rom anything which we ourselves
possess sufficient power to accomplish.

Therefore, since among the organs of my body, there is a _thinking_
portion, I am within the bounds of sanity when I investigate and express
such thoughts, opinions and findings as my reason and understanding
dictate. No one can truthfully say that he possesses sufficient
knowledge to account for or to explain the peculiar and mystifying
rules, conditions and surroundings which we are _forced_ to accept,
abide by and live under. And, therefore, the result of one person's
findings is worthy the same consideration as those of another.

Upon such basis I submit an honest attempt to express logically my
convictions upon this vital and puzzling condition of our existence, and
shall endeavor to aid those who read this book to see conditions in what
I believe to be their true light, and to stimulate the readers to think
for themselves. It is only through the exchange of the results of
investigations, and of honest opinions, that we have been able to add
improvement to improvement, and make easier the routine of our lives.
The conditions and elements that compose Nature, for the sake of
clearness, I will ofttimes call "God." I shall be more easily
understood, and at times the term "God" will express more succinctly the
thoughts or ideas I wish to express.

THE TYRANNY OF GOD

I

Lest I be misunderstood, I will say at the outset that I do not believe
in a God.

The belief in a God is still generally accepted, not because of the
existence of one, but for the reason that it is the easiest way to
account for our condition. But in the light of scientific discoveries
and demonstrations, such a belief is unfounded and utterly untenable
to-day. Yet the word "God," and even the word "Nature," must often be
used to describe that condition which the brain of man has not yet been
able to analyze fully and scientifically. One ridiculous conception of
God that is believed by a multitude of people, is that of a massive
being, sitting in a marble chamber studded with gold and lighted with
glistening crystals. Do those who believe in such a creature ever
consider him taking a bath--and in what? Or of eating his breakfast--and
of what it consists?

If there were a God, and the world were governed with stern justice,
tempered to our feeble intelligence, existence might become tolerable,
but as it is, with a so-called God "ruling above," the earth is an