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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10390 ***
+
+THE EDINBURGH LECTURES ON MENTAL SCIENCE
+
+BY THOMAS TROWARD LATE DIVISIONAL JUDGE, PUNJAB
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE WRITER AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATES THIS LITTLE VOLUME TO HIS WIFE
+
+
+
+FOREWORD.
+
+
+This book contains the substance of a course of lectures recently given by
+the writer in the Queen Street Hall, Edinburgh. Its purpose is to indicate
+the _Natural Principles_ governing the relation between Mental Action and
+Material Conditions, and thus to afford the student an intelligible
+starting-point for the practical study of the subject.
+
+T.T.
+
+March, 1904.
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+   I.--SPIRIT AND MATTER.
+  II.--THE HIGHER MODE OF INTELLIGENCE CONTROLS THE LOWER
+ III.--THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT
+  IV.--SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE MIND
+   V.--FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE MIND
+  VI.--THE LAW OF GROWTH
+ VII.--RECEPTIVITY.
+VIII.--RECIPROCAL ACTION OF THE UNIVERSAL AND INDIVIDUAL MINDS
+  IX.--CAUSES AND CONDITIONS
+   X.--INTUITION
+  XI.--HEALING
+ XII.--THE WILL
+XIII.--IN TOUCH WITH SUBCONSCIOUS MIND
+ XIV.--THE BODY
+  XV.--THE SOUL
+ XVI.--THE SPIRIT
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+SPIRIT AND MATTER.
+
+
+In commencing a course of lectures on Mental Science, it is somewhat
+difficult for the lecturer to fix upon the best method of opening the
+subject. It can be approached from many sides, each with some peculiar
+advantage of its own; but, after careful deliberation, it appears to me
+that, for the purpose of the present course, no better starting-point could
+be selected than the relation between Spirit and Matter. I select this
+starting-point because the distinction--or what we believe to be such--
+between them is one with which we are so familiar that I can safely assume
+its recognition by everybody; and I may, therefore, at once state this
+distinction by using the adjectives which we habitually apply as expressing
+the natural opposition between the two--_living_ spirit and _dead_ matter.
+These terms express our current impression of the opposition between spirit
+and matter with sufficient accuracy, and considered only from the point of
+view of outward appearances this impression is no doubt correct. The
+general consensus of mankind is right in trusting the evidence of our
+senses, and any system which tells us that we are not to do so will never
+obtain a permanent footing in a sane and healthy community. There is
+nothing wrong in the evidence conveyed to a healthy mind by the senses of a
+healthy body, but the point where error creeps in is when we come to judge
+of the meaning of this testimony. We are accustomed to judge only by
+external appearances and by certain limited significances which we attach
+to words; but when we begin to enquire into the real meaning of our words
+and to analyse the causes which give rise to the appearances, we find our
+old notions gradually falling off from us, until at last we wake up to the
+fact that we are living in an entirely different world to that we formerly
+recognized. The old limited mode of thought has imperceptibly slipped away,
+and we discover that we have stepped out into a new order of things where
+all is liberty and life. This is the work of an enlightened intelligence
+resulting from persistent determination to discover what truth really is
+irrespective of any preconceived notions from whatever source derived, the
+determination to think honestly for ourselves instead of endeavouring to
+get our thinking done for us. Let us then commence by enquiring what we
+really mean by the livingness which we attribute to spirit and the deadness
+which we attribute to matter.
+
+At first we may be disposed to say that livingness consists in the power of
+motion and deadness in its absence; but a little enquiry into the most
+recent researches of science will soon show us that this distinction does
+not go deep enough. It is now one of the fully-established facts of
+physical science that no atom of what we call "dead matter" is without
+motion. On the table before me lies a solid lump of steel, but in the light
+of up-to-date science I know that the atoms of that seemingly inert mass
+are vibrating with the most intense energy, continually dashing hither and
+thither, impinging upon and rebounding from one another, or circling round
+like miniature solar systems, with a ceaseless rapidity whose complex
+activity is enough to bewilder the imagination. The mass, as a mass, may
+lie inert upon the table; but so far from being destitute of the element of
+motion it is the abode of the never-tiring energy moving the particles with
+a swiftness to which the speed of an express train is as nothing. It is,
+therefore, not the mere fact of motion that is at the root of the
+distinction which we draw instinctively between spirit and matter; we must
+go deeper than that. The solution of the problem will never be found by
+comparing Life with what we call deadness, and the reason for this will
+become apparent later on; but the true key is to be found by comparing one
+degree of livingness with another. There is, of course, one sense in which
+the quality of livingness does not admit of degrees; but there is another
+sense in which it is entirely a question of degree. We have no doubt as to
+the livingness of a plant, but we realize that it is something very
+different from the livingness of an animal. Again, what average boy would
+not prefer a fox-terrier to a goldfish for a pet? Or, again, why is it that
+the boy himself is an advance upon the dog? The plant, the fish, the dog,
+and the boy are all equally _alive_; but there is a difference in the
+quality of their livingness about which no one can have any doubt, and no
+one would hesitate to say that this difference is in the degree of
+intelligence. In whatever way we turn the subject we shall always find that
+what we call the "livingness" of any individual life is ultimately measured
+by its intelligence. It is the possession of greater intelligence that
+places the animal higher in the scale of being than the plant, the man
+higher than the animal, the intellectual man higher than the savage. The
+increased intelligence calls into activity modes of motion of a higher
+order corresponding to itself. The higher the intelligence, the more
+completely the mode of motion is under its control: and as we descend in
+the scale of intelligence, the descent is marked by a corresponding
+increase in _automatic_ motion not subject to the control of a
+self-conscious intelligence. This descent is gradual from the expanded
+self-recognition of the highest human personality to that lowest order of
+visible forms which we speak of as "things," and from which
+self-recognition is entirely absent.
+
+We see, then, that the livingness of Life consists in intelligence--in
+other words, in the power of Thought; and we may therefore say that the
+distinctive quality of spirit is Thought, and, as the opposite to this, we
+may say that the distinctive quality of matter is Form. We cannot conceive
+of matter without form. Some form there must be, even though invisible to
+the physical eye; for matter, to be matter at all, must occupy space, and
+to occupy any particular space necessarily implies a corresponding form.
+For these reasons we may lay it down as a fundamental proposition that the
+distinctive quality of spirit is Thought and the distinctive quality of
+matter is Form. This is a radical distinction from which important
+consequences follow, and should, therefore, be carefully noted by the
+student.
+
+Form implies extension in space and also limitation within certain
+boundaries. Thought implies neither. When, therefore, we think of Life as
+existing in any particular _form_ we associate it with the idea of
+extension in space, so that an elephant may be said to consist of a vastly
+larger amount of living substance than a mouse. But if we think of Life as
+the fact of livingness we do not associate it with any idea of extension,
+and we at once realize that the mouse is quite as much alive as the
+elephant, notwithstanding the difference in size. The important point of
+this distinction is that if we can conceive of anything as entirely devoid
+of the element of extension in space, it must be present in its entire
+totality anywhere and everywhere--that is to say, at every point of space
+simultaneously. The scientific definition of time is that it is the period
+occupied by a body in passing from one given point in space to another,
+and, therefore, according to this definition, when there is no space there
+can be no time; and hence that conception of spirit which realizes it as
+devoid of the element of space must realize it as being devoid of the
+element of time also; and we therefore find that the conception of spirit
+as pure Thought, and not as concrete Form, is the conception of it as
+subsisting perfectly independently of the elements of time and space. From
+this it follows that if the idea of anything is conceived as existing on
+this level it can only represent that thing as being actually present here
+and now. In this view of things nothing can be remote from us either in
+time or space: either the idea is entirely dissipated or it exists as an
+actual present entity, and not as something that _shall_ be in the future,
+for where there is no sequence in time there can be no future. Similarly
+where there is no space there can be no conception of anything as being at
+a distance from us. When the elements of time and space are eliminated all
+our ideas of things must necessarily be as subsisting in a universal here
+and an everlasting now. This is, no doubt, a highly abstract conception,
+but I would ask the student to endeavour to grasp it thoroughly, since it
+is of vital importance in the practical application of Mental Science, as
+will appear further on.
+
+The opposite conception is that of things expressing themselves through
+conditions of time and space and thus establishing a variety of _relations_
+to other things, as of bulk, distance, and direction, or of sequence in
+time. These two conceptions are respectively the conception of the abstract
+and the concrete, of the unconditioned and the conditioned, of the absolute
+and the relative. They are not opposed to each other in the sense of
+incompatibility, but are each the complement of the other, and the only
+reality is in the combination of the two. The error of the extreme idealist
+is in endeavouring to realize the absolute without the relative, and the
+error of the extreme materialist is in endeavouring to realize the relative
+without the absolute. On the one side the mistake is in trying to realize
+an inside without an outside, and on the other in trying to realize an
+outside without an inside; both are necessary to the formation of a
+substantial entity.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+THE HIGHER MODE OF INTELLIGENCE CONTROLS THE LOWER.
+
+
+We have seen that the descent from personality, as we know it in ourselves,
+to matter, as we know it under what we call inanimate forms, is a gradual
+descent in the scale of intelligence from that mode of being which is able
+to realize its own will-power as a capacity for originating new trains of
+causation to that mode of being which is incapable of recognizing itself at
+all. The higher the grade of life, the higher the intelligence; from which
+it follows that the supreme principle of Life must also be the ultimate
+principle of intelligence. This is clearly demonstrated by the grand
+natural order of the universe. In the light of modern science the principle
+of evolution is familiar to us all, and the accurate adjustment existing
+between all parts of the cosmic scheme is too self-evident to need
+insisting upon. Every advance in science consists in discovering new
+subtleties of connection in this magnificent universal order, which already
+exists and only needs our recognition to bring it into practical use. If,
+then, the highest work of the greatest minds consists in nothing else than
+the recognition of an already existing order, there is no getting away from
+the conclusion that a paramount intelligence must be inherent in the
+Life-Principle, which manifests itself _as_ this order; and thus we see
+that there must be a great cosmic intelligence underlying the totality of
+things.
+
+The physical history of our planet shows us first an incandescent nebula
+dispersed over vast infinitudes of space; later this condenses into a
+central sun surrounded by a family of glowing planets hardly yet
+consolidated from the plastic primordial matter; then succeed untold
+millenniums of slow geological formation; an earth peopled by the lowest
+forms of life, whether vegetable or animal; from which crude beginnings a
+majestic, unceasing, unhurried, forward movement brings things stage by
+stage to the condition in which we know them now. Looking at this steady
+progression it is clear that, however we may conceive the nature of the
+evolutionary principle, it unerringly provides for the continual advance of
+the race. But it does this by creating such numbers of each kind that,
+after allowing a wide margin for all possible accidents to individuals, the
+race shall still continue:--
+
+    "So careful of the type it seems
+    So careless of the single life."
+
+In short, we may say that the cosmic intelligence works by a Law of
+Averages which allows a wide margin of accident and failure to the
+individual.
+
+But the progress towards higher intelligence is always in the direction of
+narrowing down this margin of accident and taking the individual more and
+more out of the law of averages, and substituting the law of individual
+selection. In ordinary scientific language this is the survival of the
+fittest. The reproduction of fish is on a scale that would choke the sea
+with them if every individual survived; but the margin of destruction is
+correspondingly enormous, and thus the law of averages simply keeps up the
+normal proportion of the race. But at the other end of the scale,
+reproduction is by no means thus enormously in excess of survival. True,
+there is ample margin of accident and disease cutting off numbers of human
+beings before they have gone through the average duration of life, but
+still it is on a very different scale from the premature destruction of
+hundreds of thousands as against the survival of one. It may, therefore, be
+taken as an established fact that in proportion as intelligence advances
+the individual ceases to be subject to a mere law of averages and has a
+continually increasing power of controlling the conditions of his own
+survival.
+
+We see, therefore, that there is a marked distinction between the cosmic
+intelligence and the individual intelligence, and that the factor which
+differentiates the latter from the former is the presence of _individual_
+volition. Now the business of Mental Science is to ascertain the relation
+of this individual power of volition to the great cosmic law which provides
+for the maintenance and advancement of the race; and the point to be
+carefully noted is that the power of individual volition is itself the
+outcome of the cosmic evolutionary principle at the point where it reaches
+its highest level. The effort of Nature has always been upwards from the
+time when only the lowest forms of life peopled the globe, and it has now
+culminated in the production of a being with a mind capable of abstract
+reasoning and a brain fitted to be the physical instrument of such a mind.
+At this stage the all-creating Life-principle reproduces itself in a form
+capable of recognizing the working of the evolutionary law, and the unity
+and continuity of purpose running through the whole progression until now
+indicates, beyond a doubt, that the place of such a being in the universal
+scheme must be to introduce the operation of that factor which, up to this
+point, has been, conspicuous by its absence--the factor, namely, of
+intelligent individual volition. The evolution which has brought us up to
+this standpoint has worked by a cosmic law of averages; it has been a
+process in which the individual himself has not taken a conscious part. But
+because he is what he is, and leads the van of the evolutionary procession,
+if man is to evolve further, it can now only be by his own conscious
+co-operation with the law which has brought him up to the standpoint where
+he is able to realize that such a law exists. His evolution in the future
+must be by conscious participation in the great work, and this can only be
+effected by his own individual intelligence and effort. It is a process of
+intelligent growth. No one else can grow for us: we must each grow for
+ourselves; and this intelligent growth consists in our increasing
+recognition of the universal law, which has brought us as far as we have
+yet got, and of our own individual relation to that law, based upon the
+fact that we ourselves are the most advanced product of it. It is a great
+maxim that Nature obeys us precisely in proportion as we first obey Nature.
+Let the electrician try to go counter to the principle that electricity
+must always pass from a higher to a lower potential and he will effect
+nothing; but let him submit in all things to this one fundamental law, and
+he can make whatever particular applications of electrical power he will.
+
+These considerations show us that what differentiates the higher from the
+lower degree of intelligence is the recognition of its own self-hood, and
+the more intelligent that recognition is, the greater will be the power.
+The lower degree of self-recognition is that which only realizes itself as
+an entity separate from all other entities, as the _ego_ distinguished from
+the _non-ego_. But the higher degree of self-recognition is that which,
+realizing its own spiritual nature, sees in all other forms, not so much
+the _non-ego_, or that which is not itself, as the _alter-ego_, or that
+which is itself in a different mode of expression. Now, it is this higher
+degree of self-recognition that is the power by which the Mental Scientist
+produces his results. For this reason it is imperative that he should
+clearly understand the difference between Form and Being; that the one is
+the mode of the relative and, the mark of subjection to conditions, and
+that the other is the truth of the absolute and is that which controls
+conditions.
+
+Now this higher recognition of self as an individualization of pure spirit
+must of necessity control all modes of spirit which have not yet reached
+the same level of self-recognition. These lower modes of spirit are in
+bondage to the law of their own being because they do not know the law;
+and, therefore, the individual who has attained to this knowledge can
+control them through that law. But to understand this we must inquire a
+little further into the nature of spirit. I have already shown that the
+grand scale of adaptation and adjustment of all parts of the cosmic scheme
+to one another exhibits the presence _somewhere_ of a marvellous
+intelligence, underlying the whole, and the question is, where is this
+intelligence to be found? Ultimately we can only conceive of it as inherent
+in some primordial substance which is the root of all those grosser modes
+of matter which are known to us, whether visible to the physical eye, or
+necessarily inferred by science from their perceptible effects. It is that
+power which, in every species and in every individual, becomes that which
+that species or individual is; and thus we can only conceive of it as a
+self-forming intelligence inherent in the ultimate substance of which each
+thing is a particular manifestation. That this primordial substance must be
+considered as self-forming by an inherent intelligence abiding in itself
+becomes evident from the fact that intelligence is the essential quality of
+spirit; and if we were to conceive of the primordial substance as something
+apart from spirit, then we should have to postulate some other power which
+is neither spirit nor matter, and originates both; but this is only putting
+the idea of a self-evolving power a step further back and asserting the
+production of a lower grade of undifferentiated spirit by a higher, which
+is both a purely gratuitous assumption and a contradiction of any idea we
+can form of undifferentiated spirit at all. However far back, therefore, we
+may relegate the original starting-point, we cannot avoid the conclusion
+that, at that point, spirit contains the primary substance in itself, which
+brings us back to the common statement that it made everything out of
+nothing. We thus find two factors to the making of all things, Spirit
+and--Nothing; and the addition of Nothing to Spirit leaves _only_ spirit:
+x + 0 = x.
+
+From these considerations we see that the ultimate foundation of every form
+of matter is spirit, and hence that a universal intelligence subsists
+throughout Nature inherent in every one of its manifestations. But this
+cryptic intelligence does not belong to the particular _form_ excepting in
+the measure in which it is physically fitted for its concentration into
+self-recognizing individuality: it lies hidden in that primordial substance
+of which the visible form is a grosser manifestation. This primordial
+substance is a philosophical necessity, and we can only picture it to
+ourselves as something infinitely finer than the atoms which are themselves
+a philosophical inference of physical science: still, for want of a better
+word, we may conveniently speak of this primary intelligence inherent in
+the very substance of things as the Atomic Intelligence. The term may,
+perhaps, be open to some objections, but it will serve our present purpose
+as distinguishing _this_ mode of spirit's intelligence from that of the
+opposite pole, or Individual Intelligence. This distinction should be
+carefully noted because it is by the response of the atomic intelligence to
+the individual intelligence that thought-power is able to produce results
+on the material plane, as in the cure of disease by mental treatment, and
+the like. Intelligence manifests itself by responsiveness, and the whole
+action of the cosmic mind in bringing the evolutionary process from its
+first beginnings up to its present human stage is nothing else but a
+continual intelligent response to the demand which each stage in the
+progress has made for an adjustment between itself and its environment.
+Since, then, we have recognized the presence of a universal intelligence
+permeating all things, we must also recognize a corresponding
+responsiveness hidden deep down in their nature and ready to be called into
+action when appealed to. All mental treatment depends on this
+responsiveness of spirit in its lower degrees to higher degrees of itself.
+It is here that the difference between the mental scientist and the
+uninstructed person comes in; the former knows of this responsiveness and
+makes use of it, and the latter cannot use it because he does not know it.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT.
+
+
+We have now paved the way for understanding what is meant by "the unity of
+the spirit." In the first conception of spirit as the underlying origin of
+all things we see a universal substance which, at this stage, is not
+differentiated into any specific forms. This is not a question of some
+bygone time, but subsists at every moment of all time in the _innermost_
+nature of all being; and when we see this, we see that the division between
+one specific form and another has below it a deep essential unity, which
+acts as the supporter of all the several forms of individuality arising out
+of it. And as our thought penetrates deeper into the nature of this
+all-producing spiritual substance we see that it cannot be limited to any
+one portion of space, but must be limitless as space itself, and that the
+idea of any portion of space where it is not is inconceivable. It is one of
+those intuitive perceptions from which the human mind can never get away
+that this primordial, all-generating living spirit must be commensurate
+with infinitude, and we can therefore never think of it otherwise than as
+universal or infinite. Now it is a mathematical truth that the infinite
+must be a unity. You cannot have two infinites, for then neither would be
+infinite, each would be limited by the other, nor can you split the
+infinite up into fractions. The infinite is mathematically essential unity.
+This is a point on which too much stress cannot be laid, for there follow
+from it the most important consequences. Unity, as such, can be neither
+multiplied nor divided, for either operation destroys the unity. By
+multiplying, we produce a plurality of units of the same scale as the
+original; and by dividing, we produce a plurality of units of a smaller
+scale; and a plurality of units is not unity but multiplicity. Therefore if
+we would penetrate below the outward nature of the individual to that
+innermost principle of his being from which his individuality takes its
+rise, we can do so only by passing beyond the conception of individual
+existence into that of the unity of universal being. This may appear to be
+a merely philosophical abstraction, but the student who would produce
+practical results must realize that these abstract generalizations are the
+foundation of the practical work he is going to do.
+
+Now the great fact to be recognized about a unity is that, _because_ it is
+a single unit, wherever it is at all the _whole_ of it must be. The moment
+we allow our mind to wander off to the idea of extension in space and say
+that one part of the unit is here and another there, we have descended from
+the idea of unity into that of parts or fractions of a single unit, which
+is to pass into the idea of a multiplicity of smaller units, and in that
+case we are dealing with the relative, or the relation subsisting between
+two or more entities which are therefore _limited by each other_, and so
+have passed out of the region of simple unity which is the absolute. It is,
+therefore, a mathematical necessity that, because the originating Life-
+principle is infinite, it is a single unit, and consequently, wherever it
+is at all, the _whole_ of it must be present. But because it is _infinite_,
+or limitless, it is everywhere, and therefore it follows that the _whole_
+of spirit must be present at every point in space at the same moment.
+Spirit is thus omnipresent _in its entirety_, and it is accordingly
+logically correct that at every moment of time _all_ spirit is concentrated
+at any point in space that we may choose to fix our thought upon. This is
+the fundamental fact of all being, and it is for this reason that I have
+prepared the way for it by laying down the relation between spirit and
+matter as that between idea and form, on the one hand the absolute from
+which the elements of time and space are entirely absent, and on the other
+the relative which is entirely dependent on those elements. This great fact
+is that pure spirit continually subsists in the absolute, whether in a
+corporeal body or not; and from it all the phenomena of being flow, whether
+on the mental plane or the physical. The knowledge of this fact regarding
+spirit is the basis of all conscious spiritual operation, and therefore in
+proportion to our increasing recognition of it our power of producing
+outward visible results by the action of our thought will grow. The whole
+is greater than its part, and therefore, if, by our recognition of this
+unity, we can concentrate _all_ spirit into any given point at any moment,
+we thereby include any individualization of it that we may wish to deal
+with. The practical importance of this conclusion is too obvious to need
+enlarging upon.
+
+Pure spirit is the Life-principle considered apart from the matrix in which
+it takes relation to time and space in a particular form. In this aspect it
+is pure intelligence undifferentiated into individuality. As pure
+intelligence it is infinite responsiveness and susceptibility. As devoid of
+relation to time and space it is devoid of individual personality. It is,
+therefore, in this aspect a purely impersonal element upon which, by reason
+of its inherent intelligence and susceptibility, we can impress any
+recognition of personality that we will. These are the great facts that the
+mental scientist works with, and the student will do well to ponder deeply
+on their significance and on the responsibilities which their realization
+must necessarily carry with it.
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE MIND.
+
+
+Up to this point it has been necessary to lay the foundations of the
+science by the statement of highly abstract general principles which we
+have reached by purely metaphysical reasoning. We now pass on to the
+consideration of certain natural laws which have been established by a long
+series of experiments and observations, the full meaning and importance of
+which will become clear when we see their application to the general
+principles which have hitherto occupied our attention. The phenomena of
+hypnosis are now so fully recognized as established scientific facts that
+it is quite superfluous to discuss the question of their credibility. Two
+great medical schools have been founded upon them, and in some countries
+they have become the subject of special legislation. The question before us
+at the present day is, not as to the credibility of the facts, but as to
+the proper inferences to be drawn from them, and a correct apprehension of
+these inferences is one of the most valuable aids to the mental scientist,
+for it confirms the conclusions of purely _a priori_ reasoning by an array
+of experimental instances which places the correctness of those conclusions
+beyond doubt.
+
+The great truth which the science of hypnotism has brought to light is the
+dual nature of the human mind. Much conflict exists between different
+writers as to whether this duality results from the presence of two
+actually separate minds in the one man, or in the action of the same mind
+in the employment of different functions. This is one of those distinctions
+without a difference which are so prolific a source of hindrance to the
+opening out of truth. A man must be a single individuality to be a man at
+all, and, so, the net result is the same whether we conceive of his varied
+modes of mental action as proceeding from a set of separate minds strung,
+so to speak, on the thread of his one individuality and each adapted to a
+particular use, or as varied functions of a single mind: in either case we
+are dealing with a single individuality, and how we may picture the
+wheel-work of the mental mechanism is merely a question of what picture
+will bring the nature of its action home to us most clearly. Therefore, as
+a matter of convenience, I shall in these lectures speak of this dual
+action as though it proceeded from two minds, an outer and an inner, and
+the inner mind we will call the subjective mind and the outer the
+objective, by which names the distinction is most frequently indicated in
+the literature of the subject.
+
+A long series of careful experiments by highly-trained observers, some of
+them men of world-wide reputation, has fully established certain remarkable
+differences between the action of the subjective and that of the objective
+mind which may be briefly stated as follows. The subjective mind is only
+able to reason _deductively_ and not inductively, while the objective mind
+can do both. Deductive reasoning is the pure syllogism which shows why a
+third proposition must necessarily result if two others are assumed, but
+which does not help us to determine whether the two initial statements are
+true or not. To determine this is the province of inductive reasoning which
+draws its conclusions from the observation of a series of facts. The
+relation of the two modes of reasoning is that, first by observing a
+sufficient number of instances, we inductively reach the conclusion that a
+certain principle is of general application, and then we enter upon the
+deductive process by assuming the truth of this principle and determining
+what result must follow in a particular case on the hypothesis of its
+truth. Thus deductive reasoning proceeds on the assumption of the
+correctness of certain hypotheses or suppositions with which it sets out:
+it is not concerned with the truth or falsity of those suppositions, but
+only with the question as to what results must necessarily follow supposing
+them to be true. Inductive reasoning; on the other hand, is the process by
+which we compare a number of separate instances with one another until we
+see the common factor that gives rise to them all. Induction proceeds by
+the comparison of facts, and deduction by the application of universal
+principles. Now it is the deductive method only which is followed by the
+subjective mind. Innumerable experiments on persons in the hypnotic state
+have shown that the subjective mind is utterly incapable of making the
+selection and comparison which are necessary to the inductive process, but
+will accept any suggestion, however false, but having once accepted any
+suggestion, it is strictly logical in deducing the proper conclusions from
+it, and works out every suggestion to the minutest fraction of the results
+which flow from it.
+
+As a consequence of this it follows that the subjective mind is entirely
+under the control of the objective mind. With the utmost fidelity it
+reproduces and works out to its final consequences whatever the objective
+mind impresses upon it; and the facts of hypnotism show that ideas can be
+impressed on the subjective mind by the objective mind of another as well
+as by that of its own individuality. This is a most important point, for it
+is on this amenability to suggestion by the thought of another that all the
+phenomena of healing, whether present or absent, of telepathy and the like,
+depend. Under the control of the practised hypnotist the very personality
+of the subject becomes changed for the time being; he believes himself to
+be whatever the operator tells him he is: he is a swimmer breasting the
+waves, a bird flying in the air, a soldier in the tumult of battle, an
+Indian stealthily tracking his victim: in short, for the time being, he
+identifies himself with any personality that is impressed upon him by the
+will of the operator, and acts the part with inimitable accuracy. But the
+experiments of hypnotism go further than this, and show the existence in
+the subjective mind of powers far transcending any exercised by the
+objective mind through the medium of the physical senses; powers of
+thought-reading, of thought-transference, of clairvoyance, and the like,
+all of which are frequently manifested when the patient is brought into the
+higher mesmeric state; and we have thus experimental proof of the existence
+in ourselves of transcendental faculties the full development and conscious
+control of which would place us in a perfectly new sphere of life.
+
+But it should be noted that the control must be _our own_ and not that of
+any external intelligence whether in the flesh or out of it.
+
+But perhaps the most important fact which hypnotic experiments have
+demonstrated is that the subjective mind is the builder of the body. The
+subjective entity in the patient is able to diagnose the character of the
+disease from which he is suffering and to point out suitable remedies,
+indicating a physiological knowledge exceeding that of the most highly
+trained physicians, and also a knowledge of the correspondences between
+diseased conditions of the bodily organs and the material remedies which
+can afford relief. And from this it is but a step further to those numerous
+instances in which it entirely dispenses with the use of material remedies
+and itself works directly on the organism, so that complete restoration to
+health follows as the result of the suggestions of perfect soundness made
+by the operator to the patient while in the hypnotic state.
+
+Now these are facts fully established by hundreds of experiments conducted
+by a variety of investigators in different parts of the world, and from
+them we may draw two inferences of the highest importance: one, that the
+subjective mind is in itself absolutely impersonal, and the other that it
+is the builder of the body, or in other words it is the creative power in
+the individual. That it is impersonal in itself is shown by its readiness
+to assume any personality the hypnotist chooses to impress upon it; and the
+unavoidable inference is that its realization of personality proceeds from
+its association with the particular objective mind of its own
+individuality. Whatever personality the objective mind impresses upon it,
+that personality it assumes and acts up to; and since it is the builder of
+the body it will build up a body in correspondence with the personality
+thus impressed upon it. These two laws of the subjective mind form the
+foundation of the axiom that our body represents the aggregate of our
+beliefs. If our fixed belief is that the body is subject to all sorts of
+influences beyond our control, and that this, that, or the other symptom
+shows that such an uncontrollable influence is at work upon us, then this
+belief is impressed upon the subjective mind, which by the law of its
+nature accepts it without question and proceeds to fashion bodily
+conditions in accordance with this belief. Again, if our fixed belief is
+that certain material remedies are the only means of cure, then we find in
+this belief the foundation of all medicine. There is nothing unsound in the
+theory of medicine; it is the strictly logical correspondence with the
+measure of knowledge which those who rely on it are as yet able to
+assimilate, and it acts accurately in accordance with their belief that in
+a large number of cases medicine will do good, but also in many instances
+it fails. Therefore, for those who have not yet reached a more interior
+perception of the law of Nature, the healing agency of medicine is a most
+valuable aid to the alleviation of physical maladies. The error to be
+combated is not the belief that, in its own way, medicine is capable of
+doing good, but the belief that there is no higher or better way.
+
+Then, on the same principle, if we realize that the subjective mind is the
+builder of the body, and that the body is subject to no influences except
+those which reach it through the subjective mind, then what we have to do
+is to impress _this_ upon the subjective mind and habitually think of it as
+a fountain of perpetual Life, which is continually renovating the body by
+building in strong and healthy material, in the most complete independence
+of any influences of any sort, save those of our own desire impressed upon
+our own subjective mind by our own thought. When once we fully grasp these
+considerations we shall see that it is just as easy to externalize healthy
+conditions of body as the contrary. Practically the process amounts to a
+belief in our own power of life; and since this belief, if it be thoroughly
+domiciled within us, will necessarily produce a correspondingly healthy
+body, we should spare no pains to convince ourselves that there are sound
+and reasonable grounds for holding it. To afford a solid basis for this
+conviction is the purpose of Mental Science.
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE MIND.
+
+
+An intelligent consideration of the phenomena of hypnotism will show us
+that what we call the hypnotic state is the _normal_ state of the
+subjective mind. It _always_ conceives of itself in accordance with some
+suggestion conveyed to it, either consciously or unconsciously to the mode
+of objective mind which governs it, and it gives rise to corresponding
+external results. The abnormal nature of the conditions induced by
+experimental hypnotism is in the removal of the normal control held by the
+individual's own objective mind over his subjective mind and the
+substitution of some other control for it, and thus we may say that the
+normal characteristic of the subjective mind is its perpetual action in
+accordance with some sort of suggestion. It becomes therefore a question of
+the highest importance to determine in every case what the nature of the
+suggestion shall be and from what source it shall proceed; but before
+considering the sources of suggestion we must realize more fully the place
+taken by subjective mind in the order of Nature.
+
+If the student has followed what has been said regarding the presence of
+intelligent spirit pervading all space and permeating all matter, he will
+now have little difficulty in recognizing this all-pervading spirit as
+universal subjective mind. That it cannot _as universal mind_ have the
+qualities of objective mind is very obvious. The universal mind is the
+creative power throughout Nature; and as the originating power it must
+first give rise to the various _forms_ in which objective mind recognizes
+its own individuality, before these individual minds can re-act upon it;
+and hence, as pure spirit or _first cause_, it cannot possibly be anything
+else than subjective mind; and the fact which has been abundantly proved by
+experiment that the subjective mind is the builder of the body shows us
+that the power of creating by growth from within is the essential
+characteristic of the subjective mind. Hence, both from experiment and from
+_a priori_ reasoning, we may say that where-ever we find creative power at
+work there we are in the presence of subjective mind, whether it be working
+on the grand scale of the cosmos, or on the miniature scale of the
+individual. We may therefore lay it down as a principle that the universal
+all-permeating intelligence, which has been considered in the second and
+third sections, is purely subjective mind, and therefore follows the law of
+subjective mind, namely that it is amenable to any suggestion, and will
+carry out any suggestion that is impressed upon it to its most rigorously
+logical consequences. The incalculable importance of this truth may not
+perhaps strike the student at first sight, but a little consideration will
+show him the enormous possibilities that are stored up in it, and in the
+concluding section I shall briefly touch upon the very serious conclusions
+resulting from it. For the present it will be sufficient to realize that
+the subjective mind in ourselves is _the same_ subjective mind which is at
+work throughout the universe giving rise to the infinitude of natural forms
+with which we are surrounded, and in like manner giving rise _to ourselves
+also_. It may be called the supporter of our individuality; and we may
+loosely speak of our individual subjective mind as our personal share in
+the universal mind. This, of course, does not imply the splitting up of the
+universal mind into fractions, and it is to avoid this error that I have
+discussed the essential unity of spirit in the third section, but in order
+to avoid too highly abstract conceptions in the present stage of the
+student's progress we may conveniently employ the idea of a personal share
+in the universal subjective mind.
+
+To realize our individual subjective mind in this manner will help us to
+get over the great metaphysical difficulty which meets us in our endeavour
+to make conscious use of first cause, in other words to create external
+results by the power of our own thought. Ultimately there can be only one
+first cause which is the universal mind, but because it is universal it
+cannot, _as universal_, act on the plane of the individual and particular.
+For it to do so would be for it to cease to be universal and therefore
+cease to be the creative power which we wish to employ. On the other hand,
+the fact that we are working for a specific definite object implies our
+intention to use this universal power in application to a particular
+purpose, and thus we find ourselves involved in the paradox of seeking to
+make the universal act on the plane of the particular. We want to effect a
+junction between the two extremes of the scale of Nature, the innermost
+creative spirit and a particular external form. Between these two is a
+great gulf, and the question is how is it to be bridged over. It is here,
+then, that the conception of our individual subjective mind as our personal
+share in the universal subjective mind affords the means of meeting the
+difficulty, for on the one hand it is in immediate connection with the
+universal mind, and on the other it is immediate connection with the
+individual objective, or intellectual mind; and this in its turn is in
+immediate connection with the world of externalization, which is
+conditioned in time and space; and thus the relation between the subjective
+and objective minds in the individual forms the bridge which is needed to
+connect the two extremities of the scale.
+
+The individual subjective mind may therefore be regarded as the organ of
+the Absolute in precisely the same way that the objective mind is the organ
+of the Relative, and it is in order to regulate our use of these two organs
+that it is necessary to understand what the terms "absolute" and "relative"
+actually mean. The absolute is that idea of a thing which contemplates it
+as existing _in itself_ and not in relation to something else, that is to
+say, which contemplates the essence of it; and the relative is that idea of
+a thing which contemplates it as related to other things, that is to say as
+circumscribed by a certain environment. The absolute is the region of
+causes, and the relative is the region of conditions; and hence, if we wish
+to control conditions, this can only be done by our thought-power operating
+on the plane of the absolute, which it can do only through the medium of
+the subjective mind. The conscious use of the creative power of thought
+consists in the attainment of the power of Thinking in the Absolute, and
+this can only be attained by a clear conception of the interaction between
+our different mental functions. For this purpose the student cannot too
+strongly impress upon himself that subjective mind, on whatever scale, is
+intensely sensitive to suggestion, and as creative power works accurately
+to the externalization of that suggestion which is most deeply impressed
+upon it. If then, we would take any idea out of the realm of the relative,
+where it is limited and restricted by conditions imposed upon it through
+surrounding circumstances, and transfer it to the realm of the absolute
+where it is not thus limited, a right recognition of our mental
+constitution will enable us to do this by a clearly defined method.
+
+The object of our desire is necessarily first conceived by us as bearing
+some relation to existing circumstances, which may, or may not, appear
+favourable to it; and what we want to do is to eliminate the element of
+contingency and attain something which is certain in itself. To do this is
+to work upon the plane of the absolute, and for this purpose we must
+endeavour to impress upon our subjective mind the idea of that which we
+desire quite apart from any conditions. This separation from the elements
+of condition implies the elimination of the idea of _time_, and
+consequently we must think of the thing as already in actual existence.
+Unless we do this we are not consciously operating upon the plane of the
+absolute, and are therefore not employing the creative power of our
+thought. The simplest practical method of gaining the habit of thinking in
+this manner is to conceive the existence in the spiritual world of a
+spiritual prototype of every existing thing, which becomes the root of the
+corresponding external existence. If we thus habituate ourselves to look on
+the spiritual prototype as the essential being of the thing, and the
+material form as the growth of this prototype into outward expression, then
+we shall see that the initial step to the production of any external fact
+must be the creation of its spiritual prototype. This prototype, being
+purely spiritual, can only be formed by the operation of _thought_, and in
+order to have substance on the spiritual plane it _must_ be thought of as
+actually existing there. This conception has been elaborated by Plato in
+his doctrine of archetypal ideas, and by Swedenborg in his doctrine of
+correspondences; and a still greater teacher has said "All things
+whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye _have_ received them, and
+ye _shall_ receive them." (Mark xi. 24, R.V.) The difference of the tenses
+in this passage is remarkable. The speaker bids us first to believe that
+our desire _has_ already been fulfilled, that it is a thing already
+accomplished, and then its accomplishment _will_ follow as a thing in the
+future. This is nothing else than a concise direction for making use of the
+creative power of thought by impressing upon the universal subjective mind
+the particular thing which we desire as an already existing fact. In
+following this direction we are thinking on the plane of the absolute and
+eliminating from our minds all consideration of conditions, which imply
+limitation and the possibility of adverse contingencies; and we are thus
+planting a seed which, if left undisturbed, will infallibly germinate into
+external fruition.
+
+By thus making intelligent use of our subjective mind, we, so to speak,
+create a _nucleus_, which is no sooner created than it begins to exercise
+an attractive force, drawing to itself material of a like character with
+its own, and if this process is allowed to go on undisturbed, it will
+continue until an external form corresponding to the nature of the nucleus
+comes out into manifestation on the plane of the objective and relative.
+This is the universal method of Nature on every plane. Some of the most
+advanced thinkers in modern physical science, in the endeavour to probe the
+great mystery of the first origin of the world, have postulated the
+formation of what they call "vortex rings" formed from an infinitely fine
+primordial substance. They tell us that if such a ring be once formed on
+the minutest scale and set rotating, then, since it would be moving in pure
+ether and subject to no friction, it must according to all known laws of
+physics be indestructible and its motion perpetual. Let two such rings
+approach each other, and by the law of attraction, they would coalesce into
+a whole, and so on until manifested matter as we apprehend it with our
+external senses, is at last formed. Of course no one has ever seen these
+rings with the physical eye. They are one of those abstractions which
+result if we follow out the observed law of physics and the unavoidable
+sequences of mathematics to their necessary consequences. We cannot account
+for the things that we _can_ see unless we assume the existence of other
+things which we _cannot_; and the "vortex theory" is one of these
+assumptions. This theory has not been put forward by mental scientists but
+by purely physical scientists as the ultimate conclusion to which their
+researches have led them, and this conclusion is that all the innumerable
+forms of Nature have their origin in the infinitely minute nucleus of the
+vortex ring, by whatever means the vortex ring may have received its
+initial impulse, a question with which physical science, as such, is not
+concerned.
+
+As the vortex theory accounts for the formation of the inorganic world, so
+does biology account for the formation of the living organism. That also
+has its origin in a primary nucleus which, as soon as it is established,
+operates as a centre of attraction for the formation of all those physical
+organs of which the perfect individual is composed. The science of
+embryology shows that this rule holds good without exception throughout the
+whole range of the animal world, including man; and botany shows the same
+principle at work throughout the vegetable world. All branches of physical
+science demonstrate the fact that every completed manifestation, of
+whatever kind and on whatever scale, is started by the establishment of a
+nucleus, infinitely small but endowed with an unquenchable energy of
+attraction, causing it to steadily increase in power and definiteness of
+purpose, until the process of growth is completed and the matured form
+stands out as an accomplished fact. Now if this be the universal method of
+Nature, there is nothing unnatural in supposing that it must begin its
+operation at a stage further back than the formation of the material
+nucleus. As soon as that is called into being it begins to operate by the
+law of attraction on the material plane; but what is the force which
+originates the material nucleus? Let a recent work on physical science give
+us the answer; "In its ultimate essence, energy may be incomprehensible by
+us except as an exhibition of the direct operation of that which we call
+Mind or Will." The quotation is from a course of lectures on "Waves in
+Water, Air and Æther," delivered in 1902, at the Royal Institution, by J.
+A. Fleming. Here, then, is the testimony of physical science that the
+originating energy is Mind or Will; and we are, therefore, not only making
+a logical deduction from certain unavoidable intuitions of the human mind,
+but are also following on the lines of the most advanced physical science,
+when we say that the action of Mind plants that nucleus which, if allowed
+to grow undisturbed, will eventually attract to itself all the conditions
+necessary for its manifestation in outward visible form. Now the only
+action of Mind is Thought; and it is for this reason that by our thoughts
+we create corresponding external conditions, because we thereby create the
+nucleus which attracts to itself its own correspondences in due order until
+the finished work is manifested on the external plane. This is according to
+the strictly scientific conception of the universal law of growth; and we
+may therefore briefly sum up the whole argument by saying that our thought
+of anything forms a spiritual prototype of it, thus constituting a nucleus
+or centre of attraction for all conditions necessary to its eventual
+externalization by a law of growth inherent in the prototype itself.
+
+
+
+
+VI.
+
+THE LAW OF GROWTH.
+
+
+A CORRECT understanding of the law of growth is of the highest importance
+to the student of Mental Science. The great fact to be realized regarding
+Nature is that it is natural. We may pervert the order of Nature, but it
+will prevail in the long run, returning, as Horace says, by the back door
+even though we drive it out with a pitchfork; and the beginning, the
+middle, and the end of the law of Nature is the principle of growth from a
+vitality inherent in the entity itself. If we realize this from the outset
+we shall not undo our own work by endeavouring to _force_ things to become
+that which by their own nature they are not. For this reason when the Bible
+says that "he who believeth shall not make haste," it is enunciating a
+great natural principle that success, depends on our using, and not
+opposing, the universal law of growth. No doubt the greater the vitality we
+put into the germ, which we have agreed to call the spiritual prototype,
+the quicker it will germinate; but this is simply because by a more
+realizing conception we put more growing-power into the seed than we do by
+a feebler conception. Our mistakes always eventually resolve themselves
+into distrusting the law of growth. Either we fancy we can hasten it by
+some exertion of our own from _without_, and are thus led into hurry and
+anxiety, not to say sometimes into the employment, of grievously wrong
+methods; or else we give up all hope and so deny the germinating power of
+the seed we have planted. The result in either case is the same, for in
+either case we are in effect forming a fresh spiritual prototype of an
+opposite character to our desire, which therefore neutralizes the one first
+formed, and disintegrates it and usurps its place. The law is always the
+same, that our Thought forms a spiritual prototype which, if left
+undisturbed, will reproduce itself in external circumstances; the only
+difference is in the sort of prototype we form, and thus evil is brought to
+us by precisely the same law as good.
+
+These considerations will greatly simplify our ideas of life. We have no
+longer to consider two forces, but only one, as being the cause of all
+things; the difference between good and evil resulting simply from the
+direction in which this force is made to flow. It is a universal law that
+if we reverse the action of a cause we at the same time reverse the effect.
+With the same apparatus we can commence by mechanical motion which will
+generate electricity, or we can commence with electricity which will
+generate mechanical motion; or to take a simple arithmetical instance: if
+10/2 = 5, then 10/5 = 2; and therefore if we once recognize the power of
+thought to produce any results at all, we shall see that the law by which
+negative thought produces negative results is the same by which positive
+thought produces positive results. Therefore all our distrust of the law of
+growth, whether shown in the anxious endeavour to bring pressure to bear
+from without, or in allowing despair to take the place of cheerful
+expectation, is reversing the action of the original cause and consequently
+reversing the nature of the results. It is for this reason that the Bible,
+which is the most deeply occult of all books, continually lays so much
+stress upon the efficiency of faith and the destructive influence of
+unbelief; and in like manner, all books on every branch of spiritual
+science emphatically warn us against the admission of doubt or fear. They
+are the inversion of the principle which builds up, and they are therefore
+the principle which pulls down; but the Law itself never changes, and it is
+on the unchangeableness of the law that all Mental Science is founded. We
+are accustomed to realize the unchangeableness of natural law in our every
+day life, and it should therefore not be difficult to realize that the same
+unchangeableness of law which obtains on the visible side of nature obtains
+on the invisible side as well. The variable factor is, not the law, but our
+own volition; and it is by combining this variable factor with the
+invariable one that we can produce the various results we desire. The
+principle of growth is that of inherent vitality in the seed itself, and
+the operations of the gardener have their exact analogue in Mental Science.
+We do not _put_ the self-expansive vitality into the seed, but we must sow
+it, and we may also, so to speak, water it by quiet concentrated
+contemplation of our desire as an actually accomplished fact. But we must
+carefully remove from such contemplation any idea of a strenuous effort on
+our part to _make_ the seed grow. Its efficacy is in helping to keep out
+those negative thoughts of doubt which would plant tares among our wheat,
+and therefore, instead of anything of effort, such contemplation should be
+accompanied by a feeling of pleasure and restfulness in foreseeing the
+certain accomplishment of our desires. This is that making our requests
+known to God _with thanksgiving_ which St. Paul recommends, and it has its
+reason in that perfect wholeness of the Law of Being which only needs our
+recognition of it to be used by us to any extent we wish.
+
+Some people possess the power of visualization, or making mental pictures
+of things, in a greater degree than others, and by such this faculty may
+advantageously be employed to facilitate their realization of the working
+of the Law. But those who do not possess this faculty in any marked degree,
+need not be discouraged by their want of it, for visualization is not the
+only way of realizing that the law is at work on the invisible plane. Those
+whose mental bias is towards physical science should realize this Law of
+Growth as the creative force throughout all nature; and those who have a
+mathematical turn of mind may reflect that all solids are generated from
+the movement of a point, which, as our old friend Euclid tells us, is that
+which has no parts nor magnitude, and is therefore as complete an
+abstraction as any spiritual nucleus could be. To use the apostolic words,
+we are dealing with the substance of things not seen, and we have to attain
+that habit of mind by which we shall see its reality and feel that we are
+mentally manipulating the only substance there ultimately is, and of which
+all visible things are only different modes. We must therefore regard our
+mental creations as spiritual realities and then implicitly trust the Law
+of Growth to do the rest.
+
+
+
+
+VII.
+
+RECEPTIVITY.
+
+
+In order to lay the foundations for practical work, the student must
+endeavour to get a clear conception of what is meant by the intelligence of
+undifferentiated spirit. We want to grasp the idea of intelligence apart
+from individuality, an idea which is rather apt to elude us until we grow
+accustomed to it. It is the failure to realize this quality of spirit that
+has given rise to all the theological errors that have brought bitterness
+into the world and has been prominent amongst the causes which have
+retarded the true development of mankind. To accurately convey this
+conception in words, is perhaps, impossible, and to attempt definition is
+to introduce that very idea of limitation which is our object to avoid. It
+is a matter of feeling rather than of definition; yet some endeavour must
+be made to indicate the direction in which we must feel for this great
+truth if we are to find it. The idea is that of realizing personality
+without that selfhood which differentiates one individual from another. "I
+am not that other because I am myself"--this is the definition of
+individual selfhood; but it necessarily imparts the idea of limitation,
+because the recognition of any other individuality at once affirms a point
+at which our own individuality ceases and the other begins. Now this mode
+of recognition cannot be attributed to the Universal Mind. For it to
+recognize a point where itself ceased and something else began would be to
+recognize itself as _not_ universal; for the meaning of universality is the
+including of _all_ things, and therefore for this intelligence to recognize
+anything as being _outside itself_ would be a denial of its own being. We
+may therefore say without hesitation that, whatever may be the nature of
+its intelligence, it must be entirely devoid of the element of
+self-recognition _as an individual personality_ on any scale whatever. Seen
+in this light it is at once clear that the originating all-pervading Spirit
+is the grand impersonal principle of Life which gives rise to all the
+particular manifestations of Nature. Its absolute impersonalness, in the
+sense of the entire absence of any consciousness of _individual_ selfhood,
+is a point on which it is impossible to insist too strongly. The
+attributing of an impossible individuality to the Universal Mind is one of
+the two grand errors which we find sapping the foundations of religion and
+philosophy in all ages. The other consists in rushing to the opposite
+extreme and denying the quality of personal intelligence to the Universal
+Mind. The answer to this error remains, as of old, in the simple question,
+"He that made the eye shall He not see? He that planted the ear shall He
+not hear?"--or to use a popular proverb, "You cannot get out of a bag more
+than there is in it;" and consequently the fact that we ourselves are
+centres of personal intelligence is proof that the infinite, from which
+these centres are concentrated, must be infinite intelligence, and thus we
+cannot avoid attributing to it the two factors which constitute
+personality, namely, intelligence and volition. We are therefore brought to
+the conclusion that this universally diffused essence, which we might think
+of as a sort of spiritual protoplasm, must possess all the qualities of
+personality without that conscious recognition of self which constitutes
+separate individuality: and since the word "personality" has became so
+associated in our ordinary talk with the idea of "individuality" it will
+perhaps be better to coin a new word, and speak of the personalness of the
+Universal Mind as indicating its personal _quality_, apart from
+individuality. We must realize that this universal spirit permeates all
+space and all manifested substance, just as physical scientists tell us
+that the ether does, and that wherever it is, there it must carry with it
+all that it is in its own being; and we shall then see that we are in the
+midst of an ocean of undifferentiated yet intelligent Life, above, below,
+and all around, and permeating ourselves both mentally and corporeally, and
+all other beings as well.
+
+Gradually as we come to realize the truth of this statement, our eyes will
+begin to open to its immense significance. It means that all Nature is
+pervaded by an interior personalness, infinite in its potentialities of
+intelligence, responsiveness, and power of expression, and only waiting to
+be called into activity by our recognition of it. By the terms of its
+nature it can respond to us only as we recognize it. If we are at that
+intellectual level where we can see nothing but chance governing the world,
+then this underlying universal mind will present to us nothing but a
+fortuitous confluence of forces without any intelligible order. If we are
+sufficiently advanced to see that such a confluence could only produce a
+chaos, and not a cosmos, then our conceptions expand to the idea of
+universal Law, and we find _this_ to be the nature of the all-underlying
+principle. We have made an immense advance from the realm of mere accident
+into a world where there are definite principles on which we can calculate
+with certainty _when we know them_. But here is the crucial point. The laws
+of the universe are there, but we are ignorant of them, and only through
+experience gained by repeated failures can we get any insight into the laws
+with which we have to deal. How painful each step and how slow the
+progress! Æons upon æons would not suffice to grasp all the laws of the
+universe in their totality, not in the visible world only, but also in the
+world of the unseen; each failure to know the true law implies suffering
+arising from our ignorant breach of it; and thus, since Nature is infinite,
+we are met by the paradox that we must in some way contrive to compass the
+knowledge of the infinite with our individual intelligence, and we must
+perform a pilgrimage along an unceasing Via Dolorosa beneath the lash of
+the inexorable Law until we find the solution to the problem. But it will
+be asked, May we not go on until at last we attain the possession of all
+knowledge? People do not realize what is meant by "the infinite," or they
+would not ask such questions. The infinite is that which is limitless and
+exhaustless. Imagine the vastest capacity you will, and having filled it
+with the infinite, what remains of the infinite is just as infinite as
+before. To the mathematician this may be put very clearly. Raise _x_ to any
+power you will, and however vast may be the disparity between it and the
+lower powers of _x_, both are equally incommensurate with _x^n._ The
+universal reign of Law is a magnificent truth; it is one of the two great
+pillars of the universe symbolized by the two pillars that stood at the
+entrance to Solomon's temple: it is Jachin, but Jachin must be
+equilibriated by Boaz.
+
+It is an enduring truth, which can never be altered, that every infraction
+of the Law of Nature must carry its punitive consequences with it. We can
+never get beyond the range of cause and effect. There is no escaping from
+the law of punishment, except by knowledge. If we know a law of Nature and
+work with it, we shall find it our unfailing friend, ever ready to serve
+us, and never rebuking us for past failures; but if we ignorantly or
+wilfully transgress it, it is our implacable enemy, until we again become
+obedient to it; and therefore the only redemption from perpetual pain and
+servitude is by a self-expansion which can grasp infinitude itself. How is
+this to be accomplished? By our progress to that kind and degree of
+intelligence by which we realize the inherent _personalness_ of the divine
+all-pervading Life, which is at once the Law and the Substance of all that
+is. Well said the Jewish rabbis of old, "The Law is a Person." When we once
+realize that the universal Life and the universal Law are one with the
+universal Personalness, then we have established the pillar Boaz as the
+needed complement to Jachin; and when we find the common point in which
+these two unite, we have raised the Royal Arch through which we may
+triumphantly enter the Temple. We must dissociate the Universal
+Personalness from every conception of individuality. The universal can
+never be the individual: that would be a contradiction in terms. But
+because the universal personalness is the root of all individual
+personalities, it finds its highest expression in response to those who
+realize its personal nature. And it is this recognition that solves the
+seemingly insoluble paradox. The only way to attain that knowledge of the
+Infinite Law which will change the Via Dolorosa into the Path of Joy is to
+embody in ourselves a _principle_ of knowledge commensurate with the
+infinitude of that which is to be known; and this is accomplished by
+realizing that, infinite as the law itself, is a universal Intelligence in
+the midst of which we float as in a living ocean. Intelligence without
+individual personality, but which, in producing us, concentrates itself
+into the personal individualities which we are. What should be the relation
+of such an intelligence towards us? Not one of favouritism: not any more
+than the Law can it respect one person above another, for itself is the
+root and support for each alike. Not one of refusal to our advances; for
+without individuality it can have no personal object of its own to conflict
+with ours; and since it is itself the origin of all individual
+intelligence, it cannot be shut off by inability to understand. By the very
+terms of its being, therefore, this infinite, underlying, all-producing
+Mind must be ready immediately to respond to all who realize their true
+relation to it. As the very principle of Life itself it must be infinitely
+susceptible to feeling, and consequently it will reproduce with absolute
+accuracy whatever conception of itself we impress upon it; and hence if we
+realize the human mind as that stage in the evolution of the cosmic order
+at which an individuality has arisen capable of expressing, not merely the
+livingness, but also the personalness of the universal underlying spirit,
+then we see that its most perfect mode of self-expression must be by
+identifying itself with these individual personalities.
+
+The identification is, of course, limited by the measure of the individual
+intelligence, meaning, not merely the intellectual perception of the
+sequence of cause and effect, but also that indescribable reciprocity of
+_feeling_ by which we instinctively recognize something in another making
+them akin to ourselves; and so it is that when we intelligently realize
+that the innermost principle of being, must by reason of its universality,
+have a common nature with our own, then we have solved the paradox of
+universal knowledge, for we have realized our identity of being with the
+Universal Mind, which is commensurate with the Universal Law. Thus we
+arrive at the truth of St. John's statement, "Ye know all things," only
+this knowledge is primarily on the spiritual plane. It is not brought out
+into intellectual statement whether needed or not; for it is not in itself
+the specific knowledge of particular facts, but it is the undifferentiated
+principle of knowledge which we may differentiate in any direction that we
+choose. This is a philosophical necessity of the case, for though the
+action of the individual mind consists in differentiating the universal
+into particular applications, to differentiate the _whole_ universal would
+be a contradiction in terms; and so, because we cannot exhaust the
+infinite, our possession of it must consist in our power to differentiate
+it as the occasion may require, the only limit being that which we
+ourselves assign to the manifestation.
+
+In this way, then, the recognition of the community of _personality_
+between ourselves and the universal undifferentiated Spirit, which is the
+root and substance of all things, solves the question of our release from
+the iron grasp of an inflexible Law, not by abrogating the Law, which would
+mean the annihilation of all things, but by producing in us an intelligence
+equal in affinity with the universal Law itself, and thus enabling us to
+apprehend and meet the requirements of the Law in each particular as it
+arises. In this way the Cosmic Intelligence becomes individualized, and the
+individual intelligence becomes universalized; the two became one, and in
+proportion as this unity is realized and acted on, it will be found that
+the Law, which gives rise to all outward conditions, whether of body or of
+circumstances, becomes more and more clearly understood, and can therefore
+be more freely made use of, so that by steady, intelligent endeavour to
+unfold upon these lines we may reach degrees of power to which it is
+impossible to assign any limits. The student who would understand the
+rationale of the unfoldment of his own possibilities must make no mistake
+here. He must realize that the whole process is that of bringing the
+universal within the grasp of the individual by raising the individual to
+the level of the universal and not vice-versa. It is a mathematical truism
+that you cannot contract the infinite, and that you _can_ expand the
+individual; and it is precisely on these lines that evolution works. The
+laws of nature cannot be altered in the least degree; but we can come into
+such a realization of our own relation to the universal principle of Law
+that underlies them as to be able to press all particular laws, whether of
+the visible or invisible side of Nature, into our service and so find
+ourselves masters of the situation. This is to be accomplished by
+knowledge; and the only knowledge which will effect this purpose in all its
+measureless immensity is the knowledge of the personal element in Universal
+Spirit in its reciprocity to our own personality. Our recognition of this
+Spirit must therefore be twofold, as the principle of necessary sequence,
+order or Law, and also as the principle of Intelligence, responsive to our
+own recognition of it.
+
+
+
+
+VIII.
+
+RECIPROCAL ACTION OF THE UNIVERSAL AND INDIVIDUAL MINDS.
+
+
+It must be admitted that the foregoing considerations bring us to the
+borders of theological speculation, but the student must bear in mind that
+as a Mental Scientist it is his business to regard even the most exalted
+spiritual phenomena from a purely scientific standpoint, which is that of
+the working of a universal natural Law. If he thus simply deals with the
+facts as he finds them, there is little doubt that the true meaning of many
+theological statements will become clear to him: but he will do well to lay
+it down as a general rule that it is not necessary either to the use or
+understanding of any law, whether on the personal or the impersonal side of
+Nature, that we should give a theological explanation of it: although,
+therefore, the personal quality inherent in the universal underlying
+spirit, which is present in all things, cannot be too strongly insisted
+upon, we must remember that in dealing with it we are still dealing with a
+purely natural power which reappears at every point with protean variety of
+form, whether as person, animal, or thing. In each case what it becomes to
+any individual is exactly measured by that individual's recognition of it.
+To each and all it bears the relation of supporter of the race, and where
+the individual development is incapable of realizing anything more, this is
+the limit of the relation; but as the individual's power of recognition
+expands, he finds a reciprocal expansion on the part of this intelligent
+power which gradually develops into the consciousness of intimate
+companionship between the individualized mind and the unindividualized
+source of it.
+
+Now this is exactly the relation which, on ordinary scientific principles,
+we should expect to find between the individual and the cosmic mind, on the
+supposition that the cosmic mind is subjective mind, and for reasons
+already given we can regard it in no other light. As subjective mind it
+must reproduce exactly the conception of itself which the objective mind of
+the individual, acting through his own subjective mind, impresses upon it;
+and at the same time as creative mind, it builds up external facts in
+correspondence with this conception. "Quot homines tot sententiæ": each one
+externalizes in his outward circumstances precisely his idea of the
+Universal Mind; and the man who realizes that by the natural law of mind he
+can bring the Universal Mind into perfectly reciprocal action with its own,
+will on the one hand make it a source of infinite instruction, and on the
+other a source of infinite power. He will thus wisely alternate the
+personal and impersonal aspects respectively between his individual mind
+and the Universal Mind; when he is seeking for guidance or strength he will
+regard his own mind as the impersonal element which is to _receive
+personality_ from the superior wisdom and force of the Greater Mind; and
+when, on the other hand, he is to give out the stores thus accumulated, he
+must reverse the position and consider his own mind as the personal
+element, and the Universal Mind as the impersonal, which he can therefore
+_direct_ with certainty by impressing his own personal desire upon it. We
+need not be staggered at the greatness of this conclusion, for it follows
+necessarily from the natural relation between the subjective and the
+objective minds; and the only question is whether we will limit our view to
+the lower level of the latter, or expand it so as to take in the limitless
+possibilities which the subjective mind presents to us.
+
+I have dealt with this question at some length because it affords the key
+to two very important subjects, the Law of Supply and the nature of
+Intuition. Students often find it easier to understand how the mind can
+influence the body with which it is so intimately associated, than how it
+can influence circumstances. If the operation of thought-power were
+confined exclusively to the individual mind this difficulty might arise;
+but if there is one lesson the student of Mental Science should take to
+heart more than another, it is that the action of thought-power is not
+limited to a circumscribed individuality. What the individual does is to
+_give direction_ to something which is unlimited, to call into action a
+force infinitely greater than his own, which because it is in itself
+impersonal though intelligent, will receive the impress of his personality,
+and can therefore make its influence felt far beyond the limits which bound
+the individual's objective perception of the circumstances with which he
+has to deal. It is for this reason that I lay so much stress on the
+combination of two apparent opposites in the Universal Mind, the union of
+intelligence with impersonality. The intelligence not only enables it to
+receive the impress of our thought, but also causes it to devise exactly
+the right _means_ for bringing it into accomplishment. This is only the
+logical result of the hypothesis that we are dealing with infinite
+Intelligence which is also infinite Life. Life means Power, and infinite
+life therefore means limitless power; and limitless power moved by
+limitless intelligence cannot be conceived of as ever stopping short of the
+accomplishment of its object; therefore, given the _intention_ on the part
+of the Universal Mind, there can be no doubt as to its ultimate
+accomplishment. Then comes the question of intention. How do we know what
+the intention of the Universal Mind may be? Here comes in the element of
+impersonality. It has _no intention_, because it is _impersonal_. As I have
+already said, the Universal mind works by a law of averages for the
+advancement of the race, and is in no way concerned with the particular
+wishes of the individual. If his wishes are in line with the forward
+movement of the everlasting principle, there is nowhere in Nature any power
+to restrict him in their fulfilment. If they are opposed to the general
+forward movement, then they will bring him into collision with it, and it
+will crush him. From the relation between them it results that the same
+principle which shows itself in the individual mind as Will, becomes in the
+universal mind a Law of Tendency; and the direction of this tendency must
+always be to life-givingness, because the universal mind is the
+undifferentiated Life-spirit of the universe. Therefore in every case the
+test is whether our particular intention is in this same lifeward
+direction: and if it is, then we may be absolutely certain that there is no
+intention on the part of the Universal Mind to thwart the intention of our
+own individual mind; we are dealing with a purely impersonal force, and it
+will no more oppose us by specific plans of its own than will steam or
+electricity. Combining then, these two aspects of the Universal Mind, its
+utter impersonality and its perfect intelligence, we find precisely the
+sort of natural force we are in want of, something which will undertake
+whatever we put into its hands without asking questions or bargaining for
+terms, and which, having undertaken our business, will bring to bear on it
+an intelligence to which the united knowledge of the whole human race is as
+nothing, and a power equal to this intelligence. I may be using a rough and
+ready mode of expression, but my object is to bring home to the student the
+nature of the power he can employ and the method of employing it, and I may
+therefore state the whole position thus:--Your object is not to run the
+whole cosmos, but to draw particular benefits, physical, mental, moral, or
+financial into your own or someone else's life. From this individual point
+of view the universal creative power has no mind of its own, and therefore
+you can make up its mind for it. When its mind is thus made up for it, it
+never abrogates its place as the creative power, but at once sets to work
+co carry out the purpose for which it has thus been concentrated; and
+unless this concentration is dissipated by the same agency (yourself) which
+first produced it, it will work on by the law of growth to complete
+manifestation on the outward plane.
+
+In dealing with this great impersonal intelligence, we are dealing with the
+infinite, and we must fully realize infinitude as that which touches all
+points, and if it does, there should be no difficulty in understanding that
+this intelligence can draw together the means requisite for its purpose
+even from the ends of the world; and therefore, realizing the Law according
+to which the result can be produced, we must resolutely put aside all
+questioning as to the specific means which will be employed in any case. To
+question this is to sow that very seed of doubt which it is our first
+object to eradicate, and our intellectual endeavour should therefore be
+directed, not to the attempt to foretell the various secondary causes which
+will eventually combine to produce the desired result, laying down
+beforehand what particular causes should be necessary, and from what
+quarter they should come; but we should direct our intellectual endeavour
+to seeing more clearly the rationale of the general law by which trains of
+secondary causes are set in motion. Employed in the former way our
+intellect becomes the greatest hindrance to our success, for it only helps
+to increase our doubts, since it is trying to grasp particulars which, at
+the time are entirely outside its circle of vision; but employed in the
+latter it affords the most material aid in maintaining that nucleus without
+which there is no centre from which the principle of growth can assert
+itself. The intellect can only deduce consequences from facts which it is
+able to state, and consequently cannot deduce any assurance from facts of
+whose existence it cannot yet have any knowledge through the medium of the
+outward senses; but for the same reason it can realize the existence of a
+_Law_ by which the as yet unmanifested circumstances may be brought into
+manifestation. Thus used in its right order, the intellect becomes the
+handmaid of that more interior power within us which manipulates the unseen
+substance of all things, and which we may call relative first cause.
+
+
+
+
+IX.
+
+CAUSES AND CONDITIONS.
+
+
+The expression "_relative_ first cause" has been used in the last section
+to distinguish the action of the creative principle in the _individual_
+mind from Universal First Cause on the one hand and from secondary causes
+on the other. As it exists in _us_, primary causation is the power to
+initiate a train of causation directed to an individual purpose. As the
+power of initiating a fresh sequence of cause and effect it is first cause,
+and as referring to an individual purpose it is relative, and it may
+therefore be spoken of as relative first cause, or the power of primary
+causation manifested by the individual. The understanding and use of this
+power is the whole object of Mental Science, and it is therefore necessary
+that the student should clearly see the relation between causes and
+conditions. A simple illustration will go further for this purpose than any
+elaborate explanation. If a lighted candle is brought into a room the room
+becomes illuminated, and if the candle is taken away it becomes dark again.
+Now the illumination and the darkness are both conditions, the one positive
+resulting from the presence of the light, and the other negative resulting
+from its absence: from this simple example we therefore see that every
+positive condition has an exactly opposite negative condition corresponding
+to it, and that this correspondence results from their being related to the
+_same cause_, the one positively and the other negatively; and hence we may
+lay down the rule that all positive conditions result from the active
+presence of a certain cause, and all negative conditions from the absence
+of such a cause. A condition, whether positive or negative, is never
+_primary_ cause, and the _primary_ cause of any series can never be
+negative, for negation is the condition which arises from the absence of
+active causation. This should be thoroughly understood as it is the
+philosophic basis of all those "denials" which play so important a, part in
+Mental Science, and which may be summed up in the statement that evil being
+negative, or privation of good, has no substantive existence in itself.
+Conditions, however, whether positive or negative, are no sooner called
+into existence than they become causes in their turn and produce further
+conditions, and so on _ad infinitum_, thus giving rise to the whole train
+of secondary causes. So long as we judge only from the information conveyed
+to us by the outward senses, we are working on the plane of secondary
+causation and see nothing but a succession of conditions, forming part of
+an endless train of antecedent conditions coming out of the past and
+stretching away into the future, and from this point of view we are under
+the rule of an iron destiny from which there seems no possibility of
+escape. This is because the outward senses are only capable of dealing with
+the relations which one mode of limitation bears to another, for they are
+the instruments by which we take cognizance of the relative and the
+conditioned. Now the only way of escape is by rising out of the region of
+secondary causes into that of primary causation, where the originating
+energy is to be found before it has yet passed into manifestation as a
+condition. This region is to be found _within ourselves_; it is the region
+of pure ideas; and it is for this reason that I have laid stress on the two
+aspects of spirit as pure thought and manifested form. The thought-image or
+ideal pattern of a thing is the _first cause_ relatively to that thing; it
+is the substance of that thing untrammelled, by any antecedent conditions.
+
+If we realize that all visible things _must_ have their origin in spirit,
+then the whole creation around us is the standing evidence that the
+starting-point of all things is in thought-images or ideas, for no other
+action than the formation of such images can be conceived of spirit prior
+to its manifestation in matter. If, then, this is spirit's modus operandi
+for self-expression, we have only to transfer this conception from the
+scale of cosmic spirit working on the plane of the universal to that of
+individualized spirit working on the plane of the particular, to see that
+the formation of an ideal image by means of our thought is setting first
+cause in motion with regard to this specific object. There is no difference
+in kind between the operation of first cause in the universal and in the
+particular, the difference is only a difference of scale, but the power
+itself is identical. We must therefore always be very clear as to whether
+we are _consciously_ using first cause or not. Note the word "consciously"
+because, whether consciously or unconsciously, we are always using first
+cause; and it was for this reason I emphasized the fact that the Universal
+Mind is purely subjective and therefore bound by the laws which apply to
+subjective mind on whatever scale. Hence we are _always_ impressing some
+sort of ideas upon it, whether we are aware of the fact or not, and all our
+existing limitations result from our having habitually impressed upon it
+that idea of limitation which we have imbibed by restricting all
+possibility to the region of secondary causes. But now when investigation
+has shown us that conditions are never causes in _themselves_, but only the
+subsequent links of a chain started on the plane of the pure ideal, what we
+have to do is to reverse our method of thinking and regard the ideal as the
+real, and the outward manifestation as a mere reflection which must change
+with every change of the object which casts it. For these reasons it is
+essential to know whether we are consciously making use of first cause with
+a definite purpose or not, and the criterion is this. If we regard the
+fulfilment of our purpose as contingent upon any _circumstances_, past,
+present, or future, we are not making use of first cause; we have descended
+to the level of secondary causation, which is the region of doubts, fears,
+and limitations, all of which we are impressing upon the universal
+subjective mind with the inevitable result that it will build up
+corresponding external conditions. But if we realize that the region of
+secondary causes is the region of mere reflections we shall not think of
+our purpose as contingent on any conditions whatever, but shall know that
+by forming the idea of it in the absolute, and maintaining that idea, we
+have shaped the first cause into the desired form and can await the result
+with cheerful expectancy.
+
+It is here that we find the importance of realizing spirit's independence
+of time and space. An ideal, as such, cannot be formed in the future. It
+must either be formed here and now or not be formed at all; and it is for
+this reason that every teacher, who has ever spoken with due knowledge of
+the subject, has impressed upon his followers the necessity of picturing to
+themselves the fulfilment of their desires as _already accomplished_ on the
+spiritual plane, as the indispensable condition of fulfilment in the
+visible and concrete.
+
+When this is properly understood, any anxious thought as to the _means_ to
+be employed in the accomplishment of our purposes is seen to be quite
+unnecessary. If the end is already secured, then it follows that all the
+steps leading to it are secured also. The means will pass into the smaller
+circle of our conscious activities day by day in due order, and then we
+have to work upon them, not with fear, doubt, or feverish excitement, but
+calmly and joyously, because we _know_ that the end is already secured, and
+that our reasonable use of such means as present themselves in the desired
+direction is, only one portion of a much larger co-ordinated movement, the
+final result of which admits of no doubt. Mental Science does not offer a
+premium to idleness, but it takes, all work out of the region of anxiety
+and toil by assuring the worker of the success of his labour, if not in the
+precise form he anticipated, then in some other still better suited to his
+requirements. But suppose, when we reach a point where some momentous
+decision has to be made, we happen to decide wrongly? On the hypothesis
+that the end is already secured you cannot decide wrongly. Your right
+decision is as much one of the necessary steps in the accomplishment of the
+end as any of the other conditions leading up to it, and therefore, while
+being careful to avoid rash action, we may make sure that the same Law
+which is controlling the rest of the circumstances in the right direction
+will influence our judgment in that direction also. To get good results we
+must properly understand our relation to the great impersonal power we are
+using. It is intelligent and we are intelligent, and the two intelligences
+must co-operate. We must not fly in the face of the Law by expecting it to
+do _for_ us what it can only do _through_ us; and we must therefore use our
+intelligence with the knowledge that it is acting _as the instrument of a
+greater intelligence_; and because we have this knowledge we may, and
+should, cease from all anxiety as to the final result. In actual practice
+we must first form the ideal conception of our object with the definite
+intention of impressing it upon the universal mind--it is this intention
+which takes such thought out of the region of mere casual fancies--and then
+affirm that our knowledge of the Law is sufficient reason for a calm
+expectation of a corresponding result, and that therefore all necessary
+conditions will come to us in due order. We can then turn to the affairs of
+our daily life with the calm assurance that the initial conditions are
+either there already or will soon come into view. If we do not at once see
+them, let us rest content with the knowledge that the spiritual prototype
+is already in existence and wait till some circumstance pointing in the
+desired direction begins to show itself. It may be a very small
+circumstance, but it is the direction and not the magnitude which is to be
+taken into consideration. As soon as we see it we should regard it as the
+first sprouting of the seed we have sown in the Absolute, and do calmly,
+and without excitement, whatever the circumstances may seem to require, and
+then later on we shall see that this doing will in turn lead to further
+circumstances in the same direction until we find ourselves conducted step
+by step to the accomplishment of our object. In this way the understanding
+of the great principle of the Law of Supply will, by repeated experiences,
+deliver us more and more completely out of the region of anxious thought
+and toilsome labour and bring us into a new world where the useful
+employment of all our powers, whether mental or physical, will only be an
+unfolding of our individuality upon the lines of its own nature, and
+therefore a perpetual source of health and happiness; a sufficient
+inducement, surely, to the careful study of the laws governing the relation
+between the individual and the Universal Mind.
+
+
+
+
+X.
+
+INTUITION.
+
+
+We have seen that the subjective mind is amenable to suggestion by the
+objective mind; but there is also an action of the subjective mind upon the
+objective. The individual's subjective mind is his own innermost self, and
+its first care is the maintenance of the individuality of which it is the
+foundation; and since it is pure spirit it has its continual existence in
+that plane of being where all things subsist in the universal here and the
+everlasting now, and consequently can, inform the lower mind of things
+removed from its ken either by distance or futurity. As the absence of the
+conditions of time and space must logically concentrate all things into a
+present focus, we can assign no limit to the subjective mind's power of
+perception, and therefore the question arises, why does it not keep the
+objective mind continually informed on all points? And the answer is that
+it would do so if the objective mind were sufficiently trained to recognize
+the indications given, and to effect this training is one of the purposes
+of Mental Science. When once we recognize the position of the subjective
+mind as the supporter of the whole individuality we cannot doubt that much
+of what we take to be the spontaneous movement of the objective mind has
+its origin in the subjective mind prompting the objective mind in the right
+direction without our being consciously aware of it. But at times when the
+urgency of the case seems to demand it, or when, for some reason yet
+unknown, the objective mind is for a while more closely _en rapport_ with
+the subjective mind, the interior voice is heard strongly and persistently;
+and when this is the case we do well to pay heed to it. Want of space
+forbids me to give examples, but doubtless such will not be wanting in the
+reader's experience.
+
+The importance of understanding and following the intuition cannot be
+exaggerated, but I candidly admit the great practical difficulty of keeping
+the happy mean between the disregard of the interior voice and allowing
+ourselves to be run away with by groundless fancies. The best guide is the
+knowledge that comes of personal experience which gradually leads to the
+acquisition of a sort of inward sense of touch that enables us to
+distinguish the true from the false, and which appears to grow with the
+sincere desire for truth and with the recognition of the spirit as its
+source. The only general principles the writer can deduce from his own
+experience are that when, in spite of all appearances pointing in the
+direction of a certain line of conduct, there is still a persistent
+_feeling_ that it should not be followed, in the majority of instances it
+will be found that the argument of the objective mind, however correct on
+the facts objectively known, was deficient from ignorance of facts which
+could not be objectively known at the time, but which were known to the
+intuitive faculty. Another principle is that our _very first_ impression
+of feeling on any subject is generally correct. Before the objective mind
+has begun to argue on the subject it is like the surface of a smooth lake
+which clearly reflects the light from above; but as soon as it begins to
+argue from outside appearances these also throw their reflections upon its
+surface, so that the original image becomes blurred and is no longer
+recognizable. This first conception is very speedily lost, and it should
+therefore be carefully observed and registered in the memory with a view to
+testing the various arguments which will subsequently arise on the
+objective plane. It is however impossible to reduce so interior an action
+as that of the intuition to the form of hard and fast rules, and beyond
+carefully noting particular cases as they occur, probably the best plan for
+the student will be to include the whole subject of intuition in the
+general principle of the Law of Attraction, especially if he sees how this
+law interacts with that personal quality of universal spirit of which we
+have already spoken.
+
+
+
+
+XI.
+
+HEALING.
+
+
+The subject of healing has been elaborately treated by many writers and
+fully deserves all the attention that has been given to it, but the object
+of these lectures is rather to ground the student in those general
+principles on which _all_ conscious use of the creative power of thought is
+based, than to lay down formal rules for specific applications of it. I
+will therefore examine the broad principles which appear to be common to
+the various methods of mental healing which are in use, each of which
+derives its efficacy, not from the peculiarity of the method, but from it
+being such a method as allows the higher laws of Nature to come into play.
+Now the principle universally laid down by all mental healers, in whatever
+various terms they may explain it, is that the basis of all healing is a
+change in belief. The sequence from which this results is as follows:--the
+subjective mind is the creative faculty within us, and creates whatever the
+objective mind impresses upon it; the objective mind, or intellect,
+impresses its thought upon it; the thought is the expression of the belief;
+hence whatever the subjective mind creates is the reproduction externally
+of our beliefs. Accordingly our whole object is to change our beliefs, and
+we cannot do this without some solid ground of conviction of the falsity of
+our old beliefs and of the truth of our new ones, and this ground we find
+in that law of causation which I have endeavoured to explain. The wrong
+belief which externalizes as sickness is the belief that some secondary
+cause, which is really only a condition, is a primary cause. The knowledge
+of the law shows that there is only _one_ primary cause, and this is the
+factor which in our own individuality we call subjective or sub-conscious
+mind. For this reason I have insisted on the difference between placing an
+idea in the sub-conscious mind, that is, on the plane of the absolute and
+without reference to time and space, and placing the same idea in the
+conscious intellectual mind which only perceives things as related to time
+and space. Now the only conception you can have of_ yourself_ in the
+absolute, or unconditioned, is as _purely living Spirit_, not hampered by
+conditions of any sort, and therefore not subject to illness; and when this
+idea is firmly impressed on the sub-conscious mind, it will externalize it.
+The reason why this process is not always successful at the first attempt
+is that all our life we have been holding the false belief in sickness as a
+substantial entity in itself and thus being a primary cause, instead of
+being merely a negative _condition_ resulting from the _obsence_ of a
+primary cause; and a belief which has become ingrained from childhood
+cannot be eradicated at a moment's notice. We often find, therefore, that
+for some time after a treatment there is an improvement in the patient's
+health, and then the old symptoms return. This is because the new belief in
+his own creative faculty has not yet had time to penetrate down to the
+innermost depths of the subconscious mind, but has only partially entered
+it. Each succeeding treatment strengthens the sub-conscious mind in its
+hold of the new belief until at last a permanent cure is effected. This is
+the method of self-treatment based on the patient's own knowledge of the
+law of his being.
+
+But "there is not in all men this knowledge," or at any rate not such a
+full recognition of it as will enable them to give successful treatment to
+themselves, and in these cases the intervention of the healer becomes
+necessary. The only difference between the healer and the patient is that
+the healer has learnt how to control the less self-conscious modes of the
+spirit by the more self-conscious mode, while the patient has not yet
+attained to this knowledge; and what the healer does is to substitute his
+own objective or conscious mentality, which is will joined to intellect,
+for that of the patient, and in this way to find entrance to his
+sub-conscious mind and impress upon it the suggestion of perfect health.
+
+The question then arises, how can the healer substitute his own conscious
+mind for that of the patient? and the answer shows the practical
+application of those very abstract principles which I have laid down in the
+earlier sections. Our ordinary conception of ourselves is that of an
+individual personality which ends where another personality begins, in
+other words that the two personalities are entirely separate. This is an
+error. There is no such hard and fast line of demarcation between
+personalities, and the boundaries between one and another can be increased
+or reduced in rigidity according to will, in fact they may be temporarily
+removed so completely that, for the time being, the two personalities
+become merged into one. Now the action which takes place between healer and
+patient depends on this principle. The patient is asked by the healer to
+put himself in a receptive mental attitude, which means that he is to
+exercise his volition for the purpose of removing the barrier of his own
+objective personality and thus affording entrance to the mental power of
+the healer. On his side also the healer does the same thing, only with this
+difference, that while the patient withdraws the barrier on his side with
+the intention of admitting a flowing-in, the healer does so with the
+intention of allowing a flowing-out: and thus by the joint action of the
+two minds the barriers of both personalities are removed and the direction
+of the flow of volition is determined, that is to say, it flows from the
+healer as actively willing to give, towards the patient as passively
+willing to receive, according to the universal law of Nature that the flow
+must always be from the _plenum_ to the _vacuum_. This mutual removal of
+the external mental barrier between healer and patient is what is termed
+establishing a _rapport_ between them, and here we find one most valuable
+practical application of the principle laid down earlier in this book, that
+pure spirit is present in its entirety at every point simultaneously. It is
+for this reason that as soon as the healer realizes that the barriers of
+external personality between himself and his patient have been removed, he
+can then speak to the sub-conscious mind of the patient as though it were
+his own, for both being pure spirit the _thought_ of their identity _makes_
+them identical, and both are concentrated into a single entity at a single
+point upon which the conscious mind of the healer can be brought to bear,
+according to the universal principle of the control of the subjective mind
+by the objective mind through suggestion. It is for this reason I have
+insisted on the distinction between _pure_ spirit, or spirit conceived of
+apart from extension in any matrix and the conception of it as so extended.
+If we concentrate our mind upon the diseased condition of the patient we
+are thinking of him as a separate personality, and are not fixing our mind
+upon that conception of him as pure spirit which will afford us effectual
+entry to his springs of being. We must therefore withdraw our thought from
+the contemplation of symptoms, and indeed from his corporeal personality
+altogether, and must think of him as a purely spiritual individuality, and
+as such entirely free from subjection to any conditions, and consequently
+as voluntarily externalizing the conditions most expressive of the vitality
+and intelligence which pure spirit is. Thinking of him thus, we then make
+mental affirmation that he shall build up outwardly the correspondence of
+that perfect vitality which he knows himself to be inwardly; and this
+suggestion being impressed by the healer's conscious thought, while the
+patient's conscious thought is at the same time impressing the fact that he
+is receiving the active thought of the healer, the result is that the
+patient's sub-conscious mind becomes thoroughly imbued with the recognition
+of its own life-giving power, and according to the recognized law of
+subjective mentality proceeds to work out this suggestion into external
+manifestation, and thus health is substituted for sickness.
+
+It must be understood that the purpose of the process here described is to
+strengthen the subject's individuality, not to dominate it. To use it for
+domination is _inversion_, bringing its appropriate penalty to the
+operator.
+
+In this description I have contemplated the case where the patient is
+consciously co-operating with the healer, and it is in order to obtain this
+co-operation that the mental healer usually makes a point of instructing
+the patient in the broad principles of Mental Science, if he is not already
+acquainted with them. But this is not always advisable or possible.
+Sometimes the statement of principles opposed to existing prejudices
+arouses opposition, and any active antagonism on the patient's part must
+tend to intensify the barrier of conscious personality which it is the
+healer's first object to remove. In these cases nothing is so effective as
+_absent treatment_. If the student has grasped all that has been said on
+the subject of spirit and matter, he will see that in mental treatment time
+and space count for nothing, because the whole action takes place on a
+plane where these conditions do not obtain; and it is therefore quite
+immaterial whether the patient be in the immediate presence of the healer
+or in a distant country. Under these circumstances it is found by
+experience that one of the most effectual modes of mental healing is by
+treatment during sleep, because then the patient's whole system is
+naturally in a state of relaxation which prevents him offering any
+conscious opposition to the treatment. And by the same rule the healer also
+is able to treat even more effectively during his own sleep than while
+waking. Before going to sleep he firmly impresses on his subjective mind
+that it is to convey curative suggestion to the subjective mind of the
+patient, and then, by the general principles of the relation between
+subjective and objective mind this suggestion is carried out during all the
+hours that the conscious individuality is wrapped in repose. This method is
+applicable to young children to whom the principles of the science cannot
+be explained; and also to persons at a distance: and indeed the only
+advantage gained by the personal meeting of the patient and healer is in
+the instruction that can be orally given, or when the patient is at that
+early stage of knowledge where the healer's visible presence conveys the
+suggestion that something is then being done which could not be done in his
+absence; otherwise the presence or absence of the patient are matters
+perfectly indifferent. The student must always recollect that the sub-
+conscious mind does not have to work _through_ the intellect or conscious
+mind to produce its curative effects. It is part of the all-pervading
+creative force of Nature, while the intellect is not creative but
+distributive.
+
+From mental healing it is but a step to telepathy, clairvoyance and other,
+kindred manifestations of transcendental power which, are from time to time
+exhibited by the subjective entity and which follow laws as accurate as
+those which govern what we are accustomed to consider our more normal
+faculties; but these subjects do not properly fall within the scope of a
+book whose purpose is to lay down the broad principles which underlie _all_
+spiritual phenomena. Until these are clearly understood the student cannot
+profitably attempt the detailed study of the more interior powers; for to
+do so without a firm foundation of knowledge and some experience in its
+practical application would only be to expose himself to unknown dangers,
+and would be contrary to the scientific principle that the advance into the
+unknown can only be made from the standpoint of the known, otherwise we
+only come into a confused region of guess-work without any clearly defined
+principles for our guidance.
