Read the book: «The Creative Process in the Individual»
Thomas Troward
The Creative Process in the Individual
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FOREWORD
CONTENTS
THE STARTING-POINT
THE SELF-CONTEMPLATION OF SPIRIT
THE DIVINE IDEAL
THE MANIFESTATION OF THE LIFE PRINCIPLE
THE PERSONAL FACTOR
THE STANDARD OF PERSONALITY
RACE THOUGHT AND NEW THOUGHT
THE DÉNOUEMENT OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS
CONCLUSION
THE DIVINE OFFERING
OURSELVES IN THE DIVINE OFFERING
FOOTNOTES
Impressum neobooks
FOREWORD
The Creative Process in the Individual
Author: Thomas Troward
In the present volume I have endeavored to set before the reader the
conception of a sequence of creative action commencing with the formation
of the globe and culminating in a vista of infinite possibilities
attainable by every one who follows up the right line for their unfoldment.
I have endeavored to show that, starting with certain incontrovertible
scientific facts, all these things logically follow, and that therefore,
however far these speculations may carry us beyond our past experience,
they nowhere break the thread of an intelligible connection of cause and
effect.
I do not, however, offer the suggestions here put forward in any other
light than that of purely speculative reasoning; nevertheless, no advance
in any direction can be made except by speculative reasoning going back to
the first principles of things which we do know and thence deducing the
conditions under which the same principles might be carried further and
made to produce results hitherto unknown. It is to this method of thought
that we owe all the advantages of civilization from matches and
post-offices to motor-cars and aeroplanes, and we may therefore be
encouraged to hope such speculations as the present may not be without
their ultimate value. Relying on the maxim that Principle is not bound by
Precedent we should not limit our expectations of the future; and if our
speculations lead us to the conclusion that we have reached a point where
we are not only able, but also _required_, by the law of our own being, to
take a more active part in our personal evolution than heretofore, this
discovery will afford us a new outlook upon life and widen our horizon with
fresh interests and brightening hopes.
If the thoughts here suggested should help any reader to clear some mental
obstacles from his path the writer will feel that he has not written to no
purpose. Only each reader must think out these suggestions for himself. No
writer or lecturer can convey an idea _into_ the minds of his audience. He
can only put it before them, and what they will make of it depends entirely
upon themselves--assimilation is a process which no one can carry out for
us.
To the kindness of my readers on both sides of the Atlantic, and in
Australia and New Zealand, I commend this little volume, not, indeed,
without a deep sense of its many shortcomings, but at the same time
encouraged by the generous indulgence extended to my previous books.
T.T.
June, 1910.
CONTENTS
THE STARTING-POINT
THE SELF-CONTEMPLATION OF SPIRIT
THE DIVINE IDEAL
THE MANIFESTATION OF THE LIFE PRINCIPLE
THE PERSONAL FACTOR
THE STANDARD OF PERSONALITY
RACE THOUGHT AND NEW THOUGHT
THE DÉNOUEMENT OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS
CONCLUSION
THE DIVINE OFFERING
OURSELVES IN THE DIVINE OFFERING
I say no man has ever yet been half devout enough,
None has ever yet adored or worship'd half enough,
None has begun to think how divine he himself is, and
how certain the future is.
I say that the real and permanent grandeur of these States
must be their religion,
Otherwise there is no real and permanent grandeur.
--WALT WHITMAN.
THE STARTING-POINT
It is an old saying that "Order is Heaven's First Law," and like many other
old sayings it contains a much deeper philosophy than appears immediately
on the surface. Getting things into a better order is the great secret of
progress, and we are now able to fly through the air, not because the laws
of Nature have altered, but because we have learnt to arrange things in the
right order to produce this result--the things themselves had existed from
the beginning of the world, but what was wanting was the introduction of a
Personal Factor which, by an intelligent perception of the possibilities
contained in the laws of Nature, should be able to bring into working
reality ideas which previous generations would have laughed at as the
absurd fancies of an unbalanced mind. The lesson to be learnt from the
practical aviation of the present day is that of the triumph of principle
over precedent, of the working out of an _idea_ to its logical conclusions
in spite of the accumulated testimony of all past experience to the
contrary; and with such a notable example before us can we say that it is
futile to enquire whether by the same method we may not unlock still more
important secrets and gain some knowledge of the unseen causes which are at
the back of external and visible conditions, and then by bringing these
unseen causes into a better order make practical working realities of
possibilities which at present seem but fantastic dreams? It is at least
worth while taking a preliminary canter over the course, and this is all
that this little volume professes to attempt; yet this may be sufficient to
show the lay of the ground.
Now the first thing in any investigation is to have some idea of what you
are looking for--to have at least some notion of the general direction in
which to go--just as you would not go up a tree to find fish though you
would for birds' eggs. Well, the general direction in which we all want to
go is that of getting more out of Life than we have ever got out of it--we
want to be more alive in ourselves and to get all sorts of improved
conditions in our environment. However happily any of us may be
circumstanced we can all conceive something still better, or at any rate we
should like to make our present good permanent; and since we shall find as
our studies advance that the prospect of increasing possibilities keeps
opening out more and more widely before us, we may say that what we are in
search of is the secret of getting more out of Life in a continually
progressive degree. This means that what we are looking for is something
personal, and that it is to be obtained by producing conditions which do
not yet exist; in other words it is nothing less than the exercise of a
certain creative power in the sphere of our own particular world. So, then,
what we want is to introduce our own Personal Factor into the realm of
unseen causes. This is a big thing, and if it is possible at all it must be
by some sequence of cause and effect, and this sequence it is our object to
discover. The law of Cause and Effect is one we can never get away from,
but by carefully following it up we may find that it will lead us further
than we had anticipated.
