THE DÉNOUEMENT OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS
Then comes the question, What should logically be the dénouement of the
progression we have been considering? Let us briefly recapitulate the steps
of the series. Universal Spirit by Self-contemplation evolves Universal
Substance. From this it produces cosmic creation as the expression of
itself as functioning in Space and Time. Then from this initial movement it
proceeds to more highly specialized modes of Self-contemplation in a
continually ascending scale, for the simple reason that self-contemplation
admits of no limits and therefore each stage of self-recognition cannot be
other than the starting-point for a still more advanced mode of
self-contemplation, and so on _ad infinitum_. Thus there is a continuous
progress toward more and more highly specialized forms of life, implying
greater liberty and wider scope for enjoyment as the capacity of the
individual life corresponds to a higher degree of the contemplation of
Spirit; and in this way evolution proceeds till it reaches a level where it
becomes impossible to go any further except by the exercise of conscious
selection and initiative on the part of the individual, while at the same
time conforming to the universal principles of which evolution is the
expression.
Now ask yourself in what way individual selection and initiative would be
likely to act as expressing the Originating Spirit itself? Given the
knowledge on the part of the individual that he is able by his power of
initiative and selection to draw directly upon the All-originating Spirit
of Life, what motive could he have for not doing so? Therefore, granted
such a perfect recognition, we should find the individual holding precisely
the same place in regard to his own individual world that the
All-originating Spirit does to the cosmos; subject only to the same Law of
Love, Beauty, &c., which we found to be necessarily inherent in the
Creative Spirit--a similarity which would entirely prevent the individual
from exercising his otherwise limitless powers in any sort of antagonism to
the Spirit of the Great Whole.
At the same time the individual would be quite aware that he was not the
Universal Spirit _in propria persona_, but that he was affording expression
to it through his individuality. Now Expression is impossible except
through Form, and therefore form of some sort is a necessity of
individuality. It is just here, then, that we find the importance of that
principle of Harmony with Environment of which I spoke earlier, the
principle in accordance with which a person who had obtained complete
control of matter, if he wished to transport himself to some other planet,
would appear there in perfect conformity with all the laws of matter that
obtained in that world; though, of course, not subject to any limitation of
the Life Principle in himself. He would exhibit the laws of matter as
rendered perfect by the Law of Originating Life. But if any one now living
on this earth were thus perfectly to realize the Law of Life he would be in
precisely the same position _here_ as our imaginary visitor to another
planet--in other words the dénouement of the Law of Life is not the putting
off of the body, but its inclusion as part of the conscious life of the
Spirit.
This does not imply any difference in the molecular structure of the body
from that of other men, for by the principle of Harmony of which I have
just spoken, it would be formed in strict accordance with the laws of
matter on the particular planet; though it would not be subject to the
limitations resulting from the average man's non-recognition of the power
of the Spirit. The man who had thus fully entered into the Fifth Kingdom
would recognize that, in its relation to the denser modes of matter his
body was of a similar dense mode. That would be its relation to external
environment as seen by others. But since the man now knew _himself_ as not
belonging to these denser modes of manifestation, but as an
individualization of Primary Spirit, he would see that relatively to
himself all matter was Primary Substance, and that from this point of view
any condensations of that substance into atoms, molecules, tissues, and the
like counted for nothing--for him the body would be simply Primary
Substance entirely responsive to his will. Yet his reverence for the Law of
Harmony would prevent any disposition to play psychic pranks with it, and
he would use his power over the body only to meet actual requirements.
In this way, then, we are led to the conclusion that eternal life in an
immortal physical body is the logical dénouement of our evolution; and if
we reflect that, by the conditions of the case, the owners of such bodies
could at will either transport themselves to other worlds or put off the
physical body altogether and remain in the purely subjective life while
still retaining the power to reclothe themselves in flesh whenever they
chose, we shall see that this dénouement of evolution answers all possible
questions as to the increase of the race, the final destruction of the
planet, and the like.
