Price 10c - THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MALFEW SEKLEW "The discoverer of a Great rºutº well knows that it may be useful tº other men, and, as a greedy with- holding would bring him no enjoyment. he communicates it.”—Max sººner My diet masculine is having its ef. ſect-my sayings of power and vigor. I feed men, not with flatulent vegeta- bles but with warrior food.” SPENCELLA and WINSEX, . Importers-Publishers-Printers-Booksellers - 852 Belmont Ave. (Suite 11) CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U. S. A. **SOCIAL STATICS” (authorized edition) by Herbert Spencer. This is one of the very first books published by the author. He revised it just before his death and brought it up to date. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Happiness as an Immediate Aim. Unguided Expediency. The Moral-Sense Doctrine. What is Morality? The Evanescence (†Diminution) of Evil. Greatest Happiness Must be Sought Indirectly. Derivation of a First Principle. Secondary Derivation of a First Prin- ciple. First Principle. Application of this First Principle. The Right of Property. Socialism. The Right of Property in Ideas. The Rights of Women. The Rights of Children. Political Rights. The Constitution of the State. The Duty of the State. The Limit of State-Duty. The Regulation of Commerce. Religious Establishments. Poor Laws. National Education. Government Colonization. Sanitary Supervision. General Considerations. Currency, Postal Arrangements, etc. Cloth bound, $1.50. Paper Price 50c. Postpaid. THURLAND & THURLAND Evanston, linois (Suburb of Chicago). THE GOSPEL According to Malfew Sekiew. E G O Is M. C. O N S CIO U S A. N. D. UN CON SCI0 U.S. THE EVOLUTION OF THE EGO, **MAN KNOW THYSE.L.F.” By Sirfessor Superight. *The discoverer of a Great Truth well knows that it may be useful to other men, and as a greedy with- holding would bring him no enjoyment, he communicates it.”—Max Stirner. 1. *The maintenance of civilisation depends on nearly all people being tools.”-H. N. Dickenson. “Man is as heaven made him, and something a great deal worse."- Cervantes. *The public is not a philosopher."-Jules Lemaitre. “The bad men of the world are occupied in undoing the evil wrought by the good.” Certain men, who have had the courage to probe down to the very bottom of their own minds, have come to the conclusion that self-interest is the one motive of all human action; I might say of all action that is not merely mechanical and has life at the roºt of it. - This belief, conviction, or conclusion-term it what you will-forms the whole sum and substance of the philosophy called “Egoism,” and the man who, after due reflection, subscribes himself to it, becomes a “Conscious Egoist;" conscious! mark you—in that alone lies the difference between himself and the unbeliever; for, according to his philosophy, all men are Egoists by an inevitable law—the Supreme Law of Nature. The question is then, with regard to Egoism, not “Are you an Egoist?” but “Are you conscious of the fact that you are an Egoist?” Call yourself what you will, if you are not a Conscious Egoist, you are merely an un- conscious one. This may seem a revoltingly dogmatic philosophy to those who are still loundering about in the shallows of ancient reasoning, like little boys just learning to swim and afraid to go more than a yard or so beyond the land. But let these good people come out into the broad sea of self, let them realise their own nature, find what is best and most pleasing within them, draw it out to the full, and not be ashamed to say, or think, that by so doing they are serving self and self merely: then, in the opinion of the Conscious Egoist, they will become wise and sensible beings. The Conscious Egoist asserts that all actions of all men are taken either in the quest of happiness or in the avoidance of pain. This is the ground- work upon which he builds up his reasoning. Says he, “Whenever a man performs what the world might term a self- sacrifice, either he finds pleasure in it or avoids pain. For instance, the philanthropist who spends his time and money in relieving the poor and needy, does it either to gain the pleasure or self-satisfaction of having done a good and charitable action, or to avoid the pain, as far as it is possible, of seeing his fellow-creatures suffer. Or take another instance, that of the man who risks or definitely sacrifices his own life to save that of some other person. Either he does it from a natural desire to be courageous, or else the thought of seeing another creature die is more painful to him than is the thought of dying himself. Hence we see that in these two instances the term “self-sacrifice” is not admissible; for both the philanthropist and the hero are plainly serving and not sacrificing self. - The Altruist (who is merely an unconscious Egoist) will most strenuously deny this becaue it would hurt his vanity to admit that his own actions are self-serving and not self-sacrificing. Says he, “It is possible to do an action which shall give pleasure to or detract from the pain of another, and yet neither attain pleasure oneself or avoid pain in the doing of it. Rather the reverse,” he argues. “It will detract from one's own pleasure, and add to the burden of one's own pain. “And yet,” says the Conscious Egoist, “You would assert that Virtue is its own reward?” “Yes, I would,” says the Altruist. “And you are more pleased, let us say satisfied, in being what you call unselfish than you would be if you knew you were what is called selfish?” the Conscious Egoist questions. “Certainly,” says the Altruist. “Then,” says the Conscious Egoist with a smile, “Your Altruism (which you call unselfishness) is merely the outcome of selfishness. Do you see the contradiction.” The Altruist shakes his head. He will not part with his false philosophy so easily. He has grown to love it because it has flattered his individuality by representing his actions to be that which they are not. “I fail to see your point,” he says in an emphatic voice, as though his failing to see a thing proved that the thing was not there to be seen. And the Conscious Egotist is seized with an exceeding great pity for the Altruist, who is very blind indeed. - 2. You will observe that I am sticking to the phrase “Conscious Egoist" in alluding to the believer in Egoism. The whole virtue of reasoning upon the subject lies in that word “conscious,” which so many professed Egoists forget to prefix to themselves when arguing with the benighted ones. Says the Conscious Egoist very often to the so-called Altruist, “I am an Egoist and your are an Egoist; there is no difference between us.” And the Altruist at once thinks that there is something wrong with the statement, for he sees a great difference somewhere, though he hardly knows where it is. And in this instance the Altruist is right. Both men are Egoists, certainly, and