This is Volume VII of XII – Spiritual Power or The Infinite Fount

 

Personal Power Series:

Volume I. Personal Power or Your Master Self

Volume II. Creative Power or Your Constructive Forces

Volume III. Desire Power or your Energizing Forces

Volume IV. Faith Power or Your Inspirational Forces

Volume V. Will Power or Your Dynamic Forces

Volume VI. Subconscious Power or Your Secret Forces

Volume VII. Spiritual Power or The Infinite Fount

Volume VIII. Thought Power or Radio‑Mentalism

Volume IX. Perceptive Power or The Art of Observation

Volume X. Reasoning Power or Practical Logic

Volume XI. Character Power or Positive Individuality

Volume XII. Regenerative Power or Vital Rejuvenation

 

Volume VII – Spiritual Power or The Infinite Fount

The Quest for Truth
Material Substance
Actuating Energy
Immanent Spirit
Spirit: Essential Life
Spirit: Essential Power
Creator and Creation
Unison with Infinity

 

 

The Quest for Truth

Man is a questioning creature. From the early days of the history of the human race, through all the intermediate stages of human evolution, up to and including the present time, man has been questioning himself, his companions, even Nature itself, concerning the fundamental facts regarding the World, himself, and that which constitutes and moves both. His mental evolution has always been accompanied by, indeed, has been largely caused by, his constant questioning and his discoveries of at least partial answers to his everlasting “Why?”

Man’s intellectual life is represented by the term “Quest.” He has expressed the spirit of his intellectual craving in and through his questions. Man’s Quest has ever been for the fundamental facts concerning the World and himself. His Questions have ever been based upon that Quest. He has always demanded the answer to his questions: “What? Why? How? What of it?”

In the earlier stage of his intellectual life he contented himself with asking merely the questions concerning the needs of his physical life. Then, in turn, he began to inquire concerning the laws which govern the activities manifest in the world of things around and about him. Then he began to inquire concerning the fundamental nature and substance of the things of the physical world, and of the fundamental causes which produce their appearance, their changes, their disappearance.

Professor Nicholas Murray Butler, president of Columbia University, says:

“An important step, far reaching in its consequences was taken when men first sought the cause of change and decay in themselves and in the laws which appear to govern things, rather than in powers and forces outside of and beyond them. When the question was first asked. ‘What is it that persists amidst all changes and that underlies every change?’ a new era was about to dawn in the history of man’s wonder and his desire to know……………. When the World is viewed as Totality, there is obviously nothing to which it can be related, nothing upon which it can be dependent, no external source from which its energy can be derived. We pass, therefore, at this stage of knowing, from the plane of interdependence, relativity, to the plane of self-dependence, self-relation, self-activity. Self-Active Totality is the source and origin of all the forces, energies and motions which in one manifestation or another are observed in their interrelations and interdependencies.”

The Quest pursued in the present book is that leading to the discovery of the nature and character of this Self-Activity of that Totality which we know as the Universe or the Cosmos—or that which, in still more familiar thought, is known as Nature. We shall confine ourselves strictly to the plane of Nature. We shall not attempt to invade the plane of the Supernatural. We shall limit our inquiry to the field of advanced scientific philosophical thought; we shall carefully refrain from encroaching upon the field of Theology or that of abstract Metaphysics. This does not mean that we are opposed to theology or its teachings, nor to abstract Metaphysics and its manifold theories: it means simply that we prefer to leave these respective fields to those who specialize in the subjects belonging to them. We shall from time to time refer to certain theological or metaphysical teachings, but this only for the purpose of illustration.

We are frequently reminded by certain schools of thought that Reason (conceived as Intellect) is unable to peer behind the veil of phenomenal appearance which conceals, but yet reveals, the presence and activity of the Infinite Power which abides in the Secret Place of Eternity. They quote approvingly the ancient inscription carved on the old Temple of Isis, in Egypt, which announced to all readers: “Isis I Am; All that is, that has been, that will be; No man hath yet lifted my veil.”

They likewise bid us to recall the celebrated statement of the ancient Buddhists: “The imagination, the understanding, and abstract thinking will always strive in vain to represent the Eternal Infinity. For no form of finiteness (to which thought and speech belong) can express Infinity; nor can that which is Timed express Eternity; nor can thought resultant from the Chain of Causation grasp the Causeless and Self-Existent. Therefore, we set aside all such speculations and vain disputes, and do not busy ourselves with them.”

In Sir Edwin Arnold’s poem, “The Light of Asia,” the Buddha says:

“Om Amataya! Measure not with words the Immeasurable;
Nor sink the string of thought into the Fathomless.
Who asks, doth err; who answers, errs; say naught!
Shall any gazer see with mortal eyes?
Or any searcher know with mortal mind?
Veil after veil will lift—but there must be
Veil upon veil behind.”

But both the ancient Egyptians, and the ancient Buddhists as well, knew and taught that there are other ways of “knowing’” than those of the sense-limited Intellect. Both held that man may and does unfold higher faculties of cognition—higher mechanism of knowledge—whereby “the unknowable becomes known.” The ancient Egyptians taught that certain advanced souls had acquired transcendental powers of cognition whereby they were able to perceive that which is beyond the powers of ordinary perception, and to “know” that which remains “unknowable” to the ordinary powers of the mind.

The Buddhists, likewise, taught that the Buddhas, and other illumined minds of the race, were able to think about and know that which the lower-level Intellect is unable to grasp. In fact the Buddhists’ supreme claim is that their basic teachings are the result of Thought—the thought of the illumined Gautama, the Buddha of that period. One of the hymns of the old Buddhist monks has as its chorus the reiterated lines: “He thought it out; he thought it out!” The pride of Buddhism is that its system is based upon Thought, and not on Faith alone; but by “thought” they mean the Higher Reason in which the reports of Intuition are blended with those of Intellect.

These ancient schools of philosophic thought, as well as many much later schools, teach that while it is true that Intellect, of itself, depending as it must upon the interpreted reports of the senses for its basic material, and being thus necessarily limited in its field and scope, is indeed unable to “ree the riddle”—to report truthfully that which lies behind the Veil of Materiality— it is equally true that Reason is able to transcend the limitations of unaided Intellect when she calls to her aid that twin-sister of Intellect known as Intuition, and thus secures the materials upon which the Higher Reason may work, and which it may spin and weave into glorious fabrics of Truth.

Modern philosophy is displaying much interest in certain forms of mental activity which are grouped under the category of “Intuition.” In this usage of the old term, “Intuition,” however, these philosophers do not refer to the ordinary conscious or subconscious activities of which the source remains hidden, and which, therefore, are frequently referred to as “intuitive.”

Neither do they refer to those acquired habits of action, once performed consciously but now manifested subconsciously, which are known as “instinctive.”

Instead, they employ the term to indicate that higher form of Reason made possible by the reports of the superconscious faculties concerning their perception of certain higher truths, which reports are then passed down to the Intellect for reasoning based upon induction or deduction, or similar forms of thought. They hold that these reports of Intuition are not contrary to those of Intellect, but merely are more direct and convincing in “feeling,” and serve rather to support the reports of the trained Intellect than to oppose or contradict them.

Reason, being furnished the combined reports of both Intellect and Intuition, is possessed of material far surpassing in both quantity and quality those arising from sense-reports alone; consequently, the Higher Reason is able to produce materials of a quality and beauty far excelling those turned out by it when it is limited to the comparatively scanty and imperfect materials of the senses. Or, employing another figure of speech, we may say that the Higher Reason, in which Intellect is reinforced by Intuition, acts like the skilled geometer who being given certain “sighted points” is then able to measure, chart and map great regions of land or of space over which his feet have never trod, his airplane wings never flown, nor his eyes ever scanned. The Higher Reason, thus given these “sighted points” furnished by Intuition, is able to measure, chart and map great areas of thought and knowledge over which his senses have not traveled, and which they cannot perceive.

Bergson holds that Intellect is properly employed with the outer appearances of life; Intuition, with the inner facts of life. Intellect, he says, is a narrowing or focusing of consciousness, confined to a limited field by its very nature; outside of that narrow field lies the region of Intuition. In its own field, says Bergson, Intellect is held to be supreme; Intuition does not begin to reach the efficiency of Intellect in that field. In its own field, in turn, Intuition is supreme; it goes far beyond Intellect in that region, and gives us knowledge impossible to unaided Intellect. But such higher knowledge, it should be noted, does not contradict the report of Intellect extended to its full limits along the lines of trained logical thought; it merely transcends and goes beyond the limits of Intellect.

When Intellect, throwing aside its prejudices and false pride, asks questions of Intuition concerning matters which lie in the field of intuitional activity, and then takes over the report of Intuition and employs it as the basis of rational induction and deduction, a wonderful result is thus obtained. A wondrous blending is thus secured, and an entirely new field of thought spreads itself out to the Reason of the individual thinker. The correlated and coordinated activities of Intellect and Intuition produce what may be called the report of the Higher Reason, or the Completed Reason. Here the individual secures “the faith that knows, and not merely believes.”

There is a tremendous truth expressed in the celebrated statement of Bergson: “There are things that the Intellect alone is able to seek, but which by itself it will never find. Those things, Intuition alone can find; but it will never seek them of itself.” Intuition never is moved of itself to explore its depth for Truth—it has no need for effort of that kind; it knows and takes for granted that the answer is known to all; it is not aware of the existence of the problem involved, nor of the need of answering it, nor has it the desire to have it answered.

As Bergson has told us, Intuition, though alone capable of finding the answer to certain questions concerning important facts, will of itself never seek that answer. Only when Intellect (which alone is able to seek the answer but which is unable by itself to find it), deigns to ask Intuition to look within itself for the needed answer, does Intuition make the inquiry and furnish the required report. The question once made clear to Intuition by Intellect, the former proceeds with ease to answer it. The facts thus presented to Intellect are then subjected to the processes of logical reasoning—being employed as the premises of such reasoning—and the Higher Reason finally hands down its logical judgment and conclusions.

The correlation and coordination of Intellect and Intuition in the work of Higher Reason, or Completed Reason, frequently results in what is called “intellectual illumination,” or the “lighting up” of the Intellect as if “from above.” Intuition, superimposing its reports upon Intellect, kindles the flame of illumination—that “intellectual illumination” of which flashes have been obtained by many great men and women, and accounts of which are frequently found in their biographies or autobiographies. Some of the greatest discoveries and other mental accomplishments have been performed under the influence of this “intellectual illumination” so produced by the action and reaction between Intellect and Intuition.

Intellect constitutes the “seeing” aspect of knowledge; Intuition, the “feeling” aspect. When you apprehend a truth by means of your Intellect, you say that you “see” it: when you apprehend it by means of your Intuition, you say that you “feel” it. The “feeling” is quite as valid as is the “seeing,” when rightly understood and interpreted. In fact, the “feeling” seems, if anything, to be rather deeper than the “seeing”—it has to do with the “inside,” rather than with the “outside” of experience. It seems to belong essentially to the individual, while the “seeing” seems rather to be bound up with the outside world.

There are certain fundamental laws, principles and truths which Intellect and Intuition, combined and correlated as Higher Reason or Completed Reason, must inevitably, invariably and infallibly report to be necessary truth, the necessities of thought, by the very nature of their respective characters and essential facts. To “see” this intellectually, and to “feel” this intuitively, is to know the Truth. And what is quite as important (many think it still more important), this intellectual perception and intuitive realization is equivalent to being able to manifest and express that Truth in your world of experience,

in the form or phase of Personal Power of the highest order. Such has always been the report, the promise, the prophecy of the great spiritual teachers of the race.

Here follows the report, promise and prophecy of some of the great spiritual giants of mankind, based upon the experience of such illumined souls gleaned in the many centuries of philosophical and transcendental thought:

The Prophecy Concerning Truth

“When you are able to perceive intellectually, and to realize intuitively, Truth, as such is inevitably, invariably and infallibly reported to you through the proper exercise of your Higher Reason or Completed Reason, then will you be able to manifest the Truth in and through your thought, your actions, your work, in the measure of your perception and realization of the Truth.”

Asking you to accept this report, promise and prophecy concerning Truth as made in good faith and in sincerity, according to the light possessed by those making it, we shall now invite you to ascend with us the Path of Attainment which winds up along the sides of the Mountain of Truth. The attainment of the mountain-top will amply repay you for the rigors of the ascent, the fatigue of the journey. Of this an inspired writer says:

“The mountain summit typifies the highest point on which a climber may stand and think in terms of consciousness drawn from a material world. But we may look beyond it, though it is a sublime elevation where many a pilgrim is content to pause. Below him are the kingdoms; above him are the stars; the kingdom and the stars are alike his. But it is not the end. Deeper than the kingdoms, and higher than the stars, is the sky that holds them all. And there alone is Peace; that peace which the material world cannot give; the peace which passeth understanding trained on material things; Infinite and Eternal Peace— the peace of Limitless Consciousness unified with Limitless Will.”

The thinking individual, when he begins to contemplate the world which he perceives to exist and to manifest activity around and about himself, soon discovers three great classes of things in that world; then he begins at once to generalize and classify these three great kinds of things into three fundamental categories. These three great categories are as follows: (1) the Substance, Stuff, or Body of Things in general—that which gives them body, form, shape and substance—their outer aspect as reported to him by his senses; (2) the Powers, Energies and Forces which cause the movements and actions of things, the changes in things—the inner aspect of things, imperceptible to his senses yet manifesting their effects so as to be apprehended by the senses; (3) the Livingness of Things—that Something Within which manifests in vital activities, voluntary actions, and in feeling, thinking, willing—this he experiences in himself, and judges that other things also possess it by reason of their actions which be perceives.

As man’s intellectual evolution proceeds, he discovers certain laws governing each of these three great classes of things or facts. He perceives certain laws governing the physical or material aspect of things; certain laws governing the forces producing activities in these physical or material things; certain laws governing the operations and activities of the vital processes, the mental processes. He groups these laws, and upon their bases he erects his structure of Science. So far, the thinking man has had an easy time in his thinking upon the subject of “things.” Like the young bear, he has all his troubles ahead of him. It is only when he indulges in Philosophy or Metaphysics that his real troubles along these lines really begin. We shall now show you why this is.

The man of Science is concerned merely with “the way things work”—the principles governing their actions and behavior.

He asks merely “How,” and is satisfied with an answer to such questions. The Metaphysical Philosopher, however, pursues the inquiry further: he is not satisfied with the “How” stage of questioning—he asks for an answer to his new question “Why?” He pursues his inquiries until, finally, he demands an answer to his Ultimate “Why,” which may be expressed as follows: “What is that which is the Ultimate Principle of All Things, and of which all things are manifestations?”

He is not content with the scientific classification of natural things into the three great categories of (1) Substance, (2) Energy, (3) Life or Spirit: he holds that some one of these three must be the Ultimate Principle, the other two being subordinate aspects or manifestations of that Ultimate Reality.

He does not explain clearly “just why” all things must be manifestations of but One Principle: he takes this for granted, and asks you to do the same. Ask him how and why this is, and he will answer, with great dignity of manner and tone: “All philosophy worthy of the name holds that at the last everything must be reduced to One Ultimate Principle; the discovery of that One Ultimate Principle is the aim and end of all true philosophical thought.”

Pressed for a further answer he dismisses the subject with the remark: “Plato settled that matter, once and for all, many centuries ago,” and pronounces you an impudent ignoramus if you venture to demand to be shown or told “just how Plato knew this.” There are, it seems, certain limits beyond which you may not go in your inquiries of certain Metaphysical Philosophers. It is a case of “Thus saith the Lord!” with them— with Plato playing the part of the Lord. The thinkers who, in this matter, are “from Missouri,” and who demand to “be shown,” are dubbed unphilosophical—but they are increasing in number, and their ranks now contain some of the brightest minds of the race. The abstract Metaphysicians are wedded to their idols, it would seem.

The Quest for Truth This demand for the reduction of all things to One Ultimate Principle long ago divided the army of Metaphysical Philosophy into two great camps, each of which is in turn divided into minor groups. These two great philosophical divisions are known, respectively, as (1) Materialism, and (2) Idealism. Both of these great camps, while engaged in continuous warfare against each other, nevertheless hold firmly to the same fundamental idea that there exists some One Ultimate Principle—one camp holds that this One Ultimate Principle is Matter, the other camp holds that it is Spirit or Mind. While engaged in a bitter fight between themselves, these two camps are united against a third camp, the one known as Realism, which holds that there are two Universal Principles instead of one—one of which is Material Substance, the other being Spiritual Essence. Let us see what are the fundamental and basic ideas of these three several schools.

Professor Thomas Case, President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford University, in his great article upon “Metaphysics,” in the Encyclopaedia Brittanica (Eleventh Edition) says:

“Metaphysical Materialism is the view that everything known is body or matter; but while according to ancient Materialists soul is only another body, according to modern Materialists mind without soul is only an attribute or function of body. Metaphysical Idealism is the view that everything known is mind, or some mental state or other, which some Idealists suppose to require a substantial soul, others not; while all agree that body has no different being apart from mind. Metaphysical Realism is the intermediate view that everything known is either body or soul, neither of which alone exhausts the universe of being. Aristotle, the founder of Metaphysics as a distinct science, was also the founder of Metaphysical Realism, and still remains its main authority. * * *

“The strength of Materialism consists in recognizing Nature without explaining it away; its weakness consists in its utter inability to explain consciousness either in its nature or in its origin. On the other hand, it is the virtue of Idealism to emphasize the fact of consciousness; but it is its vice to exaggerate it, with the consequence of resorting to every kind of paradox to deny the obvious and to get rid of bodies. * * * But it is unfair to argue as if the whole case were between materialistic or idealistic monism, leaving Realism out of court. There are in reality two species of substances, or entirely different things.”

Each of the two respective philosophic schools holding to the basic theory of One Ultimate Principle is found to have its strong points and its weak points. The third school, that of Realism, seeks to combine these respective strong points, and to eliminate these respective weak points, by means of a new synthesis in which Material Substance and Spiritual Essence are regarded as dual-principles or twin-aspects of Ultimate Reality. Such a synthesis is found to include and retain the strong points of each of the other two schools, while rendering unnecessary the extreme hypotheses which constitute the weak points of each of these schools. If you will follow the analysis presented to you in the remaining pages of this section of the book, you will be able to recognize and realize the advantages held by the Realistic School of Philosophy, and the disadvantages attached to each of the other two schools.

The strong point of Materialism has ever been that it satisfies the demand ofIntuition for a substantial, firm, constant, material basis to support and sustain the world of material things. This substantial basis is denied by Idealism, in its insistence that “All is Mind; Mind is All.” To this fact is due the regular reaction and “swing back” to Materialism which has always followed an extreme and uncompromising presentation of the doctrines of Idealism. If Materialism would content itself with the basic postulate that “Material Substance is Real,” it would receive the full approval of Intuition, and of Intellect as well. But it does not and will not so content itself; instead it adds the damning clause: “and Material Substance is the ONLY Reality.”

The weak point of Materialism, the point which is absolutely repugnant to Intuition, is that in which it asserts that “Life, Mind, Spirit are the properties, attributes, aspects, phases, modes of Matter; or else its creation, manifestation, or expression.” Materialism has even gone so far as (at one time) to claim that “Matter secretes Life and Mind, just as the liver secretes bile.” Intuition, realizing fully, as it does, that it, itself, is Spirit, absolutely refuses to admit this contention of Materialism. It recognizes Matter in its own place, on its own plane, but always regards it as the “other” to Spirit—the antithetical opposite of Spirit. It recognizes its essential identity with Spirit, and knows that Spirit is Ultimate and not a derivative or byproduct of Matter or of anything else.

The strong point of Idealism has ever been that it posits Spirit, Life, Mind, as ultimate facts of existence, and not as derivatives or by-products of Matter or Material Force. Intuition meets it with open arms when it approaches bearing this message. The message is soul-satisfying and produces a spiritual content. For that matter, it is very probable that no Materialist, “deep down in his soul,” ever really feels that Life, Mind, Spirit, are the by-products of Matter: the Materialist may think that he sees the truth of his contention, but he really never succeeds in feeling that it is true. Within him, Spirit itself cries to him, “I AM Spirit and not Matter nor a product of Matter!” His Intuition ever protests against his extreme Materialism.

The weak point of Idealism has ever been its claim that “All is Mind, Mind is All; Matter is an Illusion, and has no real existence; the Material World is a Dream or an Error of Mortal Mind.” Intuition revolts at this, though Intellect is frequently seduced by its plausible sophistry and fallacy. It is probable that no Idealist ever really feels that “there is no reality in Matter.” Even when he is uttering the words, he continues to act “as if” Matter is a reality. His every action is based upon the tacit recognition of the presence and reality of Matter. Intellect, it is true, is often dazed and bewildered by the juggling of words so often employed in the philosophy of Idealism, under its many different names and forms. Idealism is “Ingrown Metaphysics”; of such schools of thought a writer has said, “Of such teachings, those who listen understand nothing, and those who teach do not really understand.”

That actual material objects really exist is the verdict of Common Sense and of the Intuition of any person who will listen to its voice. Professor Ladd says: “Common Sense must be trusted, and virtually is trusted, for the inviolable and undiminished confidence in the existence of a real world, full of actual events, some of which are known to be causally connected; and, as well, in its confident belief that, while human knowledge does not create that world and knows it at best only imperfectly and partially, yet it does know it truly, so to say,—that is, as it really exists and actually behaves.”

