THE SIGNS OF THE TIME

An open letter to all Teachers, Students and Devotees of Mental Science, no matter what your name or movement may be.

Dear Fellow Traveler:

I have no doubt that for a long time you have been in the same frame of mind which causes me to believe that the Psychologists, Character Analysts, Mental Scientists, Christian Scientists, New Thoughters, etc., would all be greatly benefited if brought together on a common plane of fellowship and co-operation. There is nothing in reality that can separate, in spirit practice, the New Thoughters from the Psychologists, the Mental Scientists from the Metaphysicians. We are all operating in harmony with certain fundamental laws, and, regardless of what we call these laws, they remain unchanged and continue to operate in the same way, although they may be approached from different angles.

If a person or organization has truth, they have it no matter by what name it may be called.

What is pure Metaphysics? What is pure Psychology? What is pure Mental Science? I am sure we all can furnish an answer, no matter what we may call ourselves or our movements; for we know if a man is mentally sick and is healed by the Metaphysician, the Psychologists or the Mental Scientist he has had pure Psychology, pure Metaphysics or pure Mental healing. If a man suffer from lack and limitation, but by the operation of certain fundamental laws of life presently has abundance, we know that the result springs from the operation of a pure law no matter what you may call it. If a man has lacked happiness and by Psychology, Metaphysics, Mental Science, Christian Science, Theosophy, or whatever name you prefer, obtains happiness, it serves to demonstrate a pure law regardless of the name by which the said law is known. Therefore, it seems to me that all who are bringing this new light into this new age, are working toward the same goal.

Admitting this to be true, do you not then agree that instead of having division among us, or a feeling that differences exist, or mental barriers between us, all should recognize the Divine in each movement, the Divine in each teacher, the Divine in all life and that this Divinity should unite us in a common whole?

There cannot be any separation in Divinity, or censorship of the Divine. There cannot be any strife, opposition, or misunderstanding in Divinity. Therefore, if all can recognize the Divine in each other, the day of denominationalism, strife, separation, and misunderstanding has passed, and the day of fellowship and co-operation has dawned.

"In union there is strength" and there is no doubt that this entire movement will receive an added impetus and go forward with greater strides, if we work together on a basis of common fellowship.

Every teacher has truth, else the call would not have come to them to teach. For we know from the law that the teacher would not have had the desire to spread the gospel of success, health and happiness had there not been those who needed his or her message.

There seems to be a feeling among many teachers of Mental Science and Metaphysicians that the word "Psychology" is foreign to their teaching and ought not to be used. On the other hand there seems to be among some of the teachers of Psychology a broad scientific idea that the word "God" ought not to be used in psychological teachings. Both of these in my opinion represent extremes. What is the difference, when back of all Nature, or back of all life, back of all health, abundance and happiness is a certain law, and what is the difference whether we call this a psychological law or a metaphysical law? What is the difference whether we call this a Divine Science law or a Christian Science law? What is the difference whether we call this a Catholic law or a Protestant law? What is the difference whether we call this an Oriental law or an Occidental law? What is the difference whether we call this a Christian or a non-Christian law? If it works, it is law, demonstrating one of the fundamental principles sent to us by the Great First Cause, by Nature, Evolution, or God, no matter what we call it; for back of all health is God, and Nature; back of all abundance is the same Power; and underlying all happiness we find the same principle. Why, therefore, should we have differences among our ranks over the terminology which gives us a grasp on these laws?

A rose would smell just as sweet by any other name. If the Christian is used to calling this law God, why should the scientific man object to the term "God," or why should the Christian object to the scientific man's explanation of "Nature"? Both are thinking and working toward the same goal—that is, toward more health, success and happiness. If the scientific man gets it, the Christian ought to rejoice in his light too, and, if the Christian man gets it, the scientific man ought to be equally as happy in the Christian's light. Why tolerate a difference between us because of mere terminology? Why not be big enough to let the other man express himself as he desires? Why not make God—Law—Nature—Evolution—First Cause synonymous?

If there are any of the older teachers of Mental Science who have had healings (and there are scores of them) who have not called these laws psychological, but have called them God's laws, why should the older teacher object when some new teacher enters into the field with another explanation? The fact that the old teachers have not reached all suffering humanity is evidence that sufferers remain who need to be reached. If the new teacher appears and uses the words "Psychology" and "Science" and "Logic" and reaches a person whom the older teachers have not reached, the older teachers, exercising that which they teach, "love toward one's neighbor," should rejoice that others have successfully implanted the message. They should rejoice that although they, the older teachers, have saved ninety and nine, that the new teacher has brought in the last sheep that needed the message of the gospel of health, success and happiness.

On the other hand the new teachers of Psychology ought to be broad and big enough, and liberal spirited enough, to let the older teacher work along his or her happy way in any manner that seems to suit their particular education, training, experience and personality.

No two people have the same talent in the world, nor do they express the same talent in exactly the same way. There may be two public speakers, but they are as different as pole from pole in their methods of speech; there may be two mental healers, but they will be as different in their personalities or in expressing their methods of healing as are the two speakers. Yet we should not say that each teacher must heal in the same way any more than we would say that each speaker should take the same amount of breath at the same place when pronouncing the same number of words or use the same vocabulary or give voice to the same tones as the other speaker. One is as conservative as the other, one is as inconsistent as the other.

So long as the world needs healing, there will be differences in personality to bring about the healing, yet these personalities will nevertheless be operating in harmony with the same fundamental law. Why should we care how we name laws; whether they are Psychological, Scientific or Christian; whether they are non-Christian, Barbarian, Seythian, Greek, Jew or Gentile? While the world cries out for health, abundance and happiness we are going to need as many personalities and as many approaches to the suffering people as there are people to be reached. Therefore, let us rejoice that the Lord has given us enough personalities with their healing messages to reach these diverse multitudes.

New Thoughters, Mental Scientists, Christian Scientists, Metaphysicians, Psychologists—we are one—we are brothers—co-labourers in the same vineyard, for the same kingdom and the same harvest. Let there be no differences between us.

"Let there be light" and let each one bless the other who helps to bear the torch of light in a world dumbfounded by mental darkness!

We are one—we are together—we are in unison, one and the same spirit is within each, uniting all. Therefore, how can we hereafter think of division, separation and estrangement when we are one, whole and harmonious in spirit, effort and love!

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DESIRE: THE ORGANISING PRINCIPLE

SINCE the first two atoms came together under the Law of Attraction and produced the earliest specimen of individual life upon our planet, the vitality of the race has been slowly ripening up to the point where immortality in the flesh could become a possible thing. As the vital powers have ripened, conditions have also ripened, to meet the needs of more vital creatures, and thus the supply has been equal to the demand.

Indeed, the saying that the supply is equal to the demand is grounded in the Principle of Attraction. It is one of the absolute truths.

Whether what I call the life of immortality in the flesh is desirable or practical hinges on one point. If the substance all about us that we see in existing forms of life, the forms of minerals, plants and animals is dead matter, infused by living spirit, then our only hope of prolonging our lives will be by some method that will release the spirit from the matter.

And this position is accepted as the truth almost the whole world over.

Dead matter can never be permanently enlivened by spirit, nor is it desirable that spirit should load itself down with something that is forever dead. Moreover, if this is the true condition, it never has been necessary for spirit to be so loaded with the dead weight of matter; and the entire combination has been a very grave mistake, ruining, or, at least, deferring, the happiness of every spirit that ever entered the material life.

If I knew this to be the true situation, I would never move my hand to save my own life; I would look forward to the time when my spirit would drop its load of death, as the chained and barred prisoner looks forward to the hope of freedom.

Long and earnestly I pondered the subject of dead matter with its infusion of living spirit, and wondered why a union of two things so diametrically opposite to each other should be either-necessary or desirable. Presently I knew that it could not be; because, if matter is dead, then the Law of Attraction cannot exist in it, and it is absolutely immovable by any force whatever. It has no power to respond to anything; it is helpless; without the principle of cohesion; and entirely useless in the building of worlds or of men.

In this thought, which I knew to be correct, I touched the negative pole of the truth I was seeking.

If matter was a dead substance, it was dead, and there was no inherent power in it, and no latent life. It was simply dead, and had no place whatever in the universe of uses. That the substance called matter did exist there was no denying, even through the visionary process of Christian Science. The substance existed; it was an ever-present and an indispensable reality.