Now, the first thing to observe is that if _we_ can succeed in finding out
such a sequence of cause and effect as the one we are in search of,
somebody else may find out the same creative secret also; and then, by the
hypothesis of the case, we should both be armed with an infallible power,
and if we wanted to employ this power against each other we should be
landed in the "impasse" of a conflict between two powers each of which was
irresistible. Consequently it follows that the first principle of this
power must be Harmony. It cannot be antagonizing itself from different
centers--in other words its operation in a simultaneous order at every
point is the first necessity of its being. What we are in search of, then,
is a sequence of cause and effect so universal in its nature as to include
harmoniously all possible variations of individual expression. This primary
necessity of the Law for which we are seeking should be carefully borne in
mind, for it is obvious that any sequence which transgresses this primary
essential must be contrary to the very nature of the Law itself, and
consequently cannot be conducting us to the exercise of true creative
power.
What we are seeking, therefore, is to discover how to arrange things in
such an order as to set in motion a train of causation that will harmonize
our own conditions without antagonizing the exercise of a like power by
others. This therefore means that all individual exercise of this power is
the particular application of a universal power which itself operates
creatively on its own account independently of these individual
applications; and the harmony between the various individual applications
is brought about by all the individuals bringing their own particular
action into line with this independent creative action of the original
power. It is in fact another application of Euclid's axiom that things
which are equal to the same thing are equal to one another; so that though
I may not know for what purpose some one may be using this creative power
in Pekin, I do know that if he and I both realize its true nature, we
cannot by any possibility be working in opposition to one another. For
these reasons, having now some general idea of what it is we are in search
of, we may commence our investigation by considering this common factor
which must be at the back of all individual exercise of creative power,
that is to say, the Generic working of the Universal Creative Principle.
That such a Universal Creative Principle is at work we at once realize from
the existence of the world around us with all its inhabitants, and the
inter-relation of all parts of the cosmic system shows its underlying
Unity--thus the animal kingdom depends on the vegetable, the vegetable
kingdom on the mineral, the mineral or globe of the earth on its relation
to the rest of the solar system, and possibly our solar system is related
by a similar law to the distribution of other suns with their attendant
planets throughout space. Our first glance therefore shows us that the
All-originating Power must be in essence Unity and in manifestation
Multiplicity, and that it manifests as Life and Beauty through the unerring
adaptation of means to ends--that is so far as its cosmic manifestation of
ends goes: what we want to do is to carry this manifestation still further
by operation from an individual standpoint. To do this is precisely our
place in the Order of Creation, but we must defer the question why we hold
this place till later on.
One of the earliest discoveries we all make is the existence of Matter. The
bruised shins of our childhood convince us of its solidity, so now comes
the question, Why does Matter exist? The answer is that if the form were
not expressed in solid substance, things would be perpetually flowing into
each other so that no identity could be maintained for a single moment. To
this it might be replied that a condition of matter is conceivable in
which, though in itself a plastic substance, in a fluent state, it might
yet by the operation of will be held in any particular forms desired. The
idea of such a condition of matter is no doubt conceivable, and when the
fluent matter was thus held in particular forms you would have concrete
matter just as we know it now, only with this difference, that it would
return to its fluent state as soon as the supporting will was withdrawn.
Now, as we shall see later on, this is precisely what matter really is,
only the will which holds it together in concrete form is not individual
but cosmic.
In itself the Essence of Matter is precisely the fluent substance we have
imagined, and as we shall see later on the knowledge of this fact, when
realized in its proper order, is the basis of the legitimate control of
mind over matter. But a world in which every individual possessed the power
of concreting or fluxing matter at his own sweet will irrespective of any
universal coordinating principle is altogether inconceivable--the conflict
of wills would prevent such a world remaining in existence. On the other
hand, if we conceive of a number of individuals each possessing this power
and all employing it on the lines of a common cosmic unity, then the result
would be precisely the same stable condition of matter with which we are
familiar--this would be a necessity of fact for the masses who did not
possess this power, and a necessity of principle for the few who did. So
under these circumstances the same stable conditions of Nature would
prevail as at present, varied only when the initiated ones perceived that
the order of evolution would be furthered, and not hindered, by calling
into action the higher laws. Such occasions would be of rare occurrence,
and then the departure from the ordinary law would be regarded by the
multitude as a miracle. Also we may be quite sure that no one who had
attained this knowledge in the legitimate order would ever perform a
"miracle" for his own personal aggrandizement or for the purpose of merely
astonishing the beholders--to do so would be contrary to the first
principle of the higher teaching which is that of profound reverence for
the Unity of the All-originating Principle. The conception, therefore, of
such a power over matter being possessed by certain individuals is in no
way opposed to our ordinary recognition of concrete matter, and so we need
not at present trouble ourselves to consider these exceptions.