+
+
+
+
+XII.
+
+THE WILL.
+
+
+The Will is of such primary importance that the student should be on his
+guard against any mistake as to the position which it holds in the mental
+economy. Many writers and teachers insist on will-power as though that were
+the creative faculty. No doubt intense will-power can evolve certain
+external results, but like all other methods of compulsion it lacks the
+permanency of natural growth. The appearances, forms, and conditions
+produced by mere intensity of will-power will only hang together so long as
+the compelling force continues; but let it be exhausted or withdrawn, and
+the elements thus forced into unnatural combination will at once fly back
+to their proper affinities; the form created by compulsion never had the
+germ of vitality _in itself_ and is therefore dissipated as soon as the
+external energy which supported it is withdrawn. The mistake is in
+attributing the creative power to the will, or perhaps I should say in
+attributing the creative power to ourselves at all. The truth is that man
+never creates anything. His function is, not to create, but to combine and
+distribute that which is already in being, and what we call our creations
+are new combinations of already existing material, whether mental or
+corporeal. This is amply demonstrated in the physical sciences. No one
+speaks of creating energy, but only of transforming one form of energy into
+another; and if we realize this as a universal principle, we shall see that
+on the mental plane as well as on the physical we never create energy but
+only provide the conditions by which the energy already existing in one
+mode can exhibit itself in another: therefore what, relatively to man, we
+call his creative power, is that receptive attitude of expectancy which, so
+to say, makes a mould into which the plastic and as yet undifferentiated
+substance can flow and take the desired form. The will has much the same
+place in our mental machinery that the tool-holder has in a power-lathe: it
+is not the power, but it keeps the mental faculties in that position
+relatively to the power which enables it to do the desired work. If, using
+the word in its widest sense, we may say that the imagination is the
+creative function, we may call the will the centralizing principle. Its
+function is to keep the imagination centred in the right direction. We are
+aiming at consciously controlling our mental powers instead of letting them
+hurry us hither and thither in a purposeless manner, and we must therefore
+understand the relation of these powers to each other for the production of
+external results. First the whole train of causation is started by some
+emotion which gives rise to a desire; next the judgment determines whether
+we shall externalize this desire or not; then the desire having been
+approved by the judgment, the will comes forward and directs the
+imagination to form the necessary spiritual prototype; and the imagination
+thus centred on a particular object creates the spiritual nucleus, which in
+its turn acts as a centre round which the forces of attraction begin to
+work, and continue to operate until, by the law of growth, the concrete
+result becomes perceptible to our external senses.
+
+The business of the will, then, is to retain the various faculties of our
+mind in that position where they are really doing the work we wish, and
+this position may be generalized into the three following attitudes; either
+we wish to act upon something, or be acted on by it, or to maintain a
+neutral position; in other words we either intend to project a force, or
+receive a force or keep a position of inactivity relatively to some
+particular object. Now the judgment determines which of these three
+positions we shall take up, the consciously active, the consciously
+receptive, or the consciously neutral; and then the function of the will is
+simply to maintain the position we have determined upon; and if we maintain
+any given mental attitude we may reckon with all certainty on the law of
+attraction drawing us to those correspondences which exteriorly symbolize
+the attitude in question. This is very different from the semi-animal
+screwing-up of the nervous forces which, with some people, stands for
+will-power. It implies no strain on the nervous system and is consequently
+not followed by any sense of exhaustion. The will-power, when transferred
+from the region of the lower mentality to the spiritual plane, becomes
+simply a calm and peaceful determination to retain a certain mental
+attitude in spite of all temptations to the contrary, knowing that by doing
+so the desired result will certainly appear.
+
+The training of the will and its transference from the lower to the higher
+plane of our nature are among the first objects of Mental Science. The man
+is summed up in his will. Whatever he does by his own will is his own act;
+whatever he does without the consent of his will is not his own act but
+that of the power by which his will was coerced; but we must recognize
+that, on the mental plane, no other individuality can obtain control over
+our will unless we first allow it to do so; and it is for this reason that
+all legitimate use of Mental Science is towards the strengthening of the
+will, whether in ourselves or others, and bringing it under the control of
+an enlightened reason. When the will realizes its power to deal with first
+cause it is no longer necessary for the operator to state to himself _in
+extenso_ all the philosophy of its action every time he wishes to use it,
+but, knowing that the trained will is a tremendous spiritual force acting
+on the plane of first cause, he simply expresses his desire with the
+intention of operating on that plane, and knows that the desire thus
+expressed will in due time externalize itself as concrete fact. He now sees
+that the point which really demands his earnest attention is not whether he
+possesses the power of externalizing any results he chooses, but of
+learning to choose wisely what results to produce. For let us not suppose
+that even the highest powers will take us out of the law of cause and
+effect. We can never set any cause in motion without calling forth those
+effects which it already contains in embryo and which will again become
+causes in their turn, thus producing a series which must continue to flow
+on until it is cut short by bringing into operation a cause of an opposite
+character to the one which originated it. Thus we shall find the field for
+the exercise of our intelligence continually expanding with the expansion
+of our powers; for, granted a good intention, we shall always wish to
+contemplate the results of our action as far as our intelligence will
+permit. We may not be able to see very far, but there is one safe general
+principle to be gained from what has already been said about causes and
+conditions, which is that the whole sequence always partakes of the same
+character as the initial cause: if that character is negative, that is,
+destitute of any desire to externalize kindness, cheerfulness, strength,
+beauty or some other sort of good, this negative quality will make itself
+felt all down the line; but if the opposite affirmative character is in the
+original motive, then it will reproduce its kind in forms of love, joy,
+strength and beauty with unerring precision. Before setting out, therefore,
+to produce new conditions by the exercise of our thought-power we should
+weigh carefully what further results they are likely to lead to; and here,
+again, we shall find an ample field for the training of our will, in
+learning to acquire that self-control which will enable us to postpone an
+inferior present satisfaction to a greater prospective good.
+
+These considerations naturally lead us to the subject of concentration. I
+have just now pointed out that all duly controlled mental action consists
+in holding the mind in one of three attitudes; but there is a fourth mental
+condition, which is that of letting our mental functions run on without our
+will directing them to any definite purpose. It is on this word _purpose_
+that we must fix our whole attention; and instead of dissipating our
+energies, we must follow an intelligent method of concentration. The, word
+means being gathered up at a centre, and the centre of anything is that
+point in which all its forces are equally balanced. To concentrate
+therefore means first to bring our minds into a condition of equilibrium
+which will enable us to consciously direct the flow of spirit to a
+definitely recognized purpose, and then carefully to guard our thoughts
+from inducing a flow in the opposite direction. We must always bear in mind
+that we are dealing with a wonderful _potential_ energy which is not yet
+differentiated into any particular mode, and that by the action of our mind
+we can differentiate it into any specific mode of activity that we will;
+and by keeping our thought fixed on the fact that the inflow of this energy
+_is_ taking place and that by our mental attitude we _are_ determining its
+direction, we shall gradually realize a corresponding externalization.
+Proper concentration, therefore, does not consist of strenuous effort which
+exhausts the nervous system and defeats its own object by suggesting the
+consciousness of an adverse force to be fought against, and thus creating
+the adverse circumstances we dread; but in shutting out all thoughts of a
+kind that would disperse the spiritual nucleus we are forming and dwelling
+cheerfully on the knowledge that, because the law is certain in its action,
+our desire is certain of accomplishment. The other great principle to be
+remembered is that concentration is for the purpose of determining the
+_quality_ we are going to give to the previously undifferentiated energy
+rather than to arrange the _specific circumstances_ of its manifestation.
+_That_ is the work of the creative energy itself, which will build up its
+own forms of expression quite naturally if we allow it, thus saving us a
+great deal of needless anxiety. What we really want is expansion in a
+certain direction, whether of health, wealth, or what not: and so long as
+we get this, what does it matter whether it reaches us through some channel
+which we thought we could reckon upon or through some other whose existence
+we had not suspected. It is the fact that we are concentrating energy of a
+particular kind for a particular purpose that we should fix our minds upon,
+and not look upon any specific details as essential to the accomplishment
+of our object.
+
+These are the two golden rules regarding concentration; but we must not
+suppose that because we have to be on our guard against idle drifting there
+is to be no such thing as repose; on the contrary it is during periods of
+repose that we accumulate strength for action; but repose does not mean a
+state of purposelessness. As pure spirit the subjective mind never rests:
+it is only the objective mind in its connection with the physical body that
+needs rest; and though there are no doubt times when the greatest possible
+rest is to be obtained by stopping the action, of our conscious thought
+altogether, the more generally advisable method is by changing the
+direction of the thought and, instead of centering it upon something we
+intend to _do_, letting it dwell quietly upon what we _are_. This direction
+of thought might, of course, develop into the deepest philosophical
+speculation, but it is not necessary that we should be always either
+consciously projecting our forces to produce some external effect or
+working out the details of some metaphysical problem; but we may simply
+realize ourselves as part of the universal livingness and thus gain a quiet
+centralization, which, though maintained by a conscious act of the
+volition, is the very essence of rest. From this standpoint we see that all
+is Life and all is Good, and that Nature, from her clearly visible surface
+to her most arcane depths, is one vast storehouse of life and good entirely
+devoted to our individual use. We have the key to all her treasures, and we
+can now apply our knowledge of the law of being without entering into all
+those details which are only needed for purposes of study, and doing so we
+find it results in our having acquired the consciousness of our _oneness
+with the whole_. This is the great secret: and when we have once fathomed
+it we can enjoy our possession of the whole, or of any part of it, because
+by our recognition we have made it, and can increasingly make it, our own.
+Whatever most appeals to us at any particular time or place is that mode of
+the universal living spirit with which at that moment we are most in touch,
+and realizing this, we shall draw from it streams of vital energy which
+will make the very sensation of livingness a joy and will radiate from us
+as a sphere of vibration that can deflect all injurious suggestion on
+whatever plane. We may not have literary, artistic, or scientific skill to
+present to others the results of our communings with Nature, but the joy of
+this sympathetic indrawing will nevertheless produce a corresponding
+outflow manifesting itself in the happier look and kindlier mien of him who
+thus realizes his oneness with every aspect of the whole. He realizes--and
+this is the great point in that attitude of mind which is not directed to
+any specific external object--that, for himself, he is, and always must be
+the centre of all this galaxy of Life, and thus he contemplates himself as
+seated at the centre of infinitude, not an infinitude of blank space, but
+pulsating with living being, in all of which he knows that the true essence
+is nothing but good. This is the very opposite to a selfish
+self-centredness; it, is the centre where we find that we both receive from
+all and flow out to all. Apart from this principle of circulation there is
+no true life, and if we contemplate our central position only as affording
+us greater advantages for in-taking, we have missed the whole point of our
+studies by missing the real nature of the Life-principle, which is action
+and re-action. If we would have life enter into us, we ourselves must enter
+into life--enter into the spirit of it, just as we must enter into the
+spirit of a book or a game to enjoy it. There can be no action at a centre
+only. There must be a perpetual flowing out towards the circumference, and
+thence back again to the centre to maintain a vital activity; otherwise
+collapse must ensue either from anaemia or congestion. But if we realize
+the reciprocal nature of the vital pulsation, and that the outflowing
+consists in the habit of mind which gives itself to the good it sees in
+others, rather than in any specific actions, then we shall find that the
+cultivation of this disposition will provide innumerable avenues for the
+universal livingness to flow through us, whether as giving or receiving,
+which we had never before suspected: and this action and re-action will so
+build up our own vitality that each day will find us more thoroughly alive
+than any that had preceded it. This, then, is the attitude of repose in
+which we may enjoy all the beauties of science, literature and art or may
+peacefully commune with the spirit of nature without the aid of any third
+mind to act as its interpreter, which is still a purposeful attitude
+although not directed to a specific object: we have not allowed the will to
+relax its control, but have merely altered its direction; so that for
+action and repose alike we find that our strength lies in our recognition
+of the unity of the spirit and of ourselves as individual concentrations of
+it.
+
+
+
+
+XIII.
+
+IN TOUCH WITH SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND.
+
+
+The preceding pages have made the student in some measure aware of the
+immense importance of our dealings with the sub-conscious mind. Our
+relation to it, whether on the scale of the individual or the universal, is
+the key to all that we are or ever can be. In its unrecognized working it
+is the spring of all that we can call the automatic action of mind and
+body, and on the universal scale it is the silent power of evolution
+gradually working onwards to that "divine event, to which the whole
+creation moves"; and by our conscious recognition of it we make it,
+relatively to ourselves, all that we believe it to be. The closer our
+_rapport_ with it becomes, the more what we have hitherto considered
+automatic action, whether in our bodies or our circumstances, will pass
+under our control, until at last we shall control our whole individual
+world. Since, then, this is the stupendous issue involved, the question how
+we are to put ourselves practically in touch with the sub-conscious mind is
+a very important one. Now the clue which gives us the right direction is to
+be found in the _impersonal_ quality of sub-conscious mind of which I have
+spoken. Not impersonal as lacking the _elements_ of personality; nor even,
+in the case of individual subjective mind, as lacking the sense of
+individuality; but impersonal in the sense of not recognizing the
+particular external relations which appear to the objective mind to
+constitute its personality, and having a realization of itself quite
+independent of them. If, then, we would come in touch with it we must meet
+it on its own ground. It can see things only from the deductive standpoint,
+and therefore cannot take note of the inductive standpoint from which we
+construct the idea of our external personality; and accordingly if we would
+put ourselves in touch with it, we cannot do so by bringing it down to the
+level of the external and non-essential but only by rising to its own level
+on the plane of the interior and essential. How can this be done? Let two
+well-known writers answer. Rudyard Kipling tells us in his story of "Kim"
+how the boy used at times to lose his sense of personality by repeating to
+himself the question, _Who_ is Kim? Gradually his personality would seem to
+fade and he would experience a feeling of passing into a grander and a
+wider life, in which the boy Kim was unknown, while his own conscious
+individuality remained, only exalted and expanded to an inconceivable
+extent; and in Tennyson's life by his son we are told that at times the
+poet had a similar experience. We come into touch with the absolute exactly
+in proportion as we withdraw ourselves from the relative: they vary
+inversely to each other.
+
+For the purpose, then, of getting into touch with our sub-conscious mind we
+must endeavour to think of ourselves as pure being, as that entity which
+interiorly supports the outward manifestation, and doing so we shall
+realize that the essential quality of pure being must be good. It is in
+itself _pure Life_, and as such cannot desire anything detrimental to pure
+Life under whatever form manifested. Consequently the purer our intentions
+the more readily we shall place ourself _en rapport_ with our subjective
+entity; and _a fortiori_ the same applies to that Greater Sub-conscious
+Mind of which our individual subjective mind is a particular manifestation.
+In actual practice the process consists in first forming a clear conception
+in the objective mind of the idea we wish to convey to the subjective mind:
+then, when this has been firmly grasped, endeavour to lose sight of all
+other facts connected with the external personality except the one in
+question, and then mentally address the subjective mind as though it were
+an independent entity and impress upon it what you want it to do or to
+believe. Everyone must formulate his own way of working, but one method,
+which is both simple and effective is to say to the subjective mind, "This
+is what I want you to do; you will now step into my place and do it,
+bringing all your powers and intelligence to bear, and considering yourself
+to be none other than myself." Having done this return to the realization
+of your own objective personality and leave the subjective mind to perform
+its task in full confidence that, by the law of its nature, it will do so
+if not hindered by a repetition of contrary messages from the objective
+mind. This is not a mere fancy but a truth daily proved by the experience
+of increasing numbers. The facts have not been fabricated to fit the
+theory, but the theory has been built up by careful observation of the
+facts; and since it has been shown both by theory and practice that such is
+the law of the relation between subjective and objective mind, we find
+ourselves face to face with a very momentous question. Is there any reason
+why the laws which hold good of the individual subjective mind should not
+hold good of the Universal Mind also? and the answer is that there is not.
+As has been already shown the Universal Mind must, by its very
+universality, be purely subjective, and what is the law of a part must also
+be the law of the whole: the qualities of fire are the same whether the
+centres of combustion be great or small, and therefore we may well conclude
+these lectures by considering what will be the result if we apply what we
+have learnt regarding the individual subjective mind to the Universal Mind.
+
+We have learnt that the three great facts regarding subjective mind are its
+creative power, its amenableness to suggestion, and its inability to work
+by any other than the deductive method. This last is an exceedingly
+important point, for it implies that the action of the subjective mind is
+in no way limited by precedent. The inductive method works on principles
+inferred from an already existing pattern, and therefore at the best only
+produces the old thing in a new shape. But the deductive method works
+according to the essence or spirit of the principle, and does not depend on
+any previous concrete manifestation for its apprehension of it; and this
+latter method of working must necessarily be that of the all-originating
+Mind, for since there could be no prior existing pattern from which it
+could learn the principles of construction, the want of a pattern would
+have prevented its creating anything had its method been inductive instead
+of deductive. Thus by the necessity of the case the Universal Mind must act
+deductively, that is, according to the law which has been found true of
+individual subjective mind. It is thus not bound by any precedent, which
+means that its creative power is absolutely unlimited; and since it is
+essentially subjective mind, and not objective mind, it is entirely
+amenable to suggestion. Now it is an unavoidable inference from the
+identity of the law governing subjective mind, whether in the individual or
+the universal, that just as we can by suggestion impress a certain
+character of personality upon the individual subjective mind, so we can,
+and do, upon the Universal Mind; and it is for this reason that I have
+drawn attention to the inherent personal _quality_ of pure spirit when
+contemplated in its most interior plane. It becomes, therefore, the most
+important of all considerations with what character we invest the Universal
+Mind; for since our relation to it is _purely subjective_ it will
+infallibly bear _to us_ exactly that character which we impress upon it; in
+other words it will be to us exactly what we believe it to be. This is
+simply a logical inference from the fact that, as subjective mind, our
+primary relation to it can only be on the subjective plane, and indirectly
+our objective relations must also spring from the same source. This is the
+meaning of that remarkable passage twice repeated in the Bible, "With, the
+pure thou wilt show thyself pure, and with the froward thou wilt show
+thyself froward." (Ps. xviii., 26, and II. Sam. xxii., 27), for the context
+makes it clear that these words are addressed to the Divine Being. The
+spiritual kingdom is _within_ us, and as we realize it _there_ so it
+becomes to us a reality. It is the unvarying law of the subjective life
+that "as a man thinketh in his heart so is he," that is to say, his inward
+subjective states are the only true reality, and what we call external
+realities are only their objective correspondences. If we thoroughly
+realize the truth that the Universal Mind must be to us exactly according
+to our conception of it, and that this relation is not merely imaginary but
+by the law of subjective mind must be to us an actual fact and the
+foundation of all other facts, then it is impossible to over-estimate the
+importance of the conception of the Universal Mind which we adopt. To the
+uninstructed there is little or no choice: they form a conception in
+accordance with the tradition they have received from others, and until
+they have learnt to think for themselves, they have to abide by the results
+of that tradition: for natural laws admit of no exceptions, and however
+faulty the traditional idea may be, its acceptance will involve a
+corresponding reaction upon the Universal Mind, which will in turn be
+reflected into the conscious mind and external life of the individual. But
+those who understand the law of the subject will have no one but themselves
+to blame if they do not derive all possible benefits from it. The greatest
+Teacher of Mental Science the world has ever seen has laid down
+sufficiently plain rules for our guidance. With a knowledge of the subject
+whose depth can be appreciated only by those who have themselves some
+practical acquaintance with it, He bids His unlearned audiences, those
+common people who heard Him gladly, picture to themselves the Universal
+Mind as a benign Father, tenderly compassionate of all and sending the
+common bounties of Nature alike on the evil and the good; but He also
+pictured It as exercising a special and peculiar care over those who
+recognize Its willingness to do so:--"the very hairs of your head are all
+numbered," and "ye are of more value than many sparrows." Prayer was to be
+made to the unseen Being, not with doubt or fear, but with the absolute
+assurance of a certain answer, and no limit was to be set to its power or
+willingness to work for us. But to those who did not thus realize it, the
+Great Mind is necessarily the adversary who casts them into prison until
+they have paid the uttermost farthing; and thus in all cases the Master
+impressed upon his hearers the exact correspondence of the attitude of this
+unseen Power towards _them_ with their own attitude towards _it_. Such
+teaching was not a narrow anthropomorphism but the adaptation to the
+intellectual capacity of the unlettered multitude of the very deepest
+truths of what we now call Mental Science. And the basis of it all is the
+cryptic personality of spirit hidden throughout the infinite of Nature
+under every form of manifestation. As unalloyed Life and Intelligence it
+_can_ be no other than good, it can entertain no intention of evil, and
+thus all intentional evil must put us in opposition to it, and so deprive
+us of the consciousness of its guidance and strengthening and thus leave us
+to grope our own way and fight our own battle single-handed against the
+universe, odds which at last will surely prove too great for us. But
+remember that the opposition can never be on the part of the Universal
+Mind, for in itself it is sub-conscious mind; and to suppose any active
+opposition taken on its own initiative would be contrary to all we have
+learnt as to the nature of sub-conscious mind whether in the individual or
+the universal; the position of the Universal Mind towards us is always the
+reflection of our own attitude. Therefore although the Bible is full of
+threatening against those who persist in conscious opposition to the Divine
+Law of Good, it is on the other hand full of promises of immediate and full
+forgiveness to all who change, their attitude and desire to co-operate with
+the Law of Good so far as they know it. The laws of Nature do not act
+vindictively; and through all theological formularies and traditional
+interpretations let us realize that what we are dealing with is the supreme
+law of our own being; and it is on the basis of this natural law that we
+find such declarations as that in Ezek. xviii., 22, which tells that if we
+forsake our evil ways our past transgressions shall never again be
+mentioned to us. We are dealing with the great principles of our subjective
+being, and our misuse of them in the past can never make them change their
+inherent law of action. If our method of using them in the past has brought
+us sorrow, fear and trouble, we have only to fall back on the law that if
+we reverse the cause the effects will be reversed also; and so what we have
+to do is simply to reverse our mental attitude and then endeavour to act up
+to the new one. The sincere endeavour to act up to our new mental attitude
+is essential, for we cannot really think in one way and act in another; but
+our repeated failures to fully act as we would wish must not discourage us.
+It is the sincere intention that is the essential thing, and this will in
+time release us from the bondage of habits which at present seem almost
+insuperable.
+
+The initial step, then, consists in determining to picture the Universal
+Mind as the ideal of all we could wish it to be both to ourselves and to
+others, together with the endeavour to reproduce this ideal, however
+imperfectly, in our own life; and this step having been taken, we can then
+cheerfully look upon it as our ever-present Friend, providing all good,
+guarding from all danger, and guiding us with all counsel. Gradually as the
+habit of thus regarding the Universal Mind grows upon us, we shall find
+that in accordance with the laws we have been considering, it will become
+more and more _personal_ to us, and in response to our desire its inherent
+intelligence will make itself more and more clearly perceptible within as a
+power of perceiving truth far beyond any statement of it that we could
+formulate by merely intellectual investigation. Similarly if we think of it
+as a great power devoted to supplying all our needs, we shall impress this
+character also upon it, and by the law of subjective mind it will proceed
+to enact the part of that special providence which we have credited it with
+being; and if, beyond the general care of our concerns, we would draw to
+ourselves some particular benefit, the same rule holds good of impressing
+our desire upon the Universal Subjective Mind. And if we realize that above
+and beyond all this we want something still greater and more enduring, the
+building-up of character and unfolding of our powers so that we may expand
+into fuller and yet fuller measures of joyous and joy-giving Life, still
+the same rule holds good: convey to the Universal Mind the suggestion of
+the desire, and by the law of relation between subjective and objective
+mind this too will be fulfilled. And thus the deepest problems of
+philosophy bring us back to the old statement of the Law:--Ask and ye shall
+receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.
+This is the summing-up of the natural law of the relation between us and
+the Divine Mind. It is thus no vain boast that Mental Science can enable us
+to make our lives what we will. We must start from where we are now, and by
+rightly estimating our relation to the Divine Universal Mind we can
+gradually grow into any conditions we desire, provided we first make
+ourselves in habitual mental attitude the person who corresponds to those
+conditions: for we can never get over the law of correspondence, and the
+externalization will always be in accord with the internal principle that
+gives rise to it. And to this law there is no limit. What it can do for us
+to-day it can do to-morrow, and through all that procession of to-morrows
+that loses itself in the dim vistas of eternity. Belief in limitation is
+the one and only thing that causes limitation, because we thus impress
+limitation upon the creative principle; and in proportion as we lay that
+belief aside our boundaries will expand, and increasing life and more
+abundant blessing will be ours.
+
+But we must not ignore our responsibilities. Trained thought is far more
+powerful than untrained, and therefore the more deeply we penetrate into
+Mental Science the more carefully we must guard against all thoughts and
+words expressive of even the most modified form of ill-will. Gossip,
+tale-bearing, sneering laughter, are not in accord with the principles of
+Mental Science; and similarly even our smallest thoughts of good carry with
+them a seed of good which will assuredly bear fruit in due time. This is
+not mere "goodie, goodie," but an important lesson in Mental Science, for
+our subjective mind takes its colour from our settled mental habits, and an
+occasional affirmation or denial will not be sufficient to change it; and
+we must therefore cultivate that tone which we wish to see reproduced in
+our conditions whether of body, mind, or circumstance.
+
+In these lectures my purpose has been, not so much to give specific rules
+of practice as to lay down the broad general principles of Mental Science
+which will enable the student to form rules for himself. In every walk in
+life, book knowledge is only a means to an end. Books can only direct us
+where to look and what to look for, but we must do the finding _for
+ourselves;_ therefore, if you have really grasped the principles of the
+science, you will frame rules of your own which will give you better
+results than any attempt to follow somebody else's method, which was
+successful in their hands precisely because it was theirs. Never fear to be
+yourself. If Mental Science does not teach you to be yourself it teaches
+you nothing. Yourself, more yourself, and yet more yourself is what you
+want; only with the knowledge that the true self includes the inner and
+higher self which is always in immediate touch with the Great Divine Mind.
+
+As Walt Whitman says:--"You are not all included between your hat and your
+boots."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_The growing popularity of the Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science has led
+me to add to the present edition three more sections on Body, Soul, and
+Spirit, which it is hoped will prove useful by rendering the principles of
+the interaction of these three factors somewhat clearer_.
+
+
+
+
+XIV.
+
+THE BODY.
+
+
+Some students find it difficult to realize that mental action can produce
+any real effect upon material substance; but if this is not possible there
+is no such thing as Mental Science, the purpose of which is to produce
+improved conditions both of body and environment, so that the ultimate
+manifestation aimed at is always one of demonstration upon the plane of the
+visible and concrete. Therefore to afford conviction of an actual
+connection between the visible and the invisible, between the inner and the
+outer, is one of the most important points in the course of our studies.
+
+That such a connection must exist is proved by metaphysical argument in
+answer to the question, "How did anything ever come into existence at all?"
+And the whole creation, ourselves included, stands as evidence to this
+great truth. But to many minds merely abstract argument is not completely
+convincing, or at any rate it becomes more convincing if it is supported by
+something of a more concrete nature; and for such readers I would give a
+few hints as to the correspondence between the physical and the mental. The
+subject covers a very wide area, and the limited space at my disposal will
+only allow me to touch on a few suggestive points, still these may be
+sufficient to show that the abstract argument has some corresponding facts
+at the back of it.
+
+One of the most convincing proofs I have seen is that afforded by the
+"biometre," a little instrument invented by an eminent French scientist,
+the late Dr. Hippolyte Baraduc, which shows the action of what he calls the
+"vital current." His theory is that this force, whatever its actual nature
+may be, is universally present, and operates as a current of physical
+vitality perpetually, flowing with more or less energy through every
+physical organism, and which can, at any rate to some extent, be controlled
+by the power of the human will. The theory in all its minutiae is
+exceedingly elaborate, and has been described in detail in Dr. Baraduc's
+published works. In a conversation I had with him about a year ago, he told
+me he was writing another book which would throw further light on the
+subject, but a few months later he passed over before it was presented to
+the world. The fact, however, which I wish to put before the reader, is the
+ocular demonstration of the connection between mind and matter, which an
+experiment with the biometre affords.
+
+The instrument consists of a bell glass, from the inside of which is
+suspended a copper needle by a fine silken thread. The glass stands on a
+wooden support, below which is a coil of copper wire, which, however, is
+not connected with any battery or other apparatus, and merely serves to
+condense the current. Below the needle, inside the glass, there is a
+circular card divided into degrees to mark the action of the needle. Two of
+these instruments are placed side by side, but in no way connected, and the
+experimenter then holds out the fingers of both hands to within about an
+inch of the glasses. According to the theory, the current enters at the
+left hand, circulates through the body, and passes out at the right hand,
+that is to say, there is an indrawing at the left and a giving-out at the
+right, thus agreeing with Reichenbach's experiments on the polarity of the
+human body.
+
+I must confess that, although I had read Dr. Baraduc's book, "Les
+Vibrations Humaines," I approached the instrument in a very sceptical frame
+of mind; but I was soon convinced of my error. At first, holding a mental
+attitude of entire relaxation, I found that the left-hand needle was
+attracted through twenty degrees, while the right-hand needle, the one
+affected by the out-going current, was repelled through ten degrees. After
+allowing the instrument to return to its normal equilibrium I again
+approached it with the purpose of seeing whether a change of mental
+attitude would in the least modify the flow of current. This time I assumed
+the strongest mental attitude I could with the intention of sending out a
+flow through the right hand, and the result as compared with the previous
+one was remarkable. The left-hand needle was now attracted only through ten
+degrees, while the right-hand one was deflected through something over
+thirty, thus clearly indicating the influence of the mental faculties in
+modifying the action of the current. I may mention that the experiment was
+made in the presence of two medical men who noted the movement of the
+needles.
+
+I will not here stop to discuss the question of what the actual
+constitution of this current of vital energy may be--it is sufficient for
+our present purpose that it is there, and the experiment I have described
+brings us face to face with the fact of a correspondence between our own
+mental attitude and the invisible forces of nature. Even if we say that
+this current is some form of electricity, and that the variation of its
+action is determined by changes in the polarization of the atoms of the
+body, then this change of polarity is the result of mental action; so that
+the quickening or retarding of the cosmic current is equally the result of
+the mental attitude whether we suppose our mental force to act directly
+upon the current itself or indirectly by inducing changes in the molecular
+structure of the body. Whichever hypothesis we adopt the conclusion is the
+same, namely, that the mind has power to open or close the door to
+invisible forces in such a way that the result of the mental action becomes
+apparent on the material plane.
+
+Now, investigation shows that the physical body, is a mechanism specially
+adapted for the transmutation of the inner or mental power into modes of
+external activity. We know from medical science that the whole body is
+traversed by a network of nerves which serve as the channels of
+communication between the indwelling spiritual ego, which we call mind, and
+the functions of the external organism. This nervous system is dual. One
+system, known as the Sympathetic, is the channel for all those activities
+which are not consciously directed by our volition, such as the operation
+of the digestive organs, the repair of the daily wear and tear of the
+tissues, and the like. The other system, known as the Voluntary or
+Cerebro-spinal system, is the channel through which we receive conscious
+perception from the physical senses and exercise control over the movements
+of the body. This system has its centre in the brain, while the other has
+its centre in a ganglionic mass at the back of the stomach known as the
+solar plexus, and sometimes spoken of as the abdominal brain. The cerebro-
+spinal system is the channel of our volitional or conscious mental action,
+and the sympathetic system is the channel of that mental action which
+unconsciously supports the vital functions of the body. Thus the cerebro-
+spinal system is the organ of conscious mind and the sympathetic is that of
+sub-conscious mind.
+
+But the interaction of conscious and subconscious mind requires a similar
+interaction between the corresponding systems of nerves, and one
+conspicuous connection by which this is provided is the "vagus" nerve. This
+nerve passes out of the cerebral region as a portion of the voluntary
+system, and through it we control the vocal organs; then it passes onwards
+to the thorax sending out branches to the heart and lungs; and finally,
+passing through the diaphragm, it loses the outer coating which
+distinguishes the nerves of the voluntary system and becomes identified
+with those of the sympathetic system, so forming a connecting link between
+the two and making the man physically a single entity.
+
+Similarly different areas of the brain indicate, their connection with the
+objective and subjective activities of the mind respectively, and speaking
+in a general way we may assign the frontal portion of the brain to the
+former and the posterior portion to the latter, while the intermediate
+portion partakes of the character of both.
+
+The intuitional faculty has its correspondence in this upper area of the
+brain situated between the frontal and posterior portions, and
+physiologically speaking, it is here that intuitive ideas find entrance.
+These at first are more or less unformed and generalized in character, but
+are nevertheless perceived by the conscious mind, otherwise we should not
+be aware of them at all. Then the effort of nature is to bring these ideas
+into more definite and usable shape, so the conscious mind lays hold of
+them and induces a corresponding vibratory current in the voluntary system
+of nerves, and this in turn induces a similar current in the involuntary
+system, thus handing the idea over to the subjective mind. The vibratory
+current which had first descended from the apex of the brain to the frontal
+brain and thus through the voluntary system to the solar plexus is now
+reversed and ascends from the solar plexus through the sympathetic system
+to the posterior brain, this return current indicating the action of the
+subjective mind.
+
+If we were to remove the surface portion of the apex of the brain we should
+find immediately below it the shining belt of brain substance called the
+"corpus callosum." This is the point of union between the subjective and
+objective, and as the current returns from the solar plexus to this point
+it is restored to the objective portion of the brain in a fresh form which
+it has acquired by the silent alchemy of the subjective mind. Thus the
+conception which was at first only vaguely recognized is restored to the
+objective mind in a definite and workable form, and then the objective
+mind, acting through the frontal brain--the area of comparison and
+analysis--proceeds to work upon a clearly perceived idea and to bring out
+the potentialities that are latent in it.
+
+It must of course be borne in mind that I am here speaking of the mental
+ego in that, mode of its existence with which we are most familiar, that is
+as clothed in flesh, though there may be much to say as to other modes of
+its activity. But for our daily life we have to consider ourselves as we
+are in that aspect of life, and from this point of view the physiological
+correspondence of the body to the action of the mind is an important item;
+and therefore, although we must always remember that the origin of ideas is
+purely mental, we must not forget that on the physical plane every mental
+action implies a corresponding molecular action in the brain and in the
+two-fold nervous system.
+
+If, as the old Elizabethan poet says, "the soul is form, and doth the body
+make," then it is clear that the physical organism must be a mechanical
+arrangement as specially adapted for the use of the soul's powers as a
+steam-engine is for the power of steam; and it is the recognition of this
+reciprocity between the two that is the basis of all spiritual or mental
+healing, and therefore the study of this mechanical adaptation is an
+important branch of Mental Science. Only we must not forget that it is the
+effect and not the cause.
+
+At the same time it is important to remember that such a thing as reversal
+of the relation between cause and effect is possible, just as the same
+apparatus may be made to generate mechanical power by the application of
+electricity, or to generate electricity by the application of mechanical
+power. And the importance of this principle consists in this. There is
+always a tendency for actions which were at first voluntary to become
+automatic, that is, to pass from the region of conscious mind into that of
+subconscious mind, and to acquire a permanent domicile there. Professor
+Elmer Gates, of Washington, has demonstrated this physiologically in his
+studies of brain formation. He tells us that every thought produces a
+slight molecular change in the substance of the brain, and the repetition
+of the same sort of thought causes a repetition of the same molecular
+action until at last a veritable channel is formed in the brain substance,
+which can only be eradicated by a reverse process of thought. In this way
+"grooves of thought" are very literal things, and when once established the
+vibrations of the cosmic currents flow automatically through them and thus
+react upon the mind by a process the reverse of that by which our voluntary
+and intentional in-drawing from the invisible is affected. In this way are
+formed what we call "habits," and hence the importance of controlling our
+thinking and guarding it against undesirable ideas.
+
+But on the other hand this reactionary process may be used to confirm good
+and life-giving modes of thought, so that by a knowledge of its laws we may
+enlist even the physical body itself in the building up of that perfectly
+whole personality, the attainment of which is the aim and object of our
+studies.
+
+
+
+
+XV.
+
+THE SOUL.
+
+
+Having now obtained a glimpse of the adaptation of the physical organism to
+the action of the mind we must next realize that the mind itself is an
+organism which is in like manner adapted to the action of a still higher
+power, only here the adaptation is one of mental faculty. As with other
+invisible forces all we can know of the mind is by observing what it does,
+but with this difference, that since we ourselves _are_ this mind, our
+observation is an interior observation of states of consciousness. In this
+way we recognize certain faculties of our mind, the working order of which
+I have considered at page 84; but the point to which I would now draw
+attention is that these faculties always work under the influence of
+something which stimulates them, and this stimulus may come either from
+without through the external senses, or from within by the consciousness of
+something not perceptible on the physical plane. Now the recognition of
+these interior sources of stimulus to our mental faculties, is an important
+branch of Mental Science, because the mental action thus set up works just
+as accurately through the physical correspondences as those which start
+from the recognition of external facts, and therefore the control and right
+direction of these inner perceptions is a matter of the first moment.
+
+The faculties most immediately concerned are the intuition and the
+imagination, but it is at first difficult to see how the intuition, which
+is entirely spontaneous, can be brought under the control of the will. Of
+course, the spontaneousness of the intuition cannot in any way be
+interfered with, for if it ceased to act spontaneously it would cease to be
+the intuition. Its province is, as it were, to capture ideas from the
+infinite and present them to the mind to be dealt with at its discretion.
+In our mental constitution the intuition is the point of origination and,
+therefore, for it to cease to act spontaneously would be for it to cease to
+act at all. But the experience of a long succession of observers shows that
+the intuition can be trained so as to acquire increased sensitiveness in
+some, particular direction, and the choice of the _general direction_ is
+determined by the will of the individual.
+
+It will be found that the intuition works most readily in respect to those
+subjects which most habitually occupy our thought; and according to the
+physiological correspondences which we have been considering this might be
+accounted for on the physical plane by the formation of brain-channels
+specially adapted for the induction in the molecular system of vibrations
+corresponding to the particular class of ideas in question. But of course
+we must remember that the ideas themselves are not caused by the molecular
+changes but on the contrary are the cause of them; and it is in this
+translation of thought action into physical action that we are brought face
+to face with the eternal mystery of the descent of spirit into matter; and
+that though we may trace matter through successive degrees of refinement
+till it becomes what, in comparison with those denser modes that are most
+familiar, we might call a spiritual substance, yet at the end of it it is
+not the intelligent thinking principle itself. The criterion is in the word
+"vibrations." However delicately etheric the substance its movement
+commences by the vibration of its particles, and a vibration is a wave
+having a certain length, amplitude, and periodicity, that is to say,
+something which can exist only in terms of space and time; and as soon as
+we are dealing with anything capable of the conception of measurement we
+may be quite certain that we are not dealing with Spirit but only with one
+of its vehicles. Therefore although we may push our analysis of matter
+further and ever further back--and on this line there is a great deal of
+knowledge to be gained--we shall find that the point at which spiritual
+power or thought-force is translated into etheric or atomic vibration will
+always elude us. Therefore we must not attribute the origination of ideas
+to molecular displacement in the brain, though, by the reaction of the
+physical upon the mental which I have spoken of above, the formation of
+thought-channels in the grey matter of the brain may tend to facilitate the
+reception of certain ideas. Some people are actually conscious of the
+action of the upper portion of the brain during the influx of an intuition,
+the sensation being that of a sort of expansion in that brain area, which
+might be compared to the opening of a valve or door; but all attempts to
+induce the inflow of intuitive ideas by the physiological expedient of
+trying to open this valve by the exercise of the will should be discouraged
+as likely to prove injurious to the brain. I believe some Oriental systems
+advocate this method, but we may well trust the mind to regulate the action
+of its physical channels in a manner suitable to its own requirements,
+instead of trying to manipulate the mind by the unnatural forcing of its
+mechanical instrument. In all our studies on these lines we must remember
+that development is always by perfectly natural growth and is not brought
+about by unduly straining any portion of the system.
+
+The fact, however, remains that the intuition works most freely in that
+direction in which we most habitually concentrate our thought; and in
+practice it will be found that the best way to cultivate the intuition in
+any particular direction is to meditate upon the _abstract principles_ of
+that particular class of subjects rather than only to consider particular
+cases. Perhaps the reason is that particular cases have to do with specific
+phenomena, that is with the law working under certain limiting conditions,
+whereas the _principles_ of the law are not limited by local conditions,
+and so habitual meditation on _them_ sets our intuition free to range in an
+infinitude where the conception of antecedent conditions does not limit it.
+Anyway, whatever may be the theoretical explanation, you will find that the
+clear grasp of abstract principles in any direction has a wonderfully
+quickening effect upon the intuition in that particular direction.
+
+The importance of recognizing our power of thus giving direction to the
+intuition cannot be exaggerated, for if the mind is attuned to sympathy
+with the highest phases of spirit this power opens the door to limitless
+possibilities of knowledge. In its highest workings intuition becomes
+inspiration, and certain great records of fundamental truths and supreme
+mysteries which have come down to us from thousands of generations
+bequeathed by deep thinkers of old can only be accounted for on the
+supposition that their earnest thought on the Originating Spirit, coupled
+with a reverent worship of It, opened the door, through their intuitive
+faculty, to the most sublime inspirations regarding the supreme truths of
+the universe both with respect to the evolution of the cosmos and to the
+evolution of the individual. Among such records explanatory of the supreme
+mysteries three stand out pre-eminent, all bearing witness to the same ONE
+Truth, and each throwing light upon the other; and these three are the
+Bible, the Great Pyramid, and the Pack of Cards--a curious combination some
+will think, but I hope in another volume of this series to be able to
+justify my present statement. I allude to these three records here because
+the unity of principle which they exhibit, notwithstanding their wide
+divergence of method, affords a standing proof that the direction taken by
+the intuition is largely determined by the will of the individual opening
+the mind in that particular direction.
+
+Very closely allied to the intuition is the faculty of imagination. This
+does not mean mere fancies, which we dismiss without further consideration,
+but our power of forming mental images upon which we dwell. These, as I
+have said in the earlier part of this book, form a nucleus which, on its
+own plane, calls into action the universal Law of Attraction, thus giving
+rise to the principle of Growth. The relation of the intuition to the
+imagination is that the intuition grasps an idea from the Great Universal
+Mind, in which all things subsist as _potentials_, and presents it to the
+imagination in its essence rather than in a definite form, and then our
+image-building faculty gives it a clear and definite form which it presents
+before the mental vision, and which we then vivify by letting our thought
+dwell upon it, thus infusing our own personality into it, and so providing
+that personal element through which the specific action of the universal
+law relatively to the particular individual always takes place.[1] Whether
+our thought shall be allowed thus to dwell upon a particular mental image
+depends on our own will, and our exercise of our will depends on our belief
+in our power to use it so as to disperse or consolidate a given mental
+image; and finally our belief in our power to do this depends on our
+recognition of our relation to God, Who is the source of all power; for it
+is an invariable truth that our life will take its whole form, tone, and
+color from our conception of God, whether that conception be positive or
+negative, and the sequence by which it does so is that now given.
+
+In this way, then, our intuition is related to our imagination, and this
+relation has its physiological correspondence in the circulus of molecular
+vibrations I have described above, which, having its commencement in the
+higher or "ideal" portion of the brain flows through the voluntary nervous
+system, the physical channel of objective mind, returning through the
+sympathetic system, the physical channel of subjective mind, thus
+completing the circuit and being then restored to the frontal brain, where
+it is consciously modelled into clear-cut forms suited to a specific
+purpose.
+
+In all this the power of the will as regulating the action both of the
+intuition and the imagination must never be lost sight of, for without such
+a central controlling power we should lose all sense of individuality; and
+hence the ultimate aim of the evolutionary process is to evolve individual
+wills actuated by such beneficence and enlightenment as shall make them
+fitting vehicles for the outflowing of the Supreme Spirit, which has
+hitherto created cosmically, and can now carry on the creative process to
+its highest stages only through conscious union with the individual; for
+this is the only possible solution of the great problem, How can the
+Universal Mind act in all its fulness upon the plane of the individual and
+particular?
+
+This is the ultimate of evolution, and the successful evolution of the
+individual depends on his recognizing this ultimate and working towards it;
+and therefore this should be the great end of our studies. There is a
+correspondence in the constitution of the body to the faculties of the
+soul, and there is a similar correspondence in the faculties of the soul to
+the power of the All-originating Spirit; and as in all other adaptations of
+specific vehicles so also here, we can never correctly understand the
+nature of the vehicle and use it rightly until we realize the nature of the
+power for the working of which it is specially adapted. Let us, then, in
+conclusion briefly consider the nature of that power.
+
+
+
+
+XVI.
+
+THE SPIRIT.
+
+
+What must the Supreme All-originating Spirit be in itself? That is the
+question before us. Let us start with one fact regarding it about which we
+cannot have any possible doubt--it is _creative_. If it were not creative
+nothing could come into existence; therefore we know that its purpose, or
+Law of Tendency, must be to bring individual lives into existence and to
+surround them with a suitable environment. Now a power which has this for
+its inherent nature must be a kindly power. The Spirit of Life seeking
+expression in individual lives can have no other intention towards them
+than "that they might have life, and that they might have it more
+abundantly." To suppose the opposite would be a contradiction in terms. It
+would be to suppose the Eternal Principle of Life acting against itself,
+expressing itself as the reverse of what it is, in which case it would not
+be expressing itself but expressing its opposite; so that it is impossible
+to conceive of the Spirit of Life acting otherwise than to the increase of
+life. This is as yet only imperfectly apparent by reason of our imperfect
+apprehension of the position, and our consequent want of conscious unity
+with the ONE Eternal Life. As our consciousness of unity becomes more
+perfect so will the life-givingness of the Spirit become more apparent. But
+in the realm of principles the purely Affirmative and Life-giving nature of
+the All-originating Spirit is an unavoidable conclusion. Now by what name
+can we call such an inherent desire to add to the fulness of any individual
+life--that is, to make it stronger, brighter, and happier? If this is not
+Love, then I do not know what else it is; and so we are philosophically led
+to the conclusion that Love is the prime moving power of the Creating
+Spirit.
+
+But expression is impossible without Form. What Form, then, should Love
+give to the vehicles of its expression? By the hypothesis of the case it
+could not find self-expression in forms that were hateful or repugnant to
+it--therefore the only logical correlative of Love is Beauty. Beauty is not
+yet universally manifested for the same reason that Life is not, namely,
+lack of recognition of its Principle; but, that the principle of Beauty is
+inherent in the Eternal Mind is demonstrated by all that is beautiful in
+the world in which we live.
+
+These considerations show us that the inherent nature of the Spirit must
+consist in the eternal interaction of Love and Beauty as the Active and
+Passive polarity of Being. Then this is the Power for the working of which
+our soul faculties are specially adapted. And when this purpose of the
+adaptation is recognized we begin to get some insight into the way in which
+our intuition, imagination, and will should be exercized. By training our
+thought to habitually dwell upon this dual-unity of the Originating Forces
+of Love and Beauty the intuition is rendered more and more sensitive to
+ideas emanating from this supreme source, and the imagining faculty is
+trained in the formation of images corresponding to such ideas; while on
+the physical side the molecular structure of the brain and body becomes
+more and more perfectly adjusted to the generating of vibratory currents
+tending to the outward manifestation of the Originating Principle. Thus the
+whole man is brought into unison with himself and with the Supreme Source
+of Life, so that, in the words of St. Paul, he is being day by day renewed
+after the image of Him that created him.
+
+Our more immediately personal recognition of the All-originating Love and
+Beauty will thus flow out as peace of mind, health of body, discretion in
+the management of our affairs, and power in the carrying out of our
+undertakings; and as we advance to a wider conception of the working of the
+Spirit of Love and Beauty in its infinite possibilities, so our intuition
+will find a wider scope and our field of activity will expand along with
+it--in a word we shall discover that our individuality is growing, and that
+we are becoming more truly ourselves than we ever were before.
+
+The question of the specific lines on which the individual may be most
+perfectly trained into such recognition of his true relation to the
+All-embracing Spirit of Life is therefore of supreme importance, but it is
+also of such magnitude that even to briefly sketch its broad outlines would
+require a volume to itself, and I will therefore not attempt to enter upon
+it here, my present purpose being only to offer some hints of the
+principles underlying that wonderful three-fold unity of Body, Soul, and
+Spirit which we all know ourselves to be.
+
+We are as yet only at the commencement of the path which leads to the
+realization of this unity in the full development of all its powers, but
+others have trodden the way before us, from whose experiences we may learn;
+and not least among these was the illustrious founder of the Most Christian
+Fraternity of the Rosicrucians. This master-mind, setting out in his youth
+with the intention of going to Jerusalem, changed the order of his journey
+and first sojourned for three years in the symbolical city of Damcar, in
+the mystical country of Arabia, then for about a year in the mystical
+country of Egypt, and then for two years in the mystical country of Fez.
+Then, having during these six years learned all that was to be acquired in
+those countries, he returned to his native land of Germany, where, on the
+basis of the knowledge he had thus gained, he founded the Fraternity R.C.,
+for whose instruction he wrote the mystical books M. and T. Then, when he
+realized that his work in its present stage was accomplished, he of his own
+free will laid aside the physical body, not, it is recorded, by decay, or
+disease, or ordinary death, but by the express direction of the Spirit of
+Life, summing up all his knowledge in the words,
+
+    "Jesus mihi omnia."
+
+And now his followers await the coming of "the Artist Elias," who shall
+bring the Magnum Opus to its completion.
+
+    "Let him that readeth understand."
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+
+Footnote 1: See my "Doré Lectures."
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10390 ***
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+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10390 ***</div>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science, by
+Thomas Troward</h1>
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<h1><i>The</i></h1> <h1>EDINBURGH LECTURES</h1> <h1>ON MENTAL SCIENCE</h1>
+
+<h2>BY</h2> <h1>THOMAS TROWARD</h1> <h2>LATE DIVISIONAL JUDGE, PUNJAB</h2>
+
+<h3>1909</h3>
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>THE WRITER AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATES THIS LITTLE VOLUME TO HIS WIFE</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+<h1>FOREWORD.</h1>
+
+
+<p>This book contains the substance of a course of lectures recently given
+by the writer in the Queen Street Hall, Edinburgh. Its purpose is to
+indicate the <i>Natural Principles</i> governing the relation between
+Mental Action and Material Conditions, and thus to afford the student an
+intelligible starting-point for the practical study of the subject.</p>
+
+<p>T.T.</p>
+
+<p>March, 1904.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1>CONTENTS.</h1>
+
+
+<p>I.--<a href="#chap1">SPIRIT AND MATTER.</a></p>
+
+<p>II.--<a href="#chap2">THE HIGHER MODE OF INTELLIGENCE CONTROLS THE
+LOWER</a></p>
+
+<p>III.--<a href="#chap3">THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT</a></p>
+
+<p>IV.--<a href="#chap4">SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE MIND</a></p>
+
+<p>V.--<a href="#chap5">FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING SUBJECTIVE AND
+OBJECTIVE MIND</a></p>
+
+<p>VI.--<a href="#chap6">THE LAW OF GROWTH</a></p>
+
+<p>VII.--<a href="#chap7">RECEPTIVITY.</a></p>
+
+<p>VIII.--<a href="#chap8">RECIPROCAL ACTION OF THE UNIVERSAL AND
+INDIVIDUAL MINDS</a></p>
+
+<p>IX.--<a href="#chap9">CAUSES AND CONDITIONS</a></p>
+
+<p>X.--<a href="#chap10">INTUITION</a></p>
+
+<p>XI.--<a href="#chap11">HEALING</a></p>
+
+<p>XII.--<a href="#chap12">THE WILL</a></p>
+
+<p>XIII.--<a href="#chap13">IN TOUCH WITH SUBCONSCIOUS MIND</a></p>
+
+<p>XIV.--<a href="#chap14">THE BODY</a></p>
+
+<p>XV.--<a href="#chap15">THE SOUL</a></p>
+
+<p>XVI.--<a href="#chap16">THE SPIRIT</a></p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap1">I.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>SPIRIT AND MATTER.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In commencing a course of lectures on Mental Science, it is somewhat
+difficult for the lecturer to fix upon the best method of opening the
+subject. It can be approached from many sides, each with some peculiar
+advantage of its own; but, after careful deliberation, it appears to me
+that, for the purpose of the present course, no better starting-point could
+be selected than the relation between Spirit and Matter. I select this
+starting-point because the distinction--or what we believe to be
+such--between them is one with which we are so familiar that I can safely
+assume its recognition by everybody; and I may, therefore, at once state
+this distinction by using the adjectives which we habitually apply as
+expressing the natural opposition between the two--<i>living</i> spirit and
+<i>dead</i> matter. These terms express our current impression of the
+opposition between spirit and matter with sufficient accuracy, and
+considered only from the point of view of outward appearances this
+impression is no doubt correct. The general consensus of mankind is right
+in trusting the evidence of our senses, and any system which tells us that
+we are not to do so will never obtain a permanent footing in a sane and
+healthy community. There is nothing wrong in the evidence conveyed to a
+healthy mind by the senses of a healthy body, but the point where error
+creeps in is when we come to judge of the meaning of this testimony. We are
+accustomed to judge only by external appearances and by certain limited
+significances which we attach to words; but when we begin to enquire into
+the real meaning of our words and to analyse the causes which give rise to
+the appearances, we find our old notions gradually falling off from us,
+until at last we wake up to the fact that we are living in an entirely
+different world to that we formerly recognized. The old limited mode of
+thought has imperceptibly slipped away, and we discover that we have
+stepped out into a new order of things where all is liberty and life. This
+is the work of an enlightened intelligence resulting from persistent
+determination to discover what truth really is irrespective of any
+preconceived notions from whatever source derived, the determination to
+think honestly for ourselves instead of endeavouring to get our thinking
+done for us. Let us then commence by enquiring what we really mean by the
+livingness which we attribute to spirit and the deadness which we attribute
+to matter.</p>
+
+<p>At first we may be disposed to say that livingness consists in the power
+of motion and deadness in its absence; but a little enquiry into the most
+recent researches of science will soon show us that this distinction does
+not go deep enough. It is now one of the fully-established facts of
+physical science that no atom of what we call "dead matter" is without
+motion. On the table before me lies a solid lump of steel, but in the light
+of up-to-date science I know that the atoms of that seemingly inert mass
+are vibrating with the most intense energy, continually dashing hither and
+thither, impinging upon and rebounding from one another, or circling round
+like miniature solar systems, with a ceaseless rapidity whose complex
+activity is enough to bewilder the imagination. The mass, as a mass, may
+lie inert upon the table; but so far from being destitute of the element of
+motion it is the abode of the never-tiring energy moving the particles with
+a swiftness to which the speed of an express train is as nothing. It is,
+therefore, not the mere fact of motion that is at the root of the
+distinction which we draw instinctively between spirit and matter; we must
+go deeper than that. The solution of the problem will never be found by
+comparing Life with what we call deadness, and the reason for this will
+become apparent later on; but the true key is to be found by comparing one
+degree of livingness with another. There is, of course, one sense in which
+the quality of livingness does not admit of degrees; but there is another
+sense in which it is entirely a question of degree. We have no doubt as to
+the livingness of a plant, but we realize that it is something very
+different from the livingness of an animal. Again, what average boy would
+not prefer a fox-terrier to a goldfish for a pet? Or, again, why is it that
+the boy himself is an advance upon the dog? The plant, the fish, the dog,
+and the boy are all equally <i>alive</i>; but there is a difference in the
+quality of their livingness about which no one can have any doubt, and no
+one would hesitate to say that this difference is in the degree of
+intelligence. In whatever way we turn the subject we shall always find that
+what we call the "livingness" of any individual life is ultimately measured
+by its intelligence. It is the possession of greater intelligence that
+places the animal higher in the scale of being than the plant, the man
+higher than the animal, the intellectual man higher than the savage. The
+increased intelligence calls into activity modes of motion of a higher
+order corresponding to itself. The higher the intelligence, the more
+completely the mode of motion is under its control: and as we descend in
+the scale of intelligence, the descent is marked by a corresponding
+increase in <i>automatic</i> motion not subject to the control of a
+self-conscious intelligence. This descent is gradual from the expanded
+self-recognition of the highest human personality to that lowest order of
+visible forms which we speak of as "things," and from which
+self-recognition is entirely absent.</p>
+
+<p>We see, then, that the livingness of Life consists in intelligence--in
+other words, in the power of Thought; and we may therefore say that the
+distinctive quality of spirit is Thought, and, as the opposite to this, we
+may say that the distinctive quality of matter is Form. We cannot conceive
+of matter without form. Some form there must be, even though invisible to
+the physical eye; for matter, to be matter at all, must occupy space, and
+to occupy any particular space necessarily implies a corresponding form.
+For these reasons we may lay it down as a fundamental proposition that the
+distinctive quality of spirit is Thought and the distinctive quality of
+matter is Form. This is a radical distinction from which important
+consequences follow, and should, therefore, be carefully noted by the
+student.</p>
+
+<p>Form implies extension in space and also limitation within certain
+boundaries. Thought implies neither. When, therefore, we think of Life as
+existing in any particular <i>form</i> we associate it with the idea of
+extension in space, so that an elephant may be said to consist of a vastly
+larger amount of living substance than a mouse. But if we think of Life as
+the fact of livingness we do not associate it with any idea of extension,
+and we at once realize that the mouse is quite as much alive as the
+elephant, notwithstanding the difference in size. The important point of
+this distinction is that if we can conceive of anything as entirely devoid
+of the element of extension in space, it must be present in its entire
+totality anywhere and everywhere--that is to say, at every point of space
+simultaneously. The scientific definition of time is that it is the period
+occupied by a body in passing from one given point in space to another,
+and, therefore, according to this definition, when there is no space there
+can be no time; and hence that conception of spirit which realizes it as
+devoid of the element of space must realize it as being devoid of the
+element of time also; and we therefore find that the conception of spirit
+as pure Thought, and not as concrete Form, is the conception of it as
+subsisting perfectly independently of the elements of time and space. From
+this it follows that if the idea of anything is conceived as existing on
+this level it can only represent that thing as being actually present here
+and now. In this view of things nothing can be remote from us either in
+time or space: either the idea is entirely dissipated or it exists as an
+actual present entity, and not as something that <i>shall</i> be in the
+future, for where there is no sequence in time there can be no future.
+Similarly where there is no space there can be no conception of anything as
+being at a distance from us. When the elements of time and space are
+eliminated all our ideas of things must necessarily be as subsisting in a
+universal here and an everlasting now. This is, no doubt, a highly abstract
+conception, but I would ask the student to endeavour to grasp it
+thoroughly, since it is of vital importance in the practical application of
+Mental Science, as will appear further on.</p>
+
+<p>The opposite conception is that of things expressing themselves through
+conditions of time and space and thus establishing a variety of
+<i>relations</i> to other things, as of bulk, distance, and direction, or
+of sequence in time. These two conceptions are respectively the conception
+of the abstract and the concrete, of the unconditioned and the conditioned,
+of the absolute and the relative. They are not opposed to each other in the
+sense of incompatibility, but are each the complement of the other, and the
+only reality is in the combination of the two. The error of the extreme
+idealist is in endeavouring to realize the absolute without the relative,
+and the error of the extreme materialist is in endeavouring to realize the
+relative without the absolute. On the one side the mistake is in trying to
+realize an inside without an outside, and on the other in trying to realize
+an outside without an inside; both are necessary to the formation of a
+substantial entity.</p>
+
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap2">II.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>THE HIGHER MODE OF INTELLIGENCE CONTROLS THE LOWER.</h2>
+
+
+<p>We have seen that the descent from personality, as we know it in
+ourselves, to matter, as we know it under what we call inanimate forms, is
+a gradual descent in the scale of intelligence from that mode of being
+which is able to realize its own will-power as a capacity for originating
+new trains of causation to that mode of being which is incapable of
+recognizing itself at all. The higher the grade of life, the higher the
+intelligence; from which it follows that the supreme principle of Life must
+also be the ultimate principle of intelligence. This is clearly
+demonstrated by the grand natural order of the universe. In the light of
+modern science the principle of evolution is familiar to us all, and the
+accurate adjustment existing between all parts of the cosmic scheme is too
+self-evident to need insisting upon. Every advance in science consists in
+discovering new subtleties of connection in this magnificent universal
+order, which already exists and only needs our recognition to bring it into
+practical use. If, then, the highest work of the greatest minds consists in
+nothing else than the recognition of an already existing order, there is no
+getting away from the conclusion that a paramount intelligence must be
+inherent in the Life-Principle, which manifests itself <i>as</i> this
+order; and thus we see that there must be a great cosmic intelligence
+underlying the totality of things.</p>
+
+<p>The physical history of our planet shows us first an incandescent nebula
+dispersed over vast infinitudes of space; later this condenses into a
+central sun surrounded by a family of glowing planets hardly yet
+consolidated from the plastic primordial matter; then succeed untold
+millenniums of slow geological formation; an earth peopled by the lowest
+forms of life, whether vegetable or animal; from which crude beginnings a
+majestic, unceasing, unhurried, forward movement brings things stage by
+stage to the condition in which we know them now. Looking at this steady
+progression it is clear that, however we may conceive the nature of the
+evolutionary principle, it unerringly provides for the continual advance of
+the race. But it does this by creating such numbers of each kind that,
+after allowing a wide margin for all possible accidents to individuals, the
+race shall still continue:--</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+"So careful of the type it seems<br />
+So careless of the single life."<br />
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>In short, we may say that the cosmic intelligence works by a Law of
+Averages which allows a wide margin of accident and failure to the
+individual.</p>
+
+<p>But the progress towards higher intelligence is always in the direction
+of narrowing down this margin of accident and taking the individual more
+and more out of the law of averages, and substituting the law of individual
+selection. In ordinary scientific language this is the survival of the
+fittest. The reproduction of fish is on a scale that would choke the sea
+with them if every individual survived; but the margin of destruction is
+correspondingly enormous, and thus the law of averages simply keeps up the
+normal proportion of the race. But at the other end of the scale,
+reproduction is by no means thus enormously in excess of survival. True,
+there is ample margin of accident and disease cutting off numbers of human
+beings before they have gone through the average duration of life, but
+still it is on a very different scale from the premature destruction of
+hundreds of thousands as against the survival of one. It may, therefore, be
+taken as an established fact that in proportion as intelligence advances
+the individual ceases to be subject to a mere law of averages and has a
+continually increasing power of controlling the conditions of his own
+survival.</p>
+
+<p>We see, therefore, that there is a marked distinction between the cosmic
+intelligence and the individual intelligence, and that the factor which
+differentiates the latter from the former is the presence of
+<i>individual</i> volition. Now the business of Mental Science is to
+ascertain the relation of this individual power of volition to the great
+cosmic law which provides for the maintenance and advancement of the race;
+and the point to be carefully noted is that the power of individual
+volition is itself the outcome of the cosmic evolutionary principle at the
+point where it reaches its highest level. The effort of Nature has always
+been upwards from the time when only the lowest forms of life peopled the
+globe, and it has now culminated in the production of a being with a mind
+capable of abstract reasoning and a brain fitted to be the physical
+instrument of such a mind. At this stage the all-creating Life-principle
+reproduces itself in a form capable of recognizing the working of the
+evolutionary law, and the unity and continuity of purpose running through
+the whole progression until now indicates, beyond a doubt, that the place
+of such a being in the universal scheme must be to introduce the operation
+of that factor which, up to this point, has been, conspicuous by its
+absence--the factor, namely, of intelligent individual volition. The
+evolution which has brought us up to this standpoint has worked by a cosmic
+law of averages; it has been a process in which the individual himself has
+not taken a conscious part. But because he is what he is, and leads the van
+of the evolutionary procession, if man is to evolve further, it can now
+only be by his own conscious co-operation with the law which has brought
+him up to the standpoint where he is able to realize that such a law
+exists. His evolution in the future must be by conscious participation in
+the great work, and this can only be effected by his own individual
+intelligence and effort. It is a process of intelligent growth. No one else
+can grow for us: we must each grow for ourselves; and this intelligent
+growth consists in our increasing recognition of the universal law, which
+has brought us as far as we have yet got, and of our own individual
+relation to that law, based upon the fact that we ourselves are the most
+advanced product of it. It is a great maxim that Nature obeys us precisely
+in proportion as we first obey Nature. Let the electrician try to go
+counter to the principle that electricity must always pass from a higher to
+a lower potential and he will effect nothing; but let him submit in all
+things to this one fundamental law, and he can make whatever particular
+applications of electrical power he will.</p>
+
+<p>These considerations show us that what differentiates the higher from
+the lower degree of intelligence is the recognition of its own self-hood,
+and the more intelligent that recognition is, the greater will be the
+power. The lower degree of self-recognition is that which only realizes
+itself as an entity separate from all other entities, as the <i>ego</i>
+distinguished from the <i>non-ego</i>. But the higher degree of
+self-recognition is that which, realizing its own spiritual nature, sees in
+all other forms, not so much the <i>non-ego</i>, or that which is not
+itself, as the <i>alter-ego</i>, or that which is itself in a different
+mode of expression. Now, it is this higher degree of self-recognition that
+is the power by which the Mental Scientist produces his results. For this
+reason it is imperative that he should clearly understand the difference
+between Form and Being; that the one is the mode of the relative and, the
+mark of subjection to conditions, and that the other is the truth of the
+absolute and is that which controls conditions.</p>
+
+<p>Now this higher recognition of self as an individualization of pure
+spirit must of necessity control all modes of spirit which have not yet
+reached the same level of self-recognition. These lower modes of spirit are
+in bondage to the law of their own being because they do not know the law;
+and, therefore, the individual who has attained to this knowledge can
+control them through that law. But to understand this we must inquire a
+little further into the nature of spirit. I have already shown that the
+grand scale of adaptation and adjustment of all parts of the cosmic scheme
+to one another exhibits the presence <i>somewhere</i> of a marvellous
+intelligence, underlying the whole, and the question is, where is this
+intelligence to be found? Ultimately we can only conceive of it as inherent
+in some primordial substance which is the root of all those grosser modes
+of matter which are known to us, whether visible to the physical eye, or
+necessarily inferred by science from their perceptible effects. It is that
+power which, in every species and in every individual, becomes that which
+that species or individual is; and thus we can only conceive of it as a
+self-forming intelligence inherent in the ultimate substance of which each
+thing is a particular manifestation. That this primordial substance must be
+considered as self-forming by an inherent intelligence abiding in itself
+becomes evident from the fact that intelligence is the essential quality of
+spirit; and if we were to conceive of the primordial substance as something
+apart from spirit, then we should have to postulate some other power which
+is neither spirit nor matter, and originates both; but this is only putting
+the idea of a self-evolving power a step further back and asserting the
+production of a lower grade of undifferentiated spirit by a higher, which
+is both a purely gratuitous assumption and a contradiction of any idea we
+can form of undifferentiated spirit at all. However far back, therefore, we
+may relegate the original starting-point, we cannot avoid the conclusion
+that, at that point, spirit contains the primary substance in itself, which
+brings us back to the common statement that it made everything out of
+nothing. We thus find two factors to the making of all things, Spirit
+and--Nothing; and the addition of Nothing to Spirit leaves <i>only</i>
+spirit: x + 0 = x.</p>
+
+<p>From these considerations we see that the ultimate foundation of every
+form of matter is spirit, and hence that a universal intelligence subsists
+throughout Nature inherent in every one of its manifestations. But this
+cryptic intelligence does not belong to the particular <i>form</i>
+excepting in the measure in which it is physically fitted for its
+concentration into self-recognizing individuality: it lies hidden in that
+primordial substance of which the visible form is a grosser manifestation.
+This primordial substance is a philosophical necessity, and we can only
+picture it to ourselves as something infinitely finer than the atoms which
+are themselves a philosophical inference of physical science: still, for
+want of a better word, we may conveniently speak of this primary
+intelligence inherent in the very substance of things as the Atomic
+Intelligence. The term may, perhaps, be open to some objections, but it
+will serve our present purpose as distinguishing <i>this</i> mode of
+spirit's intelligence from that of the opposite pole, or Individual
+Intelligence. This distinction should be carefully noted because it is by
+the response of the atomic intelligence to the individual intelligence that
+thought-power is able to produce results on the material plane, as in the
+cure of disease by mental treatment, and the like. Intelligence manifests
+itself by responsiveness, and the whole action of the cosmic mind in
+bringing the evolutionary process from its first beginnings up to its
+present human stage is nothing else but a continual intelligent response to
+the demand which each stage in the progress has made for an adjustment
+between itself and its environment. Since, then, we have recognized the
+presence of a universal intelligence permeating all things, we must also
+recognize a corresponding responsiveness hidden deep down in their nature
+and ready to be called into action when appealed to. All mental treatment
+depends on this responsiveness of spirit in its lower degrees to higher
+degrees of itself. It is here that the difference between the mental
+scientist and the uninstructed person comes in; the former knows of this
+responsiveness and makes use of it, and the latter cannot use it because he
+does not know it.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap3">III</a></h1>
+
+<h2>THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT.</h2>
+
+
+<p>We have now paved the way for understanding what is meant by "the unity
+of the spirit." In the first conception of spirit as the underlying origin
+of all things we see a universal substance which, at this stage, is not
+differentiated into any specific forms. This is not a question of some
+bygone time, but subsists at every moment of all time in the
+<i>innermost</i> nature of all being; and when we see this, we see that the
+division between one specific form and another has below it a deep
+essential unity, which acts as the supporter of all the several forms of
+individuality arising out of it. And as our thought penetrates deeper into
+the nature of this all-producing spiritual substance we see that it cannot
+be limited to any one portion of space, but must be limitless as space
+itself, and that the idea of any portion of space where it is not is
+inconceivable. It is one of those intuitive perceptions from which the
+human mind can never get away that this primordial, all-generating living
+spirit must be commensurate with infinitude, and we can therefore never
+think of it otherwise than as universal or infinite. Now it is a
+mathematical truth that the infinite must be a unity. You cannot have two
+infinites, for then neither would be infinite, each would be limited by the
+other, nor can you split the infinite up into fractions. The infinite is
+mathematically essential unity. This is a point on which too much stress
+cannot be laid, for there follow from it the most important consequences.
+Unity, as such, can be neither multiplied nor divided, for either operation
+destroys the unity. By multiplying, we produce a plurality of units of the
+same scale as the original; and by dividing, we produce a plurality of
+units of a smaller scale; and a plurality of units is not unity but
+multiplicity. Therefore if we would penetrate below the outward nature of
+the individual to that innermost principle of his being from which his
+individuality takes its rise, we can do so only by passing beyond the
+conception of individual existence into that of the unity of universal
+being. This may appear to be a merely philosophical abstraction, but the
+student who would produce practical results must realize that these
+abstract generalizations are the foundation of the practical work he is
+going to do.</p>
+
+<p>Now the great fact to be recognized about a unity is that,
+<i>because</i> it is a single unit, wherever it is at all the <i>whole</i>
+of it must be. The moment we allow our mind to wander off to the idea of
+extension in space and say that one part of the unit is here and another
+there, we have descended from the idea of unity into that of parts or
+fractions of a single unit, which is to pass into the idea of a
+multiplicity of smaller units, and in that case we are dealing with the
+relative, or the relation subsisting between two or more entities which are
+therefore <i>limited by each other</i>, and so have passed out of the
+region of simple unity which is the absolute. It is, therefore, a
+mathematical necessity that, because the originating Life-principle is
+infinite, it is a single unit, and consequently, wherever it is at all, the
+<i>whole</i> of it must be present. But because it is <i>infinite</i>, or
+limitless, it is everywhere, and therefore it follows that the <i>whole</i>
+of spirit must be present at every point in space at the same moment.
+Spirit is thus omnipresent <i>in its entirety</i>, and it is accordingly
+logically correct that at every moment of time <i>all</i> spirit is
+concentrated at any point in space that we may choose to fix our thought
+upon. This is the fundamental fact of all being, and it is for this reason
+that I have prepared the way for it by laying down the relation between
+spirit and matter as that between idea and form, on the one hand the
+absolute from which the elements of time and space are entirely absent, and
+on the other the relative which is entirely dependent on those elements.
+This great fact is that pure spirit continually subsists in the absolute,
+whether in a corporeal body or not; and from it all the phenomena of being
+flow, whether on the mental plane or the physical. The knowledge of this
+fact regarding spirit is the basis of all conscious spiritual operation,
+and therefore in proportion to our increasing recognition of it our power
+of producing outward visible results by the action of our thought will
+grow. The whole is greater than its part, and therefore, if, by our
+recognition of this unity, we can concentrate <i>all</i> spirit into any
+given point at any moment, we thereby include any individualization of it
+that we may wish to deal with. The practical importance of this conclusion
+is too obvious to need enlarging upon.</p>
+
+<p>Pure spirit is the Life-principle considered apart from the matrix in
+which it takes relation to time and space in a particular form. In this
+aspect it is pure intelligence undifferentiated into individuality. As pure
+intelligence it is infinite responsiveness and susceptibility. As devoid of
+relation to time and space it is devoid of individual personality. It is,
+therefore, in this aspect a purely impersonal element upon which, by reason
+of its inherent intelligence and susceptibility, we can impress any
+recognition of personality that we will. These are the great facts that the
+mental scientist works with, and the student will do well to ponder deeply
+on their significance and on the responsibilities which their realization
+must necessarily carry with it.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap4">IV.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE MIND.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Up to this point it has been necessary to lay the foundations of the
+science by the statement of highly abstract general principles which we
+have reached by purely metaphysical reasoning. We now pass on to the
+consideration of certain natural laws which have been established by a long
+series of experiments and observations, the full meaning and importance of
+which will become clear when we see their application to the general
+principles which have hitherto occupied our attention. The phenomena of
+hypnosis are now so fully recognized as established scientific facts that
+it is quite superfluous to discuss the question of their credibility. Two
+great medical schools have been founded upon them, and in some countries
+they have become the subject of special legislation. The question before us
+at the present day is, not as to the credibility of the facts, but as to
+the proper inferences to be drawn from them, and a correct apprehension of
+these inferences is one of the most valuable aids to the mental scientist,
+for it confirms the conclusions of purely <i>a priori</i> reasoning by an
+array of experimental instances which places the correctness of those
+conclusions beyond doubt.</p>
+
+<p>The great truth which the science of hypnotism has brought to light is
+the dual nature of the human mind. Much conflict exists between different
+writers as to whether this duality results from the presence of two
+actually separate minds in the one man, or in the action of the same mind
+in the employment of different functions. This is one of those distinctions
+without a difference which are so prolific a source of hindrance to the
+opening out of truth. A man must be a single individuality to be a man at
+all, and, so, the net result is the same whether we conceive of his varied
+modes of mental action as proceeding from a set of separate minds strung,
+so to speak, on the thread of his one individuality and each adapted to a
+particular use, or as varied functions of a single mind: in either case we
+are dealing with a single individuality, and how we may picture the
+wheel-work of the mental mechanism is merely a question of what picture
+will bring the nature of its action home to us most clearly. Therefore, as
+a matter of convenience, I shall in these lectures speak of this dual
+action as though it proceeded from two minds, an outer and an inner, and
+the inner mind we will call the subjective mind and the outer the
+objective, by which names the distinction is most frequently indicated in
+the literature of the subject.</p>
+
+<p>A long series of careful experiments by highly-trained observers, some
+of them men of world-wide reputation, has fully established certain
+remarkable differences between the action of the subjective and that of the
+objective mind which may be briefly stated as follows. The subjective mind
+is only able to reason <i>deductively</i> and not inductively, while the
+objective mind can do both. Deductive reasoning is the pure syllogism which
+shows why a third proposition must necessarily result if two others are
+assumed, but which does not help us to determine whether the two initial
+statements are true or not. To determine this is the province of inductive
+reasoning which draws its conclusions from the observation of a series of
+facts. The relation of the two modes of reasoning is that, first by
+observing a sufficient number of instances, we inductively reach the
+conclusion that a certain principle is of general application, and then we
+enter upon the deductive process by assuming the truth of this principle
+and determining what result must follow in a particular case on the
+hypothesis of its truth. Thus deductive reasoning proceeds on the
+assumption of the correctness of certain hypotheses or suppositions with
+which it sets out: it is not concerned with the truth or falsity of those
+suppositions, but only with the question as to what results must
+necessarily follow supposing them to be true. Inductive reasoning; on the
+other hand, is the process by which we compare a number of separate
+instances with one another until we see the common factor that gives rise
+to them all. Induction proceeds by the comparison of facts, and deduction
+by the application of universal principles. Now it is the deductive method
+only which is followed by the subjective mind. Innumerable experiments on
+persons in the hypnotic state have shown that the subjective mind is
+utterly incapable of making the selection and comparison which are
+necessary to the inductive process, but will accept any suggestion, however
+false, but having once accepted any suggestion, it is strictly logical in
+deducing the proper conclusions from it, and works out every suggestion to
+the minutest fraction of the results which flow from it.</p>
+
+<p>As a consequence of this it follows that the subjective mind is entirely
+under the control of the objective mind. With the utmost fidelity it
+reproduces and works out to its final consequences whatever the objective
+mind impresses upon it; and the facts of hypnotism show that ideas can be
+impressed on the subjective mind by the objective mind of another as well
+as by that of its own individuality. This is a most important point, for it
+is on this amenability to suggestion by the thought of another that all the
+phenomena of healing, whether present or absent, of telepathy and the like,
+depend. Under the control of the practised hypnotist the very personality
+of the subject becomes changed for the time being; he believes himself to
+be whatever the operator tells him he is: he is a swimmer breasting the
+waves, a bird flying in the air, a soldier in the tumult of battle, an
+Indian stealthily tracking his victim: in short, for the time being, he
+identifies himself with any personality that is impressed upon him by the
+will of the operator, and acts the part with inimitable accuracy. But the
+experiments of hypnotism go further than this, and show the existence in
+the subjective mind of powers far transcending any exercised by the
+objective mind through the medium of the physical senses; powers of
+thought-reading, of thought-transference, of clairvoyance, and the like,
+all of which are frequently manifested when the patient is brought into the
+higher mesmeric state; and we have thus experimental proof of the existence
+in ourselves of transcendental faculties the full development and conscious
+control of which would place us in a perfectly new sphere of life.</p>
+
+<p>But it should be noted that the control must be <i>our own</i> and not
+that of any external intelligence whether in the flesh or out of it.</p>
+
+<p>But perhaps the most important fact which hypnotic experiments have
+demonstrated is that the subjective mind is the builder of the body. The
+subjective entity in the patient is able to diagnose the character of the
+disease from which he is suffering and to point out suitable remedies,
+indicating a physiological knowledge exceeding that of the most highly
+trained physicians, and also a knowledge of the correspondences between
+diseased conditions of the bodily organs and the material remedies which
+can afford relief. And from this it is but a step further to those numerous
+instances in which it entirely dispenses with the use of material remedies
+and itself works directly on the organism, so that complete restoration to
+health follows as the result of the suggestions of perfect soundness made
+by the operator to the patient while in the hypnotic state.</p>
+
+<p>Now these are facts fully established by hundreds of experiments
+conducted by a variety of investigators in different parts of the world,
+and from them we may draw two inferences of the highest importance: one,
+that the subjective mind is in itself absolutely impersonal, and the other
+that it is the builder of the body, or in other words it is the creative
+power in the individual. That it is impersonal in itself is shown by its
+readiness to assume any personality the hypnotist chooses to impress upon
+it; and the unavoidable inference is that its realization of personality
+proceeds from its association with the particular objective mind of its own
+individuality. Whatever personality the objective mind impresses upon it,
+that personality it assumes and acts up to; and since it is the builder of
+the body it will build up a body in correspondence with the personality
+thus impressed upon it. These two laws of the subjective mind form the
+foundation of the axiom that our body represents the aggregate of our
+beliefs. If our fixed belief is that the body is subject to all sorts of
+influences beyond our control, and that this, that, or the other symptom
+shows that such an uncontrollable influence is at work upon us, then this
+belief is impressed upon the subjective mind, which by the law of its
+nature accepts it without question and proceeds to fashion bodily
+conditions in accordance with this belief. Again, if our fixed belief is
+that certain material remedies are the only means of cure, then we find in
+this belief the foundation of all medicine. There is nothing unsound in the
+theory of medicine; it is the strictly logical correspondence with the
+measure of knowledge which those who rely on it are as yet able to
+assimilate, and it acts accurately in accordance with their belief that in
+a large number of cases medicine will do good, but also in many instances
+it fails. Therefore, for those who have not yet reached a more interior
+perception of the law of Nature, the healing agency of medicine is a most
+valuable aid to the alleviation of physical maladies. The error to be
+combated is not the belief that, in its own way, medicine is capable of
+doing good, but the belief that there is no higher or better way.</p>
+
+<p>Then, on the same principle, if we realize that the subjective mind is
+the builder of the body, and that the body is subject to no influences
+except those which reach it through the subjective mind, then what we have
+to do is to impress <i>this</i> upon the subjective mind and habitually
+think of it as a fountain of perpetual Life, which is continually
+renovating the body by building in strong and healthy material, in the most
+complete independence of any influences of any sort, save those of our own
+desire impressed upon our own subjective mind by our own thought. When once
+we fully grasp these considerations we shall see that it is just as easy to
+externalize healthy conditions of body as the contrary. Practically the
+process amounts to a belief in our own power of life; and since this
+belief, if it be thoroughly domiciled within us, will necessarily produce a
+correspondingly healthy body, we should spare no pains to convince
+ourselves that there are sound and reasonable grounds for holding it. To
+afford a solid basis for this conviction is the purpose of Mental
+Science.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap5">V.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE MIND.</h2>
+
+
+<p>An intelligent consideration of the phenomena of hypnotism will show us
+that what we call the hypnotic state is the <i>normal</i> state of the
+subjective mind. It <i>always</i> conceives of itself in accordance with
+some suggestion conveyed to it, either consciously or unconsciously to the
+mode of objective mind which governs it, and it gives rise to corresponding
+external results. The abnormal nature of the conditions induced by
+experimental hypnotism is in the removal of the normal control held by the
+individual's own objective mind over his subjective mind and the
+substitution of some other control for it, and thus we may say that the
+normal characteristic of the subjective mind is its perpetual action in
+accordance with some sort of suggestion. It becomes therefore a question of
+the highest importance to determine in every case what the nature of the
+suggestion shall be and from what source it shall proceed; but before
+considering the sources of suggestion we must realize more fully the place
+taken by subjective mind in the order of Nature.</p>
+
+<p>If the student has followed what has been said regarding the presence of
+intelligent spirit pervading all space and permeating all matter, he will
+now have little difficulty in recognizing this all-pervading spirit as
+universal subjective mind. That it cannot <i>as universal mind</i> have the
+qualities of objective mind is very obvious. The universal mind is the
+creative power throughout Nature; and as the originating power it must
+first give rise to the various <i>forms</i> in which objective mind
+recognizes its own individuality, before these individual minds can re-act
+upon it; and hence, as pure spirit or <i>first cause</i>, it cannot
+possibly be anything else than subjective mind; and the fact which has been
+abundantly proved by experiment that the subjective mind is the builder of
+the body shows us that the power of creating by growth from within is the
+essential characteristic of the subjective mind. Hence, both from
+experiment and from <i>a priori</i> reasoning, we may say that where-ever
+we find creative power at work there we are in the presence of subjective
+mind, whether it be working on the grand scale of the cosmos, or on the
+miniature scale of the individual. We may therefore lay it down as a
+principle that the universal all-permeating intelligence, which has been
+considered in the second and third sections, is purely subjective mind, and
+therefore follows the law of subjective mind, namely that it is amenable to
+any suggestion, and will carry out any suggestion that is impressed upon it
+to its most rigorously logical consequences. The incalculable importance of
+this truth may not perhaps strike the student at first sight, but a little
+consideration will show him the enormous possibilities that are stored up
+in it, and in the concluding section I shall briefly touch upon the very
+serious conclusions resulting from it. For the present it will be
+sufficient to realize that the subjective mind in ourselves is <i>the
+same</i> subjective mind which is at work throughout the universe giving
+rise to the infinitude of natural forms with which we are surrounded, and
+in like manner giving rise <i>to ourselves also</i>. It may be called the
+supporter of our individuality; and we may loosely speak of our individual
+subjective mind as our personal share in the universal mind. This, of
+course, does not imply the splitting up of the universal mind into
+fractions, and it is to avoid this error that I have discussed the
+essential unity of spirit in the third section, but in order to avoid too
+highly abstract conceptions in the present stage of the student's progress
+we may conveniently employ the idea of a personal share in the universal
+subjective mind.</p>
+
+<p>To realize our individual subjective mind in this manner will help us to
+get over the great metaphysical difficulty which meets us in our endeavour
+to make conscious use of first cause, in other words to create external
+results by the power of our own thought. Ultimately there can be only one
+first cause which is the universal mind, but because it is universal it
+cannot, <i>as universal</i>, act on the plane of the individual and
+particular. For it to do so would be for it to cease to be universal and
+therefore cease to be the creative power which we wish to employ. On the
+other hand, the fact that we are working for a specific definite object
+implies our intention to use this universal power in application to a
+particular purpose, and thus we find ourselves involved in the paradox of
+seeking to make the universal act on the plane of the particular. We want
+to effect a junction between the two extremes of the scale of Nature, the
+innermost creative spirit and a particular external form. Between these two
+is a great gulf, and the question is how is it to be bridged over. It is
+here, then, that the conception of our individual subjective mind as our
+personal share in the universal subjective mind affords the means of
+meeting the difficulty, for on the one hand it is in immediate connection
+with the universal mind, and on the other it is immediate connection with
+the individual objective, or intellectual mind; and this in its turn is in
+immediate connection with the world of externalization, which is
+conditioned in time and space; and thus the relation between the subjective
+and objective minds in the individual forms the bridge which is needed to
+connect the two extremities of the scale.</p>
+
+<p>The individual subjective mind may therefore be regarded as the organ of
+the Absolute in precisely the same way that the objective mind is the organ
+of the Relative, and it is in order to regulate our use of these two organs
+that it is necessary to understand what the terms "absolute" and "relative"
+actually mean. The absolute is that idea of a thing which contemplates it
+as existing <i>in itself</i> and not in relation to something else, that is
+to say, which contemplates the essence of it; and the relative is that idea
+of a thing which contemplates it as related to other things, that is to say
+as circumscribed by a certain environment. The absolute is the region of
+causes, and the relative is the region of conditions; and hence, if we wish
+to control conditions, this can only be done by our thought-power operating
+on the plane of the absolute, which it can do only through the medium of
+the subjective mind. The conscious use of the creative power of thought
+consists in the attainment of the power of Thinking in the Absolute, and
+this can only be attained by a clear conception of the interaction between
+our different mental functions. For this purpose the student cannot too
+strongly impress upon himself that subjective mind, on whatever scale, is
+intensely sensitive to suggestion, and as creative power works accurately
+to the externalization of that suggestion which is most deeply impressed
+upon it. If then, we would take any idea out of the realm of the relative,
+where it is limited and restricted by conditions imposed upon it through
+surrounding circumstances, and transfer it to the realm of the absolute
+where it is not thus limited, a right recognition of our mental
+constitution will enable us to do this by a clearly defined method.</p>
+
+<p>The object of our desire is necessarily first conceived by us as bearing
+some relation to existing circumstances, which may, or may not, appear
+favourable to it; and what we want to do is to eliminate the element of
+contingency and attain something which is certain in itself. To do this is
+to work upon the plane of the absolute, and for this purpose we must
+endeavour to impress upon our subjective mind the idea of that which we
+desire quite apart from any conditions. This separation from the elements
+of condition implies the elimination of the idea of <i>time</i>, and
+consequently we must think of the thing as already in actual existence.
