Part 10 (1/2)

The truth is, that religious ideas and beliefs are innate in man. We find them in some form or other among all tribes and races, from the lowest South Sea Islander up to the representative types of the race; all alike realize, imperfectly it may be, and yet distinctly, that they are both feeble and ignorant, in the midst of the infinite variety and extent of the universe about them, and they instinctively look, in their feebleness, toward a Power above and superior to them, as naturally as the child looks to the parent for support and protection.

There is a law operative among all creatures, that every instinct of the being has something answering to it from without, toward which it turns in its periods of need and helplessness. The breast of the mother answers to the instinctive action of the hungry infant; the strength of parents to the feeble clinging of the child; the atmosphere to the outstretched moving wing of the bird; the water to the waving fin of the newly hatched fish; and these instincts would not exist except for the answering reality outside and about them, which calls them into activity.

So it must ever be, as to religious belief in the human race. Man realizes at times, and will always continue to do so, that he is a very helpless being in the midst of a stupendous system, a relentless on-going of nature, silent as the tomb and terrible as fate, and from which there come to him no voices of a.s.surance and no gleams of hope. It cannot otherwise be, than that he should feel, even in the fulness of his strength and the highest realization of his powers, that he stands as on a grain of sand only; that the longest ranges of his vision are soon enveloped in darkness; that his knowledge is as ignorance when compared with that wisdom which is manifested by the greatness of worlds which look down upon him from the depths of s.p.a.ce. He must always realize how feeble are his highest conceptions or imaginations, when he tries to push them out among the systems of worlds which are so much larger and grander than his own, or when he undertakes to change or regulate a movement or operation of nature.

This being so, it must be that man will, in the future as in the past, look toward and seek help from some Power above and beyond himself. The instinct is and must be as true to the reality as is that of the hungry child when it turns to its mother, or that of the fish which leads it to move when in the water; and, as the water answers to the instinct of the fish, as the breast of the mother to the calling of the child, and the atmosphere to the wing of the bird, so, too, must there exist a Being responsive to that instinct which leads man to pray and trust.

That this quality or faculty of his nature has been unwisely used, that it has been greatly abused; that it has been mis-educated, and often mis-directed, and too often turned into an instrument for inflicting suffering and ill, history, alas! makes only too clear; but so have other faculties of man's mind, and so will they continue to be, except they are trained and educated toward higher and better purposes; and the problem in reference to religious belief is, not how to ignore or blot it out, or ridicule it as a monument of superst.i.tious belief, or explain it away, but rather how to so educate and strengthen it, that it shall conduce toward endurance and stability of the brain, and thus render it better able to bear up under the strain, labors, and hara.s.sing disappointments of life. It appears to me that religious belief may be made one of the most potent of agencies in this direction, and the following suggestions would seem to strengthen this view.

First, the laws of health and those of religion go hand in hand; the two fundamentally agree. There exists a broad basis in the very nature of man's system, on which to build up religious belief and practice.

Temperance, honesty, obedience to parents, truthfulness, chast.i.ty, recognition of sacred times, and brotherly kindness are no less in accordance with the laws of bodily and mental health, than they are with the laws and ordinances of the Christian religion, and when man sins against one he does also against the other. The two are in harmony with the const.i.tution of his system, and their observance can conduce only toward his highest health and consequent happiness. On the other hand, a failure in their observance, or intemperance, licentiousness, and dishonesty, no less surely war against the nature of his mental const.i.tution, and tend toward ill-health.

Again, a religious belief and practice conduce largely toward sustaining the mind in the experience of suffering and misfortune, and thus are indirectly of very essential service toward securing and preserving integrity of mental action.

Account for the fact as we may, the conditions of society are sadly out of gear. The vast majority of the human race now are, always have been, and are always likely to be, in a condition largely of dependence. The most sanguine optimist must admit that long ages will pa.s.s, ere that time shall come when the superior in physical and mental ability shall not use that superiority for his own advantage, as against that of his less-favored brother. In the later phases of civilization, this has pa.s.sed somewhat from the manifestation of muscular force, but it has only gone over into that of mental force. Brain now rules where formerly muscle did; and the man of superior brain, to-day, under the forms and protection of law, and by virtue of his intelligence, rules over others, and secures his purposes, as surely as formerly the man of greater physical strength did.

So long as such conditions continue, so long will ignorance, disease, and misery exist, and consequently there will exist in the human system needs of the consolation and hope which can come to man only from the teachings of religion. And he will not only require the teachings of religion by which to be guided and its admonitions to influence, but also such hopes and antic.i.p.ations as it alone can offer as to a higher and better condition of existence hereafter. The expectation that, some time in the ages of the world, some of those who are to come after him may possibly be in a more favored condition of existence on earth, will afford too little comfort to him in his ofttimes-condition of suffering and ignorance. If the present is to end all, and there may be no to-morrow for him in which he may hope for some adjustment and antic.i.p.ate a higher plane of existence, then the darkness and mystery of life itself become profoundly inexplicable. But the expectation of a condition of existence hereafter, wherein he shall be released from the companions of disease and want, which now so often haunt his every year of life, will stimulate hope, and consequently tend toward health of mind.

