Page:The Philosophy of Creation.djvu/181

 fear, hatred, anger, despondency, and the like, destroy the peace of the mind, and therefore should be shunned; that goodwill, gentleness, charity, and the like are useful to the mind and rejoice it, and similar laws, are spiritual-natural laws. These laws may be comprehended by means of rational truths or the Rational plane. If the Rational plane is guided by the Spiritual-Natural plane, or what is the same, by spiritual-natural laws, man will be a true reasoner; if it is not guided with reference to the order and law of the spiritual world, one becomes a false reasoner. The spiritual-natural truths or laws are those of the spiritual world that first underlie a life in this world, and bring the mind into Divine order. Rational truths enable us to know what these laws are. They manifest themselves in the natural world as civil-moral life and truth, like the doing of good to others, respecting their rights, and the shunning of all ways and states that are detrimental to prosperity and peace, or that are contrary to the natural laws of the mind's welfare, and this from simple obedience and without any special affection for things superior to the natural pleasure, harmony, and use of good moral order. Through the Rational the truths of a good moral life are obtained and a distinct plane of life is formed. That this plane