{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_15568/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_15568","id":"gutenberg_15568","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15568","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Essays","New Thought"],"text":"Produced by Kevin Handy, Thomas Hutchinson and the PG\nOnline Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net).\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE LAW AND THE WORD\n\n\nBY\nT. TROWARD\n\n_Late Divisional Judge, Punjab. Honorary member of\nthe Medico-Legal Society of New York.\nFirst Vice-President International\nNew Thought Alliance_\n\nAuthor of the \"Edinburgh Lectures on Mental\nScience,\" etc.\n\n\n\n\n\nNEW YORK\nROBERT M. McBRIDE & COMPANY\n1937\n\n\n\n\nCOPYRIGHT, 1917\nBY S.A. TROWARD\n\n_Published, May, 1917\n\nEighth Printing, June, 1937_\n\n\nTHE LAW AND THE WORD\n\nPRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\nCHAPTER                                  PAGE\n\nFOREWORD                                  iii\n\n   I SOME FACTS IN NATURE                   1\n\n  II SOME PSYCHIC EXPERIENCES              18\n\n III MAN'S PLACE IN THE CREATIVE ORDER     44\n\n  IV THE LAW OF WHOLENESS                  75\n\n   V THE SOUL OF THE SUBJECT               85\n\n  VI THE PROMISES                         103\n\n VII DEATH AND IMMORTALITY                132\n\nVIII TRANSFERRING THE BURDEN              168\n\n\n\n\nFOREWORD\n\nTHOMAS TROWARD\n\nAN APPRECIATION\n\n\nHow is one to know a friend? Certainly not by the duration of\nacquaintance. Neither can friendship be bought or sold by service\nrendered. Nor can it be coined into acts of gallantry or phrases of\nflattery. It has no part in the small change of courtesy. It is outside\nall these, containing them all and superior to them all.\n\nTo some is given the great privilege of a day set apart to mark the\narrival of a total stranger panoplied with all the insignia of\nfriendship. He comes unannounced. He bears no letter of introduction. No\nmutual friend can vouch for him. Suddenly and silently he steps\nunexpectedly out of the shadow of material concern and spiritual\nobscurity, into the radiance of intimate friendship, as a picture is\nprojected upon a lighted screen. But unlike the phantom picture he is an\ninstant reality that one's whole being immediately recognizes, and the\nradiance of fellowship that pervades his word, thought and action holds\nall the essence of long companionship.\n\nUnfortunately there are too few of these bright messengers of God to be\nmet with in life's pilgrimage, but that Judge Troward was one of them\nwill never be doubted by the thousands who are now mourning his\ndeparture from among us. Those whose closest touch with him has been the\nreading of his books will mourn him as a friend only less than those who\nlistened to him on the platform. For no books ever written more clearly\nexpressed the author. The same simple lucidity and gentle humanity, the\nsame effort to discard complicated non-essentials, mark both the man and\nhis books.\n\nAlthough the spirit of benign friendliness pervades his writings and\nilluminated his public life, yet much of his capacity for friendship was\ndenied those who were not privileged to clasp hands with him and to sit\nbeside him in familiar confidence. Only in the intimacy of the fireside\ndid he wholly reveal his innate modesty and simplicity of character.\nHere alone, glamoured with his radiating friendship, was shown the\nwealth of his richly-stored mind equipped by nature and long training to\ndeal logically with the most profound and abstruse questions of life.\nHere indeed was proof of his greatness, his unassuming superiority, his\nhumanity, his keen sense of honour, his wit and humour, his generosity\nand all the characteristics of a rare gentleman, a kindly philosopher\nand a true friend.\n\nTo Judge Troward was given the logician's power to strip a subject bare\nof all superfluous and concealing verbiage, and to exhibit the gleaming\njewels of truth and reality in splendid simplicity. This supreme\nquality, this ability to make the complex simple, the power to\nsubordinate the non-essential, gave to his conversation, to his\nlectures, to his writings, and in no less degree to his personality, a\ndirect and charming naivete that at once challenged attention and\ncompelled confidence and affection.\n\nHis sincerity was beyond question. However much one might differ from\nhim in opinion, at least one never doubted his profound faith and\ncomplete devotion to truth. His guileless nature was beyond ungenerous\nsuspicions and selfish ambitions. He walked calmly upon his way wrapped\nin the majesty of his great thoughts, oblivious to the vexations of the\nworld's cynicism. Charity and reverence for the indwelling spirit marked\nall his human relations. Tolerance of the opinions of others,\nbenevolence and tenderness dwelt in his every word and act. Yet his\ncareful consideration of others did not paralyze the strength of his\nfirm will or his power to strike hard blows at wrong and error. The\nsearch for truth, to which his life was devoted, was to him a holy\nquest. That he could and would lay a lance in defence of his opinions is\nevidenced in his writings, and has many times been demonstrated to the\ndiscomfiture of assailing critics. But his urbanity was a part of\nhimself and never departed from him.\n\nNot to destroy but to create was his part in the world. In developing\nhis philosophy he built upon the foundation of his predecessors. No good\nand true stone to be found among the ruins of the past, but was\ncarefully worked into his superstructure of modern thought, radiant with\nspirituality, to the building of which the enthusiasm of his life was\ndevoted.\n\nTo one who has studied Judge Troward, and grasped the significance of\nhis theory of the \"Universal Sub-conscious Mind,\" and who also has\nattained to an appreciation of Henri Bergson's theory of a \"Universal\nLivingness,\" superior to and outside the material Universe, there must\nappear a distinct correlation of ideas. That intricate and ponderously\nirrefutable argument that Bergson has so patiently built up by deep\nscientific research and unsurpassed profundity of thought and\ncrystal-clear reason, that leads to the substantial conclusion that man\nhas leapt the barrier of materiality only by the urge of some external\npressure superior to himself, but which, by reason of infinite effort,\nhe alone of all terrestrial beings has succeeded in utilizing in a\nsuperior manner and to his advantage: this well-rounded and exhaustively\ndemonstrated argument in favour of a super-livingness in the universe,\nwhich finds its highest terrestrial expression in man, appears to be the\nscientific demonstration of Judge Troward's basic principle of the\n\"Universal Sub-conscious Mind.\" This universal and infinite\nGod-consciousness which Judge Troward postulates as man's\nsub-consciousness, and from which man was created and is maintained,\nand of which all physical, mental and spiritual manifestation is a form\nof expression, appears to be a corollary of Bergson's demonstrated\n\"Universal Livingness.\" What Bergson has so brilliantly proven by\npatient and exhaustive processes of science, Judge Troward arrived at by\nintuition, and postulated as the basis of his argument, which he\nproceeded to develop by deductive reasoning.\n\nThe writer was struck by the apparent parallelism of these two\ndistinctly dissimilar philosophies, and mentioned the discovery to Judge\nTroward who naturally expressed a wish to read Bergson, with whose\nwritings he was wholly unacquainted. A loan of Bergson's \"Creative\nEvolution\" produced no comment for several weeks, when it was returned\nwith the characteristic remark, \"I've tried my best to get hold of him,\nbut I don't know what he is talking about.\" I mention the remark as\nbeing characteristic only because it indicates his extreme modesty and\ndisregard of exhaustive scientific research.\n\nThe Bergson method of scientific expression was unintelligible to his\nmind, trained to intuitive reasoning. The very elaborateness and\nmicroscopic detail that makes Bergson great is opposed to Judge\nTroward's method of simplicity. He cared not for complexities, and the\nintricate minutiae of the process of creation, but was only concerned\nwith its motive power--the spiritual principles upon which it was\norganized and upon which it proceeds.\n\nAlthough the conservator of truth of every form and degree wherever\nfound, Judge Troward was a ruthless destroyer of sham and pretence. To\nthose submissive minds that placidly accept everything indiscriminately,\nand also those who prefer to follow along paths of well-beaten opinion,\nbecause the beaten path is popular, to all such he would perhaps appear\nto be an irreverent iconoclast seeking to uproot long accepted dogma and\nto overturn existing faiths. Such an opinion of Judge Troward's work\ncould not prevail with any one who has studied his teachings.\n\nHis reverence for the fundamental truths of religious faith was\nprofound, and every student of his writings will testify to the great\nconstructive value of his work. He builded upon an ancient foundation a\nnew and nobler structure of human destiny, solid in its simplicity and\nbeautiful in its innate grandeur.\n\nBut to the wide circle of Judge Troward's friends he will best and most\ngloriously be remembered as a teacher. In his magic mind the\nunfathomable revealed its depths and the illimitable its boundaries;\nmetaphysics took on the simplicity of the ponderable, and man himself\noccupied a new and more dignified place in the Cosmos. Not only did he\nperceive clearly, but he also possessed that quality of mind even more\nrare than deep and clear perception, that clarity of expression and\nexposition that can carry another and less-informed mind along with it,\non the current of its understanding, to a logical and comprehended\nconclusion.\n\nIn his books, his lectures and his personality he was always ready to\ntake the student by the hand, and in perfect simplicity and friendliness\nto walk and talk with him about the deeper mysteries of life--the life\nthat includes death--and to shed the brilliant light of his wisdom upon\nthe obscure and difficult problems that torment sincere but rebellious\nminds.\n\nHis artistic nature found expression in brush and canvas and his great\nlove for the sea is reflected in many beautiful marine sketches. But if\npainting was his recreation, his work was the pursuit of Truth wherever\nto be found, and in whatever disguise.\n\nHis life has enriched and enlarged the lives of many, and all those who\nknew him will understand that in helping others he was accomplishing\nexactly what he most desired. Knowledge, to him, was worth only what it\nyielded in uplifting humanity to a higher spiritual appreciation, and to\na deeper understanding of God's purpose and man's destiny.\n\n     A man, indeed! He strove not for a place,\n     Nor rest, nor rule. He daily walked with God.\n     His willing feet with service swift were shod--\n     An eager soul to serve the human race,\n     Illume the mind, and fill the heart with grace--\n     Hope blooms afresh where'er those feet have trod.\n\n                                                        PAUL DERRICK.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE LAW AND THE WORD\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nSOME FACTS IN NATURE\n\n\nIf I were asked what, in my opinion, distinguishes the thought of the\npresent day from that of a previous generation, I should feel inclined\nto say, it is the fact that people are beginning to realize that Thought\nis a power in itself, one of the great forces of the Universe, and\nultimately the greatest of forces, directing all the others. This idea\nseems to be, as the French say, \"in the air,\" and this very well\nexpresses the state of the case--the idea is rapidly spreading through\nmany countries and through all classes, but it is still very much \"in\nthe air.\" It is to a great extent as yet only in a gaseous condition,\nvague and nebulous, and so not leading to the practical results, both\nindividual and collective, which might be expected of it, if it were\nconsolidated into a more workable form. We are like some amateurs who\nwant to paint finished pictures before they have studied the elements of\nArt, and when they see an artist do without difficulty what they vainly\nattempt, they look upon him as a being specially favoured by Providence,\ninstead of putting it down to their own want of knowledge. The idea is\ntrue. Thought _is_ the great power of the Universe. But to make it\npractically available we must know something of the principles by which\nit works--that it is not a mere vaporous indefinable influence floating\naround and subject to no known laws, but that on the contrary, it\nfollows laws as uncompromising as those of mathematics, while at the\nsame time allowing unlimited freedom to the individual.\n\nNow the purpose of the following pages, is to suggest to the reader the\nlines on which to find his way out of this nebulous sort of thought into\nsomething more solid and reliable. I do not profess, like a certain\nNegro preacher, to \"unscrew the inscrutable,\" for we can never reach a\npoint where we shall not find the inscrutable still ahead of us; but if\nI can indicate the use of a screw-driver instead of a hatchet, and that\nthe screws should be turned from left to right, instead of from right to\nleft, it may enable us to unscrew some things which would otherwise\nremain screwed down tight. We are all beginners, and indeed the\nhopefulness of life is in realizing that there are such vistas of\nunending possibilities before us, that however far we may advance, we\nshall always be on the threshold of something greater. We must be like\nPeter Pan, the boy who never grew up--heaven defend me from ever feeling\nquite grown up, for then I should come to a standstill; so the reader\nmust take what I have to say simply as the talk of one boy to another in\nthe Great School, and not expect too much.\n\nThe first question then is, where to begin. Descartes commenced his book\nwith the words \"Cogito, ergo sum.\" \"I think, therefore I am,\" and we\ncannot do better than follow his example. There are two things about\nwhich we cannot have any doubt--our own existence, and that of the world\naround us. But what is it in us that is aware of these two things, that\nhopes and fears and plans regarding them? Certainly not our flesh and\nbones. A man whose leg has been amputated is able to think just the\nsame. Therefore it is obvious that there is something in us which\nreceives impressions and forms ideas, that reasons upon facts and\ndetermines upon courses of action and carries them out, which is not the\nphysical body. This is the real \"I Myself.\" This is the Person we are\nreally concerned with; and it is the betterment of this \"I Myself\" that\nmakes it worth while to enquire what our Thought has to do in the\nmatter.\n\nEqually true it is on the other hand that the forces of Nature around us\ndo not think. Steam, electricity, gravitation, and chemical affinity do\nnot think. They follow certain fixed laws which we have no power to\nalter. Therefore we are confronted at the outset by a broad distinction\nbetween two modes of Motion--the Movement of Thought and the Movement of\nCosmic Energy--the one based upon the exercise of Consciousness and\nWill, and the other based upon Mathematical Sequence. This is why that\nsystem of instruction known as Free Masonry starts by erecting the two\nsymbolic pillars Jachin and Boaz--Jachin so called from the root \"Yak\"\nmeaning \"One,\" indicating the Mathematical element of Law; and Boaz,\nfrom the root \"Awaz\" meaning \"Voice\" indicating Personal element of Free\nWill. These names are taken from the description in I Kings vii, 21 and\nII Chron. iii, 17 of the building of Solomon's Temple, where these two\npillars stood before the entrance, the meaning being that the Temple of\nTruth can only be entered by passing between them, that is, by giving\neach of these factors their due relation to the other, and by realizing\nthat they are the two Pillars of the Universe, and that no real progress\ncan be made except by finding the true balance between them. Law and\nPersonality--these are the two great principles with which we have to\ndeal, and the problem is to square the one with the other.\n\nLet me start, then, by considering some well established facts in the\nphysical world which show how the known Law acts under certain known\nconditions, and this will lead us on in an intelligible manner to see\nhow the same Law is likely to work under as yet unknown conditions. If\nwe had to deal with unknown laws as well as unknown conditions we\nshould, indeed, be up a gum tree. Fancy a mathematician having to solve\nan equation, both sides of which were entirely made up of unknown\nquantities--where would he be? Happily this is not the case. The Law is\nONE throughout, and the apparent variety of its working results from the\ninfinite variety of the conditions under which it may work. Let us lay a\nfoundation, then, by seeing how it works in what we call the common\ncourse of Nature. A few examples will suffice.\n\nHardly more than a generation ago it was supposed that the analysis of\nmatter could not be carried further than its reduction to some seventy\nprimary chemical elements, which in various combinations produced all\nmaterial substances; but there was no explanation how all these\ndifferent elements came into existence. Each appeared to be an original\ncreation, and there was no accounting for them. But now-a-days, as the\nrustic physician says in Moliere's play of the \"Medecin Malgre Lui,\"\n\"nous avons change tout cela.\" Modern science has shown conclusively\nthat every kind of chemical atom is composed of particles of one\noriginal substance which appears to pervade all space, and to which the\nname of Ether has been given. Some of these particles carry a positive\ncharge of electricity and some a negative, and the chemical atom is\nformed by the grouping of a certain number of negatively charged\nparticles round a centre composed of positive electricity around which\nthey revolve; and it is the number of these particles and the rate of\ntheir motion that determines the nature of the atom, whether, for\ninstance, it will be an atom of iron or an atom of hydrogen, and thus we\nare brought back to Plato's old aphorism that the Universe consists of\nNumber and Motion.\n\nThe size of these etheric particles is small beyond anything but\nabstract mathematical conception. Sir Oliver Lodge is reported to have\nmade the following comparison in a lecture delivered at Birmingham. \"The\nchemical atom,\" he said, \"is as small in comparison to a drop of water\nas a cricket-ball is compared to the globe of the earth; and yet this\natom is as large in comparison to one of its constituent particles as\nBirmingham town-hall is to a pin's head.\" Again, it has been said that\nin proportion to the size of the particles the distance at which they\nrevolve round the centre of the atom is as great as the distance from\nthe earth to the sun. I must leave the realization of such infinite\nminuteness to the reader's imagination--it is beyond mine.\n\nModern science thus shows us all material substance, whether that of\ninanimate matter or that of our own bodies, as proceeding out of one\nprimary etheric substance occupying all space and homogeneous, that is\nbeing of a uniform substance--and having no qualities to distinguish one\npart from another. Now this conclusion of science is important because\nit is precisely the fact that out of this homogeneous substance\nparticles are produced which differ from the original substance in that\nthey possess positive and negative energy and of these particles the\natom is built up. So then comes the question: What started this\ndifferentiation?\n\nThe electronic theory which I have just mentioned takes us as far as a\nuniversal homogeneous ether as the source from which all matter is\nevolved, but it does not account for how motion originated in it; but\nperhaps another closely allied scientific theory will help us. Let us,\nthen, turn to the question of Vibrations or Waves in Ether. In\nscientific language the length of a wave is the distance from the crest\nof one wave to that of the wave immediately following it. Now modern\nscience recognizes a long series of waves in ether, commencing with the\nsmallest yet known measuring 0.1 micron, or about 1/254,000 of an inch,\nin length, measured by Professor Schumann in 1893, and extending to\nwaves of many miles in length used in wireless telegraphy--for instance\nthose employed between Clifden in Galway and Glace Bay in Nova Scotia\nare estimated to have a length of nearly four miles. These\ninfinitesimally small ultra-violet or actinic waves, as they are called,\nare the principal agents in photography, and the great waves of wireless\ntelegraphy are able to carry a force across the Atlantic which can\nsensibly affect the apparatus on the other side; therefore we see that\nthe ether of space affords a medium through which energy can be\ntransmitted by means of vibrations.\n\nBut what starts the vibrations? Hertz announced his discovery of the\nelectro-magnetic waves, now known by his name, in 1888; but, following\nup the labours of various other investigators, Lodge, Marconi and others\nfinally developed their practical application after Hertz's death which\noccurred in 1894. To Hertz, however, belongs the honour of discovering\nhow to generate these waves by means of sudden, sharply defined,\nelectrical discharges. The principle may be illustrated by dropping a\nstone in smooth water. The sudden impact sets up a series of ripples all\nround the centre of disturbance, and the electrical impulse acts\nsimilarly in the ether. Indeed the fact that the waves flow in all\ndirections from the central impulse is one of the difficulties of\nwireless telegraphy, because the message may be picked up in any\ndirection by a receiver tuned to the same rate of vibration, and the\ninterest for us consists in the hypothesis that thought-waves act in an\nanalogous manner.\n\nThat vibrations are excited by sound is beautifully exemplified by the\neidophone, an instrument invented, I believe, by Mrs. Watts-Hughes, and\nwith which I have seen that lady experiment. Dry sand is scattered on a\ndiaphragm on which the eidophone concentrates the vibrations from music\nplayed near it. The sand, as it were, dances in time to the music, and\nwhen the music stops is found to settle into definite forms, sometimes\nlike a tree or a flower, or else some geometrical figure, but never a\nconfused jumble. Perhaps in this we may find the origin of the legends\nregarding the creative power of Orpheus' lyre, and also the sacred\ndances of the ancients--who knows!\n\nPerhaps some critical reader may object that sound travels by means of\natmospheric and not etheric waves; but is he prepared to say that it\ncannot produce etheric waves also. The very recent discovery of\ntransatlantic telephoning tends to show that etheric waves can be\ngenerated by sound, for on the 20th of October, 1915, words spoken in\nNew York were immediately heard in Paris, and could therefore only have\nbeen transmitted through the ether, for sound travels through the\natmosphere only at the rate of about 750 miles an hour, while the speed\nof impulses through ether can only be compared to that of light or\n186,000 miles in a second. It is therefore a fair inference that etheric\nvibrations can be inaugurated by sound.\n\nPerhaps the reader may feel inclined to say with the Irishman that all\nthis is \"as dry as ditch-water,\" but he will see before long that it has\na good deal to do with ourselves. For the present what I want him to\nrealize by a few examples is the mathematical accuracy of Law. The value\nof these examples lies in their illustration of the fact that the Law\ncan always be trusted to lead us on to further knowledge. We see it\nworking under known conditions, and relying on its unchangeableness, we\ncan then logically infer what it will do under other hypothetical\nconditions, and in this way many important discoveries have been made.\nFor instance it was in this way that Mendeleef, the Russian chemist,\nassumed the existence of three then unknown chemical elements, now\ncalled Scandium, Gallium and Germanium. There was a gap in the orderly\nsequence of the chemical elements, and relying on the old maxim--\"Natura\nnihil facit per saltum\"--Nature nowhere leaves a gap to jump over--he\nargued that if such elements did not exist they ought to, and so he\ncalculated what these elements ought to be like, giving their atomic\nweight, chemical affinities, and the like; and when they were discovered\nmany years later they were found to answer exactly to his description.\nHe prophesied, not by guesswork, but by knowledge of the Law; and in\nmuch the same way radium was discovered by Professor and Madame Curie.\nIn like manner Hertz was led to the discovery of the electro-magnetic\nwaves. The celebrated mathematician Clerk-Maxwell had calculated all\nparticulars of these waves twenty-five years before Hertz, on the basis\nof these calculations, worked out his discovery. Again, Neptune, the\noutermost known planet of our system was discovered by the astronomer\nGalle in consequence of calculations made by Leverrier. Certain\nvariations in the movements of the planets were mathematically\nunaccountable except on the hypothesis that some more remote planet\nexisted. Astronomers had faith in mathematics and the hypothetical\nplanet was found to be a reality. Instances of this kind might be\nmultiplied, but as the French say \"a quoi bon?\" I think these will be\nsufficient to convince the reader that the invariable sequence of Law is\na factor to be relied upon, and that by studying its working under known\nconditions we may get at least some measure of light on conditions which\nare as yet unknown to us.\n\nLet us now pass on to the human subject and consider a few examples of\nwhat is usually called the psychic side of our nature. Walt Whitman was\nquite right when he said that we are not all included between our hat\nand our boots; we shall find that our modes of consciousness and powers\nof action are not entirely restricted to our physical body. The\nimportance of this line of enquiry lies in the fact that if we do\npossess extra-physical powers, these also form part of our personality\nand must be included in our estimate of our relation to our environment,\nand it is therefore worth our while to consider them.\n\nSome very interesting experiments have been made by De Rochas, an\neminent French scientist, which go to show that under certain magnetic\nconditions the sensation of physical touch can be experienced at some\ndistance from the body. He found that under these conditions the person\nexperimented on is insensible to the prick of a needle run into his\nskin, but if the prick is made about an inch-and-a-half away from the\nsurface of the skin he feels it. Again at about three inches from this\npoint he feels the prick of the needle, but is insensible to it in the\nspace between these two points. Then there comes another interval in\nwhich no sensation is conveyed, but at about three inches still further\naway he again feels the sensation, and so on; so that he appears to be\nsurrounded by successive zones of sensation, the first about an\ninch-and-a-half from the body, and the others at intervals of about\nthree inches each. The number of these zones seems to vary in different\ncases, but in some there are as many as six or seven, thus giving a\nradius of sensation, extending to more than twenty inches beyond the\nbody.\n\nNow to explain this we must have recourse to what I have already said\nabout waves. The heart and the lungs are the two centres of automatic\nrhythmic movement in the body, and each projects its own series of\nvibrations into the etheric envelope. Those projected by the lungs are\nestimated to be three times the length of those projected by the heart,\nwhile those projected by the heart are three times as rapid as those\nprojected by the lungs. Consequently if the two sets of waves start\ntogether the crest of every third wave of the rapid series of short\nwaves will coincide with the crest of one of the long waves of the\nslower series, while the intermediate short waves will coincide with the\ndepression of one of the long waves. Now the effect of the crest of one\nwave overtaking that of another going in the same direction, is to raise\nthe two together at that point into a single wave of greater amplitude\nor height than the original waves had by themselves; if the reader has\nthe opportunity of studying the inflowing of waves on the seabeach he\ncan verify this for himself. Consequently when the more rapid etheric\nwaves overtake the slower ones they combine to form a larger wave, and\nit is at these points that the zones of sensation occur. If the reader\nwill draw a diagram of two waved lines travelling along the same\nhorizontal line and so proportioned that the crest of each of the large\nwaves coincides with the crest of every third wave of the small ones, he\nwill see what I mean: and if he then recollects that the fall in the\nlarger waves neutralizes the rise in the smaller ones, and that because\nthis double series starts from the interior of the body the surface of\nthe body comes just at one of these neutralized points, he will see why\nsensation is neutralized there; and he will also see why the succeeding\nzones of sensation are double the distance from each other that the\nfirst one is from the surface of the body; it is simply because the\nsurface of the body cuts the first long wave exactly in the middle, and\ntherefore only half that wave occurs outside the body. This is the\nexplanation given by De Rochas, and it affords another example of that\nprinciple of mathematical sequence of which I have spoken. It would\nappear that under normal conditions the double series of vibrations is\nspread all over the body, and so all parts are alike sensitive to touch.\n\nI think, then, we may assume on the basis of De Rochas' experiments and\nothers that there are such things as etheric vibrations proceeding from\nhuman personality, and in the next chapter I will give some examples\nshowing that the psychic personality extends still further than these\nexperiments, taken by themselves, would indicate--in fact that we\npossess an additional range of faculties far exceeding those which we\nordinarily exercise through the physical body, and which must therefore\nbe included in our conception of ourselves if we are to have an adequate\nidea of what we really are.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nSOME PSYCHIC EXPERIENCES\n\n\nThe preceding chapter has introduced the reader to the general subject\nof etheric vibration as one of the natural forces of the Universe, both\nas the foundation of all matter and as the medium for the transmission\nof energy to immense distances, and also as something continually\nemanating from human beings. In the present chapter I shall consider it\nmore particularly in this last aspect, which, as included in our own\npersonality, very immediately concerns ourselves. I will commence with\nan instance of the practical application of this fact. Some years ago I\nwas lunching at the house of Lady ---- in company of a well-known mental\nhealer whom I will call Mr. Y. and a well-known London physician whom I\nwill call Dr. W. Mr. Y. mentioned the case of a lady whose leg had been\namputated above the knee some years previously to her coming under his\ncare, yet she frequently felt pains in the (amputated) knee and lower\npart of the left leg and foot. Dr. W. said this was to be attributed to\nthe nerves which convey to the brain the sensation of the extremities,\nmuch as a telegraph line might be tapped in the middle, and Mr. Y.