COMMUNICATION.
Communication proper belongs to the sphere of manifestation, and
signifies, as I use the term, the imparting by one, and the receiving
by another, of that which is imparted, or that which represents that
which is imparted. When we look at man as a finite being, born as
he is without conscious knowledge, and without conscious affection,
and developed from that negative point by that which flows or enters
into his consciousness and daguerreotypes itself there, we readily
see that he can only develop by being subject to the principles of
communication: that is, he must receive that which is without into
his consciousness; therefore it must be communicated to him. Hence
it becomes necessary for us to understand somewhat the laws of
communication. As communication belongs to the sphere of manifestation,
or the sphere of the finite, we must examine and see what are the means
by which man as a conscious being is addressed, and the law by which
the influence exerted upon him is governed.
The mind when looked at in its simplest nature consists of its
perceptions and its affections: that is, its knowledge, if you please,
and its love; but in the order of unfolding, perception, as a conscious
principle, precedes affection. That is, an individual as a finite
being can not love till he perceives an object to call forth that
love or affection. Whether it pertain to unconscious or to conscious
nature, he must perceive the object before the affection is known to
exist in his consciousness. For instance, a husband can know nothing
of conjugal love, neither can the wife, until the object calling it
forth exists in his or her perceptions. Neither can the mother love
her babe until the object exists in her perceptions. Neither can the
brother love brother or sister, or the child love its parents, until
they perceive the objects of their affection. So you understand what
I mean when I say in all finite natures perception precedes affection
as a conscious principle; hence the law of communication pertains to
perception and affection. As perception precedes affection, it is more
external, view it in what sphere you will. I am now using perception in
the sense of thought. The individual, by the means of communication,
may be addressed externally by first addressing his perceptions, and
thence through his perceptions addressing his affections; or he may
be addressed by first addressing his affections, and through them his
thoughts. I shall use for the purpose of convenience the expression
thought and affection.
Then the two methods by which individuals may be addressed are first
the external, and second the internal. The external communication flows
first into the thought, and the internal first into the affection. The
external proceeds from thought to affection, and the internal from
affection to thought. The one is by an outward language, by signs, and
symbols, and representatives of ideas; the other is without external
language, and is what is known as inspiration.
Now, as there are three planes of conscious being, conscious
perception, and conscious affection, and as the thought or perception
precedes the affection in the first or lowest plane, so it is in the
second; and it is the perception and affection in the third that
begets the affection in the divine sphere. But as I am speaking of
communication I am confining my remarks to the first two spheres—the
external physical sphere, and the spiritual or relational sphere;
for they are spheres of manifestation and communication, and have
reference to these finite spheres. When I complete the consideration
of these, I will make some remarks on the divine sphere, to show the
difference between it and those spheres below the divine. Take man,
then, as a mere animal being, looking at his nature as being nervous,
where his perceptions and affections have respect to his physical
being. Here the same law of order prevails—perception precedes
affection, and perception is external, while affection or love is
internal; but taken both together as constituting the animal nature, it
becomes external to his spiritual nature; but in his spiritual nature
perception precedes affection; hence, if we would communicate with him
spiritually, external language communicates first with thought, and
thence with the affection; while internal language communicates first
with the affection and thence with thought. Then external and internal
communication differ in this, that the external is by means of outward
language, and the internal is by means of a sort of inspiration.
There are inspirations pertaining to each of the three spheres—the
nerve-sphere, the spirit-sphere, and the divine-sphere. On coming into
_rapport_ with this audience, I through the nerve-medium by external
means perceive individuals about me—perceive their forms, their faces,
and their relative positions to each other; that is, by an external
medium which represents the individual through the nerve-medium to my
consciousness. But I may come internally into _rapport_ with these
individuals by bringing my nerve-system into harmony with their
nerve-system, and becoming negative to them. To explain: when I bring
my nerve-system into sympathy with you, I take your sensations upon
myself. If you have a pain in your head, I have a pain in my head also,
corresponding in location and character to yours; or if you experience
a pain in any other part of your body, I feel that pain. Not a word has
passed between us concerning it, but nevertheless it comes upon me,
and affects me in precisely the same manner that it does you. Now this
I consider analogous to the inspiration which belongs to the higher
plane. This is the inspiration of the nerve-sympathy. Permit me to
explain briefly what I understand by harmony; because the great law of
harmony is fundamental to a comprehension of the law of inspiration.