+Unless we do this we are not consciously operating upon the plane of the
+absolute, and are therefore not employing the creative power of our
+thought. The simplest practical method of gaining the habit of thinking in
+this manner is to conceive the existence in the spiritual world of a
+spiritual prototype of every existing thing, which becomes the root of the
+corresponding external existence. If we thus habituate ourselves to look on
+the spiritual prototype as the essential being of the thing, and the
+material form as the growth of this prototype into outward expression, then
+we shall see that the initial step to the production of any external fact
+must be the creation of its spiritual prototype. This prototype, being
+purely spiritual, can only be formed by the operation of <i>thought</i>,
+and in order to have substance on the spiritual plane it <i>must</i> be
+thought of as actually existing there. This conception has been elaborated
+by Plato in his doctrine of archetypal ideas, and by Swedenborg in his
+doctrine of correspondences; and a still greater teacher has said "All
+things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye <i>have</i> received
+them, and ye <i>shall</i> receive them." (Mark xi. 24, R.V.) The difference
+of the tenses in this passage is remarkable. The speaker bids us first to
+believe that our desire <i>has</i> already been fulfilled, that it is a
+thing already accomplished, and then its accomplishment <i>will</i> follow
+as a thing in the future. This is nothing else than a concise direction for
+making use of the creative power of thought by impressing upon the
+universal subjective mind the particular thing which we desire as an
+already existing fact. In following this direction we are thinking on the
+plane of the absolute and eliminating from our minds all consideration of
+conditions, which imply limitation and the possibility of adverse
+contingencies; and we are thus planting a seed which, if left undisturbed,
+will infallibly germinate into external fruition.</p>
+
+<p>By thus making intelligent use of our subjective mind, we, so to speak,
+create a <i>nucleus</i>, which is no sooner created than it begins to
+exercise an attractive force, drawing to itself material of a like
+character with its own, and if this process is allowed to go on
+undisturbed, it will continue until an external form corresponding to the
+nature of the nucleus comes out into manifestation on the plane of the
+objective and relative. This is the universal method of Nature on every
+plane. Some of the most advanced thinkers in modern physical science, in
+the endeavour to probe the great mystery of the first origin of the world,
+have postulated the formation of what they call "vortex rings" formed from
+an infinitely fine primordial substance. They tell us that if such a ring
+be once formed on the minutest scale and set rotating, then, since it would
+be moving in pure ether and subject to no friction, it must according to
+all known laws of physics be indestructible and its motion perpetual. Let
+two such rings approach each other, and by the law of attraction, they
+would coalesce into a whole, and so on until manifested matter as we
+apprehend it with our external senses, is at last formed. Of course no one
+has ever seen these rings with the physical eye. They are one of those
+abstractions which result if we follow out the observed law of physics and
+the unavoidable sequences of mathematics to their necessary consequences.
+We cannot account for the things that we <i>can</i> see unless we assume
+the existence of other things which we <i>cannot</i>; and the "vortex
+theory" is one of these assumptions. This theory has not been put forward
+by mental scientists but by purely physical scientists as the ultimate
+conclusion to which their researches have led them, and this conclusion is
+that all the innumerable forms of Nature have their origin in the
+infinitely minute nucleus of the vortex ring, by whatever means the vortex
+ring may have received its initial impulse, a question with which physical
+science, as such, is not concerned.</p>
+
+<p>As the vortex theory accounts for the formation of the inorganic world,
+so does biology account for the formation of the living organism. That also
+has its origin in a primary nucleus which, as soon as it is established,
+operates as a centre of attraction for the formation of all those physical
+organs of which the perfect individual is composed. The science of
+embryology shows that this rule holds good without exception throughout the
+whole range of the animal world, including man; and botany shows the same
+principle at work throughout the vegetable world. All branches of physical
+science demonstrate the fact that every completed manifestation, of
+whatever kind and on whatever scale, is started by the establishment of a
+nucleus, infinitely small but endowed with an unquenchable energy of
+attraction, causing it to steadily increase in power and definiteness of
+purpose, until the process of growth is completed and the matured form
+stands out as an accomplished fact. Now if this be the universal method of
+Nature, there is nothing unnatural in supposing that it must begin its
+operation at a stage further back than the formation of the material
+nucleus. As soon as that is called into being it begins to operate by the
+law of attraction on the material plane; but what is the force which
+originates the material nucleus? Let a recent work on physical science give
+us the answer; "In its ultimate essence, energy may be incomprehensible by
+us except as an exhibition of the direct operation of that which we call
+Mind or Will." The quotation is from a course of lectures on "Waves in
+Water, Air and &AElig;ther," delivered in 1902, at the Royal Institution,
+by J. A. Fleming. Here, then, is the testimony of physical science that the
+originating energy is Mind or Will; and we are, therefore, not only making
+a logical deduction from certain unavoidable intuitions of the human mind,
+but are also following on the lines of the most advanced physical science,
+when we say that the action of Mind plants that nucleus which, if allowed
+to grow undisturbed, will eventually attract to itself all the conditions
+necessary for its manifestation in outward visible form. Now the only
+action of Mind is Thought; and it is for this reason that by our thoughts
+we create corresponding external conditions, because we thereby create the
+nucleus which attracts to itself its own correspondences in due order until
+the finished work is manifested on the external plane. This is according to
+the strictly scientific conception of the universal law of growth; and we
+may therefore briefly sum up the whole argument by saying that our thought
+of anything forms a spiritual prototype of it, thus constituting a nucleus
+or centre of attraction for all conditions necessary to its eventual
+externalization by a law of growth inherent in the prototype itself.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap6">VI.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>THE LAW OF GROWTH.</h2>
+
+
+<p>A CORRECT understanding of the law of growth is of the highest
+importance to the student of Mental Science. The great fact to be realized
+regarding Nature is that it is natural. We may pervert the order of Nature,
+but it will prevail in the long run, returning, as Horace says, by the back
+door even though we drive it out with a pitchfork; and the beginning, the
+middle, and the end of the law of Nature is the principle of growth from a
+vitality inherent in the entity itself. If we realize this from the outset
+we shall not undo our own work by endeavouring to <i>force</i> things to
+become that which by their own nature they are not. For this reason when
+the Bible says that "he who believeth shall not make haste," it is
+enunciating a great natural principle that success, depends on our using,
+and not opposing, the universal law of growth. No doubt the greater the
+vitality we put into the germ, which we have agreed to call the spiritual
+prototype, the quicker it will germinate; but this is simply because by a
+more realizing conception we put more growing-power into the seed than we
+do by a feebler conception. Our mistakes always eventually resolve
+themselves into distrusting the law of growth. Either we fancy we can
+hasten it by some exertion of our own from <i>without</i>, and are thus led
+into hurry and anxiety, not to say sometimes into the employment, of
+grievously wrong methods; or else we give up all hope and so deny the
+germinating power of the seed we have planted. The result in either case is
+the same, for in either case we are in effect forming a fresh spiritual
+prototype of an opposite character to our desire, which therefore
+neutralizes the one first formed, and disintegrates it and usurps its
+place. The law is always the same, that our Thought forms a spiritual
+prototype which, if left undisturbed, will reproduce itself in external
+circumstances; the only difference is in the sort of prototype we form, and
+thus evil is brought to us by precisely the same law as good.</p>
+
+<p>These considerations will greatly simplify our ideas of life. We have no
+longer to consider two forces, but only one, as being the cause of all
+things; the difference between good and evil resulting simply from the
+direction in which this force is made to flow. It is a universal law that
+if we reverse the action of a cause we at the same time reverse the effect.
+With the same apparatus we can commence by mechanical motion which will
+generate electricity, or we can commence with electricity which will
+generate mechanical motion; or to take a simple arithmetical instance: if
+10/2 = 5, then 10/5 = 2; and therefore if we once recognize the power of
+thought to produce any results at all, we shall see that the law by which
+negative thought produces negative results is the same by which positive
+thought produces positive results. Therefore all our distrust of the law of
+growth, whether shown in the anxious endeavour to bring pressure to bear
+from without, or in allowing despair to take the place of cheerful
+expectation, is reversing the action of the original cause and consequently
+reversing the nature of the results. It is for this reason that the Bible,
+which is the most deeply occult of all books, continually lays so much
+stress upon the efficiency of faith and the destructive influence of
+unbelief; and in like manner, all books on every branch of spiritual
+science emphatically warn us against the admission of doubt or fear. They
+are the inversion of the principle which builds up, and they are therefore
+the principle which pulls down; but the Law itself never changes, and it is
+on the unchangeableness of the law that all Mental Science is founded. We
+are accustomed to realize the unchangeableness of natural law in our every
+day life, and it should therefore not be difficult to realize that the same
+unchangeableness of law which obtains on the visible side of nature obtains
+on the invisible side as well. The variable factor is, not the law, but our
+own volition; and it is by combining this variable factor with the
+invariable one that we can produce the various results we desire. The
+principle of growth is that of inherent vitality in the seed itself, and
+the operations of the gardener have their exact analogue in Mental Science.
+We do not <i>put</i> the self-expansive vitality into the seed, but we must
+sow it, and we may also, so to speak, water it by quiet concentrated
+contemplation of our desire as an actually accomplished fact. But we must
+carefully remove from such contemplation any idea of a strenuous effort on
+our part to <i>make</i> the seed grow. Its efficacy is in helping to keep
+out those negative thoughts of doubt which would plant tares among our
+wheat, and therefore, instead of anything of effort, such contemplation
+should be accompanied by a feeling of pleasure and restfulness in
+foreseeing the certain accomplishment of our desires. This is that making
+our requests known to God <i>with thanksgiving</i> which St. Paul
+recommends, and it has its reason in that perfect wholeness of the Law of
+Being which only needs our recognition of it to be used by us to any extent
+we wish.</p>
+
+<p>Some people possess the power of visualization, or making mental
+pictures of things, in a greater degree than others, and by such this
+faculty may advantageously be employed to facilitate their realization of
+the working of the Law. But those who do not possess this faculty in any
+marked degree, need not be discouraged by their want of it, for
+visualization is not the only way of realizing that the law is at work on
+the invisible plane. Those whose mental bias is towards physical science
+should realize this Law of Growth as the creative force throughout all
+nature; and those who have a mathematical turn of mind may reflect that all
+solids are generated from the movement of a point, which, as our old friend
+Euclid tells us, is that which has no parts nor magnitude, and is therefore
+as complete an abstraction as any spiritual nucleus could be. To use the
+apostolic words, we are dealing with the substance of things not seen, and
+we have to attain that habit of mind by which we shall see its reality and
+feel that we are mentally manipulating the only substance there ultimately
+is, and of which all visible things are only different modes. We must
+therefore regard our mental creations as spiritual realities and then
+implicitly trust the Law of Growth to do the rest.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap7">VII.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>RECEPTIVITY.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In order to lay the foundations for practical work, the student must
+endeavour to get a clear conception of what is meant by the intelligence of
+undifferentiated spirit. We want to grasp the idea of intelligence apart
+from individuality, an idea which is rather apt to elude us until we grow
+accustomed to it. It is the failure to realize this quality of spirit that
+has given rise to all the theological errors that have brought bitterness
+into the world and has been prominent amongst the causes which have
+retarded the true development of mankind. To accurately convey this
+conception in words, is perhaps, impossible, and to attempt definition is
+to introduce that very idea of limitation which is our object to avoid. It
+is a matter of feeling rather than of definition; yet some endeavour must
+be made to indicate the direction in which we must feel for this great
+truth if we are to find it. The idea is that of realizing personality
+without that selfhood which differentiates one individual from another. "I
+am not that other because I am myself"--this is the definition of
+individual selfhood; but it necessarily imparts the idea of limitation,
+because the recognition of any other individuality at once affirms a point
+at which our own individuality ceases and the other begins. Now this mode
+of recognition cannot be attributed to the Universal Mind. For it to
+recognize a point where itself ceased and something else began would be to
+recognize itself as <i>not</i> universal; for the meaning of universality
+is the including of <i>all</i> things, and therefore for this intelligence
+to recognize anything as being <i>outside itself</i> would be a denial of
+its own being. We may therefore say without hesitation that, whatever may
+be the nature of its intelligence, it must be entirely devoid of the
+element of self-recognition <i>as an individual personality</i> on any
+scale whatever. Seen in this light it is at once clear that the originating
+all-pervading Spirit is the grand impersonal principle of Life which gives
+rise to all the particular manifestations of Nature. Its absolute
+impersonalness, in the sense of the entire absence of any consciousness of
+<i>individual</i> selfhood, is a point on which it is impossible to insist
+too strongly. The attributing of an impossible individuality to the
+Universal Mind is one of the two grand errors which we find sapping the
+foundations of religion and philosophy in all ages. The other consists in
+rushing to the opposite extreme and denying the quality of personal
+intelligence to the Universal Mind. The answer to this error remains, as of
+old, in the simple question, "He that made the eye shall He not see? He
+that planted the ear shall He not hear?"--or to use a popular proverb, "You
+cannot get out of a bag more than there is in it;" and consequently the
+fact that we ourselves are centres of personal intelligence is proof that
+the infinite, from which these centres are concentrated, must be infinite
+intelligence, and thus we cannot avoid attributing to it the two factors
+which constitute personality, namely, intelligence and volition. We are
+therefore brought to the conclusion that this universally diffused essence,
+which we might think of as a sort of spiritual protoplasm, must possess all
+the qualities of personality without that conscious recognition of self
+which constitutes separate individuality: and since the word "personality"
+has became so associated in our ordinary talk with the idea of
+"individuality" it will perhaps be better to coin a new word, and speak of
+the personalness of the Universal Mind as indicating its personal
+<i>quality</i>, apart from individuality. We must realize that this
+universal spirit permeates all space and all manifested substance, just as
+physical scientists tell us that the ether does, and that wherever it is,
+there it must carry with it all that it is in its own being; and we shall
+then see that we are in the midst of an ocean of undifferentiated yet
+intelligent Life, above, below, and all around, and permeating ourselves
+both mentally and corporeally, and all other beings as well.</p>
+
+<p>Gradually as we come to realize the truth of this statement, our eyes
+will begin to open to its immense significance. It means that all Nature is
+pervaded by an interior personalness, infinite in its potentialities of
+intelligence, responsiveness, and power of expression, and only waiting to
+be called into activity by our recognition of it. By the terms of its
+nature it can respond to us only as we recognize it. If we are at that
+intellectual level where we can see nothing but chance governing the world,
+then this underlying universal mind will present to us nothing but a
+fortuitous confluence of forces without any intelligible order. If we are
+sufficiently advanced to see that such a confluence could only produce a
+chaos, and not a cosmos, then our conceptions expand to the idea of
+universal Law, and we find <i>this</i> to be the nature of the
+all-underlying principle. We have made an immense advance from the realm of
+mere accident into a world where there are definite principles on which we
+can calculate with certainty <i>when we know them</i>. But here is the
+crucial point. The laws of the universe are there, but we are ignorant of
+them, and only through experience gained by repeated failures can we get
+any insight into the laws with which we have to deal. How painful each step
+and how slow the progress! &AElig;ons upon &aelig;ons would not suffice to
+grasp all the laws of the universe in their totality, not in the visible
+world only, but also in the world of the unseen; each failure to know the
+true law implies suffering arising from our ignorant breach of it; and
+thus, since Nature is infinite, we are met by the paradox that we must in
+some way contrive to compass the knowledge of the infinite with our
+individual intelligence, and we must perform a pilgrimage along an
+unceasing Via Dolorosa beneath the lash of the inexorable Law until we find
+the solution to the problem. But it will be asked, May we not go on until
+at last we attain the possession of all knowledge? People do not realize
+what is meant by "the infinite," or they would not ask such questions. The
+infinite is that which is limitless and exhaustless. Imagine the vastest
+capacity you will, and having filled it with the infinite, what remains of
+the infinite is just as infinite as before. To the mathematician this may
+be put very clearly. Raise <i>x</i> to any power you will, and however vast
+may be the disparity between it and the lower powers of <i>x</i>, both are
+equally incommensurate with <i>x<sup>n</sup>.</i> The universal reign of Law is a
+magnificent truth; it is one of the two great pillars of the universe
+symbolized by the two pillars that stood at the entrance to Solomon's
+temple: it is Jachin, but Jachin must be equilibriated by Boaz.</p>
+
+<p>It is an enduring truth, which can never be altered, that every
+infraction of the Law of Nature must carry its punitive consequences with
+it. We can never get beyond the range of cause and effect. There is no
+escaping from the law of punishment, except by knowledge. If we know a law
+of Nature and work with it, we shall find it our unfailing friend, ever
+ready to serve us, and never rebuking us for past failures; but if we
+ignorantly or wilfully transgress it, it is our implacable enemy, until we
+again become obedient to it; and therefore the only redemption from
+perpetual pain and servitude is by a self-expansion which can grasp
+infinitude itself. How is this to be accomplished? By our progress to that
+kind and degree of intelligence by which we realize the inherent
+<i>personalness</i> of the divine all-pervading Life, which is at once the
+Law and the Substance of all that is. Well said the Jewish rabbis of old,
+"The Law is a Person." When we once realize that the universal Life and the
+universal Law are one with the universal Personalness, then we have
+established the pillar Boaz as the needed complement to Jachin; and when we
+find the common point in which these two unite, we have raised the Royal
+Arch through which we may triumphantly enter the Temple. We must dissociate
+the Universal Personalness from every conception of individuality. The
+universal can never be the individual: that would be a contradiction in
+terms. But because the universal personalness is the root of all individual
+personalities, it finds its highest expression in response to those who
+realize its personal nature. And it is this recognition that solves the
+seemingly insoluble paradox. The only way to attain that knowledge of the
+Infinite Law which will change the Via Dolorosa into the Path of Joy is to
+embody in ourselves a <i>principle</i> of knowledge commensurate with the
+infinitude of that which is to be known; and this is accomplished by
+realizing that, infinite as the law itself, is a universal Intelligence in
+the midst of which we float as in a living ocean. Intelligence without
+individual personality, but which, in producing us, concentrates itself
+into the personal individualities which we are. What should be the relation
+of such an intelligence towards us? Not one of favouritism: not any more
+than the Law can it respect one person above another, for itself is the
+root and support for each alike. Not one of refusal to our advances; for
+without individuality it can have no personal object of its own to conflict
+with ours; and since it is itself the origin of all individual
+intelligence, it cannot be shut off by inability to understand. By the very
+terms of its being, therefore, this infinite, underlying, all-producing
+Mind must be ready immediately to respond to all who realize their true
+relation to it. As the very principle of Life itself it must be infinitely
+susceptible to feeling, and consequently it will reproduce with absolute
+accuracy whatever conception of itself we impress upon it; and hence if we
+realize the human mind as that stage in the evolution of the cosmic order
+at which an individuality has arisen capable of expressing, not merely the
+livingness, but also the personalness of the universal underlying spirit,
+then we see that its most perfect mode of self-expression must be by
+identifying itself with these individual personalities.</p>
+
+<p>The identification is, of course, limited by the measure of the
+individual intelligence, meaning, not merely the intellectual perception of
+the sequence of cause and effect, but also that indescribable reciprocity
+of <i>feeling</i> by which we instinctively recognize something in another
+making them akin to ourselves; and so it is that when we intelligently
+realize that the innermost principle of being, must by reason of its
+universality, have a common nature with our own, then we have solved the
+paradox of universal knowledge, for we have realized our identity of being
+with the Universal Mind, which is commensurate with the Universal Law. Thus
+we arrive at the truth of St. John's statement, "Ye know all things," only
+this knowledge is primarily on the spiritual plane. It is not brought out
+into intellectual statement whether needed or not; for it is not in itself
+the specific knowledge of particular facts, but it is the undifferentiated
+principle of knowledge which we may differentiate in any direction that we
+choose. This is a philosophical necessity of the case, for though the
+action of the individual mind consists in differentiating the universal
+into particular applications, to differentiate the <i>whole</i> universal
+would be a contradiction in terms; and so, because we cannot exhaust the
+infinite, our possession of it must consist in our power to differentiate
+it as the occasion may require, the only limit being that which we
+ourselves assign to the manifestation.</p>
+
+<p>In this way, then, the recognition of the community of
+<i>personality</i> between ourselves and the universal undifferentiated
+Spirit, which is the root and substance of all things, solves the question
+of our release from the iron grasp of an inflexible Law, not by abrogating
+the Law, which would mean the annihilation of all things, but by producing
+in us an intelligence equal in affinity with the universal Law itself, and
+thus enabling us to apprehend and meet the requirements of the Law in each
+particular as it arises. In this way the Cosmic Intelligence becomes
+individualized, and the individual intelligence becomes universalized; the
+two became one, and in proportion as this unity is realized and acted on,
+it will be found that the Law, which gives rise to all outward conditions,
+whether of body or of circumstances, becomes more and more clearly
+understood, and can therefore be more freely made use of, so that by
+steady, intelligent endeavour to unfold upon these lines we may reach
+degrees of power to which it is impossible to assign any limits. The
+student who would understand the rationale of the unfoldment of his own
+possibilities must make no mistake here. He must realize that the whole
+process is that of bringing the universal within the grasp of the
+individual by raising the individual to the level of the universal and not
+vice-versa. It is a mathematical truism that you cannot contract the
+infinite, and that you <i>can</i> expand the individual; and it is
+precisely on these lines that evolution works. The laws of nature cannot be
+altered in the least degree; but we can come into such a realization of our
+own relation to the universal principle of Law that underlies them as to be
+able to press all particular laws, whether of the visible or invisible side
+of Nature, into our service and so find ourselves masters of the situation.
+This is to be accomplished by knowledge; and the only knowledge which will
+effect this purpose in all its measureless immensity is the knowledge of
+the personal element in Universal Spirit in its reciprocity to our own
+personality. Our recognition of this Spirit must therefore be twofold, as
+the principle of necessary sequence, order or Law, and also as the
+principle of Intelligence, responsive to our own recognition of it.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap8">VIII.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>RECIPROCAL ACTION OF THE UNIVERSAL AND INDIVIDUAL MINDS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>It must be admitted that the foregoing considerations bring us to the
+borders of theological speculation, but the student must bear in mind that
+as a Mental Scientist it is his business to regard even the most exalted
+spiritual phenomena from a purely scientific standpoint, which is that of
+the working of a universal natural Law. If he thus simply deals with the
+facts as he finds them, there is little doubt that the true meaning of many
+theological statements will become clear to him: but he will do well to lay
+it down as a general rule that it is not necessary either to the use or
+understanding of any law, whether on the personal or the impersonal side of
+Nature, that we should give a theological explanation of it: although,
+therefore, the personal quality inherent in the universal underlying
+spirit, which is present in all things, cannot be too strongly insisted
+upon, we must remember that in dealing with it we are still dealing with a
+purely natural power which reappears at every point with protean variety of
+form, whether as person, animal, or thing. In each case what it becomes to
+any individual is exactly measured by that individual's recognition of it.
+To each and all it bears the relation of supporter of the race, and where
+the individual development is incapable of realizing anything more, this is
+the limit of the relation; but as the individual's power of recognition
+expands, he finds a reciprocal expansion on the part of this intelligent
+power which gradually develops into the consciousness of intimate
+companionship between the individualized mind and the unindividualized
+source of it.</p>
+
+<p>Now this is exactly the relation which, on ordinary scientific
+principles, we should expect to find between the individual and the cosmic
+mind, on the supposition that the cosmic mind is subjective mind, and for
+reasons already given we can regard it in no other light. As subjective
+mind it must reproduce exactly the conception of itself which the objective
+mind of the individual, acting through his own subjective mind, impresses
+upon it; and at the same time as creative mind, it builds up external facts
+in correspondence with this conception. "Quot homines tot sententi&aelig;":
+each one externalizes in his outward circumstances precisely his idea of
+the Universal Mind; and the man who realizes that by the natural law of
+mind he can bring the Universal Mind into perfectly reciprocal action with
+its own, will on the one hand make it a source of infinite instruction, and
+on the other a source of infinite power. He will thus wisely alternate the
+personal and impersonal aspects respectively between his individual mind
+and the Universal Mind; when he is seeking for guidance or strength he will
+regard his own mind as the impersonal element which is to <i>receive
+personality</i> from the superior wisdom and force of the Greater Mind; and
+when, on the other hand, he is to give out the stores thus accumulated, he
+must reverse the position and consider his own mind as the personal
+element, and the Universal Mind as the impersonal, which he can therefore
+<i>direct</i> with certainty by impressing his own personal desire upon it.
+We need not be staggered at the greatness of this conclusion, for it
+follows necessarily from the natural relation between the subjective and
+the objective minds; and the only question is whether we will limit our
+view to the lower level of the latter, or expand it so as to take in the
+limitless possibilities which the subjective mind presents to us.</p>
+
+<p>I have dealt with this question at some length because it affords the
+key to two very important subjects, the Law of Supply and the nature of
+Intuition. Students often find it easier to understand how the mind can
+influence the body with which it is so intimately associated, than how it
+can influence circumstances. If the operation of thought-power were
+confined exclusively to the individual mind this difficulty might arise;
+but if there is one lesson the student of Mental Science should take to
+heart more than another, it is that the action of thought-power is not
+limited to a circumscribed individuality. What the individual does is to
+<i>give direction</i> to something which is unlimited, to call into action
+a force infinitely greater than his own, which because it is in itself
+impersonal though intelligent, will receive the impress of his personality,
+and can therefore make its influence felt far beyond the limits which bound
+the individual's objective perception of the circumstances with which he
+has to deal. It is for this reason that I lay so much stress on the
+combination of two apparent opposites in the Universal Mind, the union of
+intelligence with impersonality. The intelligence not only enables it to
+receive the impress of our thought, but also causes it to devise exactly
+the right <i>means</i> for bringing it into accomplishment. This is only
+the logical result of the hypothesis that we are dealing with infinite
+Intelligence which is also infinite Life. Life means Power, and infinite
+life therefore means limitless power; and limitless power moved by
+limitless intelligence cannot be conceived of as ever stopping short of the
+accomplishment of its object; therefore, given the <i>intention</i> on the
+part of the Universal Mind, there can be no doubt as to its ultimate
+accomplishment. Then comes the question of intention. How do we know what
+the intention of the Universal Mind may be? Here comes in the element of
+impersonality. It has <i>no intention</i>, because it is <i>impersonal</i>.
+As I have already said, the Universal mind works by a law of averages for
+the advancement of the race, and is in no way concerned with the particular
+wishes of the individual. If his wishes are in line with the forward
+movement of the everlasting principle, there is nowhere in Nature any power
+to restrict him in their fulfilment. If they are opposed to the general
+forward movement, then they will bring him into collision with it, and it
+will crush him. From the relation between them it results that the same
+principle which shows itself in the individual mind as Will, becomes in the
+universal mind a Law of Tendency; and the direction of this tendency must
+always be to life-givingness, because the universal mind is the
+undifferentiated Life-spirit of the universe. Therefore in every case the
+test is whether our particular intention is in this same lifeward
+direction: and if it is, then we may be absolutely certain that there is no
+intention on the part of the Universal Mind to thwart the intention of our
+own individual mind; we are dealing with a purely impersonal force, and it
+will no more oppose us by specific plans of its own than will steam or
+electricity. Combining then, these two aspects of the Universal Mind, its
+utter impersonality and its perfect intelligence, we find precisely the
+sort of natural force we are in want of, something which will undertake
+whatever we put into its hands without asking questions or bargaining for
+terms, and which, having undertaken our business, will bring to bear on it
+an intelligence to which the united knowledge of the whole human race is as
+nothing, and a power equal to this intelligence. I may be using a rough and
+ready mode of expression, but my object is to bring home to the student the
+nature of the power he can employ and the method of employing it, and I may
+therefore state the whole position thus:--Your object is not to run the
+whole cosmos, but to draw particular benefits, physical, mental, moral, or
+financial into your own or someone else's life. From this individual point
+of view the universal creative power has no mind of its own, and therefore
+you can make up its mind for it. When its mind is thus made up for it, it
+never abrogates its place as the creative power, but at once sets to work
+co carry out the purpose for which it has thus been concentrated; and
+unless this concentration is dissipated by the same agency (yourself) which
+first produced it, it will work on by the law of growth to complete
+manifestation on the outward plane.</p>
+
+<p>In dealing with this great impersonal intelligence, we are dealing with
+the infinite, and we must fully realize infinitude as that which touches
+all points, and if it does, there should be no difficulty in understanding
+that this intelligence can draw together the means requisite for its
+purpose even from the ends of the world; and therefore, realizing the Law
+according to which the result can be produced, we must resolutely put aside
+all questioning as to the specific means which will be employed in any
+case. To question this is to sow that very seed of doubt which it is our
+first object to eradicate, and our intellectual endeavour should therefore
+be directed, not to the attempt to foretell the various secondary causes
+which will eventually combine to produce the desired result, laying down
+beforehand what particular causes should be necessary, and from what
+quarter they should come; but we should direct our intellectual endeavour
+to seeing more clearly the rationale of the general law by which trains of
+secondary causes are set in motion. Employed in the former way our
+intellect becomes the greatest hindrance to our success, for it only helps
+to increase our doubts, since it is trying to grasp particulars which, at
+the time are entirely outside its circle of vision; but employed in the
+latter it affords the most material aid in maintaining that nucleus without
+which there is no centre from which the principle of growth can assert
+itself. The intellect can only deduce consequences from facts which it is
+able to state, and consequently cannot deduce any assurance from facts of
+whose existence it cannot yet have any knowledge through the medium of the
+outward senses; but for the same reason it can realize the existence of a
+<i>Law</i> by which the as yet unmanifested circumstances may be brought
+into manifestation. Thus used in its right order, the intellect becomes the
+handmaid of that more interior power within us which manipulates the unseen
+substance of all things, and which we may call relative first cause.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap9">IX.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>CAUSES AND CONDITIONS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The expression "<i>relative</i> first cause" has been used in the last
+section to distinguish the action of the creative principle in the
+<i>individual</i> mind from Universal First Cause on the one hand and from
+secondary causes on the other. As it exists in <i>us</i>, primary causation
+is the power to initiate a train of causation directed to an individual
+purpose. As the power of initiating a fresh sequence of cause and effect it
+is first cause, and as referring to an individual purpose it is relative,
+and it may therefore be spoken of as relative first cause, or the power of
+primary causation manifested by the individual. The understanding and use
+of this power is the whole object of Mental Science, and it is therefore
+necessary that the student should clearly see the relation between causes
+and conditions. A simple illustration will go further for this purpose than
+any elaborate explanation. If a lighted candle is brought into a room the
+room becomes illuminated, and if the candle is taken away it becomes dark
+again. Now the illumination and the darkness are both conditions, the one
+positive resulting from the presence of the light, and the other negative
+resulting from its absence: from this simple example we therefore see that
+every positive condition has an exactly opposite negative condition
+corresponding to it, and that this correspondence results from their being
+related to the <i>same cause</i>, the one positively and the other
+negatively; and hence we may lay down the rule that all positive conditions
+result from the active presence of a certain cause, and all negative
+conditions from the absence of such a cause. A condition, whether positive
+or negative, is never <i>primary</i> cause, and the <i>primary</i> cause of
+any series can never be negative, for negation is the condition which
+arises from the absence of active causation. This should be thoroughly
+understood as it is the philosophic basis of all those "denials" which play
+so important a, part in Mental Science, and which may be summed up in the
+statement that evil being negative, or privation of good, has no
+substantive existence in itself. Conditions, however, whether positive or
+negative, are no sooner called into existence than they become causes in
+their turn and produce further conditions, and so on <i>ad infinitum</i>,
+thus giving rise to the whole train of secondary causes. So long as we
+judge only from the information conveyed to us by the outward senses, we
+are working on the plane of secondary causation and see nothing but a
+succession of conditions, forming part of an endless train of antecedent
+conditions coming out of the past and stretching away into the future, and
+from this point of view we are under the rule of an iron destiny from which
+there seems no possibility of escape. This is because the outward senses
+are only capable of dealing with the relations which one mode of limitation
+bears to another, for they are the instruments by which we take cognizance
+of the relative and the conditioned. Now the only way of escape is by
+rising out of the region of secondary causes into that of primary
+causation, where the originating energy is to be found before it has yet
+passed into manifestation as a condition. This region is to be found
+<i>within ourselves</i>; it is the region of pure ideas; and it is for this
+reason that I have laid stress on the two aspects of spirit as pure thought
+and manifested form. The thought-image or ideal pattern of a thing is the
+<i>first cause</i> relatively to that thing; it is the substance of that
+thing untrammelled, by any antecedent conditions.</p>
+
+<p>If we realize that all visible things <i>must</i> have their origin in
+spirit, then the whole creation around us is the standing evidence that the
+starting-point of all things is in thought-images or ideas, for no other
+action than the formation of such images can be conceived of spirit prior
+to its manifestation in matter. If, then, this is spirit's modus operandi
+for self-expression, we have only to transfer this conception from the
+scale of cosmic spirit working on the plane of the universal to that of
+individualized spirit working on the plane of the particular, to see that
+the formation of an ideal image by means of our thought is setting first
+cause in motion with regard to this specific object. There is no difference
+in kind between the operation of first cause in the universal and in the
+particular, the difference is only a difference of scale, but the power
+itself is identical. We must therefore always be very clear as to whether
+we are <i>consciously</i> using first cause or not. Note the word
+"consciously" because, whether consciously or unconsciously, we are always
+using first cause; and it was for this reason I emphasized the fact that
+the Universal Mind is purely subjective and therefore bound by the laws
+which apply to subjective mind on whatever scale. Hence we are
+<i>always</i> impressing some sort of ideas upon it, whether we are aware
+of the fact or not, and all our existing limitations result from our having
+habitually impressed upon it that idea of limitation which we have imbibed
+by restricting all possibility to the region of secondary causes. But now
+when investigation has shown us that conditions are never causes in
+<i>themselves</i>, but only the subsequent links of a chain started on the
+plane of the pure ideal, what we have to do is to reverse our method of
+thinking and regard the ideal as the real, and the outward manifestation as
+a mere reflection which must change with every change of the object which
+casts it. For these reasons it is essential to know whether we are
+consciously making use of first cause with a definite purpose or not, and
+the criterion is this. If we regard the fulfilment of our purpose as
+contingent upon any <i>circumstances</i>, past, present, or future, we are
+not making use of first cause; we have descended to the level of secondary
+causation, which is the region of doubts, fears, and limitations, all of
+which we are impressing upon the universal subjective mind with the
+inevitable result that it will build up corresponding external conditions.
+But if we realize that the region of secondary causes is the region of mere
+reflections we shall not think of our purpose as contingent on any
+conditions whatever, but shall know that by forming the idea of it in the
+absolute, and maintaining that idea, we have shaped the first cause into
+the desired form and can await the result with cheerful expectancy.</p>
+
+<p>It is here that we find the importance of realizing spirit's
+independence of time and space. An ideal, as such, cannot be formed in the
+future. It must either be formed here and now or not be formed at all; and
+it is for this reason that every teacher, who has ever spoken with due
+knowledge of the subject, has impressed upon his followers the necessity of
+picturing to themselves the fulfilment of their desires as <i>already
+accomplished</i> on the spiritual plane, as the indispensable condition of
+fulfilment in the visible and concrete.</p>
+
+<p>When this is properly understood, any anxious thought as to the
+<i>means</i> to be employed in the accomplishment of our purposes is seen
+to be quite unnecessary. If the end is already secured, then it follows
+that all the steps leading to it are secured also. The means will pass into
+the smaller circle of our conscious activities day by day in due order, and
+then we have to work upon them, not with fear, doubt, or feverish
+excitement, but calmly and joyously, because we <i>know</i> that the end is
+already secured, and that our reasonable use of such means as present
+themselves in the desired direction is, only one portion of a much larger
+co-ordinated movement, the final result of which admits of no doubt. Mental
+Science does not offer a premium to idleness, but it takes, all work out of
+the region of anxiety and toil by assuring the worker of the success of his
+labour, if not in the precise form he anticipated, then in some other still
+better suited to his requirements. But suppose, when we reach a point where
+some momentous decision has to be made, we happen to decide wrongly? On the
+hypothesis that the end is already secured you cannot decide wrongly. Your
+right decision is as much one of the necessary steps in the accomplishment
+of the end as any of the other conditions leading up to it, and therefore,
+while being careful to avoid rash action, we may make sure that the same
+Law which is controlling the rest of the circumstances in the right
+direction will influence our judgment in that direction also. To get good
+results we must properly understand our relation to the great impersonal
+power we are using. It is intelligent and we are intelligent, and the two
+intelligences must co-operate. We must not fly in the face of the Law by
+expecting it to do <i>for</i> us what it can only do <i>through</i> us; and
+we must therefore use our intelligence with the knowledge that it is acting
+<i>as the instrument of a greater intelligence</i>; and because we have
+this knowledge we may, and should, cease from all anxiety as to the final
+result. In actual practice we must first form the ideal conception of our
+object with the definite intention of impressing it upon the universal
+mind--it is this intention which takes such thought out of the region of
+mere casual fancies--and then affirm that our knowledge of the Law is
+sufficient reason for a calm expectation of a corresponding result, and
+that therefore all necessary conditions will come to us in due order. We
+can then turn to the affairs of our daily life with the calm assurance that
+the initial conditions are either there already or will soon come into
+view. If we do not at once see them, let us rest content with the knowledge
+that the spiritual prototype is already in existence and wait till some
+circumstance pointing in the desired direction begins to show itself. It
+may be a very small circumstance, but it is the direction and not the
+magnitude which is to be taken into consideration. As soon as we see it we
+should regard it as the first sprouting of the seed we have sown in the
+Absolute, and do calmly, and without excitement, whatever the circumstances
+may seem to require, and then later on we shall see that this doing will in
+turn lead to further circumstances in the same direction until we find
+ourselves conducted step by step to the accomplishment of our object. In
+this way the understanding of the great principle of the Law of Supply
+will, by repeated experiences, deliver us more and more completely out of
+the region of anxious thought and toilsome labour and bring us into a new
+world where the useful employment of all our powers, whether mental or
+physical, will only be an unfolding of our individuality upon the lines of
+its own nature, and therefore a perpetual source of health and happiness; a
+sufficient inducement, surely, to the careful study of the laws governing
+the relation between the individual and the Universal Mind.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap10">X.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>INTUITION.</h2>
+
+
+<p>We have seen that the subjective mind is amenable to suggestion by the
+objective mind; but there is also an action of the subjective mind upon the
+objective. The individual's subjective mind is his own innermost self, and
+its first care is the maintenance of the individuality of which it is the
+foundation; and since it is pure spirit it has its continual existence in
+that plane of being where all things subsist in the universal here and the
+everlasting now, and consequently can, inform the lower mind of things
+removed from its ken either by distance or futurity. As the absence of the
+conditions of time and space must logically concentrate all things into a
+present focus, we can assign no limit to the subjective mind's power of
+perception, and therefore the question arises, why does it not keep the
+objective mind continually informed on all points? And the answer is that
+it would do so if the objective mind were sufficiently trained to recognize
+the indications given, and to effect this training is one of the purposes
+of Mental Science. When once we recognize the position of the subjective
+mind as the supporter of the whole individuality we cannot doubt that much
+of what we take to be the spontaneous movement of the objective mind has
+its origin in the subjective mind prompting the objective mind in the right
+direction without our being consciously aware of it. But at times when the
+urgency of the case seems to demand it, or when, for some reason yet
+unknown, the objective mind is for a while more closely <i>en rapport</i>
+with the subjective mind, the interior voice is heard strongly and
+persistently; and when this is the case we do well to pay heed to it. Want
+of space forbids me to give examples, but doubtless such will not be
+wanting in the reader's experience.</p>
+
+<p>The importance of understanding and following the intuition cannot be
+exaggerated, but I candidly admit the great practical difficulty of keeping
+the happy mean between the disregard of the interior voice and allowing
+ourselves to be run away with by groundless fancies. The best guide is the
+knowledge that comes of personal experience which gradually leads to the
+acquisition of a sort of inward sense of touch that enables us to
+distinguish the true from the false, and which appears to grow with the
+sincere desire for truth and with the recognition of the spirit as its
+source. The only general principles the writer can deduce from his own
+experience are that when, in spite of all appearances pointing in the
+direction of a certain line of conduct, there is still a persistent
+<i>feeling</i> that it should not be followed, in the majority of instances
+it will be found that the argument of the objective mind, however correct
+on the facts objectively known, was deficient from ignorance of facts which
+could not be objectively known at the time, but which were known to the
+intuitive faculty. Another principle is that our <i>very first</i>
+impression of feeling on any subject is generally correct. Before the
+objective mind has begun to argue on the subject it is like the surface of
+a smooth lake which clearly reflects the light from above; but as soon as
+it begins to argue from outside appearances these also throw their
+reflections upon its surface, so that the original image becomes blurred
+and is no longer recognizable. This first conception is very speedily lost,
+and it should therefore be carefully observed and registered in the memory
+with a view to testing the various arguments which will subsequently arise
+on the objective plane. It is however impossible to reduce so interior an
+action as that of the intuition to the form of hard and fast rules, and
+beyond carefully noting particular cases as they occur, probably the best
+plan for the student will be to include the whole subject of intuition in
+the general principle of the Law of Attraction, especially if he sees how
+this law interacts with that personal quality of universal spirit of which
+we have already spoken.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap11">XI.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>HEALING.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The subject of healing has been elaborately treated by many writers and
+fully deserves all the attention that has been given to it, but the object
+of these lectures is rather to ground the student in those general
+principles on which <i>all</i> conscious use of the creative power of
+thought is based, than to lay down formal rules for specific applications
+of it. I will therefore examine the broad principles which appear to be
+common to the various methods of mental healing which are in use, each of
+which derives its efficacy, not from the peculiarity of the method, but
+from it being such a method as allows the higher laws of Nature to come
+into play. Now the principle universally laid down by all mental healers,
+in whatever various terms they may explain it, is that the basis of all
+healing is a change in belief. The sequence from which this results is as
+follows:--the subjective mind is the creative faculty within us, and
+creates whatever the objective mind impresses upon it; the objective mind,
+or intellect, impresses its thought upon it; the thought is the expression
+of the belief; hence whatever the subjective mind creates is the
+reproduction externally of our beliefs. Accordingly our whole object is to
+change our beliefs, and we cannot do this without some solid ground of
+conviction of the falsity of our old beliefs and of the truth of our new
+ones, and this ground we find in that law of causation which I have
+endeavoured to explain. The wrong belief which externalizes as sickness is
+the belief that some secondary cause, which is really only a condition, is
+a primary cause. The knowledge of the law shows that there is only
+<i>one</i> primary cause, and this is the factor which in our own
+individuality we call subjective or sub-conscious mind. For this reason I
+have insisted on the difference between placing an idea in the
+sub-conscious mind, that is, on the plane of the absolute and without
+reference to time and space, and placing the same idea in the conscious
+intellectual mind which only perceives things as related to time and space.
+Now the only conception you can have of<i> yourself</i> in the absolute, or
+unconditioned, is as <i>purely living Spirit</i>, not hampered by
+conditions of any sort, and therefore not subject to illness; and when this
+idea is firmly impressed on the sub-conscious mind, it will externalize it.
+The reason why this process is not always successful at the first attempt
+is that all our life we have been holding the false belief in sickness as a
+substantial entity in itself and thus being a primary cause, instead of
+being merely a negative <i>condition</i> resulting from the <i>obsence</i>
+of a primary cause; and a belief which has become ingrained from childhood
+cannot be eradicated at a moment's notice. We often find, therefore, that
+for some time after a treatment there is an improvement in the patient's
+health, and then the old symptoms return. This is because the new belief in
+his own creative faculty has not yet had time to penetrate down to the
+innermost depths of the subconscious mind, but has only partially entered
+it. Each succeeding treatment strengthens the sub-conscious mind in its
+hold of the new belief until at last a permanent cure is effected. This is
+the method of self-treatment based on the patient's own knowledge of the
+law of his being.</p>
+
+<p>But "there is not in all men this knowledge," or at any rate not such a
+full recognition of it as will enable them to give successful treatment to
+themselves, and in these cases the intervention of the healer becomes
+necessary. The only difference between the healer and the patient is that
+the healer has learnt how to control the less self-conscious modes of the
+spirit by the more self-conscious mode, while the patient has not yet
+attained to this knowledge; and what the healer does is to substitute his
+own objective or conscious mentality, which is will joined to intellect,
+for that of the patient, and in this way to find entrance to his
+sub-conscious mind and impress upon it the suggestion of perfect
+health.</p>
+
+<p>The question then arises, how can the healer substitute his own
+conscious mind for that of the patient? and the answer shows the practical
+application of those very abstract principles which I have laid down in the
+earlier sections. Our ordinary conception of ourselves is that of an
+individual personality which ends where another personality begins, in
+other words that the two personalities are entirely separate. This is an
+error. There is no such hard and fast line of demarcation between
+personalities, and the boundaries between one and another can be increased
+or reduced in rigidity according to will, in fact they may be temporarily
+removed so completely that, for the time being, the two personalities
+become merged into one. Now the action which takes place between healer and
+patient depends on this principle. The patient is asked by the healer to
+put himself in a receptive mental attitude, which means that he is to
+exercise his volition for the purpose of removing the barrier of his own
+objective personality and thus affording entrance to the mental power of
+the healer. On his side also the healer does the same thing, only with this
+difference, that while the patient withdraws the barrier on his side with
+the intention of admitting a flowing-in, the healer does so with the
+intention of allowing a flowing-out: and thus by the joint action of the
+two minds the barriers of both personalities are removed and the direction
+of the flow of volition is determined, that is to say, it flows from the
+healer as actively willing to give, towards the patient as passively
+willing to receive, according to the universal law of Nature that the flow
+must always be from the <i>plenum</i> to the <i>vacuum</i>. This mutual
+removal of the external mental barrier between healer and patient is what
+is termed establishing a <i>rapport</i> between them, and here we find one
+most valuable practical application of the principle laid down earlier in
+this book, that pure spirit is present in its entirety at every point
+simultaneously. It is for this reason that as soon as the healer realizes
+that the barriers of external personality between himself and his patient
+have been removed, he can then speak to the sub-conscious mind of the
+patient as though it were his own, for both being pure spirit the
+<i>thought</i> of their identity <i>makes</i> them identical, and both are
+concentrated into a single entity at a single point upon which the
+conscious mind of the healer can be brought to bear, according to the
+universal principle of the control of the subjective mind by the objective
+mind through suggestion. It is for this reason I have insisted on the
+distinction between <i>pure</i> spirit, or spirit conceived of apart from
+extension in any matrix and the conception of it as so extended. If we
+concentrate our mind upon the diseased condition of the patient we are
+thinking of him as a separate personality, and are not fixing our mind upon
+that conception of him as pure spirit which will afford us effectual entry
+to his springs of being. We must therefore withdraw our thought from the
+contemplation of symptoms, and indeed from his corporeal personality
+altogether, and must think of him as a purely spiritual individuality, and
+as such entirely free from subjection to any conditions, and consequently
+as voluntarily externalizing the conditions most expressive of the vitality
+and intelligence which pure spirit is. Thinking of him thus, we then make
+mental affirmation that he shall build up outwardly the correspondence of
+that perfect vitality which he knows himself to be inwardly; and this
+suggestion being impressed by the healer's conscious thought, while the
+patient's conscious thought is at the same time impressing the fact that he
+is receiving the active thought of the healer, the result is that the
+patient's sub-conscious mind becomes thoroughly imbued with the recognition
+of its own life-giving power, and according to the recognized law of
+subjective mentality proceeds to work out this suggestion into external
+manifestation, and thus health is substituted for sickness.</p>
+
+<p>It must be understood that the purpose of the process here described is
+to strengthen the subject's individuality, not to dominate it. To use it
+for domination is <i>inversion</i>, bringing its appropriate penalty to the
+operator.</p>
+
+<p>In this description I have contemplated the case where the patient is
+consciously co-operating with the healer, and it is in order to obtain this
+co-operation that the mental healer usually makes a point of instructing
+the patient in the broad principles of Mental Science, if he is not already
+acquainted with them. But this is not always advisable or possible.
+Sometimes the statement of principles opposed to existing prejudices
+arouses opposition, and any active antagonism on the patient's part must
+tend to intensify the barrier of conscious personality which it is the
+healer's first object to remove. In these cases nothing is so effective as
+<i>absent treatment</i>. If the student has grasped all that has been said
+on the subject of spirit and matter, he will see that in mental treatment
+time and space count for nothing, because the whole action takes place on a
+plane where these conditions do not obtain; and it is therefore quite
+immaterial whether the patient be in the immediate presence of the healer
+or in a distant country. Under these circumstances it is found by
+experience that one of the most effectual modes of mental healing is by
+treatment during sleep, because then the patient's whole system is
+naturally in a state of relaxation which prevents him offering any
+conscious opposition to the treatment. And by the same rule the healer also
+is able to treat even more effectively during his own sleep than while
+waking. Before going to sleep he firmly impresses on his subjective mind
+that it is to convey curative suggestion to the subjective mind of the
+patient, and then, by the general principles of the relation between
+subjective and objective mind this suggestion is carried out during all the
+hours that the conscious individuality is wrapped in repose. This method is
+applicable to young children to whom the principles of the science cannot
+be explained; and also to persons at a distance: and indeed the only
+advantage gained by the personal meeting of the patient and healer is in
+the instruction that can be orally given, or when the patient is at that
+early stage of knowledge where the healer's visible presence conveys the
+suggestion that something is then being done which could not be done in his
+absence; otherwise the presence or absence of the patient are matters
+perfectly indifferent. The student must always recollect that the
+sub-conscious mind does not have to work <i>through</i> the intellect or
+conscious mind to produce its curative effects. It is part of the
+all-pervading creative force of Nature, while the intellect is not creative
+but distributive.</p>
+
+<p>From mental healing it is but a step to telepathy, clairvoyance and
+other, kindred manifestations of transcendental power which, are from time
+to time exhibited by the subjective entity and which follow laws as
+accurate as those which govern what we are accustomed to consider our more
+normal faculties; but these subjects do not properly fall within the scope
+of a book whose purpose is to lay down the broad principles which underlie
+<i>all</i> spiritual phenomena. Until these are clearly understood the
+student cannot profitably attempt the detailed study of the more interior
+powers; for to do so without a firm foundation of knowledge and some
+experience in its practical application would only be to expose himself to
+unknown dangers, and would be contrary to the scientific principle that the
+advance into the unknown can only be made from the standpoint of the known,
+otherwise we only come into a confused region of guess-work without any
+clearly defined principles for our guidance.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap12">XII.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>THE WILL.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The Will is of such primary importance that the student should be on his
+guard against any mistake as to the position which it holds in the mental
+economy. Many writers and teachers insist on will-power as though that were
+the creative faculty. No doubt intense will-power can evolve certain
+external results, but like all other methods of compulsion it lacks the
+permanency of natural growth. The appearances, forms, and conditions
+produced by mere intensity of will-power will only hang together so long as
+the compelling force continues; but let it be exhausted or withdrawn, and
+the elements thus forced into unnatural combination will at once fly back
+to their proper affinities; the form created by compulsion never had the
+germ of vitality <i>in itself</i> and is therefore dissipated as soon as
+the external energy which supported it is withdrawn. The mistake is in
+attributing the creative power to the will, or perhaps I should say in
+attributing the creative power to ourselves at all. The truth is that man
+never creates anything. His function is, not to create, but to combine and
+distribute that which is already in being, and what we call our creations
+are new combinations of already existing material, whether mental or
+corporeal. This is amply demonstrated in the physical sciences. No one
+speaks of creating energy, but only of transforming one form of energy into
+another; and if we realize this as a universal principle, we shall see that
+on the mental plane as well as on the physical we never create energy but
+only provide the conditions by which the energy already existing in one
+mode can exhibit itself in another: therefore what, relatively to man, we
+call his creative power, is that receptive attitude of expectancy which, so
+to say, makes a mould into which the plastic and as yet undifferentiated
+substance can flow and take the desired form. The will has much the same
+place in our mental machinery that the tool-holder has in a power-lathe: it
+is not the power, but it keeps the mental faculties in that position
+relatively to the power which enables it to do the desired work. If, using
+the word in its widest sense, we may say that the imagination is the
+creative function, we may call the will the centralizing principle. Its
+function is to keep the imagination centred in the right direction. We are
+aiming at consciously controlling our mental powers instead of letting them
+hurry us hither and thither in a purposeless manner, and we must therefore
+understand the relation of these powers to each other for the production of
+external results. First the whole train of causation is started by some
+emotion which gives rise to a desire; next the judgment determines whether
+we shall externalize this desire or not; then the desire having been
+approved by the judgment, the will comes forward and directs the
+imagination to form the necessary spiritual prototype; and the imagination
+thus centred on a particular object creates the spiritual nucleus, which in
+its turn acts as a centre round which the forces of attraction begin to
+work, and continue to operate until, by the law of growth, the concrete
+result becomes perceptible to our external senses.</p>
+
+<p>The business of the will, then, is to retain the various faculties of
+our mind in that position where they are really doing the work we wish, and
+this position may be generalized into the three following attitudes; either
+we wish to act upon something, or be acted on by it, or to maintain a
+neutral position; in other words we either intend to project a force, or
+receive a force or keep a position of inactivity relatively to some
+particular object. Now the judgment determines which of these three
+positions we shall take up, the consciously active, the consciously
+receptive, or the consciously neutral; and then the function of the will is
+simply to maintain the position we have determined upon; and if we maintain
+any given mental attitude we may reckon with all certainty on the law of
+attraction drawing us to those correspondences which exteriorly symbolize
+the attitude in question. This is very different from the semi-animal
+screwing-up of the nervous forces which, with some people, stands for
+will-power. It implies no strain on the nervous system and is consequently
+not followed by any sense of exhaustion. The will-power, when transferred
+from the region of the lower mentality to the spiritual plane, becomes
+simply a calm and peaceful determination to retain a certain mental
+attitude in spite of all temptations to the contrary, knowing that by doing
+so the desired result will certainly appear.</p>
+
+<p>The training of the will and its transference from the lower to the
+higher plane of our nature are among the first objects of Mental Science.
+The man is summed up in his will. Whatever he does by his own will is his
+own act; whatever he does without the consent of his will is not his own
+act but that of the power by which his will was coerced; but we must
+recognize that, on the mental plane, no other individuality can obtain
+control over our will unless we first allow it to do so; and it is for this
+reason that all legitimate use of Mental Science is towards the
+strengthening of the will, whether in ourselves or others, and bringing it
+under the control of an enlightened reason. When the will realizes its
+power to deal with first cause it is no longer necessary for the operator
+to state to himself <i>in extenso</i> all the philosophy of its action
+every time he wishes to use it, but, knowing that the trained will is a
+tremendous spiritual force acting on the plane of first cause, he simply
+expresses his desire with the intention of operating on that plane, and
+knows that the desire thus expressed will in due time externalize itself as
+concrete fact. He now sees that the point which really demands his earnest
+attention is not whether he possesses the power of externalizing any
+results he chooses, but of learning to choose wisely what results to
+produce. For let us not suppose that even the highest powers will take us
+out of the law of cause and effect. We can never set any cause in motion
+without calling forth those effects which it already contains in embryo and
+which will again become causes in their turn, thus producing a series which
+must continue to flow on until it is cut short by bringing into operation a
+cause of an opposite character to the one which originated it. Thus we
+shall find the field for the exercise of our intelligence continually
+expanding with the expansion of our powers; for, granted a good intention,
+we shall always wish to contemplate the results of our action as far as our
+intelligence will permit. We may not be able to see very far, but there is
+one safe general principle to be gained from what has already been said
+about causes and conditions, which is that the whole sequence always
+partakes of the same character as the initial cause: if that character is
+negative, that is, destitute of any desire to externalize kindness,
+cheerfulness, strength, beauty or some other sort of good, this negative
+quality will make itself felt all down the line; but if the opposite
+affirmative character is in the original motive, then it will reproduce its
+kind in forms of love, joy, strength and beauty with unerring precision.
+Before setting out, therefore, to produce new conditions by the exercise of
+our thought-power we should weigh carefully what further results they are
+likely to lead to; and here, again, we shall find an ample field for the
+training of our will, in learning to acquire that self-control which will
+enable us to postpone an inferior present satisfaction to a greater
+prospective good.</p>
+
+<p>These considerations naturally lead us to the subject of concentration.
+I have just now pointed out that all duly controlled mental action consists
+in holding the mind in one of three attitudes; but there is a fourth mental
+condition, which is that of letting our mental functions run on without our
+will directing them to any definite purpose. It is on this word
+<i>purpose</i> that we must fix our whole attention; and instead of
+dissipating our energies, we must follow an intelligent method of
+concentration. The, word means being gathered up at a centre, and the
+centre of anything is that point in which all its forces are equally
+balanced. To concentrate therefore means first to bring our minds into a
+condition of equilibrium which will enable us to consciously direct the
+flow of spirit to a definitely recognized purpose, and then carefully to
+guard our thoughts from inducing a flow in the opposite direction. We must
+always bear in mind that we are dealing with a wonderful <i>potential</i>
+energy which is not yet differentiated into any particular mode, and that
+by the action of our mind we can differentiate it into any specific mode of
+activity that we will; and by keeping our thought fixed on the fact that
+the inflow of this energy <i>is</i> taking place and that by our mental
+attitude we <i>are</i> determining its direction, we shall gradually
+realize a corresponding externalization. Proper concentration, therefore,
+does not consist of strenuous effort which exhausts the nervous system and
+defeats its own object by suggesting the consciousness of an adverse force
+to be fought against, and thus creating the adverse circumstances we dread;
+but in shutting out all thoughts of a kind that would disperse the
+spiritual nucleus we are forming and dwelling cheerfully on the knowledge
+that, because the law is certain in its action, our desire is certain of
+accomplishment. The other great principle to be remembered is that
+concentration is for the purpose of determining the <i>quality</i> we are
+going to give to the previously undifferentiated energy rather than to
+arrange the <i>specific circumstances</i> of its manifestation. <i>That</i>
+is the work of the creative energy itself, which will build up its own
+forms of expression quite naturally if we allow it, thus saving us a great
+deal of needless anxiety. What we really want is expansion in a certain
+direction, whether of health, wealth, or what not: and so long as we get
+this, what does it matter whether it reaches us through some channel which
+we thought we could reckon upon or through some other whose existence we
+had not suspected. It is the fact that we are concentrating energy of a
+particular kind for a particular purpose that we should fix our minds upon,
+and not look upon any specific details as essential to the accomplishment
+of our object.</p>
+
+<p>These are the two golden rules regarding concentration; but we must not
+suppose that because we have to be on our guard against idle drifting there
+is to be no such thing as repose; on the contrary it is during periods of
+repose that we accumulate strength for action; but repose does not mean a
+state of purposelessness. As pure spirit the subjective mind never rests:
+it is only the objective mind in its connection with the physical body that
+needs rest; and though there are no doubt times when the greatest possible
+rest is to be obtained by stopping the action, of our conscious thought
+altogether, the more generally advisable method is by changing the
+direction of the thought and, instead of centering it upon something we
+intend to <i>do</i>, letting it dwell quietly upon what we <i>are</i>. This
+direction of thought might, of course, develop into the deepest
+philosophical speculation, but it is not necessary that we should be always
+either consciously projecting our forces to produce some external effect or
+working out the details of some metaphysical problem; but we may simply
+realize ourselves as part of the universal livingness and thus gain a quiet
+centralization, which, though maintained by a conscious act of the
+volition, is the very essence of rest. From this standpoint we see that all
+is Life and all is Good, and that Nature, from her clearly visible surface
+to her most arcane depths, is one vast storehouse of life and good entirely
+devoted to our individual use. We have the key to all her treasures, and we
+can now apply our knowledge of the law of being without entering into all
+those details which are only needed for purposes of study, and doing so we
+find it results in our having acquired the consciousness of our <i>oneness
+with the whole</i>. This is the great secret: and when we have once
+fathomed it we can enjoy our possession of the whole, or of any part of it,
+because by our recognition we have made it, and can increasingly make it,
+our own. Whatever most appeals to us at any particular time or place is
+that mode of the universal living spirit with which at that moment we are
+most in touch, and realizing this, we shall draw from it streams of vital
+energy which will make the very sensation of livingness a joy and will
+radiate from us as a sphere of vibration that can deflect all injurious
+suggestion on whatever plane. We may not have literary, artistic, or
+scientific skill to present to others the results of our communings with
+Nature, but the joy of this sympathetic indrawing will nevertheless produce
+a corresponding outflow manifesting itself in the happier look and kindlier
+mien of him who thus realizes his oneness with every aspect of the whole.
+He realizes--and this is the great point in that attitude of mind which is
+not directed to any specific external object--that, for himself, he is, and
+always must be the centre of all this galaxy of Life, and thus he
+contemplates himself as seated at the centre of infinitude, not an
+infinitude of blank space, but pulsating with living being, in all of which
+he knows that the true essence is nothing but good. This is the very
+opposite to a selfish self-centredness; it, is the centre where we find
+that we both receive from all and flow out to all. Apart from this
+principle of circulation there is no true life, and if we contemplate our
+central position only as affording us greater advantages for in-taking, we
+have missed the whole point of our studies by missing the real nature of
+the Life-principle, which is action and re-action. If we would have life
+enter into us, we ourselves must enter into life--enter into the spirit of
+it, just as we must enter into the spirit of a book or a game to enjoy it.
+There can be no action at a centre only. There must be a perpetual flowing
+out towards the circumference, and thence back again to the centre to
+maintain a vital activity; otherwise collapse must ensue either from
+anaemia or congestion. But if we realize the reciprocal nature of the vital
+pulsation, and that the outflowing consists in the habit of mind which
+gives itself to the good it sees in others, rather than in any specific
+actions, then we shall find that the cultivation of this disposition will
+provide innumerable avenues for the universal livingness to flow through
+us, whether as giving or receiving, which we had never before suspected:
+and this action and re-action will so build up our own vitality that each
+day will find us more thoroughly alive than any that had preceded it. This,
+then, is the attitude of repose in which we may enjoy all the beauties of
+science, literature and art or may peacefully commune with the spirit of
+nature without the aid of any third mind to act as its interpreter, which
+is still a purposeful attitude although not directed to a specific object:
+we have not allowed the will to relax its control, but have merely altered
+its direction; so that for action and repose alike we find that our
+strength lies in our recognition of the unity of the spirit and of
+ourselves as individual concentrations of it.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap13">XIII.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>IN TOUCH WITH SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The preceding pages have made the student in some measure aware of the
+immense importance of our dealings with the sub-conscious mind. Our
+relation to it, whether on the scale of the individual or the universal, is
+the key to all that we are or ever can be. In its unrecognized working it
+is the spring of all that we can call the automatic action of mind and
+body, and on the universal scale it is the silent power of evolution
+gradually working onwards to that "divine event, to which the whole
+creation moves"; and by our conscious recognition of it we make it,
+relatively to ourselves, all that we believe it to be. The closer our
+<i>rapport</i> with it becomes, the more what we have hitherto considered
+automatic action, whether in our bodies or our circumstances, will pass
+under our control, until at last we shall control our whole individual
+world. Since, then, this is the stupendous issue involved, the question how
+we are to put ourselves practically in touch with the sub-conscious mind is
+a very important one. Now the clue which gives us the right direction is to
+be found in the <i>impersonal</i> quality of sub-conscious mind of which I
+have spoken. Not impersonal as lacking the <i>elements</i> of personality;
+nor even, in the case of individual subjective mind, as lacking the sense
+of individuality; but impersonal in the sense of not recognizing the
+particular external relations which appear to the objective mind to
+constitute its personality, and having a realization of itself quite
+independent of them. If, then, we would come in touch with it we must meet
+it on its own ground. It can see things only from the deductive standpoint,
+and therefore cannot take note of the inductive standpoint from which we
+construct the idea of our external personality; and accordingly if we would
+put ourselves in touch with it, we cannot do so by bringing it down to the
+level of the external and non-essential but only by rising to its own level
+on the plane of the interior and essential. How can this be done? Let two
+well-known writers answer. Rudyard Kipling tells us in his story of "Kim"
+how the boy used at times to lose his sense of personality by repeating to
+himself the question, <i>Who</i> is Kim? Gradually his personality would
+seem to fade and he would experience a feeling of passing into a grander
+and a wider life, in which the boy Kim was unknown, while his own conscious
+individuality remained, only exalted and expanded to an inconceivable
+extent; and in Tennyson's life by his son we are told that at times the
+poet had a similar experience. We come into touch with the absolute exactly
+in proportion as we withdraw ourselves from the relative: they vary
+inversely to each other.</p>
+
+<p>For the purpose, then, of getting into touch with our sub-conscious mind
+we must endeavour to think of ourselves as pure being, as that entity which
+interiorly supports the outward manifestation, and doing so we shall
+realize that the essential quality of pure being must be good. It is in
+itself <i>pure Life</i>, and as such cannot desire anything detrimental to
+pure Life under whatever form manifested. Consequently the purer our
+intentions the more readily we shall place ourself <i>en rapport</i> with
+our subjective entity; and <i>a fortiori</i> the same applies to that
+Greater Sub-conscious Mind of which our individual subjective mind is a
+particular manifestation. In actual practice the process consists in first
+forming a clear conception in the objective mind of the idea we wish to
+convey to the subjective mind: then, when this has been firmly grasped,
+endeavour to lose sight of all other facts connected with the external
+personality except the one in question, and then mentally address the
+subjective mind as though it were an independent entity and impress upon it
+what you want it to do or to believe. Everyone must formulate his own way
+of working, but one method, which is both simple and effective is to say to
+the subjective mind, "This is what I want you to do; you will now step into
+my place and do it, bringing all your powers and intelligence to bear, and
+considering yourself to be none other than myself." Having done this return
+to the realization of your own objective personality and leave the
+subjective mind to perform its task in full confidence that, by the law of
+its nature, it will do so if not hindered by a repetition of contrary
+messages from the objective mind. This is not a mere fancy but a truth
+daily proved by the experience of increasing numbers. The facts have not
+been fabricated to fit the theory, but the theory has been built up by
+careful observation of the facts; and since it has been shown both by
+theory and practice that such is the law of the relation between subjective
+and objective mind, we find ourselves face to face with a very momentous
+question. Is there any reason why the laws which hold good of the
+individual subjective mind should not hold good of the Universal Mind also?
+and the answer is that there is not. As has been already shown the
+Universal Mind must, by its very universality, be purely subjective, and
+what is the law of a part must also be the law of the whole: the qualities
+of fire are the same whether the centres of combustion be great or small,
+and therefore we may well conclude these lectures by considering what will
+be the result if we apply what we have learnt regarding the individual
+subjective mind to the Universal Mind.</p>
+
+<p>We have learnt that the three great facts regarding subjective mind are
+its creative power, its amenableness to suggestion, and its inability to
+work by any other than the deductive method. This last is an exceedingly
+important point, for it implies that the action of the subjective mind is
+in no way limited by precedent. The inductive method works on principles
+inferred from an already existing pattern, and therefore at the best only
+produces the old thing in a new shape. But the deductive method works
+according to the essence or spirit of the principle, and does not depend on
+any previous concrete manifestation for its apprehension of it; and this
+latter method of working must necessarily be that of the all-originating
+Mind, for since there could be no prior existing pattern from which it
+could learn the principles of construction, the want of a pattern would
+have prevented its creating anything had its method been inductive instead
+of deductive. Thus by the necessity of the case the Universal Mind must act
+deductively, that is, according to the law which has been found true of
+individual subjective mind. It is thus not bound by any precedent, which
+means that its creative power is absolutely unlimited; and since it is
+essentially subjective mind, and not objective mind, it is entirely
+amenable to suggestion. Now it is an unavoidable inference from the
+identity of the law governing subjective mind, whether in the individual or
+the universal, that just as we can by suggestion impress a certain
+character of personality upon the individual subjective mind, so we can,
+and do, upon the Universal Mind; and it is for this reason that I have
+drawn attention to the inherent personal <i>quality</i> of pure spirit when
+contemplated in its most interior plane. It becomes, therefore, the most
+important of all considerations with what character we invest the Universal
+Mind; for since our relation to it is <i>purely subjective</i> it will
+infallibly bear <i>to us</i> exactly that character which we impress upon
+it; in other words it will be to us exactly what we believe it to be. This
+is simply a logical inference from the fact that, as subjective mind, our
+primary relation to it can only be on the subjective plane, and indirectly
+our objective relations must also spring from the same source. This is the
+meaning of that remarkable passage twice repeated in the Bible, "With, the
+pure thou wilt show thyself pure, and with the froward thou wilt show
+thyself froward." (Ps. xviii., 26, and II. Sam. xxii., 27), for the context
+makes it clear that these words are addressed to the Divine Being. The
+spiritual kingdom is <i>within</i> us, and as we realize it <i>there</i> so
+it becomes to us a reality. It is the unvarying law of the subjective life
+that "as a man thinketh in his heart so is he," that is to say, his inward
+subjective states are the only true reality, and what we call external
+realities are only their objective correspondences. If we thoroughly
+realize the truth that the Universal Mind must be to us exactly according
+to our conception of it, and that this relation is not merely imaginary but
+by the law of subjective mind must be to us an actual fact and the
+foundation of all other facts, then it is impossible to over-estimate the
+importance of the conception of the Universal Mind which we adopt. To the
+uninstructed there is little or no choice: they form a conception in
+accordance with the tradition they have received from others, and until
+they have learnt to think for themselves, they have to abide by the results
+of that tradition: for natural laws admit of no exceptions, and however
+faulty the traditional idea may be, its acceptance will involve a
+corresponding reaction upon the Universal Mind, which will in turn be
+reflected into the conscious mind and external life of the individual. But
+those who understand the law of the subject will have no one but themselves
+to blame if they do not derive all possible benefits from it. The greatest
+Teacher of Mental Science the world has ever seen has laid down
+sufficiently plain rules for our guidance. With a knowledge of the subject
+whose depth can be appreciated only by those who have themselves some
+practical acquaintance with it, He bids His unlearned audiences, those
+common people who heard Him gladly, picture to themselves the Universal
+Mind as a benign Father, tenderly compassionate of all and sending the
+common bounties of Nature alike on the evil and the good; but He also
+pictured It as exercising a special and peculiar care over those who
+recognize Its willingness to do so:--"the very hairs of your head are all
+numbered," and "ye are of more value than many sparrows." Prayer was to be
+made to the unseen Being, not with doubt or fear, but with the absolute
+assurance of a certain answer, and no limit was to be set to its power or
+willingness to work for us. But to those who did not thus realize it, the
+Great Mind is necessarily the adversary who casts them into prison until
+they have paid the uttermost farthing; and thus in all cases the Master
+impressed upon his hearers the exact correspondence of the attitude of this
+unseen Power towards <i>them</i> with their own attitude towards <i>it</i>.
+Such teaching was not a narrow anthropomorphism but the adaptation to the
+intellectual capacity of the unlettered multitude of the very deepest
+truths of what we now call Mental Science. And the basis of it all is the
+cryptic personality of spirit hidden throughout the infinite of Nature
+under every form of manifestation. As unalloyed Life and Intelligence it
+<i>can</i> be no other than good, it can entertain no intention of evil,
+and thus all intentional evil must put us in opposition to it, and so
+deprive us of the consciousness of its guidance and strengthening and thus
+leave us to grope our own way and fight our own battle single-handed
+against the universe, odds which at last will surely prove too great for
+us. But remember that the opposition can never be on the part of the
+Universal Mind, for in itself it is sub-conscious mind; and to suppose any
+active opposition taken on its own initiative would be contrary to all we
+have learnt as to the nature of sub-conscious mind whether in the
+individual or the universal; the position of the Universal Mind towards us
+is always the reflection of our own attitude. Therefore although the Bible
+is full of threatening against those who persist in conscious opposition to
+the Divine Law of Good, it is on the other hand full of promises of
+immediate and full forgiveness to all who change, their attitude and desire
+to co-operate with the Law of Good so far as they know it. The laws of
+Nature do not act vindictively; and through all theological formularies and
+traditional interpretations let us realize that what we are dealing with is
+the supreme law of our own being; and it is on the basis of this natural
+law that we find such declarations as that in Ezek. xviii., 22, which tells
+that if we forsake our evil ways our past transgressions shall never again
+be mentioned to us. We are dealing with the great principles of our
+subjective being, and our misuse of them in the past can never make them
+change their inherent law of action. If our method of using them in the
+past has brought us sorrow, fear and trouble, we have only to fall back on
+the law that if we reverse the cause the effects will be reversed also; and
+so what we have to do is simply to reverse our mental attitude and then
+endeavour to act up to the new one. The sincere endeavour to act up to our
+new mental attitude is essential, for we cannot really think in one way and
+act in another; but our repeated failures to fully act as we would wish
+must not discourage us. It is the sincere intention that is the essential
+thing, and this will in time release us from the bondage of habits which at
+present seem almost insuperable.</p>
+
+<p>The initial step, then, consists in determining to picture the Universal
+Mind as the ideal of all we could wish it to be both to ourselves and to
+others, together with the endeavour to reproduce this ideal, however
+imperfectly, in our own life; and this step having been taken, we can then
+cheerfully look upon it as our ever-present Friend, providing all good,
+guarding from all danger, and guiding us with all counsel. Gradually as the
+habit of thus regarding the Universal Mind grows upon us, we shall find
+that in accordance with the laws we have been considering, it will become
+more and more <i>personal</i> to us, and in response to our desire its
+inherent intelligence will make itself more and more clearly perceptible
+within as a power of perceiving truth far beyond any statement of it that
+we could formulate by merely intellectual investigation. Similarly if we
+think of it as a great power devoted to supplying all our needs, we shall
+impress this character also upon it, and by the law of subjective mind it
+will proceed to enact the part of that special providence which we have
+credited it with being; and if, beyond the general care of our concerns, we
+would draw to ourselves some particular benefit, the same rule holds good
+of impressing our desire upon the Universal Subjective Mind. And if we
+realize that above and beyond all this we want something still greater and
+more enduring, the building-up of character and unfolding of our powers so
+that we may expand into fuller and yet fuller measures of joyous and
+joy-giving Life, still the same rule holds good: convey to the Universal
+Mind the suggestion of the desire, and by the law of relation between
+subjective and objective mind this too will be fulfilled. And thus the
+deepest problems of philosophy bring us back to the old statement of the
+Law:--Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall
+be opened unto you. This is the summing-up of the natural law of the
+relation between us and the Divine Mind. It is thus no vain boast that
+Mental Science can enable us to make our lives what we will. We must start
+from where we are now, and by rightly estimating our relation to the Divine
+Universal Mind we can gradually grow into any conditions we desire,
+provided we first make ourselves in habitual mental attitude the person who
+corresponds to those conditions: for we can never get over the law of
+correspondence, and the externalization will always be in accord with the
+internal principle that gives rise to it. And to this law there is no
+limit. What it can do for us to-day it can do to-morrow, and through all
+that procession of to-morrows that loses itself in the dim vistas of
+eternity. Belief in limitation is the one and only thing that causes
+limitation, because we thus impress limitation upon the creative principle;
+and in proportion as we lay that belief aside our boundaries will expand,
+and increasing life and more abundant blessing will be ours.</p>
+
+<p>But we must not ignore our responsibilities. Trained thought is far more
+powerful than untrained, and therefore the more deeply we penetrate into
+Mental Science the more carefully we must guard against all thoughts and
+words expressive of even the most modified form of ill-will. Gossip,
+tale-bearing, sneering laughter, are not in accord with the principles of
+Mental Science; and similarly even our smallest thoughts of good carry with
+them a seed of good which will assuredly bear fruit in due time. This is
+not mere "goodie, goodie," but an important lesson in Mental Science, for
+our subjective mind takes its colour from our settled mental habits, and an
+occasional affirmation or denial will not be sufficient to change it; and
+we must therefore cultivate that tone which we wish to see reproduced in
+our conditions whether of body, mind, or circumstance.</p>
+
+<p>In these lectures my purpose has been, not so much to give specific
+rules of practice as to lay down the broad general principles of Mental
+Science which will enable the student to form rules for himself. In every
+walk in life, book knowledge is only a means to an end. Books can only
+direct us where to look and what to look for, but we must do the finding
+<i>for ourselves;</i> therefore, if you have really grasped the principles
+of the science, you will frame rules of your own which will give you better
+results than any attempt to follow somebody else's method, which was
+successful in their hands precisely because it was theirs. Never fear to be
+yourself. If Mental Science does not teach you to be yourself it teaches
+you nothing. Yourself, more yourself, and yet more yourself is what you
+want; only with the knowledge that the true self includes the inner and
+higher self which is always in immediate touch with the Great Divine
+Mind.</p>
+
+<p>As Walt Whitman says:--"You are not all included between your hat and
+your boots."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><i>The growing popularity of the Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science
+has led me to add to the present edition three more sections on Body, Soul,
+and Spirit, which it is hoped will prove useful by rendering the principles
+of the interaction of these three factors somewhat clearer</i>.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap14">XIV.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>THE BODY.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Some students find it difficult to realize that mental action can
+produce any real effect upon material substance; but if this is not
+possible there is no such thing as Mental Science, the purpose of which is
+to produce improved conditions both of body and environment, so that the
+ultimate manifestation aimed at is always one of demonstration upon the
+plane of the visible and concrete. Therefore to afford conviction of an
+actual connection between the visible and the invisible, between the inner
+and the outer, is one of the most important points in the course of our
+studies.</p>
+
+<p>That such a connection must exist is proved by metaphysical argument in
+answer to the question, "How did anything ever come into existence at all?"
+And the whole creation, ourselves included, stands as evidence to this
+great truth. But to many minds merely abstract argument is not completely
+convincing, or at any rate it becomes more convincing if it is supported by
+something of a more concrete nature; and for such readers I would give a
+few hints as to the correspondence between the physical and the mental. The
+subject covers a very wide area, and the limited space at my disposal will
+only allow me to touch on a few suggestive points, still these may be
+sufficient to show that the abstract argument has some corresponding facts
+at the back of it.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most convincing proofs I have seen is that afforded by the
+"biometre," a little instrument invented by an eminent French scientist,
+the late Dr. Hippolyte Baraduc, which shows the action of what he calls the
+"vital current." His theory is that this force, whatever its actual nature
+may be, is universally present, and operates as a current of physical
+vitality perpetually, flowing with more or less energy through every
+physical organism, and which can, at any rate to some extent, be controlled
+by the power of the human will. The theory in all its minutiae is
+exceedingly elaborate, and has been described in detail in Dr. Baraduc's
+published works. In a conversation I had with him about a year ago, he told
+me he was writing another book which would throw further light on the
+subject, but a few months later he passed over before it was presented to
+the world. The fact, however, which I wish to put before the reader, is the
+ocular demonstration of the connection between mind and matter, which an
+experiment with the biometre affords.</p>
+
+<p>The instrument consists of a bell glass, from the inside of which is
+suspended a copper needle by a fine silken thread. The glass stands on a
+wooden support, below which is a coil of copper wire, which, however, is
+not connected with any battery or other apparatus, and merely serves to
+condense the current. Below the needle, inside the glass, there is a
+circular card divided into degrees to mark the action of the needle. Two of
+these instruments are placed side by side, but in no way connected, and the
+experimenter then holds out the fingers of both hands to within about an
+inch of the glasses. According to the theory, the current enters at the
+left hand, circulates through the body, and passes out at the right hand,
+that is to say, there is an indrawing at the left and a giving-out at the
+right, thus agreeing with Reichenbach's experiments on the polarity of the
+human body.</p>
+
+<p>I must confess that, although I had read Dr. Baraduc's book, "Les
+Vibrations Humaines," I approached the instrument in a very sceptical frame
+of mind; but I was soon convinced of my error. At first, holding a mental
+attitude of entire relaxation, I found that the left-hand needle was
+attracted through twenty degrees, while the right-hand needle, the one
+affected by the out-going current, was repelled through ten degrees. After
+allowing the instrument to return to its normal equilibrium I again
+approached it with the purpose of seeing whether a change of mental
+attitude would in the least modify the flow of current. This time I assumed
+the strongest mental attitude I could with the intention of sending out a
+flow through the right hand, and the result as compared with the previous
+one was remarkable. The left-hand needle was now attracted only through ten
+degrees, while the right-hand one was deflected through something over
+thirty, thus clearly indicating the influence of the mental faculties in
+modifying the action of the current. I may mention that the experiment was
+made in the presence of two medical men who noted the movement of the
+needles.</p>
+
+<p>I will not here stop to discuss the question of what the actual
+constitution of this current of vital energy may be--it is sufficient for
+our present purpose that it is there, and the experiment I have described
+brings us face to face with the fact of a correspondence between our own
+mental attitude and the invisible forces of nature. Even if we say that
+this current is some form of electricity, and that the variation of its
+action is determined by changes in the polarization of the atoms of the
+body, then this change of polarity is the result of mental action; so that
+the quickening or retarding of the cosmic current is equally the result of
+the mental attitude whether we suppose our mental force to act directly
+upon the current itself or indirectly by inducing changes in the molecular
+structure of the body. Whichever hypothesis we adopt the conclusion is the
+same, namely, that the mind has power to open or close the door to
+invisible forces in such a way that the result of the mental action becomes
+apparent on the material plane.</p>
+
+<p>Now, investigation shows that the physical body, is a mechanism
+specially adapted for the transmutation of the inner or mental power into
+modes of external activity. We know from medical science that the whole
+body is traversed by a network of nerves which serve as the channels of
+communication between the indwelling spiritual ego, which we call mind, and
+the functions of the external organism. This nervous system is dual. One
+system, known as the Sympathetic, is the channel for all those activities
+which are not consciously directed by our volition, such as the operation
+of the digestive organs, the repair of the daily wear and tear of the
+tissues, and the like. The other system, known as the Voluntary or
+Cerebro-spinal system, is the channel through which we receive conscious
+perception from the physical senses and exercise control over the movements
+of the body. This system has its centre in the brain, while the other has
+its centre in a ganglionic mass at the back of the stomach known as the
+solar plexus, and sometimes spoken of as the abdominal brain. The
+cerebro-spinal system is the channel of our volitional or conscious mental
+action, and the sympathetic system is the channel of that mental action
+which unconsciously supports the vital functions of the body. Thus the
+cerebro-spinal system is the organ of conscious mind and the sympathetic is
+that of sub-conscious mind.</p>
+
+<p>But the interaction of conscious and subconscious mind requires a
+similar interaction between the corresponding systems of nerves, and one
+conspicuous connection by which this is provided is the "vagus" nerve. This
+nerve passes out of the cerebral region as a portion of the voluntary
+system, and through it we control the vocal organs; then it passes onwards
+to the thorax sending out branches to the heart and lungs; and finally,
+passing through the diaphragm, it loses the outer coating which
+distinguishes the nerves of the voluntary system and becomes identified
+with those of the sympathetic system, so forming a connecting link between
+the two and making the man physically a single entity.</p>
+
+<p>Similarly different areas of the brain indicate, their connection with
+the objective and subjective activities of the mind respectively, and
+speaking in a general way we may assign the frontal portion of the brain to
+the former and the posterior portion to the latter, while the intermediate
+portion partakes of the character of both.</p>
+
+<p>The intuitional faculty has its correspondence in this upper area of the
+brain situated between the frontal and posterior portions, and
+physiologically speaking, it is here that intuitive ideas find entrance.