Another theory is that matter has no existence at all but is merely an
illusion projected by our own minds. If so, then how is it that we all
project identically similar images? On the supposition that each mind is
independently projecting its own conception of matter a lady who goes to be
fitted might be seen by her dressmaker as a cow. Generations of people have
seen the Great Pyramid on the same spot; but on the supposition that each
individual is projecting his own material world in entire independence of
all other individuals there is no reason why any two persons should ever
see the same thing in the same place. On the supposition of such an
independent action by each separate mind, without any common factor binding
them all to one particular mode of recognition, no intercourse between
individuals would be possible--then, without the consciousness of relation
to other individuals the consciousness of our own individuality would be
lost, and so we should cease to have any conscious existence at all. If on
the other hand we grant that there is, above the individual minds, a great
Cosmic Mind which imposes upon them the necessity of all seeing the same
image of Matter, then that image is not a projection of the individual
minds but of the Cosmic Mind; and since the individual minds are themselves
similar projections of the Cosmic Mind, matter is for them just as much a
reality as their own existence. I doubt not that material substance is thus
projected by the all-embracing Divine Mind; but so also are our own minds
projected by it, and therefore the relation between them and matter is a
real relation and not a merely fictitious one.
I particularly wish the student to be clear on this point, that where two
factors are projected from a common source their relation to each other
becomes an absolute fact in respect of the factors themselves,
notwithstanding that the power of changing that relation by substituting a
different projection must necessarily always continue to reside in the
originating source. To take a simple arithmetical example--by my power of
mental projection working through my eyes and fingers I write 4 X 2. Here I
have established a certain numerical relation which can only produce eight
as its result. Again, I have power to change the factors and write 4 X 3,
in which case 12 is the only possible result, and so on. Working in this
way calculation becomes possible. But if every time I wrote 4 that figure
possessed an independent power of setting down a different number by which
to multiply itself, what would be the result? The first 4 I wrote might set
down 3 as its multiplier, and the next might set down 7, and so on. Or if I
want to make a box of a certain size and cut lengths of plank accordingly,
if each length could capriciously change its width at a moment's notice,
how could I ever make the box? I myself may change the shape and size of my
box by establishing new relations between the bits of wood, but for the
pieces of wood themselves the proportions determined by my mind must remain
fixed quantities, otherwise no construction could take place.
This is a very rough analogy, but it may be sufficient to show that for a
cosmos to exist at all it is absolutely necessary that there should be a
Cosmic Mind binding all individual minds to certain _generic_ unities of
action, and so producing all things as realities and nothing as illusion.
The importance of this conclusion will become more apparent as we advance
in our studies.
We have now got at some reason why concrete material form is a necessity of
the Creative Process. Without it the perfect Self-recognition of Spirit
from the Individual standpoint, which we shall presently find is the means
by which the Creative Process is to be carried forward, would be
impossible; and therefore, so far from matter being an illusion, it is the
necessary channel for the self-differentiation of Spirit and its Expression
in multitudinous life and beauty. Matter is thus the necessary Polar
Opposite to Spirit, and when we thus recognize it in its right order we
shall find that there is no antagonism between the two, but that together
they constitute one harmonious whole.
THE SELF-CONTEMPLATION OF SPIRIT
If we ask how the cosmos came into existence we shall find that ultimately
we can only attribute it to the Self-Contemplation of Spirit. Let us start
with the facts now known to modern physical science. All material things,
including our own bodies, are composed of combinations of different
chemical elements such as carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, &c. Chemistry
recognizes in all about seventy of these elements each with its peculiar
affinities; but the more advanced physical science of the present day finds
that they are all composed of one and the same ultimate substance to which
the name of Ether has been given, and that the difference between an atom
of iron and an atom of oxygen results only from the difference in the
number of etheric particles of which each is composed and the rate of their
motion within the sphere of the atom, thus curiously coming back to the
dictum of Pythagoras that the universe has its origin in Number and Motion.
We may therefore say that our entire solar system together with every sort
of material substance which it contains is made up of nothing but this one
primary substance in various degrees of condensation.
Now the next step is to realize that this ether is everywhere. This is
shown by the undulatory theory of light. Light is not a substance but is
the effect produced on the eye by the impinging of the ripples of the ether
upon the retina. These waves are excessively minute, ranging in length from
1-39,000th of an inch at the red end of the spectrum to 1-57,000th at the
violet end. Next remember that these waves are not composed of advancing
particles of the medium but pass onwards by the push which each particle in
the line of motion gives to the particle next to it, and then you will see
that if there were a break of one fifty-thousandth part of an inch in the
connecting ether between our eye and any source of light we could not
receive light from that source, for there would be nothing to continue the
wave-motion across the gap. Consequently as soon as we see light from any
source however distant, we know that there must be a continuous body of
ether between us and it. Now astronomy shows us that we receive light from
heavenly bodies so distant that, though it travels with the incredible
speed of 186,000 miles per second, it takes more than two thousand years to
reach us from some of them; and as such stars are in all quarters of the
heavens we can only come to the conclusion that the primary substance or
ether must be universally present.
