eat Peace has
been unfurled, and the great community is appearing.

19 April 1912
Talk at Earl Hall
Columbia University, New York

From Stenographic Notes

If we look with a perceiving eye upon the world of creation, we find that
all existing things may be classified as follows: first, mineral--that is
to say, matter or substance appearing in various forms of composition;
second, vegetable--possessing the virtues of the mineral plus the power of
augmentation or growth, indicating a degree higher and more specialized
than the mineral; third, animal--possessing the attributes of the mineral
and vegetable plus the power of sense perception; fourth, human--the
highest specialized organism of visible creation, embodying the qualities
of the mineral, vegetable and animal plus an ideal endowment absolutely
absent in the lower kingdoms--the power of intellectual investigation into
the mysteries of outer phenomena. The outcome of this intellectual
endowment is science, which is especially characteristic of man. This
scientific power investigates and apprehends created objects and the laws
surrounding them. It is the discoverer of the hidden and mysterious
secrets of the material universe and is peculiar to man alone. The most
noble and praiseworthy accomplishment of man, therefore, is scientific
knowledge and attainment.

Science may be likened to a mirror wherein the images of the mysteries of
outer phenomena are reflected. It brings forth and exhibits to us in the
arena of knowledge all the product of the past. It links together past and
present. The philosophical conclusions of bygone centuries, the teachings
of the Prophets and wisdom of former sages are crystallized and reproduced
in the scientific advancement of today. Science is the discoverer of the
past. From its premises of past and present we deduce conclusions as to
the future. Science is the governor of nature and its mysteries, the one
agency by which man explores the institutions of material creation. All
created things are captives of nature and subject to its laws. They cannot
transgress the control of these laws in one detail or particular. The
infinite starry worlds and heavenly bodies are nature's obedient subjects.
The earth and its myriad organisms, all minerals, plants and animals are
thralls of its dominion. But man through the exercise of his scientific,
intellectual power can rise out of this condition, can modify, change and
control nature