+These at first are more or less unformed and generalized in character, but
+are nevertheless perceived by the conscious mind, otherwise we should not
+be aware of them at all. Then the effort of nature is to bring these ideas
+into more definite and usable shape, so the conscious mind lays hold of
+them and induces a corresponding vibratory current in the voluntary system
+of nerves, and this in turn induces a similar current in the involuntary
+system, thus handing the idea over to the subjective mind. The vibratory
+current which had first descended from the apex of the brain to the frontal
+brain and thus through the voluntary system to the solar plexus is now
+reversed and ascends from the solar plexus through the sympathetic system
+to the posterior brain, this return current indicating the action of the
+subjective mind.</p>
+
+<p>If we were to remove the surface portion of the apex of the brain we
+should find immediately below it the shining belt of brain substance called
+the "corpus callosum." This is the point of union between the subjective
+and objective, and as the current returns from the solar plexus to this
+point it is restored to the objective portion of the brain in a fresh form
+which it has acquired by the silent alchemy of the subjective mind. Thus
+the conception which was at first only vaguely recognized is restored to
+the objective mind in a definite and workable form, and then the objective
+mind, acting through the frontal brain--the area of comparison and
+analysis--proceeds to work upon a clearly perceived idea and to bring out
+the potentialities that are latent in it.</p>
+
+<p>It must of course be borne in mind that I am here speaking of the mental
+ego in that, mode of its existence with which we are most familiar, that is
+as clothed in flesh, though there may be much to say as to other modes of
+its activity. But for our daily life we have to consider ourselves as we
+are in that aspect of life, and from this point of view the physiological
+correspondence of the body to the action of the mind is an important item;
+and therefore, although we must always remember that the origin of ideas is
+purely mental, we must not forget that on the physical plane every mental
+action implies a corresponding molecular action in the brain and in the
+two-fold nervous system.</p>
+
+<p>If, as the old Elizabethan poet says, "the soul is form, and doth the
+body make," then it is clear that the physical organism must be a
+mechanical arrangement as specially adapted for the use of the soul's
+powers as a steam-engine is for the power of steam; and it is the
+recognition of this reciprocity between the two that is the basis of all
+spiritual or mental healing, and therefore the study of this mechanical
+adaptation is an important branch of Mental Science. Only we must not
+forget that it is the effect and not the cause.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time it is important to remember that such a thing as
+reversal of the relation between cause and effect is possible, just as the
+same apparatus may be made to generate mechanical power by the application
+of electricity, or to generate electricity by the application of mechanical
+power. And the importance of this principle consists in this. There is
+always a tendency for actions which were at first voluntary to become
+automatic, that is, to pass from the region of conscious mind into that of
+subconscious mind, and to acquire a permanent domicile there. Professor
+Elmer Gates, of Washington, has demonstrated this physiologically in his
+studies of brain formation. He tells us that every thought produces a
+slight molecular change in the substance of the brain, and the repetition
+of the same sort of thought causes a repetition of the same molecular
+action until at last a veritable channel is formed in the brain substance,
+which can only be eradicated by a reverse process of thought. In this way
+"grooves of thought" are very literal things, and when once established the
+vibrations of the cosmic currents flow automatically through them and thus
+react upon the mind by a process the reverse of that by which our voluntary
+and intentional in-drawing from the invisible is affected. In this way are
+formed what we call "habits," and hence the importance of controlling our
+thinking and guarding it against undesirable ideas.</p>
+
+<p>But on the other hand this reactionary process may be used to confirm
+good and life-giving modes of thought, so that by a knowledge of its laws
+we may enlist even the physical body itself in the building up of that
+perfectly whole personality, the attainment of which is the aim and object
+of our studies.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap15">XV.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>THE SOUL.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Having now obtained a glimpse of the adaptation of the physical organism
+to the action of the mind we must next realize that the mind itself is an
+organism which is in like manner adapted to the action of a still higher
+power, only here the adaptation is one of mental faculty. As with other
+invisible forces all we can know of the mind is by observing what it does,
+but with this difference, that since we ourselves <i>are</i> this mind, our
+observation is an interior observation of states of consciousness. In this
+way we recognize certain faculties of our mind, the working order of which
+I have considered at page 84; but the point to which I would now draw
+attention is that these faculties always work under the influence of
+something which stimulates them, and this stimulus may come either from
+without through the external senses, or from within by the consciousness of
+something not perceptible on the physical plane. Now the recognition of
+these interior sources of stimulus to our mental faculties, is an important
+branch of Mental Science, because the mental action thus set up works just
+as accurately through the physical correspondences as those which start
+from the recognition of external facts, and therefore the control and right
+direction of these inner perceptions is a matter of the first moment.</p>
+
+<p>The faculties most immediately concerned are the intuition and the
+imagination, but it is at first difficult to see how the intuition, which
+is entirely spontaneous, can be brought under the control of the will. Of
+course, the spontaneousness of the intuition cannot in any way be
+interfered with, for if it ceased to act spontaneously it would cease to be
+the intuition. Its province is, as it were, to capture ideas from the
+infinite and present them to the mind to be dealt with at its discretion.
+In our mental constitution the intuition is the point of origination and,
+therefore, for it to cease to act spontaneously would be for it to cease to
+act at all. But the experience of a long succession of observers shows that
+the intuition can be trained so as to acquire increased sensitiveness in
+some, particular direction, and the choice of the <i>general direction</i>
+is determined by the will of the individual.</p>
+
+<p>It will be found that the intuition works most readily in respect to
+those subjects which most habitually occupy our thought; and according to
+the physiological correspondences which we have been considering this might
+be accounted for on the physical plane by the formation of brain-channels
+specially adapted for the induction in the molecular system of vibrations
+corresponding to the particular class of ideas in question. But of course
+we must remember that the ideas themselves are not caused by the molecular
+changes but on the contrary are the cause of them; and it is in this
+translation of thought action into physical action that we are brought face
+to face with the eternal mystery of the descent of spirit into matter; and
+that though we may trace matter through successive degrees of refinement
+till it becomes what, in comparison with those denser modes that are most
+familiar, we might call a spiritual substance, yet at the end of it it is
+not the intelligent thinking principle itself. The criterion is in the word
+"vibrations." However delicately etheric the substance its movement
+commences by the vibration of its particles, and a vibration is a wave
+having a certain length, amplitude, and periodicity, that is to say,
+something which can exist only in terms of space and time; and as soon as
+we are dealing with anything capable of the conception of measurement we
+may be quite certain that we are not dealing with Spirit but only with one
+of its vehicles. Therefore although we may push our analysis of matter
+further and ever further back--and on this line there is a great deal of
+knowledge to be gained--we shall find that the point at which spiritual
+power or thought-force is translated into etheric or atomic vibration will
+always elude us. Therefore we must not attribute the origination of ideas
+to molecular displacement in the brain, though, by the reaction of the
+physical upon the mental which I have spoken of above, the formation of
+thought-channels in the grey matter of the brain may tend to facilitate the
+reception of certain ideas. Some people are actually conscious of the
+action of the upper portion of the brain during the influx of an intuition,
+the sensation being that of a sort of expansion in that brain area, which
+might be compared to the opening of a valve or door; but all attempts to
+induce the inflow of intuitive ideas by the physiological expedient of
+trying to open this valve by the exercise of the will should be discouraged
+as likely to prove injurious to the brain. I believe some Oriental systems
+advocate this method, but we may well trust the mind to regulate the action
+of its physical channels in a manner suitable to its own requirements,
+instead of trying to manipulate the mind by the unnatural forcing of its
+mechanical instrument. In all our studies on these lines we must remember
+that development is always by perfectly natural growth and is not brought
+about by unduly straining any portion of the system.</p>
+
+<p>The fact, however, remains that the intuition works most freely in that
+direction in which we most habitually concentrate our thought; and in
+practice it will be found that the best way to cultivate the intuition in
+any particular direction is to meditate upon the <i>abstract principles</i>
+of that particular class of subjects rather than only to consider
+particular cases. Perhaps the reason is that particular cases have to do
+with specific phenomena, that is with the law working under certain
+limiting conditions, whereas the <i>principles</i> of the law are not
+limited by local conditions, and so habitual meditation on <i>them</i> sets
+our intuition free to range in an infinitude where the conception of
+antecedent conditions does not limit it. Anyway, whatever may be the
+theoretical explanation, you will find that the clear grasp of abstract
+principles in any direction has a wonderfully quickening effect upon the
+intuition in that particular direction.</p>
+
+<p>The importance of recognizing our power of thus giving direction to the
+intuition cannot be exaggerated, for if the mind is attuned to sympathy
+with the highest phases of spirit this power opens the door to limitless
+possibilities of knowledge. In its highest workings intuition becomes
+inspiration, and certain great records of fundamental truths and supreme
+mysteries which have come down to us from thousands of generations
+bequeathed by deep thinkers of old can only be accounted for on the
+supposition that their earnest thought on the Originating Spirit, coupled
+with a reverent worship of It, opened the door, through their intuitive
+faculty, to the most sublime inspirations regarding the supreme truths of
+the universe both with respect to the evolution of the cosmos and to the
+evolution of the individual. Among such records explanatory of the supreme
+mysteries three stand out pre-eminent, all bearing witness to the same ONE
+Truth, and each throwing light upon the other; and these three are the
+Bible, the Great Pyramid, and the Pack of Cards--a curious combination some
+will think, but I hope in another volume of this series to be able to
+justify my present statement. I allude to these three records here because
+the unity of principle which they exhibit, notwithstanding their wide
+divergence of method, affords a standing proof that the direction taken by
+the intuition is largely determined by the will of the individual opening
+the mind in that particular direction.</p>
+
+<p>Very closely allied to the intuition is the faculty of imagination. This
+does not mean mere fancies, which we dismiss without further consideration,
+but our power of forming mental images upon which we dwell. These, as I
+have said in the earlier part of this book, form a nucleus which, on its
+own plane, calls into action the universal Law of Attraction, thus giving
+rise to the principle of Growth. The relation of the intuition to the
+imagination is that the intuition grasps an idea from the Great Universal
+Mind, in which all things subsist as <i>potentials</i>, and presents it to
+the imagination in its essence rather than in a definite form, and then our
+image-building faculty gives it a clear and definite form which it presents
+before the mental vision, and which we then vivify by letting our thought
+dwell upon it, thus infusing our own personality into it, and so providing
+that personal element through which the specific action of the universal
+law relatively to the particular individual always takes place.<sup><a
+href="#fn1" name="rfn1">[1]</a></sup> Whether our thought shall be allowed
+thus to dwell upon a particular mental image depends on our own will, and
+our exercise of our will depends on our belief in our power to use it so as
+to disperse or consolidate a given mental image; and finally our belief in
+our power to do this depends on our recognition of our relation to God, Who
+is the source of all power; for it is an invariable truth that our life
+will take its whole form, tone, and color from our conception of God,
+whether that conception be positive or negative, and the sequence by which
+it does so is that now given.</p>
+
+<p>In this way, then, our intuition is related to our imagination, and this
+relation has its physiological correspondence in the circulus of molecular
+vibrations I have described above, which, having its commencement in the
+higher or "ideal" portion of the brain flows through the voluntary nervous
+system, the physical channel of objective mind, returning through the
+sympathetic system, the physical channel of subjective mind, thus
+completing the circuit and being then restored to the frontal brain, where
+it is consciously modelled into clear-cut forms suited to a specific
+purpose.</p>
+
+<p>In all this the power of the will as regulating the action both of the
+intuition and the imagination must never be lost sight of, for without such
+a central controlling power we should lose all sense of individuality; and
+hence the ultimate aim of the evolutionary process is to evolve individual
+wills actuated by such beneficence and enlightenment as shall make them
+fitting vehicles for the outflowing of the Supreme Spirit, which has
+hitherto created cosmically, and can now carry on the creative process to
+its highest stages only through conscious union with the individual; for
+this is the only possible solution of the great problem, How can the
+Universal Mind act in all its fulness upon the plane of the individual and
+particular?</p>
+
+<p>This is the ultimate of evolution, and the successful evolution of the
+individual depends on his recognizing this ultimate and working towards it;
+and therefore this should be the great end of our studies. There is a
+correspondence in the constitution of the body to the faculties of the
+soul, and there is a similar correspondence in the faculties of the soul to
+the power of the All-originating Spirit; and as in all other adaptations of
+specific vehicles so also here, we can never correctly understand the
+nature of the vehicle and use it rightly until we realize the nature of the
+power for the working of which it is specially adapted. Let us, then, in
+conclusion briefly consider the nature of that power.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap16">XVI.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>THE SPIRIT.</h2>
+
+
+<p>What must the Supreme All-originating Spirit be in itself? That is the
+question before us. Let us start with one fact regarding it about which we
+cannot have any possible doubt--it is <i>creative</i>. If it were not
+creative nothing could come into existence; therefore we know that its
+purpose, or Law of Tendency, must be to bring individual lives into
+existence and to surround them with a suitable environment. Now a power
+which has this for its inherent nature must be a kindly power. The Spirit
+of Life seeking expression in individual lives can have no other intention
+towards them than "that they might have life, and that they might have it
+more abundantly." To suppose the opposite would be a contradiction in
+terms. It would be to suppose the Eternal Principle of Life acting against
+itself, expressing itself as the reverse of what it is, in which case it
+would not be expressing itself but expressing its opposite; so that it is
+impossible to conceive of the Spirit of Life acting otherwise than to the
+increase of life. This is as yet only imperfectly apparent by reason of our
+imperfect apprehension of the position, and our consequent want of
+conscious unity with the ONE Eternal Life. As our consciousness of unity
+becomes more perfect so will the life-givingness of the Spirit become more
+apparent. But in the realm of principles the purely Affirmative and
+Life-giving nature of the All-originating Spirit is an unavoidable
+conclusion. Now by what name can we call such an inherent desire to add to
+the fulness of any individual life--that is, to make it stronger, brighter,
+and happier? If this is not Love, then I do not know what else it is; and
+so we are philosophically led to the conclusion that Love is the prime
+moving power of the Creating Spirit.</p>
+
+<p>But expression is impossible without Form. What Form, then, should Love
+give to the vehicles of its expression? By the hypothesis of the case it
+could not find self-expression in forms that were hateful or repugnant to
+it--therefore the only logical correlative of Love is Beauty. Beauty is not
+yet universally manifested for the same reason that Life is not, namely,
+lack of recognition of its Principle; but, that the principle of Beauty is
+inherent in the Eternal Mind is demonstrated by all that is beautiful in
+the world in which we live.</p>
+
+<p>These considerations show us that the inherent nature of the Spirit must
+consist in the eternal interaction of Love and Beauty as the Active and
+Passive polarity of Being. Then this is the Power for the working of which
+our soul faculties are specially adapted. And when this purpose of the
+adaptation is recognized we begin to get some insight into the way in which
+our intuition, imagination, and will should be exercized. By training our
+thought to habitually dwell upon this dual-unity of the Originating Forces
+of Love and Beauty the intuition is rendered more and more sensitive to
+ideas emanating from this supreme source, and the imagining faculty is
+trained in the formation of images corresponding to such ideas; while on
+the physical side the molecular structure of the brain and body becomes
+more and more perfectly adjusted to the generating of vibratory currents
+tending to the outward manifestation of the Originating Principle. Thus the
+whole man is brought into unison with himself and with the Supreme Source
+of Life, so that, in the words of St. Paul, he is being day by day renewed
+after the image of Him that created him.</p>
+
+<p>Our more immediately personal recognition of the All-originating Love
+and Beauty will thus flow out as peace of mind, health of body, discretion
+in the management of our affairs, and power in the carrying out of our
+undertakings; and as we advance to a wider conception of the working of the
+Spirit of Love and Beauty in its infinite possibilities, so our intuition
+will find a wider scope and our field of activity will expand along with
+it--in a word we shall discover that our individuality is growing, and that
+we are becoming more truly ourselves than we ever were before.</p>
+
+<p>The question of the specific lines on which the individual may be most
+perfectly trained into such recognition of his true relation to the
+All-embracing Spirit of Life is therefore of supreme importance, but it is
+also of such magnitude that even to briefly sketch its broad outlines would
+require a volume to itself, and I will therefore not attempt to enter upon
+it here, my present purpose being only to offer some hints of the
+principles underlying that wonderful three-fold unity of Body, Soul, and
+Spirit which we all know ourselves to be.</p>
+
+<p>We are as yet only at the commencement of the path which leads to the
+realization of this unity in the full development of all its powers, but
+others have trodden the way before us, from whose experiences we may learn;
+and not least among these was the illustrious founder of the Most Christian
+Fraternity of the Rosicrucians. This master-mind, setting out in his youth
+with the intention of going to Jerusalem, changed the order of his journey
+and first sojourned for three years in the symbolical city of Damcar, in
+the mystical country of Arabia, then for about a year in the mystical
+country of Egypt, and then for two years in the mystical country of Fez.
+Then, having during these six years learned all that was to be acquired in
+those countries, he returned to his native land of Germany, where, on the
+basis of the knowledge he had thus gained, he founded the Fraternity R.C.,
+for whose instruction he wrote the mystical books M. and T. Then, when he
+realized that his work in its present stage was accomplished, he of his own
+free will laid aside the physical body, not, it is recorded, by decay, or
+disease, or ordinary death, but by the express direction of the Spirit of
+Life, summing up all his knowledge in the words,</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+"Jesus mihi omnia."<br />
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>And now his followers await the coming of "the Artist Elias," who shall
+bring the Magnum Opus to its completion.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+"Let him that readeth understand."<br />
+</blockquote>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1>FOOTNOTES</h1>
+
+
+
+<p><a href="#rfn1" name="fn1">1.</a>   See my "Dor&eacute; Lectures."</p>
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10390 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #10390 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10390)
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science, by
+Thomas Troward
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science
+
+Author: Thomas Troward
+
+Release Date: December 5, 2003  [eBook #10390]
+
+Language: English
+
+Chatacter set encoding: iso-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EDINBURGH LECTURES ON MENTAL
+SCIENCE***
+
+
+E-text prepared by John Hagerson, Kevin Handy, and Project Gutenberg
+Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+THE EDINBURGH LECTURES ON MENTAL SCIENCE
+
+BY THOMAS TROWARD LATE DIVISIONAL JUDGE, PUNJAB
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE WRITER AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATES THIS LITTLE VOLUME TO HIS WIFE
+
+
+
+FOREWORD.
+
+
+This book contains the substance of a course of lectures recently given by
+the writer in the Queen Street Hall, Edinburgh. Its purpose is to indicate
+the _Natural Principles_ governing the relation between Mental Action and
+Material Conditions, and thus to afford the student an intelligible
+starting-point for the practical study of the subject.
+
+T.T.
+
+March, 1904.
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+   I.--SPIRIT AND MATTER.
+  II.--THE HIGHER MODE OF INTELLIGENCE CONTROLS THE LOWER
+ III.--THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT
+  IV.--SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE MIND
+   V.--FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE MIND
+  VI.--THE LAW OF GROWTH
+ VII.--RECEPTIVITY.
+VIII.--RECIPROCAL ACTION OF THE UNIVERSAL AND INDIVIDUAL MINDS
+  IX.--CAUSES AND CONDITIONS
+   X.--INTUITION
+  XI.--HEALING
+ XII.--THE WILL
+XIII.--IN TOUCH WITH SUBCONSCIOUS MIND
+ XIV.--THE BODY
+  XV.--THE SOUL
+ XVI.--THE SPIRIT
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+SPIRIT AND MATTER.
+
+
+In commencing a course of lectures on Mental Science, it is somewhat
+difficult for the lecturer to fix upon the best method of opening the
+subject. It can be approached from many sides, each with some peculiar
+advantage of its own; but, after careful deliberation, it appears to me
+that, for the purpose of the present course, no better starting-point could
+be selected than the relation between Spirit and Matter. I select this
+starting-point because the distinction--or what we believe to be such--
+between them is one with which we are so familiar that I can safely assume
+its recognition by everybody; and I may, therefore, at once state this
+distinction by using the adjectives which we habitually apply as expressing
+the natural opposition between the two--_living_ spirit and _dead_ matter.
+These terms express our current impression of the opposition between spirit
+and matter with sufficient accuracy, and considered only from the point of
+view of outward appearances this impression is no doubt correct. The
+general consensus of mankind is right in trusting the evidence of our
+senses, and any system which tells us that we are not to do so will never
+obtain a permanent footing in a sane and healthy community. There is
+nothing wrong in the evidence conveyed to a healthy mind by the senses of a
+healthy body, but the point where error creeps in is when we come to judge
+of the meaning of this testimony. We are accustomed to judge only by
+external appearances and by certain limited significances which we attach
+to words; but when we begin to enquire into the real meaning of our words
+and to analyse the causes which give rise to the appearances, we find our
+old notions gradually falling off from us, until at last we wake up to the
+fact that we are living in an entirely different world to that we formerly
+recognized. The old limited mode of thought has imperceptibly slipped away,
+and we discover that we have stepped out into a new order of things where
+all is liberty and life. This is the work of an enlightened intelligence
+resulting from persistent determination to discover what truth really is
+irrespective of any preconceived notions from whatever source derived, the
+determination to think honestly for ourselves instead of endeavouring to
+get our thinking done for us. Let us then commence by enquiring what we
+really mean by the livingness which we attribute to spirit and the deadness
+which we attribute to matter.
+
+At first we may be disposed to say that livingness consists in the power of
+motion and deadness in its absence; but a little enquiry into the most
+recent researches of science will soon show us that this distinction does
+not go deep enough. It is now one of the fully-established facts of
+physical science that no atom of what we call "dead matter" is without
+motion. On the table before me lies a solid lump of steel, but in the light
+of up-to-date science I know that the atoms of that seemingly inert mass
+are vibrating with the most intense energy, continually dashing hither and
+thither, impinging upon and rebounding from one another, or circling round
+like miniature solar systems, with a ceaseless rapidity whose complex
+activity is enough to bewilder the imagination. The mass, as a mass, may
+lie inert upon the table; but so far from being destitute of the element of
+motion it is the abode of the never-tiring energy moving the particles with
+a swiftness to which the speed of an express train is as nothing. It is,
+therefore, not the mere fact of motion that is at the root of the
+distinction which we draw instinctively between spirit and matter; we must
+go deeper than that. The solution of the problem will never be found by
+comparing Life with what we call deadness, and the reason for this will
+become apparent later on; but the true key is to be found by comparing one
+degree of livingness with another. There is, of course, one sense in which
+the quality of livingness does not admit of degrees; but there is another
+sense in which it is entirely a question of degree. We have no doubt as to
+the livingness of a plant, but we realize that it is something very
+different from the livingness of an animal. Again, what average boy would
+not prefer a fox-terrier to a goldfish for a pet? Or, again, why is it that
+the boy himself is an advance upon the dog? The plant, the fish, the dog,
+and the boy are all equally _alive_; but there is a difference in the
+quality of their livingness about which no one can have any doubt, and no
+one would hesitate to say that this difference is in the degree of
+intelligence. In whatever way we turn the subject we shall always find that
+what we call the "livingness" of any individual life is ultimately measured
+by its intelligence. It is the possession of greater intelligence that
+places the animal higher in the scale of being than the plant, the man
+higher than the animal, the intellectual man higher than the savage. The
+increased intelligence calls into activity modes of motion of a higher
+order corresponding to itself. The higher the intelligence, the more
+completely the mode of motion is under its control: and as we descend in
+the scale of intelligence, the descent is marked by a corresponding
+increase in _automatic_ motion not subject to the control of a
+self-conscious intelligence. This descent is gradual from the expanded
+self-recognition of the highest human personality to that lowest order of
+visible forms which we speak of as "things," and from which
+self-recognition is entirely absent.
+
+We see, then, that the livingness of Life consists in intelligence--in
+other words, in the power of Thought; and we may therefore say that the
+distinctive quality of spirit is Thought, and, as the opposite to this, we
+may say that the distinctive quality of matter is Form. We cannot conceive
+of matter without form. Some form there must be, even though invisible to
+the physical eye; for matter, to be matter at all, must occupy space, and
+to occupy any particular space necessarily implies a corresponding form.
+For these reasons we may lay it down as a fundamental proposition that the
+distinctive quality of spirit is Thought and the distinctive quality of
+matter is Form. This is a radical distinction from which important
+consequences follow, and should, therefore, be carefully noted by the
+student.
+
+Form implies extension in space and also limitation within certain
+boundaries. Thought implies neither. When, therefore, we think of Life as
+existing in any particular _form_ we associate it with the idea of
+extension in space, so that an elephant may be said to consist of a vastly
+larger amount of living substance than a mouse. But if we think of Life as
+the fact of livingness we do not associate it with any idea of extension,
+and we at once realize that the mouse is quite as much alive as the
+elephant, notwithstanding the difference in size. The important point of
+this distinction is that if we can conceive of anything as entirely devoid
+of the element of extension in space, it must be present in its entire
+totality anywhere and everywhere--that is to say, at every point of space
+simultaneously. The scientific definition of time is that it is the period
+occupied by a body in passing from one given point in space to another,
+and, therefore, according to this definition, when there is no space there
+can be no time; and hence that conception of spirit which realizes it as
+devoid of the element of space must realize it as being devoid of the
+element of time also; and we therefore find that the conception of spirit
+as pure Thought, and not as concrete Form, is the conception of it as
+subsisting perfectly independently of the elements of time and space. From
+this it follows that if the idea of anything is conceived as existing on
+this level it can only represent that thing as being actually present here
+and now. In this view of things nothing can be remote from us either in
+time or space: either the idea is entirely dissipated or it exists as an
+actual present entity, and not as something that _shall_ be in the future,
+for where there is no sequence in time there can be no future. Similarly
+where there is no space there can be no conception of anything as being at
+a distance from us. When the elements of time and space are eliminated all
+our ideas of things must necessarily be as subsisting in a universal here
+and an everlasting now. This is, no doubt, a highly abstract conception,
+but I would ask the student to endeavour to grasp it thoroughly, since it
+is of vital importance in the practical application of Mental Science, as
+will appear further on.
+
+The opposite conception is that of things expressing themselves through
+conditions of time and space and thus establishing a variety of _relations_
+to other things, as of bulk, distance, and direction, or of sequence in
+time. These two conceptions are respectively the conception of the abstract
+and the concrete, of the unconditioned and the conditioned, of the absolute
+and the relative. They are not opposed to each other in the sense of
+incompatibility, but are each the complement of the other, and the only
+reality is in the combination of the two. The error of the extreme idealist
+is in endeavouring to realize the absolute without the relative, and the
+error of the extreme materialist is in endeavouring to realize the relative
+without the absolute. On the one side the mistake is in trying to realize
+an inside without an outside, and on the other in trying to realize an
+outside without an inside; both are necessary to the formation of a
+substantial entity.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+THE HIGHER MODE OF INTELLIGENCE CONTROLS THE LOWER.
+
+
+We have seen that the descent from personality, as we know it in ourselves,
+to matter, as we know it under what we call inanimate forms, is a gradual
+descent in the scale of intelligence from that mode of being which is able
+to realize its own will-power as a capacity for originating new trains of
+causation to that mode of being which is incapable of recognizing itself at
+all. The higher the grade of life, the higher the intelligence; from which
+it follows that the supreme principle of Life must also be the ultimate
+principle of intelligence. This is clearly demonstrated by the grand
+natural order of the universe. In the light of modern science the principle
+of evolution is familiar to us all, and the accurate adjustment existing
+between all parts of the cosmic scheme is too self-evident to need
+insisting upon. Every advance in science consists in discovering new
+subtleties of connection in this magnificent universal order, which already
+exists and only needs our recognition to bring it into practical use. If,
+then, the highest work of the greatest minds consists in nothing else than
+the recognition of an already existing order, there is no getting away from
+the conclusion that a paramount intelligence must be inherent in the
+Life-Principle, which manifests itself _as_ this order; and thus we see
+that there must be a great cosmic intelligence underlying the totality of
+things.
+
+The physical history of our planet shows us first an incandescent nebula
+dispersed over vast infinitudes of space; later this condenses into a
+central sun surrounded by a family of glowing planets hardly yet
+consolidated from the plastic primordial matter; then succeed untold
+millenniums of slow geological formation; an earth peopled by the lowest
+forms of life, whether vegetable or animal; from which crude beginnings a
+majestic, unceasing, unhurried, forward movement brings things stage by
+stage to the condition in which we know them now. Looking at this steady
+progression it is clear that, however we may conceive the nature of the
+evolutionary principle, it unerringly provides for the continual advance of
+the race. But it does this by creating such numbers of each kind that,
+after allowing a wide margin for all possible accidents to individuals, the
+race shall still continue:--
+
+    "So careful of the type it seems
+    So careless of the single life."
+
+In short, we may say that the cosmic intelligence works by a Law of
+Averages which allows a wide margin of accident and failure to the
+individual.
+
+But the progress towards higher intelligence is always in the direction of
+narrowing down this margin of accident and taking the individual more and
+more out of the law of averages, and substituting the law of individual
+selection. In ordinary scientific language this is the survival of the
+fittest. The reproduction of fish is on a scale that would choke the sea
+with them if every individual survived; but the margin of destruction is
+correspondingly enormous, and thus the law of averages simply keeps up the
+normal proportion of the race. But at the other end of the scale,
+reproduction is by no means thus enormously in excess of survival. True,
+there is ample margin of accident and disease cutting off numbers of human
+beings before they have gone through the average duration of life, but
+still it is on a very different scale from the premature destruction of
+hundreds of thousands as against the survival of one. It may, therefore, be
+taken as an established fact that in proportion as intelligence advances
+the individual ceases to be subject to a mere law of averages and has a
+continually increasing power of controlling the conditions of his own
+survival.
+
+We see, therefore, that there is a marked distinction between the cosmic
+intelligence and the individual intelligence, and that the factor which
+differentiates the latter from the former is the presence of _individual_
+volition. Now the business of Mental Science is to ascertain the relation
+of this individual power of volition to the great cosmic law which provides
+for the maintenance and advancement of the race; and the point to be
+carefully noted is that the power of individual volition is itself the
+outcome of the cosmic evolutionary principle at the point where it reaches
+its highest level. The effort of Nature has always been upwards from the
+time when only the lowest forms of life peopled the globe, and it has now
+culminated in the production of a being with a mind capable of abstract
+reasoning and a brain fitted to be the physical instrument of such a mind.
+At this stage the all-creating Life-principle reproduces itself in a form
+capable of recognizing the working of the evolutionary law, and the unity
+and continuity of purpose running through the whole progression until now
+indicates, beyond a doubt, that the place of such a being in the universal
+scheme must be to introduce the operation of that factor which, up to this
+point, has been, conspicuous by its absence--the factor, namely, of
+intelligent individual volition. The evolution which has brought us up to
+this standpoint has worked by a cosmic law of averages; it has been a
+process in which the individual himself has not taken a conscious part. But
+because he is what he is, and leads the van of the evolutionary procession,
+if man is to evolve further, it can now only be by his own conscious
+co-operation with the law which has brought him up to the standpoint where
+he is able to realize that such a law exists. His evolution in the future
+must be by conscious participation in the great work, and this can only be
+effected by his own individual intelligence and effort. It is a process of
+intelligent growth. No one else can grow for us: we must each grow for
+ourselves; and this intelligent growth consists in our increasing
+recognition of the universal law, which has brought us as far as we have
+yet got, and of our own individual relation to that law, based upon the
+fact that we ourselves are the most advanced product of it. It is a great
+maxim that Nature obeys us precisely in proportion as we first obey Nature.
+Let the electrician try to go counter to the principle that electricity
+must always pass from a higher to a lower potential and he will effect
+nothing; but let him submit in all things to this one fundamental law, and
+he can make whatever particular applications of electrical power he will.
+
+These considerations show us that what differentiates the higher from the
+lower degree of intelligence is the recognition of its own self-hood, and
+the more intelligent that recognition is, the greater will be the power.
+The lower degree of self-recognition is that which only realizes itself as
+an entity separate from all other entities, as the _ego_ distinguished from
+the _non-ego_. But the higher degree of self-recognition is that which,
+realizing its own spiritual nature, sees in all other forms, not so much
+the _non-ego_, or that which is not itself, as the _alter-ego_, or that
+which is itself in a different mode of expression. Now, it is this higher
+degree of self-recognition that is the power by which the Mental Scientist
+produces his results. For this reason it is imperative that he should
+clearly understand the difference between Form and Being; that the one is
+the mode of the relative and, the mark of subjection to conditions, and
+that the other is the truth of the absolute and is that which controls
+conditions.
+
+Now this higher recognition of self as an individualization of pure spirit
+must of necessity control all modes of spirit which have not yet reached
+the same level of self-recognition. These lower modes of spirit are in
+bondage to the law of their own being because they do not know the law;
+and, therefore, the individual who has attained to this knowledge can
+control them through that law. But to understand this we must inquire a
+little further into the nature of spirit. I have already shown that the
+grand scale of adaptation and adjustment of all parts of the cosmic scheme
+to one another exhibits the presence _somewhere_ of a marvellous
+intelligence, underlying the whole, and the question is, where is this
+intelligence to be found? Ultimately we can only conceive of it as inherent
+in some primordial substance which is the root of all those grosser modes
+of matter which are known to us, whether visible to the physical eye, or
+necessarily inferred by science from their perceptible effects. It is that
+power which, in every species and in every individual, becomes that which
+that species or individual is; and thus we can only conceive of it as a
+self-forming intelligence inherent in the ultimate substance of which each
+thing is a particular manifestation. That this primordial substance must be
+considered as self-forming by an inherent intelligence abiding in itself
+becomes evident from the fact that intelligence is the essential quality of
+spirit; and if we were to conceive of the primordial substance as something
+apart from spirit, then we should have to postulate some other power which
+is neither spirit nor matter, and originates both; but this is only putting
+the idea of a self-evolving power a step further back and asserting the
+production of a lower grade of undifferentiated spirit by a higher, which
+is both a purely gratuitous assumption and a contradiction of any idea we
+can form of undifferentiated spirit at all. However far back, therefore, we
+may relegate the original starting-point, we cannot avoid the conclusion
+that, at that point, spirit contains the primary substance in itself, which
+brings us back to the common statement that it made everything out of
+nothing. We thus find two factors to the making of all things, Spirit
+and--Nothing; and the addition of Nothing to Spirit leaves _only_ spirit:
+x + 0 = x.
+
+From these considerations we see that the ultimate foundation of every form
+of matter is spirit, and hence that a universal intelligence subsists
+throughout Nature inherent in every one of its manifestations. But this
+cryptic intelligence does not belong to the particular _form_ excepting in
+the measure in which it is physically fitted for its concentration into
+self-recognizing individuality: it lies hidden in that primordial substance
+of which the visible form is a grosser manifestation. This primordial
+substance is a philosophical necessity, and we can only picture it to
+ourselves as something infinitely finer than the atoms which are themselves
+a philosophical inference of physical science: still, for want of a better
+word, we may conveniently speak of this primary intelligence inherent in
+the very substance of things as the Atomic Intelligence. The term may,
+perhaps, be open to some objections, but it will serve our present purpose
+as distinguishing _this_ mode of spirit's intelligence from that of the
+opposite pole, or Individual Intelligence. This distinction should be
+carefully noted because it is by the response of the atomic intelligence to
+the individual intelligence that thought-power is able to produce results
+on the material plane, as in the cure of disease by mental treatment, and
+the like. Intelligence manifests itself by responsiveness, and the whole
+action of the cosmic mind in bringing the evolutionary process from its
+first beginnings up to its present human stage is nothing else but a
+continual intelligent response to the demand which each stage in the
+progress has made for an adjustment between itself and its environment.
+Since, then, we have recognized the presence of a universal intelligence
+permeating all things, we must also recognize a corresponding
+responsiveness hidden deep down in their nature and ready to be called into
+action when appealed to. All mental treatment depends on this
+responsiveness of spirit in its lower degrees to higher degrees of itself.
+It is here that the difference between the mental scientist and the
+uninstructed person comes in; the former knows of this responsiveness and
+makes use of it, and the latter cannot use it because he does not know it.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT.
+
+
+We have now paved the way for understanding what is meant by "the unity of
+the spirit." In the first conception of spirit as the underlying origin of
+all things we see a universal substance which, at this stage, is not
+differentiated into any specific forms. This is not a question of some
+bygone time, but subsists at every moment of all time in the _innermost_
+nature of all being; and when we see this, we see that the division between
+one specific form and another has below it a deep essential unity, which
+acts as the supporter of all the several forms of individuality arising out
+of it. And as our thought penetrates deeper into the nature of this
+all-producing spiritual substance we see that it cannot be limited to any
+one portion of space, but must be limitless as space itself, and that the
+idea of any portion of space where it is not is inconceivable. It is one of
+those intuitive perceptions from which the human mind can never get away
+that this primordial, all-generating living spirit must be commensurate
+with infinitude, and we can therefore never think of it otherwise than as
+universal or infinite. Now it is a mathematical truth that the infinite
+must be a unity. You cannot have two infinites, for then neither would be
+infinite, each would be limited by the other, nor can you split the
+infinite up into fractions. The infinite is mathematically essential unity.
+This is a point on which too much stress cannot be laid, for there follow
+from it the most important consequences. Unity, as such, can be neither
+multiplied nor divided, for either operation destroys the unity. By
+multiplying, we produce a plurality of units of the same scale as the
+original; and by dividing, we produce a plurality of units of a smaller
+scale; and a plurality of units is not unity but multiplicity. Therefore if
+we would penetrate below the outward nature of the individual to that
+innermost principle of his being from which his individuality takes its
+rise, we can do so only by passing beyond the conception of individual
+existence into that of the unity of universal being. This may appear to be
+a merely philosophical abstraction, but the student who would produce
+practical results must realize that these abstract generalizations are the
+foundation of the practical work he is going to do.
+
+Now the great fact to be recognized about a unity is that, _because_ it is
+a single unit, wherever it is at all the _whole_ of it must be. The moment
+we allow our mind to wander off to the idea of extension in space and say
+that one part of the unit is here and another there, we have descended from
+the idea of unity into that of parts or fractions of a single unit, which
+is to pass into the idea of a multiplicity of smaller units, and in that
+case we are dealing with the relative, or the relation subsisting between
+two or more entities which are therefore _limited by each other_, and so
+have passed out of the region of simple unity which is the absolute. It is,
+therefore, a mathematical necessity that, because the originating Life-
+principle is infinite, it is a single unit, and consequently, wherever it
+is at all, the _whole_ of it must be present. But because it is _infinite_,
+or limitless, it is everywhere, and therefore it follows that the _whole_
+of spirit must be present at every point in space at the same moment.
+Spirit is thus omnipresent _in its entirety_, and it is accordingly
+logically correct that at every moment of time _all_ spirit is concentrated
+at any point in space that we may choose to fix our thought upon. This is
+the fundamental fact of all being, and it is for this reason that I have
+prepared the way for it by laying down the relation between spirit and
+matter as that between idea and form, on the one hand the absolute from
+which the elements of time and space are entirely absent, and on the other
+the relative which is entirely dependent on those elements. This great fact
+is that pure spirit continually subsists in the absolute, whether in a
+corporeal body or not; and from it all the phenomena of being flow, whether
+on the mental plane or the physical. The knowledge of this fact regarding
+spirit is the basis of all conscious spiritual operation, and therefore in
+proportion to our increasing recognition of it our power of producing
+outward visible results by the action of our thought will grow. The whole
+is greater than its part, and therefore, if, by our recognition of this
+unity, we can concentrate _all_ spirit into any given point at any moment,
+we thereby include any individualization of it that we may wish to deal
+with. The practical importance of this conclusion is too obvious to need
+enlarging upon.
+
+Pure spirit is the Life-principle considered apart from the matrix in which
+it takes relation to time and space in a particular form. In this aspect it
+is pure intelligence undifferentiated into individuality. As pure
+intelligence it is infinite responsiveness and susceptibility. As devoid of
+relation to time and space it is devoid of individual personality. It is,
+therefore, in this aspect a purely impersonal element upon which, by reason
+of its inherent intelligence and susceptibility, we can impress any
+recognition of personality that we will. These are the great facts that the
+mental scientist works with, and the student will do well to ponder deeply
+on their significance and on the responsibilities which their realization
+must necessarily carry with it.
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE MIND.
+
+
+Up to this point it has been necessary to lay the foundations of the
+science by the statement of highly abstract general principles which we
+have reached by purely metaphysical reasoning. We now pass on to the
+consideration of certain natural laws which have been established by a long
+series of experiments and observations, the full meaning and importance of
+which will become clear when we see their application to the general
+principles which have hitherto occupied our attention. The phenomena of
+hypnosis are now so fully recognized as established scientific facts that
+it is quite superfluous to discuss the question of their credibility. Two
+great medical schools have been founded upon them, and in some countries
+they have become the subject of special legislation. The question before us
+at the present day is, not as to the credibility of the facts, but as to
+the proper inferences to be drawn from them, and a correct apprehension of
+these inferences is one of the most valuable aids to the mental scientist,
+for it confirms the conclusions of purely _a priori_ reasoning by an array
+of experimental instances which places the correctness of those conclusions
+beyond doubt.
+
+The great truth which the science of hypnotism has brought to light is the
+dual nature of the human mind. Much conflict exists between different
+writers as to whether this duality results from the presence of two
+actually separate minds in the one man, or in the action of the same mind
+in the employment of different functions. This is one of those distinctions
+without a difference which are so prolific a source of hindrance to the
+opening out of truth. A man must be a single individuality to be a man at
+all, and, so, the net result is the same whether we conceive of his varied
+modes of mental action as proceeding from a set of separate minds strung,
+so to speak, on the thread of his one individuality and each adapted to a
+particular use, or as varied functions of a single mind: in either case we
+are dealing with a single individuality, and how we may picture the
+wheel-work of the mental mechanism is merely a question of what picture
+will bring the nature of its action home to us most clearly. Therefore, as
+a matter of convenience, I shall in these lectures speak of this dual
+action as though it proceeded from two minds, an outer and an inner, and
+the inner mind we will call the subjective mind and the outer the
+objective, by which names the distinction is most frequently indicated in
+the literature of the subject.
+
+A long series of careful experiments by highly-trained observers, some of
+them men of world-wide reputation, has fully established certain remarkable
+differences between the action of the subjective and that of the objective
+mind which may be briefly stated as follows. The subjective mind is only
+able to reason _deductively_ and not inductively, while the objective mind
+can do both. Deductive reasoning is the pure syllogism which shows why a
+third proposition must necessarily result if two others are assumed, but
+which does not help us to determine whether the two initial statements are
+true or not. To determine this is the province of inductive reasoning which
+draws its conclusions from the observation of a series of facts. The
+relation of the two modes of reasoning is that, first by observing a
+sufficient number of instances, we inductively reach the conclusion that a
+certain principle is of general application, and then we enter upon the
+deductive process by assuming the truth of this principle and determining
+what result must follow in a particular case on the hypothesis of its
+truth. Thus deductive reasoning proceeds on the assumption of the
+correctness of certain hypotheses or suppositions with which it sets out:
+it is not concerned with the truth or falsity of those suppositions, but
+only with the question as to what results must necessarily follow supposing
+them to be true. Inductive reasoning; on the other hand, is the process by
+which we compare a number of separate instances with one another until we
+see the common factor that gives rise to them all. Induction proceeds by
+the comparison of facts, and deduction by the application of universal
+principles. Now it is the deductive method only which is followed by the
+subjective mind. Innumerable experiments on persons in the hypnotic state
+have shown that the subjective mind is utterly incapable of making the
+selection and comparison which are necessary to the inductive process, but
+will accept any suggestion, however false, but having once accepted any
+suggestion, it is strictly logical in deducing the proper conclusions from
+it, and works out every suggestion to the minutest fraction of the results
+which flow from it.
+
+As a consequence of this it follows that the subjective mind is entirely
+under the control of the objective mind. With the utmost fidelity it
+reproduces and works out to its final consequences whatever the objective
+mind impresses upon it; and the facts of hypnotism show that ideas can be
+impressed on the subjective mind by the objective mind of another as well
+as by that of its own individuality. This is a most important point, for it
+is on this amenability to suggestion by the thought of another that all the
+phenomena of healing, whether present or absent, of telepathy and the like,
+depend. Under the control of the practised hypnotist the very personality
+of the subject becomes changed for the time being; he believes himself to
+be whatever the operator tells him he is: he is a swimmer breasting the
+waves, a bird flying in the air, a soldier in the tumult of battle, an
+Indian stealthily tracking his victim: in short, for the time being, he
+identifies himself with any personality that is impressed upon him by the
+will of the operator, and acts the part with inimitable accuracy. But the
+experiments of hypnotism go further than this, and show the existence in
+the subjective mind of powers far transcending any exercised by the
+objective mind through the medium of the physical senses; powers of
+thought-reading, of thought-transference, of clairvoyance, and the like,
+all of which are frequently manifested when the patient is brought into the
+higher mesmeric state; and we have thus experimental proof of the existence
+in ourselves of transcendental faculties the full development and conscious
+control of which would place us in a perfectly new sphere of life.
+
+But it should be noted that the control must be _our own_ and not that of
+any external intelligence whether in the flesh or out of it.
+
+But perhaps the most important fact which hypnotic experiments have
+demonstrated is that the subjective mind is the builder of the body. The
+subjective entity in the patient is able to diagnose the character of the
+disease from which he is suffering and to point out suitable remedies,
+indicating a physiological knowledge exceeding that of the most highly
+trained physicians, and also a knowledge of the correspondences between
+diseased conditions of the bodily organs and the material remedies which
+can afford relief. And from this it is but a step further to those numerous
+instances in which it entirely dispenses with the use of material remedies
+and itself works directly on the organism, so that complete restoration to
+health follows as the result of the suggestions of perfect soundness made
+by the operator to the patient while in the hypnotic state.
+
+Now these are facts fully established by hundreds of experiments conducted
+by a variety of investigators in different parts of the world, and from
+them we may draw two inferences of the highest importance: one, that the
+subjective mind is in itself absolutely impersonal, and the other that it
+is the builder of the body, or in other words it is the creative power in
+the individual. That it is impersonal in itself is shown by its readiness
+to assume any personality the hypnotist chooses to impress upon it; and the
+unavoidable inference is that its realization of personality proceeds from
+its association with the particular objective mind of its own
+individuality. Whatever personality the objective mind impresses upon it,
+that personality it assumes and acts up to; and since it is the builder of
+the body it will build up a body in correspondence with the personality
+thus impressed upon it. These two laws of the subjective mind form the
+foundation of the axiom that our body represents the aggregate of our
+beliefs. If our fixed belief is that the body is subject to all sorts of
+influences beyond our control, and that this, that, or the other symptom
+shows that such an uncontrollable influence is at work upon us, then this
+belief is impressed upon the subjective mind, which by the law of its
+nature accepts it without question and proceeds to fashion bodily
+conditions in accordance with this belief. Again, if our fixed belief is
+that certain material remedies are the only means of cure, then we find in
+this belief the foundation of all medicine. There is nothing unsound in the
+theory of medicine; it is the strictly logical correspondence with the
+measure of knowledge which those who rely on it are as yet able to
+assimilate, and it acts accurately in accordance with their belief that in
+a large number of cases medicine will do good, but also in many instances
+it fails. Therefore, for those who have not yet reached a more interior
+perception of the law of Nature, the healing agency of medicine is a most
+valuable aid to the alleviation of physical maladies. The error to be
+combated is not the belief that, in its own way, medicine is capable of
+doing good, but the belief that there is no higher or better way.
+
+Then, on the same principle, if we realize that the subjective mind is the
+builder of the body, and that the body is subject to no influences except
+those which reach it through the subjective mind, then what we have to do
+is to impress _this_ upon the subjective mind and habitually think of it as
+a fountain of perpetual Life, which is continually renovating the body by
+building in strong and healthy material, in the most complete independence
+of any influences of any sort, save those of our own desire impressed upon
+our own subjective mind by our own thought. When once we fully grasp these
+considerations we shall see that it is just as easy to externalize healthy
+conditions of body as the contrary. Practically the process amounts to a
+belief in our own power of life; and since this belief, if it be thoroughly
+domiciled within us, will necessarily produce a correspondingly healthy
+body, we should spare no pains to convince ourselves that there are sound
+and reasonable grounds for holding it. To afford a solid basis for this
+conviction is the purpose of Mental Science.
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE MIND.
+
+
+An intelligent consideration of the phenomena of hypnotism will show us
+that what we call the hypnotic state is the _normal_ state of the
+subjective mind. It _always_ conceives of itself in accordance with some
+suggestion conveyed to it, either consciously or unconsciously to the mode
+of objective mind which governs it, and it gives rise to corresponding
+external results. The abnormal nature of the conditions induced by
+experimental hypnotism is in the removal of the normal control held by the
+individual's own objective mind over his subjective mind and the
+substitution of some other control for it, and thus we may say that the
+normal characteristic of the subjective mind is its perpetual action in
+accordance with some sort of suggestion. It becomes therefore a question of
+the highest importance to determine in every case what the nature of the
+suggestion shall be and from what source it shall proceed; but before
+considering the sources of suggestion we must realize more fully the place
+taken by subjective mind in the order of Nature.
+
+If the student has followed what has been said regarding the presence of
+intelligent spirit pervading all space and permeating all matter, he will
+now have little difficulty in recognizing this all-pervading spirit as
+universal subjective mind. That it cannot _as universal mind_ have the
+qualities of objective mind is very obvious. The universal mind is the
+creative power throughout Nature; and as the originating power it must
+first give rise to the various _forms_ in which objective mind recognizes
+its own individuality, before these individual minds can re-act upon it;
+and hence, as pure spirit or _first cause_, it cannot possibly be anything
+else than subjective mind; and the fact which has been abundantly proved by
+experiment that the subjective mind is the builder of the body shows us
+that the power of creating by growth from within is the essential
+characteristic of the subjective mind. Hence, both from experiment and from
+_a priori_ reasoning, we may say that where-ever we find creative power at
+work there we are in the presence of subjective mind, whether it be working
+on the grand scale of the cosmos, or on the miniature scale of the
+individual. We may therefore lay it down as a principle that the universal
+all-permeating intelligence, which has been considered in the second and
+third sections, is purely subjective mind, and therefore follows the law of
+subjective mind, namely that it is amenable to any suggestion, and will
+carry out any suggestion that is impressed upon it to its most rigorously
+logical consequences. The incalculable importance of this truth may not
+perhaps strike the student at first sight, but a little consideration will
+show him the enormous possibilities that are stored up in it, and in the
+concluding section I shall briefly touch upon the very serious conclusions
+resulting from it. For the present it will be sufficient to realize that
+the subjective mind in ourselves is _the same_ subjective mind which is at
+work throughout the universe giving rise to the infinitude of natural forms
+with which we are surrounded, and in like manner giving rise _to ourselves
+also_. It may be called the supporter of our individuality; and we may
+loosely speak of our individual subjective mind as our personal share in
+the universal mind. This, of course, does not imply the splitting up of the
+universal mind into fractions, and it is to avoid this error that I have
+discussed the essential unity of spirit in the third section, but in order
+to avoid too highly abstract conceptions in the present stage of the
+student's progress we may conveniently employ the idea of a personal share
+in the universal subjective mind.
+
+To realize our individual subjective mind in this manner will help us to
+get over the great metaphysical difficulty which meets us in our endeavour
+to make conscious use of first cause, in other words to create external
+results by the power of our own thought. Ultimately there can be only one
+first cause which is the universal mind, but because it is universal it
+cannot, _as universal_, act on the plane of the individual and particular.
+For it to do so would be for it to cease to be universal and therefore
+cease to be the creative power which we wish to employ. On the other hand,
+the fact that we are working for a specific definite object implies our
+intention to use this universal power in application to a particular
+purpose, and thus we find ourselves involved in the paradox of seeking to
+make the universal act on the plane of the particular. We want to effect a
+junction between the two extremes of the scale of Nature, the innermost
+creative spirit and a particular external form. Between these two is a
+great gulf, and the question is how is it to be bridged over. It is here,
+then, that the conception of our individual subjective mind as our personal
+share in the universal subjective mind affords the means of meeting the
+difficulty, for on the one hand it is in immediate connection with the
+universal mind, and on the other it is immediate connection with the
+individual objective, or intellectual mind; and this in its turn is in
+immediate connection with the world of externalization, which is
+conditioned in time and space; and thus the relation between the subjective
+and objective minds in the individual forms the bridge which is needed to
+connect the two extremities of the scale.
+
+The individual subjective mind may therefore be regarded as the organ of
+the Absolute in precisely the same way that the objective mind is the organ
+of the Relative, and it is in order to regulate our use of these two organs
+that it is necessary to understand what the terms "absolute" and "relative"
+actually mean. The absolute is that idea of a thing which contemplates it
+as existing _in itself_ and not in relation to something else, that is to
+say, which contemplates the essence of it; and the relative is that idea of
+a thing which contemplates it as related to other things, that is to say as
+circumscribed by a certain environment. The absolute is the region of
+causes, and the relative is the region of conditions; and hence, if we wish
+to control conditions, this can only be done by our thought-power operating
+on the plane of the absolute, which it can do only through the medium of
+the subjective mind. The conscious use of the creative power of thought
+consists in the attainment of the power of Thinking in the Absolute, and
+this can only be attained by a clear conception of the interaction between
+our different mental functions. For this purpose the student cannot too
+strongly impress upon himself that subjective mind, on whatever scale, is
+intensely sensitive to suggestion, and as creative power works accurately
+to the externalization of that suggestion which is most deeply impressed
+upon it. If then, we would take any idea out of the realm of the relative,
+where it is limited and restricted by conditions imposed upon it through
+surrounding circumstances, and transfer it to the realm of the absolute
+where it is not thus limited, a right recognition of our mental
+constitution will enable us to do this by a clearly defined method.
+
+The object of our desire is necessarily first conceived by us as bearing
+some relation to existing circumstances, which may, or may not, appear
+favourable to it; and what we want to do is to eliminate the element of
+contingency and attain something which is certain in itself. To do this is
+to work upon the plane of the absolute, and for this purpose we must
+endeavour to impress upon our subjective mind the idea of that which we
+desire quite apart from any conditions. This separation from the elements
+of condition implies the elimination of the idea of _time_, and
+consequently we must think of the thing as already in actual existence.
+Unless we do this we are not consciously operating upon the plane of the
+absolute, and are therefore not employing the creative power of our
+thought. The simplest practical method of gaining the habit of thinking in
+this manner is to conceive the existence in the spiritual world of a
+spiritual prototype of every existing thing, which becomes the root of the
+corresponding external existence. If we thus habituate ourselves to look on
+the spiritual prototype as the essential being of the thing, and the
+material form as the growth of this prototype into outward expression, then
+we shall see that the initial step to the production of any external fact
+must be the creation of its spiritual prototype. This prototype, being
+purely spiritual, can only be formed by the operation of _thought_, and in
+order to have substance on the spiritual plane it _must_ be thought of as
+actually existing there. This conception has been elaborated by Plato in
+his doctrine of archetypal ideas, and by Swedenborg in his doctrine of
+correspondences; and a still greater teacher has said "All things
+whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye _have_ received them, and
+ye _shall_ receive them." (Mark xi. 24, R.V.) The difference of the tenses
+in this passage is remarkable. The speaker bids us first to believe that
+our desire _has_ already been fulfilled, that it is a thing already
+accomplished, and then its accomplishment _will_ follow as a thing in the
+future. This is nothing else than a concise direction for making use of the
+creative power of thought by impressing upon the universal subjective mind
+the particular thing which we desire as an already existing fact. In
+following this direction we are thinking on the plane of the absolute and
+eliminating from our minds all consideration of conditions, which imply
+limitation and the possibility of adverse contingencies; and we are thus
+planting a seed which, if left undisturbed, will infallibly germinate into
+external fruition.
+
+By thus making intelligent use of our subjective mind, we, so to speak,
+create a _nucleus_, which is no sooner created than it begins to exercise
+an attractive force, drawing to itself material of a like character with
+its own, and if this process is allowed to go on undisturbed, it will
+continue until an external form corresponding to the nature of the nucleus
+comes out into manifestation on the plane of the objective and relative.
+This is the universal method of Nature on every plane. Some of the most
+advanced thinkers in modern physical science, in the endeavour to probe the
+great mystery of the first origin of the world, have postulated the
+formation of what they call "vortex rings" formed from an infinitely fine
+primordial substance. They tell us that if such a ring be once formed on
+the minutest scale and set rotating, then, since it would be moving in pure
+ether and subject to no friction, it must according to all known laws of
+physics be indestructible and its motion perpetual. Let two such rings
+approach each other, and by the law of attraction, they would coalesce into
+a whole, and so on until manifested matter as we apprehend it with our
+external senses, is at last formed. Of course no one has ever seen these
+rings with the physical eye. They are one of those abstractions which
+result if we follow out the observed law of physics and the unavoidable
+sequences of mathematics to their necessary consequences. We cannot account
+for the things that we _can_ see unless we assume the existence of other
+things which we _cannot_; and the "vortex theory" is one of these
+assumptions. This theory has not been put forward by mental scientists but
+by purely physical scientists as the ultimate conclusion to which their
+researches have led them, and this conclusion is that all the innumerable
+forms of Nature have their origin in the infinitely minute nucleus of the
+vortex ring, by whatever means the vortex ring may have received its
+initial impulse, a question with which physical science, as such, is not
+concerned.
+
+As the vortex theory accounts for the formation of the inorganic world, so
+does biology account for the formation of the living organism. That also
+has its origin in a primary nucleus which, as soon as it is established,
+operates as a centre of attraction for the formation of all those physical
+organs of which the perfect individual is composed. The science of
+embryology shows that this rule holds good without exception throughout the
+whole range of the animal world, including man; and botany shows the same
+principle at work throughout the vegetable world. All branches of physical
+science demonstrate the fact that every completed manifestation, of
+whatever kind and on whatever scale, is started by the establishment of a
+nucleus, infinitely small but endowed with an unquenchable energy of
+attraction, causing it to steadily increase in power and definiteness of
+purpose, until the process of growth is completed and the matured form
+stands out as an accomplished fact. Now if this be the universal method of
+Nature, there is nothing unnatural in supposing that it must begin its
+operation at a stage further back than the formation of the material
+nucleus. As soon as that is called into being it begins to operate by the
+law of attraction on the material plane; but what is the force which
+originates the material nucleus? Let a recent work on physical science give
+us the answer; "In its ultimate essence, energy may be incomprehensible by
+us except as an exhibition of the direct operation of that which we call
+Mind or Will." The quotation is from a course of lectures on "Waves in
+Water, Air and Æther," delivered in 1902, at the Royal Institution, by J.
+A. Fleming. Here, then, is the testimony of physical science that the
+originating energy is Mind or Will; and we are, therefore, not only making
+a logical deduction from certain unavoidable intuitions of the human mind,
+but are also following on the lines of the most advanced physical science,
+when we say that the action of Mind plants that nucleus which, if allowed
+to grow undisturbed, will eventually attract to itself all the conditions
+necessary for its manifestation in outward visible form. Now the only
+action of Mind is Thought; and it is for this reason that by our thoughts
+we create corresponding external conditions, because we thereby create the
+nucleus which attracts to itself its own correspondences in due order until
+the finished work is manifested on the external plane. This is according to
+the strictly scientific conception of the universal law of growth; and we
+may therefore briefly sum up the whole argument by saying that our thought
+of anything forms a spiritual prototype of it, thus constituting a nucleus
+or centre of attraction for all conditions necessary to its eventual
+externalization by a law of growth inherent in the prototype itself.
+
+
+
+
+VI.
+
+THE LAW OF GROWTH.
+
+
+A CORRECT understanding of the law of growth is of the highest importance
+to the student of Mental Science. The great fact to be realized regarding
+Nature is that it is natural. We may pervert the order of Nature, but it
+will prevail in the long run, returning, as Horace says, by the back door
+even though we drive it out with a pitchfork; and the beginning, the
+middle, and the end of the law of Nature is the principle of growth from a
+vitality inherent in the entity itself. If we realize this from the outset
+we shall not undo our own work by endeavouring to _force_ things to become
+that which by their own nature they are not. For this reason when the Bible
+says that "he who believeth shall not make haste," it is enunciating a
+great natural principle that success, depends on our using, and not
+opposing, the universal law of growth. No doubt the greater the vitality we
+put into the germ, which we have agreed to call the spiritual prototype,
+the quicker it will germinate; but this is simply because by a more
+realizing conception we put more growing-power into the seed than we do by
+a feebler conception. Our mistakes always eventually resolve themselves
+into distrusting the law of growth. Either we fancy we can hasten it by
+some exertion of our own from _without_, and are thus led into hurry and
+anxiety, not to say sometimes into the employment, of grievously wrong
+methods; or else we give up all hope and so deny the germinating power of
+the seed we have planted. The result in either case is the same, for in
+either case we are in effect forming a fresh spiritual prototype of an
+opposite character to our desire, which therefore neutralizes the one first
+formed, and disintegrates it and usurps its place. The law is always the
+same, that our Thought forms a spiritual prototype which, if left
+undisturbed, will reproduce itself in external circumstances; the only
+difference is in the sort of prototype we form, and thus evil is brought to
+us by precisely the same law as good.
+
+These considerations will greatly simplify our ideas of life. We have no
+longer to consider two forces, but only one, as being the cause of all
+things; the difference between good and evil resulting simply from the
+direction in which this force is made to flow. It is a universal law that
+if we reverse the action of a cause we at the same time reverse the effect.
+With the same apparatus we can commence by mechanical motion which will
+generate electricity, or we can commence with electricity which will
+generate mechanical motion; or to take a simple arithmetical instance: if
+10/2 = 5, then 10/5 = 2; and therefore if we once recognize the power of
+thought to produce any results at all, we shall see that the law by which
+negative thought produces negative results is the same by which positive
+thought produces positive results. Therefore all our distrust of the law of
+growth, whether shown in the anxious endeavour to bring pressure to bear
+from without, or in allowing despair to take the place of cheerful
+expectation, is reversing the action of the original cause and consequently
+reversing the nature of the results. It is for this reason that the Bible,
+which is the most deeply occult of all books, continually lays so much
+stress upon the efficiency of faith and the destructive influence of
+unbelief; and in like manner, all books on every branch of spiritual
+science emphatically warn us against the admission of doubt or fear. They
+are the inversion of the principle which builds up, and they are therefore
+the principle which pulls down; but the Law itself never changes, and it is
+on the unchangeableness of the law that all Mental Science is founded. We
+are accustomed to realize the unchangeableness of natural law in our every
+day life, and it should therefore not be difficult to realize that the same
+unchangeableness of law which obtains on the visible side of nature obtains
+on the invisible side as well. The variable factor is, not the law, but our
+own volition; and it is by combining this variable factor with the
+invariable one that we can produce the various results we desire. The
+principle of growth is that of inherent vitality in the seed itself, and
+the operations of the gardener have their exact analogue in Mental Science.
+We do not _put_ the self-expansive vitality into the seed, but we must sow
+it, and we may also, so to speak, water it by quiet concentrated
+contemplation of our desire as an actually accomplished fact. But we must
+carefully remove from such contemplation any idea of a strenuous effort on
+our part to _make_ the seed grow. Its efficacy is in helping to keep out
+those negative thoughts of doubt which would plant tares among our wheat,
+and therefore, instead of anything of effort, such contemplation should be
+accompanied by a feeling of pleasure and restfulness in foreseeing the
+certain accomplishment of our desires. This is that making our requests
+known to God _with thanksgiving_ which St. Paul recommends, and it has its
+reason in that perfect wholeness of the Law of Being which only needs our
+recognition of it to be used by us to any extent we wish.
+
+Some people possess the power of visualization, or making mental pictures
+of things, in a greater degree than others, and by such this faculty may
+advantageously be employed to facilitate their realization of the working
+of the Law. But those who do not possess this faculty in any marked degree,
+need not be discouraged by their want of it, for visualization is not the
+only way of realizing that the law is at work on the invisible plane. Those
+whose mental bias is towards physical science should realize this Law of
+Growth as the creative force throughout all nature; and those who have a
+mathematical turn of mind may reflect that all solids are generated from
+the movement of a point, which, as our old friend Euclid tells us, is that
+which has no parts nor magnitude, and is therefore as complete an
+abstraction as any spiritual nucleus could be. To use the apostolic words,
+we are dealing with the substance of things not seen, and we have to attain
+that habit of mind by which we shall see its reality and feel that we are
+mentally manipulating the only substance there ultimately is, and of which
+all visible things are only different modes. We must therefore regard our
+mental creations as spiritual realities and then implicitly trust the Law
+of Growth to do the rest.
+
+
+
+
+VII.
+
+RECEPTIVITY.
+
+
+In order to lay the foundations for practical work, the student must
+endeavour to get a clear conception of what is meant by the intelligence of
+undifferentiated spirit. We want to grasp the idea of intelligence apart
+from individuality, an idea which is rather apt to elude us until we grow
+accustomed to it. It is the failure to realize this quality of spirit that
+has given rise to all the theological errors that have brought bitterness
+into the world and has been prominent amongst the causes which have
+retarded the true development of mankind. To accurately convey this
+conception in words, is perhaps, impossible, and to attempt definition is
+to introduce that very idea of limitation which is our object to avoid. It
+is a matter of feeling rather than of definition; yet some endeavour must
+be made to indicate the direction in which we must feel for this great
+truth if we are to find it. The idea is that of realizing personality
+without that selfhood which differentiates one individual from another. "I
+am not that other because I am myself"--this is the definition of
+individual selfhood; but it necessarily imparts the idea of limitation,
+because the recognition of any other individuality at once affirms a point
+at which our own individuality ceases and the other begins. Now this mode
+of recognition cannot be attributed to the Universal Mind. For it to
+recognize a point where itself ceased and something else began would be to
+recognize itself as _not_ universal; for the meaning of universality is the
+including of _all_ things, and therefore for this intelligence to recognize
+anything as being _outside itself_ would be a denial of its own being. We
+may therefore say without hesitation that, whatever may be the nature of
+its intelligence, it must be entirely devoid of the element of
+self-recognition _as an individual personality_ on any scale whatever. Seen
+in this light it is at once clear that the originating all-pervading Spirit
+is the grand impersonal principle of Life which gives rise to all the
+particular manifestations of Nature. Its absolute impersonalness, in the
+sense of the entire absence of any consciousness of _individual_ selfhood,
+is a point on which it is impossible to insist too strongly. The
+attributing of an impossible individuality to the Universal Mind is one of
+the two grand errors which we find sapping the foundations of religion and
+philosophy in all ages. The other consists in rushing to the opposite
+extreme and denying the quality of personal intelligence to the Universal
+Mind. The answer to this error remains, as of old, in the simple question,
+"He that made the eye shall He not see? He that planted the ear shall He
+not hear?"--or to use a popular proverb, "You cannot get out of a bag more
+than there is in it;" and consequently the fact that we ourselves are
+centres of personal intelligence is proof that the infinite, from which
+these centres are concentrated, must be infinite intelligence, and thus we
+cannot avoid attributing to it the two factors which constitute
+personality, namely, intelligence and volition. We are therefore brought to
+the conclusion that this universally diffused essence, which we might think
+of as a sort of spiritual protoplasm, must possess all the qualities of
+personality without that conscious recognition of self which constitutes
+separate individuality: and since the word "personality" has became so
+associated in our ordinary talk with the idea of "individuality" it will
+perhaps be better to coin a new word, and speak of the personalness of the
+Universal Mind as indicating its personal _quality_, apart from
+individuality. We must realize that this universal spirit permeates all
+space and all manifested substance, just as physical scientists tell us
+that the ether does, and that wherever it is, there it must carry with it
+all that it is in its own being; and we shall then see that we are in the
+midst of an ocean of undifferentiated yet intelligent Life, above, below,
+and all around, and permeating ourselves both mentally and corporeally, and
+all other beings as well.
+
+Gradually as we come to realize the truth of this statement, our eyes will
+begin to open to its immense significance. It means that all Nature is
+pervaded by an interior personalness, infinite in its potentialities of
+intelligence, responsiveness, and power of expression, and only waiting to
+be called into activity by our recognition of it. By the terms of its
+nature it can respond to us only as we recognize it. If we are at that
+intellectual level where we can see nothing but chance governing the world,
+then this underlying universal mind will present to us nothing but a
+fortuitous confluence of forces without any intelligible order. If we are
+sufficiently advanced to see that such a confluence could only produce a
+chaos, and not a cosmos, then our conceptions expand to the idea of
+universal Law, and we find _this_ to be the nature of the all-underlying
+principle. We have made an immense advance from the realm of mere accident
+into a world where there are definite principles on which we can calculate
+with certainty _when we know them_. But here is the crucial point. The laws
+of the universe are there, but we are ignorant of them, and only through
+experience gained by repeated failures can we get any insight into the laws
+with which we have to deal. How painful each step and how slow the
+progress! Æons upon æons would not suffice to grasp all the laws of the
+universe in their totality, not in the visible world only, but also in the
+world of the unseen; each failure to know the true law implies suffering
+arising from our ignorant breach of it; and thus, since Nature is infinite,
+we are met by the paradox that we must in some way contrive to compass the
+knowledge of the infinite with our individual intelligence, and we must
+perform a pilgrimage along an unceasing Via Dolorosa beneath the lash of
+the inexorable Law until we find the solution to the problem. But it will
+be asked, May we not go on until at last we attain the possession of all
+knowledge? People do not realize what is meant by "the infinite," or they
+would not ask such questions. The infinite is that which is limitless and
+exhaustless. Imagine the vastest capacity you will, and having filled it
+with the infinite, what remains of the infinite is just as infinite as
+before. To the mathematician this may be put very clearly. Raise _x_ to any
+power you will, and however vast may be the disparity between it and the
+lower powers of _x_, both are equally incommensurate with _x^n._ The
+universal reign of Law is a magnificent truth; it is one of the two great
+pillars of the universe symbolized by the two pillars that stood at the
+entrance to Solomon's temple: it is Jachin, but Jachin must be
+equilibriated by Boaz.
+
+It is an enduring truth, which can never be altered, that every infraction
+of the Law of Nature must carry its punitive consequences with it. We can
+never get beyond the range of cause and effect. There is no escaping from
+the law of punishment, except by knowledge. If we know a law of Nature and
+work with it, we shall find it our unfailing friend, ever ready to serve
+us, and never rebuking us for past failures; but if we ignorantly or
+wilfully transgress it, it is our implacable enemy, until we again become
+obedient to it; and therefore the only redemption from perpetual pain and
+servitude is by a self-expansion which can grasp infinitude itself. How is
+this to be accomplished? By our progress to that kind and degree of
+intelligence by which we realize the inherent _personalness_ of the divine
+all-pervading Life, which is at once the Law and the Substance of all that
+is. Well said the Jewish rabbis of old, "The Law is a Person." When we once
+realize that the universal Life and the universal Law are one with the
+universal Personalness, then we have established the pillar Boaz as the
+needed complement to Jachin; and when we find the common point in which
+these two unite, we have raised the Royal Arch through which we may
+triumphantly enter the Temple. We must dissociate the Universal
+Personalness from every conception of individuality. The universal can
+never be the individual: that would be a contradiction in terms. But
+because the universal personalness is the root of all individual
+personalities, it finds its highest expression in response to those who
+realize its personal nature. And it is this recognition that solves the
+seemingly insoluble paradox. The only way to attain that knowledge of the
+Infinite Law which will change the Via Dolorosa into the Path of Joy is to
+embody in ourselves a _principle_ of knowledge commensurate with the
+infinitude of that which is to be known; and this is accomplished by
+realizing that, infinite as the law itself, is a universal Intelligence in
+the midst of which we float as in a living ocean. Intelligence without
+individual personality, but which, in producing us, concentrates itself
+into the personal individualities which we are. What should be the relation
+of such an intelligence towards us? Not one of favouritism: not any more
+than the Law can it respect one person above another, for itself is the
+root and support for each alike. Not one of refusal to our advances; for
+without individuality it can have no personal object of its own to conflict
+with ours; and since it is itself the origin of all individual
+intelligence, it cannot be shut off by inability to understand. By the very
+terms of its being, therefore, this infinite, underlying, all-producing
+Mind must be ready immediately to respond to all who realize their true
+relation to it. As the very principle of Life itself it must be infinitely
+susceptible to feeling, and consequently it will reproduce with absolute
+accuracy whatever conception of itself we impress upon it; and hence if we
+realize the human mind as that stage in the evolution of the cosmic order
+at which an individuality has arisen capable of expressing, not merely the
+livingness, but also the personalness of the universal underlying spirit,
+then we see that its most perfect mode of self-expression must be by
+identifying itself with these individual personalities.
+
+The identification is, of course, limited by the measure of the individual
+intelligence, meaning, not merely the intellectual perception of the
+sequence of cause and effect, but also that indescribable reciprocity of
+_feeling_ by which we instinctively recognize something in another making
+them akin to ourselves; and so it is that when we intelligently realize
+that the innermost principle of being, must by reason of its universality,
+have a common nature with our own, then we have solved the paradox of
+universal knowledge, for we have realized our identity of being with the
+Universal Mind, which is commensurate with the Universal Law. Thus we
+arrive at the truth of St. John's statement, "Ye know all things," only
+this knowledge is primarily on the spiritual plane. It is not brought out
+into intellectual statement whether needed or not; for it is not in itself
+the specific knowledge of particular facts, but it is the undifferentiated
+principle of knowledge which we may differentiate in any direction that we
+choose. This is a philosophical necessity of the case, for though the
+action of the individual mind consists in differentiating the universal
+into particular applications, to differentiate the _whole_ universal would
+be a contradiction in terms; and so, because we cannot exhaust the
+infinite, our possession of it must consist in our power to differentiate
+it as the occasion may require, the only limit being that which we
+ourselves assign to the manifestation.
+
+In this way, then, the recognition of the community of _personality_
+between ourselves and the universal undifferentiated Spirit, which is the
+root and substance of all things, solves the question of our release from
+the iron grasp of an inflexible Law, not by abrogating the Law, which would
+mean the annihilation of all things, but by producing in us an intelligence
+equal in affinity with the universal Law itself, and thus enabling us to
+apprehend and meet the requirements of the Law in each particular as it
+arises. In this way the Cosmic Intelligence becomes individualized, and the
+individual intelligence becomes universalized; the two became one, and in
+proportion as this unity is realized and acted on, it will be found that
+the Law, which gives rise to all outward conditions, whether of body or of
+circumstances, becomes more and more clearly understood, and can therefore
+be more freely made use of, so that by steady, intelligent endeavour to
+unfold upon these lines we may reach degrees of power to which it is
+impossible to assign any limits. The student who would understand the
+rationale of the unfoldment of his own possibilities must make no mistake
+here. He must realize that the whole process is that of bringing the
+universal within the grasp of the individual by raising the individual to
+the level of the universal and not vice-versa. It is a mathematical truism
+that you cannot contract the infinite, and that you _can_ expand the
+individual; and it is precisely on these lines that evolution works. The
+laws of nature cannot be altered in the least degree; but we can come into
+such a realization of our own relation to the universal principle of Law
+that underlies them as to be able to press all particular laws, whether of
+the visible or invisible side of Nature, into our service and so find
+ourselves masters of the situation. This is to be accomplished by
+knowledge; and the only knowledge which will effect this purpose in all its
+measureless immensity is the knowledge of the personal element in Universal
+Spirit in its reciprocity to our own personality. Our recognition of this
+Spirit must therefore be twofold, as the principle of necessary sequence,
+order or Law, and also as the principle of Intelligence, responsive to our
+own recognition of it.
+
+
+
+
+VIII.
+
+RECIPROCAL ACTION OF THE UNIVERSAL AND INDIVIDUAL MINDS.
+
+
+It must be admitted that the foregoing considerations bring us to the
+borders of theological speculation, but the student must bear in mind that
+as a Mental Scientist it is his business to regard even the most exalted
+spiritual phenomena from a purely scientific standpoint, which is that of
+the working of a universal natural Law. If he thus simply deals with the
+facts as he finds them, there is little doubt that the true meaning of many
+theological statements will become clear to him: but he will do well to lay
+it down as a general rule that it is not necessary either to the use or
+understanding of any law, whether on the personal or the impersonal side of
+Nature, that we should give a theological explanation of it: although,
+therefore, the personal quality inherent in the universal underlying
+spirit, which is present in all things, cannot be too strongly insisted
+upon, we must remember that in dealing with it we are still dealing with a
+purely natural power which reappears at every point with protean variety of
+form, whether as person, animal, or thing. In each case what it becomes to
+any individual is exactly measured by that individual's recognition of it.
+To each and all it bears the relation of supporter of the race, and where
+the individual development is incapable of realizing anything more, this is
+the limit of the relation; but as the individual's power of recognition
+expands, he finds a reciprocal expansion on the part of this intelligent
+power which gradually develops into the consciousness of intimate
+companionship between the individualized mind and the unindividualized
+source of it.
+
+Now this is exactly the relation which, on ordinary scientific principles,
+we should expect to find between the individual and the cosmic mind, on the
+supposition that the cosmic mind is subjective mind, and for reasons
+already given we can regard it in no other light. As subjective mind it
+must reproduce exactly the conception of itself which the objective mind of
+the individual, acting through his own subjective mind, impresses upon it;
+and at the same time as creative mind, it builds up external facts in
+correspondence with this conception. "Quot homines tot sententiæ": each one
+externalizes in his outward circumstances precisely his idea of the
+Universal Mind; and the man who realizes that by the natural law of mind he
+can bring the Universal Mind into perfectly reciprocal action with its own,
+will on the one hand make it a source of infinite instruction, and on the
+other a source of infinite power. He will thus wisely alternate the
+personal and impersonal aspects respectively between his individual mind
+and the Universal Mind; when he is seeking for guidance or strength he will
+regard his own mind as the impersonal element which is to _receive
+personality_ from the superior wisdom and force of the Greater Mind; and
+when, on the other hand, he is to give out the stores thus accumulated, he
+must reverse the position and consider his own mind as the personal
+element, and the Universal Mind as the impersonal, which he can therefore
+_direct_ with certainty by impressing his own personal desire upon it. We
+need not be staggered at the greatness of this conclusion, for it follows
+necessarily from the natural relation between the subjective and the
+objective minds; and the only question is whether we will limit our view to
+the lower level of the latter, or expand it so as to take in the limitless
+possibilities which the subjective mind presents to us.
+
+I have dealt with this question at some length because it affords the key
+to two very important subjects, the Law of Supply and the nature of
+Intuition. Students often find it easier to understand how the mind can
+influence the body with which it is so intimately associated, than how it
+can influence circumstances. If the operation of thought-power were
+confined exclusively to the individual mind this difficulty might arise;
+but if there is one lesson the student of Mental Science should take to
+heart more than another, it is that the action of thought-power is not
+limited to a circumscribed individuality. What the individual does is to
+_give direction_ to something which is unlimited, to call into action a
+force infinitely greater than his own, which because it is in itself
+impersonal though intelligent, will receive the impress of his personality,
+and can therefore make its influence felt far beyond the limits which bound
+the individual's objective perception of the circumstances with which he
+has to deal. It is for this reason that I lay so much stress on the
+combination of two apparent opposites in the Universal Mind, the union of
+intelligence with impersonality. The intelligence not only enables it to
+receive the impress of our thought, but also causes it to devise exactly
+the right _means_ for bringing it into accomplishment. This is only the
+logical result of the hypothesis that we are dealing with infinite
+Intelligence which is also infinite Life. Life means Power, and infinite
+life therefore means limitless power; and limitless power moved by
+limitless intelligence cannot be conceived of as ever stopping short of the
+accomplishment of its object; therefore, given the _intention_ on the part
+of the Universal Mind, there can be no doubt as to its ultimate
+accomplishment. Then comes the question of intention. How do we know what
+the intention of the Universal Mind may be? Here comes in the element of
+impersonality. It has _no intention_, because it is _impersonal_. As I have
+already said, the Universal mind works by a law of averages for the
+advancement of the race, and is in no way concerned with the particular
+wishes of the individual. If his wishes are in line with the forward
+movement of the everlasting principle, there is nowhere in Nature any power
+to restrict him in their fulfilment. If they are opposed to the general
+forward movement, then they will bring him into collision with it, and it
+will crush him. From the relation between them it results that the same
+principle which shows itself in the individual mind as Will, becomes in the
+universal mind a Law of Tendency; and the direction of this tendency must
+always be to life-givingness, because the universal mind is the
+undifferentiated Life-spirit of the universe. Therefore in every case the
+test is whether our particular intention is in this same lifeward
+direction: and if it is, then we may be absolutely certain that there is no
+intention on the part of the Universal Mind to thwart the intention of our
+own individual mind; we are dealing with a purely impersonal force, and it
+will no more oppose us by specific plans of its own than will steam or
+electricity. Combining then, these two aspects of the Universal Mind, its
+utter impersonality and its perfect intelligence, we find precisely the
+sort of natural force we are in want of, something which will undertake
+whatever we put into its hands without asking questions or bargaining for
+terms, and which, having undertaken our business, will bring to bear on it
+an intelligence to which the united knowledge of the whole human race is as
+nothing, and a power equal to this intelligence. I may be using a rough and
+ready mode of expression, but my object is to bring home to the student the
+nature of the power he can employ and the method of employing it, and I may
+therefore state the whole position thus:--Your object is not to run the
+whole cosmos, but to draw particular benefits, physical, mental, moral, or
+financial into your own or someone else's life. From this individual point
+of view the universal creative power has no mind of its own, and therefore
+you can make up its mind for it. When its mind is thus made up for it, it
+never abrogates its place as the creative power, but at once sets to work
+co carry out the purpose for which it has thus been concentrated; and
+unless this concentration is dissipated by the same agency (yourself) which
+first produced it, it will work on by the law of growth to complete
+manifestation on the outward plane.
+
+In dealing with this great impersonal intelligence, we are dealing with the
+infinite, and we must fully realize infinitude as that which touches all
+points, and if it does, there should be no difficulty in understanding that
+this intelligence can draw together the means requisite for its purpose
+even from the ends of the world; and therefore, realizing the Law according
+to which the result can be produced, we must resolutely put aside all
+questioning as to the specific means which will be employed in any case. To
+question this is to sow that very seed of doubt which it is our first
+object to eradicate, and our intellectual endeavour should therefore be
+directed, not to the attempt to foretell the various secondary causes which
+will eventually combine to produce the desired result, laying down
+beforehand what particular causes should be necessary, and from what
+quarter they should come; but we should direct our intellectual endeavour
+to seeing more clearly the rationale of the general law by which trains of
+secondary causes are set in motion. Employed in the former way our
+intellect becomes the greatest hindrance to our success, for it only helps
+to increase our doubts, since it is trying to grasp particulars which, at
+the time are entirely outside its circle of vision; but employed in the
+latter it affords the most material aid in maintaining that nucleus without
+which there is no centre from which the principle of growth can assert
+itself. The intellect can only deduce consequences from facts which it is
+able to state, and consequently cannot deduce any assurance from facts of
+whose existence it cannot yet have any knowledge through the medium of the
+outward senses; but for the same reason it can realize the existence of a
+_Law_ by which the as yet unmanifested circumstances may be brought into
+manifestation. Thus used in its right order, the intellect becomes the
+handmaid of that more interior power within us which manipulates the unseen
+substance of all things, and which we may call relative first cause.
+
+
+
+
+IX.
+
+CAUSES AND CONDITIONS.
+
+
+The expression "_relative_ first cause" has been used in the last section
+to distinguish the action of the creative principle in the _individual_
+mind from Universal First Cause on the one hand and from secondary causes
+on the other. As it exists in _us_, primary causation is the power to
+initiate a train of causation directed to an individual purpose. As the
+power of initiating a fresh sequence of cause and effect it is first cause,
+and as referring to an individual purpose it is relative, and it may
+therefore be spoken of as relative first cause, or the power of primary
+causation manifested by the individual. The understanding and use of this
+power is the whole object of Mental Science, and it is therefore necessary
+that the student should clearly see the relation between causes and
+conditions. A simple illustration will go further for this purpose than any
+elaborate explanation. If a lighted candle is brought into a room the room
+becomes illuminated, and if the candle is taken away it becomes dark again.
+Now the illumination and the darkness are both conditions, the one positive
+resulting from the presence of the light, and the other negative resulting
+from its absence: from this simple example we therefore see that every
+positive condition has an exactly opposite negative condition corresponding
+to it, and that this correspondence results from their being related to the
+_same cause_, the one positively and the other negatively; and hence we may
+lay down the rule that all positive conditions result from the active
+presence of a certain cause, and all negative conditions from the absence
+of such a cause. A condition, whether positive or negative, is never
+_primary_ cause, and the _primary_ cause of any series can never be
+negative, for negation is the condition which arises from the absence of
+active causation. This should be thoroughly understood as it is the
+philosophic basis of all those "denials" which play so important a, part in
+Mental Science, and which may be summed up in the statement that evil being
+negative, or privation of good, has no substantive existence in itself.
+Conditions, however, whether positive or negative, are no sooner called
+into existence than they become causes in their turn and produce further
+conditions, and so on _ad infinitum_, thus giving rise to the whole train
+of secondary causes. So long as we judge only from the information conveyed
+to us by the outward senses, we are working on the plane of secondary
+causation and see nothing but a succession of conditions, forming part of
+an endless train of antecedent conditions coming out of the past and
+stretching away into the future, and from this point of view we are under
+the rule of an iron destiny from which there seems no possibility of
+escape. This is because the outward senses are only capable of dealing with
+the relations which one mode of limitation bears to another, for they are
+the instruments by which we take cognizance of the relative and the
+conditioned. Now the only way of escape is by rising out of the region of
+secondary causes into that of primary causation, where the originating
+energy is to be found before it has yet passed into manifestation as a
+condition. This region is to be found _within ourselves_; it is the region
+of pure ideas; and it is for this reason that I have laid stress on the two
+aspects of spirit as pure thought and manifested form. The thought-image or
+ideal pattern of a thing is the _first cause_ relatively to that thing; it
+is the substance of that thing untrammelled, by any antecedent conditions.