yet there is a difference between them. The one is a Conscious Egoist, the other a very unconscious one. In the case of one Egoism is recognized, in the case of the other it is strongly denied, although it exists just the same. Here the Altruist might throw in what would seem to him a weighty argument. “There is,” he might say, “a greater difference between man and man than this consciousness and unconsciousness. For instance, between two persons who call themselves Conscious Egoists there may be a vast difference. The one may be a fairly good fellow, one to be tolerated in spite of his opinions, while another may be a rogue, a vagabond, and a dis- agreeable fellow to boot. How do you account for that?” Very easily. The difference in this case is the difference that is always between man and man, and it lies in a man's ego or self, and not in his Egoism, which is merely the natural law of the ego. The ego of a man, or his individuality. is more or less limited. He is born strong in certain powers and weak in ºthers. Even his mentality is never perfect. Sometimes a portion of it will attain or closely approach perfection, and then the man is called a genius; but this development of one portion is nearly always at the expense of another portion. Hence is genius so irregular. Well, there being, as I have said, a difference between man and man, and all men being, by a law of nature Egoists, it stands to reason that the difference between man and man is the difference between Egoist and Egoist. The same difference would be apparent if all men had the misfortune to be born Altruists (which is an impossible supposition as in reality. Altruism is only an imaginative quality). But supposing that Dame Nature for a moment changed the un- changeable law, and in a fit of cruelty made all men. Altruists; I doubt whether she would have the consistency to make them all alike. Thus, the only thing in which men may not differ, according to the philosophy of Egoism, is motive. This alone is unchangeable. Chris dying in agony on the Cross, and the drunken wifebeater beating his wife to death in a fit of passion, are inspired by one and the same motive-self- satisfaction. Christ felt that out of respect for himself, or for his principles, which means the same thing, he must suffer this terrible death. The wife- beater feels that out of respect for himself he must assert his mastery over his wife. That is the way I look at it. “But," argues the Altruist, “if you assert that their motives are the same, you seem to me to be putting Christ and the wife-beater on a level. fail to see how you can make any distinction between them.” Answers the Conscious Egoist, “As I have said before, the difference lies in the men themselves, and not in their motives. One man nº delight in pleasing others, while the othes delights in displeasing others. In this case they will act oppositely, though from a similar motive. It is right and logical to call a man a good man or a bad man; but it is wrong and illogical to assert that there are good motives and bad motives. A man is a good man or a bad man in our eyes accordingly as we are pleased or displeased by his behavior. Thus all difference is relative, and we judge an object by the relation that object bears to ourselves. This is why the world loves its Saviours, its Messiahs, its Prophets, its Martyrs, Its geniuses, its great inventors and discoverers—simply because they have benefited the world. Gratitude is very clearly the outcome of selfishness, like all the virtues. I am not here to defend that which the world calls selfishness, and condemns so strongly, in theory, that is. I also would condemn it; yet I would not call it selfishness, but narrowness, littlesess, baseness. The man who is commonly called selfish is no more selfish that the rºst of his brethren; but his mind is stunted, his conception of himself is too limited. His joys are petty, his sorrows are mean. He has misconceived himself. The secret of good and bad egoism lies in the ego's conception of itself. A man may be conscious of his egoism, and yet sublimely unconscious of a great part of his ego or self. The body has its needs and the mind has its needs. These needs are many and various, and a man must grasp them all, and strive to satisfy them ere he becomes a perfect Egoist. This seems almost an impossible task—a task for a God, not for a man of flesh and blood and imperfections. But we can try. It is an unconscious recognition of his own mental need which turns a man to what ho calls Altruism. It is a recognition (conscious or unconscious) of mental need which makes a man love honesty, justice, mercy and charity. It is a recognition, again, of mental need, which gives man a longing for wholeness and continence of body and mind, and breeds in him the thing called morality. Also it is a recognition of his own mental need which makes a man rebel against the lºck of proportion that exists today in Society. He sees one person suffering from want of that which is absolutely necessary to him if he is to live, while another has all that he can wish for, both of the necessities ºnd the superfluities of life. He feels that there is something wrong with the world; and feels also, perhaps without realising that he does it that the world is part of himself just as much as he is part of the world. Therefore he strives to right the world. because only when the world is perfect can he himself be perfect. Is this unselfifshness? Clearly not. It is a broad, enlightened selfishness, which has widened out self so that it includes the whole universe of things. A magnificent selfishness, but not altruism. 4. Usually the Altruist takes Jesus of Nazareth as his pattern to live by to perish by; and he argues that Christ preached and practiced the doctrine of complete self-abnegation. This is a conclusion which can only be arrived at by those who have halted half-way in their reasoning. Christ did not preach the doctrine of complete self-abnegation. He mºy have imagined and even declared himself to have been doing so; but in that case he could not have fully grasped the import of his own doctrine. What Christ really advocated was the abnegation (complete if you like) of one half of self to the other half, of the physical self to the purely mental, or if you will (for to me the two words have a synonymous meaning) spiritual self. Christ considered that half of man was good and half was evil, and that these two halves of man made perpetual war upon each other. One of them, said he, must conquer in the end and trample the other underfoot. the which defending upon the will of the individual. He preached that it was best for the individual that his evil self should be stified and his good self cultivated to its fullest extent. Rather a onesided doctrine to him who recognises that only that is evil to an individual which is positively