{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_10361/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_10361","id":"gutenberg_10361","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10361","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","New Thought"],"text":"THE CREATIVE PROCESS IN THE INDIVIDUAL\n\nBY T. TROWARD\n\n1915\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFOREWORD\n\nIn the present volume I have endeavored to set before the reader the\nconception of a sequence of creative action commencing with the formation\nof the globe and culminating in a vista of infinite possibilities\nattainable by every one who follows up the right line for their unfoldment.\n\nI have endeavored to show that, starting with certain incontrovertible\nscientific facts, all these things logically follow, and that therefore,\nhowever far these speculations may carry us beyond our past experience,\nthey nowhere break the thread of an intelligible connection of cause and\neffect.\n\nI do not, however, offer the suggestions here put forward in any other\nlight than that of purely speculative reasoning; nevertheless, no advance\nin any direction can be made except by speculative reasoning going back to\nthe first principles of things which we do know and thence deducing the\nconditions under which the same principles might be carried further and\nmade to produce results hitherto unknown. It is to this method of thought\nthat we owe all the advantages of civilization from matches and\npost-offices to motor-cars and aeroplanes, and we may therefore be\nencouraged to hope such speculations as the present may not be without\ntheir ultimate value. Relying on the maxim that Principle is not bound by\nPrecedent we should not limit our expectations of the future; and if our\nspeculations lead us to the conclusion that we have reached a point where\nwe are not only able, but also _required_, by the law of our own being, to\ntake a more active part in our personal evolution than heretofore, this\ndiscovery will afford us a new outlook upon life and widen our horizon with\nfresh interests and brightening hopes.\n\nIf the thoughts here suggested should help any reader to clear some mental\nobstacles from his path the writer will feel that he has not written to no\npurpose. Only each reader must think out these suggestions for himself. No\nwriter or lecturer can convey an idea _into_ the minds of his audience. He\ncan only put it before them, and what they will make of it depends entirely\nupon themselves--assimilation is a process which no one can carry out for\nus.\n\nTo the kindness of my readers on both sides of the Atlantic, and in\nAustralia and New Zealand, I commend this little volume, not, indeed,\nwithout a deep sense of its many shortcomings, but at the same time\nencouraged by the generous indulgence extended to my previous books.\n\nT.T.\n\nJune, 1910.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n       I THE STARTING-POINT\n      II THE SELF-CONTEMPLATION OF SPIRIT\n     III THE DIVINE IDEAL\n      IV THE MANIFESTATION OF THE LIFE PRINCIPLE\n       V THE PERSONAL FACTOR\n      VI THE STANDARD OF PERSONALITY\n     VII RACE THOUGHT AND NEW THOUGHT\n    VIII THE D\u00c9NOUEMENT OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS\n      IX CONCLUSION\n       X THE DIVINE OFFERING\n      XI OURSELVES IN THE DIVINE OFFERING\n\n\n\n\n\n      I say no man has ever yet been half devout enough,\n      None has ever yet adored or worship'd half enough,\n      None has begun to think how divine he himself is, and\n    how certain the future is.\n      I say that the real and permanent grandeur of these States\n    must be their religion,\n      Otherwise there is no real and permanent grandeur.\n    --WALT WHITMAN.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nTHE STARTING-POINT\n\n\nIt is an old saying that \"Order is Heaven's First Law,\" and like many other\nold sayings it contains a much deeper philosophy than appears immediately\non the surface. Getting things into a better order is the great secret of\nprogress, and we are now able to fly through the air, not because the laws\nof Nature have altered, but because we have learnt to arrange things in the\nright order to produce this result--the things themselves had existed from\nthe beginning of the world, but what was wanting was the introduction of a\nPersonal Factor which, by an intelligent perception of the possibilities\ncontained in the laws of Nature, should be able to bring into working\nreality ideas which previous generations would have laughed at as the\nabsurd fancies of an unbalanced mind. The lesson to be learnt from the\npractical aviation of the present day is that of the triumph of principle\nover precedent, of the working out of an _idea_ to its logical conclusions\nin spite of the accumulated testimony of all past experience to the\ncontrary; and with such a notable example before us can we say that it is\nfutile to enquire whether by the same method we may not unlock still more\nimportant secrets and gain some knowledge of the unseen causes which are at\nthe back of external and visible conditions, and then by bringing these\nunseen causes into a better order make practical working realities of\npossibilities which at present seem but fantastic dreams? It is at least\nworth while taking a preliminary canter over the course, and this is all\nthat this little volume professes to attempt; yet this may be sufficient to\nshow the lay of the ground.\n\nNow the first thing in any investigation is to have some idea of what you\nare looking for--to have at least some notion of the general direction in\nwhich to go--just as you would not go up a tree to find fish though you\nwould for birds' eggs. Well, the general direction in which we all want to\ngo is that of getting more out of Life than we have ever got out of it--we\nwant to be more alive in ourselves and to get all sorts of improved\nconditions in our environment. However happily any of us may be\ncircumstanced we can all conceive something still better, or at any rate we\nshould like to make our present good permanent; and since we shall find as\nour studies advance that the prospect of increasing possibilities keeps\nopening out more and more widely before us, we may say that what we are in\nsearch of is the secret of getting more out of Life in a continually\nprogressive degree. This means that what we are looking for is something\npersonal, and that it is to be obtained by producing conditions which do\nnot yet exist; in other words it is nothing less than the exercise of a\ncertain creative power in the sphere of our own particular world. So, then,\nwhat we want is to introduce our own Personal Factor into the realm of\nunseen causes. This is a big thing, and if it is possible at all it must be\nby some sequence of cause and effect, and this sequence it is our object to\ndiscover. The law of Cause and Effect is one we can never get away from,\nbut by carefully following it up we may find that it will lead us further\nthan we had anticipated.\n\nNow, the first thing to observe is that if _we_ can succeed in finding out\nsuch a sequence of cause and effect as the one we are in search of,\nsomebody else may find out the same creative secret also; and then, by the\nhypothesis of the case, we should both be armed with an infallible power,\nand if we wanted to employ this power against each other we should be\nlanded in the \"impasse\" of a conflict between two powers each of which was\nirresistible. Consequently it follows that the first principle of this\npower must be Harmony. It cannot be antagonizing itself from different\ncenters--in other words its operation in a simultaneous order at every\npoint is the first necessity of its being. What we are in search of, then,\nis a sequence of cause and effect so universal in its nature as to include\nharmoniously all possible variations of individual expression. This primary\nnecessity of the Law for which we are seeking should be carefully borne in\nmind, for it is obvious that any sequence which transgresses this primary\nessential must be contrary to the very nature of the Law itself, and\nconsequently cannot be conducting us to the exercise of true creative\npower.\n\nWhat we are seeking, therefore, is to discover how to arrange things in\nsuch an order as to set in motion a train of causation that will harmonize\nour own conditions without antagonizing the exercise of a like power by\nothers. This therefore means that all individual exercise of this power is\nthe particular application of a universal power which itself operates\ncreatively on its own account independently of these individual\napplications; and the harmony between the various individual applications\nis brought about by all the individuals bringing their own particular\naction into line with this independent creative action of the original\npower. It is in fact another application of Euclid's axiom that things\nwhich are equal to the same thing are equal to one another; so that though\nI may not know for what purpose some one may be using this creative power\nin Pekin, I do know that if he and I both realize its true nature, we\ncannot by any possibility be working in opposition to one another. For\nthese reasons, having now some general idea of what it is we are in search\nof, we may commence our investigation by considering this common factor\nwhich must be at the back of all individual exercise of creative power,\nthat is to say, the Generic working of the Universal Creative Principle.\n\nThat such a Universal Creative Principle is at work we at once realize from\nthe existence of the world around us with all its inhabitants, and the\ninter-relation of all parts of the cosmic system shows its underlying\nUnity--thus the animal kingdom depends on the vegetable, the vegetable\nkingdom on the mineral, the mineral or globe of the earth on its relation\nto the rest of the solar system, and possibly our solar system is related\nby a similar law to the distribution of other suns with their attendant\nplanets throughout space. Our first glance therefore shows us that the\nAll-originating Power must be in essence Unity and in manifestation\nMultiplicity, and that it manifests as Life and Beauty through the unerring\nadaptation of means to ends--that is so far as its cosmic manifestation of\nends goes: what we want to do is to carry this manifestation still further\nby operation from an individual standpoint. To do this is precisely our\nplace in the Order of Creation, but we must defer the question why we hold\nthis place till later on.\n\nOne of the earliest discoveries we all make is the existence of Matter. The\nbruised shins of our childhood convince us of its solidity, so now comes\nthe question, Why does Matter exist? The answer is that if the form were\nnot expressed in solid substance, things would be perpetually flowing into\neach other so that no identity could be maintained for a single moment. To\nthis it might be replied that a condition of matter is conceivable in\nwhich, though in itself a plastic substance, in a fluent state, it might\nyet by the operation of will be held in any particular forms desired. The\nidea of such a condition of matter is no doubt conceivable, and when the\nfluent matter was thus held in particular forms you would have concrete\nmatter just as we know it now, only with this difference, that it would\nreturn to its fluent state as soon as the supporting will was withdrawn.\nNow, as we shall see later on, this is precisely what matter really is,\nonly the will which holds it together in concrete form is not individual\nbut cosmic.\n\nIn itself the Essence of Matter is precisely the fluent substance we have\nimagined, and as we shall see later on the knowledge of this fact, when\nrealized in its proper order, is the basis of the legitimate control of\nmind over matter. But a world in which every individual possessed the power\nof concreting or fluxing matter at his own sweet will irrespective of any\nuniversal coordinating principle is altogether inconceivable--the conflict\nof wills would prevent such a world remaining in existence. On the other\nhand, if we conceive of a number of individuals each possessing this power\nand all employing it on the lines of a common cosmic unity, then the result\nwould be precisely the same stable condition of matter with which we are\nfamiliar--this would be a necessity of fact for the masses who did not\npossess this power, and a necessity of principle for the few who did. So\nunder these circumstances the same stable conditions of Nature would\nprevail as at present, varied only when the initiated ones perceived that\nthe order of evolution would be furthered, and not hindered, by calling\ninto action the higher laws. Such occasions would be of rare occurrence,\nand then the departure from the ordinary law would be regarded by the\nmultitude as a miracle. Also we may be quite sure that no one who had\nattained this knowledge in the legitimate order would ever perform a\n\"miracle\" for his own personal aggrandizement or for the purpose of merely\nastonishing the beholders--to do so would be contrary to the first\nprinciple of the higher teaching which is that of profound reverence for\nthe Unity of the All-originating Principle. The conception, therefore, of\nsuch a power over matter being possessed by certain individuals is in no\nway opposed to our ordinary recognition of concrete matter, and so we need\nnot at present trouble ourselves to consider these exceptions.\n\nAnother theory is that matter has no existence at all but is merely an\nillusion projected by our own minds. If so, then how is it that we all\nproject identically similar images? On the supposition that each mind is\nindependently projecting its own conception of matter a lady who goes to be\nfitted might be seen by her dressmaker as a cow. Generations of people have\nseen the Great Pyramid on the same spot; but on the supposition that each\nindividual is projecting his own material world in entire independence of\nall other individuals there is no reason why any two persons should ever\nsee the same thing in the same place. On the supposition of such an\nindependent action by each separate mind, without any common factor binding\nthem all to one particular mode of recognition, no intercourse between\nindividuals would be possible--then, without the consciousness of relation\nto other individuals the consciousness of our own individuality would be\nlost, and so we should cease to have any conscious existence at all. If on\nthe other hand we grant that there is, above the individual minds, a great\nCosmic Mind which imposes upon them the necessity of all seeing the same\nimage of Matter, then that image is not a projection of the individual\nminds but of the Cosmic Mind; and since the individual minds are themselves\nsimilar projections of the Cosmic Mind, matter is for them just as much a\nreality as their own existence. I doubt not that material substance is thus\nprojected by the all-embracing Divine Mind; but so also are our own minds\nprojected by it, and therefore the relation between them and matter is a\nreal relation and not a merely fictitious one.\n\nI particularly wish the student to be clear on this point, that where two\nfactors are projected from a common source their relation to each other\nbecomes an absolute fact in respect of the factors themselves,\nnotwithstanding that the power of changing that relation by substituting a\ndifferent projection must necessarily always continue to reside in the\noriginating source. To take a simple arithmetical example--by my power of\nmental projection working through my eyes and fingers I write 4 X 2. Here I\nhave established a certain numerical relation which can only produce eight\nas its result. Again, I have power to change the factors and write 4 X 3,\nin which case 12 is the only possible result, and so on. Working in this\nway calculation becomes possible. But if every time I wrote 4 that figure\npossessed an independent power of setting down a different number by which\nto multiply itself, what would be the result? The first 4 I wrote might set\ndown 3 as its multiplier, and the next might set down 7, and so on. Or if I\nwant to make a box of a certain size and cut lengths of plank accordingly,\nif each length could capriciously change its width at a moment's notice,\nhow could I ever make the box? I myself may change the shape and size of my\nbox by establishing new relations between the bits of wood, but for the\npieces of wood themselves the proportions determined by my mind must remain\nfixed quantities, otherwise no construction could take place.\n\nThis is a very rough analogy, but it may be sufficient to show that for a\ncosmos to exist at all it is absolutely necessary that there should be a\nCosmic Mind binding all individual minds to certain _generic_ unities of\naction, and so producing all things as realities and nothing as illusion.\nThe importance of this conclusion will become more apparent as we advance\nin our studies.\n\nWe have now got at some reason why concrete material form is a necessity of\nthe Creative Process. Without it the perfect Self-recognition of Spirit\nfrom the Individual standpoint, which we shall presently find is the means\nby which the Creative Process is to be carried forward, would be\nimpossible; and therefore, so far from matter being an illusion, it is the\nnecessary channel for the self-differentiation of Spirit and its Expression\nin multitudinous life and beauty. Matter is thus the necessary Polar\nOpposite to Spirit, and when we thus recognize it in its right order we\nshall find that there is no antagonism between the two, but that together\nthey constitute one harmonious whole.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nTHE SELF-CONTEMPLATION OF SPIRIT\n\n\nIf we ask how the cosmos came into existence we shall find that ultimately\nwe can only attribute it to the Self-Contemplation of Spirit. Let us start\nwith the facts now known to modern physical science. All material things,\nincluding our own bodies, are composed of combinations of different\nchemical elements such as carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, &c. Chemistry\nrecognizes in all about seventy of these elements each with its peculiar\naffinities; but the more advanced physical science of the present day finds\nthat they are all composed of one and the same ultimate substance to which\nthe name of Ether has been given, and that the difference between an atom\nof iron and an atom of oxygen results only from the difference in the\nnumber of etheric particles of which each is composed and the rate of their\nmotion within the sphere of the atom, thus curiously coming back to the\ndictum of Pythagoras that the universe has its origin in Number and Motion.\nWe may therefore say that our entire solar system together with every sort\nof material substance which it contains is made up of nothing but this one\nprimary substance in various degrees of condensation.\n\nNow the next step is to realize that this ether is everywhere. This is\nshown by the undulatory theory of light. Light is not a substance but is\nthe effect produced on the eye by the impinging of the ripples of the ether\nupon the retina. These waves are excessively minute, ranging in length from\n1-39,000th of an inch at the red end of the spectrum to 1-57,000th at the\nviolet end. Next remember that these waves are not composed of advancing\nparticles of the medium but pass onwards by the push which each particle in\nthe line of motion gives to the particle next to it, and then you will see\nthat if there were a break of one fifty-thousandth part of an inch in the\nconnecting ether between our eye and any source of light we could not\nreceive light from that source, for there would be nothing to continue the\nwave-motion across the gap. Consequently as soon as we see light from any\nsource however distant, we know that there must be a continuous body of\nether between us and it. Now astronomy shows us that we receive light from\nheavenly bodies so distant that, though it travels with the incredible\nspeed of 186,000 miles per second, it takes more than two thousand years to\nreach us from some of them; and as such stars are in all quarters of the\nheavens we can only come to the conclusion that the primary substance or\nether must be universally present.\n\nThis means that the raw material for the formation of solar systems is\nuniversally distributed throughout space; yet though we find that millions\nof suns stud the heavens, we also find vast interstellar spaces which show\nno sign of cosmic activity. Then something has been at work to start cosmic\nactivity in certain areas while passing over others in which the raw\nmaterial is equally available. What is this something? At first we might be\ninclined to attribute the development of cosmic energy to the etheric\nparticles themselves, but a little consideration will show us that this is\nmathematically impossible in a medium which is equally distributed\nthroughout space, for all its particles are in equilibrium and so no one\nparticle possesses _per se_ a greater power of originating motion than any\nother. Consequently the initial movement must be started by something\nwhich, though it works on and through the particles of the primary\nsubstance, is not those particles themselves. It is this \"Something\" which\nwe mean when we speak of \"Spirit.\"\n\nThen since Spirit starts the condensation of the primary substance into\nconcrete aggregation, and also does this in certain areas to the exclusion\nof others, we cannot avoid attributing to Spirit the power of Selection and\nof taking an Initiative on its own account.\n\nHere, then, we find the _initial_ Polarity of Universal Spirit and\nUniversal Substance, each being the complementary of the other, and out of\nthis relation all subsequent evolution proceeds. Being complementary means\nthat each supplies what is wanting in the other, and that the two together\nthus make complete wholeness. Now this is just the case here. Spirit\nsupplies Selection and Motion. Substance supplies something from which\nselection can be made and to which Motion can be imparted; so that it is a\n_sine qua non_ for the Expression of Spirit.\n\nThen comes the question, How did the Universal Substance get there? It\ncannot have made itself, for its only quality is inertia, therefore it must\nhave come from some source having power to project it by some mode of\naction not of a material nature. Now the only mode of action not of a\nmaterial nature is Thought, and therefore to Thought we must look for the\norigin of Substance. This places us at a point antecedent to the existence\neven of primary substance, and consequently the initial action must be that\nof the Originating Mind upon Itself, in other words, Self-contemplation.\n\nAt this primordial stage neither Time nor Space can be recognized, for both\nimply measurement of successive intervals, and in the primary movement of\nMind upon itself the only consciousness must be that of Present Absolute\nBeing, because no external points exist from which to measure extension\neither in time or space. Hence we must eliminate the ideas of time and\nspace from our conception of Spirit's _initial_ Self-contemplation.\n\nThis being so, Spirit's primary contemplation of itself as simply Being\nnecessarily makes its presence universal and eternal, and consequently,\nparadoxical as it may seem, its independence of Time and Space makes it\npresent throughout all Time and Space. It is the old esoteric maxim that\nthe point expands to infinitude and that infinitude is concentrated in the\npoint. We start, then, with Spirit contemplating itself simply as Being.\nBut to realize your being you must have consciousness, and consciousness\ncan only come by the recognition of your relation to something else. The\nsomething else may be an external fact or a mental image; but even in the\nlatter case to conceive the image at all you must mentally stand back from\nit and look at it--something like the man who was run in by the police at\nGravesend for walking behind himself to see how his new coat fitted. It\nstands thus: if you are not conscious of something you are conscious of\nnothing, and if you are conscious of nothing, then you are unconscious, so\nthat to be conscious at all you must have something to be conscious of.\n\nThis may seem like an extract from \"Paddy's Philosophy,\" but it makes it\nclear that consciousness can only be attained by the recognition of\nsomething which is not the recognizing _ego_ itself--in other words\nconsciousness is the realization of some particular sort of _relation_\nbetween the cognizing subject and the cognized object; but I want to get\naway from academical terms into the speech of human beings, so let us take\nthe illustration of a broom and its handle--the two together make a broom;\nthat is one sort of relation; but take the same stick and put a rake-iron\nat the end of it and you have an altogether different implement. The stick\nremains the same, but the difference of what is put at the end of it makes\nthe whole thing a broom or a rake. Now the thinking and feeling power is\nthe stick, and the conception which it forms is the thing at the end of the\nstick, so that the quality of its consciousness will be determined by the\nideas which it projects; but to be conscious at all it must project ideas\nof some sort.\n\nNow of one thing we may be quite sure, that the Spirit of Life must _feel\nalive_. Then to feel alive it must be conscious, and to be conscious it\nmust have something to be conscious of; therefore the contemplation of\nitself as standing related to something which is not its own originating\nself _in propria persona_ is a necessity of the case; and consequently the\nSelf-contemplation of Spirit can only proceed by its viewing itself as\nrelated to something standing out from itself, just as we must stand at a\nproper distance to see a picture--in fact the very word \"existence\" means\n\"standing out.\" Thus things are called into existence or \"outstandingness\"\nby a power which itself does not stand out, and whose presence is therefore\nindicated by the word \"subsistence.\"\n\nThe next thing is that since in the beginning there is nothing except\nSpirit, its primary feeling of aliveness must be that of being alive _all\nover_; and to establish such a consciousness of its own universal\nlivingness there must be the recognition of a corresponding _relation_\nequally extensive in character; and the only possible correspondence to\nfulfil this condition is therefore that of a universally distributed and\nplastic medium whose particles are all in perfect equilibrium, which is\nexactly the description of the Primary Substance or ether. We are thus\nphilosophically led to the conclusion that Universal Substance must be\nprojected by Universal Spirit as a necessary consequence of Spirit's own\ninherent feeling of Aliveness; and in this way we find that the great\nPrimary Polarity of Being becomes established.