You are aware that if we take two strings of equal length and tension,
and vibrate one of them, its vibration communicates its motion to
the atmosphere, and through the atmosphere to the adjoining string,
so that they at length vibrate together. This experiment may be
made by any one; and it will be found that in this manner they can
be caused to give forth the same sound, because the length of the
vibrations of each will be the same; and when there is a difference in
the tone, it will be found that there is a difference in the length
of the vibrations. This fact can be demonstrated by varying the
vibrations—by tightening or loosening the strings, and thus shortening
or lengthening the vibrations, when it will be perceived that the
shorter the vibration the higher will be the pitch or tone. The length
of vibration, then, determines the question of harmony. Here appears
the great law of harmony in musical sound throughout the universe,
which is commensurability. In mathematics, things which will mutually
measure each other are said to be commensurable. Now these spheres of
atmospheric vibration will always produce concord or harmony of sound.
The difference between a third and a fifth is in the difference in the
tone, and the difference in tone depends, as already said, upon the
length of vibration. The sweetest harmony is the apparent discord,
where the vibrations do not chord, but where every fifth coincides;
and in this way produces the harmony of the third and fifth. The
octave produces it by being repeated twice, so that after all the real
octave is as the square of the octave; that is, the octave multiplied
into itself; and you arrive mathematically at the law of harmony by
following out that principle. The point to which I wish to call your
attention is, that what constitutes harmony is simply commensurability
in the atmospheric undulations.
Now my nerve-fluid moves by pulsatory movements, as move all other
media, and these movements sustain to those of your nerve-fluid
commensurable or incommensurable relations; and you will find that
the law of musical harmony, by which one of two strings having
the same tension communicates its motion to the other, is the law
which determines the harmony between my nerve-system and yours. I
am constituted to speak upon a certain key, like an instrument. My
nerve-vibrations undulate to that key, and when I am in perfect
health, there is perfect harmony in my system. Your nerve-undulations
are perhaps tuned on a different key, and if you are positive to
me, my nerve-undulation will not move yours, nor yours mine, but
they will resist each other like two strings unequally tuned. So my
nerve-vibration will not communicate its undulations to you, nor will
yours communicate its undulations to me, unless we happen to be upon
the same key, or in harmonic or commensurable relations with one
another. But in order to get our nerve-systems to undulate one upon the
other, I must either become negative to you or you must become negative
to me. If I relax the key of my nerve-vibration, I shall change them
until my nerve-system undulates in harmony with your nerve-system;
and I being negative and you positive, you undulate to my key, and
we get nerve-sensations between us without any sign. The individual
in mesmerizing his subject becomes positive, and he will succeed in
mesmerizing that subject just as soon as he brings about a harmony of
nerve-vibration, so that the nerve-vibrations of both are alike. The
condition is that the operator places himself in a positive position,
while the subject must become negative, by allowing his nerves to
become relaxed; then the operator commences by a strong effort to
undulate, so to speak, his nerve-influence or forces upon the medium,
until the medium sinking down comes to his key; and then he by his
forces insulates the system, and the individual passes rapidly into
the condition of mesmerism; but do any thing to disturb that medium,
so as to make the points of nerve-tension unyielding, and the operator
may work till doomsday in vain. It is not till the points have yielded
and the vibrations harmonize with his that he can produce the effect
upon the medium. This is on the same principle with the phenomena
exhibited in experiments with the string, which is a type of the law of
communication in every sphere—the vibration of the string represents
the entire law.
