A great many do not understand the Principle of Metaphysics and the method of applying it so as to work intelligently in their own behalf. Under such conditions they can only expect to rely on some one else, and when that is done continually or at frequent intervals, it tends to weaken rather than strengthen the spiritual factor in consciousness.

It is, therefore, desirable and necessary to secure an understanding of the nature of Truth. Most persons who have become interested in metaphysics have had some wonderful experience or they know of some one who has had such an experience.

It has been declared by philosophers, religionists, and scientists, again and again, that no proof of the existence of the absolute Truth is possible, in other words that the only way in which a man can be convinced of the creative power of Truth is by demonstration, or by assuming that Truth is all powerful and then on the basis of this assumption make the demonstration. This is proof, this is freedom, this is why it has been said: “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”

Observation of the characteristic manifestations of anything and deductions based upon such observation, constitute knowledge of that thing; it will readily be seen, therefore, that, if you have observed and have become aware of the fact of certain characteristic manifestations of Truth, you will have knowledge. If it should come to pass that you had observed and carefully noted all the characteristic manifestations of Truth, and then in addition perceived the uniformities that run through those manifestations, especially if they are complex, and see the laws or system upon which their characteristics are based, then your knowledge of Truth would be complete.

Through the mental and spiritual awakening of a century ago, which was responsible for modern progressive thought, certain higher forces and principles were discovered in the mind of man; and in the same way new realms of thought and spiritual reality were opened to consciousness--revelations, literally, that give life a changed and marvelous meaning, and that caused the cosmos to extend into infinity, seemingly, in every direction. And therefore a two-fold purpose appeared at the very beginning of this movement--to know the Real Man, and to know the Real Cosmos; an ancient desire, but which was reborn at this time, and with so much life and virility that it has become today a soul passion in the minds of millions.

What then are the characteristics of Truth? All agree that in the philosophical sense Truth is that which is absolute and changeless. Truth must then be a fact; what then is a fact? Well, three times three equals nine. That is a fact, always was a fact, always will be a fact; there can be no evasion, no argument, no equivocation. It is truth in the United States, in China, in Japan, it is true everywhere; all the time. A fact exists in the nature of things without beginning, without end, without limitation, it governs our actions and our commercial operations. Those who would undertake to disregard it, would do so at their peril. It is, however, a fact which you cannot see, you cannot hear, you cannot taste, nor can you smell or feel it, it is inapprehensible to any of the physical senses; is it therefore, any less a fact? It is without color, size or form; is it for this reason any less true? It is without years; is it for that reason not the same yesterday, today, and forever?

You may use this fact as long as you live, millions of other persons may use it as often as they like, that will not destroy it. Use does not change it; from everlasting to everlasting--three times three equals nine. This is therefore a fact or the Truth.

Truth is the only possible knowledge which man can possess, because knowledge which is not based upon truth would be false, and would therefore, not be knowledge at all.

Counterfeit money is not true money, it is false, however much it may pass for true. The Truth is therefore, all that any one can know, for what is not true does not exist, therefore we cannot know it. We all think we know much that is not so, but what is not so, does not exist, therefore we cannot know it.

Therefore, the Truth or absolute knowledge is the only possible knowledge and any other use of the word is not scientific or exact.

The metaphysicians of the East will not give out spiritual knowledge miscellaneously. They will not give it to children or young people except under conditions when they have them directly under control and directly under instruction as definitely as we have our children under instruction, in the intellectual life in our schools.

In India when a young man is to be initiated into things spiritual, a definite seven year’s course is provided for him under a master, and he is given first the things that he first bout to know along those lines. He is forewarned with regard to dangers that may arise, and the whole course of his journey is guarded by his master with the greatest care, so as to prevent his stumbling during the early stages.

