Part Thirteen
Physical science is responsible for the marvelous age of
invention in which we are now living, but spiritual science is now
setting out on a career whose possibilities no one can foretell.
Spiritual science has previously been the football of the
uneducated, the superstitious, the mystical, but men are now
interested in definite methods and demonstrated facts only.
We have come to know that thinking is a spiritual process, that
vision and imagination preceded action and event, that the day of
the dreamer has come.
The following lines by Mr. Herbert Kaufman are interesting in
this connection.
"They are the architects of greatness, their vision lies within
their souls, they peer beyond the veils and mists of doubt and
pierce the walls of unborn Time. The belted wheel, the trail of
steel, the churning screw, are shuttles in the loom on which they
weave their magic tapestries. Makers of Empire, they have fought for
bigger things than crowns and higher seats than thrones. Your homes
are set upon the land a dreamer found. The pictures on its walls are
visions from a dreamer's soul. They are the chose few -- the blazers
of the way. Walls crumble and Empires fall, the tidal wave sweeps
from the sea and tears a fortress from its rocks. The rotting
nations drop off from Time's bough, and only things the dreamer's
make live on."
Part Thirteen which follows tells why the dreams of the dreamer
come true. It explains the law of causation by which dreamers,
inventors, authors, financiers, bring about the realization of their
desires. It explains the law by which the thing pictured upon our
mind eventually becomes our own.
PART THIRTEEN
1. It has been the tendency, and, as might be proved, a necessity
for science to seek the explanation of everyday facts by a
generalization of those others which are less frequent and form the
exception. Thus does the eruption of the volcano manifest the heat
which is continually at work in the interior of the earth and to
which the latter owes much of her configuration.
2. Thus does the lightning reveal a subtle power constantly busy
to produce changes in the inorganic world, and, as dead languages
now seldom heard were once ruling among the nations, so does a giant
tooth in Siberia, or a fossil in the depth of the earth, not only
bear record of the evolution of past ages, but thereby explains to
us the origin of the hills and valleys which we inhabit today.
3. In this way a generalization of facts which are rare, strange,
or form the exception, has been the magnetic needle guiding to all
the discoveries of inductive science.
4. This method is founded upon reason and experience and thereby
destroyed superstition, precedent and conventionality.
5. It is almost three-hundred years since Lord Bacon recommended
this method of study, to which the civilized nations owe the greater
part of their prosperity and the more valuable part of their
knowledge; purging the mind from narrow prejudices, denominated
theories, more effectually than by the keenest irony; calling the
attention of men from heaven to earth more successfully by
surprising experiments than by the most forcible demonstration of
their ignorance; educating the inventive faculties more powerfully
by the near prospect of useful discoveries thrown open to all, than
by talk of bringing to light the innate laws of our mind.
6. The method of Bacon has seized the spirit and aim of the great
philosophers of Greece and carried them into effect by the new means
of observation which another age offered; thus gradually revealing a
wondrous field of knowledge in the infinite space of astronomy, in
the microscopic egg of embryology, and the dim age of geology;
disclosing an order of the pulse which the logic of Aristotle could
never have unveiled, and analyzing into formerly unknown elements
the material combinations which no dialectic of the scholastics
could force apart.
7. It has lengthened life; it has mitigated pain; it has
extinguished diseases; it has increased the fertility of the soil;
it has given new securities to the mariner; it has spanned great
rivers with bridges of form unknown to our fathers; it has guided
the thunderbolt from heaven to earth; it has lighted up night with
the splendor of day; it has extended the range of human vision; it
has multiplied the power of the human muscles; it has accelerated
motion; it has annihilated distance; it has facilitated intercourse,
correspondence, all friendly offices, all dispatch of business; it
has enabled men to descend into the depths of the sea, to soar into
the air, to penetrate securely into the noxious recesses of the
earth.
8. This then is the true nature and scope of induction. But the
greater the success which men have achieved in the inductive
science, the more does the whole tenor of their teachings and
example impress us with the necessity of observing carefully,
patiently, accurately, with all the instruments and resources at our
command the individual facts before venturing upon a statement of
general laws.
9. To ascertain the bearing of the spark drawn from the electric
machine under every variety of circumstances, that we thus may be
emboldened with Franklin to address, in the form of a kite, the
question to the cloud about the nature of the lightning. To assure
ourselves of the manner in which bodies fall with the exactness of a
Galileo, that with Newton we may dare to ask the moon about the
force that fastens it to the earth.
10. In short, by the value we set upon truth, by our hope in a
steady and universal progress, not to permit a tyrannical prejudice
to neglect or mutilate unwelcome facts, but to rear the
superstructure of science upon the broad and unchangeable basis, of
full attention paid to the most isolated as well as the most
frequent phenomena.
11. An ever-increasing material may be collected by observation,
but the accumulated facts are of very different value for the
explanation of nature, and as we esteem most highly those useful
qualities of men which are of the rarest occurrence, so does natural
philosophy sift the facts and attach a pre-eminent importance to
that striking class which cannot be accounted for by the usual and
daily observation of life.
