happiness--think the things rather than this or that condition of them.
And then by the sure operation of the Universal Law these things will
form themselves into the shapes best suited to your particular case, and
will enter your life as active, living forces, which will never depart
from you because you know them to be part and parcel of your own being.
V
SUBMISSION
There are two kinds of submission: submission to superior force and
submission to superior truth. The one is weakness and the other is
strength. It is an exceedingly important part of our training to learn
to distinguish between these two, and the more so because the wrong kind
is extolled by nearly all schools of popular religious teaching at the
present day as constituting the highest degree of human attainment. By
some this is pressed so far as to make it an instrument of actual
oppression, and with all it is a source of weakness and a bar to
progress. We are forbidden to question what are called the wise
dispensations of Providence and are told that pain and sorrow are to be
accepted because they are the will of God; and there is much eloquent
speaking and writing concerning the beauty of quiet resignation, all of
which appeals to a certain class of gentle minds who have not yet learnt
that gentleness does not consist in the absence of power but in the
kindly and beneficent use of it.
Minds cast in this mould are peculiarly apt to be misled. They perceive
a certain beauty in the picture of weakness leaning upon strength, but
they attribute its soothing influence to the wrong element of the
combination. A thoughtful analysis would show them that their feelings
consisted of pity for the weak figure and admiration for the strong one,
and that the suggestiveness of the whole arose from its satisfying the
artistic sense of balance which requires a compensation of this sort.
But which of the two figures in the picture would they themselves prefer
to be? Surely not the weak one needing help, but the strong one giving
it. By itself the weak figure only stirs our pity and not our
admiration. Its form may be beautiful, but its very beauty only serves
to enhance the sense of something wanting--and the something wanting is
strength. The attraction which the doctrine of passive resignation
possesses for certain minds is based upon an appeal to sentiment, which
is accepted without any suspicion that the sentiment appealed to is a
false one.
Now the healthful influence of the movement known as "The Higher
Thought" consists precisely in this--that it sets itself rigorously to
combat this debilitating doctrine of submission. It can see as well as
others the beauty of weakness leaning upon strength; but it sees that
the real source of the beauty lies in the strong element of the
combination. The true beauty consists in the power to confer strength,
and this power is not to be acquired by submission, but by the exactly
opposite method of continually asserting our determination not to
submit.
Of course, if we take it for granted that all the sorrow, sickness,
pain, trouble, and other adversity in the world is the expression of the
will of God, then doubtless we must resign ourselves to the inevitable
with all the submission we can command, and comfort ourselves with the
vague hope that somehow in some far-off future we shall find that
"Good is the final goal of ill,"
though even _this_ vague hope is a protest against the very submission
we are endeavouring to exercise. But to make the assumption that the
evil of life is the will of God is to assume what a careful and
intelligent study of the laws of the universe, both mental and physical,
will show us is not the truth; and if we turn to that Book which
contains the fullest delineation of these universal laws, we shall find
nothing taught more clearly than that submission to the evils of life is
not submission to the will of God. We are told that Christ was
manifested for this end, that he should destroy him that hath the power
of death--that is, the devil. Now death is the very culmination of the
Negative. It is the entire absence of all that makes Life, and whatever
goes to diminish the living quality of Life reproduces, in its degree,
the distinctive quality of this supreme exhibition of the Negative.
Everything that tends to detract from the fulness of life has in it this
deathful quality.
In that completely renovated life, which is figured under the emblem of
the New Jerusalem, we are told that sorrow and sighing shall flee away,
and that the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick. Nothing that obscures
life, or restricts it, can proceed from the same source as the Power
which gives light to them that sit in darkness, and deliverance to them
that are bound. Negation can never be Affirmation; and the error we have
always to guard against is that of attributing positive power to the
Negative. If we once grasp the truth that God is life, and that life in
every mode of expression can never be anything else than Affirmative,
then it must become clear to us that nothing which is of the opposite
tendency can be according to the will of God. For God (the good) to will
any of the "evil" that is in the world would be for Life to act with the
purpose of diminishing itself, which is a contradiction in terms to the
very idea of Life. God is Life, and Life is, by its very nature,
Affirmative. The submission we have hitherto made has been to our own
weakness, ignorance, and fear, and not to the supreme good.
But is no such thing as submission, then, required of us under any
circumstances? Are we always to have our own way in everything?
