path: root/76483-0.txt

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76483 ***



                            What Is Truth?

                        By Wallace D. Wattles

                             The Nautilus
                        Holyoke, Massachusetts
                           Vol. XI Nos. 6-11
                         April-September, 1909





                                  I.

                                 TIME.

  A BALLOON GOES UP; A STONE FALLS TO EARTH; WHY? ONE FORCE IN
  NATURE--G R A V I T Y.

The science of theology and medicine are necessarily very closely
allied, both having to do with the saving of men from the consequences
of wrong living; and it follows that in religion and medicine we
are always seeking for realities; searching the truth; seeking the
ultimate, spiritual and physical facts upon which to base our theories,
and from which to proceed in making our demonstrations of health and
wholeness. And since our demonstrations must and will be complete or
incomplete just in proportion to the completeness of our grasp of the
realities, the importance of the search for truth becomes apparent;
the very first thing we have to do is to penetrate through all the
appearances of life, and ascertain the differences between what is
really true and what is only apparently true; for there is often a vast
difference between the appearance and the reality. The sun appears to
rise and set, and to go around the earth; but it does not. A balloon
goes up; and a stone falls to the earth; in appearance there are two
forces at work, but in reality there is only one--gravity. The reality
behind the going up of the balloon and the coming down of the stone
is the same. And to seek for the realities behind the appearances of
life; behind its goings up and comings down, its goings out and comings
in,--that is science, and that is what we are going to try to do.

The first of the realities with which we will deal is Time. It is the
fashion with some metaphysical writers to assert that there is no time;
but the arguments advanced in support of this claim are superficial.
Time is not an entity having substance, but it is an existing reality,
nevertheless. Time is not an idea; a fiction by which we measure and
record the motions of the heavenly bodies; time would go on just
the same and at exactly the same rate if the heavenly bodies were
motionless. Do not misunderstand me in my use of the word “time.” Many
people suppose that time began when man began, and must end when man
ends as a mortal and physical being, and that the periods before and
after the earth life of the human race are to be called eternities;
in other words that there can be no time except so long as there is a
mortal man to measure it; but this is erroneous. Days, weeks, months
and years must have gone on before man came on earth, just as they
do now; and if man disappeared from the earth, they would still go
on. If the earth ceased to revolve around the sun, and to turn on its
axis, the succession of the seasons and of day and night would cease;
day would be continuous on one side of the earth, and night upon the
other, but hours and minutes would go on just the same, and if the sun,
moon, planets, stars and all else were to disappear and be succeeded by
black, silent, formless chaos, hours and minutes would go on forever.
Clocks do not make time; an hour would have the same duration if there
were no clocks. In eternity there must still be time; time is duration
in eternity. Eternity is endless time.

Time can never end. If you try to think of a point at which time should
end, you can only think of it as a point beyond which there must be
still more time. Also, then, time can never have had a beginning; for
if you try to think of a point at which time began, you can only think
of it as a point beyond which there must have been still more time. Do
not say that endless time is unthinkable; you can very easily think
endless time, if you do not try to think of the end of it. You cannot
_comprehend_ endless time, for that means to contain it in your mind,
or to go around it; but you can know what it is, and you can know that
it is.

Time is; and we must use it, whether we will or no. And the use we make
of present time decides the use we shall be able to make of future
time; just as the use we made of past time has fixed our place in
present time. The use we make of today decides the use we shall be able
to make of tomorrow. To be strong and wise is to be able to use time
well; and to use time well is to become continually stronger and wiser.
Success, growth and development are only attained by the right use of
time; and we are failures today in exact proportion as we have erred
in our use of time past To know the right use of the present moment
is therefore of immense importance; and to have the will to make the
right use of it is more important still. If man can--and will--make the
right use of every moment of time, he must certainly become a being of
marvellous power and wholeness. Oh, the wasted time! The misspent time!
The lost time!

We close this chapter, then, by claiming the demonstration of our first
fact; that time is a reality.




                                  II.

                                SPACE.

  CAN SPACE HAVE BOUNDARIES?

