Читать книгу The Making of a Man - James W. Lee - Страница 7

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This whole subject resolves itself into the question, Which is fundamental and prior, mind or matter? If mind is fundamental and prior, then there is design, intention, and purpose in nature. If matter is first and fundamental, there is no such thing as design, intention, or purpose anywhere. If mind is first and fundamental, then man is the end and aim of creation, for in him the mind that formed the earth finds a companion and an interpreter. If matter is first and fundamental, then the earth is as much for crocodiles and wolves, as for men, and the life of a human being is no better than that of a lizard. If matter is fundamental, it were better to be a crocodile or an elephant than to be a man, for they have more of the fundamental stuff of the universe in their bodies; and their brains generate none of that subtle something called mind, which perpetually asks questions that have no answer, and cherishes beliefs that have no foundation. If matter is fundamental, then we should trust our faculties, in proportion as they are animal, and deny them in proportion as they are mental. Then the Neros and the Caligulas were more rational in their sins, than the Luthers and the Wesleys in their virtues. By following their lusts, the former found pleasure, of a low order of course, but in the realm of the real; the latter, following their convictions, found pleasure, of a higher order it may be, but it was in a false and unreal domain. It were better to be true to the facts on the plain of the appetites, than to be the silly victims of fraud on the plain of the conscience and the affections. But it is impossible that men have been true as they have been degraded, and false as they have been pure. The design and purpose which has been apparent in nature, and which men have felt in conscience approving the right and condemning the wrong, must be there. To eliminate them, or to reason them away, is to bring mental confusion, and to take from the conviction and thought, which have made civilization, the principles on which they reposed, and by which they were inspired.