\nagreed that this was perfectly true on the purely physical side. But he\nwent on to say, that accidentally putting his hand where the amputated\nfoot should have been he felt it there. Then it occurred to him that\nsince there was no material foot to be touched, it must be through the\nmedium of his own psychic body that the sensation of touch was conveyed\nto him, and accordingly he asked the lady to imagine that she was making\nvarious movements with the amputated limb, all of which he felt, and was\nable to tell her what each movement was, which she said he did\ncorrectly. Then, to carry the experiment further, he reversed the\nprocess and with his hand moved the invisible leg and foot in various\nways, all of which the lady felt and described. He then determined to\ntreat the invisible leg as though it were a real one, and joined up the\ncircuit by taking her left foot in his right hand and her right foot\n(the amputated one) in his left, with the result that she immediately\nfelt relief; and after successive treatments in this way was entirely\ncured.\n\nA well authenticated case like this opens up a good many interesting\nquestions regarding the Psychic Body, but the most important point\nappears to me to be that we are able to experience sensation by means of\nit. In this case, however, and those mentioned in the preceding chapter,\nthe physical body was actually present, and if we stopped at this point,\nwe might question whether its presence was not a _sine qua non_ for the\naction of the etheric vibrations. I will therefore pass on to a class of\nexamples which show that very curious phenomena can take place without\nthe physical body being on the spot. There are numerous well verified\ncases of the kind to be found in the records of the Society for\nPsychical Research and in other books by trustworthy writers; but it may\nperhaps interest the present reader to hear one or two instances of my\npersonal experience which, though they may not be so striking as some of\nthose recorded by others, still point in the same direction.\n\nMy first introduction to Scotland was when I delivered the course of\nlectures in Edinburgh which led to the publication of my first book,\nthe \"Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science.\" The following years I gave\na second course of lectures in Edinburgh, but the friends who had kindly\nentertained me on the former occasion had in the meanwhile gone to live\nelsewhere. However, a certain Mr. S., whose acquaintance I had made on\nmy previous visit, invited me to stay with him for a day or two while I\ncould look round for other accommodation, though, as it turned out, I\nremained at his house during the whole month I was in Edinburgh. I had,\nhowever, never seen his house, which was on the opposite side of the\ntown to where I had stayed before. I arrived there on a Tuesday, and Mr.\nS. and his family at once met me with the question:\n\n\"What were you thinking of at ten o'clock on Sunday evening?\"\n\nI could not immediately recall this, and also wanted to know the reason\nof their question.\n\n\"We have something curious to tell you,\" they replied, \"but first try to\nremember what you were thinking of at ten o'clock on Sunday\nevening--were you thinking about us?\"\n\nThen I recollected that about that time I was saying my usual prayers\nbefore going to bed and had asked that, if I could stay only a day or\ntwo with Mr. S., I should be directed to a suitable place for the\nremainder of the time.\n\n\"That explains it,\" they replied; and then they went on to tell me that\nat the hour in question Mr. S. and his son, a young man of about twenty,\nhad entered their dining-room together and seen me standing leaning\nagainst the mantel-shelf. They were both hard-headed Scotchmen engaged\nin business in Edinburgh, and certainly not the sort of people to\nconjure up fanciful imaginings, nor is it likely that the same fancy\nshould have occurred to both of them; and therefore I can only suppose\nthat they actually saw what they said they did. Now I myself was in\nLondon at the time of this appearance in Edinburgh, of which I had no\nconsciousness whatever; at the same time the fact of my being seen in\nEdinburgh exactly at the time when my thought, in prayer, was centred\nupon Mr. S.'s house (which I had not then seen) is a coincidence\nsuggesting that in some way my Thought had made itself visible there in\nthe image of my external personality.\n\nIn this case, as I have said, I was not conscious of my psychic visit to\nEdinburgh, but I will now relate a converse instance, which occurred in\nconnection with my first visit there. At that time I had never been in\nScotland, and so far as I knew was never likely to go there. I was wide\nawake, writing in my study at Norwood, where I then lived, when I\nsuddenly found myself in a place totally unknown to me, where stood the\nruins of an ancient abbey, part of which, however, was still roofed over\nand used as a place of worship. I felt much interested, and among other\nthings I noted a Latin inscription on a tablet in one of the walls.\nThere seemed to be an invisible guide showing me over the place, who\nthen pointed out a long low house opposite the abbey, and said: \"This is\nthe house of the clergyman of the abbey\"; and I was then taken inside\nthe house and shown a number of antique-looking rooms. Then I came to\nmyself, and found I was sitting at my writing-table in Norwood. I had,\nhowever, a clear recollection of the place I had seen, but no idea where\nit was, or indeed whether any such place really existed. I also\nremembered a portion of the Latin inscription, which I at once wrote\ndown in a note-book, as my curiosity was aroused.\n\nAs I have said, I had no reason at that time to suppose I should ever\ngo to Scotland, but some weeks later I was invited to lecture in\nEdinburgh. Another visitor in the house where I was a guest there, was\nthe wife of the County Court Judge of Cumberland, and I showed her and\nour hostess the part of the Latin inscription I had retained, and\nsuggested that perhaps it might exist somewhere in Edinburgh. However\nnothing answering to what I had seen was to be found, so we relegated\nthe whole thing to the region of unaccountable fancies, and thought no\nmore about it. The Judge's wife took her departure before me, and kindly\ninvited me to spend a few days at their residence near Carlisle on my\nreturn journey, which I did. One day she drove me out to see Lanercost\nAbbey, one of the show-places of the neighbourhood, and walking round\nthe building I found in one of the walls the Latin inscription in\nquestion. I called Mrs. ----, who was a little way off, and said: \"Look\nat this inscription.\"\n\nShe at once replied: \"Why! that is the very inscription we were all\npuzzling over in Edinburgh!\"\n\nIt turned out to be an inscription in memory of the founder of the\nabbey, dating from somewhere in the eleven-hundreds. The whole place\nanswered exactly to what I had seen, and the long low parsonage was\nthere also.\n\n\"I should have liked you to see it inside,\" said Mrs. ----, \"but I have\nnever met the vicar, though I know his mother-in-law, so we must give it\nup.\"\n\nWe were just entering our carriage when the garden-gate opened, and who\nshould come out but the mother-in-law.\n\n\"Oh, Mrs. ----,\" she said, addressing the Judge's wife, \"I am here on a\nvisit and you must come in and take tea.\" So we went in and were shown\nover the house, much as I had been in my vision, and some portions were\nso old that, among other rooms, we were shown the one occupied by King\nEdward I on his march against Scotland in the year 1296, when the\nScottish regalia was captured, and the celebrated Crowning-Stone was\nbrought to England and placed in Westminster Abbey, where it has ever\nsince remained--a stone having an occult relation to the history of the\nBritish and American peoples of the highest interest to both, but as\nthere is already an extensive literature on this subject I will not\nenter upon it here.\n\nI will now relate another curious experience. We had only recently\ntaken up our residence at Norwood, when one day I was seated in the\ndining-room, but suddenly found myself in the hall, and saw two ladies\ngoing up the stairs. They passed close to me, and turning round the\nlanding at the top of the stairs passed out of sight in a perfectly\nnatural manner. They looked as solid as any one I have ever seen in my\nlife. One of them was a stout lady with a rather florid complexion,\napparently between forty-five and fifty, wearing a silk blouse with thin\npurple and white stripes. Leaning on her arm was a slightly-built old\nlady with white ringlets, dressed all in black and wearing a lace\nmantilla. I noticed their appearance particularly. The next moment I\nfound I was really sitting in the dining-room, and that the ladies I had\nseen were nothing but visionary figures. I wondered what it could mean,\nbut as we had only recently taken the house, thought it better not to\nmention it to any of my family, for fear of causing them alarm. But a\nfew days later I mentioned it to a Mrs. F. who I knew had had some\nexperience in such matters, and she said: \"You have seen either some one\nwho has lived in the house or who is going to live there.\" Then the\nmatter dropped.\n\nAbout a month later my wife arranged by correspondence for a certain\nMiss B. to come as governess to our children. When she arrived there was\nno mistaking her identity. She was the stout lady I had seen, and the\nnext morning she came down to breakfast dressed in the identical blouse\nwith purple and white stripes. There was no mistaking her, but I was\npuzzled as to who the other figure could be whom I had seen along with\nher. I resolved, however, to say nothing about the matter until we\nbecame better acquainted, lest she should think that my mind was not\nquite balanced. I therefore held my peace for six months, at the end of\nwhich time I concluded that we knew enough of each other to allow one\nanother credit for being fairly level-headed. Then I thought, now if I\ntell her what I saw she may perhaps be acted upon by suggestion and\nimagine a resemblance between the unknown figure and some acquaintance\nof hers, so I will not begin by telling her of the vision, but will\nfirst ask if she knows any one answering to the description, and give\nher the reason afterwards. I therefore took a suitable opportunity of\nasking her if she knew any such person, describing the figure to her as\naccurately as I could.\n\nHer look of surprise grew as I went on, and when I had finished she\nexplained with astonishment: \"Why, Mr. Troward, where _could_ you have\nseen my mother? She is an invalid, and I am certain you have never seen\nher, and yet you have described her most accurately.\"\n\nThen I told her what I had seen. She asked what I thought was the\nexplanation of the appearance, and the only explanation I could give\nwas, that I supposed she was on the look-out for a post and paid us a\npreliminary visit to see whether ours would suit her, and that, being\nnaturally interested in her welfare, her mother had accompanied her.\nPerhaps you will say: \"What came of it?\" Well, nothing \"came of it,\" nor\ndid anything \"come\" of my psychic visits to Edinburgh and Lanercost\nAbbey. Such occurrences seem to be simple facts in Nature which, though\non some occasions connected with premonitions of more or less\nimportance, are by no means necessarily so. They are the functioning of\ncertain faculties which we all possess, but of the nature of which we as\nyet know very little.\n\nIt will be noticed that in the first of these three cases I myself was\nthe person seen, though unaware of the fact. In the last I was the\npercipient, but the persons seen by me were unconscious of their visit;\nand in the second case I was conscious of my presence at a place which I\nhad never heard of, and which I visited some time after. In two of these\ncases, therefore, the persons, making the psychic visit, were not aware\nof having done so, while in the third, a memory of what had been seen\nwas retained. But all three cases have this in common, that the psychic\nvisit was not the result of an act of conscious volition, and also, that\nthe psychic action took place at a long distance from the physical body.\n\nFrom these personal experiences, as well as from many well authenticated\ncases recorded by other writers, I should be inclined to infer that the\npsychic action is entirely independent of the physical body, and in\nsupport of this view I will cite yet another experience.\n\nIt was about the year 1875, when I was a young Assistant Commissioner in\nthe Punjab, that I was ordered to the small up-country station of\nAkalpur,[1] and took possession of the Assistant Commissioner's\nbungalow there. On the night of our arrival in the bungalow, my wife and\nI had our charpoys--light Indian bedsteads--placed side by side in a\ncertain room and went to bed. The last thing I remembered before falling\nasleep, was seeing my wife sitting up in bed, reading with a lamp on a\nsmall table beside her. Suddenly I was awakened by the sound of a shot,\nand starting up, found the room in darkness. I immediately lit a candle\nwhich was on a chair by my bedside, and found my wife still sitting up\nwith the book on her knee, but the lamp had gone out.\n\n\"Take me away, take me into another room,\" she exclaimed.\n\n\"Why, what is the matter?\" I said.\n\n\"Did you not see it?\" she replied.\n\n\"See what?\" I asked.\n\n\"Don't stop to ask any questions,\" she replied; \"get me out of this room\nat once; I can't stop here another minute.\"\n\nI saw she was very frightened, so I called up the servants, and had our\nbeds removed to a room on the other side of the house, and then she told\nme what she had seen. She said: \"I was sitting reading as you saw me,\nwhen looking round, I saw the figure of an Englishman standing close by\nmy bedside, a fine-looking man with a large fair moustache and dressed\nin a grey suit. I was so surprised that I could not speak, and we\nremained looking at each other for about a minute. Then he bent over me\nand whispered: 'Don't be afraid,' and with that there was the sound of a\nshot, and everything was in darkness.\"\n\n\"My dear girl, you must have fallen asleep over your book and been\ndreaming,\" I said.\n\n\"No, I was wide awake,\" she insisted; \"you were asleep, but I was awake\nall the time. But you heard the shot, did you not?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" I replied, \"that is what woke me--some one must have fired a shot\noutside.\"\n\n\"But why should any one be shooting in our garden at nearly midnight?\"\nmy wife objected.\n\nIt certain seemed strange, but it was the only explanation that\nsuggested itself; so we had to agree to differ, she being convinced that\nshe had seen a ghost, and that the shot had been inside the room, and I\nbeing equally convinced that she had been dreaming, and that the shot\nhad been fired outside the house.\n\nThe next morning the owner of the bungalow, an old widow lady, Mrs. La\nChaire, called to make kindly enquiries as to whether she could be of\nany service to us on our arrival. After thanking her, my wife said: \"I\nexpect you will laugh at me, but I cannot help telling you there is\nsomething strange about the bungalow\"; and she then went on to narrate\nwhat she had seen.\n\nInstead of laughing the old lady looked more and more serious as she\nwent on, and when she had done asked to be shown exactly where the\napparition had appeared. My wife took her to the spot, and on being\nshown it old Mrs. La Chaire exclaimed: \"This is the most wonderful thing\nI have ever heard of. Eighteen years ago my bed was on the very spot\nwhere yours was last night, and I was lying in it too ill to move, when\nmy husband, whom you have described most accurately, stood where you saw\nhim and shot himself dead.\"\n\nThis statement of the widow convinced me that my wife had really seen\nwhat she said she had, and had not dreamed it; and this experience has\nled me to make further enquiries into the nature of happenings of this\nkind, with the result, that after carefully eliminating all cases which\ncould be accounted for in any other manner, I have found myself\ncompelled to admit a considerable number of instances of what are\ncalled \"ghosts,\" on the word of persons whose veracity and soundness of\njudgment I should not doubt on any other subject. It is often said that\nyou never meet any one who has himself seen a ghost, but only those who\nhave heard of somebody else seeing one. This I can entirely contradict,\nfor I have met with many trustworthy persons of both sexes, who have\ngiven me accounts of such appearances having been actually witnessed by\nthemselves. In conclusion, I may mention that I was telling this story\nsome twenty years later to a Colonel Fox, who had known the unfortunate\nman who committed suicide, and he said to me: \"Do you know what were the\nlast words he said to his wife?\"\n\n\"No,\" I replied.\n\n\"The very same words he spoke to your wife,\" said Colonel Fox.\n\nThis is the story I refer to in my book \"Bible Mystery and Bible\nMeaning\" as that of \"the Ghost that I did not see.\" I do not attempt to\noffer any explanation of it, but merely give the facts as they occurred,\nand the reader must form his own theory on the subject; but the reason I\nbring in this story in the present connection is, that in this instance\nthere could be no question of the physical body contributing to the\npsychic phenomenon, since the person seen had been dead for nearly\ntwenty years; and coupling this fact with the distance from the physical\nbody at which the psychic action took place in the other cases I have\nmentioned, I think there is a very strong presumption that the psychic\npowers can, and do, act independently of the physical body; though of\ncourse it does not follow from this that they cannot also act in\nconjunction with it.\n\nOn the other hand, a comparison of the present case with those\npreviously mentioned, fails to throw any light on the important question\nwhether the deceased feels any consciousness of the action which the\npercipient sees, or whether what is seen is like a sort of photograph\nimpressed upon the atmosphere of a particular locality, and visible only\nto certain persons, who are able to sense etheric wave-lengths which are\noutside the range of the single octave forming the solar spectrum. It\nthrows no light on this question, because, in the case of my being seen\nby Mr. S. in Edinburgh and that of Miss B. and her mother being seen by\nme at Norwood, none of us were conscious of having been at those\nplaces; while in the case of my psychic visit to Lanercost Abbey, and\nother similar experiences I have had, I have been fully aware of seeing\nthe places in question. The evidence tells both ways, and I can\ntherefore only infer that there are two modes of psychic action, in one\nof which the person projecting that action, whether voluntarily or\ninvoluntarily, experiences corresponding sensations, and the other in\nwhich he does not; but I am unable to offer any criterion by which the\nobserver can, with certainty, distinguish between the two.\n\nIt appears to me, that such instances as those I have mentioned, point\nto ranges of etheric action beyond those ordinarily recognized by\nphysical science, but the principle seems to be the same, and it is for\nthis reason that I have taken the modern scientific theory of etheric\nvibration as our starting-point. The universe is one great whole, and\nthe laws of one part cannot contradict those of another; therefore the\nexplanation of such queer happenings is not to be found by denying the\nwell-ascertained laws of Nature on the physical plane, but by\nconsidering whether these laws do not extend further. It is on this\naccount that I would lay stress on the Mathematical side of things, and\nhave adduced instances where various discoveries have been made by\nfollowing up the sequence indicated by the laws already known, and which\nhave thus enabled us to fill up gaps in our knowledge, which would\notherwise stop, or at least seriously hinder, our further progress. It\nis in this way that Jachin helps Boaz, and that the undeviating nature\nof Law, so far from limiting us, becomes our faithful ally if we will\nonly allow it to do so.\n\nI think, then, that the scientific idea of the ether, as a universal\nmedium pervading all space, and permeating all substance, will help us\nto see that many things which are popularly called supernatural, are to\nbe attributed to the action of known laws working under, as yet, unknown\nconditions, and therefore, when we are confronted with strange\nphenomena, a knowledge of the general principles involved, will show us\nin what direction to look for an explanation. Now applying this to the\npresent subject, we may reasonably argue, that since all physical matter\nis scientifically proved to consist of the universal ether in various\ndegrees of condensation, there may be other degrees of condensation,\nforming other modes of matter, which are beyond the scope of physical\nvision and of our laboratory apparatus. And similarly, we may argue,\nthat just as various effects can be produced on the physical plane, by\nthe action of etheric waves of various lengths, so other effects might\nbe produced on these finer modes of matter, by etheric waves of other\nlengths. And in this connection we must not forget that a gap occurs\nbetween the \"dark heat\" groups and the Hertzian group, consisting of\nfive octaves of waves, the lengths of which have been theoretically\ncalculated, but whose action has not yet been discovered. Here we\nadmittedly have a wide field for the working of known laws under as yet\nunknown conditions; and again, how can we say that there are not ranges\nof unknown waves, yet smaller than the minute ultra-violet ones, which\ncommence the present known scale, or transcending those largest ones,\nwhich bear our messages across the Atlantic? Mathematically, there is no\nlimit to the scale in either direction; and so, taking our stand on the\ndemonstrated facts of science, we find, that the known laws of Nature\npoint to their continuation in modes of matter and of force, of which we\nhave as yet no conception. It is therefore not at all necessary to\nspurn the ground of established science to spread the wings of our\nfancy; rather it affords us the requisite basis from which to start,\njust as the aeronaut cannot rise without a solid surface from which to\nspring.\n\nNow if we realize that the ether is an infinitely subtle fluid,\npervading all space, we see that it must constitute a connecting link\nbetween all modes of substance, whether visible or invisible, in all\nworlds, and may therefore be called the Universal Medium; and following\nup our conception of the Continuity of Law, we may suppose that trains\nof waves, inconceivably smaller or greater than any known to modern\nscience, are set up in this medium, in the same way as the\nelectro-magnetic waves with which we are acquainted; that is, by an\nimpulse which generates them from some particular point. In the region\nof finer forces we are now prospecting, this impulse might well be the\nDesire or Will of the spiritual entity which we ourselves are--that\nthinking, feeling, inmost essence of ourself, which is the \"noumenon\" of\nour individuality, and which, for the sake of brevity we call our \"Ego,\"\na Latin word which simply means \"I myself.\" This idea of spiritual\nimpulse is quite familiar to us in our every-day talk. We speak of an\nimpulsive person, meaning one who acts on a sudden thought without\ngiving due heed to consequences; so in our ordinary speech we look upon\nthought as the initial impulse, only we restrict this to the case of\nunregulated thought. But if unregulated thought acts as a centre of\nimpulse, why should not regulated thought do the same? Therefore we may\naccept the idea of Thought as the initial impulse, which starts trains\nof waves in the Universal Medium, whether with or without due\nconsideration, and having thus recognized its dynamic power, we must\nlearn to make the impulsions we thus send forth intelligent, well\ndefined, and directed to some useful purpose. The operator at some\nwireless station does not use his instruments to send out a lot of\njumbled-up waves into the ether, but controls the impulsions into a\ndefinite and intelligible order, and we must do the same.\n\nOn some such lines as these, then, we may picture the desire of the Ego\nas starting a train of waves in the Universal Medium, which are\nreproduced in corresponding _form_ on reaching their destination. As\nwith the electro-magnetic waves, they may spread all round, just as\nripples do if we throw a stone into a pond; but they will only take form\nwhere there is a correspondence able to receive them. This is what in\nthe language of electrical engineers is called \"Syntony,\" which means\nbeing tuned to the same rate of vibration, and no doubt it is from some\nsuch cause, that we sometimes experience what seem inexplicable feelings\nof attraction or repulsion towards different persons. This also appears\nto furnish a key to thought-transference, hypnotism, and other allied\nphenomena.\n\nIf the reader questions whether thought is capable of generating\nimpulses in the etheric medium I would refer him to the experiment\nmentioned in Chapter XIV of my \"Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science,\"\nwhere I describe how, when operating with Dr. Baraduc's biometer, I\nfound that the needle revolved through a smaller or large arc of the\ncircle, in response to my mental intention of concentrating a smaller or\nlarger degree of force upon it. Perhaps you will say that the difference\nin the movement of the needle depended on the quantity of magnetism that\nwas flowing from me, to say nothing of other known forces, such as heat,\nlight, electricity, etc. Well, that is precisely the proposition I am\nputting forward. What caused the difference in the intensity of the\nmagnetic flow was my intention of varying it, so that we come back to\nmental action as the centre of impulsion from which the etheric waves\nwere generated. If, then, such a demonstration can be obtained on the\nplane of purely physical matter, why need we doubt that the same Law\nwill work in the same way, in respect of those finer modes of substance,\nand wider ranges of etheric vibrations, which, starting from the basis\nof recognized physical science, the Law of Continuity would lead to by\nan orderly sequence, and which the occurrence of what, for want of a\nbetter name, we call occult phenomena require for their explanation?\n\nBefore passing on to the more practical generalizations to be drawn from\nthe suggestions contained in this chapter, I may advert to an objection\nsometimes brought by the sceptical in this matter. They say: \"How is it\nthat apparitions are always seen in the dark?\" and then they answer\ntheir own question by saying, it is because superstitious people are\nnervous in the dark and imagine all sorts of things. Then they laugh and\nthink they have disposed of the whole subject. But it is not disposed\nof quite so easily, for not only are there many well attested cases of\nsuch appearances in broad daylight, but there are also scientific facts,\nshowing that if we are right in explaining such happenings by etheric\naction, such action is more readily produced at night than in the\npresence of sunlight.\n\nIn the early part of 1902 Marconi made some experiments on board the\nAmerican liner _Philadelphia_, which brought out the remarkable fact\nthat, while it was possible to transmit signals to a distance of fifteen\nhundred miles during the night, they could not be transmitted further\nthan seven hundred miles during the day. The same was found to be the\ncase by Lieutenant Solari of the Italian Navy, at whose disposal the\nship _Carlo Alberta_ was placed by the King of Italy in 1902, for the\npurpose of making investigations into wireless telegraphy; and summing\nup the points which he considered to have been fully established by his\nexperiments on board that ship, he mentions among them the fact, that\nsunlight has the effect of reducing the power of the electro-magnetic\nwaves, and that consequently a greater force is required to produce a\ngiven result by day than by night. Here, then, is a reason why we might\nexpect to see more supernatural appearances, as we call them, at night\nthan in the day--they require a smaller amount of force to produce them.\nAt the same time, it is found that the great magnetic waves which cover\nimmense distances, work even more powerfully in the light than in the\ndark. May it not be that these things show, that there is more than a\nmerely metaphorical use of words, when the Bible tells us of the power\nof Light to dissipate, and bring to naught, the powers of Darkness,\nwhile the Light itself is the Great Power, using the forces of the\nuniverse on the widest scale? Perhaps it is none other than the\ncontinuity of unchanging universal principles extending into the\nmysterious realms of the spiritual world.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nMAN'S PLACE IN THE CREATIVE ORDER\n\n\nIn the preceding chapters we have found certain definite facts,--that\nall known matter is formed out of one primordial Universal\nSubstance,--that the ether spreading throughout limitless space is a\nUniversal Medium, through which it is possible to convey force by means\nof vibrations,--and that vibrations can be started by the power of\nSound. These we have found to be well established facts of ordinary\nscience, and taking them as our starting-point, we may now begin to\nspeculate as to the possible workings of the known laws under unknown\nconditions.\n\nOne of the first things that naturally attract our attention is the\nquestion,--How did Life originate? On this point I may quote two leading\nmen of science. Tyndall says: \"I affirm that no shred of trustworthy\nexperimental testimony exists, to prove that life in our day has ever\nappeared independently of antecedent life\"; and Huxley says: \"The\ndoctrine of biogenesis, or life only from life, is victorious along the\nwhole line at the present time.\" Such is the testimony of modern science\nto the old maxim \"Omne vivum exvivo.\" \"All life proceeds from antecedent\nlife.\" Think it out for yourself and you will see that it could not\npossibly be otherwise.\n\nWhatever may be our theory of the origin of life on the physical plane,\nwhether we regard it as commencing in a vivified slime at the bottom of\nthe sea, which we call protoplasm, or in any other way, the question of\nhow life got there still remains unanswered. The protoplasm being\nmaterial substance, must have its origin like all other material\nsubstances, in the undifferentiated etheric Universal Substance, no\nparticle of which has any power of operating upon any other particle\nuntil some initial vibration starts the movement; so that, on any theory\nwhatever, we are always brought back to the same question: What started\nthe condensation of the ether into the beginnings of a world-system? So\nwhether we consider the life which characterizes organized matter, or\nthe energy which characterizes inorganic matter, we cannot avoid the\nconclusion, that both must have their source in some Original Power to\nwhich we can assign no antecedent. This is the conclusion which has been\nreached by all philosophic and religious systems that have really tried\nto get at the root of the matter, simply because it is impossible to\nform any other conception.