The Hidden Power, and Other Papers upon Mental Science — John Shaqi
The Hidden Power, and Other Papers upon Mental ScienceTroward, T. (Thomas)
Religion
The Hidden Power, and Other Papers upon Mental Science
Troward, T. (Thomas)
New Thought
There is no random work here. Every attraction and repulsion acts with
its proper force collecting the atoms into molecules, the molecules into
tissues, the tissues into organs, and the organs into individuals. At
each stage of the progress we get the sum of the intelligent forces
which operate in the constituent parts, _plus_ a higher degree of
intelligence which we may regard as the collective intelligence superior
to that of the mere sum-total of the parts, something which belongs to
the individual _as a whole_, and not to the parts as such. These are
facts which can be amply proved from physical science; and they also
supply a great law in spiritual science, which is that in any collective
body the intelligence of the whole is superior to that of the sum of the
parts.
Spirit is at the root of all things, and thoughtful observation shows
that its operation is guided by unfailing intelligence which adapts
means to ends, and harmonises the entire universe of manifested being in
those wonderful ways which physical science renders clearer every day;
and this intelligence must be in the generating spirit itself, because
there is no other source from which it could proceed. On these grounds,
therefore, we may distinctly affirm that Spirit is intelligent, and that
whatever it does is done by the intelligent adaptation of means to ends.
But Spirit is also responsive. And here we have to fall back upon the
law above stated, that the mere sum of the intelligence of Spirit in
lower degrees of manifestation is not equal to the intelligence of the
complex _whole_, as a whole. This is a radical law which we cannot
impress upon our minds too deeply. The degree of spiritual intelligence
is marked by the wholeness of the organism through which it finds
expression; and therefore the more highly organised being has a degree
of spirit which is superior to, and consequently capable of exercising
control over, all lower or less fully-integrated degrees of spirit; and
this being so, we can now begin to see why the spirit that is the
"innermost within" of all things is responsive as well as intelligent.
Being intelligent, it _knows_, and spirit being ultimately all there is,
that which it knows is itself. Hence it is that power which recognises
itself; and accordingly the lower powers of it recognise its higher
powers, and by the law of attraction they are bound to respond to the
higher degrees of themselves. On this general principle, therefore,
spirit, under whatever exterior revealed, is necessarily intelligent and
responsive. But intelligence and responsiveness imply personality; and
we may therefore now advance a step further and argue that _all_ spirit
contains the elements of personality, even though, in any particular
instance, it may not yet be expressed as that individual personality
which we find in ourselves.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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