The Creative Process in the Individual - Thomas Troward
This truly New Thought puts us in an entirely new relation to the whole of
our environment, opening out possibilities hitherto undreamt of, and this
by an orderly sequence of law which is naturally involved in our new mental
attitude; but before considering the prospect thus offered it is well to be
quite clear as to what this new mental attitude really is; for it is our
adoption of this attitude that is the Key to the whole position. Put
briefly it is ceasing to include the idea of limitations in our conception
of the working of the All-Creating Spirit. Here are some specimens of the
way in which we limit the creative working of the Spirit. We say, I am too
old now to start this or that new sort of work. This is to deny the power
of the Spirit to vivify our physical or mental faculties, which is
illogical if we consider that it is the same Spirit that brought us into
any existence at all. It is like saying that when a lamp is beginning to
burn low the same person who first filled it with oil cannot replenish it
and make it burn brightly again. Or we say, I cannot do so and so because I
have not the means. When you were fourteen did you know where all the means
were coming from which were going to support you till now when you are
perhaps forty or fifty? So you should argue that the same power that has
worked in the past can continue to work in the future. If you say the means
came in the past quite naturally through ordinary channels, that is no
objection; on the contrary the more reason for saying that suitable
channels will open in the future. Do you expect God to put cash into your
desk by a conjuring trick? Means come through recognizable channels, that
is to say we recognize the channels by the fact of the stream flowing
through them; and one of our most common mistakes is in thinking that we
ourselves have to fix the particular channel beforehand. We say in effect
that the Spirit cannot open other channels, and so we stop them up. Or we
say, our past experience speaks to the contrary, thus assuming that our
past experiences have included all possibilities and have exhausted the
laws of the universe, an assumption which is negatived by every fresh
discovery even in physical science. And so we go on limiting the power of
the Spirit in a hundred different ways.
But careful consideration will show that, though the modes in which we
limit it are as numerous as the circumstances with which we have to deal,
the thing with which we limit it is always the same--it is by the
introduction of our own personality. This may appear at first a direct
contradiction of all that I have said about the necessity for the Personal
Factor, but it is not. Here is a paradox.
To open out into manifestation the wonderful possibilities hidden in the
Creative Power of the Universe we require to do two things--to see that we
ourselves are necessary as centers for focussing that power, and at the
same time to withdraw the thought of ourselves as contributing anything to
its efficiency. It is not I that work but the Power; yet the Power needs me
because it cannot specialize itself without me--in a word each is the
complementary of the other: and the higher the degree of specialization is
to be the more necessary is the intelligent and willing co-operation of the
individual.
This is the Scriptural paradox that "the son can do nothing of himself,"
and yet we are told to be "fellow-workers with God." It ceases to be a
paradox, however, when we realize the relation between the two factors
concerned, God and Man. Our mistake is in not discriminating between their
respective functions, and putting Man in the place of God. In our everyday
life we do this by measuring the power of God by our past experiences and
the deductions we draw from them; but there is another way of putting Man
in the place of God, and that is by the misconception that the
All-Originating Spirit is merely a cosmic force without intelligence, and
that Man has to originate the intelligence without which no specific
purpose can be conceived. This latter is the error of much of the present
day philosophy and has to be specially guarded against. This was perceived
by some of the medieval students of these things, and they accordingly
distinguished between what they called Animus Dei and Anima Mundi, the
Divine Spirit and the Soul of the Universe. Now the distinction is this,
that the essential quality of Animus Dei is Personality--not A Person, but
the very Principle of Personality itself--while the essential quality of
Anima Mundi is Impersonality. Then right here comes in that importance of
the Personal Factor of which I have already spoken. The powers latent in
the Impersonal are brought out to their fullest development by the
operation of the Personal. This of course does not consist in changing the
nature of those powers, for that is impossible, but in making such
combinations of them by Personal Selection as to produce results which
could not otherwise be obtained. Thus, for example, Number is in itself
impersonal and no one can alter the laws which are inherent in it; but what
we can do is to select particular numbers and the sort of relation, such as
subtraction, multiplication, etc., which we will establish between them;
and then by the inherent Law of Number a certain result is bound to work
out. Now our own essential quality is the consciousness of Personality; and
as we grow into the recognition of the fact that the Impersonal is, as it
were, crying out for the operation upon it of the Personal in order to
bring its latent powers into working, we shall see how limitless is the
field that thus opens before us.