If spiritual metaphysics becomes popular in our Western world, the same thing will develop here. People will not take up the most advanced work, before becoming acquainted with the simpler forms of knowledge. Attainment implifies obligation, if you are somewhere up the ladder of culture, if you have entered the school of understanding, if you have seen the light of spiritual Truth, you are supposed by that very fact to know more than the one who has not yet arrived. Your nervous system will automatically organize itself on a higher plane, and because of this you must live closer to the law of your being or experience suffering more quickly; there are no exceptions to the law.

The resurrection from the dead is not a process of getting corpses out of the grave, it is the elevation of mentalities from the plane of the material to the plane of the spiritual, it is crossing the river Jordan and entering the “Promised Land.” It is not until one becomes acquainted with the laws governing in the spiritual world that he really begins to “live,” consequently those who are still functioning in the material world are “dead,” they have not yet been resurrected. “Eyes have they but they see not, ears have they but they hear not.”

Those who have been raised to the spiritual plane, find that there are many practices which they must drop, in most cases these practices leave the individual without difficulty, they drop away of their own accord, but when the individual persists in functioning in the old world, he usually finds that: “A house divided against itself will not stand,” and frequently must suffer severely before he learns that he cannot violate spiritual laws with impunity.

Philosophy



Physical Science has resolved matter into molecules, molecules into atoms, atoms into energy, and it has remained for Mr. J. A. Fleming, in an address before the Royal Institution, to resolve this energy into mind. He says: “In its ultimate essence, energy may be incomprehensible by us except as an exhibition of the direct operation of that which we call Mind or Will.”

We find, therefore, that science and religion are not in conflict, but are in perfect agreement. Mr. Leland makes this quite plain, in an article on “world Making.” He says: “First, there is wisdom that has planned, and so adjusted all the parts of the universe in such a perfect balance that there is no friction. And as the universe in infinite, the wisdom that has planned it must be infinite, too.

“Secondly, there is a will that has fixed and ordained the activities and forces of the universe, and bound them by laws inflexible and eternal. And everywhere this Omnipotent Will has established the limitations and directions of the energies and processes, and has fixed their everlasting stability and uniformity.

“And as the universe is Infinite this Will must be Infinite.

“And thirdly, there is a power that sustains and moves, a power that never wearies, a power which controls all forces; and, as the universe if Infinite, the Power must be Infinite, too. What shall we name this Infinity trinity, Wisdom, Will and Power? Science knows no simpler name for it than God. This name is all embracing.”

We can conceive something of its meaning, though we cannot comprehend its significance. and this Being is the indwelling ultimate. He is imminent in matter as in spirit; and to Him all Law, Life, Force, must be referred. He is the sustaining, energizing, all-pervading Spirit of the universe.

Every living thing must be sustained by the Omnipotent Intelligence, and we find the difference in individual lives to be largely measured by the degree of this intelligence which they manifest. It is a greater intelligence that places the animal in a higher scale of being than the plant, the man higher than the animal; and we find this increased intelligence is again indicated by the power of the individual to control modes of action and thus to consciously adjust himself to his environment. It is this adjustment that occupies the attention of the greatest minds and this adjustment consists in nothing else than the recognition of an existing order in the Universal Mind, for it is well known that this mind will obey us precisely in proportion as we first obey it.

As we increase in experience and development, there is a corresponding increase in the exercise of the intellect, in the range and power of feeling, in the ability to choose, in the power to will, in all executive action, in all self consciousness. That would mean that self-consciousness is increasing, expanding, growing, developing, and enlarging; it increases and develops because it is a spiritual activity; we multiply our possession of spiritual things in proportion to our use of them. All material things are consumed in the using. There is a diametrically opposite law governing the use of the spiritual and the material.

Life is that quality or principle of the Universal energy which manifests in so-called organic objects as growth and voluntary activity, and which is usually coexistent in some degree, with some manifestation of that same Universal Energy as the quality or principle termed intelligence. There is only one Supreme Principle, evading all comprehension of its essential nature. it is the Absolute. man can think only in terms of the relative. Therefore, he sometimes defines it as the Universal Intelligence, the Universal substance, as Ether, Life, Mind, spirit, Energy, Truth, Love, etc. His particular definition at any moment is governed by the particular relationship of the phenomena of Being in which he thinks of this Principle at that moment.

