[Gutenberg 16470] • The Profits of Religion, Fifth Edition

An excerpt from the book -

It is a vision I have seen: upon a vast plain, men and women are

gathered in dense throngs, crouched in uncomfortable and distressing

positions, their fingers hooked in the straps of their boots. They are

engaged in lifting themselves; tugging and straining until they grow

red in the face, exhausted. The perspiration streams from their

foreheads, they show every symptom of distress; the eyes of all are

fixed, not upon each other, nor upon their boot-straps, but upon the

sky above. There is a look of rapture upon their faces, and now and

then, amid grunts and groans, they cry out with excitement and

triumph.

I approach one and say to him, "Friend, what is this you are doing?"

He answers, without pausing to glance at me, "I am performing

spiritual exercises. See how I rise?"

"But," I say, "you are not rising at all!"

Whereat he becomes instantly angry. "You are one of the scoffers!"

"But, friend," I protest, "don't you feel the earth under your feet?"

"You are a materialist!"

"But, friend, I can see--"

"You are without spiritual vision!"