Reid says: “I do perceive matter objectively—that is, something that is the intermediate object of my touch and sight. And this object I take to be matter, and not an idea. And though I have been taught by philosophers that what I immediately touch is an idea, and not matter, yet I have never been able to discover this by the most accurate attention to my own perceptions.” Benjamin Paul Blood says: “A modern man must indeed be tainted with one of Mr. Spencer’s ‘insanities of Idealism’ to doubt that even if the earth were stripped of all living things and left barren as our moon appears—man and his philosophies and histories and religions vanished into less than air—the glorious stars, among which by analogical reckoning his earth is but a speck, would still revolve as, theoretically at least, they have ever revolved, regardless of all impertinent sensitiveness to time or times.”

This report of Common Sense and Intuition is practically accepted by all men (even the extreme Idealists) in their everyday life and activities. They may “talk one thing and act another,” it is true; but the best test of a man’s real intuitive truths is found in his actions rather than in his words—the highest test of Truth is one’s willingness to trust his life and well-being to it.

As Blood says: “The profoundest Idealist confesses to the integrity of Matter. A rap on the head gives a conviction of reality that no idea that can come out of that head can refute. Criticism of Common Sense comes back in its own face; like the wasp and the hornet, it leaves its sting in the wound and is fatal to itself. * * * * * A critic might say to the average perfunctory Idealist, ‘You are up in the tree of life, indeed, but you are sawing off the limb that supports you’.” And, as Ladd says; “One might admit that he would be willing to dispense with the reality of all the physical world, if only the idea of eating bread were but regularly followed by the idea of being no longer hungry and of being invigorated.”

Between the extremes of Materialism and Idealism is found the position of the Golden Mean—the Point of Balance— represented by the philosophic school of Realism. Realism recognizes the real and actual existence of both Spiritual Essence and Material Substance: the former constituting the “soul” of things, the latter the “body” of things. The World is accounted for and explained as the result of the action and reaction of Spirit and Matter. It holds that some things are material things, and that other things are spiritual things. The history of Realism in the Western world runs back to Aristotle; in the Eastern world it runs back to still older Oriental philosophers. Both of these ancient schools held that Spirit and Matter are ultimate universal principles, distinct and different from each other, yet ever acting and reacting to and from the other. They held that Spirit is the Inner Essence, and Matter the Outer Substance, of the Cosmos.

Spirit, it is true, can never know Matter “in itself”; it can know only the sensations arising from its contact with Matter. But, equally true, Spirit is compelled to depend upon these sensations arising from contact with Matter for its “raw materials” of thought, feeling, and other mental processes. We know Matter only through Mind; but Mind must depend upon Matter for its crude, objects of knowledge. There is a universal interdependence and coordination between Mind and Matter, and Matter and Mind—the action and reaction between Spiritual Essence and Material Substance.

Such is the teaching of true philosophic Realism. Upon this basic teaching the instruction contained in the present book is grounded. In the course of this instruction you will discover for yourself that these foundations are solid; and that the structure is well supported by them. If you have been repelled by the crude, crass doctrines of extreme Materialism, on the one hand, and made dizzy by the visionary, impractical doctrines of extreme Idealism, on the other hand, you will find in the teaching of rational Realism a satisfactory position between the two extremes where the reconciliation and explanation of the two opposing doctrines is not only made possible, but is actually rendered certain.

Material Substance

One of the first important generalizations made by man in his philosophical reasoning is that all things have “body,” material substance, or “stuff” of which their outward form is composed. The realization of the universal presence of material substance, “body,” or “stuff,” is a basic element of man’s thought; in fact, it is discovered to partake of the quality of intuitive knowledge.

Our verbal terms employed in speech and writing illustrate the fundamental quality of this element of our thought. Our words were created primarily in response to the need of expressing our notions concerning material objects or activities; even those terms designed to express our concepts of mental and spiritual things usually are really metaphorical terms in which material objects are employed as symbols illustrating the immaterial things. Thus, our terms “spirit,” “psyche,” “ghost,” etc., were originally employed to indicate “breath, blowing wind, breezes,” etc.

Likewise, our minds almost instinctively identify material things as real things. Materiality is implicitly accepted as Reality in our ordinary thought, at least until the latter has been disturbed by Metaphysics. The term “real” represents a thing in substantive existence, and not imaginary or merely existing as an idea. That which is reported as “really” existent is that which is discovered to be apparent to the senses or which registers its presence upon some physical instrument. That which is said to be “all in your mind” is not regarded as “real” in ordinary thought. The legal term, “real property,” illustrates this basic thought. Real property is property consisting of land and that which pertains to the land; and land is the most material thing known to man—therefore the most “real” thing to the ordinary thought.

In view of these facts, it is not to be wondered that the human mind finds itself compelled to assume the existence of a universal material substance, stuff, or “body,” serving as the fundamental material of which all physical things are made, and also serving as a material base and ground, supporter and sustainer of the universe of manifold things. All human thought tacitly assumes the existence of such a material substantial ground and base, even where the mind has been muddled by too much metaphysical teaching and speculation. Human thought refuses really to believe that material things are mere fantasies or illusions, even though it tries to make itself believe it does so. No matter what it says, it always acts as if material things were “real;” present and in evidence.

That there must be a substantial material or stuff underlying the forms of the physical universe, is seen to be true by Intellect properly directed and employed; and Intuition corroborates and substantiates the report. Intellect is unable to “think” except upon this fundamental premise; it finds itself dazed, bewildered and confused when it attempts to proceed upon the opposite and contradictory fundamental premise, i. e., that there is no Fundamental Material Substance, and that all appearance of Matter is an illusion or product of thought or imagination.

Intuition, likewise, finds itself compelled to report a similar truth which it finds within itself when asked the question. So true is this, that Intuition, confronted with the contentions of the extreme Idealists and asked to corroborate their reports, experiences a sinking feeling, as though the bottom of things were giving way beneath its feet, leaving naught but an empty void, or “abysmal abyss,” in place of the Substantial Foundation upon which it has been standing. It detects the falsity of the report in a moment, however, and indignantly rejects it.

The average individual—the common-sense person—who has not indulged in too much metaphysical thought, also has this fundamental consciousness of the necessary existence of a Basic Substantial Stuff, a Fundamental Material, out of which the bodies and physical forms of things are composed and created. He finds himself unable to think of a universe in which Materiality is absent. He finds that material, substance and “stuff” are necessities of his thought—facts without which his thought and reasoning cannot proceed. In spite ofhis pretended acquiescence in the teachings of Idealism, no person ever has been able actually to conceive or imagine the universe as lacking the “stuff” of which its forms are made. The demand for “STUFF” is persistent and insistent in the mind of man. Try as he may, man is never able actually to think away the primal concept of Stuff—it refuses to be thought out of existence. Even the recent idea of the so-called Dematerialization of Matter has not affected this necessity of thought. The “dematerialized Matter,” though no longer Matter in the old scientific conception, is none the less Constituent Substance or Fundamental STUFF.

The intellectual and intuitive demand for the presence of an Elemental Substance or Fundamental Stuff arises not only by reason of the perception that there is a physical or material aspect to each and everything known to man in experience; but also because the philosophic mind realizes the need for a Substantial Base and Ground to explain and account for the changing forms of the physical and material universe. Substance, Material, or Stuff of some kind, even though it be conceived as infinitely rare, tenuous, fine, ethereal, subtle, is demanded by Intellect and Intuition.

You may test this fundamental report for yourself, if you so wish. You have merely to try to think of a thing, anything, in fact—as existing without body, substance, material or stuff to support it, give it form, and to afford it material upon which to work and manifest itself. You cannot think of “form,” “configuration,” “appearance,” without this fundamental attribute of substance, material or stuff. To try to escape from Stuff or Substance is like trying to run away from your own shadow; trying to turn around so quickly that you can kiss your own lips; or trying to make your face and the back of your head meet. It is like the effort to think of a stick with only one end, or of a lever without a support, or of a wheel without an axle. You will discover, very soon and at the end, that the notion of at least an ethereal substance, material or stuff is required to support your concept of Things.

You may do without Matter of the “solid” kind, or even of the liquid or gaseous kind—in fact Science itself has done this for you, and has given you something infinitely finer and rarer than these; but you must hold on to your conception of Substance or Stuff of some kind. You may think of it in terms of Ethereal Substance, Astral Substance, Spiritual Substance, or in other terms coined to designate Substance more subtle and ethereal than ordinary Matter; but the essential idea of Substance and Stuff must be involved in it if you intend to employ it in your thinking. Throw the idea of Substantial Stuff out of the door, and it returns through the windows. You are unable even to think of Spirit other than as employing Stuff for that aspect of Bodiness which is required for its manifestation; you must endow it with at least a “ghost” of Stuff, or a shadow of Substance. Your only escape from the necessity of the idea of Stuff is to think of Things in the terms of algebraic symbols (as x, y, or z) and let it go at that.

Even those thinkers who deny the ultimate reality of Matter or Material Substance usually accept its presence as a derivative material or stuff in order to account for and explain the constantly changing multitude of material things. There is perceived the need for a fundamental Base and Ground to support and sustain the changing material universe—the need of a Something or Somewhat which is the answer to the question: “What is it that changes; what is it that supports and sustains the changes; what is it that remains itself, constant and continuous, throughout the universal changes?”

Philosophy has always had as its great aim and purpose the discovery of an Ultimate Substantial Reality sufficient to serve as the base or ground supporting and sustaining that continuous series or concatenation of changing things, processes, and events, which constitute the phenomenal universe. In Philosophy, the term “Reality” denotes “That which remains constant as the kernel or core of Universal Change and Becoming.” Plato asserts that the end of Philosophy is the discovery of the essential identity supporting, sustaining and underlying the changing universe of changing things. Kant held that “Ultimate Reality is the Real in Time: that which persistently, constantly and continuously abides, while all else changes.” Herbert Spencer held that “Only the Real is permanent; only the Permanent is Real.” In the earlier stages of this inquiry, you became acquainted with Nicholas Murray Butler’s question: “What is it that persists amidst all changes and that underlies every change?”

Philosophy demands an Ultimate Constant Fundamental Substance to support and sustain the material world of Change and Becoming, and to serve as its base and ground. By Constant is meant, “Steady, perpetual, unchanging, invariable, unceasing, continuous, uninterrupted; stable, firm, enduring, permanent.” By Change is meant “Any variation or alteration; any passing from one state, form, or condition to another.” Becoming means “The act of entering into a new form, state, or condition from another.” Here, you should note, the term Form (in scientific and philosophic usage) means not only “the shape, figure, or configuration of anything,” but also “the constitution, conditional arrangement, organization, or system of anything”—as, for instance, “Water assumes the form of ice”; or “Carbon manifests in the form of the diamond.” Material Change and Becoming proceed by means of Transmutation, i. e., “change of one nature, character, or substance into another”; or Transformation, i. e., “change of one form, shape, or appearance to another.”

Scientific investigation and philosophical reasoning disclose the fact that all existing material things in the universe, all material objects, things, events and activities are constantly and continuously undergoing the process of Change and Becoming. All material things (a) arise originally and come into existence from some preceding material thing or things, through the process of Change and Becoming; they (b) abide temporarily poised in existence, in a state of Change and Becoming; they (c) finally pass out of existence, into subsequent material forms, states, or conditions, through the process of Change and Becoming.

“Nothing is constant but Change,” says the old philosopher. “Everything and all things exist in a state of Flux and Becoming,” says another of equal antiquity. Change and Becoming are basic facts of objective material existence, and are manifest in every part of the physical universe, in every thing, and in that universe as a whole. Nothing escapes Change and Becoming— that is, nothing except the Power that causes the Change and Becoming. Creation proceeds by Change. Evolution proceeds by Change. The Law of Change enforces its edicts upon all alike; upon high and low, great and small, good and bad—none escape it.

All physical activities, all phenomenal events, are perceived to be processes—processes of Change and Becoming. Everything has its birth in and from something else; its temporary poised existence; its final passing away—all under Process of Change and Becoming. The Cosmos is perceived to be a Cosmic Process. Nothing abides; everything passes. Everything arises in something precedent, and disappears into something subsequent; no thing arises from nothingness, nor passes into nothingness.

The universe is like a great flame: it seems to be the same identical thing throughout its whole existence—and in one sense it is so; but, in another sense, it is not the same identical thing for even two consecutive seconds of time. From the strict, technical viewpoint, the flame is seen to be merely a process of combustion—a series of successive burning particles; but, from another viewpoint, it is seen (and felt) that there is an underlying something or somewhat—a constant substantial unity and identity of reality and meaning underlying the process of changes.

Intellect, made dizzy by this constant and continuous process of Change and Becoming, at times experiences the fear that its world may be built upon sinking sand rather than upon solid rock. Accordingly, it demands and receives assurance and reassurance from Intuition concerning the existence of a Constant Fundamental Substance, underlying all Change and Becoming.

Intuition assures Intellect that there is and must be a Fundamental Substance that persists and remains constant throughout all changes—that underlies and supports all changes of form, state and conditions of material things— something Constant and Stable, Immutable and Firm, forever and forever. Intellect, accordingly, two thousand years ago, or more, formulated a Law of Thought which embodies this report of Intuition: “A thing always remains itself, and nothing but itself, notwithstanding the manifold states, forms and conditions which it assumes or undergoes, and under which it manifests and presents itself in appearance.”

This axiomatic truth, carried to its logical conclusion, leads directly to the final conception of an Ultimate Fundamental Substance. As Dahlke says: “Every consistent application of the laws of thought seems perforce to conduct to an Unconditioned Constant situated at the root of things. * * * * All human thinking, without exception, operates with the concept of a Constant Substans lying at the root of things. Thou, critic, must conform thyself to this rule. It is a necessity of thought.”

Much of the opposition to the conception of Fundamental Substance, Material or Stuff as an Ultimate Fact or Principle, both in ancient and in modern philosophic thought, both of Occidental and Oriental Philosophy, has arisen from a misconception of the essential nature of that Ultimate Fact or Principle. In its form of Matter, it has been thought of as gross, solid, heavy Stuff. When the term “Matter” has been employed, the mind has proceeded immediately to conceive of a something like, for instance, a block of granite, an ingot of steel, a lump of clay, or a mass of mud.

This was particularly true in the case of Western World Philosophy. The Oriental Philosophy, on the other hand, has always held that Substance, Matter or Stuff, in its essential, elemental, ultimate state, form, or condition is something quite different from this—quite opposite to it in fact. The ancient Oriental philosophies have always posited Fundamental Material Substance as something infinitely fine, infinitely rare, infinitely tenuous, subtle, ethereal—something as much finer than the finest gas, as the latter is finer than a piece of hard metal or stone—something infinitely finer than even that hypothetical Universal Ether of modern Western Science.

Modern Western Science, in time arrived at the conclusion that the ultimate elements of Matter were infinitesimal particles, called “atoms,” of almost incredible fineness, lightness and tenuity; of these the grosser and more solid forms of Matter were held to be “worked up,” made or manufactured by natural forces. There were held to be from eighty to ninety such classes of elemental atoms; and Science was well on its way to resolving these into the lightest and finest of them all, i. e., the atom of Hydrogen, and of holding that the other atoms are compounds or derivatives of this ultimate “stuff.” But, before this point was reached, Radium was discovered—and the atom was found not to be the ultimate form of Matter at all, but rather to be composed of something still finer and more elemental, i. e., the electrons, ions, or corpuscles of an infinitely tenuous, ethereal substance.

The present conception of modern Science concerning the ultimate nature of Matter is expressed in the following extracts from a lecture delivered a few years ago by Sir William Crookes: “Physicists are now saying that there is a possibility that there is no such thing as Matter, as formerly understood by that term. Some say that the electron is pure disembodied electricity, thus approaching the old idea of Boscovitch, accepted by Faraday, that the atom is only a centre of Force. The idea of the chemical elements as something absolutely primary and ultimate has grown less and less distinct, until today we admit the possibility of resolving them into simpler forms or else refining them away altogether. When we have split the atom into hundreds of little bits, these residual particles turn out to be nothing more than superimposed layers of positive and negative electricity.” Another scientist adds: “Crookes refrained from telling us what would happen if some clever researcher of the future should discover a method of making these alternative layers of ‘plus’ and ‘minus’ cancel each other out of existence.”

Einstein goes even further. He posits Matter as consisting of infinitesimal “centres of disturbance” in something still more ethereal, the nature of which he does not even attempt to explain or speculate about. The electrons are estimated to be so extremely small that millions of them might be gathered on the point of the finest needle; and to be so tenuous and light that an atom of hydrogen gas would be “solid” as compared with them. But Einstein goes beyond this, as may be seen by reference to the statement of Sir Joseph Thompson in a recent article in a British scientific magazine, as follows: “The size of the ‘centres of disturbance,’ which in Einstein’s theory are associated with Matter, bears to the size of the electron about the same proportions that the size of the smallest particle visible under the most perfect microscope bears to the size of the earth itself.” These discoveries and experiments have been regarded as bringing about “the Dematerialization of Matter”—and so they do if the old conception of Matter be employed in making the statement; but there are other, and far better philosophical conceptions of Ultimate Substance, as we shall see presently. Before passing on, we may venture to call your attention to the fact that even these newly-discovered “ultimate particles” are given the attributes of “size,” “shape,” and “form”—they are held to “have extension,” and to “occupy space.” Whatever has size, shape, form and extension—whatever “occupies space” (no matter how little space), comes clearly within the basic category of Substance, Matter, or Stuff. And even the most extreme of the new school of physicists are forced to admit that the idea of “electricity without substance, body or stuff is practically inconceivable.” At the last, they are seen to have merely discovered a still finer and more elemental substance, material or stuff in which electricity finds its necessary “body”!

The comparative “immateriality” and “dematerialization” of this new form of Substance, Material or Stuff discovered by Science, is indicated in the following statement of John Burroughs, the eminent naturalist:

“Science—the new Science—pursues Matter to the vanishing point, where it ceases to be Matter and becomes Pure Force or Spirit. What takes place in the imaginary world where ponderable Matter ends and becomes disembodied Force, and where the hypothetical atoms are no longer indivisible, we may conjecture but may never know. * * * * * The atomic theory of Matter leads us into a nonmaterial world, or a world the inverse of the solid three-dimensional world that our senses reveal to us, or to Matter in a fourth estate. We know solids and fluids and gases, but emanations which are neither, we know only as spirits or ghosts—by dream or heresay. Yet this fourth, or ethereal estate of Matter seems to be the final, real, and fundamental position. How it differs from Spirit it is not easy to define. * * * * * Science strips Matter of its grossness. When it has done with it, it is no longer the obstructive something that we know and handle; it is reduced to Pure Energy—the line between it and Spirit does not exist.”

Burroughs, however, was carried a bit too far in his wonder concerning the new conceptions of Matter. Pure Energy, in the absence of Substance or Stuff, is inconceivable: Pure Force is meaningless, as we shall see when we pass on to the consideration of Energy and Force in the following section of this book. And, as we shall see elsewhere, there is a decided line of distinction between this conception and that of Spirit— the distinction consisting of the fact that Spirit explains Life, whereas neither Matter nor Pure Force can do so. But Burroughs was quite correct when he referred to “this fourth, or ethereal estate of Matter which seems to be the final, real and fundamental position.” For this is just what the ancient Oriental sages have always held that Ultimate Substance is and must be; and what modern Science was beginning to see that it must be, before its thought was distracted by the new discoveries above referred to—and to which position it must again return.

Science has long been dreaming of an “ethereal state of Matter,” and has made an attempt to posit it in its somewhat imperfect and indefinite hypothesis of the Universal Ether. After the discrepancies of the electronic theory have been “ironed out,” reconciled, or canceled away, it will be found that Science will return to its former position concerning the Ultimate Ethereal State of Matter; in fact, many eminent scientists have never entirely let go of that idea, and they are now beginning once more to push it to the front of scientific thought. Many careful scientific minds are even now holding that the electrons, ions, or corpuscles; the “disembodied electricity”; or the “centres of disturbance”; of the new theories, are but “points, vortex-rings, or centres of disturbance” in and of Ethereal Substance, Matter, or Stuff.

This Ethereal Substance, or “The Ether,” is held by Science to fill all space, to be infinitely tight, tenuous, and imponderable—so much so that as one critic said, it is “Matter with the properties of a vacuum”—for it fills even the space from which the air has been extracted. It abides even between the particles of air and gas—even between the electrons, ions, points of electricity, or the “centres of disturbance” previously mentioned. So thoroughly essential and ultimate is it—so truly is it Ethereal— that it has been called “an infinite possibility of things, rather than a Thing itself” Yet scientific experiments have proved conclusively that it exists—or, in extreme cases of conservative caution, that “something like it exists.” Thus is modern Western Science reaching out its hand to the conception of ancient Oriental Philosophy; thus is it reaching an agreement with the ancient teaching of Ultimate Ethereal Substance.

