The three preceding lectures have touched upon certain
fundamental truths in a definite order--first the nature of the
Originating Spirit itself, next the generic relation of the
individual to this All-embracing Spirit, and lastly the way to
specialize this relation so as to obtain greater results from it
than spontaneously arise by its merely generic action, and we
have found that this can only be done through a new order of
thought. This sequence is logical because it implies a Power, an
Individual who understands the Power, and a Method of applying
the power deduced from understanding its nature. These are
general principles without realizing which it is impossible to
proceed further, but assuming that the reader has grasped their
significance, we may now go on to consider their application in
greater detail.
Now this application must be a personal one, for it is only
through the individual that the higher specialization of the
power can take place, but at the same time this must not lead us
to suppose that the individual, himself, brings the creative
force into being. To suppose this is inversion; and we cannot
impress upon ourselves too deeply that the relation of the
individual to the Divine Spirit is that of a distributor, and not
that of the original creator. If this is steadily borne in mind
the way will become clear, otherwise we shall be led into
confusion.
What, then, is the Power which we are to distribute? It is the
Originating Spirit itself. We are sure that it is this because
the new order of thought always begins at the beginning of any
series which it contemplates bringing into manifestation, and it
is based upon the fact that the origin of everything is Spirit.
It is in this that its creative power resides; hence the person
who is in the true new order of thought assumes as an axiomatic
fact that what he has to distribute, or differentiate into
manifestation is nothing else than the Originating Spirit. This
being the case, it is evident that the PURPOSE of the
distribution must be the more perfect expression of the
Originating Spirit as that which it is in itself, and what it is
in itself is emphatically Life. What is seeking for expression,
then, is the perfect Livingness of the Spirit; and this
expression is to be found, through ourselves, by means of our
renewed mode of thought. Let us see, then, how our new order of
thought, with regard to the Principle of Life, is likely to
operate In our old order of thought we have always associated
Life with the physical body--life has been for us the supreme
physical fact. Now, however, we know that Life is much more than
this; but, as the greater includes the less, it includes physical
life as one mode of its manifestation. The true order does not
require us to deny the reality of physical life or to call it an
illusion; on the contrary it sees in physical life the completion
of a great creative series, but it assigns it the proper place in
that series, which is what the old mode of thought did not.
When we realize the truth about the Creative Process, we see that
the originating life is not physical: its livingness consists in
thought and feeling. By this inner movement it throws out
vehicles through which to function, and these become living forms
because of the inner-principle which is sustaining them; so that
the Life with which we are primarily concerned in the new order
is the life of thought and feeling in ourselves as the vehicle,
or distributing medium, of the Life of the Spirit.
Then, if we have grasped the idea of the Spirit as the great
FORMING Power, as stated in the last lecture, we shall seek in it
the fountain-head of Form as well as of Power: and as a logical
deduction from this we shall look to it to give form to our
thoughts and feelings. If the principle is once recognised the
sequence is obvious. The form taken by our outward conditions,
whether of body or circumstance, depends on the form taken by our
thoughts and feelings, and our thoughts and feelings will take
form from that source from which we allow them to receive
suggestion. Accordingly if we allow them to accept their
fundamental suggestions from the relative and limited, they will
assume a corresponding form and transmit them to our external
environment, thus repeating the old order of limitation in a
ceaselessly recurring round. Now our object is to get out of this
circle of limitation, and the only way to do so is to get our
thoughts and feelings moulded into new forms continually
advancing to greater and greater perfection. To meet this
requirement, therefore, there must be a forming power greater
than that of our own unaided conceptions, and this is to be found
in our realization of the Spirit as the Supreme Beauty, or
Wisdom, moulding our thoughts and feelings into shapes
harmoniously adjusted to the fullest expression, in and through
us, of the Livingness which Spirit is in itself.
Now this is nothing more than transferring to the innermost plane
of origination, a principle with which all readers who are "in
the thought" may be presumed to be quite familiar--the principle
of Receptiveness. We all know what is meant by a receptive mental
attitude when applied to healing or telepathy; and does it not
logically follow that the same principle may be applied to the
receiving of life itself from the Supreme Source? What is wanted,
therefore, is to place ourselves in a receptive mental attitude
towards the Universal Spirit with the intention of receiving its
forming influence into our mental substance. It is always the
presence of a definite intention that distinguishes the
intelligent receptive attitude of mind from a merely sponge-like
absorbency, which sucks in any and every influence that may
happen to be floating round: for we must not shut our eyes to the
fact that there are various influences in the mental atmosphere
by which we are surrounded, and some of them of the most
undesirable kind. Clear and definite intention is therefore as
necessary in our receptive attitude as in our active and creative
one; and if our intention is to have our own thoughts and
feelings moulded into such forms as to express those of the
Spirit, then we establish that relation to the Spirit which, by
the conditions of the case, must necessarily lead us to the
conception of new ideals vitalised by a power which will enable
us to bring them into concrete manifestation. It is in this way
that we become differentiating centres of the Divine Thought
giving it expression in form in the world of space and time, and
thus is solved the great problem of enabling the Universal to act
upon the plane of the particular without being hampered by those
limitations which the merely generic law of manifestation imposes
upon it. It is just here that subconscious mind performs the
function of a "bridge" between the finite and the infinite as
noted in my "Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science" (page 31), and
it is for this reason that a recognition of its susceptibility to
impression is so important.