\n\nFrom this point onward we shall find the principle of Polarity in universal\nactivity. It is that relation between opposites without which no external\nMotion would be possible, because there would be nowhere to move from, and\nnowhere to move to; and without which external Form would be impossible\nbecause there would be nothing to limit the diffusion of substance and\nbring it into shape. Polarity, or the interaction of Active and Passive, is\ntherefore the basis of all _Evolution_.\n\nThis is a great fundamental truth when we get it in its right order; but\nall through the ages it has been a prolific source of error by getting it\nin its wrong order. And the wrong order consists in making Polarity the\noriginating point of the Creative Process. What this misconception leads to\nwe shall see later on; but since it is very widely accepted under various\nguises even at the present day it is well to be on our guard against it.\nTherefore I wish the student to see clearly that there is something which\ncomes before that Polarity which gives rise to Evolution, and that this\nsomething is the original movement of Spirit _within itself_, of which we\ncan best get an idea by calling it Self-contemplation.\n\nNow this may seem an extremely abstract conception and one with which we\nhave no practical concern. I fancy I can hear the reader saying \"The Lord\nonly knows how the world started, and it is His business and not mine,\"\nwhich would be perfectly true if this originating faculty were confined to\nthe Cosmic Mind. But it is not, and the same action takes place in our own\nminds also, only with the difference that it is ultimately subject to that\nprinciple of Cosmic Unity of which I have already spoken. But, subject to\nthat unifying principle, this same power of origination is in ourselves\nalso, and our personal advance in evolution depends on our right use of it;\nand our use of it depends on our recognition that we ourselves give rise to\nthe particular polarities which express themselves in our whole world of\nconsciousness, whether within or without. For these reasons it is very\nimportant to realize that Evolution is not the same as Creation. It is the\nunfolding of potentialities involved in things already created, but not the\ncalling into existence of what does not yet exist--_that_ is Creation.\n\nThe order, therefore, which I wish the student to observe is, first the\nSelf-contemplation of Spirit producing Polarity, and next Polarity\nproducing Manifestation in Form--and also to realize that it is in this\norder his own mind operates as a subordinate center of creative energy.\nWhen the true place of Polarity is thus recognized, we shall find in it the\nexplanation of all those relations of things which give rise to the whole\nworld of phenomena; from which we may draw the practical inference that if\nwe want to change the manifestation we must change the polarity, and to\nchange the polarity we must get back to the Self-contemplation of Spirit.\nBut in its proper place as the root-principle of all _secondary_ causation,\nPolarity is one of those fundamental facts of which we must never lose\nsight. The term \"Polarity\" is adopted from electrical science. In the\nelectric battery it is the connecting together of the opposite poles of\nzinc and copper that causes a current to flow from one to the other and so\nprovides the energy that rings the bell. If the connection is broken there\nis no action. When you press the button you make the connection. The same\nprocess is repeated in respect of every sort of polarity throughout the\nuniverse. Circulation depends on polarity, and circulation is the\n_manifestation_ of Life, which we may therefore say depends on the\nprinciple of polarity. In relation to ourselves we are concerned with two\ngreat polarities, the polarity of Soul and Body and the polarity of Soul\nand Spirit; and it is in order that he may more clearly realize their\nworking that I want the student to have some preliminary idea of Polarity\nas a general principle.\n\nThe conception of the Creative Order may therefore be generalized as\nfollows. The Spirit wants to enjoy the reality of its own Life--not merely\nto vegetate, but to enjoy giving--and therefore by Self-contemplation it\nprojects a polar opposite, or complementary, calculated to give rise to the\nparticular sort of _relation_ out of which the enjoyment of a certain mode\nof self-consciousness will necessarily spring. Let this sentence be well\npondered over until the full extent of its significance is grasped, for it\nis the key to the whole matter Very well, then: Spirit wants to Enjoy Life,\nand so, by thinking of itself as _having_ the enjoyment which it wishes, it\nproduces the conditions which, by their re-action upon itself, give rise to\nthe reality of the sort of enjoyment contemplated. In more scientific\nlanguage an opposite polarity is induced, giving rise to a current which\nstimulates a particular mode of sensation, which sensation in turn becomes\na fresh starting-point for still further action; and in this way each\nsuccessive stage becomes the stepping-stone to a still higher degree of\nsensation--that is, to a Fuller Enjoyment of Life.\n\nSuch a conception as this presents us with a Progressive Series to which it\nis impossible to assign any limit. That the progression must be limitless\nis clear from the fact that there is never any change in the method. At\neach successive stage the Creating Power is the Self-consciousness of the\nSpirit, as realized at that stage, still reaching forward for yet further\nEnjoyment of Life, and so always keeping on repeating the _one_ Creative\nProcess at an ever-rising level; and since these are the sole working\nconditions, the progress is one which logically admits of no finality. And\nthis is where the importance of realizing the Singleness of the Originating\nPower comes in, for with a Duality each member would limit the other; in\nfact, Duality as the Originating Power is inconceivable, for, once more to\nquote \"Paddy's Philosophy,\" \"finality would be reached before anything was\nbegun.\"\n\nThis Creative Process, therefore, can only be conceived of as limitless,\nwhile at the same time strictly progressive, that is, proceeding stage by\nstage, each stage being necessary as a preparation for the one that is to\nfollow. Let us then briefly sketch the stages by which things in our world\nhave got as far as they have. The interest of the enquiry lies in the fact\nthat if we can once get at the principle which is producing these results,\nwe may discover some way of giving it personal application.\n\nOn the hypothesis of the Self-contemplation of Spirit being the originating\npower, we have found that a primary ether, or universal substance, is the\nnecessary correspondence to Spirit's simple awareness of its own being. But\nthough awareness of being is the necessary foundation for any further\npossibilities it is, so to say, not much to talk about. The foundation\nfact, of course, is to know that I Am; but immediately on this\nconsciousness there follows the desire for Activity--I want to enjoy my I\nAm-ness by doing something with it. Translating these words into a state of\nconsciousness in the Cosmic Mind they become a Law of Tendency leading to\n_localised_ activity, and, looking only at our own world, this would mean\nthe condensation of the universal etheric substance into the primary nebula\nwhich later on becomes our solar system, this being the correspondence to\nthe Self-contemplation of Spirit as passing into specific activity instead\nof remaining absorbed in simple awareness of Being. Then this\nself-recognition would lead to the conception of still more specific\nactivity having its appropriate polar opposite, or material correspondence,\nin the condensation of the nebula into a solar system.\n\nNow at this stage Spirit's conception of itself is that of Activity, and\nconsequently the material correspondence is Motion, as distinguished from\nthe simple diffused ether which is the correspondence of mere awareness of\nBeing, But what sort of motion? Is the material movement evolved at this\nstage bound to take any particular form? A little consideration will show\nus that it is. At this initial stage, the first awakening, so to say, of\nSpirit into activity, its consciousness can only be that of activity\n_absolute_; that is, not as related to any other mode of activity because\nas yet there is none, but only as related to an all-embracing Being; so\nthat the only possible conception of Activity at this stage is that of\n_Self-sustained_ activity, not depending on any preceding mode of activity\nbecause there is none. The law of reciprocity therefore demands a similar\nself-sustained motion in the material correspondence, and mathematical\nconsiderations show that the only sort of motion which can sustain a\nself-supporting body moving _in vacuo_ is a rotary motion bringing the body\nitself into a spherical form. Now this is exactly what we find at both\nextremes of the material world. At the big end the spheres of the planets\nrotating on their axes and revolving round the sun; and at the little end\nthe spheres of the atoms consisting of particles which, modern science\ntells us, in like manner rotate round a common center at distances which\nare astronomical as compared with their own mass. Thus the two ultimate\nunits of physical manifestation, the atom and the planet, both follow the\nsame law of self-sustained motion which we have found that, on _a priori_\ngrounds, they ought in order to express the primary activity of Spirit. And\nwe may note in passing that this rotary, or _absolute_, motion is the\ncombination of the only two possible _relative_ modes of motion, namely,\nmotion from a point and motion to it, that is to say centrifugal and\ncentripetal motion; so that in rotary, or absolute, motion we find that\nboth the polarities of motion are included, thus repeating on the purely\nmechanical side the primordial principle of the Unity including the Duality\nin itself.\n\nBut the Spirit wants something more than mechanical motion, something more\nalive than the preliminary Rota, and so the first step toward\nindividualized consciousness meets us in plant life. Then on the principle\nthat each successive stage affords the platform for a further outlook,\nplant life is followed by animal life, and this by the Human order in which\nthe liberty of selecting its own conditions is immensely extended. In this\nway the Spirit's expression of itself has now reached the point where its\npolar complementary, or Reciprocal, manifests as Intellectual Man--thus\nconstituting the Fourth great stage of Spirit's Self-recognition. But the\nCreative Process cannot stop here, for, as we have seen, its root in the\nSelf-contemplation of Spirit renders it of necessity an Infinite\nProgression. So it is no use asking what is its ultimate, for it has no\nultimate--its word is \"Excelsior\"--ever Life and \"Life more Abundant.\"\nTherefore the question is not as to finality where there is none, but as to\nthe next step in the progression. Four kingdoms we know: what is to be the\nFifth? All along the line the progress has been in one direction, namely,\ntoward the development of more perfect Individuality, and therefore on the\nprinciple of continuity we may reasonably infer that the next stage will\ntake us still further in the same direction. We want something more perfect\nthan we have yet reached, but our ideas as to what it should be are very\nvarious, not to say discordant, for one person's idea of better is another\nperson's idea of worse. Therefore what we want to get at is some broad\ngeneralization of principle which will be in advance of our past\nexperiences. This means that we must look for this principle in something\nthat we have not yet experienced, and the only place where we can possibly\nfind principles which have not yet manifested themselves is _in gremio\nDei_--that is, in the innermost of the Originating Spirit, or as St. John\ncalls it, \"in the bosom of the Father.\" So we are logically brought to\npersonal participation in the Divine Ideal as the only principle by which\nthe advance into the next stage can possibly be made. Therefore we arrive\nat the question, What is the Divine Ideal like?\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nTHE DIVINE IDEAL\n\n\nWhat is the Divine Ideal? At first it might appear hopeless to attempt to\nanswer such a question, but by adhering to a definite principle we shall\nfind that it will open out, and lead us on, and show us things which we\ncould not otherwise have seen--this is the nature of principle, and is what\ndistinguishes it from mere rules which are only the application of\nprinciple under some particular set of conditions. We found two principles\nas essential in our conception of the Originating Spirit, namely its power\nof Selection and its power of Initiative; and we found a third principle as\nits only possible Motive, namely the Desire of the LIVING for ever\nincreasing Enjoyment of Life. Now with these three principles as the very\nessence of the All-originating Spirit to guide us, we shall, I think, be\nable to form some conception of that Divine Ideal which gives rise to the\nFifth Stage of Manifestation of Spirit, upon which we should now be\npreparing to enter.\n\nWe have seen that the Spirit's Enjoyment of Life is necessarily a\n_reciprocal_--it must have a corresponding fact in manifestation to answer\nto it; otherwise by the inherent law of mind no consciousness, and\nconsequently no enjoyment, could accrue; and therefore by the law of\ncontinuous progression the required Reciprocal should manifest as a being\nawakening to the consciousness of the principle by which he himself comes\ninto existence.\n\nSuch an awakening cannot proceed from a comparison of one set of existing\nconditions with another, but only from the recognition of a Power which is\nindependent of all conditions, that is to say, the absolute Self-dependence\nof the Spirit. A being thus awakened would be the proper correspondence of\nthe Spirit's Enjoyment of Life at a stage not only above mechanical motion\nor physical vitality, but even above intellectual perception of existing\nphenomena, that is to say at the stage where the Spirit's Enjoyment\nconsists in recognizing itself as the Source of all things. The position in\nthe Absolute would be, so to speak, the awakening of Spirit to the\nrecognition of its own Artistic Ability. I use the word \"Artistic\" as more\nnearly expressing an almost unstatable idea than any other I can think of,\nfor the work of the artist approaches more closely to creation _ex nihilo_\nthan any other form of human activity. The work of the artist is the\nexpression of the self that the artist is, while that of the scientist is\nthe comparison of facts which exist independently of his own personality.\nIt is true that the realm of Art is not without its methods of analysis,\nbut the analysis is that of the artist's own feeling and of the causes\nwhich give rise to it. These are found to contain in themselves certain\nprinciples which are fundamental to all Art, but these principles are the\nlaws of the creative action of mind rather than those of the limitations of\nmatter. Now if we may transfer this familiar analogy to our conception of\nthe working of the All-Originating Mind we may picture it as the Great\nArtist giving visible expression to His feeling by a process which, though\nsubject to no restriction from antecedent conditions, yet works by a Law\nwhich is inseparable from the Feeling itself--in fact the Law _is_ the\nFeeling, and the Feeling _is_ the Law, the Law of Perfect Creativeness.\n\nSome such Self-contemplation as this is the only way in which we can\nconceive the next, or Fifth, stage of Spirit's Self-recognition as taking\nplace. Having got as far as it has in the four previous stages, that is to\nthe production of intellectual man as its correspondence, the next step in\nadvance must be on the lines I have indicated--unless, indeed, there were a\nsudden and arbitrary breaking of the Law of Continuity, a supposition which\nthe whole Creative Process up to now forbids us to entertain. Therefore we\nmay picture the Fifth stage of the Self-contemplation of Spirit as its\nawakening to the recognition of its own Artistic Ability, its own absolute\nfreedom of action and creative power--just as in studio parlance we say\nthat an artist becomes \"free of his palette.\" But by the always present Law\nof Reciprocity, through which alone self-consciousness can be attained,\nthis Self-recognition of Spirit in the Absolute implies a corresponding\nobjective fact in the world of the Relative; that is to say, the coming\ninto manifestation of a being capable of realizing the Free Creative\nArtistry of the Spirit, and of recognizing the same principle in himself,\nwhile at the same time realizing also the _relation_ between the Universal\nManifesting Principle and its Individual Manifestation.\n\nSuch, it appears to me, must be the conception of the Divine Ideal embodied\nin the Fifth Stage of the progress of manifestation. But I would draw\nparticular attention to the concluding words of the last paragraph, for if\nwe miss the _relation_ between the Universal Manifesting Principle and its\nIndividual Manifestation, we have failed to realize the Principle\naltogether, whether in the Universal or in the Individual--it is just their\ninteraction that makes each become what it does become--and in this further\nbecoming consists the progression. This relation proceeds from the\nprinciple I pointed out in the opening chapter which makes it necessary for\nthe Universal Spirit to be always harmonious with itself; and if this Unity\nis not recognized by the individual he cannot hold that position of\nReciprocity to the Originating Spirit which will enable it to recognize\nitself as in the Enjoyment of Life at the higher level we are now\ncontemplating--rather the feeling conveyed would be that of something\nantagonistic, producing the reverse of enjoyment, thus philosophically\nbringing out the point of the Scriptural injunction, \"Grieve not the\nSpirit.\" Also the re-action upon the individual must necessarily give rise\nto a corresponding state of inharmony, though he may not be able to define\nhis feeling of unrest or to account for it. But on the other hand if the\ngrand harmony of the Originating Spirit within itself is duly regarded,\nthen the individual mind affords a fresh center from which the Spirit\ncontemplates itself in what I have ventured to call its Artistic\nOriginality--a boundless potential of Creativeness, yet always regulated by\nits own inherent Law of Unity.\n\nAnd this Law of the Spirit's Original Unity is a very simple one. It is the\nSpirit's necessary and basic conception of itself. A lie is a statement\nthat something is, which is not. Then, since the Spirit's statement or\nconception of anything necessarily makes that thing exist, it is logically\nimpossible for it to conceive a lie. Therefore the Spirit is Truth.\nSimilarly disease and death are the negative of Life, and therefore the\nSpirit, as the Principle of Life, cannot embody disease or death in its\nSelf-contemplation. In like manner also, since it is free to produce what\nit will, the Spirit cannot desire the presence of repugnant forms, and so\none of its inherent Laws must be Beauty. In this threefold Law of Truth,\nLife, and Beauty, we find the whole underlying nature of the Spirit, and no\naction on the part of the individual can be at variance with the\nOriginating Unity which does not contravert these fundamental principles.\n\nThis it will be seen leaves the individual absolutely unfettered except in\nthe direction of breaking up the fundamental harmony on which he himself,\nas included in the general creation, is dependent. This certainly cannot be\ncalled limitation, and we are all free to follow the lines of our own\nindividuality in every other direction; so that, although the recognition\nof our relation to the Originating Spirit safeguards us from injuring\nourselves or others, it in no way restricts our liberty of action or\nnarrows our field of development. Am I, then, trying to base my action upon\na fundamental desire for the opening out of Truth, for the increasing of\nLivingness, and for the creating of Beauty? Have I got this as an ever\npresent Law of Tendency at the back of my thought? If so, then this law\nwill occupy precisely the same place in My Microcosm, or personal world,\nthat it does in the Macrocosm, or great world, as a power which is in\nitself formless, but which by reason of its presence necessarily impresses\nits character upon all that the creative energy forms. On this basis the\ncreative energy of the Universal Mind may be safely trusted to work through\nthe specializing influence of our own thought[1] and we may adopt the maxim\n\"trust your desires\" because we know that they are the movement of the\nUniversal in ourselves, and that being based upon our fundamental\nrecognition of the Life, Love, and Beauty which the Spirit is, their\nunfoldments must carry these initial qualities with them all down the line,\nand thus, in however small a degree, becomes a portion of the working of\nthe Spirit in its inherent creativeness.\n\nThis perpetual Creativeness of the Spirit is what we must never lose sight\nof, and that is why I want the student to grasp clearly the idea of the\nSpirit's Self-contemplation as the only possible root of the Creative\nProcess. Not only at the first creation of the world, but at all times the\nplane of the innermost is that of Pure Spirit,[2] and therefore at this,\nthe originating point, there is nothing else for Spirit to contemplate\nexcepting itself; then this Self-contemplation produces corresponding\nmanifestation, and since Self-contemplation or recognition of its own\nexistence must necessarily go on continually, the corresponding\ncreativeness must always be at work. If this fundamental idea be clearly\ngrasped we shall see that incessant and progressive creativeness is the\nvery essence and being of Spirit. This is what is meant by the\nAffirmativeness of the Spirit. It cannot _per se_ act negatively, that is\nto say uncreatively, for by the very nature of its Self-recognition such a\nnegative action would be impossible. Of course if _we_ act negatively then,\nsince the Spirit is always acting affirmatively, we are moving in the\nopposite direction to it; and consequently so long as we regard our own\nnegative action as being affirmative, the Spirit's action must appear to us\nnegative, and thus it is that all the negative conditions of the world have\ntheir root in negative or inverted thought: but the more we bring our\nthought into harmony with the Life, Love, and Beauty which the Spirit is,\nthe less these inverted conditions will obtain, until at last they will be\neliminated altogether. To accomplish this is our great object; for though\nthe progress may be slow it will be steady if we proceed on a definite\nprinciple; and to lay hold of the true principle is the purpose of our\nstudies. And the principle to lay hold of is the Ceaseless Creativeness of\nSpirit. This is what we mean when we speak of it as The Spirit of the\nAffirmative, and I would ask my readers to impress this term upon their\nminds. Once grant that the All-originating Spirit is thus the Spirit of the\nPure Affirmative, and we shall find that this will lead us logically to\nresults of the highest value.\n\nIf, then, we keep this Perpetual and Progressive Creativeness of the Spirit\ncontinually in mind we may rely upon its working as surely in ourselves as\nin that great cosmic forward movement which we speak of as Evolution. It is\nthe same power of Evolution working within ourselves, only with this\ndifference, that in proportion as we come to realize its nature we find\nourselves able to facilitate its progress by offering more and more\nfavorable conditions for its working. We do not add to the force of the\nPower, for we are products of it and so cannot generate what generates\n_us_; but by providing suitable conditions we can more and more highly\nspecialize it. This is the method of all the advance that has ever been\nmade. We never create any force (_e.g._ electricity) but we provide special\nconditions under which the force manifests _itself_ in a variety of useful\nand beautiful ways, unsuspected possibilities which lay hidden in the power\nuntil brought to light by the cooperation of the Personal Factor.\n\nNow it is precisely the introduction[3] of this Personal Factor that\nconcerns us, because to all eternity we can only recognize things from our\nown center of consciousness, whether in this world or in any other;\ntherefore the practical question is how to specialize in our own case the\n_generic_ Originating Life which, when we give it a name, we call \"the\nSpirit.\" The method of doing this is perfectly logical when we once see\nthat the principle involved is that of the Self-recognition of Spirit. We\nhave traced the _modus operandi_ of the Creative Process sufficiently far\nto see that the existence of the cosmos is the result of the Spirit's\nseeing itself _in_ the cosmos, and if this be the law of the whole it must\nalso be the law of the part. But there is this difference, that so long as\nthe normal average relation of particles is maintained the whole continues\nto subsist, no matter what position any particular particle may go into,\njust as a fountain continues to exist no matter whether any particular drop\nof water is down in the basin or at the top of the jet. This is the\n_generic_ action which keeps the race going as a whole. But the question\nis, What is going to become of ourselves? Then because the law of the whole\nis also the law of the part we may at once say that what is wanted is for\nthe Spirit _to see itself in us_--in other words, to find in us the\nReciprocal which, as we have seen, is necessary to its Enjoyment of a\ncertain Quality of Consciousness. Now, the fundamental consciousness of the\nSpirit must be that of Self-sustaining Life, and for the full enjoyment of\nthis consciousness there must be a corresponding _individual_ consciousness\nreciprocating it; and on the part of the individual such a consciousness\ncan only arise from the recognition that his own life is identical with\nthat of the Spirit--not something sent forth to wander away by itself, but\nsomething included in and forming part of the Greater Life. Then by the\nvery conditions of the case, such a contemplation on the part of the\nindividual is nothing else than the Spirit contemplating itself from the\nstandpoint of the individual consciousness, and thus fulfilling the Law of\nthe Creative Process under such specialized conditions as must logically\nresult in the perpetuation of the individual life. It is the Law of the\nCosmic Creative Process transferred to the individual.