The prospect is wonderful beyond our present conception, and full of
increasing glory if we realize the true foundation on which it rests. But
herein lies the danger. It consists in not realizing that the Infinite of
the Impersonal _is_ and also that the Infinite of the Personal _is_. Both
are Infinite and so require differentiation through our own personality,
but in their essential quality each is the exact balance of the other--not
in contradiction to each other, but as complementary to one another, each
supplying what the other needs for its full expression, so that the two
together make a perfect whole. If, however, we see this relation and our
own position as the connecting link between them, we shall see only
ourselves as the Personal Factor; but the more we realize, both by theory
and experience, the power of human personality brought into contact with
the Impersonal Soul of Nature, and employed with a Knowledge of its power
and a corresponding exercise of the will, the less we shall be inclined to
regard ourselves as the supreme factor in the chain of cause and effect
Consideration of this argument points to the danger of much of the present
day teaching regarding the exercise of Thought Power as a creative agency.
The principle on which this teaching is based is sound and legitimate for
it is inherent in the nature of things; but the error is in supposing that
we ourselves are the ultimate source of Personality instead of merely the
distributors and specializers of it. The logical result of such a mental
attitude is that putting ourselves in the place of all that is worshiped as
God which is spoken of in the second chapter of the Second Epistle to the
Thessalonians and other parts of Scripture. By the very hypothesis of the
case we then know no higher will than our own, and so are without any
Unifying Principle to prevent the conflict of wills which must then
arise--a conflict which must become more and more destructive the greater
the power possessed by the contending parties, and which, if there were no
counterbalancing power, must result in the ultimate destruction of the
existing race of men.
But there is a counterbalancing power. It is the very same power used
affirmatively instead of negatively. It is the power of the Personal with
the Impersonal when used under the guidance of that Unifying Principle
which the recognition of the ONE-ness of the Personal Quality in the Divine
Spirit supplies. Those who are using the creative power of thought only
from the standpoint of individual personality, have obviously less power
than those who are using it from the standpoint of the Personality inherent
in the Living Spirit which is the Source and Fountain of all energy and
substance, and therefore in the end the victory must remain with these
latter. And because the power by which they conquer is that of the Unifying
Personality itself their victory must result in the establishment of Peace
and Happiness throughout the world, and is not a power of domination but of
helpfulness and enlightenment. The choice is between these two mottoes:--
"Each for himself and Devil take the hindmost," or "God for us all." In
proportion, therefore, as we realize the immense forces dormant in the
Impersonal Soul of Nature, only awaiting the introduction of the Personal
Factor to wake them up into activity and direct them to specific purposes,
the wider we shall find the scope of the powers within the reach of man;
and the more clearly we perceive the Impersonalness of the very Principle
of Personality itself, the clearer our own proper position as affording the
Differentiating Medium between these two Infinitudes will become to us.
The Impersonalness of the Principle of Personality looks like a
contradiction in terms, but it is not. I combine these two seemingly
contradictory terms as the best way to convey to the reader the idea of the
essential Quality of Personality not yet differentiated into individual
centers of consciousness for the doing of particular work. Looked at in
this way the Infinite of Personality must have Unity of Purpose for its
foundation, for otherwise it would consist of conflicting personalities, in
which case we have not yet reached the ONE all-originating cause. Or to put
it in another way, an Infinite Personality divided against itself would be
an Infinite Insanity, a creator of a cosmic Bedlam which, as a scientific
fact, would be impossible of existence. Therefore the conception of an
Infinite of Personality necessarily implies a perpetual Unity of Purpose;
and for the same reason this Purpose can only be the fuller and fuller
expression of an Infinite Unity of Consciousness; and Unity of
Consciousness necessarily implies the entire absence of all that would
impair it, and therefore its expression can only be as Universal Harmony.
