same principle which gives rise to liberty and power. It is the same
principle applied under inverted conditions. And here I would draw
particular attention to the law that any sequence followed out in an
inverted order must produce an inverted result, for this goes a long way
to explain many of the problems of life. The physical world affords
endless examples of the working of "inversion." In the dynamo the
sequence commences with mechanical force which is ultimately transformed
into the subtler power of electricity; but invert this order, commence
by generating electricity, and it becomes converted into mechanical
force, as in the motor. In the one order the rotation of a wheel
produces electricity, and in the opposite order electricity produces the
rotation of a wheel. Or to exhibit the same principle in the simplest
arithmetical form, if 10÷2=5 then 10÷5=2. "Inversion" is a factor of the
greatest magnitude and has to be reckoned with; but I must content
myself here with only indicating the general principle that the same
power is capable of producing diametrically opposite effects if it be
applied under opposite conditions, a truth which the so-called
"magicians" of the middle ages expressed by two triangles placed
inversely to one another. We are apt to fall into the mistake of
supposing that results of opposite character require powers of opposite
character to produce them, and our conceptions of things in general
become much simplified when we recognise that this is not the case, but
that the same power will produce opposite results as it starts from
opposite poles.
Accordingly the inverted application of the same principle which gives
rise to liberty and power constitutes the entanglement from which we
need to be delivered before power and liberty can be attained, and this
principle is expressed in the law that "as a man thinks so he is." This
is the basic law of the human mind. It is Descarte's "_cogito, ergo
sum_." If we trace consciousness to its seat we find that it is purely
subjective. Our external senses would cease to exist were it not for the
subjective consciousness which perceives what they communicate to it.
The idea conveyed to the subjective consciousness may be false, but
until some truer idea is more forcibly impressed in its stead it
remains a substantial reality to the mind which gives it objective
existence. I have seen a man speak to the stump of a tree which in the
moonlight looked like a person standing in a garden, and repeatedly ask
its name and what it wanted; and so far as the speaker's conception was
concerned the garden contained a living man who refused to answer. Thus
every mind lives in a world to which its own perceptions give objective
reality. Its perceptions may be erroneous, but they nevertheless
constitute the very reality of life for the mind that gives form to
them. No other life than the life we lead in our own mind is possible;
and hence the advance of the whole race depends on substituting the
ideas of good, of liberty, and of order for their opposites. And this
can be done only by giving some sufficient reason for accepting the new
idea in place of the old. For each one of us our beliefs constitute our
facts, and these beliefs can be changed only by discovering some ground
for a different belief.
This is briefly the rationale of the maxim that "as a man thinks so he
is"; and from the working of this principle all the issues of life
proceed. Now man's first perception of the law of cause and effect in
relation to his own conduct is that the result always partakes of the
quality of the cause; and since his argument is drawn from external
observation only, he regards external acts as the only causes he can
effectively set in operation. Hence when he attains sufficient moral
enlightenment to realise that many of his acts have been such as to
merit retribution he fears retribution as their proper result. Then by
reason of the law that "thoughts are things," the evils which he fears
take form and plunge him into adverse circumstances, which again prompt
him into further wrong acts, and from these come a fresh crop of fears
which in their turn become externalised into fresh evils, and thus
arises a circulus from which there is no escape so long as the man
recognises nothing but his external acts as a causative power in the
world of his surroundings.
This is the Law of Works, the Circle of Karma, the Wheel of Fate, from
which there appears to be no escape, because the complete fulfilment of
the law of our moral nature to-day is only sufficient for to-day and
leaves no surplus to compensate the failure of yesterday. This is the
necessary law of things as they appear from external observation only;
and, so long as this conception remains, the law of each man's
subjective consciousness makes it a reality for him. What is needed,
therefore, is to establish the conception that external acts are NOT the
only causative power, but that there is another law of causation,
namely, that of pure Thought. This is the Law of Faith, the Law of
Liberty; for it introduces us to a power which is able to inaugurate a
new sequence of causation not related to any past actions.
But this change of mental attitude cannot be brought about till we have
laid hold of some fact which is sufficient to afford a reason for the
change. We require some solid ground for our belief in this higher law.
Ultimately we find this ground in the great Truth of the eternal
relation between spirit in the universal and in the particular. When we
realise that substantially there is nothing else _but_ spirit, and that
we ourselves are reproductions in individuality of the Intelligence and
Love which rule the universe, we have reached the firm standing ground
where we find that we can send forth our Thought to produce any effect
we will. We have passed beyond the idea of two opposites requiring
reconciliation, into that of a duality in which there is no other
opposition than that of the inner and the outer of the same unity, the
polarity which is inherent in all Being, and we then realise that in
virtue of this unity our Thought is possessed of illimitable creative
power, and that it is free to range where it will, and is by no means
bound down to accept as inevitable the consequences which, if unchecked
by renovated thought, would flow from our past actions.