\n\nThis Living Power is what we mean when we speak of the All-Originating\nSpirit. The existence of this Spirit is not a theological invention, but\na logical and scientific ultimate, without predicating which, nothing\nelse can be accounted for. The word \"Spirit\" comes from the Latin\n\"spiro\" \"I breathe,\" and so means \"The Breath,\" as in Job xxxiii,\n4,--\"The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath\ngiven me life\"; and again in Ps. xxxiii, 6--\"By the word of the Lord\nwere the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his\nmouth.\"\n\nIn the opening chapter of Genesis, we are told that \"the Spirit of God\nmoved upon the face of the waters.\" The words rendered \"the Spirit of\nGod\" are, in the original Hebrew \"rouah AElohim,\" which is literally \"the\nBreathing of God\"; and similarly, the ancient religious books of India,\nmake the \"Swara\" or Great Breath the commencement of all life and\nenergy. The word \"rouah\" in Genesis is remarkable. According to\nrabbinical teaching, each letter of the Hebrew alphabet has a certain\nsymbolic significance, and when examined in this manner, the root from\nwhich this word is derived conveys the idea of Expansive Movement. It is\nthe opposite of the word \"hoshech,\" translated \"darkness\" in the same\npassage of our Bible, which is similarly derived from a root conveying\nthe idea of Hardening and Compressing. It is the same idea that is\npersonified in the Zendavesta, the sacred book of the ancient Persians,\nunder the names of Ormuzd, the Spirit of Light; and Ahriman, the Spirit\nof Darkness; and similarly in the old Assyrian myth of the struggle\nbetween the Sun-God and Tiamat, the goddess of darkness.\n\nThis conception of conflict between two opposite principles, Light and\nDarkness, Compression and Expansion, will be found to underlie all the\nancient religions of the world, and it is conspicuous throughout our own\nScriptures. But it should be borne in mind that the oppositeness of\ntheir nature does not necessarily mean conflict. The two principles of\nExpansion and Contraction are not necessarily destructive; on the\ncontrary they are necessary correlatives to one another. Expansion alone\ncannot produce form; cohesion must also be present. It is the regulated\nbalance between them that results in Creation. In the old legend, if I\nremember rightly, the conflict is ended by Tiamat marrying her former\nopponent. They were never really enemies, but there was a\nmisunderstanding between them, or rather there was a misunderstanding on\nthe part of Tiamat so long as she did not perceive the true character of\nthe Spirit of Light, and that their relation to one another was that of\nco-operation and not of opposition. Thus also St. John tells us that\n\"the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not\"\n(John i, 5). It is this want of comprehension that is at the root of all\nthe trouble.\n\nThe reader should note, however, that I am here speaking of that\nPrimeval Substance, which necessarily has no light in itself, because\nthere is as yet no vibration in it, for there can be no light without\nvibration. We must not make the mistake of supposing that Matter is evil\nin itself: it is our misconception of it that makes it the vehicle of\nevil; and we must distinguish between the darkness of Matter and moral\ndarkness, though there is a spiritual correspondence between them. The\ntrue development of Man consists in the self-expansion of the Divine\nSpirit working through his mind, and thence upon his psychic and\nphysical organisms, but this can only be by the individual's\n_willingness to receive_ that Spirit. Where the hindrance to this\nworking is only caused by ignorance of the true relation between\nourselves and the Divine Spirit, and the desire for truth is present,\nthe True Light will in due course disperse the darkness. But on the\nother hand, if the hindrance is caused by _unwillingness_ to be led by\nthe Divine Spirit, then the Light cannot be _forced_ upon any one, and\nfor this reason Jesus said: \"This is the condemnation, that light is\ncome into the World, and men loved darkness rather than light, because\ntheir deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light,\nneither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he\nthat doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made\nmanifest, that they are wrought in God\" (John iii: 19-21). In physical\nscience these things have an exact parallel in \"Ohm's Law\" regarding the\nresistance offered by the conductor to the flow of the electric\ncurrent. The correspondence is very remarkable and will be found more\nfully explained in a later chapter. The Primary Darkness, both of\nSubstance and of Mind, has to be taken into account, if we would form an\nintelligent conception of the twofold process of Involution and\nEvolution continually at work in ourselves, which, by their combined\naction, are able to lead to the limitless development both of the\nindividual and of the race.\n\nAccording to all teaching, then, both ancient and modern, all life and\nenergy have their source in a Primary Life and Energy, of which we can\nonly say that IT IS. We cannot conceive of any time when it was not,\nfor, if there was a time when no such Primary Energizing Life existed,\nwhat was there to energize it? So we are landed in a _reductio ad\nabsurdum_ which leaves no alternative but to predicate the Eternal\nExistence of an All-Originating Living Spirit.\n\nLet us stop for a moment to consider what we mean by \"Eternal.\" When,\ndo you suppose, twice two began to make four? And when, do you\nsuppose, twice two will cease to make four? It is an eternal\nprinciple, quite independent of time or conditions. Similarly with the\nOriginating Life. It is above time and above conditions--in a word it\nis _undifferentiated_ and contains in itself the _potential_ of\ninfinite differentiation. This is what the Eternal Life is, and what\nwe want for the expansion of our own life is a truer comprehension of\nit. We are like Tiamat, and must enter into intelligent and loving\nunion with the Spirit of Light, in order to realize the infinite\npossibilities that lie before us. This is the ultimate meaning of the\nmaxim \"Omne vivum ex vivo.\"\n\nWe see, then, that the material universe, including our own bodies, has\nits origin in the undifferentiated Universal Substance, and that the\nfirst movement towards differentiation must be started by some initial\nimpulse, analogous to those which start vibrations in the ether known to\nscience; and that therefore this impulse must, in the first instance,\nproceed from some Living Power eternal in itself, and independent of\ntime and conditions. Now all the ancient religions of the world concur,\nin attributing this initial impulse to the power of Sound; and we have\nseen, that as a matter of fact, sound has the power of starting\nvibrations, and that these vibrations have an exact correspondence with\nthe quality of the sound, what we now call synchronous vibration.\n\nAt this point, however, we are met by another fact. Cosmic activity\ntakes place only in certain definite areas. Solar systems do not jostle\neach other in space. In a word the Sound, which thus starts the initial\nimpulse of creation, is guided by Intelligent Selection. Now sounds,\ndirected by purposeful intention, amount to Words, whether the words of\nsome spoken language or the tapping of the Morse code--it is the meaning\nat the back of the sound that gives it verbal significance. It is for\nthis reason, that the concentration of creative energy in particular\nareas, has from time immemorial been attributed to \"The Word.\" The old\nSanskrit books call this selective concentrative power \"Vach,\" which\nmeans \"Voice,\" and is the root of the Latin word \"Vox,\" having the same\nmeaning. Philo, and the Neo-Platonists of Alexandria who follow him,\ncall it \"Logos,\" which means the same; and we are all familiar with the\nopening verses of St. John's Gospel and First Epistle in which he\nattributes Creation to \"The Word.\"\n\nNow we know, as a scientific fact, that solar systems have a definite\nbeginning in the gyration of nebulous matter, circling through vast\nfields of interstellar space, as the great nebula in Andromeda does at\nthe present day. AEons upon aeons elapse, before the primary nebula\nconsolidates into a solar system such as ours is now; but science shows,\nthat from the time when the nebula first spreads its spiral across the\nheavens, the mathematical element of Law asserts itself, and it is by\nmeans of our recognition of the mathematical relations between the\nforces of attraction and repulsion, that we have been able to acquire\nany knowledge on the subject. I do not for an instant wish to suggest\nthat the Spiritual Power has not continued to be in operation also, but\na centre for the working of a Cosmic Law being once established, the\nSpiritual Power works through that Law and not in opposition to it. On\nthe other hand, the selection of particular portions of space for the\nmanifestation of cosmic activity, indicates the action of free volition,\nnot determined by any law except the obvious consideration of allowing\nroom for the future solar system to move in. Similarly also with regard\nto time. Spectroscopic analysis of the light from the stars, which are\nsuns many of them much greater than our own, shows that they are of\nvarious ages--some quite young, some arrived at maturity, and some\npassing into old age. Their creation must therefore be assigned to\ndifferent epochs, and we thus see the Originating Spirit exercising the\npowers of Selection and Volition as to the time when, as well as to the\nplace where, a new world-system shall be inaugurated.\n\nNow it is this power of inauguration that all the ancient systems of\nteaching attribute to the Divine Word. It is the passing of the\nundifferentiated into differentiation, of the unmanifested into\nmanifestation, of the unlocalized into localization. It is the ushering\nin of what the Brahminical books call a \"Manvantara\" or world-period,\nand in like manner our Bible says that \"In the beginning was the Word.\"\nThe English word \"word\" is closely allied to the Latin word \"verbum\"\nwhich signifies both _word_ and _verb_. Grammarians tell us that the\nverb \"to be\" is a verb-substantive, that is, it does not indicate any\naction passing from the subject to the object. Now this exactly\ndescribes the Spirit in its Eternity. We cannot conceive of It except as\nalways BEING; but the distribution of world-systems both in time and\nspace shows that it is not always cosmically active. In itself, apart\nfrom manifestation, it is Pure Beingness, if I may coin such a word; and\nit is for this reason that the Divine Name announced to Moses was \"I\nAM.\" But the fact that Creation exists, shows that from this Substantive\nPure Being there flows out a Verb Active, which reproduces in action,\nwhat the I AM is in essence. It is just the same with ourselves. We must\nfirst _be_ before we can _do_, and we can _do_ only to the extent to\nwhich we _are_. We cannot express powers which we do not possess; so\nthat our doing necessarily coincides with the quality of our being.\nTherefore the Divine Verb reproduces the Divine Substantive by a natural\nsequence. It is _generated_ by the Divine \"I AM,\" and for this reason it\nis called \"The Son of God.\" So we see that The Verb, The Word, and The\nSon of God, are all different expressions for the same Power.\n\nCreative vibration in the Universal Substance can, therefore, only be\nconceived of, as being inaugurated by the \"Word\" which _localizes_ the\nactivity of the Spirit in particular centres. This idea, of the\nlocalization of the Spirit through the \"Word,\" should be fully realized\nas the energizing principle on the scale of the Macrocosm or \"Great\nWorld,\" because, as we shall find later on, the same principle acts in\nthe same way on the scale of the Microcosm or \"Small World,\" which is\nthe individual man. This is why these things have a personal interest\nfor us, otherwise they would not be worth troubling about. But a mistake\nto be avoided at this point, is that of supposing that the \"Word\" is\nsomething which dictates to the Spirit when and where to operate. The\n\"Word\" is the word of the Spirit itself, and not that of some higher\nauthority, for the Spirit being First Cause there can be nothing\nanterior to dictate to it; there can be nothing before that which is\nFirst. The \"Word\" which centralizes the activity of the Spirit, is\ntherefore that of the Spirit itself. We have an analogy in our own case.\nIf I go to New York the first movement in that direction is that of my\nThought or Desire. It is true that in my present state of evolution I\nhave to follow the usual methods of travel, but so far as my Thought is\nconcerned, I have been there all the time. Indeed, such a case as the\none I have mentioned, of my being seen in Edinburgh while I was\nphysically in London, seems to point to the actual transference of some\npart of the personality to another locality, and similarly with my visit\nto Lanercost Abbey; and the reader must remember, that such phenomena\nare by no means uncommon--they are the natural action of some part of\nour personality, and must therefore follow some natural law, even though\nwe may at present know very little of how it works.\n\nWe see, therefore, both from _a priori_ reasoning, and from observed\nfacts, that it is the Word, Thought, or Desire of the Spirit, that\nlocalizes its activity in some definite centre. The student should bear\nthis in mind as a leading principle, for he will find that it is of\ngeneral application, alike in the case of individuals, of groups of\nindividuals, and of entire nations. It is the key to the relation\nbetween Law and Personality, the opening of the Grand Arcanum, the\nequilibrating of Jachin and Boaz, and it is therefore of immediate\nimportance to ourselves.\n\nWe may take, then, as a starting-point for further enquiry, the maxim\nthat Volition creates Centres of Spiritual Activity. But perhaps you\nwill say: \"If this be true, what word or words am I to employ?\" This is\na question which has puzzled a good many people before you. This \"Word\"\nwhich so many have been in search of, has been variously called \"the\nLost Word,\" \"the Word of Power,\" \"the Schemhammaphorasch or Secret Name\nof God,\" and so on. A quaint Jewish legend of the Middle Ages says that\nthe \"Hidden Name\" was secretly inscribed in the innermost recesses of\nthe Temple; but that, even if discovered, which was most unlikely, it\ncould not be retained because, guarding it, were sculptured lions, which\ngave such a supernatural roar as the intruder was quitting the spot,\nthat all memory of the \"Hidden Name\" was driven from his mind. Jesus,\nhowever, says the legend, knew this and dodged the lions. He transcribed\nthe Name, and cutting open his thigh, hid the writing in the incision,\nwhich, by magical art, he at once closed up; then, after leaving the\nTemple, he took the writing out and so retained the knowledge of the\nName. In this way the legend accounts for his power to work miracles.\n\nJesus, indeed, possessed the Word of Power, though not in the way\ntold in the legend, and he repeatedly proclaimed it in his\nteaching:--\"According to your Faith be it unto you\"--\"Verily, I say unto\nyou, whosoever shall say to this mountain, 'Be thou taken up and cast\ninto the sea'; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that\nwhat he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith\"\n(Mark xi, 23). And similarly in the Old Testament we are told that the\nWord is nigh to us, even in our hearts and in our mouth (Deut. xxx, 14).\nWhat keeps the Word of Power hidden, is our belief that nothing so\nsimple could possibly be it.\n\nAt the same time, simple though it be, it has Law and Reason at the back\nof it, like everything else. The ancient Egyptians seem to have had\nclearer ideas on this subject than we have. \"The name was to the\nEgyptians the _idea_ of the thing, without which it could not exist, and\nthe knowledge of which therefore gave power over that which answered to\nit.\" \"The _idea_ of the thing represented its _soul_.\"[2] This is the\nsame conception as the \"archetypal ideas\" of Plato, only carried\nfurther, so as to apply, not only to classes, but to each individual of\nthe class, and, as we shall see later, there is a good deal of truth in\nit. Put broadly, the conception is this--every external fact must have\na spiritual origin, an internal energizing principle, which causes it to\nexist in the particular form in which it does. The outward fact is\ncalled the Phenomenon, and the corresponding inward principle is called\nthe Noumenon. The dictionary definition of these two words is as\nfollows: \"Phenomenon--the appearance which anything makes to our\nconsciousness as distinguished from what it is in itself.\" \"Noumenon--an\nunknown and unknowable substance or thing as it is in itself--the\nopposite to the Phenomenon or form through which it becomes known to the\nsenses or the understanding\" (Chambers' Twentieth Century Dictionary).\nWhether the dictionary be right in saying that the \"noumena\" of things\nare entirely unknowable, the reader must decide for himself; but the\npresent book is an attempt to learn something about the \"noumena\" of\nthings in general, and of ourselves in particular, and what I want to\nconvey is, that the \"noumenon\" of anything is its essence, _in terms of\nthe Universal Energy and the Universal Substance, in their relation to\nthe particular Form in question_. Probably the Latin word \"Nomen,\" a\nName, is derived from this Greek word, and in this sense everything has\nits \"hidden name\"; and the region in which Thought-Power works, is this\nregion of spiritual beginnings. It deals with \"hidden names\"--that\ninward essence which determines the outward form of things, persons, and\ncircumstances alike; and it is in order to make this clearer, that I\nhave commenced by sketching briefly the general principles of Substance\nand Energy as now recognized by modern science.\n\nIf I have made my meaning clear, you will see that what is wanted is\nnot the knowledge of particular words, but an understanding of general\nprinciples. At the same time I would not assert that the reciting of\ncertain forms of words, such as the Indian \"mantras\" or the word AUM,\nto which Oriental teachers attach a mystic significance, is entirely\nwithout power. But the power is not in the words _but in our belief in\ntheir power_. I will give an amusing instance of this. On several\noccasions I have been consulted by persons who supposed themselves to\nbe under the influence of \"malicious magnetism,\" emanating in some\ncases from known, and in others from unknown, sources; and the remedy I\nhave prescribed has been this. Look the adverse power, mentally, full\nin the face, and then assuming an attitude of confidence say\n\"Cock-a-doodle-doo.\" The enquirers have sometimes smiled at first, but\nin every case the result has been successful. Perhaps this is why\nAEsculapius is represented as accompanied by a cock. Possibly the\nancient physicians were in the habit of employing the\n\"Cock-a-doodle-doo\" treatment; and I might recommend it to the faculty\nto-day as very effective in certain cases. Now I do not think the\nreader will attribute any particularly occult significance to\n\"Cock-a-doodle-doo.\" The power is in the mental attitude. To\n\"cock-a-doodle-doo\" at any suggestion is to treat it with scorn and\nderision, and to assume the very opposite of that receptive attitude\nwhich enables a suggestion to affect us. That is the secret of this\nmethod of treatment, and the principle is the same in all cases.\n\nIt matters, then, very little what particular words we use. What does\nmatter is the intention and faith with which we use them. But perhaps\nsome reader will here take the role of cross-examining counsel, and say:\n\"You have just said it is a case of synchronous vibration--then surely\nit is the actual sound of the particular syllables that counts--how do\nyou square this with your present statement?\" The answer is that the Law\nis always the same, but the mode of response to the Law is always\naccording to the nature of the medium in which it is operating. On the\nplane of physical matter the vibrations are in tune with physical\nsounds, as in the experiments with the eidophone; and similarly, on the\nplane of ideas or \"noumena,\" the response is in terms of that plane. The\nword which creates \"noumena,\" or spiritual centres of action, must\nitself belong to the world of \"noumena,\" so that it is not illogical to\nsay that it is the intention and faith that counts, and not the external\nsound. In this is the secret of the Power of Thought. It is the\nreproduction, on the miniature scale of the individual, of the same mode\nof Power that makes the worlds. It is that Power of Personality, which,\ncombined with the action of the Law, brings out results which the Law\nalone could never do--as the old maxim has it, \"Nature unaided fails.\"\n\nThis brings us to another important question--is not the creative power\nof the Word limited by the immutability of the Law? If the Law cannot be\naltered in the least particular, how can the Word be free to do what it\nlikes? The answer to this is contained in another maxim: \"Every creation\ncarries its own mathematics along with it.\" You cannot create anything\nwithout at the same time creating its relation to everything else, just\nas in painting a landscape, the contour you give to the trees will\ndetermine that of the sky. Therefore, whenever you create anything, you\nthereby start a train of causation, which will work out in strict\naccordance with the sort of thought that started it. The stream always\nhas the quality of its source. Thought which is in line with the Unity\nof the Great Whole, will produce correspondingly harmonious results, and\nThought which is disruptive of the great Principle of Unity, will\nproduce correspondingly disputive results--hence all the trouble and\nconfusion in the world. Our Thought is perfectly free, and we can use it\neither constructively or destructively as we choose; but the immutable\nLaw of Sequence will not permit us to plant a thought of one kind, and\nmake it bear fruit of another.\n\nThen the question very naturally suggests itself: Why did not God create\nus so that we could not think negative or destructive thoughts? And the\nanswer is: Because He could not. There are some things which even God\ncannot do. He cannot do anything that involves a contradiction in terms.\nEven God could not make twice two either more or less than four. Now I\nwant the student to see clearly why making us incapable of\nwrong-thinking would involve a contradiction in terms, and would\ntherefore be an impossibility. To see this we must realize what is our\nplace in the Order of the Universe. The name \"Man\" itself indicates\nthis. It comes from the Sanscrit root MN, which, in all its derivatives,\nconveys the idea of Measurement, as in the word Mind, through the Latin\n_mens_, the faculty which compares things and estimates them\naccordingly; Moon, the heavenly body whose phases afford the most\nobvious standard for the periodical measurement of time; Month, the\nperiod thus measured; \"Man,\" the largest of the Indian weights; and so\non. Man therefore means \"The Measurer,\" and this very aptly describes\nour place in the order of evolution, for it indicates the relation\nbetween Personal Volition and Immutable Law.\n\nIf we grant the truth of the maxim \"Nature unaided fails\" the whole\nthing becomes clear, and the entire progress of applied science proves\nthe truth of this maxim. To recur to an illustration I have employed in\nmy previous books, the old ship-builders thought that ships were bound\nto be built of wood and not of iron, because wood floats in water and\niron sinks; but now nearly all ships are made of iron. Yet the specific\ngravities of wood and iron have not altered, and a log of wood floats\nwhile a lump of iron sinks, just the same as they did in the days of\nDrake and Frobisher. The only difference is, that people thought out the\n_underlying principle_ of the law of flotation, and reduced it to the\ngeneralized statement that anything will float, the weight of which is\nless than that of the mass displaced by it, whether it be an iron ship\nfloating in water, or a balloon floating in air. So long as we restrict\nourselves to the mere recollection of observed facts, we shall make no\nprogress; but by carefully considering _why_ any force acted in the way\nit did, under the particular conditions observed, we arrive at a\ngeneralization of principle, showing that the force in question is\ncapable of hitherto unexpected applications if we provide the necessary\nconditions. This is the way in which all advances have been made on the\nmaterial side, and on the principle of Continuity we may reasonably\ninfer that the same applies to the spiritual side also.\n\nWe may generalize the whole position thus. When we first observe the\nworking of the Law under the conditions spontaneously provided by\nNature, it appears to limit us; but by seeking the _reason_ of the\naction exhibited under these limited conditions, we discover the\nprinciple, and true nature, of the Law in question, and we then learn\nfrom the Law itself, what conditions to supply in order to give it more\nextended scope, and direct its energy to the accomplishment of definite\npurposes. The maxim we have to learn is that \"Every Law _contains in\nitself_ the principle of its own Expansion,\" which will set us free from\nthe limitation which that Law at first appeared to impose upon us. The\nlimitation was never in the Law, but in the conditions under which it\nwas working, and our power of selection and volition enables us to\nprovide new conditions, not spontaneously provided by Nature, and thus\nto _specialize_ the Law, and disclose immense powers which had always\nbeen latent in it, but which would for ever remain hidden unless brought\nto light by the co-operation of the Personal Factor. The Law itself\nnever changes, but we can _specialize_ it by realizing the principle\ninvolved and providing the conditions thus indicated. This is our place\nin the Order of the Universe. We give definite direction to the action\nof the Law, and in this way our Personal Factor is always acting upon\nthe law, whether we know it or not; and the Law, under the influence\nthus impressed upon it, is all the time re-acting upon us.\n\nNow we cannot conceive any limit to Evolution. To suppose a point where\nit comes to an end is a contradiction in terms. It is to suppose that\nthe Eternal Life Principle is used up, which is to deny its Eternity;\nand, as we have seen, unless we assume its Eternity, it is impossible to\naccount either for our own existence or that of anything else.\nTherefore, to say that a point will ever be reached where it will be\nused up, is as absurd as saying that a point will be reached where the\nsequence of numbers will be used up. Evolution, the progress from lower\nto higher modes of manifestation of the underlying Principle of Life, is\ntherefore eternal, but, in regard to the human race, this progress\ndepends entirely on the extent to which we grasp the principles of the\nLaw of our own Being, and so learn to specialize it in the right\ndirection. Then if this be our place in the Universal Order, it becomes\nclear that we could not occupy this place unless we had a perfectly free\nhand to choose the conditions under which the Law is to operate; and\ntherefore, in order to pass beyond the limits of the mineral, vegetable\nand animal kingdoms, and reach the status of being Persons, and not\nthings, we must have a freedom of selection and volition, which makes it\nequally possible for us to select either rightly or wrongly; and the\npurpose of sound teaching is to make us see the eternal principles\ninvolved, and thus lead us to impress our Personality upon the Law, in\nthe way that will bring out the infinite possibilities of good which the\nLaw, rightly employed, contains. If it were possible to do this by an\nautomatic Law, doubtless the Creative Wisdom would have made us so. This\nis why St. Paul says: \"If there had been a law given which could have\ngiven life, verily righteousness should have been by the law\" (Gal. iii,\n21). Note the words \"a law _given_,\" that is to say, imposed by external\ncommand; but it could not be. The laws of the Universe are Cosmic. In\nthemselves they are _impersonal_, and the infinite possibilities\ncontained in them, can only be brought out by the co-operation of the\nPersonal Factor. It is only as we grasp the true relation between Jachin\nand Boaz, that we can enter into the Temple either of our own\nIndividuality, or of the boundless Universe in which we live. The\nreason, therefore, why God did not make us mechanically incapable of\nwrong thinking, is simply because the very idea involves a contradiction\nin terms, which negatives all possibility of Creation. The conception\nlands us in a _reductio ad absurdum_.\n\nTherefore, we are free to use our powers of Personality as we will, only\nwe must take the consequences. Now one error we are all very apt to fall\ninto, is the mistaken use of the Will. Its proper function is to keep\nour other faculties in line with the Law, and thus enable us to\nspecialize it; but many people seem to think that by force of will they\ncan somehow manage to coerce the Law; in other words, that by force of\nwill they can sow a seed of one kind and make it bear fruit of another.\nThe Spirit of Life seeks to express itself in our individuality, through\nthe three avenues of reason, feeling, and will; but as in the Masonic\nlegend of the murder of Hiram Abif, the architect of Solomon's Temple,\nit is beaten back on the side of reasoning, by the plummet of a logic\nbased on false premises; on the side of feeling, by the level of\nconventional ideas; and on the side of will, by the hammer of a\nshort-sighted self-will, which gives the finishing blow; and it is not\nuntil the true perception of the Principle of Life is resurrected within\nus, that the Temple can be completed according to the true plan.\n\nIt should be remembered that the will is _not_ the Creative Faculty in\nus. It is the faculty of Conception that is the creative agent, and the\nbusiness of the Will is to keep that faculty in the right direction,\nwhich will be determined by an enlightened Reason. Conception creates\nideas which are the seed, that, in due time, will produce fruit after\nits own kind. In a broad sense we may call it the Imaging Faculty, only\nwe must not suppose that this necessarily implies the visualizing of\nmental images, which is only a subsidiary mode of using this faculty. An\n\"immaculate conception\" is therefore the only means by which the New\nLiberated Man can be born in each of us. The sequence is always the\nsame. The Will holds the Conception together, and the idea thus formed\ngives direction to the working of the Law. But this direction may be\neither true or inverted; and the impersonal Law will work constructively\nor destructively, according to the conception which it embodies. In this\nway, then, will-power may be used to hold together an inverted\nconception--the conception that our personal force of will is sufficient\nto bear down all opposition. But this mental attitude ignores the fact,\nthat the fundamental principle of creative power is the Wholeness of the\nCreation; and that, therefore, the idea of forcing compliance with our\nwishes, by the power of our individual will, is an inverted conception,\nwhich, though it may appear to succeed for a time, is bound to fail\neventually, because it antagonizes the very power it is seeking to use.