hurtful; yet let us examine it to find whether there is in it a trace of genuine unselfishness. - We find that men are advised to be unselfish because it is best for them selves that they be so to crush self because self will benefit by it. Clearly if a man does what is best for himself for the reason that it is best for himself, he is mistaken in calling his action unselfish. Therefore the term. Altruist is a misnomer, even when applied to practical Christianity. o. As I have said before, these are two kinds of selfishness, the broad and the narrow. Let me illustrate this by giving you two types of men, first the man who is narrowly selfish, then the man whose selfishness is broad and enlightened. - We will suppose both men to be earnestly religious; the supposition is not an improbable one. The first man on the promises of the Bible, sacrifices himself, as he believes, on earth, for the sake of an eternity of aesthetic bliss in Heaven. He can never lose sight of the promised reward—if he did he would cease to be religious. His every act of charity is done because he knows that it. will be returned to him a thousandfold. I make bold to say that this man is the most common type of religionist. He has taken the narrow View of religion, regarding it as an unpleasant means towards ultimate pleasure. The broadly religious man believes in and follows a religion for its own sake, at the bottom reckless of eternity. “This religion,” he says, “will - benefit me here, on earth. It will bring me nearer to what I would wish to be. I am most happy when I am doing good, because I know that it is good. If doing good will take me to Heaven, very well. If not, it has gone towards making a Heaven on earth.” - The Conscious Egoist, regarding these two believers would assert that both were inspired by the same motive, the attainment of self-satisfaction, but there, most probably, the similarity ends, for each goes a different way about it according to his lights. The one whose mind is narrow and ill- Ighted may attain a mean kind of pleasure at a great loss. The one whose mind is brºad, open and enlightened may gain infinite pleasure at less cost to himself. 6. I hold that if a man makes a sacrifice he does not, nay, cannot, sacrifice himself wholly; but merely sacrifice one part of himself to another part. It is a law of evolution that the fittest mental attributes as well as the fittest physical attributes, should survive; and it is this survival of the fittest which we call the victory of right over wrong, or reason over prejudice. Man is a creature of conflicting passions; and it is best, or fittest, for the world that those passions, or impulses, should survive in the struggle which are most congenial or beneficial to the world as a whole; and it is best for the individual that he should be in complete harmony with the world and the world's spirit, otherwise, like an obstinate cog-wheel in a rapidly whirling machine, he is apt to get broken and to fly off at a tangent, a useless article. Or else, if he is particularly strong as well as particularly obstinate, the machine, by which I signify the world's progress, may be stayed for a while until a stronger power than himself removes him and his influence. - 7. But I have wandered a little from the direct course of my reasoning. You see, though Egoism is such a vast subject, it does not stand much description. The shorter the description of Egoism, the better and clearer it will be. One might sum it up neatly in a little aphorism, “Egoism is everything, for everything is Egoism.” This is what the Conscious Egoist advances against the idea of Altruism. He says, “I could prove to you, if there was time enough in the course of a lifetime to do so, that everything in the world and out of it is Egoism or the result of Egoism. I have proved It to myself already, and such being the case, I do not see how Altruism can exist. There is no room for it. In a vessel that is quite full of one substance there is no room for another.” 8. The thing which causes most misunderstanding between the Conscious Egoist and the Unconscious Egoist is that the Unconscious Egoist looks upon Egoism as a doctrine preached by the Conscious Egoist, whereas it is an inevitable fact merely stated by him. The difference between a fact and a doctrine should be plain to everyone. And yet I have heard it said by people who might reasonably claim to be intelligent that there is no real difference between them. But if a fact and a doctrine are merely one and the same thing, how do you account for the multitudinous number of facts that were in existence ere ever a doctrine was preached or invented. A doctrine is a structure of reasoning raised upon a foundation of fact. The reasoning may be correct or fallacious, but this has nothing to do with the fact upon which it is based. If the doctrine is wrong, and mankind becomes conscious that it is wrong, then the doctrine will die out; but the fact remains, and another doctrine, more in harmony with it, will be raised upon its foundation. Were Egoism a doctrine, the Conscious Egoist would approach you with these words, “Be selfish, for it is best that you should be so.” Instead of which, he comes to you and says, “You are selfish, you cannot help it. Therefore you had better recognize the fact." I say again, Egoism is given forth as a fact and not as a doctrine. The Conscious Egoist asks a man to look into himself and re ornise that which is within him. “Man, know thyself.” If I do a good action it is the result of Egoism. If I do a bad action, it is the result of Egoism. I am brave by reason of my Egoism, and cowardly by the same reason. º Egoism, then, is merely a mental force which makes a man move, and keeps him moving. It rests with a man's ego in which direction he will move. Men have good egos and bad egos; strong, healthy egos, and weak. morbid, unhealthy egos. Egoism is not the ego but the law of the ego. - Difference in men's actions is no sign of difference in their motives. It is simply a proof of difference, either inborn or cultivated. in the men them. selves. Therefore there is no unreasonableness in saying that good actions and bad actions (by which I mean actions beneficial to the world and actions detrimental to it) are inspired by Egoism, the mere realisation of self. 10. A question was asked in my hearing some little time ago of a lecturer in sympathy with the philosophy of Egoism, which hardly received an adequate answer, the fault being that the answer was too concise and un- explanatory to be convincing to the mind of the inquirer. The lecturer forgot that the inquirer looked at matters in quite a different light to him- self, or else he realized that he had not sufficient time to begin at the root of the matter and lead upward. The question was, as far as I remember, “If Universal Egoism is a fact, how do you account for that feeling of