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Lesson VII: Bhakti Yoga.359
The Absolute is unchangeable—the same yesterday, to-day, and tomorrow—but
Man’s conception of the Absolute is constantly changing as
the race makes evolutionary progress. A man’s God is always just a little in
advance of the man—some have said that a man’s God is the man at his best,
and in so saying they have expressed the idea cleverly. The God of the Old
Testament is a different being from the God of the New Testament. And
the God of the Christian Church of to-day, is far different from the God of
the Church of fifty years ago. And yet, God is the same—no change—the
difference comes from the growth and development of the minds of the
men and women composing the Church. As Man advances he sees higher
attributes in God, and as he always loves and worships the highest and
best in his conception of Deity, he transfers his idea from the lower idea of
yesterday to the higher idea of to-day. And, to-morrow, still higher ideas will
be grasped, and the God of to-morrow will be a still higher conception of
Deity than the God of to-day. And yet, God has not changed, and will not
change the slightest, but Man has and will change his conception of Him.
The ignorant savage believes in a God that seems to us like a Devil—but it
is a God something like himself—only a little bit better. And he carves some
hideous image to represent that God, and he falls down and worships it—
perhaps offers sacrifices to it—perhaps sprinkles human blood upon its
altar, imagining that, like himself, God loves to see the blood of his enemies.
The savage’s enemies are always his God’s enemies—and this idea follows
man for a long time, as we may see by looking around us a little in our own
countries to-day. After a while the savage, or rather his descendants, increase
in knowledge and understanding, and they cast down the God of their
fathers, and erect one more in keeping with the higher conception of Deity
that has come with knowledge and unfoldment. The improvement may be
but slight, but still it is a move in the right direction and the new God is just a
little bit better—just a little bit kinder—just a little bit more loving—than the
one that went before. And, so on, step by step the race rises to higher and
greater conceptions of God—each step marking a throwing down of old