"Indispensable"—this was a fortunate word. Dead matter could not be indispensable; the sooner dead matter and every form of death should be dispensed with, the better.

What, then, was the substance called dead matter? Did it have life of itself? I answer—yes.

Then, if it has life of itself, what need has it of the infusing spirit which seems to be a different thing from it; the infusing spirit that only infuses it a few years and then deserts it, leaving it to be again infused by other spirits, or to remain forever helpless?

The more I pondered on this subject, the more I became convinced that matter had life of itself.

To have life is to be capable of thought. This proposition brought me face to face with the great truth that every atom in the universe had power to think. In other words, that every atom was transfused with the Principle of Attraction, and responsive to every other atom; and on this fact alone rested the possibility of organised forms.

By slow degrees and never-ceasing thought, I found myself in an immaterial universe; that is, in a universe where all is living, active, vital intelligence, or mind, or thought, or brain, or knowledge.

Each atom was not a dead thing infused by something else; it was not a dead thing that yet had the power to recognise the transfusing principle of life within it; if it were dead it could not recognise anything. But still it existed, and was responsive to other atoms; what, then, was it?

It was mind itself; and mind, which is the recognition of the Law of Attraction, or the law's recognition of itself—substance; actual substance, to be seen and handled; to express in its own appearance its own belief in the law, or as much of the law as it could comprehend.

Here, all in an hour, the whole system of evolution opened up to me. The external world, the world of mind, is in constant effort to express more and more of the law of being, the Law of Attraction, which is the principle of life; the unseen side of itself; the positive and unchangeable I AM; the constantly growing recognition of which gives ever-improving expressions of itself, from the smallest and weakest individualised life up to man; and from man as he now stands in his ignorance and helplessness, up through an unending process of improvement, by a constant acquisition of new truths, or an ever-widening recognition of the power of the Law.

The Law of Being, or of Attraction, is to the visible universe what heat is to light. It is the magnetism in the magnet. Every atom is a magnet, and the external or visible part of it is the magnet's recognition of itself, just as light is heat's recognition of itself.

All power is in the law.

By all power, I mean all power of organisation. In our first knowledge of the world, as stated before, the atoms were so widely diffused as to be almost beyond the reach of each other's attraction. Ages passed; and the law—always constant to itself in its drawing power—had condensed the fiery mass somewhat; had brought the atoms closer together, so that its drawing influence began to have a greater effect. Then, as the ages went by, the drawing power overcame the distances more and more, and masses began to assume form.

Through this same process, always increasing in strength, the world was brought to a condition where it became possible for higher conceptions of the Law to be formed. Rocks adhered; waters gathered themselves together; a blade of grass put up its daring head, and the first protest of intelligence against bulk and weight, the first rebellion against death, recorded its tiny oath.

But the poor baby life did die; recognising nothing but the first faint monition of endless individuality, its little effort lost itself to become merged in another and greater effort.

And so one species merged into a nobler one; one genus disappeared, because its power to recognise nothing farther of the possibilities of the Law became its environment; an environment that nothing but dissolution could break.

But always the power of the Law was drawing the atoms to closer cohesion; and the atoms thus cohering were, by their very existence, proving the greater potency of individuals to recognise the Law of Being or the Principle of Attraction.

And so the recognition of the Principle of Attraction or of Being has proceeded right through the ages ; and so it can continue to proceed.

And although recognition of the Principle of Attraction is the externalising power, the power that makes visible, or marks the showing forth of its capabilities, it is a fact that up to the present time, this recognition has been an unconscious recognition; by which I mean a recognition that has expressed itself in uses, and not a recognition that could give a logical account of itself, and thereby become a conscious recognition.

Life has heretofore proceeded entirely on the unconscious plane. It has proceeded in the individual by the individual's recognition of his own personal desires.

Desire is the organising principle; from first to last it has been so.

The recognition of desire is the recognition of the law as expressed individually. It is the individual's recognition of the magnetic or attracting power which he sees within himself. He recognises this attraction or magnetism in himself, and it becomes the law of his individual life. It is that unseen something within him that always cries out for something more than he already possesses. It is the Principle of Life; the growing principle; and his recognition of it has brought him steadily up through the centuries from the lowest condition imaginable to his present form, intelligence and strength.

In obedience to his unconscious recognition of this life-principle expressed individually as desire—he, as the tiny drop of protoplasm, acquired a digestive system and all the appendages necessary to supply it with food.

In obedience to his love of life, or his desire to have his life perpetuated, his organism produced a reproductive system; which as yet only serves a part of his purpose; since it is only far enough evolved to perpetuate his kind without perpetuating himself.

While generation proceeds in one unbroken stream on the unconscious plane of life, regeneration is not possible except upon the conscious plane; a plane that the race is now on the verge of reaching.

All growth depends upon the recognition of the law; but no thing, and no man, can recognise the law in its fulness. Man only recognises the law in himself, as it is expressed in his desire for something more than he possesses.

The recognition of my desires is the recognition of the Law of Attraction in my own life, as separate and apart from the Law of Attraction expressed in other lives.

The desires I see in myself are evidence of my own self-hood. They form my ego. That I am not in all particulars like my neighbour is because my desires differ from his; I recognise in the law more good than he does, and thereby show forth an organisation superior to his; or I recognise less good, and show forth an organisation inferior to his; or both of us may recognise an equal amount of good, but of different kinds, and may show forth organisations equally good, but different from each other.

And this has been the case all down the scale of being. A blade of grass shows forth as much good as it recognises; so does a tree, a horse, or an angle worm.

Our bodies are the records of our beliefs; and just to the extent that we have believed in our desires, which are of the Law, individualised within us, we have been true to the Law, or the principle of growth, and have manifested that which seemed good to us; therefore, I say that as much "good" as we have recognised in the Law, we have shown forth in our bodies; thus making our bodies the record of what we desired and believed in. The forms of life have been growing more complex from the first inception of the first form, which was nothing more than the cohesion through the Principle of Attraction of two or three of the primordial life-cells.

They have been growing more complex, because as they aggregated to themselves more and still more of the life-cells, their desires became more numerous. This increase in the number and character of their desires was all the time making more powerful magnets of them; and so evolution proceeded.

Every visible manifestation of life—mineral, plant and animal—is self-created.

Life may be called two-fold, even though it is a unit. It may be called two-fold because there is a seen and an unseen side to it. On the unseen side we have the Law of Being or the Principle of Life, which is the Law of Attraction. No man knows anything about it except that it exists. We see its effects in the magnet; we see that every life-cell is a magnet, and we know that it is both external and internal; both seen and unseen; both positive and negative. The positive side being the Law, which is unchanging; the negative side being the recognition of the Law, which is the external side, and which is constantly changing through the increasing or lessening power of individual recognition.

The more an individual recognises of the power of the Law, the more positive he becomes. Man, recognising more of the power of the Law than any other creature, is positive to all other creatures; and being positive to them, he is their master. They supply him in all his many wants. He cuts down the magnificent tree and holds its individuality in subservience to his needs; he kills the animal and eats its flesh in order to satisfy his desire for food; he becomes greater and stronger all the time by sacrificing lives that are negative to him.

These lower lives pass constantly into his life; his life would pass into some life higher than his own, but for the fact that his constantly growing brain renders unnecessary any life higher than his. If his brain found its limitation in serving a non-expanding range of uses, like those of the cow or the horse, then nature would beget an organisation superior to his, into which the increasing, knowledge of the growing race might extend.

But it is not necessary from the fact that man keeps growing and increasing in knowledge all the time; in this way proving that he has no limitation. In consequence of this fact there will be no higher organisation, except that into which his present organisation will expand by the farther expansion of his intelligence; or his farther recognition of still greater power existing in the Law.

Intelligence or mind is the visible substance of the universe; it is simply the recognition of the Law of Being, which is the Law of Attraction, or the Life-Principle.

Another statement of this idea would be that the words "love" and "intelligence" are an explanation of it all—love being the unseen principle of cohesion. The idea expressed in this manner is not new; it forms the basis of Swedenborg's theory, a theory that he fails to carry out into particulars in his very voluminous writings.

The entire trend of thought is from physical to metaphysical; and it cannot be otherwise, since race growth is in this direction.