\nThis inverted use of the Will is the basis of \"Black Magic,\" a term some\nreaders will perhaps smile at, but which is practised at the present day\nto a much greater extent than many of us have any idea of--not always,\nindeed, with a full consciousness of its nature, but in many ways which\nare the first steps on the Left-hand Path. Its mark is the determination\nto act by Self-will, rather than using our will to co-operate with that\ncontinuous forward movement of the Great Whole, which is the Will of\nGod. This inverted will entirely misses the point regarding the part we\nare formed to play in the Creative Order, and so we miss the development\nof our own individuality, and retrograde instead of going forward.\n\nBut if we work _with_ the Law instead of against it, we shall find that\nour word, that is to say our conception, will become more and more the\nWord of Power, because it specializes the general Law in some particular\ndirection. The Law will serve us exactly to the extent to which we first\nobserve the Law. It is the same in everything. If the electrician tries\nto go counter to the fundamental principle, that the electric current\nalways flows from a higher to a lower potential, he will be able to do\nnothing with it; but let him observe this fundamental law and there is\nnothing that electricity will not do for him within the field of its own\nnature. In this sense, then, of specializing the general Law in a\nparticular direction, we may lay down the maxim that \"The Law flows from\nthe Word, and not _vice versa_.\"\n\nWhen we use our Word in this way, not as expressing a self-will that\nseeks to crush all that does not submit to it, but as a portion, however\nsmall, of the Universal Cause, and therefore with the desire of acting\nin harmony with that Cause, then our word becomes a constructive,\ninstead of a destructive power. Its influence may be very small at\nfirst, because there is still a great mass of doubt at the back of our\nmind, and every doubt is, in reality, a Negative Word warring against\nour Affirmative Word; but, by adhering to our principle, we shall\ngradually gain experience in these things, and the creative value of our\nword will grow accordingly.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nTHE LAW OF WHOLENESS\n\n\nIt may seem a truism to say that the whole is made up of its parts, but\nall the same we often lose sight of this in our outlook on life.\n\nThe reason we do so is because we are apt to take too narrow a view of\nthe whole; and also because we do not sufficiently consider that it is\nnot the mere arithmetical sum of the parts that makes the whole, but\nalso the harmonious agreement of each part with all the other parts. The\nextent of the whole and the harmony of the parts is what we have to look\nout for, and also its objective; this is a universal rule, whatever the\nwhole in question may be.\n\nTake, for instance, the case of the artist. He must start by having a\ndefinite objective, what in studio phrase is called a \"motif\"; something\nthat has given him a certain impression which he wants to convey to\nothers, but which cannot be stated as an isolated fact without any\nsurroundings. Then the surroundings must be painted so as to have a\nnatural relation to the main motif; they must lead up to it, but at the\nsame time they must not compete with it. There must be only one definite\ninterest in the picture, and minor details must not be allowed to\ninterfere with it. They are there only because of the main motif, to\nhelp to express it. Yet they are not to be treated in a slovenly manner.\nAs much as is seen of them must be drawn with an accuracy that correctly\nsuggests their individual character; but they must not be accentuated in\nsuch a way as to emphasize details to the detriment of the breadth of\nthe picture. This is the artistic principle of unity, and the same\nprinciple applies to everything else.\n\nWhat, then, is the \"Motif\" of Life? Surely it must be, to express its\nown Livingness. Then in the True Order all modes of life and energy must\nconverge towards this end, and it is only our short-sightedness that\nprevents us from seeing this,--from seeing that the greater the harmony\nof the whole Life, the greater will be the inflow of that Life in each\nof the parts that are giving it expression. This is what we want to\nlearn with regard to ourselves, whether as individuals, classes or\nnations. We have seen the cosmic workings of the Law of Wholeness in the\ndiscovery of the planet Neptune. Another planet was absolutely necessary\nto complete the unity of our solar system, and it was found that there\nis such a planet, and similarly in other branches of natural science.\nThe Law of Unity is the basic law of Life, and it is our ignorant or\nwilful infraction of this Law that is the root of all our troubles.\n\nIf we take this Law of Unity as the basis of our Thought we shall be\nsurprised to find how far it will carry us. Each part is a complete\nwhole in itself. Each inconceivably minute particle revolves round the\ncentre of the atom in its own orbit. On its own scale it is complete in\nitself, and by co-operation with thousands of others forms the atom. The\natom again is a complete whole, but it must combine with other atoms to\nform a molecule, and so on. But if the atom be imperfect as an atom, how\ncould it combine with other atoms?\n\nThus we see that however infinitesimal any part may be as compared with\nthe whole, it must also be a complete whole on its own scale, if the\ngreater whole is to be built up. On the same principle, our recognition\nthat our personality is an infinitesimal fraction of an inconceivably\ngreater Life, does not mean that it is at all insignificant in itself,\nor that our individuality becomes submerged in an indistinguishable\nmass; on the contrary, our own wholeness is an essential factor towards\nthe building up of the greater whole; so that as long as we keep before\nus the building up of the Great Whole as the \"main motif,\" we need never\nfear the expansion of our own individuality. The more we expand, the\nmore effective units we shall become.\n\nWe must not, however, suppose that Unity means Uniformity. St. Paul puts\nthis very clearly when he says, if the whole body be an eye, where would\nbe the hearing, etc. (1 Cor. xii, 14). How could you paint a picture\nwithout distinction of form, colour, or tone? Diversity in Unity is the\nnecessity for any sort of expression, and if it be the case in our own\nbodies, as St. Paul points out, how much more so in the expressing of\nthe Eternal Life through endless ages and limitless space! Once we grasp\nthis idea of the unity and progressiveness of Life going on _ad\ninfinitum_, what boundless vistas of possibility open before us. It\nwould be enough to stagger the imagination were it not for our old\nfriends, the Law and the Word. But these will always accompany us, and\nwe may rely upon them in all worlds and under all conditions. This Law\nof Unity is what in natural science is known as the Law of Continuity,\nand the Ancient Wisdom has embodied it in the Hermetic axiom \"Sicut\nsuperius, sicut inferius; sicut inferius, sicut superius\"--As above, so\nbelow; as below, so above. It leads us on from stage to stage, unfolding\nas it goes; and to this unfolding there is no end, for it is the Eternal\nLife finding ever fuller expression, as it can find more and more\nsuitable channels through which to express itself. It can no more come\nto an end than numbers can come to an end.\n\nBut it _must_ find suitable channels. Let there be no mistake about\nthis. Perhaps some one may say: Cannot it _make_ suitable channels for\nany sort of expression that it needs? The answer is, that it can, and it\ndoes so up to a certain point. As we have seen, the Word, Thought, or\nInitial Impulse of the Ever-Living Spirit starts a centre of cosmic\nactivity in which the mathematical element of Law at once asserts\nitself; thenceforward everything goes on according to certain broad\nprinciples of sequence. This is a Generic Creation, creation according\nto _genera_ or classes, like the \"archetypal ideas\" of Plato. This\ncreation is governed by a Law of Averages, and the legal maxim \"De\nminimis non curat lex\"--the Law cannot trouble about minorities--applies\nto it. This generic law keeps the class going, and slowly advancing,\nsimply as a class, but it can take no notice of individuals as such. As\nTennyson puts it in \"In Memoriam,\" speaking of Nature:\n\n    \"So careful of the type she seems,\n     So careless of the single life.\"\n\nThis mode of creation reaches its highest level, at any rate in our\nworld, in Genus Homo, or the human race. We also, as a race, are under\nthe Law of Averages. The race continues to exist, but from the moment of\nbirth the individual life is liable to be cut short in a hundred\ndifferent ways. In producing man, however, Generic Creation has produced\na _type_ having a mental and physical constitution capable of perceiving\nthe underlying principle of _all_ creation, that is, of seeing the\nrelation between the Word and the Law. We cannot conceive creation by\ntype going further than this. By the nature of this type every human\nbeing has the potential of a further evolution, which will set it free\nfrom bondage to an impersonal Law of Averages, by specializing it\nthrough the Power of the Word, that is, by bringing the Personal Factor\nto bear upon the Impersonal Factor, and so unfolding the possibilities\nwhich can be achieved by their united activities. We have the power of\nusing the Word so as to specialize the action of the Law, not by\naltering the Law, which is impossible, but by realizing its principle,\nand enabling it to work under conditions which are not spontaneously\nprovided by Nature, but are provided by our own selection. The\n_capacity_ for this exists in all human beings, but the practical\napplication of this capacity depends on our recognition of the\nprinciples involved; and it is for this reason that I commenced this\nbook by citing instances of the combined working of Law and Personality\nin purely physical science. I wanted first to convince the reader from\nwell ascertained facts, that the Law contains infinite possibilities,\nbut that this can only be brought out through the operation of the mind\nof man.\n\nIt is here that we find the value of the maxim \"Nature unaided fails.\"\nThe more we consider this maxim and the principle of Unity and\nContinuity, the clearer it will become, that Limitation is no part of\nthe Law itself, but results only from our own limited comprehension of\nit; and that St. James uses no meaningless phrase, but is stating a\nlogical and scientific truth, when he speaks of \"The perfect Law of\nLiberty\" (Jas. i, 25). What we have to do is, to follow this up, not by\npetulant self-assertion, but by quietly considering the why and\nwherefore of the whole thing. In doing so we can fortify ourselves with\nanother maxim, that \"Principle is not limited by Precedent.\" When we\nspread the wings of thought and speculate as to future possibilities,\nour conventionally-minded friends may say we are talking bosh; but if\nyou ask them why they say so, they can only reply that the past\nexperience of the whole human race is against you. They do not speak\nlike this in the matter of flying-machines or carriages that go without\nhorses; they say these are scientific discoveries. But when it comes to\nthe possibilities of our own souls, they at once set a limit to the\nexpansion of ideas, and do not see that the scientific principle of\ndiscovery is not confined to laboratory experiments. Therefore, we must\nnot let ourselves be discouraged by such arguments. If our friends doubt\nour sanity, let them doubt it. The sanity of such men as Galileo and\nGeorge Stephenson was doubted by their contemporaries, so we are in good\ncompany. At the same time we must not neglect to look after our own\nsanity. We must know some intelligible reason for our conclusions, and\nrealize that however unexpected, they are the logical carrying out of\nprinciples which we can recognize in the Creation around us. If we do\nthis we need not fear to spread the wings of fancy, even though some may\nnot be able to accompany us; only we must remember that we are using\nwings. Fancy, in the ordinary acceptation of the word, has really no\nwings; it is like a balloon that just floats wherever any passing\ncurrent of air may drive it. The possession of wings implies power to\ndirect our flight, and fancy must be converted into trained Imagination,\njust as the helpless balloon has been superseded by navigable air-craft.\nIt must be \"the scientific imagination\"; and the \"scientific\nimagination\" carried into the world of spiritual causation becomes the\nWord of Power, and its Power is derived from the fact that it is always\nworking according to Law. Then we may go on confidently, because we are\nfollowing the same universal principles by which all creation has been\nevolved, only now we are specializing its action from the standpoint of\nour own individuality, according to the ancient teaching that Man, the\nMicrocosm, repeats in himself all the laws of the Macrocosm, or great\nworld, around him.\n\nAs we begin to see the truth of these things, we begin to transcend the\nsimply generic stage. That first stage is necessary to provide a\nstarting-point for the next. The first stage is that of Bondage to Law.\nIt could not be otherwise for the simple reason that you must learn the\nlaw before you can use it. Then from the stage of Generic Creation we\nemerge into that of individual Creation, in which we attain liberty\nthrough Knowledge of the Law of our own Being; so that it is not a mere\ntheological myth to talk of a New Creation, but it is the logical\noutcome of what we now are, if, to our recognition of the Power of the\nLaw we add the recognition of the Power of the Word.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nTHE SOUL OF THE SUBJECT\n\n\nWe may now turn to speculate a little on some conceivable application of\nthe general principle we have been considering. It seems to me that, as\na result of the generic creation of which I have just spoken, there is\nin everything what, for want of a better name, I may call \"The soul of\nthe subject.\"\n\nCreation being by type, everything must have a _generic_ basis of being\nin the Cosmic Law, not peculiar to that individual thing, but peculiar\nto the class to which it belongs, an adaptation of the Cosmic Soul for\nthe production of all things belonging to that particular order, in\nfact, what makes them what they are and not something else. Now just\nbecause this basis is generic and common to the whole genus that is\nbuilt upon it, it is not specific, but it acquires _localization through\nForm_; the form being that of the class to which it belongs, thus\nproducing the individual of that class, whether a cat or a cabbage. It\nis this underlying _generic_ being of the thing, that I want the student\nto understand by \"the soul of the subject.\" In fact we may call it the\nNoumenon or essential being of the class, as distinguished from the\nspecific characteristics that differentiate the individual from others\nof the same class. It follows from this that this _generic_ soul has no\nindividuality of its own, and consequently is open to receive\nimpressions from any source that can penetrate the sheath of outward\nform and specific characteristic that envelopes it. At the same time it\nis a manifestation of Cosmic Law, and so cannot depart from its own\nclass-nature, and therefore any influence that may be impressed upon it\nfrom some other source will always show itself _in terms of the sort of\ngeneric soul that is thus impressed_; for instance, it would be\nimpossible so to impress a dog as to make it write a book; and we may\ntherefore generalize the statement, and lay down the rule, that \"Every\n_im_press receives _ex_pression in terms of the medium through which it\nis expressed.\" This becomes almost a self-obvious truism when put into\nplain language like this; thus, if I paint a picture in oils, my\nimpression is conveyed in terms of this medium, and if I paint one in\nwater-colours my conception will be conveyed in terms of that medium,\nand the methods of handling will be perfectly different in the two\npictures.\n\nThis applies all round; and if we keep this generalization in mind, it\nwill render many things clear, especially in psychic matters, which\nwould otherwise seem puzzling.\n\nNow we ourselves are included in the general creation, and consequently\nwe have in us a generic or _type basis_ of personality, which is\nentirely impersonal. This is not a contradiction in terms, though it may\nlook like one. We belong to the class Genus Homo, the distinctive\nquality of which is Personality, that is to say, the possession of\ncertain faculties which constitute us persons, and not things or\nanimals; but at the same time this merely generic personality is common\nto all mankind, and is not that which distinguishes one individual from\nanother, and in this sense it is impersonal; so we may call it our\nCosmic or Impersonal Personality.\n\nNow it is upon this cosmic element, inherent in all things from mineral\nto man, that Thought-Power acts, because, being impersonal, it has no\nprivate purpose of its own with which to oppose the suggestion that is\nbeing impressed upon it. The only thing is, that according to the rule\njust laid down, the response will always be in terms of the cosmic\nelement which we have thus set in motion. Therefore on the human plane\nit will always be in terms of Personality.\n\nThe whole thing comes to this, that we impart to this impersonal element\nthe reflection of our own personality, and thereby create in it a\ncertain personality of its own, which will express itself in terms of\nthe inherent nature of the impersonal factor, which we have thus\ntemporarily invested with a personal quality; we are continually doing\nthis unconsciously, either for good or ill; but when we come to\nunderstand the law of it, we must try so to regulate the habitual\ncurrent of our thoughts, that even when we are not using this power\nintentionally, they may only exercise a beneficial influence.\n\nIn our normal state this cosmic element in ourselves is so closely\nunited with our more conscious powers of volition and reasoning, that\nthey constitute a single unity; and this is how it should be, only, as\nwe shall see later on, with a difference. But there are certain\nabnormal states which are worth considering, because they make clearer\nthe existence in us of this impersonal self, which in academical\nlanguage is called the subliminal consciousness. The work of the\nsubliminal consciousness exhibits itself in various ways, such as\nclairvoyance, clair-audience, and conditions of trance; all of which\neither occur spontaneously, or are induced by experimental means, such\nas hypnotism; but the similarity of the phenomena in either case shows,\nthat it is the same faculty that is in evidence.\n\nIn those hypnotic experiments in which the operator merely makes the\nsubject do some external act, we get no further than the fact that the\nperson's individual will has been temporarily put to sleep, and that of\nthe hypnotist has taken its place; still even this shows a power of\nimpressing upon the subliminal consciousness a personal quality of its\nown, but it does not enable it to exhibit its own powers. The object of\nsuch experiments is, to exhibit the powers of the hypnotist, not to\ninvestigate the powers of the subliminal personality, which is of more\nimportance in the present connection. But where the hypnotist employs\nhis power of command to tell the subliminal self of the patient to\nexercise its own powers, merely directing it as to the subject upon\nwhich it is to be exercised, very wonderful powers indeed are exhibited.\nPlaces unknown to the percipient are accurately described; correct\naccounts are given of what people are doing elsewhere; the contents of\nsealed letters are read; the symptoms of disease are diagnosed and\nsuitable remedies sometimes prescribed; and so on. Distance appears to\nmake no difference. In many cases time also does not count, and\nhistorical events of long ago, with the details of which the seer had no\nacquaintance, are accurately described in all their minutiae, which have\nafterwards been corroborated by contemporary documents. Nor are cases\nwanting in which events still future have been correctly predicted, as,\nfor example, in Cazotte's celebrated prediction of the French\nRevolution, and of the fate that awaited each member of a large\ndinner-party when it should occur--though this was a spontaneous case,\nand not under hypnotism, which perhaps gives it the greater value.\n\nThe same powers are shown in spontaneous cases also, of which my own\nexperiences related in a previous chapter may serve as a small example;\nbut as there are many books exclusively devoted to the subject I need\nnot go into further details here. If the reader be curious for further\ninformation, I would recommend him to read Gregory's \"Letters on Animal\nMagnetism.\" It was published some fifty years ago, and, for all I know,\nmay be out of print, but if the reader can procure it, he will find that\nit is a book to be relied upon, the work of a Professor of Chemistry in\nthe University of Edinburgh, who investigated the matter calmly with a\nthoroughly trained scientific mind. But what I want the reader to lay\nhold of is the fact, that whether the action occur spontaneously or be\ninduced by experimental means, these powers actually exist in us, and\ntherefore in reckoning up the faculties at our disposal they must not be\nomitted.\n\nIn our more usual condition however, these faculties are subordinate to\nthose which put us in touch with the every-day world, and I cannot help\nthinking, that at our present stage this is the best place for them. In\nthis place they have a special function to perform, which I will speak\nof in another chapter, and in the meanwhile for my own part I should\nprefer to leave their development to the ordinary course of Nature,\nneither stimulating them by hypnotic influence, or auto-suggestion, nor\nrepressing them if they manifest themselves of their own accord.\nHowever, every one must follow his or her own discretion in this matter;\nthe only thing is, do not deny the existence of these faculties in\nyourself because you may not consciously exercise them, for they hold a\nvery important place in our complex personality.\n\nAll such evidence on the subject as has come my way, appears to me to\npoint to the fact, that it is through this impersonal or cosmic portion\nof our mind that Thought-Power operates upon us, whether in the form of\ntelepathy, or of healing treatment, or in any other way; and it is\nthrough this channel also that thought currents, not specially directed\ntowards ourselves, nevertheless affect us, just as the first wireless\ntelephone message sent on September 29, 1915, from the office of the\nAmerican Telephone Company in New York, and directed to San Francisco,\nwas simultaneously heard at San Diego, at Darien in Panama, and even as\nfar away as Pearl Island, Honolulu, in the Pacific Ocean.\n\nWe sometimes pick up messages which are not intended for us; so we must\nkeep our receiver in perfect syntony of reciprocal vibration with the\nstations from which we require to receive messages, to the exclusion of\nothers which would produce confusion.\n\nBut I have strayed a little from our present point, which is rather that\nof giving out influence than of receiving it. Through the\ninstrumentality of this impersonal cosmic soul we can send out our\nThought for the healing of disease, for the suggestion of good and happy\nideas, and for many other beneficial purposes; though the extent of the\nresult will of course be considerably influenced by the mental attitude\nof the recipient, which is therefore a factor to be reckoned with.\n\nBut this power of sending out a subtle influence, call it magnetism or\nwhat you will, is not confined to operations upon the human subject. Two\nladies of my acquaintance experimented on two rose-trees, which, to all\nappearances, were both in equally good condition. They daily blessed one\nand cursed the other, with the result that at the end of a month the\nanathematized plant had withered up from the roots, while the other was\nin an abnormally flourishing condition. Nor are we entirely without\nscientific backing even in such a case as this; for Professor Bose tells\nus in his work on the \"Response of Metals,\" that not only can they be\npoisoned by certain chemicals, so as to deprive them of their normal\nqualities, but that they can be mesmerized into a similar condition.\nSuch facts as these therefore give considerable support to the theory of\nthe existence in everything of a \"soul of the subject,\" which responds\nafter its own manner to the power of human thought.\n\nIn what manner, then, is this influence conveyed? It is here that our\nstudy of etheric waves comes to our assistance, by carrying the same\nprinciple further, and picturing the working of the known Law under\nunknown conditions. It will at least enable us to form a working\nhypothesis. I have stated that our actual commercial application of the\netheric waves extends from the ultra-violet waves used in photography,\nand measuring only 1/254,000 of an inch, to those measuring many miles\nemployed in wireless telegraphy; but this practical application by no\nmeans exhausts the conceivable possibilities of etheric vibrations; for\nnot only do we find a gap of five octaves of as yet unknown waves\nbetween the dark heat group and the Hertzian group, but mathematically\nthere is no limit to the greatness or smallness of the waves, and the\nscale may be prolonged indefinitely in either direction. Nor is this to\nbe wondered at; for if we consider that vibration is not a progress of\nindividual particles from one place to another, but the alternate rising\nand falling of the substance at the same point, and that the ether is a\nhomogeneous and universally present substance, it is obvious that there\nis nothing to limit the minuteness or the greatness of the intervals at\nwhich the rising and falling will occur. Therefore we have an unlimited\nfield for our imagination to play about in. Then, if we further reflect\nthat all forms are built up of denser or finer aggregations of ether,\nand that what determines the generic form of anything is its cosmic\nsoul, or the generating principle of the _class_ to which it belongs, it\nfollows that this soul must have a corresponding form, however\ninconceivably fine may be the etheric condensation which thus\ndifferentiates it from other souls, and prevents it from all being\nmixed up together in an indistinguishable mass. If now, we combine these\ntwo facts, that the soul of anything must have a form, however fine, and\nthat there is no limit either to the greatness or the minuteness of\netheric vibrations, we can draw certain deductions from these premises.\n\nIt is an established fact of ordinary science that, however closely\nparticles of any substance may seem to cohere, they are in reality\nseparated by interstices through which etheric waves can penetrate.\n\nThe principle may be illustrated by the power of the X-rays to penetrate\napparently solid bodies, such as iron. Then, if we combine with this the\nfact, that there is no limit to the minuteness of etheric waves, we see\nthat however fine may be the particles constituting any form, it is\nalways possible to have etheric waves still finer and thus able to\npenetrate that form and set up vibrations in it. It is our familiarity\nwith the denser modes of matter that makes it difficult for us to grasp\nthe idea of these finer activities; but there is nothing in what we know\nof the denser modes to contradict the conception; on the contrary, it is\njust by what we have learned of these denser modes that we reach the\nprinciples on which these further conceptions are founded. Looking at\nthis, therefore, in the light of a mathematical proposition, there is\nabsolutely no limit to the fineness of any form, or to its\nsusceptibilities to etheric vibrations.\n\nFinally, to this add the power of the Word to start trains of etheric\nvibration, and you get the following series: The Word starts the etheric\nwaves; these waves produce corresponding vibration in the soul of the\nsubject; and the soul of the subject in turn communicates corresponding\nvibration to its body. We may thus explain the Creative Power of Thought\non the basis of recognizable Law, and so we believe, because we know\n_why_ we believe, not because somebody else has told us so. Doubt is\nstill the creative action of Thought, only it is creating negatively; so\nit is helpful to feel that we have some reason for confidence in the\nPower of the Word. There are a great many \"Thomases\" among us, and as\none of the number I shall be glad if I can help my \"Brother Tommies\" to\nget a grip of the why and wherefore of the things which appear at first\nsight so fantastic and improbable.\n\nBut the conception we are considering is not limited to concrete\nentities, whether persons or things. It applies to abstractions also,\nand it is for this reason that I have called it the \"Soul of the\nSubject.\" We often speak of the \"Soul of Music,\" or the \"Soul of\nPoetry,\" and so on. Thus our ordinary talk stands on the threshold of a\ngreat mystery, which, however, is simple enough in practice. If you want\nto get a clearer view of any subject than you have at present, address\nyourself mentally to the abstract soul of that subject, and ask it to\ntell you about itself, and you will find that it will do so. I do not\nsay that it will do this in any miraculous manner, but what you already\nknow of the subject will range itself into a clearer order, and you will\nsee connections that have not previously occurred to you. Then again,\nyou will find that information of the class required will begin to flow\ntowards you through quite ordinary channels, books, newspapers, or\nconversation, without your especially laying yourself out to hunt for\nit; and again, at other times, ideas will come into your mind, you do\nnot know how, but illuminating the subject with a fresh light. I cannot\nexplain how all this takes place. I can only say from personal\nexperience that it happens. But of course we must not throw aside\nordinary common-sense. We must sort out the information that comes to\nus, and compare it with our previous knowledge; in fact we must _work_\nat it: there is no premium for laziness. Nor must we expect to receive\nby a sudden afflatus a complete acquaintance with some subject of which\nwe are entirely ignorant. I do not say that such a thing is altogether\nimpossible, for I cannot venture to limit the possibilities of the\nUniverse; but it is certainly not to be looked for in the ordinary\ncourse. I have sometimes been shown specimens of \"inspirational\npainting\" done by persons said to be entirely ignorant of art, and the\nignorance is very apparent on the face of the work. I dare say an artist\nmay be inspired in the production of a picture, but the technical\ntraining comes first, and the inspiration afterwards. The same I believe\nto be true of all other subjects, so that we come back to the maxim of\nthe power always expressing itself in terms of the instrument through\nwhich it works. With this reservation, however, it appears to me, that\nevery class of subject has a sort of soul of its own with which we can\nput ourselves _en rapport_ by, so to say, mentally unifying our own\npersonality with its abstract principle.\n\nWe are told by some teachers, that we can in the same way even construct\nentities in the nature of our Thought, and possessing a personality of\ntheir own with which we have endowed them. Whether this be the case I\ncannot say--I do not know all the secrets of the invisible. But if our\nthoughts do not create personal entities able to hang \"on their own\nhook,\" they create forces which come to much the same thing. They start\nwaves in the Universal etheric medium, which, like the electro-magnetic\nwaves of telegraphy, spread all round from the point of initial impulse,\nand are picked up whenever a centre happens to be attuned to a similar\nrate of vibration, and each new centre energizes these vibrations again\nwith a fresh impulse of its own; so in this way thought-currents become\nvery real things.