\n\nThis, it seems to me, is the Divine Ideal: that of an Individuality which\nrecognizes its Source, and recognizes also the method by which it springs\nfrom that Source, and which is therefore able to open up in itself a\nchannel by which that Source can flow in uninterruptedly; with the result\nthat from the moment of this recognition the individual lives directly from\nthe Originating Life, as being himself _a special direct creation_, and not\nmerely as being a member of a generic race. The individual who has reached\nthis stage of recognition thus finds a principle of enduring life _within\nhimself_; so then the next question is in what way this principle is likely\nto manifest itself.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nTHE MANIFESTATION OF THE LIFE PRINCIPLE\n\n\nWe must bear in mind that what we have now reached is a principle, or\nuniversal potential, only we have located it in the individual. But a\nprinciple, as such, is not manifestation. Manifestation is the growth\nproceeding _from_ the principle, that is to say, some Form in which the\nprinciple becomes active. At the same time we must recollect that, though a\nform is necessary for manifestation, _the_ form is not essential, for the\nsame principle may manifest through various forms, just as electricity may\nwork either through a lamp or a tram-car without in any way changing its\ninherent nature. In this way we are brought to the conclusion that the\nLife-principle must always provide itself with a body in which to function,\nthough it does not follow that this body must always be of the same\nchemical constitution as the one we now possess. We might well imagine some\ndistant planet where the chemical combinations with which we are familiar\non earth did not obtain; but if the essential life-principle of any\nindividual were transported thither, then by the Law of the Creative\nProcess it would proceed to clothe itself with a material body drawn from\nthe atmosphere and substance of that planet; and the personality thus\nproduced would be quite at home there, for all his surroundings would be\nperfectly natural to him, however different the laws of Nature might be\nthere from what we know here.\n\nIn such a conception as this we find the importance of the two leading\nprinciples to which I have drawn attention--first, the power of the Spirit\nto create _ex nihilo_, and secondly, the individual's recognition of the\nbasic principle of Unity giving permanence and solidity to the frame of\nNature. By the former the self-recognizing life-principle could produce any\nsort of body it chose; and by the latter it would be led to project one in\nharmony with the natural order of the particular planet, thus making all\nthe facts of that order solid realities to the individual, and himself a\nsolid and natural being to the other inhabitants of that world. But this\nwould not do away with the individual's knowledge of how he got there; and\nso, supposing him to have realized his identity with the Universal\nLife-Principle sufficiently to consciously control the projection of his\nown body, he could at will disintegrate the body which accorded with the\nconditions of one planet and constitute one which accorded just as\nharmoniously with those of another, and could thus function on any number\nof planets as a perfectly natural being on each of them. He would in all\nrespects resemble the other inhabitants with one all-important exception,\nthat since he had attained to unity with his Creative Principle he would\nnot be tied by the laws of matter as they were.\n\nAny one who should attain to such a power could only do so by his\nrealization of the all-embracing Unity of the Spirit as being the\nFoundation of all things; and this being the basis of his own extended\npowers he would be the last to controvert his own basic principle by\nemploying his powers in such a way as to disturb the natural course of\nevolution in the world where he was. He might use them to help forward the\nevolution of others in that world, but certainly never to disturb it, for\nhe would always act on the maxim that \"Order is Heaven's First Law.\"\n\nOur object, however, is not to transfer ourselves to other planets but to\nget the best out of this one; but we shall not get the best out of this one\nuntil we realize that the power which will enable us to do so is so\nabsolutely universal and fundamental that its application in this world is\nprecisely the same as in any other, and that is why I have stated it as a\ngeneral proposition applicable to all worlds.\n\nThe principle being thus universal there is no reason why we should\npostpone its application till we find ourselves in another world, and the\nbest place and time to begin are Here and Now. The starting point is not in\ntime or locality, but in the mode of Thought; and if we realize that this\nPoint of Origination is Spirit's power to produce something out of nothing,\nand that it does this in accordance with the natural order of substance of\nthe particular world in which it is working, then the spiritual ego in\nourselves, as proceeding direct from the Universal Spirit, should be able\nfirst, to so harmoniously combine the working of spiritual and physical\nlaws in its own body as to keep it in perfect health, secondly to carry\nthis process further and renew the body, thus eradicating the effects of\nold age, and thirdly to carry the process still further and perpetuate this\nrenewed body as long as the individual might desire.\n\nIf the student shows this to one of his average acquaintances who has never\ngiven any thought to these things, his friend will undoubtedly exclaim\n\"Tommy rot!\" even if he does not use a stronger expletive. He will at once\nappeal to the past experience of all mankind, his argument being that what\nhas not been in the past cannot be in the future; yet he does not apply the\nsame argument to aeronautics and is quite oblivious of the fact that the\nSacred Volume which he reverences contains promises of these very things.\nThe really earnest student must never forget the maxim that \"Principle is\nnot bound by Precedent\"--if it were we should still be primitive savages.\n\nTo use the Creative Process we must Affirm the Creative Power, that is to\nsay, we must go back to the Beginning of the series and start with Pure\nSpirit, only remembering that this starting-point is now to be found _in\nourselves_, for this is what distinguishes the individual Creative Process\nfrom the cosmic one. This is where the importance of realizing only ONE\nOriginating Power instead of two interacting powers comes in, for it means\nthat we do not derive our power from any existing polarity, but that we are\ngoing to establish polarities which will start secondary causation on the\nlines which we thus determine. This also is where the importance comes in\nof recognizing that the only possible originating movement of spirit must\nbe Self-contemplation, for this shows us that we do not have to contemplate\nexisting conditions but the Divine Ideal, and that this contemplation of\nthe Divine Ideal of Man is the Self-contemplation of the Spirit from the\nstandpoint of Human Individuality.\n\nThen the question arises, if these principles are true, why are we not\ndemonstrating them? Well, when our fundamental principle is obviously\ncorrect and yet we do not get the proper results, the only inference is\nthat somewhere or other we have introduced something antagonistic to the\nfundamental principle, something not inherent in the principle itself and\nwhich therefore owes its presence to some action of our own. Now the error\nconsists in the belief that the Creative Power is limited by the material\nin which it works. If this be assumed, then you have to calculate the\nresistances offered by the material; and since by the terms of the Creative\nProcess these resistances do not really exist, you have no basis of\ncalculation at all--in fact you have no means of knowing where you are, and\neverything is in confusion. This is why it is so important to remember that\nthe Creative Process is the action of a Single Power, and that the\ninteraction of two opposite polarities comes in at a later stage, and is\nnot creative, but only distributive--that is to say, it localizes the\nEnergy already proceeding from the Single Power. This is a fundamental\ntruth which should never be lost sight of. So long, however, as we fail to\nsee this truth we necessarily limit the Creative Power by the material it\nworks in, and in practise we do this by referring to past experience as the\nonly standard of judgment. We are measuring the Fifth Kingdom by the\nstandard of the Fourth, as though we should say that an intellectual man, a\nbeing of the Fourth Kingdom, was to be limited by the conditions which\nobtain in the First or Mineral Kingdom--to use Scriptural language we are\nseeking the Living among the dead.\n\nAnd moreover at the present time a new order of experience is beginning to\nopen out to us, for well authenticated instances of the cure of disease by\nthe invisible power of the Spirit are steadily increasing in number. The\nfacts are now too patent to be denied--what we want is a better knowledge\nof the power which accounts for them. And if this beginning is now with us,\nby what reason can we limit it? The difference between the healing of\ndisease and the renewal of the entire organism and the perpetuation of life\nis only a difference of degree and not of kind; so that the actual\nexperience of increasing numbers shows the working of a principle to which\nwe can logically set no limits.\n\nIf we get the steps of the Creative Process clearly into our minds we shall\nsee why we have hitherto had such small results.\n\n    Spirit creates by Self-contemplation;\n    Therefore, What it contemplates itself\n      as being, that it becomes.\n    You are individualized Spirit;\n    Therefore, What you contemplate as\n    the Law of your being becomes the\n    Law of your being.\n\nHence, contemplate a Law of Death arising out of the Forces of the Material\nreacting against the Power of the Spirit and overcoming it, and you impress\nthis mode of self-recognition upon Spirit in yourself. Of course you cannot\nalter its inherent nature, but you cause it to work under negative\nconditions and thus make it produce negative results so far as you yourself\nare concerned.\n\nBut reverse the process, and contemplate a Law of Life as inherent in the\nvery Being of the Spirit, and therefore as inherent in spirit in yourself;\nand contemplate the forces of the Material as practically non-existent in\nthe Creative Process, because they are products of it and not causes--look\nat things in this way and you will impress a corresponding conception upon\nthe Spirit which, by the Law of Reciprocity, thus enters into\nSelf-contemplation on _these_ lines from the standpoint of your own\nindividuality; and then by the nature of the Creative Process a\ncorresponding externalization is bound to take place. Thus our initial\nquestion, How did anything come into existence at all, brings us to the\nrecognition of a Law of Life which we may each specialize for ourselves;\nand in the degree to which we specialize it we shall find the Creative\nPrinciple at work within us building up a healthier and happier personality\nin mind, body, and circumstances.\n\nOnly we must learn to distinguish the vehicles of Spirit from Spirit\nitself, for the distinction has very important bearings. What distinguishes\nthe vehicles from the Spirit is the Law of Growth. The Spirit is the\nFormless principle of Life, and the vehicle is a Form in which this\nprinciple functions. Now the vehicle is a projection by the Spirit of\nsubstance coordinate with the natural order of the plane on which the\nvehicle functions, and therefore requires to be built up comformably to\nthat order. This building up is what we speak of as Growth; and since the\nprinciple which causes the growth is the individualized Spirit, the rate at\nwhich the growth will go on will depend on the amount of vitalizing energy\nthe Spirit puts into it, and the amount of vitalizing energy will depend on\nthe degree in which the individualized Spirit appreciates its own\nlivingness, and finally the degree of this appreciation will depend on the\nquality of the individual's perception of the Great All-originating Spirit\nas reflecting itself in him and thus making his contemplation of It nothing\nelse than the Creative Self-contemplation of the Spirit proceeding from an\nindividual and personal center. We must therefore not omit the Law of\nGrowth in the vehicle from our conception of the working of the Spirit. As\na matter of fact the vehicle has nothing to say in the matter for it is\nsimply a projection from the Spirit; but for this very reason its formation\nwill be slow or rapid in exact proportion to the individual spirit's\nvitalizing conception. We could imagine a degree of vitalizing conception\nthat would produce the corresponding form instantaneously, but at present\nwe must allow for the weakness of our spiritual power--not as thinking it\nby any means incapable of accomplishing its object, but as being far slower\nin operation now than we hope to see it in the future--and so we must not\nallow ourselves to be discouraged, but must hold our thought knowing that\nit is doing its creative work, and that the corresponding growth is slowly\nbut surely taking place--thus following the Divine precept that men ought\nalways to pray and not to faint. Gradually as we gain experience on these\nnew lines our confidence in the power of the Spirit will increase, and we\nshall be less inclined to argue from the negative side of things, and thus\nthe hindrances to the inflow of the Originating Spirit will be more and\nmore removed, and greater and greater results will be obtained.\n\nIf we would have our minds clear on this subject of Manifestation we should\nremember its threefold nature:--First the General Life-Principle, secondly\nthe Localization of this principle in the Individual, and thirdly the\nGrowth of the Vehicle as it is projected by the individualized spirit with\nmore or less energy. It is a sequence of progressive condensation from the\nUndifferentiated Universal Spirit to the ultimate and outermost vehicle--a\ntruth enshrined in the esoteric maxim that \"Matter is Spirit at its lowest\nlevel.\"\n\nThe forms thus produced are in true accord with the general order of Nature\non the particular plane where they occur, and are therefore perfectly\ndifferent from forms temporarily consolidated out of material drawn from\nother living organisms. These latter phantasmal bodies are held together\nonly by an act of concentrated volition, and can therefore only be\nmaintained for a short time and with effort; while the body which the\nindividualized spirit, or ego, builds for itself is produced by a perfectly\nnatural process and does not require any effort to sustain it, since it is\nkept in touch with the whole system of the planet by the continuous and\neffortless action of the individual's sub-conscious mind.\n\nThis is where the action of sub-conscious mind as the builder of the body\ncomes in. Sub-conscious mind acts in accordance with the aggregate of\nsuggestion impressed upon it by the conscious mind, and if this suggestion\nis that of perfect harmony with the physical laws of the planet then a\ncorresponding building by the sub-conscious mind will take place, a process\nwhich, so far from implying any effort, consists rather in a restful sense\nof unity with Nature.[4]\n\nAnd if to this sense of union with the Soul of Nature, that Universal\nSub-conscious Mind which holds in the cosmos the same place that the\nsub-conscious mind does in ourselves--if to this there be superadded a\nsense of union with the All-creating Spirit from which the Soul of Nature\nflows, then through the medium of the individual's sub-conscious mind such\nspecialized effects can be produced in his body as to transcend our past\nexperiences without in any way violating the order of the universe. The Old\nLaw was the manifestation of the Principle of Life working under\nconstricted conditions: the New Law is the manifestation of the same\nPrinciple working under expanding conditions. Thus it is that though God\nnever changes we are said to \"increase with the increase of God.\"\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nTHE PERSONAL FACTOR\n\n\nI have already pointed out that the presence of a single all-embracing\nCosmic Mind is an absolute necessity for the existence of any creation\nwhatever, for the reason that if each individual mind were an entirely\nseparate center of perception, not linked to all other minds by a common\nground of underlying mentality independent of all individual action, then\nno two persons would see the same thing at the same time, in fact no two\nindividuals would be conscious of living in the same world. If this were\nthe case there would be no common standard to which to refer our\nsensations; and, indeed, coming into existence with no consciousness of\nenvironment except such as we could form by our own unaided thought, and\nhaving by the hypothesis no standard by which to form our thoughts, we\ncould not form the conception of any environment at all, and consequently\ncould have no recognition of our own existence. The confusion of thought\ninvolved even in the attempt to state such a condition shows it to be\nperfectly inconceivable, for the simple reason that it is\nself-contradictory and self-destructive. On this account it is clear that\nour own existence and that of the world around us necessarily implies the\npresence of a Universal Mind acting on certain _fixed lines of its own_\nwhich establish the basis for the working of all individual minds. This\nparamount action of the Universal Mind thus sets an unchangeable standard\nby which all individual mental action must eventually be measured, and\ntherefore our first concern is to ascertain what this standard is and to\nmake it the basis of our own action.\n\nBut if the independent existence of a common standard of reference is\nnecessary for our self-recognition simply as inhabitants of the world we\nlive in, then _a fortiori_ a common standard of reference is necessary for\nour recognition of the unique place we hold in the Creative Order, which is\nthat of introducing the Personal Factor without which the possibilities\ncontained in the great Cosmic Laws would remain undeveloped, and the\nSelf-contemplation of Spirit could never reach those infinite unfoldments\nof which it is logically capable.\n\nThe evolution of the Personal Factor is therefore the point with which we\nare most concerned. As a matter of fact, whatever theories we may hold to\nthe contrary, we do all realize the same cosmic environment in the same\nway; that is to say, our minds all act according to certain generic laws\nwhich underlie all our individual diversities of thought and feeling. This\nis so because we are made that way and cannot help it. But with the\nPersonal Factor the case is different. A standard is no less necessary, but\nwe are not so made as to conform to it automatically. The very conception\nof automatic conformity to a _personal_ standard is self-contradictory, for\nit does away with the very thing that constitutes personality, namely\nfreedom of volition, the use of the powers of Initiative and Selection. For\nthis reason conformity to the Standard of Personality must be a matter of\nchoice, which amounts to the same thing as saying that it rests with each\nindividual to form his own conception of a standard of Personality; but\nwhich liberty, however, carries with it the inevitable result that we shall\nbring into manifestation the _conditions_ corresponding to the sort of\npersonality we accept as our normal standard.\n\nI would draw attention to the words \"Normal Standard.\" What we shall\neventually attain is, not what we merely wish, but what we regard as\nnormal. The reason is that since we sub-consciously know ourselves to be\nbased upon the inherent Law of the Universal Mind we feel, whether we can\nreason it out or not, that we cannot force the All-producing Mind to work\ncontrary to its own inherent qualities, and therefore we intuitively\nrecognize that we cannot transcend the sort of personality which is normal\naccording to the Law of Universal Mind. This thought is always at the back\nof our mind and we cannot get away from it for the simple reason that it is\ninherent in our mental constitution, because our mind is itself a product\nof the Creative Process; and to suppose ourselves transcending the\npossibilities contained in the Originating Mind would involve the absurdity\nof supposing that we can get the greater out of the less.\n\nNevertheless there are some who try to do so, and their position is as\nfollows. They say in effect, I want to transcend the standard of humanity\nas I see it around me. But this is the normal standard according to the Law\nof the Universe, therefore I have to get above the Law of the Universe.\nConsequently I cannot draw the necessary power from that Law, and so there\nis nowhere else to get it except from myself. Thus the aspirant is thrown\nback upon his own individual will as the ultimate power, with the result\nthat the onus lies on him of concentrating a force sufficient to overcome\nthe Law of the Universe. There is thus continually present to him a\nsuggestion of struggle against a tremendous opposing force, and as a\nconsequence he is continually subjecting himself to a strain which grows\nmore and more intense as he realizes the magnitude of the force against\nwhich he is contending. Then as he begins to realize the inequality of the\nstruggle he seeks for extraneous aid, and so he falls back on various\nexpedients, all of which have this in common that they ultimately amount to\ninvoking the assistance of other individualities, not seeing that this\ninvolves the same fallacy which has brought him to his present straits, the\nfallacy, namely, of supposing that any individuality can develop a power\ngreater than that of the source from which itself proceeds. The fallacy is\na radical one; and therefore all efforts based upon it are fore-doomed to\nultimate failure, whether they take the form of reliance on personal force\nof will, or magical rites, or austerity practised against the body, or\nattempts by abnormal concentration to absorb the individual in the\nuniversal, or the invocation of spirits, or any other method--the same\nfallacy is involved in them all, that the less is larger than the greater.\n\nNow the point to be noted is that the idea of transcending the present\nconditions of humanity does not necessarily imply the idea of transcending\nthe normal law of humanity. The mistake we have hitherto made has been in\nfixing the Standard of Personality too low and in taking our past\nexperiences as measuring the ultimate possibilities of the race. Our\nliberty consists in our ability to form our own conception of the Normal\nStandard of Personality, only subject to the conditions arising out of the\ninherent Law of the underlying Universal Mind; and so the whole thing\nresolves itself into the question, What are those fundamental conditions?\nThe Law is that we cannot transcend the Normal; therefore comes the\nquestion, What is the Normal?\n\nI have endeavored to answer this question in the chapter on the Divine\nIdeal, but since this is the crucial point of the whole subject we may\ndevote a little further attention to it. The Normal Standard of Personality\nmust necessarily be the reproduction in Individuality of what the Universal\nMind is in itself, because, by the nature of the Creative Process, this\nstandard results from Spirit's Self-contemplation at the stage where its\nrecognition is turned toward its own power of Initiative and Selection. At\nthis stage Spirit's Self-recognition has passed beyond that of\nSelf-expression through a mere Law of Averages into the recognition of what\nI have ventured to call its Artistic Ability; and as we have seen that\nSelf-recognition at any stage can only be attained by the realization of a\n_relation_ stimulating that particular sort of consciousness, it follows\nthat for the purpose of this further advance expression through individuals\nof a corresponding type is a necessity. Then by the Law of Reciprocity such\nbeings must possess powers similar to those contemplated in itself by the\nOriginating Spirit, in other words they must be in their own sphere the\nimage and likeness of the Spirit as it sees itself.\n\nNow we have seen that the Creating Spirit necessarily possesses the powers\nof Initiative and Selection. These we may call its _active_ properties--the\nsumming up of what it _does_. But what any power does depends on what it\n_is_, for the simple reason that it cannot give out what it does not\ncontain; therefore at the back of the initiative and selective power of the\nSpirit we must find what the Spirit _is_, namely, what are its\n_substantive_ properties. To begin with it must be Life. Then because it is\nLife it must be Love, because as the undifferentiated Principle of Life it\ncannot do otherwise than tend to the fuller development of life in each\nindividual, and the pure motive of giving greater enjoyment of life is\nLove. Then because it is Life guided by Love it must also be Light, that is\nto say, the primary all-inclusive perception of boundless manifestations\nyet to be. Then from this proceeds Power, because there is no opposing\nforce at the level of Pure Spirit; and therefore Life urged forward by Love\nor the desire for recognition, and by Light or the pure perception of the\nLaw of Infinite Possibility, must necessarily produce Power, for the simple\nreason that under these conditions it could not stop short of action, for\nthat would be the denial of the Life, Love, and Light which it is. Then\nbecause the Spirit is Life, Love, Light, and Power, it is also Peace, again\nfor a very simple reason, that being the Spirit of the Whole it cannot set\none part in antagonism against another, for that would be to destroy the\nwholeness. Next the Spirit must be Beauty, because on the same principle of\nWholeness it must duly proportion every part to every other part, and the\ndue proportioning of all parts is beauty. And lastly the Spirit must be\nJoy, because, working on these lines, it cannot do otherwise than find\npleasure in the Self-expression which its works afford it, and in the\ncontemplation of the limitlessness of the Creative Process by which each\nrealized stage of evolution, however excellent, is still the stepping-stone\nto something yet more excellent, and so on in everlasting progression.\n\nFor these reasons we may sum up the Substantive Being of the\nAll-originating Spirit as Life, Love, Light, Power, Peace, Beauty, and Joy;\nand its Active Power as that of Initiative and Selection. These, therefore,\nconstitute the basic laws of the underlying universal mentality which sets\nthe Standard of Normal Personality--a standard which, when seen in this\nlight, transcends the utmost scope of our thought, for it is nothing else\nthan the Spirit of the Infinite Affirmative conceived in Human Personality.