According to divine philosophy, there are two important and universal
conditions in the world of material phenomena; one which concerns life,
the other concerning death; one relative to existence, the other
non-existence; one manifest in composition, the other in decomposition.
Some define existence as the expression of reality or being, and
non-existence as non-being, imagining that death is annihilation. This is
a mistaken idea, for total annihilation is an impossibility. At most,
composition is ever subject to decomposition or disintegration; that is to
say, existence implies the grouping of material elements in a form or
body, and non-existence is simply the de-composing of these groupings.
This is the law of creation in its endless forms and infinite variety of
expression. Certain elements have formed the composite creature man. This
composite association of the elements in the form of a human body is
therefore subject to disintegration which we call death, but after
disintegration the elements themselves persist unchanged. Therefore total
annihilation is an impossibility, and existence can never become
non-existence. This would be equivalent to saying that light can become
darkness, which is manifestly untrue and impossible. As existence can
never become non-existence, there is no death for man; nay, rather, man is
everlasting and everliving. The rational proof of this is that the atoms
of the material elements are transferable from one form of existence to
another, from one degree and kingdom to another, lower or higher. For
example, an atom of the soil or dust of earth may traverse the kingdoms
from mineral to man by successive incorporations into the bodies of the
organisms of those kingdoms. At one time it enters into the formation of
the mineral or rock; it is then absorbed by the vegetable kingdom and
becomes a constituent of the body and fibre of a tree; again it is
appropriated by the animal, and at a still later period is found in the
body of man. Throughout these degrees of its traversing the kingdoms from
one form of phenomenal being to another, it retains its atomic existence
and is never annihilated nor relegated to non-existence.
Non-existence therefore is an expression applied to change of form, but
this transformation can never be rightly considered annihilation, for the
elements of composition are ever present and existent as we have seen in
the journey of the atom through successive kingdoms, unimpaired; hence
there is no death; life is everlasting. So to speak, when the atom entered
into the composition of the tree, it died to the mineral kingdom, and when
consumed by the animal, it died to the vegetable kingdom, and so on until
its transference or transmutation into the kingdom of man; but throughout
its traversing it was subject to transformation and not annihilation.
Death therefore is applicable to a change or transference from one degree
or condition to another. In the mineral realm there was a spirit of
existence; in the world of plant life and organisms it reappeared as the
vegetative spirit; thence it attained the animal spirit and finally
aspired to the human spirit. These are degrees and changes but not
obliteration; and this is a rational proof that man is everlasting,
everliving. Therefore death is only a relative term implying change. For
example, we will say that this light before me, having reappeared in
another incandescent lamp, has died in the one and lives in the other.
This is not death in reality. The perfections of the mineral are
translated into the vegetable and from thence into the animal, the virtue
always attaining a plus or superlative degree in the upward change. In
each kingdom we find the same virtues manifesting themselves more fully,
proving that the reality has been transferred from a lower to a higher
form and kingdom of being. Therefore non-existence is only relative and
absolute non-existence inconceivable. This rose in my hand will become
disintegrated and its symmetry destroyed, but the elements of its
composition remain changeless; nothing affects their elemental integrity.
They cannot become non-existent; they are simply transferred from one
state to another.
Through his ignorance, man fears death; but the death he shrinks from is
imaginary and absolutely unreal; it is only human imagination.
The bestowal and grace of God have quickened the realm of existence with
life and being. For existence there is neither change nor transformation;
existence is ever existence; it can never be translated into
non-existence. It is gradation; a degree below a higher degree is
considered as non-existence. This dust beneath our feet, as compared with
our being is non-existent. When the human body crumbles into dust we can
say it has become non-existent; therefore its dust in relation to living
forms of human being is as non-existent but in its own sphere it is
existent, it has its mineral being. Therefore it is well proved that
absolute non-existence is impossible; it is only relative.