Take one string whose points of tension are unyielding, and another
whose points of tension are yielding; then cause one of them to
undulate, and it will impart its motion to the atmosphere, when the
atmosphere will strike upon the other; and if it have the same points
of tension that the other has, it will undulate; but if it have not
the same tension, it will receive the influence of the atmosphere,
the tendency of which will be to depress it and bring it to its own
vibration; thus eventually the two strings will be made to harmonize.
So when we sit down to mesmerize a person, he may be so positive that
we do not at first succeed, perhaps, in producing the least impression
upon him. We try again and again, and at last succeed in controlling
the nerve-system, and through that the mental system of the subject. We
are each time we try reducing the nerve-system to our key or standard,
and the moment it is reduced to that point, the subject is under the
operator’s control, and not till then. When I speak of the harmonic
action of one system upon another, it will be perceived that I speak
of the relative measure or length of the nerve-undulation which passes
between one mind and another. In the nerve-plane there is this method
of addressing the nervous perceptions by external means—by language, by
signs, by pantomimic representations. And there is the internal method
corresponding to inspiration, which consists in coming into nervous
sympathy and receiving nervous sensations one from another. A sensitive
person looking upon a wound shrinks from beholding the sight, and there
are real sensations experienced in his nervous system which have been
produced, not because a nerve-influence has acted upon him, but because
he has seen the wound. The impression first fell upon his conscious
perceptions, and then went to his feelings, which is analogous to
the principle that the idea first comes into the thought, and thence
reaches the feelings.
In the second plane—the mental or Spiritual plane—the same law
prevails. There is the external method of addressing the mind, and
there is also an internal method. The external is the method by which
the mind is addressed first through the thought, and the internal
is that by which the mind is addressed through the feelings. These
two methods obtain in the whole plane of manifestation. If I wish to
communicate with you, I must adopt one of these two methods; and if I
am not in spiritual or nervous _rapport_ with you, I must adopt one
of the methods of external communication, and address you by signs or
outward representations—addressing first the thought or understanding,
and coming thence to the affection indirectly. In all external
methods, as well as in internal methods, media of communication become
necessary. In speaking to you it becomes necessary that there should
be some external media between you and me, and my communication must
be through that media. In the present case, my speaking to you is
performed through the physical atmosphere. I undulate my organs of
speech to produce sound, and the atmosphere connects them with your
organs of hearing, so that my mind, through my organs of speech, is
connected with your mind. The method of communication is to transmit
the actions of my organs of speech to your organs of hearing. Without
this external medium I could not communicate with you by an external
language.
Were I to address, not the ear, but the eye, there must be between us
an external medium which addresses the eye; and that medium is the
light which takes up the image of that which I would represent, and
transmits it to your consciousness through the eye. So also in respect
to the nerve-medium. If I would communicate an impression through
the nerve-medium, there must be that medium external to me which
corresponds to the action of the nerve-fluid in you and me—there must
be a medium between us which takes up my action and transmits it to
you, and makes it your action. So with the mental medium. If I am to
stand here, and you are to come into _rapport_ with me, and I am to
impress my thoughts upon you without external language, there must be
a medium corresponding to these thoughts, and that medium must come
down from me to you; and while I have power to awaken its vibration,
its vibration must have power to awaken the same impression in you.
Hence, then, in respect to all communication, there must necessarily be
media connecting one with the other, who are all concerned in making
and receiving the communication; and the medium must be such that it
will extend from the one to the other. It must be continuous also; for
if there be any interruption in the media, the communication can not be
transmitted. For illustration, if I would address your consciousness
through sound, the atmosphere, as the medium, must be continuous
between you and me; for if you interpose a vacuum, you can not transmit
the action through it, the connection being destroyed. So in regard
to light. Interpose any medium which will not allow the light to pass
through it, and I can not transmit the image by means of light. So also
the nerve-medium must be continuous, in order to admit of transmitting
communication through it. The mental medium must likewise be
continuous, or I can not represent my thought through it. You perceive,
then, this universal law in respect to communication between one mind
and another, that there must necessarily intervene a medium, which must
be continuous between them, and it must be such as to awaken action
in the one, and transmit and awaken the same action in the other. It
matters not what the plane is. They all come under the same law.