\nThis standard is therefore that of the Universal Spirit itself reproduced\nin Human Individuality by the same Law of Reciprocity which we have found\nto be the fundamental law of the Creative Process--only now we are tracing\nthe action of this Law in the Fifth Kingdom instead of in the Fourth.\n\nThis Standard, then, we may call the Universal Principle of Humanity, and\nhaving now traced the successive steps by which it is reached from the\nfirst cosmic movement of the Spirit in the formation of the primary nebula,\nwe need not go over the old ground again, and may henceforward take this\nDivine Principle of Humanity as our Normal Standard and make it the\nstarting point for our further evolution. But how are we to do this? Simply\nby using the one method of Creative Process, that is, the\nSelf-contemplation of Spirit. We now know ourselves to be Reciprocals of\nthe Divine Spirit, centers in which It finds a fresh standpoint for\nSelf-contemplation; and so the way to rise to the heights of this Great\nPattern is by contemplating it as the Normal Standard of our own\nPersonality.\n\nAnd be it noted that the Pattern thus set before us is Universal. It is the\nembodiment of all the great principles of the Affirmative, and so in no way\ninterferes with our own particular individuality--_that_ is something built\nup upon this foundation, something additional affording the differentiating\nmedium through which this unifying Principle finds variety of expression,\ntherefore we need be under no apprehension lest by resting upon this\nPattern we should become less ourselves. On the contrary the recognition of\nit sets us at liberty to become more fully ourselves because we know that\nwe are basing our development, not upon the strength of our own unaided\nwill, nor yet upon any sort of extraneous help, but upon the Universal Law\nitself, manifesting through us in the proper sequence of the Creative\nOrder; so that we are still dealing with Universal principles, only the\nprinciple by which we are now working is the Universal Principle of\nPersonality.\n\nI wish the student to get this idea very clearly because this is really the\ncrux of the passage from the Fourth Kingdom into the Fifth. The great\nproblem of the future of evolution is the introduction of the Personal\nFactor. The reason why this is so is very simple when we see it. To take a\nthought from my own \"Dor\u00e9 Lectures\" we may put it in this way. In former\ndays no one thought of building ships of iron because iron does not float;\nyet now ships are seldom built of anything else, though the relative\nspecific gravities of iron and water remain unchanged. What has changed is\nthe Personal Factor. It has expanded to a more intelligent perception of\nthe law of flotation, and we now see that wood floats and iron sinks, both\nof them by the same principle working under opposite conditions, the law,\nnamely, that anything will float which bulk for bulk is lighter than the\nvolume of water displaced by it, so that by including in our calculations\nthe displacement of the vessel as well as the specific gravity of the\nmaterial, we now make iron float by the very same law by which it sinks.\nThis example shows that the function of the Personal Factor is to analyze\nthe manifestations of Law which are spontaneously afforded by Nature and to\ndiscover the Universal Affirmative Principle which lies hidden within them,\nand then by the exercise of our powers of Initiative and Selection to\nprovide such specialized conditions as will enable the Universal Principle\nto work in perfectly new ways transcending anything in our past experience.\nThis is how all progress has been achieved up to the present; and is the\nway in which all progress must be achieved in the future, only for the\npurpose of evolution, or growth from within, we must transfer the method to\nthe spiritual plane.\n\nThe function, then, of the Personal Factor in the Creative Order is to\nprovide specialized conditions by the use of the powers of Selection and\nInitiative, a truth indicated by the maxim \"Nature unaided fails\"; but the\ndifficulty is that if enhanced powers were attained by the whole population\nof the world without any common basis for their use, their promiscuous\nexercise could only result in chaotic confusion and the destruction of the\nentire race. To introduce the creative power of the Individual and at the\nsame time avoid converting it into a devastating flood is the great problem\nof the transition from the Fourth Kingdom into the Fifth. For this purpose\nit becomes necessary to have a Standard of the Personal Factor independent\nof any individual conceptions, just as we found that in order for us to\nattain self-consciousness at all it was a necessity that there should be a\nUniversal Mind as the _generic_ basis of all individual mentality; only in\nregard to the generic build of mind the conformity is necessarily\nautomatic, while in regard to the specializing process the fact that the\nessence of that process is Selection and Initiative renders it impossible\nfor the conformity to the Standard of Personality to be automatic--the very\nnature of the thing makes it a matter of individual choice.\n\nNow a Standard of Personality independent of individual conceptions must be\nthe _essence_ of Personality as distinguished from individual\nidiosyncrasies, and can therefore be nothing else than the Creative Life,\nLove, Beauty, etc., viewed as a Divine Individuality, by identifying\nourselves with which we eliminate all possibility of conflict with other\npersonalities based on the same fundamental recognition; and the very\nuniversality of this Standard allows free play to all our particular\nidiosyncrasies while at the same time preventing them from antagonizing the\nfundamental principles to which we have found that the Self-contemplation\nof the Originating Spirit must necessarily give rise. In this way we attain\na Standard of Measurement for our own powers. If we recognize no such\nStandard our development of spiritual powers, our discovery of the immense\npossibilities hidden in the inner laws of Nature and of our own being, can\nonly become a scourge to ourselves and others, and it is for this reason\nthat these secrets are so jealously guarded by those who know them, and\nthat over the entrance to the temple are written the words \"Eskato\nBebeloi\"--\"Hence ye Profane.\"\n\nBut if we recognize and accept this Standard of Measurement then we need\nnever fear our discovery of hidden powers either in ourselves or in Nature,\nfor on this basis it becomes impossible for us to misuse them. Therefore it\nis that all systematic teaching on these subjects begins with instruction\nregarding the Creative Order of the Cosmos, and then proceeds to exhibit\nthe same Order as reproduced on the plane of Personality and so affording a\nfresh starting point for the Creative Process by the introduction of\nIndividual Initiative and Selection. This is the doctrine of the Macrocosm\nand the Microcosm; and the transition from the generic working of the\nCreative Spirit in the Cosmos to its specific working in the Individual is\nwhat is meant by the doctrine of the Octave.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nTHE STANDARD OF PERSONALITY\n\n\nWe have now got some general idea as to the place of the personal factor in\nthe Creative Order, and so the next question is, How does this affect\nourselves? The answer is that if we have grasped the fundamental fact that\nthe moving power in the Creative Process is the self-contemplation of\nSpirit, and if we also see that, because we are miniature reproductions of\nthe Original Spirit, our contemplation of It becomes Its contemplation of\nItself from the standpoint of our own individuality--if we have grasped\nthese fundamental conceptions, then it follows that our process for\ndeveloping power is to contemplate the Originating Spirit as the source of\nthe power we want to develop. And here we must guard against a mistake\nwhich people often make when looking to the Spirit as the source of power.\nWe are apt to regard it as sometimes giving and sometimes withholding\npower, and consequently are never sure which way it will act. But by so\ndoing we make Spirit contemplate itself as having no definite action at\nall, as a plus and minus which mutually cancel each other, and therefore by\nthe Law of the Creative Process no result is to be expected. The mistake\nconsists in regarding the power as something separate from the Spirit;\nwhereas by the analysis of the Creative Process which we have now made we\nsee that the Spirit itself _is_ the power, because the power comes into\nexistence only through Spirit's self-contemplation. Then the logical\ninference from this is that by contemplating the Spirit _as_ the power, and\n_vice versa_ by contemplating the power _as_ the Spirit, a similar power is\nbeing generated in ourselves.\n\nAgain an important conclusion follows from this, which is that to generate\nany _particular sort_ of power we should contemplate it in the abstract\nrather than as applied to the particular set of circumstances we have in\nhand. The circumstances indicate the sort of power we want but they do not\nhelp us to generate it; rather they impress us with a sense of something\ncontrary to the power, something which has to be overcome by it, and\ntherefore we should endeavor to dwell on the power _in itself_, and so come\ninto touch with it in its limitless infinitude.\n\nIt is here that we begin to find the benefit of a Divine Standard of Human\nIndividuality. That also is an Infinite Principle, and by identifying\nourselves with it we bring to bear upon the abstract conception of infinite\nImpersonal Power a corresponding conception of Infinite Personality, so\nthat we thus import the Personal Factor which is able _to use_ the Power\nwithout imposing any strain upon ourselves. We know that by the very nature\nof the Creative Process we are one with the Originating Spirit and\ntherefore one with all the principles of its Being, and consequently one\nwith its Infinite Personality, and therefore our contemplation of it as the\nPower which we want gives us the power to use that Power.\n\nThis is the Self-contemplation of Spirit employed from the individual\nstandpoint for the generating of power. Then comes the application of the\npower thus generated. But there is only one Creative Process, that of the\nSelf-contemplation of Spirit, and therefore the way to use this process for\nthe application of the power is to contemplate ourselves as surrounded by\nthe conditions which we want to produce. This does not mean that we are to\nlay down a hard and fast pattern of the conditions and strenuously endeavor\nto compel the Power to conform its working to every detail of our mental\npicture--to do so would be to hinder its working and to exhaust ourselves.\nWhat we are to dwell upon is the idea of an Infinite Power producing the\nhappiness we desire, and because this Power is also the Forming Power of\nthe universe trusting it to give that form to the conditions which will\nmost perfectly react upon us to produce the particular state of\nconsciousness desired.\n\nThus neither on the side of in-drawing nor of out-giving is there any\nconstraining of the Power, while in both cases there is an initiative and\nselective action on the part of the individual--for the generating of\npower he takes the initiative of invoking it by contemplation, and he makes\nselection of the sort of power to invoke; while on the giving-out side he\nmakes selection of the purpose for which the Power is to be employed, and\ntakes the initiative by his thought of directing the Power to that purpose.\nHe thus fulfils the fundamental requirements of the Creative Process by\nexercising Spirit's inherent faculties of initiative and selection by means\nof its inherent method, namely by Self-contemplation. The whole action is\nidentical in kind with that which produces the cosmos, and it is now\nrepeated in miniature for the particular world of the individual; only we\nmust remember that this miniature reproduction of the Creative Process is\nbased upon the great fundamental principles inherent in the Universal Mind,\nand cannot be dissociated from them without involving a conception of the\nindividual which will ultimately be found self-destructive because it cuts\naway the foundation on which his individuality rests.\n\nIt will therefore be seen that any individuality based upon the fundamental\nStandard of Personality thus involved in the Universal Mind has reached the\nbasic principle of union with the Originating Spirit itself, and we are\ntherefore correct in saying that union is attained through, or by means of,\nthis Standard Personality. This is a great truth which in all ages has been\nset forth under a variety of symbolic statements; often misunderstood, and\nstill continuing to be so, though owing to the inherent vitality of the\nidea itself even a partial apprehension of it produces a corresponding\nmeasure of good results. This falling short has been occasioned by the\nfailure to recognize an Eternal Principle at the back of the particular\nstatements--in a word the failure to see what they were talking about. All\n_principles_ are eternal in themselves, and this is what distinguishes them\nfrom their particular manifestations as laws determined by temporary and\nlocal conditions.\n\nIf then, we would reach the root of the matter we must penetrate through\nall verbal statements to an Eternal Principle which is as active now as\never in the past, and which is as available to ourselves as to any who have\ngone before us. Therefore it is that when we discern an Eternal and\nUniversal Principle of Human Personality as necessarily involved in the\nEssential Being of the Originating Universal Spirit--_Filius in gremio\nPatris_--we have discovered the true Normal Standard of Personality. Then\nbecause this standard is nothing else than the principle of Personality\nexpanded to infinitude, there is no limit to the expansion which we\nourselves may attain by the operation in us of this principle; and so we\nare never placed in a position of antagonism to the true law of our being,\nbut on the contrary the larger and more fundamental our conception of\npersonal development the greater will be the fulfilment which we give to\nthe Law. The Normal Standard of Personality is found to be itself the Law\nof the Creative Process working at the personal level; and it cannot be\nsubject to limitation for the simple reason that the process being that of\nthe Self-contemplation of Spirit, no limits can possibly be assigned to\nthis contemplation.\n\nWe need, therefore, never be afraid of forming too high an idea of human\npossibilities provided always that we take this standard as the foundation\non which to build up the edifice of our personality. And we see that this\nstandard is no arbitrary one but simply the Expression in Personality of\nthe ONE all-embracing Spirit of the Affirmative; and therefore the only\nlimitation implied by conformity to it is that of being prevented from\nrunning on lines the opposite of those of the Creative Process, that is to\nsay, from calling into action causes of disintegration and destruction. In\nthe truly Constructive Order, therefore, the Divine Standard of Personality\nis as really the basis of the development of specific personality as the\nUniversal Mind is the necessary basis of generic mentality; and just as\nwithout this generic ultimate of Mind we should none of us see the same\nworld at the same time, and in fact have no consciousness of existence, so\napart from this Divine Standard of Personality it is equally impossible for\nus to specialize the generic law of our being so as to develop all the\nglorious possibilities that are latent in it.\n\nOnly we must never forget the difference between these two statements of\nthe Universal Law--the one is cosmic and generic, common to the whole race,\nwhether they know it or not, a Standard to which we all conform\nautomatically by the mere fact of being human beings; while the other is a\npersonal and individual Standard, automatic conformity to which is\nimpossible because that would imply the loss of those powers of Initiative\nand Selection which are the very essence of Personality; so that this\nStandard necessarily implies a personal selection of it in preference to\nother conceptions of an antagonistic nature.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nRACE THOUGHT AND NEW THOUGHT\n\n\nThe steady following up of the successive stages of the Creative Process\nhas led us to the recognition of an Individuality in the All-creating\nSpirit itself, but an Individuality which is by its very nature Universal,\nand so cannot be departed from without violating the essential principles\non which the further expansion of our own individuality depends. At the\nsame time it is strictly _individual_, for it is the Spirit of\nIndividuality, and is thus to be distinguished from that merely _generic_\nrace-personality which makes us human beings at all. Race-personality is of\ncourse the necessary _basis_ for the development of this Individuality; but\nif we do not see that it is only the preliminary to further evolution, any\nother conception of our personality as members of the race will prevent our\nadvance toward our proper position in the Creative Order, which is that of\nintroducing the Personal Factor by the exercise of our individual power of\ninitiative and selection.\n\nIt is on this account that Race-thought, simply as such, is opposed to the\nattempt of the individual to pass into a higher order of life. It limits\nhim by strong currents of negative suggestion based on the fallacy that the\nperpetuation of the race requires the death of the individual;[5] and it is\nonly when the individual sees that this is not true, and that his race-\nnature constitutes the ground out of which his new Individuality is to be\nformed, that he becomes able to oppose the negative power of race-thought.\nHe does this by destroying it with its own weapon, that is, by finding in\nthe race-nature itself the very material to be used by the Spirit for\nbuilding-up the New Man. This is a discovery on the spiritual plane\nequivalent to the discovery on the physical plane that we can make iron\nfloat by the same law by which it sinks. It is the discovery that what we\ncall the mortal part of us is capable of being brought under a higher\napplication of the Universal Law of Life, which will transmute it into an\nimmortal principle. When we see what we call the mortal part of us in this\nlight we can employ the very principle on which the negative race-thought\nis founded as a weapon for the destruction of that thought in our own\nminds.\n\nThe basis of the negative race-thought is the idea that physical death is\nan essential part of the Normal Standard of Personality, and that the body\nis composed of so much neutral material with which death can do what it\nlikes. But it is precisely this neutrality of matter that makes it just as\namenable to the Law of Life as to the Law of Death--it is simply neutral\nand not an originating power on either side; so then when we realize that\nour Normal Standard of Personality is not subject to death, but is the\nEternal Essence and Being of Life itself, then we see that this neutrality\nof matter--its inability to make selection or take initiative on its own\naccount--is just what makes it the plastic medium for the expression of\nSpirit in ourselves.\n\nIn this way the generic or race-mind in the individual becomes the\ninstrument through which the specializing power of the Spirit works toward\nthe building up of a personality based upon the truly Normal Standard of\nIndividuality which we have found to be inherent in the All-originating\nSpirit itself: and since the whole question is that of the introduction of\nthe factor of personal individuality into the creative order of causation,\nthis cannot be done by depriving the individual of what makes him a person\ninstead of a thing, namely, the power of conscious initiative and\nselection.\n\nFor this reason the transition from the Fourth Kingdom into the Fifth\ncannot be forced upon the race either by a Divine fiat or by the generic\naction of cosmic law, for it is a _specialising_ of the cosmic law which\ncan only be effected by _personal_ initiative and selection, just as iron\ncan only be made to float under certain specialized conditions; and\nconsequently the passage from the Fourth into the Fifth Kingdom is a\nstrictly individual process which can only be brought about by a personal\nperception of what the normal standard of the New Individuality really is.\nThis can only be done by the active laying aside of the old race-standard\nand the conscious adoption of the new one. The student will do well to\nconsider this carefully, for it explains why the race cannot receive the\nfurther evolution simply as a race; and also it shows that our further\nevolution is not into a state of less activity but of greater, not into\nbeing less alive but more alive, not into being less ourselves but more\nourselves; thus being just the opposite of those systems which present the\ngoal of existence as re-absorption into the undifferentiated Divine\nessence. On the contrary our further evolution is into greater degrees of\nconscious activity than we have ever yet known, because it implies our\ndevelopment of greater powers as the consequence of our clearer perception\nof our true relation to the All-originating Spirit. It is the recognition\nthat we may, and should, measure ourselves by this New Standard instead of\nby the old race-standard that constitutes the real New Thought. The New\nThought which gives New Life to the individual will never be realized so\nlong as we think that it is merely the name of a particular sect, or that\nit is to be found in the mechanical observance of a set of rules laid down\nfor us by some particular teacher. It is a New Fact in the experience of\nthe individual, the _reason_ for which is indeed made clear to him through\nintellectual perception of the real nature of the Creative Process, but\nwhich can become an actual experience only by habitual personal intercourse\nwith that Divine Spirit which is the Life, Love and Beauty that are at the\nback of the Creative Process and find expression through it.\n\nFrom this intercourse new thoughts will continually flow in, all of them\nbearing that vivifying element which is inherent in their source, and the\nindividual will then proceed to work out these new ideas with the knowledge\nthat they have their origin in the selection and initiative power of the\nAll-creating Spirit itself, and in this way by combined meditation and\naction he will find himself advancing into increasing light, liberty and\nusefulness. The advance may be almost imperceptible from one day to\nanother, but it will be perceptible at longer intervals, and the one who is\nthus moving forward with the Spirit of God will on looking back at any time\nalways find that he is getting more livingness out of life than he was a\nyear previously. And this without strenuous effort, for he is not having to\nmanufacture the power from his own resources but only to _receive_ it--and\nas for _using_ it, that is only the exercise of the power itself. So\nfollowing on these lines you will find that Rest and Power are identical;\nand so you get the real New Thought which grows in Newness every day.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nTHE D\u00c9NOUEMENT OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS\n\n\nThen comes the question, What should logically be the d\u00e9nouement of the\nprogression we have been considering? Let us briefly recapitulate the steps\nof the series. Universal Spirit by Self-contemplation evolves Universal\nSubstance. From this it produces cosmic creation as the expression of\nitself as functioning in Space and Time. Then from this initial movement it\nproceeds to more highly specialized modes of Self-contemplation in a\ncontinually ascending scale, for the simple reason that self-contemplation\nadmits of no limits and therefore each stage of self-recognition cannot be\nother than the starting-point for a still more advanced mode of\nself-contemplation, and so on _ad infinitum_. Thus there is a continuous\nprogress toward more and more highly specialized forms of life, implying\ngreater liberty and wider scope for enjoyment as the capacity of the\nindividual life corresponds to a higher degree of the contemplation of\nSpirit; and in this way evolution proceeds till it reaches a level where it\nbecomes impossible to go any further except by the exercise of conscious\nselection and initiative on the part of the individual, while at the same\ntime conforming to the universal principles of which evolution is the\nexpression.\n\nNow ask yourself in what way individual selection and initiative would be\nlikely to act as expressing the Originating Spirit itself? Given the\nknowledge on the part of the individual that he is able by his power of\ninitiative and selection to draw directly upon the All-originating Spirit\nof Life, what motive could he have for not doing so? Therefore, granted\nsuch a perfect recognition, we should find the individual holding precisely\nthe same place in regard to his own individual world that the\nAll-originating Spirit does to the cosmos; subject only to the same Law of\nLove, Beauty, &c., which we found to be necessarily inherent in the\nCreative Spirit--a similarity which would entirely prevent the individual\nfrom exercising his otherwise limitless powers in any sort of antagonism to\nthe Spirit of the Great Whole.\n\nAt the same time the individual would be quite aware that he was not the\nUniversal Spirit _in propria persona_, but that he was affording expression\nto it through his individuality. Now Expression is impossible except\nthrough Form, and therefore form of some sort is a necessity of\nindividuality. It is just here, then, that we find the importance of that\nprinciple of Harmony with Environment of which I spoke earlier, the\nprinciple in accordance with which a person who had obtained complete\ncontrol of matter, if he wished to transport himself to some other planet,\nwould appear there in perfect conformity with all the laws of matter that\nobtained in that world; though, of course, not subject to any limitation of\nthe Life Principle in himself. He would exhibit the laws of matter as\nrendered perfect by the Law of Originating Life. But if any one now living\non this earth were thus perfectly to realize the Law of Life he would be in\nprecisely the same position _here_ as our imaginary visitor to another\nplanet--in other words the d\u00e9nouement of the Law of Life is not the putting\noff of the body, but its inclusion as part of the conscious life of the\nSpirit.