Assuredly the whole secret of our progress to liberty is involved in
acquiring the habit of submission; but it is submission to superior
Truth, and not to superior force. It sometimes happens that, when we
attain a higher Truth, we find that its reception requires us to
re-arrange the truths which we possessed before: not, indeed, to lay any
of them aside, for Truth once recognised cannot be again put out of
sight, but to recognise a different relative proportion between them
from that which we had seen previously. Then there comes a submitting of
what has hitherto been our highest truth to one which we recognise as
still higher, a process not always easy of attainment, but which must be
gone through if our spiritual development is not to be arrested. The
lesser degree of life must be swallowed up in the greater; and for this
purpose it is necessary for us to learn that the smaller degree was only
a partial and limited aspect of that which is more universal, stronger,
and of a larger build every way.
Now, in going through the processes of spiritual growth, there is ample
scope for that training in self-knowledge and self-control which is
commonly understood by the word "submission." But the character of the
act is materially altered. It is no longer a half-despairing resignation
to a superior force external to ourselves, which we can only vaguely
hope is acting kindly and wisely, but it is an intelligent recognition
of the true nature of our own interior forces and of the laws by which a
robust spiritual constitution is to be developed; and the submission is
no longer to limitations which drain life of its livingness, and against
which we instinctively rebel, but to the law of our own evolution which
manifests itself in continually increasing degrees of life and strength.
The submission which we recognise is the price that has to be paid for
increase in any direction. Even in the Money Market we must invest
before we can realise profits. It is a universal rule that Nature obeys
us exactly in proportion as we first obey Nature; and this is as true in
regard to spiritual science as to physical. The only question is whether
we will yield an ignorant submission to the principle of Death, or a
joyous and intelligent obedience to the principle of Life.
If we have clearly grasped the fact of our identity with Universal
Spirit, we shall find that, in the right direction, there is really no
such thing as submission. Submission is to the power of another--a man
cannot be said to submit to himself. When the "I AM" in us recognises a
greater degree of I AM-ness (if I may coin the word) than it has
hitherto attained, then, by the very force of this recognition, it
_becomes what it sees_, and therefore naturally puts off from itself
whatever would limit its expression of its own completeness.
But this is a natural process of growth, and not an unnatural act of
submission; it is not the pouring-out of ourselves in weakness, but the
gathering of ourselves together in increasing strength. There is no
weakness in Spirit, it is all strength; and we must therefore always be
watchful against the insidious approaches of the Negative which would
invert the true position. The Negative always points to some external
source of strength. Its formula is "I AM NOT." It always seeks to fix a
gulf between us and the Infinite Sufficiency. It would always have us
believe that that sufficiency is not our own, but that by an act of
uncertain favour we may have occasional spoonfuls of it doled out to us.
Christ's teaching is different. We do not need to come with our pitcher
to the well to draw water, like the woman of Samaria, but we have _in
ourselves_ an inexhaustible supply of the living water springing up into
everlasting life.
Let us then inscribe "No Surrender" in bold characters upon our banner,
and advance undaunted to claim our rightful heritage of liberty and
life.
VI
COMPLETENESS
A point on which students of mental science often fail to lay sufficient
stress is the completeness of man--not a completeness to be attained
hereafter, but here and now. We have been so accustomed to have the
imperfection of man drummed into us in books, sermons, and hymns, and
above all in a mistaken interpretation of the Bible, that at first the
idea of his completeness altogether staggers us. Yet until we see this
we must remain shut out from the highest and best that mental science
has to offer, from a thorough understanding of its philosophy, and from
its greatest practical achievements.
To do any work successfully you must believe yourself to be a _whole_
man in respect of it. The completed work is the outward image of a
corresponding completeness in yourself. And if this is true in respect
of one work it is true of all; the difference in the importance of the
work does not matter; we cannot successfully attempt _any_ work until,
for some reason or other, we believe ourselves able to accomplish it; in
other words, until we believe that none of the conditions for its
completion is wanting in us, and that we are therefore complete in
respect of it. Our recognition of our completeness is thus the measure
of what we are able to do, and hence the great importance of knowing the
fact of our own completeness.
But, it may be asked, do we not see imperfection all around? Is there
not sorrow, sickness, and trouble? Yes; but why? Just for the very
reason that we do not realise our completeness. If we realised _that_ in
its fulness these things would not be; and in the degree in which we
come to realise it we shall find them steadily diminish. Now if we
really grasp the two fundamental truths that Spirit is Life pure and
simple, and that external things are the result of interior forces, then
it ought not to be difficult to see why we should be complete; for to
suppose otherwise is to suppose the reactive power of the universe to be
either unable or unwilling to produce the complete expression of its own
intention in the creation of man.
