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Harmonic Series
Vol. III
THE GREAT WORK
by J. E. Richardson
The Great School of Natural Science
copyright, 1906, by Indo-American book co.
Addressed to The Progressive Intelligence of the Age
“Fools Deride, Philosophers Investigate.”
Chapter I.
EVOLUTION IN OPERATION.
1. Nature evolves a Man.
2. Man co-operating with nature, evolves a “Master.”
3. The Master-Man, co-operating with and controlling the forces, activities and processes of nature, evolves a ____________?
Chapter II.
CLASSIFICATION OF DATA.
Some things we know, and we know that we know them.
Some things we assume to know, but we know that we do not know them.
Some things we believe, but we do not know them, nor do we even assume to know them.
For illustration:
First Class.
We know that we exist.
We know that other people exist.
We know that other things besides ourselves also exist.
We know that fire burns and that water quenches thirst.
We know that snow is soft and white and that ice is hard and cold to our senses.
We know that flowers bloom and that birds sing.
We know that as individual Intelligences we possess certain faculties, capacities and powers.
We know that certain things we call food, water and air are necessary to sustain what we name the life of our physical bodies.
We know when we are happy and we know what sorrow is.
We know that we can think and that we can convey our thoughts to others.
We know that life has a present existence and that what we call death dissolves the physical manifestation of this earthly life.
These are things we know and we know that we know them. Why? Because they fall within the radius of our own individual experiences. By the aid of our own senses we have personally demonstrated them. And these are the only reasons that warrant us in asserting that we know them. That which is outside the range of our own personal experience is not definitely and positively known to us.
It is of the utmost importance, therefore, to the cause of truth, that every man who speaks for the world to hear should never allow himself to forget that personal experience is the only absolute basis and infallible test of what we know. Whatever fails to reach the demands of this simply and exact test does not rise to the dignity of actual and personal knowledge.
Second Class.
We assume to know that the earth is round. We not only assume this to be a fact of nature, but we are ready to act upon that assumption, and we do so act without the slightest hesitation whenever occasion therefor may require. But on a basis of actual test it is doubtful if one in a thousand of the human race, as it exists today, has ever personally demonstrated the truth of that assumption. We have read in books that it is true. We have been taught in our school studies that it is a fact. We have been assured, on what we have considered good authority, that others have actually proven it beyond all question; and we have had pointed out to us methods by which we are led to believe we might prove its truth for ourselves if we but had the time, money, opportunity and inclination necessary to make the demonstration. But that is all. In other words, the very large majority of us do not, in literal truth, personally know whether the earth is round or square or cubical or pyrmidal or any other specifically definable shape. We only assume to know.
We assume to know how old we are, and in our relations and dealings with others we treat the subject of our own age with all the seeming assurance of exact and definite knowledge. We do not hesitate to go into court, when called upon to do so, and solemnly make oath as to our respective ages. Many there are who do this without so much as a qualm of conscience or a suggestion of doubt or uncertainty. And yet, in all human probability, not one of those who read this page knows to a definite certainty his or her own age. Furthermore, there is, perhaps, no person living in all the world, who remembers the exact year, month, day and hour of his own birth. Why? Because under and by virtue of the arbitrary and mysterious provisions of nature, that somewhat important event in our respective histories lies all the way from two to fours years backward beyond the limits of individual memory. All we know of it, therefore, is that our reputed fathers and mothers and those who are older than ourselves have told us that we were born on a given day of a given month in a given year. We take their word as literal truth and govern ourselves accordingly. And so, we do not know how old we are. We only assume to know.
We assume to know that a certain man, whom history names Columbus, discovered the continent of America; that a certain other man, named Washington, was the first president of the United States of America.
We assume to know that a certain other man, named Moses, led the Children of Israel out of captivity into the land of Egypt.
We assume to know that one Benjamin Franklin, by means of a kite, made an important discovery concerning the action of electricity; that another wise man, named Newton, made an important scientific discovery concerning the action of that force we name Gravity.
If time and space would permit and the occasion would warrant the effort, it would be quite possible to mention hundreds or even thousands of other things we assume to know, all of which, however, are wholly outside the limits of our definite and personal knowledge. Indeed, if we but held ourselves to a rigid and strictly truthful differentiation of the data we employ, there is perhaps not one of us but would be greatly surprised, if not genuinely humiliated, to find how many things we assume to know which are, in truth, altogether outside the limits of our personal knowledge. We do not know them. We merely assume to know them, and our assumption passes current for actual personal knowledge.
Third Class.
Many there are who believe in a God, in the sense that the Great Creative Intelligence is a distinct and definite personality. But there are also many others who believe just a firmly that the Great Creative Intelligence is not a God in the sense of a definite personality. It would seem, however, that among all these there are few, if any, who could truthfully assert that the subject is one which falls within the limits of their personal knowledge.