This means that the raw material for the formation of solar systems is
universally distributed throughout space; yet though we find that millions
of suns stud the heavens, we also find vast interstellar spaces which show
no sign of cosmic activity. Then something has been at work to start cosmic
activity in certain areas while passing over others in which the raw
material is equally available. What is this something? At first we might be
inclined to attribute the development of cosmic energy to the etheric
particles themselves, but a little consideration will show us that this is
mathematically impossible in a medium which is equally distributed
throughout space, for all its particles are in equilibrium and so no one
particle possesses _per se_ a greater power of originating motion than any
other. Consequently the initial movement must be started by something
which, though it works on and through the particles of the primary
substance, is not those particles themselves. It is this "Something" which
we mean when we speak of "Spirit."
Then since Spirit starts the condensation of the primary substance into
concrete aggregation, and also does this in certain areas to the exclusion
of others, we cannot avoid attributing to Spirit the power of Selection and
of taking an Initiative on its own account.
Here, then, we find the _initial_ Polarity of Universal Spirit and
Universal Substance, each being the complementary of the other, and out of
this relation all subsequent evolution proceeds. Being complementary means
that each supplies what is wanting in the other, and that the two together
thus make complete wholeness. Now this is just the case here. Spirit
supplies Selection and Motion. Substance supplies something from which
selection can be made and to which Motion can be imparted; so that it is a
_sine qua non_ for the Expression of Spirit.
Then comes the question, How did the Universal Substance get there? It
cannot have made itself, for its only quality is inertia, therefore it must
have come from some source having power to project it by some mode of
action not of a material nature. Now the only mode of action not of a
material nature is Thought, and therefore to Thought we must look for the
origin of Substance. This places us at a point antecedent to the existence
even of primary substance, and consequently the initial action must be that
of the Originating Mind upon Itself, in other words, Self-contemplation.
At this primordial stage neither Time nor Space can be recognized, for both
imply measurement of successive intervals, and in the primary movement of
Mind upon itself the only consciousness must be that of Present Absolute
Being, because no external points exist from which to measure extension
either in time or space. Hence we must eliminate the ideas of time and
space from our conception of Spirit's _initial_ Self-contemplation.
This being so, Spirit's primary contemplation of itself as simply Being
necessarily makes its presence universal and eternal, and consequently,
paradoxical as it may seem, its independence of Time and Space makes it
present throughout all Time and Space. It is the old esoteric maxim that
the point expands to infinitude and that infinitude is concentrated in the
point. We start, then, with Spirit contemplating itself simply as Being.
But to realize your being you must have consciousness, and consciousness
can only come by the recognition of your relation to something else. The
something else may be an external fact or a mental image; but even in the
latter case to conceive the image at all you must mentally stand back from
it and look at it--something like the man who was run in by the police at
Gravesend for walking behind himself to see how his new coat fitted. It
stands thus: if you are not conscious of something you are conscious of
nothing, and if you are conscious of nothing, then you are unconscious, so
that to be conscious at all you must have something to be conscious of.
This may seem like an extract from "Paddy's Philosophy," but it makes it
clear that consciousness can only be attained by the recognition of
something which is not the recognizing _ego_ itself--in other words
consciousness is the realization of some particular sort of _relation_
between the cognizing subject and the cognized object; but I want to get
away from academical terms into the speech of human beings, so let us take
the illustration of a broom and its handle--the two together make a broom;
that is one sort of relation; but take the same stick and put a rake-iron
at the end of it and you have an altogether different implement. The stick
remains the same, but the difference of what is put at the end of it makes
the whole thing a broom or a rake. Now the thinking and feeling power is
the stick, and the conception which it forms is the thing at the end of the
stick, so that the quality of its consciousness will be determined by the
ideas which it projects; but to be conscious at all it must project ideas
of some sort.
Now of one thing we may be quite sure, that the Spirit of Life must _feel
alive_. Then to feel alive it must be conscious, and to be conscious it
must have something to be conscious of; therefore the contemplation of
itself as standing related to something which is not its own originating
self _in propria persona_ is a necessity of the case; and consequently the
Self-contemplation of Spirit can only proceed by its viewing itself as
related to something standing out from itself, just as we must stand at a
proper distance to see a picture--in fact the very word "existence" means
"standing out." Thus things are called into existence or "outstandingness"
by a power which itself does not stand out, and whose presence is therefore
indicated by the word "subsistence."
The next thing is that since in the beginning there is nothing except
Spirit, its primary feeling of aliveness must be that of being alive _all
over_; and to establish such a consciousness of its own universal
livingness there must be the recognition of a corresponding _relation_
equally extensive in character; and the only possible correspondence to
fulfil this condition is therefore that of a universally distributed and
plastic medium whose particles are all in perfect equilibrium, which is
exactly the description of the Primary Substance or ether. We are thus
philosophically led to the conclusion that Universal Substance must be
projected by Universal Spirit as a necessary consequence of Spirit's own
inherent feeling of Aliveness; and in this way we find that the great
Primary Polarity of Being becomes established.
From this point onward we shall find the principle of Polarity in universal
activity. It is that relation between opposites without which no external
Motion would be possible, because there would be nowhere to move from, and
nowhere to move to; and without which external Form would be impossible
because there would be nothing to limit the diffusion of substance and
bring it into shape. Polarity, or the interaction of Active and Passive, is
therefore the basis of all _Evolution_.