That it should be unable to do so would be to depose it from its place
as the creative principle, and that it should be unwilling to fulfil its
own intention is a contradiction in terms; so that on either supposition
we come to a _reductio ad absurdum_. In forming man the creative
principle therefore _must_ have produced a perfect work, and our
conception of ourselves as imperfect can only be the result of our own
ignorance of what we really are; and our advance, therefore, does not
consist in having something new added to us, but in learning to bring
into action powers which already exist in us, but which we have never
tried to use, and therefore have not developed, simply because we have
always taken it for granted that we are by nature defective in some of
the most important faculties necessary to fit us to our environment.
If we wish to attain to these great powers, the question is, where are
we to seek them? And the answer is _in ourselves_. That is the great
secret. We are not to go outside ourselves to look for power. As soon as
we do so we find, not power, but weakness. To seek strength from any
outside source is to make affirmation of our weakness, and all know what
the natural result of such an affirmation must be.
We are complete _in ourselves_; and the reason why we fail to realise
this is that we do not understand how far the "self" of ourselves
extends. We know that the whole of anything consists of _all_ its parts
and not only of some of them; yet this is just what we do not seem to
know about ourselves. We say rightly that every person is a
concentration of the Universal Spirit into individual consciousness; but
if so, then each individual consciousness must find the Universal Spirit
to be the infinite expression of _itself_. It is _this_ part of the
"Self" that we so often leave out in our estimate of what we are; and
consequently we look upon ourselves as crawling pygmies when we might
think of ourselves as archangels. We try to work with the mere shadows
of ourselves instead of with the glorious substance, and then wonder at
our failures. If we only understood that our "better half" is the whole
infinite of Spirit--that which creates and sustains the universe--then
we should know how complete our completeness is.
As we approach this conception, our completeness becomes a reality to
us, and we find that we need not go outside ourselves for anything. We
have only to draw on that part of ourselves which is infinite to carry
out any intention we may form in our individual consciousness; for there
is no barrier between the two parts, otherwise they would not be a
whole. Each belongs perfectly to the other, and the two are one. There
is no antagonism between them, for the Infinite Life can have no
interest against its individualisation of _itself_. If there is any
feeling of tension it proceeds from our not fully realising this
conception of our own wholeness; we are placing a barrier somewhere,
when in truth there is none; and the tension will continue until we find
out where and how we are setting up this barrier and remove it.
This feeling of tension is the feeling that we are _not using our Whole
Being_. We are trying to make half do the work of the whole; but we
cannot rid ourselves of our wholeness, and therefore the whole protests
against our attempts to set one half against the other. But when we
realise that our concentration _out of_ the Infinite also implies our
expansion _into_ it, we shall see that our _whole_ "self" includes both
the concentration and the expansion; and seeing this first
intellectually we shall gradually learn to use our knowledge practically
and bring our whole man to bear upon whatever we take in hand. We shall
find that there is in us a constant action and reaction between the
infinite and the individual, like the circulation of the blood from the
heart to the extremities and back again, a constant pulsation of vital
energy quite natural and free from all strain and exertion.
This is the great secret of the livingness of Life, and it is called by
many names and set forth under many symbols in various religions and
philosophies, each of which has its value in proportion as it brings us
nearer the realisation of this perfect wholeness. But the thing itself
is Life, and therefore can only be suggested, but not described, by any
words or symbols; it is a matter of personal experience which no one can
convey to another. All we can do is to point out the direction in which
this experience is to be sought, and to tell others the intellectual
arguments which have helped us to find it; but the experience itself is
the operation of definite vital functions of the inner being, and no one
but ourselves can do our living for us.
But, so far as it is possible to express these things in words, what
must be the result of realising that the "self" in us includes the
Infinite as well as the Individual? All the resources of the Infinite
must be at our disposal; we may draw on them as we will, and there is no
limit save that imposed by the Law of Kindness, a self-imposed
limitation, which, because of being _self_-imposed, is not bondage but
only another expression of our liberty. Thus we are free and all
limitations are removed.
We are also no longer ignorant, for since the "self" in us includes the
Infinite we can draw thence all needed knowledge, and though we may not
always be able to formulate this knowledge in the mentality, we shall
_feel_ its guidance, and eventually the mentality will learn to put this
also into form of words; and thus by combining thought and experience,
theory and practice, we shall by degrees come more and more into the
knowledge of the Law of our Being, and find that there is no place in it
for fear, because it is the law of perfect liberty. And knowing what our
whole self really is, we shall walk erect as free men and women
radiating Light and Life all round, so that our very presence will carry
a vivifying influence with it, because we realise ourselves to be an
Affirmative Whole, and not a mere negative disintegration of parts.
