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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Soul of the Far East by Percival Lowell: individual beliefs, suited to the needs and cravings of each
individual soul. A creed that fills the shallow with satisfaction
leaves but an aching void in the deep. It is not of the slightest
consequence how the belief starts; differentiated it is bound to
become. The higher minds alone can rest content with abstract
imaginings; the lower must have concrete realities on which to pin
their faith. With them, inevitably, ideals degenerate into idols.
In all religions this unavoidable debasement has taken place.
The Roman Catholic who prays to a wooden image of Christ is not one
whit less idolatrous than the Buddhist who worships a bronze statue
of Amida Butzu. All that the common people are capable of seeing is
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