benevolence towards others which exists in the human mind?" I forget the lecturer's exact reply, but I know that the inquirer was eminently unsatisfied; and I will try myself to answer the question as fully as I can, and as clearly; and, if the inquirer should read these words, 1 sincerely hope I shall satisfy him that, taking Egoism fully into consided- ation, the feeling of benevolence he alludes to is not entirely unaccountable. In the first place, what is this feeling of benevolence? Looked at logic- ally, it is simply a desire for the expansion of self. When there is another per on seemingly outside yourself, whose joys and sorrows affect you just as much as do your own, it is equivalent to your having two selves, for this person's very life becomes a part of your life. Therefore to strive to make that other person happy is to strive to make yourself happy at the same time, because, by reason of your extension of self, you cannot be perfectly hanny unless he is in similar condition. This is what benevolence practically amounts to, whether it is on a large scale, and, as it does in some highly developed egos, embraces the whole human race, or whether it is on a small scale, and embraces a narrow circle of acquaintances. Take, for instance, that man whose love is so strong that he will lay down his life to save one he loves. It is because of his love that he does it, and what is this love? It is the merging of his own life completely into the life of another, so completely, that at the time of his apparent self sacrifice the body which he gave to destruction, his own body, he felt instinctively to contain less of himself than that which he was desirous of saving. Renevolence is a mild form af love, mild because it is widely diffused. A man with a great capacity for loving may, accordingly as he is circum- stanced, concentrate his love upon a single individul, or scatter it abroad among the sons of men. Or he may shed it equally over all living things, as Buddha is said to have done, who voluntarily gave his own body to be a feast for a starving tigress and her cubs, because he could not bear to see their sufferings—the greatest sacrifice I have heard of, even in mythology. Benevolence, then, is a widely diffused form of love, as passion is love concentrated; and I argue that when a person loves, the objects of his love become part, often the greater part, of that person's own life, therefore practically part of that person's own self. Thus it is that even a Conscious Egoist may derive pleasure from acts of benevolence. You will admit that one does find pleasure in acts of benevolence, that one is always glad to see those one loves happy and contented. I do not see how you can deny it. And when one is happy, or pleased, it is because one's ego—or self—is to a certain extent satisfied. Therefore self-satisfaction is quite consistent with benevolence and self-satisfaction is another word for Egoism. To conclude, let me restate my case as briefly as possible. I have said:- 1. That all actions of all men are taken in order to satisfy the cravings of the ego, or self. Therefore all men are Egoists. 2. That some are conscious of the fact and some are unconscious of the fact. 3. That among the unconscious ones there are those who assert that It is possible to be the opposite of Egoist, to wit Altruist, and that it is a man's duty to bo Altruist rather than Egoist. 4. That this is an impossible theory, because the very thing which they call Altruism springs out of and is nothing more nor less than a form of Egoism. - 5. That there is no such thing as self-sacrifice; that the man who gives his life to save another values his life less than that other, or he would never do it. 6. That to say all men are Egoists does not put them, on a level. It merely gives them a common motive. Widely different actions may spring from this motive. The difference, where there is one, lies in a man's ego, or self. Egoism is the law of the ego. 7. That Egoism is a fact which cannot be escaped from, not a doctrine which may be followed out at will; and it is best and most honest to recognise this fact, thereby becoming a Conscious Egoist. The motto for the Conscious Egoist is “Man, Know Thyself,” or “Find Thyself Out.” 8. That all those actions which it behoves a man to do who would call himself an Altruist may be done by a man who would call himself a Conscious Egoist, without the slightest inconsistency. The only difference between the two men in that case would be that the Conscious Egoist was more alive to the nature of himself than was the Altruist. THE MAN WITHOUT. A. SOUL ON * P_0 L IT I C & A. N. D. P. A. R. L. I. A. M. E. N. T. * “Behold, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed."—John Selden. “Rich men without conviction are more dangerous in modern society than poor women without chastity."—G. B. Shaw. “The House of Lords—An institution at which the divorced meet the divines to resist the destitute."—Truth. - “The House of Commons—An Institution at which the representatives of the people sell the interests of the constituents."—Truth. “The Englishman is never so happy as when he is ostentatiously re- forming—something, so long as it is not himself.” Politics is the Battle of the Ballot. It is a Battle for a Bauble. The Electors play with the Bauble while the “Elected” juggle with the “Boodle." The ballot is the battle-cry of bipeds looking for peace, retrenchment and reform, for they think it is the Bulwark of “John Bull and his Island,” the Palladium of their liberties, and the Pass key to Progress. It was given to the common people—after much agitation—by Disraeli, the wisest Jew, and wittiest, and wickedest Statesman of the 19th century, because I be lieve he saw that it would soothe the Republican soothsayers into quietude —as it certainly has done, for there are no Red Republicans to be found nowadays in England. Another thing that few reformers know is, that as the franchise has been extended, the powers of the police have been enlarged, until today we have practically a police army, commanded by military officers, who are rapidly Germanising and Russianising the system. At the present time the police tyrannise over the shopkeepers until they are in a state of mental meekness; and terrorise the lower orders of society until they drive the strong into jail, and the weak into silent slavery and dumb submission. The people prefer the arbitrament of the ballot to the arbitrament of the bullet, forgetful of the fact that Liberty will never be granted, but must be taken. The arbitrament of the ballot is a renunciation of arbitra. tion; a glorification of the rule of the majority; with its corollary the en- slavement and subjection of the minority. It is the rule of Force—not the reign of Equality, Fraternity, and Liberty, which so many yearn for. The ballot is not a panacea for the ills of