This, then, is the ultimate which we should keep in view; but the fact
remains that, though there may be hidden ones who have thus attained, the
bulk of mankind have not, and that the common lot of humanity is to go
through the change which we call death. In broad philosophical terms death
may be described as the withdrawal of the life into the subjective
consciousness to the total exclusion of the objective consciousness. Then
by the general law of the relation between subjective and objective mind,
the subjective mind severed from its corresponding objective mentality has
no means of acquiring fresh impressions _on its own account_, and therefore
can only ring the changes on those impressions which it has brought with it
from its past life. But these may be of very various sorts, ranging from
the lowest to the highest, from those most opposed to that ultimate destiny
of man which we have just been considering, to those which recognize his
possibilities in a very large measure, needing little more to bring about
the full fruition of perfected life. But however various may be their
experiences, all who have passed through death must have this in common
that they have lost their physical instrument of objective perception and
so have their mode of consciousness determined entirely by the dominant
mode of suggestion which they have brought over with them from the
objective side of life.[6] Of course if the objective mentality were also
brought over this would give the individual the same power of initiative
and selection that he possesses while in the body, and, as we shall see
later on, there are exceptional persons with whom this is the case; but for
the great majority the physical brain is a necessity for the working of the
objective mentality, and so when they are deprived of this instrument their
life becomes purely subjective and is a sort of dream-life, only with a
vast difference between two classes of dreamers--those who dream as they
must and those who dream as they will. The former are those who have
enslaved themselves in various ways to their lower mentality--some by
bringing with them the memory of crimes unpardoned, some by bringing with
them the idea of a merely animal life, others less degraded, but still in
bondage to limited thought, bringing with them only the suggestion of a
frivolous worldly life--in this way, by the natural operation of the Law of
Suggestion, these different classes, either through remorse, or unsatisfied
desires, or sheer incapacity to grasp higher principles, all remain
earth-bound, suffering in exact correspondence with the nature of the
suggestion they have brought along with them. The unchangeable Law is that
the suggestion becomes the life; and this is equally true of suggestions of
a happier sort. Those who have brought over with them the great truth that
conditions are the creations of thought, and who have accustomed themselves
while in objective life to dwell on good and beautiful ideas, are still
able, by reason of being imbued with this suggestion, to mold the
conditions of their consciousness in the subjective world in accordance
with the sort of ideas which have become a second nature to them. Within
the limits of these ideas the dominant suggestion to these entities is that
of a Law which confers Liberty, so by using this Law of the constructive
power of thought they can determine the conditions of their own
consciousness; and thus instead of being compelled to suffer the nightmare
dreams of the other class, they can mold their dream according to their
will. We cannot conceive of such a life as theirs in the unseen as
otherwise than happy, nevertheless its range is limited by the range of the
conceptions they have brought with them. These may be exceedingly beautiful
and thoroughly true and logical _as far as they go_; but they do not go the
whole way, otherwise these spirits would not be in the category which we
are considering but would belong to that still higher class who fully
realize the ultimate possibilities which the Law of the Expression of
Spirit provides.
The otherwise happy subjective life of these more enlightened souls has
this radical defect that they have failed to bring over with them that
power of original selection and initiative without which further progress
is impossible. I wish the student to grasp this point very clearly, for it
is of the utmost importance. Of course the basis of our further evolution
is conformity to the harmonious nature of the Originating Spirit; but upon
this foundation we each have to build up the superstructure of our own
individuality, and every step of advance depends on our personal
development of power to take that step. This is what is meant by taking an
initiative. It is making a New Departure, not merely recombining the old
things into fresh groupings still subject to the old laws, but introducing
an entirely new element which will bring its own New Law along with it.
Now if this is the true meaning of "initiative" then that is just the
power which these otherwise happy souls do not possess. For by the very
conditions of the case they are living only in their subjective
consciousness, and consequently are living by the law of subjective mind;
and one of the chief characteristics of subjective mind is its incapacity
to reason inductively, and therefore its inability to make the selection
and take the initiative necessary to inaugurate a New Departure. The well
established facts of mental law show conclusively that subjective mind
argues only deductively. It argues quite correctly from any given premises,
but it cannot take the initiative in selecting the premises--that is the
province of inductive reasoning which is essentially the function of the
objective mind. But by the law of Auto-suggestion this discarnate
individual has brought over his premises with him, which premises are the
sum-total of his inductions made during objective life, the conception of
things which he held at the time he passed over, for this constituted his
idea of Truth. Now he cannot add to these inductions, for he has parted
with his instrument for inductive reasoning, and therefore his deductive
reasoning in the purely subjective state which he has now entered is
necessarily limited to the consequences which may be deducted from the
premises which he has brought along with him.