The article in “The Encyclopaedia Brittanica” (Eleventh Edition) dealing with the subject of the Aether (Ether) says that the Ether is “a material substance of a more subtle kind than visible bodies, supposed to exist in those parts of space which are apparently empty.” It also refers to it as being regarded as “differing from ordinary matter in degree, but not in kind.” It also speaks of the scientific conception of the atomic particles of matter as being “each the nucleus or core of an intrinsic modification impressed on the surrounding region of the aether; this might conceivably be of the nature of a vortical motion of a liquid round a ring-core, thus giving a vortex-atom, or of an intrinsic strain of some sort radiating from a core, which would give an electric atom.” Finally, it speaks of the recent scientific discoveries of radio-activity, and of the free-electron, etc., and adds, “These results constitute a far-reaching development of the modern or electro-dynamic theory of the aether, of which the issue can hardly be seen.”

We shall have more to say concerning The Ethereal State of Matter—”The Ether” of Science as related to the Ultimate Ethereal Substance of Oriental Philosophy—when we reach a later point of this instruction. For the present, we are content to leave it with you merely as a concept and idea of an Infinitely Ethereal Substance, extended throughout all Space; in which all material things abide, move and have their being; and which is the material, substance and stuff from which the “bodiness” of all material things is constituted, composed and made-up.

If you wish to form a mental picture of this Essential Substance, you may try the experiment by beginning with a mental picture of the hardest, most solid form of Matter; then passing through the stages of thinner solids, and through liquids from thickest to thinnest, then through gases from heaviest to lightest—and then on to an Infinity of refinement, reduction and resolution, resulting in an Absolutely Elemental Essence! Then, you will have found, at least, the direction in which the concept of that Ultimate Substance—that Ultimate Ether—must be looked for and sought!

Actuating Energy

You are now asked to consider the Actuating Energy which operates to “move things,” to produce changes in them, to cause them to perform actions. As Dahlke says: “There is present something given, an actuality, which we designate by the collective name of ‘World.’ The World System comes before us in a twofold aspect: on the one hand, as ‘something that is,’ i. e., things; on the other hand, as ‘something that happens,’ i. e., the play of events among things. A ‘thing,’ without a ‘happening’ attached, is as little to be found as a ‘happening’ without a ‘thing.’ In the World System, we know principally only processes, events, happenings.”

Intellect and Intuition report that happenings, events, processes, occur only when and where there is present and active an Actuating Energy. By the term “Actuating” is meant “Putting into action or motion; moving or inciting to action.” In this instruction, the term “Energy” is employed in the sense and with the meaning of “Internal or inherent power, strength, potency, might, or capacity of acting, operating, or producing effects.”

The term “Power” is frequently employed as if “it were synonymous with Energy, but Power has also a special shade of meaning, i. e., that of “the ability to perform work, particularly work directed to an end.” The term “Force” also is frequently employed as a synonym of Energy, but it also has a special meaning, i. e., that of “power to impose or enforce action and movement upon other things.” The term “Strength,” which indicates an essential element of Energy, Force, Power, is defined as “Quality or state of being strong, i. e., having great power to act or to resist action, or to bear or endure the application of force.”

The special and peculiar characteristic of Energy is indicated by the original meaning of the term employed to indicate” it. The English term “Energy” is derived from the Latin term. “Energia,” which in turn was derived from two Greek terms meaning “in” and “work” respectively. So the English term, “Energy” is equivalent to “En-Ergy,” or “Internal Power”; you will note that its definition carries the meaning “internal or inherent.” Energy is an In-Force, an In-Power, an In-Strength. It is “in” things, and works “in” them, and from “within” them. This fact is important, and should be borne in mind. It is impossible to conceive of Energy “outside of” or “not with in” things. It is always the “Power Within”; the “Inner Strength”; the “Internal Force.”

Physical Science, tacitly adopting the Materialistic view, broadly defines Energy as “A condition or attribute by virtue of which Matter can effect changes in other Matter.” But this definition ignores all Mental Energy, of which Will-Power is a characteristic example. However, as you see, even the Materialistic view involves the idea of “internal and inherent power” in its conception of Energy. A reference work, in considering Energy from the viewpoint of Physical Science, says: “Of the ultimate nature of Energy, as that of Matter, we are ignorant; nor do we know of Energy except by direct observation, except as associated with Matter.” Materialism, and Physical Science formerly regarded Energy as an attribute or property of the atoms and masses of Matter; but since the discovery that Matter is not Ultimate Substance, there is manifested a tendency to posit Energy as an inherent attribute, property, quality, or power of the Universal Ether—Matter, as you have seen, being regarded as a derivative product of the Ether, “worked up” by Elemental Energy.

Actuating Energy, regarded as a general category, or comprehensive principle, includes within its content all forms, kinds, classes and degrees of Energy, Power, Force and Active Strength, physical, mental or spiritual, manifest or potential in the Cosmos. It is this Actuating Energy which produces all Change and Becoming—and therefore all Creative Activity—in the Cosmos. By “Creation” is meant all “Bringing into existence by Change and Becoming,” and not that “Creation from Nothing” assumed by certain illogical Theology (although not by all Theology, nor even by the best Theology). The best thought, philosophical, scientific, or theological, holds that Existence (in its essence and substance) is Eternal; and that “From Nothing, no thing proceeds.”

Actuating Energy, therefore, is seen to be the Actuating Cause of all forms of Existence, of all events and happenings—it is the Causative Power working in and upon all things, and manifesting Constant Creation, Evolution, Change and Becoming. In its entirety, totality and wholeness, and in its ultimate state, mode and condition, it is to be regarded as the Cause of Causes—as the Supreme Causative Power. By “Supreme” is meant “Highest in authority, government, or power.” By “Causative” is meant “Effective Cause; expressing and manifesting Causation, i. e., the production of effects.” The full meaning of this last mentioned term will be brought out in the following paragraph in which the term and concept, “Cause” is considered in detail.

The general meaning of “Cause” is “That which effects a result, or produces an effect” “Cause and Effect” is regarded as “Regularity of sequence, relating effective antecedents and effected subsequents.” The following statement concerning Causes should be carefully studied, for it embodies the essential spirit of the concept of Causation: “The Causes of an event are the preceding events without which the event in question would not have occurred, or have come into existence; the circumstances which must have preceded an event in order that the event should happen; the previous events without which the event in question could not have happened or have come into existence, but which being present the event in question must happen, occur or come into existence.”

In the above statement, you will note that the term “event” is employed both in the sense of a happening which occurs, and that of a thing which comes into existence. In philosophic and scientific usage, an “Event” is “That which comes, arrives, or happens by way of Change and Becoming; a change in things, or a changing thing.” As all happenings are “changes in things”; and as all Things are “changing things”; it is seen that all happenings and “all things” (in particular or as a whole) come under the general term, “Events,” and are governed by the general Law of Causation. Every thing that “comes, arrives, happens, changes, or becomes” is under the Law of Causation, and “comes, arrives, happens, changes, or becomes” by reason of the Supreme Causative Power, which, as we have seen, is the “Actuating Energy” which is the subject of our present consideration.

Science and all logical, rational Philosophy (whether Materialistic or Spiritual Philosophy), and all rational Theology as well, are in practical agreement upon the fact that the Material U niverse—the Cosm os—is a Cosm ic Process. The “Cosm os,” as you have seen, is “The universe conceived as proceeding according to Law and Order, Cause and Effect.” The term “Process” (as employed in philosophic and scientific thought) is, “A series of actions, motions, or occurrences, proceeding in continuous operation, regular sequence, and orderly trend.” In all Processes there is found manifested Causation, the Law of Cause and Effect, under the operation of the Actuating Energy of the Cosmos.

The universe is perceived to “proceed,” i. e., “to move and pass onward and forward in regularity of sequence and orderly trend.” Its activities constitute a “procession of events.” Like a great river, its movement carries it ever onward; the river is always there, but the same place never is the scene of the passage of the same particles for even two consecutive seconds—new particles and forms replace those which have passed onward and forward. Said an ancient Greek philosopher: “The same river is never the same river for two consecutive moments of time; it is a different river, yet we call it the same: or rather, in one sense it is the same river, while in another sense it is a different river.” Or, employing the favorite figure of the ancient Buddhists, we may say that the “proceeding universe,” or the “universal process,” is like the burning flame which we think and speak of as the same, identical flame so long as it burns, although its burning particles are ever passing away and being succeeded by new ones.

Modern philosophers and modern poets liken the proceeding universe to a cosmic moving-picture film; its scenes ever move onward and are replaced by new ones following it in regular order. When we think that we are considering a stable universe, or one of its scenes, we are but gazing at a “clipped-off section of the film”; the clipping, however, is performed by our own act of attention, and the bit of film is not really detached from the roll of Time—it, too, moves on and is succeeded by another. As the poet has said: “They say, ‘Time passes’: alas! no; Time stays, while we pass.” Heraclitus, the Grecian philosopher living about 2500 years ago, said: “The universe is in a state of flux—it flows ever onward, ever the same yet ever different.” Gautama, the Buddha, who lived about the same time, said: “Everything passes, except the Process of Passing.” Modern Science says: “No forms abide; every form passes; everything is a process.”

But there is no Process, no “passing on,” no “regularity of sequence and orderly trend,” without the operation of Causation—and Causation is Creation, for even when it is tearing-down it is creating the materials for a subsequent building-up process. Each and every thing in the universe is perceived to have proceeded from some preceding thing—to have issued and come forth from something precedent which is its relative source and origin, its so-called cause; in turn, this relative cause, source, or origin is perceived to have proceeded from some preceding cause, source, or origin; and this, in turn from one still more remote—and so on, and on, and on, until the sequential procession is lost to view in the “regress of Infinity” or the “Eternal Flux.” Likewise, looking forward, the chain of Cause-Effect is seen in imagination and thought to proceed onward and forward into Infinity—into the “progress of Infinity or the Eternal Flux.”

Not only this, but the character of things is perceived to arise and to be determined by the influence and presence of other things, which likewise may be called “causes”—”conditioning causes.” There is a cause or reason for the form, character and circumstances of everything in the universe. Everything is perceived to possess a definite character, form and disposition which is directly or indirectly derived from the presence and influence of other things. It is not only true that, “Every thing is by reason of other things having been”; it is also true that, “Every thing is just what it is, and just where it is, by reason of other things having been just what they were and just where they were.”

Everything in existence, then, is perceived to be but a link in an infinite chain of regularity of sequence and orderly trend, ever proceeding onward and forward by reason of the operation of the Law of Cause and Effect. The chain proceeds so far in either direction, back to the past or forward into the future, that human thought reels and human imagination is dismayed when an attempt is made to think or to picture the extent of the chain. It is, indeed, an “endless chain” of Infinite Causation— Eternal Creation—winding around the immeasurable wheel of Infinite and Eternal Process.

Human thought exerted and extended to its limits along the lines of logical philosophical thought, inevitably, invariably and infallibly arrives, sooner or later, at the point where it finds itself compelled to posit the necessary existence,. presence, power and activity of a Supreme Creative Power—a Supreme Creative Cause—to account for and explain the presence and movement of the Infinite Process which the universe is discovered to be. This thought has been expressed strikingly in the following statement of a modern writer:

“Observing the uniformity, the immutability, of the processes of Nature, we recognize that every fact has its antecedent, and this again its own, and so on and on, until in retracing the process we lose ourselves, after a few or more steps, in the single Universal Cause. We lose ourselves in Infinity. We recognize the manifestations, the workings of the Eternal Power, in ourselves as well as in Nature generally. And we know from History, human, geological and astronomical, that thus has Nature manifested itself since time has recorded.”

Sir Edwin Arnold, in his great poem, “The Light of Asia,” has pictured the ancient Buddhistic conception of the Eternal Infinity of Creation in the following beautiful lines:

“And Cause, and Sequence, and the Course of Time,
And Being’s Ceaseless Tide,
Which, ever-changing, runs, linked like a river
By ripples following ripples, fast or slow—
The same yet not the same—from far-off fountain
To where its waters flow into the seas.
These, steaming to the sun,
Give the lost wavelets back in cloudy fleece,
To trickle down the hills, and glide again;
Having no pause or peace.”

But even in such poetical imagery you will notice the constant and invariable implication of the Supreme Creative Power which is the Ultimate Actuating Energy of Creation. This is the Power that animates, energizes, inspires and causes the totality of the infinity of activity which is manifested in the Eternal Creation. This is that Actuating Energy of “Being’s Ceaseless Tide” which proceeds and manifests through Cause, and Sequence, and the Course of Time. This is the Eternal Power which “makes the wheels go ’round” in the Eternal Creative Process.

This is that Ultimate Creative Power which in the Eternal Process “creates, holds poised, and then destroys” all material forms of things, while Creation as a whole continues and persists, without cessation and without interruption. This is that Eternal Something of which Omar Khayyam speaks:

“Whose Secret Presence, through Creation’s veins,
Running Quicksilver-like, eludes your pains;
Taking all shapes, from Mah to Mahi, and
They change and perish all—but HE remains.”

Intellect and Intuition are agreed upon this basic conviction that there is, and must be, present and active, a Supreme Actuating Energy which accounts for and explains, which causes and creates, the infinity of finite, changing, passing forms of which the created universe is composed; which governs and controls, regulates and determines, the manifold and diverse activities which are manifested in the universe. If Intellect tries to escape this conviction, Intuition always operates to bring back the prodigal to the home of Truth, after he has lived on the husks of Scepticism and among the swine of the sties of Denial.

Strive as it may, intellect is never really satisfied with the subterfuges, evasions, and verbal substitutes which are offered in place of this basic report of the necessary existence of a Supreme Actuating Principle. If it is sufficiently active, it is usually able to brush aside and discard the mass of verbiage composing the body of such substitutes, there to find in the heart of the idea a confirmation rather than a contradiction of the true basic principle. Fallacies frequently fail to hide entirely the Truth they seek to deny; often, indeed, they serve to reveal that Truth when sufficiently acute thought is applied to the problem.

As for Intuition, it never is even in the least disturbed in the matter—it knows, and it knows that it knows. Intellect often runs around in circles, like the man lost in the forest, like the squirrel spinning the wheel of its prison-cage—always traveling but never getting anywhere—in its endeavors to escape this fundamental conviction; but sooner or later it finds peace and certainty by reason of the influence of Intuition which has been superimposed upon it. Intuition, itself, is never moved by this doubt—it never doubts this Truth, for it knows and knows certainly that such is Truth.

You may satisfy yourself of the fact that the postulate of the presence and activity of this Supreme Creative Power, this Supreme Actuating Energy, is a necessity of logical thought, if you will but try to think of the Changing Universe as lacking such Supreme Actuating Principle. You will soon discover that it is impossible to account for or explain the Cosmos without such a fundamental postulate. Moreover, you will discover that at the heart of all philosophies, scientific thought, rational metaphysics, and similar reports of reason, there will always be found (though sometimes disguised or partially concealed) the actual or implied assertion of the presence and power of such a Supreme Principle of Activity, let it be called by whatever name the writers or teachers may see fit to apply to it. It is always there in philosophical thought; it must be there, for the entire concept of the Cosmos falls without its presence and activity being involved in the idea.

The Universal Actuating Energy, which we have discovered to be the Creative Agency or Cause of the Cosmos, also has another important office in the Cosmic Process. In addition to being the Actuating Cause of the Creative Process of Change and Becoming, it also serves as the Unifying Agent which holds together in Combination, Correlation and Coordination the manifold individual and apparently separate things into a system or unity in which universal and constant interdependence and reciprocal mutual action is manifested.

This office of Actuating Energy may be stated as follows: “The office of holding together the separate elements, parts, factors and objects of the universe in a unity, a whole, or system of things in which all things exist and work together in reciprocal, mutual interaction or coordination.” The term “Coordination” means: “The state of being coordinate, i. e., existing in common condition, movement and action, in which separate things are combined, correlated and given mutual and reciprocal existence and activity.” The term “Combine” means “To unite or join; to cause to coalesce; to hold together by affinity or natural attraction.” The term “Correlate” means “To put or place in reciprocal relation, or mutual relation.”

All philosophical thought and scientific observation results in the report that the universe is composed and constituted of parts, elements and factors which are placed and held together by natural forces, and which exist in mutual relation, connection and condition, and in coordinated reciprocal interaction, and thus form a unified system, whole, or entirety. The term “Universe” is derived from two Latin terms meaning “to turn, or to move as one.” It is defined as “The whole body of things viewed as constituting a whole or a system.”

A System is “An assemblage of objects arranged or existing in regular subordination, dependence and connection; hence, the whole scheme of created things regarded as forming one complete plan or whole, i. e., the universe consisting of all created or phenomenal things viewed as constituting one system, unity, entirety, or whole.” The ancient Greeks employed the term “”The Cosmos” in the sense and meaning of “”The world conceived as proceeding according to Law and Order”; as opposed to ‘”Chaos,’, or ‘”The world conceived as a great number of unrelated, uncombined and uncoordinated separate things, existing and proceeding without organization, and in a state of lawlessness and disorder.”

Science and Philosophy are in full agreement upon the fact that the universe is a unified, combined, correlated and coordinated system of things. As Professor Nicholas Murray Butler says: ‘”Everything illustrates the laws which bind the universe into coherent unity. It is now seen that no object is independent. , Each depends upon each other, and dependence, relativity, is the controlling principle of the universe.” Everything is held in combination, correlation and coordination with every other thing. Everything is dependent upon some other thing or things; Interdependence is universal among things. Things are held together, and formed into a universal cooperative society, and made to perform team-work.

No thing is absolutely independent of and apart from any other thing—nor from the totality of things. There is no absolute separateness between any things in the universe. Things merely seem to be separated, by reason of our failure to discern the connecting bonds or links which unite them in correlation and coordination. Things may be separated in space, but they are held together and united by natural attractions and influences, and are as truly in practical touch with each other as are the compositive particles of the atom, the block of steel, or the human body. Likewise, things may be separated in time, but they are combined, correlated and coordinated by the links of Causation and Continuity just as truly as are the successive generations of men or animals or plants, or as the self of the infant with the self of the aged man which has proceeded from the former. As an old writer once said: “Separation is but the working-fiction of Creation.”

The universe is found to exist in a state or condition of Infinite Relativity. Its objects exist and act in Infinite Combination, Correlation and Coordination. Everything in the universe exists in a state or condition of Interdependence. The universe is perceived to be a Cosmic Mechanism, the numberless parts of which act constantly and continuously in combination, correlation and coordination. Just as things are because other things have been, so things are as they are because other things have been just what they have been; and equally true is it that things act as they do because other things have acted as they did—as all other things have acted, in fact.

There is no “higgledy-piggledy,” or “hit-or-miss,” or “blind chance” action in the Cosmos. The systematic arrangement and orderly procedure of the multitudinous objects and activities of the universe, all point to the certainty of Cosmic Law and Order. The axiom of Philosophy, Science, and Theology is: “The Universe is governed by Law, and proceeds according to Order.” Professor Bowne says: “That things form a System, and that this System is one, is the deepest conviction of reflective intelligence, and is the supreme presumption of organized knowledge. Within this System all things are determined in mutual relations, so that each thing is where and what it is because of its relations to the whole.”

The presence of System, Combination, Correlation and Coordination in the Cosmos does not, and clearly cannot, arise from or be continued by Chance. It is clearly the effect and result of the presence and activity of a universal Coordinating and Unifying Agency—and that Agency can be nothing less than a Cause. Here, once more, we perceive the necessary presence and activity of a Causative Energy—a Power that Causes not only Creative Change and Becoming, but also Coordinative Unity in the Cosmos.

This Actuating Energy, Force, Power, which we have discovered to be the Supreme Creative Power manifesting in the Cosmos, and the Supreme Unifying Coordinating Power manifesting in the Universe, is seen necessarily to be Ultimate. It must be this in order to be what it is—in order to fill the offices which it is found to be filling, and which nothing else can fill. If it were derivative or subordinate—if it were one of a number of coordinated forces operating under the power of a Higher Cause—then in that Higher Cause would be found the Ultimate Causative Power. In any event, all human reason inevitably, invariably, and infallibly arrives at the point in which an Ultimate Causative Power (whatever it may be conceived as being in its essential nature) must be posited in order to account for and explain the activities of the Cosmos.

The Non-Materialistic philosophies have always firmly insisted that this Ultimate Actuating Energy or Causative Power is and must be Will-Power; their axiom is “All Power is Will-Power at the last analysis.” The Materialistic philosophies have equally firmly insisted that this Ultimate Energy or Power must be Non-Spiritual Power; though they fail to explain what else it may be and must be. The old Materialism would have us believe that Energy is but an attribute, property, or quality of Matter; or, at least, a twin-aspect of Reality, the other aspect being Matter.

The Materialism that holds that Energy is a Reality, or an aspect of Reality, insists that it may be thought of only as Pure Energy or Pure Force; it asserts also that this Ultimate Energy must be “Material Energy” inasmuch as it is not “Spiritual Energy.” Just what Pure Force is, however, no one seems able to explain. We know Matter in our experience; we know Mind or Spirit in our experience; but we have no experience with Pure Force. It would appear that the idea of Pure Force had been dragged in by the ears, in order to avoid the admission that “All Power is Will-Power.”

