Thomas Troward - The Hidden Power And Other Papers upon Mental Science

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

word "goodness." The Spirit is Life, hence its generic tendency must

always be lifeward or to the increase of the livingness of every

individual. And since it is universal it can have no particular

interests to serve, and therefore its action must always be equally for

the benefit of all. This is the generic character of spirit; and just as

water, or electricity, or any other of the physical forces of the

universe, will not work contrary to their generic character, so Spirit

will not work contrary to its generic character.

The inference is obvious. If we would use Spirit we must follow the law

of the Spirit which is "Goodness." This is the only limitation. If our

originating intention is good, we may employ the spiritual power for

what purpose we will. And how is "goodness" to be defined? Simply by the

child's definition that what is bad is not good, and that what is good

is not bad; we all know the difference between bad and good

instinctively. If we will conform to this principle of obedience to the

generic law of the Spirit, all that remains is for us to study the law

of the proportion which exists between the more and less fully

integrated modes of Spirit, and then bring our knowledge to bear with

determination.

The law of spirit, to which our investigation has now led us, is of the

very widest scope. We have followed it up from the conception of the

intelligence of spirit, subsisting in the initial atoms, to the

aggregation of this intelligence as the conscious identity of the

individual. But there is no reason why this law should cease to operate