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
On another memorable occasion Jesus declared again that the I am is the
enduring principle of Life. It is this that is the Resurrection and the
Life; not, as Martha supposed, a new principle to be infused from
without at some future time, but an inherent core of vitality awaiting
only its own recognition of itself to triumph over death and the grave.
And yet, again hear the Master's answer to the inquiring Thomas. How
many of us, like him, desire to know the way! To hear of wonderful
powers latent in man and requiring only development is beautiful and
hopeful, if we could only find out the way to develop them; but who will
show us the way? The answer comes with no uncertain note. The I am
includes everything. It is at once "the Way, the Truth, and the Life":
not the Life only, or the Truth only, but also the Way by which to reach
them. Can words be plainer? It is by continually affirming and relying
on the I am in ourselves as identical with the I am that is the One and
Only Life, whether manifested or unmanifested, in all places of the
universe, that we shall find the way to the attainment of all Truth and
of all Life. Here we have the predicate which we are seeking to complete
our affirmation regarding ourselves. I am--what? the Three things which
include all things: Truth, which is all Knowledge and Wisdom; Life,
which is all Power and Love; and the unfailing Way which will lead us
step by step, if we follow it, to heights too sublime and environment
too wide for our present juvenile imaginings to picture.
As the New Testament centres around Jesus, so the old Testament centres
around Moses, and he also declares the Great Affirmation to be the
same.[4] For him God has no name, but that intensely living universal
Life which is all in all, and no name is sufficient to be its
equivalent. The emphatic words I am are the only possible statement of
the One-Power which exhibits itself as all worlds and all living beings.
It is the Great I am which forever unfolds itself in all the infinite
evolutionary forces of the cosmic scheme, and which, in marvellous
onward march, develops itself into higher and higher conscious
intelligence in the successive races of mankind, unrolling the scroll of
history as it moves on from age to age, working out with unerring
precision the steady forward movement of the whole towards that ultimate
perfection in which the work of God will be completed. But stupendous
as is the scale on which this Providential Power reveals itself to Moses
and the Prophets, it is still nothing else than the very same Power
which Jesus bids us realise in ourselves.
[Footnote 4: The Old Testament and the New treat the I AM
from its opposite poles. The Old Testament treats it from the
relation of the _Whole to the Part_, while the New Testament
treats it from the relation of the _Part to the Whole_. This
is important as explaining the relation between the Old and
New Testaments.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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