A modern writer has said that after we have summed up our stock of conceptions concerning Energy, Force, Power, we will find that we can “boil down” the whole general notion until there is left merely the concept expressed by the term “Strength.” Whatever else Power, Energy, Force may be, or may not be, they must be regarded as being Strength.

The Non-Materialists say that this Strength is Will-Strength, Life-Strength, Spiritual-Strength. The Materialists say that it is Material-Strength, or Pure-Strength, whatever the latter may be.

Materialism seeks to account for and explain the World in terms of Mechanical Force and Chemical Energy—both being regarded as Lifeless Strength. As careful physicists have pointed out, however, the idea of Universal Mechanical Force is a fallacy; under it the World would be like a “wound-up” clock—wound and set going by Something or Somewhat (Whom? What?) and destined to run down and come to a full stop in time. Something else is needed, something in the way of a self-renewing Energy of a spiritual, living order: something like Living Will, for instance. As for Chemical Energy, advanced scientific thought now regards this as a form of elemental life-energy, rather than as a “dead” mechanical force.

Careful thinkers have pointed out that our ideas and concept of Energy are derived from our experience of the Living Energy of Will which we experience in ourselves. It has been said: “As human Will is a cause in Nature, and really constitutes the basis of our conception of all causation, therefore, all causation is probably volitional in character.” Again: “The effort of moving the hand, the head, the eye, is the type and norm by which we interpret, as the result of energy, the changes of position and of mass which we so frequently observe.” In short, Man obtains his ideas of Energy from his experiences with his own Will-Power; and observation reveals that all Energy operates “as if” it were Will-Power. We shall have more to say concerning this in the later sections of this book.

Immanent Spirit

In this instruction we seek to convince you that the Actuating Energy of the Cosmos—the source and fount, the cause and reason, of universal movement, motion, action, change, becoming, events, happenings—is Spiritual Power, the Power of Spirit.

Spirit, as you shall see, is not only the Something or Somewhat that manifests Life and Livingness; that Senses, Perceives, Knows; that Feels, Craves, Desires; but is also the Something or Somewhat that Acts, Performs, Creates.

The Cosmos, i. e., the World proceeding according to Law and Order, by Change and Becoming—the Cosmic Process, in short—is explainable and understandable only under the hypothesis of Spirit playing upon Material Substance—of Spirit “working upon” and “working up” Matter by the power of its Will, directed by the power of its Mentality, and animating the World with its Breath of Life.

The World is Material Substance animated, informed, “ensouled” by Immanent Spirit.

The term “Immanent” means “Indwelling, abiding within, remaining within, inherent; intrinsic; innate, inward, internal.” The term “Spirit,” however, is frequently not understood; still oftener, misunderstood. Most persons have but a vague and hazy concept of Spirit, and in many instances are found to have failed to perceive and apprehend the most essential elements of the meaning of the term, and of the spirit of its concept. Let us, then, first arrive at a clear understanding and comprehension of the true meaning of the term and concept of “Spirit.” We must do this, if we are to proceed intelligently with this instruction.

The definitions of the term, “Spirit,” vary widely; the term is employed with several shades of meaning apparently having no relation to each other, but which, when carefully analyzed and compared, are found to have a common basis of agreement and essential nature. We shall ask you to follow us in our brief examination of the root-meaning of the term, and its several shades of acquired meaning, so that you may be able to share with us the understanding of the full, essential meaning of the concept and term which has been “squeezed out” and extracted by concentrated attention and exhaustive examination.

The English term, “Spirit,” is derived from the Latin term, “Spiritus,” which in turn was derived from the older Latin term, “Spirare,” meaning, “to breathe, to blow (as the wind or breath).” Examination of the usage of the word “Spiritus,” in the place and at the time of its origin, shows that it employed the idea of “breath” or “blowing wind” figuratively and symbolically to indicate “essential existence,” i. e., existence of such an ethereal character that the term “Matter” failed to convey an idea of its nature.

The term, “Essentia” (from which our English word “Essence” was derived) came nearer to illustrating the spirit and essence of meaning of the term “Spirit” than did any other Latin term; here it should be noted that the term “Essentia” was derived from the Latin term “Esse,” meaning “to be,” and indicates Being reduced to its ultimate and final state of refinement. We call your attention to these facts, that you may grasp the idea originally sought to be conveyed by the root-term of “Spirit”— the idea of “essential existence,” i. e., existence reduced and refined to its ultimate state.

It should be noted here that one of the several modern uses of the English term, “Spirit,” is that of “Tenuous or vaporous essence, possessed of active qualities; hence, any liquid produced by distillation, refinement, concentration, etc., in which it is reduced to its ultimate, essential elemental, and pure state.” You should also note that the term is frequently employed to indicate “the real meaning or essential character of anything”; as, for instance, “the spirit of the address,” “the spirit of the play,” the “spirit of the term,” etc. This last meaning is stated in the dictionaries as: “The intent, or real meaning—as opposed to the letter or form of a word, statement, expression, or discourse of any kind.”

Here then, we have the identification of the term, “Spirit,” with the term, “Essence”; the latter being defined as: “The final, ultimate, fundamental state, mode, form, condition, character or nature of anything; the basic and elemental nature of anything after its grosser aspects and its temporary forms have been abstracted from it; the ‘thing-in-itself’ of anything which is left after it has ceased to manifest phenomenal forms and appearances; that which is present when a thing has been reduced to its purest possible state of existence.”

Following close upon this essential meaning, we find that the term, as originally employed, also indicated “Actuating principle,” i. e., the inherent, inner principle moving and inciting the thing to action or motion. To grasp more fully this fact, compare the following definitions of the term, “Activity,” and the term “Spirited.” “Activity” means, “State or quality of being active, vigorous, agile, brisk, energetic.” “Spirited” means: “Energetic, full of vigor and energy, lively, quick, active, brisk.” In the dictionaries, one of the meanings of the term “Spirit” is that of, “Energy, vivacity, activity, ardor, enthusiasm, courage, etc.” Here then, we have the idea of “Spirit” as being active, energetic, lively; vigorous; of being, in short, the “actuating energy.”

But there is a third, and a very important meaning involved in both the old Latin term, “Spiritus,” and its English descendant, “Spirit”—the meaning of “Life, livingness, vitality, liveliness, vital energy, the essence of life.” The dictionaries give as one of the meanings of “Spirit” that of “Life, or living substance, considered independently of corporeal existence; or, that which gives life and vigor to the human body and the bodies of plant and animals; the vital principle or life-force.” This meaning of “Spirit” may be stated as “Life, in its original, elemental, pure, and essential ultimate state, mode or condition.”

In that meaning of the term “Spirit” which is given in the dictionaries as “The soul or essential entity of a living thing, conceived as either embodied or disembodied,” there is combined the idea of “ethereal existence” and that of “essential life or livingness.” The term “spirit,” frequently used as synonymous with “ghost,” is simply one form of this particular meaning.

It is interesting to note that the equivalents of the term “Spirit” employed in other languages carry with them the same fundamental and essential meaning as that found in the Latin term, “Spiritus” and its English derivative, “Spirit.” Such terms have as their root some term meaning “breath” or “moving wind”; they also express the respective meanings of (a) ethereal existence, or quintessence of existence, (b) actuating principle or active energy, (c) life, livingness; vitality, and lively actions expressing abundant life and vitality, and (d) embodied or disembodied souls or entities. This correspondence is significant, particularly when it is noted that it is found in tongues not originally derived from Latin sources.

The early people of these several races all seem to have found in the symbol of “breath” or “moving wind” the best figurative illustration of a tenuous, ethereal something possessing activity and life. It represented something “present and felt, but not seen, manifesting its presence by its motion and not by its form.” Breath and Wind were the two most ethereal and tenuous things known to the early man, and he naturally employed them as symbols for that Something or Somewhat which he intuitively felt to be present and active in the universe of things, forces, and events. It represented to him Existence, Energy, and Life reduced to their ultimate form of refinement and purity.

Illustrating the above significant fact, we give the following examples. In the Hebrew Scriptures, in Genesis, ii. 7, it is stated that: “The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” In the original Hebrew, the phrase, “the breath of life” is stated as “neshemet ruach chayim”; the term, “neshemet,” meaning “the physical breath, or act of breathing”; the term, “ruach,” meaning “the spirit or essence of life”; and the term, “chayim,” meaning “life, lives, or livingness.” Thus, the literal meaning of the passage of the Scriptures in question is, as follows: “The Lord God * * * breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of the spirit or essence of life or livingness”; or that the Supreme Being so transmitted life to His creation or creature, and “made him a living soul.”

Likewise, in the ancient Greek tongue, the term “Pneuma,” meaning “wind, breath, to blow as the wind,” was also employed in the sense of “the spirit or essence of life,” or “the life principle,” or “Spirit.” Even to this day, in English, we find Theology and Philosophy employing the term “pneumatology” to indicate “the science of spiritual being, or spiritual phenomena of any description”; while Physics employs the term “pneumatics” to indicate “the science treating of the power and properties of air”; the double meaning thus being clearly illustrated. Again, the Greek term “Psyche,” meaning “soul, mind, spirit” (and from which the term “Psychology” is derived), originally meant “Moving wind, or the breath.”

The English word, “Ghost” is derived from the Anglo-Saxon term, “gest”; the German term, “geist”; and the Old English term, “gost”; each and all of which terms originally meant “breath or wind” and afterward became employed to express the idea of “soul, spirit, or living entities embodied or disembodied.” In this connection, it should be noted that the English word “Ghost,” and the German word “‘Geist,” both are employed to indicate a phase or aspect of Deity, i. e., “The Holy Ghost.” In the English Theology it is held as axiomatic that “God is Spirit”; this following upon the original statement of this doctrine in the original Greek, in which the term “Pneuma” is employed in the sense of “Spirit.” A similar double meaning of “breath or wind,, and “essential living, active, ethereal existence; soul or spirit, is also found in the Sanscrit and in other ancient Oriental languages. This is believed to be more than a mere coincidence; the same necessities of thought sought the same forms of illustration—the same causes brought the same results.

When you stop to consider this necessity of human thought, and the difficulty of expressing it in the terms of materiality, you will appreciate the almost intuitive employment of terms like “Spirit,” “Pneuma,” “Geist,” etc., to represent Pure Essence, Energy and Life. Even today, the term “Spirit” serves but imperfectly to express a concept almost inexpressible in material terms. Edgar Allen Poe pointed out this difficulty in the following significant passage:

“This merest of words, and some other expressions of which the equivalent exists in nearly every language, is by no means the expression of an idea, but of an effort at one. It stands for the possible attempt at an impossible conception. Man needed a term by which to point out the direction of this effort—the cloud behind which lay, forever invisible, the object of the attempt. A word, in fine, was demanded by means of which one human being might put himself in relation at once with another human being with a certain tendency of the human intellect. Out of this arose a term, which is thus the representative but of a thought of a thought.”

While man knows certainly—more certainly than he can know anything else—that Spirit exists and is present and active within him, yet he finds is almost impossible to define that Reality in ordinary terms denoting material qualities, properties and attributes. So many opposing qualities are found in its manifestations—properties which mutually cancel each other and thus cannot be regarded as essential attributes of the Manifesting Reality—that very little is left upon which the mind may seize, and which will serve as the substance of “mental mastication” in the processes of reasoning.

Indeed, a writer has expressed the thought that: “Spirit must be regarded as an Infinite Possibility, or the Possibility of an Infinity of Manifestation and Expression, rather than as Entity”; but he is only stating a half-truth. Spirit is true Entity, i. e., Real Being, Real Essence, Real Existence, although it may be known only through its manifestations, except in one instance—the experience of Self-Consciousness. The difficulty of apprehension and comprehension of it as Entity arises from the fact that, being Infinite, and being Pure Essence—therefore, being devoid of finite qualities and characteristics, and being free from the appearances of its forms of expression, it cannot be “taken hold of” by the Intellect, or Imagination, because these are designed and fitted merely to cognize and to represent the forms and images of material things, and the qualities and characteristics of these.

But, notwithstanding this difficulty, Intellect, when properly applied and directed by Intuition, is able to perceive the presence of several aspects or modes of the Essential Reality of Spirit. Whatever else Spirit may be, or may not be, it must possess these several aspects or modes of itself in order to be Spirit. Without intending to limit or restrict the Essential Reality of Spirit to the following aspects or modes of itself, we must insist that these are always perceived to be present in all of the manifestations and expressions of the Presence-Power of Spirit of which the human Intellect or Intuition has any knowledge or experience.

These knowable and perceptible aspects or modes of Spirit, to which we have just referred, are as follows:

Presence: manifesting Essence, Reality, Actuality.
Life: manifesting Sentience, Conation, Volition.
Power: manifesting Strength, Energy, Force.

You are now invited to consider in further detail the above stated several aspects or modes of Spirit, and their several manifestations.

Spirit is perceived in Self-Consciousness to be Entity actually Present and in Being, and not the mere idea or thought of Mind, nor a mere verbal symbol or word expressing something lacking real existence and presence. By “Presence” is meant “State of being present, i. e., existing in reality at a certain time and in a certain place.” That Spirit is Present is evidenced by the report of Self-Consciousness—the inevitable, invariable and infallible report that “I Am Present” which is implicit in every conscious thought, and which is intensely impressed upon consciousness when it is directed inward; this accompanied by the invariable, and infallible report of Intuition that “I Am Spirit!” Moreover, as Spiritual Activity is apparent, even when manifested by others in acts of the Living Will; and as it is axiomatic that “Whenever and wherever a thing acts, then and there must it be present”; it follows that the Actual Presence of Spirit must be conceded.

The Aspect or Mode of Spirit known as Presence manifests in Essence, Reality, Actuality. Let us briefly examine each of these in the above order:

Essence has been defined in the course of this instruction; you are familiar with the meaning of the term and concept. You understand that it indicates the ultimate nature and pure being of the existence to which the term is applied and which the concept covers. You are now asked to realize that Spirit is Pure Spiritual Essence—the Pure Essence of Life, Mind, Consciousness, Will—the Pure Essence of everything that is not Material Substance or the manifestations of the latter. Spirit is the Ultimate Essence of Spirituality and Spiritual Things. Spirit is Spiritual Essence, just as Ethereal Material is Material Substance—each represents the “thing in itself” of its class or category.

Just as Material Substance fills all Space: so does Spiritual Essence fill all Time; Bergson and Einstein will tell you more about this wonderful fact, if you wish to acquire that knowledge—it is too “deep” for the present consideration, and you must learn to swim before you venture to explore its waters. The much talked of, and long sought after, “Fourth Dimension” belongs to Time and Spirit, not to Space and Matter in whose realm it has been sought. This, also, is another “deep” subject which we shall not undertake to explain fully here. We have indicated the direction in which the explanation lies: you must seek it for yourself if you are so minded.

Reality means “The state of being real, actual, truly existent and in being; not imaginary, fictitious, vague, or lacking in substantiality.” Spirit is Real, and not imaginary or fictitious. It is a Fact, not a Dream. You can doubt your senses, but you can never doubt the fact that you are alive—and Life is an aspect or mode of Spirit. You may dream of Matter, without that Matter being present; but you can never dream of Life or Mind, without Life and Mind being present and active in you—and these are aspects or modes of Spirit. You can know Matter only through Living Mind; but you cannot know either Matter or Mind through Matter lacking the immanent presence of Life and Mind. Your consciousness that “I AM” is the most certain, most real thing that you can know; all the rest may be a dream, for that matter; but THAT cannot be a dream, unless there be a Dreamer—and if there is a Dreamer, that Dreamer is YOU, a focal point or centre of Living Spirit!

You may find it difficult to discover “just what” the Spirit that is YOU really is; but you can never doubt that it IS and that it is REAL. The fundamental difficulty attached to human thought on the subject of Spirit is this: that it is Spirit trying to contemplate itself—an attempt justly likened to the effort to “turn oneself inside out.” Just as the eye, while seeing everything else, is unable to see itself, so is Spirit hampered in its efforts to “see” itself in thought. Just as the stomach digests all living substance placed in it—but never digests itself; so is Spirit able to experience through the senses everything else—except itself. But it may “know” itself, “feel” itself, in the experience of Self-Consciousness; and it may “intuit” itself in the processes of Intuition. Such “knowing,” and “feeling,” and “intuiting,” moreover, always bring the report: “I AM; and I Am REAL!”

Through Intuition, Spirit reports inevitably, invariably, infallibly: “I AM!” “I AM I,”; or (when pressed closer by Intellect for a more definite report) even: “I Am THAT I Am!” The “I AM I,” that focal point of conscious Immanent Spirit which is YOU, reports through Intellect and through Intuition: “I think, I feet, I act, I move of my own Will and by my own Power; therefore,

I AM, and I Am REAL, and not fictitious—a Reality and not the figment of a Dream! Even if I were a Dream, there would needs be a Dreamer; and that Dreamer would be involved in his Dream-Idea—and this ‘I AM I’ would then be the ‘I AM’ of the Dreamer as well as of the Dream Person!” You can never truthfully say: “I Am NOT REAL”—for in your very denial would be implied the fact that the “I” that is denying must be Real.

No sane man can ever deny his own Reality, and feel convinced that he is stating the Truth! His troubles begin only when he stops to consider whether the things external to him—the material universe—is also Real! If the Reality of Spirit be doubted or denied, then the Realty of Everything must be doubted or denied—for that Everything is known only to Spirit, and by reason of the Reality of Spirit. Deny the Reality of the Knower—and the Reality of the Known is also denied; and in that case there is nothing left to know or to be known.

Actuality means “The state of being Actual, i. e., really and truly acting or active; existing in real act.” The actuality of Spirit can no more be doubted than can be its Reality. Any individual who has ever performed an act of volition or will has experienced an inevitable, invariable and infallible proof of the Actuality of Spirit. He need not fall back upon the final report of Philosophy, and of advanced Science as well, that: “All Power is Will-Power; all Action is Will-Action.” He need refer only to his own experience in Willing.

In another part of this book we relate the story of Edison wagging his finger-end at Bois-Reymond, and demanding the answer to his question, “What is this?” Edison knew the Actuality of his Immanent Spirit; and his simple question overwhelmed the other great scientist. The simplest voluntary act of the living creature proves the Actuality of Spirit. In every movement, in every motion, in every action, in every change of position, even in every thought, the living creature gives undoubted evidence of the fact that “Spirit is Active, Actual, Actuality; it possesses the Power to Act, and it ACTS.

And so, you see that we are warranted in positing in Spirit the aspects and modes—the attributes and properties, if you will—of Presence and its manifestations known as Essence, Reality, Actuality. We ask you to fix these in your mind, so that when you think of Spirit you will think of it, first of all, in the terms and ideas of Presence, i. e., Essence, Reality, Actuality.

In the next two following sections of this book we shall ask you to consider the other two great aspects or modes of Spirit, viz., Life, manifesting Sentience, Conation, Volition; and Power, manifesting Strength, Energy, Force.

Spirit: Essential Life

Having considered the first great mode or aspect of Spirit, i. e., that of Presence, manifesting Essence, Reality, Actuality, you are now invited to consider the second great mode or aspect of Spirit, namely, Life, manifesting Sentience, Conation, Volition. This is the unique, original, distinguishing characteristic of Spirit. Life and Livingness are the very Quintessence of Spirit—the very “spirit” of Spirit! Spirit is LIFE—Life is Spirit!

By “Life” is meant, “State of being alive, living; or, vital force, animation, livingness.” The standard definitions are poor, meagre, unsatisfying; but inasmuch as Life can be defined only in terms of Livingness, there is no possible improvement in such definitions. There is nothing else in existence like Life, to or with which it may be compared and likened, contrasted and classified, and which may be employed to illustrate or define it. One must have experienced Life in order to understand its real meaning. The term “Livingness” is no better; its definition is merely suggestive, namely, “The state of being alive, lively, active, vigorous, spirited, and capable of quickening and invigorating.” All such definitions refer back to Life; and Life is found to be “sui generis,” in a class by itself—over and above any definition or explanation, any accounting for or illustration, in the terms of anything else. Life is known only through being experienced. To know Life, is to live; to live, is to know Life.

Life is a basic, fundamental attribute of Spirit. Spirit would not be Spirit were it devoid of Livingness. You may conceive of Spirit as being unconscious; but you cannot conceive of it as being lifeless. Life is more fundamental than Consciousness; a creature may become unconscious, yet still be alive—but it cannot become lifeless and still be conscious. All feeling, thought and will may be inactive in a creature, yet it may still be alive; but if it is lifeless, then it can never manifest thought, feeling, or will. If you wish to think of Spirit in its most essential, fundamental and basic inner nature and character, then think of it as LIFE or LIVINGNESS.

The three particular manifestations of the Life of Spirit, are as follows: Sentience, Conation, Volition; each of these we shall now consider briefly.

SENTIENCE. By “Sentience” is meant, “The faculty or power of sensation, perception, mental apprehension and cognition.” These are the several primary and elemental mental powers; the higher mental processes are merely more complex phases of these simpler mental activities; these faculties supply the “raw materials of knowledge” which are worked over and made into the completed mental product. In Sensation, Spirit receives impressions from material objects; in Perception, Spirit recognizes and interprets the reports of Sensation; in Mental Apprehension, Spirit “takes hold of” and conceives ideas; in Cognition, Spirit “knows” things partially or completely.

