The Doré Lectures: Being Sunday addresses at the Doré Gallery, London, given in connection with the Higher Thought Centre — John Shaqi
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
And what is the Whole which is thus created? It is our conscious
PERSONALITY; and therefore whatever we draw from the Universal
Spirit acquires in us the quality of personality. It is that
process of differentiation of the universal into the particular
of which I have so often spoken, which, by a rude analogy, we may
compare to the differentiation of the universal electric fluid
into specific sorts of power by its passage through suitable
apparatus. It is for this reason that relatively to ourselves the
Universal Spirit must necessarily assume a personal aspect, and
that the aspect which it will assume will be in exact
correspondence with our own conception of it. This is in
accordance with mental and spiritual laws inherent in our own
being, and it is on this account that the Bible seeks to build up
our conception of God on such lines as will set us free from all
fear of evil, and thus leave us at liberty to use the creative
power of our thought affirmatively from the stand-point of a calm
and untroubled mind. This stand-point can only be reached by
passing beyond the range of the happenings of the moment, and
this can only be done by the discovery of our immediate relation
to the undifferentiated source of all good. I lay stress on these
words "immediate" and "undifferentiated" because in them is
contained the secret of the whole position. If we could not draw
immediately from the Universal Spirit our receiving would be
subject to the limitations of the channel through which it
reached us; and if the force which we receive were not
undifferentiated in itself it could not take appropriate form in
our own minds and become to each of us just what we require it to
be. It is this power of the human soul to differentiate
limitlessly from the Infinite that we are apt to overlook, but as
we come to realize that the soul is itself a reflection and image
of the Infinite Spirit--and a clear recognition of the cosmic
creative process shows that it cannot be anything else--we find
that it must possess this power, and that-in fact it is our
possession of this power which is the whole raison d'etre of the
creative process: if the human soul did not possess an unlimited
power of differentiation from the Infinite, then the Infinite
would not be reflected in it, and consequently the Infinite
Spirit would find no outlet for its CONSCIOUS recognition of
itself as the Life, Love, and Beauty which it is. We can never
too deeply ponder the old esoteric definition of Spirit as "the
Power which knows itself": the secret of all things, past,
present, and future is contained in these few words. The self
-recognition or self-contemplation of Spirit is the primary
movement out of which all creation proceeds, and the attainment
in the individual of a fresh centre for self-recognition is what
the Spirit GAINS in the process--this GAIN accruing to the Spirit
is what is referred to in the parables where the lord is
represented as receiving increase from his servants.
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