The Law and the Word. Thomas Troward
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to him a holy
quest. That he could and would lay a lance in defence of his opinions is
evidenced in his writings, and has many times been demonstrated to the
discomfiture of assailing critics. But his urbanity was a part of
himself and never departed from him.
Not to destroy but to create was his part in the world. In developing
his philosophy he built upon the foundation of his predecessors. No good
and true stone to be found among the ruins of the past, but was
carefully worked into his superstructure of modern thought, radiant with
spirituality, to the building of which the enthusiasm of his life was
devoted.
To one who has studied Judge Troward, and grasped the significance of
his theory of the "Universal Sub-conscious Mind," and who also has
attained to an appreciation of Henri Bergson's theory of a "Universal
Livingness," superior to and outside the material Universe, there must
appear a distinct correlation of ideas. That intricate and ponderously
irrefutable argument that Bergson has so patiently built up by deep
scientific research and unsurpassed profundity of thought and
crystal-clear reason, that leads to the substantial conclusion that man
has leapt the barrier of materiality only by the urge of some external
pressure superior to himself, but which, by reason of infinite effort,
he alone of all terrestrial beings has succeeded in utilizing in a
superior manner and to his advantage: this well-rounded and exhaustively
demonstrated argument in favour of a super-livingness in the universe,
which finds its highest terrestrial expression in man, appears to be the
scientific demonstration of Judge Troward's basic principle of the
"Universal Sub-conscious Mind." This universal and infinite
God-consciousness which Judge Troward postulates as man's
sub-consciousness, and from which man was created and is maintained,
and of which all physical, mental and spiritual manifestation is a form
of expression, appears to be a corollary of Bergson's demonstrated
"Universal Livingness." What Bergson has so brilliantly proven by
patient and exhaustive processes of science, Judge Troward arrived at by
intuition, and postulated as the basis of his argument, which he
proceeded to develop by deductive reasoning.
The writer was struck by the apparent parallelism of these two
distinctly dissimilar philosophies, and mentioned the discovery to Judge
Troward who naturally expressed a wish to read Bergson, with whose
writings he was wholly unacquainted. A loan of Bergson's "Creative
Evolution" produced no comment for several weeks, when it was returned
with the characteristic remark, "I've tried my best to get hold of him,
but I don't know what he is talking about." I mention the remark as
being characteristic only because it indicates his extreme modesty and
disregard of exhaustive scientific research.
The Bergson method of scientific expression was unintelligible to his
mind, trained to intuitive reasoning. The very elaborateness and
microscopic detail that makes Bergson great is opposed to Judge
Troward's method of simplicity. He cared not for complexities, and the
intricate minutiæ of the process of creation, but was only concerned
with its motive power--the spiritual principles upon which it was
organized and upon which it proceeds.
Although the conservator of truth of every form and degree wherever
found, Judge Troward was a ruthless destroyer of sham and pretence. To
those submissive minds that placidly accept everything indiscriminately,
and also those who prefer to follow along paths of well-beaten opinion,
because the beaten path is popular, to all such he would perhaps appear
to be an irreverent iconoclast seeking to uproot long accepted dogma and
to overturn existing faiths. Such an opinion of Judge Troward's work
could not prevail with any one who has studied his teachings.
His reverence for the fundamental truths of religious faith was
profound, and every student of his writings will testify to the great
constructive value of his work. He builded upon an ancient foundation a
new and nobler structure of human destiny, solid in its simplicity and
beautiful in its innate grandeur.
But to the wide circle of Judge Troward's friends he will best and most
gloriously be remembered as a teacher. In his magic mind the
unfathomable revealed its depths and the illimitable its boundaries;
metaphysics took on the simplicity of the ponderable, and man himself
occupied a new and more dignified place in the Cosmos. Not only did he
perceive clearly, but he also possessed that quality of mind even more
rare than deep and clear perception, that clarity of expression and
exposition that can carry another and less-informed mind along with it,
on the current of its understanding, to a logical and comprehended
conclusion.
In his books, his lectures and his personality he was always ready to
take the student by the hand, and in perfect simplicity and friendliness
to walk and talk with him about the deeper mysteries of life--the life
that includes death--and to shed the brilliant light of his wisdom upon
the obscure and difficult problems that torment sincere but rebellious
minds.
His artistic nature found expression in brush and canvas and his great
love for the sea is reflected in many beautiful marine sketches. But if
painting was his recreation, his work was the pursuit of Truth wherever
to be found, and in whatever disguise.
His life has enriched and enlarged the lives of many, and all those who
knew him will understand that in helping others he was accomplishing
exactly what he most desired. Knowledge, to him, was worth only what it
yielded in uplifting humanity to a higher spiritual appreciation, and to
a deeper understanding of God's purpose and man's destiny.
A man, indeed!