The idea of Sentience is closely bound up with that of “Consciousness,” the latter term (though, like “Life,” being beyond adequate definition) is best defined by the term, “Awareness.” Consciousness has been likened to “Mental livingness, or aliveness”—this being a valuable suggestive illustration. In modern psychology, Consciousness is regarded merely as, “Present mind,” or “Mind here and now”—a cross-section of mental process, a focusing of attention upon a certain limited portion of the entire mental process. Much of the mental activity, most of the mental processes, manifest on planes of mentation outside, below, or above the plane of ordinary consciousness.

Many persons, most persons in fact, are accustomed to regard Spirit as identical with “Mind”—they find it difficult to think of Spirit in any other way. But “Mind,” in modern psychology, is regarded as Process rather than as Entity. As an authoritative reference work states: “Not only is mind, as a whole, a stream of thought and feeling; each separate element of mind or mental formation that our analysis teases out of the total consciousness is itself a process. Every sensation rises, poises, falls, in its own characteristic way; even the idea is termed a ‘variable process,’ and such formations as emotion and volition bear the mark of process stamped upon them.” Spirit, on the contrary, is absolute and actual Entity, not Process; it is the Essence, Base and Ground, Support and Sustainer, and Constant Identity of Mental Process.

Spirit is not limited to “Mind”; nor is “Mind” another name for Spirit. Rather, Spirit has Mind, uses Mind, employs Mind (i. e., Mental Process) as an instrument, tool, or machine helpful in its creative and other activities. Nor, at the last, is it proper to regard Consciousness as identical with, or as an absolute essential and permanent state or condition of Spirit. G. E. Moore, in a leading reference work upon Philosophy and Psychology, says: “Common to all meanings of Spirit is the conception of ‘that which is conscious.’ Consciousness is not regarded as being Spirit, but as being an attribute of it; so that Spirit is conceived as something capable of existing when it is not conscious. On the other hand, there is no positive conception of what this permanent element in Spirit is; it is only conceived abstractly as that (whatever it may be) which is the subject or substance of consciousness, and negatively as not identical with any known quality.”

But, we ask you to note here, that although it is possible to conceive Spirit as “not conscious,” it is not possible to conceive it as “not alive,” nor as “not capable of consciousness.” Life is the primary attribute; Consciousness is the secondary property. But as Spirit is always Life, and as Life always has the faculty of or capacity for Sentience and Consciousness, then we see that wherever and whenever Spirit is present, then and there must be present the capacity for Sentience and Consciousness, in some form, kind, manner, or degree.

CONATION. By “Conation” is meant, “Tendency toward effort, attempt, experiment, action, arising from the presence of feeling, emotion, or desire.” A leading reference work states: “Conation consists of an endeavor, a striving to attain something. The attempt to recall a name from memory is a conation. * * * * Conation is common to desire, yearning, longing, craving, wishing and willing; indeed to all mental states which have an inherent tendency to pass beyond themselves.” Conation has for its object the attainment of its desire for that which it likes and finds pleasant, or the escape or release from that which it does not like and finds unpleasant.” In short, Conation is “Desire seeking to pass into action in the direction most contenting, satisfying, and agreeable to it.”

Conation (or Active Desire) is a universal element of Life. It is found in all living things, and is the mainspring of all the actions of all living creatures, including plants, animals, human beings—from single living cells to the most complex living forms and organisms. Many philosophers have regarded it as the most essential element in Life, and as being the kernel and core of the mind, soul, or spirit of all living things—and of Life in general and as a totality. Schopenhauer postulates it as the fundamental fact of all activities, inorganic as well as organic. Wundt says: “The mechanical universe is the outer wrapper behind which is hidden a spiritual creative activity, a striving, feeling, sensing, like that which we experience in ourselves; conation being the fundamental essence of that activity.”

Conation is a fundamental property of Life, and is more elemental than even Sentience, for in the lower classes of living creatures it manifests strongly even where Sentience manifests merely in its simplest forms. In plant-life it represents the chief psychic element, Sentience being expressed only in the slightest degree. Certain philosophers, like Schopenhauer and his school, hold that the “World Spirit” is animated chiefly by its “Will to Live,” i. e., its desire to express Life-activities, and accordingly they regard the Universal Life Principle as being essentially Conative Desire rather than Reason. Others have modified this view, and give Sentience an equal rank with Conation, although admitting that in the lower form of life the latter is predominant.

Inasmuch as Conation is an essential element of Life, and as Life and Livingness constitute a primary, fundamental essential attribute of Spirit, it follows that wherever and whenever Spirit is present and active, then and there also is Conation present and active. Even without accepting the extreme position of the schools of Philosophy just referred to, it is impossible to escape the conviction that when SPIRIT (the Cosmic Spirit) manifests Creative Power it must experience the conative desire to do so— and that this Conation is the actuating “cause” and “because” of the Creative Activity of SPIRIT. Without it, Creation would never have been manifested; without it, Creation would not have continued and would not now be under way.

VOLITION. By “Volition” is meant “The act of willing, or the exercise of Will; the power of willing and determining.” That property of Life known as “Volition” may be stated as “The Power to Will; or Will-Power.” Will is, “The power of self-activity, self-motion, and the exercise of voluntary effort and action.” Professor Halleck says of Will: “Will concerns itself with action, no matter how complex the process seems. * * * * Whenever there is a mental motor element, that element is Will. * * * * Our acts are the result of a peculiar, active power which we call Will. * * * From the cradle to the grave, we are never without this activity of Will, in the broadest sense of the term. * * * Whenever there is in emotion a motor element which tends to go out in action, that element is Will. * * * In some emotions, the voluntary element may be so small as to baffle detection, but the germ is there.”

The distinguishing characteristic of Will-Activity is that important element of Life known as Spontaneity. So essentially is Spontaneity bound up with Life that many careful thinkers have regarded it as a touchstone by which the Livingness of things may be tested and decided upon. This view expresses itself in the axiom, “Where Spontaneity is present, there Life is present; where Life is present, there Spontaneity is present.” The present writers accept this view, and regard the axiom as self-evident truth, and as setting up an infallible standard by means of which the presence of Life and Livingness may be decided conclusively.

SPONTANEITY. By “Spontaneity” is meant “The state of being spontaneous, i. e., proceeding from internal impulse, energy, or natural tendency, without external force.” In its manifestation by living creatures, Spontaneity is defined as, “Action proceeding from, or manifesting by, natural feeling, tendency, emotion, temperament, disposition, or desire, modified perhaps by reflection, consideration, or judgment based upon the results of previous experience—but always without constraint or external force.”

Spontaneity, then, is seen to be a phase of Self-Activity, Volition, or Will—the objective phase of that of which Conation and Volition are the subjective phases or aspects. Every voluntary act arising from conative feeling or desire is Self-Activity. Self-Activity is activity arising from the conative, volitional Will of the individual, and not from external force, pressure, or energy. Every voluntary act or activity, mental or physical, is Self-Activity. All Self-Activity is Spontaneity. The essence of Conation, Volition, Will, Self-Activity and Spontaneity is the same; each represents Will-Power, which is Life-Power, which is Spiritual Power.

An ancient Greek philosopher once said: “Will is the inherent capacity for spontaneous action, or self-motion, and does not proceed from external force, though its direction may be influenced by external causes represented in the mentality.” Carus says: “By Spontaneity is to be understood that kind of activity which springs from the nature of the thing or being which is active. A motion that is caused by pressure or push is not spontaneous; but a motion, the motive power of which resides in the moving object, is spontaneous. * * * In the character of a thing lies the source of its spontaneous action.” Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary gives three terms, i. e., Voluntary, Uncompelled, and Willing, as synonyms for the term Spontaneous, adding: “What is voluntary is the result of a volition, or act of choice; it therefore implies some degree of consideration, and may be the result of mere reason without excited feeling. What is spontaneous springs wholly from feeling, or a sudden impulse which admits of no reflection.” This distinction is properly made, and is worthy of respect. It should be noted, however, that while some volitions proceed “without excited feeling,” there is always at least some degree of feeling and desire present, else there could and would be no motive for conative and voluntary action.

As we have said, many careful thinkers hold that Spontaneity or Self-Activity, is the invariable characteristic of Life. In this view, anything and everything that manifests the property of Spontaneity must be alive and living. The presence of Spontaneity in things usually considered non-living, is held to indicate Livingness. As Spontaneity is found to be present even in the atoms and chemical elements, it is held by these thinkers that they manifest Livingness, and that “The universe is alive in its every part, and as a whole.” As Life is an attribute of Spirit, in this view it would follow that the universe is animated and inspired by Spirit.

It was formerly a favorite objection urged by Materialism that: “If Spirit is the Origin and Source of All-Things, then Spirit (i.e., Life, Mind and Will) should be found, in at least some degree or form, in Everything!” The answer of the modern Spiritual Philosophy is: “Everything DOES manifest Life, Mind and Will (i. e., Spirit) in some degree or form!” The ancient sages always intuitively believed and taught this truth; but it remained for modern physical science to demonstrate it by observation and experiment. Today, the advanced minds of Philosophy and Science are assenting to the proposition that, “The Universe is Alive, as a whole and in every part”; each new discovery serves to substantiate this idea, and each year adds to the ranks of its advocates.

Luther Burbank, as the result of his lifetime study of Life, says: “All my investigations have led me away from the idea of a dead universe tossed about by various forces, to that of a universe which is absolutely all life, soul, or thought, or whatever name we choose to call it. All life on our planet is, so to speak, just on the outer fringe of this infinite ocean of force. The universe is not half dead, but all alive.”

Haeckel, the eminent scientist-philosopher, says: “I regard all Matter as ensouled, that is to say, as endowed with feeling (pleasure and pain), and with motion, or better, the power of motion. As elementary (atomic) attraction and repulsion, these powers are asserted in every simplest chemical process, and on them is based every other phenomena, consequently also the highest developed soul-activity of man. * * * The molecules (or atoms) of two elements when brought into proper distance, mutually ‘feel’ each other, and by attraction move toward each other; or the contrary takes place by reason of repulsion (Empedocles’ doctrine of ‘the love and hatred of atoms’). * * * I cannot imagine the simplest chemical and physical process without attributing the movements of the material particles to unconscious-sensation. * * * The idea of chemical affinity consists in the fact that the various chemical elements perceive the qualitative differences in other elements—experience ‘pleasure’ or ‘revulsion’ at contact with them, and execute specific movements on this ground.”

Haeckel also quotes approvingly the statement of Naegeli, another scientist, who said: “If the molecules possess something that is related, however distantly, to sensation, it must be comfortable to be able to follow their attractions and repulsions; uncomfortable when they are forced to do otherwise.” Flammarion says: “Mind gleams in every atom. There is mind in everything, not only in human and animal life, but in plants, in minerals, in space.” Cope says: “The basis of life and mind lies back of the atoms, and may be found in the universal ether.” Hemstreet says: “Mind in the ether is no more unnatural than is mind in flesh and blood.”

Saleeby says: “Life is potential in Matter; Life-energy is not a thing unique and created at a particular time in the past. If Life is potential in Matter, it is a thousand times more evident that Mind is potential in Life. The evolutionist is impelled to believe that Mind is potential in Matter. The microscopic cell, a minute speck of matter that is to become man, has in it the promise and germ of Mind. May we not then draw the inference that the elements of Mind are present in those chemical elements— carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, chlorine—that are found in the cell? Not only must we do so, but we must go further, since we know that each of these elements, and every other, is built up out of the one invariable unit, the electron, and we must therefore assert that Mind is potential in the unit of Matter—the electron itself.” Carus says: “I am willing to concede to Professor Haeckel that all Nature is alive. Indeed, I have most emphatically insisted that there is a Spontaneity pervading all Nature. * * * The term, ‘Life,’ is used here in a broader sense than ordinarily. It here means Spontaneity or Self-Motion, while in its common significance, it is restricted to the spontaneous actions of organized beings, i. e., of plants and animals. * * * I propose what might best be called Panbiotism, briefly set forth in the maxim, ‘Everything is fraught with Life; it contains Life; it has the ability to Live’.” We have not the space here to describe in detail the experiments and observations that have brought Science to this conclusion— to the conclusion that “There is Life in Everything; Everything is Alive”—interesting and instructive though such description would be. In fact, we can refer but briefly even to the general results; reference to the records of modern physics and biology will serve to substantiate our claims. Of Life in even the simplest animal forms, we need not speak. Science has demonstrated beyond question the presence of Life and elemental Mind in plant-life, even in its simplest forms.

Crystals are now regarded as “quasi-living forms,” just a little lower in the scale than plants; some scientists have even ascribed elemental “sex” to them. In this connection, it is interesting to compare ordinary crystals with the lowly life-forms known as the Diatoms, or “living crystals,” or “living geometrical forms,” as they have been called. Also, to note how closely the crystals of frost and ice resemble the forms of leaves, branches, foliage, etc.—to examine the “garden of frost flowers” formed on the pane of glass in winter time. Experiments have produced an orchid-like crystal flower from a disk of saltpeter subjected to polarized light.

The celebrated “Bose Experiments” prove conclusively that inorganic substances may be weakened, made ill, and even killed by pressure or electric currents; the process of “dying” registering itself unmistakably through the delicate mechanism employed. Moreover, metals, and machinery made of metals, suffer from “fatigue,, and are benefited by “rest.” Tuning-forks and razor blades are familiar example of this fact. Every machinist knows that “there is something in it.” Metals may be “poisoned” by certain chemicals, and actually “killed” in some cases. There is a “window-glass disease” known to Science—it is contagious, and spreads from one pane to another, under certain conditions. Instances illustrating this general fact of the “livingness” of inorganic things might be multiplied indefinitely—the list is being added to every year, as the result of new experiments.

Life, Mind Will: Consciousness, Desire, Volition: Spontaneity, Self—Activity, Conative Energy: these are discovered to be in existence throughout all Nature. You know them directly through your own experience; by scientific observation you perceive them indirectly as manifest in all other things. They are beyond chemical analysis or physical dissection. They are revealed neither by the test-tube nor by the retort; the scalpel does not reveal their presence; the microscope does not make them visible; the finest scales of the physicist does not record their weight, though certain delicate instruments have been invented which register the physical effects manifested by them. They cannot be produced synthetically by combinations, correlations or coordinations of chemical elements; neither can mechanical power account for or explain them—much less produce them.

Biology reports that “All Life proceeds from Life.” Livingness has never been known to proceed from Non-Livingness. Life, at the last, is perceived to be Ultimate and Universal; Livingness is seen to be a manifestation of an Infinite Life Principle—and that Principle is discovered to be SPIRIT and nothing else. Honest thought and logical reasoning make an invariable, inevitable, and infallible report to this effect. Had there ever been a time in which Life was not present, then there would be no Livingness today. Life being present today is evidence that Life has always been present in some form, phase, or condition; philosophical thought finds the only thinkable source or origin of Life in the Ultimate Principle of Spirit.

Wherever there is Life, there must be Spirit. As life is universal, then Spirit must be universal. Spirit reduced to its ultimate nature reports itself as Life. Lifeless Spirit is inconceivable. Life reduced to its ultimate nature reports itself as Spirit. Spiritless Life is unthinkable. Thus, Life and Spirit are seen to be but different names for the same Ultimate Fact, Principle, Power. If you wish to think of Spirit in its simplest terms, employ the terms of Life and Livingness. Whatever else Spirit may be, or not be, it is always Life and Livingness.

Spirit: Essential Power

Having considered Spirit in its two respective modes or aspects of Presence, manifesting Essence, Reality, Actuality; and of Life, manifesting Sentience, Conation, Volition; you are now invited to consider Spirit in its third great mode or aspect, namely that of Power, manifesting Strength, Energy, Force.

We have defined the several terms, Power, Strength, Energy and Force, in a preceding section of this book, and shall assume that you are familiar with the several shades of meaning involved in them, and which you are asked to combine in your concept of Spiritual Power. We hold it to be beyond question that Spirit possesses Strength of an infinite degree and extent; that Spirit possesses that Indwelling Power known as Energy, of an infinite degree and extent; that Spirit possesses that form of Power known as Force, or ability to act upon other things, of an infinite degree and extent. In short, we believe it axiomatic and self-evident that Spirit not only possesses Infinite Power—all the Power there is—but also that it, itself, is the very Essence of Power.

This Indwelling Power of Spirit, manifesting as Strength, Energy and Force, is called forth, exerted, and applied by Will; and Will, you know, is a manifestation of Life, which in turn is an aspect or mode of Spirit. Accordingly Spiritual Power, in a sense, may be regarded and spoken of as Will Power. In the individual, it is expressed as Personal Will-Power; in the Cosmos, it is expressed as Cosmic Will-Power. In the individual, it is the manifestation and expression of Spirit; in the Cosmos, it is the manifestation and expression of SPIRIT, the Infinite Spirit, or the Totality of Spirit.

Hereafter, when we use the term, “SPIRIT” (in capital letters) we seek to indicate SPIRIT, the Infinite Spiritual Principle, which is the Totality of Spirit, the “Spirit of the Cosmos,” the “World Spirit,” the “Universal Spirit,” as man has been pleased to style it.

It has long been the contention of many philosophers, and of many scientists as well, and of certain theologians of philosophic tendencies, that “All Power is Will-Power, at the last analysis.” Many have interpreted Herbert Spencer’s “Infinite and Eternal Energy” as, essentially, Infinite Will-Power; or, at least, as “acting like Will-Power.” Wherever Power is included or referred to in the Spiritual Philosophy, it means Will-Power of some kind, form, phase, or degree.

Professor Nicholas Murray Butler, says: “A mighty group of modern scientists believe that Matter itself, in its ultimate state, may be analyzed into Energy, which again is explainable only as Will * * * Philosophy interprets in terms of Will, the name for the only Energy that Consciousness knows directly, the Energy which so abundantly manifests itself on every hand, in Nature and in history. * * * * The dominant tendency in Philosophy, powerfully supported by the results of scientific knowing, is that which sees Totality as Energy which is Will.” Professor Fleming says: “In its ultimate essence, Energy may be incomprehensible to us except as an exhibition of the direct operation of that which we call Mind and Will.”

Professor George Trumbull Ladd says: “The modern man of Science, in his use of the principle of Causation, ascribes the event to the action and reaction of various forms of Energy. But where does he get his conception of Energy? Where his warrant for applying the conception to the behavior of physical things? As those most skillful in psychological analysis are pretty nearly unanimous in holding, the conception comes from his experience with himself as Will. His acts of Will are often, if not customarily, accompanied with ‘the feeling of effort,’ and they are followed by important changes in his own bodily organism and in the things which environ him, so far as they are in suitable relations with that organism. * * * * * Things, so far as they are separate and individual, are endowed by modern Science with Wills of their own. So far as they influence one another, they are recognized as having a certain regard for each other’s Wills. So far as they constitute one great system, a universe of things, they are esteemed as being under the control of one Will.” Other writers and teachers have pointed out the fact that Science, under the hypothesis of Materialism, is utterly unable to explain and account for the Perpetual Motion manifested in the Cosmos. They hold that under such hypothesis it would follow that the Cosmos, at some point in Eternity, would come to a standstill, a “dead-centre,” a state of being “run down” like a clock. Likewise, they hold that under that hypothesis it could never have been “wound up,” or “set a-going.” Here Theology scores a possible point, with its offer to supply the Hand that “wound it up,” and “the Finger that set it a-going.”

But Philosophy and Science have another explanation, namely, that of the operation of an Infinite Will-Power—an Infinite Self-Activity—which is inexhaustible and self-renewing, and which is capable of changing the direction of its activity under the influence of the Living Consciousness with which it is associated. Such a Cosmic Self-Activity or Will-Power, could “unwind” as well as “wind-up”—it could “set a-going,” “keep a-going,” and change the direction of the “going,” at will, by its own Living Will-Power.

The Material Energy, or Pure Force of the new Materialism is admittedly a Non-Living Blind Force. Just as the old Materialism was wont to regard the universe of things as “the fortuitous concourse of atoms” (“fortuitous” meaning “happening by chance, incidental, accidental”; “concourse” meaning “a coming together or gathering or meeting”), so this Non-Living Blind Force must be regarded as a “Fortuitous Process or Happening.” In either cage, the element of “Chance” is involved in the conception; this, notwithstanding that nothing in Science is more firmly asserted than that “Everything proceeds according to Law and Order; there is no such thing as Blind Chance.” The Non-Spiritual Power conception fails utterly to explain or account for the Combining, Correlating, Coordinating Agency discovered to be ever present and ever active in Nature. Law, Order, and System can result only from the Power of Living Mind and Will; and as these are found to be omnipresent in Nature, the conclusion that there must be Living Mind and Will present and active in Nature’s Processes is unescapable. Intellect so reports; and Intuition positively insists upon its truth.