society, nor a nepenthe for the sorrows of the common people, but a pseudo-paraclete that fills the calamity-howler with beatific bliss, minus thought: a mental hasheesh that holds the helot in leash without the lash; and transforms the Revolutionist into an Evolutionist saturated with optimism and delirious day dreams. Politics is a game played in Parliament. It is a pastime for the idle rich, and a game of bluff, mixed with blarney and bunkuin for the poor. It is a confidence game played upon the people, for the people are per suaded into the belief that Parliament respects the will of the People. while the truth is Parliament is actually an instrument to preserve the privileges of the rich, and to strengthen their position, founded on economic power. Parliament really registers the power of the owners of economic wealth in the shape of land, money, and other kinds of property. Property rules the Rostrum of Parliament, as surely as self-interest rules the world. “The People is a beast of muddy brain.” That knows not its own force, and therefore stands Loaded with wood and stone; the powerless hands Of a mere child guide it with bit and rein: But the beast fears, and what the child demands, It does; nor its own terror understands, Confused and stupified by bugbears vain, Most wonderful with its own hand it ties And gags itself-gives itself death and war. For pence doled out by Kings from its own store, Its own are all things between earth and heaven: But this it knows not and if one arise To tell the truth, it kills him unforgiven.” They know not that Might is Right and Justice is built on property qualifications. - - - Political power is the recognition of class interests. All political reform ls the outcome of class agitation to cement class interests. Economic power always precedes political privileges. Politics is an appanage, and an appendage of property. Politics prove the power of policy over principle. The power of principle is the principle part of progress. As Hazlitt has it:-"Great acts grow out of great principles, working changes in Society, and tearing it up by the roots.” - The prejudices of the Picaroon appear to dominate the actions and am- bitions of the professional politician, rather than the principles of the purist. The proof of principle is honesty of purpose. Politics—as given to the poor but honest workingman,—consist mainly of piffle, platitudes, and pro- grammes without principle. “Honesty is the best policy,” so the moralists nurmer. It may be the best principle, but it has ever been the worst policy-in the politics of today, yesterday, and doubtless will be the same in the politics of tomorrow. Politics is the Might of the Mouth over Righteousness of Thought. The great secret for the people to understand is, that the owners of the economic foundations of Society are the manu- facturers of the religion, morality, politics, law and justice that prevail in the locality in which they live. That it is-only by change in the ownership of economic forces that any change in the condition of the people can come about—or by revolution guided by intelligence. - Parliament is the Mecca for Masterdonic Moochers on the Make; and a Rendezvous for the Rich, where they exchange their opinions, and keep their interests in their own hands, or let them out at good interest. The poor believe Parliament is a "Royal Exchange,” where they can exchange bad laws for good laws; poverty for peace and plenty; and misery for happines. We find it is the Mausoleum of New Thought; and the Morgue for Martyrs who have struggled to reach the Millennium by that path. Experience teaches this. Men made Parliament, not Parliament men. Politics were invented to preserve the privileges of unscrupulous Egoists and perpetuate the slavery of Altruists and the horny-handed sons of toil as long as possible: that is until the people find out the inutility of politics to cure their economic evils. For they must know, some day, a political pill cannot cure an econ omic cancer. An economic disease must be combated by an economic remedy. Practically, Parliament does not make laws, it only frames them or constructs them. Judges make laws, for the last precedent embalms a principle and assassinates the Rights of Man. As a manifestation of this fact I refer you to the Taft Valº decision. which paralyzed the Trade Union Acts, and inoculated many workers with the malady of thought. The struggle for political power is between the Conservatives, the Liberals, and the Laborites. The Conservatives or Tories have the land and other things. The Liberals have money and other things. The Laborites have nothing except ambition and a strong desire to get other things. The Conservatives and Liberals control everything worth having, because they have property. All power emanates from the pos. session of property. This is the reason the Laborites are powerless to- day,+because they have no property. The Conservative Party consists of the Peerage, the Beerage, the intellectual Steerage, -and Arthur J. Nancy Balfour. The Liberal Party consists of the Financiers, the Middle Class Unemployed looking for work under Gove, ument, the Nonconformist Con- science, Winston Churchill-and John Burns. The Labor Party consists of an accidental and fortuitous concourse of atoms—mostly unconscious of themselves. I classify them thusly: Political Policy-pushers with pen-pushing proclivities, Ghoul from the gutter on the growl, Altruized Egos with a yearning for a full stomach three times a day, Labor Church Devotees, Hinky-Dink Politicians, Sinners with a future and Saints with a past, She-men in knickerbockers and He-women in bloom- ers, Professional Sobbists and Municipal Yearnists, Mrs. Pankhurst and family, and that Mogul of the Moanists—Keir Hardie. These are forces arrayed against each other in the political arena. The “Haves” will rule as long as they hold property, for power in this world has always presided where property resided. The “Have Nots” must hasten an economic evolution before they can expect a political revolution. The Labor Party must educate their masters and pastors by bringing them disasters for wisdom comes through sorrow and pain. As pain pre- cedes progress, so progress must be the outcome of wisdom and wicked- ness or-revolution and reconstruction. Capital is brother-in-law to the House of Lords. The House of Lords is the step-father of “Mars.” Both are next-door neighbors and next-of-kin to Church and State, the twin-enemies of the people. Capital is King Absolute at St. Stephens. King Edward VII. reigns only at St. James's, for he is not allowed a seat in the Cabinet. He is Ruler of the Social Realm. Capital is the Ruler of the Universe. Modern aggression is commercial, not military, with 10 per cent, as the incentive. The House of Commons is the handmaiden of the House of Lords. a philosophic standpoint. It has no Chairman, but