Thomas Troward - The Dore Lectures on Mental Sciencel

image and likeness of God, instead of to the outer vehicles which

it externalizes as instruments through which to function on the

various planes of being, we shall find that we have reached a

principle in ourselves which stands in loco dei towards all our

vehicles and also towards our environment. It is above them all,

and creates them, however unaware we may be of the fact, and

relatively to them it occupies the place of first cause. The

recognition of this is the discovery of our own relation to the

whole world of the relative. On the other hand this must not lead

us into the mistake of supposing that there is nothing higher,

for, as we have already seen, this inmost principle or ego is

itself the effect of an antecedent cause, for it proceeds from

the imaging process in the Divine Mind.

We thus find ourselves holding an intermediate position between

true First Cause, on the one hand, and the world of secondary

causes on the other, and in order to understand the nature of

this position, we must fall back on the axiom that the Universal

can only work on the plane of the Particular through the

individual. Then we see that the function of the individual is to

DIFFERENTIATE the undistributed flow of the Universal into

suitable directions for starting different trains of secondary

causation.

Man's place in the cosmic order is that of a distributor of the

Divine power, subject, however, to the inherent Law of the power

which he distributes. We see one instance of this in ordinary

science, in the fact that we never create force; all we can do is

to distribute it. The very word Man means distributor or

measurer, as in common with all words derived from the Sanderit

root MN., it implies the idea of measurement, just as in the

words moon, month, mens, mind, and "man," the Indian weight of 80

1bs.; and it is for this reason that man is spoken of in

Scripture as a "steward," or dispenser of the Divine gifts. As

our minds become open to the full meaning of this position, the

immense possibilities and also the responsibility contained in it

will become apparent.

It means that the individual is the creative centre of his own

world. Our past experience affords no evidence against this, but

on the contrary, is evidence for it. Our true nature is always

present, only we have hitherto taken the lower and mechanical

side of things for our starting point, and so have created

limitation instead of expansion. And even with the knowledge of

the Creative Law which we have now attained, we shall continue to

do this, if we seek our starting point in the things which are

below us and not in the only thing which is above us, namely the

Divine Mind, because it is only there that we can find

illimitable Creative Power. Life is BEING, it is the experience

of states of consciousness, and there is an unfailing

correspondence between these inner states and our outward

conditions. Now we see from the Original Creation that the state

of consciousness must be the cause, and the corresponding

conditions the effect, because at the starting of the creation no

conditions existed, and the working of the Creative Mind upon

itself can only have been a state of consciousness. This, then,

is clearly the Creative Order--from states to conditions. But we

invert this order, and seek to create from conditions to states.

We say, If I had such and such conditions they would produce the

state of feeling which I desire; and in so saying we run the risk

of making a mistake as to the correspondence, for it may turn out

that the particular conditions which we fixed on are not such as

would produce the desired state. Or, again, though they might

produce it in a certain degree, other conditions might produce it

in a still greater degree, while at the same time opening the way

to the attainment of still higher states and still better

conditions. Therefore our wisest plan is to follow the pattern of

the Parent Mind and make mental self-recognition our starting

point, knowing that by the inherent Law of Spirit the corelated

conditions will come by a natural process of growth. Then the

great self-recognition is that of our relation to the Supreme

Mind. That is the generating centre and we are distributing

centres; just as electricity is generated at the central station

and delivered in different forms of power by reason of passing

through appropriate centres of distribution, so that in one place

it lights a room, in another conveys a message, and in a third

drives a tram car. In like manner the power of the Universal Mind

takes particular forms through the particular mind of the

individual. It does not interfere with the lines of his

individuality, but works along them, thus making him, not less,

but more himself. It is thus, not a compelling power, but an

expanding and illuminating one; so that the more the individual

recognizes the reciprocal action between it and himself, the more

full of life he must become.

Then also we need not be troubled about future conditions because

we know that the All-originating Power is working through us and

for us, and that according to the Law proved by the whole

existing creation, it produces all the conditions required for

the expression of the Life, Love and Beauty which it is, so that

we can fully trust it to open the way as we go along. The Great

Teacher's words, "Take no thought for the morrow"--and note that

the correct translation is "Take no anxious thought"-- are the

practical application of the soundest philosophy. This does not,

of course, mean that we are not to exert ourselves. We must do

our share in the work, and not expect God to do FOR us what He

can only do THROUGH us. We are to use our common sense and

natural faculties in working upon the conditions now present. We

must make use of them, AS FAR AS THEY GO, but we must not try and

go further than the present things require; we must not try to

force things, but allow them to grow naturally, knowing that they

are doing so under the guidance of the All-Creating Wisdom.

Following this method we shall grow more and more into the habit

of looking to mental attitude as the Key to our progress in Life,

knowing that everything else must come out of that; and we shall

further discover that our mental attitude is eventually

determined by the way in which we regard the Divine Mind. Then

the final result will be that we shall see the Divine Mind to be

nothing else than Life, Love and Beauty--Beauty being identical

with Wisdom or the perfect adjustment of parts to whole--and we

shall see ourselves to be distributing centres of these primary

energies and so in our turn subordinate centres of creative

power. And as we advance in this knowledge we shall find that we

transcend one law of limitation after another by finding the

higher law, of which the lower is but a partial expression, until

we shall see clearly before us, as our ultimate goal, nothing

less than the Perfect Law of Liberty--not liberty without Law

which is anarchy, but Liberty according to Law. In this way we

shall find that the Apostle spoke the literal truth, when he

said, that we shall become like Him when we see Him AS HE IS,

because the whole process by which our individuality is produced

is one of reflection of the image existing in the Divine Mind.

When we thus learn the Law of our own being we shall be able to