Before I, by my simple will-power, can transmit a thought or idea or
impression of my mind to you, there must be something between us which
can take up and repeat that idea, or record it in your consciousness.
If there be anything to interrupt this medium, I can not transmit
that thought; so that any power whatever which can interrupt that
medium can interrupt the communication. Hence, again, it appears
that in all communication between one being and another, there must
necessarily interpose a medium, which must be continuous from the
communicator to the one receiving the communication. This brings us
to the consideration of other conditions necessary for communication
between two minds—the difference between the thing, the being, or the
existence itself, and that by which it is made known to the mind. I
stand here before you. You can see me. I am then present in each one
of your minds. I am present by my form, as well as by the sound of my
voice. How many of me are there here? One, of course. How many do you
see? How many of my mental images are here? Just as many as there are
eyes to look. My image is that by which you see me. My image is not
in your mind in reality; it is represented in your mind by something
proceeding from me to you. My form is multiplied and repeated wherever
there is an eye to see the image which proceeds from this form. If
there are two or three hundred persons present, I have two or three
hundred spiritual forms; and if there were ten thousand present, I
should have ten thousand spiritual forms. There is a difference, then,
between the form itself and that which represents the form, and you
should make this distinction. You may take as many positions as there
are mathematical points in this room, and place an eye in each, and
my form will be represented in all of these points. The means, then,
by which you, through the eye, become conscious of my presence here,
is omnipresent in this room. I am not omnipresent, but that which
represents me is omnipresent, and that by which mind becomes conscious
of me is omnipresent.
There is never any existence to the mind in the sphere of
manifestation, except by representation. We talk as though we saw the
sun, moon, and stars, and not as though we saw their representations;
but in regard to all things external or manifestational, man in all
forms only perceives the representation; and when the representation
corresponds to the reality, he has the truth. Now in looking at these
lights, the light is not in your mind, but its representation is
there. It is there by that which represents it. Then you must make
a distinction between the omnipresence of being and of that which
represents being. In respect to all means by which the mind perceives
existence external to its consciousness, it is true that it only
perceives it by representation, and not by its presence. Existence
in every department is represented to your mind, and mind by its
representation, and not by its absolute presence, perceives it.
Understand this distinction, and it will explain a great many mysteries
you have had to contend with in times past. As you perceive my form
by that which represents it to you, and as that which represents
it is omnipresent in this room, while my form, from which these
representations flow, has but one position, so also, if you should
remove these walls many feet, or even miles, making this room many
miles in extent, my form would be omnipresent in all this space, and
the mind that perceived me would perceive me by that representation of
form, and not by my presence.
Now then, understanding this law, we will be very careful in all our
investigations of communication to distinguish between the presence
of the thing itself and the presence of that which represents it.
Did I wish to communicate with a Spirit, who has unfolded in him a
Spirit-consciousness, which can be addressed in another way than
through the physical eye or ear or touch, and being so divested of
this physical form that my mind comes in absolute contact with this
Spirit-medium which permeates all space, and which internally and
spiritually corresponds to light external and physical, and passes
freely through bodies opaque to light—then my Spirit-form acts upon
that Spirit-medium which is not impeded by this wall, but which passes
through it as light through transparent glass, carrying my image with
it. We say that glass is transparent, because light passes freely
through it, and brings the image of that which it would represent.
We see an individual or tree coming freely through the glass into
the room. Now if we have a medium which will pass as freely through
a board, then that board is as transparent to that medium as glass
is to light. The magnetic medium, by which the magnetic needle is
influenced, passes freely through a board even; therefore to that
medium the board is as transparent as glass is to light. It is also
well to understand that this nerve-medium, as well as the spiritual
medium corresponding to the mind—which is to the mind what the medium
of light is to the eye—passes freely through these opaque bodies.