\n\nSuch, then, is the power of our Word, whether spoken or only dwelt upon\nin Thought, to impress itself upon the impersonal element around us,\nwhether in persons or things. We cannot divest it of the power, though\nwe may intensify its action by deliberate use of it, with knowledge of\nthe principle involved, and therefore, whether consciously or\nunconsciously, we are sending out the influence of our personality all\nthe time.\n\nNow the more we know of these things the greater becomes our\nresponsibility, and I would therefore solemnly warn the reader against\nany attempt to use the powers now indicated to the injury of any other\nperson, or for the purpose of depriving any one else of that liberty of\naction which he would wish to enjoy himself. Such use of our mental\npowers is in direct opposition to the Law of Unity which I have spoken\nof; and since that Law is the basic principle of the whole Universe, any\nopposition to it places us in antagonism with a force immeasurably\ngreater than ourselves.\n\nOur Thought always continues to be creative; but in destructive use it\nbecomes creative for destructive forces, and, since it has its origin in\nour own personality, we are certain sooner or later to feel its effects,\non the principle that every action always produces a corresponding\nreaction. As we have seen, the Law knows nothing of persons, but acts\nautomatically in strict accord with the nature of the power which has\nset it in motion. Under negative conditions the great Law of the\nUniverse becomes your adversary, and must continue to be so, until by\nyour altered mode of Thought you put yourself in line with it.\n\nBut on the other hand, if our intention be to co-operate with the Great\nLaw, we shall find that in it also exists a mysterious \"Soul of the\nSubject,\" which will respond to us, however imperfectly we may\nunderstand its _modus operandi_. It is the intention that counts, not\nthe theoretical knowledge. The knowledge will grow by experience and\nmeditation, and its value is measured entirely by the intention that is\nat the back of it.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nTHE PROMISES\n\n\nWe have now, I hope, laid a sufficiently broad foundation of the\nrelation between the Law and the Word. The Law cannot be changed, and\nthe Word can. We have two factors, one variable, and the other\ninvariable; so that from this combination any variety of resultants may\nbe expected. The Law cannot be altered, but it can be specialized, just\nas iron can be made to float by the same law by which it sinks. Now let\nus try to figure out in our imagination an ideal of the sort of results\nwe should want to bring out from these two factors.\n\nIn the first place I think we should like to be free from all worry and\nanxiety; for a life of continual worry is not worth living. And in the\nsecond we should like always to have something to look forward to and\nfeel an interest in; for a life entirely devoid of all interest is also\nnot worth living. But, granted that these two conditions be fulfilled,\nI think we should all be well pleased to go on living _ad infinitum_.\nNow can we conceive any combination of the Law and the Word which would\nproduce such results? that is the question before us. The first step is\nto generalize our principle as widely as possible, for the wider the\ngeneralization, the larger becomes the scope for specialization. The\ninvariable factor we already know. It is the Law, always creating in\naccordance with the Word that sets it in motion, whether constructive or\ndestructive; so what we really have to consider is the sort of Word\n(i.e. Thought or Desire) which will set the Law working in the right\ndirection. It must be a Word of confidence in its own power; otherwise\nby the hypothesis of the case it would be giving contradictory\ndirections to the Law, or to borrow a simile from what we have learnt\nabout waves in ether, it would be sending out vibrations that would\ncancel one another and so produce no effect. Then it must be a Word that\ndoes not compromise itself by antagonizing the Law of unity, and so\nproducing disruptive forces instead of constructive ones. And finally,\nwe must be quite sure that it really is the right Word, and that we have\nbeen making no mistake about it. If these conditions be fulfilled the\nlogical result will be entire freedom from anxiety. Similarly with\nregard to maintaining a continued interest in life. We must have a\ncontinued succession of ideals, whether great or small, that will carry\nus on with something always just ahead of us; and we must work the\nideals out, and not let them evaporate in dreams. If these conditions be\nfulfilled we have before us a life of never-ending interest and\nactivity, and therefore a life worth living. Where then are we to find\nthe Word which will produce these conditions: perfect freedom from\nanxiety and continual, happy interest? I do not think it is to be found\nin any way but by identifying our own Word with the Word which brings\nall creation into existence, and keeps it always moving onward in that\ncontinuous forward movement which we call Evolution. We must come back\nto the old teaching, that the Macrocosm is reproduced in the Microcosm,\nwith the further perception that this identity of principle can only be\nproduced by identity of cause. Law cannot be other than eternal and\nself-demonstrating, just as 2 x 2 must eternally = 4; but it remains\nonly an abstract conception until the Creative Word affords it a field\nof operation, just as twice two is four remains only a mathematical\nabstraction until there is something for you to count; and accordingly,\nas we have already seen, all our reasoning concerning the origin of\nCreation, whether based on metaphysical or scientific grounds, brings us\nto the conception of a Universal and Eternal Living Spirit localizing\nitself in particular areas of cosmic activity by the power of the Word.\nThen, if a similar Creative Power is to be reproduced in ourselves, it\nmust be by the same method: the localizing of the same Spirit in\nourselves by the power of the same \"Word.\" Then our Word, or Thought,\nwill no longer be that of separate personality, but that of the Eternal\nSpirit finding a fresh centre from which to specialize the working of\nthe Law, and so produce still further results than that of the First or\nsimply Cosmic and Generic Creation, according to the two maxims that\n\"Nature unaided fails,\" and that \"Principle is not limited by\nPrecedent.\"\n\nI want to make this sequence clear to the student before proceeding\nfurther:\n\n1. Localization of the Spirit in specific areas of Creative Activity.\n\n2. Cosmic or Generic Creation, including ourselves as a race resulting\nfrom this, and providing both the material and the instruments for\ncarrying the work further by _specializing the Original Creative Power_\nthrough individual Thought, just as in all cases of scientific\ndiscovery.\n\n3. Then, since what is to be specialized through our individual Thought\nis the Word of the Originating Power itself, in order to do this we must\nthink in terms of the Originating Word, on the general principle, that\nany power must always exhibit itself in terms of the instrument through\nwhich it works.\n\nThis, it appears to me, is a clear logical sequence, just as a tree\ncannot make itself into a box, unless there be first the idea of a box\nwhich does not exist in the tree itself, and also the tools with which\nto fashion the wood into a box; while on the other hand there could\nnever be any box unless there be first a tree. Now it is just such a\nsequence as this that is set before us in the Bible, and I do not find\nit adequately set forth in any other teaching, either philosophical or\nreligious, with which I am acquainted. Some of these systems contain a\ngreat deal of truth, and are therefore helpful as far as they go; but\nthey do not go the whole way, and for the most part stop short at the\nfirst or simply Cosmic Creation; or, if they attempt to pass beyond\nthis, it is on the line of making unaided power of the individual the\nsole means by which to do so, and thus in fact always keeping us at the\nmerely generic level. Such a mode of Thought as this, fails to meet the\nrequirements of our conception of a happy life as one entirely exempt\nfrom fear and anxiety. In like manner also it fails to meet the first\nrequirements of the whole series, viz.: the Word should be certain of\nitself; and if it be not certain of itself we have no assurance that it\nmay not eventually disappoint our hopes. In short, this mode of thought\nleaves us to bear the whole burden from which we want to escape. So it\nis not good enough; we must look for something better.\n\nNow this something better I find in the _Promises_ contained in the\nBible, and it is this that to my mind distinguishes our own Scriptures\nfrom the sacred books of all other nations, and from all systems of\nphilosophy. I do not at all ignore the current objections to the\npossibility of Divine Promises, but I think that on examination they\nwill be found to be superficial and resulting from want of careful\nenquiry into the true nature of the Promises themselves. How is it\npossible for the Laws of the Universe to make exceptions? How can God\nact by individual favouritism unless it be either through sheer caprice,\nor by the individual managing to get round Him in some way, either by\nsupplying some need which He cannot supply for Himself, in which case\nGod is of limited power, or else by flattering Him, in which case He is\nthe apotheosis of absurd vanity. The two are really the same question\nput in different ways--the question of individual exceptions to the\ngeneral Law.\n\nThe answer is that there are no individual exceptions to the general\nLaw; but there are very various degrees of realization of the Principle\nof the Law, and the more a man works with the Principle the more the Law\nwill work for him; so that the finer his perception of the Principle\nbecomes, the more he will appear to be an exception to the Law as\ncommonly recognized.\n\nEdison and Marconi are not capriciously favoured by the laws of Nature,\nbut they know more about them than most of us.\n\nNow it is just the same with the Bible Promises. They are Promises\naccording to Law. They are based upon the widest generalization and\nhence lead to the highest specialization through the combined action of\nthe Law and the Word--Jachin and Boaz, the Two Pillars of the Universe.\n\nThese Promises comprise all sorts of desirable things: health of body,\npeace of mind, earthly prosperity, prolongation of life, and, finally,\neven the conquest of death itself; but always on one condition: perfect\n\"Confidence in the power of the All-Originating Spirit in response to\nour reliance on the Word.\" This is what the Bible calls Faith; and it is\nperfectly logical when we understand the principle of it, for every\nThought of doubt is, in effect, the utterance of a Word which produces\nnegative results by the very same law by which the Word of Faith\nproduces positive ones. This is the only condition which the Bible\nimposes for the fulfilment of its Promises, and this is because it is\ninherent in the nature of the Law by which their fulfilment is to be\nbrought about.\n\nA few texts will suffice as examples of the Bible Promises, and no doubt\nmost of my readers are familiar with many others; but it would be worth\nwhile to read the Bible through, marking all such texts, and classifying\nthem according to the sort of promises they contain.\n\nRead, for instance, Job xxii, 21, etc. This is a most remarkable passage\ncontaining among other things the promise of earthly wealth; or again\nJob v, 19, etc., where we find promises of protection in time of danger,\npower over material nature, and prolonged life. While in Job xxxiii, 23,\netc., there is promise of return to youth, a promise which is repeated\nin Psalm ciii, 5. Again in Isaiah lxi, 20, etc., there is the promise of\nimmensely extended physical life, death at the age of one hundred being\ncounted so premature as to resemble that of an infant, and the normal\nstandard of age being compared to a tree which lives for centuries; and\nthe same passage also promises immediate answer to prayers. The Psalms\nare full of such promises, and they are scattered throughout the Bible.\n\nNow there is an unfortunate tendency among people who read their Bible\nwith reverence, to what they call \"spiritualize\" such passages as these,\nwhich means that they do not believe them. They say such things are\nimpossible; and therefore they must have some other meaning, and\naccordingly they interpret the words metaphorically, as referring to\nsomething to be experienced in another life, but quite impossible in\nthis one.\n\nOf course there are spiritual equivalents to these things, and the\nteaching of the Bible is, that they are the outward correspondences of\ninward spiritual states; but to \"spiritualize\" them in the way I am\nspeaking of, is nothing but unbelief in the power of God to work on the\nplane of Nature. How such readers square their opinion with the fact\nthat God has created Nature, I do not know. Even in the animal world we\nfind wonderful instances of longevity. If an elephant be not overworked\nbefore he is twenty, he is in full working power up to eighty, and will\nthen be capable of light work for another twenty years, after which he\nmay yet enjoy another twenty years of quiet old age as the reward of his\nlabours, while crocodiles and tortoises have been known to live for\ncenturies. If then such things be possible in the ordinary course of\nNature in the animal world, why need we doubt the specializing power of\nthe Word to produce far greater results in the case of man? It is\nbecause we will not accept the maxim, that \"Principle is not limited by\nPrecedent\" in regard to ourselves, though we see it demonstrated by\nevery new scientific discovery. We rely more on the past experience of\nthe race, than on the Creative Power of God. We call Him Almighty, and\nthen say that in His Book He promises things which He is not able to\nperform. But the fault is with ourselves. We limit \"the Holy ONE of\nIsrael,\" and as a consequence get only so much as by our mental attitude\nwe are able to receive--again the old maxim that \"Power can only work in\nterms of the instrument it works through.\" I do not say that it is at\nall easy for us to completely rid ourselves of negative race-thought\ningrained into us from childhood, and subtly playing upon that generic\nimpersonal self in us of which I have spoken, and which readily responds\nto those thought-currents to which we are habitually attuned. It is a\nmatter of individual growth. But the promises themselves contain no\ninherent impossibility, and are logical deductions from the principles\nof the Creative Law.\n\nIf the power of the Spirit over things of the material plane be an\nimpossibility, then by what power did Jesus perform his miracles? Either\nyou must deny his miracles, or you must admit the power of the Spirit\nto work on the material plane--there is no way out of the dilemma.\nPerhaps you may say: \"Oh, but He was God in person!\" Well, all the\npromises affirm that it is God who does these things; so what it is\npossible for God to do at one time, it is equally possible for Him to do\nat all times. Or perhaps you hold other theological views, and will say\nthat Jesus was an exception to the rest of the race; but, on the\ncontrary, the whole Bible sets Him forth as the Example--an exception\ncertainly to men as we now know them, but the Example of what we all\nhave it in us to become--otherwise what use is He to us? But apart from\nall argument on the subject we have his own words, telling us that those\nwho believe in Him, i.e., believe what He said about Himself--shall be\nable to do works as great as His own, and even greater (John xiv, 12).\nFor these reasons it appears to me that on the authority of the Bible\nitself, and also on metaphysical and scientific grounds we are justified\nin taking such promises as those I have quoted in a perfectly literal\nsense.\n\nThen there are promises of the power that will attend our utterance of\nthe Word. \"Thou shalt also decree a thing and it shall be established\nunto thee\" (Job xxii, 28). \"All things are possible unto you\" (Mark ix,\n23). \"Whosoever ... shall believe that what he sayeth cometh to pass, he\nshall have whatsover he sayeth\" (Mark xi, 23), and so on.\n\nOther passages again promise peace of mind. \"Thou wilt keep him in\nperfect peace whose mind is staid on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee\"\n(Isaiah xxvi, 3). \"Let him take hold of my strength that he may make\npeace with me\" (Isaiah xxvii, 5). St. Paul speaks of \"The God of Peace\"\nin many passages, e.g., Rom. xv, 33; 2 Cor. xiii, 11; 1 Thess. v, 23,\nand Hebr. xiii, 20; and Jesus, in his final discourse recorded in the\nfourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of St. John's Gospel, lays\npeculiar stress on the gift of Peace.\n\nAnd lastly there are many passages which promise the overcoming of death\nitself; as for instance Job xix, 25-27; John viii, 51, and x, 28, and\nxi, 25 and 26; Hebr. ii, 14 and 15; 1 Cor. xv, 50-57; 2 Tim. i, 10; Rom.\nvi, 23 (\"The gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ, our Lord\").\n\n\"God commanded the blessing, even Life for evermore\" (Ps. cxxxiii, 3).\n\nNow I hope the reader will take the trouble to look up the texts to\nwhich I have referred, and not be lazy. I am sure he would do so if he\nwere promised a ten pound note or a fifty dollar bill for his pains, and\nif these promises are not all bosh, there is something worth a good deal\nmore to be got by studying them. Just run through the list: health,\nwealth, peace of mind, safety, creative power, and eternal life. You\nwould be willing to pay a good premium to an Insurance Office that could\nguarantee you all these. Well, there is a Company that does this without\npaying any premium, and its name is \"God and Co., Unlimited\"; the only\ncondition, is that you yourself have to take the part of \"Co.\" and it is\nnot a sleeping partnership, but a wide-awake one!\n\nSo I hope you will take the trouble to look up the texts; but at the\nsame time you must remember that the reading of single texts is not\nsufficient. If you take any isolated phrase you choose, without\nreference to the rest of the Book, there is no nonsense you cannot make\nout of the Bible. You would not be allowed to do that sort of thing in a\nCourt of Law. When a document is produced in evidence, the meaning of\nthe words used in it are very carefully construed, not only in\nreference to the particular clause in which they occur, but also with\nreference to the intention of the document as a whole, and to the\ncircumstances under which they were written. The same word may mean very\ndifferent things in different connections; for instance I remember two\nreported cases in one of which the word \"Spanish\" meant a certain sort\nof leather, and in the other a kind of material used in brewing; and in\nlike manner particular texts are to be interpreted in accordance with\nthe gist of the Bible as a whole.\n\nThis is just the mistake the Jews made, of building up theories on\nparticular texts, and which Jesus corrected when he said: \"Search the\nScriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and these are\nthey which testify of me\" (John v, 39), or, as the Revised Version puts\nit: \"Ye search the Scriptures because ye think that in them ye have\neternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me,\" which\nappears to be the better rendering. The words \"ye think\" is the key to\nthe whole passage. He says in effect: \"You fancy that eternal life is to\nbe found in the book. It is not to be found in the book, but in what the\nbook tells you about, and here I am as a living example of it.\" It is\njust the same with everything else. No book can do more than tell you\nabout a thing; it cannot produce it. You may study the cookery book from\nmorning till night, but that will not give you your dinner.\n\nWhat Jesus meant was, that we should read the Scriptures in the same way\nwe should read any other book of practical instruction. First think what\nit is all about; then look at the nature of the general principles\ninvolved, and then see what instruction the book gives you for their\npractical application. _Then go and do it_. And remember also a further\ndifference between reading about a thing and doing it. A book is for\neverybody, and can therefore, only give general instruction; but when\nyou come to do the thing you will always find it works with some\npersonal modifications,--not departures from the general principles you\nhave read about, but specializations of them--and in this way you will\nlearn much that is not to be got out of books, even the best.\n\nI remember many years ago, when I was much younger, asking one of our\nleading water-colour artists,[3] how he would recommend me to study\nlandscape painting, and he said: \"Practise continually from Nature, and\nyou will learn more than any one can teach you; that is how I have\nlearnt, myself.\" On the subject, then in question, he said just what\nJesus did: \"Here I am as a practical example of what I tell you.\" And\nanother thing is, that the more you think principles out for yourself\nand try to observe them in practice, the clearer the meaning of your\nbook will become to you. I have a few excellent books on painting, but I\nhad no idea how excellent they were when I first got them; practical\nexperience has taught me to find much more in them than I did at first,\nfor now I understand better what they are talking about. Well, that is\nthe way to read the Bible, neither despising it as worthless tradition,\nnor treating the mere letter of it with superstitious veneration; both\nextremes are to be equally avoided. In fact the Bible tells us so\nitself: \"The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life\" (2 Cor. iii, 6);\nthis, of course, does not mean that the letter can be tampered with, any\nmore than a judge can alter the wording of a document put in evidence;\nit must be interpreted in the general sense of the document as a whole;\nand when the letter is thus vivified by the Spirit, it will be found\nfully to express it. But we require to enter into the Spirit of it\nfirst.\n\nNow it appears to me, that taken in this way, the Bible is an\nexceedingly practical book, and that is why I want the reader to get at\nsome general principles which he will find, _mutatis mutandis_, equally\napplicable all round, whether to electricity, or to life, and whatever\nmay be the subject-matter, it will always be found to resolve itself\ninto a question of the relation between Law and Personality. If now we\nread the Bible Promises in the light of the general principles we have\nconsidered in the earlier pages, we shall find that they are all\nPromises according to Law. They are statements of the results to be\nobtained by a truer realization of the principles of Law and Personality\nthan we have hitherto apprehended.\n\nWe must always bear in mind that the Law is set in motion by the Word.\nThe Word does not _make_ the Law, but gives it something to work upon,\nso that without the Word there could be no manifestation of the Law, a\ntruth embodied in the maxim, that \"Every Creation carries its own\nmathematics along with it.\" If the reader remembers what I have said in\nthe chapter of \"The Soul of the Subject,\" he will see that the\nprinciple involved, is that of the susceptibility of the Impersonal to\nsuggestions from the Personal. This follows of course from the very\nConception of Impersonality; it is that which has no power of selection\nand volition, and which is therefore without any power of taking an\ninitiative on its own account.\n\nIn a previous chapter I have pointed out that the only possible\nconception of the inauguration of a world-system, resolves itself into\nthe recognition of one original and universal Substantive Life, out of\nwhich proceeds a corresponding Verb, or active energy, reproducing in\naction what the Substantive is in essence. On the other hand there must\nbe something for this active principle to work in; and since there can\nbe nothing anterior to the Universal Life or Energy, both these factors\nmust be potentially contained in it. If, then, we represent this Eternal\nSubstantive Life by a circle with a dot in the centre, we may represent\nthese two principles as emerging from it by placing two circles at equal\ndistance below it, one on either side, and placing the sign \"+\" (plus)\nin one, and the sign \"-\" (minus) in the other. This is how students of\nthese subjects usually map out the relation of the _prima principia_,\nor first abstract principles. The sign \"+\" (plus) indicates the Active\nprinciple, and the sign \"-\" (minus) the Passive principle. If the reader\nwill draw a little diagram as described, it will help to make what\nfollows clearer.\n\nNecessarily the initiative must be taken by the Active principle; and\nthe taking of initiative implies selection and volition, that is to say,\nthe essential qualities of personality; and Passivity implies the\nconverse of all this, and therefore is Impersonality. The two principles\nin no way conflict with one another, but are polar opposites, like the\npositive and negative plates of a battery, or the two ends of a magnet.\nThey are complementary to one another, and neither can work without the\nother. A little consideration will show that this is not a mere fancy,\nbut a self-obvious generalization, the contrary to which it is\nimpossible to conceive. It is simply the case of the box which cannot\ncome into existence without the activity of the carpenter and the\npassivity of the wood.\n\nFrom such considerations as this the deep thinkers of old times posited\nthe generating of a world-system by the interaction of what they named\nAnimus Dei, the Active principle, and Anima Mundi, or Soul of the\nUniverse, the Passive principle--the one Personal, and the other\nImpersonal; and by the hypothesis of the case the only mode of activity\npossible to Anima Mundi is response to Animus Dei. But the same\nimpersonal passivity must also make Anima Mundi receptive likewise to\nlesser and more individualized modes of Personality, and it becomes, so\nto say, fecundated by the ideas thus impressed upon it. In every case\n\"the word is the seed.\" We may picture this planting of an idea or\n\"word\" in the Cosmic soul as acting very much like the initial impulse\nthat starts a train of waves in ether, and these thought-waves are\nreproduced in corresponding forms; or, to recur to the simile of seed,\nthe cosmic soul acts like the soil and gives it nourishment. Looking at\nit in this way the old exponents of these things regarded the Active\nprinciple as Masculine, and the Passive as Feminine, the one generating\nand the other nutritive, corresponding to the words _rouah_ and\n_hoshech_, the expansion and compression principles in the Hebrew text\nof the opening verses of Genesis.\n\nIf then we posit this impersonal Soul of the Universe as the living\nprinciple dwelling in the substance of the etheric Universal Medium it\nwill account for a good many things. If it be asked why we should assume\nthe presence of a living principle in the Universal Substance the answer\nis in the maxim \"Quod ex Vivo Vivum,\" what proceeds from Life is living.\nThen as we see by our diagram, Anima Mundi equally with Animus Dei\nproceeds from the original Substantive of Life, and therefore, on the\nprinciple of the above maxim, that like produces like, Anima Mundi must\nalso be a living thing whose vehicle is the Universal Substance.\n\nWe may picture then, the response of the indwelling Soul of the\nUniversal Medium to our Thought, as starting corresponding vibrations in\nthe Substance of the Medium, just as our own thought, acting through the\nvibratory system of our nerves, causes our body to make the movement we\nintend. But perhaps you will say: How can this be, seeing that by the\nhypothesis the Soul of the Universe is Impersonal, and therefore\nunintelligent? Well, it is just this fact of having no thought of its\nown, that enables us to impress our thought upon it and cause it, so to\nsay, to \"take on\" an intelligence relatively to the subject of our\nthought, much in the same way that the impersonal soul in the human\nsubject \"takes on\" or reflects the thought of the hypnotist, and not\ninfrequently develops it to a far greater extent than the original\nthought of the operator expressed. Such a hypothesis--and I think some\nsuch hypothesis is needed to account for any creation at all--throws\nlight on the _modus operandi_ of the Bible Promises. We plant the Word\nof the Promise in the womb of Anima Mundi, and if we do not uproot it by\nusing the same power adversely, it is bound to come to fruition in due\ncourse, by the same Law by which the world-systems are formed; and if we\nare to believe that the Word of the Promise is not our own word, but the\nWord of God, then our Thought of it is imbued with a corresponding power\nas we hand it over to Anima Mundi. Thus the Promises fulfil themselves\nautomatically, in accordance with the principles of the relations\nbetween Law and Personality, and they do so, _not in our own power_, but\nby the Power of the Word of God.\n\nThis, then, gives us at least an intelligible working hypothesis of the\nrationale of the Bible Promises. The measurement of their fulfilment is\nexactly proportional to our belief in them, not from any unintelligible\ncause, and still less from any unreasoning feat of a capricious Deity,\nbut by the working of an intelligible Law. If any of my readers happens\nto be an electrician, he will find an exact parallel in what is known as\nOhm's Law. Such readers will be familiar with the formula C = E/R, but\nfor the benefit of those to whom this formula may be unintelligible, I\nwill give a few words of explanation. C means the current of electricity\nwhich is to be delivered for any work that is to be done. E stands for\nthe Electro-motive force which generates the current; and R is the\nResistance offered to the current by the conductor, such as the wires\nthrough which it flows. If there be no resistance, the full amount of\ncurrent generated would be delivered. But without any conductor no\ncurrent could be delivered, and therefore there must be _some_\nresistance, and so the full power of the Electro-motive force can never\nbe delivered by the Current. The amount that will be delivered is the\noriginal power of the Electro-motive force divided by the Resistance.\nThe Resistance therefore acts as a restricting force, limiting the\nextent to which the power of the original Electro-motive force shall be\ndelivered at the point where the work is to be done, but at the same\ntime no delivery at that point could be effected without it; so the\nResistance also has a necessary part to play in the working of the\ncircuit. Now if we want to translate the formula C = E/R into terms of\nspiritual force we may put it thus: E stands for the limitless Potential\nof the Eternal Spirit; C stands for the current flowing from it; and R\nstands for the localizing quality of our thought. We cannot entirely\ndispense with this localizing quality, for our whole purpose is to\ntransmute the _unlimited_, undifferentiated power, which subsists in the\nEternal Substantive of Spirit, into a particular differentiated mode of\naction, which therefore implies a corresponding centralization. This is\nthe proper function of our thought. It is this compressing power which,\nas I said above, the Hebrew renders by the word \"_hoshech_\" in the\nopening verses of Genesis, and which is the necessary complementary to\nthe converse expanding power or \"_rouah_.