A belief in the physical as dead matter is all that now holds the race back from the most rapid and startling growth. Freedom—the goal of the world's desire—lies just ahead, and here we remain, tethered to a mistake, a mistake that could not hold us one moment, but for the fact that we are all mind, and that our mistakes are our bodies. Our mistakes are our beliefs; they are our fixed modes of thought, therefore, they are our beliefs; and belief is the body of the individual. The body is not the record of our beliefs; it is our beliefs; it is the sum-total of all our beliefs; for belief, being a mental thing, is real substance; and, whether belief is true or false, it is a substantial thing so long as it lasts.

Believing ourselves living spirits chained to dead matter is a mistake as potent to hold us down to what we call the law of gravitation, as if matter really were a dead substance, instead of being what it really is—pure mind, the recognition of the Law of Being—from which it is inseparable.

In attempting to define the seeming difference between the law of gravitation and the Law of Attraction, I showed that this seeming difference was a difference in the degree of intelligence in the objects that were attracted. I showed how the words "death to death" would explain the law of gravitation, and "life to life" would explain the Law of Attraction; in short, that the law of gravitation was the negative pole of the Law of Attraction, since its effects were manifested in objects too ignorant of the Law of Attraction to be lifted by it.

I said that with the first awakening of intelligence, which in all objects, from a grain of sand up to a man, is the recognition of innate desire, the objects were lifted upward instead of being held downward.

The Law of Attraction is therefore the Law of Life in evolution; while the law of gravitation is the same law of life in latency. All is life either in action or with its powers of action latent.

Therefore, the law of gravitation is the Law of Attraction; but being the negative pole of the Law, it seems to be rather a denial of the Law than the Law itself.

The law of gravitation glides by imperceptible degrees into the Law of Attraction. They are the same Law, the seeming difference being the different degrees of intelligence that recognise it.

The speck of mould lies close to the earth. It does not recognise the principle of life within it. That principle of life is desire. The Law in individual expression is desire; and after a time the speck of mould feels the monitions of the law; recognises the desire—the law—and becomes what we call a living organism. It was alive before, but did not know it. That is, the Law of Attraction was in it because it is in all things; but the recognition was wanting; or, rather, the degree of recognition within it was too undeveloped for observation.

So long as the recognition was wanting, or too feeble for expression, the speck of mould was simply acted on. With stronger self-recognition came the power of independent action; and then it became obedient to the Law of Attraction within it as expressed in its own recognised desire; and with even this small amount of freedom it moved upward from the earth. The law of gravitation in it had developed into the Law of Attraction. In strict truth, it had always been the Law of Attraction, but was only the Law of Attraction to the intelligence that recognised it as such.

Thus it is seen that a recognition of the Law of Attraction emancipates from a belief in the law of gravitation, or from the non-belief in the Law of Attraction; and thus intelligence becomes master of death to the extent of its power to recognise the Law of Attraction.

* * * * *

The inseparableness of substance from the Law that is its invisible partner, when once seen in its true light, immediately suggests the idea of immortality in the flesh; especially when taken in connection with the fact that man is self-creative.

Indeed, but for man's belief in the deadness of matter, and his still more foolish belief that a God made him, he would even at this time be diseaseless and deathless; he would, even now, be on the road of endless progression, led exclusively by his desires for happiness. He would be trusting the Law, and externalising his desire—which is the Law individualised in him; and his body would be showing forth greater power and beauty daily. He would be on that plane of thought where his body (which is the condensed form of his thought) would be growing each day into a new and ever-beautifying revision of his new and beautifying acquisition of intelligence.

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EXPECT THE BEST AND RECEIVE IT

EXPECTATION is the natural offspring of desire.

In unconscious growth, expectation always comes with desire. If it were not so, the desire which is of the Law of Attraction, would never be manifested or externalised, and there would be no visible universe.

It is self-evident truth that the Love Principle, the attracting forces that men call God, cannot exist without giving expression to Itself. Such expression becomes what to us appears as externals, and the principle and its expression are one. The same truth was given by another in the words, "Man is God's necessity."

Expectation, which is an act of the intelligence, clothes desire and makes it apparent in the visible world of effects. Every power now possessed by the individual has been first caused by desiring something, and then by expecting it. It was in this way that man's entire organic structure was built.

As time passed on and man's brain began to develop the reasoning faculties, it transpired that desire and expectation, which on the plane of unconscious growth had gone hand-in-hand, became separated. This was in the process of transposition from the animal to the intellectual plane. It is in this process of transposition now, and though it is advancing more rapidly than ever before, it lacks much of being completed. As soon as the reasoning powers began to depend upon themselves for a solution of the many problems of life, they received answers to nearly all of their questions from the negative pole of truth; that is, answers which were in accord with their limited knowledge. They made a critical examination, as they thought, of desire, and exclaimed, "Why, this thing is of the devil!" But in spite of their opinion of it, it did secretly mould the race's every action until it began to be acknowledged as the basis of all growth.

It was now promoted in public opinion, and was called prayer; and the people were exhorted to pray in faith for what they wanted, or in the expectation that they would receive what they asked for.

One of the most common fallacies was to conceive of desire as being both good and its opposite. One kind of desire they pronounced carnal, the other divine. Now, all desire is the same in essence; it is all divine. It is all a reaching forth of the spirit of growth after greater knowledge and happiness. As before stated, expectation accompanied every breath of desire during the period of unconscious growth, and desire was fully realised by the animal. In this way the animal powers increased and ripened up to manhood.

When man had learned to reason, the first use he made of it was to doubt. He recognised his desires, but began to imagine that they were mostly evil; and those he did not consider evil he ridiculed and called them wild and visionary. He said they belonged to the imagination, and, of course, amounted to nothing. He became that anomaly of creation, a chronic doubter. He accepted nothing on trust and looked upon credulous people with contempt. For ages he has plodded along in the same grooves, and has thrown dirt and stones at everyone who had intelligence enough to climb out of the grooves he lived in. This is the case even to this day.

Why, it is a tremendous thing to make the statements made in these pages, and only the most improvident and reckless thinker would dare do it. Yes, improvident and reckless—a thinker who does not care what the world thinks of him; who is resolved to burst the bonds of race ignorance and set the people free in spite of opposition.

This mental scientist stands in the position of one who is willing to be a fool for truth's sake. There is an ever-present atmosphere of triumph surrounding a position like this. The glow of the conqueror is felt, because of the certain knowledge that the thought in these pages is true, and the knowledge that those who now reject it will soon embrace it and be saved by it.

The opposition one meets with under such circumstances has no more effect than a blow which a mother may receive from the sick and suffering little one in her arms. This was the feeling of Jesus, when He said, "If one shall smite thee on one cheek, turn to him the other also." This sentence alone proves that He recognised the great fact of Mental Science; that all these errors we call sin are merely ignorant beliefs; the result of misdirected intelligence on the part of the people: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Desire attended by the expectation that the desire will be realised — this is the mental attitude that brings all things to the individual. Before this happy conjunction can be effected, however, it is necessary that a man should know his position in the universe, and his power. It is necessary that he should know how greatly he has been belittled in the past, and how this belittling influence has kept him from expecting that his desires would be realised. A sense of unworthiness has crushed his desires and deadened his expectation until he is a dwarf on the face of the earth.

His imagination is a part of himself that he cannot understand. He thinks it is a sort of devil within him that lies to him whenever he stops to listen to it. No one has ever known what the imagination is, but recently it is given to me to see that the imagination is the wings of the intellect, and that the seeming impossibilities it unrolls before us, are all possible to us, and will all be made manifest in the farther unfolding of our latent faculties. The imagination is the advance courier of the future, and its mission is to lure us onward—farther and farther from the hardened, fixed bounds of our daily walk, to which we have tethered ourselves in resolute disregard of the beckoning of the bright angel in front of us.

We have turned our backs on the imagination, as if it were our bitterest foe, and we dwarf and dwindle and die with our eyes glued resolutely to the past We will not look ahead, and so expectation dies.

Growth is dependent upon two things: desire, which pulses through all existing things, and expectation, which is of the intelligence. It is true that the desire and the intelligence are one, but the desire is internal and the intelligence is external. In other words desire is the soul of which expectation is the body; or, in other words still, expectation is the materialising power of desire, and makes it visible or manifest. Therefore, expectation is to desire what nature is to the Principle of Attraction, and desire might as well not be as for expectation not to clothe it and cause it to show forth.

