Kitabı oku: «The Hidden Power And Other Papers upon Mental Science», sayfa 2

large scale as on a small one, that though the nature of its field is

determined by the nature of the principle itself, the extent of its

field is unlimited. If, therefore, we continue to follow up the law we

have been considering, it leads us to the conception of a unit of

intelligence as far superior to that of the individual man as the unity

of his individual intelligence is superior to that of the intelligence

of any single atom of his body; and thus we may conceive of a collective

individuality representing the spiritual character of any aggregate of

men, the inhabitants of a city, a district, a country, or of the entire

world.

Nor need the process stop here. On the same principle there would be a

superior collective individuality for the humanity of the entire solar

system, and finally we reach the conception of a supreme intelligence

bringing together in itself the collective individualities of all the

systems in the universe. This is by no means a merely fanciful notion.

We find it as the law by which our own conscious individuality is

constituted; and we find the analogous principle working universally on

the physical plane. It is known to physical science as the "law of

inverse squares," by which the forces of reciprocal attraction or

repulsion, as the case may be, are not merely equivalent to the sum of

the forces emitted by the two bodies concerned, but are equivalent to

these two forces multiplied together and divided by the square of the

distance between them, so that the resultant power continually rises in

a rapidly-increasing ratio as the two reciprocally exciting bodies

approach one another.

Since this law is so universal throughout physical nature, the doctrine

of continuity affords every ground for supposing that its analogue holds

good in respect of spiritual nature. We must never lose sight of the

old-world saying that "a truth on one plane is a truth on all." If a

principle exists at all it exists universally. We must not allow

ourselves to be misled by appearances; we must remember that the

perceptible results of the working of any principle consist of two

factors--the principle itself or the active factor, and the

subject-matter on which it acts or the passive factor; and that while

the former is invariable, the latter is variable, and that the operation

of the same invariable upon different variables must necessarily produce

a variety of results. This at once becomes evident if we state it

mathematically; for example, _a_, _b_ or _c_, multiplied by _x_ give

respectively the results _ax_, _bx_, _cx_, which differ materially from

one another, though the factor _x_ always remains the same.

This law of the generation of power by attraction applies on the

spiritual as well as on the physical plane, and acts with the same

mathematical precision on both; and thus the human individuality

consists, not in the mere aggregation of its parts, whether spiritual or

corporeal, but in the _unity_ of power resulting from the intimate

association into which those parts enter with one another, which unity,

according to this law of the generation of power by attraction, is

infinitely superior, both in intelligence and power, to any less fully

integrated mode of spirit. Thus a natural principle, common alike to

physical and spiritual law, fully accounts for all claims that have ever

been made for the creative power of our thought over all things that

come within the circle of our own particular life. Thus it is that each

man is the centre of his own universe, and has the power, by directing

his own thought, to control all things therein.

But, as I have said above, there is no reason why this principle should

not be recognised as expanding from the individual until it embraces

the entire universe. Each man, as the centre of his own world, is

himself centred in a higher system in which he is only one of

innumerable similar atoms, and this system again in a higher until we

reach the supreme centre of all things; intelligence and power increase

from centre to centre in a ratio rising with inconceivable rapidity,

according to the law we are now investigating, until they culminate in

illimitable intelligence and power commensurate with All-Being.

Now we have seen that the relation of man to the lower modes of spirit

is that of superiority and command, but what is his relation to these

higher modes? In any harmoniously constituted system the relation of the

part to the whole never interferes with the free operation of the part

in the performance of its own functions; but, on the contrary, it is

precisely by means of this relation that each part is maintained in a

position to discharge all functions for which it is fitted. Thus, then,

the subordination of the individual man to the supreme mind, so far from

curtailing his liberty, is the very condition which makes liberty

possible, or even life itself. The generic movement of the whole

necessarily carries the part along with it; and so long as the part

allows itself thus to be carried onwards there will be no hindrance to

its free working in any direction for which it is fitted by its own

individuality. This truth was set forth in the old Hindu religion as the

Car of Jaggarnath--an ideal car only, which later ages degraded into a

terribly material symbol. "Jaggarnath" means "Lord of the Universe," and

thus signifies the Universal Mind. This, by the law of Being, must

always move forward regardless of any attempts of individuals to

restrain it. Those who mount upon its car move onward with it to

endlessly advancing evolution, while those who seek to oppose it must be

crushed beneath its wheels, for it is no respecter of persons.