Mind is present in the lowest forms of life, in the protoplasm, or cell. The protoplasm, or cell, perceives it environment, initiates motion and chooses its food. All these are evidences of mind. As an organism develops and becomes more complex, the cells begin to specialize, some doing one thing and some another, but all of them showing intelligence. By association their mind powers increase.

Whereas in the beginning each function of life and each action is the result of conscious thought, the habitual actions become automatic or subconscious, in order that the self-conscious mind may attend to other things. The new actions will, however, in their turn, become habitual, then automatic, then subconscious in order that the mind again may be freed from this detail and advance to still other activities.

Until very recently, it was said that matter, in its ultimate nature was eternal, though all the forms thereof change. We were told that a building destroyed by fire with nothing but a few ashes left had gone up in smoke and gas, and that only the form of the manifestation had changed; that the essential substances were still in existence in different chemical formations.

We were told that all forms of matter exist in the form of molecules, that these molecules are resolvable into certain smaller elements called atoms. Until recently the atom was supposed to be the ultimate particle of matter, so until recently scientists supposed that matter could be resolved into atoms and that was final.

But with the discovery of radium, it was found that the atom is made up of a large number of smaller particles called electrons or ions, and these electrons vary according to the kind of atom, that is under consideration. A hydrogen atom contains a different number of electrons than an oxygen atom, and so on.

The atoms within the molecule are separated from each other by very great distances as compared with their diameter, the electrons in turn are separated from each other by distances as compared to the diameter, as are the planets in the solar system. When we remember that the molecule which is the larger of the group is so small that it cannot be discovered by the most powerful microscope, so small that you could place many millions of them into an ordinary thimble, you can conceive how infinitesimal is the ultimate particle of matter called the electron or ion.

It has been discovered that the atoms of radium are constantly radiating their ions into space, producing what is called radio activity, that these particles are apparently lost, they simply vanish.

Finally it has been discovered that other forms of matter besides radium are throwing off their ions into space, and that these seem to be absolutely lost in the process, thus the atoms of matter are constantly wasting away, so that the modern physicist no longer claims that matter is indestructible; it is in a constant state of flux, it is forever changing in form.

What then is the director which controls the action of the ion, which indicates the form which it is to take? Mind is the director, and this direction is the process called creation.

It will therefore readily be seen that the basis upon which matter rests is mind or spirit. The spirit of a thing is therefore, the thing itself, it is the spirit of a thing which attracts to itself the necessary electrons for its development from the ether, and which are gradually assembled by the law of growth; it is evident therefore, that the saying of St. Paul is true: “The things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Many years ago, John Bovee Dods, wrote:

“We have mounted from lead up to electricity, and though as we rose, we found each successive substance more easily moved than the one below it, still we have not as yet found a single material that possesses inherent motion as its attribute. Lead, rock, earth, and water are moved by impulse. Air is moved by rarefaction and electricity is moved by the positive and negative forces. True we have mounted up, as before remarked, to electricity, but even this cannot move, unless it is thrown out of balance in relation to quantity as to its positive and negative forces.

Electricity is a fluid most inconceivable subtle, rarefied and fine. It is computed to require four million particles of our air to make a speck as large as the smallest visible grain of sand, and yet electricity is more than seven hundred thousand times finer than air! It is almost unparticled matter, and is not only invisible, but so far as we can judge, it is imponderable.

It cannot be seen--it cannot be weighed! A thousand empty Leyden jars, capable of containing a gallon each, may be placed upon the nicest scale, and most accurately weighed. Then let these be filled with electricity, and, so far as human sagacity can determine they will weigh no more. Hence to our perception a thousand gallons weigh nothing.