing to the
American general reader-a book
of directions. There can be NO doubt
that his missionary urge is power
full. that he has a profound convic-
ton that he has a message to i'm
part to the world and that in that
message lies the worlds only hope
of salvation from terrible danger.
The mocking young man of the
'20s has become the evangelist of
the '40s, but the transformation is
not as strange as it sounds. The
evangelist was in the mocking
young man all the time. 1t was he
who made the young mans mockery
so extraordinarily sound.
Religious Guide Book
SO we have Mr.. Huxley now COM
ing forth with a book obviously
designed to help people. AS nearly
as his subject matter permits him
he has done a popular book. He has
taken the wealth of his own pro-
found religious study and arranged
it in form from which the less
learned can draw the meaning.
When he calls the volume an an
thology he refers to the frequently
occurring quotations from the
worlds great mystics which mark
its pages. Accompanying and con-
Meeting these quotations, however,
is his own commentary. and it is
that commentary which forms the
identity of the book. 1t is Mr.. Hulk
ley's statement OF the bare essen
tiAls by which the human being
may become acquainted with re-
ligion In its meaning and practice.
The quotations themselves actually
only serve as Illuminating illus
trations.
The religion in question is of
course the faith which Mr.. Huxley
has advocated in the past, re-
ligion based on the ground that
the end of the human soul is to
unite with God. The means by
which this end may be attained,
he says, is the conquest of the per-
sonal self, the eradication of desire
Of the desire for desire - to be
achieved through love of God. 1t
is the basic faith which he has
found embodied in the practice of
the mystics OF all faiths-Buddhism
Christianity, Suflsm, Taoism. 1t per-
fecks the individual by annihilating
individualism, and hence it would
perfect the world. in Mr. Huxley's
view. If enough individuals prac-
ticed it.
"Oreanized Lopelessness"
As against it, he argues, our day
offers human society only the
choice OF organized lovelessness, ="
which is the base of our present
economic. social and international
arrangements. The world, in the
time Of those now living, has
grown, as he notes. immeasurably
worse, while its leaders have striven
TO- bring these arrangements to the
state Of an improving mechanism
The mechanism clearly does not
work. Men must tind another. They
must substitute truth for lies.
Mr.. Huxley has said all this be-
fore and he is not concerned in
this book so much with repeating
1t as with telling men how the
substitution can be made. There
have always been individuals who
knew the truth. he observes, but
save as they have possessed insight
to point OF genius, and so become
saints> they have been crushed out
and lost in a world devoted to ma
terialsm. As result the people
generally have come to believe that
1t is only the saint who can know
the truth, that religious perfection
Is so far beyond the power of the
ordinary person that 1t is not worth
his while to seek it. Hence the
literature of religion-the writings
Of the saints-has not been much
used by ordinary persons, who feel
the gulf between them and the
saint too deep. Mr.. Huxley, as a
mere student and seeker himself
has undertaken to bridge the gulf
Here Is his introduction to con-
templative religion for the. plain
man.
1t Is beyond question q tremen-
dously valuable book. It contains
the fruit Of great learning offered
Eith the simplicity of utter convic-
ton. It Is an espousal of faith to
which the author has been driven
by the force of intellect. It is the
affirmation sof religion on the
ground Of logic. The man who
makes 1t with obvious humility is
one Of the great minds come to
maturity in our present century,
.