If, therefore, we would employ the universal law of spirit to control

our own little individual worlds, we must also recognise it in respect

to the supreme centre round which we ourselves revolve. But not in the

old way of supposing that this centre is a capricious Individuality

external to ourselves, which can be propitiated or cajoled into giving

the good which he is not good enough to give of his own proper motion.

So long as we retain this infantile idea we have not come into the

liberty which results from the knowledge of the certainty of Law.

Supreme Mind is Supreme Law, and can be calculated upon with the same

accuracy as when manifested in any of the particular laws of the

physical world; and the result of studying, understanding and obeying

this Supreme Law is that we thereby acquire the power to _use_ it. Nor

need we fear it with the old fear which comes from ignorance, for we can

rely with confidence upon the proposition that the whole can have no

interest adverse to the parts of which it is composed; and conversely

that the part can have no interest adverse to the whole.

Our ignorance of our relation to the whole may make us appear to have

separate interests, but a truer knowledge must always show such an idea

to be mistaken. For this reason, therefore, the same responsiveness of

spirit which manifests itself as obedience to our wishes, when we look

to those degrees of spirit which are lower than her own individuality,

must manifest itself as a necessary inflowing of intelligence and power

when we look to the infinity of spirit, of which our individuality is a

singular expression, because in so looking upwards we are looking for

the higher degrees of _ourself_.

The increased vitality of the parts means the increased vitality of the

whole, and since it is impossible to conceive of spirit otherwise than

as a continually expanding principle of Life, the demand for such

increased vitality must, by the inherent nature of spirit, be met by a

corresponding supply of continually growing intelligence and power.

Thus, by a natural law, the demand creates the supply, and this supply

may be freely applied to any and every subject-matter that commends

itself to us. There is no limit to the supply of this energy other than

what we ourselves put to it by our thought; nor is there any limit to

the purposes we may make it serve other than the one grand Law of Order,

which says that good things used for wrong purposes become evil. The

consideration of the intelligent and responsive nature of spirit shows

that there can be no limitations but these. The one is a limitation

inherent in spirit itself, and the other is a limitation which has no

root except in our own ignorance.

It is true that to maintain our healthy action within the circle of our

own individual world we must continually move forward with the movement

of the larger whole of which we form a part. But this does not imply any

restriction of our liberty to make the fullest use of our lives in

accordance with those universal principles of life upon which they are

founded; for there is not one law for the part and another for the

whole, but the same law of Being permeates both alike. In proportion,

therefore, as we realise the true law of our own individuality we shall

find that it is one with the law of progress for the race. The

collective individuality of mankind is only the reproduction on a larger

scale of the personal individuality; and whatever action truly develops

the inherent powers of the individual must necessarily be in line with

that forward march of the universal mind which is the evolution of

humanity as a whole.

Selfishness is a narrow view of our own nature which loses sight of our

place in relation to the whole, not perceiving that it is from this very

relation that our life is drawn. It is ignorance of our own

possibilities and consequent limitation of our own powers. If,

therefore, the evidence of harmonious correlation throughout the

physical world leads irresistibly to the inference of intelligent

spirit as the innermost within of all things, we must recognise

ourselves also as individual manifestations of the same spirit which

expresses itself throughout the universe as that power of intelligent

responsiveness which is Love.

Thus we find ourselves to be a necessary and integral part of the

Infinite Harmony of All-Being; not merely recognising this great truth

as a vague intuition, but as the logical and unavoidable result of the

universal Life-principle which permeates all Nature. We find our

intuition was true because we have discovered the law which gave rise to

it; and now intuition and investigation both unite in telling us of our

own individual place in the great scheme of things. Even the most

advanced among us have, as yet, little more than the faintest

adumbration of what this place is. It is the place of _power_. Towards

those higher modes of spirit which we speak of as "the universal," the

law of man's inmost nature makes him as a lens, drawing into the focus

of his own individuality all that he will of light and power in streams

of inexhaustible supply; and towards the lower modes of spirit, which

form for each one the sphere of his own particular world, man thus

becomes the directive centre of energy and order.