+
+If we realize that all visible things _must_ have their origin in spirit,
+then the whole creation around us is the standing evidence that the
+starting-point of all things is in thought-images or ideas, for no other
+action than the formation of such images can be conceived of spirit prior
+to its manifestation in matter. If, then, this is spirit's modus operandi
+for self-expression, we have only to transfer this conception from the
+scale of cosmic spirit working on the plane of the universal to that of
+individualized spirit working on the plane of the particular, to see that
+the formation of an ideal image by means of our thought is setting first
+cause in motion with regard to this specific object. There is no difference
+in kind between the operation of first cause in the universal and in the
+particular, the difference is only a difference of scale, but the power
+itself is identical. We must therefore always be very clear as to whether
+we are _consciously_ using first cause or not. Note the word "consciously"
+because, whether consciously or unconsciously, we are always using first
+cause; and it was for this reason I emphasized the fact that the Universal
+Mind is purely subjective and therefore bound by the laws which apply to
+subjective mind on whatever scale. Hence we are _always_ impressing some
+sort of ideas upon it, whether we are aware of the fact or not, and all our
+existing limitations result from our having habitually impressed upon it
+that idea of limitation which we have imbibed by restricting all
+possibility to the region of secondary causes. But now when investigation
+has shown us that conditions are never causes in _themselves_, but only the
+subsequent links of a chain started on the plane of the pure ideal, what we
+have to do is to reverse our method of thinking and regard the ideal as the
+real, and the outward manifestation as a mere reflection which must change
+with every change of the object which casts it. For these reasons it is
+essential to know whether we are consciously making use of first cause with
+a definite purpose or not, and the criterion is this. If we regard the
+fulfilment of our purpose as contingent upon any _circumstances_, past,
+present, or future, we are not making use of first cause; we have descended
+to the level of secondary causation, which is the region of doubts, fears,
+and limitations, all of which we are impressing upon the universal
+subjective mind with the inevitable result that it will build up
+corresponding external conditions. But if we realize that the region of
+secondary causes is the region of mere reflections we shall not think of
+our purpose as contingent on any conditions whatever, but shall know that
+by forming the idea of it in the absolute, and maintaining that idea, we
+have shaped the first cause into the desired form and can await the result
+with cheerful expectancy.
+
+It is here that we find the importance of realizing spirit's independence
+of time and space. An ideal, as such, cannot be formed in the future. It
+must either be formed here and now or not be formed at all; and it is for
+this reason that every teacher, who has ever spoken with due knowledge of
+the subject, has impressed upon his followers the necessity of picturing to
+themselves the fulfilment of their desires as _already accomplished_ on the
+spiritual plane, as the indispensable condition of fulfilment in the
+visible and concrete.
+
+When this is properly understood, any anxious thought as to the _means_ to
+be employed in the accomplishment of our purposes is seen to be quite
+unnecessary. If the end is already secured, then it follows that all the
+steps leading to it are secured also. The means will pass into the smaller
+circle of our conscious activities day by day in due order, and then we
+have to work upon them, not with fear, doubt, or feverish excitement, but
+calmly and joyously, because we _know_ that the end is already secured, and
+that our reasonable use of such means as present themselves in the desired
+direction is, only one portion of a much larger co-ordinated movement, the
+final result of which admits of no doubt. Mental Science does not offer a
+premium to idleness, but it takes, all work out of the region of anxiety
+and toil by assuring the worker of the success of his labour, if not in the
+precise form he anticipated, then in some other still better suited to his
+requirements. But suppose, when we reach a point where some momentous
+decision has to be made, we happen to decide wrongly? On the hypothesis
+that the end is already secured you cannot decide wrongly. Your right
+decision is as much one of the necessary steps in the accomplishment of the
+end as any of the other conditions leading up to it, and therefore, while
+being careful to avoid rash action, we may make sure that the same Law
+which is controlling the rest of the circumstances in the right direction
+will influence our judgment in that direction also. To get good results we
+must properly understand our relation to the great impersonal power we are
+using. It is intelligent and we are intelligent, and the two intelligences
+must co-operate. We must not fly in the face of the Law by expecting it to
+do _for_ us what it can only do _through_ us; and we must therefore use our
+intelligence with the knowledge that it is acting _as the instrument of a
+greater intelligence_; and because we have this knowledge we may, and
+should, cease from all anxiety as to the final result. In actual practice
+we must first form the ideal conception of our object with the definite
+intention of impressing it upon the universal mind--it is this intention
+which takes such thought out of the region of mere casual fancies--and then
+affirm that our knowledge of the Law is sufficient reason for a calm
+expectation of a corresponding result, and that therefore all necessary
+conditions will come to us in due order. We can then turn to the affairs of
+our daily life with the calm assurance that the initial conditions are
+either there already or will soon come into view. If we do not at once see
+them, let us rest content with the knowledge that the spiritual prototype
+is already in existence and wait till some circumstance pointing in the
+desired direction begins to show itself. It may be a very small
+circumstance, but it is the direction and not the magnitude which is to be
+taken into consideration. As soon as we see it we should regard it as the
+first sprouting of the seed we have sown in the Absolute, and do calmly,
+and without excitement, whatever the circumstances may seem to require, and
+then later on we shall see that this doing will in turn lead to further
+circumstances in the same direction until we find ourselves conducted step
+by step to the accomplishment of our object. In this way the understanding
+of the great principle of the Law of Supply will, by repeated experiences,
+deliver us more and more completely out of the region of anxious thought
+and toilsome labour and bring us into a new world where the useful
+employment of all our powers, whether mental or physical, will only be an
+unfolding of our individuality upon the lines of its own nature, and
+therefore a perpetual source of health and happiness; a sufficient
+inducement, surely, to the careful study of the laws governing the relation
+between the individual and the Universal Mind.
+
+
+
+
+X.
+
+INTUITION.
+
+
+We have seen that the subjective mind is amenable to suggestion by the
+objective mind; but there is also an action of the subjective mind upon the
+objective. The individual's subjective mind is his own innermost self, and
+its first care is the maintenance of the individuality of which it is the
+foundation; and since it is pure spirit it has its continual existence in
+that plane of being where all things subsist in the universal here and the
+everlasting now, and consequently can, inform the lower mind of things
+removed from its ken either by distance or futurity. As the absence of the
+conditions of time and space must logically concentrate all things into a
+present focus, we can assign no limit to the subjective mind's power of
+perception, and therefore the question arises, why does it not keep the
+objective mind continually informed on all points? And the answer is that
+it would do so if the objective mind were sufficiently trained to recognize
+the indications given, and to effect this training is one of the purposes
+of Mental Science. When once we recognize the position of the subjective
+mind as the supporter of the whole individuality we cannot doubt that much
+of what we take to be the spontaneous movement of the objective mind has
+its origin in the subjective mind prompting the objective mind in the right
+direction without our being consciously aware of it. But at times when the
+urgency of the case seems to demand it, or when, for some reason yet
+unknown, the objective mind is for a while more closely _en rapport_ with
+the subjective mind, the interior voice is heard strongly and persistently;
+and when this is the case we do well to pay heed to it. Want of space
+forbids me to give examples, but doubtless such will not be wanting in the
+reader's experience.
+
+The importance of understanding and following the intuition cannot be
+exaggerated, but I candidly admit the great practical difficulty of keeping
+the happy mean between the disregard of the interior voice and allowing
+ourselves to be run away with by groundless fancies. The best guide is the
+knowledge that comes of personal experience which gradually leads to the
+acquisition of a sort of inward sense of touch that enables us to
+distinguish the true from the false, and which appears to grow with the
+sincere desire for truth and with the recognition of the spirit as its
+source. The only general principles the writer can deduce from his own
+experience are that when, in spite of all appearances pointing in the
+direction of a certain line of conduct, there is still a persistent
+_feeling_ that it should not be followed, in the majority of instances it
+will be found that the argument of the objective mind, however correct on
+the facts objectively known, was deficient from ignorance of facts which
+could not be objectively known at the time, but which were known to the
+intuitive faculty. Another principle is that our _very first_ impression
+of feeling on any subject is generally correct. Before the objective mind
+has begun to argue on the subject it is like the surface of a smooth lake
+which clearly reflects the light from above; but as soon as it begins to
+argue from outside appearances these also throw their reflections upon its
+surface, so that the original image becomes blurred and is no longer
+recognizable. This first conception is very speedily lost, and it should
+therefore be carefully observed and registered in the memory with a view to
+testing the various arguments which will subsequently arise on the
+objective plane. It is however impossible to reduce so interior an action
+as that of the intuition to the form of hard and fast rules, and beyond
+carefully noting particular cases as they occur, probably the best plan for
+the student will be to include the whole subject of intuition in the
+general principle of the Law of Attraction, especially if he sees how this
+law interacts with that personal quality of universal spirit of which we
+have already spoken.
+
+
+
+
+XI.
+
+HEALING.
+
+
+The subject of healing has been elaborately treated by many writers and
+fully deserves all the attention that has been given to it, but the object
+of these lectures is rather to ground the student in those general
+principles on which _all_ conscious use of the creative power of thought is
+based, than to lay down formal rules for specific applications of it. I
+will therefore examine the broad principles which appear to be common to
+the various methods of mental healing which are in use, each of which
+derives its efficacy, not from the peculiarity of the method, but from it
+being such a method as allows the higher laws of Nature to come into play.
+Now the principle universally laid down by all mental healers, in whatever
+various terms they may explain it, is that the basis of all healing is a
+change in belief. The sequence from which this results is as follows:--the
+subjective mind is the creative faculty within us, and creates whatever the
+objective mind impresses upon it; the objective mind, or intellect,
+impresses its thought upon it; the thought is the expression of the belief;
+hence whatever the subjective mind creates is the reproduction externally
+of our beliefs. Accordingly our whole object is to change our beliefs, and
+we cannot do this without some solid ground of conviction of the falsity of
+our old beliefs and of the truth of our new ones, and this ground we find
+in that law of causation which I have endeavoured to explain. The wrong
+belief which externalizes as sickness is the belief that some secondary
+cause, which is really only a condition, is a primary cause. The knowledge
+of the law shows that there is only _one_ primary cause, and this is the
+factor which in our own individuality we call subjective or sub-conscious
+mind. For this reason I have insisted on the difference between placing an
+idea in the sub-conscious mind, that is, on the plane of the absolute and
+without reference to time and space, and placing the same idea in the
+conscious intellectual mind which only perceives things as related to time
+and space. Now the only conception you can have of_ yourself_ in the
+absolute, or unconditioned, is as _purely living Spirit_, not hampered by
+conditions of any sort, and therefore not subject to illness; and when this
+idea is firmly impressed on the sub-conscious mind, it will externalize it.
+The reason why this process is not always successful at the first attempt
+is that all our life we have been holding the false belief in sickness as a
+substantial entity in itself and thus being a primary cause, instead of
+being merely a negative _condition_ resulting from the _obsence_ of a
+primary cause; and a belief which has become ingrained from childhood
+cannot be eradicated at a moment's notice. We often find, therefore, that
+for some time after a treatment there is an improvement in the patient's
+health, and then the old symptoms return. This is because the new belief in
+his own creative faculty has not yet had time to penetrate down to the
+innermost depths of the subconscious mind, but has only partially entered
+it. Each succeeding treatment strengthens the sub-conscious mind in its
+hold of the new belief until at last a permanent cure is effected. This is
+the method of self-treatment based on the patient's own knowledge of the
+law of his being.
+
+But "there is not in all men this knowledge," or at any rate not such a
+full recognition of it as will enable them to give successful treatment to
+themselves, and in these cases the intervention of the healer becomes
+necessary. The only difference between the healer and the patient is that
+the healer has learnt how to control the less self-conscious modes of the
+spirit by the more self-conscious mode, while the patient has not yet
+attained to this knowledge; and what the healer does is to substitute his
+own objective or conscious mentality, which is will joined to intellect,
+for that of the patient, and in this way to find entrance to his
+sub-conscious mind and impress upon it the suggestion of perfect health.
+
+The question then arises, how can the healer substitute his own conscious
+mind for that of the patient? and the answer shows the practical
+application of those very abstract principles which I have laid down in the
+earlier sections. Our ordinary conception of ourselves is that of an
+individual personality which ends where another personality begins, in
+other words that the two personalities are entirely separate. This is an
+error. There is no such hard and fast line of demarcation between
+personalities, and the boundaries between one and another can be increased
+or reduced in rigidity according to will, in fact they may be temporarily
+removed so completely that, for the time being, the two personalities
+become merged into one. Now the action which takes place between healer and
+patient depends on this principle. The patient is asked by the healer to
+put himself in a receptive mental attitude, which means that he is to
+exercise his volition for the purpose of removing the barrier of his own
+objective personality and thus affording entrance to the mental power of
+the healer. On his side also the healer does the same thing, only with this
+difference, that while the patient withdraws the barrier on his side with
+the intention of admitting a flowing-in, the healer does so with the
+intention of allowing a flowing-out: and thus by the joint action of the
+two minds the barriers of both personalities are removed and the direction
+of the flow of volition is determined, that is to say, it flows from the
+healer as actively willing to give, towards the patient as passively
+willing to receive, according to the universal law of Nature that the flow
+must always be from the _plenum_ to the _vacuum_. This mutual removal of
+the external mental barrier between healer and patient is what is termed
+establishing a _rapport_ between them, and here we find one most valuable
+practical application of the principle laid down earlier in this book, that
+pure spirit is present in its entirety at every point simultaneously. It is
+for this reason that as soon as the healer realizes that the barriers of
+external personality between himself and his patient have been removed, he
+can then speak to the sub-conscious mind of the patient as though it were
+his own, for both being pure spirit the _thought_ of their identity _makes_
+them identical, and both are concentrated into a single entity at a single
+point upon which the conscious mind of the healer can be brought to bear,
+according to the universal principle of the control of the subjective mind
+by the objective mind through suggestion. It is for this reason I have
+insisted on the distinction between _pure_ spirit, or spirit conceived of
+apart from extension in any matrix and the conception of it as so extended.
+If we concentrate our mind upon the diseased condition of the patient we
+are thinking of him as a separate personality, and are not fixing our mind
+upon that conception of him as pure spirit which will afford us effectual
+entry to his springs of being. We must therefore withdraw our thought from
+the contemplation of symptoms, and indeed from his corporeal personality
+altogether, and must think of him as a purely spiritual individuality, and
+as such entirely free from subjection to any conditions, and consequently
+as voluntarily externalizing the conditions most expressive of the vitality
+and intelligence which pure spirit is. Thinking of him thus, we then make
+mental affirmation that he shall build up outwardly the correspondence of
+that perfect vitality which he knows himself to be inwardly; and this
+suggestion being impressed by the healer's conscious thought, while the
+patient's conscious thought is at the same time impressing the fact that he
+is receiving the active thought of the healer, the result is that the
+patient's sub-conscious mind becomes thoroughly imbued with the recognition
+of its own life-giving power, and according to the recognized law of
+subjective mentality proceeds to work out this suggestion into external
+manifestation, and thus health is substituted for sickness.
+
+It must be understood that the purpose of the process here described is to
+strengthen the subject's individuality, not to dominate it. To use it for
+domination is _inversion_, bringing its appropriate penalty to the
+operator.
+
+In this description I have contemplated the case where the patient is
+consciously co-operating with the healer, and it is in order to obtain this
+co-operation that the mental healer usually makes a point of instructing
+the patient in the broad principles of Mental Science, if he is not already
+acquainted with them. But this is not always advisable or possible.
+Sometimes the statement of principles opposed to existing prejudices
+arouses opposition, and any active antagonism on the patient's part must
+tend to intensify the barrier of conscious personality which it is the
+healer's first object to remove. In these cases nothing is so effective as
+_absent treatment_. If the student has grasped all that has been said on
+the subject of spirit and matter, he will see that in mental treatment time
+and space count for nothing, because the whole action takes place on a
+plane where these conditions do not obtain; and it is therefore quite
+immaterial whether the patient be in the immediate presence of the healer
+or in a distant country. Under these circumstances it is found by
+experience that one of the most effectual modes of mental healing is by
+treatment during sleep, because then the patient's whole system is
+naturally in a state of relaxation which prevents him offering any
+conscious opposition to the treatment. And by the same rule the healer also
+is able to treat even more effectively during his own sleep than while
+waking. Before going to sleep he firmly impresses on his subjective mind
+that it is to convey curative suggestion to the subjective mind of the
+patient, and then, by the general principles of the relation between
+subjective and objective mind this suggestion is carried out during all the
+hours that the conscious individuality is wrapped in repose. This method is
+applicable to young children to whom the principles of the science cannot
+be explained; and also to persons at a distance: and indeed the only
+advantage gained by the personal meeting of the patient and healer is in
+the instruction that can be orally given, or when the patient is at that
+early stage of knowledge where the healer's visible presence conveys the
+suggestion that something is then being done which could not be done in his
+absence; otherwise the presence or absence of the patient are matters
+perfectly indifferent. The student must always recollect that the sub-
+conscious mind does not have to work _through_ the intellect or conscious
+mind to produce its curative effects. It is part of the all-pervading
+creative force of Nature, while the intellect is not creative but
+distributive.
+
+From mental healing it is but a step to telepathy, clairvoyance and other,
+kindred manifestations of transcendental power which, are from time to time
+exhibited by the subjective entity and which follow laws as accurate as
+those which govern what we are accustomed to consider our more normal
+faculties; but these subjects do not properly fall within the scope of a
+book whose purpose is to lay down the broad principles which underlie _all_
+spiritual phenomena. Until these are clearly understood the student cannot
+profitably attempt the detailed study of the more interior powers; for to
+do so without a firm foundation of knowledge and some experience in its
+practical application would only be to expose himself to unknown dangers,
+and would be contrary to the scientific principle that the advance into the
+unknown can only be made from the standpoint of the known, otherwise we
+only come into a confused region of guess-work without any clearly defined
+principles for our guidance.
+
+
+
+
+XII.
+
+THE WILL.
+
+
+The Will is of such primary importance that the student should be on his
+guard against any mistake as to the position which it holds in the mental
+economy. Many writers and teachers insist on will-power as though that were
+the creative faculty. No doubt intense will-power can evolve certain
+external results, but like all other methods of compulsion it lacks the
+permanency of natural growth. The appearances, forms, and conditions
+produced by mere intensity of will-power will only hang together so long as
+the compelling force continues; but let it be exhausted or withdrawn, and
+the elements thus forced into unnatural combination will at once fly back
+to their proper affinities; the form created by compulsion never had the
+germ of vitality _in itself_ and is therefore dissipated as soon as the
+external energy which supported it is withdrawn. The mistake is in
+attributing the creative power to the will, or perhaps I should say in
+attributing the creative power to ourselves at all. The truth is that man
+never creates anything. His function is, not to create, but to combine and
+distribute that which is already in being, and what we call our creations
+are new combinations of already existing material, whether mental or
+corporeal. This is amply demonstrated in the physical sciences. No one
+speaks of creating energy, but only of transforming one form of energy into
+another; and if we realize this as a universal principle, we shall see that
+on the mental plane as well as on the physical we never create energy but
+only provide the conditions by which the energy already existing in one
+mode can exhibit itself in another: therefore what, relatively to man, we
+call his creative power, is that receptive attitude of expectancy which, so
+to say, makes a mould into which the plastic and as yet undifferentiated
+substance can flow and take the desired form. The will has much the same
+place in our mental machinery that the tool-holder has in a power-lathe: it
+is not the power, but it keeps the mental faculties in that position
+relatively to the power which enables it to do the desired work. If, using
+the word in its widest sense, we may say that the imagination is the
+creative function, we may call the will the centralizing principle. Its
+function is to keep the imagination centred in the right direction. We are
+aiming at consciously controlling our mental powers instead of letting them
+hurry us hither and thither in a purposeless manner, and we must therefore
+understand the relation of these powers to each other for the production of
+external results. First the whole train of causation is started by some
+emotion which gives rise to a desire; next the judgment determines whether
+we shall externalize this desire or not; then the desire having been
+approved by the judgment, the will comes forward and directs the
+imagination to form the necessary spiritual prototype; and the imagination
+thus centred on a particular object creates the spiritual nucleus, which in
+its turn acts as a centre round which the forces of attraction begin to
+work, and continue to operate until, by the law of growth, the concrete
+result becomes perceptible to our external senses.
+
+The business of the will, then, is to retain the various faculties of our
+mind in that position where they are really doing the work we wish, and
+this position may be generalized into the three following attitudes; either
+we wish to act upon something, or be acted on by it, or to maintain a
+neutral position; in other words we either intend to project a force, or
+receive a force or keep a position of inactivity relatively to some
+particular object. Now the judgment determines which of these three
+positions we shall take up, the consciously active, the consciously
+receptive, or the consciously neutral; and then the function of the will is
+simply to maintain the position we have determined upon; and if we maintain
+any given mental attitude we may reckon with all certainty on the law of
+attraction drawing us to those correspondences which exteriorly symbolize
+the attitude in question. This is very different from the semi-animal
+screwing-up of the nervous forces which, with some people, stands for
+will-power. It implies no strain on the nervous system and is consequently
+not followed by any sense of exhaustion. The will-power, when transferred
+from the region of the lower mentality to the spiritual plane, becomes
+simply a calm and peaceful determination to retain a certain mental
+attitude in spite of all temptations to the contrary, knowing that by doing
+so the desired result will certainly appear.
+
+The training of the will and its transference from the lower to the higher
+plane of our nature are among the first objects of Mental Science. The man
+is summed up in his will. Whatever he does by his own will is his own act;
+whatever he does without the consent of his will is not his own act but
+that of the power by which his will was coerced; but we must recognize
+that, on the mental plane, no other individuality can obtain control over
+our will unless we first allow it to do so; and it is for this reason that
+all legitimate use of Mental Science is towards the strengthening of the
+will, whether in ourselves or others, and bringing it under the control of
+an enlightened reason. When the will realizes its power to deal with first
+cause it is no longer necessary for the operator to state to himself _in
+extenso_ all the philosophy of its action every time he wishes to use it,
+but, knowing that the trained will is a tremendous spiritual force acting
+on the plane of first cause, he simply expresses his desire with the
+intention of operating on that plane, and knows that the desire thus
+expressed will in due time externalize itself as concrete fact. He now sees
+that the point which really demands his earnest attention is not whether he
+possesses the power of externalizing any results he chooses, but of
+learning to choose wisely what results to produce. For let us not suppose
+that even the highest powers will take us out of the law of cause and
+effect. We can never set any cause in motion without calling forth those
+effects which it already contains in embryo and which will again become
+causes in their turn, thus producing a series which must continue to flow
+on until it is cut short by bringing into operation a cause of an opposite
+character to the one which originated it. Thus we shall find the field for
+the exercise of our intelligence continually expanding with the expansion
+of our powers; for, granted a good intention, we shall always wish to
+contemplate the results of our action as far as our intelligence will
+permit. We may not be able to see very far, but there is one safe general
+principle to be gained from what has already been said about causes and
+conditions, which is that the whole sequence always partakes of the same
+character as the initial cause: if that character is negative, that is,
+destitute of any desire to externalize kindness, cheerfulness, strength,
+beauty or some other sort of good, this negative quality will make itself
+felt all down the line; but if the opposite affirmative character is in the
+original motive, then it will reproduce its kind in forms of love, joy,
+strength and beauty with unerring precision. Before setting out, therefore,
+to produce new conditions by the exercise of our thought-power we should
+weigh carefully what further results they are likely to lead to; and here,
+again, we shall find an ample field for the training of our will, in
+learning to acquire that self-control which will enable us to postpone an
+inferior present satisfaction to a greater prospective good.
+
+These considerations naturally lead us to the subject of concentration. I
+have just now pointed out that all duly controlled mental action consists
+in holding the mind in one of three attitudes; but there is a fourth mental
+condition, which is that of letting our mental functions run on without our
+will directing them to any definite purpose. It is on this word _purpose_
+that we must fix our whole attention; and instead of dissipating our
+energies, we must follow an intelligent method of concentration. The, word
+means being gathered up at a centre, and the centre of anything is that
+point in which all its forces are equally balanced. To concentrate
+therefore means first to bring our minds into a condition of equilibrium
+which will enable us to consciously direct the flow of spirit to a
+definitely recognized purpose, and then carefully to guard our thoughts
+from inducing a flow in the opposite direction. We must always bear in mind
+that we are dealing with a wonderful _potential_ energy which is not yet
+differentiated into any particular mode, and that by the action of our mind
+we can differentiate it into any specific mode of activity that we will;
+and by keeping our thought fixed on the fact that the inflow of this energy
+_is_ taking place and that by our mental attitude we _are_ determining its
+direction, we shall gradually realize a corresponding externalization.
+Proper concentration, therefore, does not consist of strenuous effort which
+exhausts the nervous system and defeats its own object by suggesting the
+consciousness of an adverse force to be fought against, and thus creating
+the adverse circumstances we dread; but in shutting out all thoughts of a
+kind that would disperse the spiritual nucleus we are forming and dwelling
+cheerfully on the knowledge that, because the law is certain in its action,
+our desire is certain of accomplishment. The other great principle to be
+remembered is that concentration is for the purpose of determining the
+_quality_ we are going to give to the previously undifferentiated energy
+rather than to arrange the _specific circumstances_ of its manifestation.
+_That_ is the work of the creative energy itself, which will build up its
+own forms of expression quite naturally if we allow it, thus saving us a
+great deal of needless anxiety. What we really want is expansion in a
+certain direction, whether of health, wealth, or what not: and so long as
+we get this, what does it matter whether it reaches us through some channel
+which we thought we could reckon upon or through some other whose existence
+we had not suspected. It is the fact that we are concentrating energy of a
+particular kind for a particular purpose that we should fix our minds upon,
+and not look upon any specific details as essential to the accomplishment
+of our object.
+
+These are the two golden rules regarding concentration; but we must not
+suppose that because we have to be on our guard against idle drifting there
+is to be no such thing as repose; on the contrary it is during periods of
+repose that we accumulate strength for action; but repose does not mean a
+state of purposelessness. As pure spirit the subjective mind never rests:
+it is only the objective mind in its connection with the physical body that
+needs rest; and though there are no doubt times when the greatest possible
+rest is to be obtained by stopping the action, of our conscious thought
+altogether, the more generally advisable method is by changing the
+direction of the thought and, instead of centering it upon something we
+intend to _do_, letting it dwell quietly upon what we _are_. This direction
+of thought might, of course, develop into the deepest philosophical
+speculation, but it is not necessary that we should be always either
+consciously projecting our forces to produce some external effect or
+working out the details of some metaphysical problem; but we may simply
+realize ourselves as part of the universal livingness and thus gain a quiet
+centralization, which, though maintained by a conscious act of the
+volition, is the very essence of rest. From this standpoint we see that all
+is Life and all is Good, and that Nature, from her clearly visible surface
+to her most arcane depths, is one vast storehouse of life and good entirely
+devoted to our individual use. We have the key to all her treasures, and we
+can now apply our knowledge of the law of being without entering into all
+those details which are only needed for purposes of study, and doing so we
+find it results in our having acquired the consciousness of our _oneness
+with the whole_. This is the great secret: and when we have once fathomed
+it we can enjoy our possession of the whole, or of any part of it, because
+by our recognition we have made it, and can increasingly make it, our own.
+Whatever most appeals to us at any particular time or place is that mode of
+the universal living spirit with which at that moment we are most in touch,
+and realizing this, we shall draw from it streams of vital energy which
+will make the very sensation of livingness a joy and will radiate from us
+as a sphere of vibration that can deflect all injurious suggestion on
+whatever plane. We may not have literary, artistic, or scientific skill to
+present to others the results of our communings with Nature, but the joy of
+this sympathetic indrawing will nevertheless produce a corresponding
+outflow manifesting itself in the happier look and kindlier mien of him who
+thus realizes his oneness with every aspect of the whole. He realizes--and
+this is the great point in that attitude of mind which is not directed to
+any specific external object--that, for himself, he is, and always must be
+the centre of all this galaxy of Life, and thus he contemplates himself as
+seated at the centre of infinitude, not an infinitude of blank space, but
+pulsating with living being, in all of which he knows that the true essence
+is nothing but good. This is the very opposite to a selfish
+self-centredness; it, is the centre where we find that we both receive from
+all and flow out to all. Apart from this principle of circulation there is
+no true life, and if we contemplate our central position only as affording
+us greater advantages for in-taking, we have missed the whole point of our
+studies by missing the real nature of the Life-principle, which is action
+and re-action. If we would have life enter into us, we ourselves must enter
+into life--enter into the spirit of it, just as we must enter into the
+spirit of a book or a game to enjoy it. There can be no action at a centre
+only. There must be a perpetual flowing out towards the circumference, and
+thence back again to the centre to maintain a vital activity; otherwise
+collapse must ensue either from anaemia or congestion. But if we realize
+the reciprocal nature of the vital pulsation, and that the outflowing
+consists in the habit of mind which gives itself to the good it sees in
+others, rather than in any specific actions, then we shall find that the
+cultivation of this disposition will provide innumerable avenues for the
+universal livingness to flow through us, whether as giving or receiving,
+which we had never before suspected: and this action and re-action will so
+build up our own vitality that each day will find us more thoroughly alive
+than any that had preceded it. This, then, is the attitude of repose in
+which we may enjoy all the beauties of science, literature and art or may
+peacefully commune with the spirit of nature without the aid of any third
+mind to act as its interpreter, which is still a purposeful attitude
+although not directed to a specific object: we have not allowed the will to
+relax its control, but have merely altered its direction; so that for
+action and repose alike we find that our strength lies in our recognition
+of the unity of the spirit and of ourselves as individual concentrations of
+it.
+
+
+
+
+XIII.
+
+IN TOUCH WITH SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND.
+
+
+The preceding pages have made the student in some measure aware of the
+immense importance of our dealings with the sub-conscious mind. Our
+relation to it, whether on the scale of the individual or the universal, is
+the key to all that we are or ever can be. In its unrecognized working it
+is the spring of all that we can call the automatic action of mind and
+body, and on the universal scale it is the silent power of evolution
+gradually working onwards to that "divine event, to which the whole
+creation moves"; and by our conscious recognition of it we make it,
+relatively to ourselves, all that we believe it to be. The closer our
+_rapport_ with it becomes, the more what we have hitherto considered
+automatic action, whether in our bodies or our circumstances, will pass
+under our control, until at last we shall control our whole individual
+world. Since, then, this is the stupendous issue involved, the question how
+we are to put ourselves practically in touch with the sub-conscious mind is
+a very important one. Now the clue which gives us the right direction is to
+be found in the _impersonal_ quality of sub-conscious mind of which I have
+spoken. Not impersonal as lacking the _elements_ of personality; nor even,
+in the case of individual subjective mind, as lacking the sense of
+individuality; but impersonal in the sense of not recognizing the
+particular external relations which appear to the objective mind to
+constitute its personality, and having a realization of itself quite
+independent of them. If, then, we would come in touch with it we must meet
+it on its own ground. It can see things only from the deductive standpoint,
+and therefore cannot take note of the inductive standpoint from which we
+construct the idea of our external personality; and accordingly if we would
+put ourselves in touch with it, we cannot do so by bringing it down to the
+level of the external and non-essential but only by rising to its own level
+on the plane of the interior and essential. How can this be done? Let two
+well-known writers answer. Rudyard Kipling tells us in his story of "Kim"
+how the boy used at times to lose his sense of personality by repeating to
+himself the question, _Who_ is Kim? Gradually his personality would seem to
+fade and he would experience a feeling of passing into a grander and a
+wider life, in which the boy Kim was unknown, while his own conscious
+individuality remained, only exalted and expanded to an inconceivable
+extent; and in Tennyson's life by his son we are told that at times the
+poet had a similar experience. We come into touch with the absolute exactly
+in proportion as we withdraw ourselves from the relative: they vary
+inversely to each other.
+
+For the purpose, then, of getting into touch with our sub-conscious mind we
+must endeavour to think of ourselves as pure being, as that entity which
+interiorly supports the outward manifestation, and doing so we shall
+realize that the essential quality of pure being must be good. It is in
+itself _pure Life_, and as such cannot desire anything detrimental to pure
+Life under whatever form manifested. Consequently the purer our intentions
+the more readily we shall place ourself _en rapport_ with our subjective
+entity; and _a fortiori_ the same applies to that Greater Sub-conscious
+Mind of which our individual subjective mind is a particular manifestation.
+In actual practice the process consists in first forming a clear conception
+in the objective mind of the idea we wish to convey to the subjective mind:
+then, when this has been firmly grasped, endeavour to lose sight of all
+other facts connected with the external personality except the one in
+question, and then mentally address the subjective mind as though it were
+an independent entity and impress upon it what you want it to do or to
+believe. Everyone must formulate his own way of working, but one method,
+which is both simple and effective is to say to the subjective mind, "This
+is what I want you to do; you will now step into my place and do it,
+bringing all your powers and intelligence to bear, and considering yourself
+to be none other than myself." Having done this return to the realization
+of your own objective personality and leave the subjective mind to perform
+its task in full confidence that, by the law of its nature, it will do so
+if not hindered by a repetition of contrary messages from the objective
+mind. This is not a mere fancy but a truth daily proved by the experience
+of increasing numbers. The facts have not been fabricated to fit the
+theory, but the theory has been built up by careful observation of the
+facts; and since it has been shown both by theory and practice that such is
+the law of the relation between subjective and objective mind, we find
+ourselves face to face with a very momentous question. Is there any reason
+why the laws which hold good of the individual subjective mind should not
+hold good of the Universal Mind also? and the answer is that there is not.
+As has been already shown the Universal Mind must, by its very
+universality, be purely subjective, and what is the law of a part must also
+be the law of the whole: the qualities of fire are the same whether the
+centres of combustion be great or small, and therefore we may well conclude
+these lectures by considering what will be the result if we apply what we
+have learnt regarding the individual subjective mind to the Universal Mind.
+
+We have learnt that the three great facts regarding subjective mind are its
+creative power, its amenableness to suggestion, and its inability to work
+by any other than the deductive method. This last is an exceedingly
+important point, for it implies that the action of the subjective mind is
+in no way limited by precedent. The inductive method works on principles
+inferred from an already existing pattern, and therefore at the best only
+produces the old thing in a new shape. But the deductive method works
+according to the essence or spirit of the principle, and does not depend on
+any previous concrete manifestation for its apprehension of it; and this
+latter method of working must necessarily be that of the all-originating
+Mind, for since there could be no prior existing pattern from which it
+could learn the principles of construction, the want of a pattern would
+have prevented its creating anything had its method been inductive instead
+of deductive. Thus by the necessity of the case the Universal Mind must act
+deductively, that is, according to the law which has been found true of
+individual subjective mind. It is thus not bound by any precedent, which
+means that its creative power is absolutely unlimited; and since it is
+essentially subjective mind, and not objective mind, it is entirely
+amenable to suggestion. Now it is an unavoidable inference from the
+identity of the law governing subjective mind, whether in the individual or
+the universal, that just as we can by suggestion impress a certain
+character of personality upon the individual subjective mind, so we can,
+and do, upon the Universal Mind; and it is for this reason that I have
+drawn attention to the inherent personal _quality_ of pure spirit when
+contemplated in its most interior plane. It becomes, therefore, the most
+important of all considerations with what character we invest the Universal
+Mind; for since our relation to it is _purely subjective_ it will
+infallibly bear _to us_ exactly that character which we impress upon it; in
+other words it will be to us exactly what we believe it to be. This is
+simply a logical inference from the fact that, as subjective mind, our
+primary relation to it can only be on the subjective plane, and indirectly
+our objective relations must also spring from the same source. This is the
+meaning of that remarkable passage twice repeated in the Bible, "With, the
+pure thou wilt show thyself pure, and with the froward thou wilt show
+thyself froward." (Ps. xviii., 26, and II. Sam. xxii., 27), for the context
+makes it clear that these words are addressed to the Divine Being. The
+spiritual kingdom is _within_ us, and as we realize it _there_ so it
+becomes to us a reality. It is the unvarying law of the subjective life
+that "as a man thinketh in his heart so is he," that is to say, his inward
+subjective states are the only true reality, and what we call external
+realities are only their objective correspondences. If we thoroughly
+realize the truth that the Universal Mind must be to us exactly according
+to our conception of it, and that this relation is not merely imaginary but
+by the law of subjective mind must be to us an actual fact and the
+foundation of all other facts, then it is impossible to over-estimate the
+importance of the conception of the Universal Mind which we adopt. To the
+uninstructed there is little or no choice: they form a conception in
+accordance with the tradition they have received from others, and until
+they have learnt to think for themselves, they have to abide by the results
+of that tradition: for natural laws admit of no exceptions, and however
+faulty the traditional idea may be, its acceptance will involve a
+corresponding reaction upon the Universal Mind, which will in turn be
+reflected into the conscious mind and external life of the individual. But
+those who understand the law of the subject will have no one but themselves
+to blame if they do not derive all possible benefits from it. The greatest
+Teacher of Mental Science the world has ever seen has laid down
+sufficiently plain rules for our guidance. With a knowledge of the subject
+whose depth can be appreciated only by those who have themselves some
+practical acquaintance with it, He bids His unlearned audiences, those
+common people who heard Him gladly, picture to themselves the Universal
+Mind as a benign Father, tenderly compassionate of all and sending the
+common bounties of Nature alike on the evil and the good; but He also
+pictured It as exercising a special and peculiar care over those who
+recognize Its willingness to do so:--"the very hairs of your head are all
+numbered," and "ye are of more value than many sparrows." Prayer was to be
+made to the unseen Being, not with doubt or fear, but with the absolute
+assurance of a certain answer, and no limit was to be set to its power or
+willingness to work for us. But to those who did not thus realize it, the
+Great Mind is necessarily the adversary who casts them into prison until
+they have paid the uttermost farthing; and thus in all cases the Master
+impressed upon his hearers the exact correspondence of the attitude of this
+unseen Power towards _them_ with their own attitude towards _it_. Such
+teaching was not a narrow anthropomorphism but the adaptation to the
+intellectual capacity of the unlettered multitude of the very deepest
+truths of what we now call Mental Science. And the basis of it all is the
+cryptic personality of spirit hidden throughout the infinite of Nature
+under every form of manifestation. As unalloyed Life and Intelligence it
+_can_ be no other than good, it can entertain no intention of evil, and
+thus all intentional evil must put us in opposition to it, and so deprive
+us of the consciousness of its guidance and strengthening and thus leave us
+to grope our own way and fight our own battle single-handed against the
+universe, odds which at last will surely prove too great for us. But
+remember that the opposition can never be on the part of the Universal
+Mind, for in itself it is sub-conscious mind; and to suppose any active
+opposition taken on its own initiative would be contrary to all we have
+learnt as to the nature of sub-conscious mind whether in the individual or
+the universal; the position of the Universal Mind towards us is always the
+reflection of our own attitude. Therefore although the Bible is full of
+threatening against those who persist in conscious opposition to the Divine
+Law of Good, it is on the other hand full of promises of immediate and full
+forgiveness to all who change, their attitude and desire to co-operate with
+the Law of Good so far as they know it. The laws of Nature do not act
+vindictively; and through all theological formularies and traditional
+interpretations let us realize that what we are dealing with is the supreme
+law of our own being; and it is on the basis of this natural law that we
+find such declarations as that in Ezek. xviii., 22, which tells that if we
+forsake our evil ways our past transgressions shall never again be
+mentioned to us. We are dealing with the great principles of our subjective
+being, and our misuse of them in the past can never make them change their
+inherent law of action. If our method of using them in the past has brought
+us sorrow, fear and trouble, we have only to fall back on the law that if
+we reverse the cause the effects will be reversed also; and so what we have
+to do is simply to reverse our mental attitude and then endeavour to act up
+to the new one. The sincere endeavour to act up to our new mental attitude
+is essential, for we cannot really think in one way and act in another; but
+our repeated failures to fully act as we would wish must not discourage us.
+It is the sincere intention that is the essential thing, and this will in
+time release us from the bondage of habits which at present seem almost
+insuperable.
+
+The initial step, then, consists in determining to picture the Universal
+Mind as the ideal of all we could wish it to be both to ourselves and to
+others, together with the endeavour to reproduce this ideal, however
+imperfectly, in our own life; and this step having been taken, we can then
+cheerfully look upon it as our ever-present Friend, providing all good,
+guarding from all danger, and guiding us with all counsel. Gradually as the
+habit of thus regarding the Universal Mind grows upon us, we shall find
+that in accordance with the laws we have been considering, it will become
+more and more _personal_ to us, and in response to our desire its inherent
+intelligence will make itself more and more clearly perceptible within as a
+power of perceiving truth far beyond any statement of it that we could
+formulate by merely intellectual investigation. Similarly if we think of it
+as a great power devoted to supplying all our needs, we shall impress this
+character also upon it, and by the law of subjective mind it will proceed
+to enact the part of that special providence which we have credited it with
+being; and if, beyond the general care of our concerns, we would draw to
+ourselves some particular benefit, the same rule holds good of impressing
+our desire upon the Universal Subjective Mind. And if we realize that above
+and beyond all this we want something still greater and more enduring, the
+building-up of character and unfolding of our powers so that we may expand
+into fuller and yet fuller measures of joyous and joy-giving Life, still
+the same rule holds good: convey to the Universal Mind the suggestion of
+the desire, and by the law of relation between subjective and objective
+mind this too will be fulfilled. And thus the deepest problems of
+philosophy bring us back to the old statement of the Law:--Ask and ye shall
+receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.
+This is the summing-up of the natural law of the relation between us and
+the Divine Mind. It is thus no vain boast that Mental Science can enable us
+to make our lives what we will. We must start from where we are now, and by
+rightly estimating our relation to the Divine Universal Mind we can
+gradually grow into any conditions we desire, provided we first make
+ourselves in habitual mental attitude the person who corresponds to those
+conditions: for we can never get over the law of correspondence, and the
+externalization will always be in accord with the internal principle that
+gives rise to it. And to this law there is no limit. What it can do for us
+to-day it can do to-morrow, and through all that procession of to-morrows
+that loses itself in the dim vistas of eternity. Belief in limitation is
+the one and only thing that causes limitation, because we thus impress
+limitation upon the creative principle; and in proportion as we lay that
+belief aside our boundaries will expand, and increasing life and more
+abundant blessing will be ours.
+
+But we must not ignore our responsibilities. Trained thought is far more
+powerful than untrained, and therefore the more deeply we penetrate into
+Mental Science the more carefully we must guard against all thoughts and
+words expressive of even the most modified form of ill-will. Gossip,
+tale-bearing, sneering laughter, are not in accord with the principles of
+Mental Science; and similarly even our smallest thoughts of good carry with
+them a seed of good which will assuredly bear fruit in due time. This is
+not mere "goodie, goodie," but an important lesson in Mental Science, for
+our subjective mind takes its colour from our settled mental habits, and an
+occasional affirmation or denial will not be sufficient to change it; and
+we must therefore cultivate that tone which we wish to see reproduced in
+our conditions whether of body, mind, or circumstance.
+
+In these lectures my purpose has been, not so much to give specific rules
+of practice as to lay down the broad general principles of Mental Science
+which will enable the student to form rules for himself. In every walk in
+life, book knowledge is only a means to an end. Books can only direct us
+where to look and what to look for, but we must do the finding _for
+ourselves;_ therefore, if you have really grasped the principles of the
+science, you will frame rules of your own which will give you better
+results than any attempt to follow somebody else's method, which was
+successful in their hands precisely because it was theirs. Never fear to be
+yourself. If Mental Science does not teach you to be yourself it teaches
+you nothing. Yourself, more yourself, and yet more yourself is what you
+want; only with the knowledge that the true self includes the inner and
+higher self which is always in immediate touch with the Great Divine Mind.
+
+As Walt Whitman says:--"You are not all included between your hat and your
+boots."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_The growing popularity of the Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science has led
+me to add to the present edition three more sections on Body, Soul, and
+Spirit, which it is hoped will prove useful by rendering the principles of
+the interaction of these three factors somewhat clearer_.
+
+
+
+
+XIV.
+
+THE BODY.
+
+
+Some students find it difficult to realize that mental action can produce
+any real effect upon material substance; but if this is not possible there
+is no such thing as Mental Science, the purpose of which is to produce
+improved conditions both of body and environment, so that the ultimate
+manifestation aimed at is always one of demonstration upon the plane of the
+visible and concrete. Therefore to afford conviction of an actual
+connection between the visible and the invisible, between the inner and the
+outer, is one of the most important points in the course of our studies.
+
+That such a connection must exist is proved by metaphysical argument in
+answer to the question, "How did anything ever come into existence at all?"
+And the whole creation, ourselves included, stands as evidence to this
+great truth. But to many minds merely abstract argument is not completely
+convincing, or at any rate it becomes more convincing if it is supported by
+something of a more concrete nature; and for such readers I would give a
+few hints as to the correspondence between the physical and the mental. The
+subject covers a very wide area, and the limited space at my disposal will
+only allow me to touch on a few suggestive points, still these may be
+sufficient to show that the abstract argument has some corresponding facts
+at the back of it.
+
+One of the most convincing proofs I have seen is that afforded by the
+"biometre," a little instrument invented by an eminent French scientist,
+the late Dr. Hippolyte Baraduc, which shows the action of what he calls the
+"vital current." His theory is that this force, whatever its actual nature
+may be, is universally present, and operates as a current of physical
+vitality perpetually, flowing with more or less energy through every
+physical organism, and which can, at any rate to some extent, be controlled
+by the power of the human will. The theory in all its minutiae is
+exceedingly elaborate, and has been described in detail in Dr. Baraduc's
+published works. In a conversation I had with him about a year ago, he told
+me he was writing another book which would throw further light on the
+subject, but a few months later he passed over before it was presented to
+the world. The fact, however, which I wish to put before the reader, is the
+ocular demonstration of the connection between mind and matter, which an
+experiment with the biometre affords.
+
+The instrument consists of a bell glass, from the inside of which is
+suspended a copper needle by a fine silken thread. The glass stands on a
+wooden support, below which is a coil of copper wire, which, however, is
+not connected with any battery or other apparatus, and merely serves to
+condense the current. Below the needle, inside the glass, there is a
+circular card divided into degrees to mark the action of the needle. Two of
+these instruments are placed side by side, but in no way connected, and the
+experimenter then holds out the fingers of both hands to within about an
+inch of the glasses. According to the theory, the current enters at the
+left hand, circulates through the body, and passes out at the right hand,
+that is to say, there is an indrawing at the left and a giving-out at the
+right, thus agreeing with Reichenbach's experiments on the polarity of the
+human body.
+
+I must confess that, although I had read Dr. Baraduc's book, "Les
+Vibrations Humaines," I approached the instrument in a very sceptical frame
+of mind; but I was soon convinced of my error. At first, holding a mental
+attitude of entire relaxation, I found that the left-hand needle was
+attracted through twenty degrees, while the right-hand needle, the one
+affected by the out-going current, was repelled through ten degrees. After
+allowing the instrument to return to its normal equilibrium I again
+approached it with the purpose of seeing whether a change of mental
+attitude would in the least modify the flow of current. This time I assumed
+the strongest mental attitude I could with the intention of sending out a
+flow through the right hand, and the result as compared with the previous
+one was remarkable. The left-hand needle was now attracted only through ten
+degrees, while the right-hand one was deflected through something over
+thirty, thus clearly indicating the influence of the mental faculties in
+modifying the action of the current. I may mention that the experiment was
+made in the presence of two medical men who noted the movement of the
+needles.
+
+I will not here stop to discuss the question of what the actual
+constitution of this current of vital energy may be--it is sufficient for
+our present purpose that it is there, and the experiment I have described
+brings us face to face with the fact of a correspondence between our own
+mental attitude and the invisible forces of nature. Even if we say that
+this current is some form of electricity, and that the variation of its
+action is determined by changes in the polarization of the atoms of the
+body, then this change of polarity is the result of mental action; so that
+the quickening or retarding of the cosmic current is equally the result of
+the mental attitude whether we suppose our mental force to act directly
+upon the current itself or indirectly by inducing changes in the molecular
+structure of the body. Whichever hypothesis we adopt the conclusion is the
+same, namely, that the mind has power to open or close the door to
+invisible forces in such a way that the result of the mental action becomes
+apparent on the material plane.
+
+Now, investigation shows that the physical body, is a mechanism specially
+adapted for the transmutation of the inner or mental power into modes of
+external activity. We know from medical science that the whole body is
+traversed by a network of nerves which serve as the channels of
+communication between the indwelling spiritual ego, which we call mind, and
+the functions of the external organism. This nervous system is dual. One
+system, known as the Sympathetic, is the channel for all those activities
+which are not consciously directed by our volition, such as the operation
+of the digestive organs, the repair of the daily wear and tear of the
+tissues, and the like. The other system, known as the Voluntary or
+Cerebro-spinal system, is the channel through which we receive conscious
+perception from the physical senses and exercise control over the movements
+of the body. This system has its centre in the brain, while the other has
+its centre in a ganglionic mass at the back of the stomach known as the
+solar plexus, and sometimes spoken of as the abdominal brain. The cerebro-
+spinal system is the channel of our volitional or conscious mental action,
+and the sympathetic system is the channel of that mental action which
+unconsciously supports the vital functions of the body. Thus the cerebro-
+spinal system is the organ of conscious mind and the sympathetic is that of
+sub-conscious mind.
+
+But the interaction of conscious and subconscious mind requires a similar
+interaction between the corresponding systems of nerves, and one
+conspicuous connection by which this is provided is the "vagus" nerve. This
+nerve passes out of the cerebral region as a portion of the voluntary
+system, and through it we control the vocal organs; then it passes onwards
+to the thorax sending out branches to the heart and lungs; and finally,
+passing through the diaphragm, it loses the outer coating which
+distinguishes the nerves of the voluntary system and becomes identified
+with those of the sympathetic system, so forming a connecting link between
+the two and making the man physically a single entity.
+
+Similarly different areas of the brain indicate, their connection with the
+objective and subjective activities of the mind respectively, and speaking
+in a general way we may assign the frontal portion of the brain to the
+former and the posterior portion to the latter, while the intermediate
+portion partakes of the character of both.
+
+The intuitional faculty has its correspondence in this upper area of the
+brain situated between the frontal and posterior portions, and
+physiologically speaking, it is here that intuitive ideas find entrance.
+These at first are more or less unformed and generalized in character, but
+are nevertheless perceived by the conscious mind, otherwise we should not
+be aware of them at all. Then the effort of nature is to bring these ideas
+into more definite and usable shape, so the conscious mind lays hold of
+them and induces a corresponding vibratory current in the voluntary system
+of nerves, and this in turn induces a similar current in the involuntary
+system, thus handing the idea over to the subjective mind. The vibratory
+current which had first descended from the apex of the brain to the frontal
+brain and thus through the voluntary system to the solar plexus is now
+reversed and ascends from the solar plexus through the sympathetic system
+to the posterior brain, this return current indicating the action of the
+subjective mind.
+
+If we were to remove the surface portion of the apex of the brain we should
+find immediately below it the shining belt of brain substance called the
+"corpus callosum." This is the point of union between the subjective and
+objective, and as the current returns from the solar plexus to this point
+it is restored to the objective portion of the brain in a fresh form which
+it has acquired by the silent alchemy of the subjective mind. Thus the
+conception which was at first only vaguely recognized is restored to the
+objective mind in a definite and workable form, and then the objective
+mind, acting through the frontal brain--the area of comparison and
+analysis--proceeds to work upon a clearly perceived idea and to bring out
+the potentialities that are latent in it.
+
+It must of course be borne in mind that I am here speaking of the mental
+ego in that, mode of its existence with which we are most familiar, that is
+as clothed in flesh, though there may be much to say as to other modes of
+its activity. But for our daily life we have to consider ourselves as we
+are in that aspect of life, and from this point of view the physiological
+correspondence of the body to the action of the mind is an important item;
+and therefore, although we must always remember that the origin of ideas is
+purely mental, we must not forget that on the physical plane every mental
+action implies a corresponding molecular action in the brain and in the
+two-fold nervous system.
+
+If, as the old Elizabethan poet says, "the soul is form, and doth the body
+make," then it is clear that the physical organism must be a mechanical
+arrangement as specially adapted for the use of the soul's powers as a
+steam-engine is for the power of steam; and it is the recognition of this
+reciprocity between the two that is the basis of all spiritual or mental
+healing, and therefore the study of this mechanical adaptation is an
+important branch of Mental Science. Only we must not forget that it is the
+effect and not the cause.
+
+At the same time it is important to remember that such a thing as reversal
+of the relation between cause and effect is possible, just as the same
+apparatus may be made to generate mechanical power by the application of
+electricity, or to generate electricity by the application of mechanical
+power. And the importance of this principle consists in this. There is
+always a tendency for actions which were at first voluntary to become
+automatic, that is, to pass from the region of conscious mind into that of
+subconscious mind, and to acquire a permanent domicile there. Professor
+Elmer Gates, of Washington, has demonstrated this physiologically in his
+studies of brain formation. He tells us that every thought produces a
+slight molecular change in the substance of the brain, and the repetition
+of the same sort of thought causes a repetition of the same molecular
+action until at last a veritable channel is formed in the brain substance,
+which can only be eradicated by a reverse process of thought. In this way
+"grooves of thought" are very literal things, and when once established the
+vibrations of the cosmic currents flow automatically through them and thus
+react upon the mind by a process the reverse of that by which our voluntary
+and intentional in-drawing from the invisible is affected. In this way are
+formed what we call "habits," and hence the importance of controlling our
+thinking and guarding it against undesirable ideas.
+
+But on the other hand this reactionary process may be used to confirm good
+and life-giving modes of thought, so that by a knowledge of its laws we may
+enlist even the physical body itself in the building up of that perfectly
+whole personality, the attainment of which is the aim and object of our
+studies.
+
+
+
+
+XV.
+
+THE SOUL.
+
+
+Having now obtained a glimpse of the adaptation of the physical organism to
+the action of the mind we must next realize that the mind itself is an
+organism which is in like manner adapted to the action of a still higher
+power, only here the adaptation is one of mental faculty. As with other
+invisible forces all we can know of the mind is by observing what it does,
+but with this difference, that since we ourselves _are_ this mind, our
+observation is an interior observation of states of consciousness. In this
+way we recognize certain faculties of our mind, the working order of which
+I have considered at page 84; but the point to which I would now draw
+attention is that these faculties always work under the influence of
+something which stimulates them, and this stimulus may come either from
+without through the external senses, or from within by the consciousness of
+something not perceptible on the physical plane. Now the recognition of
+these interior sources of stimulus to our mental faculties, is an important
+branch of Mental Science, because the mental action thus set up works just
+as accurately through the physical correspondences as those which start
+from the recognition of external facts, and therefore the control and right
+direction of these inner perceptions is a matter of the first moment.
+
+The faculties most immediately concerned are the intuition and the
+imagination, but it is at first difficult to see how the intuition, which
+is entirely spontaneous, can be brought under the control of the will. Of
+course, the spontaneousness of the intuition cannot in any way be
+interfered with, for if it ceased to act spontaneously it would cease to be
+the intuition. Its province is, as it were, to capture ideas from the
+infinite and present them to the mind to be dealt with at its discretion.
+In our mental constitution the intuition is the point of origination and,
+therefore, for it to cease to act spontaneously would be for it to cease to
+act at all. But the experience of a long succession of observers shows that
+the intuition can be trained so as to acquire increased sensitiveness in
+some, particular direction, and the choice of the _general direction_ is
+determined by the will of the individual.
+
+It will be found that the intuition works most readily in respect to those
+subjects which most habitually occupy our thought; and according to the
+physiological correspondences which we have been considering this might be
+accounted for on the physical plane by the formation of brain-channels
+specially adapted for the induction in the molecular system of vibrations
+corresponding to the particular class of ideas in question. But of course
+we must remember that the ideas themselves are not caused by the molecular
+changes but on the contrary are the cause of them; and it is in this
+translation of thought action into physical action that we are brought face
+to face with the eternal mystery of the descent of spirit into matter; and
+that though we may trace matter through successive degrees of refinement
+till it becomes what, in comparison with those denser modes that are most
+familiar, we might call a spiritual substance, yet at the end of it it is
+not the intelligent thinking principle itself. The criterion is in the word
+"vibrations." However delicately etheric the substance its movement
+commences by the vibration of its particles, and a vibration is a wave
+having a certain length, amplitude, and periodicity, that is to say,
+something which can exist only in terms of space and time; and as soon as
+we are dealing with anything capable of the conception of measurement we
+may be quite certain that we are not dealing with Spirit but only with one
+of its vehicles. Therefore although we may push our analysis of matter
+further and ever further back--and on this line there is a great deal of
+knowledge to be gained--we shall find that the point at which spiritual
+power or thought-force is translated into etheric or atomic vibration will
+always elude us. Therefore we must not attribute the origination of ideas
+to molecular displacement in the brain, though, by the reaction of the
+physical upon the mental which I have spoken of above, the formation of
+thought-channels in the grey matter of the brain may tend to facilitate the
+reception of certain ideas. Some people are actually conscious of the
+action of the upper portion of the brain during the influx of an intuition,
+the sensation being that of a sort of expansion in that brain area, which
+might be compared to the opening of a valve or door; but all attempts to
+induce the inflow of intuitive ideas by the physiological expedient of
+trying to open this valve by the exercise of the will should be discouraged
+as likely to prove injurious to the brain. I believe some Oriental systems
+advocate this method, but we may well trust the mind to regulate the action
+of its physical channels in a manner suitable to its own requirements,
+instead of trying to manipulate the mind by the unnatural forcing of its
+mechanical instrument. In all our studies on these lines we must remember
+that development is always by perfectly natural growth and is not brought
+about by unduly straining any portion of the system.
+
+The fact, however, remains that the intuition works most freely in that
+direction in which we most habitually concentrate our thought; and in
+practice it will be found that the best way to cultivate the intuition in
+any particular direction is to meditate upon the _abstract principles_ of
+that particular class of subjects rather than only to consider particular
+cases. Perhaps the reason is that particular cases have to do with specific
+phenomena, that is with the law working under certain limiting conditions,
+whereas the _principles_ of the law are not limited by local conditions,
+and so habitual meditation on _them_ sets our intuition free to range in an
+infinitude where the conception of antecedent conditions does not limit it.
+Anyway, whatever may be the theoretical explanation, you will find that the
+clear grasp of abstract principles in any direction has a wonderfully
+quickening effect upon the intuition in that particular direction.
+
+The importance of recognizing our power of thus giving direction to the
+intuition cannot be exaggerated, for if the mind is attuned to sympathy
+with the highest phases of spirit this power opens the door to limitless
+possibilities of knowledge. In its highest workings intuition becomes
+inspiration, and certain great records of fundamental truths and supreme
+mysteries which have come down to us from thousands of generations
+bequeathed by deep thinkers of old can only be accounted for on the
+supposition that their earnest thought on the Originating Spirit, coupled
+with a reverent worship of It, opened the door, through their intuitive
+faculty, to the most sublime inspirations regarding the supreme truths of
+the universe both with respect to the evolution of the cosmos and to the
+evolution of the individual. Among such records explanatory of the supreme
+mysteries three stand out pre-eminent, all bearing witness to the same ONE
+Truth, and each throwing light upon the other; and these three are the
+Bible, the Great Pyramid, and the Pack of Cards--a curious combination some
+will think, but I hope in another volume of this series to be able to
+justify my present statement. I allude to these three records here because
+the unity of principle which they exhibit, notwithstanding their wide
+divergence of method, affords a standing proof that the direction taken by
+the intuition is largely determined by the will of the individual opening
+the mind in that particular direction.
+
+Very closely allied to the intuition is the faculty of imagination. This
+does not mean mere fancies, which we dismiss without further consideration,
+but our power of forming mental images upon which we dwell. These, as I
+have said in the earlier part of this book, form a nucleus which, on its
+own plane, calls into action the universal Law of Attraction, thus giving
+rise to the principle of Growth. The relation of the intuition to the
+imagination is that the intuition grasps an idea from the Great Universal
+Mind, in which all things subsist as _potentials_, and presents it to the
+imagination in its essence rather than in a definite form, and then our
+image-building faculty gives it a clear and definite form which it presents
+before the mental vision, and which we then vivify by letting our thought
+dwell upon it, thus infusing our own personality into it, and so providing
+that personal element through which the specific action of the universal
+law relatively to the particular individual always takes place.[1] Whether
+our thought shall be allowed thus to dwell upon a particular mental image
+depends on our own will, and our exercise of our will depends on our belief
+in our power to use it so as to disperse or consolidate a given mental
+image; and finally our belief in our power to do this depends on our
+recognition of our relation to God, Who is the source of all power; for it
+is an invariable truth that our life will take its whole form, tone, and
+color from our conception of God, whether that conception be positive or
+negative, and the sequence by which it does so is that now given.
+
+In this way, then, our intuition is related to our imagination, and this
+relation has its physiological correspondence in the circulus of molecular
+vibrations I have described above, which, having its commencement in the
+higher or "ideal" portion of the brain flows through the voluntary nervous
+system, the physical channel of objective mind, returning through the
+sympathetic system, the physical channel of subjective mind, thus
+completing the circuit and being then restored to the frontal brain, where
+it is consciously modelled into clear-cut forms suited to a specific
+purpose.
+
+In all this the power of the will as regulating the action both of the
+intuition and the imagination must never be lost sight of, for without such
+a central controlling power we should lose all sense of individuality; and
+hence the ultimate aim of the evolutionary process is to evolve individual
+wills actuated by such beneficence and enlightenment as shall make them
+fitting vehicles for the outflowing of the Supreme Spirit, which has
+hitherto created cosmically, and can now carry on the creative process to
+its highest stages only through conscious union with the individual; for
+this is the only possible solution of the great problem, How can the
+Universal Mind act in all its fulness upon the plane of the individual and
+particular?
+
+This is the ultimate of evolution, and the successful evolution of the
+individual depends on his recognizing this ultimate and working towards it;
+and therefore this should be the great end of our studies. There is a
+correspondence in the constitution of the body to the faculties of the
+soul, and there is a similar correspondence in the faculties of the soul to
+the power of the All-originating Spirit; and as in all other adaptations of
+specific vehicles so also here, we can never correctly understand the
+nature of the vehicle and use it rightly until we realize the nature of the
+power for the working of which it is specially adapted. Let us, then, in
+conclusion briefly consider the nature of that power.
+
+
+
+
+XVI.
+
+THE SPIRIT.
+
+
+What must the Supreme All-originating Spirit be in itself? That is the
+question before us. Let us start with one fact regarding it about which we
+cannot have any possible doubt--it is _creative_. If it were not creative
+nothing could come into existence; therefore we know that its purpose, or
+Law of Tendency, must be to bring individual lives into existence and to
+surround them with a suitable environment. Now a power which has this for
+its inherent nature must be a kindly power. The Spirit of Life seeking
+expression in individual lives can have no other intention towards them
+than "that they might have life, and that they might have it more
+abundantly." To suppose the opposite would be a contradiction in terms. It
+would be to suppose the Eternal Principle of Life acting against itself,
+expressing itself as the reverse of what it is, in which case it would not
+be expressing itself but expressing its opposite; so that it is impossible
+to conceive of the Spirit of Life acting otherwise than to the increase of
+life. This is as yet only imperfectly apparent by reason of our imperfect
+apprehension of the position, and our consequent want of conscious unity
+with the ONE Eternal Life. As our consciousness of unity becomes more
+perfect so will the life-givingness of the Spirit become more apparent. But
+in the realm of principles the purely Affirmative and Life-giving nature of
+the All-originating Spirit is an unavoidable conclusion. Now by what name
+can we call such an inherent desire to add to the fulness of any individual
+life--that is, to make it stronger, brighter, and happier? If this is not
+Love, then I do not know what else it is; and so we are philosophically led
+to the conclusion that Love is the prime moving power of the Creating
+Spirit.
+
+But expression is impossible without Form. What Form, then, should Love
+give to the vehicles of its expression? By the hypothesis of the case it
+could not find self-expression in forms that were hateful or repugnant to
+it--therefore the only logical correlative of Love is Beauty. Beauty is not
+yet universally manifested for the same reason that Life is not, namely,
+lack of recognition of its Principle; but, that the principle of Beauty is
+inherent in the Eternal Mind is demonstrated by all that is beautiful in
+the world in which we live.
+
+These considerations show us that the inherent nature of the Spirit must
+consist in the eternal interaction of Love and Beauty as the Active and
+Passive polarity of Being. Then this is the Power for the working of which
+our soul faculties are specially adapted. And when this purpose of the
+adaptation is recognized we begin to get some insight into the way in which
+our intuition, imagination, and will should be exercized. By training our
+thought to habitually dwell upon this dual-unity of the Originating Forces
+of Love and Beauty the intuition is rendered more and more sensitive to
+ideas emanating from this supreme source, and the imagining faculty is
+trained in the formation of images corresponding to such ideas; while on
+the physical side the molecular structure of the brain and body becomes
+more and more perfectly adjusted to the generating of vibratory currents
+tending to the outward manifestation of the Originating Principle. Thus the
+whole man is brought into unison with himself and with the Supreme Source
+of Life, so that, in the words of St. Paul, he is being day by day renewed
+after the image of Him that created him.
+
+Our more immediately personal recognition of the All-originating Love and
+Beauty will thus flow out as peace of mind, health of body, discretion in
+the management of our affairs, and power in the carrying out of our
+undertakings; and as we advance to a wider conception of the working of the
+Spirit of Love and Beauty in its infinite possibilities, so our intuition
+will find a wider scope and our field of activity will expand along with
+it--in a word we shall discover that our individuality is growing, and that
+we are becoming more truly ourselves than we ever were before.
+
+The question of the specific lines on which the individual may be most
+perfectly trained into such recognition of his true relation to the
+All-embracing Spirit of Life is therefore of supreme importance, but it is
+also of such magnitude that even to briefly sketch its broad outlines would
+require a volume to itself, and I will therefore not attempt to enter upon
+it here, my present purpose being only to offer some hints of the
+principles underlying that wonderful three-fold unity of Body, Soul, and
+Spirit which we all know ourselves to be.
+
+We are as yet only at the commencement of the path which leads to the
+realization of this unity in the full development of all its powers, but
+others have trodden the way before us, from whose experiences we may learn;
+and not least among these was the illustrious founder of the Most Christian
+Fraternity of the Rosicrucians. This master-mind, setting out in his youth
+with the intention of going to Jerusalem, changed the order of his journey
+and first sojourned for three years in the symbolical city of Damcar, in
+the mystical country of Arabia, then for about a year in the mystical
+country of Egypt, and then for two years in the mystical country of Fez.
+Then, having during these six years learned all that was to be acquired in
+those countries, he returned to his native land of Germany, where, on the
+basis of the knowledge he had thus gained, he founded the Fraternity R.C.,
+for whose instruction he wrote the mystical books M. and T. Then, when he
+realized that his work in its present stage was accomplished, he of his own
+free will laid aside the physical body, not, it is recorded, by decay, or
+disease, or ordinary death, but by the express direction of the Spirit of
+Life, summing up all his knowledge in the words,
+
+    "Jesus mihi omnia."
+
+And now his followers await the coming of "the Artist Elias," who shall
+bring the Magnum Opus to its completion.
+
+    "Let him that readeth understand."
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+
+Footnote 1: See my "Doré Lectures."
+
+
+
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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science, by
+Thomas Troward</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: The Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science</p>
+<p>Author: Thomas Troward</p>
+<p>Release Date: December 5, 2003  [eBook #10390]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Chatacter set encoding: iso-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EDINBURGH LECTURES ON MENTAL SCIENCE***</p>
+<br />
+<br />
+<center><h3>E-text prepared by John Hagerson, Kevin Handy,<br />
+            and Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders</h3></center>
+<br />
+<br />
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<h1><i>The</i></h1> <h1>EDINBURGH LECTURES</h1> <h1>ON MENTAL SCIENCE</h1>
+
+<h2>BY</h2> <h1>THOMAS TROWARD</h1> <h2>LATE DIVISIONAL JUDGE, PUNJAB</h2>
+
+<h3>1909</h3>
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>THE WRITER AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATES THIS LITTLE VOLUME TO HIS WIFE</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+<h1>FOREWORD.</h1>
+
+
+<p>This book contains the substance of a course of lectures recently given
+by the writer in the Queen Street Hall, Edinburgh. Its purpose is to
+indicate the <i>Natural Principles</i> governing the relation between
+Mental Action and Material Conditions, and thus to afford the student an
+intelligible starting-point for the practical study of the subject.</p>
+
+<p>T.T.</p>
+
+<p>March, 1904.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1>CONTENTS.</h1>
+
+
+<p>I.--<a href="#chap1">SPIRIT AND MATTER.</a></p>
+
+<p>II.--<a href="#chap2">THE HIGHER MODE OF INTELLIGENCE CONTROLS THE
+LOWER</a></p>
+
+<p>III.--<a href="#chap3">THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT</a></p>
+
+<p>IV.--<a href="#chap4">SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE MIND</a></p>
+
+<p>V.--<a href="#chap5">FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING SUBJECTIVE AND
+OBJECTIVE MIND</a></p>
+
+<p>VI.--<a href="#chap6">THE LAW OF GROWTH</a></p>
+
+<p>VII.--<a href="#chap7">RECEPTIVITY.</a></p>
+
+<p>VIII.--<a href="#chap8">RECIPROCAL ACTION OF THE UNIVERSAL AND
+INDIVIDUAL MINDS</a></p>
+
+<p>IX.--<a href="#chap9">CAUSES AND CONDITIONS</a></p>
+
+<p>X.--<a href="#chap10">INTUITION</a></p>
+
+<p>XI.--<a href="#chap11">HEALING</a></p>
+
+<p>XII.--<a href="#chap12">THE WILL</a></p>
+
+<p>XIII.--<a href="#chap13">IN TOUCH WITH SUBCONSCIOUS MIND</a></p>
+
+<p>XIV.--<a href="#chap14">THE BODY</a></p>
+
+<p>XV.--<a href="#chap15">THE SOUL</a></p>
+
+<p>XVI.--<a href="#chap16">THE SPIRIT</a></p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap1">I.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>SPIRIT AND MATTER.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In commencing a course of lectures on Mental Science, it is somewhat
+difficult for the lecturer to fix upon the best method of opening the
+subject. It can be approached from many sides, each with some peculiar
+advantage of its own; but, after careful deliberation, it appears to me
+that, for the purpose of the present course, no better starting-point could
+be selected than the relation between Spirit and Matter. I select this
+starting-point because the distinction--or what we believe to be
+such--between them is one with which we are so familiar that I can safely
+assume its recognition by everybody; and I may, therefore, at once state
+this distinction by using the adjectives which we habitually apply as
+expressing the natural opposition between the two--<i>living</i> spirit and
+<i>dead</i> matter. These terms express our current impression of the
+opposition between spirit and matter with sufficient accuracy, and
+considered only from the point of view of outward appearances this
+impression is no doubt correct. The general consensus of mankind is right
+in trusting the evidence of our senses, and any system which tells us that
+we are not to do so will never obtain a permanent footing in a sane and
+healthy community. There is nothing wrong in the evidence conveyed to a
+healthy mind by the senses of a healthy body, but the point where error
+creeps in is when we come to judge of the meaning of this testimony. We are
+accustomed to judge only by external appearances and by certain limited
+significances which we attach to words; but when we begin to enquire into
+the real meaning of our words and to analyse the causes which give rise to
+the appearances, we find our old notions gradually falling off from us,
+until at last we wake up to the fact that we are living in an entirely
+different world to that we formerly recognized. The old limited mode of
+thought has imperceptibly slipped away, and we discover that we have
+stepped out into a new order of things where all is liberty and life. This
+is the work of an enlightened intelligence resulting from persistent
+determination to discover what truth really is irrespective of any
+preconceived notions from whatever source derived, the determination to
+think honestly for ourselves instead of endeavouring to get our thinking
+done for us. Let us then commence by enquiring what we really mean by the
+livingness which we attribute to spirit and the deadness which we attribute
+to matter.</p>
+
+<p>At first we may be disposed to say that livingness consists in the power
+of motion and deadness in its absence; but a little enquiry into the most
+recent researches of science will soon show us that this distinction does
+not go deep enough. It is now one of the fully-established facts of
+physical science that no atom of what we call "dead matter" is without
+motion. On the table before me lies a solid lump of steel, but in the light
+of up-to-date science I know that the atoms of that seemingly inert mass
+are vibrating with the most intense energy, continually dashing hither and
+thither, impinging upon and rebounding from one another, or circling round
+like miniature solar systems, with a ceaseless rapidity whose complex
+activity is enough to bewilder the imagination. The mass, as a mass, may
+lie inert upon the table; but so far from being destitute of the element of
+motion it is the abode of the never-tiring energy moving the particles with
+a swiftness to which the speed of an express train is as nothing. It is,
+therefore, not the mere fact of motion that is at the root of the
+distinction which we draw instinctively between spirit and matter; we must
+go deeper than that. The solution of the problem will never be found by
+comparing Life with what we call deadness, and the reason for this will
+become apparent later on; but the true key is to be found by comparing one
+degree of livingness with another. There is, of course, one sense in which
+the quality of livingness does not admit of degrees; but there is another
+sense in which it is entirely a question of degree. We have no doubt as to
+the livingness of a plant, but we realize that it is something very
+different from the livingness of an animal. Again, what average boy would
+not prefer a fox-terrier to a goldfish for a pet? Or, again, why is it that
+the boy himself is an advance upon the dog? The plant, the fish, the dog,
+and the boy are all equally <i>alive</i>; but there is a difference in the
+quality of their livingness about which no one can have any doubt, and no
+one would hesitate to say that this difference is in the degree of
+intelligence. In whatever way we turn the subject we shall always find that
+what we call the "livingness" of any individual life is ultimately measured
+by its intelligence. It is the possession of greater intelligence that
+places the animal higher in the scale of being than the plant, the man
+higher than the animal, the intellectual man higher than the savage. The
+increased intelligence calls into activity modes of motion of a higher
+order corresponding to itself. The higher the intelligence, the more
+completely the mode of motion is under its control: and as we descend in
+the scale of intelligence, the descent is marked by a corresponding
+increase in <i>automatic</i> motion not subject to the control of a
+self-conscious intelligence. This descent is gradual from the expanded
+self-recognition of the highest human personality to that lowest order of
+visible forms which we speak of as "things," and from which
+self-recognition is entirely absent.</p>
+
+<p>We see, then, that the livingness of Life consists in intelligence--in
+other words, in the power of Thought; and we may therefore say that the
+distinctive quality of spirit is Thought, and, as the opposite to this, we
+may say that the distinctive quality of matter is Form. We cannot conceive
+of matter without form. Some form there must be, even though invisible to
+the physical eye; for matter, to be matter at all, must occupy space, and
+to occupy any particular space necessarily implies a corresponding form.
+For these reasons we may lay it down as a fundamental proposition that the
+distinctive quality of spirit is Thought and the distinctive quality of
+matter is Form. This is a radical distinction from which important
+consequences follow, and should, therefore, be carefully noted by the
+student.</p>
+
+<p>Form implies extension in space and also limitation within certain
+boundaries. Thought implies neither. When, therefore, we think of Life as
+existing in any particular <i>form</i> we associate it with the idea of
+extension in space, so that an elephant may be said to consist of a vastly
+larger amount of living substance than a mouse. But if we think of Life as
+the fact of livingness we do not associate it with any idea of extension,
+and we at once realize that the mouse is quite as much alive as the
+elephant, notwithstanding the difference in size. The important point of
+this distinction is that if we can conceive of anything as entirely devoid
+of the element of extension in space, it must be present in its entire
+totality anywhere and everywhere--that is to say, at every point of space
+simultaneously. The scientific definition of time is that it is the period
+occupied by a body in passing from one given point in space to another,
+and, therefore, according to this definition, when there is no space there
+can be no time; and hence that conception of spirit which realizes it as
+devoid of the element of space must realize it as being devoid of the
+element of time also; and we therefore find that the conception of spirit
+as pure Thought, and not as concrete Form, is the conception of it as
+subsisting perfectly independently of the elements of time and space. From
+this it follows that if the idea of anything is conceived as existing on
+this level it can only represent that thing as being actually present here
+and now. In this view of things nothing can be remote from us either in
+time or space: either the idea is entirely dissipated or it exists as an
+actual present entity, and not as something that <i>shall</i> be in the
+future, for where there is no sequence in time there can be no future.
+Similarly where there is no space there can be no conception of anything as
+being at a distance from us. When the elements of time and space are
+eliminated all our ideas of things must necessarily be as subsisting in a
+universal here and an everlasting now. This is, no doubt, a highly abstract
+conception, but I would ask the student to endeavour to grasp it
+thoroughly, since it is of vital importance in the practical application of
+Mental Science, as will appear further on.</p>
+
+<p>The opposite conception is that of things expressing themselves through
+conditions of time and space and thus establishing a variety of
+<i>relations</i> to other things, as of bulk, distance, and direction, or
+of sequence in time. These two conceptions are respectively the conception
+of the abstract and the concrete, of the unconditioned and the conditioned,
+of the absolute and the relative. They are not opposed to each other in the
+sense of incompatibility, but are each the complement of the other, and the
+only reality is in the combination of the two. The error of the extreme
+idealist is in endeavouring to realize the absolute without the relative,
+and the error of the extreme materialist is in endeavouring to realize the
+relative without the absolute. On the one side the mistake is in trying to
+realize an inside without an outside, and on the other in trying to realize
+an outside without an inside; both are necessary to the formation of a
+substantial entity.</p>
+
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap2">II.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>THE HIGHER MODE OF INTELLIGENCE CONTROLS THE LOWER.</h2>
+
+
+<p>We have seen that the descent from personality, as we know it in
+ourselves, to matter, as we know it under what we call inanimate forms, is
+a gradual descent in the scale of intelligence from that mode of being
+which is able to realize its own will-power as a capacity for originating
+new trains of causation to that mode of being which is incapable of
+recognizing itself at all. The higher the grade of life, the higher the
+intelligence; from which it follows that the supreme principle of Life must
+also be the ultimate principle of intelligence. This is clearly
+demonstrated by the grand natural order of the universe. In the light of
+modern science the principle of evolution is familiar to us all, and the
+accurate adjustment existing between all parts of the cosmic scheme is too
+self-evident to need insisting upon. Every advance in science consists in
+discovering new subtleties of connection in this magnificent universal
+order, which already exists and only needs our recognition to bring it into
+practical use. If, then, the highest work of the greatest minds consists in
+nothing else than the recognition of an already existing order, there is no
+getting away from the conclusion that a paramount intelligence must be
+inherent in the Life-Principle, which manifests itself <i>as</i> this
+order; and thus we see that there must be a great cosmic intelligence
+underlying the totality of things.</p>
+
+<p>The physical history of our planet shows us first an incandescent nebula
+dispersed over vast infinitudes of space; later this condenses into a
+central sun surrounded by a family of glowing planets hardly yet
+consolidated from the plastic primordial matter; then succeed untold
+millenniums of slow geological formation; an earth peopled by the lowest
+forms of life, whether vegetable or animal; from which crude beginnings a
+majestic, unceasing, unhurried, forward movement brings things stage by
+stage to the condition in which we know them now. Looking at this steady
+progression it is clear that, however we may conceive the nature of the
+evolutionary principle, it unerringly provides for the continual advance of
+the race. But it does this by creating such numbers of each kind that,
+after allowing a wide margin for all possible accidents to individuals, the
+race shall still continue:--</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+"So careful of the type it seems<br />
+So careless of the single life."<br />
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>In short, we may say that the cosmic intelligence works by a Law of
+Averages which allows a wide margin of accident and failure to the
+individual.</p>
+
+<p>But the progress towards higher intelligence is always in the direction
+of narrowing down this margin of accident and taking the individual more
+and more out of the law of averages, and substituting the law of individual
+selection. In ordinary scientific language this is the survival of the
+fittest. The reproduction of fish is on a scale that would choke the sea
+with them if every individual survived; but the margin of destruction is
+correspondingly enormous, and thus the law of averages simply keeps up the
+normal proportion of the race. But at the other end of the scale,
+reproduction is by no means thus enormously in excess of survival. True,
+there is ample margin of accident and disease cutting off numbers of human
+beings before they have gone through the average duration of life, but
+still it is on a very different scale from the premature destruction of
+hundreds of thousands as against the survival of one. It may, therefore, be
+taken as an established fact that in proportion as intelligence advances
+the individual ceases to be subject to a mere law of averages and has a
+continually increasing power of controlling the conditions of his own
+survival.</p>
+
+<p>We see, therefore, that there is a marked distinction between the cosmic
+intelligence and the individual intelligence, and that the factor which
+differentiates the latter from the former is the presence of
+<i>individual</i> volition. Now the business of Mental Science is to
+ascertain the relation of this individual power of volition to the great
+cosmic law which provides for the maintenance and advancement of the race;
+and the point to be carefully noted is that the power of individual
+volition is itself the outcome of the cosmic evolutionary principle at the
+point where it reaches its highest level. The effort of Nature has always
+been upwards from the time when only the lowest forms of life peopled the
+globe, and it has now culminated in the production of a being with a mind
+capable of abstract reasoning and a brain fitted to be the physical
+instrument of such a mind. At this stage the all-creating Life-principle
+reproduces itself in a form capable of recognizing the working of the
+evolutionary law, and the unity and continuity of purpose running through
+the whole progression until now indicates, beyond a doubt, that the place
+of such a being in the universal scheme must be to introduce the operation
+of that factor which, up to this point, has been, conspicuous by its
+absence--the factor, namely, of intelligent individual volition. The
+evolution which has brought us up to this standpoint has worked by a cosmic
+law of averages; it has been a process in which the individual himself has
+not taken a conscious part. But because he is what he is, and leads the van
+of the evolutionary procession, if man is to evolve further, it can now
+only be by his own conscious co-operation with the law which has brought
+him up to the standpoint where he is able to realize that such a law
+exists. His evolution in the future must be by conscious participation in
+the great work, and this can only be effected by his own individual
+intelligence and effort. It is a process of intelligent growth. No one else
+can grow for us: we must each grow for ourselves; and this intelligent
+growth consists in our increasing recognition of the universal law, which
+has brought us as far as we have yet got, and of our own individual
+relation to that law, based upon the fact that we ourselves are the most
+advanced product of it. It is a great maxim that Nature obeys us precisely
+in proportion as we first obey Nature. Let the electrician try to go
+counter to the principle that electricity must always pass from a higher to
+a lower potential and he will effect nothing; but let him submit in all
+things to this one fundamental law, and he can make whatever particular
+applications of electrical power he will.</p>
+
+<p>These considerations show us that what differentiates the higher from
+the lower degree of intelligence is the recognition of its own self-hood,
+and the more intelligent that recognition is, the greater will be the
+power. The lower degree of self-recognition is that which only realizes
+itself as an entity separate from all other entities, as the <i>ego</i>
+distinguished from the <i>non-ego</i>. But the higher degree of
+self-recognition is that which, realizing its own spiritual nature, sees in
+all other forms, not so much the <i>non-ego</i>, or that which is not
+itself, as the <i>alter-ego</i>, or that which is itself in a different
+mode of expression. Now, it is this higher degree of self-recognition that
+is the power by which the Mental Scientist produces his results. For this
+reason it is imperative that he should clearly understand the difference
+between Form and Being; that the one is the mode of the relative and, the
+mark of subjection to conditions, and that the other is the truth of the
+absolute and is that which controls conditions.</p>
+
+<p>Now this higher recognition of self as an individualization of pure
+spirit must of necessity control all modes of spirit which have not yet
+reached the same level of self-recognition. These lower modes of spirit are
+in bondage to the law of their own being because they do not know the law;
+and, therefore, the individual who has attained to this knowledge can
+control them through that law. But to understand this we must inquire a
+little further into the nature of spirit. I have already shown that the
+grand scale of adaptation and adjustment of all parts of the cosmic scheme
+to one another exhibits the presence <i>somewhere</i> of a marvellous
+intelligence, underlying the whole, and the question is, where is this
+intelligence to be found? Ultimately we can only conceive of it as inherent
+in some primordial substance which is the root of all those grosser modes
+of matter which are known to us, whether visible to the physical eye, or
+necessarily inferred by science from their perceptible effects. It is that
+power which, in every species and in every individual, becomes that which
+that species or individual is; and thus we can only conceive of it as a
+self-forming intelligence inherent in the ultimate substance of which each
+thing is a particular manifestation. That this primordial substance must be
+considered as self-forming by an inherent intelligence abiding in itself
+becomes evident from the fact that intelligence is the essential quality of
+spirit; and if we were to conceive of the primordial substance as something
+apart from spirit, then we should have to postulate some other power which
+is neither spirit nor matter, and originates both; but this is only putting
+the idea of a self-evolving power a step further back and asserting the
+production of a lower grade of undifferentiated spirit by a higher, which
+is both a purely gratuitous assumption and a contradiction of any idea we
+can form of undifferentiated spirit at all. However far back, therefore, we
+may relegate the original starting-point, we cannot avoid the conclusion
+that, at that point, spirit contains the primary substance in itself, which
+brings us back to the common statement that it made everything out of
+nothing. We thus find two factors to the making of all things, Spirit
+and--Nothing; and the addition of Nothing to Spirit leaves <i>only</i>
+spirit: x + 0 = x.</p>
+
+<p>From these considerations we see that the ultimate foundation of every
+form of matter is spirit, and hence that a universal intelligence subsists
+throughout Nature inherent in every one of its manifestations. But this
+cryptic intelligence does not belong to the particular <i>form</i>
+excepting in the measure in which it is physically fitted for its
+concentration into self-recognizing individuality: it lies hidden in that
+primordial substance of which the visible form is a grosser manifestation.