If, then, the individual realizes this true nature of the source from which
his own consciousness of personality is derived his ideas and work will be
based upon this foundation, with the result that as between ourselves peace
and good will towards men must accompany this mode of thought, and as
between us and the strictly Impersonal Soul of Nature our increasing
knowledge in that direction would mean increasing power for carrying out
our principle of peace and good will. As this perception of our relation to
the Spirit of God and the Soul of Nature spreads from individual to
individual so the Kingdom of God will grow, and its universal recognition
would be the establishing of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
Perhaps the reader will ask why I say the Soul of Nature instead of saying
the material universe. The reason is that in using our creative power of
Thought we do not operate directly upon material elements--to do that is
the work of construction from without and not of creation from within. The
whole tendency of modern physical science is to reduce all matter in the
final analysis to energy working in a primary ether. Whence this energy and
this ether proceed is not the subject of physical analysis. That is a
question which cannot be answered by means of the vacuum tube or the
spectroscope. Physical science is doing its legitimate work in pushing
further and further back the unanalyzable residuum of Nature, but, however
far back, an ultimate unanalyzable residuum there must always be; and when
physical science brings us to this point it hands us over to the guidance
of psychological investigation just as in the Divina Commedia Virgil
transfers Dante to the guidance of Beatrice for the study of the higher
realms. Various rates of rapidity of motion in this primary ether,
producing various numerical combinations of positively and negatively
electrified particles, result in the formation of what we know as the
different chemical elements, and thus explains the phenomena of their
combining quantities, the law by which they join together to form new
substances only in certain exact numerical ratios. From the first movement
in the primary ether to solid substances, such as wood or iron or our own
flesh, is thus a series of vibrations in a succession of mediums, each
denser than the preceding one out of which it was concreted and from which
it receives the vibratory impulse. This is in effect what physical science
has to tell us. But to get further back we must look into the world of the
invisible, and it is here that psychological study comes to our aid. We
cannot, however, study the invisible side of Nature by working from the
outside and so at this point of our studies we find the use of the
time-honored teaching regarding the parallelism between the Macrocosm and
the Microcosm. If the Microcosm is the reproduction in ourselves of the
same principles as exist in the Macrocosm or universe in which we have our
being, then by investigating ourselves we shall learn the nature of the
corresponding invisible principles in our environment. Here, then, is the
application of the dictum of the ancient philosophy, "Know Thyself." It
means that the only place where we can study the principles of the
invisible side of Nature is in ourselves; and when we know them there we
can transfer them to the larger world around us.
In the concluding chapters of my "Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science" I
have outlined the way in which the soul or mind operates upon the physical
instrument of its expression, and it resolves itself into this--that the
mental action inaugurates a series of vibrations in the etheric body which,
in their turn, induce corresponding grosser vibrations in the molecular
substance until finally mechanical action is produced on the outside. Now
transferring this idea to Nature as a whole we shall see that if our mental
action is to affect it in any way it can only be by the response of
something at the back of material substance analogous to mind in ourselves;
and that there is such a "something" interior to the merely material side
of Nature is proved by what we may call the Law of Tendency, not only in
animals and plants, but even in inorganic substances, as shown for instance
in Professor Bose's work on the Response of Metals. The universal presence
of this Law of Tendency therefore indicates the working of some
non-material and, so to say, semi-intelligent power in the material world,
a power which works perfectly accurately on its own lines so far as it
goes, that is to say in a generic manner, but which does not possess that
Personal power of _individual selection_ which is necessary to bring out
the infinite possibilities hidden in it. This is what is meant by the Soul
of Nature, and it is for this reason I employ that term instead of saying
the material universe. Which term to employ all depends on the mode of
action we are contemplating. If it is construction from without, then we
are dealing with the purely material universe. If we are seeking to bring
about results by the exercise of our mental power from within, then we are
dealing with the Soul of Nature. It is that control of the lower degree of
intelligence by the higher of which I have spoken in my Edinburgh Lectures.
