Thoughts of a fool
in as a prize. They are prostitutes.
God’s life would be as short as the life of its entities were it not
for that sex sense which works for the perpetuation of life.
Evolution is a sex law. Natural selection, more and more complex
organism, finer and finer reproduction, is God’s method for beautifying
himself in man. Protoplasm did not scheme to have a progeny different
from itself. God in the entity of Mrs. Protoplasm desired to reproduce
himself to something which he was not--and he did.
A woman desires to be mated to a man who possesses qualifications which
make for better progeny--life seeking to excel itself. One flower
selects the co-operation of another not of its kind, and new flowers
come to be. One mineral selects another, and the birth of a new mineral
is the result. New animals, new birds, new stars, and new worlds come
to be from this natural selection. The intellect would call that
selection prostitution, and the reproduction illegitimate, but there
is no illegitimacy in God. Illegitimacy is an institution of the wise,
and the wise are only a small part of Life, the same as the bastard and
the fool. And whenever the wise become too wise God reveals himself in
the guise of a fool to show them that they don’t know the things they
thought they knew.
Goodness and badness are within ourselves, from the very lowest to the
very highest. Does it please or displease us, is the test for goodness
or badness. A thing, a man, an action, cannot be good or bad of itself.
Its relationship to us determines its value. A thing does not please us
because it is good. It does not displease us because it is bad. It is
good because it pleases us; it is bad because it displeases us.
An over-ripe egg and limburger cheese are equally unpleasant to one of
our senses, yet we call the cheese good and the egg bad because its
relationship to our taste is pleasant as to cheese and otherwise in
case of the egg.
Every one has the judge in his own heart. And the judges within
ourselves render decisions, and we act in accordance with the bribe we
receive, and the best of us along with the worst are being constantly
bribed. The bribe always is satisfaction to ourselves. The only
difference is that we are not all pleased alike. Some of us can be
bribed with personal gratification, and some of us get our satisfaction
only in the satisfaction of others. A good man is he whose satisfaction
is the satisfaction of others. A bad man is he whose satisfaction
excludes others. A good man is he who attains pleasure by seeking to
contribute to the pleasure of others. A bad man is one who seeks the
satisfaction of his own wants regardless of the interest of his fellows.
When I lose a thing I am just as much lost to the thing as the thing is
lost to me. Our relationship is gone; we cease to be in communion with
one another.
The soul of man is not lost that it needs be saved. Lost is the soul
which thinketh that it needs saving.
The righteous and pious who condemn and claim that man’s soul is
lost and needs saving are in themselves lost to the extent that they
condemn. So the soul which needs saving is not the one condemned, as
the condemned do not condemn. The condemned do not cast themselves off
from the virtuous. The virtuous cut themselves off from the thing they
condemn, and thereby become lost and need saving. To the extent that
you condemn, to that extent you are cut off from life and are lost; and
moreover, life is hindered in its free action, even in the parts which
are considered virtuous. It is not the sinner that Jesus came to save;
the sinner is not lost. It is the saints who need saving. By condemning
they are cut off from life, and they will be saved only when they
reconcile themselves to whatsoever they condemn.
The sum total of my search is this: had I known enough to look for God
in a wise manner I would have had a problem on my hands. As the balance
is not at all flattering, and to keep my self-respect, I would have
to condemn every other self, that I may place myself above them and
thereby separate myself from God. Going about in the manner I did, I
discovered God is everywhere, God is everything, and his schemes are
to have a good time with himself and by letting life express itself
through me to obey the callings of life through my heart I am at one
with all-there-is--with the prostitute in the church and school, as
well as with the one who sells himself or herself for a crust of bread.
Therein lies the advantage of not being wise.
FREE LOVE
Every religion is based on a God of Love.
The saying of Moses in the old testament, “Love thy neighbor as
thyself,” and what Hillel in the Talmud said, “What is hateful to you
do not to your neighbor,” and that which is proclaimed by Jesus in
the Sermon on the Mount, “Do unto others as you would have them do
unto you,” and the one by Confucius, “Do not to another what you would
not desire that he do unto you”--each of these sayings is called the
Golden Rule, and they are accepted as a religious principle by a large
following. Combined they cover the religion of the world. Why then do
not the religious people religiously love? Why does wisdom then fail?
It is not for me to assume the guidance of the good and the wondrous
wise; yet, may I not wonder whether the failure of practice to conform
to precept may not be a misconception of love by the wise?
Suppose I had been experimenting with a coloring herb for years and had
failed to get results. The very first to say that my formula is wrong
would be the wise. They would insist that some one else should have the
opportunity to try his recipe. I wonder what is wrong with that Love
scheme of the wise. Everybody seems to want it. It is talked about by
all and no one seems to have it. What’s up? Church and State have ever
been repositories of this wisdom, so I blame them for the failure to
make it work, and I ask you for the privilege of demonstrating my love
formula.
