Universal Mind and individual mind, the methodised study of which
constitutes Mental Science, we must never forget that these relations
indicate, not the separateness, but the unity of these principles. We
must learn not to attribute one part of our action to one part of our
being, and another to another. Neither the action nor the functions are
split up into separate parts. The action is a whole, and the being that
does it is a whole, and in the healthy organism the reciprocal movements
of the principles are so harmonious as never to suggest any feeling than
that of a perfectly whole and undivided self. If there is any other
feeling we may be sure that there is abnormal action somewhere, and we
should set ourselves to discover and remove the cause of it. The reason
for this is that in any perfect organism there cannot be more than one
centre of control.
A rivalry of controlling principles would be the destruction of the
organic wholeness; for either the elements would separate and group
themselves round one or other of the centres, according to their
respective affinities, and thus form two distinctive individualities,
or else they would be reduced to a condition of merely chaotic
confusion; in either case the original organism would cease to exist.
Seen in this light, therefore, it is a self-evident truth that, if we
are to retain our individuality; in other words, if we are to continue
to exist, it can be only by retaining our hold upon the central
controlling principle in ourselves; and if this be the charter of our
being, it follows that all our future development depends on our
recognising and accepting this central controlling principle. To this
end, therefore, all our endeavours should be directed; for otherwise all
our studies in Mental Science will only lead us into a confused
labyrinth of principles and counter-principles, which will be
considerably worse than the state of ignorant simplicity from which we
started.
This central controlling principle is the Will, and we must never lose
sight of the fact that all the other principles about which we have
learnt in our studies exist only as its instruments. The Will is the
true self, of which they are all functions, and all our progress
consists of our increased recognition of the fact. It is the Will that
says "I AM"; and therefore, however exalted, or even in their higher
developments apparently miraculous, our powers may be, they are all
subject to the central controlling power of the Will. When the
enlightened Will shall have learnt to identify itself perfectly with the
limitless powers of knowledge, judgment, and creative thought which are
at its disposal, then the individual will have attained to perfect
wholeness, and all limitations will have passed away for ever.
And nothing short of this consciousness of Perfect Wholeness can satisfy
us. Everything that falls short of it is in that degree an embodiment of
the principle of Death, that great enemy against which the principle of
Life must continue to wage unceasing war, in whatever form or measure it
may show itself, until "death is swallowed up in victory." There can be
no compromise. Either we are affirming Life, as a principle, or we are
denying it, no matter on how great or how small a scale; and the
criterion by which to determine our attitude is our realisation of our
own Wholeness. Death is the principle of disintegration; and whenever we
admit the power of any portion of our organism, whether spiritual or
bodily, to induce any condition _independently of the intention of the
Will_, we admit that the force of disintegration is superior to the
controlling centre in ourselves, and we conceive of ourselves as held in
bondage by an adversary, from which bondage the only way of release is
by the attainment of a truer way of thinking.
And the reason is that, either through ignorance or carelessness, we
have surrendered our position of control over the system as a whole, and
have lost the element of _Purpose_, around which the consciousness of
individuality must always centre. Every state of our consciousness,
whether active or passive, should be the result of a distinct _purpose_
adopted by our own free will; for the passive states should be quite as
much under the control of the Will as the active. It is the lack of
_purpose_ that deprives us of power. The higher and more clearly defined
our purpose, the greater stimulus we have for realising our control over
_all_ our faculties for its attainment; and since the grandest of all
purposes is the strengthening and ennobling of Life, in proportion as we
make this our aim we shall find ourselves in union with the Supreme
Universal Mind, acting each in our individual sphere for the furtherance
of the same purpose which animates the ruling principle of the Great
Whole, and, as a consequence, shall find that its intelligence and
powers are at our disposal.
But in all this there must be no strain. The true exercise of the Will
is not an exercise of unnatural force. It is simply the leading of our
powers into their natural channels by intelligently recognising the
direction in which those channels go. However various in detail, they
have one clearly defined common tendency towards the increasing of
Life--whether in ourselves or in others--and if we keep this steadily in
view, all our powers, whether interior or exterior, will be found to
work so harmoniously together that there will be no sense of independent
action on the part of any one of them. The distinctions drawn for
purposes of study will be laid aside, and the Self in us will be found
to be the realisation of a grand ideal being, at once individual and
universal, consciously free in its individual wholeness and in its
joyous participation in the Life of the Universal Whole.