\" It takes the co-operation of\nthe two to produce any results.\n\nRestricted, then, to its proper function our R or condensing quality is\nan essential factor in the work. But if it be allowed to take the form\nof doubt or unbelief, then it renders the flow of the current from the\nSpirit ineffective to the extent to which the doubt is entertained; and\nif doubt be allowed to degenerate into total unbelief and denial of the\nPower of the Spirit, we thereby cancel the originating force altogether.\nTo put it in terms of the electrical formula, we make R greater than E,\nin which case no current can flow. We thus find that the words\n\"According to your faith be it unto you\" are actually the statement of a\nMathematical Law, having nothing vague about them. This may be a\nsomewhat original application of Ohm's Law, but the parallel is so\nexact, that I cannot help thinking it will appeal to some of my readers\nwho may be conversant with Electrical Science. For those who are not, a\nsimpler simile may be, that you cannot deliver a more powerful stream of\nwater than the bore of the pipe through which it flows will admit of;\nor, to employ a legal truism, delivery on the part of the donor must be\nmet by acceptance on the part of the donee before a deed of gift can\nbecome operative; or, in still simpler language, \"you may take a horse\nto the water but you can't make him drink.\"\n\nWe see, then, that there is a Law of Faith, and that Faith is not a\ndenial of the universal reign of Law, but the perception of its widest\ngeneralization, and therefore giving scope to its highest\nspecialization. The opposition between Faith and Law, of which St. Paul\nso often speaks, is the opposition between this broad view of the\nultimate Principle of the Creative Law and that narrower view of\nrestriction by particular laws, which prevents us from grasping the Law\nof Faith; but that he does not deny the _Principle_ of Law, that is the\nrelation between C and E, is clear from his own statement in Rom. viii,\nwhere he says: \"The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus sets me\nfree from the law of Sin and Death;\" in other words: the Law of the Good\nsets us free from the Law of Evil; and for the same reason St. James\nsays, that the perfect law is the law, of Liberty (Jas. i, 25).\n\nOf course if we suppose that faith is something contrary to the law of\nthe Universe we at once import into our thought the negative quality\nwhich entirely vitiates our action. We rightly perceive that the laws of\nthe Universe can never be altered, and if our notion of Faith be, that\nit is an attempt to work in contradiction to these laws, the best\ndefinition we can give it is that given by the little girl in the\nSunday school, who said that \"Faith is trying to make yourself believe\nwhat you know is not true.\" The reason for such a misconception is, that\nit entirely omits one of the factors in the calculation. It considers,\nonly the Law, and gives no place to the Word in the scheme of things.\nYet we do not carry this misconception into the sciences of chemistry\nand electricity. We take the immutability of the Law as the basis of\nthese sciences, but we do not expect the immutable Law to produce a\nphotographic apparatus, or an electric train, without the intervention\nof a reasoning and selective power which specializes the fundamental\ngeneral Law into particular uses. We do not look to the Law for those\npowers of reasoning and selection, through which we make it work in all\nthe highly complex ways of our ordinary commercial applications of\nit--we know better than that. We look to Personality for this. In our\nevery-day pursuits we always act on the maxim that \"Nature unaided\nfails,\" and that the infinite possibilities stored up in the Law, can\nonly be brought to light by a power of reasoning and selection working\nthrough the Law. This co-operation of the Personal with the Impersonal\nis the Law _of_ the Law; and since the Law is unchangeable, this Law\n_of_ the Law must also be unchangeable, and must therefore apply on all\nplanes, and through all time--the Law, that without co-operation of the\nLaw and the Word nothing can be brought into existence, from a solar\nsystem to a pin; while on the other hand there is no limit to what can\nbe got out of the Law by the operation of the Word.\n\nIf the student will look at the Bible Promises in the light of the\ngeneral principles, he will find that they are perfectly logical,\nwhether from the metaphysical or from the scientific standpoint, and\nthat their working is only from the same Law through which all\nscientific developments are made. If this be apprehended it will be\nclear that the Word of Faith is not \"trying to make ourselves believe\nwhat we know is not true,\" but, as St. Paul puts it, it is \"giving\nsubstance to things not yet seen\" (Heb. xi, 1, R.V.).\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nDEATH AND IMMORTALITY\n\n\nI think most of my readers will agree with me, that the greatest of all\nthe promises is that of the overcoming of death, for, as the greater\nincludes the less, the power which can do _that_ can do anything else.\nWe think that there are only two things that are certain in this\nworld--death and taxes, and no doubt, under the ordinary past\nconditions, this is quite true; but the question is: are they really\ninherent in the essential nature of things; or are they not the outcome\nof our past limited, and often inverted modes of Thought? The teaching\nof the Bible is that they are the latter. On the subject of taxes the\nMaster says: \"Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's\" (Matth.\nxxii, 21), but on another occasion he said that the children of the King\nwere not liable to taxation (Matth. xvii, 26). However we may leave the\n\"taxes\" alone for the present, with the remark that their resemblance to\ndeath consists in both being, under present conditions, regarded as\ncompulsory. Under other conditions, however, we can well imagine \"taxes\"\ndisappearing in a unity of thought which would merge them in\nco-operation and voluntary contribution; and it appears to me quite\npossible for death to disappear in like manner.\n\nIn whatever way we may interpret the story of Eden, whether literally,\nor if, like some of the Fathers of the church such as Origen, we take it\nas an allegory, the result is the same--that Death is not in the essence\nof man's creation, but supervened as the consequence of an inverted mode\nof thinking. The Creative Spirit thought one way, and Eve thought\nanother; and since the Thought of the Creating Spirit is the origin of\nLife, this difference of opinion naturally resulted in death. Then, from\nthis starting-point, all the rest of the Bible is devoted to getting rid\nof this difference of opinion between us and the Spirit of Life, and\nshowing us that the Spirit's opinion is truer than ours, and so leading\nus to adopt it as our own. The whole thing turns on the obvious\nproposition, that if you invert the cause you also invert the effect. It\nis the principle that division is the inversion of multiplication, so\nthat if 2 x 2 = 4 then you cannot escape from the consequence that 4/2 =\n2. The question then is, which of the two opinions is the more\nreasonable--that death is essentially inherent in the nature of things,\nor that it is not?\n\nProbably ninety-nine out of a hundred readers will say, the whole\nexperience of mankind from the earliest ages proves that Death is the\nunchangeable Law of the Universe, and there have been no exceptions. I\nam not quite sure that I should altogether agree with them on this last\npoint; but putting that aside, let us consider whether it really is the\nessential Law of the Universe. To say that this is proved by the past\nexperience of the race, is what logicians call a _petitio principii_--it\nis assuming the whole point at issue. It is the same argument which our\ngrandfathers would have used against aerial navigation--no one had ever\ntravelled in the air, and that proved that no one ever could. My father,\nwho was a junior officer in India when the first railway was run in\nEngland, used to tell a story of one of his senior officers, who, on\nbeing asked what he thought of the rapidity of the new mode of\ntravelling, said he thought it was \"all a damned lie,\" which opinion\nappeared to him to settle the whole question. But I hope that none of my\nreaders will hold the same opinion regarding the overcoming of death,\neven though they might express it in more polite language. At any rate\nit may be worth while to examine the theoretical possibility of the\nidea.\n\nTo begin with, it involves a self-contradiction to say that the energy\nof any force can stop the working of that force. If a force stops\nworking, it is for one of two reasons, either that the supply of it is\nexhausted, or that it is overcome by an opposite and neutralizing force.\nBut we have seen that the Originating Cause of all things can only be an\ninexhaustible Power of Life, and therefore the hypothesis of it becoming\nexhausted is eliminated; and similarly, since all the forces of the\nUniverse proceed from this Source, it is impossible for any of them to\nhave a nature diametrically opposite to that of the source from which\nthey flow. So the alternative must be eliminated also. Accordingly, the\noutflow, undifferentiated, of Life and Energy from the Eternal\nSubstantive of Spirit, is never stopped _by its own current_ in any of\nits differentiated streams; it is impossible for a current to be\nstopped by its own flow, whether it be a current of electricity, steam,\nwater, or anything else. What then does stop the flow of any sort of\ncurrent? It is the Resistance or _inertia_ of the channel through which\nit flows; so that we come back to the formula of Ohm's Law, C = E/R as a\ngeneral proposition applicable to any conceivable sort of energy.\n\nThe neutralizing power then, is not that of the flowing of any sort of\nenergy, but the rigidity, or inertia of the medium through which the\nenergy has to make its way; thus bringing us back to _rouah_ and\n_hoshech_, the expansive and compressive principles of the opening\nverses of Genesis. It is the broad scientific generalization of the\nopposition between Ertia, or Energy, and Inertia, or Absence of Energy;\nand since, for the reasons just given, Ertia cannot go against itself,\nthe only thing that can stop it is Inertia.\n\nNow the components of the human body are simply various chemical\nelements--so much carbon, so much hydrogen, etc., as any textbook on the\nsubject will tell you; and although, of course, every sort of substance\nis the abode of ceaseless _atomic_ energy, we all recognize that merely\natomic energy is not that of the powers of thought, will, and\nperception, which make us organized mentalities instead of a mere\naggregation of the various substances exposed to view in a biological\nmuseum, as constituting the human body--you might take all these\nsubstances in their proper proportions, and shake them up together, but\nyou would not make an intelligent man of them. We are therefore safe in\nsaying that the physiological body represents the principle of inertia\nin us, while the something that thinks in us represents the principle of\nErtia.\n\nThe balance of power between the Life Principle in us and the Death\nPrinciple, is then, necessarily, a question of the balance between these\ntwo, the spirit and the flesh, or ertia and inertia.\n\nWhy then does the balance preponderate to the life-side for a certain\nlength of time, and then go over to the opposite side?\n\nNow this brings us to the distinction which the old writers drew,\nbetween the \"Vital Soul\" of any living thing and the Spirit. Their\nconception of the \"Vital Soul\" was very much the same as I have set\nforth in the chapter on \"The Soul of the Subject.\" It is the\nindividual's particular share of the Cosmic Soul or Anima Mundi, whether\nit be an individual tree, or an individual person; and the ordinary\nmaximum length of time, during which the Vital Soul will be able to\novercome the inertia of its physical vehicle, depends upon the\nparticular class to which the individual belongs. What the ordinary\nmaximum is in regard to any species is a matter of experience, and it is\nin this way that we have fixed the usual limit of human life at\nthree-score years and ten.\n\nNow it is here that we shall begin to profit by some knowledge about the\ninvisible part of ourselves. The actual molecules of our body, as I have\njust said, are only so much dead matter. This inert material is pulled\nabout in various directions by strings which we call muscles, according\nto the movements we wish our bodies to make, and these muscles are set\nin motion by the vibrations of the nerves.[4] But what is it that\noccasions these vibrations of the nerves? Here we begin to pass beyond\nthe limits of official Science, though not beyond the limits of\nrecognizable Law. We have to recognize the existence of an etheric body\nacting as an intermediary between intention, desire, or (in the case of\nhuman beings) thought of the soul and the physical vibrations of the\nnerves. This is why, in an earlier chapter, I have drawn attention to\nour power of sending out etheric vibrations beyond the limits of the\nphysical body, as in the case of De Rocha's experiments. Such\nexperiments show that there is in us something not composed of dense\nmatter, which is able to convey vibrations to dense matter; and it is\nthis something which we speak of as the etheric body.\n\nBut if we wish to trace the links by which our thought operates upon the\nphysical body, we find ourselves compelled to postulate yet another\nintermediary, what I have spoken of as the \"Vital Soul\"--a vehicle which\ndoes not _consciously think_, but in which what we may call\nrace-consciousness becomes centred in the individual. This\nrace-consciousness is none other than the ever-present \"will-to-live\"\nwhich is the basis of physical evolution--that automatically acting\nprinciple--which causes plants to turn towards the sun, animals to seek\ntheir proper food, and both animals and men to try instantly to escape\nfrom immediate danger. It is what we call instinct which does not\nreason. I may give a laughable experience of my own to illustrate the\nfact that conscious reason is not the method of this faculty. Once when\non leave from India I was walking along a street in London in the heat\nof a summer's day and suddenly noticed just at my feet a long dark thing\napparently wriggling across the white glare of the pavement. \"Snake!\" I\nexclaimed, and jumped aside for all I was worth, and the next moment was\nlaughing at myself for not recollecting that cobras were not common\nobjects in the London streets. But it looked just like one, and of\ncourse turned out to be nothing but a piece of rag. Well, instinct did\nits duty even if it did make a fool of me; but there is certainly no\nconscious reasoning in the matter, only the automatic action of inherent\nLaw--\"Self-preservation is the first law of Nature.\"\n\nThis Vital Soul, then, is the seat of all those instincts which go\ntowards the preservation of the individual's physical body, and towards\nthe propagation of the race; and it is on this account that our\ntheosophical friends call it the \"Desire Body\" or, to use the Indian\nterm \"Kama rupa.\" It acts with conscious intention, but not with\nconscious _reasoning_. It is thus distinguished on the one hand from the\netheric body, which is a mere vehicle for finer vibrations than can take\nplace in the denser matter of the physical body, but which has _no\nintention_; and on the other from the _mind_ which acts by conscious\nreasoning, and it thus forms an intermediary between the two.\n\nThe importance of recognizing the place of this higher intermediary in\nthe ascending scale of living principle is, that for all practical\npurposes the animal world does not rise higher than this in the scale.\nIt is true that in particular instances we find the first dawning of the\nmental faculty in an animal, but it is only very faint; so this does not\naffect the broad general principle. The point to be noted is that up to\nthis stage human beings are built on the same lines as animals, and what\ndistinguishes us, is the addition in ourselves of a higher factor,--that\nof the reasoning mind exercising the power of conscious thought.\n\nNow it is the direction of this thought that influences the three lower\nfactors. The sequence, going upwards, is as follows:--movement is\ncommunicated to the physical body by the etheric body; and movement is\ncommunicated to the etheric body by the Vital Soul; then, in proportion\nas the purely instinctive action of the Vital Soul is controlled by the\nconscious thought, so its action upon the two lowest principles is\nmodified.\n\nHere, then, is the crucial point. In what direction is the conscious\nthought going to modify the action of the three principles that are\nbelow it? If it takes the soul of mere racial desire and the physical\nbody as its standard of thought, then it naturally follows that it\ncannot raise it any higher. It has descended to _their_ level and so\ncannot pour any stream of life into it, on the simple principle that no\ncurrent can ever flow from a lower to a higher level, whether the\ndifference in level be that of actual elevation, as in the case of\nwater, or different in potential, as in the case of electricity. On the\nother hand if the conscious mind recognizes that itself proceeds from\nsome higher source, it looks to receive life from that source, and its\nthought is modified accordingly, and in turn re-acts correspondingly\nupon the lower principles.\n\nIf this is clear to the student, he will now see how it is that by\nlimiting our conception of life to the current ideas entertained by the\nrace, we impress these ideas on our three lower principles. It is true\nthat these three principles are not capable of reasoning themselves, but\nthe highest of them, the Vital Soul, has its action modified by the\nreasoning principle above it, and so communicates to the two lowest\nprinciples corresponding waves of vibration. And in this connection we\nmust remember the distinction between the two systems of nerves; the\nvoluntary system connected with the brain and forming the medium of all\nvoluntary action, and the involuntary, or sympathetic system connected\nwith the solar plexus and controlling all the automatic actions of the\nbody, and thus being the agent of that continual renewal of the physical\norganism which is always going on, and keeps in existence for a life\ntime a body which begins to disintegrate immediately the soul has left\nit.[5] Now it is through this inner Builder of the Body that our Thought\nre-acts upon our physical organism. The response is purely automatic,\nfor the simple reason that there is no original thinking power in the\nthree lower principles; the action is that of the Law as directed by\nThought or Word.\n\nIn this way then, it appears to me, the Personal in us acts upon the\nImpersonal in us; and if we assume, as I think we may, that this action\ntakes place by means of etheric waves, we have, on general scientific\nprinciples, a clue to what we read in the Bible about the transmutation\nof the body. The theory of the constitution of the atom shows us that\nits nature is determined by the number of its particles and their rate\nof revolution, and that a change in the rate of revolution results in\nthe throwing off of some of the particles. Then the number of particles\nbeing altered, there results a change in the distribution of the\npositive and negative charges within the sphere of the atom, since they\nmust always exactly balance one another; and this change in the\ndistribution of the positive and negative charges must instantly result\nin a corresponding change in the geometrical configuration of particles\nconstituting the atom.\n\nThat the particles automatically arrange themselves into groups of\ndifferent geometrical form within the sphere of the atom, has been\ndemonstrated both mathematically and experimentally by Professor J.J.\nThompson,[6] these geometrical forms resulting of course from the\nbalance of attraction and repulsion between the positive and negative\ncharges of the particles.\n\nThat the transmutation of one substance into another is not a mere dream\nof the mediaeval alchemists is now already shown by Modern Science. Under\nsuitable conditions an atom of Radium breaks down into atoms of another\nsort known as Radium Emanations, and these again break down into yet\nanother sort of atoms to which the name of Radium Emanations X has been\ngiven, while Radium Emanation also gives rise to the atom of Helium\n(N.K. 124). Thorium also behaves in the same manner, transmuting into\natoms called Thorium X, which again change into atoms of another sort to\nwhich the name of Thorium Emanations has been given and these in turn\ntransmute into atoms of yet another kind, known as Thorium Emanations X.\nThe same is the case also with Uranium which, however, so far as is yet\nknown, undergoes only one transmutation into what is known as Uranium X.\n\nThe transmutation of one sort of atom into another is therefore not a\nmere visionary fancy, but an established fact; and although our\nlaboratory experiments in this direction may not as yet have gone very\nfar, they have gone far enough to show that a Law of Transmutation does\nexist in Nature. Then, since the difference between one sort of atom and\nanother results from the difference and arrangement of their particles,\nand the difference in the number and arrangement of the particles\nresults from the difference in the speed of their rotation, and this\nagain results from the difference in the energy or rate of vibration of\nthe particles, we come back to different rates of etheric vibrations as\nthe commencement of the whole series of changes; and as is proved by the\nfacts of wireless telephoning, different rates of etheric vibrations can\nbe set in motion by the varying sounds of the human voice, even on the\nphysical plane. May it not be then, that by the same law, vibrations of\nother wave-lengths, yet unknown to science, will be set in motion by the\nunspoken word of our thought?\n\nThe substance known as Polonium, even by its near approach to an\nelectric bell, causes it to ring, and if etheric waves can thus be\nstarted by an inanimate substance, why should we suppose that our\nthought has less power, especially when metaphysically we cannot avoid\nthe conclusion that the whole creation must have its origin in the\nDivine Thought?\n\nFrom such considerations as these, I think we may reasonably infer that\nif the mind be illuminated by a range of thought coming from a higher\nmind, there is no limit to the power which may thus be exercised over\nthe material world, and that therefore St. Paul's statement regarding\nthe transmutation of the present physical body, is one which should be\nincluded in the circle of our ideas, as being within the scope of the\nLaws of the Universe when their action is specialized by the power of\nthe Word (1 Cor. xv); and similarly with regard to other statements to\nthe same effect contained in the Bible. What is wanted is the\nrealization of a greater Word than that which we form from the current\nexperience of the race. The race has formed its Word on the basis of the\nlower principles of our being, and if we are to advance beyond this, the\nLaw of the subject clearly indicates that it can only be by adopting a\nmore fundamental Word, or Idea, than that which we have hitherto thought\nto include the entire range of possibilities. The Law of our further\nEvolution demands a Word not formed from past experiences, but based\nupon the eternal principle of the All-Originating Life itself. And this\nis in strict accord with scientific method. If we had always allowed\nourselves to be ruled by past experiences we should still be primitive\nsavages; and it is only by the gradual perception of underlying\nprinciples, that we have attained the degree of civilization we have\nreached to-day; so what the Bible puts before us is simply the\napplication to the life in ourselves of the maxim that \"Principle is not\nlimited by Precedent.\"\n\nNow the Bible Promises serve to put us on the track of this Principle:\nthey suggest lines of enquiry. And the enquiry leads to the conclusion\nthat the two ultimate factors are the Law and the Word. What we have\nmissed hitherto is the conception of the limitless possibilities of the\nLaw, and the limitless power of the Word. On one occasion the Master\nsaid to the Jews \"Ye know not the Scriptures neither the power of God\"\n(Matth. xxii, 29) and the same is the case with ourselves. The true\n\"Scripture\" is the \"scriptura rerum\" or the Law indelibly written in the\nnature of things, and the written Scriptures are true only because they\ncontain the statement of the Principle of the Law. Therefore until we\nsee the Principle of the Law we \"know not the Scriptures.\" On the other\nhand, until we see the Principle of the operation of the Word through\nthe Law, we do not know \"the Power of God\"; and it is only as we come to\nperceive the interaction of the Law and the Word that we see the\nbeginning of the way that leads to Life and Liberty.\n\nBut although it is evident from the text just quoted, as well as from\nother intimations in his Epistles, that St. Paul fully grasped the\nprinciple of the transmutation of the body, he himself tells us that he\nhas not yet realized it in practice. He says he has not yet \"attained to\nthe resurrection from the dead,\" but is still pressing on towards its\nattainment (Ph. iii, 12). And it is to be remarked that he is not here\nspeaking of a general \"resurrection _of_ the dead,\" but, as the word\n_exanastasis_ in the original Greek indicates, of a special resurrection\nfrom among the dead; this indicates an _individual_ achievement, not\nmerely something common to the whole race. From this and other passages\nit is evident that by \"the dead\" it means those whose conception of Life\nis limited to the four lower principles, thus #unifying# the mind with\nthe three principles which are below it; and the same idea is expressed\nin a variety of ways all through the Bible. This therefore shows that he\nis quite aware that knowledge of a principle does not enable us then and\nthere to attain the completeness of the application, and if this be the\ncase with St. Paul, we cannot be surprised to find it the same with\nourselves. But on the other hand knowledge of the principle is the first\nstep towards getting it to work.\n\nWell, St. Paul is dead and buried, and so I suppose will most of us be\nin a few years; so the question confronts us, what becomes of us then?\n\nAs Milton puts it in \"Il Penseroso\" we want:\n\n                          \"to unsphere\n    The spirit of Plato and unfold\n    What worlds or what vast regions hold\n    The immortal mind that hath forsook\n    Her mansion in the fleshly nook.\"\n\nYes, this is a question of deep personal interest to us; but as I cannot\nspeak from experience, I will restrict myself to seeing whether we can\nform any sort of general hypothesis on the basis of the principles we\nhave recognized. What then is likely to survive? The physical body is of\ncourse disintegrated by the chemistry of Nature. The etheric body\nprobably continues to retain its form longer, because it is a\ncondensation of etheric particles wrought together by the etheric waves\nsent out by the Vital Soul, and is therefore not subject to the laws of\nchemical affinity. The Vital Soul, being the race-principle of life in\nthe individual,--that principle which automatically seeks to preserve\nthe individual from disintegration,--probably survives longer still,\nuntil, ceasing to receive any reflex vibrations from the body, it grows\ngradually weaker in its sense of individual guardianship, and so is\neventually absorbed into the group-soul or generic essence of the class\nto which it belongs. This is probably what happens in the case of\nanimals for want of any higher vivifying principle, and would be the\nsame with us were it not for the fact of having such a higher principle.\nIn our case I should imagine that the influx of etheric waves, received\nfrom the thought action of the mind, would have the effect of continuing\nto impress the Vital Soul with a sense of individuality, in terms of its\nown plane, which would prevent it from being absorbed into the\ngroup-soul so long as the vital current from the mind continued to reach\nit. But eventually that current would cease to reach it, and in some\ncases, because the individual mind that governed it would gradually\nrealize that its connection with the physical plane had ceased, and in\nothers, because through a higher illumination the mind had, of its own\nvolition, turned its thought in another direction. In either case, on\nthe ceasing of the influx of that vitalizing current, the Vital Soul of\nthe human being would likewise be absorbed into the Cosmic Soul, or\nAnima Mundi.\n\nHow long the processes of the disintegration of the etheric body, and\nabsorption of the vital soul may take, is a question on which I can\noffer no opinion beyond saying that certain psychic phenomena suggest\nthat in some cases they may take a long period of time. But for the\nreasons I have now given, it appears to me that the permanently\nsurviving factor is the thinking mind which is our real self, and is\npositively our centre of consciousness after the physical body has been\nput off.\n\nBy the facts of the case its consciousness is no longer affected by\nvibrations received from the physical body; and therefore, to the\nextent to which our idea of life has been centred in that body, we shall\nfeel its loss. If our motto has been \"Let us eat and drink, for\nto-morrow we die\" we shall feel very dead indeed--a living death, a\nconsciousness of being cut off from all that constituted our enjoyment\nof life--a thirst for the satisfaction of our customary ideas, which we\nhave no power to quench; and, in proportion as our habitual mode of\nthought is raised above that lowest level, so will our sense of loss be\nless. Then, by the same Law, if our habitual mode of thought is turned\ntowards pure, beautiful, and helpful ideals, we shall feel no loss at\nall, for we shall carry our own ideals with us, and, I hope, see them\nmore clearly by reason of their disentanglement from mundane\nconsiderations. In what precise way we may then be able to work out our\nideals I will not now stop to discuss. What we want first is a\nreasonable theory, based upon the principle of that universal Law which\nis only varied in its actions by the conditions under which it works;\nso, instead of speculating as to precise details, we may generalize the\nquestion of how we can work out the good ideals which we carry over with\nus, and put it this way:--Our ideas are embodied in thoughts; thoughts\nstart trains of etheric waves, which waves induce reciprocal action\nwhenever they meet with a receiver capable of vibrating synchronously\nwith them, and so eventually the thought becomes a fact, and our helpful\nand beautiful ideal becomes a work of power, whether in this world or in\nany other.\n\nNow it is to the forming of such ideals that the Bible, from first to\nlast is trying to lead us. From first to last it is working upon one\nuniform principle, that the Thought is the Word, that the Word sets in\nmotion the Law, and that when the Law is set in motion it acts with\nmathematical precision. The Bible is a handbook of instruction for the\nuse of our Creative Power of Thought, and this is the sequence which it\nfollows--one definite method, so fundamental in its nature, that it\napplies equally to the making of a packing-case or the making of a solar\nsystem.