Some men believe there is not only a personal God who created the universe, but that he is a triune Being, composed of three persons in one, namely, “Father, Son and Holy Ghost.” Others believe He is but one person. They hold that he is “One and Indivisible.” There are others still who believe that the Creative Intelligence is but an all-pervading essence or power, wholly without the element of personality. It would doubtless be conceded, however, that not one among all these is in position to know anything about it.
Some there are who believe in the doctrine of literal transubstantiation, in accordance with which the bread and wine used in the sacramental service of “The Lord’s Supper” are said to be transmuted into the body and blood of Christ. Others believe with equal sincerity that such a doctrine is not only false, but utterly absurd and too ridiculous for a moment’s serious consideration. But if the question could be removed from the field of theological discussion and then submitted to the several disputants on the basis of their definite and personal knowledge, it is not at all likely that a single one among them could be found who would seriously claim to know anything about it.
There are also those who believe in the absolute, inherent immortality of all mankind. Others believe in conditional immortality, only as a reward of individual effort. And there are others who believe with equal earnestness that immortality is only a pleasant dream, a comforting delusion, a fascinating fiction, and that physical death means total extinction.
Human intelligence has formulated concepts which have become the bases of many other beliefs. All such beliefs, however, may be distinguished without difficulty from definite personal knowledge, or even assumed knowledge, as these are classified and defined above.
Fourth Class.
We neither know, nor assume to know, nor can we formulate a well defined belief as to when time began or when, if ever, it will end; where space begins, how far it extends, or where, if at all it ends.
We neither know, nor assume to know, nor do we have even a definite belief as to where, when or how matter first came into existence, how long it will continue to exist or what will ultimately become of it.
We neither know, nor assume to know, nor do we have a clearly defined belief as to how many suns, moons and stars there are throughout all the universe of space; how many of them are inhabited; or what may be the number and character of their inhabitants.
We neither know, nor assume to know, nor can we formulate so much as a definite belief as to the number of fishes or other living things in all the waters of the earth, the insects which pervade the atmosphere that encircles and incloses the earth, or the living creatures that move upon the dry land.
As to all such problems as these, and many others, we do not hesitate to acknowledge our total ignorance.
Thus, by a simple analysis, we find that the data of the whole universe, so far as we are individually concerned, naturally divide themselves into these four distinct and separate classes, namely:
1. Things we know.
2. Things we assume to know.
3. Things we believe.
4. Things of which we are wholly ignorant.
Of these four classes of data, there can be but little doubt, in the mind of any honest student of nature, that the first is by far the most limited. For, the things we know comprise only those things which are a conscious part of us, and those with which we come into conscious personal contact or relation in nature.
No man is in position to understand or appreciate how almost infinitesimally small and seemingly insignificant, by comparison, is the volume of his own definite, personal knowledge, until he undertakes to write out in definite form a crystallized statement of those things he can say truly he knows. Then it is, for the first time he becomes clearly conscious how meager is his store of actual knowledge and how conspicuous is his intellectual poverty.
To be brought thus suddenly face to face with his own destitution is, perhaps, one of the most effectual lessons of humility that could be administered to a human being. It would also seem that of all the many important lessons of life it is one among those we need most to learn. For, whilst it humbles our pride of intelligence into the very dust, at the same time it teaches us the exact measure and intrinsic value of our own actual attainments and points the way to a much broader understanding and a more just appreciation of all mankind. It teaches a deeper respect for the lives and experiences of our fellow men, admonishes us to a more generous sympathy with them in all their honest efforts, and stimulates
in us a more healthful desire to increase our own store of exact and definite knowledge.
The second class of data constitutes a volume much greater in magnitude than the first, and much more pretentious as to the character and scope of its contents. For, under the head of “Things we assume to know,” are, in general, the discoveries and demonstrations of science, the data of history, the deductions of philosophy, and the great body of “Spiritual Revelations.”
No truly progressive intelligence of the present age will attempt to deny or even minimize the value of all these data to both the individual and society. Indeed, most of such data comes to us from out the ages. It bears upon its face the seeming stamp of truth. Since it comes to us at second hand, it does not rise to the dignity of absolute knowledge. Nevertheless, it is of great value because it is the nearest possible approach to that which we designate as absolute, personal knowledge.
The third class of data, “Things we believe,” would constitute an immense library of itself. But here, in the realm of mere speculations, opinions and beliefs, we come face to face with all those unsatisfactory and disquieting elements of uncertainty, unreliability, insecurity, fallibility and change.
