The Doré Lectures: Being Sunday addresses at the Doré Gallery, London, given in connection with the Higher Thought CentreTroward, T. (Thomas)
Religion
The Doré Lectures: Being Sunday addresses at the Doré Gallery, London, given in connection with the Higher Thought Centre
Troward, T. (Thomas)
New Thought
Only we must not forget that it is working through our own minds.
It thinks through our mind, and our mind must be made a suitable
channel for this mode of its operation by conforming itself to
the broad generic lines of the Spirit's thinking. The reason for
this is one which I have sought to impress throughout these
lectures, namely, that the specialization of a law is never the
denial of it, but on the contrary the fuller recognition of its
basic principles; and if this is the case in ordinary physical
science it must be equally so when we come to specialize the
great Law of Life itself. The Spirit can never change its
essential nature as the essence of Life, Love, and Beauty; and if
we adopt these characteristics, which constitute the Law of the
Spirit, as the basis of our own thinking, and reject all that is
contrary to them, then we afford the broad generic conditions for
the specialized thinking of the Spirit through our own minds: and
the thinking of the Spirit is that INVOLUTION, or passing of
spirit into form, which is the whole being of the creative
process.
The mind which is all the time being thus formed is our own. It
is not a case of control by an external individuality, but the
fuller expression of the Universal through an organized mentality
which has all along been a less perfect expression of the
Universal; and therefore the process is one of growth. We are not
losing our individuality, but are coming into fuller possession
of ourselves by the conscious recognition of our personal share
in the great work of creation. We begin in some slight measure to
understand what the Bible means when it speaks of our-being
"partakers of the Divine nature" (II. Peter i. 4) and we realize
the significance of the "unity of the Spirit" (Ephesians iv. 3).
Doubtless this will imply changes in our old mode of thinking;
but these changes are not forced upon us, they are brought about
naturally by the new stand-point from which we now see things.
Almost imperceptibly to ourselves we grow into a New Order of
Thought which proceeds, not from a knowledge of good and evil,
but from the Principle of Life itself. That is what makes the
difference between our old thought and our new thought. Our old
thought was based upon a comparison of limited facts: our new
thought is based upon a comprehension of principles. The
difference is like that between the mathematics of the infant,
who cannot count beyond the number of apples or marbles put
before him, and that of the senior wrangler who is not dependent
upon visible objects for his calculations, but plunges boldly
into the unknown because he knows that he is working by
indubitable principles. In like manner when we realize the
infallible Principle of the Creative Law we no longer find we
need to see everything cut and dried beforehand, for if so, we
could never get beyond the range of our old experiences; but we
can move steadily forward because we know the certainty of the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account