I/O
studied
the diseases of the
colon
until he
could
see
nothing
else,
and
then calmly
proposed
to cut
out every
one's
colon,
pointing
out that
a
vulture
(who has no colon) is a very long-lived
bird.
As a matter of fact
the longevity of the vulture
is due to its twisted
neck, and many thought-
ful persons
propose
to experiment
on Professor
Metchnikoff.
But the worst
of all phantasms are the moral
ideas
and
the religious
ideas.
Sanity
consists
in the faculty of adjusting
ideas
in proper
proportion.
Any one who
accepts
a
moral
or reHgious truth
without
understanding
it is only kept out of the asylum
because he does
not follow
it out logically.
If one really believed
in Christianity,^ if one
really
thought
that
the
majority
of mankind
w'as
doomed
to
eternal
punishment,
one
would
go raving
about
the
w^orld trying
to
" save "
people.
Sleep would
not be possible
until the
horror
of the
mind
left
the body
exhausted.
Otherwise,
one
must
be
morally
insane.
Which
of us can sleep if one we love
is in danger
of mere
death?
We cannot
even see
a dog drown
without
at
least interrupting
all
our
business
to
look on.
Who then can live in London
and
reflect
upon
the fact that
of its seven million
souls, all but
about
a
thousand
Plymouth Brethren
will
be
damned?
Yet
the thousand
Plymouth
Brethren
(who
are the
loudest
in
proclaiming
that they will
be the
only ones
saved) seem to
^ " One would
go mad if one took the Bible
seriously;
but to take it seriously one
must be already mad." — Crowley.