LETTERS FROM ABROAD
the more vastly, when it is near to us. Unfortunately, words that represent truth, and the minds that use those words, have not the same immensity of life as truth itself. Therefore, the words (and with them our attention and interest) become inert, by constant handling, obscuring our faith underneath them without our being conscious of that tragic fact.
This is the reason, why men who are obviously religious are frequently more irreligious, in reality, than those who openly ignore religion. Preachers and ministers of religion have made it their business to deal with God at every moment. They cannot afford to wait, until they come in touch with Him. They dare not acknowledge the fact, that they have not done so, Therefore, they have testrain their minds into a constant attitude of God knowingness. They have to delude themselves, in order to fulfil the expectation of others, or what they consider to be their duty.
And yet, the consciousness of God, like that of all other great ideas, comes to us only with intense moments of illumination, of inspiration. If we do not have the patience to wait for it, we only choke the path of that inspiration with the debris of our conscious efforts. Those, who make it their business to preach God, preach creeds. They lose their sense of distinction between these two. Therefore, their religion does not bring peace in this world but conflict. They do not hesitate to
