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Lesson VIII: Dharma.385
prohibited by the so-called Divine revelations, but which are sanctioned
and allowed. A number of similar objections are urged against the theory of
the divine revelation of ethics, but the main objection seems to be that there
is not sufficient proof of the truth of the revelation, and that reason teaches
that the so-called revelations were simply the result of the human reason of
the prophets, and were promulgated either with the idea of keeping the
people orderly and prosperous, or else, to keep the priesthood in power
and authority, or both reasons. The Yogi Philosophy of Dharma recognizes
these objections, but answers them in its system, as we shall see later on.
(2) The Theory of Intuition. The objection to this theory, most frequently
advanced, is that the conscience is merely the result of one’s teachings;
environment; race; temperament; age; etc,—that the conscience of one
man may make it seem wrong to kill a fly, while that of another may make it
seem right to kill an enemy—that the conscience of one may make it seem
wrong not to share one’s all with a stray comer, or to hold any property as
one’s own, while the conscience of another (a Whitechapel pickpocket, for
instance), may cause him to perfectly justify himself in stealing whatever he
may lay his hands upon, and even reprove him for not taking advantage of
an opportunity to do so. The conscience of certain of the criminal classes
is akin to that of the cat which sees no harm in stealing the cream or bit of
meat, and is only deterred by fear of punishment. The student of human
nature, people and history, knows that conscience is largely a matter of race,
time, environment and temperament, and he would hesitate at accepting
the voice of the conscience of any particular man as a fit source or authority
for a code of morals for all people, at all times. He sees that the rules of
conduct emanating from the conscience of an undeveloped man would be
far below the standard of the average man of our own times, while that given
forth by the conscience of a highly developed man would be impossible of
compliance with on the part of the average of our race today, by reason of
its high precepts and fine distinctions of thought and conduct. And then
“conscience” has made people do some things which our own “conscience”