Therefore the individual brought in contact with this medium will
see Spirit-existences, not by their presence in the consciousness,
but by that which represents the presence there. Hence it is that the
clairvoyant (when you have proceeded with your manipulation until
you have insulated the mind, or brought it into clear _rapport_ with
this spiritual medium or atmosphere so that he sees by the spiritual
sight and hears with the spiritual ear, and no longer sees with the
physical eye, or hears with the physical ear) comes in contact with
this spiritual medium, and can look out into another room, and tell
what is transpiring, who is there, etc., just as we can look through
glass and tell what we see. The principle is precisely the same. The
medium by which he perceives things in another room freely permeates
or passes through the intervening walls; so that although my spiritual
form is still in this body, yet it is actually exerting its influence
on this spiritual medium throughout the world—throughout not only
this world, but throughout the solar system. Wherever this spiritual
medium extends, this spiritual image of mine is taken and carried
out through that medium, just as my physical image is carried out
through the medium of light; and whoever comes into _rapport_ with
that Spirit-medium and influence, and undulates to the same motion,
will perceive that form. Hence coming into the clairvoyant condition
I may see a person in London, if it so happen that the undulation
of my mind on this medium be such as to harmonize with that of the
individual in London—not that his spirit is personally here present,
or my spirit personally present there (but I am here in my own
spirit-consciousness, and he there in his spirit-consciousness), but
because his image as well as mine is here and there and everywhere
else. The idea that my mind goes to London, or his comes here, is
altogether a misconception. I perceive that individual in London, not
by his absolute presence, but by that which represents that presence
here; just as I see you, not by your presence in my mind, but by that
which represents your presence there. It is in this way that persons in
the body are at times seen as though in distant places; that is, they
are seen by that spiritual image which is present, where the mind is
unfolded so as to perceive by the spiritual medium, and happens to be
in _rapport_ so as to undulate to the same motion with that of the mind
of the individual it perceives.
Standing here this evening, I may be seen in Philadelphia, because
my image is there, as well as in every other place on earth; and the
individual, let him be where he may, who happens to be in _rapport_
with me, will perceive me as though I were present where he is,
and all the imagery by which I am surrounded. I am looking on this
congregation, and therefore the person seeing me, sees me surrounded by
this congregation. He does not see you, but since you are in my mind,
your image goes with mine. The person coming into _rapport_ with me,
sees you as your image exists in my mind. The idea that persons whose
external forms are in different places, communicate with each other
by being present one with the other, is altogether a mistaken one. So
far as the external or relational is concerned—so far as the finite or
manifestational is concerned—we communicate externally only by that
medium which represents that which we investigate or perceive; and that
is the peculiarity of arriving at knowledge through what is called the
sphere of manifestation. The difference between being and manifestation
is seen in that law.
If any one doubts this law, I am ready to be questioned. Bring up
any case you please, either from the natural or the Spiritual world,
and I will show that that is the law. I say it is altogether a
fallacious idea that Spirits can not communicate without being actually
present—the idea that Spirits can not communicate in New York, London,
Liverpool, or any other place in the world at the same moment, is
altogether a fallacious idea. They can be present wherever there is a
mind in _rapport_ with them to see that presence. People talk about
their being so rapid in their passage from here to Boston or London,
and wonder how they can go over the ground so quick. This is all
explained when you understand the law of manifestation. There is no
apparent difference of time between London and any other place—it is
only a relative difference—merely a question of relation. This, then,
being the law of communication and manifestation, we will just notice
one thing further, which will explain why it is that individuals are
obliged to come into certain states to receive communications, and
will answer many other questions, among which are, “Why are not all
mediums?” “Why can not all get communications?” “Why is it that one who
can get a communication at one time can not at another?” Ten thousand
such questions are pressed every day, when the law is just as simple as
that two and two make four.
If we wish to get a communication we must conform to the conditions
required by the law; and if we do not conform to those conditions,
God himself could not give it to us. The laws of manifestation and
communication are as fixed and immutable as God’s own being. Our
business is to comply with the conditions, and then take what follows.