This is a great fundamental truth when we get it in its right order; but
all through the ages it has been a prolific source of error by getting it
in its wrong order. And the wrong order consists in making Polarity the
originating point of the Creative Process. What this misconception leads to
we shall see later on; but since it is very widely accepted under various
guises even at the present day it is well to be on our guard against it.
Therefore I wish the student to see clearly that there is something which
comes before that Polarity which gives rise to Evolution, and that this
something is the original movement of Spirit _within itself_, of which we
can best get an idea by calling it Self-contemplation.
Now this may seem an extremely abstract conception and one with which we
have no practical concern. I fancy I can hear the reader saying "The Lord
only knows how the world started, and it is His business and not mine,"
which would be perfectly true if this originating faculty were confined to
the Cosmic Mind. But it is not, and the same action takes place in our own
minds also, only with the difference that it is ultimately subject to that
principle of Cosmic Unity of which I have already spoken. But, subject to
that unifying principle, this same power of origination is in ourselves
also, and our personal advance in evolution depends on our right use of it;
and our use of it depends on our recognition that we ourselves give rise to
the particular polarities which express themselves in our whole world of
consciousness, whether within or without. For these reasons it is very
important to realize that Evolution is not the same as Creation. It is the
unfolding of potentialities involved in things already created, but not the
calling into existence of what does not yet exist--_that_ is Creation.
The order, therefore, which I wish the student to observe is, first the
Self-contemplation of Spirit producing Polarity, and next Polarity
producing Manifestation in Form--and also to realize that it is in this
order his own mind operates as a subordinate center of creative energy.
When the true place of Polarity is thus recognized, we shall find in it the
explanation of all those relations of things which give rise to the whole
world of phenomena; from which we may draw the practical inference that if
we want to change the manifestation we must change the polarity, and to
change the polarity we must get back to the Self-contemplation of Spirit.
But in its proper place as the root-principle of all _secondary_ causation,
Polarity is one of those fundamental facts of which we must never lose
sight. The term "Polarity" is adopted from electrical science. In the
electric battery it is the connecting together of the opposite poles of
zinc and copper that causes a current to flow from one to the other and so
provides the energy that rings the bell. If the connection is broken there
is no action. When you press the button you make the connection. The same
process is repeated in respect of every sort of polarity throughout the
universe. Circulation depends on polarity, and circulation is the
_manifestation_ of Life, which we may therefore say depends on the
principle of polarity. In relation to ourselves we are concerned with two
great polarities, the polarity of Soul and Body and the polarity of Soul
and Spirit; and it is in order that he may more clearly realize their
working that I want the student to have some preliminary idea of Polarity
as a general principle.
The conception of the Creative Order may therefore be generalized as
follows. The Spirit wants to enjoy the reality of its own Life--not merely
to vegetate, but to enjoy giving--and therefore by Self-contemplation it
projects a polar opposite, or complementary, calculated to give rise to the
particular sort of _relation_ out of which the enjoyment of a certain mode
of self-consciousness will necessarily spring. Let this sentence be well
pondered over until the full extent of its significance is grasped, for it
is the key to the whole matter Very well, then: Spirit wants to Enjoy Life,
and so, by thinking of itself as _having_ the enjoyment which it wishes, it
produces the conditions which, by their re-action upon itself, give rise to
the reality of the sort of enjoyment contemplated. In more scientific
language an opposite polarity is induced, giving rise to a current which
stimulates a particular mode of sensation, which sensation in turn becomes
a fresh starting-point for still further action; and in this way each
successive stage becomes the stepping-stone to a still higher degree of
sensation--that is, to a Fuller Enjoyment of Life.
Such a conception as this presents us with a Progressive Series to which it
is impossible to assign any limit. That the progression must be limitless
is clear from the fact that there is never any change in the method. At
each successive stage the Creating Power is the Self-consciousness of the
Spirit, as realized at that stage, still reaching forward for yet further
Enjoyment of Life, and so always keeping on repeating the _one_ Creative
Process at an ever-rising level; and since these are the sole working
conditions, the progress is one which logically admits of no finality. And
this is where the importance of realizing the Singleness of the Originating
Power comes in, for with a Duality each member would limit the other; in
fact, Duality as the Originating Power is inconceivable, for, once more to
quote "Paddy's Philosophy," "finality would be reached before anything was
begun."
This Creative Process, therefore, can only be conceived of as limitless,
while at the same time strictly progressive, that is, proceeding stage by
stage, each stage being necessary as a preparation for the one that is to
follow. Let us then briefly sketch the stages by which things in our world
have got as far as they have. The interest of the enquiry lies in the fact
that if we can once get at the principle which is producing these results,
we may discover some way of giving it personal application.
On the hypothesis of the Self-contemplation of Spirit being the originating
power, we have found that a primary ether, or universal substance, is the
necessary correspondence to Spirit's simple awareness of its own being. But
though awareness of being is the necessary foundation for any further
possibilities it is, so to say, not much to talk about. The foundation
fact, of course, is to know that I Am; but immediately on this
consciousness there follows the desire for Activity--I want to enjoy my I
Am-ness by doing something with it. Translating these words into a state of
consciousness in the Cosmic Mind they become a Law of Tendency leading to
_localised_ activity, and, looking only at our own world, this would mean
the condensation of the universal etheric substance into the primary nebula
which later on becomes our solar system, this being the correspondence to
the Self-contemplation of Spirit as passing into specific activity instead
of remaining absorbed in simple awareness of Being. Then this
self-recognition would lead to the conception of still more specific
activity having its appropriate polar opposite, or material correspondence,
in the condensation of the nebula into a solar system.
