The Planet Mars and Its Inhabitants Part 8

All sentient ent.i.ties are functioning in a universe of Relativity, and the perfectness of the Martian character and the ideal material and spiritual aspects of the planet are so by comparison only.

Martians are self-conscious of their shortcomings and aspire to higher things in G.o.d's Kingdom, for progress is eternal and the ultimate goal is never reached on the material plane of action, for the pinnacle of all progress is G.o.d. "BE YE PERFECT, EVEN AS YOUR FATHER IN HEAVEN IS ALSO PERFECT."

CHAPTER XIX.

A MARTIAN HOME

The HOME is the moulder of Character in the individual, and in most cases the Home influences determine the future of the man.

Home influences are the most lasting and abide by the individual unto the end of his material career.

All the habitations of the people of Mars are beautiful, and a brief description of one will give our reader an understanding of the other millions of homes on the planet.

I will take you into a Martian home in the city of Urid the Beautiful.

The rooms are large and commodious. Sunlight, which has been filtered through translucent gla.s.s to temper and rob it of its glare, floods every room.

There are no stairs to climb, for the five or six rooms--depending on the size of the family--form a rectangle with a court in the center.

There is a fountain in the center of the court, and beautiful flowers grow in profusion. Birds of vivid plumage fill the air with their song.

In one of the large rooms a mother sits at a sewing machine making a garment. For the Martians use these machines too, although they are a great improvement on yours. Not all the clothing is made in the homes, but much of it is, and this is easily understood when you recall that the Martians are true artists and possessed of great originality.

The mother's attention is now and then centered on a very small child who sits on a velvety carpet. This carpet would be a most wonderful acquisition in the home of a man of wealth on your Earth. It has a soft, fluffy pile two inches thick, and makes a most comfortable floor for the baby to play upon. This baby is about 18 months old, and plays with toys just as your Earth babies do.

A beautiful young girl enters the room. She is dressed in a simple becoming gown of white, and she carries her school books with her.

After removing her hat and putting her books away she begins to tell her mother of the wonderful things learned at school that day. She is studying the Harmony of Music, particularly the relationship between Electro-Magnetic Vibrations and Music.

The mother shows much interest, and from her store of knowledge clears up many doubtful points in the mind of her daughter. And so the hours pa.s.s quickly until the father comes home and joins the family circle.

The walls of the room are white, and are relieved here and there by the most beautiful tapestries. The few furnishings of the room express beauty through the artistry that is born of Love.

There is a lack of useless furniture and bric-a-brac in the room.

A table, a few chairs and a receptacle for books, also a couch, complete the furnishings. But this simplicity in the matter of furniture adds a spirit of freedom to the home.

There is no kitchen drudgery in store for the Housewife. The family repair to a dining-room where food is served by the mother. The food has just arrived from a central depot in a mechanical contrivance which runs underground. After the meal has been partaken of, the soiled dishes are returned in the same manner by which they were conveyed to the home.

Later in the evening the family prepares to attend a lecture or musical concert nearby. Or perhaps a visit to some distant part is considered, in which case an airship is ordered from a public aerodrome.

CHAPTER XX.

ART

As Harmony is an expression of the Father, its coexistent, Art, is an expression of the laws of Rhythm through the individual when permanently registered in a material way.

The more a created object conforms to the laws of Harmony the more pleasing it is to the eye.

The artist gives expression to his soul within with paint brush, chisel or loom, and the quality of his production is proportionate to the development of his spiritual nature.

All of G.o.d's creatures are artists, although only a small percentage of His evolutionary creatures are able to express materially what lies hidden in the soul. Hence, a beautifully executed painting, statue or tapestry appeals to and interests almost everyone, even though few are able to execute their own artistic impressions.

The reason for this is that the average physical makeup is defective and therefore affords a poor vehicle for the expression of the real ent.i.ty. Then again, artistic ability is a question of individual development.

