Gazing upon the universal manifestation of the law of change, the thoughtful ever have asked themselves and others the ultimate question: What is it that manifests change? What is it that is? What is it that is actually, verily, truthfully, and in fact REALITY?
While the majority of the race has contented itself with creating deities, gods, demigods, godlings, and minor supernatural entities in endless variety, number, and name, the wise of the race, discarding these creations of the naïve imaginations of their brethren, and ignoring the interested dogma of the various priesthoods attending the shrine of the local deities, tribal gods, and supernatural personages, have ever sought for the principle of REALITY which abides, lives, and has its existence in the infinity of manifested forms, shapes, activities, and existences of the universe, and in which they so abide, live, and have their being. Like old Omar, they have sought ever for that Abiding Presence, that Ultimate REALITY,—
"Whose secret presence, throughout creation's veins
Running Quicksilver-like, eludes our pains,
Taking all shapes from Mah to Mahi; and
They change and perish all, but he remains."
They have perceived that REALITY cannot be merely the outward forms, shapes, activities, states, and conditions of manifested existence, for the finite character of these were soon discovered. The material panorama of the manifested universe was recognized as a phantasmagoria, and all beings participating in it as mere actors on the great stage of the Cosmos. The wise have ever held that the manifested universe is akin to a cosmic dramatization of REALITY; that, as Omar says,
"We are no other than a moving row
Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go
Round with the Sun-illumined Lantern held
In midnight by the Master of the Show."
NOUMENON AND PHENOMENON.
The philosophic mind of the race has ever distinguished between the mere outward appearance of the universal activities and the essence or real activity manifesting in and producing the outward appearance. The universe of outward forms, shapes, activities, states, and conditions is designated by the term "phenomenal," which means "visible; apprehended by observation; apparent; presented to the eye or senses." In its original Greek, the term "phenomenon" has a common origin with "phantom," "phantasm," etc., the original Greek root of all these meaning "to appear; to show." The phenomenal world is often called by philosophers "the world of appearances," the term "appearance" being used as synonymous with "phenomenon" and being similar in meaning to "apparition." In the majority of philosophies the "world of appearances" or "the phenomenal world" indicates a "universal phantasmagoria" or "universal apparition"—a great cosmic picture show or a procession of phantasmal, apparitional shapes and forms subject to states and conditions.
Opposed to the world of phenomenal appearance, the philosophers assert the existence of that which they call by various names, such as "REALITY," "Verity," "Truth." REALITY is conceived of as the ultimate essence, nature, substance, and very being of All-that-is. Philosophers sometimes employ the term "noumenon" to designate REALITY as we use the term.
"THE MASTER OF THE SHOW."
Inquirers for REALITY, refusing to accept the phenomenal world as ultimate REALITY, truth, or fact, but recognizing the phantasmal nature of the "moving row of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go," have instituted a further inquiry. They have even denied ultimate REALITY to "the Sun-illumined Lantern held in midnight" and have insisted that naught will suffice them other than the actual discovery of "the Master of the Show" himself, who holds the Lantern. But they have not failed to realize the elusive nature of that which they seek. They know full well the truth that Omar uttered when he said that REALITY ever is but
"A moment guessed—then back behind the Fold
Immerst of Darkness round the Drama rolled,
Which for the pastime of Eternity
He doth Himself contrive, enact, behold."
THE REPORT OF REASON.
The best philosophical thought of the past and present has ever asserted the actual existence of an ultimate principle of REALITY—the essence, nature, substance, and REALITY of All-that-is. The wisest of the race have always maintained the actual existence of a certain something which abides, invariable and constant, as the essential principle of and in all things, all creatures, all entities, all beings, and which precedes and survives all the changes of form, shape, state, and condition of phenomenal appearance. The only escape from this conclusion is the assumption that each change of form, shape, state, or condition is a separate, independent, and original creation; that no changed thing has a direct or indirect substantial connection with that which immediately preceded it, or with that which immediately succeeds it. This idea is unthinkable and is not advanced by any philosophy worthy of the name or having the respect of thinking men.
No matter what may be the theory of the philosopher or scientist, he will always admit that evolution is merely a series of changing events and not a series of separate "things." Evolution is seen to be merely the change of the apparent form, shape, state, or condition of a certain Something which is the essence, nature, substance, and principle of the entire series of changing and changed "things." It is the silken thread upon which is strung the pearls of phenomenal existence. It is the Unchanging Something which supports and holds together the universe of changing things. It is the eternal background upon the surface of which appears the endless procession of changing forms, shapes, states, and conditions of the phenomenal Universe—the Moving-Picture Show of the Cosmos.
MONISM.
Professor Pringle-Patterson says: "Monism is, in strictness, a name applicable to any system of thought which sees in the universe the manifestation or working of a single principle. Such a unity may be said to be at once the tacit presupposition and the goal of all philosophic effort, and in so far as a philosophy fails to harmonize the apparently independent and even conflicting facts of experience, as aspects or elements within a larger whole, it must be held to fall short of the necessary ideal of thought. Dualism, in an ultimate metaphysical reference, is a confession of the failure of philosophy to achieve its proper task; and this is the justification of those who consistently use the word as a term of reproach."
THE REPORT OF INTUITION.
In addition to the report of reason regarding the necessity of an ultimate Principle of REALITY, the intuition of man has ever informed him of the existence and presence of an abiding, unchangeable Something Within—a Something which transcends all intellectual knowledge and reasoning processes, but which is perceived to be ever present at the very heart of one's being, the very soul of one's soul. Intuition informs man that he is resting upon a great sea of REALITY, that there is a Something underneath and back of him which is the supporting REALITY of his being and life. So universal is this perception of intuition that the reason is bound to take it into consideration and to combine and correlate it with its own reports and judgments. Moreover, it remains for the reason to interpret and announce that which the intuition inevitably perceives.
The conception of Deity—God—as immanent in his creation, and indwelling in the hearts of men, is the vague but insistent report of intuition which perceives in the center of the nature and being of the individual the existence and presence of that Something which is the essence, nature, substance, and very being of All-that-is—that which is called REALITY. As an advanced teacher has said: "The being you have heard of as God exists metaphysically but as an idea of your mind, and really is an attempt on the part of your mind to grasp the nature of your own being; and it is the business and duty of every human entity to assume absolute identity with the idea of God. The idea of God is the best description in the universe, in its purity and in its perfection, of what you really are, thrown out, as it were, a thought picture upon the enterprise of the universe." The universal intuitive perception and conception of a God of some kind is the result of this inevitable report of intuition that there is a REALITY in which we live and move and have our being, and which also lives and moves