We need not stop to quarrel because it requires a wire rather than a
tow-string to make a good telegraph. It is enough for us to know that
it is so, and conform to the conditions.
The great law by which all action producing result, producing
development and communication, is governed, is the one to which
I first referred—the law of commensurability in form and motion.
All development comes under that law. The law of triunes, the law
of sevens, and the law of twelves, are all wrought out by that
simple law. You can not develop in any key except you comply with
that law. Commensurability tends to produce harmonious results,
while incommensurability tends to produce discord and death—the
difference between concord and discord marks the difference between
commensurability and incommensurability in form and motion.
We have several different departments of our systems, I have a vital,
a nervous, and a mental system, each of which has actions peculiar to
itself—actions which sustain to each other certain relations, either
commensurable or incommensurable. Now, when my spiritual and vital
systems act upon the same key, there is harmony between my internal
and external forms; but if they do not undulate to the same key—if
there is not harmonious action between my mind and spirit, I can not
be a medium for physical communication, for the same reason that if
you graft a peach upon an apple, you can not make it grow (according
to my information). It is because the vital action between them is an
incommensurable action. Now, whenever my mental action is too intense
for my nerve or vital action, if you will by any means reduce my mental
action so that it may harmonize with my nervous action, perhaps I will
get physical manifestations peculiar to myself. I was once one of those
things called mediums, and am now, perhaps, to some extent. When I was
partially asleep there would be very loud raps, and if you could come
in without waking me up you might get a communication, and it has ever
been so when I am peculiarly quiet mentally; but the moment I rouse
up and ask questions I can get no reply. There are others who require
exactly opposite conditions, whose bodies are too active for their
minds, in whose presence you can get rappings by reducing the action
of the body. But you change them from that point, the manifestation
ceases. There are other individuals who in the normal state seem to
comply with all the conditions necessary; that is, whose vital and
nervous actions are the same; but you make them angry or stir up within
them feelings of dread or fear, and your manifestations cease, simply
because there is no harmonic action between the mental and physical
systems.
Persons boast, at times, of being able to destroy the power of
mediums; but nothing could be simpler, for a powerful battery may
have its action stopped by lifting out the connecting wire, simply
by disarranging the conditions of its action. It is often the case
that the entrance of a person into a circle where manifestations are
occurring, causes their discontinuance, and the person is perhaps
astonished to think the Spirits should be so contrary. It was simply
because he had come in and violated the conditions by which they
could manifest. He had, so to speak, disturbed one of the plates of
the battery. The law to which your attention is called, is this great
law of commensurability in form and motion; or, in other words, the
law of harmonic action, which is manifested not only in the material
plane, but unfolded in every degree upon the conscious plane. In
consequence of this law the communication between spheres differing in
their characteristics must necessarily be external; that is, I can not
communicate with an individual by the internal method, or the method
of inspiration, except he is on the same plane with myself. Perhaps
there is not one individual here so exactly on the same nerve-plane
with myself, that I could communicate with him without signs; yet I
can reveal my form so that you can all see me, by an external method,
though we belong, perhaps, to very different planes. We can all
communicate by external language, provided in our communications, we
take that plane of communication which will be familiar to all present.
This is the law existing between minds out of the physical body. One
mind out of the physical body may communicate with another out of the
physical body, by an external means, when he can not by the internal.
The external means does not come directly to the affection. The vulgar
and the profane man may speak to the refined mind by means of speech
so as to shock the feelings; but he can not speak by his sympathy.
One class of individuals in the sphere of lust—in what we call the low
and polluted plane—can not come into _rapport_ with those occupying a
higher plane. There is an “impassable gulf” between them. Nevertheless,
by the external language which addresses the external being, the
thought or perception, they may be able to communicate. The same law of
communication applies in the Spiritual world. If angels are employed
as messengers, they communicate by an external language; because their
thoughts can not flow into the lower affection—the lower can not
respond to them. If a Spirit in Paradise wishes to communicate with
one in the sphere of lust, he must take upon himself the conditions
of lust, or he can not communicate by the internal method. He can
not communicate by the internal method, because the conditions are
dissimilar. Communications made to us from a higher plane must be
external, and must be addressed to our thought; and if they operate
upon our affection, must flow from the thought into the affection. It
is for this reason that God, the Divine, can not communicate with man,
the imperfect and finite, except by means of those who can receive
truth from the Divine, and who can externally communicate it to those
below.
