The Creative Process in the IndividualTroward, T. (Thomas)
Religion
The Creative Process in the Individual
Troward, T. (Thomas)
New Thought
This means that the raw material for the formation of solar systems is
universally distributed throughout space; yet though we find that millions
of suns stud the heavens, we also find vast interstellar spaces which show
no sign of cosmic activity. Then something has been at work to start cosmic
activity in certain areas while passing over others in which the raw
material is equally available. What is this something? At first we might be
inclined to attribute the development of cosmic energy to the etheric
particles themselves, but a little consideration will show us that this is
mathematically impossible in a medium which is equally distributed
throughout space, for all its particles are in equilibrium and so no one
particle possesses _per se_ a greater power of originating motion than any
other. Consequently the initial movement must be started by something
which, though it works on and through the particles of the primary
substance, is not those particles themselves. It is this "Something" which
we mean when we speak of "Spirit."
Then since Spirit starts the condensation of the primary substance into
concrete aggregation, and also does this in certain areas to the exclusion
of others, we cannot avoid attributing to Spirit the power of Selection and
of taking an Initiative on its own account.
Here, then, we find the _initial_ Polarity of Universal Spirit and
Universal Substance, each being the complementary of the other, and out of
this relation all subsequent evolution proceeds. Being complementary means
that each supplies what is wanting in the other, and that the two together
thus make complete wholeness. Now this is just the case here. Spirit
supplies Selection and Motion. Substance supplies something from which
selection can be made and to which Motion can be imparted; so that it is a
_sine qua non_ for the Expression of Spirit.
Then comes the question, How did the Universal Substance get there? It
cannot have made itself, for its only quality is inertia, therefore it must
have come from some source having power to project it by some mode of
action not of a material nature. Now the only mode of action not of a
material nature is Thought, and therefore to Thought we must look for the
origin of Substance. This places us at a point antecedent to the existence
even of primary substance, and consequently the initial action must be that
of the Originating Mind upon Itself, in other words, Self-contemplation.
At this primordial stage neither Time nor Space can be recognized, for both
imply measurement of successive intervals, and in the primary movement of
Mind upon itself the only consciousness must be that of Present Absolute
Being, because no external points exist from which to measure extension
either in time or space. Hence we must eliminate the ideas of time and
space from our conception of Spirit's _initial_ Self-contemplation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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