Spiritual Philosophy, on the other hand, asserts that “All Power is Will-Power”—the Will-Power of the Living SPIRIT. Even the purely material forces are regarded by it as phases or forms of this Will-Power. If the atoms and particles of Matter be “ensouled” with the elements of Sentience and of Will, as Haeckel and others positively assert, then the aggregations of these atoms and particles must also be so “ensouled.” If the “attractions and repulsions” of the particles of Matter be evidences of “likes and dislikes” and the response of Will thereto, then a like explanation is logical also in the case of the “attractions and repulsions” of masses of Matter. As most of the manifestations of Physical Power are seen to result from Attraction and Repulsion of particles or masses of Matter, the logical conclusion is obvious. Likewise, the same conclusion is inevitable in the case of the Atomic Attraction and Repulsion which result in “chemical affinity,” and its opposite, which constitute the reason and cause of chemical processes and changes.

That Life has force, power, energy, you know from your own observation and experience. You have seen the “moving power” of growing plants, tree-roots, etc. Life-Power raises the giant redwood trees far above the ground, using Gravitation as a lever—as a something with which to press back or to “kick backward.” Life-Power in the growing tree-trunks splits apart solid rock. Life-Power in the growing giant-mushroom raises and cracks heavy concrete pavements. All this Life-Power is Living Will-Power. Great thinkers believe that the Power of Gravitation, and of Electricity, and all the other great forms of Natural Power, are Living Will-Power in some form or phase of manifestation and expression. Natural Power so interpreted becomes something far more understandable than when interpreted as Blind Force. You can understand it far better in this way, because it seems so much more like yourself—more in accordance with the Life-Power manifesting in and by yourself.

Self-Motion is explainable in terms and concepts of Living Will-Power—in fact, it is explainable and understandable under no other interpretation. As we have seen in the foregoing instruction, the very idea of Energy arose in the human mind only because man had first experienced Will-Power present and active in himself. Energy means “En-ergy”—”In-Force”: these being ideas derived from actual experience with Will-Power. Will-Power is Self-Activity, Spontaneity, the Power Within! You send a current of Will-Power to your arm, and it moves. You bend your finger—a most stupendous task, when you come to consider it carefully. The apparent simplicity of the task and your familiarity with it causes you to overlook its significance and importance—you take it for granted, whereas it requires the highest degree and quality of explanation to be really understandable. Only the greatest minds are able to appreciate the almost inconceivable wonder of this small, familiar action.

Edison, one of the greatest minds of our times, has shown his appreciation of this fact in his account of his interview with Du Bois-Reymond, another great scientist. Here is Edison’s account of it: “When I was in Berlin, I met Du Bois-Reymond. Wagging the end of my finger, I said to him: ‘What is that?’ He said he didn’t know; that investigators had been for twenty-five hundred years trying to find that out. If anybody could tell him what wagged that finger, the problem of Life would be solved. * * * Nature is a perpetual motion machine; and perpetual motion implies a sustaining and impelling force.” Nicholas Murray Butler also holds that the perpetual motion of Nature is accountable and explainable only under the hypothesis of a Cosmic Living Will-Power.

Think of what your own Will-Power does, has done, and can do: then raise that idea of Will-Power to Infinity, and consider whether or not it would then be capable of “running the machinery of the Cosmos”; or performing the office of Creative Power, and of Coordinative Agent. What does your Intellect report? What does your Intuition insist upon? Is not this notion clearer and more understandable, more thinkable, more conceivable, more reasonable than is that of this great work being performed by Blind Non-living Power, Force, or Energy? What is the report of your entire mental and spiritual nature concerning this—of your intellectual, intuitional, emotional, aesthetic, ethical, and religious nature? As Professor Browne, was wont to say: “No one can understand the history of this belief without taking all these grounds and factors into consideration.”

“But,” objects the ancient Materialism, and its offspring, Material Energism, “How can we conceive of Spirit as creating material forms—building up hard rock and crystals, hard metals and solid substances—solid, firm, hard Matter?” Let us answer in the proverbial Hibernian way, which is also the Socratic method, i. e., by asking another question. Let us ask the Materialist or the Material Energist: “How does your Pure Force or Material Energy create this ‘solid, firm, hard Matter’?”

They answer: “By creating ‘vortex rings’ or ‘centres of disturbance’ in the Ether or Ultimate State of Matter; Force or Energy ‘work up’ these into more solid forms, states and conditions of Matter, into electrons, into atoms, into molecules, into masses—into radiant-matter, into gases, into fluids, into solids, the difference between which states is merely a matter of degree of vibration and of the relative distances between particles. The hard block of steel is but ‘congealed gas,’ or even but ‘worked up’ electrons or etheric vortex rings or ‘centres of disturbance.’ This is how Pure Force or Material Energy creates solid, firm, hard Matter!”

We answer, “Well, then, in order to simplify the explanation, let us assume that Pure Spiritual Energy, Force or Power, in its aspect of the Infinite Will-Power of SPIRIT, proceeds just as you claim that Pure Force or Material Energy does. Let us assume that this Infinite Will-Power begins its work by creating ‘vortex rings’ or ‘centres of disturbance’ in the Etheric Substance which we assume to be the Ultimate State of Material Substance; then proceeding to ‘work up’ these into electrons, atoms, molecules, masses—into radiant-matter, gases, fluids, solids—by means of vibration and mutual and reciprocal attraction and repulsion. Don’t you think that our Infinite Living Will-Power is quite as capable of performing this work, in just this way, as is your Non-Living Energy and Blind Force? Don’t you think that it might perform it even more easily, and more effectively, in view of the fact that it has Infinite Mind to guide and direct it, whereas your Material Energy or Pure Force is Lifeless and Mindless, and must ‘go it blindly,’ by mere Chance instead of by Mental Rule?”

We might then point out that Life-Power is no novice at the task of building-up “solid substance.” To realize this, you have but to remember that Life-Power manufactures the hard ivory-tusk and teeth of the elephant; the hard vegetable-ivory nut; the weapon of the sword-fish; the horns of the ox; the hard, firm, solid block of ebony, mahogany, rosewood, teak-wood, hickory, or oak. Has the Blind Pure Force or Material Energy any better products to its credit than these. There is a bone in the human body of which it is said that even the hottest coal fire will not reduce to ashes—even a fire that will melt the hardest metals; Life-Power produced this hard bone from the elements of the food of the human being. Do you not think that, given the basic materials, it could likewise produce flint, granite, the diamond or steel, in the same way, under the proper conditions? In fact, in the light of the dawning knowledge of the “livingness” manifested in the processes of crystallization, Life-Power is already seen to be doing just this kind of work.

The elements of Life and Mind superimposed upon Energy, Force and Power surely do not rob the latter of their power and potency, their effectiveness and their capacities. Rather, it would seem that any thoughtful intelligence would perceive that such would be a most desirable addition to the concept, serving to give it a sense and meaning which it had lacked previously. Think over this; “intuit” it for a few moments; and you will get your answer—and we feel assured that we know just what that answer will be. When you have once “caught the spirit” of the idea of Infinite Will-Power you will resent the suggestion of Infinite Blind Force as an insult to your intelligence and as an affront to your intuitive powers of mentality.

And, now, let us ask you to submit this matter of the ultimate character and nature of Ultimate Power to an unusual test—to a test devised by certain Oriental sages many centuries ago—several thousand years ago, in fact. These ancient sages reasoned among themselves as follows: “If there be an Ultimate and Essential Energy, Force, or Power in Nature, then such must abide and be present in every individual thing in Nature—at the very core and kernel of the being of such thing. If it is to be found at all, it will be found there.” And, so, they proceeded to search for its presence in all things—at the very core and kernel of all things.

First, they discovered that they could find evidences of it in the actions of every living thing, and of many things previously deemed to be non-living. Everything was perceived to act spontaneously, at times, thus manifesting a Self-Activity which was, at least, “something like Will-Action.” But this was merely the observation of actions, and the judgment upon their source; while satisfying in a way, and to a degree, it was not conclusive nor absolutely convincing. Then, said the sages, “Let us look within ourselves: if IT is everywhere, IT must be there at the centre, core, or kernel of our own being.” And so they looked within themselves for IT.”

And, lo! at the centre, core, and kernel of the soul of each of themselves was found a Something or Somewhat which was possessed of the power of Self-Activity, Self-Motion, Spontaneity—this was what they called Will-Power. When they questioned this Abiding Power, they found that it was Living and Conscious. They asked it who it was; and it answered, “I AM I!” They asked it what it was; and it answered, “I Am THAT I Am!” They tried to separate it from themselves, but it could not be separated from its owner, even in thought. Then, said the wise men: “We have found THAT which is at the kernel, core and centre of all things; and have found it to be the Living Will of the Spirit—that SPIRIT which is the Self of all things, and of the Totality of Things as well.”

Make this test for yourself, by yourself, upon yourself. Perhaps you will find what the ancient oriental wise men found. In fact, we are sure that you will do so. And having found this, you will have found a Great Secret of Nature, of Life, of Being, of Power.

Creator and Creation

In this instruction it is held that the Cosmos is continuously undergoing the process of Creative Evolution, or Progressive Creation—a process without beginning, without interruption, without ending. This is the view accepted by the best scientific, philosophic, and theological thought of the present day—and of the best thought in these fields in the past, as well. Worlds appear, continue in existence for a time, then disappear, to be succeeded by other worlds composed of the same Fundamental Substance and energized by the same Actuating Power. Cosmic Creation is conceived as constituting an Infinite Cycle of Cycles. The Creative Spirit is Eternal; the Creative Substance is Eternal; the Creative Activity is Eternal: this is the report of the best thought of all times, all lands, all peoples.

Creation—the Process of Creation—results from the action and reaction, the coordination and correlation, of the Positive Creative Principle, i. e., Creative Spirit, and the Negative Creative Principle, i. e., Creative Material Substance. Positive Spirit plays upon Negative Matter, energizing it and stirring it into activity, working upon it and “working it up” into forms and conditions more and still more complex and intricate, through the Creative Process of Change and Becoming. Creation has its minor and major cycles, its tides, its ebb and flow; but the Creative Process as a whole is held to be continuous, constant, uninterrupted, endless—coequal in Eternity with the Positive and Negative Principles which manifest it.

“But,” you may ask us, “Where is God to be found in Creation? Has He no place in the Creative Process?” In answering this question, we are mindful of our promise not to invade the field of Theology any more than is actually necessary. Theology is “The Science of God and of religion, which treats of the existence, character, attributes and works of God.” Therefore, we prefer that you obtain your Theology from the authorized sources and founts.

We feel that there is nothing in the present instruction, however, to conflict with any sound, rational theological view; on the contrary, we believe that in this instruction such views will find an earnest and staunch support. This instruction is not designed, nor is it desired, to supplant Theology or your own particular theological views; we see no difficulty in the reconciliation of our own teachings with those which you have received from the authorized theological founts.

But, nevertheless, we feel that we would be leaving something unsaid were we to neglect to point out to you certain important implications of our teaching, although in doing so we may seem to be invading the realm of theological thought—at least to the extent of setting our foot over the borderline. Accordingly, we shall ask you to consider the following logical deductions from the premises previously set forth in the present instruction.

First, we ask you to remember that all theological teachings inform you that “God is Spirit.” If this be so (and you cannot conceive that God is Matter), then God must be found in SPIRIT, if He is to be found at all by you. But where should He be looked for in SPIRIT? Let us answer you in the Hibernian (or Socratic) fashion, by asking you the question: “Where are YOU—Yourself—found in that real essence of your being which you know to be Spirit?” You must answer: “At the very centre, core, or kernel of my spiritual being.”

Then we ask you: “What does this Self report that it is, when you ask it the question?” Comes your answer: “It says, first of all, ‘I’; then it says, ‘I AM!’, then it says, ‘I AM I!’ and, when pressed for its final answer, it says ‘I Am THAT I Am!’ and I understand that by ‘THAT’ it means Pure Spirit.”

Then we ask, once more: “What has the God you believe in answered, when asked who and what He was?” You answer: “He said merely, ‘I Am THAT I Am!’”

Then we say to you: “You, yourself, have answered the question that you had asked of us, namely, the question, ‘Where is God to be found? Has He no place in the Cosmos?’ He has a place in the Cosmos; and you have found that place. That place is at the very centre, core, or kernel of SPIRIT. Your Spirit is the Microcosm; SPIRIT is the Macrocosm! Remember the ancient Hermetic Axiom: ‘As Above, so Below; as Within, so Without; as the Great, so the Small!’ God (by whatever name He may be called, or even when He is given no name) is the ‘I’ the ‘I AM,’ the ‘I AM I,’ the Self of SPIRIT; and He says all that He can possibly say concerning His nature when He announces: ‘I Am THAT I Am!’”

If, in spite of our desire to keep out of the field of Theology, you still insist upon another answer—the answer to the question, “Is God Personal or Impersonal Spirit?”—we feel justified in answering: “If by Impersonal, you mean a Being infinitely transcending the limitations of finite personal existence as we know it, then we must say that, in our opinion. God is Impersonal. But if by Personal you mean a Being possessed of the attribute of Self-Consciousness, and capable of the consciousness of ‘I AM,’ ‘I AM I,’ or ‘I Am THAT I Am!’—then, in our opinion such a Being properly may be regarded as Personal.”

Further than this we shall not go in our statements concerning Theology. Frankly, we feel that you should be able to work out the balance of the problem for yourself, aided by the theological teachings which are acceptable to both Intellect or Intuition—to Completed Reason, as we have defined it. An ancient Oriental teacher once said: “It is not enough that men believe in God; they must get God!” We add: “Men get God through the medium of the Something Within themselves— the indwelling Spirit. If God is the Essential Entity of SPIRIT, and if the Spirit within you is a focal point or centre of expression of SPIRIT, then God must be within your Spirit just as He is within the SPIRIT of the Universe. And if He is there—within your Spirit—surely you should be able to find Him, and to ‘get God,’ as the old sage said. We can but point the way; you must travel the road.

SPIRIT (and THAT which is “the Self of SPIRIT”) is not only Infinity of Being—in Existence Everywhere—but is also the Indwelling Spirit which abides within yourself, and which is the Ultimate Reality, or Real Self, of your individuality. In your contemplation of the Infinity of Outside Existence, do not ignore the Something Within yourself. All is in the ALL; and the ALL is in All. You cannot escape beyond the realm of Infinite SPIRIT; but equally true is it that SPIRIT cannot escape from existence within YOU! IT is in You, as truly as You are in IT! In this last statement is contained the essence of the Great Truth of the Inner Teachings of all philosophies and all religions; when you master this Truth, you will know “that which when known all is known.” Strive to “catch its spirit.”

Let us here ask you to read and consider the following significant, though somewhat whimsical lines of an unknown writer:

“Thou great Eternal Infinite, the great Unbounded Whole;
Whose Body is the Universe; whose Spirit is its Soul!
If Thou dost fill Immensity; if Thou art All-in-All;
Then I must be within Thyself, or not be Here at all.

 

“How could I live outside of Thee, when Thou fill earth and air?
There surely is no place for me outside of Everywhere!
If Thou art God, and Thou dost fill Infinity of Space,
Then I’m in God, think as men will, or else I have no place.
“And if I have no place in Thee; and if I am not There;
Where can I be, where could I dwell, and still not be Somewhere?
Then I must be a part of Thee, no matter if I’m small;
For if I’m not a part of God, there’s no such God at all!”

The concept of Indwelling Deity is not a new one in philosophical and theological thought; indeed, it is one of the oldest philosophical beliefs, and it appears very early in the theological thought of practically all religions. Technically, it is known as the doctrine of “Immanence” (from the Latin term “immanere,” meaning “remaining within”). The Encyclopaedia Brittanica (Eleventh Edition), in its article upon Immanence says:

“Immanence, in philosophy and theology, is a term applied (in contradistinction to ‘transcendence’) to the fact or condition of being entirely within something. Its most important use is for the theological conception of God as existing in and throughout the created world, as opposed, for example, to Deism, which conceives Him as separate from and above the universe. * * * It should be observed that the Immanence doctrine need not preclude the belief in the transcendence of God; thus God may be regarded as above the world (transcendent) and at the same time as present in and pervading it (immanent). * * *

“The conception of God as wholly external to man, a purely mechanical theory of the creation, is throughout Christendom regarded as false to the teaching of the New Testament, as also to Christian experience. The contrary view has gained ground in some quarters so far as to postulate a divine element in human beings, so definitely bridging over the gap between finite and infinite which was to some extent admitted by the bulk of early Christian teachers. The development of the Immanence theory of God has coincided with the deeper recognition of the essentially spiritual nature of Deity as contrasted with the older semi-pagan conception, found very largely in the Old Testament, of God as primarily a mighty ruler, obedience to whom is comparable with that of a subject to an absolute monarch.”

Modern philosophical, theological and metaphysical thought has inclined strongly toward the general doctrine of Immanence, and the influence of this general idea is manifest in practically all recent discussion and writing upon the subject. Professor William James expresses this fact in the following statement contained in one of his works:

“Those of us who are sexagenarians have witnessed in our own persons one of those gradual mutations of intellectual climate, due to innumerable influences, that make the thought of a past generation seem as foreign to its successor as if it were the expression of a different race of men. The theological machinery that spoke so livingly to our ancestors, with its finite age of the world, its creation out of nothing, its judicial morality and eschatology, its relish for rewards and punishments, its treatment of God as an external contriver, an ‘intelligent and moral governor,’ sounds as odd to most of us as if it were some outlandish savage religion. * * * Our contemporary mind having once for all grasped the possibility of a more intimate Weltanschauung,’ the only opinion quite worthy of arresting our attention will fall within the general scope of what may roughly be called the pantheistic field of vision, the vision of God as the indwelling divine rather than the external creator, and of human life as part and parcel of that deep reality.”

Several years ago, a writer in one of the leading magazines presented a series of articles in which he set forth that which his investigations had revealed to be the dominant principles of the philosophical and theological teaching of our great universities. The following passage is quoted from one of the articles of the series; it correctly represents the modern tendency of thought along these lines:

“Now that man has discovered that there resides in his nature a spirit or energy that is divine, the colleges say that he can summon it to work his will. The potency and future operation of this spiritual force no man can compute. Science has found a way through psychology to God; the opportunities for the race, through invoking in the human consciousness the brooding Spirit that fills all space, are absolutely infinite. Science, therefore, is demonstrating along new lines, or at least is claiming to demonstrate, that man is God made manifest. And modern philosophy, as set forth in American universities, holds this incarnation not as a fanciful and merely beautiful ideal, but as a working and understandable principle in the soul of humanity. The professors, therefore, who are digging what they believe to be the graves for dead dogmas, stand as exponents of the teaching that man is the embodiment and conscious expression of the force that guides all life and holds all matter in its course. Man has begun the cycle of that triumphal daring prophesied by ancient seers, and which appealed so potently to the imagination of Poe. Not merely in religious rhetoric, but in reality, the school men say, is man the avatar of God.”

In this connection we also ask you to consider the following excerpts from the remarkable lecture on “The Religion of the Future,” delivered a few years ago by Professor Charles W. Eliot, former President of Harvard University, before the Harvard Summer School of Theology:

“The new thought of God will be its most characteristic element. This ideal will comprehend the Jewish Jehovah, the Christian Universal Father, the modern physicist’s omnipresent and exhaustless Energy, and the biological conception of a Vital Force. The Infinite Spirit pervades the universe, just as the spirit of a man pervades his body, and acts, consciously or unconsciously, in every atom of it. The twentieth century will accept literally and implicitly St. Paul’s statement, ‘In Him we live, and move, and have our being,’ and God is that vital atmosphere, or incessant inspiration.

“The new religion is therefore thoroughly monotheistic, its God being the one infinite force; but this one God is not withdrawn or removed, but indwelling and especially dwelling in every living creature. * * * The scientific doctrine is that there is one omnipresent, eternal Energy, informing and inspiring the whole creation at every instant of time, and throughout the infinite spaces. * * * The doctrine of God’s Immanence is inconsistent with the conception that He set the universe a-going, and then withdrew, leaving the universe to be operated under physical laws, which were His vice-regents or substitutes. If God is thoroughly immanent in the entire creation, there can be no ‘secondary causes,’ in either the material or the spiritual universe.”

The contemplation of the concept of the Indwelling Spirit— the Immanence of Divinity—tends to bring the individual into the feeling and consciousness of his Underlying Unity with the Ultimate Source of Being. He then realizes in his own consciousness the fact that, as the poet has expressed it:

“The ALL is one, and all are part,
But not apart as they seem to be;
And the Blood of Life has a single heart,
Pulsing through God, and clod, and Me.”

In the spirit of this new conception of the relation between the Infinite SPIRIT and the individual Spirit, we ask you to consider carefully the following wonderful statement of Professor Josiah Royce, of Harvard, that eminent philosopher and teacher of philosophical truth:

“The Infinite Self, in the very least of the daily experiences, is known to you as something Present. This is the deepest tragedy of our finitude, that continually he comes to his own, and his own receive him not; that he becomes flesh in every least incident of our lives, whilst we, gazing with wonder upon his world, search here and there for first causes, look for miracles, and beg him to show us the Father, since that alone will suffice us. No wonder that we remain agnostics. ‘Hast thou been so long time with me,and yet hast not known me?’ Such is the eternal answer of the Logos to every doubting question. Seek him not as an outer hypothesis to explain experience. Seek him not anywhere yonder in the clouds. All experience contains him. He is the reality, the soul of it. * * * If we have the true insight of the deeper idealism, we can turn from our chaos to him, who is our true and divine self, and can hear from him with absolute assurance this one word: ‘O ye who despair, I grieve in you. Your sorrow is mine. No pang of your finitude but is mine too. I suffer it all, for all things are mine; I bear it, and yet I triumph!’ This word of the Self, I say, we can be sure of, for it is the one final word of our whole philosophic thought.”