If we realize what I have endeavored to make clear in the earlier portion
of this book, that the whole creation is produced by the operation of the
Divine Will upon the Soul of Nature, it will be evident that we can set no
limits to the potencies hidden in the latter and capable of being brought
out by the operation of the Personal Factor upon it; therefore, granted a
sufficiently powerful concentration of will, whether by an individual or a
group of individuals, we can well imagine the production of stupendous
effects by this agency, and in this way I would explain the statements made
in Scripture regarding the marvelous powers to be exercised by the
Anti-Christ, whether personal or collective. They are psychic powers, the
power of the Soul of Man over the Soul of Nature. But the Soul of Nature is
quite impersonal and therefore the moral quality of this action depends
entirely on the human operator. This is the point of the Master's teaching
regarding the destruction of the fig tree, and it is on this account He
adds the warning as to the necessity for clearing our heart of any
injurious feeling against others whenever we attempt to make use of this
power (Mark xi: 20-26).
According to His teaching, then, this power of controlling the Soul of
Nature by the addition of our own Personal Factor, however little we may be
able to recognize it as yet, actually exists; its employment depends on our
perception of the inner principles common to both, and it is for this
reason the ancient wisdom was summed up in the aphorism "Know thyself." No
doubt it is a wonderful Knowledge, but on analysis it will be found to be
perfectly natural. It is the Knowledge of the cryptic forces of Nature. Now
it is remarkable that this ancient maxim inscribed over the portals of the
Temple of Delphi is not to be found in the Bible. The Bible maxim is not
"Know thyself" but "Know the Lord." The great subject of Knowledge is not
ourself but "the Lord"; and herein is the great difference between the two
teachings. The one is limited by human personality, the other is based on
the Infinitude of the Divine Personality; and because of this it includes
human personality with all its powers over the Soul of Nature. It is a case
of the greater including the less; and so the whole teaching of Scripture
is directed to bringing us into the recognition of that Divine Personality
which is the Great Original in whose image and likeness we are made. In
proportion as we grow into the recognition of _this_ our own personality
will explain, and the creative power of our thought will cease to work
invertedly until at last it will work only on the same principles of Life,
Love and Liberty as the Divine Mind, and so all evil will disappear from
our world. We shall not, as some systems teach, be absorbed into Deity to
the extinction of our individual consciousness, but on the contrary our
individual consciousness will continually expand, which is what St. Paul
means when he speaks of our "increasing with the increase of God"--the
continual expanding of the Divine element within us. But this can only take
place by our recognition of ourselves as _receivers_ of this Divine
element. It is receiving into ourselves of the Divine Personality, a result
not to be reached through human reasoning. We reason from premises which we
have assumed, and the conclusion is already involved in the premises and
can never extend beyond them. But we can only select our premises from
among things that we know by experience, whether mental or physical, and
accordingly our reasoning is always merely a new placing of the old things.
But the receiving of the Divine Personality into ourselves is an entirely
New Thing, and so cannot be reached by reasoning from old things. Hence if
this Divine ultimate of the Creative Process is to be attained it must be
by the Revelation of a New Thing which will afford a new starting-point for
our thought, and this New Starting-point is given in the Promise of "the
Seed of the Woman" with which the Bible opens. Thenceforward this Promise
became the central germinating thought of those who based themselves upon
it, thus constituting them a special race, until at last when the necessary
conditions had matured the Promised Seed appeared in Him of whom it is
written that He is the express image of God's Person (Heb. I: 3)--that is,
the Expression of that Infinite Divine Personality of which I have spoken.
