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SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS.
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expect to extract it contains it within its body or magnitude, nor can any outside agency bestow it on the soul; for the very idea of dependence on another would itself furnish sufficient cause for unhappiness. Analysis discloses the important fact that he alone of all beings who can be said to be free from all kinds of restraint, obligation and desire, who, in other words, is full and perfect in himself, and whose consciousness of supremacy places him beyond the temptations of the senses, can be happy in the true sense of the word. But such a condition is conceivable only in connection with God; hence, man must become God if he would enjoy perfect bliss. Logically, the position is clear enough, but the important question which it gives rise to is : Is it possible to become God? For the human mind, imbued, as it is, with the notion of practicability, cares little or nothing at all for its logical deductions, unless it be also made clear to it that what logic points to is capable of being realized by him. We, therefore, proceed to investigate the nature of Godhood and to ascertain if the difference between God and man is such as may be said to be bridgeable.
The subject plunges us at once into the very thick of the battle that has been raging, from time immemorial, between religion and materialism, by which term we mean the philosophy which denies the existence of spirits. The problem presents itself under three heads, namely,
(1) God, (2) souls, and (3) the world.
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