+This primordial substance is a philosophical necessity, and we can only
+picture it to ourselves as something infinitely finer than the atoms which
+are themselves a philosophical inference of physical science: still, for
+want of a better word, we may conveniently speak of this primary
+intelligence inherent in the very substance of things as the Atomic
+Intelligence. The term may, perhaps, be open to some objections, but it
+will serve our present purpose as distinguishing <i>this</i> mode of
+spirit's intelligence from that of the opposite pole, or Individual
+Intelligence. This distinction should be carefully noted because it is by
+the response of the atomic intelligence to the individual intelligence that
+thought-power is able to produce results on the material plane, as in the
+cure of disease by mental treatment, and the like. Intelligence manifests
+itself by responsiveness, and the whole action of the cosmic mind in
+bringing the evolutionary process from its first beginnings up to its
+present human stage is nothing else but a continual intelligent response to
+the demand which each stage in the progress has made for an adjustment
+between itself and its environment. Since, then, we have recognized the
+presence of a universal intelligence permeating all things, we must also
+recognize a corresponding responsiveness hidden deep down in their nature
+and ready to be called into action when appealed to. All mental treatment
+depends on this responsiveness of spirit in its lower degrees to higher
+degrees of itself. It is here that the difference between the mental
+scientist and the uninstructed person comes in; the former knows of this
+responsiveness and makes use of it, and the latter cannot use it because he
+does not know it.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap3">III</a></h1>
+
+<h2>THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT.</h2>
+
+
+<p>We have now paved the way for understanding what is meant by "the unity
+of the spirit." In the first conception of spirit as the underlying origin
+of all things we see a universal substance which, at this stage, is not
+differentiated into any specific forms. This is not a question of some
+bygone time, but subsists at every moment of all time in the
+<i>innermost</i> nature of all being; and when we see this, we see that the
+division between one specific form and another has below it a deep
+essential unity, which acts as the supporter of all the several forms of
+individuality arising out of it. And as our thought penetrates deeper into
+the nature of this all-producing spiritual substance we see that it cannot
+be limited to any one portion of space, but must be limitless as space
+itself, and that the idea of any portion of space where it is not is
+inconceivable. It is one of those intuitive perceptions from which the
+human mind can never get away that this primordial, all-generating living
+spirit must be commensurate with infinitude, and we can therefore never
+think of it otherwise than as universal or infinite. Now it is a
+mathematical truth that the infinite must be a unity. You cannot have two
+infinites, for then neither would be infinite, each would be limited by the
+other, nor can you split the infinite up into fractions. The infinite is
+mathematically essential unity. This is a point on which too much stress
+cannot be laid, for there follow from it the most important consequences.
+Unity, as such, can be neither multiplied nor divided, for either operation
+destroys the unity. By multiplying, we produce a plurality of units of the
+same scale as the original; and by dividing, we produce a plurality of
+units of a smaller scale; and a plurality of units is not unity but
+multiplicity. Therefore if we would penetrate below the outward nature of
+the individual to that innermost principle of his being from which his
+individuality takes its rise, we can do so only by passing beyond the
+conception of individual existence into that of the unity of universal
+being. This may appear to be a merely philosophical abstraction, but the
+student who would produce practical results must realize that these
+abstract generalizations are the foundation of the practical work he is
+going to do.</p>
+
+<p>Now the great fact to be recognized about a unity is that,
+<i>because</i> it is a single unit, wherever it is at all the <i>whole</i>
+of it must be. The moment we allow our mind to wander off to the idea of
+extension in space and say that one part of the unit is here and another
+there, we have descended from the idea of unity into that of parts or
+fractions of a single unit, which is to pass into the idea of a
+multiplicity of smaller units, and in that case we are dealing with the
+relative, or the relation subsisting between two or more entities which are
+therefore <i>limited by each other</i>, and so have passed out of the
+region of simple unity which is the absolute. It is, therefore, a
+mathematical necessity that, because the originating Life-principle is
+infinite, it is a single unit, and consequently, wherever it is at all, the
+<i>whole</i> of it must be present. But because it is <i>infinite</i>, or
+limitless, it is everywhere, and therefore it follows that the <i>whole</i>
+of spirit must be present at every point in space at the same moment.
+Spirit is thus omnipresent <i>in its entirety</i>, and it is accordingly
+logically correct that at every moment of time <i>all</i> spirit is
+concentrated at any point in space that we may choose to fix our thought
+upon. This is the fundamental fact of all being, and it is for this reason
+that I have prepared the way for it by laying down the relation between
+spirit and matter as that between idea and form, on the one hand the
+absolute from which the elements of time and space are entirely absent, and
+on the other the relative which is entirely dependent on those elements.
+This great fact is that pure spirit continually subsists in the absolute,
+whether in a corporeal body or not; and from it all the phenomena of being
+flow, whether on the mental plane or the physical. The knowledge of this
+fact regarding spirit is the basis of all conscious spiritual operation,
+and therefore in proportion to our increasing recognition of it our power
+of producing outward visible results by the action of our thought will
+grow. The whole is greater than its part, and therefore, if, by our
+recognition of this unity, we can concentrate <i>all</i> spirit into any
+given point at any moment, we thereby include any individualization of it
+that we may wish to deal with. The practical importance of this conclusion
+is too obvious to need enlarging upon.</p>
+
+<p>Pure spirit is the Life-principle considered apart from the matrix in
+which it takes relation to time and space in a particular form. In this
+aspect it is pure intelligence undifferentiated into individuality. As pure
+intelligence it is infinite responsiveness and susceptibility. As devoid of
+relation to time and space it is devoid of individual personality. It is,
+therefore, in this aspect a purely impersonal element upon which, by reason
+of its inherent intelligence and susceptibility, we can impress any
+recognition of personality that we will. These are the great facts that the
+mental scientist works with, and the student will do well to ponder deeply
+on their significance and on the responsibilities which their realization
+must necessarily carry with it.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap4">IV.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE MIND.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Up to this point it has been necessary to lay the foundations of the
+science by the statement of highly abstract general principles which we
+have reached by purely metaphysical reasoning. We now pass on to the
+consideration of certain natural laws which have been established by a long
+series of experiments and observations, the full meaning and importance of
+which will become clear when we see their application to the general
+principles which have hitherto occupied our attention. The phenomena of
+hypnosis are now so fully recognized as established scientific facts that
+it is quite superfluous to discuss the question of their credibility. Two
+great medical schools have been founded upon them, and in some countries
+they have become the subject of special legislation. The question before us
+at the present day is, not as to the credibility of the facts, but as to
+the proper inferences to be drawn from them, and a correct apprehension of
+these inferences is one of the most valuable aids to the mental scientist,
+for it confirms the conclusions of purely <i>a priori</i> reasoning by an
+array of experimental instances which places the correctness of those
+conclusions beyond doubt.</p>
+
+<p>The great truth which the science of hypnotism has brought to light is
+the dual nature of the human mind. Much conflict exists between different
+writers as to whether this duality results from the presence of two
+actually separate minds in the one man, or in the action of the same mind
+in the employment of different functions. This is one of those distinctions
+without a difference which are so prolific a source of hindrance to the
+opening out of truth. A man must be a single individuality to be a man at
+all, and, so, the net result is the same whether we conceive of his varied
+modes of mental action as proceeding from a set of separate minds strung,
+so to speak, on the thread of his one individuality and each adapted to a
+particular use, or as varied functions of a single mind: in either case we
+are dealing with a single individuality, and how we may picture the
+wheel-work of the mental mechanism is merely a question of what picture
+will bring the nature of its action home to us most clearly. Therefore, as
+a matter of convenience, I shall in these lectures speak of this dual
+action as though it proceeded from two minds, an outer and an inner, and
+the inner mind we will call the subjective mind and the outer the
+objective, by which names the distinction is most frequently indicated in
+the literature of the subject.</p>
+
+<p>A long series of careful experiments by highly-trained observers, some
+of them men of world-wide reputation, has fully established certain
+remarkable differences between the action of the subjective and that of the
+objective mind which may be briefly stated as follows. The subjective mind
+is only able to reason <i>deductively</i> and not inductively, while the
+objective mind can do both. Deductive reasoning is the pure syllogism which
+shows why a third proposition must necessarily result if two others are
+assumed, but which does not help us to determine whether the two initial
+statements are true or not. To determine this is the province of inductive
+reasoning which draws its conclusions from the observation of a series of
+facts. The relation of the two modes of reasoning is that, first by
+observing a sufficient number of instances, we inductively reach the
+conclusion that a certain principle is of general application, and then we
+enter upon the deductive process by assuming the truth of this principle
+and determining what result must follow in a particular case on the
+hypothesis of its truth. Thus deductive reasoning proceeds on the
+assumption of the correctness of certain hypotheses or suppositions with
+which it sets out: it is not concerned with the truth or falsity of those
+suppositions, but only with the question as to what results must
+necessarily follow supposing them to be true. Inductive reasoning; on the
+other hand, is the process by which we compare a number of separate
+instances with one another until we see the common factor that gives rise
+to them all. Induction proceeds by the comparison of facts, and deduction
+by the application of universal principles. Now it is the deductive method
+only which is followed by the subjective mind. Innumerable experiments on
+persons in the hypnotic state have shown that the subjective mind is
+utterly incapable of making the selection and comparison which are
+necessary to the inductive process, but will accept any suggestion, however
+false, but having once accepted any suggestion, it is strictly logical in
+deducing the proper conclusions from it, and works out every suggestion to
+the minutest fraction of the results which flow from it.</p>
+
+<p>As a consequence of this it follows that the subjective mind is entirely
+under the control of the objective mind. With the utmost fidelity it
+reproduces and works out to its final consequences whatever the objective
+mind impresses upon it; and the facts of hypnotism show that ideas can be
+impressed on the subjective mind by the objective mind of another as well
+as by that of its own individuality. This is a most important point, for it
+is on this amenability to suggestion by the thought of another that all the
+phenomena of healing, whether present or absent, of telepathy and the like,
+depend. Under the control of the practised hypnotist the very personality
+of the subject becomes changed for the time being; he believes himself to
+be whatever the operator tells him he is: he is a swimmer breasting the
+waves, a bird flying in the air, a soldier in the tumult of battle, an
+Indian stealthily tracking his victim: in short, for the time being, he
+identifies himself with any personality that is impressed upon him by the
+will of the operator, and acts the part with inimitable accuracy. But the
+experiments of hypnotism go further than this, and show the existence in
+the subjective mind of powers far transcending any exercised by the
+objective mind through the medium of the physical senses; powers of
+thought-reading, of thought-transference, of clairvoyance, and the like,
+all of which are frequently manifested when the patient is brought into the
+higher mesmeric state; and we have thus experimental proof of the existence
+in ourselves of transcendental faculties the full development and conscious
+control of which would place us in a perfectly new sphere of life.</p>
+
+<p>But it should be noted that the control must be <i>our own</i> and not
+that of any external intelligence whether in the flesh or out of it.</p>
+
+<p>But perhaps the most important fact which hypnotic experiments have
+demonstrated is that the subjective mind is the builder of the body. The
+subjective entity in the patient is able to diagnose the character of the
+disease from which he is suffering and to point out suitable remedies,
+indicating a physiological knowledge exceeding that of the most highly
+trained physicians, and also a knowledge of the correspondences between
+diseased conditions of the bodily organs and the material remedies which
+can afford relief. And from this it is but a step further to those numerous
+instances in which it entirely dispenses with the use of material remedies
+and itself works directly on the organism, so that complete restoration to
+health follows as the result of the suggestions of perfect soundness made
+by the operator to the patient while in the hypnotic state.</p>
+
+<p>Now these are facts fully established by hundreds of experiments
+conducted by a variety of investigators in different parts of the world,
+and from them we may draw two inferences of the highest importance: one,
+that the subjective mind is in itself absolutely impersonal, and the other
+that it is the builder of the body, or in other words it is the creative
+power in the individual. That it is impersonal in itself is shown by its
+readiness to assume any personality the hypnotist chooses to impress upon
+it; and the unavoidable inference is that its realization of personality
+proceeds from its association with the particular objective mind of its own
+individuality. Whatever personality the objective mind impresses upon it,
+that personality it assumes and acts up to; and since it is the builder of
+the body it will build up a body in correspondence with the personality
+thus impressed upon it. These two laws of the subjective mind form the
+foundation of the axiom that our body represents the aggregate of our
+beliefs. If our fixed belief is that the body is subject to all sorts of
+influences beyond our control, and that this, that, or the other symptom
+shows that such an uncontrollable influence is at work upon us, then this
+belief is impressed upon the subjective mind, which by the law of its
+nature accepts it without question and proceeds to fashion bodily
+conditions in accordance with this belief. Again, if our fixed belief is
+that certain material remedies are the only means of cure, then we find in
+this belief the foundation of all medicine. There is nothing unsound in the
+theory of medicine; it is the strictly logical correspondence with the
+measure of knowledge which those who rely on it are as yet able to
+assimilate, and it acts accurately in accordance with their belief that in
+a large number of cases medicine will do good, but also in many instances
+it fails. Therefore, for those who have not yet reached a more interior
+perception of the law of Nature, the healing agency of medicine is a most
+valuable aid to the alleviation of physical maladies. The error to be
+combated is not the belief that, in its own way, medicine is capable of
+doing good, but the belief that there is no higher or better way.</p>
+
+<p>Then, on the same principle, if we realize that the subjective mind is
+the builder of the body, and that the body is subject to no influences
+except those which reach it through the subjective mind, then what we have
+to do is to impress <i>this</i> upon the subjective mind and habitually
+think of it as a fountain of perpetual Life, which is continually
+renovating the body by building in strong and healthy material, in the most
+complete independence of any influences of any sort, save those of our own
+desire impressed upon our own subjective mind by our own thought. When once
+we fully grasp these considerations we shall see that it is just as easy to
+externalize healthy conditions of body as the contrary. Practically the
+process amounts to a belief in our own power of life; and since this
+belief, if it be thoroughly domiciled within us, will necessarily produce a
+correspondingly healthy body, we should spare no pains to convince
+ourselves that there are sound and reasonable grounds for holding it. To
+afford a solid basis for this conviction is the purpose of Mental
+Science.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap5">V.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE MIND.</h2>
+
+
+<p>An intelligent consideration of the phenomena of hypnotism will show us
+that what we call the hypnotic state is the <i>normal</i> state of the
+subjective mind. It <i>always</i> conceives of itself in accordance with
+some suggestion conveyed to it, either consciously or unconsciously to the
+mode of objective mind which governs it, and it gives rise to corresponding
+external results. The abnormal nature of the conditions induced by
+experimental hypnotism is in the removal of the normal control held by the
+individual's own objective mind over his subjective mind and the
+substitution of some other control for it, and thus we may say that the
+normal characteristic of the subjective mind is its perpetual action in
+accordance with some sort of suggestion. It becomes therefore a question of
+the highest importance to determine in every case what the nature of the
+suggestion shall be and from what source it shall proceed; but before
+considering the sources of suggestion we must realize more fully the place
+taken by subjective mind in the order of Nature.</p>
+
+<p>If the student has followed what has been said regarding the presence of
+intelligent spirit pervading all space and permeating all matter, he will
+now have little difficulty in recognizing this all-pervading spirit as
+universal subjective mind. That it cannot <i>as universal mind</i> have the
+qualities of objective mind is very obvious. The universal mind is the
+creative power throughout Nature; and as the originating power it must
+first give rise to the various <i>forms</i> in which objective mind
+recognizes its own individuality, before these individual minds can re-act
+upon it; and hence, as pure spirit or <i>first cause</i>, it cannot
+possibly be anything else than subjective mind; and the fact which has been
+abundantly proved by experiment that the subjective mind is the builder of
+the body shows us that the power of creating by growth from within is the
+essential characteristic of the subjective mind. Hence, both from
+experiment and from <i>a priori</i> reasoning, we may say that where-ever
+we find creative power at work there we are in the presence of subjective
+mind, whether it be working on the grand scale of the cosmos, or on the
+miniature scale of the individual. We may therefore lay it down as a
+principle that the universal all-permeating intelligence, which has been
+considered in the second and third sections, is purely subjective mind, and
+therefore follows the law of subjective mind, namely that it is amenable to
+any suggestion, and will carry out any suggestion that is impressed upon it
+to its most rigorously logical consequences. The incalculable importance of
+this truth may not perhaps strike the student at first sight, but a little
+consideration will show him the enormous possibilities that are stored up
+in it, and in the concluding section I shall briefly touch upon the very
+serious conclusions resulting from it. For the present it will be
+sufficient to realize that the subjective mind in ourselves is <i>the
+same</i> subjective mind which is at work throughout the universe giving
+rise to the infinitude of natural forms with which we are surrounded, and
+in like manner giving rise <i>to ourselves also</i>. It may be called the
+supporter of our individuality; and we may loosely speak of our individual
+subjective mind as our personal share in the universal mind. This, of
+course, does not imply the splitting up of the universal mind into
+fractions, and it is to avoid this error that I have discussed the
+essential unity of spirit in the third section, but in order to avoid too
+highly abstract conceptions in the present stage of the student's progress
+we may conveniently employ the idea of a personal share in the universal
+subjective mind.</p>
+
+<p>To realize our individual subjective mind in this manner will help us to
+get over the great metaphysical difficulty which meets us in our endeavour
+to make conscious use of first cause, in other words to create external
+results by the power of our own thought. Ultimately there can be only one
+first cause which is the universal mind, but because it is universal it
+cannot, <i>as universal</i>, act on the plane of the individual and
+particular. For it to do so would be for it to cease to be universal and
+therefore cease to be the creative power which we wish to employ. On the
+other hand, the fact that we are working for a specific definite object
+implies our intention to use this universal power in application to a
+particular purpose, and thus we find ourselves involved in the paradox of
+seeking to make the universal act on the plane of the particular. We want
+to effect a junction between the two extremes of the scale of Nature, the
+innermost creative spirit and a particular external form. Between these two
+is a great gulf, and the question is how is it to be bridged over. It is
+here, then, that the conception of our individual subjective mind as our
+personal share in the universal subjective mind affords the means of
+meeting the difficulty, for on the one hand it is in immediate connection
+with the universal mind, and on the other it is immediate connection with
+the individual objective, or intellectual mind; and this in its turn is in
+immediate connection with the world of externalization, which is
+conditioned in time and space; and thus the relation between the subjective
+and objective minds in the individual forms the bridge which is needed to
+connect the two extremities of the scale.</p>
+
+<p>The individual subjective mind may therefore be regarded as the organ of
+the Absolute in precisely the same way that the objective mind is the organ
+of the Relative, and it is in order to regulate our use of these two organs
+that it is necessary to understand what the terms "absolute" and "relative"
+actually mean. The absolute is that idea of a thing which contemplates it
+as existing <i>in itself</i> and not in relation to something else, that is
+to say, which contemplates the essence of it; and the relative is that idea
+of a thing which contemplates it as related to other things, that is to say
+as circumscribed by a certain environment. The absolute is the region of
+causes, and the relative is the region of conditions; and hence, if we wish
+to control conditions, this can only be done by our thought-power operating
+on the plane of the absolute, which it can do only through the medium of
+the subjective mind. The conscious use of the creative power of thought
+consists in the attainment of the power of Thinking in the Absolute, and
+this can only be attained by a clear conception of the interaction between
+our different mental functions. For this purpose the student cannot too
+strongly impress upon himself that subjective mind, on whatever scale, is
+intensely sensitive to suggestion, and as creative power works accurately
+to the externalization of that suggestion which is most deeply impressed
+upon it. If then, we would take any idea out of the realm of the relative,
+where it is limited and restricted by conditions imposed upon it through
+surrounding circumstances, and transfer it to the realm of the absolute
+where it is not thus limited, a right recognition of our mental
+constitution will enable us to do this by a clearly defined method.</p>
+
+<p>The object of our desire is necessarily first conceived by us as bearing
+some relation to existing circumstances, which may, or may not, appear
+favourable to it; and what we want to do is to eliminate the element of
+contingency and attain something which is certain in itself. To do this is
+to work upon the plane of the absolute, and for this purpose we must
+endeavour to impress upon our subjective mind the idea of that which we
+desire quite apart from any conditions. This separation from the elements
+of condition implies the elimination of the idea of <i>time</i>, and
+consequently we must think of the thing as already in actual existence.
+Unless we do this we are not consciously operating upon the plane of the
+absolute, and are therefore not employing the creative power of our
+thought. The simplest practical method of gaining the habit of thinking in
+this manner is to conceive the existence in the spiritual world of a
+spiritual prototype of every existing thing, which becomes the root of the
+corresponding external existence. If we thus habituate ourselves to look on
+the spiritual prototype as the essential being of the thing, and the
+material form as the growth of this prototype into outward expression, then
+we shall see that the initial step to the production of any external fact
+must be the creation of its spiritual prototype. This prototype, being
+purely spiritual, can only be formed by the operation of <i>thought</i>,
+and in order to have substance on the spiritual plane it <i>must</i> be
+thought of as actually existing there. This conception has been elaborated
+by Plato in his doctrine of archetypal ideas, and by Swedenborg in his
+doctrine of correspondences; and a still greater teacher has said "All
+things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye <i>have</i> received
+them, and ye <i>shall</i> receive them." (Mark xi. 24, R.V.) The difference
+of the tenses in this passage is remarkable. The speaker bids us first to
+believe that our desire <i>has</i> already been fulfilled, that it is a
+thing already accomplished, and then its accomplishment <i>will</i> follow
+as a thing in the future. This is nothing else than a concise direction for
+making use of the creative power of thought by impressing upon the
+universal subjective mind the particular thing which we desire as an
+already existing fact. In following this direction we are thinking on the
+plane of the absolute and eliminating from our minds all consideration of
+conditions, which imply limitation and the possibility of adverse
+contingencies; and we are thus planting a seed which, if left undisturbed,
+will infallibly germinate into external fruition.</p>
+
+<p>By thus making intelligent use of our subjective mind, we, so to speak,
+create a <i>nucleus</i>, which is no sooner created than it begins to
+exercise an attractive force, drawing to itself material of a like
+character with its own, and if this process is allowed to go on
+undisturbed, it will continue until an external form corresponding to the
+nature of the nucleus comes out into manifestation on the plane of the
+objective and relative. This is the universal method of Nature on every
+plane. Some of the most advanced thinkers in modern physical science, in
+the endeavour to probe the great mystery of the first origin of the world,
+have postulated the formation of what they call "vortex rings" formed from
+an infinitely fine primordial substance. They tell us that if such a ring
+be once formed on the minutest scale and set rotating, then, since it would
+be moving in pure ether and subject to no friction, it must according to
+all known laws of physics be indestructible and its motion perpetual. Let
+two such rings approach each other, and by the law of attraction, they
+would coalesce into a whole, and so on until manifested matter as we
+apprehend it with our external senses, is at last formed. Of course no one
+has ever seen these rings with the physical eye. They are one of those
+abstractions which result if we follow out the observed law of physics and
+the unavoidable sequences of mathematics to their necessary consequences.
+We cannot account for the things that we <i>can</i> see unless we assume
+the existence of other things which we <i>cannot</i>; and the "vortex
+theory" is one of these assumptions. This theory has not been put forward
+by mental scientists but by purely physical scientists as the ultimate
+conclusion to which their researches have led them, and this conclusion is
+that all the innumerable forms of Nature have their origin in the
+infinitely minute nucleus of the vortex ring, by whatever means the vortex
+ring may have received its initial impulse, a question with which physical
+science, as such, is not concerned.</p>
+
+<p>As the vortex theory accounts for the formation of the inorganic world,
+so does biology account for the formation of the living organism. That also
+has its origin in a primary nucleus which, as soon as it is established,
+operates as a centre of attraction for the formation of all those physical
+organs of which the perfect individual is composed. The science of
+embryology shows that this rule holds good without exception throughout the
+whole range of the animal world, including man; and botany shows the same
+principle at work throughout the vegetable world. All branches of physical
+science demonstrate the fact that every completed manifestation, of
+whatever kind and on whatever scale, is started by the establishment of a
+nucleus, infinitely small but endowed with an unquenchable energy of
+attraction, causing it to steadily increase in power and definiteness of
+purpose, until the process of growth is completed and the matured form
+stands out as an accomplished fact. Now if this be the universal method of
+Nature, there is nothing unnatural in supposing that it must begin its
+operation at a stage further back than the formation of the material
+nucleus. As soon as that is called into being it begins to operate by the
+law of attraction on the material plane; but what is the force which
+originates the material nucleus? Let a recent work on physical science give
+us the answer; "In its ultimate essence, energy may be incomprehensible by
+us except as an exhibition of the direct operation of that which we call
+Mind or Will." The quotation is from a course of lectures on "Waves in
+Water, Air and &AElig;ther," delivered in 1902, at the Royal Institution,
+by J. A. Fleming. Here, then, is the testimony of physical science that the
+originating energy is Mind or Will; and we are, therefore, not only making
+a logical deduction from certain unavoidable intuitions of the human mind,
+but are also following on the lines of the most advanced physical science,
+when we say that the action of Mind plants that nucleus which, if allowed
+to grow undisturbed, will eventually attract to itself all the conditions
+necessary for its manifestation in outward visible form. Now the only
+action of Mind is Thought; and it is for this reason that by our thoughts
+we create corresponding external conditions, because we thereby create the
+nucleus which attracts to itself its own correspondences in due order until
+the finished work is manifested on the external plane. This is according to
+the strictly scientific conception of the universal law of growth; and we
+may therefore briefly sum up the whole argument by saying that our thought
+of anything forms a spiritual prototype of it, thus constituting a nucleus
+or centre of attraction for all conditions necessary to its eventual
+externalization by a law of growth inherent in the prototype itself.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap6">VI.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>THE LAW OF GROWTH.</h2>
+
+
+<p>A CORRECT understanding of the law of growth is of the highest
+importance to the student of Mental Science. The great fact to be realized
+regarding Nature is that it is natural. We may pervert the order of Nature,
+but it will prevail in the long run, returning, as Horace says, by the back
+door even though we drive it out with a pitchfork; and the beginning, the
+middle, and the end of the law of Nature is the principle of growth from a
+vitality inherent in the entity itself. If we realize this from the outset
+we shall not undo our own work by endeavouring to <i>force</i> things to
+become that which by their own nature they are not. For this reason when
+the Bible says that "he who believeth shall not make haste," it is
+enunciating a great natural principle that success, depends on our using,
+and not opposing, the universal law of growth. No doubt the greater the
+vitality we put into the germ, which we have agreed to call the spiritual
+prototype, the quicker it will germinate; but this is simply because by a
+more realizing conception we put more growing-power into the seed than we
+do by a feebler conception. Our mistakes always eventually resolve
+themselves into distrusting the law of growth. Either we fancy we can
+hasten it by some exertion of our own from <i>without</i>, and are thus led
+into hurry and anxiety, not to say sometimes into the employment, of
+grievously wrong methods; or else we give up all hope and so deny the
+germinating power of the seed we have planted. The result in either case is
+the same, for in either case we are in effect forming a fresh spiritual
+prototype of an opposite character to our desire, which therefore
+neutralizes the one first formed, and disintegrates it and usurps its
+place. The law is always the same, that our Thought forms a spiritual
+prototype which, if left undisturbed, will reproduce itself in external
+circumstances; the only difference is in the sort of prototype we form, and
+thus evil is brought to us by precisely the same law as good.</p>
+
+<p>These considerations will greatly simplify our ideas of life. We have no
+longer to consider two forces, but only one, as being the cause of all
+things; the difference between good and evil resulting simply from the
+direction in which this force is made to flow. It is a universal law that
+if we reverse the action of a cause we at the same time reverse the effect.
+With the same apparatus we can commence by mechanical motion which will
+generate electricity, or we can commence with electricity which will
+generate mechanical motion; or to take a simple arithmetical instance: if
+10/2 = 5, then 10/5 = 2; and therefore if we once recognize the power of
+thought to produce any results at all, we shall see that the law by which
+negative thought produces negative results is the same by which positive
+thought produces positive results. Therefore all our distrust of the law of
+growth, whether shown in the anxious endeavour to bring pressure to bear
+from without, or in allowing despair to take the place of cheerful
+expectation, is reversing the action of the original cause and consequently
+reversing the nature of the results. It is for this reason that the Bible,
+which is the most deeply occult of all books, continually lays so much
+stress upon the efficiency of faith and the destructive influence of
+unbelief; and in like manner, all books on every branch of spiritual
+science emphatically warn us against the admission of doubt or fear. They
+are the inversion of the principle which builds up, and they are therefore
+the principle which pulls down; but the Law itself never changes, and it is
+on the unchangeableness of the law that all Mental Science is founded. We
+are accustomed to realize the unchangeableness of natural law in our every
+day life, and it should therefore not be difficult to realize that the same
+unchangeableness of law which obtains on the visible side of nature obtains
+on the invisible side as well. The variable factor is, not the law, but our
+own volition; and it is by combining this variable factor with the
+invariable one that we can produce the various results we desire. The
+principle of growth is that of inherent vitality in the seed itself, and
+the operations of the gardener have their exact analogue in Mental Science.
+We do not <i>put</i> the self-expansive vitality into the seed, but we must
+sow it, and we may also, so to speak, water it by quiet concentrated
+contemplation of our desire as an actually accomplished fact. But we must
+carefully remove from such contemplation any idea of a strenuous effort on
+our part to <i>make</i> the seed grow. Its efficacy is in helping to keep
+out those negative thoughts of doubt which would plant tares among our
+wheat, and therefore, instead of anything of effort, such contemplation
+should be accompanied by a feeling of pleasure and restfulness in
+foreseeing the certain accomplishment of our desires. This is that making
+our requests known to God <i>with thanksgiving</i> which St. Paul
+recommends, and it has its reason in that perfect wholeness of the Law of
+Being which only needs our recognition of it to be used by us to any extent
+we wish.</p>
+
+<p>Some people possess the power of visualization, or making mental
+pictures of things, in a greater degree than others, and by such this
+faculty may advantageously be employed to facilitate their realization of
+the working of the Law. But those who do not possess this faculty in any
+marked degree, need not be discouraged by their want of it, for
+visualization is not the only way of realizing that the law is at work on
+the invisible plane. Those whose mental bias is towards physical science
+should realize this Law of Growth as the creative force throughout all
+nature; and those who have a mathematical turn of mind may reflect that all
+solids are generated from the movement of a point, which, as our old friend
+Euclid tells us, is that which has no parts nor magnitude, and is therefore
+as complete an abstraction as any spiritual nucleus could be. To use the
+apostolic words, we are dealing with the substance of things not seen, and
+we have to attain that habit of mind by which we shall see its reality and
+feel that we are mentally manipulating the only substance there ultimately
+is, and of which all visible things are only different modes. We must
+therefore regard our mental creations as spiritual realities and then
+implicitly trust the Law of Growth to do the rest.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap7">VII.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>RECEPTIVITY.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In order to lay the foundations for practical work, the student must
+endeavour to get a clear conception of what is meant by the intelligence of
+undifferentiated spirit. We want to grasp the idea of intelligence apart
+from individuality, an idea which is rather apt to elude us until we grow
+accustomed to it. It is the failure to realize this quality of spirit that
+has given rise to all the theological errors that have brought bitterness
+into the world and has been prominent amongst the causes which have
+retarded the true development of mankind. To accurately convey this
+conception in words, is perhaps, impossible, and to attempt definition is
+to introduce that very idea of limitation which is our object to avoid. It
+is a matter of feeling rather than of definition; yet some endeavour must
+be made to indicate the direction in which we must feel for this great
+truth if we are to find it. The idea is that of realizing personality
+without that selfhood which differentiates one individual from another. "I
+am not that other because I am myself"--this is the definition of
+individual selfhood; but it necessarily imparts the idea of limitation,
+because the recognition of any other individuality at once affirms a point
+at which our own individuality ceases and the other begins. Now this mode
+of recognition cannot be attributed to the Universal Mind. For it to
+recognize a point where itself ceased and something else began would be to
+recognize itself as <i>not</i> universal; for the meaning of universality
+is the including of <i>all</i> things, and therefore for this intelligence
+to recognize anything as being <i>outside itself</i> would be a denial of
+its own being. We may therefore say without hesitation that, whatever may
+be the nature of its intelligence, it must be entirely devoid of the
+element of self-recognition <i>as an individual personality</i> on any
+scale whatever. Seen in this light it is at once clear that the originating
+all-pervading Spirit is the grand impersonal principle of Life which gives
+rise to all the particular manifestations of Nature. Its absolute
+impersonalness, in the sense of the entire absence of any consciousness of
+<i>individual</i> selfhood, is a point on which it is impossible to insist
+too strongly. The attributing of an impossible individuality to the
+Universal Mind is one of the two grand errors which we find sapping the
+foundations of religion and philosophy in all ages. The other consists in
+rushing to the opposite extreme and denying the quality of personal
+intelligence to the Universal Mind. The answer to this error remains, as of
+old, in the simple question, "He that made the eye shall He not see? He
+that planted the ear shall He not hear?"--or to use a popular proverb, "You
+cannot get out of a bag more than there is in it;" and consequently the
+fact that we ourselves are centres of personal intelligence is proof that
+the infinite, from which these centres are concentrated, must be infinite
+intelligence, and thus we cannot avoid attributing to it the two factors
+which constitute personality, namely, intelligence and volition. We are
+therefore brought to the conclusion that this universally diffused essence,
+which we might think of as a sort of spiritual protoplasm, must possess all
+the qualities of personality without that conscious recognition of self
+which constitutes separate individuality: and since the word "personality"
+has became so associated in our ordinary talk with the idea of
+"individuality" it will perhaps be better to coin a new word, and speak of
+the personalness of the Universal Mind as indicating its personal
+<i>quality</i>, apart from individuality. We must realize that this
+universal spirit permeates all space and all manifested substance, just as
+physical scientists tell us that the ether does, and that wherever it is,
+there it must carry with it all that it is in its own being; and we shall
+then see that we are in the midst of an ocean of undifferentiated yet
+intelligent Life, above, below, and all around, and permeating ourselves
+both mentally and corporeally, and all other beings as well.</p>
+
+<p>Gradually as we come to realize the truth of this statement, our eyes
+will begin to open to its immense significance. It means that all Nature is
+pervaded by an interior personalness, infinite in its potentialities of
+intelligence, responsiveness, and power of expression, and only waiting to
+be called into activity by our recognition of it. By the terms of its
+nature it can respond to us only as we recognize it. If we are at that
+intellectual level where we can see nothing but chance governing the world,
+then this underlying universal mind will present to us nothing but a
+fortuitous confluence of forces without any intelligible order. If we are
+sufficiently advanced to see that such a confluence could only produce a
+chaos, and not a cosmos, then our conceptions expand to the idea of
+universal Law, and we find <i>this</i> to be the nature of the
+all-underlying principle. We have made an immense advance from the realm of
+mere accident into a world where there are definite principles on which we
+can calculate with certainty <i>when we know them</i>. But here is the
+crucial point. The laws of the universe are there, but we are ignorant of
+them, and only through experience gained by repeated failures can we get
+any insight into the laws with which we have to deal. How painful each step
+and how slow the progress! &AElig;ons upon &aelig;ons would not suffice to
+grasp all the laws of the universe in their totality, not in the visible
+world only, but also in the world of the unseen; each failure to know the
+true law implies suffering arising from our ignorant breach of it; and
+thus, since Nature is infinite, we are met by the paradox that we must in
+some way contrive to compass the knowledge of the infinite with our
+individual intelligence, and we must perform a pilgrimage along an
+unceasing Via Dolorosa beneath the lash of the inexorable Law until we find
+the solution to the problem. But it will be asked, May we not go on until
+at last we attain the possession of all knowledge? People do not realize
+what is meant by "the infinite," or they would not ask such questions. The
+infinite is that which is limitless and exhaustless. Imagine the vastest
+capacity you will, and having filled it with the infinite, what remains of
+the infinite is just as infinite as before. To the mathematician this may
+be put very clearly. Raise <i>x</i> to any power you will, and however vast
+may be the disparity between it and the lower powers of <i>x</i>, both are
+equally incommensurate with <i>x<sup>n</sup>.</i> The universal reign of Law is a
+magnificent truth; it is one of the two great pillars of the universe
+symbolized by the two pillars that stood at the entrance to Solomon's
+temple: it is Jachin, but Jachin must be equilibriated by Boaz.</p>
+
+<p>It is an enduring truth, which can never be altered, that every
+infraction of the Law of Nature must carry its punitive consequences with
+it. We can never get beyond the range of cause and effect. There is no
+escaping from the law of punishment, except by knowledge. If we know a law
+of Nature and work with it, we shall find it our unfailing friend, ever
+ready to serve us, and never rebuking us for past failures; but if we
+ignorantly or wilfully transgress it, it is our implacable enemy, until we
+again become obedient to it; and therefore the only redemption from
+perpetual pain and servitude is by a self-expansion which can grasp
+infinitude itself. How is this to be accomplished? By our progress to that
+kind and degree of intelligence by which we realize the inherent
+<i>personalness</i> of the divine all-pervading Life, which is at once the
+Law and the Substance of all that is. Well said the Jewish rabbis of old,
+"The Law is a Person." When we once realize that the universal Life and the
+universal Law are one with the universal Personalness, then we have
+established the pillar Boaz as the needed complement to Jachin; and when we
+find the common point in which these two unite, we have raised the Royal
+Arch through which we may triumphantly enter the Temple. We must dissociate
+the Universal Personalness from every conception of individuality. The
+universal can never be the individual: that would be a contradiction in
+terms. But because the universal personalness is the root of all individual
+personalities, it finds its highest expression in response to those who
+realize its personal nature. And it is this recognition that solves the
+seemingly insoluble paradox. The only way to attain that knowledge of the
+Infinite Law which will change the Via Dolorosa into the Path of Joy is to
+embody in ourselves a <i>principle</i> of knowledge commensurate with the
+infinitude of that which is to be known; and this is accomplished by
+realizing that, infinite as the law itself, is a universal Intelligence in
+the midst of which we float as in a living ocean. Intelligence without
+individual personality, but which, in producing us, concentrates itself
+into the personal individualities which we are. What should be the relation
+of such an intelligence towards us? Not one of favouritism: not any more
+than the Law can it respect one person above another, for itself is the
+root and support for each alike. Not one of refusal to our advances; for
+without individuality it can have no personal object of its own to conflict
+with ours; and since it is itself the origin of all individual
+intelligence, it cannot be shut off by inability to understand. By the very
+terms of its being, therefore, this infinite, underlying, all-producing
+Mind must be ready immediately to respond to all who realize their true
+relation to it. As the very principle of Life itself it must be infinitely
+susceptible to feeling, and consequently it will reproduce with absolute
+accuracy whatever conception of itself we impress upon it; and hence if we
+realize the human mind as that stage in the evolution of the cosmic order
+at which an individuality has arisen capable of expressing, not merely the
+livingness, but also the personalness of the universal underlying spirit,
+then we see that its most perfect mode of self-expression must be by
+identifying itself with these individual personalities.</p>
+
+<p>The identification is, of course, limited by the measure of the
+individual intelligence, meaning, not merely the intellectual perception of
+the sequence of cause and effect, but also that indescribable reciprocity
+of <i>feeling</i> by which we instinctively recognize something in another
+making them akin to ourselves; and so it is that when we intelligently
+realize that the innermost principle of being, must by reason of its
+universality, have a common nature with our own, then we have solved the
+paradox of universal knowledge, for we have realized our identity of being
+with the Universal Mind, which is commensurate with the Universal Law. Thus
+we arrive at the truth of St. John's statement, "Ye know all things," only
+this knowledge is primarily on the spiritual plane. It is not brought out
+into intellectual statement whether needed or not; for it is not in itself
+the specific knowledge of particular facts, but it is the undifferentiated
+principle of knowledge which we may differentiate in any direction that we
+choose. This is a philosophical necessity of the case, for though the
+action of the individual mind consists in differentiating the universal
+into particular applications, to differentiate the <i>whole</i> universal
+would be a contradiction in terms; and so, because we cannot exhaust the
+infinite, our possession of it must consist in our power to differentiate
+it as the occasion may require, the only limit being that which we
+ourselves assign to the manifestation.</p>
+
+<p>In this way, then, the recognition of the community of
+<i>personality</i> between ourselves and the universal undifferentiated
+Spirit, which is the root and substance of all things, solves the question
+of our release from the iron grasp of an inflexible Law, not by abrogating
+the Law, which would mean the annihilation of all things, but by producing
+in us an intelligence equal in affinity with the universal Law itself, and
+thus enabling us to apprehend and meet the requirements of the Law in each
+particular as it arises. In this way the Cosmic Intelligence becomes
+individualized, and the individual intelligence becomes universalized; the
+two became one, and in proportion as this unity is realized and acted on,
+it will be found that the Law, which gives rise to all outward conditions,
+whether of body or of circumstances, becomes more and more clearly
+understood, and can therefore be more freely made use of, so that by
+steady, intelligent endeavour to unfold upon these lines we may reach
+degrees of power to which it is impossible to assign any limits. The
+student who would understand the rationale of the unfoldment of his own
+possibilities must make no mistake here. He must realize that the whole
+process is that of bringing the universal within the grasp of the
+individual by raising the individual to the level of the universal and not
+vice-versa. It is a mathematical truism that you cannot contract the
+infinite, and that you <i>can</i> expand the individual; and it is
+precisely on these lines that evolution works. The laws of nature cannot be
+altered in the least degree; but we can come into such a realization of our
+own relation to the universal principle of Law that underlies them as to be
+able to press all particular laws, whether of the visible or invisible side
+of Nature, into our service and so find ourselves masters of the situation.
+This is to be accomplished by knowledge; and the only knowledge which will
+effect this purpose in all its measureless immensity is the knowledge of
+the personal element in Universal Spirit in its reciprocity to our own
+personality. Our recognition of this Spirit must therefore be twofold, as
+the principle of necessary sequence, order or Law, and also as the
+principle of Intelligence, responsive to our own recognition of it.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap8">VIII.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>RECIPROCAL ACTION OF THE UNIVERSAL AND INDIVIDUAL MINDS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>It must be admitted that the foregoing considerations bring us to the
+borders of theological speculation, but the student must bear in mind that
+as a Mental Scientist it is his business to regard even the most exalted
+spiritual phenomena from a purely scientific standpoint, which is that of
+the working of a universal natural Law. If he thus simply deals with the
+facts as he finds them, there is little doubt that the true meaning of many
+theological statements will become clear to him: but he will do well to lay
+it down as a general rule that it is not necessary either to the use or
+understanding of any law, whether on the personal or the impersonal side of
+Nature, that we should give a theological explanation of it: although,
+therefore, the personal quality inherent in the universal underlying
+spirit, which is present in all things, cannot be too strongly insisted
+upon, we must remember that in dealing with it we are still dealing with a
+purely natural power which reappears at every point with protean variety of
+form, whether as person, animal, or thing. In each case what it becomes to
+any individual is exactly measured by that individual's recognition of it.
+To each and all it bears the relation of supporter of the race, and where
+the individual development is incapable of realizing anything more, this is
+the limit of the relation; but as the individual's power of recognition
+expands, he finds a reciprocal expansion on the part of this intelligent
+power which gradually develops into the consciousness of intimate
+companionship between the individualized mind and the unindividualized
+source of it.</p>
+
+<p>Now this is exactly the relation which, on ordinary scientific
+principles, we should expect to find between the individual and the cosmic
+mind, on the supposition that the cosmic mind is subjective mind, and for
+reasons already given we can regard it in no other light. As subjective
+mind it must reproduce exactly the conception of itself which the objective
+mind of the individual, acting through his own subjective mind, impresses
+upon it; and at the same time as creative mind, it builds up external facts
+in correspondence with this conception. "Quot homines tot sententi&aelig;":
+each one externalizes in his outward circumstances precisely his idea of
+the Universal Mind; and the man who realizes that by the natural law of
+mind he can bring the Universal Mind into perfectly reciprocal action with
+its own, will on the one hand make it a source of infinite instruction, and
+on the other a source of infinite power. He will thus wisely alternate the
+personal and impersonal aspects respectively between his individual mind
+and the Universal Mind; when he is seeking for guidance or strength he will
+regard his own mind as the impersonal element which is to <i>receive
+personality</i> from the superior wisdom and force of the Greater Mind; and
+when, on the other hand, he is to give out the stores thus accumulated, he
+must reverse the position and consider his own mind as the personal
+element, and the Universal Mind as the impersonal, which he can therefore
+<i>direct</i> with certainty by impressing his own personal desire upon it.
+We need not be staggered at the greatness of this conclusion, for it
+follows necessarily from the natural relation between the subjective and
+the objective minds; and the only question is whether we will limit our
+view to the lower level of the latter, or expand it so as to take in the
+limitless possibilities which the subjective mind presents to us.</p>
+
+<p>I have dealt with this question at some length because it affords the
+key to two very important subjects, the Law of Supply and the nature of
+Intuition. Students often find it easier to understand how the mind can
+influence the body with which it is so intimately associated, than how it
+can influence circumstances. If the operation of thought-power were
+confined exclusively to the individual mind this difficulty might arise;
+but if there is one lesson the student of Mental Science should take to
+heart more than another, it is that the action of thought-power is not
+limited to a circumscribed individuality. What the individual does is to
+<i>give direction</i> to something which is unlimited, to call into action
+a force infinitely greater than his own, which because it is in itself
+impersonal though intelligent, will receive the impress of his personality,
+and can therefore make its influence felt far beyond the limits which bound
+the individual's objective perception of the circumstances with which he
+has to deal. It is for this reason that I lay so much stress on the
+combination of two apparent opposites in the Universal Mind, the union of
+intelligence with impersonality. The intelligence not only enables it to
+receive the impress of our thought, but also causes it to devise exactly
+the right <i>means</i> for bringing it into accomplishment. This is only
+the logical result of the hypothesis that we are dealing with infinite
+Intelligence which is also infinite Life. Life means Power, and infinite
+life therefore means limitless power; and limitless power moved by
+limitless intelligence cannot be conceived of as ever stopping short of the
+accomplishment of its object; therefore, given the <i>intention</i> on the
+part of the Universal Mind, there can be no doubt as to its ultimate
+accomplishment. Then comes the question of intention. How do we know what
+the intention of the Universal Mind may be? Here comes in the element of
+impersonality. It has <i>no intention</i>, because it is <i>impersonal</i>.
+As I have already said, the Universal mind works by a law of averages for
+the advancement of the race, and is in no way concerned with the particular
+wishes of the individual. If his wishes are in line with the forward
+movement of the everlasting principle, there is nowhere in Nature any power
+to restrict him in their fulfilment. If they are opposed to the general
+forward movement, then they will bring him into collision with it, and it
+will crush him. From the relation between them it results that the same
+principle which shows itself in the individual mind as Will, becomes in the
+universal mind a Law of Tendency; and the direction of this tendency must
+always be to life-givingness, because the universal mind is the
+undifferentiated Life-spirit of the universe. Therefore in every case the
+test is whether our particular intention is in this same lifeward
+direction: and if it is, then we may be absolutely certain that there is no
+intention on the part of the Universal Mind to thwart the intention of our
+own individual mind; we are dealing with a purely impersonal force, and it
+will no more oppose us by specific plans of its own than will steam or
+electricity. Combining then, these two aspects of the Universal Mind, its
+utter impersonality and its perfect intelligence, we find precisely the
+sort of natural force we are in want of, something which will undertake
+whatever we put into its hands without asking questions or bargaining for
+terms, and which, having undertaken our business, will bring to bear on it
+an intelligence to which the united knowledge of the whole human race is as
+nothing, and a power equal to this intelligence. I may be using a rough and
+ready mode of expression, but my object is to bring home to the student the
+nature of the power he can employ and the method of employing it, and I may
+therefore state the whole position thus:--Your object is not to run the
+whole cosmos, but to draw particular benefits, physical, mental, moral, or
+financial into your own or someone else's life. From this individual point
+of view the universal creative power has no mind of its own, and therefore
+you can make up its mind for it. When its mind is thus made up for it, it
+never abrogates its place as the creative power, but at once sets to work
+co carry out the purpose for which it has thus been concentrated; and
+unless this concentration is dissipated by the same agency (yourself) which
+first produced it, it will work on by the law of growth to complete
+manifestation on the outward plane.</p>
+
+<p>In dealing with this great impersonal intelligence, we are dealing with
+the infinite, and we must fully realize infinitude as that which touches
+all points, and if it does, there should be no difficulty in understanding
+that this intelligence can draw together the means requisite for its
+purpose even from the ends of the world; and therefore, realizing the Law
+according to which the result can be produced, we must resolutely put aside
+all questioning as to the specific means which will be employed in any
+case. To question this is to sow that very seed of doubt which it is our
+first object to eradicate, and our intellectual endeavour should therefore
+be directed, not to the attempt to foretell the various secondary causes
+which will eventually combine to produce the desired result, laying down
+beforehand what particular causes should be necessary, and from what
+quarter they should come; but we should direct our intellectual endeavour
+to seeing more clearly the rationale of the general law by which trains of
+secondary causes are set in motion. Employed in the former way our
+intellect becomes the greatest hindrance to our success, for it only helps
+to increase our doubts, since it is trying to grasp particulars which, at
+the time are entirely outside its circle of vision; but employed in the
+latter it affords the most material aid in maintaining that nucleus without
+which there is no centre from which the principle of growth can assert
+itself. The intellect can only deduce consequences from facts which it is
+able to state, and consequently cannot deduce any assurance from facts of
+whose existence it cannot yet have any knowledge through the medium of the
+outward senses; but for the same reason it can realize the existence of a
+<i>Law</i> by which the as yet unmanifested circumstances may be brought
+into manifestation. Thus used in its right order, the intellect becomes the
+handmaid of that more interior power within us which manipulates the unseen
+substance of all things, and which we may call relative first cause.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap9">IX.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>CAUSES AND CONDITIONS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The expression "<i>relative</i> first cause" has been used in the last
+section to distinguish the action of the creative principle in the
+<i>individual</i> mind from Universal First Cause on the one hand and from
+secondary causes on the other. As it exists in <i>us</i>, primary causation
+is the power to initiate a train of causation directed to an individual
+purpose. As the power of initiating a fresh sequence of cause and effect it
+is first cause, and as referring to an individual purpose it is relative,
+and it may therefore be spoken of as relative first cause, or the power of
+primary causation manifested by the individual. The understanding and use
+of this power is the whole object of Mental Science, and it is therefore
+necessary that the student should clearly see the relation between causes
+and conditions. A simple illustration will go further for this purpose than
+any elaborate explanation. If a lighted candle is brought into a room the
+room becomes illuminated, and if the candle is taken away it becomes dark
+again. Now the illumination and the darkness are both conditions, the one
+positive resulting from the presence of the light, and the other negative
+resulting from its absence: from this simple example we therefore see that
+every positive condition has an exactly opposite negative condition
+corresponding to it, and that this correspondence results from their being
+related to the <i>same cause</i>, the one positively and the other
+negatively; and hence we may lay down the rule that all positive conditions
+result from the active presence of a certain cause, and all negative
+conditions from the absence of such a cause. A condition, whether positive
+or negative, is never <i>primary</i> cause, and the <i>primary</i> cause of
+any series can never be negative, for negation is the condition which
+arises from the absence of active causation. This should be thoroughly
+understood as it is the philosophic basis of all those "denials" which play
+so important a, part in Mental Science, and which may be summed up in the
+statement that evil being negative, or privation of good, has no
+substantive existence in itself. Conditions, however, whether positive or
+negative, are no sooner called into existence than they become causes in
+their turn and produce further conditions, and so on <i>ad infinitum</i>,
+thus giving rise to the whole train of secondary causes. So long as we
+judge only from the information conveyed to us by the outward senses, we
+are working on the plane of secondary causation and see nothing but a
+succession of conditions, forming part of an endless train of antecedent
+conditions coming out of the past and stretching away into the future, and
+from this point of view we are under the rule of an iron destiny from which
+there seems no possibility of escape. This is because the outward senses
+are only capable of dealing with the relations which one mode of limitation
+bears to another, for they are the instruments by which we take cognizance
+of the relative and the conditioned. Now the only way of escape is by
+rising out of the region of secondary causes into that of primary
+causation, where the originating energy is to be found before it has yet
+passed into manifestation as a condition. This region is to be found
+<i>within ourselves</i>; it is the region of pure ideas; and it is for this
+reason that I have laid stress on the two aspects of spirit as pure thought
+and manifested form. The thought-image or ideal pattern of a thing is the
+<i>first cause</i> relatively to that thing; it is the substance of that
+thing untrammelled, by any antecedent conditions.</p>
+
+<p>If we realize that all visible things <i>must</i> have their origin in
+spirit, then the whole creation around us is the standing evidence that the
+starting-point of all things is in thought-images or ideas, for no other
+action than the formation of such images can be conceived of spirit prior
+to its manifestation in matter. If, then, this is spirit's modus operandi
+for self-expression, we have only to transfer this conception from the
+scale of cosmic spirit working on the plane of the universal to that of
+individualized spirit working on the plane of the particular, to see that
+the formation of an ideal image by means of our thought is setting first
+cause in motion with regard to this specific object. There is no difference
+in kind between the operation of first cause in the universal and in the
+particular, the difference is only a difference of scale, but the power
+itself is identical. We must therefore always be very clear as to whether
+we are <i>consciously</i> using first cause or not. Note the word
+"consciously" because, whether consciously or unconsciously, we are always
+using first cause; and it was for this reason I emphasized the fact that
+the Universal Mind is purely subjective and therefore bound by the laws
+which apply to subjective mind on whatever scale. Hence we are
+<i>always</i> impressing some sort of ideas upon it, whether we are aware
+of the fact or not, and all our existing limitations result from our having
+habitually impressed upon it that idea of limitation which we have imbibed
+by restricting all possibility to the region of secondary causes. But now
+when investigation has shown us that conditions are never causes in
+<i>themselves</i>, but only the subsequent links of a chain started on the
+plane of the pure ideal, what we have to do is to reverse our method of
+thinking and regard the ideal as the real, and the outward manifestation as
+a mere reflection which must change with every change of the object which
+casts it. For these reasons it is essential to know whether we are
+consciously making use of first cause with a definite purpose or not, and
+the criterion is this. If we regard the fulfilment of our purpose as
+contingent upon any <i>circumstances</i>, past, present, or future, we are
+not making use of first cause; we have descended to the level of secondary
+causation, which is the region of doubts, fears, and limitations, all of
+which we are impressing upon the universal subjective mind with the
+inevitable result that it will build up corresponding external conditions.
+But if we realize that the region of secondary causes is the region of mere
+reflections we shall not think of our purpose as contingent on any
+conditions whatever, but shall know that by forming the idea of it in the
+absolute, and maintaining that idea, we have shaped the first cause into
+the desired form and can await the result with cheerful expectancy.</p>
+
+<p>It is here that we find the importance of realizing spirit's
+independence of time and space. An ideal, as such, cannot be formed in the
+future. It must either be formed here and now or not be formed at all; and
+it is for this reason that every teacher, who has ever spoken with due
+knowledge of the subject, has impressed upon his followers the necessity of
+picturing to themselves the fulfilment of their desires as <i>already
+accomplished</i> on the spiritual plane, as the indispensable condition of
+fulfilment in the visible and concrete.</p>
+
+<p>When this is properly understood, any anxious thought as to the
+<i>means</i> to be employed in the accomplishment of our purposes is seen
+to be quite unnecessary. If the end is already secured, then it follows
+that all the steps leading to it are secured also. The means will pass into
+the smaller circle of our conscious activities day by day in due order, and
+then we have to work upon them, not with fear, doubt, or feverish
+excitement, but calmly and joyously, because we <i>know</i> that the end is
+already secured, and that our reasonable use of such means as present
+themselves in the desired direction is, only one portion of a much larger
+co-ordinated movement, the final result of which admits of no doubt. Mental
+Science does not offer a premium to idleness, but it takes, all work out of
+the region of anxiety and toil by assuring the worker of the success of his
+labour, if not in the precise form he anticipated, then in some other still
+better suited to his requirements. But suppose, when we reach a point where
+some momentous decision has to be made, we happen to decide wrongly? On the
+hypothesis that the end is already secured you cannot decide wrongly. Your
+right decision is as much one of the necessary steps in the accomplishment
+of the end as any of the other conditions leading up to it, and therefore,
+while being careful to avoid rash action, we may make sure that the same
+Law which is controlling the rest of the circumstances in the right
+direction will influence our judgment in that direction also. To get good
+results we must properly understand our relation to the great impersonal
+power we are using. It is intelligent and we are intelligent, and the two
+intelligences must co-operate. We must not fly in the face of the Law by
+expecting it to do <i>for</i> us what it can only do <i>through</i> us; and
+we must therefore use our intelligence with the knowledge that it is acting
+<i>as the instrument of a greater intelligence</i>; and because we have
+this knowledge we may, and should, cease from all anxiety as to the final
+result. In actual practice we must first form the ideal conception of our
+object with the definite intention of impressing it upon the universal
+mind--it is this intention which takes such thought out of the region of
+mere casual fancies--and then affirm that our knowledge of the Law is
+sufficient reason for a calm expectation of a corresponding result, and
+that therefore all necessary conditions will come to us in due order. We
+can then turn to the affairs of our daily life with the calm assurance that
+the initial conditions are either there already or will soon come into
+view. If we do not at once see them, let us rest content with the knowledge
+that the spiritual prototype is already in existence and wait till some
+circumstance pointing in the desired direction begins to show itself. It
+may be a very small circumstance, but it is the direction and not the
+magnitude which is to be taken into consideration. As soon as we see it we
+should regard it as the first sprouting of the seed we have sown in the
+Absolute, and do calmly, and without excitement, whatever the circumstances
+may seem to require, and then later on we shall see that this doing will in
+turn lead to further circumstances in the same direction until we find
+ourselves conducted step by step to the accomplishment of our object. In
+this way the understanding of the great principle of the Law of Supply
+will, by repeated experiences, deliver us more and more completely out of
+the region of anxious thought and toilsome labour and bring us into a new
+world where the useful employment of all our powers, whether mental or
+physical, will only be an unfolding of our individuality upon the lines of
+its own nature, and therefore a perpetual source of health and happiness; a
+sufficient inducement, surely, to the careful study of the laws governing
+the relation between the individual and the Universal Mind.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap10">X.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>INTUITION.</h2>
+
+
+<p>We have seen that the subjective mind is amenable to suggestion by the
+objective mind; but there is also an action of the subjective mind upon the
+objective. The individual's subjective mind is his own innermost self, and
+its first care is the maintenance of the individuality of which it is the
+foundation; and since it is pure spirit it has its continual existence in
+that plane of being where all things subsist in the universal here and the
+everlasting now, and consequently can, inform the lower mind of things
+removed from its ken either by distance or futurity. As the absence of the
+conditions of time and space must logically concentrate all things into a
+present focus, we can assign no limit to the subjective mind's power of
+perception, and therefore the question arises, why does it not keep the
+objective mind continually informed on all points? And the answer is that
+it would do so if the objective mind were sufficiently trained to recognize
+the indications given, and to effect this training is one of the purposes
+of Mental Science. When once we recognize the position of the subjective
+mind as the supporter of the whole individuality we cannot doubt that much
+of what we take to be the spontaneous movement of the objective mind has
+its origin in the subjective mind prompting the objective mind in the right
+direction without our being consciously aware of it. But at times when the
+urgency of the case seems to demand it, or when, for some reason yet
+unknown, the objective mind is for a while more closely <i>en rapport</i>
+with the subjective mind, the interior voice is heard strongly and
+persistently; and when this is the case we do well to pay heed to it. Want
+of space forbids me to give examples, but doubtless such will not be
+wanting in the reader's experience.</p>
+
+<p>The importance of understanding and following the intuition cannot be
+exaggerated, but I candidly admit the great practical difficulty of keeping
+the happy mean between the disregard of the interior voice and allowing
+ourselves to be run away with by groundless fancies. The best guide is the
+knowledge that comes of personal experience which gradually leads to the
+acquisition of a sort of inward sense of touch that enables us to
+distinguish the true from the false, and which appears to grow with the
+sincere desire for truth and with the recognition of the spirit as its
+source. The only general principles the writer can deduce from his own
+experience are that when, in spite of all appearances pointing in the
+direction of a certain line of conduct, there is still a persistent
+<i>feeling</i> that it should not be followed, in the majority of instances
+it will be found that the argument of the objective mind, however correct
+on the facts objectively known, was deficient from ignorance of facts which
+could not be objectively known at the time, but which were known to the
+intuitive faculty. Another principle is that our <i>very first</i>
+impression of feeling on any subject is generally correct. Before the
+objective mind has begun to argue on the subject it is like the surface of
+a smooth lake which clearly reflects the light from above; but as soon as
+it begins to argue from outside appearances these also throw their
+reflections upon its surface, so that the original image becomes blurred
+and is no longer recognizable. This first conception is very speedily lost,
+and it should therefore be carefully observed and registered in the memory
+with a view to testing the various arguments which will subsequently arise
+on the objective plane. It is however impossible to reduce so interior an
+action as that of the intuition to the form of hard and fast rules, and
+beyond carefully noting particular cases as they occur, probably the best
+plan for the student will be to include the whole subject of intuition in
+the general principle of the Law of Attraction, especially if he sees how
+this law interacts with that personal quality of universal spirit of which
+we have already spoken.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap11">XI.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>HEALING.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The subject of healing has been elaborately treated by many writers and
+fully deserves all the attention that has been given to it, but the object
+of these lectures is rather to ground the student in those general
+principles on which <i>all</i> conscious use of the creative power of
+thought is based, than to lay down formal rules for specific applications
+of it. I will therefore examine the broad principles which appear to be
+common to the various methods of mental healing which are in use, each of
+which derives its efficacy, not from the peculiarity of the method, but
+from it being such a method as allows the higher laws of Nature to come
+into play. Now the principle universally laid down by all mental healers,
+in whatever various terms they may explain it, is that the basis of all
+healing is a change in belief. The sequence from which this results is as
+follows:--the subjective mind is the creative faculty within us, and
+creates whatever the objective mind impresses upon it; the objective mind,
+or intellect, impresses its thought upon it; the thought is the expression
+of the belief; hence whatever the subjective mind creates is the
+reproduction externally of our beliefs. Accordingly our whole object is to
+change our beliefs, and we cannot do this without some solid ground of
+conviction of the falsity of our old beliefs and of the truth of our new
+ones, and this ground we find in that law of causation which I have
+endeavoured to explain. The wrong belief which externalizes as sickness is
+the belief that some secondary cause, which is really only a condition, is
+a primary cause. The knowledge of the law shows that there is only
+<i>one</i> primary cause, and this is the factor which in our own
+individuality we call subjective or sub-conscious mind. For this reason I
+have insisted on the difference between placing an idea in the
+sub-conscious mind, that is, on the plane of the absolute and without
+reference to time and space, and placing the same idea in the conscious
+intellectual mind which only perceives things as related to time and space.
+Now the only conception you can have of<i> yourself</i> in the absolute, or
+unconditioned, is as <i>purely living Spirit</i>, not hampered by
+conditions of any sort, and therefore not subject to illness; and when this
+idea is firmly impressed on the sub-conscious mind, it will externalize it.
+The reason why this process is not always successful at the first attempt
+is that all our life we have been holding the false belief in sickness as a
+substantial entity in itself and thus being a primary cause, instead of
+being merely a negative <i>condition</i> resulting from the <i>obsence</i>
+of a primary cause; and a belief which has become ingrained from childhood
+cannot be eradicated at a moment's notice. We often find, therefore, that
+for some time after a treatment there is an improvement in the patient's
+health, and then the old symptoms return. This is because the new belief in
+his own creative faculty has not yet had time to penetrate down to the
+innermost depths of the subconscious mind, but has only partially entered
+it. Each succeeding treatment strengthens the sub-conscious mind in its
+hold of the new belief until at last a permanent cure is effected. This is
+the method of self-treatment based on the patient's own knowledge of the
+law of his being.</p>
+
+<p>But "there is not in all men this knowledge," or at any rate not such a
+full recognition of it as will enable them to give successful treatment to
+themselves, and in these cases the intervention of the healer becomes
+necessary. The only difference between the healer and the patient is that
+the healer has learnt how to control the less self-conscious modes of the
+spirit by the more self-conscious mode, while the patient has not yet
+attained to this knowledge; and what the healer does is to substitute his
+own objective or conscious mentality, which is will joined to intellect,
+for that of the patient, and in this way to find entrance to his
+sub-conscious mind and impress upon it the suggestion of perfect
+health.</p>
+
+<p>The question then arises, how can the healer substitute his own
+conscious mind for that of the patient? and the answer shows the practical
+application of those very abstract principles which I have laid down in the
+earlier sections. Our ordinary conception of ourselves is that of an
+individual personality which ends where another personality begins, in
+other words that the two personalities are entirely separate. This is an
+error. There is no such hard and fast line of demarcation between
+personalities, and the boundaries between one and another can be increased
+or reduced in rigidity according to will, in fact they may be temporarily
+removed so completely that, for the time being, the two personalities
+become merged into one. Now the action which takes place between healer and
+patient depends on this principle. The patient is asked by the healer to
+put himself in a receptive mental attitude, which means that he is to
+exercise his volition for the purpose of removing the barrier of his own
+objective personality and thus affording entrance to the mental power of
+the healer. On his side also the healer does the same thing, only with this
+difference, that while the patient withdraws the barrier on his side with
+the intention of admitting a flowing-in, the healer does so with the
+intention of allowing a flowing-out: and thus by the joint action of the
+two minds the barriers of both personalities are removed and the direction
+of the flow of volition is determined, that is to say, it flows from the
+healer as actively willing to give, towards the patient as passively
+willing to receive, according to the universal law of Nature that the flow
+must always be from the <i>plenum</i> to the <i>vacuum</i>. This mutual
+removal of the external mental barrier between healer and patient is what
+is termed establishing a <i>rapport</i> between them, and here we find one
+most valuable practical application of the principle laid down earlier in
+this book, that pure spirit is present in its entirety at every point
+simultaneously. It is for this reason that as soon as the healer realizes
+that the barriers of external personality between himself and his patient
+have been removed, he can then speak to the sub-conscious mind of the
+patient as though it were his own, for both being pure spirit the
+<i>thought</i> of their identity <i>makes</i> them identical, and both are
+concentrated into a single entity at a single point upon which the
+conscious mind of the healer can be brought to bear, according to the
+universal principle of the control of the subjective mind by the objective
+mind through suggestion. It is for this reason I have insisted on the
+distinction between <i>pure</i> spirit, or spirit conceived of apart from
+extension in any matrix and the conception of it as so extended. If we
+concentrate our mind upon the diseased condition of the patient we are
+thinking of him as a separate personality, and are not fixing our mind upon
+that conception of him as pure spirit which will afford us effectual entry
+to his springs of being. We must therefore withdraw our thought from the
+contemplation of symptoms, and indeed from his corporeal personality
+altogether, and must think of him as a purely spiritual individuality, and
+as such entirely free from subjection to any conditions, and consequently
+as voluntarily externalizing the conditions most expressive of the vitality
+and intelligence which pure spirit is. Thinking of him thus, we then make
+mental affirmation that he shall build up outwardly the correspondence of
+that perfect vitality which he knows himself to be inwardly; and this
+suggestion being impressed by the healer's conscious thought, while the
+patient's conscious thought is at the same time impressing the fact that he
+is receiving the active thought of the healer, the result is that the
+patient's sub-conscious mind becomes thoroughly imbued with the recognition
+of its own life-giving power, and according to the recognized law of
+subjective mentality proceeds to work out this suggestion into external
+manifestation, and thus health is substituted for sickness.</p>
+
+<p>It must be understood that the purpose of the process here described is
+to strengthen the subject's individuality, not to dominate it. To use it
+for domination is <i>inversion</i>, bringing its appropriate penalty to the
+operator.</p>
+
+<p>In this description I have contemplated the case where the patient is
+consciously co-operating with the healer, and it is in order to obtain this
+co-operation that the mental healer usually makes a point of instructing
+the patient in the broad principles of Mental Science, if he is not already
+acquainted with them. But this is not always advisable or possible.
+Sometimes the statement of principles opposed to existing prejudices
+arouses opposition, and any active antagonism on the patient's part must
+tend to intensify the barrier of conscious personality which it is the
+healer's first object to remove. In these cases nothing is so effective as
+<i>absent treatment</i>. If the student has grasped all that has been said
+on the subject of spirit and matter, he will see that in mental treatment
+time and space count for nothing, because the whole action takes place on a
+plane where these conditions do not obtain; and it is therefore quite
+immaterial whether the patient be in the immediate presence of the healer
+or in a distant country. Under these circumstances it is found by
+experience that one of the most effectual modes of mental healing is by
+treatment during sleep, because then the patient's whole system is
+naturally in a state of relaxation which prevents him offering any
+conscious opposition to the treatment. And by the same rule the healer also
+is able to treat even more effectively during his own sleep than while
+waking. Before going to sleep he firmly impresses on his subjective mind
+that it is to convey curative suggestion to the subjective mind of the
+patient, and then, by the general principles of the relation between
+subjective and objective mind this suggestion is carried out during all the
+hours that the conscious individuality is wrapped in repose. This method is
+applicable to young children to whom the principles of the science cannot
+be explained; and also to persons at a distance: and indeed the only
+advantage gained by the personal meeting of the patient and healer is in
+the instruction that can be orally given, or when the patient is at that
+early stage of knowledge where the healer's visible presence conveys the
+suggestion that something is then being done which could not be done in his
+absence; otherwise the presence or absence of the patient are matters
+perfectly indifferent. The student must always recollect that the
+sub-conscious mind does not have to work <i>through</i> the intellect or
+conscious mind to produce its curative effects. It is part of the
+all-pervading creative force of Nature, while the intellect is not creative
+but distributive.</p>
+
+<p>From mental healing it is but a step to telepathy, clairvoyance and
+other, kindred manifestations of transcendental power which, are from time
+to time exhibited by the subjective entity and which follow laws as
+accurate as those which govern what we are accustomed to consider our more
+normal faculties; but these subjects do not properly fall within the scope
+of a book whose purpose is to lay down the broad principles which underlie
+<i>all</i> spiritual phenomena. Until these are clearly understood the
+student cannot profitably attempt the detailed study of the more interior
+powers; for to do so without a firm foundation of knowledge and some
+experience in its practical application would only be to expose himself to
+unknown dangers, and would be contrary to the scientific principle that the
+advance into the unknown can only be made from the standpoint of the known,
+otherwise we only come into a confused region of guess-work without any
+clearly defined principles for our guidance.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap12">XII.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>THE WILL.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The Will is of such primary importance that the student should be on his
+guard against any mistake as to the position which it holds in the mental
+economy. Many writers and teachers insist on will-power as though that were
+the creative faculty. No doubt intense will-power can evolve certain
+external results, but like all other methods of compulsion it lacks the
+permanency of natural growth. The appearances, forms, and conditions
+produced by mere intensity of will-power will only hang together so long as
+the compelling force continues; but let it be exhausted or withdrawn, and
+the elements thus forced into unnatural combination will at once fly back
+to their proper affinities; the form created by compulsion never had the
+germ of vitality <i>in itself</i> and is therefore dissipated as soon as
+the external energy which supported it is withdrawn. The mistake is in
+attributing the creative power to the will, or perhaps I should say in
+attributing the creative power to ourselves at all. The truth is that man
+never creates anything. His function is, not to create, but to combine and
+distribute that which is already in being, and what we call our creations
+are new combinations of already existing material, whether mental or
+corporeal. This is amply demonstrated in the physical sciences. No one
+speaks of creating energy, but only of transforming one form of energy into
+another; and if we realize this as a universal principle, we shall see that
+on the mental plane as well as on the physical we never create energy but
+only provide the conditions by which the energy already existing in one
+mode can exhibit itself in another: therefore what, relatively to man, we
+call his creative power, is that receptive attitude of expectancy which, so
+to say, makes a mould into which the plastic and as yet undifferentiated
+substance can flow and take the desired form. The will has much the same
+place in our mental machinery that the tool-holder has in a power-lathe: it
+is not the power, but it keeps the mental faculties in that position
+relatively to the power which enables it to do the desired work. If, using
+the word in its widest sense, we may say that the imagination is the
+creative function, we may call the will the centralizing principle. Its
+function is to keep the imagination centred in the right direction. We are
+aiming at consciously controlling our mental powers instead of letting them
+hurry us hither and thither in a purposeless manner, and we must therefore
+understand the relation of these powers to each other for the production of
+external results. First the whole train of causation is started by some
+emotion which gives rise to a desire; next the judgment determines whether
+we shall externalize this desire or not; then the desire having been
+approved by the judgment, the will comes forward and directs the
+imagination to form the necessary spiritual prototype; and the imagination
+thus centred on a particular object creates the spiritual nucleus, which in
+its turn acts as a centre round which the forces of attraction begin to
+work, and continue to operate until, by the law of growth, the concrete
+result becomes perceptible to our external senses.</p>
+
+<p>The business of the will, then, is to retain the various faculties of
+our mind in that position where they are really doing the work we wish, and
+this position may be generalized into the three following attitudes; either
+we wish to act upon something, or be acted on by it, or to maintain a
+neutral position; in other words we either intend to project a force, or
+receive a force or keep a position of inactivity relatively to some
+particular object. Now the judgment determines which of these three
+positions we shall take up, the consciously active, the consciously
+receptive, or the consciously neutral; and then the function of the will is
+simply to maintain the position we have determined upon; and if we maintain
+any given mental attitude we may reckon with all certainty on the law of
+attraction drawing us to those correspondences which exteriorly symbolize
+the attitude in question. This is very different from the semi-animal
+screwing-up of the nervous forces which, with some people, stands for
+will-power. It implies no strain on the nervous system and is consequently
+not followed by any sense of exhaustion. The will-power, when transferred
+from the region of the lower mentality to the spiritual plane, becomes
+simply a calm and peaceful determination to retain a certain mental
+attitude in spite of all temptations to the contrary, knowing that by doing
+so the desired result will certainly appear.</p>
+
+<p>The training of the will and its transference from the lower to the
+higher plane of our nature are among the first objects of Mental Science.
+The man is summed up in his will. Whatever he does by his own will is his
+own act; whatever he does without the consent of his will is not his own
+act but that of the power by which his will was coerced; but we must
+recognize that, on the mental plane, no other individuality can obtain
+control over our will unless we first allow it to do so; and it is for this
+reason that all legitimate use of Mental Science is towards the
+strengthening of the will, whether in ourselves or others, and bringing it
+under the control of an enlightened reason. When the will realizes its
+power to deal with first cause it is no longer necessary for the operator
+to state to himself <i>in extenso</i> all the philosophy of its action
+every time he wishes to use it, but, knowing that the trained will is a
+tremendous spiritual force acting on the plane of first cause, he simply
+expresses his desire with the intention of operating on that plane, and
+knows that the desire thus expressed will in due time externalize itself as
+concrete fact. He now sees that the point which really demands his earnest
+attention is not whether he possesses the power of externalizing any
+results he chooses, but of learning to choose wisely what results to
+produce. For let us not suppose that even the highest powers will take us
+out of the law of cause and effect. We can never set any cause in motion
+without calling forth those effects which it already contains in embryo and
+which will again become causes in their turn, thus producing a series which
+must continue to flow on until it is cut short by bringing into operation a
+cause of an opposite character to the one which originated it. Thus we
+shall find the field for the exercise of our intelligence continually
+expanding with the expansion of our powers; for, granted a good intention,
+we shall always wish to contemplate the results of our action as far as our
+intelligence will permit. We may not be able to see very far, but there is
+one safe general principle to be gained from what has already been said
+about causes and conditions, which is that the whole sequence always
+partakes of the same character as the initial cause: if that character is
+negative, that is, destitute of any desire to externalize kindness,
+cheerfulness, strength, beauty or some other sort of good, this negative
+quality will make itself felt all down the line; but if the opposite
+affirmative character is in the original motive, then it will reproduce its
+kind in forms of love, joy, strength and beauty with unerring precision.
+Before setting out, therefore, to produce new conditions by the exercise of
+our thought-power we should weigh carefully what further results they are
+likely to lead to; and here, again, we shall find an ample field for the
+training of our will, in learning to acquire that self-control which will
+enable us to postpone an inferior present satisfaction to a greater
+prospective good.</p>
+
+<p>These considerations naturally lead us to the subject of concentration.
+I have just now pointed out that all duly controlled mental action consists
+in holding the mind in one of three attitudes; but there is a fourth mental
+condition, which is that of letting our mental functions run on without our
+will directing them to any definite purpose. It is on this word
+<i>purpose</i> that we must fix our whole attention; and instead of
+dissipating our energies, we must follow an intelligent method of
+concentration. The, word means being gathered up at a centre, and the
+centre of anything is that point in which all its forces are equally
+balanced. To concentrate therefore means first to bring our minds into a
+condition of equilibrium which will enable us to consciously direct the
+flow of spirit to a definitely recognized purpose, and then carefully to
+guard our thoughts from inducing a flow in the opposite direction. We must
+always bear in mind that we are dealing with a wonderful <i>potential</i>
+energy which is not yet differentiated into any particular mode, and that
+by the action of our mind we can differentiate it into any specific mode of
+activity that we will; and by keeping our thought fixed on the fact that
+the inflow of this energy <i>is</i> taking place and that by our mental
+attitude we <i>are</i> determining its direction, we shall gradually
+realize a corresponding externalization. Proper concentration, therefore,
+does not consist of strenuous effort which exhausts the nervous system and
+defeats its own object by suggesting the consciousness of an adverse force
+to be fought against, and thus creating the adverse circumstances we dread;
+but in shutting out all thoughts of a kind that would disperse the
+spiritual nucleus we are forming and dwelling cheerfully on the knowledge
+that, because the law is certain in its action, our desire is certain of
+accomplishment. The other great principle to be remembered is that
+concentration is for the purpose of determining the <i>quality</i> we are
+going to give to the previously undifferentiated energy rather than to
+arrange the <i>specific circumstances</i> of its manifestation. <i>That</i>
+is the work of the creative energy itself, which will build up its own
+forms of expression quite naturally if we allow it, thus saving us a great
+deal of needless anxiety. What we really want is expansion in a certain
+direction, whether of health, wealth, or what not: and so long as we get
+this, what does it matter whether it reaches us through some channel which
+we thought we could reckon upon or through some other whose existence we
+had not suspected. It is the fact that we are concentrating energy of a
+particular kind for a particular purpose that we should fix our minds upon,
+and not look upon any specific details as essential to the accomplishment
+of our object.</p>
+
+<p>These are the two golden rules regarding concentration; but we must not
+suppose that because we have to be on our guard against idle drifting there
+is to be no such thing as repose; on the contrary it is during periods of
+repose that we accumulate strength for action; but repose does not mean a
+state of purposelessness. As pure spirit the subjective mind never rests:
+it is only the objective mind in its connection with the physical body that
+needs rest; and though there are no doubt times when the greatest possible
+rest is to be obtained by stopping the action, of our conscious thought
+altogether, the more generally advisable method is by changing the
+direction of the thought and, instead of centering it upon something we
+intend to <i>do</i>, letting it dwell quietly upon what we <i>are</i>. This
+direction of thought might, of course, develop into the deepest
+philosophical speculation, but it is not necessary that we should be always
+either consciously projecting our forces to produce some external effect or
+working out the details of some metaphysical problem; but we may simply
+realize ourselves as part of the universal livingness and thus gain a quiet
+centralization, which, though maintained by a conscious act of the
+volition, is the very essence of rest. From this standpoint we see that all
+is Life and all is Good, and that Nature, from her clearly visible surface
+to her most arcane depths, is one vast storehouse of life and good entirely
+devoted to our individual use. We have the key to all her treasures, and we
+can now apply our knowledge of the law of being without entering into all
+those details which are only needed for purposes of study, and doing so we
+find it results in our having acquired the consciousness of our <i>oneness
+with the whole</i>. This is the great secret: and when we have once
+fathomed it we can enjoy our possession of the whole, or of any part of it,
+because by our recognition we have made it, and can increasingly make it,
+our own. Whatever most appeals to us at any particular time or place is
+that mode of the universal living spirit with which at that moment we are
+most in touch, and realizing this, we shall draw from it streams of vital
+energy which will make the very sensation of livingness a joy and will
+radiate from us as a sphere of vibration that can deflect all injurious
+suggestion on whatever plane. We may not have literary, artistic, or
+scientific skill to present to others the results of our communings with
+Nature, but the joy of this sympathetic indrawing will nevertheless produce
+a corresponding outflow manifesting itself in the happier look and kindlier
+mien of him who thus realizes his oneness with every aspect of the whole.
+He realizes--and this is the great point in that attitude of mind which is
+not directed to any specific external object--that, for himself, he is, and
+always must be the centre of all this galaxy of Life, and thus he
+contemplates himself as seated at the centre of infinitude, not an
+infinitude of blank space, but pulsating with living being, in all of which
+he knows that the true essence is nothing but good. This is the very
+opposite to a selfish self-centredness; it, is the centre where we find
+that we both receive from all and flow out to all. Apart from this
+principle of circulation there is no true life, and if we contemplate our
+central position only as affording us greater advantages for in-taking, we
+have missed the whole point of our studies by missing the real nature of
+the Life-principle, which is action and re-action. If we would have life
+enter into us, we ourselves must enter into life--enter into the spirit of
+it, just as we must enter into the spirit of a book or a game to enjoy it.
+There can be no action at a centre only. There must be a perpetual flowing
+out towards the circumference, and thence back again to the centre to
+maintain a vital activity; otherwise collapse must ensue either from
+anaemia or congestion. But if we realize the reciprocal nature of the vital
+pulsation, and that the outflowing consists in the habit of mind which
+gives itself to the good it sees in others, rather than in any specific
+actions, then we shall find that the cultivation of this disposition will
+provide innumerable avenues for the universal livingness to flow through
+us, whether as giving or receiving, which we had never before suspected:
+and this action and re-action will so build up our own vitality that each
+day will find us more thoroughly alive than any that had preceded it. This,
+then, is the attitude of repose in which we may enjoy all the beauties of
+science, literature and art or may peacefully commune with the spirit of
+nature without the aid of any third mind to act as its interpreter, which
+is still a purposeful attitude although not directed to a specific object:
+we have not allowed the will to relax its control, but have merely altered
+its direction; so that for action and repose alike we find that our
+strength lies in our recognition of the unity of the spirit and of
+ourselves as individual concentrations of it.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap13">XIII.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>IN TOUCH WITH SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The preceding pages have made the student in some measure aware of the
+immense importance of our dealings with the sub-conscious mind. Our
+relation to it, whether on the scale of the individual or the universal, is
+the key to all that we are or ever can be. In its unrecognized working it
+is the spring of all that we can call the automatic action of mind and
+body, and on the universal scale it is the silent power of evolution
+gradually working onwards to that "divine event, to which the whole
+creation moves"; and by our conscious recognition of it we make it,
+relatively to ourselves, all that we believe it to be. The closer our
+<i>rapport</i> with it becomes, the more what we have hitherto considered
+automatic action, whether in our bodies or our circumstances, will pass
+under our control, until at last we shall control our whole individual
+world. Since, then, this is the stupendous issue involved, the question how
+we are to put ourselves practically in touch with the sub-conscious mind is
+a very important one. Now the clue which gives us the right direction is to
+be found in the <i>impersonal</i> quality of sub-conscious mind of which I
+have spoken. Not impersonal as lacking the <i>elements</i> of personality;
+nor even, in the case of individual subjective mind, as lacking the sense
+of individuality; but impersonal in the sense of not recognizing the
+particular external relations which appear to the objective mind to
+constitute its personality, and having a realization of itself quite
+independent of them. If, then, we would come in touch with it we must meet
+it on its own ground. It can see things only from the deductive standpoint,
+and therefore cannot take note of the inductive standpoint from which we
+construct the idea of our external personality; and accordingly if we would
+put ourselves in touch with it, we cannot do so by bringing it down to the
+level of the external and non-essential but only by rising to its own level
+on the plane of the interior and essential. How can this be done? Let two
+well-known writers answer. Rudyard Kipling tells us in his story of "Kim"
+how the boy used at times to lose his sense of personality by repeating to
+himself the question, <i>Who</i> is Kim? Gradually his personality would
+seem to fade and he would experience a feeling of passing into a grander
+and a wider life, in which the boy Kim was unknown, while his own conscious
+individuality remained, only exalted and expanded to an inconceivable
+extent; and in Tennyson's life by his son we are told that at times the
+poet had a similar experience. We come into touch with the absolute exactly
+in proportion as we withdraw ourselves from the relative: they vary
+inversely to each other.</p>
+
+<p>For the purpose, then, of getting into touch with our sub-conscious mind
+we must endeavour to think of ourselves as pure being, as that entity which
+interiorly supports the outward manifestation, and doing so we shall
+realize that the essential quality of pure being must be good. It is in
+itself <i>pure Life</i>, and as such cannot desire anything detrimental to
+pure Life under whatever form manifested. Consequently the purer our
+intentions the more readily we shall place ourself <i>en rapport</i> with
+our subjective entity; and <i>a fortiori</i> the same applies to that
+Greater Sub-conscious Mind of which our individual subjective mind is a
+particular manifestation. In actual practice the process consists in first
+forming a clear conception in the objective mind of the idea we wish to
+convey to the subjective mind: then, when this has been firmly grasped,
+endeavour to lose sight of all other facts connected with the external
+personality except the one in question, and then mentally address the
+subjective mind as though it were an independent entity and impress upon it
+what you want it to do or to believe. Everyone must formulate his own way
+of working, but one method, which is both simple and effective is to say to
+the subjective mind, "This is what I want you to do; you will now step into
+my place and do it, bringing all your powers and intelligence to bear, and
+considering yourself to be none other than myself." Having done this return
+to the realization of your own objective personality and leave the
+subjective mind to perform its task in full confidence that, by the law of
+its nature, it will do so if not hindered by a repetition of contrary
+messages from the objective mind. This is not a mere fancy but a truth
+daily proved by the experience of increasing numbers. The facts have not
+been fabricated to fit the theory, but the theory has been built up by
+careful observation of the facts; and since it has been shown both by
+theory and practice that such is the law of the relation between subjective
+and objective mind, we find ourselves face to face with a very momentous
+question. Is there any reason why the laws which hold good of the
+individual subjective mind should not hold good of the Universal Mind also?