\n\nThis does not imply any difference in the molecular structure of the body\nfrom that of other men, for by the principle of Harmony of which I have\njust spoken, it would be formed in strict accordance with the laws of\nmatter on the particular planet; though it would not be subject to the\nlimitations resulting from the average man's non-recognition of the power\nof the Spirit. The man who had thus fully entered into the Fifth Kingdom\nwould recognize that, in its relation to the denser modes of matter his\nbody was of a similar dense mode. That would be its relation to external\nenvironment as seen by others. But since the man now knew _himself_ as not\nbelonging to these denser modes of manifestation, but as an\nindividualization of Primary Spirit, he would see that relatively to\nhimself all matter was Primary Substance, and that from this point of view\nany condensations of that substance into atoms, molecules, tissues, and the\nlike counted for nothing--for him the body would be simply Primary\nSubstance entirely responsive to his will. Yet his reverence for the Law of\nHarmony would prevent any disposition to play psychic pranks with it, and\nhe would use his power over the body only to meet actual requirements.\n\nIn this way, then, we are led to the conclusion that eternal life in an\nimmortal physical body is the logical d\u00e9nouement of our evolution; and if\nwe reflect that, by the conditions of the case, the owners of such bodies\ncould at will either transport themselves to other worlds or put off the\nphysical body altogether and remain in the purely subjective life while\nstill retaining the power to reclothe themselves in flesh whenever they\nchose, we shall see that this d\u00e9nouement of evolution answers all possible\nquestions as to the increase of the race, the final destruction of the\nplanet, and the like.\n\nThis, then, is the ultimate which we should keep in view; but the fact\nremains that, though there may be hidden ones who have thus attained, the\nbulk of mankind have not, and that the common lot of humanity is to go\nthrough the change which we call death. In broad philosophical terms death\nmay be described as the withdrawal of the life into the subjective\nconsciousness to the total exclusion of the objective consciousness. Then\nby the general law of the relation between subjective and objective mind,\nthe subjective mind severed from its corresponding objective mentality has\nno means of acquiring fresh impressions _on its own account_, and therefore\ncan only ring the changes on those impressions which it has brought with it\nfrom its past life. But these may be of very various sorts, ranging from\nthe lowest to the highest, from those most opposed to that ultimate destiny\nof man which we have just been considering, to those which recognize his\npossibilities in a very large measure, needing little more to bring about\nthe full fruition of perfected life. But however various may be their\nexperiences, all who have passed through death must have this in common\nthat they have lost their physical instrument of objective perception and\nso have their mode of consciousness determined entirely by the dominant\nmode of suggestion which they have brought over with them from the\nobjective side of life.[6] Of course if the objective mentality were also\nbrought over this would give the individual the same power of initiative\nand selection that he possesses while in the body, and, as we shall see\nlater on, there are exceptional persons with whom this is the case; but for\nthe great majority the physical brain is a necessity for the working of the\nobjective mentality, and so when they are deprived of this instrument their\nlife becomes purely subjective and is a sort of dream-life, only with a\nvast difference between two classes of dreamers--those who dream as they\nmust and those who dream as they will. The former are those who have\nenslaved themselves in various ways to their lower mentality--some by\nbringing with them the memory of crimes unpardoned, some by bringing with\nthem the idea of a merely animal life, others less degraded, but still in\nbondage to limited thought, bringing with them only the suggestion of a\nfrivolous worldly life--in this way, by the natural operation of the Law of\nSuggestion, these different classes, either through remorse, or unsatisfied\ndesires, or sheer incapacity to grasp higher principles, all remain\nearth-bound, suffering in exact correspondence with the nature of the\nsuggestion they have brought along with them. The unchangeable Law is that\nthe suggestion becomes the life; and this is equally true of suggestions of\na happier sort. Those who have brought over with them the great truth that\nconditions are the creations of thought, and who have accustomed themselves\nwhile in objective life to dwell on good and beautiful ideas, are still\nable, by reason of being imbued with this suggestion, to mold the\nconditions of their consciousness in the subjective world in accordance\nwith the sort of ideas which have become a second nature to them. Within\nthe limits of these ideas the dominant suggestion to these entities is that\nof a Law which confers Liberty, so by using this Law of the constructive\npower of thought they can determine the conditions of their own\nconsciousness; and thus instead of being compelled to suffer the nightmare\ndreams of the other class, they can mold their dream according to their\nwill. We cannot conceive of such a life as theirs in the unseen as\notherwise than happy, nevertheless its range is limited by the range of the\nconceptions they have brought with them. These may be exceedingly beautiful\nand thoroughly true and logical _as far as they go_; but they do not go the\nwhole way, otherwise these spirits would not be in the category which we\nare considering but would belong to that still higher class who fully\nrealize the ultimate possibilities which the Law of the Expression of\nSpirit provides.\n\nThe otherwise happy subjective life of these more enlightened souls has\nthis radical defect that they have failed to bring over with them that\npower of original selection and initiative without which further progress\nis impossible. I wish the student to grasp this point very clearly, for it\nis of the utmost importance. Of course the basis of our further evolution\nis conformity to the harmonious nature of the Originating Spirit; but upon\nthis foundation we each have to build up the superstructure of our own\nindividuality, and every step of advance depends on our personal\ndevelopment of power to take that step. This is what is meant by taking an\ninitiative. It is making a New Departure, not merely recombining the old\nthings into fresh groupings still subject to the old laws, but introducing\nan entirely new element which will bring its own New Law along with it.\n\nNow if this is the true meaning of \"initiative\" then that is just the\npower which these otherwise happy souls do not possess. For by the very\nconditions of the case they are living only in their subjective\nconsciousness, and consequently are living by the law of subjective mind;\nand one of the chief characteristics of subjective mind is its incapacity\nto reason inductively, and therefore its inability to make the selection\nand take the initiative necessary to inaugurate a New Departure. The well\nestablished facts of mental law show conclusively that subjective mind\nargues only deductively. It argues quite correctly from any given premises,\nbut it cannot take the initiative in selecting the premises--that is the\nprovince of inductive reasoning which is essentially the function of the\nobjective mind. But by the law of Auto-suggestion this discarnate\nindividual has brought over his premises with him, which premises are the\nsum-total of his inductions made during objective life, the conception of\nthings which he held at the time he passed over, for this constituted his\nidea of Truth. Now he cannot add to these inductions, for he has parted\nwith his instrument for inductive reasoning, and therefore his deductive\nreasoning in the purely subjective state which he has now entered is\nnecessarily limited to the consequences which may be deducted from the\npremises which he has brought along with him.\n\nIn the case of the highly-developed individualities we are now considering\nthe premises thus brought over are of a very far-reaching and beautiful\ncharacter, and consequently the range of their subjective life is\ncorrespondingly wide and beautiful; but, nevertheless, it is subject to the\nradical defect that it is debarred from further progress for the simple\nreason that the individual has not brought over with him the mental faculty\nwhich can impress his subjective entity with the requisite forward movement\nfor making a new departure into a New Order. And moreover, the higher the\nsubjective development with which the individual passed over the more\nlikely he will be to realize this defect. If during earth-life he had\ngained sufficient knowledge of these things he will carry with him the\nknowledge that his discarnate existence is purely subjective; and therefore\nhe will realize that, however he may be able to order the pictures of his\ndream, yet it is still but a dream, and in common with all other dreams\nlacks the basis of solidity from which to take _really creative action_.\n\nHe knows also that the condition of other discarnate individualities is\nsimilar to his own, and that consequently each one must necessarily live in\na world apart--a world of his own creation, because none of them possess\nthe objective mentality by which to direct their subjective currents so as\nto make them penetrate into the sphere of another subjective entity, which\nis the _modus operandi_ of telepathy. Thus he is conscious of his own\ninability to hold intercourse with other personalities; for though he may\nfor his own pleasure create the semblance of them in his dream-life, yet he\nknows that these are creations of his own mind, and that while he appears\nto be conversing with a friend amid the most lovely surroundings the friend\nhimself may be having experiences of a very different description. I am, of\ncourse, speaking now of persons who have passed over in a very high state\nof development and with a very considerable, though still imperfect,\nknowledge of the Law of their own being. Probably the majority take their\ndream-life for an external reality; and, in any case, all who have passed\nover without carrying their objective mentality along with them must be\nshut up in their individual subjective spheres and cease to function as\ncenters of creative power so long as they do not emerge from that state.\n\nBut the highly advanced individuals of whom I am now speaking have passed\nover with a true knowledge of the Law of the relation between subjective\nand objective mind and have therefore brought with them a _subjective_\nknowledge of this truth; and therefore, however otherwise in a certain\nsense happy, they must still be conscious of a fundamental limitation which\nprevents their further advance. And this consciousness can produce only one\nresult, an ever-growing longing for the removal of this limitation--and\nthis represents the intense desire of the Spirit, as individualized in\nthese souls, to attain to the conditions under which it can freely exercise\nits creative power. Sub-consciously this is the desire of _all_ souls, for\nit is that continual pressing forward of the Spirit for manifestation out\nof which the whole Creative Process arises; and so it is that the great cry\nperpetually ascends to God from all as yet undelivered souls, whether in or\nout of the body, for the deliverance which they knowingly or unknowingly\ndesire.\n\nAll this comes out of the well-ascertained facts of the law of relation\nbetween subjective and objective mind. Then comes the question, Is there no\nway of getting out of this law? The answer is that we can never get away\nfrom universal principles--_but we can specialise them_. We may take it as\nan axiom that any law which appears to limit us contains in itself the\nprinciple by which that limitation can be overcome, just as in the case of\nthe flotation of iron. In this axiom, then, we shall find the clue which\nwill bring us out of the labyrinth. The same law which places various\ndegrees of limitation upon the souls that have passed into the invisible\ncan be so applied as to set them free. We have seen that everything turns\non the obligation of our subjective part to act within the limits of the\nsuggestion which has been most deeply impressed upon it. Then why not\nimpress upon it the suggestion that in passing over to the other side it\nhas brought its objective mentality along with it?\n\nIf such a suggestion were effectively impressed upon our subjective mind,\nthen by the fundamental law of our nature our subjective mind would act in\nstrict accordance with this suggestion, with the result that the objective\nmind would no longer be separated from it, and that we should carry with us\ninto the unseen our _whole_ mentality, both subjective and objective, and\nso be able to exercise our inductive powers of selection and initiative as\nwell there as here.\n\nWhy not? The answer is that we cannot accept any suggestion unless we\nbelieve it to be true, and to believe it to be true we must feel that we\nhave a solid foundation for our belief. If, then, we can find a sufficient\nfoundation for adequately impressing this suggestion upon ourselves, then\nthe principles of mental law assure us that we shall carry our objective\nfaculty of initiative and selection into the unseen. Therefore our quest is\nto find this Foundation. Then, since we cannot accept as true what we\nbelieve to be contrary to the ultimate law of the universe, if we are to\nfind such a foundation at all it must be within that Law; and it is for\nthis reason that I have laid so much stress upon the Normal Standard of\nHuman Individuality. When we are convinced that this ideal completeness is\nquite normal, and is a spiritual fact, not dependent upon the body, but\nable to control the body, then we have got the solid basis on which to\ncarry our objective personality along with us into the unseen, and the\nwell-established laws of our mental constitution justify the belief that we\ncan do so.\n\nFrom these considerations it is obvious that those who thus pass over in\npossession of their complete mentality must be in a very different position\nfrom those who pass into a condition of merely subjective life, for they\nhave brought their powers of selection and initiative with them, and can\ntherefore employ their experiences in the unseen as a starting-point for\nstill further development. So, then, the question arises, What lines will\nthis further development be likely to follow?\n\nWe are now considering the case of persons who have reached a very high\ndegree of development; who have succeeded in so completely uniting the\nsubjective and objective portions of their spiritual being into a perfect\nwhole that they can never again be severed; and who are therefore able to\nfunction with their whole consciousness on the spiritual plane. Such\npersons will doubtless be well aware that they have attained this degree of\ndevelopment by the Law of the Creative Process working in terms of their\nown individuality, and so they would naturally always refer to the original\nCosmic Creation as the demonstration of the principle which they have to\nspecialize for their own further evolution. Then they would find that the\nprinciple involved is that of the manifestation of Spirit in Form; and they\nwould further see that this manifestation is not an illusion but a reality,\nfor the simple reason that both mind and matter are equally projections\nfrom the Great Originating Spirit. Both alike are thoughts of the Divine\nMind, and it is impossible to conceive any greater reality than the Divine\nThought, or to get at any more substantial source of reality than that.\nEven if we were to picture the Divine Mind as laughing at its productions\nas being mere illusions _relatively to itself_ (which I certainly do not),\nstill the relation between the individual mind and material existence would\nbe a reality for the individual, on the simple mathematical ground that\nlike signs multiplied together invariably produce a positive result, even\nthough the signs themselves be negative; so that, for us, at every stage of\nour existence substance must always be as much a reality as mind. Therefore\nthe manifestation of Spirit in Form is the eternal principle of the\nCreative Process whether in the evolution of a world-system or in that of\nan individual.\n\nBut when we realize that by the nature of the Creative Process substance\nmust be an eternal verity we must not suppose that this is true also of\n_particular forms_ or of _particular modes_ of matter. Substance is a\nnecessity for the expression of Spirit, but it does not follow that Spirit\nis tied down to any particular mode of expression. If you fold a piece of\npaper into the form of a dart it will fly through the air by the law of the\nform which you have given it. Again, if you take the same bit of paper and\nfold it into the shape of a boat it will float on water by the law of the\nnew form that you have given it. The thing formed will act in accordance\nwith the form given it, and the same paper can be folded into different\nforms; but if there were no paper you could put it into any shape at all.\nThe dart and the boat are both real so long as you retain the paper in\neither of those shapes; but this does not alter the fact that you can\nchange the shapes, though your power to do so depends on the existence of\nthe paper. This is a rough analogy of the relation between ultimate\nsubstance and particular forms, and shows us that neither substance nor\nshape is an illusion; both are essential to the manifestation of Spirit,\nonly by the nature of the Creative Process the Spirit has power to\ndetermine what shape substance shall take at any particular time.\n\nAccordingly we find the great Law that, as Spirit is the Alpha of the\nCreative Process, so solid material Form is its Omega; in other words the\nCreative Series is incomplete until solid material form is reached.\nAnything short of this is a condition of incompleteness, and therefore the\nenlightened souls who have passed over in possession of both sides of their\nmentality will realize that their condition, however beatific, is still one\nof incompleteness; and that what is wanted for completion is expression\nthrough a material body. This, then, is the direction in which such souls\nwould use their powers of initiative and selection as being the true line\nof evolution--in a word they would realize that the principle of Creative\nProgression, when it reaches the level of fully developed mental man,\nnecessarily implies the Resurrection of the Body, and that anything short\nof this would be retrogression and not progress.\n\nAt the same time persons who had passed over with this knowledge would\nnever suppose that Resurrection meant merely the resuscitation of the old\nbody under the old conditions; for they would see that the same inherent\nlaw which makes expression in concrete substance the ultimate of the\ncreative series also makes this ultimate form depend on the originating\nmovement of the spirit which produces it, and therefore that, although\n_some_ concrete form is essential for complete manifestation, and is a\nsubstantial reality so long as it is maintained, yet the maintaining of the\nparticular form is entirely dependent on the action of the spirit of which\nthe form is the external clothing. This resurrection body would therefore\nbe no mere illusory spirit-shape, yet it would not be subject to the\nlimitations of matter as we now know it: it would be physical matter still,\nbut entirely subject to the will of the indwelling spirit, which would not\nregard the denser atomic relations of the body but only its absolute and\nessential nature as Primary Substance. I want the student to grasp the idea\nthat the same thing may be very different when looked at, so to say, from\nopposite ends of the stick. What is solid molecular matter when viewed from\nthe outside is plastic primary substance when viewed from the inside. The\nrelations of this new body to any stimulus proceeding from outside would be\nthose of the external laws of Nature; but its relation to the spiritual ego\nworking from within would be that of a plastic substance to be molded at\nwill. The employment of such power would, however, at all times be based\nupon the reverent worship of the All-creating Spirit; and it would\ntherefore never be exercised otherwise than in accordance with the\nharmonious progress of the Creative Process. Proceeding on these lines the\nspirit in the individual would stand in precisely the same relation to his\nbody that the All-originating Spirit does to the cosmos.\n\nThis, then, is the sort of body which the instructed would contemplate as\nthat in which he was to attain resurrection. He would regard it, not as an\nillusion, but as a great reality; while at the same time he would not need\nto trouble himself about its particular form, for he would know that it\nwould be the perfect expression of his own conception of himself. He would\nknow this because it is in accordance with the fundamental principle that\nexternal creation has its root in the Self-contemplation of Spirit.\n\nThose passing over with this knowledge would obviously be in a very\ndifferent position from those who passed over with only a subjective\nconsciousness. They would bring with them powers of selection and\ninitiative by which they could continue to impress fresh and expanding\nconceptions upon their subjective mind, and so cause it to carry on its\nwork as the seed-ground of the whole individuality, instead of being shut\nup in itself as a mere circulus for the repetition of previously received\nideas; and so in their recognition of the _principle_ of physical\nresurrection they would have a clear and definite line of auto-suggestion.\nAnd because this suggestion is derived from the undeniable facts of the\nwhole cosmic creation, it is one which both subjective and objective mind\ncan accept as an established fact, and so the suggestion becomes effective.\nThis suggestion, then, becomes the self-contemplation of the individual\nspirit; and because it is in strict conformity with the generic principle\nof the Original Creative Activity, of which the individual mind is itself a\nproduct, this becomes also the Self-contemplation of the Originating Spirit\nas seeing itself reflected in the individual spirit; so that, by the basic\nlaw of the Creative Process, this suggestion is bound sooner or later to\nwork out into its corresponding fact, namely, the production of a material\nbody free from the power of death and from all those limitations which we\nnow associate with our physical organism.\n\nThis, then, is the hope of those who pass over in recognition of the great\ntruth. But how about those who have passed over without that recognition?\nWe have seen that their purely subjective condition precludes them from\ntaking any initiative on their own account, for that requires the presence\nof objective mind. Their subjective mind, however, still retains its\nessential nature; that is, it is still susceptible to suggestion, and still\npossesses its inherent creativeness in working out any suggestion that is\nsufficiently deeply implanted in it. Here, then, opens up a vast field of\nactivity for that other class who have passed over in possession of both\nsides of their mentality. By means of their powers of initiative and\nselection they can on the principle of telepathy cause their own subjective\nmind to penetrate the subjective spheres of those who do not possess those\npowers, and they can thus endeavor to impress upon them the great truth of\nthe physical ultimate of the Creative Process--the truth that any series\nwhich stops short of that ultimate is incomplete, and, if insisted upon as\nbeing ultimate, must become self-destructive because in opposition to the\ninherent working of the Universal Creative Spirit. Then, as the perception\nof the true nature of the Creative Process dawned upon any subjective\nentity, it would by reason of accepting this suggestion begin to develop an\nobjective mentality, and so would gradually attain to the same status as\nthose who had passed over in full possession of all their mental powers.\n\nBut the more the objective mentality became developed in these discarnate\npersonalities the more the need of a corresponding physical instrument\nwould assert itself, both from their intellectual perception of the\noriginal cosmic process, and also from the inherent energy of the Spirit as\ncentered in the ultimate ego of the individual. Not to seek material\nmanifestation would be the contrary of all we have traced out regarding the\nnature of the Creative Process; and hence the law of tendency resulting\nfrom the conscious union of subjective and objective mind in the individual\nmust necessarily be toward the production of a physical form. Only we must\nrecollect, as I have already pointed out, that this concentration of these\nminds would be upon a principle and not upon a particular bodily shape. The\nparticular form they would be content to leave to the inherent\nself-expressiveness of the Universal Spirit working through the particular\nego, with the result that their expectation would be fixed upon a _general\nprinciple_ of physical Resurrection which would provide a form suited to be\nthe material instrument of the highest ideal of man as a spiritual and\nmental being. Then, since the subjective mind is the automatic builder of\nthe body, the result of the individual's acceptance of the Resurrection\nprinciple must be that this mental conception will eventually work out as a\ncorresponding fact. Whether on this planet or on some other, matters not,\nfor, as we have already seen, the physical body evolved by a soul that is\nconscious of its unity with the Universal Spirit is bound to be in\nconformity with the physical laws of _any_ planet, though from the\nstandpoint of the conscious ego not limited by them.\n\nIn this way we may conceive that those who have passed over in possession\nof both sides of their spiritual nature would find a glorious field of\nusefulness in the unseen in helping to emancipate those who had passed over\nin possession of their subjective side only. But from our present analysis\nit will be seen that this can only be effected on the basis of a\nrecognition of the principle of the Resurrection of the Body. Apart from\nthe recognition of this principle the only possible conception which the\ndiscarnate individual could form of himself would be that of a purely\nsubjective being; and this carries with it all the limitations of a\nsubjective life unbalanced by an objective one; and so long as the\nprinciple of physical resurrection is denied, so long the life must\ncontinue to be merely subjective and consequently unprogressive.[7]\n\nBut it may be asked why those who have realized this great principle\nsufficiently to carry their objective mentality into the unseen state are\nliable to the change which we call death. The answer is that though they\nhave realized _the general principle_ they have not yet divested themselves\nof certain conceptions by which they limit it, and consequently by the law\nof subjective mind they carry those limitations into the working of the\nResurrection principle itself.