In the case of the highly-developed individualities we are now considering
the premises thus brought over are of a very far-reaching and beautiful
character, and consequently the range of their subjective life is
correspondingly wide and beautiful; but, nevertheless, it is subject to the
radical defect that it is debarred from further progress for the simple
reason that the individual has not brought over with him the mental faculty
which can impress his subjective entity with the requisite forward movement
for making a new departure into a New Order. And moreover, the higher the
subjective development with which the individual passed over the more
likely he will be to realize this defect. If during earth-life he had
gained sufficient knowledge of these things he will carry with him the
knowledge that his discarnate existence is purely subjective; and therefore
he will realize that, however he may be able to order the pictures of his
dream, yet it is still but a dream, and in common with all other dreams
lacks the basis of solidity from which to take _really creative action_.
He knows also that the condition of other discarnate individualities is
similar to his own, and that consequently each one must necessarily live in
a world apart--a world of his own creation, because none of them possess
the objective mentality by which to direct their subjective currents so as
to make them penetrate into the sphere of another subjective entity, which
is the _modus operandi_ of telepathy. Thus he is conscious of his own
inability to hold intercourse with other personalities; for though he may
for his own pleasure create the semblance of them in his dream-life, yet he
knows that these are creations of his own mind, and that while he appears
to be conversing with a friend amid the most lovely surroundings the friend
himself may be having experiences of a very different description. I am, of
course, speaking now of persons who have passed over in a very high state
of development and with a very considerable, though still imperfect,
knowledge of the Law of their own being. Probably the majority take their
dream-life for an external reality; and, in any case, all who have passed
over without carrying their objective mentality along with them must be
shut up in their individual subjective spheres and cease to function as
centers of creative power so long as they do not emerge from that state.
But the highly advanced individuals of whom I am now speaking have passed
over with a true knowledge of the Law of the relation between subjective
and objective mind and have therefore brought with them a _subjective_
knowledge of this truth; and therefore, however otherwise in a certain
sense happy, they must still be conscious of a fundamental limitation which
prevents their further advance. And this consciousness can produce only one
result, an ever-growing longing for the removal of this limitation--and
this represents the intense desire of the Spirit, as individualized in
these souls, to attain to the conditions under which it can freely exercise
its creative power. Sub-consciously this is the desire of _all_ souls, for
it is that continual pressing forward of the Spirit for manifestation out
of which the whole Creative Process arises; and so it is that the great cry
perpetually ascends to God from all as yet undelivered souls, whether in or
out of the body, for the deliverance which they knowingly or unknowingly
desire.
All this comes out of the well-ascertained facts of the law of relation
between subjective and objective mind. Then comes the question, Is there no
way of getting out of this law? The answer is that we can never get away
from universal principles--_but we can specialise them_. We may take it as
an axiom that any law which appears to limit us contains in itself the
principle by which that limitation can be overcome, just as in the case of
the flotation of iron. In this axiom, then, we shall find the clue which
will bring us out of the labyrinth. The same law which places various
degrees of limitation upon the souls that have passed into the invisible
can be so applied as to set them free. We have seen that everything turns
on the obligation of our subjective part to act within the limits of the
suggestion which has been most deeply impressed upon it. Then why not
impress upon it the suggestion that in passing over to the other side it
has brought its objective mentality along with it?
If such a suggestion were effectively impressed upon our subjective mind,
then by the fundamental law of our nature our subjective mind would act in
strict accordance with this suggestion, with the result that the objective
mind would no longer be separated from it, and that we should carry with us
into the unseen our _whole_ mentality, both subjective and objective, and
so be able to exercise our inductive powers of selection and initiative as
well there as here.