From the foregoing statements, the entire position of the race is defined. Man has crucified desire because he thought it was selfish, unholy. Nevertheless, desire has pushed through and beyond his conscientious scruples, and has come into acknowledged recognition under the name of aspiration, or prayer; but even as aspiration or prayer, it is held back from fulfilment by the lack of expectation, so that the things that we desire are not clothed upon and made manifest to us.

Thus, after getting the consent of our conscience to desire something, we immediately begin to belittle ourselves, and instead of claiming boldly what we want, we pray, "O Lord, if it is Thy will that we should have this thing, please deliver it to us." The consequence is that our weakness receives the answer which it merits, and we fail to get the thing desired. As said once before, there never was a beggar on the earth until the advent of man; and looking over the past history of man, it really seems as if God, by which I mean the Principle of Attraction, is absolutely resolved to establish us in our independence by refusing our requests. And, indeed, this Principle of Attraction is indifferent to us, and it speaks to us through its indifference, saying, "Oh! man, I exist for your taking; take me or let me alone; learn by my silence that you are my spokesmen, and I the infinite reservoir from which you draw as you need, and behold, the supply will ever remain equal to your demand."

Man is thus thrown entirely upon himself. During the period of his unconscious or unreasoning growth, he does draw upon the limitless reservoir as he needs, and does his own growing. His brain has yielded him no thought of his unworthiness, and he takes what he desires, always expressing it in use. This limitless reservoir is as free to us today as in the past period of our growth, and when we fully know this, we shall re-establish our growth at the point where unconscious growth dropped us; but in coming into this position, we must gradually learn that we are perfectly individualised beings; that no God holds us accountable for past or present sins; that there are no sins and never have been; that what the world calls sins are merely the mistakes our ever-growing intelligences have made in coming up to our present standing place. Being thus exculpated from the accusation of conscience, we begin to see ourselves as we are.

And what are we? I answer that we are wonderful creatures. Only think how we have forged our way up from such small beginnings, and where we stand now; think what conquerors we are; how we have bursted first one bond of ignorance and then another; and how lobe after lobe has put forth in our unfolding brains, like buds on flower stalks, and how as each one put forth it held in latency the germ of another yet to appear; and how it is evident that there will never be any cessation of the unfoldment of fresh buds of unimagined power within us!

Can anyone fail to see that man is a scroll unfolding outwardly continually? And it is because he only unfolds outwardly that his habit of looking backward stultifies him so.

Whatever you desire, claim it. This is not the expression of an anarchist, and does not relate to external wealth at all. It relates to such things as build the man into health, strength and beauty — things the taking of which robs no one.

But how shall I claim health, strength and beauty?

Make a statement of your desires, then ask yourselves the question, "Do I not know that these things exist? Do I not see their manifestation every hour in the wonders of the lily and the rose? How did the lily and the rose get them?"

The flowers get their health and beauty by desires unclouded by a doubt of their power to obtain them.

Desire and expectation did the work for them, and they will do it for you, if you learn to expect as well as to desire.

The chief obstacle to overcome is the thought that there is some impediment in the way of your getting what you want. When the truth that we may have what we demand first dawns on one, it sometimes seems as if there are mountains of impediments to overcome before one can realise a desire. Once it is understood that the only impediment is the belief that there are impediments, and when this is fully realised, you will feel as light as a bird. Do you not see how this fact brings us face to face with that great truth that all time is now! and that eternity and immortality are ever present with us?

Once you know that there are no impediments to overcome in the realisation of your desires, except your chronic habit of doubting, you will see what a mighty power is embodied in yourself—no longer weak, no longer dependent on any power in all the universe—the very fountain-head of all power, the great and mighty Life Principle itself to minister to your claims. Do you not see how this knowledge of your position will place disease and death under your feet in an instant? and do you wonder that it is difficult to write of these shadows of the intellect as if they were, indeed, the realities the world believes them to be?

To make this perfectly clear, let us recapitulate. Man is all mind. He has been built by beliefs. It may be said of him that he is his own statement of being. What he owns is what he has claimed through intelligent unfoldment, and this includes such health, strength and beauty as he possesses. It may be that instead of health, strength and beauty, his body shows forth nothing but weakness. If this is the case, then he must change his statement of being, which he can only do by an intelligent recognition of truth. No amount of begging for health and strength will do any good. Begging implies that the man is not entitled to what he asks for. To cast such a shadow on your perfect title in your thought will ruin your demand; for what you want is yours; and unless you know this and make your demand on the ground of your knowledge, and not base it on any ideas of generosity from a higher power, you will not get it.

Make your demand, then, from the basis of your understanding, and say, "I am entitled to every good I can recognise"; then strive to see that your position is right from an intelligent point of view. At first it will almost seem as if your position is an aggressive one, as if there were someone to dispute your right; but there is no one to dispute it, unless it may be some lingering doubts existing in your own mind concerning it, and these you must cast out.

And is this all? No, it is only half. After you have taken your position and made your demand, look forward to its realisation; expect it. Shut out every doubt. Be patient with it and faithful to it. Days and weeks and months may pass, and your desire may seem as far away as at first, but continue to hold, for the best things in life are always worth the wait. Sooner or later things will start to happen.

Supposing your desire is to start up your own business, but you don't at present have the money to do so. You may receive an unexpected phone call from an old friend that has recently had a windfall and is looking for investment opportunities. Or you may get chatting to a stranger on the bus that just happens to have connections with just the right type of people you need to meet in order to get your business enterprise off the ground.

Once the first fruits of your desire begin to manifest, take hold of the opportunities that present themselves to you, and step by step you will be led to the complete fulfilment of that which you desire.

Remember always to exercise cheerful expectancy, for it is your Father's good pleasure to fulfil your desires.

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THE GOSPEL OF HEALING

It is proposed to discuss here the question so often raised — Is this healing of our day by mental or spiritual means Christian? The scientific man may ask very naturally, Can it be considered scientifically? The inquiries are also often made: Is it practical? Is it right morally? So the Christian Church may very properly ask, Does it belong to Christianity? Has it the sanction and authority of Christ? The scientific character of the healing can be left to the scientists. The question of the practicality and the beneficence of the healing may be known "by its fruits." To determine, however, whether or not the healing is Christian, one must decide what Jesus Christ Himself taught — what He, as its author, gave to the world as Christianity. Christians of every name and denomination should agree, of course, that His teaching, commands, and precepts; His practice, life, and example, together make up Christianity.

What, then, is Christianity as Jesus gave it in His teaching, acts, and life? One thing is plain — Jesus taught or preached His word of truth. But another fact is equally plain — He did what are called "works" in the language of the New Testament, or healing in the language of today. The Christ, in fact, gave himself largely, as the gospel records tell us, to "healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people" during His public life; indeed, He laid great stress upon these works as an essential part of His mission. They were very prominent in the ministry of Jesus. They made up, with His preaching, His whole public work. In fact, He did nothing else.

Just consider the noteworthy fact: He founded no institutions, asylums, or hospitals; organized no charities, founded no religious orders or societies of any kind. He did not even establish a church; nor did He leave directions for the formation of any of these. But He did go about "doing good," doing healing — the works of the Father that sent Him. Further, what were His commands to His followers? Surely it is safe to affirm that in Christ's instructions to His disciples He made the ministry of healing more prominent if anything than the ministry of preaching. He charged them, when He commissioned and sent them forth, to "heal the sick." This was a direct, plain, emphatic command given to His followers of all times. It cannot be denied that Jesus urged and emphasized the gospel works no less positively than the gospel word.

Now, if these conclusions are correct, it becomes of interest and moment to inquire whether these important instructions of the Master have been obeyed. Has the Christian Church as a body, have the ministers of the Church generally, carried out, or are they now carrying out, the full commands of Christ if they neglect to do the works? Surely, the answer to this question must be in the main a negative one. Who, then, are fulfilling — who are practising this part of Christianity? It seems certain that no unprejudiced person will deny that the doers of the works today, including all sections of them — the so-called Faith-curists, Mind-curers, Christian Scientists, New-Thoughters, mental healers, etc.— in their way and according to their light, have tried and are trying sincerely, honestly, earnestly to obey the command of the great Physician.

These healers by spiritual means have their limitations; they may fall short in their efforts often; their healing may not be equal or even exactly to the Master's. But we submit that, inasmuch as they have earnestly and in good faith endeavored to obey His command to do the works, they are entitled to stand as His true followers, and that their works of healing are Christian indeed. Yet we have heard Christian ministers characterise as impiety, even blasphemy, their endeavor to follow in the footsteps and do the behests of the great Teacher.