Now at this stage Spirit's conception of itself is that of Activity, and
consequently the material correspondence is Motion, as distinguished from
the simple diffused ether which is the correspondence of mere awareness of
Being, But what sort of motion? Is the material movement evolved at this
stage bound to take any particular form? A little consideration will show
us that it is. At this initial stage, the first awakening, so to say, of
Spirit into activity, its consciousness can only be that of activity
_absolute_; that is, not as related to any other mode of activity because
as yet there is none, but only as related to an all-embracing Being; so
that the only possible conception of Activity at this stage is that of
_Self-sustained_ activity, not depending on any preceding mode of activity
because there is none. The law of reciprocity therefore demands a similar
self-sustained motion in the material correspondence, and mathematical
considerations show that the only sort of motion which can sustain a
self-supporting body moving _in vacuo_ is a rotary motion bringing the body
itself into a spherical form. Now this is exactly what we find at both
extremes of the material world. At the big end the spheres of the planets
rotating on their axes and revolving round the sun; and at the little end
the spheres of the atoms consisting of particles which, modern science
tells us, in like manner rotate round a common center at distances which
are astronomical as compared with their own mass. Thus the two ultimate
units of physical manifestation, the atom and the planet, both follow the
same law of self-sustained motion which we have found that, on _a priori_
grounds, they ought in order to express the primary activity of Spirit. And
we may note in passing that this rotary, or _absolute_, motion is the
combination of the only two possible _relative_ modes of motion, namely,
motion from a point and motion to it, that is to say centrifugal and
centripetal motion; so that in rotary, or absolute, motion we find that
both the polarities of motion are included, thus repeating on the purely
mechanical side the primordial principle of the Unity including the Duality
in itself.
But the Spirit wants something more than mechanical motion, something more
alive than the preliminary Rota, and so the first step toward
individualized consciousness meets us in plant life. Then on the principle
that each successive stage affords the platform for a further outlook,
plant life is followed by animal life, and this by the Human order in which
the liberty of selecting its own conditions is immensely extended. In this
way the Spirit's expression of itself has now reached the point where its
polar complementary, or Reciprocal, manifests as Intellectual Man--thus
constituting the Fourth great stage of Spirit's Self-recognition. But the
Creative Process cannot stop here, for, as we have seen, its root in the
Self-contemplation of Spirit renders it of necessity an Infinite
Progression. So it is no use asking what is its ultimate, for it has no
ultimate--its word is "Excelsior"--ever Life and "Life more Abundant."
Therefore the question is not as to finality where there is none, but as to
the next step in the progression. Four kingdoms we know: what is to be the
Fifth? All along the line the progress has been in one direction, namely,
toward the development of more perfect Individuality, and therefore on the
principle of continuity we may reasonably infer that the next stage will
take us still further in the same direction. We want something more perfect
than we have yet reached, but our ideas as to what it should be are very
various, not to say discordant, for one person's idea of better is another
person's idea of worse. Therefore what we want to get at is some broad
generalization of principle which will be in advance of our past
experiences. This means that we must look for this principle in something
that we have not yet experienced, and the only place where we can possibly
find principles which have not yet manifested themselves is _in gremio
Dei_--that is, in the innermost of the Originating Spirit, or as St. John
calls it, "in the bosom of the Father." So we are logically brought to
personal participation in the Divine Ideal as the only principle by which
the advance into the next stage can possibly be made. Therefore we arrive
at the question, What is the Divine Ideal like?
THE DIVINE IDEAL
What is the Divine Ideal? At first it might appear hopeless to attempt to
answer such a question, but by adhering to a definite principle we shall
find that it will open out, and lead us on, and show us things which we
could not otherwise have seen--this is the nature of principle, and is what
distinguishes it from mere rules which are only the application of
principle under some particular set of conditions. We found two principles
as essential in our conception of the Originating Spirit, namely its power
of Selection and its power of Initiative; and we found a third principle as
its only possible Motive, namely the Desire of the LIVING for ever
increasing Enjoyment of Life. Now with these three principles as the very
essence of the All-originating Spirit to guide us, we shall, I think, be
able to form some conception of that Divine Ideal which gives rise to the
Fifth Stage of Manifestation of Spirit, upon which we should now be
preparing to enter.
We have seen that the Spirit's Enjoyment of Life is necessarily a
_reciprocal_--it must have a corresponding fact in manifestation to answer
to it; otherwise by the inherent law of mind no consciousness, and
consequently no enjoyment, could accrue; and therefore by the law of
continuous progression the required Reciprocal should manifest as a being
awakening to the consciousness of the principle by which he himself comes
into existence.
Such an awakening cannot proceed from a comparison of one set of existing
conditions with another, but only from the recognition of a Power which is
independent of all conditions, that is to say, the absolute Self-dependence
of the Spirit. A being thus awakened would be the proper correspondence of
the Spirit's Enjoyment of Life at a stage not only above mechanical motion
or physical vitality, but even above intellectual perception of existing
phenomena, that is to say at the stage where the Spirit's Enjoyment
consists in recognizing itself as the Source of all things. The position in
the Absolute would be, so to speak, the awakening of Spirit to the
recognition of its own Artistic Ability. I use the word "Artistic" as more
nearly expressing an almost unstatable idea than any other I can think of,
for the work of the artist approaches more closely to creation _ex nihilo_
than any other form of human activity. The work of the artist is the
expression of the self that the artist is, while that of the scientist is
the comparison of facts which exist independently of his own personality.