Can we conceive of any position containing greater possibilities than

these? The circle of this vital influence may expand as the individual

grows into the wider contemplation of his unity with Infinite Being; but

any more comprehensive law of relationship it would be impossible to

formulate. Emerson has rightly said that a little algebra will often do

far more towards clearing our ideas than a large amount of poetic

simile. Algebraically it is a self-evident proposition that any

difference between various powers of _x_ disappears when they are

compared with _x_ multiplied into itself to infinity, because there can

be no ratio between any determinate power, however high, and the

infinite; and thus the relation between the individual and All-Being

must always remain the same.

But this in no way interferes with the law of growth, by which the

individual rises to higher and higher powers of his own individuality.

The unchangeableness of the relation between all determinate powers of

_x_ and infinity does not affect the relations of the different powers

of _x_ between themselves; but rather the fact that the multiplication

of _x_ into itself to infinity is mentally conceivable is the very proof

that there is no limit to the extent to which it is possible to raise

_x_ in its determinate powers.

I trust unmathematical readers will pardon my using this method of

statement for the benefit of others to whom it will carry conviction. A

relation once clearly grasped in its mathematical aspect becomes

thenceforth one of the unalterable truths of the universe, no longer a

thing to be argued about, but an axiom which may be assumed as the

foundation on which to build up the edifice of further knowledge. But,

laying aside mathematical formulæ, we may say that because the Infinite

is infinite there can be no limit to the extent to which the vital

principle of growth may draw upon it, and therefore there is no limit to

the expansion of the individual's powers. Because we are _what_ we are,

we may _become_ what we will.

The Kabbalists tell us of "the lost word," the word of power which

mankind has lost. To him who discovers this word all things are

possible. Is this mirific word really lost? Yes, and No. It is the open

secret of the universe, and the Bible gives us the key to it. It tells

us, "The Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart." It is

the most familiar of all words, the word which in our heart we realise

as the centre of our conscious being, and which is in our mouth a

hundred times a day. It is the word "I AM." Because I am what I am, I

may be what I will to be. My individuality is one of the modes in which

the Infinite expresses itself, and therefore I am myself that very power

which I find to be the innermost within of all things.

To me, thus realising the great unity of all Spirit, the infinite is not

the indefinite, for I see it to be the infinite of _Myself_. It is the

very same I AM that I am; and this not by any act of uncertain favour,

but by the law of polarity which is the basis of all Nature. The law of

polarity is that law according to which everything attains completion by

manifesting itself in the opposite direction to that from which it

started. It is the simple law by which there can be no inside without an

outside, nor one end of a stick without an opposite end.

Life is motion, and all motion is the appearance of energy at another

point, and, where any work has been done, under another form than that

in which it originated; but wherever it reappears, and in whatever new

form, the vivifying energy is still the same. This is nothing else than

the scientific doctrine of the conservation of energy, and it is upon

this well-recognised principle that our perception of ourselves as

integral portions of the great universal power is based.

We do well to pay heed to the sayings of the great teachers who have

taught that all power is in the "I AM," and to accept this teaching by

faith in their bare authority rather than not accept it at all; but the

more excellent way is to know _why_ they taught thus, and to realise for

ourselves this first great law which all the master-minds have realised

throughout the ages. It is indeed true that the "lost word" is the one

most familiar to us, ever in our hearts and on our lips. We have lost,

not the word, but the realisation of its power. And as the infinite

depths of meaning which the words I AM carry with them open out to us,

we begin to realise the stupendous truth that we are ourselves the very

power which we seek.

It is the polarisation of Spirit from the universal into the particular,

carrying with it all its inherent powers, just as the smallest flame has

all the qualities of fire. The I AM in the individual is none other than

the I AM in the universal. It is the same Power working in the smaller

sphere of which the individual is the centre. This is the great truth

which the ancients set forth under the figure of the Macrocosm and the

Microcosm, the lesser I AM reproducing the precise image of the greater,

and of which the Bible tells us when it speaks of man as the image of

God.

Now the immense practical importance of this principle is that it

affords the key to the great law that "as a man thinks so he is." We are

often asked why this should be, and the answer may be stated as follows:

We know by personal experience that we realise our own livingness in two

ways, by our power to act and our susceptibility to feel; and when we

consider Spirit in the absolute we can only conceive of it as these two

modes of livingness carried to infinity. This, therefore, means infinite

susceptibility. There can be no question as to the degree of

sensitiveness, for Spirit _is_ sensitiveness, and is thus infinitely

plastic to the slightest touch that is brought to bear upon it; and

hence every thought we formulate sends its vibrating currents out into

the infinite of Spirit, producing there currents of like quality but of

far vaster power.

