LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

we have just seen, the perfect ideal can only

      be that of a being capable of reciprocating ALL the qualities of

      the Originating Mind. Consequently man, in his inmost nature, is

      the product of the Divine Mind imaging forth an image of itself

      on the plane of the relative as the complementary to its own

      sphere of the absolute.

      If we will therefore go to the INMOST principle in ourselves,

      which philosophy and Scripture alike declare to be made in the

      image and likeness of God, instead of to the outer vehicles which

      it externalizes as instruments through which to function on the

      various planes of being, we shall find that we have reached a

      principle in ourselves which stands in loco dei towards all our

      vehicles and also towards our environment. It is above them all,

      and creates them, however unaware we may be of the fact, and

      relatively to them it occupies the place of first cause. The

      recognition of this is the discovery of our own relation to the

      whole world of the relative. On the other hand this must not lead

      us into the mistake of supposing that there is nothing higher,

      for, as we have already seen, this inmost principle or ego is

      itself the effect of an antecedent cause, for it proceeds from

      the imaging process in the Divine Mind.

      We thus find ourselves holding an intermediate position between

      true First Cause, on the one hand, and the world of secondary

      causes on the other, and in order to understand the nature of

      this position, we must fall back on the axiom that the Universal

      can only work on the plane of the Particular through the

      individual. Then we see that the function of the individual is to

      DIFFERENTIATE the undistributed flow of the Universal into

      suitable directions for starting different trains of secondary

      causation.

      Man's place in the cosmic order is that of a distributor of the

      Divine power, subject, however, to the inherent Law of the power

      which he distributes. We see one instance of this in ordinary

      science, in the fact that we never create force; all we can do is

      to distribute it. The very word Man means distributor or

      measurer, as in common with all words derived from the Sanderit

      root MN., it implies the idea of measurement, just as in the

      words moon, month, mens, mind, and "man," the Indian weight of 80

      1bs.; and it is for this reason that man is spoken of in

      Scripture as a "steward," or dispenser of the Divine gifts. As

      our minds become open to the full meaning of this position, the

      immense possibilities and also the responsibility contained in it

      will become apparent.

      It means that the individual is the creative centre of his own

      world. Our past experience affords no evidence against this, but

      on the contrary, is evidence for it. Our true nature is always

      present, only we have hitherto taken the lower and mechanical

      side of things for our starting point, and so have created

      limitation instead of expansion. And even with the knowledge of

      the Creative Law which we have now attained, we shall continue to

      do this, if we seek our starting point in the things which are

      below us and not in the only thing which is above us, namely the

      Divine Mind, because it is only there that we can find

      illimitable Creative Power. Life is BEING, it is the experience

      of states of consciousness, and there is an unfailing

      correspondence between these inner states and our outward

      conditions. Now we see from the Original Creation that the state

      of consciousness must be the cause, and the corresponding

      conditions the effect, because at the starting of the creation no

      conditions existed, and the working of the Creative Mind upon

      itself can only have been a state of consciousness. This, then,

      is clearly the Creative Order--from states to conditions. But we

      invert this order, and seek to create from conditions to states.

      We say, If I had such and such conditions they would produce the

      state of feeling which I desire; and in so saying we run the risk

      of making a mistake as to the correspondence, for it may turn out

      that the particular conditions which we fixed on are not such as

      would produce the desired state. Or, again, though they might

      produce it in a certain degree, other conditions might produce it

      in a still greater degree, while at the same time opening the way

      to the attainment of still higher states and still better

      conditions. Therefore our wisest plan is to follow the pattern of

      the Parent Mind and make mental self-recognition our starting

      point, knowing that by the inherent Law of Spirit the corelated

      conditions will come by a natural process of growth. Then the

      great self-recognition is that of our relation to the Supreme

      Mind. That is the generating centre and we are distributing

      centres; just as electricity is generated at the central station

      and delivered in different forms of power by reason of passing

      through appropriate centres of distribution, so that in one place

      it lights a room, in another conveys a message, and in a third

      drives a tram car. In like manner the power of the Universal Mind

      takes particular forms through the particular mind of the

      individual. It does not interfere with the lines of his

      individuality, but works along them, thus making him, not less,

      but more himself. It is thus, not a compelling power, but an

      expanding and illuminating one; so that the more the individual

      recognizes the reciprocal action between it and himself, the more

      full of life he must become.

      Then also we need not be troubled about future conditions because

      we know that the All-originating Power is working through us and

      for us, and that according to the Law proved by the whole

      existing creation, it produces all the conditions required for

Скачать книгу