We know that our whole self includes that Greater Man which is back of
and causes the phenomenal man, and this Greater Man is the true human
principle in us. It is, therefore, universal in its sympathies, but at
the same time not less individually _ourself_; and thus the true man in
us, being at once both universal and individual, can be trusted as a
sure guide. It is that "Thinker" which is behind the conscious
mentality, and which, if we will accept it as our centre, and realise
that it is not a separate entity but _ourself_, will be found equal to
every occasion, and will lead us out of a condition of servitude into
"the glorious liberty of the sons of God."
VII
THE PRINCIPLE OF GUIDANCE
If I were asked which of all the spiritual principles ranked first, I
should feel inclined to say the Principle of Guidance; not in the sense
of being more essential than the others, for _every_ portion is equally
essential to the completeness of a perfect whole, but in the sense of
being first in order of sequence and giving value to all our other
powers by placing them in their due relation to one another. "Giving
value to our _other_ powers," I say, because this also is one of our
powers. It is that which, judged from the standpoint of personal
self-consciousness, is above us; but which, realised from the point of
view of the unity of all Spirit, is part and parcel of ourselves,
because it is that Infinite Mind which is of necessity identified with
all its manifestations.
Looking to this Infinite Mind as a Superior Intelligence from which we
may receive guidance does not therefore imply looking to an external
source. On the contrary, it is looking to the innermost spring of our
own being, with a confidence in its action which enables us to proceed
to the execution of our plans with a firmness and assurance that are in
themselves the very guarantee of our success.
The action of the spiritual principles in us follows the order which we
impose upon them by our thought; therefore the order of realisation will
reproduce the order of desire; and if we neglect this first principle of
right order and guidance, we shall find ourselves beginning to put forth
other great powers, which are at present latent within us, without
knowing how to find suitable employment for them--which would be a very
perilous condition, for without having before us objects worthy of the
powers to which we awake, we should waste them on petty purposes
dictated only by the narrow range of our unilluminated intellect.
Therefore the ancient wisdom says, "With all thy getting, get
understanding."
The awakening to consciousness of our mysterious interior powers will
sooner or later take place, and will result in our using them whether we
understand the law of their development or not, just as we already use
our physical faculties whether we understand their laws or not. The
interior powers are natural powers as much as the exterior ones. We can
direct their use by a knowledge of their laws; and it is therefore of
the highest importance to have some sound principle of guidance in the
use of these higher faculties as they begin to manifest themselves.
If, therefore, we would safely and profitably enter upon the possession
of the great inheritance of power that is opening out before us, we
must before all things seek to realise in ourselves that Superior
Intelligence which will become an unfailing principle of guidance if we
will only recognise it as such. Everything depends on our recognition.
Thoughts are things, and therefore as we _will_ our thoughts to be so we
_will_ the thing to be. If, then, we will to use the Infinite Spirit as
a spirit of guidance, we shall find that the fact is as we have willed
it; and in doing this we are still making use of our own supreme
principle. And this is the true "understanding" which, by placing all
the other powers in their correct order, creates one grand unity of
power directed to clearly defined and worthy aims, in place of the
dispersion of our powers, by which they only neutralise each other and
effect nothing.
This is that Spirit of Truth which shall guide us into all Truth. It is
the sincere Desire of us reaching out after Truth. Truth first and Power
afterwards is the reasonable order, which we cannot invert without
injury to ourselves and others; but if we follow this order we shall
always find scope for our powers in developing into present realities
the continually growing glory of our vision of the ideal.
The ideal is the true real, but it must be brought into manifestation
before it can be shown to be so, and it is in this that the _practical_
nature of our mental studies consists. It is the _practical_ mystic who
is the man of power; the man who, realising the mystical powers within,
fits his outward action to this knowledge, and so shows his faith by his
works; and assuredly the first step is to make use of that power of
infallible guidance which he can call to his aid simply by desiring to
be led by it.
VIII
DESIRE AS THE MOTIVE POWER
There are certain Oriental schools of thought, together with various
Western offshoots from them, which are entirely founded on the principle
of annihilating all desire. Reach that point at which you have no wish
for anything and you will find yourself free, is the sum and substance
of their teaching; and in support of this they put forward a great deal
of very specious argument, which is all the more likely to entangle the
unwary, because it contains a recognition of many of the profoundest
truths of Nature. But we must bear in mind that it is possible to have a
very deep knowledge of psychological facts, and at the same time vitiate
the results of our knowledge by an entirely wrong assumption in regard
to the law which binds these facts together in the universal system; and
the injurious results of misapprehension upon such a vital question are
so radical and far-reaching that we cannot too forcibly urge the
necessity of clearly understanding the true nature of the point at
issue. Stripped of all accessories and embellishments, the question
resolves itself into this: Which shall we choose for our portion, Life
or Death? There can be no accommodation between the two; and whichever
we select as our guiding principle must produce results of a kind proper
to itself.