A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda

This"""306 THE IDEAL OF A UNIVERSAL RELIGION.not stop there ; they will draw the sword to compel othersto believe as they do. This is not through wickedness, butthrough a particulardisease of the human brain calledfanaticism. They are very sincere, these fanatics, the mostsincere of human beings, but they are not more responsiblethan any other lunatics in the world.This disease of fanaticism is one of the most dangerousof all diseases. All the wickedness of human nature isaroused by it.Anger is stirred up, nerves are strung high,and human beings become like tigers. Is there any similarity, is there any harmony, any universal mythology ? Certainly not. Each religion has its own mythology, with onlythis difference, that each one says stories are notMyFor mythologies." instance, take the question home. I simplymean to illustrate it ;I do not mean any criticism of anyThe Christian believes that God took thereligion.shapeof a dove, and came down, and they think this is history, andnot mythology.But the Hindu believes that God is manifested in the cow. Christians say that is mythology, andnot history superstition. The Jews think that if an image:be made in the form of a box, or a chest, with an angel oneither side, then it is to be placed in the Holy of Holies ;it is sacred to Jehovah ;but if the image be made in theform of a beautiful man or woman, they say This horrible idol ;break it down !" is our unity in mythology !If a man stands up and says My prophet did such andsuch a wonderful thing," others say that is superstition ;but their prophet did a still more wonderful thing ; theysay that this is historical. Nobody in the world as far asI have seen is able to find out the fine distinction betweenhistory and mythology in the brains of these gentlemen.All these stories are mythological, mixed up with a littlehistory.