Why not? The answer is that we cannot accept any suggestion unless we
believe it to be true, and to believe it to be true we must feel that we
have a solid foundation for our belief. If, then, we can find a sufficient
foundation for adequately impressing this suggestion upon ourselves, then
the principles of mental law assure us that we shall carry our objective
faculty of initiative and selection into the unseen. Therefore our quest is
to find this Foundation. Then, since we cannot accept as true what we
believe to be contrary to the ultimate law of the universe, if we are to
find such a foundation at all it must be within that Law; and it is for
this reason that I have laid so much stress upon the Normal Standard of
Human Individuality. When we are convinced that this ideal completeness is
quite normal, and is a spiritual fact, not dependent upon the body, but
able to control the body, then we have got the solid basis on which to
carry our objective personality along with us into the unseen, and the
well-established laws of our mental constitution justify the belief that we
can do so.
From these considerations it is obvious that those who thus pass over in
possession of their complete mentality must be in a very different position
from those who pass into a condition of merely subjective life, for they
have brought their powers of selection and initiative with them, and can
therefore employ their experiences in the unseen as a starting-point for
still further development. So, then, the question arises, What lines will
this further development be likely to follow?
We are now considering the case of persons who have reached a very high
degree of development; who have succeeded in so completely uniting the
subjective and objective portions of their spiritual being into a perfect
whole that they can never again be severed; and who are therefore able to
function with their whole consciousness on the spiritual plane. Such
persons will doubtless be well aware that they have attained this degree of
development by the Law of the Creative Process working in terms of their
own individuality, and so they would naturally always refer to the original
Cosmic Creation as the demonstration of the principle which they have to
specialize for their own further evolution. Then they would find that the
principle involved is that of the manifestation of Spirit in Form; and they
would further see that this manifestation is not an illusion but a reality,
for the simple reason that both mind and matter are equally projections
from the Great Originating Spirit. Both alike are thoughts of the Divine
Mind, and it is impossible to conceive any greater reality than the Divine
Thought, or to get at any more substantial source of reality than that.
Even if we were to picture the Divine Mind as laughing at its productions
as being mere illusions _relatively to itself_ (which I certainly do not),
still the relation between the individual mind and material existence would
be a reality for the individual, on the simple mathematical ground that
like signs multiplied together invariably produce a positive result, even
though the signs themselves be negative; so that, for us, at every stage of
our existence substance must always be as much a reality as mind. Therefore
the manifestation of Spirit in Form is the eternal principle of the
Creative Process whether in the evolution of a world-system or in that of
an individual.
But when we realize that by the nature of the Creative Process substance
must be an eternal verity we must not suppose that this is true also of
_particular forms_ or of _particular modes_ of matter. Substance is a
necessity for the expression of Spirit, but it does not follow that Spirit
is tied down to any particular mode of expression. If you fold a piece of
paper into the form of a dart it will fly through the air by the law of the
form which you have given it. Again, if you take the same bit of paper and
fold it into the shape of a boat it will float on water by the law of the
new form that you have given it. The thing formed will act in accordance
with the form given it, and the same paper can be folded into different
forms; but if there were no paper you could put it into any shape at all.
The dart and the boat are both real so long as you retain the paper in
either of those shapes; but this does not alter the fact that you can
change the shapes, though your power to do so depends on the existence of
the paper. This is a rough analogy of the relation between ultimate
substance and particular forms, and shows us that neither substance nor
shape is an illusion; both are essential to the manifestation of Spirit,
only by the nature of the Creative Process the Spirit has power to
determine what shape substance shall take at any particular time.
Accordingly we find the great Law that, as Spirit is the Alpha of the
Creative Process, so solid material Form is its Omega; in other words the
Creative Series is incomplete until solid material form is reached.
Anything short of this is a condition of incompleteness, and therefore the
enlightened souls who have passed over in possession of both sides of their
mentality will realize that their condition, however beatific, is still one
of incompleteness; and that what is wanted for completion is expression
through a material body. This, then, is the direction in which such souls
would use their powers of initiative and selection as being the true line
of evolution--in a word they would realize that the principle of Creative
Progression, when it reaches the level of fully developed mental man,
necessarily implies the Resurrection of the Body, and that anything short
of this would be retrogression and not progress.