is more orderly than the “Commons." There are no “scenes” there, because there is more liberty for the individual. Each peer perseveres to preserve his privileges without terrible tongue-duels, wrathful riots, or Girls in the Gallery. The House of Commons is the hand-maiden of the House of Loddº. Capital rules the Cabinet; the Cabinet rules the House of Commons; the House of Commons can't hear the voice of the people—and still the people believe in the gods of their forefathers. They are governed by the tomb. The dead hand of the past paralyses the brain of the present. The moral of this problem is, the people must not put their trust in politics nor Parliament, but must trust themselves before they can be Free. -The Man without a Soul. A NAPOLEON OF LABOR wanted to lead the Reform forces of today. Must be possessed of psychic insight and brutality—of wisdom to know and brutality to do. A man who is not afraid to break the Sabbath, the Ten Commandments, or anything else he can lay his hands on; a sort of Bovrilised Brutus—or Bloodthirsty Buddha—with a head to contrive, a tongue to persuade, and a hand to execute any mischief. He must possess the audacity of Chamberlain, the verbosity of Gladstone, the wisdom of Disraeli, the persistency of Keir Hardie, the enthusiasm of Blatchford. the wit of Bernard Shaw, the lungs of John Burns, the vivacity of Tom Mann, the insight of Machiavelli, the strength of Sandow, the analysis of Thomas Paine, the eloquences of Ingerson, the thoroughness of Bradlaugh, the magnetism of John B. Gough, and the brutality of Malfew seklew- Applicants (with or without testimonials), possessing these qualities, may Interview. The Undersigned at this office, any day while the staff are at Prayers-A Brutalitarian Truthist. T H E IN VENTION OF GOD. Its Egoistical Origin and Nature. After conceiving the idea of God in the abstract, man could not rest satisfied, but must needs seek to know the unknown and make definite the indefinite. lt annoyed him to have always in his mind a sense of mystery- to be haunted by a huge shadow, the form and nature of which he could not even guess. His first conception of God was of an impersonal being, in- definite in form. Now he began to feel, but vaguely, that it would be better and more comfortable to his understanding if his God were personal and of definite form. Comfort of mind is as essential to man as is comfort of body. To make his mind comfortable on the subject he endowed God with a personality and with a definite form. Having invented God, he thought, perhaps, that he had a right to do as he pleased with God. Let us see how he accomplished this fact of endowing his God with personality and form. Knowing what an egoistical ceature he was, we can make a very good guess as to how he managed it. It was something in this way. He said, “My soul is from God and is part of God. Therefore the "nature of God must be as the nature of my own soul. Only he is greater and more powerful. As to his form, it must be very beautiful, something like my own, in fact. Ah! I have it! When God made our bodies of the earth, he made them like himself. His own shape was the most beautiful thing the could think of That was why he used himself for a model in making us. God is very like us in appearance, only he is bigger and a trifle more beautiful, and stronger. You will notice that in endowing God with a personality, man gave him his full share of egotism. The Egotism of God is phenomenal. we find it somewhere in the Holy Bible (which men have a habit of looking upon as the Word of God) that God made man in his own image. My own conclusion, which I have already given, amounts to the exact opposite of this, namely, that man made God in his own image. I think I have been sufficiently clear upon this point, that when man granted God a form he could think of nothing better than the form in which he happened to find himself; and when he granted God a personality it was simply that personality which he felt to be his own. In inventing God man gave himself a certain amount of egotistical satisfaction. In endowing God with attributes in the manner I have tried to explain, he satisfied his egotism still further. In making God like him. self he glorified himself. Self-esteem is a man's mental and moral food; self-glorification is like wine to him. This is why men cling to the personal Deity in spite of knowledge and reason. They cling to the glorified self. Knowledge and reason might prove to them that the real self—what they deem the little sell-is the only self. They like the idea of the magnified self, the glorified self, better than this; and so, instinctively, in this par- ticular matter, knowledge and reason are ignored. Every believer in the personality of God unconsciously glorifies himself. He throws out a magnified and idealized picture of himself—himself as he could wish to be, immeasurably greater and stronger, with all his conscious weakness gone from him, but at the bottom the same man. He looks on the picture with admiration, which, as he appreciates more and more the grandeur of it, grows into adoration. At last he falls down and worships. But he is not worshipping God: he is worshipping the ideal of himself, which he calls God for want of a better name. Not long ago I same across a quotation which seems to support this statement of mine. It is a fragment of a dialogue, and is apparently taken from a Play called “The Idolator,” concerning which I can learn nothin2: beyond what this fragment tells me. The dialogue is between a Christian and a Pagan, though I take it the word Pagan means here not a worshipper of idols, but a philosopher. The subject of the Dialogue is God. I do not give the whole of the quotation as I found it, but merely the latter part of it, which bears directly upon my reasoning, and runs thus:- Christian: “is not His glory my glory, for lo! He dwelleth in me, and in Him?” Pagan: “Even so. Thus hath it ever been, O worshipper of thine own soul.” If we look, cursorily, at a few of the great religions of the world, chiefly those of the ancient world, because they stand out plainer to us, being so far away that their vastness is lost in the perspective of time, and the outline has become clearer and more measureable to the understanding, we shall have some confirmation of this idea that God-worship is at the bottom unconscious self-worship. The old Jewish conception of God is perhaps the most familiar to us, because it is embodied in the Old Testament, a book most of us, if not all of us, were taught to look upon with superstitious reverence as the ºnly revelation of God, a knowledge of which was supposed to be indispensable to our happiness and virtue. Here we have the Jewish conception of God; and it is easy to see that the Jewish God is, in himself, a Jew, with all the national characteristics strongly developed. Great stress is laid