Some philosophers hold that the Creative Power is wholly and completely involved in its Creation. Others hold that only a part or portion of the Creative Power is involved in its Creation. Some of the Oriental schools, in fact, hold that “only an infinitesimal portion of the Infinite Being is involved in or concerned with the Manifestation of Creation.”

Again, some schools hold that the Creative Spirit enters into and pervades the Material Substance as salt enters into and pervades the water of the ocean. Others hold that the action of the Creative Spirit upon the Material Substance is akin to that of the magnet upon a mass of steel-filings, i. e., by induction—the magnetic emanation being held to “ensoul” the tiny particles of steel, causing them to take form and manifest motion, just as Spirit so “ensouls” the Material Substance with similar results.

Others employ the symbol of the Sun of Spirit shining upon the surface of the great Ocean of Material Substance, and being reflected from its face. The Sun is regarded as penetrating the Ocean by means of its emanated rays: being reflected from any point of its surface: and causing motion and surface-manifestations of form in the superficial portion of the great body of water. In this view, it is held that the Sun of Spirit, in itself, never actually “enters into” the Material Substance— merely its emanated rays “enter into” the latter, there “working upon” and “working up” the material stuff, thus creating forms and activities, and manifesting the Process of Becoming.

Carrying still further this symbolic illustration of the Sun and the Ocean, it is shown that the Sun continually causes portions of the water of the Ocean to rise upward in the form of vapor; this vapor, condensing, then falls upon the Ocean in the form of rain or dew. Here attention is called to the fact that in every falling raindrop, or dewdrop, as in the Ocean itself, there is ever reflected the image and form of the Sun. Each drop has its Sun, its light, its radiance! Each drop is as a miniature Ocean, in this respect. The Sun’s reflection appears in the great Ocean, and in every tiny raindrop or dewdrop—yet the Sun itself ever remains over and above all, though its emanations are ever in all.

Thus by the symbol of Sun and Ocean is explained the nature of the Presence-Power of Spirit in the Material Substance. Thus is illustrated the Transcendence and the Immanence of the Creative Presence-Power. It is a wonderfully effective symbolic illustration—one worthy of respect, whether or not it is accepted as properly and fully representing the Truth. You will find that it will “grow upon you” as you consider it—it will “stick in your mind” like the burrs in the wool of the sheep. The Sun has always been a favorite symbol for the Supreme Power or the Supreme Being; it seems to appeal powerfully to the religious emotional nature, the poetic imagination, and the philosophical intuition of man. Perhaps Intuition recognizes it as the most appropriate and most fitting symbol of a Truth that can be expressed only by means of symbols.

Just as the mind of man has ever speculated concerning the “How” of Creation, so has it sought earnestly for an explanation of the “Why” of Creation. In all developed philosophic, metaphysical, and theological thought there is found at least an attempt to answer the question: “Why did the Supreme Power create the universe?” In some cases there is found the attempt to dismiss the subject as part of the Great Mystery— something beyond the knowledge or thought of man; but even in such cases there is usually found an attempt at some kind of explanation.

Many of these so—called explanations are so crudely anthropomorphic—so evidently the naive answers of childlike minds—that they require no serious philosophical consideration or discussion. Those who originated them certainly lacked the philosophic imagination.

Of these would-be explanations, some merely offend the intelligence of the thinker; as, for instance, the statement that “He desired to be worshiped and glorified, and so He created beings to worship Him and sing His praises.”

Others offend the heart of man, as well as his intellect; as, for instance, the idea that the Cosmos is merely an amusement-affording Moving Picture Show, operated by God in order to serve as “the Pastime of Eternity”; or, again, the idea that Life is but a great Game played by God, with his creatures as the pieces, or as the ball—a Game played by Him for the purpose of exhibiting His own Infinite Power, or, perhaps, for the purpose of defeating an imagined Bogey. Intuition revolts at such ideas: it knows that there must be an Infinite Rational Meaning attached to the Infinite Manifestation of the Infinite Presence-Power. Nothing less than this will satisfy the needs of Intuition.

Far more satisfying to both Intellect and Intuition is the interpretation furnished by that general philosophical school known as Vitalism. Vitalism, under several names, is well represented in the history of philosophical thought, ancient and modern. Bergson is one of its more prominent modern advocates. Its spirit is expressed in a somewhat unpleasant form by Schopenhauer and his followers. It is also found implicit in the basic teachings of ancient Buddhism. This broad philosophic trend of thought known as Vitalism may be indicated by the following general statement of its basic conception, viz.:

“SPIRIT has its most essential and active attribute in Life or Livingness. The Life Principle of the Universe (which is SPIRIT in one of its aspects), being essentially and characteristically Livingness, naturally finds its normal expression in the activities of Life, through the multitudinous forms of Life which it has created for the purpose of such expression. The expression and manifestation of Life and Livingness constitute the legitimate and natural activity of its essential nature and character. Accordingly, the Life Principle (which is an aspect of SPIRIT) eternally creates the Infinite Series of Universes in order to manifest and express in objective form that essential Livingness which is within itself as the innermost core, kernel and heart of itself. It creates in order that it may ‘live,’ i. e., express its Livingness in objective form. In order to do this, it works upon and ‘works up’ the Universal Material Substance, in order to produce material forms to be animated, energized, and inspired by its living spiritual energy. It creates “bodies” of Material Substance in order to breathe into them ‘The Breath of the Spirit of Life’ and thereafter to live and act in and through them.”

Bergson’s basic concept may be stated as follows: “A Free and Spontaneous Life is the very Essence of the Real. * * * Pushing out from within, seeking expression, Life buds and breaks forth into original creation. The laws of Nature are Life’s habits—its ways of proceeding and doing things. Reality is Pure Creative LIFE; Life fed from within rather than from without. It evolves and creates by means of its own inherent and spontaneous creative power. Life is not static—not something that was once something different—not a past left behind, and a future spread out in front; it is a single, continuous movement, carrying all its past with it and pressing forward into a future which it is forever creating. Evolution is the original impetus of Life—the living act in progress.”

This general conception of the presence and activity of a “Will-to-Live” in Nature is found to pervade many and varied forms of philosophical thought. It exerts a peculiar fascination upon the philosophic mind; the philosopher once falling under its influence rarely ever entirely escapes from it thereafter. The conception is supported by the observable facts concerning the evident presence in Nature of an active principle, energy or force which manifests the characteristics attributed to this hypothetical Will-to-Live. There undoubtedly is a Conative Energy working in and through Nature, which has as its evident end and purpose the manifestation, expression, perpetuation and continuance of Life—of living forms. In fact, the very idea of “Nature” implicitly involves the notion of this element which constantly inspires the natural processes. The instinct of self-preservation, and that of the perpetuation of the species, constitute two of Nature’s strongest and most active forces—in them, the Will-to-Live shows itself most plainly.

The Will-to-Live is found ever at work, striving, endeavoring, seeking and attempting to manifest and express itself in objective actuality and livingness. Its presence is plainly discernible in the germinating seed and the growing plant; in the developing germ, embryo, and young of animal life; in the adaptation of the living creature to its environment, and in its differentiations designed to meet the requirements of changing environments; in the provision for the sustenance, support and survival of the living creature, and the arrangements for the perpetuation of life and livingness in the offspring. When you think and speak of “Nature’s Processes” concerned with living creatures, you are thinking of the manifestation and expression of this Will-to-Live which is one of the aspects of SPIRIT.

Schopenhauer was so impressed with this idea of the Will-to-Live, and found so many evidences of its presence and activities on all sides in Nature, that he felt warranted in postulating it as the most essential element and factor of the World-Spirit which he regarded as being the Creative Agent of the Universe. Indeed, he went so far as to apply to this Creative Spirit, itself, the name of “The Will-to-Live.” The Buddhists, likewise, regard it as the Actuating Energy of the Universe, holding that it, the Will-to-Live, is “the Creator, the Preserver, the Destroyer, of the Universe”; they also regard all forms of Desire or Will as forms, phases, or modes of the activity of this Universal Will-to-Live. Others, in the same spirit, regard the Universal Actuating Energy or Creative Spirit as: “Power with the Desire to act; or Desire with the Power to act: the chief end, aim, purpose, and intention of such action being to manifest Livingness.”

In this consideration of the Creative Spirit as LIFE, however, you must not lose sight of the fact that “Wherever there is Life there is Mind; wherever there is Mind there is Life.” Life and Mind are attributes of Spirit, Life being the more fundamental— Mind being a form of the expression of Life. If the Universe is instinct with Life, then Mind must be involved in its every part. And so it is, as all careful thinkers sooner or later discover.

That Mind is present in the creative processes of the material universe, has ever been evident to thinking, reflective minds. The presence of Law, Order and System is an inevitable, invariable, and infallible indication of the Presence-Power of Living Mind. Law, Order and System are apparent in Nature, on every hand. Strive as we may, we cannot escape from this conviction. Moreover, in the Cosmic Processes there is to be found an invariable Logical Sequence of Cause and Effect—a Pure Logic knowing no exceptions, variations, or contradictions. “This being present, that becomes; this being active, that results,” is the rule of the Cosmic Logic.

A reverent scientist once said that Science is but “A reading by the human mind of the thoughts of the Infinite Mind.” A famous astronomer once said that his work consisted merely of “thinking God’s thoughts after Him.” There must be Mentation involved in Nature’s processes, else the human mind could not read Logical Process in them. Science is based upon the presence and result of this Logic of Nature. Logic, however, is impossible and inconceivable without the premise of a Logical Mind; and Mind is impossible and inconceivable without the premise of Life. Nature, being what it is, must be the manifestation of Living Mind!

And so, then, we have discovered that the Cosmos, the Universe, the World in which “we live and move and have our being,” is the Creative Activity of an Infinite and Eternal living SPIRIT, from which all things flow and proceed, and of which all things are forms of manifestation and expression. YOU, the individual who is reading these lines, You are a focal point or centre of the manifestation of Life, Mind, Will, in that World of Manifestation and Expression. You are the Microcosm, corresponding in nature and essence with the Macrocosm of which you are the focal point of expression. You partake of ITS nature and being; you are like unto IT in spirit; you are made in ITS spiritual image. Like IT, you possess the Creative Spirit, and you are manifesting (to a greater or less extent) the activities of Creation in your everyday life.

The individual spirit, which is You, is constantly at work manifesting its Creative Power, playing upon Material Substance, working upon and “working up” this Plastic Medium by the power of your Will. You have been doing this work chiefly unconsciously, instinctively, unaware of the source of your power, uninformed as to the methods of effectively employing this great Creative Power within you. You will see at once that if you can but open up a more direct channel of communication with the Infinite Fount of Power, then you may partake of a greater share of that Creative Power.

The Spiritual Creative Power is available to you. You may secure its services and employ them in the tasks and work of your everyday life, and toward the attainment of your ideals. You, the individual Creative Spirit, are entitled by your birthright to claim and demand the aid and assistance of the Infinite and Eternal SPIRIT in which you live and move and have your being, and from which your life and power proceed and flow. You have the natural and inalienable right to draw upon the Infinite Fount of Creative Power, and to apply that power through your own creative channels. Let us carry this thought with us into our study of the next section of this book.

Unison with Infinity

The esoteric or inner teachings of many schools of ancient and modern mysticism and occultism, of oriental and occidental lands, under many names and guises, have inevitably, invariably, and infallibly pointed to a supreme end to be gained by the student of the inner doctrine or ancient wisdom of the sages. That supreme end may be called “Unison with Infinity,” or conscious contact and attunement with the Infinite Spiritual Principle of Life, Consciousness, Power.

The essential spirit and essence of this Inner teaching is expressed in the statement of The Message of Truth, as announced in one form or another by the great spiritual giants and illumined teachers of the past and the present, of all lands and peoples, of all great religions. To the Message of Truth the truly wise listen; they commit it to memory, and make it the essential and basic fact of their mental and spiritual life. Hearken ye to it. Ponder over it. Analyze it. Dissect it. Subject it to mental mastication, mental rumination, mental digestion, mental assimilation. Return to it again and again you make it your very own.

The Message of Truth

“You, yourself, in your essential and real being, nature and entity, are Spirit and naught but Spirit—in and of SPIRIT; spiritual and not material. Matter, in any and all of its forms, is your instrument of expression—the stuff created for your use and service in your expression of Life, Mind and Will. It is your servant—not your master, you condition, limit and form it—not it you, you fashion it—not it you, when you recognize and realize your true and real nature, and awaken to a perception of your real relation to SPIRIT and of its relation to you.

“The report of SPIRIT, received by its accredited individual centres of expression, and by them transmitted to you, is this: ‘In the degree that you perceive, recognize and realize your essential identity with ME, the Supreme Presence-Power, the Ultimate Reality, in that degree will you receive and be able to manifest My Spiritual Power. I AM over and above you, under and beneath you, I surround you on all sides; I AM also within you, and you are in Me—from Me you proceed, and in Me you live, and move and have your being. Seek Me by looking within your own being, and likewise by looking for Me in Infinity, for I abide both Within and Without your being. If, and when, you will adopt and live according to this Truth, then will you be able to manifest that Truth—in and by it alone are Freedom and Invincibility, and true and real Presence and Power to be found, perceived, realized and manifested.’”

The Message of Truth informs you that you must “perceive, recognize and realize” your essential identity with the Infinite Presence-Power, in order to be able to manifest that Spiritual Power. This “perception, recognition, realization” is experienced in Completed Reason, i. e., by combined and coordinated Intellect and Intuition. In the foregoing instruction we have sought to awaken the intellectual perception, recognition and realization. We trust that we have succeeded in doing so.

The intuitional perception, recognition and realization differ from the intellectual achievement, inasmuch as Intuition does not need to be taught—it already knows; all that is required here is to awaken in Intuition the fact of its own knowing, so that it may pass down to the field of Intellect its report. This awakening may be effected in two ways, ‘Viz., (1) by considering the reports of the experience of those illumined souls who have preceded you on the Path of Attainment, and who have left behind them a record of their spiritual experiences; (2) by cultivating the actual spiritual “contact” between your individual spirit and the Universal Spirit, thus coming into actual unison and attunement with the latter.

The contemplation and sympathetic reception of the reports of the great spiritual leaders of the race, those illumined souls who have reached the mountain-top of Spiritual Wisdom and Spiritual Consciousness, will serve to set up in your soul a degree and quality of spiritual vibration which will be sufficient to induce a responsive unison and attunement with the Infinite Spiritual Principle—the Infinite Oversoul. In reading the words of such reports you will often actually “catch the spirit” of their writers, and enter the same plane of spiritual consciousness upon which their writers dwelt at the time of their writing, and from which their messages were delivered.

For this reason we ask you to consider the following quotations from “The Oversoul,” that remarkable essay of Emerson. It is written from one of the highest planes of Spiritual Consciousness, and its words and lines are saturated with the highest quality of spiritual vibrations; it is practically certain to awaken a responsive note in the soul that comes in sympathetic contact with it. Here follow the quotations:

“The heart which abandons itself to the Supreme Mind finds itself related to all its works, and will travel a royal road to particular knowledge and powers. For in ascending to this primary and aboriginal sentiment we have come from our remote station on the circumference instantaneously to the centre of the world where we see causes, and anticipate the universe, which is but a slow effect. This communication is an influx of the Divine Mind into our mind. It is an ebb of the individual rivulet before the flowing surges of the sea of Life.” “Every distinct apprehension of this central commandment agitates men with awe and delight. A thrill passes through all men at the reception of a new truth, or at the performance of a great action which comes out of the heart of nature. In these communications the power to see is not separated from the will to do, but the insight proceeds from obedience, and the obedience proceeds from a joyful perception. Every moment when the individual feels himself invaded by it, is memorable. Always, I believe, by the necessity of our constitution, a certain enthusiasm attends the individual consciousness of the Divine Presence. The character and duration of this enthusiasm varies with the state of the individual.”

“There are varying forms of that shudder or awe and delight with which the individual soul always mingles with the universal soul. The nature of these revelations is always the same; they are perceptions of the absolute law. They are solutions of the soul’s own questions. They do not answer the questions which the understanding asks. The soul answers never by words, but by the thing itself that is inquired after. Behold, it saith, I am born into the great, the universal mind. I, the imperfect, adore my own Perfect. I am somehow receptive to the great soul, and thereby do I overlook the sun and the stars and feel them to be but the fair accidents and effects which change and pass. More and more the surges of everlasting nature enter into me, and I become public and human in my regards and actions. So I come to live in thoughts, and to act with energies which are immortal.”

Does this idea of drawing to yourself the inspiration and illumination of the Infinite Spirit seem presumptuous, irreverent, forbidden to your will? If so, turn to your own favored book of religious authority, whatever it may be, Jewish, Christian, Mohammedan, Brahman, Buddhist, Zoroastrian—it matters not which, for each and all of them carry the Message of Truth in some form—and you will find there the invitation to ask, and the promise to furnish, the intuitional, inspirational, and illuminating messages of Truth—of help, strength, aid, and comfort—in the hours of need. For instance: “If any man need wisdom, let him ask of God”; also, “Before they call, I will answer, and while I am speaking they will hear”; also, “Ask and ye shall receive”; and, “Knock and it shall be opened unto you.” The invitation always is there; the promise of fulfillment always accompanies it.

Next, we offer for your sympathetic consideration the following quotations from a little esoteric manual, highly esteemed by many, and which some believe to have been inspired by high spiritual authority; the manual is known as “Light on the Path,” and its words were written down by Mabel Collins. Its quality speaks for itself in the following lines culled from its great wealth of the Inner Teachings:

“Seek it (the Truth) by plunging into the mysterious and glorious depths of your own inmost being. Seek it by testing all experience, by utilizing the senses, in order to understand the growth and meaning of individuality, and the beauty and obscurity of those other divine fragments which are struggling side by side with you, and form the race to which you belong. Seek it (the Truth) by the study of the laws of being, the laws of nature, the laws of the supernatural; and seek it by making the profound obeisance of the soul to the dim star that burns within. Steadily, as you watch and worship, its light will grow stronger. Then you will know that you have found the beginning of the way. And, when you have found the end, its light will suddenly become the Infinite Light.”

“To have seen thy soul in its bloom, is to have obtained a momentary glimpse in thyself of the transfiguration which shall eventually make thee more than man; to recognize, is to achieve the great task of gazing into the blazing light without dropping the eyes, and not falling back in terror as before some ghastly phantom. This happens to some; and so, when the victory is all but won, it is lost. * * * Then will come a calm, such as comes in a tropical country after a heavy rain, when nature works so swiftly that one may see her action. Such a calm will come to the harassed spirit. And, in the deep silence, the mysterious event will occur which will prove that the way has been found.”

“Again and again the battle must be fought and won. It is only for an interval that nature can be still. * * * But to learn is impossible until the first great battle has been won. The mind may recognize truth, but the spirit cannot receive it. Once having passed through the storm, and attained its peace, it is then always possible to learn, even though the disciple waver, hesitate, and turn aside. The Voice of the Silence remains within him; and though he leave the path utterly, yet it will resound, and rend him asunder, and separate his passions from his divine possibilities. Then, with pain and desperate cries from the deserted lower self, he will return.”

“Only fragments of the great song come to your ears while you are but man. But listen to it, remember it faithfully, so that none which has reached you is lost; and endeavor to learn from it the mystery which surrounds you. In time you will need no teacher. For as the individual has voice, so has that in which the individual exists. Life itself has speech and is never silent. And its utterance is not, as you that are deaf may suppose, a cry: it is a song. * * * Listen to the song of life. Store in your memory the melody you hear. Learn from it the lesson of harmony. * * * Look for it, and listen to it, first in your own heart. At first you may say that it is not there; when I search I find only discord. Look deeper. If again you are disappointed, pause, and look deeper again. There is a natural melody, an obscure fount, in every heart. It may be hidden over and utterly concealed and silenced.—but it is there. At the very base of your nature, you will find faith, hope, and love. Look for it there.”

We shall not attempt to explain or to comment upon the inspired statements above presented to you. They will become more and more apparent to you as you ponder over them. The study of and meditation over them will open your spiritual ears, and make keen your spiritual hearing. Enough to say that the song, the hidden melody, is the Song of the Soul—the harmonious Voice of the Spirit Within, which speaks without words: it is the Voice of the Silence which chants, “I dwelleth within thee, just as thou dwellest within Me; the Kingdom of Heaven is within thee, just as thou art in the Kingdom of Heaven of SPIRIT—of THAT which I AM!”

SPIRIT abides within its Creation—within YOU, just as you are present in your thoughts, your ideas, your will-actions, and your life-processes. It wells up in your Spiritual Consciousness; and when your ears are properly attuned to its high vibrations, you will catch occasional notes of its great Song of Infinite Life. Blessed is he who is able to so still the sounds of the phenomenal world that his ears may receive the notes of the Voice of the Silence—to catch the rhythms of the Soundless Sound of the Infinite Harmony!

