g in the whole tree? Is it possible that the extraordinary
faculty of reason in man is animal in character and quality? On the other
hand, it is evident and true, though most astounding, that in man there is
present this supernatural force or faculty which discovers the realities
of things and which possesses the power of idealization or intellection.
It is capable of discovering scientific laws, and science we know is not a
tangible reality. Science exists in the mind of man as an ideal reality.
The mind itself, reason itself, is an ideal reality and not tangible.

Notwithstanding this, some of the sagacious men declare: We have attained
to the superlative degree of knowledge; we have penetrated the laboratory
of nature, studying sciences and arts; we have attained the highest
station of knowledge in the human world; we have investigated the facts as
they are and have arrived at the conclusion that nothing is rightly
acceptable except the tangible, which alone is a reality worthy of
credence; all that is not tangible is imagination and nonsense.

Strange indeed that after twenty years training in colleges and
universities man should reach such a station wherein he will deny the
existence of the ideal or that which is not perceptible to the senses.
Have you ever stopped to think that the animal already has graduated from
such a university? Have you ever realized that the cow is already a
professor emeritus of that university? For the cow without hard labor and
study is already a philosopher of the superlative degree in the school of
nature. The cow denies everything that is not tangible, saying, "I can
see! I can eat! Therefore, I believe only in that which is tangible!"

Then why should we go to the colleges? Let us go to the cow.

12 October 1912
Talk at Temple Emmanu-El
450 Sutter Street, San Francisco, California

Notes by Bijou Straun

The greatest bestowal of God in the world of humanity is religion, for
assuredly the divine teachings of religion are above all other sources of
instruction and development to man. Religion confers upon man eternal life
and guides his footsteps in the world of morality. It opens the doors of
unending happiness and bestows everlasting honor upon the human kingdom.
It has been the basis of all civilization and progress in the history of
mankind.

We will, therefore, investigate religion, seeking from an unprejudiced
standpoint to discover whether it is the source of illu