The purpose is this;--that the everlasting bestowal of God vouchsafed to
man is never subject to corruption. Inasmuch as He has endowed the
phenomenal world with being, it is impossible for that world to become
non-being, for it is the very genesis of God; it is the realm of
origination; it is a creational and not a subjective world, and the bounty
descending upon it is continuous and permanent. Therefore man the highest
creature of the phenomenal world is endowed with that continuous bounty
bestowed by divine generosity without cessation. For instance, the rays of
the sun are continuous, the heat of the sun emanates from it without
cessation; no discontinuance of it is conceivable. Even so the bestowal of
God is descending upon the world of humanity, never ceasing, continuous,
forever. If we say that the bestowal of existence ceases or falters it is
equivalent to saying that the sun can exist with cessation of its
effulgence. Is this possible? Therefore the effulgences of existence are
ever-present and continuous.
The conception of annihilation is a factor in human degradation, a cause
of human debasement and lowliness, a source of human fear and abjection.
It has been conducive to the dispersion and weakening of human thought
whereas the realization of existence and continuity has upraised man to
sublimity of ideals, established the foundations of human progress and
stimulated the development of heavenly virtues; therefore it behoves man
to abandon thoughts of non-existence and death which are absolutely
imaginary and see himself ever living, everlasting in the divine purpose
of his creation. He must turn away from ideas which degrade the human
soul, so that day by day and hour by hour he may advance upward and higher
to spiritual perception of the continuity of the human reality. If he
dwells upon the thought of non-existence he will become utterly
incompetent; with weakened will-power his ambition for progress will be
lessened and the acquisition of human virtues will cease.
Therefore you must thank God that He has bestowed upon you the blessing of
life and existence in the human kingdom. Strive diligently to acquire
virtues befitting your degree and station. Be as lights of the world which
cannot be hid and which have no setting in horizons of darkness. Ascend to
the zenith of an existence which is never beclouded by the fears and
forebodings of non-existence. When man is not endowed with inner
perception he is not informed of these important mysteries. The retina of
outer vision though sensitive and delicate may nevertheless be a hindrance
to the inner eye which alone can perceive. The bestowals of God which are
manifest in all phenomenal life are sometimes hidden by intervening veils
of mental and mortal vision which render man spiritually blind and
incapable but when those scales are removed and the veils rent asunder,
then the great signs of God will become visible and he will witness the
eternal light filling the world. The bestowals of God are all and always
manifest. The promises of heaven are ever present. The favors of God are
all-surrounding but should the conscious eye of the soul of man remain
veiled and darkened he will be led to deny these universal signs and
remain deprived of these manifestations of divine bounty. Therefore we
must endeavor with heart and soul in order that the veil covering the eye
of inner vision may be removed, that we may behold the manifestations of
the signs of God, discern His mysterious graces, and realize that material
blessings as compared with spiritual bounties are as nothing. The
spiritual blessings of God are greatest. When we were in the mineral
kingdom, although endowed with certain gifts and powers, they were not to
be compared with the blessings of the human kingdom. In the matrix of the
mother we were the recipients of endowments and blessings of God, yet
these were as nothing compared to the powers and graces bestowed upon us
after birth into this human world. Likewise if we are born from the matrix
of this physical and phenomenal environment into the freedom and loftiness
of the life and vision spiritual, we shall consider this mortal existence
and its blessings as worthless by comparison.
In the spiritual world, the divine bestowals are infinite, for in that
realm there is neither separation nor disintegration which characterize
the world of material existence. Spiritual existence is absolute
immortality, completeness and unchangeable being. Therefore we must thank
God that He has created for us both material blessings and spiritual
bestowals. He has given us material gifts and spiritual graces, outer
sight to view the lights of the sun and inner vision by which we may
perceive the glory of God. He has designed the outer ear to enjoy the
melodies of sound and the inner hearing wherewith we may hear the voice of
our creator. We must strive with energies of heart, soul and mind to
develop and manifest the perfections and virtues latent within the
realities of the phenomenal world, for the human reality may be compared
to a seed. If we sow the seed, a mighty tree appears from it. The virtues
of the seed are revealed in the tree; it puts forth branches, leaves,
blossoms, and produces fruits. All these virtues were hidden and potential
in the seed. Through the blessing and bounty of cultivation these virtues
became apparent. Similarly the merciful God our creator has deposited
within human realities certain virtues latent and potential. Through
education and culture, these virtues deposited by the loving God will
become apparent in the human reality even as the unfoldment of the tree
from within the germinating seed.