Conclusion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2012
Summary
Professor La Nauze observed that Alfred Deakin was ‘determined to have a mysterious universe’; Deakin would have insisted that he found himself in such a universe, a Kosmos of ‘inexhaustible mysteries’ made comprehensible, moreover, only by a spiritual interpretation. In examining the shifting patterns and textures of Deakin's eclectic personal religion, we have seen that a great deal of his energies were consumed in attempting to unravel some of these mysteries, especially those relating to his own being and destiny, and in applying these insights to his life and, with an augmenting commitment to secular service, to his political labours. That Alfred Deakin lived his life by an Inner Light is patent. His spiritual belief could be called Unitarian, and it had affinities with the Quaker faith. While he regarded himself as a follower of Jesus Christ, his pantheon of ‘World Teachers’ included also Buddha, Socrates, and Mohammed, and his conceptions had more in common with Judaism, Neo-Platonism and Gnosticism than the Anglican faith in which he was nominally reared. Yet while they testify to the breadth of his vision, these terms fall far short of an adequate description of Deakin's intense spiritual Faith.
It has been said frequently that the Victorian and Edwardian era was a time of religious doubt, as the triumphs of science undermined the authority of the Bible and opened religion to the private conscience. Historians of the period have generally considered the ructions caused in religion in terms of their social effects on the churches, which in consequence began to stake out a greater social role.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Mystic Life of Alfred Deakin , pp. 197 - 201Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1992