\n\nNow we have formed a generalized conception, based on this universal\nmethod, of the sort of consciousness we are likely to have when we pass\nout of the physical body. Then our thought naturally passes on to the\nquestion what will happen after this?\n\nIt is here that some theory of the reconstitution of the physical body\nappears to me to hold a most important place in the order of our\nevolution. Let us try to trace it out on the general lines of the\nCreative Power of Thought indicated above, the keynote to which is that\nthe Law is specialized by the Word, and cannot of itself bring out the\ninfinite possibilities contained in it without such specializing, just\nas in all scientific development of ordinary life. The clue to the whole\nquestion is, that our place in the Universal Order is to develop the\ninfinite resources of the Original Life and Substance into actual facts.\n\"Nature unaided fails.\" The Personal Factor must co-operate with the\nImpersonal, alike for setting up an electric bell, or for the\nfurtherance of cosmic evolution; and the reason it is so is, because it\ncould not possibly be otherwise.\n\nIf now we start by recognizing this as our necessary place in the\nProgressive Order of the Universe, I think it will help us to form a\nreasonable theory as to the reconstruction of the body. First of all,\nwhy have we any physical body at all? As a matter of fact we have one,\nand no amount of transcendental philosophizing will alter the fact, and\nso we may conclude that there is some reason for it. We have seen the\ntruth of the maxim \"Omne vivum ex vivo,\" and therefore that all\nparticular forms of life are differentiations of the one Basic Life.\nThis means a localizing of the Life-Principle in individual centres. The\nformation of a centre implies condensation; for where there is no\ncondensation the Energy, whether electricity or Life, is simply\n_dispersed_ and _achieving no purpose_. Therefore distinctness from the\nundifferentiated Original Life is a necessity of the case. Consequently\nthe higher the degree of Consciousness of Individuality, the greater\nmust be the Consciousness of _Distinctness of Personality_.\n\nWe say of a \"wobbly\" sort of person: \"That fellow is no use, you can't\ndepend on him.\" We say of a person whose ideas, intentions, and methods\nare subject to continual variations under all sorts of outside\ninfluences, whether of opinions or circumstances, that he has \"no\nbackbone,\" meaning that he is in want of individuality. He has no real\nthought of his own, and so has no Word of Power by which to co-operate\nwith the Law; therefore, to the extent to which this is the case with\nany of us, we are of no use in furthering the unfoldment of Evolution,\nwhether in ourselves or anywhere else.\n\nNow we talk a lot about Evolution or the _un_-folding, but we seem often\nnot to realize that there must be something to unfold; and that\ntherefore _In_-volution, or the concentration of the Life-principle,\nmust be a condition precedent to its _E_-volution. This process of\nInvolution must therefore be a process of gradually increasing\nconcentration of the Life-principle, by association with denser and\ndenser modes of the Universal Substance. Then, on the principle of\nVibration, the less dense the substance in which the Life is immersed,\nthe more it must be subject to being stirred by vibratory currents other\nthan those produced by the conscious action of the Ego, or inherent\nLife, of the individuality that is being formed.\n\nBut \"_the Sum of the Vibrations in anything determines the mode, power,\nand direction of its action_\"; therefore, the less the Ego be\nconcentrated through association with a dense vehicle, the more \"wobbly\"\nit must be, and consequently the less able to take any effective part in\nthe further work of Creation. But in proportion as the Ego builds up an\n_Individual_ _Will_, the more it gets out of the \"wobbly\" state--or, to\nrefer once more to the idea of etheric waves--it becomes able to select\nwhat vibrations it will receive, and what vibrations it will send out.\n\nThe involution of the Ego into the physical body, such as we at present\nknow it, is therefore a necessity of the case, if any effective\nIndividuality is to be brought into existence, and the work of Creation\ncarried on instead of being cut short, not for want of material, but for\nwant of workmen capable of using the tools of the builders' craft--the\nLaw as \"Strength\" and the Word as \"Beauty.\"\n\nThe Descending Arc of the Circle of Being is therefore that of the\nInvolution of Spirit into denser and denser modes of Substance,--a\nprocess called in technical language by the Greek name \"Eleusin,\" and\nthe process continues until a point is reached where Spirit and\nSubstance are in equal balance, which is where we are now. Then comes\nthe tug of war. Which of the two is to predominate? They are the\nExpansive and Constrictive primal elements, the \"rouah\" and \"hoshech\" of\nthe Hebrew Genesis.\n\nIf the Constrictive element be allowed to go further than giving\nnecessary form to the Expansive element, it imprisons the latter. The\ncondensation becomes too dense for the Ego to receive or send forth\nvibrations according to its free will, and so the Individuality becomes\nlost. If the condensation process be not carried far enough, no\nIndividuality can be built up, and if it be carried too far, no\nIndividuality can emerge; so in both cases we get the same result that\nthere is no one to speak the Word of Power without which \"Nature unaided\nfails.\"\n\nThus we are now exactly at the bottom of the Circle of Being. We have\ncompleted the Descending Arc and reached the point where the realization\nof the Distinctness of Conscious Individuality enables us to choose our\nown line, whether that of progressing through the stages of the\nAscending Arc of Being, or of falling out from the living Circle of\nProgression, at least for a period, into what is sometimes mystically\nspoken of as \"the Moon,\" or (in descending order) the \"Eighth Sphere,\"\nand which is called in Scripture \"The Outer Darkness,\"--the rigidity\nwhich stops the action of Life.\n\nTherefore it is with regard to this stage of our career that the Bible\nlays so much stress on the conflict between the Spirit and the Flesh--it\nis a fact in the course of our evolution, and the purpose of the Bible\nis to teach us how to move forward along the Ascending Arc of the Circle\nof Being, so as to build up individualities which will be able to use\nthe tools of Intelligence and Will in the great work of Evolution, both\nPersonal and Cosmic.\n\nNow what is shown diagrammatically as the Ascending Arc of the Circle of\nLife is the Return from its lowest point, or the _Full Consciousness of\nPersonal Distinctness_, gained through _the Material Body_, back to its\nhighest point or the Originating Life itself. This is the truth embodied\nin the parable of the Prodigal Son. It is a Cosmic truth, and this\nreturn journey is technically called by the Green name \"Anaktorion.\" It\nis the Rising-again, that is from matter to Spirit, and is the\nResurrection Principle.\n\nBut what is accomplished by the journey of the Ego round the Circle of\nLife?\n\n_A New Centre_ of Intelligence and volition is established; from this\nthe Creative Word of Power can be spoken--a _Complete Man_ has been\nbrought into existence, who can take a _free and intelligent_ part in\nthe further work of Creation, by his understanding of the interaction\nbetween the Law and the Word. The \"Volume of the Sacred Law\" lies open\nbefore us, and the Vibratory Power of the Word to give effect to it is\nthe \"Blazing Star\" that illuminates its contents, and so we become\nfellow-workers with the Great Architect of the Universe.\n\nFor these reasons it appears to me that our self-recognition in a\nphysical body is a necessary step in our growth. But why should the\nreconstruction of a physical body be either necessary or desirable? The\nanswer is as follows:\n\nObviously self-recognition is the necessary basis for all use of those\npowers of selection and volition by which the Impersonal Law is to be\nspecialized so as to bring to light its limitless potentialities; and\nself-recognition means the recognition of our personal Distinctness from\nour environment. Therefore it must always mean the possessing of a body\nas a vehicle, by means of which to act upon that environment, and to\nreceive the corresponding reaction from it. In other words it must\nalways be a body constituted in terms of the plane upon which we are\nfunctioning. But it does not follow that we should always be tied down\nto one plane.\n\nOn the contrary, the very conception of the power of the Word to\nspecialize the action of the Law, implies the power of functioning on\nany plane we choose; but always subject to the Law, that if we want to\nact on any particular plane in _propria persona_, and not merely by\ninfluencing some other agent, we can only do so by assuming a body in\nterms of the nature of that plane. Therefore, if we want to act on the\nphysical plane, we must put on a physical body. But when we have fully\ngrasped the Power of the Word we cannot be tied to a body. We shall no\nlonger regard it as composed of so many chemical elements, but we shall\nsee beyond them into the real primary etheric substance of which they\nare composed, and so by our volition shall be able to put the physical\nbody on or off at pleasure,--that at least is a quite logical deduction\nfrom what we have learnt in the preceding pages.\n\nSeen in this light the \"Resurrection Body\" is not the old body\nresuscitated, but a new body, just as real and tangible as the old one,\nonly not subject to any of its disabilities,--no longer a limitation,\nbut the ever ready instrument for any work we may desire to do upon the\nphysical plane.\n\nBut perhaps you will say, \"Why should we want to have anything more to\ndo with the physical plane? surely we have had enough of it already!\"\nYes; in its old sense of limitation; but not in the new sense of a world\nof glorious possibilities, a new field for our creative activities; not\nthe least of which is the helping of those who are still in those lower\nstages which we have already passed through.\n\nI think if we realize the position of the Fully Risen Man, we shall see\nthat he is not likely to turn his back upon the Earth as a rotten, old\nthing. Therefore a new physical body is a necessary part of his\nequipment.\n\nIf, then, we take it as a general principle, that for self-recognition\nupon any plane a body in terms of that plane is a necessity, this will\nthrow some light on the Bible narrative of our Lord's appearances after\nhis Resurrection. It is noteworthy that he himself lays stress on the\nbody as an integral part of the individuality. When the disciples\nthought they had seen an apparition he said: \"Handle me and see that it\nis I _myself_, and _not_ a spirit, for a spirit hath not flesh and\nbones as ye see I have\" (Luke xxiv, 39). This very clearly states that\nthe spirit without a corresponding body is not the complete \"I myself\";\nyet from the same narrative we gather that the solid body in which he\nappeared is able to pass through closed doors, and to be disintegrated\nand re-integrated at will. Now on the electronic theory of the\nconstitution of matter which I have spoken of in the earlier part of\nthis book, there is nothing impossible in this; on the contrary it is\nonly the known Law of synchronous vibration carried into those further\nranges of wave-lengths which, though not yet produced by laboratory\nexperiment, are unavoidably recognized by the mathematicians.\n\nIn this way then the Resurrection of the Body appears to me to be the\nlegitimate termination of our present stage of existence. What further\ndevelopments may follow, who shall say? for we must remember that the\nend of one series is always the commencement of another--that is the\ndoctrine of the Octave. But this is far enough to look forward in all\nconscience. As to _when_ the completion of our present stage of\nevolution will be attained, it is impossible even to hazard a guess; but\nthat the _individual_ attainment of such a Resurrection is not\ndependent on any particular date in the world's history, is clearly the\nteaching of Scripture. When Martha said to Jesus that she knew her\nbrother would rise again \"at the last day,\" he ignored the question of\n\"the last day,\" and said \"I am the Resurrection and the Life\" (St. John\nxi, 25); and similarly St. Paul puts it forward as a thing to be\nattained (Ph. iii, 15). It is not a resurrection _of_ the dead but _from\namong_ the dead that St. Paul is aiming at--not an \"anastasis ton\nnekron,\" but an \"anastasis _ek_ ton nekron.\"\n\nDoubtless there are other passages of Scripture which speak of a general\nresurrection, which to some will be a resurrection to condemnation (St.\nJohn v, 29), a resurrection to shame and everlasting contempt (Dan. xii,\n2). This is a subject upon which I will not attempt to enter--I have a\ngreat many things to learn, and this is one of them; but if the Bible\nstatements regarding resurrection are to be taken as a whole, these\npassages cannot be passed over without notice. On the other hand the\nBible statements regarding _individual_ resurrection are there also, and\nthe general principle on which they are based becomes clear when we see\nthe fundamental relation between the Law and the Word. Only we must\nremember that the Word that can thus set in motion the Law of Life, and\nmake it triumph over the Law of Death, cannot be spoken by the limited\npersonality which only knows itself as John Smith or Mary Jones. We must\nattain a larger personality than that, before we can speak the Word. And\nthis larger personality is not just John Smith or Mary Jones magnified;\nthat is the mistake we are all so apt to fall into. Mere magnification\nwill not do it. A square will continue to be a square however large you\nmake it; it will never become a circle. But on the other hand, there is\nsuch a thing as stating the area of a circle in the form of a square;\nand when we learn to regard our square as not existing on its own\naccount, but as an expression of the circle in another form, our\nattention will be directed to the circle first, as the generating\nfigure, and _then_ to the square as a particular mode of expressing the\nsame area. If we look at it in this way we shall never mistake the\nsquare for the circle, but we shall see that as the circle grows, the\ncorresponding square will grow with it. It is this dependence of the\nsquare on the circle that makes all the difference, and makes it a\nliving, growing square. For the true circle represents Infinitude. It is\nnot bounded by a limiting circumference as in the merely symbolic\ngeometrical figure, but is rather represented by the impulse which\ngenerates an ever widening circle of electro-magnetic waves; and when we\nrealize this, our square becomes a living thing. The \"Word\" that we\nspeak with this recognition is no longer ours, but His who sent us--the\nexpression, on the plane of individuality, of the Thought that sent us\ninto existence and so it is the \"Word of Life.\" This is the true\nResurrection of the Individual.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nTRANSFERRING THE BURDEN\n\n\nThe more we grow into a clear perception of what is really meant by\n\"Squaring the Circle,\" the freer we shall find ourselves from the burden\nof anxiety. We shall rise to a larger generalization of the Law of Cause\nand Effect. We shall learn in all things to reach out to First Cause as\noperating through the channels of secondary causation,--\"causa causas\"\nas producing, and therefore controlling \"causa causata\"--and so we cease\nto worry about secondary causes. On the plane of the lower personality\nwe see certain facts, and argue that they are bound to produce certain\nresults, which would be quite true if we really saw _all_ the facts; or,\nagain, allowing that in any particular case we actually did see all the\nfacts as they now exist, we can either deny the operation of First\nCause, or recognize its infinite capacity for creating new facts.\nTherefore, whatever may be the nature of our anxiety, we should\nendeavour to dispel it by the consideration that there may be already\nexisting other facts we do not know of, which will produce a different\nresult from the one we fear, and that in any case there is a power which\ncan produce new facts in answer to our appeal to it.\n\nBut I can imagine some one saying to us, \"You bumptious little midget,\ndo you think First Cause is going to trouble Itself about you and your\npetty concerns? Do you not know that First Cause works by universal Law,\nand makes no exceptions?\" Well, I would not have written this book if I\ndid not suppose that First Cause works by universal Law, and it is just\nbecause It does so that I believe It _will_ work for me and my concerns.\nThe Law makes no exceptions, but it can be specialized through the power\nof the Word. Then our sceptic says, \"What, do you think _your_ word can\ndo that?\" To which I reply, \"It is not my word because I am not using it\nin my lower personality, as John Smith or Mary Jones, but in that higher\npersonality which recognizes only one all-embracing Personality and\nitself as included in that.\"\n\nWhich comes first, the Law or the Word?\n\nThe distribution of the solar systems in space, the localization of the\nSpirit in specific areas of cosmic activity, proclaims the starting of\nall manifestation through the \"Word.\" Then the operation of Law follows\nwith mathematical precision, just as when we write 2 x 2 we cannot avoid\ngetting 4 as the result--only there is no reason why we should not write\n2 x 3 and so get 6 instead of 4. Let it be borne in mind that the Law\nflows from the Word, and not _vice versa_, and you have got the clue to\nthe enigma of Life.\n\nHow far we shall be able to make practical use of this clue depends, of\ncourse, on our acceptance of its principle.\n\nThe Directing Power of the Word is _inherent_ in the Word, and we cannot\nalter it. _It is the Law_ OF _the Law_, and so, like any other law, it\ncannot be broken, but its action can be inverted. We cannot deprive the\nWord of its efficacy, but our denial of it as the Word of Expansion is\nequivalent to an affirmation of it as the Word of Contraction, and so\nthe Law acts towards us as a Limitation. But the fault is not in the\nLaw, but in the way we use the Word. Now if the reader grasps this, he\nwill see that the less we trouble ourselves about what appear to us to\nbe the visible and calculable causes of things, the freer we must become\nfrom the burden of anxiety; and as we advance step by step to a clearer\nrecognition of the true order of Cause and Effect, so all intermediate\ncauses will fade from our view. Only the two extremes of the sequence of\nCause and Effect will remain in sight. First Cause, moving as the Word,\nstarting a sequence, and the desired result terminating it, as the Word\ntaking Form in Fact. The intermediate links in the chain will be there,\nbut they will be seen as effects, not causes. The wider the\ngeneralization we thus make, the less we shall need to trouble about\nparticulars, knowing that they will form themselves by the natural\naction of the Law; and the widest generalization is therefore, to state\nnot what we want to _have_, but what we want to _be_. The only reason we\never want to _have_ anything, is because we think it will help us to be\nsomething--something more than we are now; so that the \"having\" is only\na link in the chain of secondary causes, and may therefore be left out\nof consideration, for it will come of itself through the natural\nworkings of the Law, set in operation by the Word as First Cause. This\nprinciple is set forth in the statement of the Divine Name given to\nMoses (Ex. iii, 13-14). The Name is simply \"I AM\"--it is Being, not\nhaving--the having follows as a natural consequence of the Being; and if\nit be true that we are made in the likeness and image of God, that is to\nsay on the same Principle, then what is the Law of the Divine nature\nmust be the Law of ours also--and as we awake to this we become\n\"partakers of the Divine Nature\" (2 Pet. i, 4).\n\nWhat we really want, therefore, is to _be_ something--something more\nthan we are now; and this is quite right. It is our consciousness of the\ncontinually generative impulse of the Eternal Living Spirit, which is\nthe _fons et origo_ (fountain and source) of all differentiated life\nworking within us for ever more and more perfect individual expression\nof all that is in Itself. If the reader remembers what I said at the\nbeginning of this book about the Verb Substantive of Being, he will see\nthat each of us is in truth a \"Word (verbum) of God.\" Let not the\northodox reader be shocked at this--I am only saying what the Bible\ndoes. Look up the following passages: \"I will write upon him the name\nof my God and my own new name\" (Rev. xiii, 12). \"I saw, and behold a\nlamb standing on the Mount Zion (note, the word Zion means the principle\nof Life), and with him a hundred and forty and four thousand, having his\nname and the name of his Father written on their foreheads\" (Rev. xiv,\n1). \"His name shall be on their foreheads\" (Rev. xxii, 4). Read\nparticularly the whole passage Rev. xix, 11-16, where we are expressly\ntold that the name in question is \"the Word of God\"; and that this name\nis the one put upon those who follow their Leader, is shown by the same\ndescription being given of the followers as of the Leader. They all ride\nupon \"white horses,\" and the \"horse\" is the symbol of the intellect.\nAlso in the case of the Leader, the peculiarity of his Name is that \"no\none knows it but himself,\" and in Rev. ii, 17, exactly the same thing is\nsaid of the \"New Name\" to be given \"to him that overcometh.\" Again, in\nIsaiah lxii, 2, \"Thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of\nthe Lord shall name\"; and again in Num. vi, 27, \"They shall put my name\nupon the children of Israel.\"\n\nThen as the meaning of that Name \"the Word of God.\" In Ps. cxix, 160:\n\"Thy word is true from the beginning,\" and Jesus said: \"Thy Word is\nTruth\" (John xvii, 17).\n\nThis also corresponds with the description in Rev. xix, 11-16 where\nanother name for \"the Word of God\" is \"Faithful and True\"; and the same\nmetaphor of the Truth \"_riding into action_\" is contained in Ps. xlv, 3,\n4. \"Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy\nmajesty; and in thy majesty ride prosperously because of Truth.\" The\nsame symbol of \"riding\" also occurs in Ps. lxviii: \"Extol him that\nrideth upon the heavens,\" \"Sing praises to him that rideth upon the\nheaven of heavens which were of old (i.e., _ab initio_); lo, he doth\nsend out his Voice and that a mighty Voice\"--and the word \"Voice\" is the\nHebrew Word [Hebrew: \"K[=o]l\"], meaning \"Sound\" or \"Word\"--so that here\nagain we have the idea of \"The Word\" riding into action. Once\nmore--\"Thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy Name\" (Ps. cxxxviii,\n2), thus repeating the idea of the Word as the Name.\n\nIn other passages we have the idea of the Word as a Weapon. \"The Sword\nof the Spirit which is the Word of God\" (Eph. vi, 17), which answers to\nthe description in Revelations of the Sword proceeding out of the mouth\nof the Word; and we have the same metaphor of the Word riding into\naction in Habakkuk iii, 8 and 9. \"Thou didst ride upon thine horses and\nthy chariots of salvation. Thy bow was made quite naked ... even thy\nWord\"; and similarly those that oppose the Word are \"killed with the\nsword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his\nmouth.\"\n\nIn other passages we have the Word put before us as a Defence. \"His\nTruth shall be thy shield and buckler\" (Ps. xci, 4); and again \"The Name\nof the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it and is\nsafe\" (Prov. xviii, 10); and we have already seen that this Name is \"The\nWord of God\"; and similarly in Ps. cxxiv, 8: \"Our help is in the name of\nthe Lord, who made heaven and earth.\"\n\nLastly, we get \"the Word\" as the final deliverance from all ill; \"Into\nthy hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of Truth\"\n(Ps. xxxi, 5).\n\nAnd the reason of all this is because \"His Truth endureth to all\ngenerations\" (Ps. c, 5); it is everlasting, Changeless Principle. \"By\nthe Word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by\nthe breath of his mouth\" (Ps. xxxiii, 6), as is also said of the Word in\nthe opening of St. John's Gospel and First Epistle.\n\nNow a careful comparison of these and similar passages will make it\nclear that the sequence presented to us is as follows: The \"Word\" is the\npassing of the Verb Substantive of Being into Action. It is always the\nsame in Principle, on whatever scale, and therefore applies to ourselves\nalso, so that each one of us is a \"Word of God.\" We are this by the very\nessence of our being, and that is why the first thing we are told about\nMan is, that he is made in the image and likeness of God. But how far\nany of us will become a really effective \"Word,\" depends upon our\nacceptance of the New Name which is ready to be bestowed upon each one.\n\"To as many as _receive_ him, to them gives he power to become Sons of\nGod, even to them that believe on his Name\" (John 1-12). We get the New\nName by realizing the Truth, which Truth is that we ourselves are\nincluded in THE NAME, and that name is called \"The Word of God.\"\n\nThe meaning of which becomes clear if we remember that the spiritual\nname of anything is its \"Noumenon\" or essential being, which is\nmanifested through its \"Phenomenon\" or outward reproduction in Form; so\nthat the true order is first our \"Name\" or essential Being, then our\n\"Word\" or active manifestation of this essential Being, then the \"Truth\"\nor the unchangeable Law of Being passing into Manifestation--and these\nthree are ONE. Then when we see that this is true of ourselves, not\nbecause of some arbitrary favouritism making us exceptions to the human\nrace, but because it is the working on the plane of Human Individuality\nof the same Power and the same Law by which the world has come into\nexistence, we can see that we have here a Principle which we can trust\nto work as infallibly as the principle of Mathematics; and that\ntherefore the desire to become something more than we now are is nothing\nelse than the Eternal Spirit of Life seeking ever fuller expression.\n\nThe correction which our mode of thinking needs therefore is to start\nwith Being, not with Having, and we may then trust the Having to come\nalong in its right order; and if we can get into this new manner of\nthinking, what a world of worry it will save us! If we realize that the\nLaw flows from the Word, and not vice versa, then the Law of attraction\nmust work in this manner, and will bring to us all those conditions\nthrough which we shall be able to express the more expanded Being\ntowards which we are directing our Word; and as a consequence, we shall\nhave no need to trouble about forcing particular conditions into\nexistence--they will grow spontaneously out of the seed we have planted.\nAll we have to do now, or at any time, is to take the conditions that\nare ready to hand and use them on the lines of the sort of \"being\"\ntowards which we are directing our Thought--use them just as far as they\ngo at the time, without trying to press them further--and we shall find\nby experience that out of the present conditions thus used to-day, more\nfavourable conditions will grow in a perfectly natural manner to-morrow,\nand so on, day by day, until, when later on we look back, we shall be\nsurprised to find ourselves expressing all, and more than all, the sort\nof \"_being_\" we had thought of. Then, from this new standpoint of our\nbeing, we shall continue to go on in the same way, and so on _ad\ninfinitum_, so that our life will become one endless progress, ever\nwidening as we go on. And this will be found a very quiet and peaceful\nway, free from worry and anxiety, and wonderfully effective. It may lead\nyou to some position of authority or celebrity; but as such things\nbelong to the category of \"Having\" and not of \"Being\" they were not what\nyou aimed at, and are only by-products of what you have become in\nyourself. They are conditions, and like all other conditions should be\nmade use of for the development of still more expanded \"being\"; that is\nto say, you will go on working on the more extended scale which such a\nposition makes possible to you. But the one thing you would not try to\ndo with it would be to \"boss the show.\" The moment you do this you are\nno longer using the Word of the larger Personality, and have descended\nto your old level of the smaller personality, just John Smith or Mary\nJones, ignorant of yourselves as being anything greater. It is true your\nWord still directs the operation of the Law towards yourself--it always\ndoes this--but your word has become inverted, and so calls into\noperation the Law of Contraction instead of the Law of Expansion. A\nhigher position means a wider field for usefulness--that is all; and to\nthe extent to which you fit yourself for it, it will come to you. So, if\nyou content yourself with always speaking in your Thought the Creative\nWord of \"Being\" from day to day, you will find it the Way of Peace and\nthe Secret of a Happy Life--by no means monotonous, for all sorts of\nunexpected interests will be continually opening out to you, giving you\nscope for all the activities of which your present degree of \"being\"\nrenders you capable. You will always find plenty to do, and find\npleasure in doing it, so you need never be afraid of feeling dull.\n\nBut perhaps you will say:\n\n\"How am I to know that I am not speaking my own Word instead of that of\nthe Creative Spirit?\"\n\nWell, the word of the smaller personality is always based on the idea of\npossessing, and the Word of the Spirit is always based on the idea of\nBecoming--that is the criterion. And also, if we base our speaking of\nthe Word on the Promises of Spirit, we may be sure that we are on the\nright track.\n\nWe may be sure of it, because when we come to analyze these promises we\nshall find that they are all statements of the Creative Law of Being,\nand the nature of this Law is obvious from the facts of the Visible\nCreation.\n\nThese things are not true because they are written in the Bible, but the\nBible is true because these things are written in it. The more we\nexamine the Bible Promises, the more they will impress themselves upon\nus as being Promises according to Law; and since the Law can never be\nbroken, we can feel quite secure of it, subject to the one condition\nthat we do not stop the Law from working to the fulfilment of the\nPromise, by our own inverted use of the Word. But if we take the _Word\nof the Promise_ and make it our own Word, then we know that we are\nspeaking the right Word, which will so specialize the action of the Law,\nas to produce the fulfilment of the Promise. Apart from the Word there\nis no Foundation. In all other systems we have either Law without Will,\nor Will without Law.\n\nThen we know that we are not speaking of ourselves, but are speaking the\nWord of the Power that sent us into the World. The Law alone cannot\nfulfil the Promises. It is in itself Cosmic and Impersonal, and, as\nevery scientific discovery amply demonstrates, it needs the co-operation\nof the Personal Factor to bring out its latent possibilities; so that\nthe Word is as necessary as the Law for the fulfilment of the Promises;\nbut if the Word which we speak is that of the Creating Spirit, we may\nreckon it as being just as certain in its operation as the Law, and the\ntwo together form an infallible Power.