At the same time persons who had passed over with this knowledge would
never suppose that Resurrection meant merely the resuscitation of the old
body under the old conditions; for they would see that the same inherent
law which makes expression in concrete substance the ultimate of the
creative series also makes this ultimate form depend on the originating
movement of the spirit which produces it, and therefore that, although
_some_ concrete form is essential for complete manifestation, and is a
substantial reality so long as it is maintained, yet the maintaining of the
particular form is entirely dependent on the action of the spirit of which
the form is the external clothing. This resurrection body would therefore
be no mere illusory spirit-shape, yet it would not be subject to the
limitations of matter as we now know it: it would be physical matter still,
but entirely subject to the will of the indwelling spirit, which would not
regard the denser atomic relations of the body but only its absolute and
essential nature as Primary Substance. I want the student to grasp the idea
that the same thing may be very different when looked at, so to say, from
opposite ends of the stick. What is solid molecular matter when viewed from
the outside is plastic primary substance when viewed from the inside. The
relations of this new body to any stimulus proceeding from outside would be
those of the external laws of Nature; but its relation to the spiritual ego
working from within would be that of a plastic substance to be molded at
will. The employment of such power would, however, at all times be based
upon the reverent worship of the All-creating Spirit; and it would
therefore never be exercised otherwise than in accordance with the
harmonious progress of the Creative Process. Proceeding on these lines the
spirit in the individual would stand in precisely the same relation to his
body that the All-originating Spirit does to the cosmos.
This, then, is the sort of body which the instructed would contemplate as
that in which he was to attain resurrection. He would regard it, not as an
illusion, but as a great reality; while at the same time he would not need
to trouble himself about its particular form, for he would know that it
would be the perfect expression of his own conception of himself. He would
know this because it is in accordance with the fundamental principle that
external creation has its root in the Self-contemplation of Spirit.
Those passing over with this knowledge would obviously be in a very
different position from those who passed over with only a subjective
consciousness. They would bring with them powers of selection and
initiative by which they could continue to impress fresh and expanding
conceptions upon their subjective mind, and so cause it to carry on its
work as the seed-ground of the whole individuality, instead of being shut
up in itself as a mere circulus for the repetition of previously received
ideas; and so in their recognition of the _principle_ of physical
resurrection they would have a clear and definite line of auto-suggestion.
And because this suggestion is derived from the undeniable facts of the
whole cosmic creation, it is one which both subjective and objective mind
can accept as an established fact, and so the suggestion becomes effective.
This suggestion, then, becomes the self-contemplation of the individual
spirit; and because it is in strict conformity with the generic principle
of the Original Creative Activity, of which the individual mind is itself a
product, this becomes also the Self-contemplation of the Originating Spirit
as seeing itself reflected in the individual spirit; so that, by the basic
law of the Creative Process, this suggestion is bound sooner or later to
work out into its corresponding fact, namely, the production of a material
body free from the power of death and from all those limitations which we
now associate with our physical organism.
This, then, is the hope of those who pass over in recognition of the great
truth. But how about those who have passed over without that recognition?
We have seen that their purely subjective condition precludes them from
taking any initiative on their own account, for that requires the presence
of objective mind. Their subjective mind, however, still retains its
essential nature; that is, it is still susceptible to suggestion, and still
possesses its inherent creativeness in working out any suggestion that is
sufficiently deeply implanted in it. Here, then, opens up a vast field of
activity for that other class who have passed over in possession of both
sides of their mentality. By means of their powers of initiative and
selection they can on the principle of telepathy cause their own subjective
mind to penetrate the subjective spheres of those who do not possess those
powers, and they can thus endeavor to impress upon them the great truth of
the physical ultimate of the Creative Process--the truth that any series
which stops short of that ultimate is incomplete, and, if insisted upon as
being ultimate, must become self-destructive because in opposition to the
inherent working of the Universal Creative Spirit. Then, as the perception
of the true nature of the Creative Process dawned upon any subjective
entity, it would by reason of accepting this suggestion begin to develop an
objective mentality, and so would gradually attain to the same status as
those who had passed over in full possession of all their mental powers.
