There is, indeed, no
more characteristic outbirth of materialism than that which makes a
teleological centre of the individual. Ideas have become mere
abstractions; the only reality is the infinitely little. Thus
utilitarianism can see in the State only a collection of individuals
whose "greatest happiness," mutually limited by nice adjustment to the
requirements of "the greatest numbers," becomes the supreme end of
government and law. And it cannot, I think, be pretended that
Spiritualists in general have advanced beyond this substitution of a
relative for an absolute standard. Their "glad tidings of great joy"
are not truly religious. They have regard to the perpetuation in time
of that lower consciousness whose manifestations, delights, and activity
are in time, and of time alone. Their glorious message is not
essentially different from that which we can conceive as brought to us
by some great alchemist, who had discovered the secret of conferring
upon us and upon our friends a mundane perpetuity of youth and health.
Its highest religious claim is that it enlarges the horizon of our
opportunities.
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