But Spirit in the Infinite is the Creative Power of the universe, and

the impact of our thought upon it thus sets in motion a veritable

creative force. And if this law holds good of one thought it holds good

of all, and hence we are continually creating for ourselves a world of

surroundings which accurately reproduces the complexion of our own

thoughts. Persistent thoughts will naturally produce a greater external

effect than casual ones not centred upon any particular object.

Scattered thoughts which recognise no principle of unity will fail to

reproduce any principle of unity. The thought that we are weak and have

no power over circumstances results in inability to control

circumstances, and the thought of power produces power.

At every moment we are dealing with an infinitely sensitive medium which

stirs creative energies that give form to the slightest of our

thought-vibrations. This power is inherent in us because of our

spiritual nature, and we cannot divest ourselves of it. It is our truly

tremendous heritage because it is a power which, if not intelligently

brought into lines of orderly activity, will spend its uncontrolled

forces in devastating energy. If it is not used to build up, it will

destroy. And there is nothing exceptional in this: it is merely the

reappearance on the plane of the universal and undifferentiated of the

same principle that pervades all the forces of Nature. Which of these is

not destructive unless drawn off into some definite direction?

Accumulated steam, accumulated electricity, accumulated water, will at

length burst forth, carrying destruction all around; but, drawn off

through suitable channels, they become sources of constructive power,

inexhaustible as Nature itself.

And here let me pause to draw attention to this idea of accumulation.

The greater the accumulation of energy, the greater the danger if it be

not directed into a proper order, and the greater the power if it be.

Fortunately for mankind the physical forces, such as electricity, do not

usually subsist in a highly concentrated form. Occasionally

circumstances concur to produce such concentration, but as a rule the

elements of power are more or less equally dispersed. Similarly, for the

mass of mankind, this spiritual power has not yet reached a very high

degree of concentration. Every mind, it is true, must be in some measure

a centre of concentration, for otherwise it would have no conscious

individuality; but the power of the individualised mind rapidly rises as

it recognises its unity with the Infinite life, and its

thought-currents, whether well or ill directed, then assume a

proportionately great significance.

Hence the ill effects of wrongly directed thought are in some degree

mitigated in the great mass of mankind, and many causes are in operation

to give a right direction to their thoughts, though the thinkers

themselves are ignorant of what thought-power is. To give a right

direction to the thoughts of ignorant thinkers is the purpose of much

religious teaching, which these uninstructed ones must accept by faith

in bare authority because they are unable to realise its true import.

But notwithstanding the aids thus afforded to mankind, the general

stream of unregulated thought cannot but have an adverse tendency, and

hence the great object to which the instructed mind directs its power is

to free itself from the entanglements of disordered thought, and to help

others to do the same. To escape from this entanglement is to attain

perfect Liberty, which is perfect Power.

The entanglement from which we need to escape has its origin in the very

same principle which gives rise to liberty and power. It is the same

principle applied under inverted conditions. And here I would draw

particular attention to the law that any sequence followed out in an

inverted order must produce an inverted result, for this goes a long way

to explain many of the problems of life. The physical world affords

endless examples of the working of "inversion." In the dynamo the

sequence commences with mechanical force which is ultimately transformed

into the subtler power of electricity; but invert this order, commence

by generating electricity, and it becomes converted into mechanical

force, as in the motor. In the one order the rotation of a wheel

produces electricity, and in the opposite order electricity produces the

rotation of a wheel. Or to exhibit the same principle in the simplest

arithmetical form, if 10÷2=5 then 10÷5=2. "Inversion" is a factor of the

greatest magnitude and has to be reckoned with; but I must content

myself here with only indicating the general principle that the same

power is capable of producing diametrically opposite effects if it be

applied under opposite conditions, a truth which the so-called

"magicians" of the middle ages expressed by two triangles placed

inversely to one another. We are apt to fall into the mistake of

supposing that results of opposite character require powers of opposite

character to produce them, and our conceptions of things in general

become much simplified when we recognise that this is not the case, but

that the same power will produce opposite results as it starts from

opposite poles.

Accordingly the inverted application of the same principle which gives

rise to liberty and power constitutes the entanglement from which we

need to be delivered before power and liberty can be attained, and this

principle is expressed in the law that "as a man thinks so he is." This

is the basic law of the human mind. It is Descarte's "_cogito, ergo

sum_." If we trace consciousness to its seat we find that it is purely

subjective. Our external senses would cease to exist were it not for the

subjective consciousness which perceives what they communicate to it.