Primordial man's efforts to depict that which delighted his soul were crude indeed, compared with the creations of your world's foremost artists today. But in a relative sense only, for the state of your art is as far behind the art of the Martians as are the carvings of your prehistoric cavemen behind the productions of your Michael Angelos. As man unfolds spiritually there is a corresponding advance in his artistic point of view.

This is evidenced by the fact that art has flourished more on your Earth among those races and individuals who are spiritually inclined.

The products of the monastery and cloister in the Middle Ages are witness to this fact.

Amongst a materially inclined people whose selfish instincts have stultified their souls; a people whose ultimate goal is the acquisition of material things; a people whose only ambition is to satisfy self: a people whose ideas of real happiness are the pursuit of material pleasures, art has little place except as a fad.

This is the condition today in many parts of your world, and especially so on your Western continent. Prize fights and the sensualities of the stage interest many more people than do Art galleries and the beauties of Nature.

The fact that G.o.d is the Supreme Artist of the Universe can be established not only with the microscope, but with one's natural eyes.

Divine Art is expressed in every atom comprising the universe; and poor indeed is he in Spiritual gifts who fails to feast his eyes on G.o.d's handiwork.

As Art is an expression of G.o.d's law of Harmony it can be said that its development on Mars has been a stimulus to the development of every line of planetary activity and enters into every phase of Martian social and industrial system.

As every one of G.o.d's creatures is an artist in the making, every Martian is a developed artist. Hence, every product of the loom or forge on our planet is an artistic production, and reflects in a material way the soul of the creator.

The incentive before the Martian is to work for the pleasure of working, which in ultimate a.n.a.lysis is G.o.d's work. Of course such a system of industrial activity would be impossible among a partially developed people.

Art on Mars typifies man's spiritual and material progress on this planet. This planet's past history and present achievements are woven into the products of the looms. The warp and woof of our beautiful tapestries, so much in evidence in every home, express the Spirituality of the Martian people; as do also the creations of the Martian sculptors, and the works of those who use brush and paint.

Some of the most beautiful productions of Mars art in painting, sculpture or tapestry depict the scenes and various episodes incident to Christ's visit to Mars 10,000 years ago. They show many wonderful works of the Master, but we do not call them Miracles for, as later art shows, the leaders of Martian spiritual attainment were and are true disciples and do also the works of the Master.

Mars' past has been one of achievement spiritually, and naturally in a material way also, so when the Martian artist weaves the story of the past in his loom there are no misgivings, for the Martian past is not fraught with hate, sin and suffering.

CHAPTER XXI.

SCIENTIFIC SOPHISTRY

"For we are of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon Earth are a shadow."

Job 8:9.

The term "Scientific Sophistry" well fits your mult.i.tude of theories concerning Truth.

Science which connotes a higher wisdom of hidden things has degenerated on your Earth from its original purpose (the overthrow of ignorance and superst.i.tion and the development among intelligent beings of a near approximation of Ultimate Truth) to an orthodox dogmatism, which today is on a par with the unreality which this selfsame science has sought to eliminate from the shallowness of the human mind.

It is quite true that the modern scientific method of investigation: that is, along the lines of Observation, followed by the formation of a theory, and finally by demonstration, has resulted in the release of millions of souls from a darker thraldom than that which now besets them, but nevertheless, the human race on your planet now undergoing its probationary experience, is to be pitied for its blindness in matters of real import, namely SPIRITUAL TRUTHS.

Your scientific methods instead of leading you onward towards the Central Sun of Spiritual enlightenment has so beclouded your vision that your race today--that is, the so-called enlightened and learned portions of your population--have been deflected from the main path, and they will soon find themselves pursuing an illusionary will-o'-the-wisp.

Another result of the adoption of the modern scientific method has been the tendency of those endeavoring to bring light into the dark nooks and crannies of human existence, to immerse themselves in an abysmal materialism from which rescue is almost hopeless.