The Sympathy of Religions (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1917 Excerpt: ...impulse, but to kill it. Mortify the deeds of the flesh, kill one part of the self in order that the other may live in mystic union with the divine spirit. Of course, when success is attained life is poorer by the portion destroyed. For men of Paul's temperament, whose passions threaten to sweep them away, war to the death is probably the only practicable policy. But not all people are like him, and we must not thoughtlessly accept his view of the good life as a fight. The Platonic conception of our moral task as consisting essentially, not in an internecine war in our members, but in an intelligent organization of our richly endowed nature, is much more rational and wholesome. To our young people and to all who crave activity, experience and development, we should say: "You want life? That is what you should want. It is life that we preach to you, abundant, rich and full, and it is precisely in order that you may have it that we urge you to organize your impulses and desires, for in that way only will your nature as a whole be able to attain its maximum fulfilment. Ideal goodness is simply the amplest expression of human nature. As young men, you find the fightingmstinct active within you. Well, this is very necessary to you, but it has other and nobler expressions than in killing men and burning cities. It is capable of being transmuted and used in chivalrous ways, and you will need every bit of it in combating the difficulties that will confront you in attempting to realize your ideal aims. A similar thing is true of all other impulses, and in pressing upon you the necessity of making each serve all your other interests, both present and future, we but show you how to realize what you really and supremely desire, namely, fulness and completeness of ...