From, which description I
gather that the devout philosopher regarded God as the only real Being,
including all that in human language has been, is, and will be, without
beginning or end, living and perceiving equally everywhere throughout
His infinite essence. And if that essence is compared by Xenophanes to a
sphere, neither bounded nor boundless, neither moving nor immovable,
this is only because few, if any, in that age of the world, could
content themselves with loyally accepting the limits imposed on man by
the very nature of things, limits which now compel us to own that, while
the Eternal is more real than ourselves, yet, in the strict sense of
knowing, He is, from an intellectual standpoint, the Unknowable.
[Sidenote: Extent of his Sympathy with Popular Religion.]
[Sidenote: A Pantheistic Communion Feast.]
This Pantheism did not generate in Xenophanes any arrogant disdain for
the religion of his time. For, though he condemned, in words often
quoted, the folly which supposed the gods to have the human form,
senses, passions and appetites, he was yet glad to worship the divine
All as partially manifested in finite beings--perhaps personified powers
of nature. Thus among the fragments of his poetry fortunately preserved,
is one exquisite gem, a description of a festive repast in the open air.
There purity comes first, symbolised by clear floor, clean hands, and
spotless dishes.
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