The Hidden Power And Other Papers upon Mental Science. Thomas Troward
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intelligence of our most
highly-trained minds to follow the steps of this universal intelligence
which is always in advance of them. The more deeply we investigate the
world we live in, the more clear it must become to us that all our
science is the translation into words or numerical symbols of that order
which already exists. If the clear statement of this existing order is
the highest that the human intellect can reach, this surely argues a
corresponding intelligence in the power which gives rise to this great
sequence of order and interrelation, so as to constitute one harmonious
whole. Now, unless we fall back on the idea of a workman working upon
material external to himself--in which case we have to explain the
phenomenon of the workman--the only conception we can form of this power
is that it is the Living Spirit inherent in the heart of every atom,
giving it outward form and definition, and becoming in it those
intrinsic polarities which constitute its characteristic nature.
There is no random work here. Every attraction and repulsion acts with
its proper force collecting the atoms into molecules, the molecules into
tissues, the tissues into organs, and the organs into individuals. At
each stage of the progress we get the sum of the intelligent forces
which operate in the constituent parts, _plus_ a higher degree of
intelligence which we may regard as the collective intelligence superior
to that of the mere sum-total of the parts, something which belongs to
the individual _as a whole_, and not to the parts as such. These are
facts which can be amply proved from physical science; and they also
supply a great law in spiritual science, which is that in any collective
body the intelligence of the whole is superior to that of the sum of the
parts.
Spirit is at the root of all things, and thoughtful observation shows
that its operation is guided by unfailing intelligence which adapts
means to ends, and harmonises the entire universe of manifested being in
those wonderful ways which physical science renders clearer every day;
and this intelligence must be in the generating spirit itself, because
there is no other source from which it could proceed. On these grounds,
therefore, we may distinctly affirm that Spirit is intelligent, and that
whatever it does is done by the intelligent adaptation of means to ends.
But Spirit is also responsive. And here we have to fall back upon the
law above stated, that the mere sum of the intelligence of Spirit in
lower degrees of manifestation is not equal to the intelligence of the
complex _whole_, as a whole. This is a radical law which we cannot
impress upon our minds too deeply. The degree of spiritual intelligence
is marked by the wholeness of the organism through which it finds
expression; and therefore the more highly organised being has a degree
of spirit which is superior to, and consequently capable of exercising
control over, all lower or less fully-integrated degrees of spirit; and
this being so, we can now begin to see why the spirit that is the
"innermost within" of all things is responsive as well as intelligent.
Being intelligent, it _knows_, and spirit being ultimately all there is,
that which it knows is itself. Hence it is that power which recognises
itself; and accordingly the lower powers of it recognise its higher
powers, and by the law of attraction they are bound to respond to the
higher degrees of themselves. On this general principle, therefore,
spirit, under whatever exterior revealed, is necessarily intelligent and
responsive. But intelligence and responsiveness imply personality; and
we may therefore now advance a step further and argue that _all_ spirit
contains the elements of personality, even though, in any particular
instance, it may not yet be expressed as that individual personality
which we find in ourselves.
In short, spirit is always personal in its nature, even when it has not
yet attained to that degree of synthesis which is sufficient to render
it personal in manifestation. In ourselves the synthesis has proceeded
far enough to reach that degree, and therefore we recognise ourselves as
the manifestation of personality. The human kingdom is the kingdom of
the manifestation of that personality, which is of the essence of
spiritual substance on every plane. Or, to put the whole argument in a
simpler form, we may say that our own personality must necessarily have
had its origin in that which is personal, on the principle that you
cannot get more out of a bag than it contains.
In ourselves, therefore, we find that more perfect synthesis of the
spirit into manifested personality which is wanting in the lower
kingdoms of nature, and, accordingly, since spirit is necessarily that
which knows itself and must, therefore, recognise its own degrees in its
various modes, the spirit in all degrees below that of human personality
is bound to respond to itself in that superior degree which constitutes
human individuality; and this is the basis of the power of human thought
to externalise itself in infinite forms of its own ordering.
But if the subordination of the lower degrees of spirit to the higher is
one of the fundamental laws which lie at the bottom of the creative
power of thought, there is another equally fundamental law which places
a salutary restraint upon the abuse of that power. It is the law that we
can command the powers of the universal for our own purposes only in
proportion as we first realise and obey their generic character. We can
employ water for any purpose which does not require it to run up-hill,
and we can utilise electricity for any purpose that does not require it
to pass from a lower to a higher potential.
So with that universal power which we call the Spirit. It has an
inherent generic character with which we must comply if we would employ
it for our specific purposes, and this character is summed up in the one