By cultivating actual spiritual “contact” between your individual spirit and the Universal Spirit, you act as does the person who steps out into the open places and allows the rays of the sun to fall upon him. Like a great Sun of Spiritual Power, SPIRIT is present above you, radiating its beams of Presence-Power upon you. When you recognize and realize its presence, and open the channels of your being to the inflow of its beneficent forces, then it energizes, animates and inspires your entire being. As you have seen in the Message of Truth, the available strength of these rays and beams, and the degree of your receptivity to them, depend upon your degree of perception, recognition, and realization of the Presence-Power of the Sun of SPIRIT. That Sun is always there, radiating its Power upon all alike; but unless the individual opens himself to its influence he will not receive it.

Inasmuch as SPIRIT is Infinite Life, Infinite Mind, Infinite Will, its radiations partake of the presence and power of each of these three aspects of itself. These rays, received into your being, will give you more and more efficient Life; more and more efficient Mentality; more and more efficient Will. All Life Power, all Mind Power, all Will Power flow from this Original Source; and you may receive a greater and fuller store of each and all these phases and forms of Spiritual Power if you will but follow the spirit of the Message of Truth which has been announced to you.

As a writer has said: “As one comes into and lives continually in the full, conscious relation of his oneness with the Infinite Life and Power, then all else follows. This it is that brings the realization of such splendors, and beauties and joys, as a life that is thus related with the Infinite Power alone can know. This it is to come into the realization of heaven’s richest treasures while walking the earth. This it is to bring heaven down to earth, or rather to bring earth up to heaven. This it is to exchange weakness and impotence for strength; to exchange sorrows and sighings for joy; to exchange fears and forebodings for faith; to exchange longings for realizations. This it is to come into Fullness of Peace, Power, and Plenty.”

The Inner Teachings of all great religions contain references to a Silent Place of the Soul in which the Individual Spirit communes with the Infinite Spirit of Life. Many are the references to the Inner Chamber, the door to which will be opened to him who gives the Right Knock. Many are the admonitions to “Enter into thine Inner Chamber and shut the Door.” This Inner Chamber is not the physical place which so many have considered it to be. It is the Quiet Place of the Soul—the Sanctuary of the Spirit— the state of Spiritual Consciousness.

There is a mental state in which you may still the waters of the Ocean of Life so that the image of the Infinite Sun may be clearly and distinctly reflected in its bosom. This state is called “The Silence.” It is “The Quiet Place of the Soul” the value of which is taught by the mystics. It is the Silence in the midst of the Storm of Life. There the winds of the senses, and the waves of the passions are stilled, and the waters of the mind cease their troubled movement, their whirlings and their swirlings, and permit the bosom of the Ocean to rest quiet and still, allowing the great Sun of Spirit to picture itself on its placid surface.

In that state of Quiet and Peace the Soundless Sound is heard—the Voice of the Silence breathes words of comfort and encouragement, of courage and strength, to the tired soul. In that Silence man communes with the great Flame of Spirit from which has emerged the Divine Spark within himself. From it he emerges refreshed and strengthened, comforted and contented, better able to meet the requirements of duty, work, and service in the outside world—the world in which the Storms of Change and Becoming rage. In the Heart of the Storm, in the Quiet Place of the Soul, in the Silence of the Spirit, there reign Peace and Power, Wisdom and Will, Life and Livingness— the Quintessence of the Presence-Power of SPIRIT. He who is wise will seek, find, and avail himself of the Peace and Strength of “The Silence.”

The spirit of The Silence is breathed in the old hymn written by Martineau over seventy-five years ago—the hymn entitled “The Secret Place.” Its words have brought comfort and peace to thousands of weary souls seeking strength, life and wisdom. Here are the words of the first verse of that hymn:

“He who himself and God would know,
Into the Silence let him go;
And lifting off pall after pall,
Reach to the inmost depth of all.”

A writer says: “Whenever you are in doubt as to the course you should pursue, after you have turned to every outward means of guidance, let the inward eye see, let the inward ear hear, and allow this simple, natural, beautiful process to go on unimpeded by questionings or doubts. * * * * In all dark hours and times of unwonted perplexity we need but to follow one simple direction, found, as all needed directions can be found, in that old book which so many read, but alas, so few interpret: ‘Enter into thine Inner Chamber and shut the door’.”

Another writer says: “One of the most intuitive men we have ever met had a desk in a city office where several other men were doing business constantly, and often talking loudly. Entirely undisturbed by the many and various sounds about him, this self-centred, faithful man would, in any moment of perplexity, draw the curtains of privacy so completely about him that be would be as fully enclosed in his own aura, and thereby as effectually removed from all distractions, as though he were alone in some primeval wood. Taking his difficulty with him into the mystic Silence, in the form of a direct question to which he expected a direct answer, he would remain entirely passive until the reply came; and never once through many years’ experience did he ever find himself disappointed or misled. * * * * Never forget that expectation and desire are bride and bridegroom, and forever inseparable, and you will soon find your hitherto darkened way grow luminous with celestial radiance, for with the heaven within, all heavens without you will incessantly co-operate.”

Ralph Waldo Trine, the popular writer of “In Tune With the Infinite,” says in that work: “The great central fact in human life, in your own life and in mine, is the coming into a conscious vital realization of our oneness with this Infinite Life, and the opening of ourselves to this divine inflow. * * * In just the degree that we come into a conscious realization of our oneness with the Infinite Life, and open ourselves to this divine inflow, do we actualize in ourselves the qualities and powers of the Infinite Life. * * * In the degree that we come into this realization, and connect ourselves with this Infinite Source, do we make it possible for the higher powers to play, to work, to manifest in us. * * * In the degree that we recognize Him as the Infinite Spirit of Life and Power that is today, at this moment, working and manifesting in and through all; and in the degree that we come into the realization of our oneness with this life: then, in that degree do we become partakers thereof, and so do we actualize in ourselves the qualities of His life. In the degree that we open ourselves to the inflowing tide of this immanent and transcendental life, do we make ourselves channels through which the Infinite Intelligence can work.”

In the above quotations, we see the insistence placed upon the “degree of recognition and realization” of the Infinite Presence-Power. The same insistence has always been placed upon it by the great spiritual teachers of all times, lands, and creeds; it is found to occupy a prominent place in the Message of Truth herein announced to you. It is an axiom of ancient and modern Spiritual Philosophy that SPIRIT, the Supreme Presence-Power, the Ultimate Reality, identifies itself with the individual in the degree of the completeness and earnestness with which the individual identifies himself with it. This is the Secret of Spiritual Power. Make it your own, and carry its spirit and meaning ever with you. Guard it well; never allow it to leave your possession. Above all, never lose it!

Not merely in The Silence should you make the mental contact with SPIRIT. Outside of it, also, must you carry your consciousness of the essential identity of your individual Spirit with the Infinite SPIRIT. You must always live, and move, and have your being in the consciousness that YOU—your “I AM I”—is a focal point and centre of consciousness, life, will, and power of SPIRIT; and in the knowledge that “your consciousness of SPIRIT is only a part of SPIRIT’S consciousness of itself; all bodies are modes of Infinite Extension, all souls but modes of Infinite Spiritual Presence-Power.” Never lose sight of this tremendous truth of your essential being; let it ever constitute a background for your thought, feeling, willing.

In this consciousness of your essential identity with SPIRIT, you may dwell in Peace, Security, and Freedom. You become aware that you, verily, “rest in the hollow of His hand,” and that the Sheltering and Protecting Arms are ever around and about you; that the Unseen Hand is ever extended to you, ready and willing to clasp your own hand and to lead, assist, guide and support you in the journey of life. In it, in hours of distress or need, you will feel yourself pressed up to the Infinite Breast, as the babe is to that of its mother. In it, you will become aware that “The Kindly Light” is ever there, shining “amidst the encircling gloom,” and ever “leading you on,” step by step—one step at a time, a true step, a sure step, a step toward Attainment and Victory.

With the Light of Spiritual Consciousness kindled within you, alive and burning bright, you may supplant Fear with Indomitable Courage, supplant Doubt and Scepticism with the Faith that Knows, supplant Sorrow with Joy supplant Unrest with Peace. In that Infinite Light, the Brooding Presence of SPIRIT will hover over you, around you, about you. Standing on the Solid Rock of Truth, you will find that its Presence, its Power, its Peace, its Joy, will be superimposed upon you; and its Essence and Livingness will enter into and permeate your entire being.

When you wish to draw to yourself the rays of the Presence-Power of SPIRIT, in hours of special need, make use of the following Mediation which is, in substance and in spirit, that which has been handed down from teacher to student, from generation to generation, for many ages, in all lands, by the adherents of the great Spiritual Philosophy. It will help you to rediscover the Light, if you have temporarily lost it; it will help you to discover the Light if you have not already found it. In it burns brightly the Flame of Spirit—the only Source of Light, from whence all Light comes. In it will be heeded your cry for “Light, more Light!” This Infinite Light of SPIRIT will illumine the dark places of your soul, banishing Doubt, Gloom, Fear, Distrust.

Spiritual Meditation: Banish from your consciousness the disturbing thoughts, ideas, feelings, and mental images of your finite and conditioned environment, and concentrate your entire attention upon SPIRIT, the Infinite and Eternal Presence-Power, the Ultimate Reality of Existence. Think of its Infinite and Eternal Life, its Infinite and Eternal Consciousness, its Infinite and Eternal Will; its Infinite and Eternal Power. In this way you will flood your mind and soul with the Infinite Light, and all Darkness of the Soul will disappear. The Dark Night of the Soul will be transformed into the High Noon of Spiritual Daytime. Lift your thoughts from the Temporal and fix them upon the Eternal; raise your thoughts from the Finite and fix them upon the Infinite; elevate your thoughts from the Changing and fix them upon the Changeless. Then, having done this, you are prepared to return to the things and scenes of personal, finite, temporal, changing existence, again to take up your work, duties, service—to return, however, infinitely refreshed, reinvigorated, and filled with new life, spirit, courage, wisdom, and will.

Here, we would call your attention to another important point concerning this “contact” with SPIRIT—this “Unison with Infinity”—of which we have told you. The term “Unison” means “Harmony, agreement, concord, union.” In the present usage, the term carries with it the idea involved in its meaning when it is employed in relation to music, i. e., “Identity in pitch; coincidence of sounds proceeding from an equality in the number of vibrations made in a given time by two or more sonorous bodies.” Even still more significant in this connection is the familiar idea of the “attunement” of the receiving and sending instruments in wireless telegraphy, or in the even more wonderful wireless Radiophone.

As you know, the ether may be filled with countless “wireless” messages or transmitted sounds, yet the receiving instrument will not “pick up” or record any of them unless it first be “tuned” to a pitch corresponding to that of the sending instruments. To all the receiving instruments not so attuned, it is practically as if these messages and waves of power were non-existent. Here we have a remarkable instance of those wonderful analogies which are found on all sides in Nature, and which are indicated in that axiom of the Hermetic teachings: “As above, so below; as within, so without; as in great, so in small.”

The fundamental idea involved in our thought concerning the unison between the individual Spirit and the Infinite SPIRIT is based upon the fact expressed in the term “Vibrations,” rightly understood. Not only are all material things in vibration— vibrating by reason of the influence of SPIRIT upon them, and of the Spirit dwelling within them—but all Spirit, and SPIRIT itself, is to be conceived as vibrating. Nothing is motionless— everything is in motion—wherever there is Spirit or SPIRIT. It is true, as the ancient sages and their modern successors inform us, that there is a state of being in which the vibrations are of such infinite intensity and rapidity that all seems to be motionless, standing still, and at rest; but, at the last, this is perceived to be Infinite Motion and not Motionlessness. Spiritual vibrations radiate and may be “picked up” by spiritual instruments properly attuned. SPIRIT is Radio-active!

When the individual soul becomes attuned to the Oversoul—when the individual Spirit is keyed to the pitch of SPIRIT—then does the Life, Mind, Will, Strength of SPIRIT flow into the individual Spirit which is its focal centre of expression and manifestation. When the individual Spirit is so attuned to SPIRIT, then not only do the messages of SPIRIT reach its mind and soul, but also the Power of SPIRIT—its Spiritual Power— flows into the channels of the individual Spirit, there to be used and employed by the latter when it has learned how to apply it properly.

You have heard of the “mental second wind” which, like the physical “second wind” that comes to the tired runner, so often is attained by one when he has become mentally exhausted. You, have, moreover, most likely noted the suggestion of Professor William James that there is a “third wind,” a fourth, a fifth, a sixth, a seventh “wind” of physical, mental, and spiritual energy which become available to the individual who has learned to “tap” their sources. These “sources” are really phases of the Infinite Fount of All-Power which in this instruction we have called “POWER,” and which in its ultimate essence and nature is Spiritual Power.

The great spiritual teachers of the race have always taught, and teach today, that this Infinite Fount of Power is unlimited and inexhaustible in extent, amount, and degree; its apparent limitations being caused solely by the incapacity of the individual to receive and apply that Power. By “contacting” the Infinite Supply; by becoming in Unison with Infinity; by adjusting your spiritual receiving apparatus; you may “pick up” and make use of the constant and unfailing current of spiritual vibrations which are forever being radiated and emanated by SPIRIT, the Fount of All-Power. This is far more than a mere figure of speech or metaphorical representation: it is the expression in physical terms of a tremendous truth of Spiritual Power. Its truth may be proved by you in your own actual experience, provided that you will but “go about it in the right way”—and we have pointed out to you that “right way.”

It is not enough that you should perceive, recognize, and realize the Truth concerning Spiritual Power. You should also manifest its energies which are available to you; you should demonstrate the Truth in your everyday life and work. The Infinite Spiritual Power is not static: it is dynamic. It is not for rest: it is for use, action, and employment in the activities of the world. It is impossible, however, for you to possess any marked degree of the perception, recognition, and realization of this Truth without also manifesting and demonstrating it in at least some degree. Even a partial perception and realization of the Infinite Presence-Power of SPIRIT will impart to you an increased efficiency, proficiency, and method of application of its energies and forces. Conscious application of Spiritual Power soon passes down to the plane of your Subconscious, and thereafter becomes habitual and instinctive with you.

By the right application of Spiritual Power you open the doors of the storehouse of the Infinite Supply. The Infinite Supply furnishes the material and means wherewith wants, necessities and needs are supplied, filled, gratified, satisfied. All material, and all forces, are under the control of Spiritual Power. You are entitled to all that is necessary for your full, rightful expression of the Life and Spirit within you. The material for your needs is contained within the Substance which is plastic and responsive to the Power of the Spirit. Spirit contains all the Power necessary to mold and shape that material into objective form. All that is needed by you is the Faith and Will to apply that Power which is within you.

Throughout all Nature we find the operation of the Law of Supply, the Law of Use. All Life instinctively draws upon the Infinite Supply for all that is required for its normal needs, requirements, necessities. The existence of an instinctive “want” implies the existence of the supply of material which will satisfy it. This implicit promise of Supply is found in all Nature. Its spirit is voiced in the inspired statement that “The Lord will provide.” This promise is not a vain mockery: it is a grand truth of Existence. The Supply is always there; the creature has but to open its channels to the inflow, and to reach out toward the Source.

Having obtained lawful and rightful access to the great storehouse of the Infinite Supply, and knowing yourself to be the true heir to its treasures, your supply is then limited only by your capacity for finding out that which you need for your rightful expression of Life. That capacity may be developed and perfected by you by means of an increasing degree of Unison with Infinity—of a fuller perception, recognition, and realization of the Truth concerning Spiritual Power. “The Supply is equal to the Demand”; but the Demand must be made properly, confidently, and with Faith and Courage.

When you set into operation the Spiritual Power at your disposal, you will begin to attract to yourself that which is necessary for your use, need, and support—that which will relieve and remove your lack and want. You will do this in precisely the same way that the lilies of the field attract to themselves that which they need for their support and use— that which raises them up to that state of natural magnificence excelling even “Solomon in all his glory,” as you have been told by a high spiritual authority.

You are a Creator. You create your environment—you have always done so. Whether you consciously will to do so or not, your spiritual forces are always working in this way. Consciously or unconsciously, willingly or unwillingly, you are setting into operation great spiritual forces which produce certain material effects. You are a builder, a creator, even though you know it not. This being so, wisdom dictates that you build intelligently, and in accordance with “your heart’s desire.” So; “Build thee more stately mansions, O my Soul!” should ever be your demand. Build for yourself the kind of world of which you have dreamed. Make your dreams come true!

Trine voices a great truth when he says: “Each is building his own world. We build from within, and we attract from without. Thought is the force with which we build, and thoughts are forces. Like builds like, and like attracts like. In the degree that thought is spiritualized does it become more subtle and powerful in its workings. This spiritualizing is in accordance with law, and is within the power of all. Everything is first worked out in the unseen before it is manifested in the seen; in the ideal, before it is realized in the real; in the spiritual, before it shows forth in the material. The realm of the unseen is the realm of cause. The realm of the seen is the realm of effect. The nature of an effect is always determined and conditioned by the nature of its cause.”

In this book we do not attempt to give you specific directions for the employment of Spiritual Power in any of its many possible particular forms of use and application. In other books of this series we have pointed out to you how you may effectively employ this Spiritual Power, transmuted into Personal Power, in many different forms of its effective application. In the first book of the series, the one entitled “Personal Power,” we have shown you that all Personal Power proceeds, directly or indirectly, from a great Principle of All-Power which we call, simply, “POWER” In the present book we have identified this POWER Principle with SPIRIT, and have shown you that All-Power is Spiritual Power, at the last analysis. In this book, also, we have shown you that this Spiritual Power—this POWER of SPIRIT—may be drawn upon freely by your individual Spirit when it enters into conscious Unison with Infinity—in Attunement with SPIRIT.

Each other book of this series is a Key unlocking some particular door of Personal Power. The present volume is the Master Key which releases the Master Lock, without which the individual key will not be able to turn the individual lock and thus open its particular door. If you are acquainted with the operation of the locks upon the boxes of the Safe Deposit Vaults of the large cities, you will understand more clearly this illustration. Lacking the Master Key, you will never be able to secure the full measure of Personal Power in any of its phases, nor will you ever be able to employ that Power most intelligently, to the best advantage, and with the highest degree of efficiency. The knowledge of SPIRIT—the Infinite and Eternal, Ultimate and Sovereign, PRESENCE-POWER—constitutes “That which, when known, causes all else to be known,” concerning the manifestation of Personal Power.

A writer has said of this knowledge of Truth and Power that “It hews open the path, as the lightning splits the darkness. * * * It dissolves doubts, cuts knots of chronic impossibility, melts circumstances, pierces shadows like a flash of glory, dashes through the jungle of appearances like the horn of a unicorn.”

The little occult manual, believed by many to have been inspired, to which we have previously referred, contains the following instructive and suggestive bit of esoteric teaching. It refers to the Battle of Life on the Plane of Material Existence, and of the Real Self (SPIRIT) which abides as the Inner Self of the individual Spirit, and which springs to action when it is perceived, recognized, realized and acknowledged by the individual soul, and when its aid and service is demanded by the latter as its rightful heritage. Listen to the voice of the message:

“Stand aside in the coming battle; and, though thou fightest, be not thou the warrior. Look for the warrior, and let him fight in thee. Take his orders for battle, and obey him. Obey him, not as though he were a general, but as though he were thyself, yet infinitely wiser and stronger than thyself. Look for him, else in the fever and hurry of the fight thou mayest pass him; and he will not know thee unless thou knowest him.

If thy cry reach his listening ear, then will he fight in thee, and fill the dull void therein. And, if this is so, then canst thou go through the fight cool and unwearied, standing aside, and letting him battle for thee. Then it will be impossible for thee to strike one blow amiss. But if thou look not for him, if thou pass him by, there is no safeguard for thee. Thy brain will reel, thy heart will grow uncertain, and, in the dust of the battle-field, thy sight and senses will fail, and thou will not know thy friends from thy enemies.

“He is thyself, yet thou are but finite and liable to error. He is eternal, and is sure. He is eternal truth. When once he has entered thee, and become thy warrior, he will never utterly desert thee; and, in the day of the great peace he will become one with thee. * * * You can stand upright now, firm as a rock amid the turmoil, obeying the warrior who is thyself and thy king. Unconcerned in the battle save to do his bidding, having no longer any care as to the result of the battle—for one thing only is important, that the warrior shall win; and you know that he is incapable of defeat—standing thus, cool and awakened, use the hearing that you have acquired by pain and the destruction of pain.”

Carry with you the echo of the concluding words of the Message of Truth as presented to you in this instruction: “In the degree that you perceive, recognize and realize your essential identity with ME, the Supreme Presence-Power, the Ultimate Reality, in that degree will you receive and be able to manifest My Spiritual Power. I AM over and above you, under and beneath you. I surround you on all sides; I AM also within you, and you are in Me—from Me you proceed, and in Me you live, and move and have your being. Seek Me by looking within your own being, and likewise by looking for Me in Infinity, for I abide both Within and Without your being. If, and when, you will adopt and live according to this Truth, then will you be able to manifest that Truth—in and by it alone are Freedom and Invincibility, and true and real Presence and Power to be found, perceived, realized and manifested.”

 

The End