\n\nThey are limited by the race-belief that physical death is under all\nconditions a necessary law of Nature, or by the theological belief that\ndeath is the will of God; so then the question is whether these beliefs are\nwell founded. Of course appeal is made to universal experience, but it does\nnot follow that the universal experience of the past is bound to be the\nuniversal experience of the future--the universal experience of the past\nwas that no man had ever flown across the English Channel, yet now it has\nbeen done. What we have to do, therefore, is not to bother about past\nexperience, but to examine the inherent nature of the Law of Life and see\nwhether it does not contain possibilities of further development. And the\nfirst step in this direction is to see whether what we have hitherto\nconsidered limitations of the law are really integral parts of the law\nitself. The very statement of this question shows the correct answer; for\nhow can a force acting in one direction be an integral part of a force\nacting in the opposite direction? How can the force which pulls a thing\ndown be an integral part of the force which builds it up? To suppose,\ntherefore, that the limitations of the law are an integral portion of the\nlaw itself is a _reductio ad absurdum_.\n\nFor these reasons the argument from the past experience of the race counts\nfor nothing; and when we examine the theological argument we shall find\nthat it is only the old argument from past experience in another dress. It\nis alleged that death is the will of God. How do we know that it is the\nwill of God? Because the facts prove it so, is the ultimate answer of all\nreligious systems with one exception; so here we are back again at the old\nrace-experience as the criterion of truth. Therefore the theological\nargument is nothing but the materialistic argument disguised. It is in our\nmore or less _conscious_ acceptance of the materialistic argument, under\nany of its many disguises, that the limitation of life is to be found--not\nin the Law of Life itself; and if we are to bring into manifestation the\ninfinite possibilities latent in that Law it can only be by looking\nsteadily into the _principle_ of the Law and resolutely denying everything\nthat opposes it. The Principle of Life must of necessity be Affirmative,\nand affirmative throughout, without any negative anywhere--if we once\nrealize this we shall be able to unmask the enemy and silence his guns.\n\nNow to do this is precisely the one object of the Bible; and it does it in\na thoroughly logical manner, always leading on to the ultimate result by\nsuccessive links of cause and effect. People will tell you that the Bible\nis their authority for saying that Death is the will of God; but these are\npeople who read it carelessly; and ultimately the only reason they can give\nyou for their manner of interpreting the Bible is that the facts prove\ntheir interpretation to be correct; so that in the last resort you will\nalways find you have got back to the old materialistic argument from past\nrace-experience, which logically proves nothing. These are good\nwell-meaning people with a limited idea which they read into the Bible, and\nso limit its promises by making physical death an essential preliminary to\nResurrection. They grasp, of course, the great central idea that Perfected\nMan possesses a joyous immortal Life permeating spirit, soul and body; but\nthey relegate it to some dim and distant future, entirely disconnected from\nthe present law of our being, not seeing that if we are to have eternal\nlife it must necessarily be involved in some principle which is eternal,\nand therefore existing, at any rate latently, at the present moment. Hence,\nthough their fundamental principle is true, they are all the time mentally\nlimiting it, with the result that they themselves create the conditions\nthey impose upon it, and consequently the principle will work (as\nprinciples always do) in accordance with the conditions provided for its\naction.\n\nUnless, therefore, this limiting belief is entirely eradicated, the\nindividual, though realizing the fundamental principle of Life, is bound to\npass out of physical existence; but on the other hand, since he does take\nthe recognition of this fundamental principle with him, it is bound to bear\nfruit sooner or later in a joyous Resurrection, while the intermediate\nstate can only be a peaceful anticipation of that supreme event. This is\nthe answer to the question why those who have realized the great principle\nsufficiently to carry their objective mentality into the unseen world are\nstill liable to physical death; and in the last analysis it will be found\nto resolve itself into the remains of race belief based upon past\nexperience. These are they who pass over in sure and certain hope of a\nglorious Resurrection--sure and certain because founded upon the very Being\nof God Himself, that inherent Life of the All-creating Divine Spirit which\nis the perpetual interaction of the Eternal Love and Beauty. They have\ngrasped the Life-giving Truth, only they have postponed its operation,\nbecause they have the fixed idea that its present fruition is an absolute\nimpossibility.\n\nBut if we ask the reason for this idea it always comes back to the old\nmaterialistic argument from the experience of past conditions, while the\nwhole nature of advance is in the opening up of new conditions. And in this\nadvance the Bible is the pioneer book. Its whole purport is to tell us most\nemphatically that death is _not_ the will of God. In the story of Eden God\nis represented as warning man of the poisonous nature of the forbidden\nfruit, which is incompatible with the idea of death as an essential feature\nof man's nature. Then from the point where man has taken the poison all the\nrest of the Bible is devoted to telling us how to get rid of it. Christ, it\ntells us, was manifested to bring Life and Immortality to light--to abolish\ndeath--to destroy the works of the devil, that is the death-dealing power,\nfor \"he that hath the power of death is the devil.\" It is impossible to\nreconcile this life-giving conception of the Bible with the idea that death\nat any stage or in any degree is the desire of God. Let us, therefore,\nstart with the recognition that this negative force, whether in its minor\ndegrees as disease or in its culmination as death, is that which it is the\nwill of God to abolish. This also is logical; for if God be the Universal\nSpirit of Life finding manifestation in individual lives, how can the\ndesire of this Spirit be to act in opposition to its own manifestation?\nTherefore Scripture and common-sense alike assure us that the will of God\ntoward us is Life and not death.[8]\n\nWe may therefore start on our quest for Life with the happy certainty that\nGod is on our side. But people will meet us with the objection that though\nGod wills Life to us, He does not will it just yet, but only in some dim\nfar-off future. How do we know this? Certainly not from the Bible. In the\nBible Jesus speaks of two classes of persons who believe on Him as the\nManifestation or Individualisation of the Spirit of Life. He speaks of\nthose who, having passed through death, still believe on Him, and says that\nthese _shall_ live--a future event. And at the same time He speaks of those\nwho are living and believe on Him, and says that they shall never die--thus\ncontemplating the entire elimination of the contingency of death (John xi.\n25).\n\nAgain St. Paul expresses his wish not to be unclothed but to be clothed\nupon, which he certainly would not have done had he considered the latter\nalternative a nonsensical fancy. And in another place he expressly states\nthat we shall not all die, but that some shall be transmuted into the\nResurrection body without passing through physical death. And if we turn to\nthe Old Testament we find two instances in which this is said to have\nactually occurred, those of Enoch and Elijah. And we may note in passing\nthat the Bible draws our attention to certain facts about these two\npersonages which are important as striking at the root of the notion that\nausterities of some sort are necessary for the great attainment. Of Enoch\nwe are expressly told that he was the father of a large family, and of\nElijah that he was a man of like nature with ourselves--thus showing us\nwhat is wanted is not a shutting of ourselves off from ordinary human life\nbut such a clear realization of the Universal Principle, of which our\npersonal life is the more or less conscious manifestation, that our\ncommonest actions will be hallowed by the Divine Presence; and so the grand\nd\u00e9nouement will be only the natural result of our daily habit of walking\nwith God. From the stand-point of the Bible, therefore, the attainment of\nphysical regeneration without passing through death is not an\nimpossibility, nor is it necessarily relegated to some far off future.\nWhatever any one else may say to the contrary, the Bible contemplates such\na d\u00e9nouement of human evolution as a present possibility.\n\nThen if we argue from the philosophical stand-point we arrive at precisely\nthe same result. Past experience proves nothing, and we must therefore make\na fresh start by going back to the Original Creative action of the Spirit\nof Life itself. Then, if we take this as our starting point, remembering\nthat at the stage of this _original_ movement there can be no intervention\nby a second power, because there is none, why should we mentally impose any\nrestriction upon the action of the Creative Power? Certainly not by its own\nLaw of Tendency, for that must always be toward fuller self-expression; and\nsince this can only take place through the individual, the desire of the\nSpirit must always be toward the increasing of the individual life. Nor yet\nfrom anything in the created substance, for that would either be to suppose\nthe Spirit creating something in limitation of its own Self-expression, or\nelse to suppose that the limiting substance was created by some other power\nworking against the Spirit; and as this would mean a Duality of powers we\nshould not have reached the Originating Power at all, and so we might put\nSpirit and Substance equally out of court as both being merely modes of\nsecondary causation. But if we see that the Universal Substance must be\ncreated by emanation from the Universal Spirit, then we see that no\nlimitation of Spirit by substance is possible. We may therefore feel\nassured that no limitation proceeds either from the will of the Spirit or\nfrom the nature of Substance.\n\nWhere, then, does limitation come from? Limiting conditions are created by\nthe same power which creates everything else, namely, the\nSelf-contemplation of Spirit. This is why it is so important to realize\nthat the individual mind forms a center from which the self-contemplating\naction of Spirit is specialized in terms of the individual's own mode of\nthinking, and therefore so long as the individual contemplates negative\nconditions as being _of the essence_ of his own personality, he is in\neffect employing the Creative Power of the Self-contemplation of Spirit\ninvertedly, destructively instead of constructively. The Law of the\nSelf-contemplation of Spirit as the Creative Power is as true in the\nmicrocosm as in the macrocosm, and so the individual's contemplation of\nhimself as subject to the law of sin and death keeps him subject to that\nlaw, while the opposite self-contemplation, the contemplation of himself as\nrejoicing in the Life of the Spirit, the Perfect Law of Liberty, must\nnecessarily produce the opposite results.\n\nWhy, then, should not regeneration be accomplished here and now? I can see\nno reason against it, either Scriptural or philosophical, except our own\ndifficulty in getting rid of the race-traditions which are so deeply\nembedded in our subjective minds. To get rid of these we require a firm\nbasis on which to receive the opposite suggestion. We need to be convinced\nthat our ideal of a regenerated self is in accord with the Normal Standard\nof Humanity and is within the scope of the laws of the universe. Now to\nmake clear to us the _infinitude_ of the truly Normal Standard of Humanity\nis the whole purpose of the Bible; and the Manifestation of this Standard\nis set before us in the Central Personality of the Scriptures who is at\nonce the Son of God and the Son of Man--the Great Exception, if you will,\nto man as we know him now, but the Exception which proves the Rule. In\nproportion as we begin to realize this we begin to introduce into our own\nlife the action of that Personal Factor on which all further development\ndepends; and when our recognition is complete we shall find that we also\nare children of God.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nCONCLUSION\n\n\nWe are now in a position to see the place occupied by the individual in the\nCreative Order. We have found that the originating and maintaining force of\nthe whole Creative Process is the Self-contemplation of the Spirit, and\nthat this necessarily produces a Reciprocal corresponding to the idea\nembodied in the contemplation, and thus manifesting that idea in a\ncorrelative Form. We have found that in this way the externalization of the\nidea progresses from the condensation of the primary nebula to the\nproduction of human beings as a race, and that at this point the simple\n_generic_ reproduction of the idea terminates. This means that up to, and\nincluding, _genus homo_, the individual, whether plant, animal, or man, is\nwhat it is simply by reason of race conditions and not by exercise of\ndeliberate choice. Then we have seen that the next step in advance must\nnecessarily be by the individual becoming aware that he has power to mold\nthe conditions of his own consciousness and environment by the creative\npower of his thought; thus not only enabling him to take a conscious part\nin his own further evolution but precluding him from evolving any further\nexcept by the right exercise of this power; and we have found that the crux\nof the passage from the Fourth to the Fifth Kingdom is to get people so to\nunderstand the nature of their creative power as not to use it\ndestructively. Now what we require to see is that the Creative Process has\nalways only one way of working, and that is by Reciprocity or Reflection,\nor, as we might say, by the law of Action and Re-action, the re-action\nbeing always equivalent and correspondent to the action which generated it.\nIf this Law of Reciprocity be grasped then we see how the progress of the\nCreative Process must at length result in producing a being who himself\npossesses the power of independent spiritual initiative and is thus able to\ncarry on the creative work from the stand-point of his own individuality.\n\nNow the great crux is first to get people to see that they possess this\npower at all, and then to get them to use it in the right direction. When\nour eyes begin to open to the truth that we do possess this power the\ntemptation is to ignore the fact that our power of initiative is itself a\nproduct of the similar power subsisting in the All-originating Spirit. If\nthis origin of our own creative faculty is left out of sight we shall fail\nto recognize the Livingness of the Greater Life within which we live. We\nshall never get nearer to it than what we may call its _generic_ level, the\nstage at which the Creative Power is careful of the type or race but is\ncareless of the individual; and so at this level we shall never pass into\nthe Fifth Kingdom which is the Kingdom of Individuality--we have missed the\nwhole point of the transition to the more advanced mode of being, in which\nthe individual consciously functions as a creative center, because we have\nno conception of a Universal Power that works at any higher level than the\ngeneric, and consequently to reach a specific personal exercise of creative\npower we should have to conceive of ourselves as transcending the Universal\nLaw. But if we realize that our own power of creative initiative has its\norigin in the similar faculty of the All-Originating Mind then we see that\nthe way to maintain the Life-giving energy in ourselves is to use our power\nof spiritual initiative so as to impress upon the Spirit the conception of\nourselves as standing related to It in a specific, individual, and personal\nway that takes us out of the mere category of _genus homo_ and gives us a\nspecific spiritual individuality of our own. Thus our mental action\nproduces a corresponding re-action in the mind of the Spirit, which in its\nturn reproduces itself as a special manifestation of the Life of the Spirit\nin us; and so long as this circulation between the individual spirit and\nthe Great Spirit is kept up, the individual life will be maintained, and\nwill also strengthen as the circulation continues, for the reason that the\nSpirit, as the Original Creative Power, is a Multiplying Force, and the\ncurrent sent into it is returned multiplied, just as in telegraphy the\nfeeble current received from a distance at the end of a long line operates\nto start a powerful battery in the receiving office, which so multiplies\nthe force as to give out a clear message, which but for the multiplication\nof the original movement could not have been done. Something like this we\nmay picture the multiplying tendency of the Originating Mind, and\nconsequently the longer the circulation between it and the individual mind\ngoes on the stronger the latter becomes; and this process growing habitual\nbecomes at last automatic, thus producing an endless flow of Life\ncontinually expanding in intelligence, love, power and joy.\n\nBut we must note carefully that all this can only proceed from the\nindividual's recognition that his own powers are a derivative from the\nAll-originating Spirit, and that they can continue to be used\nconstructively only so long as they are employed in harmony with the\ninherent Forward Movement of the Spirit. Therefore to insure this eternally\nflowing stream of Life from the Universal Spirit into the individual there\nmust be _no inversion_ in the individual's presentation of himself to the\nOriginating Power: for through the very same Law by which we seek Life--the\nLife namely, of reciprocal action and re-action--every inversion we bring\nwith us in presenting ourselves to the Spirit is bound to be faithfully\nreproduced in a corresponding re-action, thus adulterating the stream of\nPure Life, and rendering it less life-giving in proportion to the extent to\nwhich we invert the action of the Life-principle; so that in extreme cases\nthe stream flowing through and from the individual may be rendered\nabsolutely poisonous and deadly, and the more so the greater his\nrecognition of his own personal power to employ spiritual forces.\n\nThe existence of these negative possibilities in the spiritual world should\nnever be overlooked, and therefore the essential condition for receiving\nthe Perfect Fulness of Life is that we should present ourselves before the\nEternal Spirit free from every trace of inversion. To do this means to\npresent ourselves in the likeness of the Divine Ideal; and in this\nself-presentation the initiative, so far as the individual is consciously\nconcerned, must necessarily be taken by himself. He is to project into the\nEternal Mind the conception of himself as identical with its Eternal Ideal;\nand if he can do this, then by the Law of the Creative Process a return\ncurrent will flow from the Eternal Mind reproducing this image in the\nindividual with a continually growing power. Then the question is, How are\nwe to do this?\n\nThe answer is that to take the initiative for inducing this flow of Life\nindividually it is a _sine qua non_ that the conditions enabling us to do\nso should first be presented to us universally. This is in accordance with\nthe general principle that we can never create a force but can only\nspecialize it. Only here the power we are wanting to specialize is the very\nPower of Specialization itself; and therefore, paradoxical as it may seem,\nwhat we require to have shown us is the Universality of Specialization.\n\nNow this is what the Bible puts before us in its central figure. Taking the\nBible statements simply and literally they show us this unique Personality\nas the Principle of Humanity, alike in its spiritual origin and its\nmaterial manifestation, carried to the logical extreme of specialization;\nwhile at the same time, as the embodiment of the original polarity of\nSpirit and Substance, this Personality, however unique, is absolutely\nuniversal; so that the Bible sets Jesus Christ before us as the answer to\nthe philosophic problem of how to specialize the universal, while at the\nsame time preserving its universality.\n\nIf, then, we fix our thought upon this unique Personality as the embodiment\nof _universal_ principles, it follows that those principles must exist in\nourselves also, and that His actual specialization of them is the earnest\nof our potential specialization of them. Then if we fix our thought on this\npotential in ourselves as being identical with its manifestation in Him, we\ncan logically claim our identity with Him, so that what He has done we have\ndone, what He is, we are, and thus recognizing ourselves in Him we present\n_this_ image of ourselves to the Eternal Mind, with the result that we\nbring with us no inversion, and so import no negative current into our\nstream of Life.\n\nThus it is that we reach \"the Father\" through \"the Son,\" and that He is\nable to keep us from falling and to present us faultless before the\npresence of the Divine glory with exceeding joy (Jude 24). The Gospel of\n\"the Word made flesh\" is not the meaningless cant of some petty sect nor\nyet the cunning device of priestcraft, though it has been distorted in both\nthese directions; but it can give a reason for itself, and is founded upon\nthe deepest laws of the threefold constitution of man, embracing the\n_whole_ man, body, soul and spirit. It is not opposed to Science but is the\nculmination of all science whether physical or mental. It is philosophical\nand logical throughout if you start the Creative Process where alone it can\nstart, in the Self-contemplation of the Spirit. The more carefully we\nexamine into the claims of the Gospel of Christ the more we shall find all\nthe current objections to it melt away and disclose their own\nsuperficialness. We shall find that Christ is indeed the Mediator between\nGod and Man, not by the arbitrary fiat of a capricious Deity, but by a\nlogical law of sequence which solves the problem of making extremes meet,\nso that the Son of Man is also the Son of God; and when we see the reason\nwhy this is so we thereby receive power to become ourselves sons of God,\nwhich is the d\u00e9nouement of the Creative Process in the Individual.\n\nThese closing lines are not the place to enter upon so great a subject, but\nI hope to follow it up in another volume and to show in detail the logic of\nthe Bible teaching, what it saves us from and what it leads us to; to show\nwhile giving due weight to the value of other systems how it differs from\nthem and transcends them; to glance, perhaps, for a moment at the\nindications of the future and to touch upon some of the dangers of the\npresent and the way to escape from them. Nor would I pass over in silence\nanother and important aspect of the Gospel contained in Christ's commission\nto His followers to heal the sick. This also follows logically from the Law\nof the Creative Process if we trace carefully the sequence of connections\nfrom the indwelling Ego to the outermost of its vehicles; while the effect\nof the recognition of these great truths upon the individuality that has\nfor a time put off its robe of flesh, opens out a subject of paramount\ninterest. Thus it is that on every plane Christ is the Fulfilling of the\nLaw, and that \"Salvation\" is not a silly shiboleth but the logical and\nvital process of our advance into the unfoldment of the next stage of the\nlimitless capacities of our being. Of these things I hope to write in\nanother volume, should it be permitted to me, and in the meanwhile I would\ncommend the present abstract statement of principles to the reader's\nattention in the hope that it may throw some light on the fundamental\nnature of these momentous questions. The great thing to bear in mind is\nthat if a thing is true at all there must be a reason why it is true, and\nwhen we come to see this reason we know the truth at first hand for\nourselves and not from some one else's report--then it becomes really our\nown and we begin to learn how to use it. This is the secret of the\nindividual's progress in any art, science, or business, and the same method\nwill serve equally well in our search after Life itself, and as we thus\nfollow up the great quest we shall find that on every plane the Way, the\nTruth, and the Life are ONE.\n\n\"A little philosophy inclineth a man's mind to atheism, but depth in\nphilosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion.\"--_Bacon. Essay xvi_.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nTHE DIVINE OFFERING\n\n\nI take the present opportunity of a new edition to add a few pages on\ncertain points which appear to me of vital importance, and the connection\nof which with the preceding chapters will, I hope, become evident as the\nreader proceeds. Assuming the existence in each individual of a creative\npower of thought which, in relation to himself, reflects the same power\nexisting in the Universal Mind, our right employment of this power becomes\na matter of extreme moment to ourselves. Its inverted use necessarily holds\nus fast in the bondage from which we are seeking to escape, and equally\nnecessarily its right use brings us into Liberty; and therefore if any\nDivine revelation exists at all its purpose must be to lead us away from\nthe inverted use of our creative faculty and into such a higher\nspecializing of it as will produce the desired result. Now the purpose of\nthe Bible is to do this, and it seeks to effect this work by a dual\noperation. It places before us that Divine Ideal of which I have already\nspoken, and at the same time bases this ideal upon the recognition of a\nDivine Sacrifice. These two conceptions are so intimately interwoven in\nScripture that they cannot be separated, but at the present day there _is_\na growing tendency to attempt to make this separation and to discard the\nconception of a Divine Sacrifice as unphilosophical, that is as having no\nnexus of cause and effect. What I want, therefore, to point out in these\nadditional pages is that there is such a nexus, and that so far from being\nwithout a sequence of cause and effect it has its root in the innermost\nprinciples of our own being. It is not contrary to Law but proceeds from\nthe very nature of the Law itself.