UNION WITH ONE^S SELF

from désire ; it results not in the leaving behind of anythiDg, for ail tbings will then follow you and acknowledge your masterhood. This on the practical side. On the mystical side, the end of the pathway is union with one's self, inward harmony, the effective realization of the wholeness of personality, and an extraordinary sensé of power with men, since the centre is now fixed in that wherdn ail " live and move and bave their being."

Him who is not detained by mortal adhésions, who walks in this world yet not of it,

Taking part in everything with eqnal mind, with free limbs and sensés nnentangled —

Giving ail, accepting ail, using aU, enjoying ail, asking nothing, shocked at nothing —

Whom love follows everywhere, but he foUows not it,—

Him ail créatures worship, ail men and women bless.^

This man is the true Son of God. He is the Master. He is a Creator also, having found bis way to the " heart of ail lovers." For

When what you will, you will with the whole force of your nature, undivided —

Undivided by fear, conscience, conventions, and the distinctions of self and not-self ;

Then lo ! ail that you wish — aU that your heart forma for an image of its longings — shall take shape before you ;

112 CONTRAST WITH BUDDHISM

You shall croate the things which are the falfilment of your needs ; There is notfaing that shall not be yours.^

Much that has been said in this chapter has obvious affinities with Buddhism ; and C arpenter is considerably indebted to Eastem thought, and has much sjnnpathy with the gênerai outlook of the Eastem mind; yet the distinguishing features are, we hope, equally obvious. Carpenter is undoubtedly one of the leaders among those who are making possible that synthesis between East and West in which Ues the future, and the hope, both of philosophy and religion. His attitude, however, towards life, in contrast with the Buddhistic, is essentially positive, not négative; active, not quîescent; optimist, not pessimiste He does not seek a deliverance out of Ufe, but rather a fuller deliverance into it ; he does not disentangle himself from objects of désire that he may escape them, rather that he may use and enj oy them with dignity and mastery ; he would only get f ree from the wheel of life, that he may become the charioteer in the car ; and would bring his world-thirsts to an end, only in having f ound the inward f ountain of living waters, "whereof, if a man drink, he shall not thirst again/'

We hâve now to consider in what ways this deeper consciousness, réalisable as freedom and mastery, and, according to Carpenter's central

CONTRASÏ WITH BUDDHISM 118

hypothesis, existing potentially in every individual, may be mediated. In one word, the answer is, Expérience ; but there are three kinds of expérience which appear to hâve an especially valnable function in the deliverance of this inner life — Pain, Love, and the Moral Life. Thèse will be the subjects of thenext four chapters.