In its own independent creative power the mind has found the way out of
the fatal circle in which its previous ignorance of the highest law had
imprisoned it. The Unity of the Spirit is found to result in perfect
Liberty; the old sequence of Karma has been cut off, and a new and
higher order has been introduced. In the old order the line of thought
received its quality from the quality of the actions, and since they
always fell short of perfection, the development of a higher
thought-power from this root was impossible. This is the order in which
everything is seen from _without_. It is an inverted order. But in the
true order everything is seen from _within_.
It is the thought which determines the quality of the action, and not
_vice versa_, and since thought is free, it is at liberty to direct
itself to the highest principles, which thus spontaneously reproduce
themselves in the outward acts, so that both thoughts and actions are
brought into harmony with the great eternal laws and become one in
purpose with the Universal Mind. The man realises that he is no longer
bound by the consequences of his former deeds, done in the time of his
ignorance, in fact, that he never was bound by them except so far as he
himself gave them this power by false conceptions of the truth; and thus
recognising himself for what he really is--the expression of the
Infinite Spirit in individual personality--he finds that he is free,
that he is a "partaker of Divine nature," not losing his identity, but
becoming more and more fully himself with an ever-expanding perfection,
following out a line of evolution whose possibilities are inexhaustible.
But there is not in all men this knowledge. For the most part they still
look upon God as an individual Being external to themselves, and what
the more instructed man sees to be unity of mind and identity of nature
appear to the less advanced to be an external reconciliation between
opposing personalities. Hence the whole range of conceptions which may
be described as the Messianic Idea. This idea is not, as some seem to
suppose, a misconception of the truth of Being. On the contrary, when
rightly understood it will be found to imply the very widest grasp of
that truth; and it is from the platform of this supreme knowledge alone
that an idea so comprehensive in its adaptation to every class of mind
could have been evolved. It is the translation of the relations arising
from the deepest laws of Being into terms which can be realised even by
the most unlearned; a translation arranged with such consummate skill
that, as the mind grows in spirituality, every stage of advance is met
by a corresponding unfolding of the Divine meaning; while yet even the
crudest apprehension of the idea implied is sufficient to afford the
required basis for an entire renovation of the man's thoughts concerning
himself, giving him a standing ground from which to think of himself as
no longer bound by the law of retribution for past offences, but as free
to follow out the new law of Liberty as a child of God.
The man's conception of the _modus operandi_ of this emancipation may
take the form of the grossest anthropomorphism or the most childish
notions as to the satisfaction of the Divine justice by vicarious
substitution, but the working result will be the same. He has got what
satisfies him as a ground for thinking of himself in a perfectly new
light; and since the states of our subjective consciousness constitute
the realities of our life, to afford him a convincing ground for
_thinking_ himself free, is to make him free.
With increasing light he may find that his first explanation of the
_modus operandi_ was inadequate; but when he reaches this stage, further
investigation will show him that the great truth of his liberty rests
upon a firmer foundation than the conventional interpretation of
traditional dogmas, and that it has its roots in the great law of
Nature, which are never doubtful, and which can never be overturned. And
it is precisely because their whole action has its root in the
unchangeable laws of Mind that there exists a perpetual necessity for
presenting to men something which they can lay hold of as a sufficient
ground for that change of mental attitude, by which alone they can be
rescued from the fatal circle which is figured under the symbol of the
Old Serpent.
The hope and adumbration of such a new principle has formed the
substance of all religions in all ages, however misapprehended by the
ignorant worshippers; and, whatever our individual opinions may be as to
the historical facts of Christianity, we shall find that the great
figure of liberated and perfected humanity which forms its centre
fulfils this desire of all nations in that it sets forth their great
ideal of Divine power intervening to rescue man by becoming one with
him. This is the conception presented to us, whether we apprehend it in
the most literally material sense, or as the ideal presentation of the
deepest philosophic study of mental laws, or in whatever variety of ways
we may combine these two extremes. The ultimate idea impressed upon the
mind must always be the same: it is that there is a Divine warrant for
knowing ourselves to be the children of God and "partakers of the Divine
nature"; and when we thus realise that there is solid ground for
_believing_ ourselves free, by force of this very belief we _become_
free.