It is true that the realm of Art is not without its methods of analysis,
but the analysis is that of the artist's own feeling and of the causes
which give rise to it. These are found to contain in themselves certain
principles which are fundamental to all Art, but these principles are the
laws of the creative action of mind rather than those of the limitations of
matter. Now if we may transfer this familiar analogy to our conception of
the working of the All-Originating Mind we may picture it as the Great
Artist giving visible expression to His feeling by a process which, though
subject to no restriction from antecedent conditions, yet works by a Law
which is inseparable from the Feeling itself--in fact the Law _is_ the
Feeling, and the Feeling _is_ the Law, the Law of Perfect Creativeness.
Some such Self-contemplation as this is the only way in which we can
conceive the next, or Fifth, stage of Spirit's Self-recognition as taking
place. Having got as far as it has in the four previous stages, that is to
the production of intellectual man as its correspondence, the next step in
advance must be on the lines I have indicated--unless, indeed, there were a
sudden and arbitrary breaking of the Law of Continuity, a supposition which
the whole Creative Process up to now forbids us to entertain. Therefore we
may picture the Fifth stage of the Self-contemplation of Spirit as its
awakening to the recognition of its own Artistic Ability, its own absolute
freedom of action and creative power--just as in studio parlance we say
that an artist becomes "free of his palette." But by the always present Law
of Reciprocity, through which alone self-consciousness can be attained,
this Self-recognition of Spirit in the Absolute implies a corresponding
objective fact in the world of the Relative; that is to say, the coming
into manifestation of a being capable of realizing the Free Creative
Artistry of the Spirit, and of recognizing the same principle in himself,
while at the same time realizing also the _relation_ between the Universal
Manifesting Principle and its Individual Manifestation.
Such, it appears to me, must be the conception of the Divine Ideal embodied
in the Fifth Stage of the progress of manifestation. But I would draw
particular attention to the concluding words of the last paragraph, for if
we miss the _relation_ between the Universal Manifesting Principle and its
Individual Manifestation, we have failed to realize the Principle
altogether, whether in the Universal or in the Individual--it is just their
interaction that makes each become what it does become--and in this further
becoming consists the progression. This relation proceeds from the
principle I pointed out in the opening chapter which makes it necessary for
the Universal Spirit to be always harmonious with itself; and if this Unity
is not recognized by the individual he cannot hold that position of
Reciprocity to the Originating Spirit which will enable it to recognize
itself as in the Enjoyment of Life at the higher level we are now
contemplating--rather the feeling conveyed would be that of something
antagonistic, producing the reverse of enjoyment, thus philosophically
bringing out the point of the Scriptural injunction, "Grieve not the
Spirit." Also the re-action upon the individual must necessarily give rise
to a corresponding state of inharmony, though he may not be able to define
his feeling of unrest or to account for it. But on the other hand if the
grand harmony of the Originating Spirit within itself is duly regarded,
then the individual mind affords a fresh center from which the Spirit
contemplates itself in what I have ventured to call its Artistic
Originality--a boundless potential of Creativeness, yet always regulated by
its own inherent Law of Unity.
And this Law of the Spirit's Original Unity is a very simple one. It is the
Spirit's necessary and basic conception of itself. A lie is a statement
that something is, which is not. Then, since the Spirit's statement or
conception of anything necessarily makes that thing exist, it is logically
impossible for it to conceive a lie. Therefore the Spirit is Truth.
Similarly disease and death are the negative of Life, and therefore the
Spirit, as the Principle of Life, cannot embody disease or death in its
Self-contemplation. In like manner also, since it is free to produce what
it will, the Spirit cannot desire the presence of repugnant forms, and so
one of its inherent Laws must be Beauty. In this threefold Law of Truth,
Life, and Beauty, we find the whole underlying nature of the Spirit, and no
action on the part of the individual can be at variance with the
Originating Unity which does not contravert these fundamental principles.
This it will be seen leaves the individual absolutely unfettered except in
the direction of breaking up the fundamental harmony on which he himself,
as included in the general creation, is dependent. This certainly cannot be
called limitation, and we are all free to follow the lines of our own
individuality in every other direction; so that, although the recognition
of our relation to the Originating Spirit safeguards us from injuring
ourselves or others, it in no way restricts our liberty of action or
narrows our field of development. Am I, then, trying to base my action upon
a fundamental desire for the opening out of Truth, for the increasing of
Livingness, and for the creating of Beauty? Have I got this as an ever
present Law of Tendency at the back of my thought? If so, then this law
will occupy precisely the same place in My Microcosm, or personal world,
that it does in the Macrocosm, or great world, as a power which is in
itself formless, but which by reason of its presence necessarily impresses
its character upon all that the creative energy forms. On this basis the
creative energy of the Universal Mind may be safely trusted to work through
the specializing influence of our own thought[1] and we may adopt the maxim
"trust your desires" because we know that they are the movement of the
Universal in ourselves, and that being based upon our fundamental
recognition of the Life, Love, and Beauty which the Spirit is, their
unfoldments must carry these initial qualities with them all down the line,
and thus, in however small a degree, becomes a portion of the working of
the Spirit in its inherent creativeness.