upon his sense of justice; and little or nothing is said of his generosity. He is slow to anger; but if his anger is aroused he is is a terrible fellow to deal with. He nºrses his enmity, and will be revenged upon his foe if he waits until the millenium. He is jealous of his power. His first commandment is “Thou shalt have none other God but me. Above all things he is narrow. He has his own par- ticular people (the Jews), and all the rest of the world is as dirt beneath his feet. The Jews must flourish; all other peoples must, if it is necessary, be sacrificied to their well-being. His one great passion is race prejudice. These characteristics are Jewish to the core. Taking the Jews broadly as a nation, even to-day, they are as their God was supposed to be in the days of the patriarchs. They have changed outwardly, but inwardly, after thousasds of years, they are unchanged. One of the characteristics of their God is immutability. He does not change. In this also he is like his own particular people. They are immutable as a race. They do not change. It is because of their narrowness and race prejudice.—Sir fessor Superight. THE wit, wisdom AND wicked. NESS, OF MALFEw SEKLEw, Jester-Philosopher, Founder of the Society of Superties, and President of the Society of Social Arictocrats and Conscious Egoists of England: “Egoism is a discovery of a fact in nature, not an invention of man. It is the gospel of Common-sense, the evangel of Reason, the philosophy of the ‘I,’ the catholicon of Self-conscious- ness; the theory that self-interest rules the world, not love, nor moral- ity.” “The Conscious Egoist is a social aristocrat governed by a Master- Morality.” “A Socialist is a semi-conscious Ego dominated by a State-made morality." “Egoism is the apogee of intel- ligence, crystallized into self-knowl- edge.” “Egoism is Economics without Emotion." “Egoism is Everything, because Everything is Egoism.” “The Superite is a disillusioned Ego; a man without a Soul, except his in- dividuality; without a God, except himself; without Morality, except his own; without False Patriotism; with- out a Conscience, but with Conscious- ness of Self; without Duty, but with Divinity of Desire; without delusions economical, political, social, sexual, civil, religious, or ethical; with hed- onistic proclivities, and libertarian ideals; propagating Economics with- out Agony, Politics without Tears, and Sociology without a Sob." “The Superite is a new laid Ego devoid of illusions, chimerical con centions, and heavenly hallucinations: free from love-pox, slave pox and small- pox. He is a “New Spirit struggling to be free and happy.” “The Superite is devoid of cant. humbug, hypocrisy, prejudices, and other brain diseases; is true to him. self, while still being dominated by the progressive spirit and the surplus value of his Ego.” “The Superite is the first manifest. ation of Supermanism, a Superman in the Crude.” “The Altruist is a professional Sob- bist, a mawkish Moanist on the moan, a Puritan on the prowl, a Sentimental- ist suffering from emotional diar- rhoea.” “Altruism is a brain disease and the enemy of the Superman and the law of Progressive Life and Evolution.” “Self-knowledge is the lever that will emancipate the wage-slave, extir. pate the parasite, and produce the Super man. The philosophy of Egoism is all that is same in ethical political. anarchistic, socialistic thought, culled from the writing af Nietzsche, Stir- ner, Ibsen, Brandes, Benj. R. Tucker, Ragnar Redbeard, George Bernard Shaw, Stendahl, Montaigne, Machia- welli, La Rouchefoucauld. Emerson Thoreau, Mandeville, Tak Kak, and the Gospel according to Malfew Seklew." “Christian morality is a morality for cheap organisms." - “Society is founded upon the pati. ence of wage-slaves.” “consciousness is the vivisection of the senses.” “Consciense is a cold storage ware- house, where one keeps one's pre- judices—oft-times called principles, and other delusions, free of charge.” “Conscience is a torture chamber. Invented by the dead to torment the living.” “Man may misunderstand Egoism, but never Egoism man.” “There are two kinds of power, economic wealth and knowledge. The poor lacking wealth must have wis- dom before they have power." “All liberties, political, civil, social, economic, sexual, religious, are value- less without economic freedom. They are dreams that pass in the night and can't be found in the day-time.” “The Missing Link in Progress, is the Self-Conscious Egoist." “The Riddle of the Ego-of the Universe, has been solved by the Sunerite-he has found himself Out: id. In.” *Can a man be a Christian on £1 a week. He can't be anything else" “The New Golden Rule is, yourself.” "Do unto others as you would do unto yourself, if you seek self-satis. faction; if you desire reciprocity with reason.” “Man is a development from a Primordial Atomic Globule to a Glori- ous Globule of Gladness, from matter unconscious of itself to mind con- scious of itself: from Matter to Man, from Man to Mind.” “Mind is mighty and will prevail." “Exploitation is the First Law of Industrial and Individual Progress.” “Self Realization is the First Law of Human Nature-not. Self-Preserve ation.” “Man is a Masterpiece of Matter, Misery and Misconception.” “Mind is a Miracle of Motion and the Marrow Fat of Matter.” “Altruism is a slave morality, in- vented by intellectual prostitutes to cement the structure of Superstition, Servitude, and Segregation. It is the froth of folly, the foam of faith, the fancy of fanatics, a decadent's dream. a madman's malady; the weak wild wail of weaklings, wastrels, creen ling, meeklings, christlings, and under. lings, for sympathy, succour, support. and salvation.” "It is better to be a live man in a dead town than a dead man in a live town.” “Praised by these, blamed by those, I smile at fools, defy the wicked, and Rule hasten to laugh at all, lest I be com: pelled to weep.” “Wise men make mistakes, but they don't repeat them.” “The man who deserves to succeed generally does." “If you would understand the psy- chology of power, you must comprehend the power of personality, for the per sonality of power is the fulcrum of progress, and the dynamo of destiny.” “Altruism is the delirium tremens of thought.” “The unconscious man is an Evo utionary Process; the conscious man is an Evolutor.” Napoleon said, The heart of a states. man should be in his head. “The ex- ploited will never be saved till they make the brain the seat of their pat riotic affections.” NIETZSCHE My diet masculine is having its ef. ſect-my sayings of power and vigor. I feed men, not with flatulent vegeta- bles but with warrior food.”- “Vigorous eras, noble civilizations see something contemptible in “sym- pathy," in “brotherly love" and in the lack of self-assertion and self-reliance." “And he who would be a creator of *ood and evil. Verily, he must be a destroyer and break conventional values in pieces." “But these things are not said for long ears.” “He who can does, he who cannot tº e a ches.”