The moral genius who sees through
it all and gives the first impulse is trying to deal with life
directly and frankly; and the difficulty arises from people who see
the attendant circumstances and mistake them for the causes. But I
do not see it from that side, of course! I understand what you are
aiming at. You are trying to disentangle all the phenomena, are you
not, and referring them to their real causes, instead of lumping
them all together as the phenomena of religion?"
"Yes," said Howard, "that is what I am doing. I suppose I am
naturally sceptical; but I want to put aside all that stands on
insecure evidence, and all the sham terminology that comes from a
muddled delight in the supernatural. I want to give up and clear
away all that is not certain--material things must be brought to
the test of material laws--and to see what is left."
"Well," said Mrs. Graves, "now I will tell you my own very simple
experience. I began, I think, with a very formal religion, and I
tried in my youth to attach what was really instinctive to
religious motives. It got me into a sad mess, because I did not
dare to go direct to life. I used to fret because your uncle seemed
so indifferent to these things. He was a wise and good man, and
lived by a sort of inner beauty of character that made all mean
cruel spiteful petty things impossible to him. Then when he died, I
had a terrible time to go through. I felt utterly adrift.
Pages:
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62