Opulence of the Soul: Chapter 2
Friday, December 18, 2015
Chapter 2
The Responsive Intelligence
I have laid stress on the
fact that the "innermost within"of all things is living Spirit, and
the two great points to lay hold of if we would retrain a clear ideal of
Spiritual Science is, the liveliness of the originating principle which is at
the hear of all things and its intelligent and responsive nature.
Being intelligent, Spirit
knows, and that which It knows is Itself and Itself is ALL things. This is
essentially the answer to the age old question, "Why does Creation exist?"
It exists for the purpose of the Spirit to know Itself as knowing is most
sublimely actualized by experience and experience is only garnered through the
experiencing of "something" as opposed to "nothing." Hence
the Spirit has that power which recognizes all things; and therefore the lower
degrees of it unconsciously recognizes the higher degrees, and by the
fundamental laws of creative process the lower degrees of Self are bound to
respond to the higher degrees of Self. In other words, Spirit cannot leave any
portion of Itself behind. It must always have all the qualities of Self in it
even though the lower degrees of the individuality are not conscious of It. On
this general principle, Spirit, under whatever exterior condition it is
revealed, is intelligent and responsive. Further intelligence and
responsiveness implies personality; and we may now therefore advance a step
further and see all Spirit contains the element of personality in various
degrees, even though, in any particular instance, it may not yet be recognized
or expressed to the degree which we find it in ourselves. In short, personality
is the grand ultimate fact in all things with different personalities being
regarded as different emergence's of the Power that knows Itself. In ourselves
evolution has proceeded to the degree we recognize ourselves as
"manifestation of personality," (b'tzelem
Elohim) therefore Spirit in all degrees below our human personality must
respond to Itself in that superior degree and this is the basis of the power of
human thought to make circumstances and externalize Itself in infinite ways.
If the subordination of the
lower degrees of Spirit to the higher is one of the fundamental laws of the
creative power of thought, there is another equally fundamental law which
places a healthy restraint upon the abuse of that power. It is the law which
determines that we may use the powers of the universal for our own purposes
only in proportion as we first realize and obey their generic character. We can
employ water for any purpose which does not require it to run up-hill.
So it is with universal power
which we call 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, "benevolence." The Spirit is Life, hence its
generic tendency must always be life ward or to the increase of the liveliness
of every individual. And since it is universal its actions must must always be
for the benefit of all and never restrictive to anyone. 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 Spirit which is
"benevolence." This is the only limitation. If our originating
intention is to bestow goodness, we may then employ the spiritual power for
what purpose we will.
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