Page:Religion of a Sceptic (IA religionofscepti00powy).djvu/49

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THE RELIGION OF A SCEPTIC

but meanwhile the visible earth remains, brown and green and grey; and the darkness and the light make up the procession of our irreducible hours.

The metaphysicians hypostasize the processes of the human mind into unreal eidolons. Out of the wavering mythologies created by poets, theologians build up complicated dogmatic systems. The priest conserves as sacrosanct what the prophet announces as inspired. And all the while, the natural-minded ordinary man, looking round upon the unsolved, unaltered mystery, remains sceptical, ironical, patient, silent!

One thing is certain. The vast material universe which we are compelled to contemplate out there in the void, stretching immeasurably to unthinkable horizons, is not all there is.

From the vantage-ground of some secret citadel in the depths of our being we are aware, beyond all doubt, that this particular spectacle does not exhaust the possibilities of being. But whether we, who know that this material universe is not all, will ever share, more fully than in our limited consciousness we are sharing now, these other levels of existence is a question beyond the reach of any human reply.

Vast cosmic purposes may be at work, completely unsympathetic to our natural cravings. Choosing us, using us, abusing us, in imperturb-

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