\n\nThe current objection to the Bible teaching on this subject is that no such\nsacrifice could have been required by God, either because the Originating\nEnergy can have no consciousness of Personality and is only a blind force,\nor because, if \"God is Love,\" He could not demand such a sacrifice. On the\nformer hypothesis we are of course away from the Bible teaching altogether\nand have nothing to do with it; but, as I have said elsewhere, the fact of\nour own consciousness of personality can only be accounted for by the\nexistence, however hidden, of a corresponding quality in the Originating\nSpirit. Therefore I will confine my remarks to the question how Love, as\nthe originating impulse of all creation, can demand such a sacrifice. And\nto my mind the answer is that God does not demand it. It is Man who demands\nit. It is the instinctive craving of the human soul for _certainty_ that\nrequires a demonstration so convincing as to leave no room for doubt of our\nperfectly happy relation to the Supreme Spirit, and consequently to all\nthat flows from it, whether on the side of the visible or of the invisible.\nWhen we grasp the fact that such a standpoint of certainty is the necessary\nfoundation for the building up in ourselves of the Divine Ideal then it\nbecomes clear that to afford us this firm basis is the greatest work that\nthe Spirit, in its relation to human personality, could do.\n\nWe are often told that the offering of sacrifices had its origin in\nprimitive man's conception of his gods as beings which required to be\npropitiated so as to induce them to do good or abstain from doing harm; and\nvery likely this was the case. The truth at the back of this conception is\nthe feeling that there is a higher power upon which man is dependent; and\nthe error is in supposing that this power is limited by an individuality\nwhich can be enriched by selling its good offices, or which blackmails you\nby threats. In either case it wants to get something out of you, and from\nthis it follows that its own power of supplying its own wants must be\nlimited, otherwise it would not require to be kept in good temper by gifts.\nIn very undeveloped minds such a conception results in the idea of numerous\ngods, each having, so to say, his own particular line of business; and the\nfurthest advance this mode of thought is capable of is the reduction of\nthese various deities to two antagonistic powers of Good and of Evil. But\nthe result in either case is the same, so long as we start with the\nhypothesis that the Good will do us more good and the Evil do us less harm\nby reason of our sacrifices, for then it logically follows that the more\nvaluable your sacrifices and the oftener they are presented the better\nchance you have of good luck. Doubtless some such conception as this was\nheld by the mass of the Hebrew people under the sacrificial system of the\nLevitical Law, and perhaps this was one reason why they were so prone to\nfall into idolatry--for in this view their fundamental notion was\npractically identical in its nature with that of the heathen around them.\nOf course this was not the fundamental idea embodied in the Levitical\nsystem itself. The root of that system was the symbolizing of a supreme\nideal of reconciliation hereafter to be manifested in action. Now a symbol\nis not the thing symbolized. The purpose of a symbol is twofold, to put us\nupon enquiry as to the reality which it indicates, and to bring that\nreality to our minds by suggestion when we look at the symbol; but if it\ndoes not do this, and we rest only in the symbol, nothing will come of it,\nand we are left just where we were. That the symbolic nature of the\nLevitical sacrifice was clearly perceived by the deeper thinkers among the\nHebrews is attested by many passages in the Bible--\"Sacrifice and burnt\noffering thou wouldest not\" (Psalms xl: 6, and li: 16) and other similar\nutterances; and the distinction between these symbols and that which they\nsymbolized is brought out in the Epistle to the Hebrews by the argument\nthat if those sacrifices had afforded a sufficient standpoint for the\neffectual realization of cleansing then the worshiper would not need to\nhave repeated them because he would have no more consciousness of sin\n(Hebrews x: 2).\n\nThis brings us to the essential point of the whole matter. What we want is\nthe certainty that there is no longer any separation between us and the\nDivine Spirit by reason of sin, either as overt acts of wrong doing or as\nerror of principle; and the whole purpose of the Bible is to lead us to\nthis assurance. Now such an assurance cannot be based on any sort of\nsacrifices that require repetition, for then we could never know whether we\nhad given enough either in quality or quantity. It must be a once-for-all\nbusiness or it is no use at all; and so the Bible makes the\nonce-for-allness of the offering the essential point of its teaching. \"He\nthat has been bathed does not need to be bathed again\" (John xiii: 10).\n\"There is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus\" (Romans\nviii: i).\n\nVarious intellectual difficulties, however, hinder many people from seeing\nthe working of the law of cause and effect in this presentment. One is the\nquestion, How can moral guilt be transferred from one person to another?\nWhat is called the \"forensic\" argument (i.e., the court of law argument)\nthat Christ undertook to suffer in our stead as our _surety_ is undoubtedly\nopen to this objection. Suretyship must by its very nature be confined to\ncivil obligations and cannot be extended to criminal liability, and so the\n\"forensic\" argument may be set aside as very much a legal fiction. But if\nwe realize the Bible teaching that Christ is the Son of God, that is, the\nDivine Principle of Humanity out of which we originated and subsisting in\nus all, however unconsciously to ourselves, then we see that sinners as\nwell as saints are included in this Principle; and consequently that the\nSelf-offering of Christ must actually include the self-offering of every\nhuman being in the acknowledgment (however unknown to his _objective_\nmentality) of his sin. If we can grasp this somewhat abstract point of view\nit follows that in the Person of Christ every human being, past, present,\nand to come, was self-offered for the condemnation of his sin--a _self_-\ncondemnation and a _self_-offering, and hence a cleansing, for the simple\nreason that if you can get a man to realize his past error, really see his\nmistake, he won't do it again; and it is the perpetuation of sin and error\nthat has to be got rid of--to do this universally would be to regain\nParadise. Seen therefore in this light there is no question of transference\nof moral guilt, and I take it this is St. Paul's meaning when he speaks of\nour being partakers in Christ's death.\n\nThen there is the objection, How can past sins be done away with? If we\naccept the philosophical conclusion that Time has no substantive existence\nthen all that remains is states of consciousness. As I have said in the\nearlier part of this book, the Self-Contemplation of Spirit is the cause of\nall our perception of existence and environment; and consequently if the\nSelf-Contemplation of the Spirit from any center of individualization is\nthat of entire harmony and the absence of anything that would cause any\nconsciousness of separation, then past sins cease to have any part in this\nself-recognition, and consequently cease to have any place in the world of\nexistence. The foundation of the whole creative process is the calling into\nLight out of Darkness--\"that which makes manifest is light\"--and\nconsequently the converse action is that of sending out of Light into\nDarkness, that is, into Notbeing. Now this is exactly what the Spirit says\nin the Bible--\"I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions\"\n(Isaiah xliii: 25). Blotting out is the sending out of manifestation into\nthe darkness of non-manifestation, out of Being into Not-being; and in this\nway the past error ceases to have any existence and so ceases to have any\nfurther effect upon us. It is \"blotted out,\" and from this new standpoint\nhas never been at all; so that to continue to contemplate it is to give a\nfalse sense of existence to that which in effect has no existence. It is\nthat Affirmation of Negation which is the root of all evil. It is the\ninversion of our God-given creative power of thought, calling into\nexistence that which in the Perfect Life of the Spirit never had or could\nhave any existence, and therefore it creates the sense of inharmony,\nopposition, and separation. Of course this is only relatively to ourselves,\nfor we cannot create eternal principles. They are the Being of God; and as\nI have already shown these great Principles of the Affirmative may be\nsummed up in the two words Love and Beauty--Love in essence and Beauty in\nmanifestation; but since we can only live from the standpoint of our own\nconsciousness we can make a false creation built upon the idea of opposites\nto the all-creating Love and Beauty, which false creation with all its\naccompaniments of limitation, sin, sorrow, sickness, and death, must\nnecessarily be real to us until we perceive that these things were not\ncreated by God, the Spirit of the Affirmative, but by our own inversion of\nour true relation to the All-creating Being.\n\nWhen, then, we view the matter in this light the Offering once for all of\nthe Divine Sacrifice for the sin of the whole world is seen not to be a\nmere ecclesiastical dogma having no relation of cause and effect, but to be\nthe highest application of the same principle of cause and effect by which\nthe whole creation, ourselves included, has been brought into existence--\nthe Self-Contemplation of Spirit producing corresponding manifestation,\nonly now working on the level of Individual Personality.\n\nAs I have shown at the beginning of this book the cosmic manifestation of\nprinciples is not sufficient to bring out all that there is in them. To do\nthis their action must be specialized by the introduction of the Personal\nFactor. They are represented by the Pillar Jachin, but it must be\nequilibriated by the Pillar Boaz, Law and Personality the two Pillars of\nthe Universe; and in the One Offering we have the supreme combination of\nthese two principles, the highest specialization of Law by the highest\npower of Personality. These are eternal principles, and therefore we are\ntold that the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world; and because\n\"thoughts are things\" this supreme manifestation of the creative\ninteraction of Law and Personality was bound eventually to be manifested in\nconcrete action in the world conditioned by time and space; and so it was\nthat the supreme manifestation of the Love of God to meet the supreme need\nof Man took place. The history of the Jewish nation is the history of the\nworking of the law of cause and effect, under the guidance of the Divine\nWisdom, so as to provide the necessary conditions for the greatest event in\nthe world's history; for if Christ was to appear it must be in _some_\nnation, in _some_ place, and at _some_ time: but to trace the steps by\nwhich, through an intelligible sequence of causes, these necessary\nconditions were provided belongs rather to an investigation of Bible\nhistory than to our present purpose, so I will not enter into these details\nhere. But what I hope I have in some measure made clear is that there is a\nreason why Christ should be manifested, and should suffer, and rise again,\nand that so far from being a baseless superstition the Reconciling of the\nworld to God through the One Offering once-for-all offered for the sin of\nthe whole world, lays the immovable foundation upon which we may build\nsecurely for all the illimitable future.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nOURSELVES IN THE DIVINE OFFERING\n\n\nIf we have grasped the principle I have endeavored to state in the last\nchapter we shall find that with this new standpoint a new life and a new\nworld begin to open out to us. This is because we are now living from a new\nrecognition of ourselves and of God. Eternal Truth, that which is the\nessential reality of Being, is _always_ the same; it has never altered, for\nwhatever is capable of passing away and giving place to something else is\nnot eternal, and therefore the real essence of our being, as proceeding\nfrom God and subsisting in Him has always been the same. But this is the\nvery fact which we have hitherto lost sight of; and since our perception of\nlife is the measure of our individual consciousness of it, we have imposed\nupon ourselves a world of limitation, a world filled with the power of the\nnegative, because we have viewed things from that standpoint. What takes\nplace, therefore, when we realize the truth of our Redemption is not a\nchange in our essential relation to the Parent Spirit, the Eternal Father,\nbut an awakening to the perception of this eternal and absolutely perfect\nrelation. We see that in reality it has never been otherwise for the simple\nreason that in the very nature of Being it _could_ not be otherwise; and\nwhen we see this we see also that what has hitherto been wrong has not been\nthe working of \"the Father\" but our conception of the existence of some\nother power, a power of negation, limitation, and destructiveness, the very\nopposite to all that the Creative Spirit, by the very fact of Its\nCreativeness, must be. That wonderful parable of the Prodigal Son shows us\nthat he never ceased to be a son. It was not his Father who sent him away\nfrom home but his notion that he could do better \"on his own,\" and we all\nknow what came of it. But when he returned to the Father he found that from\nthe Father's point of view he had never been otherwise than a son, and that\nall the trouble he had gone through was not \"of the Father\" but was the\nresult of his own failure to realize what the Father and the Home really\nwere.[9]\n\nNow this is exactly the case with ourselves. When we wake up to the truth\nwe find that, so far as the Father is concerned, we have always been in Him\nand in His home, for we are made in His image and likeness and are\nreflections of His own Being. He says to us \"Son, thou art ever with me and\nall that I have is thine.\" The Self-Contemplation of Spirit is the Creative\nPower creating an environment corresponding to the mode of consciousness\ncontemplated, and therefore in proportion as we contemplate ourselves as\ncenters of individualization for the Divine Spirit we find ourselves\nsurrounded by a new environment reflecting the harmonious conditions which\npreexist in the Thought of the Spirit.\n\nThis, then, is the sequence of Cause and Effect involved in the teaching of\nthe Bible. Man is _in essence_ a spiritual being, the reflection on the\nplane of individual personality of that which the All-Originating Spirit is\nin Itself, and is thus in that reciprocal relation to the Spirit which is\nLove. This is the first statement of his creation in Genesis--God saw all\nthat He had made and behold it was very good, Man included. Then the Fall\nis the failure of the lower mentality to realize that God IS Love, in a\nword that Love is the only ultimate Motive Power it is possible to\nconceive, and that the creations of Love cannot be otherwise than good and\nbeautiful. The lower mentality conceives an opposite quality of Evil and\nthus produces a motive power the opposite of Love, which is Fear; and so\nFear is born into the world giving rise to the whole brood of evil, anger,\nhatred, envy, lies, violence, and the like, and on the external plane\ngiving rise to discordant vibrations which are the root of physical ill. If\nwe analyze our motives we shall find that they are always some mode either\nof Love or Fear; and fear has its root in the recognition of some power\nother than Perfect Love, which is God the ONE all-embracing Good. Fear has\na creative force which invertedly mimics that of Love; but the difference\nbetween them is that Love is eternal and Fear is not. Love as the Original\nCreative Motive is the only logical conclusion we can come to as to why we\nourselves or any other creation exists. Fear is illogical because to regard\nit as having any place in the Original Creative Motive involves a\ncontradiction in terms.\n\nBy accepting the notion of a dual power, that of Good _and_ Evil, the\ninverted creative working of Fear is introduced with all its attendant\ntrain of evil things. This is the eating of the deadly tree which occasions\nthe Fall, and therefore the Redemption which requires to be accomplished is\na redemption from Fear--not merely from this or that particular fear but\nfrom the very Root of Fear, which root is unbelief in the Love of God, the\nrefusal to believe that Love alone is the Creating Power in all things,\nwhether small beyond our recognition or great beyond our conception.\nTherefore to bring about this Redemption there must be such a manifestation\nof the Divine Love to Man as, when rightly apprehended, will leave no\nground for fear; and when we see that the Sacrifice of the Cross was the\nSelf-Offering of Love made in order to provide this manifestation, then we\nsee that all the links in the chain of Cause and Effect are complete, and\nthat Fear never had any place in the Creative Principle, whether as acting\nin the creation of a world or of a man. The root, therefore, of all the\ntrouble of the world consists in the Affirmation of Negation, in using our\ncreative power of thought invertedly, and thus giving substance to that\nwhich _as principle_ has no existence. So long as this negative action of\nthought continues so long will it produce its natural effect; whether in\nthe individual or in the mass. The experience is perfectly real while it\nlasts. Its unreality consists in the fact that there was never any real\nneed for it; and the more we grasp the truth of the all-embracingness of\nthe ONE Good, both as Cause and as Effect, on all planes, the more the\nexperience of its opposite will cease to have any place in our lives.\n\nThis truly New Thought puts us in an entirely new relation to the whole of\nour environment, opening out possibilities hitherto undreamt of, and this\nby an orderly sequence of law which is naturally involved in our new mental\nattitude; but before considering the prospect thus offered it is well to be\nquite clear as to what this new mental attitude really is; for it is our\nadoption of this attitude that is the Key to the whole position. Put\nbriefly it is ceasing to include the idea of limitations in our conception\nof the working of the All-Creating Spirit. Here are some specimens of the\nway in which we limit the creative working of the Spirit. We say, I am too\nold now to start this or that new sort of work. This is to deny the power\nof the Spirit to vivify our physical or mental faculties, which is\nillogical if we consider that it is the same Spirit that brought us into\nany existence at all. It is like saying that when a lamp is beginning to\nburn low the same person who first filled it with oil cannot replenish it\nand make it burn brightly again. Or we say, I cannot do so and so because I\nhave not the means. When you were fourteen did you know where all the means\nwere coming from which were going to support you till now when you are\nperhaps forty or fifty? So you should argue that the same power that has\nworked in the past can continue to work in the future. If you say the means\ncame in the past quite naturally through ordinary channels, that is no\nobjection; on the contrary the more reason for saying that suitable\nchannels will open in the future. Do you expect God to put cash into your\ndesk by a conjuring trick? Means come through recognizable channels, that\nis to say we recognize the channels by the fact of the stream flowing\nthrough them; and one of our most common mistakes is in thinking that we\nourselves have to fix the particular channel beforehand. We say in effect\nthat the Spirit cannot open other channels, and so we stop them up. Or we\nsay, our past experience speaks to the contrary, thus assuming that our\npast experiences have included all possibilities and have exhausted the\nlaws of the universe, an assumption which is negatived by every fresh\ndiscovery even in physical science. And so we go on limiting the power of\nthe Spirit in a hundred different ways.\n\nBut careful consideration will show that, though the modes in which we\nlimit it are as numerous as the circumstances with which we have to deal,\nthe thing with which we limit it is always the same--it is by the\nintroduction of our own personality. This may appear at first a direct\ncontradiction of all that I have said about the necessity for the Personal\nFactor, but it is not. Here is a paradox.\n\nTo open out into manifestation the wonderful possibilities hidden in the\nCreative Power of the Universe we require to do two things--to see that we\nourselves are necessary as centers for focussing that power, and at the\nsame time to withdraw the thought of ourselves as contributing anything to\nits efficiency. It is not I that work but the Power; yet the Power needs me\nbecause it cannot specialize itself without me--in a word each is the\ncomplementary of the other: and the higher the degree of specialization is\nto be the more necessary is the intelligent and willing co-operation of the\nindividual.\n\nThis is the Scriptural paradox that \"the son can do nothing of himself,\"\nand yet we are told to be \"fellow-workers with God.\" It ceases to be a\nparadox, however, when we realize the relation between the two factors\nconcerned, God and Man. Our mistake is in not discriminating between their\nrespective functions, and putting Man in the place of God. In our everyday\nlife we do this by measuring the power of God by our past experiences and\nthe deductions we draw from them; but there is another way of putting Man\nin the place of God, and that is by the misconception that the\nAll-Originating Spirit is merely a cosmic force without intelligence, and\nthat Man has to originate the intelligence without which no specific\npurpose can be conceived. This latter is the error of much of the present\nday philosophy and has to be specially guarded against. This was perceived\nby some of the medieval students of these things, and they accordingly\ndistinguished between what they called Animus Dei and Anima Mundi, the\nDivine Spirit and the Soul of the Universe. Now the distinction is this,\nthat the essential quality of Animus Dei is Personality--not A Person, but\nthe very Principle of Personality itself--while the essential quality of\nAnima Mundi is Impersonality. Then right here comes in that importance of\nthe Personal Factor of which I have already spoken. The powers latent in\nthe Impersonal are brought out to their fullest development by the\noperation of the Personal. This of course does not consist in changing the\nnature of those powers, for that is impossible, but in making such\ncombinations of them by Personal Selection as to produce results which\ncould not otherwise be obtained. Thus, for example, Number is in itself\nimpersonal and no one can alter the laws which are inherent in it; but what\nwe can do is to select particular numbers and the sort of relation, such as\nsubtraction, multiplication, etc., which we will establish between them;\nand then by the inherent Law of Number a certain result is bound to work\nout. Now our own essential quality is the consciousness of Personality; and\nas we grow into the recognition of the fact that the Impersonal is, as it\nwere, crying out for the operation upon it of the Personal in order to\nbring its latent powers into working, we shall see how limitless is the\nfield that thus opens before us.\n\nThe prospect is wonderful beyond our present conception, and full of\nincreasing glory if we realize the true foundation on which it rests. But\nherein lies the danger. It consists in not realizing that the Infinite of\nthe Impersonal _is_ and also that the Infinite of the Personal _is_. Both\nare Infinite and so require differentiation through our own personality,\nbut in their essential quality each is the exact balance of the other--not\nin contradiction to each other, but as complementary to one another, each\nsupplying what the other needs for its full expression, so that the two\ntogether make a perfect whole. If, however, we see this relation and our\nown position as the connecting link between them, we shall see only\nourselves as the Personal Factor; but the more we realize, both by theory\nand experience, the power of human personality brought into contact with\nthe Impersonal Soul of Nature, and employed with a Knowledge of its power\nand a corresponding exercise of the will, the less we shall be inclined to\nregard ourselves as the supreme factor in the chain of cause and effect\nConsideration of this argument points to the danger of much of the present\nday teaching regarding the exercise of Thought Power as a creative agency.\nThe principle on which this teaching is based is sound and legitimate for\nit is inherent in the nature of things; but the error is in supposing that\nwe ourselves are the ultimate source of Personality instead of merely the\ndistributors and specializers of it. The logical result of such a mental\nattitude is that putting ourselves in the place of all that is worshiped as\nGod which is spoken of in the second chapter of the Second Epistle to the\nThessalonians and other parts of Scripture. By the very hypothesis of the\ncase we then know no higher will than our own, and so are without any\nUnifying Principle to prevent the conflict of wills which must then\narise--a conflict which must become more and more destructive the greater\nthe power possessed by the contending parties, and which, if there were no\ncounterbalancing power, must result in the ultimate destruction of the\nexisting race of men.\n\nBut there is a counterbalancing power. It is the very same power used\naffirmatively instead of negatively. It is the power of the Personal with\nthe Impersonal when used under the guidance of that Unifying Principle\nwhich the recognition of the ONE-ness of the Personal Quality in the Divine\nSpirit supplies. Those who are using the creative power of thought only\nfrom the standpoint of individual personality, have obviously less power\nthan those who are using it from the standpoint of the Personality inherent\nin the Living Spirit which is the Source and Fountain of all energy and\nsubstance, and therefore in the end the victory must remain with these\nlatter. And because the power by which they conquer is that of the Unifying\nPersonality itself their victory must result in the establishment of Peace\nand Happiness throughout the world, and is not a power of domination but of\nhelpfulness and enlightenment. The choice is between these two mottoes:--\n\"Each for himself and Devil take the hindmost,\" or \"God for us all.