It is well to ask here why it is that the Christian Church in the main — why the Christian clergy as a body — all these centuries past have ignored the Master's command, and neglected to do the works He enjoined. Is it because the works were of no importance in their eyes, of no essential value, and that therefore there was no need of their continuance? Then why did Jesus lay so great stress upon them? This would clearly indicate that He himself deemed them of vital importance, of even transcendent worth. He devoted to the doing of them almost His whole ministry; and that was largely what He set His disciples about, and directed them to do in their future ministry.

Is it not possible that some great truths or principles or laws were disclosed by the works — were thereby illustrated and enforced; truths, principles, or laws, moral and spiritual, of far-reaching and transcendent import, far above and beyond all mere physical healing or cure of any bodily disease? It does certainly appear so. And those who have essayed to do works of healing in our day have evidently caught a glimpse of those wondrous revealings — have learned something of their deep significance and of their inestimable value. What are those revelations ?

First of all, perhaps, the healing brings home forcibly to the mind as indeed a fact that which has ever gladdened the hearts of religious people to find reason to believe and evidence to prove, namely, what is often attempted to express by the words "the supremacy of the Spirit," which should surely find appreciation with us all in these days of gross materialism. All this healing, done by immaterial or spiritual means, showing the power of the mind over the body, telling of the omnipotence of spirit over all things, is wholly against the prevalent doctrines of materialism, and on the side of the highest spiritual philosophy.

Next, is it not plain from the accounts in the Gospels that Jesus thought the works made manifest the existence and power of the Infinite Spirit and were a revelation indeed of God, the Father? In fact He said so again and again. He apparently emphasized the works for one reason as tangible evidence that the infinite One, and He alone, is the real Healer of disease — the one and only healing Power; that He is ever ready and lovingly desirous to restore and save His children from their bodily infirmities, as He is to remedy, by the same gracious power, their ills of mind and heart and soul. And so again today the existence, the reality of God, and the higher conception of Him, are thus impressed upon the mind; His immanence upon the consciousness. His goodness and His love are made manifest by His life-giving and restorative power in the healing.

Again, it is the united testimony, probably, of those engaged in the practical healing, as well as of all subjects of the cure, that they gain by it a new estimate of man. They see or experience the power of the spirit over the body. That points unmistakably to man's other and higher spiritual powers and potentialities, which only need to be aroused and drawn out. They learn that health, physical as well as mental and moral health, is within man, and not something to be imported from without. That fact opens their eyes to the other and grander possessions — attributes, qualities, and powers wrapped up in him, and which only need unfolding to become manifest and effective. They are brought to realise, as never before or in any other way, that man is truly created in the "image of God." It is made a living truth to them that mankind are His children, His offspring, sons and daughters of His, partakers of His nature, sharers in His power, possessors of His life, and joined to Him in oneness. In other words, the essential goodness and the inherent greatness of man — his divine, yea, deific nature — are thus revealed. And thus it is that the real spiritual character, the God-nature of man, so opens up in the light and through the application of the healing as to give in very truth a new revelation of Him. The gospel works of Jesus, as his gospel word, were indeed a wondrous revelation of man, the child, not less than of God, the Father.

And yet, again, it is the experience surely of all mental physicians that, to cure physical disease of moral origin effectively, it is necessary first to remove the moral disorder that is causative and primary. From this fact is deduced naturally as readily the broad fundamental truth of the moral or spiritual basis of physical health — that goodness, virtue, affection, faith, and moral qualities generally are basic health, and on the other hand that vice, immorality, selfishness, and sin are the primary disorders.

Once more, the truth akin to the one above, more or less clearly seen, is that sympathy and affection — true, deep, and vital — are the most powerful lever to move, convert, and transform the patient: to bring forth to life and wholeness the man, the real man. All your experience in healing, it is safe to affirm, friends, teaches you that this is true: that unselfish love — and the true is unselfish — is the fundamental and transcendent spiritual power; the primal attribute of God; the root, basic quality in man, from which all others spring. And, oppositely, it is beginning to be plain to all men that selfishness is the root, the primary disorder, from which all other and minor moral ills arise — hate, anger, fear, cowardice, ill-will, malice, injustice, and wrong: all vices, crime, and sin. Yes, selfishness is the great world disorder from which the human race has suffered and still suffers.

But time will hardly allow of even a brief mention of the great truths revealed by the healing gospel. There are others of scarcely less moment, perhaps. The all-beneficence of the healing power, experienced in the cure by the subject of it, impresses forcibly the mind and wins irresistibly the heart to believe with a great faith in the "Eternal Goodness," the burden of our poet Whittier's beautiful song — that God, the Father, is Goodness Absolute, as says the Hindu, and that Infinite Goodness and Love are at the center of the Universe, at the heart of God and man.

Another fact fraught with deep significance is learned in the simple physical healing, namely, that mind, or thought, has the power to reach mind, by virtue, it would seem, of a natural inner relationship and independent of all external media. When en rapport, soul touches soul. Yes, spirit can come into union and communion with spirit when exalted by faith and inspired by affection. This seems to reveal clearly and conclusively that "unity of Spirit" is a reality; that indeed "all Mind is one:" A momentous truth!

And, friends, you who have had experience in the application of this spiritual therapeutic method will doubtless testify that it has solved for you, or goes far to solve for you, many other problems. For instance, it has helped you, in some measure at least, to a solution of the great problem of evil. And, again, it has aided you, immensely to your own personal, practical benefit, to solve the problem of happiness. And it will be your testimony probably that it has helped you to a solution of the still more important problem of immortality. That being made conscious — being made to feel, by its teaching, that you, as all men, are immortal here and now — doubt of future immortality falls away; in fact, future immortality loses largely its meaning.

Now, if the healing in your hands is found to have anything near the profound meaning here represented, then can we not believe that the works wrought by Jesus had all this and much more and greater significance; that He knew it well, and emphasized and enjoined the works so predominantly for that reason; that they were, and He expected them to be, a revelation to man of the highest spiritual truths, principles, and laws?

Finally, to sum up the whole matter, may we not conclude — is it not the simple truth — that Jesus' gospel was a twofold dispensation, namely, His word of truth to be preached and His works of healing to be performed? One was the word to be made known, the other the works to be put into practice. And they were to go inseparably together — the two halves of His Christianity that made and make the rounded whole.

We have said that Jesus did not found asylums, hospitals, reformatories, or penal or charitable institutions. Did He not do something possibly of greater importance? Is it not possible that, if this other half of the whole of His Christianity — the works — had been carried with the word "into all the world," the asylums, hospitals, reformatories, and even prisons would have been rendered largely unnecessary? Might not the evils for which they exist have been largely cured or prevented?

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FROM SELFISHNESS TO SELFHOOD

IN proportion as we become self-centred by a recognition of the great importance of the "I," we come under the principle of attraction where our own comes to us. What is our own? Everything that we desire or aspire to in the process of true advancement. We often think we desire things that we do not really desire. What we do truly desire is happiness. Happiness is the ultimate of our every aspiration; it is the constant craving of the spirit of growth within us; it is the reaching out of the spirit of growth for a better recognition of its own power.

Suppose we desire that someone may die, who stands between us and an inheritance. This intermediate desire has nothing to do with the spirit of life within us; this spirit simply points to happiness; it does not suggest methods for attaining it; this suggestion comes from the intelligence of the person, and is liable to make mistakes—does often make mistakes—and has no other way of learning how to conform itself to the Principle of Attraction that holds the universe together than by making mistakes.

The true desire, that is always pushing its way into the observation of the individual, is really the very essence of love, always seeking greater expression and always aggregating to itself greater power.

Understanding at last that desire is the infusing spirit in man, it is plain to see that it is of greater importance than we ever before imagined, and that, instead of attempting to crush it out of our organisations, where it is really the breath of our lives, we must learn to direct it properly.

I wish to emphasise this point of holding for self. I wish to do so because the race has been filled full of false ideas regarding the virtue of self-abnegation.

Self-abnegation, or self-denial, is the most deadly and paralysing mistake ever made. It is the letting go of one's hold on the Life Principle, abandoning all one has gained in his previous growth through the ages, and drifting backward, as nearly as one can do so, into nothingness; and every bit of undue or unconsidered concession to the opinions of others partakes of the nature of self-abnegation, and should be promptly stopped. A man should ask himself if he has not as much right to his selfhood as another, and when he answers this question affirmatively, as he cannot help doing, then he should stand for himself boldly and manfully.

