This blind intention to absorb,to change the shape of everything and digest it in the darkness of a dragon's stomach;this is what is really meant by the Pantheism and Cosmic Unity of the East.The Cosmos as such is cannibal;as old Time ate his children.The Eastern saints were saints because they wanted to be swallowed up.The Western saint,like St.
George,was sainted by the Western Church precisely because he refused to be swallowed.The same process of thought that has prevented nationalities disappearing in Christendom has prevented the complete appearance of Pantheism.All Christian men instinctively resist the idea of being absorbed into an Empire;an Austrian,a Spanish,a British,or a Turkish Empire.But there is one empire,much larger and much more tyrannical,which free men will resist with even stronger passion.The free man violently resists being absorbed into the empire which is called the Universe.He demands Home Rule for his nationality,but still more Home Rule for his home.Most of all he demands Home Rule for himself.He claims the right to be saved,in spite of Moslem fatalism.He claims the right to be damned in spite of theosophical optimism.He refuses to be the Cosmos;because he refuses to forget it.