\" In\nproportion, therefore, as we realize the immense forces dormant in the\nImpersonal Soul of Nature, only awaiting the introduction of the Personal\nFactor to wake them up into activity and direct them to specific purposes,\nthe wider we shall find the scope of the powers within the reach of man;\nand the more clearly we perceive the Impersonalness of the very Principle\nof Personality itself, the clearer our own proper position as affording the\nDifferentiating Medium between these two Infinitudes will become to us.\n\nThe Impersonalness of the Principle of Personality looks like a\ncontradiction in terms, but it is not. I combine these two seemingly\ncontradictory terms as the best way to convey to the reader the idea of the\nessential Quality of Personality not yet differentiated into individual\ncenters of consciousness for the doing of particular work. Looked at in\nthis way the Infinite of Personality must have Unity of Purpose for its\nfoundation, for otherwise it would consist of conflicting personalities, in\nwhich case we have not yet reached the ONE all-originating cause. Or to put\nit in another way, an Infinite Personality divided against itself would be\nan Infinite Insanity, a creator of a cosmic Bedlam which, as a scientific\nfact, would be impossible of existence. Therefore the conception of an\nInfinite of Personality necessarily implies a perpetual Unity of Purpose;\nand for the same reason this Purpose can only be the fuller and fuller\nexpression of an Infinite Unity of Consciousness; and Unity of\nConsciousness necessarily implies the entire absence of all that would\nimpair it, and therefore its expression can only be as Universal Harmony.\nIf, then, the individual realizes this true nature of the source from which\nhis own consciousness of personality is derived his ideas and work will be\nbased upon this foundation, with the result that as between ourselves peace\nand good will towards men must accompany this mode of thought, and as\nbetween us and the strictly Impersonal Soul of Nature our increasing\nknowledge in that direction would mean increasing power for carrying out\nour principle of peace and good will. As this perception of our relation to\nthe Spirit of God and the Soul of Nature spreads from individual to\nindividual so the Kingdom of God will grow, and its universal recognition\nwould be the establishing of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.\n\nPerhaps the reader will ask why I say the Soul of Nature instead of saying\nthe material universe. The reason is that in using our creative power of\nThought we do not operate directly upon material elements--to do that is\nthe work of construction from without and not of creation from within. The\nwhole tendency of modern physical science is to reduce all matter in the\nfinal analysis to energy working in a primary ether. Whence this energy and\nthis ether proceed is not the subject of physical analysis. That is a\nquestion which cannot be answered by means of the vacuum tube or the\nspectroscope. Physical science is doing its legitimate work in pushing\nfurther and further back the unanalyzable residuum of Nature, but, however\nfar back, an ultimate unanalyzable residuum there must always be; and when\nphysical science brings us to this point it hands us over to the guidance\nof psychological investigation just as in the Divina Commedia Virgil\ntransfers Dante to the guidance of Beatrice for the study of the higher\nrealms. Various rates of rapidity of motion in this primary ether,\nproducing various numerical combinations of positively and negatively\nelectrified particles, result in the formation of what we know as the\ndifferent chemical elements, and thus explains the phenomena of their\ncombining quantities, the law by which they join together to form new\nsubstances only in certain exact numerical ratios. From the first movement\nin the primary ether to solid substances, such as wood or iron or our own\nflesh, is thus a series of vibrations in a succession of mediums, each\ndenser than the preceding one out of which it was concreted and from which\nit receives the vibratory impulse. This is in effect what physical science\nhas to tell us. But to get further back we must look into the world of the\ninvisible, and it is here that psychological study comes to our aid. We\ncannot, however, study the invisible side of Nature by working from the\noutside and so at this point of our studies we find the use of the\ntime-honored teaching regarding the parallelism between the Macrocosm and\nthe Microcosm. If the Microcosm is the reproduction in ourselves of the\nsame principles as exist in the Macrocosm or universe in which we have our\nbeing, then by investigating ourselves we shall learn the nature of the\ncorresponding invisible principles in our environment. Here, then, is the\napplication of the dictum of the ancient philosophy, \"Know Thyself.\" It\nmeans that the only place where we can study the principles of the\ninvisible side of Nature is in ourselves; and when we know them there we\ncan transfer them to the larger world around us.\n\nIn the concluding chapters of my \"Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science\" I\nhave outlined the way in which the soul or mind operates upon the physical\ninstrument of its expression, and it resolves itself into this--that the\nmental action inaugurates a series of vibrations in the etheric body which,\nin their turn, induce corresponding grosser vibrations in the molecular\nsubstance until finally mechanical action is produced on the outside. Now\ntransferring this idea to Nature as a whole we shall see that if our mental\naction is to affect it in any way it can only be by the response of\nsomething at the back of material substance analogous to mind in ourselves;\nand that there is such a \"something\" interior to the merely material side\nof Nature is proved by what we may call the Law of Tendency, not only in\nanimals and plants, but even in inorganic substances, as shown for instance\nin Professor Bose's work on the Response of Metals. The universal presence\nof this Law of Tendency therefore indicates the working of some\nnon-material and, so to say, semi-intelligent power in the material world,\na power which works perfectly accurately on its own lines so far as it\ngoes, that is to say in a generic manner, but which does not possess that\nPersonal power of _individual selection_ which is necessary to bring out\nthe infinite possibilities hidden in it. This is what is meant by the Soul\nof Nature, and it is for this reason I employ that term instead of saying\nthe material universe. Which term to employ all depends on the mode of\naction we are contemplating. If it is construction from without, then we\nare dealing with the purely material universe. If we are seeking to bring\nabout results by the exercise of our mental power from within, then we are\ndealing with the Soul of Nature. It is that control of the lower degree of\nintelligence by the higher of which I have spoken in my Edinburgh Lectures.\n\nIf we realize what I have endeavored to make clear in the earlier portion\nof this book, that the whole creation is produced by the operation of the\nDivine Will upon the Soul of Nature, it will be evident that we can set no\nlimits to the potencies hidden in the latter and capable of being brought\nout by the operation of the Personal Factor upon it; therefore, granted a\nsufficiently powerful concentration of will, whether by an individual or a\ngroup of individuals, we can well imagine the production of stupendous\neffects by this agency, and in this way I would explain the statements made\nin Scripture regarding the marvelous powers to be exercised by the\nAnti-Christ, whether personal or collective. They are psychic powers, the\npower of the Soul of Man over the Soul of Nature. But the Soul of Nature is\nquite impersonal and therefore the moral quality of this action depends\nentirely on the human operator. This is the point of the Master's teaching\nregarding the destruction of the fig tree, and it is on this account He\nadds the warning as to the necessity for clearing our heart of any\ninjurious feeling against others whenever we attempt to make use of this\npower (Mark xi: 20-26).\n\nAccording to His teaching, then, this power of controlling the Soul of\nNature by the addition of our own Personal Factor, however little we may be\nable to recognize it as yet, actually exists; its employment depends on our\nperception of the inner principles common to both, and it is for this\nreason the ancient wisdom was summed up in the aphorism \"Know thyself.\" No\ndoubt it is a wonderful Knowledge, but on analysis it will be found to be\nperfectly natural. It is the Knowledge of the cryptic forces of Nature. Now\nit is remarkable that this ancient maxim inscribed over the portals of the\nTemple of Delphi is not to be found in the Bible. The Bible maxim is not\n\"Know thyself\" but \"Know the Lord.\" The great subject of Knowledge is not\nourself but \"the Lord\"; and herein is the great difference between the two\nteachings. The one is limited by human personality, the other is based on\nthe Infinitude of the Divine Personality; and because of this it includes\nhuman personality with all its powers over the Soul of Nature. It is a case\nof the greater including the less; and so the whole teaching of Scripture\nis directed to bringing us into the recognition of that Divine Personality\nwhich is the Great Original in whose image and likeness we are made. In\nproportion as we grow into the recognition of _this_ our own personality\nwill explain, and the creative power of our thought will cease to work\ninvertedly until at last it will work only on the same principles of Life,\nLove and Liberty as the Divine Mind, and so all evil will disappear from\nour world. We shall not, as some systems teach, be absorbed into Deity to\nthe extinction of our individual consciousness, but on the contrary our\nindividual consciousness will continually expand, which is what St. Paul\nmeans when he speaks of our \"increasing with the increase of God\"--the\ncontinual expanding of the Divine element within us. But this can only take\nplace by our recognition of ourselves as _receivers_ of this Divine\nelement. It is receiving into ourselves of the Divine Personality, a result\nnot to be reached through human reasoning. We reason from premises which we\nhave assumed, and the conclusion is already involved in the premises and\ncan never extend beyond them. But we can only select our premises from\namong things that we know by experience, whether mental or physical, and\naccordingly our reasoning is always merely a new placing of the old things.\nBut the receiving of the Divine Personality into ourselves is an entirely\nNew Thing, and so cannot be reached by reasoning from old things. Hence if\nthis Divine ultimate of the Creative Process is to be attained it must be\nby the Revelation of a New Thing which will afford a new starting-point for\nour thought, and this New Starting-point is given in the Promise of \"the\nSeed of the Woman\" with which the Bible opens. Thenceforward this Promise\nbecame the central germinating thought of those who based themselves upon\nit, thus constituting them a special race, until at last when the necessary\nconditions had matured the Promised Seed appeared in Him of whom it is\nwritten that He is the express image of God's Person (Heb. I: 3)--that is,\nthe Expression of that Infinite Divine Personality of which I have spoken.\n\"No man hath seen God at any time or can see Him,\" for the simple reason\nthat Infinitude cannot be the subject of vision. To become visible there\nmust be Individualization, and therefore when Philip said \"Show us the\nFather,\" Jesus replied, \"He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.\" The\nWord must become flesh before St. John could say, \"That which was from the\nbeginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we\nhave looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of Life.\" This is\nthe New Starting-point for the true New Thought--the New Adam of the New\nRace, each of whom is a new center for the working of the Divine Spirit.\nThis is what Jesus meant when he said, \"Except ye eat the flesh and drink\nthe blood of the Son of Man ye have no life in you. My flesh is meat\nindeed, and my blood is drink indeed--\" such a contemplation of the Divine\nPersonality in Him as will cause a like receiving of the Divine Personality\ninto individualization in ourselves--this is the great purpose of the\nCreative Process in the individual. It terminates the old series which\nbegan with birth after the flesh and inaugurates a New Series by birth\nafter the Spirit, a New Life of infinite unfoldment with glorious\npossibilities beyond our highest conception.\n\nBut all this is logically based upon our recognition of the Personalness of\nGod and of the relation of our individual personality to this Eternal and\nInfinite Personality, and the result of this is Worship--not an attempt to\n\"butter up\" the Almighty and get Him into good temper, but the reverent\ncontemplation of what this Personality must be in Itself; and when we see\nit to be that Life, Love, Beauty, etc., of which I spoke at the beginning\nof this book we shall learn to love Him for what He IS, and our prayer will\nbe \"Give me more of Thyself.\" If we realize the great truth that the\nKingdom of Heaven is _within_ us, that it is the Kingdom of the innermost\nof our own being and of all creation, and if we realize that this innermost\nis the place of the Originating Power where Time and Space do not exist and\ntherefore antecedent to all conditions, then we shall see the true meaning\nof Worship. It is the perception of the Innermost Spirit as eternally\nsubsisting independently of all conditioned manifestation, so that in the\ntrue worship our consciousness is removed from the outer sphere of\nexistence to the innermost center of unconditioned being. There we find the\nEternal Being of God pure and simple, and we stand reverently in this\nSupreme Presence knowing that it is the Source of our own being, and wrapt\nin the contemplation of This, the conditioned is seen to flow out from It.\nPerceiving this the conditioned passes out of our consideration, for it is\nseen not to be the Eternal Reality--we have reached that level of\nconsciousness where Time and Space remain no longer. Yet the reverence\nwhich the vision of this Supreme Center of all Being cannot fail to inspire\nis coupled with a sense of feeling quite at home with It. This is because\nas the Center of _all_ Being it is the center of our own being also. It is\none-with-ourselves. It is recognizing Itself from our own center of\nconsciousness; so that here we have got back to that Self-contemplation of\nSpirit which is the first movement of the Creating Power, only now this\nSelf-contemplation is the action of the All-Originating Spirit upon Itself\nfrom the center of our own consciousness. So this worship in the Temple of\nthe Innermost is at once reverent adoration and familiar intercourse--not\nthe familiarity that breeds contempt, but a familiarity producing Love,\nbecause as it increases we see more clearly the true Life of the Spirit as\nthe continual interaction of Love and Beauty, and the Spirit's recognition\nof ourselves as an integral portion of Its own Life. This is not an\nunpractical dreamy speculation but has a very practical bearing. Death will\nsome day cease to be, for the simple reason that Life alone can be the\nenduring principle; but we have not yet reached this point in our\nevolution. Whether any in this generation will reach it I cannot say; but\nfor the rank and file of us the death of the body seems to be by far the\nmore probable event. Now what must this passing out of the body mean to us?\nIt must mean that we find ourselves without the physical vehicle which is\nthe instrument through which our consciousness comes in touch with the\nexternal world and all the interests of our present daily life. But the\nmere putting off of the body does not of itself change the mental attitude;\nand so if our mind is entirely centered upon these passing interests and\nexternal conditions the loss of the instrument by which we held touch with\nthem must involve a consciousness of desire for the only sort of life we\nhave known coupled with a consciousness of our inability to participate in\nit, which can only result in a consciousness of distress and confusion such\nas in our present state we cannot imagine.\n\nOn the other hand if we have in this world realized the true principle of\nthe Worship of the Eternal Source from which all conditioned life flows\nout--an inner communing with the Great Reality--we have already passed\nbeyond that consciousness of life which is limited by Time and Space; and\nso when we put off this mortal body we shall find ourselves upon familiar\nground, and therefore not wandering in confusion but quite at home,\ndwelling in the same light of the Eternal in which we have been accustomed\nto dwell as an atmosphere enveloping the conditioned life of to-day. Then\nfinding ourselves thus at home on a plane where Time and Space do not exist\nthere will be no question with us of duration. The consciousness will be\nsimply that of peaceful, happy being. That a return to more active personal\noperation will eventually take place is evidenced by the fact that the\nbasis of all further evolution is the differentiating of the\nUndifferentiated Life of the Spirit into specific channels of work, through\nthe intermediary of individual personality without which the infinite\npotentialities of the Creative Law cannot be brought to light. Therefore,\nhowever various our opinions as to its precise form, Resurrection as a\nprinciple is a necessity of the creative process. But such a return to more\nactive life will not mean a return to limitations, but the opening of a new\nlife in which we shall transcend them all, because we have passed beyond\nthe misconception that Time and Space are of the Essence of Life. When the\nmisconception regarding Time and Space is entirely eradicated all other\nlimitations must disappear because they have their root in this primary\none--they are only particular forms of the general proposition. Therefore\nthough Form with its accompanying relations of Time and Space is necessary\nfor manifestation, these things will be found not to have any force in\nthemselves thus creating limitation, but to be the reflection of the mode\nof thought which projects them as the expression of itself.\n\nNor is there any inherent reason why this process should be delayed till\nsome far-off future. There is no reason why we should not commence at once.\nNo doubt our inherited and personally engendered modes of thought make this\ndifficult, and by the nature of the process it will be only when _all_ our\nthoughts are conformed to this principle that the complete victory will be\nwon. But there must be a commencement to everything, and the more we\nhabituate ourselves to live in that Center of the Innermost where\nconditions do not exist, the more we shall find ourselves gaining control\nover outward conditions, because the stream of conditioned life flows out\nfrom the Center of Unconditioned Life, and therefore this intrinsic\nprinciple of Worship has in it the promise both of the life that now is and\nof that which is to come. Only we must remember that the really availing\nworship is that of the Undifferentiated Source _because It is the Source,_\nand not as a backhanded way of diverting the stream into some petty channel\nof conditions, for that would only be to get back to the old circle of\nlimitation from which we are seeking to escape.\n\nBut if we realize these things we have already laid hold of the Principle\nof Resurrection, and in point of principle we are already living the\nresurrection life. What progress we may make in it depends on our practical\napplication of the principle; but simply as principle there is nothing in\nthe principle itself to prevent its complete working at any moment. This is\nwhy Jesus did not refer resurrection to some remote point of time but said,\n\"I am the resurrection and the life.\" No principle can carry in itself an\nopposite and limiting principle contradictory of its own nature, and this\nis as true of the Principle of Life as of any other principle. It is we who\nby our thought introduce an opposite and limiting principle and so hinder\nthe working of the principle we are seeking to bring into operation; but so\nfar as the Principle of Life itself is concerned there is _in it_ no reason\nwhy it should not come into perfect manifestation here and now.\n\nThis, then, is the true purpose of worship. It is to bring us into\nconscious and loving intercourse with the Supreme Source of our own being,\nand seeing this we shall not neglect the outward forms of worship. From\nwhat we now know they should mean more to us than to others and not less;\nand in especial if we realize the manifestation of the Divine Personality\nin Jesus Christ and its reproduction in Man, we shall not neglect His last\ncommand to partake of that sacred memorial to His flesh and blood which He\nbequeathed to His followers with the words \"This do in remembrance of Me.\"\n\nThis holy rite is no superstitious human invention. There are many theories\nabout it, and I do not wish to combat any of them, for in the end they all\nseem to me to bring us to the same point, that being cleansed from sin by\nthe Divine Love we are now no longer separate from God but become\n\"partakers of the Divine-Nature\" (II Peter I: 4). This partaking of the\nDivine Nature could not be more accurately represented than by our\npartaking of bread and wine as symbols of the Divine Substance and the\nDivine Life, thus made emblematic of the whole Creative Process from its\nbeginning in the Divine Thought to its completion in the manifestation of\nthat Thought as Perfected Man; and so it brings vividly before us the\nremembrance of the Personality of God taking form as the Son of Man. We are\nall familiar with the saying that thoughts become things; and if we affirm\nthe creative power of our own thought as reproducing itself in outward\nform, how much more must we affirm the same of that Divine Thought which\nbrings the whole universe into existence; so that in accordance with our\nown principles the Divine Idea of Man was logically bound to show itself in\nthe world of time and space as the Son of God and the Son of man, not two\ndiffering natures but one complete whole, thus summing up the foundation\nprinciple of all creation in one Undivided Consciousness of Personality.\nThus \"the Word\" or Divine Thought of Man \"became flesh,\" and our partaking\nof the symbolic elements keeps in our remembrance the supreme truth that\nthis same \"Word\" or Thought of God in like manner takes form in ourselves\nas we open our own thought to receive it. And further, if we realize that\nthroughout the universe there is only ONE Originating Life, sending forth\nonly ONE Original Substance as the vehicle for its expression, then it\nlogically follows that _in essence_ the bread is a portion of the eternal\nSubstance of God, and the wine a portion of the eternal Life of God. For\nthough the wine is of course also a part of the Universal Substance, we\nmust remember that the Universal Substance is itself a manifestation of the\nLife of the All-Creating Spirit, and therefore this fluid form of the\nprimary substance has been selected as representing the eternal flowing of\nthe Life of the Spirit into all creation, culminating in its supreme\nexpression in the consciousness of those who, in the recognition of these\ntruths, seek to bring their heart into union with the Divine Spirit. From\nsuch considerations as these it will be seen how vast a field of thought is\ncovered by Christ's words \"Do this in remembrance of Me.\"\n\nIn conclusion, therefore, do not let yourselves be led astray by any\nphilosophy that denies the Personality of God. In the end it will be found\nto be a foolish philosophy. No other starting-point of creation is\nconceivable than the Self-Contemplation of the Divine Spirit, and the\nlogical sequence from this brings us to the ultimate result of the Creative\nProcess in the statement that \"if any man be in Christ he is a New\ncreature,\" or as the margin has it \"a new creation\" (II Cor. v: 17). Such\nvain philosophies have only one logical result which is to put _yourself_\nin the place of God, and then what have you to lean upon in the hour of\ntrial? It is like trying to climb up a ladder that is resting against\nnothing. Therefore, says the Apostle Paul, \"Beware lest any man spoil you\nthrough philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of man, after the\nrudiments of the world, and not after Christ.\" (Col. II: 8.) The teaching\nof the Bible is sound philosophy, sound reasoning, and sound science\nbecause it starts with the sound premises that all Creation proceeds out of\nGod, and that Man is made in the image and likeness of his Creator. It\nnowhere departs from the Law of Cause and Effect, and by the orderly\nsequence of this law it brings us at last to the New Creation both in\nourselves and in our environment, so that we find the completion of the\nCreative Process in the declaration \"the tabernacle of God is with men\"\n(Rev. xxi: 3), and in the promise \"This is the Covenant that I will make\nwith them after those days (i.e., the days of our imperfect apprehension of\nthese things) saith the Lord, I will dwell _in them_, and walk _in them_,\nand I will be their God, and they shall be my people, and I will put my\nlaws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and their\nsins and their iniquities will I remember no more\" (Heb. x: 16. II Cor. vi:\n16. Jeremiah xxxi: 33).\n\nTruly does Bacon say, \"A little philosophy inclineth a man's mind to\natheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion.\"\n--Bacon, Essay, xvi.\n\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n\nFootnote 1:   See my Dor\u00e9 Lectures, 1909.\n\nFootnote 2:   See my Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science.\n\nFootnote 3:   See my Dor\u00e9 Lectures, 1909.\n\nFootnote 4:   For the relation between conscious and sub-conscious mind see\nmy \"Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science.\"\n\nFootnote 5:   See \"Self-Synthesis\" by Dr. Cornwall Round.\n\nFootnote 6:   For the relation between subjective and objective mind see my\n\"Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science.\"\n\nFootnote 7:   This view, it may be remarked, is not necessarily\nincompatible with the conception of reincarnation, on which theory the\nfinal resurrection or transmutation of the body would terminate the series\nof successive lives and deaths, thus bringing the individual out of the\ncircle of generation, which is the circle of Karma. I may, perhaps, have\nthe opportunity of considering this subject on some future occasion.\n\nFootnote 8:   See my \"Bible Mystery and Bible Meaning.\"\n\nFootnote 9:   See \"Bible Mystery and Bible Meaning\" by the present author.","title":"The Creative Process in the Individual","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":36997}