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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