Chapter I: Am Is One (5)

In contemplating the relations between body, soul, and spirit, between Universal Mind and individual mind, the methodised study of which constitutes Mental Science, we must never forget that these relations indicate, not the separateness, but the unity of these principles. We must learn not to attribute one part of our action to one part of our being, and another to another. Neither the action nor the functions are split up into separate parts. The action is a whole, and the being that does it is a whole, and in the healthy organism the reciprocal movements of the principles are so harmonious as never to suggest any feeling than that of a perfectly whole and undivided self. If there is any other feeling we may be sure that there is abnormal action somewhere, and we should set ourselves to discover and remove the cause of it. The reason for this is that in any perfect organism there cannot be more than one centre of control.

A rivalry of controlling principles would be the destruction of the organic wholeness; for either the elements would separate and group themselves round one or other of the centres, according to their respective affinities, and thus form two distinctive individualities, or else they would be reduced to a condition of merely chaotic confusion; in either case the original organism would cease to exist. Seen in this light, therefore, it is a self-evident truth that, if we are to retain our individuality; in other words, if we are to continue to exist, it can be only by retaining our hold upon the central controlling principle in ourselves; and if this be the charter of our being, it follows that all our future development depends on our recognising and accepting this central controlling principle. To this end, therefore, all our endeavours should be directed; for otherwise all our studies in Mental Science will only lead us into a confused labyrinth of principles and counter-principles, which will be considerably worse than the state of ignorant simplicity from which we started.

This central controlling principle is the Will, and we must never lose sight of the fact that all the other principles about which we have learnt in our studies exist only as its instruments. The Will is the true self, of which they are all functions, and all our progress consists of our increased recognition of the fact. It is the Will that says "I AM"; and therefore, however exalted, or even in their higher developments apparently miraculous, our powers may be, they are all subject to the central controlling power of the Will. When the enlightened Will shall have learnt to identify itself perfectly with the limitless powers of knowledge, judgment, and creative thought which are at its disposal, then the individual will have attained to perfect wholeness, and all limitations will have passed away for ever.

And nothing short of this consciousness of Perfect Wholeness can satisfy us. Everything that falls short of it is in that degree an embodiment of the principle of Death, that great enemy against which the principle of Life must continue to wage unceasing war, in whatever form or measure it may show itself, until "death is swallowed up in victory." There can be no compromise. Either we are affirming Life, as a principle, or we are denying it, no matter on how great or how small a scale; and the criterion by which to determine our attitude is our realisation of our own Wholeness. Death is the principle of disintegration; and whenever we admit the power of any portion of our organism, whether spiritual or bodily, to induce any condition _independently of the intention of the Will_, we admit that the force of disintegration is superior to the controlling centre in ourselves, and we conceive of ourselves as held in bondage by an adversary, from which bondage the only way of release is by the attainment of a truer way of thinking.

And the reason is that, either through ignorance or carelessness, we have surrendered our position of control over the system as a whole, and have lost the element of _Purpose_, around which the consciousness of individuality must always centre. Every state of our consciousness, whether active or passive, should be the result of a distinct _purpose_ adopted by our own free will; for the passive states should be quite as much under the control of the Will as the active. It is the lack of _purpose_ that deprives us of power. The higher and more clearly defined our purpose, the greater stimulus we have for realising our control over _all_ our faculties for its attainment; and since the grandest of all purposes is the strengthening and ennobling of Life, in proportion as we make this our aim we shall find ourselves in union with the Supreme Universal Mind, acting each in our individual sphere for the furtherance of the same purpose which animates the ruling principle of the Great Whole, and, as a consequence, shall find that its intelligence and powers are at our disposal.

But in all this there must be no strain. The true exercise of the Will is not an exercise of unnatural force. It is simply the leading of our powers into their natural channels by intelligently recognising the direction in which those channels go. However various in detail, they have one clearly defined common tendency towards the increasing of Life--whether in ourselves or in others--and if we keep this steadily in view, all our powers, whether interior or exterior, will be found to work so harmoniously together that there will be no sense of independent action on the part of any one of them. The distinctions drawn for purposes of study will be laid aside, and the Self in us will be found to be the realisation of a grand ideal being, at once individual and universal, consciously free in its individual wholeness and in its joyous participation in the Life of the Universal Whole.

