And the reason is that, either through ignorance or carelessness, we have surrendered our position of control over the system as a whole, and have lost the element of _Purpose_, around which the consciousness of individuality must always centre. Every state of our consciousness, whether active or passive, should be the result of a distinct _purpose_ adopted by our own free will; for the passive states should be quite as much under the control of the Will as the active. It is the lack of _purpose_ that deprives us of power. The higher and more clearly defined our purpose, the greater stimulus we have for realising our control over _all_ our faculties for its attainment; and since the grandest of all purposes is the strengthening and ennobling of Life, in proportion as we make this our aim we shall find ourselves in union with the Supreme Universal Mind, acting each in our individual sphere for the furtherance of the same purpose which animates the ruling principle of the Great Whole, and, as a consequence, shall find that its intelligence and powers are at our disposal. But in all this there must be no strain. The true exercise of the Will is not an exercise of unnatural force. It is simply the leading of our powers into their natural channels by intelligently recognising the direction in which those channels go. However various in detail, they have one clearly defined common tendency towards the increasing of Life--whether in ourselves or in others--and if we keep this steadily in view, all our powers, whether interior or exterior, will be found to work so harmoniously together that there will be no sense of independent action on the part of any one of them. The distinctions drawn for purposes of study will be laid aside, and the Self in us will be found to be the realisation of a grand ideal being, at once individual and universal, consciously free in its individual wholeness and in its joyous participation in the Life of the Universal Whole. XXIV WHAT IS HIGHER THOUGHT? Resolution passed October, 1902, by the Kensington Higher Thought Centre. _"That the Centre stands for the definite teaching of absolute Oneness of Creator and Creation--Cause and Effect--and that nothing which may contradict or be in opposition to the above principles be admitted to the 'Higher Thought' Centre Platform._ _"By Oneness of Cause and Effect is meant, that Effect (man) does consist only of what Cause is; but a part (individual personality) is not therefore co-extensive with the whole."_