Chapter IV. The Fall of Man
1901 original text, YOGeBooks typeset transcription; original text extent only
Man was good, that is, adapted to start in ignorance and work up to the highest pinnacle which a product of the divine life can reach. Therefore we must view his life as a whole, not as a fragment created “out of hand” in a single day.
The creation of a perfect man is the work of all eternity. The fragment of human history which we chance to know is only a phase of the divine creative process. To judge correctly we must know all, and we cannot know all until we can be all.
Viewed from the standpoint of the whole, we can only say there is an ascent of man. As for his fall, we must say, as it is now customary to speak of “the prince of darkness,” not that there is one devil, but that there are many.
To understand these falls of man we must take his origin into account, remembering that he began very far down, in ignorance, a mere animal, burdened with a long inheritance.
For the animal, there is nothing higher than to be an animal. Consequently, that which we condemn as brutal in man is good in the animal, because it enables him to be an animal. But when the human is added, and there are two natures in conflict and contrast, then, if man cultivates the animal at the expense of the human he becomes worse than the brute.
Here we see the origin of evil, also why it was not evil at the outset; also that God did not create evil and mingle it with the good. For evil begins when man, in presence of a higher, chooses a lower, when instead of becoming more of a man and serving his fellows, he becomes more of a brute and wrongs his fellows.
Sin is misdirected energy, misdirected power, which in itself is good. Man sins; he falls every time he consciously chooses a lower instead of a higher, every time he subordinates the soul to the body. Sin entered into the world with knowledge, because, until man began to know himself as an upright being, he was only an animal, ignorant, and therefore blameless.
But why is man wilfully perverse; why does he want to misdirect his energy? Through ignorance: enlighten him and he will not wish to sin. Many a man commits a crime because he thinks he can elude the officers of the law, but if he knew that there is a law of the universe, a law of action and reaction which no man can evade, his knowledge would give him pause. Jesus is most emphatic in his statements concerning this law.
Again, many a reprobate would be a better man, but he does not know how; many a person is struggling upwards, but is repulsed on every hand.
Then God is at fault, you say. No, an old dogma is at fault. Man has been condemned and pushed aside as a sinner. He has been told that he was vile and perverse, and has been put away with many other so-called worthless mortals.
Reach out a helping hand to him, call him “brother,” love him, explain to him that all his forces are inherently good, that he can overcome them by gradually building a different habit of life, and you will find him a human being, like yourself. And who would like to be condemned as the criminal is condemned? Who can make headway if he looks upon himself as “fallen,” as a miserable sinner with no help in him?
If you would really redeem a man, seek first the Kingdom of God, the home of peace and love. Put yourself in a kindly, forgiving mood. Remember the far-off goal set before all humanity, and the conditions necessary to attain it. Recollect that we are one and all emerging from ignorance and animalism, that we have not yet travelled far. Approach the man as a brother, giving him the benefit of every doubt, believing that he longs to conquer himself but does not know how. And so help him, even as you would be helped, by turning his thought in a new direction, by calling out the best that is in him, by teaching him how to resist temptation. Thus shall you meet response. Thus shall you help him to rise, instead of making him the more miserably conscious of his fall.
Right knowledge of the fall of man thus suggests boundless possibilities of helpfulness. Man falls because he is not wise enough to see the misery he is causing himself and humanity, or because he is not yet strong enough to turn from the lower impulse and cleave to the higher. Therefore explain to him the law of action and reaction, whereby every deed brings its corresponding result. Show him that by cultivating a different habit of life, by manifesting love, by seeking the environments of peace, he is developing a centre of resistance which shall in time withstand all the assaults of the lower self.
Point out the possibility of pausing for a moment to gather strength when the animal impulse arises, as one would pause before an angry man to seek thoughts of peace and express words of love, instead of returning blow for blow. Thus you will aid him to outflank his temptations, to conquer himself by the indirect and far more successful method of cultivating the good and letting the evil die out.
We all know from experience that when we acted wrongly we acted impulsively. And when we conquered, it was because we paused to think, “to count ten before striking the blow.”
We also know why we paused to think, namely, because we had some measure of repose.
Therefore to strike at the root of all our misdeeds, to avoid our mistakes, we must cultivate repose, moderation, equanimity. We must seek the inner Kingdom, where we can say unto the troubled waves of our lower nature, as the Master said to the waves of the sea, Peace, be still!
If we find this calm, inner centre, all else will follow. For in finding it, as we shall see more fully in the following chapter, we take the Christ attitude, we find the true way of escape from sin, the true atonement for the fall of man.