For instance: No man’s mere belief, however honest of earnest it may be, carries with it a positive guaranty of its truth. He may believe, with absolute sincerity, the most impossible things.
Then again, the things he merely believes today he may be able to demonstrate tomorrow. When so demonstrated they at once become things he knows and are no longer mere matters of belief. By the process of demonstration they immediately pass from the third class of data to the first. By this transition alone, they attain to the highest possible degree of value and importance in his life.
Or, it may perchance, occur that the things he believes today he may demonstrate tomorrow to be false. In that event their non-existence is established and they no longer have a place in the data of the universe.
It may also happen that some of the things he believes today may be proven tomorrow by somebody else to be true. In that event, as facts demonstrated, they come to him at second hand. Thenceforth, in their relation to him, they pass into the category of reported facts, history or science, as the case may be, and fall under the second class. Though he may not know them of his own personal knowledge, yet he may thereafter reasonably assume to know them upon the strength of their reported demonstration. Thus they are advanced on step in their relation to him, and by this transition they become of secondary importance in his essential life. They are now second in value only to the things he knows.
The fourth class of data, “Things we neither know nor assume to know nor even believe,” constitutes the, at present, unknown field of nature. Whatever that field may contain is, as yet, a closed book to us. Whatever influence its contents may exert upon our lives or destinies is not yet within our powers of analysis. The unexplored field of nature may, perhaps, contain countless treasures of infinite value to each one of us, and doubtless does. But until we see, know, or in some other manner become possessed of them, their intrinsic value is not, for us at least, a conscious factor.
Thus it will be observed, that of all the data of the entire universe, that which most intimately and vitally concerns each one of us falls under the first class designated at the beginning of this chapter. That is to say, the things we know are those of which we are in position to make the best and most intelligent use, both in our own behalf and in behalf of those who need our help. This fact alone gives to them a value and an importance which is to us paramount.
It is equally true that the things we assume to know, and upon the truth of which we implicitly rely and unhesitatingly act, are the things which approach most nearly absolute, personal knowledge. These, therefore, are second in value only to the things we know.
In other words, of all the data of the universe, that which falls withing the radius of absolute, personal knowledge is of paramount value and importance to each individual. And conversely, that which lies farthest from such knowledge is, for analogous reasons, of least personal value and importance to him.
For instance: To every intelligent man and woman who has followed the subject to this point it must be clearly apparent that actual knowledge, as hereinbefore defined, is of greater value and importance to the individual who possesses it than assumed knowledge. It is vastly multiplied in value and importance when it is compared with mere speculations, opinions and beliefs, any or all of which may prove to be erroneous or entirely without foundation in fact. It follows with equal certainty that it stands at the highest point of relative value and importance when it is compared with total ignorance.
These facts being admitted, it follows with irresistible logic that one of the most important duties every individual owes to himself and to his fellow man is, at all times and as rapidly as possible, to increase the number and volume of the things he knows, and in so doing select those facts and truths of which he can make the most valuable use. For by this process alone he becomes the better equipped to discharge his personal responsibility to both himself and his fellow man.
To one who sees life from this point of vision it matters very little what others may believe (except for their own good), so long as they do not trespass upon the perfect liberty of his own intelligence. That which is of paramount importance to him is what they know and what they can help him to know.
A brief analytical study of this subject cannot fail to emphasize, among others, the following facts, namely:
1. Exact and definite knowledge is always of the greatest possible value and importance to every individual who has the moral courage to use it rightly. To such it is more to be desired than all other classes of data combined. Nevertheless, it is only the exceptional man or woman, of the present time, who is ready or even willing to pursue it with a degree of intelligence, courage and perseverance, necessary to obtain the desired results.
2. The average intelligence is satisfied to act upon the basis of assumed knowledge. This is true, even though such data are admitted to be wanting in reliability and therefore of only secondary value or consideration. Why? Because assumed knowledge involves far less personal effort on his part than actual knowledge. With most of us it is so much more pleasant and agreeable to accept as true the declarations and findings of others than it is to make a personal demonstration of them for ourselves.
3. If an exact numerical balance could be struck, at the present time, it would, without question, be found that a very large majority of the men and women of deeply interested in the consideration of mere speculations, opinions, dogmas and beliefs that they are in the acquisition of actual, personal knowledge.
Why is this? The question is a most natural one in the mind of the honest student. It would also appear timely and pertinent. More especially is this true in view of the fact that the door to personal knowledge stands so wide open and the way leading thereto is so smooth and inviting.
Many answers, or partial answers, suggest themselves. Each of these contains certain elements of truth. The following, however, would seem to cover the largest number of cases:
The acquisition of exact and definite knowledge involves a labor. It calls for the unremitting exercise of honest, earnest, intelligent, courageous and persistent personal effort on the part of the individual concerned.