This perpetual Creativeness of the Spirit is what we must never lose sight
of, and that is why I want the student to grasp clearly the idea of the
Spirit's Self-contemplation as the only possible root of the Creative
Process. Not only at the first creation of the world, but at all times the
plane of the innermost is that of Pure Spirit,[2] and therefore at this,
the originating point, there is nothing else for Spirit to contemplate
excepting itself; then this Self-contemplation produces corresponding
manifestation, and since Self-contemplation or recognition of its own
existence must necessarily go on continually, the corresponding
creativeness must always be at work. If this fundamental idea be clearly
grasped we shall see that incessant and progressive creativeness is the
very essence and being of Spirit. This is what is meant by the
Affirmativeness of the Spirit. It cannot _per se_ act negatively, that is
to say uncreatively, for by the very nature of its Self-recognition such a
negative action would be impossible. Of course if _we_ act negatively then,
since the Spirit is always acting affirmatively, we are moving in the
opposite direction to it; and consequently so long as we regard our own
negative action as being affirmative, the Spirit's action must appear to us
negative, and thus it is that all the negative conditions of the world have
their root in negative or inverted thought: but the more we bring our
thought into harmony with the Life, Love, and Beauty which the Spirit is,
the less these inverted conditions will obtain, until at last they will be
eliminated altogether. To accomplish this is our great object; for though
the progress may be slow it will be steady if we proceed on a definite
principle; and to lay hold of the true principle is the purpose of our
studies. And the principle to lay hold of is the Ceaseless Creativeness of
Spirit. This is what we mean when we speak of it as The Spirit of the
Affirmative, and I would ask my readers to impress this term upon their
minds. Once grant that the All-originating Spirit is thus the Spirit of the
Pure Affirmative, and we shall find that this will lead us logically to
results of the highest value.
If, then, we keep this Perpetual and Progressive Creativeness of the Spirit
continually in mind we may rely upon its working as surely in ourselves as
in that great cosmic forward movement which we speak of as Evolution. It is
the same power of Evolution working within ourselves, only with this
difference, that in proportion as we come to realize its nature we find
ourselves able to facilitate its progress by offering more and more
favorable conditions for its working. We do not add to the force of the
Power, for we are products of it and so cannot generate what generates
_us_; but by providing suitable conditions we can more and more highly
specialize it. This is the method of all the advance that has ever been
made. We never create any force (_e.g._ electricity) but we provide special
conditions under which the force manifests _itself_ in a variety of useful
and beautiful ways, unsuspected possibilities which lay hidden in the power
until brought to light by the cooperation of the Personal Factor.
Now it is precisely the introduction[3] of this Personal Factor that
concerns us, because to all eternity we can only recognize things from our
own center of consciousness, whether in this world or in any other;
therefore the practical question is how to specialize in our own case the
_generic_ Originating Life which, when we give it a name, we call "the
Spirit." The method of doing this is perfectly logical when we once see
that the principle involved is that of the Self-recognition of Spirit. We
have traced the _modus operandi_ of the Creative Process sufficiently far
to see that the existence of the cosmos is the result of the Spirit's
seeing itself _in_ the cosmos, and if this be the law of the whole it must
also be the law of the part. But there is this difference, that so long as
the normal average relation of particles is maintained the whole continues
to subsist, no matter what position any particular particle may go into,
just as a fountain continues to exist no matter whether any particular drop
of water is down in the basin or at the top of the jet. This is the
_generic_ action which keeps the race going as a whole. But the question
is, What is going to become of ourselves? Then because the law of the whole
is also the law of the part we may at once say that what is wanted is for
the Spirit _to see itself in us_--in other words, to find in us the
Reciprocal which, as we have seen, is necessary to its Enjoyment of a
certain Quality of Consciousness. Now, the fundamental consciousness of the
Spirit must be that of Self-sustaining Life, and for the full enjoyment of
this consciousness there must be a corresponding _individual_ consciousness
reciprocating it; and on the part of the individual such a consciousness
can only arise from the recognition that his own life is identical with
that of the Spirit--not something sent forth to wander away by itself, but
something included in and forming part of the Greater Life. Then by the
very conditions of the case, such a contemplation on the part of the
individual is nothing else than the Spirit contemplating itself from the
standpoint of the individual consciousness, and thus fulfilling the Law of
the Creative Process under such specialized conditions as must logically
result in the perpetuation of the individual life. It is the Law of the
Cosmic Creative Process transferred to the individual.
This, it seems to me, is the Divine Ideal: that of an Individuality which
recognizes its Source, and recognizes also the method by which it springs
from that Source, and which is therefore able to open up in itself a
channel by which that Source can flow in uninterruptedly; with the result
that from the moment of this recognition the individual lives directly from
the Originating Life, as being himself _a special direct creation_, and not
merely as being a member of a generic race. The individual who has reached
this stage of recognition thus finds a principle of enduring life _within
himself_; so then the next question is in what way this principle is likely
to manifest itself.
The free sample has ended.