The proper outcome of the study of the laws of spirit which constitute
the inner side of things is not the gratification of a mere idle
curiosity, nor the acquisition of abnormal powers, but the attainment of
our spiritual liberty, without which no further progress is possible.
When we have reached this goal the old things have passed away and all
things have become new. The mystical seven days of the old creation have
been fulfilled, and the first day of the new week dawns upon us with its
resurrection to a new life, expressing on the highest plane that great
doctrine of the "octave" which the science of the ancient temples traced
through Nature, and which the science of the present day endorses,
though ignorant of its supreme significance.
When we have thus been made free by recognising our oneness with
Infinite Being, we have reached the termination of the old series of
sequences and have gained the starting-point of the new. The old
limitations are found never to have had any existence save in our own
misapprehension of the truth, and one by one they fall off as we advance
into clearer light. We find that the Life-Spirit we seek is _in
ourselves_; and, having this for our centre, our relation to all else
becomes part of a wondrous living Order in which every part works in
sympathy with the whole, and the whole in sympathy with every part, a
harmony wide as infinitude, and in which there are no limitations save
those imposed by the Law of Love.
I have endeavoured in this short series of articles to sketch briefly
the principal points of relation between Spirit in ourselves and in our
surroundings. This subject has employed the intelligence of mankind from
grey antiquity to the present day, and no one thinker can ever hope to
grasp it in all its amplitude. But there are certain broad principles
which we must all grasp, however we may specialise our studies in
detail, and these I have sought to indicate, with what degree of success
the reader must form his own opinion. Let him, however, lay firm hold of
this one fundamental truth, and the evolution of further truth from it
is only a question of time--that there is only One Spirit, however many
the modes of its manifestations, and that "the Unity of the Spirit is
the Bond of Peace."
II
THE PERVERSION OF TRUTH
There is a very general recognition, which is growing day by day more
and more widespread, that there is a sort of hidden power somewhere
which it is within our ability, somehow or other, to use. The ideas on
this subject are exceedingly vague with the generality of people, but
still they are assuming a more and more definite form, and that which
they appear to be taking with the generality of the public is the
recognition of the power of suggestion. I suppose none of us doubts that
there is such a thing as the power of suggestion and that it can produce
very great results indeed, and that it is _par excellence_ a hidden
power; it works behind the scenes, it works through what we know as the
subconscious mind, and consequently its activity is not immediately
recognisable, or the source from which it comes. Now there is in some
aspects, its usefulness, its benefit, but in other aspects there is a
source of danger, because a power of this kind is obviously one which
can be used either well or ill; in itself it is perfectly neutral, it
all depends on the purpose for which it is used, and the character of
the agent who employs it.
This recognition of the power of suggestion is in many instances taking
a most undesirable form, and I commend to your notice, in support of
this observation, numerous advertisements in certain classes of
magazines--many of you must have seen many specimens of that
kind--offering for a certain sum of money to put you in the way of
getting personal influence, mental power, power of suggestion, as the
advertisements very unblushingly put it, for any purpose that you may
desire. Some of them even go into further particulars, telling you the
particular sort of purposes for which you can employ this, all of them
certainly being such uses as no one should ever attempt to make of it.
Therefore, this recognition of the power of suggestion, say even as a
mere money-making power, to leave alone other misapplications of it, is
a feature which is taking hold, so to say, of certain sections of the
public who do not realise a higher platform in these things. It is
deplorable that it should be so, but it is in the nature of things
unavoidable. You have a power which can be used affirmatively, and which
can be used negatively, which can be used for higher purposes, and can
be used for lower purposes, and consequently you will find numbers of
people who, as soon as they get hold of it, will at once think only of
the lower purposes, not of the higher.
In support of what I say--although this is by no means, I suppose,
intended as a low application, probably it is intended as a high
application, but I cannot say I agree with it--but to show you that I
am talking from actual facts I will read you a note which I have made
from the _Daily Mail_, of the 20th January, that I daresay some of you
may have seen. It is an article headed "Killing by Prayer," and the
article goes on to say that a certain circular has been sent round to
the different hospitals and other places where the study of vivisection
goes forward to this effect. In this circular, signed with the letters
"M. C.," the writer says that he accidentally heard of a person who was
in the habit of praying from time to time for the death of one of our
leading vivisectors and that always the man indicated died. That is what
M. C. heard by chance during conversation at a hotel dinner. Then
thinking over this, M. C. goes on to say that he (or she) tried praying
that the man most likely to cause suffering to innocent subjects by his
experiments might be removed, and the consequence was that about a
fortnight later one of our most distinguished medical scientists died.