XXIV
WHAT IS HIGHER THOUGHT?
Resolution passed October, 1902, by the Kensington Higher Thought
Centre.
_"That the Centre stands for the definite teaching of
absolute Oneness of Creator and Creation--Cause and
Effect--and that nothing which may contradict or be in
opposition to the above principles be admitted to the 'Higher
Thought' Centre Platform._
_"By Oneness of Cause and Effect is meant, that Effect (man)
does consist only of what Cause is; but a part (individual
personality) is not therefore co-extensive with the whole."_
This Resolution is of the greatest importance. Once admit that there is
_any_ Power outside yourself, however beneficent you may conceive it to
be, and you have sown the seed which must sooner or later bear the fruit
of "_Fear_" which is the entire ruin of Life, Love and Liberty. There is
no _via media_. Say we are only reflections, however accurate, of The
Life, and in the admission we have given away our Birthright. However
small or plausible may be the germ of thought which admits that we are
anything less in principle than The Life Itself, it must spring up to
the ultimate ruin of the Life-Principle itself. We _are_ It itself. The
difference is only that between the generic and the specific of the
_same_ thing. We must contend earnestly, both within ourselves and
outwardly, for the _one great foundation_ and never, now on to all
eternity, admit for a single instant any thought which is opposed to
this, the Basic Truth of Being.
The leading ideas connected with Higher Thought are (I) That Man
controls circumstances, instead of being controlled by them, and (II) as
a consequence of the foregoing, that whatever teaches us to _rely_ on
power _borrowed_ from a source _outside_ ourselves is _not_ Higher
Thought; and that whatever explains to us the _Infinite_ source of _our
own inherent_ power and the consequent _limitless_ nature of that power
_is_ Higher Thought. This avoids the use of terms which may only puzzle
those not accustomed to abstract phraseology, and is substantially the
same as the resolution of October, 1902.
XXV
FRAGMENTS
1. God is Love.
Man, having the understanding of God, speaks the Word of Power.
2. Man gives utterance to God.
3. The Father is Equilibrium.
The Son is Concentration of the _same_ Spirit.
The Spirit is Projection.
_The Tri-une Relation_--always consists of these Three:
(I) The Potential--(II) The Ideal--(III) The Concrete.
(I) The Potential is Life in its most highly abstract mode not yet
brought into Form even as Thought. Not particularised in _any_ way.
(II) The Ideal is the particularising of the Potential into a certain
Formulated Thought.
(III) The Concrete is the Manifestation of the Formulated Thought in
Visible Form.
What everybody wants is to become _more alive_--as Jesus said, "I am
come that they might have Life and might have it more abundantly"--and
it is only on the basis of realising ourselves as a _perfect unity
throughout_, not made up of opposing parts, and that unity _Spirit_,
that we can realise in ourselves the _Livingness_ which _Spirit is_, and
which we _as Spirit_ ought to be.
HENCE PERFECT DEMONSTRATION.
"The Truth shall make you Free"
Life :
Love : = The Truth
Liberty :
The Ultimate Truth will always be found to consist of these three, and
anything that is contrary to them is contrary to Fundamental Truth.
WORSHIP
Worship consists in the recognition of the _Personal_ Nature of Holy
Spirit, and in the Continual Alternation (Pulsation) between the two
positions of "I am the Person that Thou art," and "Thou art the Person
that I am." The Two Personalities are One.
* * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Corrections [in brackets] in the text are noted below:
page 64: extra word removed
that we shall _feel_ the [the] truth of it,
page 102: typographical error corrected
straining and striving, and the place of the old
_strum[sturm] und drang_ will be taken, not by inertia, but
by a joyous activity which knows that it
page 151: extra word removed
in proportion as you find it there, you will [will] find it
everywhere else.