Again, man requires that which religion alone can bring to him to satisfy the aspirations of his higher nature. The press and throng of daily life, in its many-sided avocations, satisfy only as to material things and for a brief present. Science, in its numerous phases and advancing strides, has done something, and there can be no doubt will in the future do still more, for man's happiness and material gain; but these are not all, nor sufficient for his greatest needs. They deal only with things observable and physical.

Science unfolds some of the mysterious processes which are constantly going on in man's system; it demonstrates or photographs for the eye the approximate structure of nerve-cells or globules of blood; it has traced out some of the mysterious mechanism of cerebration, and delineated with more or less exact.i.tude some of the great chemical activities which are forever going on in organic bodies. It has gone farther, and revealed some of the hitherto wonderful mysteries in the earth and in the worlds above.

But, after all, its sphere is circ.u.mscribed, and mystery still surrounds us with an impa.s.sable wall. The greatest and wisest of its votaries have at last to confess with confusion of face that they have arrived only on the brink of an ocean which is infinite--that they know but little.

Science is good and its study enn.o.bling, but it does not suffice for man's highest aspirations, nor for the development of his moral nature. It has never explained the mystery of a single act of his will, and can never ascend into the region of the spiritual. Man may press onward and upward in its paths never so far, and there still remains the infinite beyond.

His imaginations may invade the furthest circle of planetary motion, and yet we know there remain system after system of worlds, and suns s.h.i.+ning with ineffable light, still beyond. His questions are never answered; his longings are never satisfied, and never can be until they reach The Infinite One--the object of his wors.h.i.+p,--the Source of light and all knowledge.

His questions have ever been, whence am I? and whither do I go? and it can never satisfy his aspirations, to reply that he is from the ape, and goes to the ground, and that this ends all. There still remains to him a longing for immortality; a craving for something above and beyond what he now sees and knows, and only in the hope of this something hereafter, does he have a realization of his highest possibilities.

I believe that thus far in man's experience he has been the loser, not by too much religion, but rather by his unbelief and misconceptions as to its true nature and the extent of its obligations. The plan should therefore be, for a broader, higher, and more pervading religious influence, which can come only from an intelligence educated as to his relations toward and responsibility to G.o.d, and his fellow-men. As the tendency of the laws of health and religion are in the same direction, it is not easy to understand how a religious belief, or the influences which legitimately flow from it, can be otherwise than for the highest interests of society, and the mental health of its individual members.

CHAPTER XV.

INSUFFICIENT SLEEP.

We learn the most important lessons from observing the facts and studying the operations of nature, and it is largely by such a course that we may hope to learn the true method of either understanding or practising such courses in life as will conduce to health.

From the time of birth until the body finally rests in its last sleep, the human system requires periods of repose under the conditions of sleep. The child, during the first few months of its existence, pa.s.ses the larger portion of the time in this state. While in it, the brain and nervous system develop more rapidly, grow in stability, and attain capacity for activity more surely than is possible in any other.

It is true that we do not yet understand precisely in what the phenomenon of sleep consists; we do not know fully what change in the operation of the brain occurs for its induction. It may be from deviated or lessened currents of blood in certain portions, or from the opposite condition.

Both these theories have been advocated by men more or less eminent as physiologists; some maintaining that while in sleep the brain contains a larger amount of blood, that there exists a diminished action of the vaso-motor nerves which control the coats of the vessels of the brain, and that in consequence they become more fully distended than when the brain is in a conscious state of activity.

On the other hand, others become equally positive, from observations made on portions of the brain which have become exposed through the effects of injuries to the skull, that these vessels contain less blood during sleep than when in other conditions. I think these observations are conclusive, and that there can be no doubt as to the fact that there exists a diminished quant.i.ty of blood in the vessels of the brain in sleep; but that this is the cause of the occurrence of that condition of the brain which const.i.tutes sleep does not appear to be so certain. It is quite possible that this diminished quant.i.ty of blood is rather a _consequence_ than a _cause_. I am more inclined to think that sleep is primarily caused by a diminution, or cessation, of some of the electrical currents which constantly are pa.s.sing through portions of the brain while in a state of consciousness, and which are probably necessary to a condition of consciousness, and that the anaemic condition of the brain which is observed during sleep is a result of such change in these currents.

But from whatever primary cause it may occur, we know that it is only when there are frequent periods for this condition of the brain in the case of the child, that its nervous system develops and becomes strong in the largest measure. And on the other hand, when, for any cause, whether it be pain or artificial excitement, sleep is prevented, the whole system speedily becomes deranged, and manifests its sense of indignation by irregular or imperfect development and suffering.

The necessity of sleep for the system might be ill.u.s.trated by the presentation of many remarkable and curious facts, such as those of persons who are greatly exhausted sleeping during surgical operations; of physicians sleeping while walking to or from visits to their patients, or while sitting beside them when in conditions of great suffering. I have myself, when greatly fatigued from excessive professional labor, slept through a considerable portion of a disagreeable and somewhat painful dental operation. The torture resulting from the deprivation of sleep for long periods is said to be greater than that of hunger or thirst, or from the infliction of the severest bodily injury.