12. If then, we find that certain persons seem to possess unusual
power, what are we to conclude? First, we may say, it is not so,
which is simply an acknowledgment of our lack of information because
every honest investigator admits that there are many strange and
previously unaccountable phenomena constantly taking place. Those,
however, who become acquainted with the creative power of thought,
will no longer consider them unaccountable.
13. Second, we may say that they are the result of supernatural
interference, but a scientific understanding of Natural Laws will
convince us that there is nothing supernatural. Every phenomenon is
the result of an accurate definite cause, and the cause is an
immutable law or principle, which operates with invariable
precision, whether the law is put into operation consciously or
unconsciously.
14. Third, we may say that we are on "forbidden ground," that
there are some things which we should not know. This objection was
used against every advance in human knowledge. Every individual who
ever advanced a new idea, whether a Columbus, a Darwin, a Galileo, a
Fulton or an Emerson, was subjected to ridicule or persecution; so
that this objection should receive no serious consideration; but, on
the contrary, we should carefully consider every fact which is
brought to our attention; by doing this we will more readily
ascertain the law upon which it is based.
15. It will be found that the creative power of thought will
explain every possible condition or experience, whether physical,
mental or spiritual.
16. Thought will bring about conditions in correspondence with
the predominant mental attitude. Therefore, if we fear disaster, as
fear is a powerful form of thought, disaster will be the certain
result of our thinking. It is this form of thought which frequently
sweeps away the result of many years of toil and effort.
17. If we think of some form of material wealth we may secure it.
By concentrated thought the required conditions will be brought
about, and the proper effort put forth, which will result in
bringing about the circumstances necessary to realize our desires;
but we often find that when we secure the things we thought we
wanted, they do not have the effect we expected. That is, the
satisfaction is only temporary, or possibly is the reverse of what
we expected.
18. What, then, is the proper method of procedure? What are we to
think in order to secure what we really desire? What you and I
desire, what we all desire, what every one is seeking, is Happiness
and Harmony. If we can be truly happy we shall have everything the
world can give. If we are happy ourselves we can make others happy.
19. But we cannot be happy unless we have, health, strength,
congenial friends, pleasant environment, sufficient supply, not only
to take care of our necessities but to provide for those comforts
and luxuries to which we are entitled.
20. The old orthodox way of thinking was to be "a worm," to be
satisfied with our portion whatever it is; but the modern idea is to
know that we are entitled to the best of everything, that the
"Father and I are one" and that the "Father" is the Universal Mind,
the Creator, the Original Substance from which all things proceed.
21. Now admitting that this is all true in theory, and it has
been taught for two thousand years, and is the essence of every
system of Philosophy or Religion, how are we to make it practical in
our lives? How are we to get the actual, tangible results here and
now?
22. In the first place, we must put our knowledge into practice.
Nothing can be accomplished in any other way. The athlete may read
books and lessons on physical training all his life, but unless he
begins to give out strength by actual work he will never receive any
strength; he will eventually get exactly what he gives; but he will
have to give it first. It is exactly the same with us; we will get
exactly what we give, but we shall have to give it first. It will
then return to us many fold, and the giving is simply a mental
process, because thoughts are causes and conditions are effects;
therefore in giving thoughts of courage, inspiration, health or help
of any kind we are setting causes in motion which will bring about
their effect.
23. Thought is a spiritual activity and is therefore creative,
but make no mistake, thought will create nothing unless it is
consciously, systematically, and constructively directed; and herein
is the difference between idle thinking, which is simply a
dissipation of effort, and constructive thinking, which means
practically unlimited achievement.
24. We have found that everything we get comes to us by the Law
of Attraction. A happy thought cannot exist in an unhappy
consciousness; therefore the consciousness must change, and, as the
consciousness changes, all conditions necessary to meet the changed
consciousness must gradually change, in order to meet the
requirements of the new situation.
25. In creating a Mental Image or an Ideal, we are projecting a
thought into the Universal Substance from which all things are
created. This Universal Substance is Omnipresent, Omnipotent and
Omniscient. Are we to inform the Omniscient as to the proper channel
to be used to materialize our demand? Can the finite advise the
Infinite? This is the cause of failure; of every failure. We
recognize the Omnipresence of the Universal Substance, but we fail
to appreciate the fact that this substance is not only Omnipresent,
but is Omnipotent and Omniscient, and consequently will set causes
in motion concerning which we may be entirely ignorant.
26. We can best conserve our interests by recognizing the
Infinite Power and Infinite Wisdom of the Universal Mind, and in
this way become a channel whereby the Infinite can bring about the
realization of our desire. This means that recognition brings about
realization, therefore for your exercise this week make use of the
principle, recognize the fact that you are a part of the whole, and
that a part must be the same in kind and quality as the whole; the
only difference there can possibly by, is in degree.
27. When this tremendous fact begins to permeate your
consciousness, when you really come into a realization of the fact
that you (not your body, but the Ego), the "I," the spirit which
thinks is an integral part of the great whole, that it is the same
in substance, in quality, in kind, that the Creator could create
nothing different from Himself, you will also be able to say, "The
Father and I are one" and you will come into an understanding of the
beauty, the grandeur, the transcendental opportunities which have
been placed at your disposal.
Increase in me that wisdom Which discovers my
truest interest, Strengthen my resolution To perform that which
wisdom dictates.
Franklin
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