illed in defense of
these imaginary divisions of our one human habitation, under the delusion
of a fancied and limited patriotism.

After all, a claim and title to territory or native land is but a claim
and attachment to the dust of earth. We live upon this earth for a few
days and then rest beneath it forever. So it is our graveyard eternally.
Shall man fight for the tomb which devours him, for his eternal sepulcher?
What ignorance could be greater than this? To fight over his grave, to
kill another for his grave! What heedlessness! What a delusion!

It is my hope that you who are students in this university may never be
called upon to fight for the dust of earth which is the tomb and sepulcher
of all mankind, but that during the days of your life you may enjoy the
most perfect companionship one with another, even as one family--as
brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers--associating together in peace and true
fellowship.

10 October 1912
Talk at Open Forum
San Francisco, California

Notes by Bijou Straun

Although I was feeling indisposed this evening, yet owing to the love I
entertain for you I have attended this meeting. For I have heard that this
is an open forum, investigating reality; that you are free from blind
imitations, desiring to arrive at the truth of things, and that your
endeavors are lofty. Therefore, I have thought it expedient to discourse
upon the subject of philosophy, which is alike interesting to the East and
the West, enabling us to consider the analogies and differences between
the philosophical teachings of the Orient and Occident.

The criterion of judgment in the estimation of western philosophers is
sense perception. They consider that which is tangible or perceptible to
the senses to be a reality--that there is no doubt of its existence. For
example, we prove the existence of this light through the sense of sight;
we visualize this room; we see the sun, the green fields; we use our sense
of sight to observe them. The opinion of these philosophers is that such
perception is reality, that the senses are the highest standard of
perception and judgment, in which there can neither be doubt nor
uncertainty. In the estimation of the philosophers of the Orient,
especially those of Greece and Persia, the standard of judgment is the
intellect. They are of the opinion that the criterion of the senses is
defective, and their proof is that the senses are often deceived and
mistaken. That w