Bear in mind that in the first chapter we prove that time is an
existent reality; in this chapter we shall try to prove that space also
exists. Space is the place where a thing is; and it is also the place
where no thing is. Space is the place where the earth is; the earth’s
diameter being about 7,925 miles, it fills so much space; if the earth
were to disappear, the 7,925 miles of space would still exist, but it
would then be empty space whereas now it is filled space. The sun,
also, fills space, and the distance between the earth and the sun is
space; beyond the sun is more space, and beyond the earth still more;
and so on. It does not matter whether space is occupied or unoccupied;
empty or filled; it is space, all the same. Space is a reality.
Distance is a portion of space between two given points. Endless
distance would comprise all of space in one direction.

Space has three dimensions: Length, breadth and thickness. It could
never have a beginning, and can never have an ending. If all created
things, and all substance should disappear, space would still exist; it
would be merely blank, empty space, where now is filled space. Also,
space can have no boundaries. If you try to think of a boundary to
space, what will you think of as lying beyond the boundary? Something
solid? Then that something solid must itself occupy space, while if
there is nothing there, that nothing must be unfilled space. So, beyond
any boundary that you can set for space, there must be still more
space. Space is a reality; beginningless, endless, boundless. Time is a
reality; and yet, neither time nor space are substantial things. They
possess no power. They do not act, neither can they be acted upon. Time
can be used, and space can be occupied; and that is what we do with
them; we occupy space and make use of time.

Space is the field in which we must operate, and contain the raw
materials which we must use. The claim has been made that space is
non-existent to mind or spirit, because it does not require appreciable
time for the transference of thought; but the validity of this
deduction has not been proved. The distances with which we are able
to deal are very limited; it might require a measurable time to send
thought to the sun, or to the planet Mars, or for a spirit to travel
those distances. Again, the argument is advanced that the moon “acts”
on the earth; and that, as a thing cannot act where it is not, there
is no space between the moon and the earth; but this is puerile. The
moon does not, and cannot act on the earth, because it does not touch
the earth; if it affects the earth at all, it must act on something
which is between them, and which in turn acts on the earth. And this
something which is between the earth and the moon occupies space.

I have spoken of filled space and empty space. I do not know whether
empty space exists or not, but it is quite thinkable that it should
exist. There may be portions of empty space, surrounded by filled
space; or there may be endless extensions of empty space, side by side
with endless extensions of filled space; I do not know. I know that
there is filled space, and that there may be empty space. But, if there
is filled space, what fills it? The answer to this must be in one
word--Substance. That which is not substance is not anything, and that
which is not anything cannot fill space. Space is filled by substance,
and cannot be filled by anything else; but what is substance, and how
do we know that it exists? That we leave for the next chapter, closing
this with the claim that we have demonstrated that we live in space,
and that life consists in making use of time.




                                 III.

                              Substance.

  REAL NATURE OF SUBSTANCE--A CURIOUS FACT CONCERNING THE GROWTH OF
  VEGETABLES--DOES SUBSTANCE OCCUPY ALL OF SPACE?--THE THREE GREAT
  REALITIES.

Substance is that which occupies space. In its more compact and rigid
forms substance is perceptible by the senses, and is then called
matter; but in its finer and more ethereal forms, when it cannot be
perceived by the senses, substance is still matter, and is essentially
the same. The apparently many substances of nature are in reality only
varying forms of one Substance; the differences between them are due
to varying degrees of pressure, and to the form and rate of vibration
of the atoms which compose them. Ice is a solid substance; water a
partially fluid substance; the vapor arising from water verges on the
gaseous state; and oxygen and hydrogen are gases. But a piece of ice
may be brought back through all these stages, and converted into oxygen
and hydrogen, and no change is made in it except that in the fluid
state the atoms are less firmly pressed together than in the solid
state; and in the gaseous state the bond of cohesion is still weaker,
and the atoms circulate or roll around each other more freely than in
the fluid state. It is now a well-known fact that nearly all the growth
of the vegetable kingdom comes from the atmosphere; trees, plants and
flowers are solidified air. The furniture in our homes, and the walls
of the houses in which we live are merely solidified gases; burn them,
and they return to their original state, leaving only a handful of
ashes as “material” evidence of their existence, and if we learn to
treat these ashes with the right agencies, they, too, will vanish into
the ethereal realm. The earth itself, so firm and solid under our feet,
was indisputably once a ball of flaming gases and vapors, and in the
stage before that, must it not have been still more ethereal? It is all
solidified atmosphere. Our own bodies are compounds of gases; in the
crematory the human form vanishes. All things came out from the ether,
and all things are ether, _changed_ to more or less solid forms by
differences in atomic pressure and cohesion.