\n\nBut there is one thing we must not forget, and this is the Law of\nGrowth. If the Law which we plant is the seed, then we must allow time\nfor it to grow; we must leave it alone and go about our business as\nusual, and the seed we have sown will spring and grow up of itself, we\nknow not how, a truth which we have been told by the Master himself\n(Mark iv, 26, 29).\n\nWe must not be like children who plant a seed one day, and dig it up the\nnext to see whether it is growing. Our part is to plant the seed, not to\nmake it grow,--the Creative Law of Life will do that. It is for this\nreason that the Bible gives us such injunctions as \"Study to be quiet\"\n(1 Thess. iv, 11). \"He that believeth shall not make haste\" (Is.\nxxviii, 16). \"In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength\"\n(Is. xxx, 15). To make ourselves anxious as to whether the Word we have\nplanted will fructify is just to dig it up again, and then of course it\nwill not grow.\n\nThe fundamental maxim, then, which we must always keep in mind is that\n\"Every creation carries its own Mathematics along with it,\" and that\ntherefore \"The Law flows from the Word, and not _vice versa_;\" and\nconsequently \"_The Word is the Foundation of every creative series_,\"\nwhether that series be great or small, cosmic or individual,\nconstructive or destructive. Every series commences with Intention; and\nremember the exact meaning of the Word. It is from the two Latin words\n\"in,\" towards, and \"tendere,\" to stretch, and it therefore means a\n\"reaching out in a certain direction.\" This \"reaching out in a certain\ndirection\" is the Conception of ourself as arrived at the destination\ntowards which our Thought tends, and is therefore _the conceiving of an\nidea_, and our formulated idea is stated, if only mentally, in\nWords--and the termination of the series is the realization of the idea\nin actual fact. Therefore it is equally true of every series, whether it\nbe the creation of a lady's blouse or the creation of a world, that \"in\nthe Beginning is the Word\"--the Word is _the Point of Origination_.\n\nThen, since the Word is the Point of Origination, what is our conception\nof the best thing we can originate with it? There is a great variety of\nopinion as to what is desirable; and it is only natural and right that\nit should be so, for otherwise we should be without any individuality,\nwhich means that we should have no real life in us--in fact such a world\nis unthinkable; it would be a world that had ceased to move, it would be\na dead world. So it is the varied conception of \"the Good\" that makes\nthe world go on. Uniformity means reducing things to one dead level. But\non the other hand there must be Unity--unity of action resulting from\nunity of purpose, otherwise the world logically terminates in\ninternecine strife. If then the world is to go on, it can only be by\nmeans of Unity expressing itself in Variety, and therefore the question\nis: What is the _unifying Desire_ which underlies all the varieties of\nexpression? It is a very simple one--it is just to ENJOY LIVING. Our\nideas of an enjoyable life may be very various, but that is what we all\nreally want; so what we want to get at is: What is the basis of an\nenjoyable life?\n\nI have no hesitation in saying that the secret of enjoying life is _to\ntake an interest in it_. The opposite of Livingness is Deadness, that\nis, inertia and stagnation. Dying of \"ennui\" is a very real thing\nindeed, and if we would not die of this malady we must have an interest\nin life that will always keep going on.\n\nNow for anything to interest us we must enter into the spirit of it. If\nwe do not enter into the spirit of a game it does not interest us; if we\ndo not enter into the spirit of a book, it does not interest us, we are\nbored to death with it; and so on with everything. So from our own\nexperience we may lay down the maxim that \"To enjoy anything we must\nenter into the spirit of it,\" and if this be so, then, to enjoy the\n\"Living Quality of Life\" we must enter into the Spirit of Life itself. I\nsay the \"Living Quality of Life\" so as to dissociate it from all ideas\nof particular conditions; because what we are trying to get at is the\nfundamental principle of Life which creates conditions, and not the\nreflex of sensations, whether physical or mental, which any particular\nset of conditions may induce in us for the time being. In this way we\ncome back to the initial proposition with which we started--that the\norigin of everything is only to be found in a Universal Ever-Living\nSpirit, and that our own life proceeds from this Spirit in accordance\nwith the maxim \"Omne vivum ex vivo.\" Thus we are logically brought to\nthe conclusion that the ultimate Desire of all Humanity is to\nconsciously enter into the Spirit of Life as it is _in itself_,\nantecedently to all conditions. This is the widest of all\ngeneralizations, and so opens the door to the highest of all\nspecializations; for it is a scientific fact that the more widely we can\ngeneralize the principle of any Law, the more highly we can specialize\nits working. It is only as our conception of it is limited that any Law\nlimits us.\n\nA principle _per se_ is always undifferentiated, and capable of any sort\nof differentiation into particular modes of expression that are not in\nopposition to the principle itself; and it is true of the Principle of\nLife as of all others. There is therefore no limit to its expression\nexcept that which inverts it,--that is to say, anything which tends\ntowards Death; and, accordingly, what we have to avoid is the negative\nmode of Thought, which starts an inverted action of the Law, logically\nresulting in destructiveness instead of constructiveness. But the\nmistake we make from not seeing the basic principle of the whole thing,\nis that of looking to the conditions to form the Life, instead of\nlooking to the Life to form the conditions; and therefore what we\nrequire is a _Standard of Measurement_ for our Thought, by which we\nshall be able to form _The Perfect Word_ which will set in motion the\nLaw of Cause and Effect in such a manner as to fulfil that _Basic Desire\nof Life_ which is common to all Humanity. The Perfect Word must\ntherefore fulfil two Conditions--it must have the essential Quality of\nthe Undifferentiated Eternal Life, and it must have the essential\nQuality of \"Genus Homo.\" It must say with Horace \"Homo sum; nihil humani\nmihi alienum puto\" (I am Man; I regard nothing human as alien to\nmyself). When we think it out carefully, there is no escaping the\nconclusion that this must be the essential Quality of the Perfect Word\nwe are in search of. It is the final logical inference from all that we\nhave learnt regarding the interaction between Law and Personality, that\nthe Perfect Word must combine in itself the Quality of each--it must be\nat once both Human and Divine.\n\nOf course all my readers know where the description of such a Word is to\nbe found; but what I want them to realize is the way in which we have\nnow reached a similar description of the Perfect Word. We have not\naccepted it unquestioningly as the teaching of a scholastic theology,\nbut have arrived at it by a course of careful reasoning from the facts\nof physical Nature and from our experience of our own mental powers.\nThis way of getting at it makes it really our own. We know what we mean\nby it, and it is no longer a mere traditional form of words. It is the\nsame with everything else; nothing becomes our own by being just told\nabout it.\n\nFor instance, if I show an artist a picture, and he tells me that a boat\nin it is half a mile away from the spectators, I may accept this on his\nauthority, because I suppose he knows all about it. But if next day a\nfriend shows me a picture of a bit of coast with a fishing-boat in the\ndistance, and asks me how far off that boat is, I am utterly stumped\nbecause I do not know how the artist was able to judge the distance.\nBut if I understand the principle, I give my friend a very fair\napproximation of the distance of the boat. I work it out like this. I\nsay:--the immediate foreground of the picture shows an amount of detail\nwhich could not be seen more than twenty yards away, and the average\nsize of such details in nature shows that the bottom edge of the picture\nmust measure about ten yards across. Then from experience I know that\nthe average length of craft of the particular rigging in the picture is,\nsay, about eighty feet, and I then measure that this length goes sixteen\nand a half times across the picture on the level where the boat is\nsituated, and so I know that a line across the picture at this level\nmeasures 80 x 16-1/2 = 1320 ft. = 440 yards. Then I make the\ncalculation: 10 yds.: 440 yds.:: 20 yds.: the distance required to be\nascertained 440 x 20 / 10 = 880 yds. 1760 yds. = 1 mile and 1760 / 2 =\n880 yds. Therefore I know that the boat in the picture is represented as\nbeing about half a mile from the spectator. I really know the distance\nand do not merely guess it, and I know _how_ I know it. I know it simply\nfrom the geometrical principle that with a given angle at the apex of a\ntriangle the length of a perpendicular dropped from the apex to the base\nof the triangle will always bear the same ratio to the length of the\nbase, whatever the size of the triangle may be. In this way I know the\ndistance of the boat in the picture by combining mathematics and my own\nobservation of facts--once again to co-operation of Law and Personality.\nNow a familiar instance like this shows the difference between being\ntold a thing and really knowing it, and it is by an analogous method\nthat we have now arrived at the conclusion that the Perfect Word is a\ncombination of the Human and the Divine. We have definite reasons for\nseeing this as the ultimate fact of human development--the power to give\nexpression to the Perfect Word--, and that this follows naturally from\nthe fact of our own existence and that of some originating source from\nwhich we derive it.\n\nBut perhaps the reader will say: How can a Word take form as a Person?\nWell, words which do not eventually take form as facts only evaporate\ninto thin air, and we cannot conceive the Divine Ideals of Man doing\nthis. Therefore the expression of the Perfect Word on the plane of\nHumanity must take substance in the Form of Humanity. It is not the\nmanifestation of any limited personality with all his or her\nidiosyncrasies, but the manifestation of the basic principle of Humanity\nitself common to us all.\n\nTo quote Dryden's words--but in a very different sense to that intended\nin \"Absolom and Achitophel,\"--such a one must be \"Not one, but all\nMankind's epitome.\" The manifestation must be the Perfect Expression of\nthat fundamental Life which is the Root Desire in us all, and which is\ntherefore called \"The Desire of all nations.\"\n\nHere then we have reached (Haggai ii, 7) the foundation fact of Human\nPersonality. It is the Eternal \"Will-to-live,\" as Schopenhauer calls it,\nwhich works subconsciously in all creation; therefore it is the root\nfrom which all creation springs. In the atom it becomes atomic energy,\nin the plant it becomes vegetable life, in the animal it becomes animal\nlife, and in man it becomes personal life, and therefore, if a Perfect\nStandard of the Eternal Life is to be set before us, it must be in terms\nof Human Personality.\n\nBut some one will say: Why should we need such a Standard? The answer\nis that since the working of the Law towards each of us is determined by\nour mode of Thought, we require to be guarded against an inverted use of\nthe Word. \"Ignorantia Legis nemini excusat\" (ignorance of the Law does\nnot excuse you from its operation), is a scientific, as well as a\nforensic maxim, for the Law of Cause and Effect can never be altered.\nOur ignorance of the laws of electricity will not prevent us from being\nelectrocuted if we get into the circuit of some powerful voltage.\n\nTherefore, because the Law is _Impersonal_ and knows no exceptions, and\nwill bring us either Life or Death according to the direction which we\ngive it by our Word, it is of the first importance for us to have a\nStandard by which to measure the Word expressed through our own\nPersonality. This is why St. Paul speaks of our growing to \"the measure\nof the stature of the fulness of Christ,\" (Eph. iv, 13) and why we find\nthe symbol of \"Measurement\" so frequently employed in the Bible.\n\nTherefore, if a great scale of measurement for our Word is to be\nexhibited, it can only be by its presentation in human form.\n\nThen if the purpose be to establish such a standard of measurement, the\nscale must be expressed in units of the same denomination as that of our\nown nature--you cannot divide miles by amperes--and it is because the\nscale of our potential being is laid out in the same denomination as\nthat of the Spirit of Life itself that we can avail ourselves of the\nstandard of \"the Word made Flesh.\"\n\nWhen this is clearly seen it removes those intellectual difficulties\nwhich so many feel with regard to the doctrine of the Atonement. If we\nwant to avail ourselves of the Bible Promises on the basis of the Bible\nteaching, we cannot throw the teaching overboard. As I have said before,\nif a doctrine is to be rightly interpreted, it must be interpreted as a\nwhole, and in one form or another the doctrine of the Atonement is the\npivot point of the whole Bible. To omit it is like trying to play\n\"Hamlet\" with Hamlet left out, and you may put your Bible out on the\nrubbish-heap. How, then, does the Atonement come in?\n\nHere are the usual intellectual difficulties. To whom is the sacrifice\noffered? To God or to the Devil? If it be to the Devil, then the Devil\nis a greater power than God. If it be to God, then how can a God who\ndemands a sacrifice of blood be Love? And in either case how can guilt\nbe transferred from one person to the other?\n\nNow as a matter of fact none of these questions arise. They are beside\nthe real point at issue, which is: How can we so combine the Personal\naction of the Word with the Impersonal action of the Law, as to make the\nLaw become to us the Law of Life instead of the Law of Death (Rom. viii,\n2)?\n\nLet us recur to the principles which we have worked out. The Law flows\nfrom the Word and not _vice versa_--it acts for good or ill according to\nthe Quality of the Word which calls it into action. Therefore to get the\nLaw of Life we must speak the Word of Life. Then, on the principle of\n\"Omne vivum ex vivo,\" the Word of Fundamental Basic Life, which is not\nsubject to conditions because it is antecedent to all conditions, can\nonly be spoken through consciousness of participating in the Eternal\nLife which is the \"fons et origo\" of all particular being. Therefore, to\nbe able to speak this Word we must have a foundation of assurance that\nwe are in no way separated from the Eternal Life, and since this\nfoundation is required for all men, it must be broad enough to\naccommodate all grades of perceptions.\n\nTheologically the separation from the Eternal Life is said to be caused\nby \"Sin.\" But what do we mean by \"Sin\"?\n\nWe can only judge of what a thing _is_ by what it _does_; and so, if\n\"Sin\" is that which prevents the inflowing of the Eternal Life, which we\nknow is the root of our individual being, then it must be the\ntransgression of the inherent Law of our own Being. The truth is that we\nlive simultaneously in two worlds, the visible and the invisible, just\nas trees draw their life from the earth beneath and from the air and\nlight above, and the transgression consists in limiting ourselves only\nto the lower world, and thereby cutting ourselves off from the essential\npart of our own life, that which _really lives_.\n\nWe do not realize the true function of the three lower principles of our\nnature, viz.: Vital Spirit, etheric body, and outward form; the function\nof which is to give concentration to the current of spiritual life\nflowing from the Eternal Spirit, and thus enable the undifferentiated\nLife to differentiate itself into Individual Consciousness, which will\nbe able to specialize the action of the Law into higher manifestations\nthan it can produce without the co-operation of Personality.\n\nOn the analogy of Ohm's Law our error is making our \"_R_\" so rigid that\nit ceases to be a conductor, and so no current is delivered and no work\ndone. This is the true nature of sin, and it is this opposition of our\n_R_ to E.M.F. or Eternal Motive Force that has to be removed. We have to\nrealize the true function of our R, as the channel through which the\nE.M.F. is enabled to carry on its work. When we awake to the fact that\nour true place in the Order of the Universe is to be fellow-workers with\nGod in carrying on the work of Creation, then we see that hitherto we\nhave entirely missed the purpose of our calling, and have misused the\nDivine image in which we were created; and therefore we want an\nassurance that our past errors will not stand in the way of our future\nadvance into continually fuller participation in the Divine Creative\nWork, which, in virtue of our true nature should be our rightful\ninheritance.\n\nThat our future destiny is to actually take an individual part, however\nsmall, in guiding the great work of Evolution, may not be evident to us\nin the earlier stages of our awakening; but what is clear as a matter\nof feeling, but not yet intellectually, is, that in some way or other we\nhave been cutting ourselves off from the Great Source of Light, and that\nwhat we therefore want, is to be re-united to it. What is wanted, then,\nis something which will give us a firm ground of assurance that we _are_\nre-united to it, and that that something must be of such a nature as\nnever to lose anything of its efficiency at any stage of our\nprogress--it must cover the whole ground.\n\nNow, if we think deeply upon this question, we shall gradually come to\nsee that this expansive quality is to be found in the doctrine of the\nAtonement. It meets all the needs of our spiritual nature in a way that\nno other theory does, and responds to every stage of our progress. There\nis only one thing that will prevent it working, and that is, saying that\nwe have no need of it. That is why St. John said, that if we say we have\nno sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1 John i, 8).\nBut the more we come into the light of Truth, and realize that sin is\neverything that is not in accordance with the Law of our own essential\nbeing as related to the Eternal Life, the more we shall see, not only\nthat we have transgressed the Law in the past, but also that even now\nwe are very far from completely fulfiling it; and the more light we get\nthe more clearly we shall see this to be the case. Therefore, whatever\nmay be the stage of our mental development, the assurance which we all\nneed for the basis of our new life is that of the removal of sin--the\nsins of the past, and the daily errors of the present. We may form\nvarious theories, each to our own satisfaction, as to _how_ this takes\nplace. For instance we may argue that, since \"the Word\" is the\nundifferentiated potential of Humanity, every human soul is included in\nthe Self-offering of Christ, and that in Him we ourselves suffered on\nthe Cross. Or we may say that our confession that such an offering is\nneeded amounts to our participation in it. Or we may say with St. Paul\nthat, as in Adam all are sinners, so in Christ all are made free from\nsin (1 Cor. xv, 22). That is, taking Adam and Christ as the\nrepresentatives of two orders of men. Or we may fall back on the\nstatement \"Sacrifice and burnt offerings Thou wouldst not\" (Ps. xl, 6),\nand on Jesus' own explanation of his death, that He offered himself in\ntestimony to the Truth--that is, that the Eternal Life will no more\nexercise a retrospective vengeance upon us for our past misunderstanding\nof It, than would electricity or any other force. We may explain the\n_modus operandi_ of the great offering in any of these ways, for the\nScripture presents it in all of them--but the great thing is to accept\nit; for by the nature of our mental constitution, such an acceptance,\nwhether with or without an intellectual explanation, affords the\nassurance which we stand in need of; and building upon the Foundation we\ncan safely rear the edifice of our future development.\n\nAlso it affords us a continual safeguard in all the further stages of\nour evolution. As our psychic consciousness increases, we become more\nand more responsive to psychic stimulus whether that stimulus proceed\nfrom a good or evil influence; and therefore the recognition of our\nRedemption in Christ surrounds us with a protecting barrier, through\nwhich no evil spirit or malign influence can pass; so that, resting upon\nthis Truth, we need never be in fear of any such invasion, but shall at\nall times be clothed with the whole armour of God (Eph. vi, 11).\n\nFrom whatever point of view we regard it, we therefore find in the One\nOffering once made for the sin of the whole world, a standpoint such as\nis provided by no other teaching, whether religious or philosophical;\nand we shall see on examination that it is not an arbitrary decree for\nwhich we can give no account, but that it is based on the psychological\nconstitution of man--a provision so perfectly adapted to our\nrequirements at every stage of our evolution, that we can only attribute\nit to the Divine Wisdom acting through One, who by Perfect Love, thus\nwillingly offered himself, in order to provide the Foundation of\ncomplete assurance for all who recognize their need of it.\n\nOn this basis, then, of reunion with the Eternal Source of Life, all the\nPromises of the Bible are found to be according to Law--that is,\naccording to the inherent Law of our Being; so that, in the laying of\nthis Foundation, we find the supreme manifestation of the interaction\nbetween the Law and the Word, which, when its significance is\napprehended, opens out vistas of limitless possibilities to the\nindividual and to the race.\n\nBut the race, as a whole, is yet very far from apprehending this, and\nfor the most part has no perception of spiritual causation. Where some\ndim perception of spiritual causation is beginning to emerge, it is very\nfrequently inverted, because people only apprehend it as giving them an\nadditional power of exercising compulsion over their fellow-men, and\nthus depriving them of that individuality which it is the one purpose of\nEvolution to develop. This is because people do not look beyond the\nthree lower principles of life, those principles which animals have in\ncommon with man; and consequently the higher principle of mind, which\ndistinguishes man, is brought down to the lower level, so that the man\nis distinguished from the beast only by the possession of intellectual\nfaculties, which by their perversion make him not merely a beast, but a\ndevil of a beast. Therefore the recognition of psychic powers, when not\nsafeguarded by the higher principles of Truth, plunges man even deeper\ninto darkness than does a simple materialism; and so the two go hand in\nhand on the downward path. There is abundant evidence that this is\nincreasingly the case at the present day; and therefore it is that the\nBible Promises culminate in the Promise of the return of Him who offered\nhimself in order to lay the foundation of Peace. As I have said before,\nwe must either take the Bible as a whole, or reject it entirely. We\ncannot pick and choose what pleases us, and refuse what does not. No\nlegal document could be treated in this way; and in like manner the\nBible is one great whole, or else it is just--\"skittles.\"\n\nTherefore, if that Divine \"Word\" was manifested to save the world from\ndestruction, by opening the way for the _individual_ through recognition\nof his true relation to God, then it is only a reasonable carrying out\nof the same thought that, when the bulk of mankind fail to realize the\nbeneficent use of these powers, and persist in using them invertedly,\nthe same Being should again appear to save the race from utter\nself-destruction, but not by the same method, for that would be\nimpossible.\n\nThe individual method is that of individual self-recognition in the\nlight of Truth; but that cannot be _forced_ upon any one. The headlong\ndownward career of the race as a whole cannot therefore be stopped _vi\net armis_, and this can only be done by first letting it have a bitter\nexperience of what intellect, depraved to the service of the Beast in\nMan, leads to, and then forcibly restraining those who persist in this\nmadness. Therefore a Second Coming of the Divine Man is a logical\nsequence to the first, and equally logical, this Second Coming must be\nas One who will rule the nations with irresistible power; so that men,\nreflecting upon the evils of the past, and enquiring into their cause,\nmay be led to see that cause in the inverted action of the Law of their\nown being, and may therefore learn so to renew their thoughts in\naccordance with the Divine Thought as to bring them into the glorious\nliberty of the Sons of God.\n\nThis, then, is the Promise we have to look forward to at the present\nday, and though it might not be wise to speculate as to the precise time\nand manner of its fulfilment, there can be no doubt as to the nature of\nthe general principles involved; and I trust the reader has at least\nlearned from this book that principles unfold themselves with unfailing\naccuracy, though it depends on our Word, or mental attitude, in what way\ntheir unfoldment will affect us personally.\n\nFor such reasons as these, it appears to me, that the current objections\nto the doctrine of Atonement are entirely beside the mark. They miss the\nwhole point of the thing. Punishment for Sin? Of course there is\npunishment for sin so long as it is persisted in. It is the natural\nworking of the Law of Cause and Effect. Forgiveness of sin? Of course\nthere is forgiveness of sin as soon as, through knowledge, we make a\nright use of the Law of our own Being. It could not be otherwise. It is\nthe natural working of the Law of Cause and Effect.\n\n\"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith\nthe Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will\nI write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more\"\n(Heb. x, 16); and similarly in Jer. xxxi, 32, from which the writer of\nthe Epistles to the Hebrews quotes this. \"Now the Lord is the Spirit\" (2\nCor. iii, 17, R.V.), i.e., the Originating Spirit of life, and therefore\n\"my laws\" means the inherent Law of the Originating Principle of Being,\nso that here we have a plain statement that the realization of the True\nLaw of our Being _ipso facto_ results in the cancelling of all our past\nerrors. When once we see the principle of it the whole sequence becomes\nperfectly plain.\n\nThere is nothing arbitrary in all this. It results naturally from a New\nmode of Thought producing a New order of Consciousness; and it is\nwritten that \"if any man be in Christ he is a new creature\" or, as it\nsays in the margin, \"a new creation\" (2 Cor. v, 17), and on the\nprinciple that \"every Creation carries its own mathematics with it,\"\nevery such man has passed from the Law of Death into the Law of Life.\nThe full fruition may not yet be visible--we must allow for the Law of\nGrowth--but the Principle is in him and has become the central,\ngenerating point of his consciousness, and is therefore bound, sooner or\nlater, to develop into perfect manifestation by the Law of its own\nnature. If the Principle be accepted it will work all the same, whether\nwe accept it by simple trust in the written Word, or whether we analyze\nthe grounds of our trust; just as an electric bell will ring when you\npress the button, whether you are an electrical engineer or not. But\nthere will be this difference, that if you _are_ an electrical engineer\nyou will see the principle implied in the ringing of the bell, and you\nwill find in it the promise of infinite possibilities which it is open\nto you to develope; and in like manner, the more clearly you see the\nrelation which necessarily exists between yourself and the\nAll-Originating Living Spirit, the more clear it will become to you,\nthat this relation opens up an endless vista of boundless potentialities\nwhich can never be exhausted. This is the true nature of the Bible\nPromises; they were not made by some external Deity about whose ideas we\ncan never have any certainty, but by the Indwelling God, who is at once\nthe Life, the Law, and the Substance of all things, and therefore they\nare Promises according to Law, containing in themselves the principle of\ntheir own fulfilment.\n\nBut, as I trust the reader is now convinced, the Law can fulfil the\nPromise which is latent in it only by the co-operation of the Word; that\nis, the Personal Factor which provides the necessary conditions for the\nLaw to work under; and therefore, if the Promise is to be fulfilled, we\nmust meet the All-originating Life, the \"Premium mobile,\" not only on\nthe Plane of Law, but on the Plane of Personality also. This becomes\nevident if we consider that this Originating Life must be _entirely\nundifferentiated_ in Itself; for otherwise it could not be the origin of\nall differentiated modes of Life and Energy. As long as we find\ndifferentiation, on however wide a scale, we have not arrived at First\nCause. There will still be something further back, out of which the\ndifferentiations have proceeded; and it is this \"Something\" which is at\nthe back of \"Everything\" that we are in search of. Therefore the\nOriginating Spirit must be _absolutely undifferentiated_, and\nconsequently the Personal Factor in ourselves must be the\ndifferentiation into individuality of a Quality eternally subsisting in\nthe All-Originating Undifferentiated Spirit.\n\nThen, since our individual differentiation of this Quality must depend\non the mode of our recognition of it, it follows that a Standard of\nMeasurement is needed, and the Standard is presented to us in the form\nof the Personality around whom the whole Bible centres, and who, as the\nStandard of the Divine Infinitude differentiating Himself into units of\nindividual personality, can only be described as at once The Son of God\nand The Son of Man. If we see that the Eternal Life, by reason of its\nnon-differentiation in itself, must needs become to each of us _exactly\nwhat we take it to be_, then it follows that in order to realize it on\nour own plane of Personality we must see it _through the medium of\nPersonality_, and it is therefore not a theological figment, but the\nSupreme Psychological Truth that no man can come to \"the Father\"--that\nis, to the Parent Spirit--except through the Son (John xiv, 6).\n\nWhen we see the reason at the back of it, the Bible becomes a New Book\nto us, and we learn that the interpretation of it is not to be found in\nlearned commentaries, but in ourselves. Then we find that it is indeed\nThe Book of Promises, not vague and uncertain, but logical and\nscientific, teaching us how to combine the instrumentality of the Law\nwith the freedom of the Word; so that through the Perfect Word,\nmanifested as the Perfect Man, we reach the Perfect Law, and find that\nTHE PERFECT LAW IS THE LAW OF LIBERTY.\n\n\nTHE END\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] For various reasons I am not giving the actual names of places and\npersons in this story.\n\n[2] \"Out of Egypt\" by Miss Crouse. Gorham Press, Boston, U.S.A.\n\n[3] R.W. Allen.\n\n[4] See Chapters on \"Body, Soul, and Spirit\" in my \"Edinburgh Lectures\non Mental Science.\"\n\n[5] See \"Edinburgh Lectures.\"\n\n[6] \"New Knowledge.\"","title":"The Law and the Word","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":44881}