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THE FALL.
195 of the soul, after death, requires that the physical concerns alone should not be allowed to occupy the uppermost place in his thoughts. Sir Oliver Lodge is the first European to get a partial inkling of the truth of the doctrine of the "fall ; ” but he seems to place the emphasis on the “management of the world”. rather than on 'self-conquest.' Concerning the origin of self-consciousness, he observes :
"How it all arose is a legitimate problem for genetic psychology, but to the plain man it is a puzzle ; our ancestors invented legends to account for it-legends of apples and serpents and the like; but the fact is there, however it be accounted for. The truth embedded in that old Genesis legend is deep ; it is the legend of man's awakening from a merely apimal life to consciousness of good and evil, no longer obeying his primal instincts in a state of thoughtlessness and innocency--a state in which deliberate vice was impossible and therefore higher and purposed goodness also impossible,- it was the introduction of a new sense into the world, the sense of conscience, the power of deliberate choice; the power also of conscious guidance, the management of things and people external to himself, for preconceived ends. Man was beginning to cease to be merely a passenger on the planet, controlled by outside forces ; it is as if the reins were then for the first time being placed in his hands, as if he was allowed to begin to steer, to govern his own fate and destiny, and to take over some considerable part of the management of the world." (Life and Matter).
No doubt, a man brought up in an atmosphere full of worldly politics cannot but lay stress on the "management of the world,” but religion only accepts those who are prepared to give up worldly politics for the sake of self-conquest. For the less advanced souls, religion does not altogether forbid political activity, but only makes it subordinate to spiritual evolution, so that the world-conquest may not interfere with the conquest of the lower self. It is no use denying the fact that our
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