But the more the objective mentality became developed in these discarnate
personalities the more the need of a corresponding physical instrument
would assert itself, both from their intellectual perception of the
original cosmic process, and also from the inherent energy of the Spirit as
centered in the ultimate ego of the individual. Not to seek material
manifestation would be the contrary of all we have traced out regarding the
nature of the Creative Process; and hence the law of tendency resulting
from the conscious union of subjective and objective mind in the individual
must necessarily be toward the production of a physical form. Only we must
recollect, as I have already pointed out, that this concentration of these
minds would be upon a principle and not upon a particular bodily shape. The
particular form they would be content to leave to the inherent
self-expressiveness of the Universal Spirit working through the particular
ego, with the result that their expectation would be fixed upon a _general
principle_ of physical Resurrection which would provide a form suited to be
the material instrument of the highest ideal of man as a spiritual and
mental being. Then, since the subjective mind is the automatic builder of
the body, the result of the individual's acceptance of the Resurrection
principle must be that this mental conception will eventually work out as a
corresponding fact. Whether on this planet or on some other, matters not,
for, as we have already seen, the physical body evolved by a soul that is
conscious of its unity with the Universal Spirit is bound to be in
conformity with the physical laws of _any_ planet, though from the
standpoint of the conscious ego not limited by them.
In this way we may conceive that those who have passed over in possession
of both sides of their spiritual nature would find a glorious field of
usefulness in the unseen in helping to emancipate those who had passed over
in possession of their subjective side only. But from our present analysis
it will be seen that this can only be effected on the basis of a
recognition of the principle of the Resurrection of the Body. Apart from
the recognition of this principle the only possible conception which the
discarnate individual could form of himself would be that of a purely
subjective being; and this carries with it all the limitations of a
subjective life unbalanced by an objective one; and so long as the
principle of physical resurrection is denied, so long the life must
continue to be merely subjective and consequently unprogressive.[7]
But it may be asked why those who have realized this great principle
sufficiently to carry their objective mentality into the unseen state are
liable to the change which we call death. The answer is that though they
have realized _the general principle_ they have not yet divested themselves
of certain conceptions by which they limit it, and consequently by the law
of subjective mind they carry those limitations into the working of the
Resurrection principle itself.
They are limited by the race-belief that physical death is under all
conditions a necessary law of Nature, or by the theological belief that
death is the will of God; so then the question is whether these beliefs are
well founded. Of course appeal is made to universal experience, but it does
not follow that the universal experience of the past is bound to be the
universal experience of the future--the universal experience of the past
was that no man had ever flown across the English Channel, yet now it has
been done. What we have to do, therefore, is not to bother about past
experience, but to examine the inherent nature of the Law of Life and see
whether it does not contain possibilities of further development. And the
first step in this direction is to see whether what we have hitherto
considered limitations of the law are really integral parts of the law
itself. The very statement of this question shows the correct answer; for
how can a force acting in one direction be an integral part of a force
acting in the opposite direction? How can the force which pulls a thing
down be an integral part of the force which builds it up? To suppose,
therefore, that the limitations of the law are an integral portion of the
law itself is a _reductio ad absurdum_.
For these reasons the argument from the past experience of the race counts
for nothing; and when we examine the theological argument we shall find
that it is only the old argument from past experience in another dress. It
is alleged that death is the will of God. How do we know that it is the
will of God? Because the facts prove it so, is the ultimate answer of all
religious systems with one exception; so here we are back again at the old
race-experience as the criterion of truth. Therefore the theological
argument is nothing but the materialistic argument disguised. It is in our
more or less _conscious_ acceptance of the materialistic argument, under
any of its many disguises, that the limitation of life is to be found--not
in the Law of Life itself; and if we are to bring into manifestation the
infinite possibilities latent in that Law it can only be by looking
steadily into the _principle_ of the Law and resolutely denying everything
that opposes it. The Principle of Life must of necessity be Affirmative,
and affirmative throughout, without any negative anywhere--if we once
realize this we shall be able to unmask the enemy and silence his guns.