It may at first thought seem that men do, even now, hold for themselves with great firmness, but this is not so. The very opposite is so marked among the people that Emerson speaks of society as "a mush of concession." There is so little of true self-holding in the world that, where one meets a really individualised man or woman, it is an event never to be forgotten.

The opinion of the world is worthless. The majority of the people have no opinions of their own, but have simply accepted those that have been thrust upon them. In this way we are saddled with the beliefs of men ages dead, whose opportunity of knowing truth was a thousand times inferior to our own. Is it any wonder that such utterly negative creatures die? They ought to die. Life and its tremendous mission, involving such thought and such effort as they have never imagined, are not for them. The grappling hook of divine purpose passes through them as if they were made of jelly. They afford not the slightest obstruction to it. It is all self-abnegation with them, though partly of an unconscious character.

Unconscious self-abnegation, or the lack of intelligent self-assertion, is the bane of humanity at this time.

The belief in self-abnegation comes from the awakening intelligence that, in looking back, sees only the horrors of animal selfishness, and does not look forward to where this same selfishness is modified by justice, and through this modification can become the very essence of true manhood and womanhood.

The child is not polite. It grabs its toys and holds them firmly away from the little friend who has come to visit it. Later on it will value the happiness of its little friend more than it values the toys, and then it will give them up gladly. Nor will this giving be in the spirit of self-abnegation. It will be because the giving yields more happiness to self than the withholding. Self is forever at the bottom of all things, as it should be, for self is the individual centre, and the change from selfishness to selfhood, which is selfishness lifted to a higher plane, will come through a growing infusion of the love principle in the race—an infusion that makes the happiness of others our dearest happiness.

All of this comes under the head of evolution, and there is no logical interpretation of humanity except by the evolutionary theory; but even the most timid sticklers for Biblical authority need not be afraid of it. Darwin never taught the evolutionary theory half so strongly as the Bible teaches it.

I have now shown the selfishness of the animal as changed to selfhood in the man, by man's constantly increasing recognition of the Principle of Attraction within him. It must be remembered that this Principle of Attraction, in its true essence, is pure love. As he recognises more of the Principle of Attraction, his power to love increases. Love always comes from a more thorough recognition of the infusing Life Principle, and will keep on increasing as this recognition keeps on growing. All this growth of the recognition of the Principle of Attraction is tending in the direction of universal brotherhood, which means a state of the sweetest harmony among the people, a condition of high and mighty and living restfulness, in which the seeds of new faculties, now lying dormant in the human brain, will take root and grow into undreamed power.

As all our past unconscious growing has been from the basis of self, so will our future growing be from the same basis, for there is no other basis of growth.

Harmony, universal intelligence, is not achieved by individual concession or self-abnegation, but by the assertion of self under the influence of the ever-growing idea that he who asserts self asserts the divinest of all possible power in humanity. To deny self is to deny this power in humanity, and thus to make as nothing—so far as such a thing is possible the work of organisation—that work which men have called the creation. Therefore, I say, stand by self, for in so doing you are standing for the Life Principle; you are standing for just as much of the Life Principle as you can recognise; and by holding firmly to this position, you will recognise more, until it will fill you and overflow in one broad and deep stream of life, that will embrace every living soul. And this will be your true self flowing forth. The same self that flowed forth in the animal in getting the most good will, by reason of your increased intelligence, now flow forth in doing the most good; but the doing shall also be the getting.

And thus the competitive systems of business, which are all animal in their origin, and all aim at getting the most good, are even now in process of becoming emulative systems, wherein each will try to excel the other in doing the most good.

On its own plane, competition is right. It is the unchecked development of individuality, and individuality is the one jewel above all price. When competition has ripened into emulation, heaven will be here, and that, too, without one particle of concession from any soul.

Concession, self-denial, self-abnegation, is ruinous. It is the denial of our own individuality; it is the direct road to nothingness; it is the resignation of that which alone makes the man or gives him, as a factor of any worth, to the world. An ignorant man, standing firmly on his selfhood, uneducated as yet in a true sense of justice, may be a very disagreeable member of society; but his position denotes strength, and there is hope of his learning; but the man who has entirely dropped down from the claims of self, who has resigned his individuality—who is he? A mere vagabond—listless, hopeless—a drifting scum, awaiting removal from human sight.

I have made the foregoing points with a purpose, and a strong purpose. The person who is afraid to stand for himself and to declare himself will always be looked upon as weak.

Looking within, you may perceive the self there, and you may conclude that it is a very selfish thing, a thing to be thrown overboard, while on bended knees you beg for a nobler self. This nobler self you are begging for is the very self you are misjudging. There is nothing the matter with you, except that your dull intelligence fails to recognise this beautiful vitality which is individualised within you. This fact explains why all religions are made to hang on the one word "believe," and why Jesus said, "When you pray, believe that you receive, and you shall have"—showing that all truth is within, and that all a man has to do is to believe it.

Prayer is merely desire, or aspiration. We are asking or praying with every breath we draw. "Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, unuttered or expressed." It is a tentacle of the Life Principle within us going out in search of what it wants. And prayer is answered from within.

I am now treating of the growth of the man, and not of the conditions he shall inaugurate afterwards. A man once builded in the knowledge of himself and of the power within him, conditions then build themselves about him; conditions become responsive to his own strength, even as they are now responsive to his own weakness.

To build institutions is not the first thing to be thought of. Institutions will seem to build themselves, after true men and women are built, and all by a natural law—the Principle of Attraction.

Every thought or belief in this Principle carries us more fully within the power of it; and in this condition our own comes to us. Everything that is related to our peculiar faculty, whether near or far, will come to us in acknowledgement of our ownership.

In man's operations from the central point or a basis of self, he is entitled to what he wants. And he need not beg for what he wants; it is his own under the Law of Attraction by inalienable right, and unless he take it as his own, he will never build his life up in the strength of true manhood.

All through the period of his unconscious growth, he took; he did not beg. He did this regardless of his fellows. What he took represented to him his highest ideal of happiness. Now his ideal is enlarged; it is so greatly enlarged that it raises him quite out of the physical realm into the intellectual one, and what he demands as essential to his happiness is the knowledge that will secure him health, strength and beauty.

Of these things he may demand what he will, and no one will be robbed; for he is now in the high place where the supply is equal to the demand, and where he is getting more and more into harmony with the Principle of Attraction, where his own comes to him because it is related to his needs.
Therefore, men need not beg. A true analysis of things past and present will show us that there never was a beggar on earth until man came, and that beggars were never needed, neither were meant to have existence.

To get the things he needs in the present transitional stage from animal to human, each human being is forced to become as aggressive as any warrior. Everything he attempts to take out of the mental world, the world of unorganised intelligence, is denied him, and and its very existence disputed by a thousand race beliefs that rise up before him and threaten him with destruction.

This fight for mastery, being at this time entirely in the realm of the intellect, we must begin, not by begging our way, but by claiming it. Discard every thought of humility; make a statement of what you want, and hold it as your due. Take this one fact into consideration, that man has no God-given place in the universe, and no natural sphere, except that which he has wrested from the universe by his own intelligent demands. Remember above all things, that man is man-made, and not God-made.

Individuality is of such tremendous importance that we are not trying to lose it in God. We are trying to bring God forth and establish Him in these personalities. I speak the word "God" as if I accepted it in its present meaning, which I do not, although it is sometimes very convenient to use.

Mental Science, unlike Christian Science, believes in the present and in the personal, the visible and audible. It believes in the evolution of the Life Principle into the personal and the present, through the intelligent recognition of men and women, and it is in this way we will banish disease and death and establish heaven on earth—for the more of the Life Principle a man recognises in himself, the stronger and more positive he is; and thus will disease and death be overcome, for they are simply the negations or denial of man's power to conquer. They are nothing in themselves, and have no power, except the power men confer upon them by believing in them; and as men believe in their own selfhood more and recognise the God-hood of selfhood, the fear of disease and death will be effaced, and life, with health and happiness, will become the heritage of the race instead.

I say to every human being—assert your desires and prove your noble nature. The desire, which is the voice of life in you, does not include any methods your brain may suggest as being the right way to attain the desire. The desire is the essence of your being, and it asks for happiness, and nothing less. It will be your individual mistake, and not the mistake of the vital principle, if you seek happiness by methods that will wrong others. Therefore, as we are still so ignorant, the proper thing to do is to ask for happiness simply, or rather to claim happiness as our right.

