conceive
the Infinite Being as exercising the finite faculty of "dreaming"--is
not this childish?

Others would have us believe that the Absolute is indulging in a "game"
or "play," when he makes Universes, and those inhabiting them. Can
anyone really believe this of The Absolute--playing like a child, with
men and women, worlds and suns, as Its blocks and tin-soldiers? Why
should the Infinite "play"?--does It need amusement and "fun" like a
child? Poor Man, with his attempts to read the Riddle of the Infinite!

We know of teachers who gravely instruct their pupils in the idea that
the Absolute and Infinite One manifests Universes and Universal Life,
and all that flows from them, because It wishes to "gain experience"
through objective existence. This idea, in many forms has been so
frequently advanced that it is worth while to consider its absurdity.
In the first place, what "experience" could be gained by the Absolute
and Infinite One? What could It expect to gain and learn, that it did
not already know and possess? One can gain experience only from others,
and outside things--not from oneself entirely separated from the
outside world of things. And there would be no "outside" for the
Infinite. These people would have us believe that The Absolute emanated
a Universe from Itself--which could contain nothing except that which
was obtained from Itself--and then proceeded to gain experience from
it. Having no "outside" from which it could obtain experiences and
sentences and sensations, it proceeded to make (from Itself) an
imitation one--that is what this answer amounts to. Can you accept it?

The whole trouble in all of these answers, or attempted answers, is
that the answerer first conceives of the Absolute-Infinite Being, as a
Relative-Finite Man, and then proceeds to explain what this Big Man
would do. This is but an exaggerated form of anthropomorphism--the
conception of God as a Man raised to great proportions. It is but an
extension of the idea which gave birth to the savage conceptions of
Deity as a cruel chief or mighty warrior, with human passions, hates,
and revenge; love, passions, and desires.

Arising from the same cause, and akin to the theories advanced above
are similar ones, which hold that the Absolute cannot dwell alone, but
must forever bring forth souls from Itself--this was the idea of
_Plotinus_, the Greek philosopher. Others have thought that the
Infinite was possessed of such a consuming lov