Now to do this is precisely the one object of the Bible; and it does it in
a thoroughly logical manner, always leading on to the ultimate result by
successive links of cause and effect. People will tell you that the Bible
is their authority for saying that Death is the will of God; but these are
people who read it carelessly; and ultimately the only reason they can give
you for their manner of interpreting the Bible is that the facts prove
their interpretation to be correct; so that in the last resort you will
always find you have got back to the old materialistic argument from past
race-experience, which logically proves nothing. These are good
well-meaning people with a limited idea which they read into the Bible, and
so limit its promises by making physical death an essential preliminary to
Resurrection. They grasp, of course, the great central idea that Perfected
Man possesses a joyous immortal Life permeating spirit, soul and body; but
they relegate it to some dim and distant future, entirely disconnected from
the present law of our being, not seeing that if we are to have eternal
life it must necessarily be involved in some principle which is eternal,
and therefore existing, at any rate latently, at the present moment. Hence,
though their fundamental principle is true, they are all the time mentally
limiting it, with the result that they themselves create the conditions
they impose upon it, and consequently the principle will work (as
principles always do) in accordance with the conditions provided for its
action.
Unless, therefore, this limiting belief is entirely eradicated, the
individual, though realizing the fundamental principle of Life, is bound to
pass out of physical existence; but on the other hand, since he does take
the recognition of this fundamental principle with him, it is bound to bear
fruit sooner or later in a joyous Resurrection, while the intermediate
state can only be a peaceful anticipation of that supreme event. This is
the answer to the question why those who have realized the great principle
sufficiently to carry their objective mentality into the unseen world are
still liable to physical death; and in the last analysis it will be found
to resolve itself into the remains of race belief based upon past
experience. These are they who pass over in sure and certain hope of a
glorious Resurrection--sure and certain because founded upon the very Being
of God Himself, that inherent Life of the All-creating Divine Spirit which
is the perpetual interaction of the Eternal Love and Beauty. They have
grasped the Life-giving Truth, only they have postponed its operation,
because they have the fixed idea that its present fruition is an absolute
impossibility.
But if we ask the reason for this idea it always comes back to the old
materialistic argument from the experience of past conditions, while the
whole nature of advance is in the opening up of new conditions. And in this
advance the Bible is the pioneer book. Its whole purport is to tell us most
emphatically that death is _not_ the will of God. In the story of Eden God
is represented as warning man of the poisonous nature of the forbidden
fruit, which is incompatible with the idea of death as an essential feature
of man's nature. Then from the point where man has taken the poison all the
rest of the Bible is devoted to telling us how to get rid of it. Christ, it
tells us, was manifested to bring Life and Immortality to light--to abolish
death--to destroy the works of the devil, that is the death-dealing power,
for "he that hath the power of death is the devil." It is impossible to
reconcile this life-giving conception of the Bible with the idea that death
at any stage or in any degree is the desire of God. Let us, therefore,
start with the recognition that this negative force, whether in its minor
degrees as disease or in its culmination as death, is that which it is the
will of God to abolish. This also is logical; for if God be the Universal
Spirit of Life finding manifestation in individual lives, how can the
desire of this Spirit be to act in opposition to its own manifestation?
Therefore Scripture and common-sense alike assure us that the will of God
toward us is Life and not death.[8]
We may therefore start on our quest for Life with the happy certainty that
God is on our side. But people will meet us with the objection that though
God wills Life to us, He does not will it just yet, but only in some dim
far-off future. How do we know this? Certainly not from the Bible. In the
Bible Jesus speaks of two classes of persons who believe on Him as the
Manifestation or Individualisation of the Spirit of Life. He speaks of
those who, having passed through death, still believe on Him, and says that
these _shall_ live--a future event. And at the same time He speaks of those
who are living and believe on Him, and says that they shall never die--thus
contemplating the entire elimination of the contingency of death (John xi.