Of course, every idea of happiness includes ideas of health, strength and beauty, and it is these things that make the real man. After man is established in such glorious health, strength and beauty as makes every moment of his life a joy to him, he may then turn his thoughts outward towards the building of new and better conditions for himself and fellows; for man is the Builder, and when he has built himself, he will begin to build externally in a stronger way—yes, in a thousand stronger ways, for man's sphere is here on earth, and he will build outward from the earth, until the space between the planets will show forth the wonders of his inventions and discoveries.

Once more I say—stand by self. Self is not a sinful or dreadful thing. It is the glorious basis of everything that is visible in the universe. In each individual thing, whether crystal, tree, animal or man, it is the wresting from negative by more positive expression that brings the mastery. Therefore, let no one be horrified because I have rescued selfhood from the mistakes that have so long overlain it.

The truth seeker is the image breaker, and no one need be grieved to see his pet hobbies fall before him. It is time they all fell. It is time for us to turn our backs on the past and accept the instruction given to Lot's wife, never to look behind; for now that the dreadful old charnel-houses where we have been entombed alive for such a long time are falling, we must escape from them forthwith.

From now on, I ask every seeker after the truth to keep up the investigation of self; and when by much thinking, he learns to stand up for it, and to hold it sacredly above the old-time beliefs that have made a devil out of it and prepared a hell for its future reception, he will begin to realise a strength he had never dreamed of before. Therefore, I say—stand by self. Magnify it if possible; but, indeed, no one can magnify it, for no one's conception of it can do it justice. But a person can magnify his ideas of it, and thus conquer the race beliefs concerning it.

And this is the battle that will have to be fought by the truth seeker. The battle is between the new truth that Mental Science brings and the old crucifying belief born of an age of rankest ignorance, that has so long held the people in darkness concerning their own strength and worth. No one can stand too strongly for the right. Each one of us should make his or her own statement of personal goodness and power, and reiterate it in the face of every old-world belief as rapidly as it shall confront them. He or she should say, "I am here for myself, to build myself up in health, strength and beauty, by claiming my own. Nothing is too good for me. I claim the best and I shall get it."

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THE ACTION BETWEEN BRAIN AND BODY

THE BODY BUILT THE BRAIN: BUT NOW THE BRAIN IS LEARNING HOW TO BUILD THE BODY: THE ACTION BETWEEN BRAIN AND BODY IS GOING TO BE ONE OF RECIPROCAL INTERCHANGE.

DESIRE is the infusing principle of individual growth. It is the factor by which our bodies have been built; first of all the lower or inferior parts of our bodies have attained form and power, and finally other and higher parts; and last the brain, which is the machine that investigates the desires and generates the thought that assists in executing them.

The importance of desire can never be over-estimated. As the brain strengthens we get a better idea of desire, and our respect, yes, our veneration for it increases constantly. It is the propelling power within the man, and the brain is its interpreter; and thought is its means of communication with the external world.

Man is the culmination of all the lives that existed before him: he is the sum-total of all the previous growth on the planet, whether impressed in mineral, vegetable or animal forms of life. He is the complete compendium of all the lives that ever existed; and he has reached his high position through the medium of that impelling impulse which underlies every manifestation of life; that impulse we think of so seldom, analyse so little, look at so critically when we attempt to give it a partial analysis, and in many instances condemn as unnecessary and even unholy.

"Crush out your desires," says the voice of ignorance that runs through every class of society; not knowing that to crush out desire is to crush out life.

But desire has never been crushed out. It has advanced steadily toward its own fulfilment, in spite of the misguided intelligence that could not comprehend its mission. Desire instead of being crushed by the half-formed intelligence of past times, has gone on in its efforts and developed the intellect until the time has arrived when the intellect perceives the mighty mission of desire and begins to attach the valuation to it that it deserves.

This investigation of desire is the beginning of man's conscious or reasoning life. It marks his ascension from the animal or physical to the mental plane; the plane where we shall soon perceive that all things are mental, and from which we shall speak a new tongue never spoken before in all the world; a language from which all helplessness and all disposition to lean has disappeared; a language so full of strength that its every word is creative; a language which endows desire with the power that belongs to it; and which proclaims this power abroad, until the entire race feels that it is no longer weak and helpless, but that the force within itself as expressed in desire is a sufficient guarantee, that what it wants to be it will be, and that what it wants to do it will do.

Desire gratified has all along built the brain, and the brain has built the body; so that at this time the body is the brain's tool; its medium of communication with that which is outside of itself; it is the one necessity without which neither desire nor thought has any need of existence.

The body is one; it comprises the desire, and the intelligence that recognises the desire. It is complete in its oneness. It is not only the home of the "I," but it is the "I" itself.

Once it was believed that the soul or spirit was some intangible thing that permeated the body, but could do even better without the body than with it. Mental Science proclaims a different thing from this. It teaches that man on his present plane has no use for any kind of power but that which the body generates, and which is first expressed in thought, and afterward in action. It does not deny the existence of a spirit that lives after the visible body dies; it has a theory of its own concerning this matter which will be explained in a later section. But while not denying the existence of soul or spirit, it does deny the use of yielding up the body, ignoring our present lives, for the sake of magnifying the spirit. Mental Science, which is another name for common-sense, centres its hope on the body because the body is ours now, and its uses are manifested to us every hour of the present time.

In the face of the whole world's belief to the contrary, I am going to state as the most potent fact of the age that the body is all there is of man. If he has a spirit that lives after him, it is a part of his body here on earth, and the seeming two are really one; they are both body. All there is of a man is body. If there is a spirit—which I believe though I cannot prove—then it has been created by the body and is detached from the body at death, because it is a substance so fine and volatile that it cannot help but ascend; the grave cannot hold it, for it is thought. It is the complete thought-life of the man or woman; the record of all the thought his or her brain ever created.

The reason I attach so much importance to the body, and so comparatively little importance to the soul or spirit, is because I know if there is a soul or spirit that survives the body, that we shall find it all right when we come to the need of an acquaintance with it. In the meantime it is proving a ruinous thing to the body to attempt to live in the spirit until we can no longer live in the body.

We must get better acquainted with our bodies; greater knowledge of them and their wonderful, though undeveloped, powers is all we need in order to come into the thought that will conquer disease, old age and death. We have been travelling deathward because we imagined that we had to.

We thought the body was a weak, destructible thing, that could not aid us in our effort to attain everlasting life; but, on the contrary, that it retarded us, and that our only hope lay in the power of our soul or spirit to escape from it.

It is this undervaluation of the body that has destroyed it; it is the postponement of the life force—desire; the putting it off to some future time, ahead of our present lives, that has impoverished these present lives and that is responsible for all the weakness they exhibit. Man has attempted to live two lives at once, and has thereby virtually lost both. I am quite sure that the heaven of the future he has built for himself in his imagination has done his soul or spirit no good, while it has done his body great harm.

It surely seems to be the proper thing for a man to live one life at a time; and it also seems a sensible thing that the life he ought to lead is his present life. To one acquainted with the mighty power of concentration there can be no doubt about this, and I state boldly that the effort made for the salvation of the soul is ruinous to the welfare of the body.

Again, I say that so far as we are concerned while in this world, the body is of infinitely greater importance than the soul. There is nothing of which we can form an idea that will compare with its value. Its uses are legion, and its power to work out happiness for us is far beyond our present ability to conceive of.

And the world knows this, in a way, at this time, though it does not know that it knows it. "The body is of little worth," it says, and then it goes ahead and builds magnificent palaces for it to live in, while thousands of workshops are devoted to the manufacture of clothing and adornments for it. Here is nature speaking above the world's accepted beliefs, and making itself heard through the din of ignorance, as it howls out its reproaches and threats. The world's uneducated beliefs keep crying out "Soul!" "Soul!" but the world itself holds fast to the body, and cares not one fig for the soul. The body carries the stamp of the world's wisdom; the world in which the principle of desire has manifested itself the whole length of its chain of growth, from the atom to man.

This idea of the soul and a future life may be called a recent invention of man's brain. So far as I can ascertain, the history of the very early men shows nothing of it. They did not talk of their souls. All their consideration was of their bodies, and all their hopes and desires, pointed to bodily salvation. It was only as the ages passed away, and bodily salvation was not achieved, that men began to talk of the body being dual, and making an unseen part to it that survived the death of the body, and passed on to a new condition, where it was claimed that immortal life was a fixed fact.