Church and State would make us believe that love is injected by force;
it comes, they say, from some mystic where to the chosen few, who alone
can furnish that article to those who feel in need of it. Therefore
they established institutions, such as Sabbath schools, sewing circles,
social settlements, reform clubs, anti-cigarette leagues, anti-vice
societies, and the thousand and one others, for the purpose of changing
the heart of man. Man will love when his heart is changed, they all
say. I cannot imagine any advantage in changing that shape, which
required ages to evolve, to a round or star shaped heart. Beware, says
Church and State, of getting love or into love by taboo paths. Obey
Church and State, that thy days may be long in the sort of happiness
which they ladle out to you. Love of any brand that has not the
sanction of Church and State is lust and passion. To supply yourself
without paying duty you are not only not receiving the genuine article,
but are smuggling as well. The punishment for smuggling, if your case
comes within the jurisdiction of the Church, is fire, brimstone,
torment, ostracism, and other devices that may be summed up under the
general head, Hell. Those who declare their allegiance by full payment
of the required duties are promised harps of a thousand strings (with
sufficient finger equipment to fetch forth heavenly music), golden
streets, avenues of jasper and amethyst, radiant halos, rapid-action
wings, and a large repertoire of songs. The State likewise has a
schedule, whereby both rewards and punishments are not so long delayed.
These penalties, whether in the hereafter in hell or before you have
time to get there, are in the name of love, law and order, progress,
and good citizenship. After having a fair trial for a few thousand
years, I charge them with incompetency, their formula being an entire
failure. I have examined their books, and the net balance found is
great liabilities and no assets. Man is further away from happiness and
love than ever before they took charge. They had good advertising and a
fair trial, and have failed to produce results. Man is getting further
and further away from Love. Instead of here and there a murder they
are slaughtering themselves and each other by the wholesale; strikes,
lockouts galore; jails, prisons overcrowded; the soldier’s home, the
orphan’s home, the homes for foundlings, the home for the incurable,
the home for reformed prostitutes, testify that the people are getting
further and further away from brotherly love.
“Reverse!” says Jacob. “The assumption that the mass of mankind is a
loveless agglomeration of individuals is false, and accounts for the
falsity of our common life. You have been trying to grow your potatoes
on top of the stalk instead of underground. They will not grow there.
Nature has decided otherwise. If you desire potatoes you must look for
them where life has placed them.”
“Reverse your entire plan of life, cast away the things you have
taken up; gather up the things you have cast away. Take off the label
‘Evil’ you have placed upon the things you have cast aside and label
it ‘Good.’ Seek in the opposite direction for life, and you will find
rest, love, and satisfaction.”
There is in the heart of the “masses” a great surging volume of love
seeking an outlet. There is in the hearts of these people a vast wealth
of love that clamors to be freed from all imposts and repressions. But
a sentinel stands in the way preventing expression. There is a taboo on
free expression of Love.
This vigilant sentinel-inspector of the custom-house of Church and
State stands ready to fire on whoever frees Love.
This is the world’s tragedy, that its Love is in bondage! O for the
great Emancipation! Sore is the heart of man, for Love is in chains!
Do you think people need to be educated to love? Observe the gallery
of a cheap playhouse; hear the illiterate, unkempt street waif applaud
with all the vigor that a loving heart commands when the heroine is
saved from mimic danger. You laugh at the cordial plaudits that the
gallery yields to melodrama. That is because you know no better than
to mock the spontaneity of love. We dislike spontaneity. It is too
free and unrestrained. We crave reposeful dignity. Think of a dignified
Cupid!
Do you remember reading the story of that poor convict who escaped from
prison and had succeeded in baffling the searching parties. He was
securely shielded in a thicket near a village. There was an alarm of
fire, and he heard a frantic mother shrieking for assistance for the
rescue of her child. To offer help meant reincarceration. Nevertheless
he did not hesitate. His face was scorched when he delivered the child
unscathed to its mother, but under the soot and burns there was a look
of satisfaction even when the officers took him back to his living tomb.
What is this enthusiasm of the newsboy and the convict? Is it not love?
Society imprisons the one and degrades the other, because they are
judged to be without love.
Take the word of a fool that society’s wisdom is at fault. The misery
of the world is due, in spite of all your findings to the contrary, to
the fact that the heart is not free to express itself; and how to free
the heart is the problem.
If I have an ulcer in my throat and am nearly famished because of the
difficulty of swallowing my victuals, the problem that confronts me is
not how to increase my appetite, but how to assuage it. Read the faces
of the people and you will see that their heart is breaking because
they love and are prevented expression.
The man who dropped a nickel in the cable slot to stop the car was wise
in comparison to him who thinks that Love can live otherwise than free.
Love does not work at all unless it be so simple as to be automatic and