+and the answer is that there is not. As has been already shown the
+Universal Mind must, by its very universality, be purely subjective, and
+what is the law of a part must also be the law of the whole: the qualities
+of fire are the same whether the centres of combustion be great or small,
+and therefore we may well conclude these lectures by considering what will
+be the result if we apply what we have learnt regarding the individual
+subjective mind to the Universal Mind.</p>
+
+<p>We have learnt that the three great facts regarding subjective mind are
+its creative power, its amenableness to suggestion, and its inability to
+work by any other than the deductive method. This last is an exceedingly
+important point, for it implies that the action of the subjective mind is
+in no way limited by precedent. The inductive method works on principles
+inferred from an already existing pattern, and therefore at the best only
+produces the old thing in a new shape. But the deductive method works
+according to the essence or spirit of the principle, and does not depend on
+any previous concrete manifestation for its apprehension of it; and this
+latter method of working must necessarily be that of the all-originating
+Mind, for since there could be no prior existing pattern from which it
+could learn the principles of construction, the want of a pattern would
+have prevented its creating anything had its method been inductive instead
+of deductive. Thus by the necessity of the case the Universal Mind must act
+deductively, that is, according to the law which has been found true of
+individual subjective mind. It is thus not bound by any precedent, which
+means that its creative power is absolutely unlimited; and since it is
+essentially subjective mind, and not objective mind, it is entirely
+amenable to suggestion. Now it is an unavoidable inference from the
+identity of the law governing subjective mind, whether in the individual or
+the universal, that just as we can by suggestion impress a certain
+character of personality upon the individual subjective mind, so we can,
+and do, upon the Universal Mind; and it is for this reason that I have
+drawn attention to the inherent personal <i>quality</i> of pure spirit when
+contemplated in its most interior plane. It becomes, therefore, the most
+important of all considerations with what character we invest the Universal
+Mind; for since our relation to it is <i>purely subjective</i> it will
+infallibly bear <i>to us</i> exactly that character which we impress upon
+it; in other words it will be to us exactly what we believe it to be. This
+is simply a logical inference from the fact that, as subjective mind, our
+primary relation to it can only be on the subjective plane, and indirectly
+our objective relations must also spring from the same source. This is the
+meaning of that remarkable passage twice repeated in the Bible, "With, the
+pure thou wilt show thyself pure, and with the froward thou wilt show
+thyself froward." (Ps. xviii., 26, and II. Sam. xxii., 27), for the context
+makes it clear that these words are addressed to the Divine Being. The
+spiritual kingdom is <i>within</i> us, and as we realize it <i>there</i> so
+it becomes to us a reality. It is the unvarying law of the subjective life
+that "as a man thinketh in his heart so is he," that is to say, his inward
+subjective states are the only true reality, and what we call external
+realities are only their objective correspondences. If we thoroughly
+realize the truth that the Universal Mind must be to us exactly according
+to our conception of it, and that this relation is not merely imaginary but
+by the law of subjective mind must be to us an actual fact and the
+foundation of all other facts, then it is impossible to over-estimate the
+importance of the conception of the Universal Mind which we adopt. To the
+uninstructed there is little or no choice: they form a conception in
+accordance with the tradition they have received from others, and until
+they have learnt to think for themselves, they have to abide by the results
+of that tradition: for natural laws admit of no exceptions, and however
+faulty the traditional idea may be, its acceptance will involve a
+corresponding reaction upon the Universal Mind, which will in turn be
+reflected into the conscious mind and external life of the individual. But
+those who understand the law of the subject will have no one but themselves
+to blame if they do not derive all possible benefits from it. The greatest
+Teacher of Mental Science the world has ever seen has laid down
+sufficiently plain rules for our guidance. With a knowledge of the subject
+whose depth can be appreciated only by those who have themselves some
+practical acquaintance with it, He bids His unlearned audiences, those
+common people who heard Him gladly, picture to themselves the Universal
+Mind as a benign Father, tenderly compassionate of all and sending the
+common bounties of Nature alike on the evil and the good; but He also
+pictured It as exercising a special and peculiar care over those who
+recognize Its willingness to do so:--"the very hairs of your head are all
+numbered," and "ye are of more value than many sparrows." Prayer was to be
+made to the unseen Being, not with doubt or fear, but with the absolute
+assurance of a certain answer, and no limit was to be set to its power or
+willingness to work for us. But to those who did not thus realize it, the
+Great Mind is necessarily the adversary who casts them into prison until
+they have paid the uttermost farthing; and thus in all cases the Master
+impressed upon his hearers the exact correspondence of the attitude of this
+unseen Power towards <i>them</i> with their own attitude towards <i>it</i>.
+Such teaching was not a narrow anthropomorphism but the adaptation to the
+intellectual capacity of the unlettered multitude of the very deepest
+truths of what we now call Mental Science. And the basis of it all is the
+cryptic personality of spirit hidden throughout the infinite of Nature
+under every form of manifestation. As unalloyed Life and Intelligence it
+<i>can</i> be no other than good, it can entertain no intention of evil,
+and thus all intentional evil must put us in opposition to it, and so
+deprive us of the consciousness of its guidance and strengthening and thus
+leave us to grope our own way and fight our own battle single-handed
+against the universe, odds which at last will surely prove too great for
+us. But remember that the opposition can never be on the part of the
+Universal Mind, for in itself it is sub-conscious mind; and to suppose any
+active opposition taken on its own initiative would be contrary to all we
+have learnt as to the nature of sub-conscious mind whether in the
+individual or the universal; the position of the Universal Mind towards us
+is always the reflection of our own attitude. Therefore although the Bible
+is full of threatening against those who persist in conscious opposition to
+the Divine Law of Good, it is on the other hand full of promises of
+immediate and full forgiveness to all who change, their attitude and desire
+to co-operate with the Law of Good so far as they know it. The laws of
+Nature do not act vindictively; and through all theological formularies and
+traditional interpretations let us realize that what we are dealing with is
+the supreme law of our own being; and it is on the basis of this natural
+law that we find such declarations as that in Ezek. xviii., 22, which tells
+that if we forsake our evil ways our past transgressions shall never again
+be mentioned to us. We are dealing with the great principles of our
+subjective being, and our misuse of them in the past can never make them
+change their inherent law of action. If our method of using them in the
+past has brought us sorrow, fear and trouble, we have only to fall back on
+the law that if we reverse the cause the effects will be reversed also; and
+so what we have to do is simply to reverse our mental attitude and then
+endeavour to act up to the new one. The sincere endeavour to act up to our
+new mental attitude is essential, for we cannot really think in one way and
+act in another; but our repeated failures to fully act as we would wish
+must not discourage us. It is the sincere intention that is the essential
+thing, and this will in time release us from the bondage of habits which at
+present seem almost insuperable.</p>
+
+<p>The initial step, then, consists in determining to picture the Universal
+Mind as the ideal of all we could wish it to be both to ourselves and to
+others, together with the endeavour to reproduce this ideal, however
+imperfectly, in our own life; and this step having been taken, we can then
+cheerfully look upon it as our ever-present Friend, providing all good,
+guarding from all danger, and guiding us with all counsel. Gradually as the
+habit of thus regarding the Universal Mind grows upon us, we shall find
+that in accordance with the laws we have been considering, it will become
+more and more <i>personal</i> to us, and in response to our desire its
+inherent intelligence will make itself more and more clearly perceptible
+within as a power of perceiving truth far beyond any statement of it that
+we could formulate by merely intellectual investigation. Similarly if we
+think of it as a great power devoted to supplying all our needs, we shall
+impress this character also upon it, and by the law of subjective mind it
+will proceed to enact the part of that special providence which we have
+credited it with being; and if, beyond the general care of our concerns, we
+would draw to ourselves some particular benefit, the same rule holds good
+of impressing our desire upon the Universal Subjective Mind. And if we
+realize that above and beyond all this we want something still greater and
+more enduring, the building-up of character and unfolding of our powers so
+that we may expand into fuller and yet fuller measures of joyous and
+joy-giving Life, still the same rule holds good: convey to the Universal
+Mind the suggestion of the desire, and by the law of relation between
+subjective and objective mind this too will be fulfilled. And thus the
+deepest problems of philosophy bring us back to the old statement of the
+Law:--Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall
+be opened unto you. This is the summing-up of the natural law of the
+relation between us and the Divine Mind. It is thus no vain boast that
+Mental Science can enable us to make our lives what we will. We must start
+from where we are now, and by rightly estimating our relation to the Divine
+Universal Mind we can gradually grow into any conditions we desire,
+provided we first make ourselves in habitual mental attitude the person who
+corresponds to those conditions: for we can never get over the law of
+correspondence, and the externalization will always be in accord with the
+internal principle that gives rise to it. And to this law there is no
+limit. What it can do for us to-day it can do to-morrow, and through all
+that procession of to-morrows that loses itself in the dim vistas of
+eternity. Belief in limitation is the one and only thing that causes
+limitation, because we thus impress limitation upon the creative principle;
+and in proportion as we lay that belief aside our boundaries will expand,
+and increasing life and more abundant blessing will be ours.</p>
+
+<p>But we must not ignore our responsibilities. Trained thought is far more
+powerful than untrained, and therefore the more deeply we penetrate into
+Mental Science the more carefully we must guard against all thoughts and
+words expressive of even the most modified form of ill-will. Gossip,
+tale-bearing, sneering laughter, are not in accord with the principles of
+Mental Science; and similarly even our smallest thoughts of good carry with
+them a seed of good which will assuredly bear fruit in due time. This is
+not mere "goodie, goodie," but an important lesson in Mental Science, for
+our subjective mind takes its colour from our settled mental habits, and an
+occasional affirmation or denial will not be sufficient to change it; and
+we must therefore cultivate that tone which we wish to see reproduced in
+our conditions whether of body, mind, or circumstance.</p>
+
+<p>In these lectures my purpose has been, not so much to give specific
+rules of practice as to lay down the broad general principles of Mental
+Science which will enable the student to form rules for himself. In every
+walk in life, book knowledge is only a means to an end. Books can only
+direct us where to look and what to look for, but we must do the finding
+<i>for ourselves;</i> therefore, if you have really grasped the principles
+of the science, you will frame rules of your own which will give you better
+results than any attempt to follow somebody else's method, which was
+successful in their hands precisely because it was theirs. Never fear to be
+yourself. If Mental Science does not teach you to be yourself it teaches
+you nothing. Yourself, more yourself, and yet more yourself is what you
+want; only with the knowledge that the true self includes the inner and
+higher self which is always in immediate touch with the Great Divine
+Mind.</p>
+
+<p>As Walt Whitman says:--"You are not all included between your hat and
+your boots."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><i>The growing popularity of the Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science
+has led me to add to the present edition three more sections on Body, Soul,
+and Spirit, which it is hoped will prove useful by rendering the principles
+of the interaction of these three factors somewhat clearer</i>.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap14">XIV.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>THE BODY.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Some students find it difficult to realize that mental action can
+produce any real effect upon material substance; but if this is not
+possible there is no such thing as Mental Science, the purpose of which is
+to produce improved conditions both of body and environment, so that the
+ultimate manifestation aimed at is always one of demonstration upon the
+plane of the visible and concrete. Therefore to afford conviction of an
+actual connection between the visible and the invisible, between the inner
+and the outer, is one of the most important points in the course of our
+studies.</p>
+
+<p>That such a connection must exist is proved by metaphysical argument in
+answer to the question, "How did anything ever come into existence at all?"
+And the whole creation, ourselves included, stands as evidence to this
+great truth. But to many minds merely abstract argument is not completely
+convincing, or at any rate it becomes more convincing if it is supported by
+something of a more concrete nature; and for such readers I would give a
+few hints as to the correspondence between the physical and the mental. The
+subject covers a very wide area, and the limited space at my disposal will
+only allow me to touch on a few suggestive points, still these may be
+sufficient to show that the abstract argument has some corresponding facts
+at the back of it.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most convincing proofs I have seen is that afforded by the
+"biometre," a little instrument invented by an eminent French scientist,
+the late Dr. Hippolyte Baraduc, which shows the action of what he calls the
+"vital current." His theory is that this force, whatever its actual nature
+may be, is universally present, and operates as a current of physical
+vitality perpetually, flowing with more or less energy through every
+physical organism, and which can, at any rate to some extent, be controlled
+by the power of the human will. The theory in all its minutiae is
+exceedingly elaborate, and has been described in detail in Dr. Baraduc's
+published works. In a conversation I had with him about a year ago, he told
+me he was writing another book which would throw further light on the
+subject, but a few months later he passed over before it was presented to
+the world. The fact, however, which I wish to put before the reader, is the
+ocular demonstration of the connection between mind and matter, which an
+experiment with the biometre affords.</p>
+
+<p>The instrument consists of a bell glass, from the inside of which is
+suspended a copper needle by a fine silken thread. The glass stands on a
+wooden support, below which is a coil of copper wire, which, however, is
+not connected with any battery or other apparatus, and merely serves to
+condense the current. Below the needle, inside the glass, there is a
+circular card divided into degrees to mark the action of the needle. Two of
+these instruments are placed side by side, but in no way connected, and the
+experimenter then holds out the fingers of both hands to within about an
+inch of the glasses. According to the theory, the current enters at the
+left hand, circulates through the body, and passes out at the right hand,
+that is to say, there is an indrawing at the left and a giving-out at the
+right, thus agreeing with Reichenbach's experiments on the polarity of the
+human body.</p>
+
+<p>I must confess that, although I had read Dr. Baraduc's book, "Les
+Vibrations Humaines," I approached the instrument in a very sceptical frame
+of mind; but I was soon convinced of my error. At first, holding a mental
+attitude of entire relaxation, I found that the left-hand needle was
+attracted through twenty degrees, while the right-hand needle, the one
+affected by the out-going current, was repelled through ten degrees. After
+allowing the instrument to return to its normal equilibrium I again
+approached it with the purpose of seeing whether a change of mental
+attitude would in the least modify the flow of current. This time I assumed
+the strongest mental attitude I could with the intention of sending out a
+flow through the right hand, and the result as compared with the previous
+one was remarkable. The left-hand needle was now attracted only through ten
+degrees, while the right-hand one was deflected through something over
+thirty, thus clearly indicating the influence of the mental faculties in
+modifying the action of the current. I may mention that the experiment was
+made in the presence of two medical men who noted the movement of the
+needles.</p>
+
+<p>I will not here stop to discuss the question of what the actual
+constitution of this current of vital energy may be--it is sufficient for
+our present purpose that it is there, and the experiment I have described
+brings us face to face with the fact of a correspondence between our own
+mental attitude and the invisible forces of nature. Even if we say that
+this current is some form of electricity, and that the variation of its
+action is determined by changes in the polarization of the atoms of the
+body, then this change of polarity is the result of mental action; so that
+the quickening or retarding of the cosmic current is equally the result of
+the mental attitude whether we suppose our mental force to act directly
+upon the current itself or indirectly by inducing changes in the molecular
+structure of the body. Whichever hypothesis we adopt the conclusion is the
+same, namely, that the mind has power to open or close the door to
+invisible forces in such a way that the result of the mental action becomes
+apparent on the material plane.</p>
+
+<p>Now, investigation shows that the physical body, is a mechanism
+specially adapted for the transmutation of the inner or mental power into
+modes of external activity. We know from medical science that the whole
+body is traversed by a network of nerves which serve as the channels of
+communication between the indwelling spiritual ego, which we call mind, and
+the functions of the external organism. This nervous system is dual. One
+system, known as the Sympathetic, is the channel for all those activities
+which are not consciously directed by our volition, such as the operation
+of the digestive organs, the repair of the daily wear and tear of the
+tissues, and the like. The other system, known as the Voluntary or
+Cerebro-spinal system, is the channel through which we receive conscious
+perception from the physical senses and exercise control over the movements
+of the body. This system has its centre in the brain, while the other has
+its centre in a ganglionic mass at the back of the stomach known as the
+solar plexus, and sometimes spoken of as the abdominal brain. The
+cerebro-spinal system is the channel of our volitional or conscious mental
+action, and the sympathetic system is the channel of that mental action
+which unconsciously supports the vital functions of the body. Thus the
+cerebro-spinal system is the organ of conscious mind and the sympathetic is
+that of sub-conscious mind.</p>
+
+<p>But the interaction of conscious and subconscious mind requires a
+similar interaction between the corresponding systems of nerves, and one
+conspicuous connection by which this is provided is the "vagus" nerve. This
+nerve passes out of the cerebral region as a portion of the voluntary
+system, and through it we control the vocal organs; then it passes onwards
+to the thorax sending out branches to the heart and lungs; and finally,
+passing through the diaphragm, it loses the outer coating which
+distinguishes the nerves of the voluntary system and becomes identified
+with those of the sympathetic system, so forming a connecting link between
+the two and making the man physically a single entity.</p>
+
+<p>Similarly different areas of the brain indicate, their connection with
+the objective and subjective activities of the mind respectively, and
+speaking in a general way we may assign the frontal portion of the brain to
+the former and the posterior portion to the latter, while the intermediate
+portion partakes of the character of both.</p>
+
+<p>The intuitional faculty has its correspondence in this upper area of the
+brain situated between the frontal and posterior portions, and
+physiologically speaking, it is here that intuitive ideas find entrance.
+These at first are more or less unformed and generalized in character, but
+are nevertheless perceived by the conscious mind, otherwise we should not
+be aware of them at all. Then the effort of nature is to bring these ideas
+into more definite and usable shape, so the conscious mind lays hold of
+them and induces a corresponding vibratory current in the voluntary system
+of nerves, and this in turn induces a similar current in the involuntary
+system, thus handing the idea over to the subjective mind. The vibratory
+current which had first descended from the apex of the brain to the frontal
+brain and thus through the voluntary system to the solar plexus is now
+reversed and ascends from the solar plexus through the sympathetic system
+to the posterior brain, this return current indicating the action of the
+subjective mind.</p>
+
+<p>If we were to remove the surface portion of the apex of the brain we
+should find immediately below it the shining belt of brain substance called
+the "corpus callosum." This is the point of union between the subjective
+and objective, and as the current returns from the solar plexus to this
+point it is restored to the objective portion of the brain in a fresh form
+which it has acquired by the silent alchemy of the subjective mind. Thus
+the conception which was at first only vaguely recognized is restored to
+the objective mind in a definite and workable form, and then the objective
+mind, acting through the frontal brain--the area of comparison and
+analysis--proceeds to work upon a clearly perceived idea and to bring out
+the potentialities that are latent in it.</p>
+
+<p>It must of course be borne in mind that I am here speaking of the mental
+ego in that, mode of its existence with which we are most familiar, that is
+as clothed in flesh, though there may be much to say as to other modes of
+its activity. But for our daily life we have to consider ourselves as we
+are in that aspect of life, and from this point of view the physiological
+correspondence of the body to the action of the mind is an important item;
+and therefore, although we must always remember that the origin of ideas is
+purely mental, we must not forget that on the physical plane every mental
+action implies a corresponding molecular action in the brain and in the
+two-fold nervous system.</p>
+
+<p>If, as the old Elizabethan poet says, "the soul is form, and doth the
+body make," then it is clear that the physical organism must be a
+mechanical arrangement as specially adapted for the use of the soul's
+powers as a steam-engine is for the power of steam; and it is the
+recognition of this reciprocity between the two that is the basis of all
+spiritual or mental healing, and therefore the study of this mechanical
+adaptation is an important branch of Mental Science. Only we must not
+forget that it is the effect and not the cause.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time it is important to remember that such a thing as
+reversal of the relation between cause and effect is possible, just as the
+same apparatus may be made to generate mechanical power by the application
+of electricity, or to generate electricity by the application of mechanical
+power. And the importance of this principle consists in this. There is
+always a tendency for actions which were at first voluntary to become
+automatic, that is, to pass from the region of conscious mind into that of
+subconscious mind, and to acquire a permanent domicile there. Professor
+Elmer Gates, of Washington, has demonstrated this physiologically in his
+studies of brain formation. He tells us that every thought produces a
+slight molecular change in the substance of the brain, and the repetition
+of the same sort of thought causes a repetition of the same molecular
+action until at last a veritable channel is formed in the brain substance,
+which can only be eradicated by a reverse process of thought. In this way
+"grooves of thought" are very literal things, and when once established the
+vibrations of the cosmic currents flow automatically through them and thus
+react upon the mind by a process the reverse of that by which our voluntary
+and intentional in-drawing from the invisible is affected. In this way are
+formed what we call "habits," and hence the importance of controlling our
+thinking and guarding it against undesirable ideas.</p>
+
+<p>But on the other hand this reactionary process may be used to confirm
+good and life-giving modes of thought, so that by a knowledge of its laws
+we may enlist even the physical body itself in the building up of that
+perfectly whole personality, the attainment of which is the aim and object
+of our studies.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap15">XV.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>THE SOUL.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Having now obtained a glimpse of the adaptation of the physical organism
+to the action of the mind we must next realize that the mind itself is an
+organism which is in like manner adapted to the action of a still higher
+power, only here the adaptation is one of mental faculty. As with other
+invisible forces all we can know of the mind is by observing what it does,
+but with this difference, that since we ourselves <i>are</i> this mind, our
+observation is an interior observation of states of consciousness. In this
+way we recognize certain faculties of our mind, the working order of which
+I have considered at page 84; but the point to which I would now draw
+attention is that these faculties always work under the influence of
+something which stimulates them, and this stimulus may come either from
+without through the external senses, or from within by the consciousness of
+something not perceptible on the physical plane. Now the recognition of
+these interior sources of stimulus to our mental faculties, is an important
+branch of Mental Science, because the mental action thus set up works just
+as accurately through the physical correspondences as those which start
+from the recognition of external facts, and therefore the control and right
+direction of these inner perceptions is a matter of the first moment.</p>
+
+<p>The faculties most immediately concerned are the intuition and the
+imagination, but it is at first difficult to see how the intuition, which
+is entirely spontaneous, can be brought under the control of the will. Of
+course, the spontaneousness of the intuition cannot in any way be
+interfered with, for if it ceased to act spontaneously it would cease to be
+the intuition. Its province is, as it were, to capture ideas from the
+infinite and present them to the mind to be dealt with at its discretion.
+In our mental constitution the intuition is the point of origination and,
+therefore, for it to cease to act spontaneously would be for it to cease to
+act at all. But the experience of a long succession of observers shows that
+the intuition can be trained so as to acquire increased sensitiveness in
+some, particular direction, and the choice of the <i>general direction</i>
+is determined by the will of the individual.</p>
+
+<p>It will be found that the intuition works most readily in respect to
+those subjects which most habitually occupy our thought; and according to
+the physiological correspondences which we have been considering this might
+be accounted for on the physical plane by the formation of brain-channels
+specially adapted for the induction in the molecular system of vibrations
+corresponding to the particular class of ideas in question. But of course
+we must remember that the ideas themselves are not caused by the molecular
+changes but on the contrary are the cause of them; and it is in this
+translation of thought action into physical action that we are brought face
+to face with the eternal mystery of the descent of spirit into matter; and
+that though we may trace matter through successive degrees of refinement
+till it becomes what, in comparison with those denser modes that are most
+familiar, we might call a spiritual substance, yet at the end of it it is
+not the intelligent thinking principle itself. The criterion is in the word
+"vibrations." However delicately etheric the substance its movement
+commences by the vibration of its particles, and a vibration is a wave
+having a certain length, amplitude, and periodicity, that is to say,
+something which can exist only in terms of space and time; and as soon as
+we are dealing with anything capable of the conception of measurement we
+may be quite certain that we are not dealing with Spirit but only with one
+of its vehicles. Therefore although we may push our analysis of matter
+further and ever further back--and on this line there is a great deal of
+knowledge to be gained--we shall find that the point at which spiritual
+power or thought-force is translated into etheric or atomic vibration will
+always elude us. Therefore we must not attribute the origination of ideas
+to molecular displacement in the brain, though, by the reaction of the
+physical upon the mental which I have spoken of above, the formation of
+thought-channels in the grey matter of the brain may tend to facilitate the
+reception of certain ideas. Some people are actually conscious of the
+action of the upper portion of the brain during the influx of an intuition,
+the sensation being that of a sort of expansion in that brain area, which
+might be compared to the opening of a valve or door; but all attempts to
+induce the inflow of intuitive ideas by the physiological expedient of
+trying to open this valve by the exercise of the will should be discouraged
+as likely to prove injurious to the brain. I believe some Oriental systems
+advocate this method, but we may well trust the mind to regulate the action
+of its physical channels in a manner suitable to its own requirements,
+instead of trying to manipulate the mind by the unnatural forcing of its
+mechanical instrument. In all our studies on these lines we must remember
+that development is always by perfectly natural growth and is not brought
+about by unduly straining any portion of the system.</p>
+
+<p>The fact, however, remains that the intuition works most freely in that
+direction in which we most habitually concentrate our thought; and in
+practice it will be found that the best way to cultivate the intuition in
+any particular direction is to meditate upon the <i>abstract principles</i>
+of that particular class of subjects rather than only to consider
+particular cases. Perhaps the reason is that particular cases have to do
+with specific phenomena, that is with the law working under certain
+limiting conditions, whereas the <i>principles</i> of the law are not
+limited by local conditions, and so habitual meditation on <i>them</i> sets
+our intuition free to range in an infinitude where the conception of
+antecedent conditions does not limit it. Anyway, whatever may be the
+theoretical explanation, you will find that the clear grasp of abstract
+principles in any direction has a wonderfully quickening effect upon the
+intuition in that particular direction.</p>
+
+<p>The importance of recognizing our power of thus giving direction to the
+intuition cannot be exaggerated, for if the mind is attuned to sympathy
+with the highest phases of spirit this power opens the door to limitless
+possibilities of knowledge. In its highest workings intuition becomes
+inspiration, and certain great records of fundamental truths and supreme
+mysteries which have come down to us from thousands of generations
+bequeathed by deep thinkers of old can only be accounted for on the
+supposition that their earnest thought on the Originating Spirit, coupled
+with a reverent worship of It, opened the door, through their intuitive
+faculty, to the most sublime inspirations regarding the supreme truths of
+the universe both with respect to the evolution of the cosmos and to the
+evolution of the individual. Among such records explanatory of the supreme
+mysteries three stand out pre-eminent, all bearing witness to the same ONE
+Truth, and each throwing light upon the other; and these three are the
+Bible, the Great Pyramid, and the Pack of Cards--a curious combination some
+will think, but I hope in another volume of this series to be able to
+justify my present statement. I allude to these three records here because
+the unity of principle which they exhibit, notwithstanding their wide
+divergence of method, affords a standing proof that the direction taken by
+the intuition is largely determined by the will of the individual opening
+the mind in that particular direction.</p>
+
+<p>Very closely allied to the intuition is the faculty of imagination. This
+does not mean mere fancies, which we dismiss without further consideration,
+but our power of forming mental images upon which we dwell. These, as I
+have said in the earlier part of this book, form a nucleus which, on its
+own plane, calls into action the universal Law of Attraction, thus giving
+rise to the principle of Growth. The relation of the intuition to the
+imagination is that the intuition grasps an idea from the Great Universal
+Mind, in which all things subsist as <i>potentials</i>, and presents it to
+the imagination in its essence rather than in a definite form, and then our
+image-building faculty gives it a clear and definite form which it presents
+before the mental vision, and which we then vivify by letting our thought
+dwell upon it, thus infusing our own personality into it, and so providing
+that personal element through which the specific action of the universal
+law relatively to the particular individual always takes place.<sup><a
+href="#fn1" name="rfn1">[1]</a></sup> Whether our thought shall be allowed
+thus to dwell upon a particular mental image depends on our own will, and
+our exercise of our will depends on our belief in our power to use it so as
+to disperse or consolidate a given mental image; and finally our belief in
+our power to do this depends on our recognition of our relation to God, Who
+is the source of all power; for it is an invariable truth that our life
+will take its whole form, tone, and color from our conception of God,
+whether that conception be positive or negative, and the sequence by which
+it does so is that now given.</p>
+
+<p>In this way, then, our intuition is related to our imagination, and this
+relation has its physiological correspondence in the circulus of molecular
+vibrations I have described above, which, having its commencement in the
+higher or "ideal" portion of the brain flows through the voluntary nervous
+system, the physical channel of objective mind, returning through the
+sympathetic system, the physical channel of subjective mind, thus
+completing the circuit and being then restored to the frontal brain, where
+it is consciously modelled into clear-cut forms suited to a specific
+purpose.</p>
+
+<p>In all this the power of the will as regulating the action both of the
+intuition and the imagination must never be lost sight of, for without such
+a central controlling power we should lose all sense of individuality; and
+hence the ultimate aim of the evolutionary process is to evolve individual
+wills actuated by such beneficence and enlightenment as shall make them
+fitting vehicles for the outflowing of the Supreme Spirit, which has
+hitherto created cosmically, and can now carry on the creative process to
+its highest stages only through conscious union with the individual; for
+this is the only possible solution of the great problem, How can the
+Universal Mind act in all its fulness upon the plane of the individual and
+particular?</p>
+
+<p>This is the ultimate of evolution, and the successful evolution of the
+individual depends on his recognizing this ultimate and working towards it;
+and therefore this should be the great end of our studies. There is a
+correspondence in the constitution of the body to the faculties of the
+soul, and there is a similar correspondence in the faculties of the soul to
+the power of the All-originating Spirit; and as in all other adaptations of
+specific vehicles so also here, we can never correctly understand the
+nature of the vehicle and use it rightly until we realize the nature of the
+power for the working of which it is specially adapted. Let us, then, in
+conclusion briefly consider the nature of that power.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="chap16">XVI.</a></h1>
+
+<h2>THE SPIRIT.</h2>
+
+
+<p>What must the Supreme All-originating Spirit be in itself? That is the
+question before us. Let us start with one fact regarding it about which we
+cannot have any possible doubt--it is <i>creative</i>. If it were not
+creative nothing could come into existence; therefore we know that its
+purpose, or Law of Tendency, must be to bring individual lives into
+existence and to surround them with a suitable environment. Now a power
+which has this for its inherent nature must be a kindly power. The Spirit
+of Life seeking expression in individual lives can have no other intention
+towards them than "that they might have life, and that they might have it
+more abundantly." To suppose the opposite would be a contradiction in
+terms. It would be to suppose the Eternal Principle of Life acting against
+itself, expressing itself as the reverse of what it is, in which case it
+would not be expressing itself but expressing its opposite; so that it is
+impossible to conceive of the Spirit of Life acting otherwise than to the
+increase of life. This is as yet only imperfectly apparent by reason of our
+imperfect apprehension of the position, and our consequent want of
+conscious unity with the ONE Eternal Life. As our consciousness of unity
+becomes more perfect so will the life-givingness of the Spirit become more
+apparent. But in the realm of principles the purely Affirmative and
+Life-giving nature of the All-originating Spirit is an unavoidable
+conclusion. Now by what name can we call such an inherent desire to add to
+the fulness of any individual life--that is, to make it stronger, brighter,
+and happier? If this is not Love, then I do not know what else it is; and
+so we are philosophically led to the conclusion that Love is the prime
+moving power of the Creating Spirit.</p>
+
+<p>But expression is impossible without Form. What Form, then, should Love
+give to the vehicles of its expression? By the hypothesis of the case it
+could not find self-expression in forms that were hateful or repugnant to
+it--therefore the only logical correlative of Love is Beauty. Beauty is not
+yet universally manifested for the same reason that Life is not, namely,
+lack of recognition of its Principle; but, that the principle of Beauty is
+inherent in the Eternal Mind is demonstrated by all that is beautiful in
+the world in which we live.</p>
+
+<p>These considerations show us that the inherent nature of the Spirit must
+consist in the eternal interaction of Love and Beauty as the Active and
+Passive polarity of Being. Then this is the Power for the working of which
+our soul faculties are specially adapted. And when this purpose of the
+adaptation is recognized we begin to get some insight into the way in which
+our intuition, imagination, and will should be exercized. By training our
+thought to habitually dwell upon this dual-unity of the Originating Forces
+of Love and Beauty the intuition is rendered more and more sensitive to
+ideas emanating from this supreme source, and the imagining faculty is
+trained in the formation of images corresponding to such ideas; while on
+the physical side the molecular structure of the brain and body becomes
+more and more perfectly adjusted to the generating of vibratory currents
+tending to the outward manifestation of the Originating Principle. Thus the
+whole man is brought into unison with himself and with the Supreme Source
+of Life, so that, in the words of St. Paul, he is being day by day renewed
+after the image of Him that created him.</p>
+
+<p>Our more immediately personal recognition of the All-originating Love
+and Beauty will thus flow out as peace of mind, health of body, discretion
+in the management of our affairs, and power in the carrying out of our
+undertakings; and as we advance to a wider conception of the working of the
+Spirit of Love and Beauty in its infinite possibilities, so our intuition
+will find a wider scope and our field of activity will expand along with
+it--in a word we shall discover that our individuality is growing, and that
+we are becoming more truly ourselves than we ever were before.</p>
+
+<p>The question of the specific lines on which the individual may be most
+perfectly trained into such recognition of his true relation to the
+All-embracing Spirit of Life is therefore of supreme importance, but it is
+also of such magnitude that even to briefly sketch its broad outlines would
+require a volume to itself, and I will therefore not attempt to enter upon
+it here, my present purpose being only to offer some hints of the
+principles underlying that wonderful three-fold unity of Body, Soul, and
+Spirit which we all know ourselves to be.</p>
+
+<p>We are as yet only at the commencement of the path which leads to the
+realization of this unity in the full development of all its powers, but
+others have trodden the way before us, from whose experiences we may learn;
+and not least among these was the illustrious founder of the Most Christian
+Fraternity of the Rosicrucians. This master-mind, setting out in his youth
+with the intention of going to Jerusalem, changed the order of his journey
+and first sojourned for three years in the symbolical city of Damcar, in
+the mystical country of Arabia, then for about a year in the mystical
+country of Egypt, and then for two years in the mystical country of Fez.
+Then, having during these six years learned all that was to be acquired in
+those countries, he returned to his native land of Germany, where, on the
+basis of the knowledge he had thus gained, he founded the Fraternity R.C.,
+for whose instruction he wrote the mystical books M. and T. Then, when he
+realized that his work in its present stage was accomplished, he of his own
+free will laid aside the physical body, not, it is recorded, by decay, or
+disease, or ordinary death, but by the express direction of the Spirit of
+Life, summing up all his knowledge in the words,</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+"Jesus mihi omnia."<br />
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>And now his followers await the coming of "the Artist Elias," who shall
+bring the Magnum Opus to its completion.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+"Let him that readeth understand."<br />
+</blockquote>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1>FOOTNOTES</h1>
+
+
+
+<p><a href="#rfn1" name="fn1">1.</a>   See my "Dor&eacute; Lectures."</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EDINBURGH LECTURES ON MENTAL SCIENCE***</p>
+<p>******* This file should be named 10390-h.txt or 10390-h.zip *******</p>
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+</pre>
+</body>
+</html>
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+++ b/old/10390.txt
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science, by
+Thomas Troward
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science
+
+Author: Thomas Troward
+
+Release Date: December 5, 2003  [eBook #10390]
+
+Language: English
+
+Chatacter set encoding: US-ASCII
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EDINBURGH LECTURES ON MENTAL
+SCIENCE***
+
+
+E-text prepared by John Hagerson, Kevin Handy, and Project Gutenberg
+Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+THE EDINBURGH LECTURES ON MENTAL SCIENCE
+
+BY THOMAS TROWARD LATE DIVISIONAL JUDGE, PUNJAB
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE WRITER AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATES THIS LITTLE VOLUME TO HIS WIFE
+
+
+
+FOREWORD.
+
+
+This book contains the substance of a course of lectures recently given by
+the writer in the Queen Street Hall, Edinburgh. Its purpose is to indicate
+the _Natural Principles_ governing the relation between Mental Action and
+Material Conditions, and thus to afford the student an intelligible
+starting-point for the practical study of the subject.
+
+T.T.
+
+March, 1904.
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+   I.--SPIRIT AND MATTER.
+  II.--THE HIGHER MODE OF INTELLIGENCE CONTROLS THE LOWER
+ III.--THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT
+  IV.--SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE MIND
+   V.--FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE MIND
+  VI.--THE LAW OF GROWTH
+ VII.--RECEPTIVITY.
+VIII.--RECIPROCAL ACTION OF THE UNIVERSAL AND INDIVIDUAL MINDS
+  IX.--CAUSES AND CONDITIONS
+   X.--INTUITION
+  XI.--HEALING
+ XII.--THE WILL
+XIII.--IN TOUCH WITH SUBCONSCIOUS MIND
+ XIV.--THE BODY
+  XV.--THE SOUL
+ XVI.--THE SPIRIT
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+SPIRIT AND MATTER.
+
+
+In commencing a course of lectures on Mental Science, it is somewhat
+difficult for the lecturer to fix upon the best method of opening the
+subject. It can be approached from many sides, each with some peculiar
+advantage of its own; but, after careful deliberation, it appears to me
+that, for the purpose of the present course, no better starting-point could
+be selected than the relation between Spirit and Matter. I select this
+starting-point because the distinction--or what we believe to be such--
+between them is one with which we are so familiar that I can safely assume
+its recognition by everybody; and I may, therefore, at once state this
+distinction by using the adjectives which we habitually apply as expressing
+the natural opposition between the two--_living_ spirit and _dead_ matter.
+These terms express our current impression of the opposition between spirit
+and matter with sufficient accuracy, and considered only from the point of
+view of outward appearances this impression is no doubt correct. The
+general consensus of mankind is right in trusting the evidence of our
+senses, and any system which tells us that we are not to do so will never
+obtain a permanent footing in a sane and healthy community. There is
+nothing wrong in the evidence conveyed to a healthy mind by the senses of a
+healthy body, but the point where error creeps in is when we come to judge
+of the meaning of this testimony. We are accustomed to judge only by
+external appearances and by certain limited significances which we attach
+to words; but when we begin to enquire into the real meaning of our words
+and to analyse the causes which give rise to the appearances, we find our
+old notions gradually falling off from us, until at last we wake up to the
+fact that we are living in an entirely different world to that we formerly
+recognized. The old limited mode of thought has imperceptibly slipped away,
+and we discover that we have stepped out into a new order of things where
+all is liberty and life. This is the work of an enlightened intelligence
+resulting from persistent determination to discover what truth really is
+irrespective of any preconceived notions from whatever source derived, the
+determination to think honestly for ourselves instead of endeavouring to
+get our thinking done for us. Let us then commence by enquiring what we
+really mean by the livingness which we attribute to spirit and the deadness
+which we attribute to matter.
+
+At first we may be disposed to say that livingness consists in the power of
+motion and deadness in its absence; but a little enquiry into the most
+recent researches of science will soon show us that this distinction does
+not go deep enough. It is now one of the fully-established facts of
+physical science that no atom of what we call "dead matter" is without
+motion. On the table before me lies a solid lump of steel, but in the light
+of up-to-date science I know that the atoms of that seemingly inert mass
+are vibrating with the most intense energy, continually dashing hither and
+thither, impinging upon and rebounding from one another, or circling round
+like miniature solar systems, with a ceaseless rapidity whose complex
+activity is enough to bewilder the imagination. The mass, as a mass, may
+lie inert upon the table; but so far from being destitute of the element of
+motion it is the abode of the never-tiring energy moving the particles with
+a swiftness to which the speed of an express train is as nothing. It is,
+therefore, not the mere fact of motion that is at the root of the
+distinction which we draw instinctively between spirit and matter; we must
+go deeper than that. The solution of the problem will never be found by
+comparing Life with what we call deadness, and the reason for this will
+become apparent later on; but the true key is to be found by comparing one
+degree of livingness with another. There is, of course, one sense in which
+the quality of livingness does not admit of degrees; but there is another
+sense in which it is entirely a question of degree. We have no doubt as to
+the livingness of a plant, but we realize that it is something very
+different from the livingness of an animal. Again, what average boy would
+not prefer a fox-terrier to a goldfish for a pet? Or, again, why is it that
+the boy himself is an advance upon the dog? The plant, the fish, the dog,
+and the boy are all equally _alive_; but there is a difference in the
+quality of their livingness about which no one can have any doubt, and no
+one would hesitate to say that this difference is in the degree of
+intelligence. In whatever way we turn the subject we shall always find that
+what we call the "livingness" of any individual life is ultimately measured
+by its intelligence. It is the possession of greater intelligence that
+places the animal higher in the scale of being than the plant, the man
+higher than the animal, the intellectual man higher than the savage. The
+increased intelligence calls into activity modes of motion of a higher
+order corresponding to itself. The higher the intelligence, the more
+completely the mode of motion is under its control: and as we descend in
+the scale of intelligence, the descent is marked by a corresponding
+increase in _automatic_ motion not subject to the control of a
+self-conscious intelligence. This descent is gradual from the expanded
+self-recognition of the highest human personality to that lowest order of
+visible forms which we speak of as "things," and from which
+self-recognition is entirely absent.
+
+We see, then, that the livingness of Life consists in intelligence--in
+other words, in the power of Thought; and we may therefore say that the
+distinctive quality of spirit is Thought, and, as the opposite to this, we
+may say that the distinctive quality of matter is Form. We cannot conceive
+of matter without form. Some form there must be, even though invisible to
+the physical eye; for matter, to be matter at all, must occupy space, and
+to occupy any particular space necessarily implies a corresponding form.
+For these reasons we may lay it down as a fundamental proposition that the
+distinctive quality of spirit is Thought and the distinctive quality of
+matter is Form. This is a radical distinction from which important
+consequences follow, and should, therefore, be carefully noted by the
+student.
+
+Form implies extension in space and also limitation within certain
+boundaries. Thought implies neither. When, therefore, we think of Life as
+existing in any particular _form_ we associate it with the idea of
+extension in space, so that an elephant may be said to consist of a vastly
+larger amount of living substance than a mouse. But if we think of Life as
+the fact of livingness we do not associate it with any idea of extension,
+and we at once realize that the mouse is quite as much alive as the
+elephant, notwithstanding the difference in size. The important point of
+this distinction is that if we can conceive of anything as entirely devoid
+of the element of extension in space, it must be present in its entire
+totality anywhere and everywhere--that is to say, at every point of space
+simultaneously. The scientific definition of time is that it is the period
+occupied by a body in passing from one given point in space to another,
+and, therefore, according to this definition, when there is no space there
+can be no time; and hence that conception of spirit which realizes it as
+devoid of the element of space must realize it as being devoid of the
+element of time also; and we therefore find that the conception of spirit
+as pure Thought, and not as concrete Form, is the conception of it as
+subsisting perfectly independently of the elements of time and space. From
+this it follows that if the idea of anything is conceived as existing on
+this level it can only represent that thing as being actually present here
+and now. In this view of things nothing can be remote from us either in
+time or space: either the idea is entirely dissipated or it exists as an
+actual present entity, and not as something that _shall_ be in the future,
+for where there is no sequence in time there can be no future. Similarly
+where there is no space there can be no conception of anything as being at
+a distance from us. When the elements of time and space are eliminated all
+our ideas of things must necessarily be as subsisting in a universal here
+and an everlasting now. This is, no doubt, a highly abstract conception,
+but I would ask the student to endeavour to grasp it thoroughly, since it
+is of vital importance in the practical application of Mental Science, as
+will appear further on.
+
+The opposite conception is that of things expressing themselves through
+conditions of time and space and thus establishing a variety of _relations_
+to other things, as of bulk, distance, and direction, or of sequence in
+time. These two conceptions are respectively the conception of the abstract
+and the concrete, of the unconditioned and the conditioned, of the absolute
+and the relative. They are not opposed to each other in the sense of
+incompatibility, but are each the complement of the other, and the only
+reality is in the combination of the two. The error of the extreme idealist
+is in endeavouring to realize the absolute without the relative, and the
+error of the extreme materialist is in endeavouring to realize the relative
+without the absolute. On the one side the mistake is in trying to realize
+an inside without an outside, and on the other in trying to realize an
+outside without an inside; both are necessary to the formation of a
+substantial entity.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+THE HIGHER MODE OF INTELLIGENCE CONTROLS THE LOWER.
+
+
+We have seen that the descent from personality, as we know it in ourselves,
+to matter, as we know it under what we call inanimate forms, is a gradual
+descent in the scale of intelligence from that mode of being which is able
+to realize its own will-power as a capacity for originating new trains of
+causation to that mode of being which is incapable of recognizing itself at
+all. The higher the grade of life, the higher the intelligence; from which
+it follows that the supreme principle of Life must also be the ultimate
+principle of intelligence. This is clearly demonstrated by the grand
+natural order of the universe. In the light of modern science the principle
+of evolution is familiar to us all, and the accurate adjustment existing
+between all parts of the cosmic scheme is too self-evident to need
+insisting upon. Every advance in science consists in discovering new
+subtleties of connection in this magnificent universal order, which already
+exists and only needs our recognition to bring it into practical use. If,
+then, the highest work of the greatest minds consists in nothing else than
+the recognition of an already existing order, there is no getting away from
+the conclusion that a paramount intelligence must be inherent in the
+Life-Principle, which manifests itself _as_ this order; and thus we see
+that there must be a great cosmic intelligence underlying the totality of
+things.
+
+The physical history of our planet shows us first an incandescent nebula
+dispersed over vast infinitudes of space; later this condenses into a
+central sun surrounded by a family of glowing planets hardly yet
+consolidated from the plastic primordial matter; then succeed untold
+millenniums of slow geological formation; an earth peopled by the lowest
+forms of life, whether vegetable or animal; from which crude beginnings a
+majestic, unceasing, unhurried, forward movement brings things stage by
+stage to the condition in which we know them now. Looking at this steady
+progression it is clear that, however we may conceive the nature of the
+evolutionary principle, it unerringly provides for the continual advance of
+the race. But it does this by creating such numbers of each kind that,
+after allowing a wide margin for all possible accidents to individuals, the
+race shall still continue:--
+
+    "So careful of the type it seems
+    So careless of the single life."
+
+In short, we may say that the cosmic intelligence works by a Law of
+Averages which allows a wide margin of accident and failure to the
+individual.
+
+But the progress towards higher intelligence is always in the direction of
+narrowing down this margin of accident and taking the individual more and
+more out of the law of averages, and substituting the law of individual
+selection. In ordinary scientific language this is the survival of the
+fittest. The reproduction of fish is on a scale that would choke the sea
+with them if every individual survived; but the margin of destruction is
+correspondingly enormous, and thus the law of averages simply keeps up the
+normal proportion of the race. But at the other end of the scale,
+reproduction is by no means thus enormously in excess of survival. True,
+there is ample margin of accident and disease cutting off numbers of human
+beings before they have gone through the average duration of life, but
+still it is on a very different scale from the premature destruction of
+hundreds of thousands as against the survival of one. It may, therefore, be
+taken as an established fact that in proportion as intelligence advances
+the individual ceases to be subject to a mere law of averages and has a
+continually increasing power of controlling the conditions of his own
+survival.
+
+We see, therefore, that there is a marked distinction between the cosmic
+intelligence and the individual intelligence, and that the factor which
+differentiates the latter from the former is the presence of _individual_
+volition. Now the business of Mental Science is to ascertain the relation
+of this individual power of volition to the great cosmic law which provides
+for the maintenance and advancement of the race; and the point to be
+carefully noted is that the power of individual volition is itself the
+outcome of the cosmic evolutionary principle at the point where it reaches
+its highest level. The effort of Nature has always been upwards from the
+time when only the lowest forms of life peopled the globe, and it has now
+culminated in the production of a being with a mind capable of abstract
+reasoning and a brain fitted to be the physical instrument of such a mind.
+At this stage the all-creating Life-principle reproduces itself in a form
+capable of recognizing the working of the evolutionary law, and the unity
+and continuity of purpose running through the whole progression until now
+indicates, beyond a doubt, that the place of such a being in the universal
+scheme must be to introduce the operation of that factor which, up to this
+point, has been, conspicuous by its absence--the factor, namely, of
+intelligent individual volition. The evolution which has brought us up to
+this standpoint has worked by a cosmic law of averages; it has been a
+process in which the individual himself has not taken a conscious part. But
+because he is what he is, and leads the van of the evolutionary procession,
+if man is to evolve further, it can now only be by his own conscious
+co-operation with the law which has brought him up to the standpoint where
+he is able to realize that such a law exists. His evolution in the future
+must be by conscious participation in the great work, and this can only be
+effected by his own individual intelligence and effort. It is a process of
+intelligent growth. No one else can grow for us: we must each grow for
+ourselves; and this intelligent growth consists in our increasing
+recognition of the universal law, which has brought us as far as we have
+yet got, and of our own individual relation to that law, based upon the
+fact that we ourselves are the most advanced product of it. It is a great
+maxim that Nature obeys us precisely in proportion as we first obey Nature.
+Let the electrician try to go counter to the principle that electricity
+must always pass from a higher to a lower potential and he will effect
+nothing; but let him submit in all things to this one fundamental law, and
+he can make whatever particular applications of electrical power he will.
+
+These considerations show us that what differentiates the higher from the
+lower degree of intelligence is the recognition of its own self-hood, and
+the more intelligent that recognition is, the greater will be the power.
+The lower degree of self-recognition is that which only realizes itself as
+an entity separate from all other entities, as the _ego_ distinguished from
+the _non-ego_. But the higher degree of self-recognition is that which,
+realizing its own spiritual nature, sees in all other forms, not so much
+the _non-ego_, or that which is not itself, as the _alter-ego_, or that
+which is itself in a different mode of expression. Now, it is this higher
+degree of self-recognition that is the power by which the Mental Scientist
+produces his results. For this reason it is imperative that he should
+clearly understand the difference between Form and Being; that the one is
+the mode of the relative and, the mark of subjection to conditions, and
+that the other is the truth of the absolute and is that which controls
+conditions.
+
+Now this higher recognition of self as an individualization of pure spirit
+must of necessity control all modes of spirit which have not yet reached
+the same level of self-recognition. These lower modes of spirit are in
+bondage to the law of their own being because they do not know the law;
+and, therefore, the individual who has attained to this knowledge can
+control them through that law. But to understand this we must inquire a
+little further into the nature of spirit. I have already shown that the
+grand scale of adaptation and adjustment of all parts of the cosmic scheme
+to one another exhibits the presence _somewhere_ of a marvellous
+intelligence, underlying the whole, and the question is, where is this
+intelligence to be found? Ultimately we can only conceive of it as inherent
+in some primordial substance which is the root of all those grosser modes
+of matter which are known to us, whether visible to the physical eye, or
+necessarily inferred by science from their perceptible effects. It is that
+power which, in every species and in every individual, becomes that which
+that species or individual is; and thus we can only conceive of it as a
+self-forming intelligence inherent in the ultimate substance of which each
+thing is a particular manifestation. That this primordial substance must be
+considered as self-forming by an inherent intelligence abiding in itself
+becomes evident from the fact that intelligence is the essential quality of
+spirit; and if we were to conceive of the primordial substance as something
+apart from spirit, then we should have to postulate some other power which
+is neither spirit nor matter, and originates both; but this is only putting
+the idea of a self-evolving power a step further back and asserting the
+production of a lower grade of undifferentiated spirit by a higher, which
+is both a purely gratuitous assumption and a contradiction of any idea we
+can form of undifferentiated spirit at all. However far back, therefore, we
+may relegate the original starting-point, we cannot avoid the conclusion
+that, at that point, spirit contains the primary substance in itself, which
+brings us back to the common statement that it made everything out of
+nothing. We thus find two factors to the making of all things, Spirit
+and--Nothing; and the addition of Nothing to Spirit leaves _only_ spirit:
+x + 0 = x.
+
+From these considerations we see that the ultimate foundation of every form
+of matter is spirit, and hence that a universal intelligence subsists
+throughout Nature inherent in every one of its manifestations. But this
+cryptic intelligence does not belong to the particular _form_ excepting in
+the measure in which it is physically fitted for its concentration into
+self-recognizing individuality: it lies hidden in that primordial substance
+of which the visible form is a grosser manifestation. This primordial
+substance is a philosophical necessity, and we can only picture it to
+ourselves as something infinitely finer than the atoms which are themselves
+a philosophical inference of physical science: still, for want of a better
+word, we may conveniently speak of this primary intelligence inherent in
+the very substance of things as the Atomic Intelligence. The term may,
+perhaps, be open to some objections, but it will serve our present purpose
+as distinguishing _this_ mode of spirit's intelligence from that of the
+opposite pole, or Individual Intelligence. This distinction should be
+carefully noted because it is by the response of the atomic intelligence to
+the individual intelligence that thought-power is able to produce results
+on the material plane, as in the cure of disease by mental treatment, and
+the like. Intelligence manifests itself by responsiveness, and the whole
+action of the cosmic mind in bringing the evolutionary process from its
+first beginnings up to its present human stage is nothing else but a
+continual intelligent response to the demand which each stage in the
+progress has made for an adjustment between itself and its environment.
+Since, then, we have recognized the presence of a universal intelligence
+permeating all things, we must also recognize a corresponding
+responsiveness hidden deep down in their nature and ready to be called into
+action when appealed to. All mental treatment depends on this
+responsiveness of spirit in its lower degrees to higher degrees of itself.
+It is here that the difference between the mental scientist and the
+uninstructed person comes in; the former knows of this responsiveness and
+makes use of it, and the latter cannot use it because he does not know it.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT.
+
+
+We have now paved the way for understanding what is meant by "the unity of
+the spirit." In the first conception of spirit as the underlying origin of
+all things we see a universal substance which, at this stage, is not
+differentiated into any specific forms. This is not a question of some
+bygone time, but subsists at every moment of all time in the _innermost_
+nature of all being; and when we see this, we see that the division between
+one specific form and another has below it a deep essential unity, which
+acts as the supporter of all the several forms of individuality arising out
+of it. And as our thought penetrates deeper into the nature of this
+all-producing spiritual substance we see that it cannot be limited to any
+one portion of space, but must be limitless as space itself, and that the
+idea of any portion of space where it is not is inconceivable. It is one of
+those intuitive perceptions from which the human mind can never get away
+that this primordial, all-generating living spirit must be commensurate
+with infinitude, and we can therefore never think of it otherwise than as
+universal or infinite. Now it is a mathematical truth that the infinite
+must be a unity. You cannot have two infinites, for then neither would be
+infinite, each would be limited by the other, nor can you split the
+infinite up into fractions. The infinite is mathematically essential unity.
+This is a point on which too much stress cannot be laid, for there follow
+from it the most important consequences. Unity, as such, can be neither
+multiplied nor divided, for either operation destroys the unity. By
+multiplying, we produce a plurality of units of the same scale as the
+original; and by dividing, we produce a plurality of units of a smaller
+scale; and a plurality of units is not unity but multiplicity. Therefore if
+we would penetrate below the outward nature of the individual to that
+innermost principle of his being from which his individuality takes its
+rise, we can do so only by passing beyond the conception of individual
+existence into that of the unity of universal being. This may appear to be
+a merely philosophical abstraction, but the student who would produce
+practical results must realize that these abstract generalizations are the
+foundation of the practical work he is going to do.
+
+Now the great fact to be recognized about a unity is that, _because_ it is
+a single unit, wherever it is at all the _whole_ of it must be. The moment
+we allow our mind to wander off to the idea of extension in space and say
+that one part of the unit is here and another there, we have descended from
+the idea of unity into that of parts or fractions of a single unit, which
+is to pass into the idea of a multiplicity of smaller units, and in that
+case we are dealing with the relative, or the relation subsisting between
+two or more entities which are therefore _limited by each other_, and so
+have passed out of the region of simple unity which is the absolute. It is,
+therefore, a mathematical necessity that, because the originating Life-
+principle is infinite, it is a single unit, and consequently, wherever it
+is at all, the _whole_ of it must be present. But because it is _infinite_,
+or limitless, it is everywhere, and therefore it follows that the _whole_
+of spirit must be present at every point in space at the same moment.
+Spirit is thus omnipresent _in its entirety_, and it is accordingly
+logically correct that at every moment of time _all_ spirit is concentrated
+at any point in space that we may choose to fix our thought upon. This is
+the fundamental fact of all being, and it is for this reason that I have
+prepared the way for it by laying down the relation between spirit and
+matter as that between idea and form, on the one hand the absolute from
+which the elements of time and space are entirely absent, and on the other
+the relative which is entirely dependent on those elements. This great fact
+is that pure spirit continually subsists in the absolute, whether in a
+corporeal body or not; and from it all the phenomena of being flow, whether
+on the mental plane or the physical. The knowledge of this fact regarding
+spirit is the basis of all conscious spiritual operation, and therefore in
+proportion to our increasing recognition of it our power of producing
+outward visible results by the action of our thought will grow. The whole
+is greater than its part, and therefore, if, by our recognition of this
+unity, we can concentrate _all_ spirit into any given point at any moment,
+we thereby include any individualization of it that we may wish to deal
+with. The practical importance of this conclusion is too obvious to need
+enlarging upon.
+
+Pure spirit is the Life-principle considered apart from the matrix in which
+it takes relation to time and space in a particular form. In this aspect it
+is pure intelligence undifferentiated into individuality. As pure
+intelligence it is infinite responsiveness and susceptibility. As devoid of
+relation to time and space it is devoid of individual personality. It is,
+therefore, in this aspect a purely impersonal element upon which, by reason
+of its inherent intelligence and susceptibility, we can impress any
+recognition of personality that we will. These are the great facts that the
+mental scientist works with, and the student will do well to ponder deeply
+on their significance and on the responsibilities which their realization
+must necessarily carry with it.
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE MIND.
+
+
+Up to this point it has been necessary to lay the foundations of the
+science by the statement of highly abstract general principles which we
+have reached by purely metaphysical reasoning. We now pass on to the
+consideration of certain natural laws which have been established by a long
+series of experiments and observations, the full meaning and importance of
+which will become clear when we see their application to the general
+principles which have hitherto occupied our attention. The phenomena of
+hypnosis are now so fully recognized as established scientific facts that
+it is quite superfluous to discuss the question of their credibility. Two
+great medical schools have been founded upon them, and in some countries
+they have become the subject of special legislation. The question before us
+at the present day is, not as to the credibility of the facts, but as to
+the proper inferences to be drawn from them, and a correct apprehension of
+these inferences is one of the most valuable aids to the mental scientist,
+for it confirms the conclusions of purely _a priori_ reasoning by an array
+of experimental instances which places the correctness of those conclusions
+beyond doubt.
+
+The great truth which the science of hypnotism has brought to light is the
+dual nature of the human mind. Much conflict exists between different
+writers as to whether this duality results from the presence of two
+actually separate minds in the one man, or in the action of the same mind
+in the employment of different functions. This is one of those distinctions
+without a difference which are so prolific a source of hindrance to the
+opening out of truth. A man must be a single individuality to be a man at
+all, and, so, the net result is the same whether we conceive of his varied
+modes of mental action as proceeding from a set of separate minds strung,
+so to speak, on the thread of his one individuality and each adapted to a
+particular use, or as varied functions of a single mind: in either case we
+are dealing with a single individuality, and how we may picture the
+wheel-work of the mental mechanism is merely a question of what picture
+will bring the nature of its action home to us most clearly. Therefore, as
+a matter of convenience, I shall in these lectures speak of this dual
+action as though it proceeded from two minds, an outer and an inner, and
+the inner mind we will call the subjective mind and the outer the
+objective, by which names the distinction is most frequently indicated in
+the literature of the subject.
+
+A long series of careful experiments by highly-trained observers, some of
+them men of world-wide reputation, has fully established certain remarkable
+differences between the action of the subjective and that of the objective
+mind which may be briefly stated as follows. The subjective mind is only
+able to reason _deductively_ and not inductively, while the objective mind
+can do both. Deductive reasoning is the pure syllogism which shows why a
+third proposition must necessarily result if two others are assumed, but
+which does not help us to determine whether the two initial statements are
+true or not. To determine this is the province of inductive reasoning which
+draws its conclusions from the observation of a series of facts. The
+relation of the two modes of reasoning is that, first by observing a
+sufficient number of instances, we inductively reach the conclusion that a
+certain principle is of general application, and then we enter upon the
+deductive process by assuming the truth of this principle and determining
+what result must follow in a particular case on the hypothesis of its
+truth. Thus deductive reasoning proceeds on the assumption of the
+correctness of certain hypotheses or suppositions with which it sets out:
+it is not concerned with the truth or falsity of those suppositions, but
+only with the question as to what results must necessarily follow supposing
+them to be true. Inductive reasoning; on the other hand, is the process by
+which we compare a number of separate instances with one another until we
+see the common factor that gives rise to them all. Induction proceeds by
+the comparison of facts, and deduction by the application of universal
+principles. Now it is the deductive method only which is followed by the
+subjective mind. Innumerable experiments on persons in the hypnotic state
+have shown that the subjective mind is utterly incapable of making the
+selection and comparison which are necessary to the inductive process, but
+will accept any suggestion, however false, but having once accepted any
+suggestion, it is strictly logical in deducing the proper conclusions from
+it, and works out every suggestion to the minutest fraction of the results
+which flow from it.
+
+As a consequence of this it follows that the subjective mind is entirely
+under the control of the objective mind. With the utmost fidelity it
+reproduces and works out to its final consequences whatever the objective
+mind impresses upon it; and the facts of hypnotism show that ideas can be
+impressed on the subjective mind by the objective mind of another as well
+as by that of its own individuality. This is a most important point, for it
+is on this amenability to suggestion by the thought of another that all the
+phenomena of healing, whether present or absent, of telepathy and the like,
+depend. Under the control of the practised hypnotist the very personality
+of the subject becomes changed for the time being; he believes himself to
+be whatever the operator tells him he is: he is a swimmer breasting the
+waves, a bird flying in the air, a soldier in the tumult of battle, an
+Indian stealthily tracking his victim: in short, for the time being, he
+identifies himself with any personality that is impressed upon him by the
+will of the operator, and acts the part with inimitable accuracy. But the
+experiments of hypnotism go further than this, and show the existence in
+the subjective mind of powers far transcending any exercised by the
+objective mind through the medium of the physical senses; powers of
+thought-reading, of thought-transference, of clairvoyance, and the like,
+all of which are frequently manifested when the patient is brought into the
+higher mesmeric state; and we have thus experimental proof of the existence
+in ourselves of transcendental faculties the full development and conscious
+control of which would place us in a perfectly new sphere of life.
+
+But it should be noted that the control must be _our own_ and not that of
+any external intelligence whether in the flesh or out of it.
+
+But perhaps the most important fact which hypnotic experiments have
+demonstrated is that the subjective mind is the builder of the body. The
+subjective entity in the patient is able to diagnose the character of the
+disease from which he is suffering and to point out suitable remedies,
+indicating a physiological knowledge exceeding that of the most highly
+trained physicians, and also a knowledge of the correspondences between
+diseased conditions of the bodily organs and the material remedies which
+can afford relief. And from this it is but a step further to those numerous
+instances in which it entirely dispenses with the use of material remedies
+and itself works directly on the organism, so that complete restoration to
+health follows as the result of the suggestions of perfect soundness made
+by the operator to the patient while in the hypnotic state.
+
+Now these are facts fully established by hundreds of experiments conducted
+by a variety of investigators in different parts of the world, and from
+them we may draw two inferences of the highest importance: one, that the
+subjective mind is in itself absolutely impersonal, and the other that it
+is the builder of the body, or in other words it is the creative power in
+the individual. That it is impersonal in itself is shown by its readiness
+to assume any personality the hypnotist chooses to impress upon it; and the
+unavoidable inference is that its realization of personality proceeds from
+its association with the particular objective mind of its own
+individuality. Whatever personality the objective mind impresses upon it,
+that personality it assumes and acts up to; and since it is the builder of
+the body it will build up a body in correspondence with the personality
+thus impressed upon it. These two laws of the subjective mind form the
+foundation of the axiom that our body represents the aggregate of our
+beliefs. If our fixed belief is that the body is subject to all sorts of
+influences beyond our control, and that this, that, or the other symptom
+shows that such an uncontrollable influence is at work upon us, then this
+belief is impressed upon the subjective mind, which by the law of its
+nature accepts it without question and proceeds to fashion bodily
+conditions in accordance with this belief. Again, if our fixed belief is
+that certain material remedies are the only means of cure, then we find in
+this belief the foundation of all medicine. There is nothing unsound in the
+theory of medicine; it is the strictly logical correspondence with the
+measure of knowledge which those who rely on it are as yet able to
+assimilate, and it acts accurately in accordance with their belief that in
+a large number of cases medicine will do good, but also in many instances
+it fails. Therefore, for those who have not yet reached a more interior
+perception of the law of Nature, the healing agency of medicine is a most
+valuable aid to the alleviation of physical maladies. The error to be
+combated is not the belief that, in its own way, medicine is capable of
+doing good, but the belief that there is no higher or better way.
+
+Then, on the same principle, if we realize that the subjective mind is the
+builder of the body, and that the body is subject to no influences except
+those which reach it through the subjective mind, then what we have to do
+is to impress _this_ upon the subjective mind and habitually think of it as
+a fountain of perpetual Life, which is continually renovating the body by
+building in strong and healthy material, in the most complete independence
+of any influences of any sort, save those of our own desire impressed upon
+our own subjective mind by our own thought. When once we fully grasp these
+considerations we shall see that it is just as easy to externalize healthy
+conditions of body as the contrary. Practically the process amounts to a
+belief in our own power of life; and since this belief, if it be thoroughly
+domiciled within us, will necessarily produce a correspondingly healthy
+body, we should spare no pains to convince ourselves that there are sound
+and reasonable grounds for holding it. To afford a solid basis for this
+conviction is the purpose of Mental Science.
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE MIND.
+
+
+An intelligent consideration of the phenomena of hypnotism will show us
+that what we call the hypnotic state is the _normal_ state of the
+subjective mind. It _always_ conceives of itself in accordance with some
+suggestion conveyed to it, either consciously or unconsciously to the mode
+of objective mind which governs it, and it gives rise to corresponding
+external results. The abnormal nature of the conditions induced by
+experimental hypnotism is in the removal of the normal control held by the
+individual's own objective mind over his subjective mind and the
+substitution of some other control for it, and thus we may say that the
+normal characteristic of the subjective mind is its perpetual action in
+accordance with some sort of suggestion. It becomes therefore a question of
+the highest importance to determine in every case what the nature of the
+suggestion shall be and from what source it shall proceed; but before
+considering the sources of suggestion we must realize more fully the place
+taken by subjective mind in the order of Nature.
+
+If the student has followed what has been said regarding the presence of
+intelligent spirit pervading all space and permeating all matter, he will
+now have little difficulty in recognizing this all-pervading spirit as
+universal subjective mind. That it cannot _as universal mind_ have the
+qualities of objective mind is very obvious. The universal mind is the
+creative power throughout Nature; and as the originating power it must
+first give rise to the various _forms_ in which objective mind recognizes
+its own individuality, before these individual minds can re-act upon it;
+and hence, as pure spirit or _first cause_, it cannot possibly be anything
+else than subjective mind; and the fact which has been abundantly proved by
+experiment that the subjective mind is the builder of the body shows us
+that the power of creating by growth from within is the essential
+characteristic of the subjective mind. Hence, both from experiment and from
+_a priori_ reasoning, we may say that where-ever we find creative power at
+work there we are in the presence of subjective mind, whether it be working
+on the grand scale of the cosmos, or on the miniature scale of the
+individual. We may therefore lay it down as a principle that the universal
+all-permeating intelligence, which has been considered in the second and
+third sections, is purely subjective mind, and therefore follows the law of
+subjective mind, namely that it is amenable to any suggestion, and will
+carry out any suggestion that is impressed upon it to its most rigorously
+logical consequences. The incalculable importance of this truth may not
+perhaps strike the student at first sight, but a little consideration will
+show him the enormous possibilities that are stored up in it, and in the
+concluding section I shall briefly touch upon the very serious conclusions
+resulting from it. For the present it will be sufficient to realize that
+the subjective mind in ourselves is _the same_ subjective mind which is at
+work throughout the universe giving rise to the infinitude of natural forms
+with which we are surrounded, and in like manner giving rise _to ourselves
+also_. It may be called the supporter of our individuality; and we may
+loosely speak of our individual subjective mind as our personal share in
+the universal mind. This, of course, does not imply the splitting up of the
+universal mind into fractions, and it is to avoid this error that I have
+discussed the essential unity of spirit in the third section, but in order
+to avoid too highly abstract conceptions in the present stage of the
+student's progress we may conveniently employ the idea of a personal share
+in the universal subjective mind.
+
+To realize our individual subjective mind in this manner will help us to
+get over the great metaphysical difficulty which meets us in our endeavour
+to make conscious use of first cause, in other words to create external
+results by the power of our own thought. Ultimately there can be only one
+first cause which is the universal mind, but because it is universal it
+cannot, _as universal_, act on the plane of the individual and particular.
+For it to do so would be for it to cease to be universal and therefore
+cease to be the creative power which we wish to employ. On the other hand,
+the fact that we are working for a specific definite object implies our
+intention to use this universal power in application to a particular
+purpose, and thus we find ourselves involved in the paradox of seeking to
+make the universal act on the plane of the particular. We want to effect a
+junction between the two extremes of the scale of Nature, the innermost
+creative spirit and a particular external form. Between these two is a
+great gulf, and the question is how is it to be bridged over. It is here,
+then, that the conception of our individual subjective mind as our personal
+share in the universal subjective mind affords the means of meeting the
+difficulty, for on the one hand it is in immediate connection with the
+universal mind, and on the other it is immediate connection with the
+individual objective, or intellectual mind; and this in its turn is in
+immediate connection with the world of externalization, which is
+conditioned in time and space; and thus the relation between the subjective
+and objective minds in the individual forms the bridge which is needed to
+connect the two extremities of the scale.
+
+The individual subjective mind may therefore be regarded as the organ of
+the Absolute in precisely the same way that the objective mind is the organ
+of the Relative, and it is in order to regulate our use of these two organs
+that it is necessary to understand what the terms "absolute" and "relative"
+actually mean. The absolute is that idea of a thing which contemplates it
+as existing _in itself_ and not in relation to something else, that is to
+say, which contemplates the essence of it; and the relative is that idea of
+a thing which contemplates it as related to other things, that is to say as
+circumscribed by a certain environment. The absolute is the region of
+causes, and the relative is the region of conditions; and hence, if we wish
+to control conditions, this can only be done by our thought-power operating
+on the plane of the absolute, which it can do only through the medium of
+the subjective mind. The conscious use of the creative power of thought
+consists in the attainment of the power of Thinking in the Absolute, and
+this can only be attained by a clear conception of the interaction between
+our different mental functions. For this purpose the student cannot too
+strongly impress upon himself that subjective mind, on whatever scale, is
+intensely sensitive to suggestion, and as creative power works accurately
+to the externalization of that suggestion which is most deeply impressed
+upon it. If then, we would take any idea out of the realm of the relative,
+where it is limited and restricted by conditions imposed upon it through
+surrounding circumstances, and transfer it to the realm of the absolute
+where it is not thus limited, a right recognition of our mental
+constitution will enable us to do this by a clearly defined method.
+
+The object of our desire is necessarily first conceived by us as bearing
+some relation to existing circumstances, which may, or may not, appear
+favourable to it; and what we want to do is to eliminate the element of
+contingency and attain something which is certain in itself. To do this is
+to work upon the plane of the absolute, and for this purpose we must
+endeavour to impress upon our subjective mind the idea of that which we
+desire quite apart from any conditions. This separation from the elements
+of condition implies the elimination of the idea of _time_, and
+consequently we must think of the thing as already in actual existence.
+Unless we do this we are not consciously operating upon the plane of the
+absolute, and are therefore not employing the creative power of our
+thought. The simplest practical method of gaining the habit of thinking in
+this manner is to conceive the existence in the spiritual world of a
+spiritual prototype of every existing thing, which becomes the root of the
+corresponding external existence. If we thus habituate ourselves to look on
+the spiritual prototype as the essential being of the thing, and the
+material form as the growth of this prototype into outward expression, then
+we shall see that the initial step to the production of any external fact
+must be the creation of its spiritual prototype. This prototype, being
+purely spiritual, can only be formed by the operation of _thought_, and in
+order to have substance on the spiritual plane it _must_ be thought of as
+actually existing there. This conception has been elaborated by Plato in
+his doctrine of archetypal ideas, and by Swedenborg in his doctrine of
+correspondences; and a still greater teacher has said "All things
+whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye _have_ received them, and
+ye _shall_ receive them." (Mark xi. 24, R.V.) The difference of the tenses
+in this passage is remarkable. The speaker bids us first to believe that
+our desire _has_ already been fulfilled, that it is a thing already
+accomplished, and then its accomplishment _will_ follow as a thing in the
+future. This is nothing else than a concise direction for making use of the
+creative power of thought by impressing upon the universal subjective mind
+the particular thing which we desire as an already existing fact. In
+following this direction we are thinking on the plane of the absolute and
+eliminating from our minds all consideration of conditions, which imply
+limitation and the possibility of adverse contingencies; and we are thus
+planting a seed which, if left undisturbed, will infallibly germinate into
+external fruition.
+
+By thus making intelligent use of our subjective mind, we, so to speak,
+create a _nucleus_, which is no sooner created than it begins to exercise
+an attractive force, drawing to itself material of a like character with
+its own, and if this process is allowed to go on undisturbed, it will
+continue until an external form corresponding to the nature of the nucleus
+comes out into manifestation on the plane of the objective and relative.
+This is the universal method of Nature on every plane. Some of the most
+advanced thinkers in modern physical science, in the endeavour to probe the
+great mystery of the first origin of the world, have postulated the
+formation of what they call "vortex rings" formed from an infinitely fine
+primordial substance. They tell us that if such a ring be once formed on
+the minutest scale and set rotating, then, since it would be moving in pure
+ether and subject to no friction, it must according to all known laws of
+physics be indestructible and its motion perpetual. Let two such rings
+approach each other, and by the law of attraction, they would coalesce into
+a whole, and so on until manifested matter as we apprehend it with our
+external senses, is at last formed. Of course no one has ever seen these
+rings with the physical eye. They are one of those abstractions which
+result if we follow out the observed law of physics and the unavoidable
+sequences of mathematics to their necessary consequences. We cannot account
+for the things that we _can_ see unless we assume the existence of other
+things which we _cannot_; and the "vortex theory" is one of these
+assumptions. This theory has not been put forward by mental scientists but
+by purely physical scientists as the ultimate conclusion to which their
+researches have led them, and this conclusion is that all the innumerable
+forms of Nature have their origin in the infinitely minute nucleus of the
+vortex ring, by whatever means the vortex ring may have received its
+initial impulse, a question with which physical science, as such, is not
+concerned.
+
+As the vortex theory accounts for the formation of the inorganic world, so
+does biology account for the formation of the living organism. That also
+has its origin in a primary nucleus which, as soon as it is established,
+operates as a centre of attraction for the formation of all those physical
+organs of which the perfect individual is composed. The science of
+embryology shows that this rule holds good without exception throughout the
+whole range of the animal world, including man; and botany shows the same
+principle at work throughout the vegetable world. All branches of physical
+science demonstrate the fact that every completed manifestation, of
+whatever kind and on whatever scale, is started by the establishment of a
+nucleus, infinitely small but endowed with an unquenchable energy of
+attraction, causing it to steadily increase in power and definiteness of
+purpose, until the process of growth is completed and the matured form
+stands out as an accomplished fact. Now if this be the universal method of
+Nature, there is nothing unnatural in supposing that it must begin its
+operation at a stage further back than the formation of the material
+nucleus. As soon as that is called into being it begins to operate by the
+law of attraction on the material plane; but what is the force which
+originates the material nucleus? Let a recent work on physical science give
+us the answer; "In its ultimate essence, energy may be incomprehensible by
+us except as an exhibition of the direct operation of that which we call
+Mind or Will." The quotation is from a course of lectures on "Waves in
+Water, Air and AEther," delivered in 1902, at the Royal Institution, by J.
+A. Fleming. Here, then, is the testimony of physical science that the
+originating energy is Mind or Will; and we are, therefore, not only making
+a logical deduction from certain unavoidable intuitions of the human mind,
+but are also following on the lines of the most advanced physical science,
+when we say that the action of Mind plants that nucleus which, if allowed
+to grow undisturbed, will eventually attract to itself all the conditions
+necessary for its manifestation in outward visible form. Now the only
+action of Mind is Thought; and it is for this reason that by our thoughts
+we create corresponding external conditions, because we thereby create the
+nucleus which attracts to itself its own correspondences in due order until
+the finished work is manifested on the external plane. This is according to
+the strictly scientific conception of the universal law of growth; and we
+may therefore briefly sum up the whole argument by saying that our thought
+of anything forms a spiritual prototype of it, thus constituting a nucleus
+or centre of attraction for all conditions necessary to its eventual
+externalization by a law of growth inherent in the prototype itself.
+
+
+
+
+VI.
+
+THE LAW OF GROWTH.
+
+
+A CORRECT understanding of the law of growth is of the highest importance
+to the student of Mental Science. The great fact to be realized regarding
+Nature is that it is natural. We may pervert the order of Nature, but it
+will prevail in the long run, returning, as Horace says, by the back door
+even though we drive it out with a pitchfork; and the beginning, the
+middle, and the end of the law of Nature is the principle of growth from a
+vitality inherent in the entity itself. If we realize this from the outset
+we shall not undo our own work by endeavouring to _force_ things to become
+that which by their own nature they are not. For this reason when the Bible
+says that "he who believeth shall not make haste," it is enunciating a
+great natural principle that success, depends on our using, and not
+opposing, the universal law of growth. No doubt the greater the vitality we
+put into the germ, which we have agreed to call the spiritual prototype,
+the quicker it will germinate; but this is simply because by a more
+realizing conception we put more growing-power into the seed than we do by
+a feebler conception. Our mistakes always eventually resolve themselves
+into distrusting the law of growth. Either we fancy we can hasten it by
+some exertion of our own from _without_, and are thus led into hurry and
+anxiety, not to say sometimes into the employment, of grievously wrong
+methods; or else we give up all hope and so deny the germinating power of
+the seed we have planted. The result in either case is the same, for in
+either case we are in effect forming a fresh spiritual prototype of an
+opposite character to our desire, which therefore neutralizes the one first
+formed, and disintegrates it and usurps its place. The law is always the
+same, that our Thought forms a spiritual prototype which, if left
+undisturbed, will reproduce itself in external circumstances; the only
+difference is in the sort of prototype we form, and thus evil is brought to
+us by precisely the same law as good.
+
+These considerations will greatly simplify our ideas of life. We have no
+longer to consider two forces, but only one, as being the cause of all
+things; the difference between good and evil resulting simply from the
+direction in which this force is made to flow. It is a universal law that
+if we reverse the action of a cause we at the same time reverse the effect.
+With the same apparatus we can commence by mechanical motion which will
+generate electricity, or we can commence with electricity which will
+generate mechanical motion; or to take a simple arithmetical instance: if
+10/2 = 5, then 10/5 = 2; and therefore if we once recognize the power of
+thought to produce any results at all, we shall see that the law by which
+negative thought produces negative results is the same by which positive
+thought produces positive results. Therefore all our distrust of the law of
+growth, whether shown in the anxious endeavour to bring pressure to bear
+from without, or in allowing despair to take the place of cheerful
+expectation, is reversing the action of the original cause and consequently
+reversing the nature of the results. It is for this reason that the Bible,
+which is the most deeply occult of all books, continually lays so much
+stress upon the efficiency of faith and the destructive influence of
+unbelief; and in like manner, all books on every branch of spiritual
+science emphatically warn us against the admission of doubt or fear. They
+are the inversion of the principle which builds up, and they are therefore
+the principle which pulls down; but the Law itself never changes, and it is
+on the unchangeableness of the law that all Mental Science is founded. We
+are accustomed to realize the unchangeableness of natural law in our every
+day life, and it should therefore not be difficult to realize that the same
+unchangeableness of law which obtains on the visible side of nature obtains
+on the invisible side as well. The variable factor is, not the law, but our
+own volition; and it is by combining this variable factor with the
+invariable one that we can produce the various results we desire. The
+principle of growth is that of inherent vitality in the seed itself, and
+the operations of the gardener have their exact analogue in Mental Science.
+We do not _put_ the self-expansive vitality into the seed, but we must sow
+it, and we may also, so to speak, water it by quiet concentrated
+contemplation of our desire as an actually accomplished fact. But we must
+carefully remove from such contemplation any idea of a strenuous effort on
+our part to _make_ the seed grow. Its efficacy is in helping to keep out
+those negative thoughts of doubt which would plant tares among our wheat,
+and therefore, instead of anything of effort, such contemplation should be
+accompanied by a feeling of pleasure and restfulness in foreseeing the
+certain accomplishment of our desires. This is that making our requests
+known to God _with thanksgiving_ which St. Paul recommends, and it has its
+reason in that perfect wholeness of the Law of Being which only needs our
+recognition of it to be used by us to any extent we wish.
+
+Some people possess the power of visualization, or making mental pictures
+of things, in a greater degree than others, and by such this faculty may
+advantageously be employed to facilitate their realization of the working
+of the Law. But those who do not possess this faculty in any marked degree,
+need not be discouraged by their want of it, for visualization is not the
+only way of realizing that the law is at work on the invisible plane. Those
+whose mental bias is towards physical science should realize this Law of
+Growth as the creative force throughout all nature; and those who have a
+mathematical turn of mind may reflect that all solids are generated from
+the movement of a point, which, as our old friend Euclid tells us, is that
+which has no parts nor magnitude, and is therefore as complete an
+abstraction as any spiritual nucleus could be. To use the apostolic words,
+we are dealing with the substance of things not seen, and we have to attain
+that habit of mind by which we shall see its reality and feel that we are
+mentally manipulating the only substance there ultimately is, and of which
+all visible things are only different modes. We must therefore regard our
+mental creations as spiritual realities and then implicitly trust the Law
+of Growth to do the rest.
+
+
+
+
+VII.
+
+RECEPTIVITY.
+
+
+In order to lay the foundations for practical work, the student must
+endeavour to get a clear conception of what is meant by the intelligence of
+undifferentiated spirit. We want to grasp the idea of intelligence apart
+from individuality, an idea which is rather apt to elude us until we grow
+accustomed to it. It is the failure to realize this quality of spirit that
+has given rise to all the theological errors that have brought bitterness
+into the world and has been prominent amongst the causes which have
+retarded the true development of mankind. To accurately convey this
+conception in words, is perhaps, impossible, and to attempt definition is
+to introduce that very idea of limitation which is our object to avoid. It
+is a matter of feeling rather than of definition; yet some endeavour must
+be made to indicate the direction in which we must feel for this great
+truth if we are to find it. The idea is that of realizing personality
+without that selfhood which differentiates one individual from another. "I
+am not that other because I am myself"--this is the definition of
+individual selfhood; but it necessarily imparts the idea of limitation,
+because the recognition of any other individuality at once affirms a point
+at which our own individuality ceases and the other begins. Now this mode
+of recognition cannot be attributed to the Universal Mind. For it to
+recognize a point where itself ceased and something else began would be to
+recognize itself as _not_ universal; for the meaning of universality is the
+including of _all_ things, and therefore for this intelligence to recognize
+anything as being _outside itself_ would be a denial of its own being. We
+may therefore say without hesitation that, whatever may be the nature of
+its intelligence, it must be entirely devoid of the element of
+self-recognition _as an individual personality_ on any scale whatever. Seen
+in this light it is at once clear that the originating all-pervading Spirit
+is the grand impersonal principle of Life which gives rise to all the
+particular manifestations of Nature. Its absolute impersonalness, in the
+sense of the entire absence of any consciousness of _individual_ selfhood,
+is a point on which it is impossible to insist too strongly. The
+attributing of an impossible individuality to the Universal Mind is one of
+the two grand errors which we find sapping the foundations of religion and
+philosophy in all ages. The other consists in rushing to the opposite
+extreme and denying the quality of personal intelligence to the Universal
+Mind. The answer to this error remains, as of old, in the simple question,
+"He that made the eye shall He not see? He that planted the ear shall He
+not hear?"--or to use a popular proverb, "You cannot get out of a bag more
+than there is in it;" and consequently the fact that we ourselves are
+centres of personal intelligence is proof that the infinite, from which
+these centres are concentrated, must be infinite intelligence, and thus we
+cannot avoid attributing to it the two factors which constitute
+personality, namely, intelligence and volition. We are therefore brought to
+the conclusion that this universally diffused essence, which we might think
+of as a sort of spiritual protoplasm, must possess all the qualities of
+personality without that conscious recognition of self which constitutes
+separate individuality: and since the word "personality" has became so
+associated in our ordinary talk with the idea of "individuality" it will
+perhaps be better to coin a new word, and speak of the personalness of the
+Universal Mind as indicating its personal _quality_, apart from
+individuality. We must realize that this universal spirit permeates all
+space and all manifested substance, just as physical scientists tell us
+that the ether does, and that wherever it is, there it must carry with it
+all that it is in its own being; and we shall then see that we are in the
+midst of an ocean of undifferentiated yet intelligent Life, above, below,
+and all around, and permeating ourselves both mentally and corporeally, and
+all other beings as well.