I do not know who the scientist in question was; I daresay some of you
may be aware of the name. However, that is what the _Daily Mail_ tells
us, and it also states that the Anti-Vivisection Societies were
unanimous in condemning this circular, and very properly so. Now you see
the sender of that circular, whoever he was, obviously thought he was
doing a very good piece of work. I myself am by no means any friend of
vivisection. I do not think any one can have a real knowledge of the
truth and remain in touch with it, but I certainly agreed with the
Anti-Vivisection Societies in condemning such a circular as that. You
see there is the assumption that prayer, or mental power, can be used to
remove a person from the stage of life, and M. C. claims that he did it
in the case of this particular scientist.
That brings back another parallel, almost, I might say, an historical
parallel, to our mind; that of Dr. Anna Kingsford, taking place perhaps
some forty years ago, who claimed--of course she was a very strong
anti-vivisectionist--that by thought-power she caused the death of
Claude Bernard, the great vivisection scientist of France. Certainly at
the time that she put out her forces he did die, but on the other hand,
it has been remarked that it was from that very date that her own
break-up commenced, and never ceased till she herself passed into the
other world. So you see these actions are likely to revert to the
sender, even if they are successful.
Now in these two cases the ultimate object was not a low one, it was one
which was supposed to be for the benefit of humanity and of the dumb
creation. But that does not justify the means. The maxim, "The end
justifies the means," is the greatest perversion of truth, and still
more so if this hidden power, the power of suggestion, is used to injure
any one for a more personal motive than in these cases which I have
cited. The lower the motive, the lower the action becomes, and to
suppose that because mental means are employed they make any difference
in the nature of the act is a very great mistake.
It has been sometimes my painful duty to sentence people to death for
murder, and therefore I claim that I have a very fair knowledge of what
differentiates murder from those cases in which life is taken which do
not amount to murder; and speaking from the judicial experience of a
great many years, and the trial of a large number of cases which have
involved the question whether the death penalty should be passed or not,
I have no hesitation in saying that to kill by mental means is just as
much murder as to kill by poison or the dagger. Speaking judicially, I
should have not the least hesitation in hanging any one who committed
murder by means of mental suggestion. Psychological crime, remember, is
crime just the same; possibly it is more deeply dyed crime, because of
the greater knowledge which must go along with it. I say that the
psychological criminal is worse than the ordinary criminal.
One of the teachings of the Master is on this very point. I refer you to
the miracle of the fig tree. You know that he exhibited his power of
killing not a person, not even an animal, but a tree. And when the
disciples said to him, see how this tree which you cursed has withered
away, he replied, Well, you can do exactly the same thing, and goes on
to say, nothing shall be impossible to you. Therefore if you can kill
fig trees, you can kill people, but, "forgive, if you have aught
against any," that your heavenly Father may forgive you.
He says in effect: now you have seen that this hidden power can be used
to the destruction of life, at your peril use it otherwise than as a
Divine power. Use it with prayer to God and with forgiveness of all
against whom you have any sort of grudge or ill-feeling, and if its use
is always prefaced in this way, according to the Master's directions,
then nobody can use it to injure another either in mind, body or estate.
Perhaps some of you may be inclined to smile if I use the word
"sorcery," but at the present day, under one name or another, scientific
or semi-scientific, it is nothing but the old-world sorcery which is
trying to find its way among us as the hidden power. Sorcery is the
inverted use of spiritual power. That is the definition of it, and I
speak upon authority. I refer you to the Bible where you will find
sorcery takes a prominent place among the list of those things which
exclude from the heavenly Jerusalem; the heavenly Jerusalem not being a
town or a city in this place or that place, but the perfected state of
man. Therefore, use sorcery, and you cannot reach that heavenly state.
It is on this account that we find in Revelations that wonderful
description of two symbolical women; they represent two modes of the
individual soul. Of course they go further, they indicate national
things, race evolution and so on. Why? Because all national movements,
all race evolutions, have their root in the development of the
individual. A nation or a race is only a collection of individuals, and
therefore if a principle once spreads from one individual to another, it
spreads to the nation, it spreads to the race. So, therefore, these two
symbolical women represent primarily two modes of soul, two modes of
thought. You know perfectly well the description of the two women. One,
the woman clothed with the sun, standing with the moon under her feet,
and with a diadem of stars about her head; the other seated upon an
earthly throne, holding a golden cup, and the cup is full of
abominations. Those are the two women, and we know that one of them is
called in the Scripture, Babylon, and we know which one that is. One of
the marks of this woman--mind you that means the class of
individuality--is the mark of sorcery, the mark of the inverted use of
spiritual and mental powers.