XXIV

WHAT IS HIGHER THOUGHT?

Resolution passed October, 1902, by the Kensington Higher Thought Centre.

_"That the Centre stands for the definite teaching of
absolute Oneness of Creator and Creation--Cause and
Effect--and that nothing which may contradict or be in
opposition to the above principles be admitted to the 'Higher
Thought' Centre Platform._

_"By Oneness of Cause and Effect is meant, that Effect (man)
does consist only of what Cause is; but a part (individual
personality) is not therefore co-extensive with the whole."_

This Resolution is of the greatest importance. Once admit that there is _any_ Power outside yourself, however beneficent you may conceive it to be, and you have sown the seed which must sooner or later bear the fruit of "_Fear_" which is the entire ruin of Life, Love and Liberty. There is no _via media_. Say we are only reflections, however accurate, of The Life, and in the admission we have given away our Birthright. However small or plausible may be the germ of thought which admits that we are anything less in principle than The Life Itself, it must spring up to the ultimate ruin of the Life-Principle itself. We _are_ It itself. The difference is only that between the generic and the specific of the _same_ thing. We must contend earnestly, both within ourselves and outwardly, for the _one great foundation_ and never, now on to all eternity, admit for a single instant any thought which is opposed to this, the Basic Truth of Being.

The leading ideas connected with Higher Thought are (I) That Man controls circumstances, instead of being controlled by them, and (II) as a consequence of the foregoing, that whatever teaches us to _rely_ on power _borrowed_ from a source _outside_ ourselves is _not_ Higher Thought; and that whatever explains to us the _Infinite_ source of _our own inherent_ power and the consequent _limitless_ nature of that power _is_ Higher Thought. This avoids the use of terms which may only puzzle those not accustomed to abstract phraseology, and is substantially the same as the resolution of October, 1902.

XXV

FRAGMENTS

1. God is Love.
Man, having the understanding of God, speaks the Word of Power.

2. Man gives utterance to God.

3. The Father is Equilibrium.
The Son is Concentration of the _same_ Spirit.
The Spirit is Projection.

_The Tri-une Relation_--always consists of these Three:

(I) The Potential--(II) The Ideal--(III) The Concrete.

(I) The Potential is Life in its most highly abstract mode not yet brought into Form even as Thought. Not particularised in _any_ way.

(II) The Ideal is the particularising of the Potential into a certain Formulated Thought.

(III) The Concrete is the Manifestation of the Formulated Thought in Visible Form.

What everybody wants is to become _more alive_--as Jesus said, "I am come that they might have Life and might have it more abundantly"--and it is only on the basis of realising ourselves as a _perfect unity throughout_, not made up of opposing parts, and that unity _Spirit_, that we can realise in ourselves the _Livingness_ which _Spirit is_, and which we _as Spirit_ ought to be.

HENCE PERFECT DEMONSTRATION.

"The Truth shall make you Free"
Life :
Love : = The Truth
Liberty :

The Ultimate Truth will always be found to consist of these three, and anything that is contrary to them is contrary to Fundamental Truth.

WORSHIP

Worship consists in the recognition of the _Personal_ Nature of Holy Spirit, and in the Continual Alternation (Pulsation) between the two positions of "I am the Person that Thou art," and "Thou art the Person that I am." The Two Personalities are One.

* * * * *

Transcriber's note:

Corrections [in brackets] in the text are noted below:

page 64: extra word removed

that we shall _feel_ the [the] truth of it,

page 102: typographical error corrected

straining and striving, and the place of the old
_strum[sturm] und drang_ will be taken, not by inertia, but
by a joyous activity which knows that it

page 151: extra word removed

in proportion as you find it there, you will [will] find it
everywhere else.