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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. |
