Page:Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion volume 2.djvu/93

 is the heavenly bull, which, among the Hindus, is the symbol of procreation, and stands beside Siva. Among fires, it is the sun that is specially worshipped; among mountains, too, there is a similar ideal—Alborg, the mountain of mountains. Thus in the Parsi’s view of things there exists an active present world of the Good, ideals which are not beyond this world, but are in existence, are present in actual things.

Everything that is alive is held in reverence as Good, but only the good, the light in it, not its particular form, its finite transitory mode of existence. There is a separation between the substantial element and what belongs to the perishable. A distinction is posited in man too; a something higher is distinguished from the immediate corporeal, natural, temporal, insignificant character of his external Being, of his existence. This is represented by the Genii, Fravashis. Among trees, there is one which is specially marked off—Hôm, the tree from which flow the waters of immortality. Thus the State is the manifestation of the substantial, of the realm of light, the prince being the manifestation of the supreme light, while the officials are the representatives of the Spirits of Ormazd. The above distinction is, however, a surface one; the absolute one is that between Good and Evil.

It may be also mentioned that one among the helpers of Ormazd is Mitra, the μεσίτης, mediator. It is curious that Herodotus, even in his time, makes special mention of this Mitra; yet in the religion of the Parsis, the characteristic of mediation, reconciliation does not seem as yet to have become prominent. It was not until a later period that the worship of Mithras was more generally developed in its complete form, as the human spirit had become more strongly conscious of the need of reconciliation, and as that need had become keener and more definite.

Among the Romans in Christian times Mithras-worship