These are, however, sublime topics:  we shall before conclusion notice some other considerations which lead the ordinary “pantheist” to the true foundation of morality.  Happiness has been defined by John Stuart Mill as the state of absence of opposition.  Manu gives the definition in more forcible terms: 

     Sarvam paravasam duhkham
     Sarva matmavasam sukham
     Idam jnayo samasena
     Lakshanam sukhaduhkhayo.

“Every kind of subjugation to another is pain, and subjugation to one’s self is happiness:  in brief, this is to be known as the characteristic marks of the two.”  Now, it is universally admitted that the whole system of Nature is moving in a particular direction, and this direction, we are taught, is determined by the composition of two forces—­namely, the one acting from that pole of existence ordinarily called “matter” towards the other pole called “spirit,” and the other in the opposite direction.  The very fact that Nature is moving shows that these two forces are not equal in magnitude.  The plane on which the activity of the first force predominates is called in occult treatises the “ascending arc,” and the corresponding plane of the activity of the other force is styled the “descending arc.”  A little reflection will show that the work of evolution begins on the descending arc and works its way upwards through the ascending arc.  From this it follows that the force directed towards spirit is the one which must, though not without hard struggle, ultimately prevail.  This is the great directing energy of Nature, and, although disturbed by the operation of the antagonistic force, it is this that gives the law to her; the other is merely its negative aspect, for convenience regarded as a separate agent.  If an individual attempts to move in a direction other than that in which Nature is moving, that individual is sure to be crushed, sooner or later, by the enormous pressure of the opposing force.  We need not say that such a result would be the very reverse of pleasurable.  The only way, therefore, in which happiness might be attained is by merging one’s nature in great Mother Nature, and following the direction in which she herself is moving:  this again can only be accomplished by assimilating men’s individual conduct with the triumphant force of Nature, the other force being always overcome with terrific catastrophes.  The effort to assimilate the individual with the universal law is popularly known as the practice of morality.  Obedience to this universal law, after ascertaining it, is true religion, which has been defined by Lord Buddha “as the realization of the True.”

An example will serve to illustrate the position.  Can a practical pantheist, or, in other words, an occultist, utter a falsehood?  Now, it will be readily admitted that life manifests itself by the power of acquiring sensation, temporary dormancy of that power being suspended animation.  If a man receives a particular series of sensations and pretends they are other than they really are, the result is that he exercises his will-power in opposition to a law of Nature on which, as we have shown, life depends, and thereby becomes suicide on a minor scale.  Space prevents further discussion, but all the ten deadly sins mentioned by Manu and Buddha can be satisfactorily dealt with in the light sought to be focused here.