+
+Gradually as we come to realize the truth of this statement, our eyes will
+begin to open to its immense significance. It means that all Nature is
+pervaded by an interior personalness, infinite in its potentialities of
+intelligence, responsiveness, and power of expression, and only waiting to
+be called into activity by our recognition of it. By the terms of its
+nature it can respond to us only as we recognize it. If we are at that
+intellectual level where we can see nothing but chance governing the world,
+then this underlying universal mind will present to us nothing but a
+fortuitous confluence of forces without any intelligible order. If we are
+sufficiently advanced to see that such a confluence could only produce a
+chaos, and not a cosmos, then our conceptions expand to the idea of
+universal Law, and we find _this_ to be the nature of the all-underlying
+principle. We have made an immense advance from the realm of mere accident
+into a world where there are definite principles on which we can calculate
+with certainty _when we know them_. But here is the crucial point. The laws
+of the universe are there, but we are ignorant of them, and only through
+experience gained by repeated failures can we get any insight into the laws
+with which we have to deal. How painful each step and how slow the
+progress! AEons upon aeons would not suffice to grasp all the laws of the
+universe in their totality, not in the visible world only, but also in the
+world of the unseen; each failure to know the true law implies suffering
+arising from our ignorant breach of it; and thus, since Nature is infinite,
+we are met by the paradox that we must in some way contrive to compass the
+knowledge of the infinite with our individual intelligence, and we must
+perform a pilgrimage along an unceasing Via Dolorosa beneath the lash of
+the inexorable Law until we find the solution to the problem. But it will
+be asked, May we not go on until at last we attain the possession of all
+knowledge? People do not realize what is meant by "the infinite," or they
+would not ask such questions. The infinite is that which is limitless and
+exhaustless. Imagine the vastest capacity you will, and having filled it
+with the infinite, what remains of the infinite is just as infinite as
+before. To the mathematician this may be put very clearly. Raise _x_ to any
+power you will, and however vast may be the disparity between it and the
+lower powers of _x_, both are equally incommensurate with _x^n._ The
+universal reign of Law is a magnificent truth; it is one of the two great
+pillars of the universe symbolized by the two pillars that stood at the
+entrance to Solomon's temple: it is Jachin, but Jachin must be
+equilibriated by Boaz.
+
+It is an enduring truth, which can never be altered, that every infraction
+of the Law of Nature must carry its punitive consequences with it. We can
+never get beyond the range of cause and effect. There is no escaping from
+the law of punishment, except by knowledge. If we know a law of Nature and
+work with it, we shall find it our unfailing friend, ever ready to serve
+us, and never rebuking us for past failures; but if we ignorantly or
+wilfully transgress it, it is our implacable enemy, until we again become
+obedient to it; and therefore the only redemption from perpetual pain and
+servitude is by a self-expansion which can grasp infinitude itself. How is
+this to be accomplished? By our progress to that kind and degree of
+intelligence by which we realize the inherent _personalness_ of the divine
+all-pervading Life, which is at once the Law and the Substance of all that
+is. Well said the Jewish rabbis of old, "The Law is a Person." When we once
+realize that the universal Life and the universal Law are one with the
+universal Personalness, then we have established the pillar Boaz as the
+needed complement to Jachin; and when we find the common point in which
+these two unite, we have raised the Royal Arch through which we may
+triumphantly enter the Temple. We must dissociate the Universal
+Personalness from every conception of individuality. The universal can
+never be the individual: that would be a contradiction in terms. But
+because the universal personalness is the root of all individual
+personalities, it finds its highest expression in response to those who
+realize its personal nature. And it is this recognition that solves the
+seemingly insoluble paradox. The only way to attain that knowledge of the
+Infinite Law which will change the Via Dolorosa into the Path of Joy is to
+embody in ourselves a _principle_ of knowledge commensurate with the
+infinitude of that which is to be known; and this is accomplished by
+realizing that, infinite as the law itself, is a universal Intelligence in
+the midst of which we float as in a living ocean. Intelligence without
+individual personality, but which, in producing us, concentrates itself
+into the personal individualities which we are. What should be the relation
+of such an intelligence towards us? Not one of favouritism: not any more
+than the Law can it respect one person above another, for itself is the
+root and support for each alike. Not one of refusal to our advances; for
+without individuality it can have no personal object of its own to conflict
+with ours; and since it is itself the origin of all individual
+intelligence, it cannot be shut off by inability to understand. By the very
+terms of its being, therefore, this infinite, underlying, all-producing
+Mind must be ready immediately to respond to all who realize their true
+relation to it. As the very principle of Life itself it must be infinitely
+susceptible to feeling, and consequently it will reproduce with absolute
+accuracy whatever conception of itself we impress upon it; and hence if we
+realize the human mind as that stage in the evolution of the cosmic order
+at which an individuality has arisen capable of expressing, not merely the
+livingness, but also the personalness of the universal underlying spirit,
+then we see that its most perfect mode of self-expression must be by
+identifying itself with these individual personalities.
+
+The identification is, of course, limited by the measure of the individual
+intelligence, meaning, not merely the intellectual perception of the
+sequence of cause and effect, but also that indescribable reciprocity of
+_feeling_ by which we instinctively recognize something in another making
+them akin to ourselves; and so it is that when we intelligently realize
+that the innermost principle of being, must by reason of its universality,
+have a common nature with our own, then we have solved the paradox of
+universal knowledge, for we have realized our identity of being with the
+Universal Mind, which is commensurate with the Universal Law. Thus we
+arrive at the truth of St. John's statement, "Ye know all things," only
+this knowledge is primarily on the spiritual plane. It is not brought out
+into intellectual statement whether needed or not; for it is not in itself
+the specific knowledge of particular facts, but it is the undifferentiated
+principle of knowledge which we may differentiate in any direction that we
+choose. This is a philosophical necessity of the case, for though the
+action of the individual mind consists in differentiating the universal
+into particular applications, to differentiate the _whole_ universal would
+be a contradiction in terms; and so, because we cannot exhaust the
+infinite, our possession of it must consist in our power to differentiate
+it as the occasion may require, the only limit being that which we
+ourselves assign to the manifestation.
+
+In this way, then, the recognition of the community of _personality_
+between ourselves and the universal undifferentiated Spirit, which is the
+root and substance of all things, solves the question of our release from
+the iron grasp of an inflexible Law, not by abrogating the Law, which would
+mean the annihilation of all things, but by producing in us an intelligence
+equal in affinity with the universal Law itself, and thus enabling us to
+apprehend and meet the requirements of the Law in each particular as it
+arises. In this way the Cosmic Intelligence becomes individualized, and the
+individual intelligence becomes universalized; the two became one, and in
+proportion as this unity is realized and acted on, it will be found that
+the Law, which gives rise to all outward conditions, whether of body or of
+circumstances, becomes more and more clearly understood, and can therefore
+be more freely made use of, so that by steady, intelligent endeavour to
+unfold upon these lines we may reach degrees of power to which it is
+impossible to assign any limits. The student who would understand the
+rationale of the unfoldment of his own possibilities must make no mistake
+here. He must realize that the whole process is that of bringing the
+universal within the grasp of the individual by raising the individual to
+the level of the universal and not vice-versa. It is a mathematical truism
+that you cannot contract the infinite, and that you _can_ expand the
+individual; and it is precisely on these lines that evolution works. The
+laws of nature cannot be altered in the least degree; but we can come into
+such a realization of our own relation to the universal principle of Law
+that underlies them as to be able to press all particular laws, whether of
+the visible or invisible side of Nature, into our service and so find
+ourselves masters of the situation. This is to be accomplished by
+knowledge; and the only knowledge which will effect this purpose in all its
+measureless immensity is the knowledge of the personal element in Universal
+Spirit in its reciprocity to our own personality. Our recognition of this
+Spirit must therefore be twofold, as the principle of necessary sequence,
+order or Law, and also as the principle of Intelligence, responsive to our
+own recognition of it.
+
+
+
+
+VIII.
+
+RECIPROCAL ACTION OF THE UNIVERSAL AND INDIVIDUAL MINDS.
+
+
+It must be admitted that the foregoing considerations bring us to the
+borders of theological speculation, but the student must bear in mind that
+as a Mental Scientist it is his business to regard even the most exalted
+spiritual phenomena from a purely scientific standpoint, which is that of
+the working of a universal natural Law. If he thus simply deals with the
+facts as he finds them, there is little doubt that the true meaning of many
+theological statements will become clear to him: but he will do well to lay
+it down as a general rule that it is not necessary either to the use or
+understanding of any law, whether on the personal or the impersonal side of
+Nature, that we should give a theological explanation of it: although,
+therefore, the personal quality inherent in the universal underlying
+spirit, which is present in all things, cannot be too strongly insisted
+upon, we must remember that in dealing with it we are still dealing with a
+purely natural power which reappears at every point with protean variety of
+form, whether as person, animal, or thing. In each case what it becomes to
+any individual is exactly measured by that individual's recognition of it.
+To each and all it bears the relation of supporter of the race, and where
+the individual development is incapable of realizing anything more, this is
+the limit of the relation; but as the individual's power of recognition
+expands, he finds a reciprocal expansion on the part of this intelligent
+power which gradually develops into the consciousness of intimate
+companionship between the individualized mind and the unindividualized
+source of it.
+
+Now this is exactly the relation which, on ordinary scientific principles,
+we should expect to find between the individual and the cosmic mind, on the
+supposition that the cosmic mind is subjective mind, and for reasons
+already given we can regard it in no other light. As subjective mind it
+must reproduce exactly the conception of itself which the objective mind of
+the individual, acting through his own subjective mind, impresses upon it;
+and at the same time as creative mind, it builds up external facts in
+correspondence with this conception. "Quot homines tot sententiae": each one
+externalizes in his outward circumstances precisely his idea of the
+Universal Mind; and the man who realizes that by the natural law of mind he
+can bring the Universal Mind into perfectly reciprocal action with its own,
+will on the one hand make it a source of infinite instruction, and on the
+other a source of infinite power. He will thus wisely alternate the
+personal and impersonal aspects respectively between his individual mind
+and the Universal Mind; when he is seeking for guidance or strength he will
+regard his own mind as the impersonal element which is to _receive
+personality_ from the superior wisdom and force of the Greater Mind; and
+when, on the other hand, he is to give out the stores thus accumulated, he
+must reverse the position and consider his own mind as the personal
+element, and the Universal Mind as the impersonal, which he can therefore
+_direct_ with certainty by impressing his own personal desire upon it. We
+need not be staggered at the greatness of this conclusion, for it follows
+necessarily from the natural relation between the subjective and the
+objective minds; and the only question is whether we will limit our view to
+the lower level of the latter, or expand it so as to take in the limitless
+possibilities which the subjective mind presents to us.
+
+I have dealt with this question at some length because it affords the key
+to two very important subjects, the Law of Supply and the nature of
+Intuition. Students often find it easier to understand how the mind can
+influence the body with which it is so intimately associated, than how it
+can influence circumstances. If the operation of thought-power were
+confined exclusively to the individual mind this difficulty might arise;
+but if there is one lesson the student of Mental Science should take to
+heart more than another, it is that the action of thought-power is not
+limited to a circumscribed individuality. What the individual does is to
+_give direction_ to something which is unlimited, to call into action a
+force infinitely greater than his own, which because it is in itself
+impersonal though intelligent, will receive the impress of his personality,
+and can therefore make its influence felt far beyond the limits which bound
+the individual's objective perception of the circumstances with which he
+has to deal. It is for this reason that I lay so much stress on the
+combination of two apparent opposites in the Universal Mind, the union of
+intelligence with impersonality. The intelligence not only enables it to
+receive the impress of our thought, but also causes it to devise exactly
+the right _means_ for bringing it into accomplishment. This is only the
+logical result of the hypothesis that we are dealing with infinite
+Intelligence which is also infinite Life. Life means Power, and infinite
+life therefore means limitless power; and limitless power moved by
+limitless intelligence cannot be conceived of as ever stopping short of the
+accomplishment of its object; therefore, given the _intention_ on the part
+of the Universal Mind, there can be no doubt as to its ultimate
+accomplishment. Then comes the question of intention. How do we know what
+the intention of the Universal Mind may be? Here comes in the element of
+impersonality. It has _no intention_, because it is _impersonal_. As I have
+already said, the Universal mind works by a law of averages for the
+advancement of the race, and is in no way concerned with the particular
+wishes of the individual. If his wishes are in line with the forward
+movement of the everlasting principle, there is nowhere in Nature any power
+to restrict him in their fulfilment. If they are opposed to the general
+forward movement, then they will bring him into collision with it, and it
+will crush him. From the relation between them it results that the same
+principle which shows itself in the individual mind as Will, becomes in the
+universal mind a Law of Tendency; and the direction of this tendency must
+always be to life-givingness, because the universal mind is the
+undifferentiated Life-spirit of the universe. Therefore in every case the
+test is whether our particular intention is in this same lifeward
+direction: and if it is, then we may be absolutely certain that there is no
+intention on the part of the Universal Mind to thwart the intention of our
+own individual mind; we are dealing with a purely impersonal force, and it
+will no more oppose us by specific plans of its own than will steam or
+electricity. Combining then, these two aspects of the Universal Mind, its
+utter impersonality and its perfect intelligence, we find precisely the
+sort of natural force we are in want of, something which will undertake
+whatever we put into its hands without asking questions or bargaining for
+terms, and which, having undertaken our business, will bring to bear on it
+an intelligence to which the united knowledge of the whole human race is as
+nothing, and a power equal to this intelligence. I may be using a rough and
+ready mode of expression, but my object is to bring home to the student the
+nature of the power he can employ and the method of employing it, and I may
+therefore state the whole position thus:--Your object is not to run the
+whole cosmos, but to draw particular benefits, physical, mental, moral, or
+financial into your own or someone else's life. From this individual point
+of view the universal creative power has no mind of its own, and therefore
+you can make up its mind for it. When its mind is thus made up for it, it
+never abrogates its place as the creative power, but at once sets to work
+co carry out the purpose for which it has thus been concentrated; and
+unless this concentration is dissipated by the same agency (yourself) which
+first produced it, it will work on by the law of growth to complete
+manifestation on the outward plane.
+
+In dealing with this great impersonal intelligence, we are dealing with the
+infinite, and we must fully realize infinitude as that which touches all
+points, and if it does, there should be no difficulty in understanding that
+this intelligence can draw together the means requisite for its purpose
+even from the ends of the world; and therefore, realizing the Law according
+to which the result can be produced, we must resolutely put aside all
+questioning as to the specific means which will be employed in any case. To
+question this is to sow that very seed of doubt which it is our first
+object to eradicate, and our intellectual endeavour should therefore be
+directed, not to the attempt to foretell the various secondary causes which
+will eventually combine to produce the desired result, laying down
+beforehand what particular causes should be necessary, and from what
+quarter they should come; but we should direct our intellectual endeavour
+to seeing more clearly the rationale of the general law by which trains of
+secondary causes are set in motion. Employed in the former way our
+intellect becomes the greatest hindrance to our success, for it only helps
+to increase our doubts, since it is trying to grasp particulars which, at
+the time are entirely outside its circle of vision; but employed in the
+latter it affords the most material aid in maintaining that nucleus without
+which there is no centre from which the principle of growth can assert
+itself. The intellect can only deduce consequences from facts which it is
+able to state, and consequently cannot deduce any assurance from facts of
+whose existence it cannot yet have any knowledge through the medium of the
+outward senses; but for the same reason it can realize the existence of a
+_Law_ by which the as yet unmanifested circumstances may be brought into
+manifestation. Thus used in its right order, the intellect becomes the
+handmaid of that more interior power within us which manipulates the unseen
+substance of all things, and which we may call relative first cause.
+
+
+
+
+IX.
+
+CAUSES AND CONDITIONS.
+
+
+The expression "_relative_ first cause" has been used in the last section
+to distinguish the action of the creative principle in the _individual_
+mind from Universal First Cause on the one hand and from secondary causes
+on the other. As it exists in _us_, primary causation is the power to
+initiate a train of causation directed to an individual purpose. As the
+power of initiating a fresh sequence of cause and effect it is first cause,
+and as referring to an individual purpose it is relative, and it may
+therefore be spoken of as relative first cause, or the power of primary
+causation manifested by the individual. The understanding and use of this
+power is the whole object of Mental Science, and it is therefore necessary
+that the student should clearly see the relation between causes and
+conditions. A simple illustration will go further for this purpose than any
+elaborate explanation. If a lighted candle is brought into a room the room
+becomes illuminated, and if the candle is taken away it becomes dark again.
+Now the illumination and the darkness are both conditions, the one positive
+resulting from the presence of the light, and the other negative resulting
+from its absence: from this simple example we therefore see that every
+positive condition has an exactly opposite negative condition corresponding
+to it, and that this correspondence results from their being related to the
+_same cause_, the one positively and the other negatively; and hence we may
+lay down the rule that all positive conditions result from the active
+presence of a certain cause, and all negative conditions from the absence
+of such a cause. A condition, whether positive or negative, is never
+_primary_ cause, and the _primary_ cause of any series can never be
+negative, for negation is the condition which arises from the absence of
+active causation. This should be thoroughly understood as it is the
+philosophic basis of all those "denials" which play so important a, part in
+Mental Science, and which may be summed up in the statement that evil being
+negative, or privation of good, has no substantive existence in itself.
+Conditions, however, whether positive or negative, are no sooner called
+into existence than they become causes in their turn and produce further
+conditions, and so on _ad infinitum_, thus giving rise to the whole train
+of secondary causes. So long as we judge only from the information conveyed
+to us by the outward senses, we are working on the plane of secondary
+causation and see nothing but a succession of conditions, forming part of
+an endless train of antecedent conditions coming out of the past and
+stretching away into the future, and from this point of view we are under
+the rule of an iron destiny from which there seems no possibility of
+escape. This is because the outward senses are only capable of dealing with
+the relations which one mode of limitation bears to another, for they are
+the instruments by which we take cognizance of the relative and the
+conditioned. Now the only way of escape is by rising out of the region of
+secondary causes into that of primary causation, where the originating
+energy is to be found before it has yet passed into manifestation as a
+condition. This region is to be found _within ourselves_; it is the region
+of pure ideas; and it is for this reason that I have laid stress on the two
+aspects of spirit as pure thought and manifested form. The thought-image or
+ideal pattern of a thing is the _first cause_ relatively to that thing; it
+is the substance of that thing untrammelled, by any antecedent conditions.
+
+If we realize that all visible things _must_ have their origin in spirit,
+then the whole creation around us is the standing evidence that the
+starting-point of all things is in thought-images or ideas, for no other
+action than the formation of such images can be conceived of spirit prior
+to its manifestation in matter. If, then, this is spirit's modus operandi
+for self-expression, we have only to transfer this conception from the
+scale of cosmic spirit working on the plane of the universal to that of
+individualized spirit working on the plane of the particular, to see that
+the formation of an ideal image by means of our thought is setting first
+cause in motion with regard to this specific object. There is no difference
+in kind between the operation of first cause in the universal and in the
+particular, the difference is only a difference of scale, but the power
+itself is identical. We must therefore always be very clear as to whether
+we are _consciously_ using first cause or not. Note the word "consciously"
+because, whether consciously or unconsciously, we are always using first
+cause; and it was for this reason I emphasized the fact that the Universal
+Mind is purely subjective and therefore bound by the laws which apply to
+subjective mind on whatever scale. Hence we are _always_ impressing some
+sort of ideas upon it, whether we are aware of the fact or not, and all our
+existing limitations result from our having habitually impressed upon it
+that idea of limitation which we have imbibed by restricting all
+possibility to the region of secondary causes. But now when investigation
+has shown us that conditions are never causes in _themselves_, but only the
+subsequent links of a chain started on the plane of the pure ideal, what we
+have to do is to reverse our method of thinking and regard the ideal as the
+real, and the outward manifestation as a mere reflection which must change
+with every change of the object which casts it. For these reasons it is
+essential to know whether we are consciously making use of first cause with
+a definite purpose or not, and the criterion is this. If we regard the
+fulfilment of our purpose as contingent upon any _circumstances_, past,
+present, or future, we are not making use of first cause; we have descended
+to the level of secondary causation, which is the region of doubts, fears,
+and limitations, all of which we are impressing upon the universal
+subjective mind with the inevitable result that it will build up
+corresponding external conditions. But if we realize that the region of
+secondary causes is the region of mere reflections we shall not think of
+our purpose as contingent on any conditions whatever, but shall know that
+by forming the idea of it in the absolute, and maintaining that idea, we
+have shaped the first cause into the desired form and can await the result
+with cheerful expectancy.
+
+It is here that we find the importance of realizing spirit's independence
+of time and space. An ideal, as such, cannot be formed in the future. It
+must either be formed here and now or not be formed at all; and it is for
+this reason that every teacher, who has ever spoken with due knowledge of
+the subject, has impressed upon his followers the necessity of picturing to
+themselves the fulfilment of their desires as _already accomplished_ on the
+spiritual plane, as the indispensable condition of fulfilment in the
+visible and concrete.
+
+When this is properly understood, any anxious thought as to the _means_ to
+be employed in the accomplishment of our purposes is seen to be quite
+unnecessary. If the end is already secured, then it follows that all the
+steps leading to it are secured also. The means will pass into the smaller
+circle of our conscious activities day by day in due order, and then we
+have to work upon them, not with fear, doubt, or feverish excitement, but
+calmly and joyously, because we _know_ that the end is already secured, and
+that our reasonable use of such means as present themselves in the desired
+direction is, only one portion of a much larger co-ordinated movement, the
+final result of which admits of no doubt. Mental Science does not offer a
+premium to idleness, but it takes, all work out of the region of anxiety
+and toil by assuring the worker of the success of his labour, if not in the
+precise form he anticipated, then in some other still better suited to his
+requirements. But suppose, when we reach a point where some momentous
+decision has to be made, we happen to decide wrongly? On the hypothesis
+that the end is already secured you cannot decide wrongly. Your right
+decision is as much one of the necessary steps in the accomplishment of the
+end as any of the other conditions leading up to it, and therefore, while
+being careful to avoid rash action, we may make sure that the same Law
+which is controlling the rest of the circumstances in the right direction
+will influence our judgment in that direction also. To get good results we
+must properly understand our relation to the great impersonal power we are
+using. It is intelligent and we are intelligent, and the two intelligences
+must co-operate. We must not fly in the face of the Law by expecting it to
+do _for_ us what it can only do _through_ us; and we must therefore use our
+intelligence with the knowledge that it is acting _as the instrument of a
+greater intelligence_; and because we have this knowledge we may, and
+should, cease from all anxiety as to the final result. In actual practice
+we must first form the ideal conception of our object with the definite
+intention of impressing it upon the universal mind--it is this intention
+which takes such thought out of the region of mere casual fancies--and then
+affirm that our knowledge of the Law is sufficient reason for a calm
+expectation of a corresponding result, and that therefore all necessary
+conditions will come to us in due order. We can then turn to the affairs of
+our daily life with the calm assurance that the initial conditions are
+either there already or will soon come into view. If we do not at once see
+them, let us rest content with the knowledge that the spiritual prototype
+is already in existence and wait till some circumstance pointing in the
+desired direction begins to show itself. It may be a very small
+circumstance, but it is the direction and not the magnitude which is to be
+taken into consideration. As soon as we see it we should regard it as the
+first sprouting of the seed we have sown in the Absolute, and do calmly,
+and without excitement, whatever the circumstances may seem to require, and
+then later on we shall see that this doing will in turn lead to further
+circumstances in the same direction until we find ourselves conducted step
+by step to the accomplishment of our object. In this way the understanding
+of the great principle of the Law of Supply will, by repeated experiences,
+deliver us more and more completely out of the region of anxious thought
+and toilsome labour and bring us into a new world where the useful
+employment of all our powers, whether mental or physical, will only be an
+unfolding of our individuality upon the lines of its own nature, and
+therefore a perpetual source of health and happiness; a sufficient
+inducement, surely, to the careful study of the laws governing the relation
+between the individual and the Universal Mind.
+
+
+
+
+X.
+
+INTUITION.
+
+
+We have seen that the subjective mind is amenable to suggestion by the
+objective mind; but there is also an action of the subjective mind upon the
+objective. The individual's subjective mind is his own innermost self, and
+its first care is the maintenance of the individuality of which it is the
+foundation; and since it is pure spirit it has its continual existence in
+that plane of being where all things subsist in the universal here and the
+everlasting now, and consequently can, inform the lower mind of things
+removed from its ken either by distance or futurity. As the absence of the
+conditions of time and space must logically concentrate all things into a
+present focus, we can assign no limit to the subjective mind's power of
+perception, and therefore the question arises, why does it not keep the
+objective mind continually informed on all points? And the answer is that
+it would do so if the objective mind were sufficiently trained to recognize
+the indications given, and to effect this training is one of the purposes
+of Mental Science. When once we recognize the position of the subjective
+mind as the supporter of the whole individuality we cannot doubt that much
+of what we take to be the spontaneous movement of the objective mind has
+its origin in the subjective mind prompting the objective mind in the right
+direction without our being consciously aware of it. But at times when the
+urgency of the case seems to demand it, or when, for some reason yet
+unknown, the objective mind is for a while more closely _en rapport_ with
+the subjective mind, the interior voice is heard strongly and persistently;
+and when this is the case we do well to pay heed to it. Want of space
+forbids me to give examples, but doubtless such will not be wanting in the
+reader's experience.
+
+The importance of understanding and following the intuition cannot be
+exaggerated, but I candidly admit the great practical difficulty of keeping
+the happy mean between the disregard of the interior voice and allowing
+ourselves to be run away with by groundless fancies. The best guide is the
+knowledge that comes of personal experience which gradually leads to the
+acquisition of a sort of inward sense of touch that enables us to
+distinguish the true from the false, and which appears to grow with the
+sincere desire for truth and with the recognition of the spirit as its
+source. The only general principles the writer can deduce from his own
+experience are that when, in spite of all appearances pointing in the
+direction of a certain line of conduct, there is still a persistent
+_feeling_ that it should not be followed, in the majority of instances it
+will be found that the argument of the objective mind, however correct on
+the facts objectively known, was deficient from ignorance of facts which
+could not be objectively known at the time, but which were known to the
+intuitive faculty. Another principle is that our _very first_ impression
+of feeling on any subject is generally correct. Before the objective mind
+has begun to argue on the subject it is like the surface of a smooth lake
+which clearly reflects the light from above; but as soon as it begins to
+argue from outside appearances these also throw their reflections upon its
+surface, so that the original image becomes blurred and is no longer
+recognizable. This first conception is very speedily lost, and it should
+therefore be carefully observed and registered in the memory with a view to
+testing the various arguments which will subsequently arise on the
+objective plane. It is however impossible to reduce so interior an action
+as that of the intuition to the form of hard and fast rules, and beyond
+carefully noting particular cases as they occur, probably the best plan for
+the student will be to include the whole subject of intuition in the
+general principle of the Law of Attraction, especially if he sees how this
+law interacts with that personal quality of universal spirit of which we
+have already spoken.
+
+
+
+
+XI.
+
+HEALING.
+
+
+The subject of healing has been elaborately treated by many writers and
+fully deserves all the attention that has been given to it, but the object
+of these lectures is rather to ground the student in those general
+principles on which _all_ conscious use of the creative power of thought is
+based, than to lay down formal rules for specific applications of it. I
+will therefore examine the broad principles which appear to be common to
+the various methods of mental healing which are in use, each of which
+derives its efficacy, not from the peculiarity of the method, but from it
+being such a method as allows the higher laws of Nature to come into play.
+Now the principle universally laid down by all mental healers, in whatever
+various terms they may explain it, is that the basis of all healing is a
+change in belief. The sequence from which this results is as follows:--the
+subjective mind is the creative faculty within us, and creates whatever the
+objective mind impresses upon it; the objective mind, or intellect,
+impresses its thought upon it; the thought is the expression of the belief;
+hence whatever the subjective mind creates is the reproduction externally
+of our beliefs. Accordingly our whole object is to change our beliefs, and
+we cannot do this without some solid ground of conviction of the falsity of
+our old beliefs and of the truth of our new ones, and this ground we find
+in that law of causation which I have endeavoured to explain. The wrong
+belief which externalizes as sickness is the belief that some secondary
+cause, which is really only a condition, is a primary cause. The knowledge
+of the law shows that there is only _one_ primary cause, and this is the
+factor which in our own individuality we call subjective or sub-conscious
+mind. For this reason I have insisted on the difference between placing an
+idea in the sub-conscious mind, that is, on the plane of the absolute and
+without reference to time and space, and placing the same idea in the
+conscious intellectual mind which only perceives things as related to time
+and space. Now the only conception you can have of_ yourself_ in the
+absolute, or unconditioned, is as _purely living Spirit_, not hampered by
+conditions of any sort, and therefore not subject to illness; and when this
+idea is firmly impressed on the sub-conscious mind, it will externalize it.
+The reason why this process is not always successful at the first attempt
+is that all our life we have been holding the false belief in sickness as a
+substantial entity in itself and thus being a primary cause, instead of
+being merely a negative _condition_ resulting from the _obsence_ of a
+primary cause; and a belief which has become ingrained from childhood
+cannot be eradicated at a moment's notice. We often find, therefore, that
+for some time after a treatment there is an improvement in the patient's
+health, and then the old symptoms return. This is because the new belief in
+his own creative faculty has not yet had time to penetrate down to the
+innermost depths of the subconscious mind, but has only partially entered
+it. Each succeeding treatment strengthens the sub-conscious mind in its
+hold of the new belief until at last a permanent cure is effected. This is
+the method of self-treatment based on the patient's own knowledge of the
+law of his being.
+
+But "there is not in all men this knowledge," or at any rate not such a
+full recognition of it as will enable them to give successful treatment to
+themselves, and in these cases the intervention of the healer becomes
+necessary. The only difference between the healer and the patient is that
+the healer has learnt how to control the less self-conscious modes of the
+spirit by the more self-conscious mode, while the patient has not yet
+attained to this knowledge; and what the healer does is to substitute his
+own objective or conscious mentality, which is will joined to intellect,
+for that of the patient, and in this way to find entrance to his
+sub-conscious mind and impress upon it the suggestion of perfect health.
+
+The question then arises, how can the healer substitute his own conscious
+mind for that of the patient? and the answer shows the practical
+application of those very abstract principles which I have laid down in the
+earlier sections. Our ordinary conception of ourselves is that of an
+individual personality which ends where another personality begins, in
+other words that the two personalities are entirely separate. This is an
+error. There is no such hard and fast line of demarcation between
+personalities, and the boundaries between one and another can be increased
+or reduced in rigidity according to will, in fact they may be temporarily
+removed so completely that, for the time being, the two personalities
+become merged into one. Now the action which takes place between healer and
+patient depends on this principle. The patient is asked by the healer to
+put himself in a receptive mental attitude, which means that he is to
+exercise his volition for the purpose of removing the barrier of his own
+objective personality and thus affording entrance to the mental power of
+the healer. On his side also the healer does the same thing, only with this
+difference, that while the patient withdraws the barrier on his side with
+the intention of admitting a flowing-in, the healer does so with the
+intention of allowing a flowing-out: and thus by the joint action of the
+two minds the barriers of both personalities are removed and the direction
+of the flow of volition is determined, that is to say, it flows from the
+healer as actively willing to give, towards the patient as passively
+willing to receive, according to the universal law of Nature that the flow
+must always be from the _plenum_ to the _vacuum_. This mutual removal of
+the external mental barrier between healer and patient is what is termed
+establishing a _rapport_ between them, and here we find one most valuable
+practical application of the principle laid down earlier in this book, that
+pure spirit is present in its entirety at every point simultaneously. It is
+for this reason that as soon as the healer realizes that the barriers of
+external personality between himself and his patient have been removed, he
+can then speak to the sub-conscious mind of the patient as though it were
+his own, for both being pure spirit the _thought_ of their identity _makes_
+them identical, and both are concentrated into a single entity at a single
+point upon which the conscious mind of the healer can be brought to bear,
+according to the universal principle of the control of the subjective mind
+by the objective mind through suggestion. It is for this reason I have
+insisted on the distinction between _pure_ spirit, or spirit conceived of
+apart from extension in any matrix and the conception of it as so extended.
+If we concentrate our mind upon the diseased condition of the patient we
+are thinking of him as a separate personality, and are not fixing our mind
+upon that conception of him as pure spirit which will afford us effectual
+entry to his springs of being. We must therefore withdraw our thought from
+the contemplation of symptoms, and indeed from his corporeal personality
+altogether, and must think of him as a purely spiritual individuality, and
+as such entirely free from subjection to any conditions, and consequently
+as voluntarily externalizing the conditions most expressive of the vitality
+and intelligence which pure spirit is. Thinking of him thus, we then make
+mental affirmation that he shall build up outwardly the correspondence of
+that perfect vitality which he knows himself to be inwardly; and this
+suggestion being impressed by the healer's conscious thought, while the
+patient's conscious thought is at the same time impressing the fact that he
+is receiving the active thought of the healer, the result is that the
+patient's sub-conscious mind becomes thoroughly imbued with the recognition
+of its own life-giving power, and according to the recognized law of
+subjective mentality proceeds to work out this suggestion into external
+manifestation, and thus health is substituted for sickness.
+
+It must be understood that the purpose of the process here described is to
+strengthen the subject's individuality, not to dominate it. To use it for
+domination is _inversion_, bringing its appropriate penalty to the
+operator.
+
+In this description I have contemplated the case where the patient is
+consciously co-operating with the healer, and it is in order to obtain this
+co-operation that the mental healer usually makes a point of instructing
+the patient in the broad principles of Mental Science, if he is not already
+acquainted with them. But this is not always advisable or possible.
+Sometimes the statement of principles opposed to existing prejudices
+arouses opposition, and any active antagonism on the patient's part must
+tend to intensify the barrier of conscious personality which it is the
+healer's first object to remove. In these cases nothing is so effective as
+_absent treatment_. If the student has grasped all that has been said on
+the subject of spirit and matter, he will see that in mental treatment time
+and space count for nothing, because the whole action takes place on a
+plane where these conditions do not obtain; and it is therefore quite
+immaterial whether the patient be in the immediate presence of the healer
+or in a distant country. Under these circumstances it is found by
+experience that one of the most effectual modes of mental healing is by
+treatment during sleep, because then the patient's whole system is
+naturally in a state of relaxation which prevents him offering any
+conscious opposition to the treatment. And by the same rule the healer also
+is able to treat even more effectively during his own sleep than while
+waking. Before going to sleep he firmly impresses on his subjective mind
+that it is to convey curative suggestion to the subjective mind of the
+patient, and then, by the general principles of the relation between
+subjective and objective mind this suggestion is carried out during all the
+hours that the conscious individuality is wrapped in repose. This method is
+applicable to young children to whom the principles of the science cannot
+be explained; and also to persons at a distance: and indeed the only
+advantage gained by the personal meeting of the patient and healer is in
+the instruction that can be orally given, or when the patient is at that
+early stage of knowledge where the healer's visible presence conveys the
+suggestion that something is then being done which could not be done in his
+absence; otherwise the presence or absence of the patient are matters
+perfectly indifferent. The student must always recollect that the sub-
+conscious mind does not have to work _through_ the intellect or conscious
+mind to produce its curative effects. It is part of the all-pervading
+creative force of Nature, while the intellect is not creative but
+distributive.
+
+From mental healing it is but a step to telepathy, clairvoyance and other,
+kindred manifestations of transcendental power which, are from time to time
+exhibited by the subjective entity and which follow laws as accurate as
+those which govern what we are accustomed to consider our more normal
+faculties; but these subjects do not properly fall within the scope of a
+book whose purpose is to lay down the broad principles which underlie _all_
+spiritual phenomena. Until these are clearly understood the student cannot
+profitably attempt the detailed study of the more interior powers; for to
+do so without a firm foundation of knowledge and some experience in its
+practical application would only be to expose himself to unknown dangers,
+and would be contrary to the scientific principle that the advance into the
+unknown can only be made from the standpoint of the known, otherwise we
+only come into a confused region of guess-work without any clearly defined
+principles for our guidance.
+
+
+
+
+XII.
+
+THE WILL.
+
+
+The Will is of such primary importance that the student should be on his
+guard against any mistake as to the position which it holds in the mental
+economy. Many writers and teachers insist on will-power as though that were
+the creative faculty. No doubt intense will-power can evolve certain
+external results, but like all other methods of compulsion it lacks the
+permanency of natural growth. The appearances, forms, and conditions
+produced by mere intensity of will-power will only hang together so long as
+the compelling force continues; but let it be exhausted or withdrawn, and
+the elements thus forced into unnatural combination will at once fly back
+to their proper affinities; the form created by compulsion never had the
+germ of vitality _in itself_ and is therefore dissipated as soon as the
+external energy which supported it is withdrawn. The mistake is in
+attributing the creative power to the will, or perhaps I should say in
+attributing the creative power to ourselves at all. The truth is that man
+never creates anything. His function is, not to create, but to combine and
+distribute that which is already in being, and what we call our creations
+are new combinations of already existing material, whether mental or
+corporeal. This is amply demonstrated in the physical sciences. No one
+speaks of creating energy, but only of transforming one form of energy into
+another; and if we realize this as a universal principle, we shall see that
+on the mental plane as well as on the physical we never create energy but
+only provide the conditions by which the energy already existing in one
+mode can exhibit itself in another: therefore what, relatively to man, we
+call his creative power, is that receptive attitude of expectancy which, so
+to say, makes a mould into which the plastic and as yet undifferentiated
+substance can flow and take the desired form. The will has much the same
+place in our mental machinery that the tool-holder has in a power-lathe: it
+is not the power, but it keeps the mental faculties in that position
+relatively to the power which enables it to do the desired work. If, using
+the word in its widest sense, we may say that the imagination is the
+creative function, we may call the will the centralizing principle. Its
+function is to keep the imagination centred in the right direction. We are
+aiming at consciously controlling our mental powers instead of letting them
+hurry us hither and thither in a purposeless manner, and we must therefore
+understand the relation of these powers to each other for the production of
+external results. First the whole train of causation is started by some
+emotion which gives rise to a desire; next the judgment determines whether
+we shall externalize this desire or not; then the desire having been
+approved by the judgment, the will comes forward and directs the
+imagination to form the necessary spiritual prototype; and the imagination
+thus centred on a particular object creates the spiritual nucleus, which in
+its turn acts as a centre round which the forces of attraction begin to
+work, and continue to operate until, by the law of growth, the concrete
+result becomes perceptible to our external senses.
+
+The business of the will, then, is to retain the various faculties of our
+mind in that position where they are really doing the work we wish, and
+this position may be generalized into the three following attitudes; either
+we wish to act upon something, or be acted on by it, or to maintain a
+neutral position; in other words we either intend to project a force, or
+receive a force or keep a position of inactivity relatively to some
+particular object. Now the judgment determines which of these three
+positions we shall take up, the consciously active, the consciously
+receptive, or the consciously neutral; and then the function of the will is
+simply to maintain the position we have determined upon; and if we maintain
+any given mental attitude we may reckon with all certainty on the law of
+attraction drawing us to those correspondences which exteriorly symbolize
+the attitude in question. This is very different from the semi-animal
+screwing-up of the nervous forces which, with some people, stands for
+will-power. It implies no strain on the nervous system and is consequently
+not followed by any sense of exhaustion. The will-power, when transferred
+from the region of the lower mentality to the spiritual plane, becomes
+simply a calm and peaceful determination to retain a certain mental
+attitude in spite of all temptations to the contrary, knowing that by doing
+so the desired result will certainly appear.
+
+The training of the will and its transference from the lower to the higher
+plane of our nature are among the first objects of Mental Science. The man
+is summed up in his will. Whatever he does by his own will is his own act;
+whatever he does without the consent of his will is not his own act but
+that of the power by which his will was coerced; but we must recognize
+that, on the mental plane, no other individuality can obtain control over
+our will unless we first allow it to do so; and it is for this reason that
+all legitimate use of Mental Science is towards the strengthening of the
+will, whether in ourselves or others, and bringing it under the control of
+an enlightened reason. When the will realizes its power to deal with first
+cause it is no longer necessary for the operator to state to himself _in
+extenso_ all the philosophy of its action every time he wishes to use it,
+but, knowing that the trained will is a tremendous spiritual force acting
+on the plane of first cause, he simply expresses his desire with the
+intention of operating on that plane, and knows that the desire thus
+expressed will in due time externalize itself as concrete fact. He now sees
+that the point which really demands his earnest attention is not whether he
+possesses the power of externalizing any results he chooses, but of
+learning to choose wisely what results to produce. For let us not suppose
+that even the highest powers will take us out of the law of cause and
+effect. We can never set any cause in motion without calling forth those
+effects which it already contains in embryo and which will again become
+causes in their turn, thus producing a series which must continue to flow
+on until it is cut short by bringing into operation a cause of an opposite
+character to the one which originated it. Thus we shall find the field for
+the exercise of our intelligence continually expanding with the expansion
+of our powers; for, granted a good intention, we shall always wish to
+contemplate the results of our action as far as our intelligence will
+permit. We may not be able to see very far, but there is one safe general
+principle to be gained from what has already been said about causes and
+conditions, which is that the whole sequence always partakes of the same
+character as the initial cause: if that character is negative, that is,
+destitute of any desire to externalize kindness, cheerfulness, strength,
+beauty or some other sort of good, this negative quality will make itself
+felt all down the line; but if the opposite affirmative character is in the
+original motive, then it will reproduce its kind in forms of love, joy,
+strength and beauty with unerring precision. Before setting out, therefore,
+to produce new conditions by the exercise of our thought-power we should
+weigh carefully what further results they are likely to lead to; and here,
+again, we shall find an ample field for the training of our will, in
+learning to acquire that self-control which will enable us to postpone an
+inferior present satisfaction to a greater prospective good.
+
+These considerations naturally lead us to the subject of concentration. I
+have just now pointed out that all duly controlled mental action consists
+in holding the mind in one of three attitudes; but there is a fourth mental
+condition, which is that of letting our mental functions run on without our
+will directing them to any definite purpose. It is on this word _purpose_
+that we must fix our whole attention; and instead of dissipating our
+energies, we must follow an intelligent method of concentration. The, word
+means being gathered up at a centre, and the centre of anything is that
+point in which all its forces are equally balanced. To concentrate
+therefore means first to bring our minds into a condition of equilibrium
+which will enable us to consciously direct the flow of spirit to a
+definitely recognized purpose, and then carefully to guard our thoughts
+from inducing a flow in the opposite direction. We must always bear in mind
+that we are dealing with a wonderful _potential_ energy which is not yet
+differentiated into any particular mode, and that by the action of our mind
+we can differentiate it into any specific mode of activity that we will;
+and by keeping our thought fixed on the fact that the inflow of this energy
+_is_ taking place and that by our mental attitude we _are_ determining its
+direction, we shall gradually realize a corresponding externalization.
+Proper concentration, therefore, does not consist of strenuous effort which
+exhausts the nervous system and defeats its own object by suggesting the
+consciousness of an adverse force to be fought against, and thus creating
+the adverse circumstances we dread; but in shutting out all thoughts of a
+kind that would disperse the spiritual nucleus we are forming and dwelling
+cheerfully on the knowledge that, because the law is certain in its action,
+our desire is certain of accomplishment. The other great principle to be
+remembered is that concentration is for the purpose of determining the
+_quality_ we are going to give to the previously undifferentiated energy
+rather than to arrange the _specific circumstances_ of its manifestation.
+_That_ is the work of the creative energy itself, which will build up its
+own forms of expression quite naturally if we allow it, thus saving us a
+great deal of needless anxiety. What we really want is expansion in a
+certain direction, whether of health, wealth, or what not: and so long as
+we get this, what does it matter whether it reaches us through some channel
+which we thought we could reckon upon or through some other whose existence
+we had not suspected. It is the fact that we are concentrating energy of a
+particular kind for a particular purpose that we should fix our minds upon,
+and not look upon any specific details as essential to the accomplishment
+of our object.
+
+These are the two golden rules regarding concentration; but we must not
+suppose that because we have to be on our guard against idle drifting there
+is to be no such thing as repose; on the contrary it is during periods of
+repose that we accumulate strength for action; but repose does not mean a
+state of purposelessness. As pure spirit the subjective mind never rests:
+it is only the objective mind in its connection with the physical body that
+needs rest; and though there are no doubt times when the greatest possible
+rest is to be obtained by stopping the action, of our conscious thought
+altogether, the more generally advisable method is by changing the
+direction of the thought and, instead of centering it upon something we
+intend to _do_, letting it dwell quietly upon what we _are_. This direction
+of thought might, of course, develop into the deepest philosophical
+speculation, but it is not necessary that we should be always either
+consciously projecting our forces to produce some external effect or
+working out the details of some metaphysical problem; but we may simply
+realize ourselves as part of the universal livingness and thus gain a quiet
+centralization, which, though maintained by a conscious act of the
+volition, is the very essence of rest. From this standpoint we see that all
+is Life and all is Good, and that Nature, from her clearly visible surface
+to her most arcane depths, is one vast storehouse of life and good entirely
+devoted to our individual use. We have the key to all her treasures, and we
+can now apply our knowledge of the law of being without entering into all
+those details which are only needed for purposes of study, and doing so we
+find it results in our having acquired the consciousness of our _oneness
+with the whole_. This is the great secret: and when we have once fathomed
+it we can enjoy our possession of the whole, or of any part of it, because
+by our recognition we have made it, and can increasingly make it, our own.
+Whatever most appeals to us at any particular time or place is that mode of
+the universal living spirit with which at that moment we are most in touch,
+and realizing this, we shall draw from it streams of vital energy which
+will make the very sensation of livingness a joy and will radiate from us
+as a sphere of vibration that can deflect all injurious suggestion on
+whatever plane. We may not have literary, artistic, or scientific skill to
+present to others the results of our communings with Nature, but the joy of
+this sympathetic indrawing will nevertheless produce a corresponding
+outflow manifesting itself in the happier look and kindlier mien of him who
+thus realizes his oneness with every aspect of the whole. He realizes--and
+this is the great point in that attitude of mind which is not directed to
+any specific external object--that, for himself, he is, and always must be
+the centre of all this galaxy of Life, and thus he contemplates himself as
+seated at the centre of infinitude, not an infinitude of blank space, but
+pulsating with living being, in all of which he knows that the true essence
+is nothing but good. This is the very opposite to a selfish
+self-centredness; it, is the centre where we find that we both receive from
+all and flow out to all. Apart from this principle of circulation there is
+no true life, and if we contemplate our central position only as affording
+us greater advantages for in-taking, we have missed the whole point of our
+studies by missing the real nature of the Life-principle, which is action
+and re-action. If we would have life enter into us, we ourselves must enter
+into life--enter into the spirit of it, just as we must enter into the
+spirit of a book or a game to enjoy it. There can be no action at a centre
+only. There must be a perpetual flowing out towards the circumference, and
+thence back again to the centre to maintain a vital activity; otherwise
+collapse must ensue either from anaemia or congestion. But if we realize
+the reciprocal nature of the vital pulsation, and that the outflowing
+consists in the habit of mind which gives itself to the good it sees in
+others, rather than in any specific actions, then we shall find that the
+cultivation of this disposition will provide innumerable avenues for the
+universal livingness to flow through us, whether as giving or receiving,
+which we had never before suspected: and this action and re-action will so
+build up our own vitality that each day will find us more thoroughly alive
+than any that had preceded it. This, then, is the attitude of repose in
+which we may enjoy all the beauties of science, literature and art or may
+peacefully commune with the spirit of nature without the aid of any third
+mind to act as its interpreter, which is still a purposeful attitude
+although not directed to a specific object: we have not allowed the will to
+relax its control, but have merely altered its direction; so that for
+action and repose alike we find that our strength lies in our recognition
+of the unity of the spirit and of ourselves as individual concentrations of
+it.
+
+
+
+
+XIII.
+
+IN TOUCH WITH SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND.
+
+
+The preceding pages have made the student in some measure aware of the
+immense importance of our dealings with the sub-conscious mind. Our
+relation to it, whether on the scale of the individual or the universal, is
+the key to all that we are or ever can be. In its unrecognized working it
+is the spring of all that we can call the automatic action of mind and
+body, and on the universal scale it is the silent power of evolution
+gradually working onwards to that "divine event, to which the whole
+creation moves"; and by our conscious recognition of it we make it,
+relatively to ourselves, all that we believe it to be. The closer our
+_rapport_ with it becomes, the more what we have hitherto considered
+automatic action, whether in our bodies or our circumstances, will pass
+under our control, until at last we shall control our whole individual
+world. Since, then, this is the stupendous issue involved, the question how
+we are to put ourselves practically in touch with the sub-conscious mind is
+a very important one. Now the clue which gives us the right direction is to
+be found in the _impersonal_ quality of sub-conscious mind of which I have
+spoken. Not impersonal as lacking the _elements_ of personality; nor even,
+in the case of individual subjective mind, as lacking the sense of
+individuality; but impersonal in the sense of not recognizing the
+particular external relations which appear to the objective mind to
+constitute its personality, and having a realization of itself quite
+independent of them. If, then, we would come in touch with it we must meet
+it on its own ground. It can see things only from the deductive standpoint,
+and therefore cannot take note of the inductive standpoint from which we
+construct the idea of our external personality; and accordingly if we would
+put ourselves in touch with it, we cannot do so by bringing it down to the
+level of the external and non-essential but only by rising to its own level
+on the plane of the interior and essential. How can this be done? Let two
+well-known writers answer. Rudyard Kipling tells us in his story of "Kim"
+how the boy used at times to lose his sense of personality by repeating to
+himself the question, _Who_ is Kim? Gradually his personality would seem to
+fade and he would experience a feeling of passing into a grander and a
+wider life, in which the boy Kim was unknown, while his own conscious
+individuality remained, only exalted and expanded to an inconceivable
+extent; and in Tennyson's life by his son we are told that at times the
+poet had a similar experience. We come into touch with the absolute exactly
+in proportion as we withdraw ourselves from the relative: they vary
+inversely to each other.
+
+For the purpose, then, of getting into touch with our sub-conscious mind we
+must endeavour to think of ourselves as pure being, as that entity which
+interiorly supports the outward manifestation, and doing so we shall
+realize that the essential quality of pure being must be good. It is in
+itself _pure Life_, and as such cannot desire anything detrimental to pure
+Life under whatever form manifested. Consequently the purer our intentions
+the more readily we shall place ourself _en rapport_ with our subjective
+entity; and _a fortiori_ the same applies to that Greater Sub-conscious
+Mind of which our individual subjective mind is a particular manifestation.
+In actual practice the process consists in first forming a clear conception
+in the objective mind of the idea we wish to convey to the subjective mind:
+then, when this has been firmly grasped, endeavour to lose sight of all
+other facts connected with the external personality except the one in
+question, and then mentally address the subjective mind as though it were
+an independent entity and impress upon it what you want it to do or to
+believe. Everyone must formulate his own way of working, but one method,
+which is both simple and effective is to say to the subjective mind, "This
+is what I want you to do; you will now step into my place and do it,
+bringing all your powers and intelligence to bear, and considering yourself
+to be none other than myself." Having done this return to the realization
+of your own objective personality and leave the subjective mind to perform
+its task in full confidence that, by the law of its nature, it will do so
+if not hindered by a repetition of contrary messages from the objective
+mind. This is not a mere fancy but a truth daily proved by the experience
+of increasing numbers. The facts have not been fabricated to fit the
+theory, but the theory has been built up by careful observation of the
+facts; and since it has been shown both by theory and practice that such is
+the law of the relation between subjective and objective mind, we find
+ourselves face to face with a very momentous question. Is there any reason
+why the laws which hold good of the individual subjective mind should not
+hold good of the Universal Mind also? and the answer is that there is not.
+As has been already shown the Universal Mind must, by its very
+universality, be purely subjective, and what is the law of a part must also
+be the law of the whole: the qualities of fire are the same whether the
+centres of combustion be great or small, and therefore we may well conclude
+these lectures by considering what will be the result if we apply what we
+have learnt regarding the individual subjective mind to the Universal Mind.
+
+We have learnt that the three great facts regarding subjective mind are its
+creative power, its amenableness to suggestion, and its inability to work
+by any other than the deductive method. This last is an exceedingly
+important point, for it implies that the action of the subjective mind is
+in no way limited by precedent. The inductive method works on principles
+inferred from an already existing pattern, and therefore at the best only
+produces the old thing in a new shape. But the deductive method works
+according to the essence or spirit of the principle, and does not depend on
+any previous concrete manifestation for its apprehension of it; and this
+latter method of working must necessarily be that of the all-originating
+Mind, for since there could be no prior existing pattern from which it
+could learn the principles of construction, the want of a pattern would
+have prevented its creating anything had its method been inductive instead
+of deductive. Thus by the necessity of the case the Universal Mind must act
+deductively, that is, according to the law which has been found true of
+individual subjective mind. It is thus not bound by any precedent, which
+means that its creative power is absolutely unlimited; and since it is
+essentially subjective mind, and not objective mind, it is entirely
+amenable to suggestion. Now it is an unavoidable inference from the
+identity of the law governing subjective mind, whether in the individual or
+the universal, that just as we can by suggestion impress a certain
+character of personality upon the individual subjective mind, so we can,
+and do, upon the Universal Mind; and it is for this reason that I have
+drawn attention to the inherent personal _quality_ of pure spirit when
+contemplated in its most interior plane. It becomes, therefore, the most
+important of all considerations with what character we invest the Universal
+Mind; for since our relation to it is _purely subjective_ it will
+infallibly bear _to us_ exactly that character which we impress upon it; in
+other words it will be to us exactly what we believe it to be. This is
+simply a logical inference from the fact that, as subjective mind, our
+primary relation to it can only be on the subjective plane, and indirectly
+our objective relations must also spring from the same source. This is the
+meaning of that remarkable passage twice repeated in the Bible, "With, the
+pure thou wilt show thyself pure, and with the froward thou wilt show
+thyself froward." (Ps. xviii., 26, and II. Sam. xxii., 27), for the context
+makes it clear that these words are addressed to the Divine Being. The
+spiritual kingdom is _within_ us, and as we realize it _there_ so it
+becomes to us a reality. It is the unvarying law of the subjective life
+that "as a man thinketh in his heart so is he," that is to say, his inward
+subjective states are the only true reality, and what we call external
+realities are only their objective correspondences. If we thoroughly
+realize the truth that the Universal Mind must be to us exactly according
+to our conception of it, and that this relation is not merely imaginary but
+by the law of subjective mind must be to us an actual fact and the
+foundation of all other facts, then it is impossible to over-estimate the
+importance of the conception of the Universal Mind which we adopt. To the
+uninstructed there is little or no choice: they form a conception in
+accordance with the tradition they have received from others, and until
+they have learnt to think for themselves, they have to abide by the results
+of that tradition: for natural laws admit of no exceptions, and however
+faulty the traditional idea may be, its acceptance will involve a
+corresponding reaction upon the Universal Mind, which will in turn be
+reflected into the conscious mind and external life of the individual. But
+those who understand the law of the subject will have no one but themselves
+to blame if they do not derive all possible benefits from it. The greatest
+Teacher of Mental Science the world has ever seen has laid down
+sufficiently plain rules for our guidance. With a knowledge of the subject
+whose depth can be appreciated only by those who have themselves some
+practical acquaintance with it, He bids His unlearned audiences, those
+common people who heard Him gladly, picture to themselves the Universal
+Mind as a benign Father, tenderly compassionate of all and sending the
+common bounties of Nature alike on the evil and the good; but He also
+pictured It as exercising a special and peculiar care over those who
+recognize Its willingness to do so:--"the very hairs of your head are all
+numbered," and "ye are of more value than many sparrows." Prayer was to be
+made to the unseen Being, not with doubt or fear, but with the absolute
+assurance of a certain answer, and no limit was to be set to its power or
+willingness to work for us. But to those who did not thus realize it, the
+Great Mind is necessarily the adversary who casts them into prison until
+they have paid the uttermost farthing; and thus in all cases the Master
+impressed upon his hearers the exact correspondence of the attitude of this
+unseen Power towards _them_ with their own attitude towards _it_. Such
+teaching was not a narrow anthropomorphism but the adaptation to the
+intellectual capacity of the unlettered multitude of the very deepest
+truths of what we now call Mental Science. And the basis of it all is the
+cryptic personality of spirit hidden throughout the infinite of Nature
+under every form of manifestation. As unalloyed Life and Intelligence it
+_can_ be no other than good, it can entertain no intention of evil, and
+thus all intentional evil must put us in opposition to it, and so deprive
+us of the consciousness of its guidance and strengthening and thus leave us
+to grope our own way and fight our own battle single-handed against the
+universe, odds which at last will surely prove too great for us. But
+remember that the opposition can never be on the part of the Universal
+Mind, for in itself it is sub-conscious mind; and to suppose any active
+opposition taken on its own initiative would be contrary to all we have
+learnt as to the nature of sub-conscious mind whether in the individual or
+the universal; the position of the Universal Mind towards us is always the
+reflection of our own attitude. Therefore although the Bible is full of
+threatening against those who persist in conscious opposition to the Divine
+Law of Good, it is on the other hand full of promises of immediate and full
+forgiveness to all who change, their attitude and desire to co-operate with
+the Law of Good so far as they know it. The laws of Nature do not act
+vindictively; and through all theological formularies and traditional
+interpretations let us realize that what we are dealing with is the supreme
+law of our own being; and it is on the basis of this natural law that we
+find such declarations as that in Ezek. xviii., 22, which tells that if we
+forsake our evil ways our past transgressions shall never again be
+mentioned to us. We are dealing with the great principles of our subjective
+being, and our misuse of them in the past can never make them change their
+inherent law of action. If our method of using them in the past has brought
+us sorrow, fear and trouble, we have only to fall back on the law that if
+we reverse the cause the effects will be reversed also; and so what we have
+to do is simply to reverse our mental attitude and then endeavour to act up
+to the new one. The sincere endeavour to act up to our new mental attitude
+is essential, for we cannot really think in one way and act in another; but
+our repeated failures to fully act as we would wish must not discourage us.
+It is the sincere intention that is the essential thing, and this will in
+time release us from the bondage of habits which at present seem almost
+insuperable.
+
+The initial step, then, consists in determining to picture the Universal
+Mind as the ideal of all we could wish it to be both to ourselves and to
+others, together with the endeavour to reproduce this ideal, however
+imperfectly, in our own life; and this step having been taken, we can then
+cheerfully look upon it as our ever-present Friend, providing all good,
+guarding from all danger, and guiding us with all counsel. Gradually as the
+habit of thus regarding the Universal Mind grows upon us, we shall find
+that in accordance with the laws we have been considering, it will become
+more and more _personal_ to us, and in response to our desire its inherent
+intelligence will make itself more and more clearly perceptible within as a
+power of perceiving truth far beyond any statement of it that we could
+formulate by merely intellectual investigation. Similarly if we think of it
+as a great power devoted to supplying all our needs, we shall impress this
+character also upon it, and by the law of subjective mind it will proceed
+to enact the part of that special providence which we have credited it with
+being; and if, beyond the general care of our concerns, we would draw to
+ourselves some particular benefit, the same rule holds good of impressing
+our desire upon the Universal Subjective Mind. And if we realize that above
+and beyond all this we want something still greater and more enduring, the
+building-up of character and unfolding of our powers so that we may expand
+into fuller and yet fuller measures of joyous and joy-giving Life, still
+the same rule holds good: convey to the Universal Mind the suggestion of
+the desire, and by the law of relation between subjective and objective
+mind this too will be fulfilled. And thus the deepest problems of
+philosophy bring us back to the old statement of the Law:--Ask and ye shall
+receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.
+This is the summing-up of the natural law of the relation between us and
+the Divine Mind. It is thus no vain boast that Mental Science can enable us
+to make our lives what we will. We must start from where we are now, and by
+rightly estimating our relation to the Divine Universal Mind we can
+gradually grow into any conditions we desire, provided we first make
+ourselves in habitual mental attitude the person who corresponds to those
+conditions: for we can never get over the law of correspondence, and the
+externalization will always be in accord with the internal principle that
+gives rise to it. And to this law there is no limit. What it can do for us
+to-day it can do to-morrow, and through all that procession of to-morrows
+that loses itself in the dim vistas of eternity. Belief in limitation is
+the one and only thing that causes limitation, because we thus impress
+limitation upon the creative principle; and in proportion as we lay that
+belief aside our boundaries will expand, and increasing life and more
+abundant blessing will be ours.
+
+But we must not ignore our responsibilities. Trained thought is far more
+powerful than untrained, and therefore the more deeply we penetrate into
+Mental Science the more carefully we must guard against all thoughts and
+words expressive of even the most modified form of ill-will. Gossip,
+tale-bearing, sneering laughter, are not in accord with the principles of
+Mental Science; and similarly even our smallest thoughts of good carry with
+them a seed of good which will assuredly bear fruit in due time. This is
+not mere "goodie, goodie," but an important lesson in Mental Science, for
+our subjective mind takes its colour from our settled mental habits, and an
+occasional affirmation or denial will not be sufficient to change it; and
+we must therefore cultivate that tone which we wish to see reproduced in
+our conditions whether of body, mind, or circumstance.
+
+In these lectures my purpose has been, not so much to give specific rules
+of practice as to lay down the broad general principles of Mental Science
+which will enable the student to form rules for himself. In every walk in
+life, book knowledge is only a means to an end. Books can only direct us
+where to look and what to look for, but we must do the finding _for
+ourselves;_ therefore, if you have really grasped the principles of the
+science, you will frame rules of your own which will give you better
+results than any attempt to follow somebody else's method, which was
+successful in their hands precisely because it was theirs. Never fear to be
+yourself. If Mental Science does not teach you to be yourself it teaches
+you nothing. Yourself, more yourself, and yet more yourself is what you
+want; only with the knowledge that the true self includes the inner and
+higher self which is always in immediate touch with the Great Divine Mind.
+
+As Walt Whitman says:--"You are not all included between your hat and your
+boots."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_The growing popularity of the Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science has led
+me to add to the present edition three more sections on Body, Soul, and
+Spirit, which it is hoped will prove useful by rendering the principles of
+the interaction of these three factors somewhat clearer_.
+
+
+
+
+XIV.
+
+THE BODY.
+
+
+Some students find it difficult to realize that mental action can produce
+any real effect upon material substance; but if this is not possible there
+is no such thing as Mental Science, the purpose of which is to produce
+improved conditions both of body and environment, so that the ultimate
+manifestation aimed at is always one of demonstration upon the plane of the
+visible and concrete. Therefore to afford conviction of an actual
+connection between the visible and the invisible, between the inner and the
+outer, is one of the most important points in the course of our studies.
+
+That such a connection must exist is proved by metaphysical argument in
+answer to the question, "How did anything ever come into existence at all?"
+And the whole creation, ourselves included, stands as evidence to this
+great truth. But to many minds merely abstract argument is not completely
+convincing, or at any rate it becomes more convincing if it is supported by
+something of a more concrete nature; and for such readers I would give a
+few hints as to the correspondence between the physical and the mental. The
+subject covers a very wide area, and the limited space at my disposal will
+only allow me to touch on a few suggestive points, still these may be
+sufficient to show that the abstract argument has some corresponding facts
+at the back of it.
+
+One of the most convincing proofs I have seen is that afforded by the
+"biometre," a little instrument invented by an eminent French scientist,
+the late Dr. Hippolyte Baraduc, which shows the action of what he calls the
+"vital current." His theory is that this force, whatever its actual nature
+may be, is universally present, and operates as a current of physical
+vitality perpetually, flowing with more or less energy through every
+physical organism, and which can, at any rate to some extent, be controlled
+by the power of the human will. The theory in all its minutiae is
+exceedingly elaborate, and has been described in detail in Dr. Baraduc's
+published works. In a conversation I had with him about a year ago, he told
+me he was writing another book which would throw further light on the
+subject, but a few months later he passed over before it was presented to
+the world. The fact, however, which I wish to put before the reader, is the
+ocular demonstration of the connection between mind and matter, which an
+experiment with the biometre affords.
+
+The instrument consists of a bell glass, from the inside of which is
+suspended a copper needle by a fine silken thread. The glass stands on a
+wooden support, below which is a coil of copper wire, which, however, is
+not connected with any battery or other apparatus, and merely serves to
+condense the current. Below the needle, inside the glass, there is a
+circular card divided into degrees to mark the action of the needle. Two of
+these instruments are placed side by side, but in no way connected, and the
+experimenter then holds out the fingers of both hands to within about an
+inch of the glasses. According to the theory, the current enters at the
+left hand, circulates through the body, and passes out at the right hand,
+that is to say, there is an indrawing at the left and a giving-out at the
+right, thus agreeing with Reichenbach's experiments on the polarity of the
+human body.
+
+I must confess that, although I had read Dr. Baraduc's book, "Les
+Vibrations Humaines," I approached the instrument in a very sceptical frame
+of mind; but I was soon convinced of my error. At first, holding a mental
+attitude of entire relaxation, I found that the left-hand needle was
+attracted through twenty degrees, while the right-hand needle, the one
+affected by the out-going current, was repelled through ten degrees. After
+allowing the instrument to return to its normal equilibrium I again
+approached it with the purpose of seeing whether a change of mental
+attitude would in the least modify the flow of current. This time I assumed
+the strongest mental attitude I could with the intention of sending out a
+flow through the right hand, and the result as compared with the previous
+one was remarkable. The left-hand needle was now attracted only through ten
+degrees, while the right-hand one was deflected through something over
+thirty, thus clearly indicating the influence of the mental faculties in
+modifying the action of the current. I may mention that the experiment was
+made in the presence of two medical men who noted the movement of the
+needles.
+
+I will not here stop to discuss the question of what the actual
+constitution of this current of vital energy may be--it is sufficient for
+our present purpose that it is there, and the experiment I have described
+brings us face to face with the fact of a correspondence between our own
+mental attitude and the invisible forces of nature. Even if we say that
+this current is some form of electricity, and that the variation of its
+action is determined by changes in the polarization of the atoms of the
+body, then this change of polarity is the result of mental action; so that
+the quickening or retarding of the cosmic current is equally the result of
+the mental attitude whether we suppose our mental force to act directly
+upon the current itself or indirectly by inducing changes in the molecular
+structure of the body. Whichever hypothesis we adopt the conclusion is the
+same, namely, that the mind has power to open or close the door to
+invisible forces in such a way that the result of the mental action becomes
+apparent on the material plane.
+
+Now, investigation shows that the physical body, is a mechanism specially
+adapted for the transmutation of the inner or mental power into modes of
+external activity. We know from medical science that the whole body is
+traversed by a network of nerves which serve as the channels of
+communication between the indwelling spiritual ego, which we call mind, and
+the functions of the external organism. This nervous system is dual. One
+system, known as the Sympathetic, is the channel for all those activities
+which are not consciously directed by our volition, such as the operation
+of the digestive organs, the repair of the daily wear and tear of the
+tissues, and the like. The other system, known as the Voluntary or
+Cerebro-spinal system, is the channel through which we receive conscious
+perception from the physical senses and exercise control over the movements
+of the body. This system has its centre in the brain, while the other has
+its centre in a ganglionic mass at the back of the stomach known as the
+solar plexus, and sometimes spoken of as the abdominal brain. The cerebro-
+spinal system is the channel of our volitional or conscious mental action,
+and the sympathetic system is the channel of that mental action which
+unconsciously supports the vital functions of the body. Thus the cerebro-
+spinal system is the organ of conscious mind and the sympathetic is that of
+sub-conscious mind.
+
+But the interaction of conscious and subconscious mind requires a similar
+interaction between the corresponding systems of nerves, and one
+conspicuous connection by which this is provided is the "vagus" nerve. This
+nerve passes out of the cerebral region as a portion of the voluntary
+system, and through it we control the vocal organs; then it passes onwards
+to the thorax sending out branches to the heart and lungs; and finally,
+passing through the diaphragm, it loses the outer coating which
+distinguishes the nerves of the voluntary system and becomes identified
+with those of the sympathetic system, so forming a connecting link between
+the two and making the man physically a single entity.
+
+Similarly different areas of the brain indicate, their connection with the
+objective and subjective activities of the mind respectively, and speaking
+in a general way we may assign the frontal portion of the brain to the
+former and the posterior portion to the latter, while the intermediate
+portion partakes of the character of both.
+
+The intuitional faculty has its correspondence in this upper area of the
+brain situated between the frontal and posterior portions, and
+physiologically speaking, it is here that intuitive ideas find entrance.
+These at first are more or less unformed and generalized in character, but
+are nevertheless perceived by the conscious mind, otherwise we should not
+be aware of them at all. Then the effort of nature is to bring these ideas
+into more definite and usable shape, so the conscious mind lays hold of
+them and induces a corresponding vibratory current in the voluntary system
+of nerves, and this in turn induces a similar current in the involuntary
+system, thus handing the idea over to the subjective mind. The vibratory
+current which had first descended from the apex of the brain to the frontal
+brain and thus through the voluntary system to the solar plexus is now
+reversed and ascends from the solar plexus through the sympathetic system
+to the posterior brain, this return current indicating the action of the
+subjective mind.
+
+If we were to remove the surface portion of the apex of the brain we should
+find immediately below it the shining belt of brain substance called the
+"corpus callosum." This is the point of union between the subjective and
+objective, and as the current returns from the solar plexus to this point
+it is restored to the objective portion of the brain in a fresh form which
+it has acquired by the silent alchemy of the subjective mind. Thus the
+conception which was at first only vaguely recognized is restored to the
+objective mind in a definite and workable form, and then the objective
+mind, acting through the frontal brain--the area of comparison and
+analysis--proceeds to work upon a clearly perceived idea and to bring out
+the potentialities that are latent in it.
+
+It must of course be borne in mind that I am here speaking of the mental
+ego in that, mode of its existence with which we are most familiar, that is
+as clothed in flesh, though there may be much to say as to other modes of
+its activity. But for our daily life we have to consider ourselves as we
+are in that aspect of life, and from this point of view the physiological
+correspondence of the body to the action of the mind is an important item;
+and therefore, although we must always remember that the origin of ideas is
+purely mental, we must not forget that on the physical plane every mental
+action implies a corresponding molecular action in the brain and in the
+two-fold nervous system.
+
+If, as the old Elizabethan poet says, "the soul is form, and doth the body
+make," then it is clear that the physical organism must be a mechanical
+arrangement as specially adapted for the use of the soul's powers as a
+steam-engine is for the power of steam; and it is the recognition of this
+reciprocity between the two that is the basis of all spiritual or mental
+healing, and therefore the study of this mechanical adaptation is an
+important branch of Mental Science. Only we must not forget that it is the
+effect and not the cause.
+
+At the same time it is important to remember that such a thing as reversal
+of the relation between cause and effect is possible, just as the same
+apparatus may be made to generate mechanical power by the application of
+electricity, or to generate electricity by the application of mechanical
+power. And the importance of this principle consists in this. There is
+always a tendency for actions which were at first voluntary to become
+automatic, that is, to pass from the region of conscious mind into that of
+subconscious mind, and to acquire a permanent domicile there. Professor
+Elmer Gates, of Washington, has demonstrated this physiologically in his
+studies of brain formation. He tells us that every thought produces a
+slight molecular change in the substance of the brain, and the repetition
+of the same sort of thought causes a repetition of the same molecular
+action until at last a veritable channel is formed in the brain substance,
+which can only be eradicated by a reverse process of thought. In this way
+"grooves of thought" are very literal things, and when once established the
+vibrations of the cosmic currents flow automatically through them and thus
+react upon the mind by a process the reverse of that by which our voluntary
+and intentional in-drawing from the invisible is affected. In this way are
+formed what we call "habits," and hence the importance of controlling our
+thinking and guarding it against undesirable ideas.
+
+But on the other hand this reactionary process may be used to confirm good
+and life-giving modes of thought, so that by a knowledge of its laws we may
+enlist even the physical body itself in the building up of that perfectly
+whole personality, the attainment of which is the aim and object of our
+studies.
+
+
+
+
+XV.
+
+THE SOUL.
+
+
+Having now obtained a glimpse of the adaptation of the physical organism to
+the action of the mind we must next realize that the mind itself is an
+organism which is in like manner adapted to the action of a still higher
+power, only here the adaptation is one of mental faculty. As with other
+invisible forces all we can know of the mind is by observing what it does,
+but with this difference, that since we ourselves _are_ this mind, our
+observation is an interior observation of states of consciousness. In this
+way we recognize certain faculties of our mind, the working order of which
+I have considered at page 84; but the point to which I would now draw
+attention is that these faculties always work under the influence of
+something which stimulates them, and this stimulus may come either from
+without through the external senses, or from within by the consciousness of
+something not perceptible on the physical plane. Now the recognition of
+these interior sources of stimulus to our mental faculties, is an important
+branch of Mental Science, because the mental action thus set up works just
+as accurately through the physical correspondences as those which start
+from the recognition of external facts, and therefore the control and right
+direction of these inner perceptions is a matter of the first moment.
+
+The faculties most immediately concerned are the intuition and the
+imagination, but it is at first difficult to see how the intuition, which
+is entirely spontaneous, can be brought under the control of the will. Of
+course, the spontaneousness of the intuition cannot in any way be
+interfered with, for if it ceased to act spontaneously it would cease to be
+the intuition. Its province is, as it were, to capture ideas from the
+infinite and present them to the mind to be dealt with at its discretion.
+In our mental constitution the intuition is the point of origination and,
+therefore, for it to cease to act spontaneously would be for it to cease to
+act at all. But the experience of a long succession of observers shows that
+the intuition can be trained so as to acquire increased sensitiveness in
+some, particular direction, and the choice of the _general direction_ is
+determined by the will of the individual.
+
+It will be found that the intuition works most readily in respect to those
+subjects which most habitually occupy our thought; and according to the
+physiological correspondences which we have been considering this might be
+accounted for on the physical plane by the formation of brain-channels
+specially adapted for the induction in the molecular system of vibrations
+corresponding to the particular class of ideas in question. But of course
+we must remember that the ideas themselves are not caused by the molecular
+changes but on the contrary are the cause of them; and it is in this
+translation of thought action into physical action that we are brought face
+to face with the eternal mystery of the descent of spirit into matter; and
+that though we may trace matter through successive degrees of refinement
+till it becomes what, in comparison with those denser modes that are most
+familiar, we might call a spiritual substance, yet at the end of it it is
+not the intelligent thinking principle itself. The criterion is in the word
+"vibrations." However delicately etheric the substance its movement
+commences by the vibration of its particles, and a vibration is a wave
+having a certain length, amplitude, and periodicity, that is to say,
+something which can exist only in terms of space and time; and as soon as
+we are dealing with anything capable of the conception of measurement we
+may be quite certain that we are not dealing with Spirit but only with one
+of its vehicles. Therefore although we may push our analysis of matter
+further and ever further back--and on this line there is a great deal of
+knowledge to be gained--we shall find that the point at which spiritual
+power or thought-force is translated into etheric or atomic vibration will
+always elude us. Therefore we must not attribute the origination of ideas
+to molecular displacement in the brain, though, by the reaction of the
+physical upon the mental which I have spoken of above, the formation of
+thought-channels in the grey matter of the brain may tend to facilitate the
+reception of certain ideas. Some people are actually conscious of the
+action of the upper portion of the brain during the influx of an intuition,
+the sensation being that of a sort of expansion in that brain area, which
+might be compared to the opening of a valve or door; but all attempts to
+induce the inflow of intuitive ideas by the physiological expedient of
+trying to open this valve by the exercise of the will should be discouraged
+as likely to prove injurious to the brain. I believe some Oriental systems
+advocate this method, but we may well trust the mind to regulate the action
+of its physical channels in a manner suitable to its own requirements,
+instead of trying to manipulate the mind by the unnatural forcing of its
+mechanical instrument. In all our studies on these lines we must remember
+that development is always by perfectly natural growth and is not brought
+about by unduly straining any portion of the system.
+
+The fact, however, remains that the intuition works most freely in that
+direction in which we most habitually concentrate our thought; and in
+practice it will be found that the best way to cultivate the intuition in
+any particular direction is to meditate upon the _abstract principles_ of
+that particular class of subjects rather than only to consider particular
+cases. Perhaps the reason is that particular cases have to do with specific
+phenomena, that is with the law working under certain limiting conditions,
+whereas the _principles_ of the law are not limited by local conditions,
+and so habitual meditation on _them_ sets our intuition free to range in an
+infinitude where the conception of antecedent conditions does not limit it.
+Anyway, whatever may be the theoretical explanation, you will find that the
+clear grasp of abstract principles in any direction has a wonderfully
+quickening effect upon the intuition in that particular direction.
+
+The importance of recognizing our power of thus giving direction to the
+intuition cannot be exaggerated, for if the mind is attuned to sympathy
+with the highest phases of spirit this power opens the door to limitless
+possibilities of knowledge. In its highest workings intuition becomes
+inspiration, and certain great records of fundamental truths and supreme
+mysteries which have come down to us from thousands of generations
+bequeathed by deep thinkers of old can only be accounted for on the
+supposition that their earnest thought on the Originating Spirit, coupled
+with a reverent worship of It, opened the door, through their intuitive
+faculty, to the most sublime inspirations regarding the supreme truths of
+the universe both with respect to the evolution of the cosmos and to the
+evolution of the individual. Among such records explanatory of the supreme
+mysteries three stand out pre-eminent, all bearing witness to the same ONE
+Truth, and each throwing light upon the other; and these three are the
+Bible, the Great Pyramid, and the Pack of Cards--a curious combination some
+will think, but I hope in another volume of this series to be able to
+justify my present statement. I allude to these three records here because
+the unity of principle which they exhibit, notwithstanding their wide
+divergence of method, affords a standing proof that the direction taken by
+the intuition is largely determined by the will of the individual opening
+the mind in that particular direction.
+
+Very closely allied to the intuition is the faculty of imagination. This
+does not mean mere fancies, which we dismiss without further consideration,
+but our power of forming mental images upon which we dwell. These, as I
+have said in the earlier part of this book, form a nucleus which, on its
+own plane, calls into action the universal Law of Attraction, thus giving
+rise to the principle of Growth. The relation of the intuition to the
+imagination is that the intuition grasps an idea from the Great Universal
+Mind, in which all things subsist as _potentials_, and presents it to the
+imagination in its essence rather than in a definite form, and then our
+image-building faculty gives it a clear and definite form which it presents
+before the mental vision, and which we then vivify by letting our thought
+dwell upon it, thus infusing our own personality into it, and so providing
+that personal element through which the specific action of the universal
+law relatively to the particular individual always takes place.[1] Whether
+our thought shall be allowed thus to dwell upon a particular mental image
+depends on our own will, and our exercise of our will depends on our belief
+in our power to use it so as to disperse or consolidate a given mental
+image; and finally our belief in our power to do this depends on our
+recognition of our relation to God, Who is the source of all power; for it
+is an invariable truth that our life will take its whole form, tone, and
+color from our conception of God, whether that conception be positive or
+negative, and the sequence by which it does so is that now given.
+
+In this way, then, our intuition is related to our imagination, and this
+relation has its physiological correspondence in the circulus of molecular
+vibrations I have described above, which, having its commencement in the
+higher or "ideal" portion of the brain flows through the voluntary nervous
+system, the physical channel of objective mind, returning through the
+sympathetic system, the physical channel of subjective mind, thus
+completing the circuit and being then restored to the frontal brain, where
+it is consciously modelled into clear-cut forms suited to a specific
+purpose.
+
+In all this the power of the will as regulating the action both of the
+intuition and the imagination must never be lost sight of, for without such
+a central controlling power we should lose all sense of individuality; and
+hence the ultimate aim of the evolutionary process is to evolve individual
+wills actuated by such beneficence and enlightenment as shall make them
+fitting vehicles for the outflowing of the Supreme Spirit, which has
+hitherto created cosmically, and can now carry on the creative process to
+its highest stages only through conscious union with the individual; for
+this is the only possible solution of the great problem, How can the
+Universal Mind act in all its fulness upon the plane of the individual and
+particular?
+
+This is the ultimate of evolution, and the successful evolution of the
+individual depends on his recognizing this ultimate and working towards it;
+and therefore this should be the great end of our studies. There is a
+correspondence in the constitution of the body to the faculties of the
+soul, and there is a similar correspondence in the faculties of the soul to
+the power of the All-originating Spirit; and as in all other adaptations of
+specific vehicles so also here, we can never correctly understand the
+nature of the vehicle and use it rightly until we realize the nature of the
+power for the working of which it is specially adapted. Let us, then, in
+conclusion briefly consider the nature of that power.
+
+
+
+
+XVI.
+
+THE SPIRIT.
+
+
+What must the Supreme All-originating Spirit be in itself? That is the
+question before us. Let us start with one fact regarding it about which we
+cannot have any possible doubt--it is _creative_. If it were not creative
+nothing could come into existence; therefore we know that its purpose, or
+Law of Tendency, must be to bring individual lives into existence and to
+surround them with a suitable environment. Now a power which has this for
+its inherent nature must be a kindly power. The Spirit of Life seeking
+expression in individual lives can have no other intention towards them
+than "that they might have life, and that they might have it more
+abundantly." To suppose the opposite would be a contradiction in terms. It
+would be to suppose the Eternal Principle of Life acting against itself,
+expressing itself as the reverse of what it is, in which case it would not
+be expressing itself but expressing its opposite; so that it is impossible
+to conceive of the Spirit of Life acting otherwise than to the increase of
+life. This is as yet only imperfectly apparent by reason of our imperfect
+apprehension of the position, and our consequent want of conscious unity
+with the ONE Eternal Life. As our consciousness of unity becomes more
+perfect so will the life-givingness of the Spirit become more apparent. But
+in the realm of principles the purely Affirmative and Life-giving nature of
+the All-originating Spirit is an unavoidable conclusion. Now by what name
+can we call such an inherent desire to add to the fulness of any individual
+life--that is, to make it stronger, brighter, and happier? If this is not
+Love, then I do not know what else it is; and so we are philosophically led
+to the conclusion that Love is the prime moving power of the Creating
+Spirit.
+
+But expression is impossible without Form. What Form, then, should Love
+give to the vehicles of its expression? By the hypothesis of the case it
+could not find self-expression in forms that were hateful or repugnant to
+it--therefore the only logical correlative of Love is Beauty. Beauty is not
+yet universally manifested for the same reason that Life is not, namely,
+lack of recognition of its Principle; but, that the principle of Beauty is
+inherent in the Eternal Mind is demonstrated by all that is beautiful in
+the world in which we live.
+
+These considerations show us that the inherent nature of the Spirit must
+consist in the eternal interaction of Love and Beauty as the Active and
+Passive polarity of Being. Then this is the Power for the working of which
+our soul faculties are specially adapted. And when this purpose of the
+adaptation is recognized we begin to get some insight into the way in which
+our intuition, imagination, and will should be exercized. By training our
+thought to habitually dwell upon this dual-unity of the Originating Forces
+of Love and Beauty the intuition is rendered more and more sensitive to
+ideas emanating from this supreme source, and the imagining faculty is
+trained in the formation of images corresponding to such ideas; while on
+the physical side the molecular structure of the brain and body becomes
+more and more perfectly adjusted to the generating of vibratory currents
+tending to the outward manifestation of the Originating Principle. Thus the
+whole man is brought into unison with himself and with the Supreme Source
+of Life, so that, in the words of St. Paul, he is being day by day renewed
+after the image of Him that created him.
+
+Our more immediately personal recognition of the All-originating Love and
+Beauty will thus flow out as peace of mind, health of body, discretion in
+the management of our affairs, and power in the carrying out of our
+undertakings; and as we advance to a wider conception of the working of the
+Spirit of Love and Beauty in its infinite possibilities, so our intuition
+will find a wider scope and our field of activity will expand along with
+it--in a word we shall discover that our individuality is growing, and that
+we are becoming more truly ourselves than we ever were before.
+
+The question of the specific lines on which the individual may be most
+perfectly trained into such recognition of his true relation to the
+All-embracing Spirit of Life is therefore of supreme importance, but it is
+also of such magnitude that even to briefly sketch its broad outlines would
+require a volume to itself, and I will therefore not attempt to enter upon
+it here, my present purpose being only to offer some hints of the
+principles underlying that wonderful three-fold unity of Body, Soul, and
+Spirit which we all know ourselves to be.
+
+We are as yet only at the commencement of the path which leads to the
+realization of this unity in the full development of all its powers, but
+others have trodden the way before us, from whose experiences we may learn;
+and not least among these was the illustrious founder of the Most Christian
+Fraternity of the Rosicrucians. This master-mind, setting out in his youth
+with the intention of going to Jerusalem, changed the order of his journey
+and first sojourned for three years in the symbolical city of Damcar, in
+the mystical country of Arabia, then for about a year in the mystical
+country of Egypt, and then for two years in the mystical country of Fez.
+Then, having during these six years learned all that was to be acquired in
+those countries, he returned to his native land of Germany, where, on the
+basis of the knowledge he had thus gained, he founded the Fraternity R.C.,
+for whose instruction he wrote the mystical books M. and T. Then, when he
+realized that his work in its present stage was accomplished, he of his own
+free will laid aside the physical body, not, it is recorded, by decay, or
+disease, or ordinary death, but by the express direction of the Spirit of
+Life, summing up all his knowledge in the words,
+
+    "Jesus mihi omnia."
+
+And now his followers await the coming of "the Artist Elias," who shall
+bring the Magnum Opus to its completion.
+
+    "Let him that readeth understand."
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+
+Footnote 1: See my "Dore Lectures."
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EDINBURGH LECTURES ON MENTAL
+SCIENCE***
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