All this brings us to the conclusion that the many seemingly different
substances--iron, wood, coal, lime, water, etc., are merely different
forms of one thing; that there is only one elemental substance, from
which all created things are shaped. As we find that solid things are
the gaseous atmosphere, solidified by an increased atomic pressure, so
we shall no doubt find that the gases are produced from one ether,
being brought to the semi fluid state by increased pressure, and at
last we must conclude that there is one perfectly fluid substance, of
which are made all the things which do appear. This One Substance is
the stupendous reality behind all the appearances of the material world.

We will now take up the study of this substance. First, we must get rid
of the idea that there is anything else. Substance is all there is. We
live, and move, and have our being in substance; we, ourselves, are
substance. We must conclude that substance cannot have been created,
for that it should have been formed out of nothing is unthinkable.
Substance always was; forms have been created, and are being
continually created, changed, and modified; but the substance of which
those forms are made is the same, yesterday and today and forever.
When I speak of forms, I mean the so-called “material” universe; suns,
stars, planets, seas, continents, trees, plants, gases, and the bodies
of animals and men; all these are varying forms of the One Changeless
Substance, which is all, and in all. And as this substance has existed
through all of time past, so it will exist through all of time future,
for it is indestructible; we may change its forms, but not one particle
of it can we destroy.

Does this substance occupy all of space? Evidently not, for the more
nearly we carry its forms to their original state the more fluid they
become; we go from solids back to gases, and from gases to ether, and
so on; and we conclude that the one substance must be perfectly fluid,
and if that be so, its particles cannot be solidly pressed together;
there must be space between them, as in all fluids. Furthermore, if
substance filled _all_ space motion would be impossible; for substance
can only move when there is unoccupied space to move into. And as
we know that there is motion, so we know that there must be empty
space. This is a matter of some importance when we come to the study
of consciousness; for if one substance completely filled all space,
it must be absolutely solid, with its atoms pressed rigidly against
each other; and not only could there be no motion in any part, but
there could be no separate consciousness in any part; if consciousness
were possible at all in a perfectly solid substance, it could only
be the consciousness of the whole. But if there is empty space,
there is not only room for motion, but there is room for separate
portions of substance, which may be conscious within themselves. If
there is empty space, there is room for man, as a separate portion of
original substance to move about and to have a consciousness of his
own. There may be more than one conscious intelligence, though there
is only one substance. We close this chapter with the claim that we
have demonstrated the existence of three realities: time, space and a
substance which moves in space. The next chapter will be devoted to the
consideration of consciousness.




                                  IV.

                            CONSCIOUSNESS.


  EXPLANATION OF CONSCIOUSNESS.--MOTION A KIND OF ACTION.--WHAT
  EFFECT IT HAS ON CONSCIOUSNESS--BRAIN AND CONSCIOUSNESS. WHICH
  THE PRODUCT OF THE OTHER?--CONSCIOUSNESS IN VEGETABLE AND MINERAL
  KINGDOMS LIMITED WHILE IN MAN ALMOST COMPLETE

That consciousness exists does not need proof; we know, and we know
that we know. We are conscious of consciousness; and now we have to
consider the source of consciousness. Turning back to the realities
we have considered, we find that time cannot be the source of
consciousness; we cannot think of time as being conscious, and the
same is true of space. We cannot conceive of consciousness as existing
in empty space, for there would be nothing there to be conscious; and
so we see that only substance can be conscious. Where there is no
substance there is nothing, and there can be no consciousness. This is
a proposition which you should consider well, until you have mastered
it in all its bearings; that there can be no consciousness apart from
substance; that empty space cannot be conscious. If consciousness
exists--and it does--there is a Conscious Substance.

