n of our own; by submitting to
its beckonings we add cubits to our stature; and we also give out to
others our own attributes, without becoming poorer, for soul is not
limited. All nature is a symbol of spirit, and so I am forced to believe
that somewhere there must be a proper gratification for this mysterious
nostalgia of the soul.

The Valhalla of the Norseman, the Nirvana of the Hindu, the Heaven of
the Christian are natural hopes of beings whose cares and
disappointments here are softened by belief that somewhere, Thor, Brahma
or God gives compensation.

The Eternal Unities require a condition where men and women shall be
permitted to love and not to sorrow; where the tyranny of things hated
shall not prevail, nor that for which the heart yearns turn to ashes at
our touch.

Art and Religion

While this seems true in the main, I am not sure it will hold in every
case. Please think it out for yourself, and if I happen to be wrong,
why, put me straight.

The proposition is this: the artist needs no religion beyond his work.
That is to say, art is religion to the man who thinks beautiful thoughts
and expresses them for others the best he can. Religion is an emotional
excitement whereby the devotee rises into a state of spiritual
sublimity, and for the moment is bathed in an atmosphere of rest, and
peace, and love. All normal men and women crave such periods; and
Bernard Shaw says that we reach them through strong tea, tobacco,
whiskey, opium, love, art or religion.

I think Bernard Shaw a cynic, but there is a glimmer of truth in his
idea that makes it worth repeating. But beyond the natural religion,
which is a passion for oneness with the Whole, all formalized religions
engraft the element of fear, and teach the necessity of placating a
Supreme Being. Our idea of a Supreme Being is suggested to us by the
political government under which we live. The situation was summed up by
Carlyle, when he said that Deity to the average British mind was simply
an infinite George IV. The thought of God as a terrible Supreme Tyrant
first found form in an unlimited monarchy; but as governments have
become more lenient so have the gods, until you get them down (or up) to
a republic, where God is only a president, and we all approach Him in
familiar prayer, on an absolute equality.

Then soon, for the first time, we find man saying, "I am God, and you
are God, and we are all simply particles of Him," and this is where the