General View of Positivism — Chapter 6 Conclusion. The Religion Of Humanity Part 4

But while bearing in mind our debt to Catholicism, we need not omit to recognize how largely Positivism gains by comparison with it.

Full justice will be done to the aims of Catholicism, and to the excellence of its results.

But the whole effect of Positivist worship will be to make men feel clearly how far superior in every respect is the synthesis founded on the Love of Humanity to that founded on the Love of God.

Christianity satisfied no part of our nature fully, except the affections.

It rejected Imagination, it shrank from Reason; and therefore its power was always contested, and could not last.

Even in its own sphere of affection, its principles never lent themselves to that social direction which the Catholic priesthood, with such remarkable persistency, endeavoured to give to them.

The aim which it set before men, being unreal and personal, was ill-suited to a life of reality and of social sympathy.

It is true that the universality of this supreme affection was indirectly a bond of union; but only when it was not at variance with true social feeling.

And from the nature of the system, opposition between these two principles was the rule, and harmony the exception; since the Love of God, even as viewed by the best Catholic types, required in almost all cases the abandonment of every other passion.

The moral value of such a synthesis consisted solely in the discipline which it established; discipline of whatever kind being preferable to anarchy, which would have given free scope to all the lowest propensities.

But notwithstanding all the tender feeling of the best mystics, the affection which to them was supreme admitted of no real reciprocity.

Moreover, the stupendous nature of the rewards and penalties by which every precept in this arbitrary system was enforced, tended to weaken the character and to taint our noblest impulses.

The essential merit of the system was that it was the first attempt to exercise systematic control over our moral nature.

The discipline of Polytheism was usually confined to actions: sometimes it extended to habits; but it never touched the affections from which both habits and actions spring.

Christianity took the best means of effecting its purpose that were then available; but it was not successful, except so far as it gave indirect encouragement to our higher feelings.

And so vague and absolute were its principles, that even this would have been impossible, but for the wisdom of the priesthood, who for a long time saved society from the dangers incident to so arbitrary a system.

But at the close of the Middle Ages, when the priesthood became retrograde, and lost at once their morality and their freedom, the doctrine was left to its own impotence, and rapidly degenerated till it became a chronic source of degradation and of discord.

But the synthesis based upon Love of Humanity has too deep a foundation in Positive truth to be liable to similar decline; and its influence cannot but increase so long as the progress of our race endures.

The Great Being, who is its object, tolerates the most searching inquiry, and yet does not restrict the scope of Imagination.

The laws which regulate her existence are now known to us; and the more deeply her nature is investigated, the stronger is our consciousness of her reality and of the greatness of her benefits.

The thought of her stimulates all the powers of Imagination, and thus enables us to participate in a measure in the universality of her life, throughout the whole extent of Time and Space of which we have any real knowledge.

All our real intellectual results, whether in art or science, are alike co-ordinated by the religion of Humanity; for it furnishes the sole bond of connexion by which permanent harmony can be established between our thoughts and our feelings.

It is the only system which without artifice and without arbitrary restriction, can establish the preponderance of Affection over Thought and Action.

It sets forth social feeling as the first principle of morality; without ignoring the natural superiority in strength of the personal instincts.

To live for others it holds to be the highest happiness.

To become incorporate with Humanity, to sympathize with all her former phases, to foresee her destinies in the future, and to do what lies in us to forward them; this is what it puts before us as the constant aim of life.

Self-love in the Positive system is regarded as the great infirmity of our nature: an infirmity which unremitting discipline on the part of each individual and of society may materially palliate, but will never radically cure.

The degree to which this mastery over our own nature is attained is the truest standard of individual or social progress, since it has the closest relation to the existence of the Great Being, and to the happiness of the elements that compose it.

Inspired as it is by sincere gratitude, which increases the more carefully the grounds for it are examined, the worship of Humanity raises Prayer for the first time above the degrading influence of self-interest.

We pray to the Supreme Being; but only to express our deep thankfulness for her present and past benefits, which are an earnest of still greater blessings in the future.

Doubtless it is a fact of human nature, that habitual expression of such feelings reacts beneficially on our moral nature; and so far we, too, find in Prayer a noble recompense.