The idea conveyed to the subjective consciousness may be false, but

until some truer idea is more forcibly impressed in its stead it

remains a substantial reality to the mind which gives it objective

existence. I have seen a man speak to the stump of a tree which in the

moonlight looked like a person standing in a garden, and repeatedly ask

its name and what it wanted; and so far as the speaker's conception was

concerned the garden contained a living man who refused to answer. Thus

every mind lives in a world to which its own perceptions give objective

reality. Its perceptions may be erroneous, but they nevertheless

constitute the very reality of life for the mind that gives form to

them. No other life than the life we lead in our own mind is possible;

and hence the advance of the whole race depends on substituting the

ideas of good, of liberty, and of order for their opposites. And this

can be done only by giving some sufficient reason for accepting the new

idea in place of the old. For each one of us our beliefs constitute our

facts, and these beliefs can be changed only by discovering some ground

for a different belief.

This is briefly the rationale of the maxim that "as a man thinks so he

is"; and from the working of this principle all the issues of life

proceed. Now man's first perception of the law of cause and effect in

relation to his own conduct is that the result always partakes of the

quality of the cause; and since his argument is drawn from external

observation only, he regards external acts as the only causes he can

effectively set in operation. Hence when he attains sufficient moral

enlightenment to realise that many of his acts have been such as to

merit retribution he fears retribution as their proper result. Then by

reason of the law that "thoughts are things," the evils which he fears

take form and plunge him into adverse circumstances, which again prompt

him into further wrong acts, and from these come a fresh crop of fears

which in their turn become externalised into fresh evils, and thus

arises a circulus from which there is no escape so long as the man

recognises nothing but his external acts as a causative power in the

world of his surroundings.

This is the Law of Works, the Circle of Karma, the Wheel of Fate, from

which there appears to be no escape, because the complete fulfilment of

the law of our moral nature to-day is only sufficient for to-day and

leaves no surplus to compensate the failure of yesterday. This is the

necessary law of things as they appear from external observation only;

and, so long as this conception remains, the law of each man's

subjective consciousness makes it a reality for him. What is needed,

therefore, is to establish the conception that external acts are NOT the

only causative power, but that there is another law of causation,

namely, that of pure Thought. This is the Law of Faith, the Law of

Liberty; for it introduces us to a power which is able to inaugurate a

new sequence of causation not related to any past actions.

But this change of mental attitude cannot be brought about till we have

laid hold of some fact which is sufficient to afford a reason for the

change. We require some solid ground for our belief in this higher law.

Ultimately we find this ground in the great Truth of the eternal

relation between spirit in the universal and in the particular. When we

realise that substantially there is nothing else _but_ spirit, and that

we ourselves are reproductions in individuality of the Intelligence and

Love which rule the universe, we have reached the firm standing ground

where we find that we can send forth our Thought to produce any effect

we will. We have passed beyond the idea of two opposites requiring

reconciliation, into that of a duality in which there is no other

opposition than that of the inner and the outer of the same unity, the

polarity which is inherent in all Being, and we then realise that in

virtue of this unity our Thought is possessed of illimitable creative

power, and that it is free to range where it will, and is by no means

bound down to accept as inevitable the consequences which, if unchecked

by renovated thought, would flow from our past actions.

In its own independent creative power the mind has found the way out of

the fatal circle in which its previous ignorance of the highest law had

imprisoned it. The Unity of the Spirit is found to result in perfect

Liberty; the old sequence of Karma has been cut off, and a new and

higher order has been introduced. In the old order the line of thought

received its quality from the quality of the actions, and since they

always fell short of perfection, the development of a higher

thought-power from this root was impossible. This is the order in which

everything is seen from _without_. It is an inverted order. But in the

true order everything is seen from _within_.

It is the thought which determines the quality of the action, and not

_vice versa_, and since thought is free, it is at liberty to direct

itself to the highest principles, which thus spontaneously reproduce

themselves in the outward acts, so that both thoughts and actions are

brought into harmony with the great eternal laws and become one in

purpose with the Universal Mind. The man realises that he is no longer

bound by the consequences of his former deeds, done in the time of his

ignorance, in fact, that he never was bound by them except so far as he