Spirits under a higher and more perfect law can not come and inspire us
in our polluted condition, but they can, by means of external language,
draw us from our low condition of lust, and bring us to a plane where
a Spirit nearer to our plane may by influx come into us and develop
within us the true affection; but the high spirit can not do it. Hence
it is that there is a gradation between the highest and lowest—that
“Angels form a chain which in God’s burning throne begins, And winds
down to the lowest plane of earthly things.”
I may possibly receive a communication from a higher plane by
abstracting myself from the lusts and evils of the world, by sending
forth my highest, and holiest, and purest aspirations after all that is
pure and good—for a moment elevating my condition to a higher plane.
That is the condition of true prayer. While in that condition a Spirit
of that higher plane may, by influx, raise me up and hold me in that
condition. That is, the true effect of the condition known as prayer,
is to separate you from the lusts and passions of the world—every
thing which is tending to degrade you. Then by fixing your mind on
your highest perception, and that which is pure, and true, and holy,
you elevate yourself above the plane on which you naturally move—bring
yourself where a higher angel can reach down and raise you up.
Therefore, though prayer does not change the state of the soul, yet it
is one of the conditions by which we climb to the higher spheres. You
know the direction in regard to prayer was, “when you pray do not go
into the public places and talk a great deal, thinking God is going to
hear you for your much speaking.”
The object of prayer is not to inform God—to change his mind—therefore
when you pray, retire from the world and all outward influences, and
if necessary go into a room, and shut the world out with all its
influences; and then, in the secret aspirations of your soul, raise
your thoughts and desires to the infinite, perfect, and undying, that
you may bring yourself within the plane of blessing—within the plane
of that influence which can elevate you. If God could come down to
our plane, and by the influx of his Spirit into our consciousness
could enlighten our understandings and purify our hearts, there is no
excuse for its not being done. He is infinite, and there is an infinite
fullness in him; but the reason he does not, is that he can not. It is
impossible that God should lie, and it would be lying if he should do
this.
Conditions can not be at the same time unlike and like—at the same time
discordant and harmonious; the plane of lust can not harmonize with the
plane of love. The plane of man in his low condition can not harmonize
with the plane of the Divine in his infinitely elevated, pure, and holy
condition. Therefore if a man would receive God into his consciousness,
he must put himself into the condition to receive influx; and if he
would have an influx from a pure Spirit, he must become pure and holy
himself. If God did not teach Moses so that he could understand all
truth, as did the Man of Nazareth, and understand the great principle,
“Thou shalt not resist evil by evil,” it was because he did not occupy
the plane of inspiration. He occupied a plane where there could be
external manifestations, which he had, but he could not receive a great
universal law, because he was not on the plane of the internal and
divine. The inspiration of Paul, Peter, Luke, and John, was not equal
to that of their Teacher, because they had not arisen to his elevated
condition; had they occupied his plane, God could have communicated as
well to them as to their Teacher; and it would not have been necessary
for them to have a middle-man to come between them and God.
When you have risen to the plane of communication, the communication
is internal. You have no outward form of expression, because you have
the thought itself by inspiration. In the language of the Apostle, God
writes his language in your understanding and in your affections. All
communication with the spiritual world proceeding according to this
law, each man’s communication will be according to his plane; if in
the low plane of lust, his communications will be of that character;
if in the plane of love, his communications will be of that character.
But even the lowest, by putting himself in the condition of prayer, by
aspiring for the good and the holy, by putting up earnest petitions for
aid, will always find a Spirit near to sustain and elevate him.