But it is one that can suggest to us no selfish thoughts, since it cannot come at all unless it come spontaneously.

Our highest happiness consists in Love; and we know that more than any other feeling love may be strengthened by exercise; that alone of all feelings it admits of, and increases with, simultaneous expansion in all.

Humanity will become more familiar to us than the old gods were to the Polytheists, yet without the loss of dignity which, in their case, resulted from familiarity.

Her nature has in it nothing arbitrary, yet she co-operates with us in the worship that we render, since in honouring her we receive back ‘grace for grace’.

Homage accepted by the Deity of former times laid him open to the charge of puerile vanity.

But the new Deity will accept praise only where it is deserved, and will derive from it equal benefit with ourselves.

This perfect reciprocity of affection and of influence is peculiar to Positive religion, because in it alone the object of worship is a Being whose nature is relative, modifiable, and perfectible; a Being of whom her own worshippers form a part, and the laws of whose existence, being more clearly known than theirs, allow her desires and her tendencies to be more distinctly foreseen.

[Superiority of Positive morality] The morality of Positive religion combines all the advantages of spontaneousness with those of demonstration.

It is so thoroughly human in all its parts, as to preclude all the subterfuges by which repentance for transgression is so often stifled or evaded.

By pointing out distinctly the way in which each individual action reacts upon society, it forces us to judge our own conduct without lowering our standard.

Some might think it too gentle, and not sufficiently vigorous; yet the love by which it is inspired is no passive feeling, but a principle which strongly stimulates our energies to the full extent compatible with the attainment of that highest good to which it is ever tending.

Accepting the truths of science, it teaches that we must look to our own unremitting activity for the only providence by which the rigour of our destiny can be alleviated.

We know well that the great Organism, superior though it be to all beings known to us, is yet under the dominion of inscrutable laws, and is in no respect either absolutely perfect or absolutely secure from danger.

Every condition of our existence, whether those of the external world or those of our own nature, might at some time be compromised.

Even our moral and intellectual faculties, on which our highest interests depend, are no exception to this truth.

Such contingencies are always possible, and yet they are not to prevent us from living nobly; they must not lessen our love, our thought, or our efforts for Humanity;

they must not overwhelm us with anxiety, nor urge us to useless complaint.

But the very principles which demand this high standard of courage and resignation, are themselves well calculated to maintain it.

For by making us fully conscious of the greatness of man, and by setting us free from the degrading influences of fear, they inspire us with keen interest in our efforts, inadequate though they be, against the pressure of fatalities which are not always beyond our power to modify.

And thus the reaction of these fatalities upon our character is turned at last to a most beneficial use.

It prevents alike overweening anxiety for our own interests and dull indifference to them; whereas, in theological and metaphysical systems, even when inculcating self-denial, there is always a dangerous tendency to concentrate thought on personal considerations.

Dignified reaction where modification of them is possible; such is the moral standard which Positivism puts forward for individuals and for society.

Catholicism, notwithstanding the radical defects of its doctrine, has unconsciously been influenced by the modern spirit; and at the close of the Middle Ages was tending in a direction similar to that here described, although its principles were inconsistent with any formal recognition of it.

It is only in the countries that have been preserved from Protestantism that any traces are left of these faint efforts of the priesthood to rise above their own theories.

The Catholic God would gradually change into a feeble and imperfect representation of Humanity, were not the clergy so degraded socially as to be unable to participate in the spontaneous feelings of the community.

It is a tendency too slightly marked to lead to any important result; yet it is a striking proof of the new direction which men’s minds and hearts are unconsciously taking in countries which are often supposed to be altogether left behind in the march of modern thought.

The clearest indication of it is in their acceptance of the worship of Woman, which is the first step towards the worship of Humanity.

Since the twelfth century, the influence of the Virgin, especially in Spain and Italy, has been constantly on the increase.

The priesthood have often protested against it, but without effect; and sometimes they have found it necessary to sanction it, for the sake of preserving their authority.

The special and privileged adoration which this beautiful creation of Poetry has received, could not but produce a marked change in the spirit of Catholicism.