This point we need to develop very fully, for it is vital. If it
is not substance which is conscious, then consciousness must exist
in the interstices between the particles of substance, or in empty
space; and it is empty space which is conscious, which is unthinkable.
But if consciousness exists in substance, then it is the substance
itself which is conscious; for there can be nothing in substance but
substance. It becomes clear, too, that consciousness cannot be the
result of functional action within an organism. Functional action is
merely motion, and motion is a shifting of substance from one place to
another. If consciousness were produced by motion, would it not still
be the substance which was conscious? Try to reason out how a substance
could be made conscious by shifting it from one place to another. If
consciousness was produced by the motion, then the substance could not
have been conscious before it moved, nor could it remain conscious
after it ceased to move. Try to think of a substance as becoming
conscious, and endowed with reason, memory and love while making a
certain motion, and as losing all these when ceasing to move; try to
reason out how motion could come first as a cause, and consciousness
follow as a result. Try to conceive of the Original Fluid Substance as
beginning, unconsciously, to move; and as producing, unconsciously,
all the orderly sequences of forms which appear in nature; and at
last, and only at last, becoming fully conscious of it all through the
unconscious beginning of a certain motion in the brain of man. Try to
think of full consciousness as having been lacking in the universe
until certain vibrations were started in the brain of man; you will
find all this unthinkable. Consciousness is not the result of motion,
but the first cause of motion. It is not motion which is conscious, but
substance. The human ego is Conscious Substance.

The next question is whether consciousness is an attribute of substance
only in certain forms, or whether it inheres in original fluid
substance; and to that we now turn our attention. Is it the brain which
is conscious? Those who have kept abreast of the revelations of modern
psychology as set forth by William Hanna Thompson and others, know that
it is not. The substance of the brain is not conscious; or at least,
the substance of the brain is not _the_ conscious, thinking, reasoning
human ego. We have learned that the brain is the product, rather than
the producer of consciousness; and that the intelligent direction of
consciousness in the work of brain-building may produce almost any
desired change in the structure and capacity of the brain. Furthermore,
there are many evidences which go to show that consciousness is not
localized in, or confined to the brain, but extends throughout the
body; and that we are conscious, not with our brains alone, but with
our entire beings. If this should be proved true, and it is likely
to be, we will have to conclude that the “physical” body of man is
permeated and pervaded by a conscious substance which is co-extensive
with it in every part, and which is the real man. And we must also
conclude that this conscious substance is Original Substance, and in
a condition approaching its primal state; for it becomes apparent
as we go on that complete consciousness can only exist in Original
Substance in its primal state. Changes in state and form appear to
limit consciousness. The consciousness of the animal creation is
limited by their forms, and is little, if any, more than sufficient
for the reproduction of those forms; the consciousness of the tree and
plant is still more limited, but scientists now generally admit that
there is consciousness in the vegetable kingdom; and in the mineral
world, consciousness appears as directivity of atoms, and chemical
affinity. When we come to man, however, we find a capacity for growth
in consciousness which seems to be unlimited; hence we argue that man
is Original Substance in its primal state, or at least, that he may
attain to the primal state.

Time is; space is. Space is occupied by conscious substance; and
there is but one substance, from which are made all the forms of the
visible creation. The physical body of man is a form of substance as
prepared through the processes of the visible creation; man, himself,
is original substance or spirit, inhabiting this physical body. “In the
image of God created He them.”

It will be seen that while all is God, it is also true that man is man,
an independent entity, having a consciousness of his own, and that,
while all is spirit, matter exists, being spirit on a varying plane
of atomic pressure; and that while it is true that mind is in all and
through all, perfect consciousness exists only in original substance,
in pure spirit, or in God; and that the nearest approach to complete
consciousness is in man, whose unlimited capacity for growth proves him
to be at least, a near approach to original substance; a son of God. We
close this chapter with the assertion that time is; that space is, and
that space is occupied by a conscious substance which moves. We will
next consider the fourth reality: Motion.




                                  V.

                                MOTION.

  MOTION DEFINED--DO TIME AND SPACE MOVE?--TIME, SPACE, FORCE AND
  ATTRACTION COMPARED.--A LOGICAL ANALYSIS OF “ATTRACTION” BY USING
  EMPTY SPACE AS A BASIS.

I presume no one will deny that motion is a reality; we know that we
move, and we know that motion is going on all around us. The immensity
of motion is staggering when we come to consider it; the motions of
stars, suns, planets and satellites; of rivers, lakes and seas; of wind
and clouds; of the circulation of sap and blood; of atomic vibration,
and so on. Motion is the cause of light and heat; of sound, tone,
color, electricity, magnetism. Differences in the shape and motion of
atoms make bodies solid or gaseous, and differentiate the so-called
“substances” from each other. It may be seen then that motion plays an
all-important part in the work of creation; that motion is the work of
creation in progress; and so the study of motion becomes very important
indeed. What is motion?