25).
Again St. Paul expresses his wish not to be unclothed but to be clothed
upon, which he certainly would not have done had he considered the latter
alternative a nonsensical fancy. And in another place he expressly states
that we shall not all die, but that some shall be transmuted into the
Resurrection body without passing through physical death. And if we turn to
the Old Testament we find two instances in which this is said to have
actually occurred, those of Enoch and Elijah. And we may note in passing
that the Bible draws our attention to certain facts about these two
personages which are important as striking at the root of the notion that
austerities of some sort are necessary for the great attainment. Of Enoch
we are expressly told that he was the father of a large family, and of
Elijah that he was a man of like nature with ourselves--thus showing us
what is wanted is not a shutting of ourselves off from ordinary human life
but such a clear realization of the Universal Principle, of which our
personal life is the more or less conscious manifestation, that our
commonest actions will be hallowed by the Divine Presence; and so the grand
dénouement will be only the natural result of our daily habit of walking
with God. From the stand-point of the Bible, therefore, the attainment of
physical regeneration without passing through death is not an
impossibility, nor is it necessarily relegated to some far off future.
Whatever any one else may say to the contrary, the Bible contemplates such
a dénouement of human evolution as a present possibility.
Then if we argue from the philosophical stand-point we arrive at precisely
the same result. Past experience proves nothing, and we must therefore make
a fresh start by going back to the Original Creative action of the Spirit
of Life itself. Then, if we take this as our starting point, remembering
that at the stage of this _original_ movement there can be no intervention
by a second power, because there is none, why should we mentally impose any
restriction upon the action of the Creative Power? Certainly not by its own
Law of Tendency, for that must always be toward fuller self-expression; and
since this can only take place through the individual, the desire of the
Spirit must always be toward the increasing of the individual life. Nor yet
from anything in the created substance, for that would either be to suppose
the Spirit creating something in limitation of its own Self-expression, or
else to suppose that the limiting substance was created by some other power
working against the Spirit; and as this would mean a Duality of powers we
should not have reached the Originating Power at all, and so we might put
Spirit and Substance equally out of court as both being merely modes of
secondary causation. But if we see that the Universal Substance must be
created by emanation from the Universal Spirit, then we see that no
limitation of Spirit by substance is possible. We may therefore feel
assured that no limitation proceeds either from the will of the Spirit or
from the nature of Substance.
Where, then, does limitation come from? Limiting conditions are created by
the same power which creates everything else, namely, the
Self-contemplation of Spirit. This is why it is so important to realize
that the individual mind forms a center from which the self-contemplating
action of Spirit is specialized in terms of the individual's own mode of
thinking, and therefore so long as the individual contemplates negative
conditions as being _of the essence_ of his own personality, he is in
effect employing the Creative Power of the Self-contemplation of Spirit
invertedly, destructively instead of constructively. The Law of the
Self-contemplation of Spirit as the Creative Power is as true in the
microcosm as in the macrocosm, and so the individual's contemplation of
himself as subject to the law of sin and death keeps him subject to that
law, while the opposite self-contemplation, the contemplation of himself as
rejoicing in the Life of the Spirit, the Perfect Law of Liberty, must
necessarily produce the opposite results.
Why, then, should not regeneration be accomplished here and now? I can see
no reason against it, either Scriptural or philosophical, except our own
difficulty in getting rid of the race-traditions which are so deeply
embedded in our subjective minds. To get rid of these we require a firm
basis on which to receive the opposite suggestion. We need to be convinced
that our ideal of a regenerated self is in accord with the Normal Standard
of Humanity and is within the scope of the laws of the universe. Now to
make clear to us the _infinitude_ of the truly Normal Standard of Humanity
is the whole purpose of the Bible; and the Manifestation of this Standard
is set before us in the Central Personality of the Scriptures who is at
once the Son of God and the Son of Man--the Great Exception, if you will,
to man as we know him now, but the Exception which proves the Rule. In
proportion as we begin to realize this we begin to introduce into our own
life the action of that Personal Factor on which all further development
depends; and when our recognition is complete we shall find that we also
are children of God.