inevitably leads to the accompanying teaching that all is Illusion or
_Maya_, and that Life is but a dream--a false thing--a lie--a nightmare;
that the journey along the Path is but an illusion; that everything is
"nothing"; that there is no soul; that You are God in disguise, and that
He is fooling Himself in making believe that He is You; that Life is but
a Divine masquerade or sleight-of-hand performance; that You are God, but
that You (God) are fooling Yourself (God) in order to amuse Yourself
(God). Is not this horrible? And yet it shows to what lengths the human
mind will go before it will part with some pet theory of metaphysics with
which it has been hypnotized. Do you think that we have overdrawn the
picture? Then read some of the teachings of these schools of the Oriental
Philosophy, or listen to some of the more radical of the Western teachers
preaching this philosophy. The majority of the latter lack the courage of
the Hindu teachers in carrying their theories to a logical conclusion,
and, consequently they veil their teachings with metaphysical subtlety.
But a few of them are more courageous, and come out into the open and
preach their doctrine in full.

Some of the modern Western teachers of this philosophy explain matters by
saying that "God is masquerading as different forms of life, including
Man, in order that he may gain the experience resulting therefrom, for
although He has Infinite and Absolute Wisdom and Knowledge, he lacks the
experience that comes only from actually living the life of the lowly
forms, and therefore He descend thus in order to gain the needed
experience." Can you imagine the Absolute, possessed of all possible
Knowledge and Wisdom, feeling the need of such petty "experience," and
living the life of the lowly forms (including Man) in order "to gain
experience?" To what Depths do these vain theories of Man drive us?
Another leading Western teacher, who has absorbed the teaching of certain
branches of the Oriental Philosophy, and who possesses the courage of his