Thomas Troward - The Creative Process in the Individual

Thomas Troward

The Creative Process in the Individual

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Inhaltsverzeichnis

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FOREWORD

CONTENTS

THE STARTING-POINT

THE SELF-CONTEMPLATION OF SPIRIT

THE DIVINE IDEAL

THE MANIFESTATION OF THE LIFE PRINCIPLE

THE PERSONAL FACTOR

THE STANDARD OF PERSONALITY

RACE THOUGHT AND NEW THOUGHT

THE DÉNOUEMENT OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS

CONCLUSION

THE DIVINE OFFERING

OURSELVES IN THE DIVINE OFFERING

FOOTNOTES

Impressum neobooks

The Creative Process in the Individual

Author: Thomas Troward

In the present volume I have endeavored to set before the reader the

conception of a sequence of creative action commencing with the formation

of the globe and culminating in a vista of infinite possibilities

attainable by every one who follows up the right line for their unfoldment.

I have endeavored to show that, starting with certain incontrovertible

scientific facts, all these things logically follow, and that therefore,

however far these speculations may carry us beyond our past experience,

they nowhere break the thread of an intelligible connection of cause and

effect.

I do not, however, offer the suggestions here put forward in any other

light than that of purely speculative reasoning; nevertheless, no advance

in any direction can be made except by speculative reasoning going back to

the first principles of things which we do know and thence deducing the

conditions under which the same principles might be carried further and

made to produce results hitherto unknown. It is to this method of thought

that we owe all the advantages of civilization from matches and

post-offices to motor-cars and aeroplanes, and we may therefore be

encouraged to hope such speculations as the present may not be without

their ultimate value. Relying on the maxim that Principle is not bound by

Precedent we should not limit our expectations of the future; and if our

speculations lead us to the conclusion that we have reached a point where

we are not only able, but also _required_, by the law of our own being, to

take a more active part in our personal evolution than heretofore, this

discovery will afford us a new outlook upon life and widen our horizon with

fresh interests and brightening hopes.

If the thoughts here suggested should help any reader to clear some mental

obstacles from his path the writer will feel that he has not written to no

purpose. Only each reader must think out these suggestions for himself. No

writer or lecturer can convey an idea _into_ the minds of his audience. He

can only put it before them, and what they will make of it depends entirely

upon themselves--assimilation is a process which no one can carry out for

us.

To the kindness of my readers on both sides of the Atlantic, and in

Australia and New Zealand, I commend this little volume, not, indeed,

without a deep sense of its many shortcomings, but at the same time

encouraged by the generous indulgence extended to my previous books.

T.T.

June, 1910.

THE STARTING-POINT

THE SELF-CONTEMPLATION OF SPIRIT

THE DIVINE IDEAL

THE MANIFESTATION OF THE LIFE PRINCIPLE

THE PERSONAL FACTOR

THE STANDARD OF PERSONALITY

RACE THOUGHT AND NEW THOUGHT

THE DÉNOUEMENT OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS

CONCLUSION

THE DIVINE OFFERING

OURSELVES IN THE DIVINE OFFERING

I say no man has ever yet been half devout enough,

None has ever yet adored or worship'd half enough,

None has begun to think how divine he himself is, and

how certain the future is.

I say that the real and permanent grandeur of these States

must be their religion,

Otherwise there is no real and permanent grandeur.

--WALT WHITMAN.

It is an old saying that "Order is Heaven's First Law," and like many other

old sayings it contains a much deeper philosophy than appears immediately

on the surface. Getting things into a better order is the great secret of

progress, and we are now able to fly through the air, not because the laws

of Nature have altered, but because we have learnt to arrange things in the

right order to produce this result--the things themselves had existed from

the beginning of the world, but what was wanting was the introduction of a

Personal Factor which, by an intelligent perception of the possibilities

contained in the laws of Nature, should be able to bring into working

reality ideas which previous generations would have laughed at as the

absurd fancies of an unbalanced mind. The lesson to be learnt from the

practical aviation of the present day is that of the triumph of principle

over precedent, of the working out of an _idea_ to its logical conclusions

in spite of the accumulated testimony of all past experience to the

contrary; and with such a notable example before us can we say that it is

futile to enquire whether by the same method we may not unlock still more

important secrets and gain some knowledge of the unseen causes which are at

the back of external and visible conditions, and then by bringing these

unseen causes into a better order make practical working realities of

possibilities which at present seem but fantastic dreams? It is at least

worth while taking a preliminary canter over the course, and this is all

that this little volume professes to attempt; yet this may be sufficient to

show the lay of the ground.

Now the first thing in any investigation is to have some idea of what you

are looking for--to have at least some notion of the general direction in

which to go--just as you would not go up a tree to find fish though you

would for birds' eggs. Well, the general direction in which we all want to

go is that of getting more out of Life than we have ever got out of it--we

want to be more alive in ourselves and to get all sorts of improved

conditions in our environment. However happily any of us may be

circumstanced we can all conceive something still better, or at any rate we

should like to make our present good permanent; and since we shall find as

our studies advance that the prospect of increasing possibilities keeps

opening out more and more widely before us, we may say that what we are in

search of is the secret of getting more out of Life in a continually

progressive degree. This means that what we are looking for is something

personal, and that it is to be obtained by producing conditions which do

not yet exist; in other words it is nothing less than the exercise of a

certain creative power in the sphere of our own particular world. So, then,

what we want is to introduce our own Personal Factor into the realm of

unseen causes. This is a big thing, and if it is possible at all it must be

by some sequence of cause and effect, and this sequence it is our object to

discover. The law of Cause and Effect is one we can never get away from,

but by carefully following it up we may find that it will lead us further

than we had anticipated.

Now, the first thing to observe is that if _we_ can succeed in finding out