- NETZSCHE ON EDUCATION. Gradually I have come to see day- light in the general deficiency of our culture and education: nobody learns. nobody strives after, nobody teaches, how to endure solitude. some THING ENTRELY New. Sensational and scientific. Magic 8moke Photos. wizard cigarette holder. It produces photos in 2 minutes. Any photo can be developed. Send 10c for Wizard Cigarette holder, 10 magic developers, and 1 wizard Cigarette holder. Send for the Have you seen The Superite Tie- frame (Registered)? 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Two new books on a Great Philosophy SOON TO BE ISSUED “THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MALFEW SEKLEW’” By Sirfessor Wilkesbarre. 350 or more pages. Cloth bound. Postpaid $2.50. Super-bound edition, $5.00. “FROM AN EGO IN THE CRUDE TO A SUPERMAN IN THE NUDE.” By Sirfessor Wilkesbarre About 300 pages. Cloth bound. Price postpaid $2.00. Super-bound de luxe edition, $4.00 These two volumes, now in course of preparation, represent the bold and aggressive philosophy of that mighty mentoid of master-morality MALFEw SEKLEw. If conscientiously studied by any rational minded man, they will teach him to comprehend the psychol- ogy of his own Ego and thereby de- velop within himself the pulsations of Power and Triumph and Personality. If you don’t like this book, don't keep it. - - - - Might is flight; ºr The Survival ºf the Fitil New book by Ragnar Redbeard, LL.D., U. of C. 178 pp. Cloth, gilt, 5-so; paper, soc-postpaid. This is no-ordinary book. Undeniably it is the most re- markable publication that has appeared in Christendom for ºf-ºries its pulosophy is that or a scientiºc Satº. a realistic Anti-Christ with grin and Pagan logic it assail- the first principles of moral codes, religions, politics and law: affirming that modern civilization is - horrible hypnotic seance, a continuation of the terrorism and gloom of the Dark Ages. 1. marshalls an overwhelming array of facts to rove that the man of to-day is a physical and mental dwind- ing, a coward, a weakling a slave. Upon biologic Spen- cerian principles it attacks the Golden Rule, the Sermon on the Mount, the Jewish Decalogue, statute books, written con- stitutions and representative institutions, affirming that they are all without higher sanction or authority than organized duplicity or armed Power. Therefore it man is ever to be ree, these artificial and domineering “Thou Shalts' must be strenuously swept aside. Dr. Red-beard contends that fitness to survive must be tested by the clash of armies: all other tests being fraudu- lent. Victors in war are naturally entitled to dominate; and the "defeated"—that is, the runaways who feared to die- are equally entitled to servitude. Throughout all organic life the chief selective agency is combat women admire war- riºr above all other winds of men. Communities of coward- º * descendants) are rightfully plundered, taxed, erº- ----- - Right” and * wrong” are decided not by the Mee- but by the Mighty, who, consequently may write laws, creeds. constitutions, title deeds-and re-write then a pleasure. Equality ideals are mere milenial illusions, for all life is strife-a combat to the death. As long as the struggle for existence is “moralized" or limited by Governments and Gods, the unfit and base in- stead of being trampled down (as nature intended) are stupidly permitted to set up Imperial Injunction Seats and deal out death, bondage and ruin to Highest Types. Thus, by demanding his credentials, Darwinism is fatal tº the tyrant. It rings him round with menace and destruction. It hurls against him ten thousand trained rivals. It proclaim- to all ºn Nothing is true; nothing is sacred; all thin- are open to you; blessed be the vanquishers.” will refund your money and pay postage --- ways. RLAND & THURLAND EVANSTON CHICAGO, IL.L. Senº - back -- or--- _ *ARADOXES AND CONTRA-1C- TIONS OF CHRISTIANITY. By Francis Lord Bacon. Here is a brilliant and powerful pamphlet printed, for the first time, 400 years ago. Alexander Pope, who lampooned the Puritan Holy Willies so ferociously, describes Bacon as "The boldest, brightest, meanest of mankind.” In Bacon's day the Great Protest was triumphing (in England) over the invasive bureaucratic Fed- eralism of Rome. Some historians seem to think that Bacon was really Queen Elizabeth's illegitimate son. Ignatius Donnelly, author of “Atlantis" and “Caesar's Column,” held that Bacon was also the real author of Shakespeare. When appointed Chief Judge of the English Supreme Court Lord Bacon accepted bribes, as a matter of course, but from the money so re- ceived, he financed his famous literary works, and also subscribed very hand- somely to the colonization of the United States, and to the anti-Catholic propoganda funds. If you want to know what the first and foremost of the great Anglo-Saxon rationalist philosophers had to say about the inane fallacies and foolish- ness of Christianity send for a copy of this pamphlet. It actually contains the sublimated essence of almost all that has since been uttered (in many different ways), by Holbach, Voltaire, Strauss, Feurbach, Schopenhauer, Goethe, Dr. Taylor, Renan, and Nietz- sche. That Christianity is an evil lie was just as plainly evident to Lord Bacon as it is to the editor of The Eagle and the serpent. This will also be quite clearly known to you on condition that you first read the pamphlet care- fully and then cogitate thereon in a frank and mainly way, judice and without awe. 15c. without pre- Price, postpaid, (Somethin- extra also.) *WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF LIFE” A somewhat lengthened period of time has elapsed since this conundrum was first propounded. Of all the philosophers and sages and priests and scientists that have ever lived and lied, not one of them has given us a decent answer-not even an approximate answer. The real fact is, they did not know and could not know. They knew no more than you or I. Science and reli- gion are both equally at fault. The bibles lie to you and so do the news- papers. We are born and die apparently in- side of some mysterious electric mon- ster, some colossal astral machine, that goes round and round for ever, and has neither beginning nor end nor meaning. Whether it was created or not created, we have no certain means of knowing. Where it came from, and where it is going to, and why it should be going at all. All these things are obscure to us. How can we tell that live within its midrifº “Ah, when you and I behind the veil have passed, what a long, long while this world shall last?" *WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF LIFE”. Pamphlet by Frithjof Nan: sen, Arctic Explorer. Price postpaid 10 CENTS. 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