That which moves is neither time nor space; it is not conceivable
that either time or space should move. That which moves is substance.
Motion, then, is a shifting of substance from place to place; or from
one part of space to another part of space. And are there different
kinds of motion? In a way, there are; and the difference depends upon
the time used in making the motion, and upon the direction in which
the motion is made. That is, there are fast and slow motions; circular
and linear motions; and those metaphysicians who contend that time and
space do not exist should consider that if there is no time there
is no such thing as fast and slow motion; and if there is no space
there is no motion at all, for there is no place to move to. No more
preposterous absurdity has appeared in modern thought than the denial
of the existence of time and space. Motion, then, is the shifting of
substance in space and time. And what causes motion?

To this you will be ready to answer “forces”; and after a little
consideration you will see that that is no answer at all unless you
tell what force is. What is force, and how does it cause substance to
move? Force is not time; we cannot think of time as causing motion.
Force is not space; we cannot think of space as causing motion. If
force is substance and causes motion, then substance moves itself; and
if force is not substance, then it is nothing, or empty space, and
empty space cannot act on substance so as to cause it to move. It is
all very well for scientists to write of atoms as being “electrons”
or ultimate units of force; but these electrons are either substance
or they are not; and if they are not substance they are nothing but
empty space, and in that case there is no substance, no existence,
no consciousness, no anything. Either force is substance, or it is
something in substance; and if it is something in substance which is
not substance, what is it? And how can that which has no substance act
on substance so as to cause motion? Force is not motion, for it is the
cause of motion and the effect cannot be its own cause. Let me now try
to give you a definition of force.

Force is pressure of substance against substance. Try to exert force
upon anything in any other way than by pressing substance against it;
can you do it? Try to cause a body to move in any other way than by
pressing something against it; can you do it? Try to conceive of force
as being exerted upon any body without pressing anything against it;
try to conceive of force as crossing a complete vacuum where is no
substance of any kind. Force is pressure of substance; that it can be
anything else is not thinkable. And this brings us to the consideration
of what is loosely spoken of as “attraction.” It is stated that all
solid bodies “attract” each other, and that every body in the universe
attracts every other body; but those who make these assertions do not
tell us how the attraction is accomplished. If bodies “attract” each
other, then they exert force upon each other; and if they exert force
upon each other they must cause pressure upon each other; for how
can a body exert force upon another except by causing pressure upon
it? If “attraction” is an unsubstantial thing, then it cannot affect
substance, or cause motion; if it is an unsubstantial thing, then it is
empty space; for where there is no substance there is only empty space.
Can you think of an “attraction” crossing an empty space? What would it
be like, and how would it get across? Can you think of a “vibration”
as crossing an empty space? How would it be transmitted where there
was nothing to vibrate? Can you think of a force as crossing an empty
space? What would be the shape, size and general appearance of a force
apart from substance? By considering all these points we see that what
we know as force is simply pressure of substance; or, one portion of
substance pressing against another portion of substance; and that force
can be nothing else than this. And we see that pressure causes motion,
and that motion, in turn, causes pressure; so that force and motion are
mutually convertible, each into the other. Also, we see that there is
only one force, the pressure of substance; and that all the so-called
“forces” of nature are merely different rates and modes of motion, and
have their origin in the One Force--pressure of substance. Furthermore,
we see that there is no such thing as a universal attraction which
bodies exert upon each other, but that there is a universal pressure,
impelling all bodies toward each other in a definite and orderly
way; and to the study of this universal pressure we will next turn
our attention. Time, space, substance and motion exist. Substance is
conscious. Motion is caused by pressure of substance against substance,
and the varying forms of substance in the visible creation are caused
by differences in motion.




                                  VI.

                       THE BEGINNING OF MOTION.