Indolence, however, in this department of human endeavor, would seem to be an almost universal characteristic of human nature. However much we may desire a thing whose value we know and appreciate, we possess only a limited amount of intelligence, courage and perseverance which we are ready and willing to exercise in the task of acquiring it. In the largest number of instances–-more especially where the thing to be acquired is knowledge–-the amount of personal effort we are willing to exert is very small. Moreover, when we have reached its limit we are inclined to accept almost any recognized substitute that may be offered.
This characteristic of human intelligence is so general and so strongly marked that it constitutes one of the chief reasons why so few of our brightest and otherwise most capable men and women become personal demonstrators of the law. It also explains why so many become mere readers of books. And yet, we are forced by evidence which cannot be refuted, to recognize as a fundamental principle of individual human development, that exact and definite knowledge comes to all of us in exact ratio with the amount of intelligence, moral courage and perseverance we put into the active search for it.
One person may possess the necessary intelligence but lack the courage and perseverance. Another may have the requisite courage but fall below the necessary standard of intelligence and perseverance. A third may possess the full measure of necessary perseverance but fail in point of both intelligence and courage. A fourth may be able to demonstrate an abundance of both intelligence and courage but find himself deficient in the element of perseverance. And yet another may meet the required standard of intelligence and perseverance, and at the same time be wholly deficient in courage; and so on. But the men and women are few indeed, who possess all three of these elements of character in such measure and quality as to lead them into the field of personal demonstration. This is more especially true within the field of what, by common consent, we have come to designate as the higher laws, principles, forces, activities and processes of nature.
As a perfectly natural result, most of us find it so much easier and more convenient to assume knowledge than to demonstrate its truth, that we fall into the habit of relying more upon others than upon ourselves to discover the facts of nature and reduce them to definite and personal knowledge.
Even more strongly still are we tempted to content ourselves with reveling in the nebulous and fascinating field of mere speculations, opinions and beliefs. Why? Because this calls for the minimum of personal effort on our part.
Indeed, to this intellectual inertia and inherent indolence of human nature are due most of the prejudices, superstitions and dogmas of both science and religion throughout the ages. It is easier to entertain a prejudice than it is to acquire the knowledge necessary to rise above it. Most of us, therefore, are the witless slaves of prejudice. It is more convenient to cherish a superstition that it is to acquire the wisdom necessary to demonstrate its fallacy. For this reason most of us are bound by superstition. It is more agreeable (to ourselves) to dogmatize than to demonstrate. Hence it is that most of us are dogmatic and preach than it is to practice. Therefore the majority preach and minority practice.
These are among the frailties and fallacies of human nature with which we have to contend in our search for truth. We all know them. We all recognize them–-in others. We all admit them–-for those who decline to do so. Much as we may appear to be, we are neither entirely ignorant nor wholly innocent of the part they play in our own lives. More than this, we know the remedy. We cannot hope, therefore, to evade nor even minimize our personal responsibility for the evil results which flow from their daily presence and influence in our lives.
Let us not deceive ourselves longer. Let us not even try to do so. On the contrary, let us declare our emancipation from the tyranny of such a slavery. Moreover, let us do it NOW before we turn the leaf on which these words are printed. Let us do it so effectually and so irrevocably that we shall be able to maintain our independence throughout all the succeeding pages, even to the final word of the closing sentence.
Hereafter, then, let us intelligently, courageously and persistently apply ourselves to the honest and earnest search for definite, personal knowledge. Let us do this in whatsoever fields are open and accessible to us. Let us do it, if necessary, in defiance of our own present opinions and beliefs, prejudices and superstitions, inclinations and desires, as well as those of our fellow men who would seek to hold our Souls in bondage. Let us do this, secure in the consciousness that truth is always a friend to him who honestly seeks it and a benefactor to him who lives it.
Briefly recapitulating, the specific purposes of this chapter are:
1. To fix indelibly in the mind of the reader the four distinct and separate classes into which the data of the universe naturally divide themselves when considered solely in their relation to the individual.
2. To emphasize the paramount importance of “The things we know” over all the other classes of data in the universe, from the standpoint of the individual.
3. To remove from the mind, as far as may be possible, all blind acceptance of the mere speculations, opinions, beliefs and dogmas of mankind who speak without the authority of definite and personal knowledge.
4. To open the way to a fair and unprejudiced consideration of the subject before us with a view to obtaining the largest measure of truth possible.
5. To stimulate a healthful desire for exact and definite knowledge concerning the subject under consideration, regardless of the source from which it may come.
6. To lead to a personal investigation and intelligent study of such facts as may be accessible and pertinent.
End of Chapter II.
