By this theory, in short,the Creation was the
Fall.
But we all know that this didnot mean that all
pagan men thought of nothing but pagan gods.
It contains in it some hint of why philosophy and
mythologyseldom came to an open rupture. They believed, in the appropriate modern
phrase, in people whodelivered the goods.
It was also because there was something a little
superciliousabout the philosopher. The cannibalism of the higher barbarians is in
hiding fromthe civilisation of the white man.
There was indeed the jungle of an extraordinarily
extravagantand almost asphyxiating mythology. They always assumethat before the
advent of Europe there was nothing anywherebut Eden. They could be positively and
publicly enthroned as gods. He despised the myths, but he alsodespised the mob; and
thought they suited each other. Reincarnation need only extend experiences in the
sense ofrepeating them.
Nature may not have the name of Isis; Isis may not
be reallylooking for Osiris.
Indeed the Lord of Compassion seems to pity people
for livingrather than for dying. The cannibalism of the higher barbarians is in
hiding fromthe civilisation of the white man.
It cannot otherwise exist, or at least endure,
because mere thoughtdoes not remain sane. In that sense the worstpart of existence
is that it may just as well go on like that forever.
It is true, and even tautological,to say that the
cross is the crux of the whole matter.
Priggishness is so pungent a smellthat it clings
amid the faded spices even to an Egyptian mummy. Their enormous images could be set
up in public templesin the centre of populous cities. There was but one thingbetween
them; and the thing which divided them has united them.