  ORIGIN OF MOTION--AN EXPOSITION OF FORCE AND MOTION FOUNDED ON THE
  THEORY OF SPACE BEING OCCUPIED BY A FLUID CONSCIOUS SUBSTANCE--HAS
  MOTION EVER A BEGINNING?--WILL AND WILL-PRESSURE ON MOTION--WILL OF
  GOD THE ONE COMPELLING POWER

To understand force and motion, we must go back to a supposititious
creation. Conceive, first, of space as being occupied by completely
conscious substance in a perfectly fluid state; conscious throughout,
alike throughout, and without motion. Now, can you conceive of motion
as beginning in any part of this substance without an act of will? Can
you think of your conscious self as beginning to act, and as continuing
to act in an orderly and consecutive series of motions without an
effort of will? If, as we have seen, original substance is completely
conscious, then its every motion must be a conscious motion; and we
cannot think of conscious motion without will. You are aware that you
can consciously originate motion yourself; but you cannot do it without
will. You are conscious substance; you can be nothing else as we have
seen, and you can move or cease to move by an exertion of your will,
and in moving or ceasing to move you cause the body you inhabit to
move or cease to move. We see motion beginning and ceasing all around
us; and we conclude that every motion had a beginning; and that the
beginning of the series of creative motions which have resulted in the
present universe of forms could only have been in an action of the will
of Original Conscious Substance.

In the beginning, then, by an act of will, parts of substance were
made to press against each other; and this pressure must pack the
substance together, making it more dense, more rigid, and less fluid.
This pressure, also, must originate the motions we know as light, heat,
electricity and magnetism; and this will-pressure, drawing substance
together and holding it in coherent masses, is what we call gravity.
It is this will-pressure which brings an apple to the earth, and
which holds the earth itself in its orbit; which tends to bring all
the heavenly bodies together, and which yet holds them apart forever,
keeping each in its own place. There is no accounting for “attraction”
on other grounds than that it is the Creative Will of Original
Substance, pressing itself together into forms. Every phenomenon of
force or motion, from the circling sweep of a planet to the vibration
of an atom, has its origin in the will of the great Intelligent
Substance to which, or to whom, men have given the name of God. The
earth is held together solely by the pressure of the will which
permeates it; were that will relaxed, the earth would return instantly
to its original fluid condition. Try to think of substance as being
held together by something else than will; try to think of substance,
originally fluid, as being pressed into solid shapes and held in solid
shapes, and going on in orderly and consecutive motions without will;
and you will find it unthinkable. The earth is a part of Conscious
Being, holding itself in form by the exercise of the will which is in
all substance; gravity is the will exerted by substance in pressing
itself into form; so also is chemical affinity, or the directivity of
atoms. All motion originates in will-pressure. Trace back the motion
of the wheels to the engine and thence to the coal; and you say that
the latent heat-energy of the coal is causing motion. But what lodged
the heat-energy in the coal? Was it the will-pressure of gravity, in
the distant ages? There is only one force, and that is the will of the
Great Intelligence; the eternal creative pressure, moving substance
into the various forms in which it appears to us.

In the beginning was God, Spirit, Conscious Substance, occupying the
calm deeps of space. An act of will, and there was sufficient pressure
to produce the particles of the luminiferous ether, whose vibrations
produce light; and there was light. A further act of will, increasing
pressing of substance together, and nebulous clouds appear; and by the
Great Will these were pressed into spheres with all the accompanying
phenomena of the motions of heat and electricity; and so the creation
of forms went, on until the visible universe appeared as it is; formed
of one substance, by the Will of God, and maintained and held together
by the continued exercise of that Great Will.

The question of motive comes in just here. We cannot conceive of
continuous, orderly and systematic action without a motive; and the
question must come to our minds, what is the motive of the Great One
in His work? With a little reflection, the answer must present itself.
He is seeking happiness. We cannot conceive of a conscious being as
continuously seeking pain, inharmony or misery. Conscious action can
have but one motive, and that motive is ultimate harmony or happiness.
The purpose of God in the creation can be nothing else than His own
happiness, and since he is All and in All. His happiness can only be
attained in the happiness of all. Remember that the purpose of the
creation is the happiness of all, including yourself, and that to be
unhappy is to oppose the will of the Great Intelligence.

Look now upon the immensity of the visible universe, and contemplate
the power of the Creator; see that in all and through all, from the
rolling on a planetary system to the rising of the sap in a blade of
grass, the one impelling power is the Will of God. And this Great
Intelligence is seeking pleasure and happiness in us, and through us.
Shall we doubt, then, that He can and will heal our diseases, give us
every good thing that we need, and guide us into all truth? In the next
chapter, we shall consider man’s relation to this Great Intelligence.