"No man hath seen God at any time or can see Him," for the simple reason
that Infinitude cannot be the subject of vision. To become visible there
must be Individualization, and therefore when Philip said "Show us the
Father," Jesus replied, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." The
Word must become flesh before St. John could say, "That which was from the
beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we
have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of Life." This is
the New Starting-point for the true New Thought--the New Adam of the New
Race, each of whom is a new center for the working of the Divine Spirit.
This is what Jesus meant when he said, "Except ye eat the flesh and drink
the blood of the Son of Man ye have no life in you. My flesh is meat
indeed, and my blood is drink indeed--" such a contemplation of the Divine
Personality in Him as will cause a like receiving of the Divine Personality
into individualization in ourselves--this is the great purpose of the
Creative Process in the individual. It terminates the old series which
began with birth after the flesh and inaugurates a New Series by birth
after the Spirit, a New Life of infinite unfoldment with glorious
possibilities beyond our highest conception.
But all this is logically based upon our recognition of the Personalness of
God and of the relation of our individual personality to this Eternal and
Infinite Personality, and the result of this is Worship--not an attempt to
"butter up" the Almighty and get Him into good temper, but the reverent
contemplation of what this Personality must be in Itself; and when we see
it to be that Life, Love, Beauty, etc., of which I spoke at the beginning
of this book we shall learn to love Him for what He IS, and our prayer will
be "Give me more of Thyself." If we realize the great truth that the
Kingdom of Heaven is _within_ us, that it is the Kingdom of the innermost
of our own being and of all creation, and if we realize that this innermost
is the place of the Originating Power where Time and Space do not exist and
therefore antecedent to all conditions, then we shall see the true meaning
of Worship. It is the perception of the Innermost Spirit as eternally
subsisting independently of all conditioned manifestation, so that in the
true worship our consciousness is removed from the outer sphere of
existence to the innermost center of unconditioned being. There we find the
Eternal Being of God pure and simple, and we stand reverently in this
Supreme Presence knowing that it is the Source of our own being, and wrapt
in the contemplation of This, the conditioned is seen to flow out from It.
Perceiving this the conditioned passes out of our consideration, for it is
seen not to be the Eternal Reality--we have reached that level of
consciousness where Time and Space remain no longer. Yet the reverence
which the vision of this Supreme Center of all Being cannot fail to inspire
is coupled with a sense of feeling quite at home with It. This is because
as the Center of _all_ Being it is the center of our own being also. It is
one-with-ourselves. It is recognizing Itself from our own center of
consciousness; so that here we have got back to that Self-contemplation of
Spirit which is the first movement of the Creating Power, only now this
Self-contemplation is the action of the All-Originating Spirit upon Itself
from the center of our own consciousness. So this worship in the Temple of
the Innermost is at once reverent adoration and familiar intercourse--not
the familiarity that breeds contempt, but a familiarity producing Love,
because as it increases we see more clearly the true Life of the Spirit as
the continual interaction of Love and Beauty, and the Spirit's recognition
of ourselves as an integral portion of Its own Life. This is not an
unpractical dreamy speculation but has a very practical bearing. Death will
some day cease to be, for the simple reason that Life alone can be the
enduring principle; but we have not yet reached this point in our
evolution. Whether any in this generation will reach it I cannot say; but
for the rank and file of us the death of the body seems to be by far the
more probable event. Now what must this passing out of the body mean to us?
It must mean that we find ourselves without the physical vehicle which is
the instrument through which our consciousness comes in touch with the
external world and all the interests of our present daily life. But the
mere putting off of the body does not of itself change the mental attitude;
and so if our mind is entirely centered upon these passing interests and
external conditions the loss of the instrument by which we held touch with
them must involve a consciousness of desire for the only sort of life we
have known coupled with a consciousness of our inability to participate in
it, which can only result in a consciousness of distress and confusion such
as in our present state we cannot imagine.