By establishing, then, a personal relation to the life of the
Spirit, the sphere of the individual becomes enlarged. The reason
is that he allows a greater intelligence than his own to take the
initiative; and since he knows that this Intelligence is also the
very Principle of Life itself, he cannot have any fear that it
will act in any way to the diminution of his individual life, for
that would be to stultify its own operation--it would be
self-destructive action which is a contradiction in terms to the
conception of Creative Spirit. Knowing, then, that by its
inherent nature this Intelligence can only work to the expansion
of the individual life, we can rest upon it with the utmost
confidence and trust it to take an initiative which will lead to
far greater results than any we could forecast from the
stand-point of our own knowledge. So long as we insist on
dictating the particular form which the action of the Spirit is
to take, we limit it, and so close against ourselves avenues of
expansion which might otherwise have been open to us; and if we
ask ourselves why we do this we shall find that in the last
resort it is because we do not believe in the Spirit as a FORMING
power. We have, indeed, advanced to the conception of it as
executive power, which will work to a prescribed pattern, but we
have yet to grasp the conception of it as versed in the art of
design, and capable of elaborating schemes of construction, which
will not only be complete in themselves, but also in perfect
harmony with one another. When we advance to the conception of
the Spirit as containing in itself the ideal of Form as well as
of Power, we shall cease from the effort of trying to force
things into a particular shape, whether on the inner or the outer
plane, and shall be content to trust the inherent harmoniousness
or Beauty of the Spirit to produce combinations far in advance of
anything that we could have conceived ourselves. This does not
mean that we shall reduce ourselves to a condition of apathy, in
which all desire, expectation and enthusiasm have been quenched,
for these are the mainspring of our mental machinery; but on the
contrary their action will be quickened by the knowledge that
there is working at the back of them a Formative Principle so
infallible that it cannot miss its mark; so that however good and
beautiful the existing forms may be, we may always rest in the
happy expectation of something still better to come. And it will
come by a natural law of growth, because the Spirit is in itself
the Principle of Increase. They will grow out of present
conditions for the simple reason that if you are to reach some
further point it can only be by starting from where you are now.
Therefore it is written, "Despise not the day of small things."
There is only one proviso attached to this forward movement of
the Spirit in the world of our own surroundings, and that is that
we shall co-operate with it; and this co-operation consists in
making the best use of existing conditions in cheerful reliance
on the Spirit of Increase to express itself through us, and for
us, because we are in harmony with it. This mental attitude will
be found of immense value in setting us free from worry and
anxiety, and as a consequence our work will be done in a much
more efficient manner. We shall do the present work FOR ITS OWN
sake, knowing that herein is the principle of unfoldment; and
doing it simply for its own sake we shall bring to bear upon it a
power of concentration which cannot fail of good results--and
this quite naturally and without any toilsome effort. We shall
then find that the secret of co-operation is to have faith in
ourselves because we first have faith in God; and we shall
discover that this Divine self-confidence is something very
different from a boastful egotism which assumes a personal
superiority over others. It is simply the assurance of a man who
knows that he is working in accordance with a law of nature. He
does not claim as a personal achievement what the Law does FOR
him: but on the other hand he does not trouble himself about
outcries against his presumptuous audacity raised by persons who
are ignorant of the Law which he is employing. He is therefore
neither boastful nor timorous, but simply works on in cheerful
expectancy because he knows that his reliance is upon a Law which
cannot be broken.
In this way, then, we must realize the Life of the Spirit as
being also the Law of the Spirit. The two are identical, and
cannot deny themselves. Our recognition of them gives them a new
starting point through our own mentality, but they still continue
to be the same in their nature, and unless limited or inverted by
our mental affirmation of limited or inverted conditions, they
are bound to work out into fuller and continually fuller
expression of the Life, Love, and Beauty which the Spirit is in
itself. Our path, therefore, is plain; it is simply to
contemplate the Life, Love, and Beauty of the Originating Spirit
and affirm that we are already giving expression to it in our
thoughts and in our actions however insignificant they may at
present appear. This path may be very narrow and humble in its
beginning, but it ever grows wider and mounts higher, for it is
the continually expanding expression of the Life of the Spirit
which is infinite and knows no limits.