                                 VII.

                          MAN AND HIS POWERS.

  WHAT MAKES YOU MAN--THE CONSCIENCE OF THE ALL-WISE--HEALTH THE
  HIGHEST GOOD--ABUNDANCE SECONDARY-LIVE IN CONSTANT AND CONSCIOUS
  CONTACT WITH THE GREAT INDEPENDENT SUBSTANCE AND BE IDEAL!

The universe is a Great Being, who is seeking happiness in and through
the forms which he creates from his own substance; and of all these
forms, man alone has power to enter into intelligent relations with the
Creator. To state it in other words, the great intelligence is seeking
happiness in you, and you have power to co-operate intelligently with
him in the search. That is what makes you man; the power to work with
God in the search for happiness. And if this Great One seeks your
happiness, it must be your most permanent and perfect happiness; that
is, your highest good; for being conscious of all that there is to be
conscious of, and knowing all that there is to know, he is all-wise;
and we cannot think of the all-wise as seeking anything less than the
highest good, or as being satisfied with anything less than the highest
good.

As far as your physical body is concerned, the highest good that can
come to you is unquestionably perfect health. The notion that there are
circumstances under which pain and sickness are better for man than
perfect health must take its place among those superstitious beliefs
which have been exploded and discredited. Pain and sickness may be good
for man if he takes them rightly, but perfect health is always far
better if he takes that rightly; and it is a self-evident proposition
that God can find complete delight in man only as man is completely
whole. The Great Intelligence, then, seeks perfect health and wholeness
in you; and the substance of the Living One, filled with life and
power, presses upon you on every side, seeking to impart life and power
to you, but you being a portion of that great intelligence, are supreme
within your own personality, and so you will have health or not as you
receive and recognize this health of God, If you fail to recognize and
receive the All-health, and if you recognize disease within yourself,
you prevent God from reaching you; and you form within yourself that
which you recognize as existing. If you continuously recognize the
perfect health of the Intelligent Substance, in which you live and move
and are, and of which you are a part, you cannot be otherwise than well.

It is another self-evident truth that man’s highest good demands that
he should have the use of all the things he is capable of using in
order to live all the life he is capable of living. Man’s highest good,
and his real happiness can be attained only when he has abundance for
every physical and mental need. Just as it is true that God cannot
fully delight in you if you are physically sick, so it is true that he
cannot find happiness through you if you are mentally or physically
starved, or lacking the essentials for life, growth and enjoyment.
Happiness consists in living fully; and God can live fully in you only
when you have everything to live with. So, the desire of the Great One
for you must be that you shall have abundance.

But here again you are supreme within yourself. What if God presses
abundance upon you, and you persist in recognizing only privation and
poverty? If that be the case, you will remain poor in the midst of
abundance, as millions of people are doing; and to be poor, or in want
is to oppose the will of God, who seeks happiness in all, and for all.
We are parts of himself, and what can he do when his will is opposed
and his bounty rejected by a part of himself?

The solution of man’s problems of health, wealth, and growth can be
reached when man unifies himself with God, the Great Intelligent
Spirit, Substance, who seeks life and happiness in man; and man
can unify himself with God only by constantly recognizing God; by
considering and acknowledging God, and by looking to God in prayer.
The prayer of faith is really an affirmation; and an affirmation is
the recognition of an existing fact. When you live in constant and
conscious contact with the great intelligent substance you can have no
sickness; and his desire for happiness in you will cause the exertion
of that mighty will-pressure to bring to you all the things that make
for your highest good. The man who can completely unify himself with
the divine substance becomes a center toward which the divine will
impels every desirable thing; and that man will not, and cannot, lack
for anything.

The universe is a Great Being; an intelligent substance, occupying
space and using time. His desire leads Him to create forms from His own
substance, and in these forms He seeks happiness. Man has but to unify
himself with this Great Being to secure the supply of every need, and
the gratification of every desire. Man only needs to learn how to pray
and how to work.




                          =Transcriber’s Notes=

 Perceived typographical errors have been silently corrected.

 New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the
 public domain.



*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76483 ***