It may serve as a connecting link between the religion of our ancestors and that of our descendants, the Virgin becoming gradually regarded as a personification of Humanity.

Little, however, will be done in this direction by the established priesthood, whether in Italy or Spain.

We must look to the purer agency of women, who will be the means of introducing Positivism among our Southern brethren.

All the points, then, in which the morality of Positive science excels the morality of revealed religion are summed up in the substitution of Love of Humanity for Love of God.

It is a principle as adverse to metaphysics as to theology, since it excludes all personal considerations, and places happiness, whether for the individual or for society, in constant exercise of kindly feeling.

To love Humanity may be truly said to constitute the whole duty of Man; provided it be clearly understood what such love really implies, and what are the conditions required for maintaining it.

The victory of Social Feeling over our innate Self-love is rendered possible only by a slow and difficult training of the heart, in which the intellect must co-operate.

The most important part of this training consists in the mutual love of Man and Woman, with all other family affections which precede and follow it.

But every aspect of morality, even the personal virtues, are included in love of Humanity.

It furnishes the best measure of their relative importance, and the surest method for laying down incontestable rules of conduct.

And thus we find the principles of systematic morality to be identical with those of spontaneous morality, a result which renders Positive doctrine equally accessible to all.

[Rise of the new Spiritual power] Science, therefore, Poetry, and Morality, will alike be regenerated by the new religion, and will ultimately form one harmonious whole, on which the destinies of Man will henceforth rest.

With women, to whom the first germs of spiritual power are due, this consecration of the rational and imaginative faculties to the source of feeling has always existed spontaneously.

But to realize it in social life it must be brought forward in a systematic form as part of a general doctrine.

This is what the mediaeval system attempted upon the basis of Monotheism.

A moral power arose composed of the two elements essential to such a power, the sympathetic influence of women in the family, the systematic influence of the priesthood on public life.

As a preliminary attempt the Catholic system was most beneficial; but it could not last, because the synthesis on which it rested was imperfect and unstable.

The Catholic doctrine and worship addressed themselves exclusively to our emotional nature, and even from the moral point of view their principles were uncertain and arbitrary.

The field of intellect, whether in art or science, as well as that of practical life, would have been left almost untouched but for the personal character of the priests.

But with the loss of their political independence, which had been always in danger from the military tendencies of the time, the priesthood rapidly degenerated.

The system was in fact premature;

and even before the industrial era of modern times had set in, the esthetic and metaphysical growth of the times had already gone too far for its feeble power of control; and it then became as hostile to progress as it had formerly been favourable to it.

Moral qualities without intellectual superiority are not enough for a true spiritual power; they will not enable it to modify to any appreciable extent the strong preponderance of material considerations.

Consequently it is the primary condition of social reorganization to put an end to the state of utter revolt which the intellect maintains against the heart; a state which has existed ever since the close of the Middle Ages and the source of which may be traced as far back as the Greek Metaphysicians.

Positivism has at last overcome the immense difficulties of this task.

Its solution consists in the foundation of social science on the basis of the preliminary sciences, so that at last there is unity of method in our conceptions.

Our active faculties have always been guided by the Positive spirit: and by its extension to the sphere of Feeling, a complete synthesis, alike spontaneous and systematic in its nature, is constructed; and every part of our nature is brought under the regenerating influence of the worship of Humanity.

Thus a new spiritual power will arise, complete and homogeneous in structure, coherent and at the same time progressive; and better calculated than Catholicism to engage the support of women which is so necessary to its efficient action on society.

[Temporal power will always be necessary, but its action will be modified by the spiritual] Were it not for the material necessities of human life, nothing further would be required for its guidance than a spiritual power such as is here described.

We should have in that case no need for any laborious exertion; and universal benevolence would be looked upon as the sovereign good, and would become the direct object of all our efforts.

All that would be necessary would be to call our reasoning powers, and still more, our imagination into play, in order to keep this object constantly in view.

Purely fictitious as such an hypothesis may be, it is yet an ideal limit, to which our actual life should be more and more nearly approximated.

