William Atkinson - The Complete Works of William Walker Atkinson

For the practical purposes of phenomenal life and living, the phenomenal Universe may be accepted as existent , and not as mere illusion or nothingness. Mastery of its activities and release from its bondage is possible only to those who recognize the fact of its idealistic nature, and its actual and real basis and support in Spirit. The outer form has its phenomenal and practical existence; while Spirit is the actual, fundamental, and ultimate reality. Wisdom arises from an understanding and reconciliation of this paradox.

The conception of the ideal appearance of the Universe does not in any way deny the relative qualities and finite relations of the phenomena of the world of appearances. Natural physical laws proceed in the same way, whether we conceive Matter, Energy, Mind, or Spirit to be Ultimate reality. Electrons and planets revolve, gravitation persists, the laws of mathematics continue to be valid, whether we conceive the Universe to be composed of particles of matter grouped together in manifold forms and shapes manifesting manifold forms of activity, or else centers of activity in Universal Energy; or whether we conceive the Universe, and its particular parts, to be shapes, forms, and activities— Ideal Appearances —in the Infinite Mind-Principle and the Ultimate Substance-Principle of Spirit. If all Substance is the Substance of Spirit, then all things must be in and of that Substance, and therefore must be substantial and real to the highest possible degree. The Universal Ether can give no more substantiality and reality to the universe than does Spirit considered as Infinite Substance.

Even the Vedantists, whose thinkers fear not to follow their thought to its logical and extreme conclusion, and who say, "Brahman is true; the world is false," and who claim that the phenomenal universe arises by reason of the existence of "Maya, the inexplicable illusion, self-imagined, that is illusorily overspread upon Brahman,"—even these daring thinkers do not assert that the world is Fictitious so far as practical purposes are concerned . They say: "Dreams are true while they last ." As Max Müller has truly said: "For all practical purposes the Vedantist would hold that the whole phenomenal world, both in its subjective and objective character, should be accepted as real . It is as real as anything can be to the ordinary mind; it is not mere emptiness, as the Buddhists maintain. And thus the Vedanta philosophy leaves to every man a wide sphere of real usefulness, and places him under a law as strict and binding as anything can be in this transitory life."

The ideal appearances in Infinite Mind—Spirit—are second in reality only to Spirit itself. There can be nothing more real than the Universe, except Spirit Itself. The Laws of Time, Space, Causation, and Nature are included in Spirit's Cosmic idea of the Universe; they are thus made perfectly valid and effective to all phenomenal things. There is every difference between the relative ideas and mental images in the finite minds of men, and the Cosmic ideas and images in the Infinite Mind of Spirit. The world must not be regarded as a mere dream, unless one also regard his personal self as a figure in that dream. (We say his personal self to distinguish it from his real self.) It is true that we may assert the mere "appearance" of the natural world and refuse to eat, drink, and clothe ourselves, but in so doing we will injure our physical body, which is also an "appearance," and may even destroy our personal being , which is also an "appearance," at the last. So long as we live and move and have our personal and finite being in the physical world we must recognize and obey the physical laws of that world. Things dwelling on any particular plane of existence either must come under the laws of that plane or else transcend that plane in their being.

We have no desire to imply that the phenomenal world is pure illusion. On the contrary we wish you to remember that it is second in possible reality only to Spirit itself. It may help you to think of the phenomenal world as Real and of Spirit as Super-Real. Do not make the mistake of considering the world as an illusory Nothing. It and all in it are Real Things in the world of Things; it is only when we rise above Thingness that we find the reality of Super-Thingness. Remember that the world considered as an idea of Spirit is just as real and as practical as when considered as the expression and manifestation of the Energy of the Universal Ether of Science. Carry always in mind the idea well expressed by an authority, who said, " Phenomena do not change with our varying views as to what things really are ." The phenomenal world is under Law and laws; heed ye them!

Finally, it must be remembered that while the Universe and its particular parts are but ideal appearances in Spirit, it is likewise true that Spirit is immanent and abiding in the Universe and in each and every of its manifestations down to the most insignificant. Just as All is in Spirit, so is Spirit in All. Spirit is ever the Universal Creative Spirit of Nature, every shape, form, and activity in Nature. The presence and energy of Spirit is ever perceived manifesting in shape, form, and activity. The veil of Matter serves not only to conceal Spirit but also to reveal it. Just as the fluttering flag and the moving field of grain serve to reveal the presence and power of the breeze which is animating them, and which in itself cannot be seen, so do the moving shapes and forms and activities of the universe serve to indicate the presence and power of Spirit ever behind them. This fact, remembered, should serve to forever remove all ideas of the practical unreality and illusion of the universe. While the shape, form, and physical activity is and must be but mere appearance, the animating power acting and moving in that shape and form and activity is Ultimate reality itself—Spirit. The garment is seen to be but appearance, but the reality wearing it is the only real thing there is .

You, the individual "I" which is now receiving this instruction, are far greater, grander, and infinitely more Real than you have been led to believe under the fallacious conceptions regarding the nature of the Universe. Whatever the Universe may or may not be, You may bring yourself to a recognition, realization, and manifestation of your Real Self which will transcend any idea born of the finiteness of your being. When the soul receives its Illumination, universes may come and go and matter not, for the soul perceives in its "I am" the one supreme fact of reality.

Table of Content

STATEMENT: SPIRIT creates the Cosmos by Evolution, preserves it by Balance, re-creates it by Devolution, and yet these three, in Truth, are but One—three forms of the Creation of Nature.

THE COSMOS.

By "the Cosmos" is meant "the Universe, or universality of created things; so called from the order, arrangement, and harmony displayed in it, as opposed to Chaos." Many philosophers have preferred the Greek term " Cosmos " to the Latin one, " Universum ," in expressing the idea of the Created World. The Latin term, from which our term "Universe" arose, meant simply "Oneness of Creation"; while the Greek term "Cosmos" implies the existence of absolute law, order, harmony, system, and logical arrangement in addition to the idea of the Oneness of Nature. The term in question is derived from a Greek word meaning "Order." The term "the Cosmos," as applied to the orderly Universe, was first used by Pythagoras. His followers, Philolaos, Callicratidas, and others, adopted the term, as did the philosophic poets, Xenophanes, Parmeides, and Empedocles. It was finally adopted as a philosophic term in general use. The Stoics also employed it as expressing the anima mundi , or World Spirit. In essence, the term "the Cosmos" is directly opposed to the term "Chaos," which means "yawning, empty space, or the disorderly universe or mass of universal matter in confusion; the world ‘without form and void.'"