As an Utopia, it is a fit subject for the poet: and in his hands it will supply the new religion with resources far superior to any that Christianity derived from vague and unreal pictures of future bliss.

In it we may carry out a more perfect social classification, in which men may be ranked by moral and intellectual merit, irrespectively of wealth or position.

For the only standard by which in such a state men could be tried would be their capacity to love and to please Humanity.

Such a standard will of course never be practically accepted, and indeed the classification in question would be impossible to effect: yet it should always be present to our minds; and should be contrasted dispassionately with the actual arrangements of social rank, with which power, even where accidentally acquired, has more to do than worth.

The priests of Humanity with the assistance of women will avail themselves largely of this contrast in modifying the existing order.

Positivist education will fully explain its moral validity, and in our religious services appeal will frequently be made to it.

Although an ideal abstraction, yet being based on reality, except so far as the necessities of daily life are concerned, it will be far more efficacious than the vague and uncertain classification founded on the theological doctrine of a future state.

When society learns to admit no other Providence than its own, it will go so far in adopting this ideal classification as to produce a strong effect on the classes who are the best aware of its impracticability.

But those who press this contrast must be careful always to respect the natural laws which regulate the distribution of wealth and rank.

They have a definite social function, and that function is not to be destroyed, but to be improved and regulated.

In order, therefore, to reconcile these conditions, we must limit our ideal classification to individuals, leaving the actual subordination of office and position unaffected.

Well-marked personal superiority is not very common; and society would be wasting its powers in useless and interminable controversy if it undertook to give each function to its best organ, thus dispossessing the former functionary without taking into account the conditions of practical experience.

Even in the spiritual hierarchy, where it is easier to judge of merit, such a course would be utterly subversive of discipline.

But there would be no political danger, and morally there would be great advantage, in pointing out all remarkable cases which illustrate the difference between the order of rank and the order of merit.

Respect may be shown to be noblest without compromising the authority of the strongest.

St Bernard was esteemed more highly than any of the Popes of his time; yet he remained in the humble position of an abbot, and never failed to show the most perfect deference for the higher functionaries of the Church.

A still more striking example was furnished by St Paul in recognizing the official superiority of St Peter, of whose moral and mental inferiority to himself he must have been well aware.

All organized corporations, civil or military, can show instances on a less important scale where the abstract order of merit has been adopted consistently with the concrete order of rank.

Where this is the case the two may be contrasted without any subversive consequences.

The contrast will be morally beneficial to all classes, at the same time that it proves the imperfection to which so complicated an organism as human society must be ever liable.

Thus the religion of Humanity creates an intellectual and moral power, which, could human life be freed from the pressure of material wants, would suffice for its guidance.

Imperfect as our nature assuredly is, yet social sympathy has an intrinsic charm which would make it paramount, but for the imperious necessities by which the instincts of self-preservation are stimulated.

So urgent are they, that the greater part of life is necessarily occupied with actions of a self-regarding kind, before which Reason, Imagination, and even Feeling, have to give way.

Consequently this moral power, which seems so well adapted for the direction of society, must only attempt to act as a modifying influence.

Its sympathetic element, in other words, women, accept this necessity without difficulty; for true affection always takes the right course of action, as soon as it is clearly indicated.

But the intellect is far more unwilling to take a subordinate position.

Its rash ambition is far more unsettling to the world than the ambition of rank and wealth, against which it so often inveighs.

It is the hardest of social problems to regulate the exercise of the intellectual powers, while securing them their due measure of influence; the object being that theoretical power should be able really to modify, and yet should never be permitted to govern.

For the nations of antiquity this problem was insoluble; with them the intellect was always either a tyrant or a slave.

The solution was attempted in the Middle Ages; but without success, owing to the military and theological character of the times.

Positivism relies for solving it on the reality which is one of its principal features, and on the fact that Society has now entered on its industrial phase.

Based on accurate inquiry into the past and future destinies of man, its aim is so to regenerate our political action, as to transform it ultimately into a practical worship of Humanity;

Morality being the worship rendered by the affections, Science and Poetry that rendered by the intellect.

Such is the principal mission of the Occidental priesthood, a mission in which women and the working classes will actively co-operate.