The race came to this conclusion in the natural process of its growth. The animal man was verging into the reasoning man; the man was becoming more brain and less body; his body was weakening as his brain strengthened, and life began to grow shorter with him. This seems strange, but it is easily accounted for. The body builds the brain; the time is coming when the brain will be intelligent enough to reciprocate by building a better body; but in the earlier part of this transaction, the brain, while it absorbed the forces heretofore given to the body, required ages of growth before it became intelligent enough to understand the situation. It was growing and increasing in power, unconsciously to itself; and unconsciously to the body. All that was known about it was that life grew shorter and weaker as the brain grew stronger and more forceful; diseases multiplied, and the surrounding conditions of man became more distasteful. Instead of becoming happier and healthier, he became more unhappy and discontented.

From the foregoing a glimpse of nature's way of doing things may be observed. The man was nearly all animal at first. He became less animal as his brain developed, and his brain kept developing more and more in proportion as he thought more. He grew to be less animal and more mental, and his body registered the fact. This change has been constantly going on, and is still going on. The brain is being built at the expense of the body. But this need not continue any longer, and why?

Because the brain is now sufficiently intelligent to know that, no matter how much of the bodily forces it may consume, it can generate a power that will return to the body all the force it draws from it, and more. And this power it gives back to the body in the form of intelligent thought. And here is the origin of Mental Science—the science of mind unfoldment.

All things come in the line of growth. Man's brain was being built without his knowing what was going on within him; the coming era will be marked chiefly by the fact that man will have achieved this knowledge concerning the relation of his brain to his body, or his thought to his body; for it is thought generated by the brain that will eventually make the explanation that will unite the two—brain and body—in an endless circuit, from which the life forces will cease to trail off and be lost, as they now trail off and are lost; and when this condition comes, disease, old age and death will cease upon our planet.

I have said that the idea of a soul and an existence after this life is over seems to have been of somewhat recent date. We find no reference to it in the Old Testament. We have accounts in the Old Testament of men who lived for hundreds of years, and who evidently looked forward to the time when death should be conquered in this world. They did not die, because their lives were broken by the mental division of themselves that separated them into body and soul. And yet they would not have conquered death upon the earth, even if they never made this separation. Something more was needed to achieve the conquest of death than the continuance of the animal lives which they represented.

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THE DISEASE OF APPREHENSIVENESS

A large part of mankind is in bondage to that state of mind which is apprehensive of some sort of trouble or misfortune in the future. It is found among all sorts and conditions of men; it permeates every station, occupation and profession. The millionaire, with a comfortable bank account and a steady income from stocks and bonds and rentals, is no more likely to be free from it than the humble toiler who lives from hand to mouth. The physician, who should have confidence in his healing art, becomes apprehensive from the very fact of his researches into morbidity, and is fearful of the power of disease and of the omnipresent microbe. Even the clergy­man, who of all men might be supposed to be most peaceful and confident, is apt to limit the goodness and love and omnipotence of the Being whom he worships as his God.

In general, we are prone to treasure the memories of our past failures and sorrows, which serve as a background on which are developed the distorted pictures of future unhappiness. We do this not only consciously, but unconsciously. Every experience in life leaves an impression in the memory structure. To this subconscious condition we keep adding by our chronic pessimism. We dwell upon the accidents and crimes and misfortunes of humanity; we look for the evil and neglect the good. Thus is established a powerful subconscious force that is ever active in shaping the course of our lives. This, of necessity, will manifest itself in some way, and generally progressively, from that miserable state of dread which is constantly crying, "What if ," or "Yes, but ," on to a physical manifestation of disease that may be learnedly labelled by the physician, but which the metaphysician recognized as the same old set of erroneous beliefs.

If we ask the cause of this widespread disease, we shall find its origin in a wrong conception of God. The root of it all is in the old idea that God is a jealous, vengeful personality, sitting in judgment over His children, and liable at any time to send visitations of His wrath upon them, or ready to condemn them to eternal punishment. Coupled with this is the belief that there is a power of evil ever striving to gain possession of men, and permitted by God to bring confusion and misery upon them. These two powerful opinions, coming to us from the infancy and ignorance of the race, are totally destructive of peace, harmony and health, and actively productive of the opposite conditions. Although as theological dogmas they are happily fast passing away, their off­spring survives them, and their name legion.

Dread of disease and of "bad luck" is still common. We stand in awe of death because we dread the change and the uncertainty of the hereafter. Even the elements have been endowed with power of evil because God was said to have cursed the world on account of disobedience; one person dreads the winter, another the summer, another the night air or the east wind. If there is not a positive dread, there is negative unbelief, and the disease of apprehensiveness is born of both. We fail to connect cause and effect; we do not discriminate between reality and unreality; we live in the things of time and sense. The great "over­sense" of faith is left out of our lives; we are apprehensive of what fate or fortune may bring. We limit our God and ourselves; we are apprehensive because we do not realize His Allness and our own oneness with Him, which brings to us the possibility of achievement, as well as the responsibility.

The specific forms in which this disease manifests itself are so numerous and so varied by the modifications of individual experience that we will not attempt to trace them all; but it will be helpful to mention some of the more common. The destructive forces of apprehensiveness frequently begin their work in the unborn child. Sometimes the mother's apprehensions, when caused by a specific experience, are marked upon the child in some frightful deformity, either of body or character. Again, if the maternal dread is more general, the manifestation may be less marked upon the child at birth, but the germ-cells have been poisoned . . . . and the effect will be none the less sure, resulting in stunted and distorted unfoldment of the child life.

Modern psychology and child-study have revealed the tremendous and terrible inheritance of fear and dread that parents hand down to their children. The dread of night, of being buried alive, of death and of eternal flames, are common among children; and they leave their impress upon the subconsciousness, even after the conscious mind has dropped them. From this source comes the tendency to be easily shocked, to sudden starts from slight causes, and to spontaneous flushing, which is common among children and grown people as well. Many parents follow their children through childhood and youth with anxiety and apprehensiveness that are surely reflected upon the formative mind, and bear fruit after their kind. As we advance in life, instinctively or from experience, we form new apprehensions. We are afraid of poverty, afraid of accident, afraid of public opinion.

This apprehensiveness takes all the sunshine out of life, throws a wet blanket over all our activities, sours our whole nature, paralyzes us. Just as surely does it react on the physical part of our being, by depressing the nerve centers and infusing morbid activity into the cells. The result is a torpid liver, a weak heart, a sour stomach, nervous prostration and paralysis. These things follow just so surely as two and two make four. Cause and effect, mind and embodiment, are inseparable.

There can be no doubt that the only danger from epidemic diseases lies in the dread of them, either conscious or unconscious. The germ theory of disease is being displaced by a more rational view, which regards the germs, not as causes, but as friendly subsequent activities that come in to bring a new form of life to a condition that requires them. It is the morbid and fearful thought that is fatal, not the germs. Even granting their causative power, physiology has shown that the human life-forces, when at their full tide of vigor, are able to cope with and vanquish all lower forms. The gastric juice and the white blood corpuscles are perfect germicides, when not lessened in quantity and deteriorated in quality by anxiety, dread and the depressing emotions.

Apprehensiveness is causative in crime as well as physical in disease. Many a man is led to steal because he dreads want or loss of social position. Men commit murder because they are apprehensive of injury from those whom they make their victims.

In political economy is not apprehensiveness a factor also? Confidence is the life of business. When it is weakened, credits are withdrawn, money is withheld from circulation, industrial activity ceases; we have "hard times." What is more destructive to confidence than apprehensiveness? Poverty and crime are diseases and apprehensiveness is a cause.

Anxiety about the future, confirmed by act, dulls the mind and retards the influx of spiritual life, for they who are anxious over forthcoming events attribute to themselves what is of the Divine Providence, and they who do this oppose the influx of life, and oppose the life of good and truth.

We have now considered cause and effect; what shall be the remedy? We know that no remedy can be effectual that does not deal with causes. The cause must be eradicated at once and forever. Many may question the possibility of human nature being free from anxiety and apprehensiveness.

Can man believe in an immanent God, an everpresent Help, an all-pervading, omnipresent Intelligence that is Life Itself, an All-in-all, and apply this belief to everyday life? This is one-half the problem. And can man then come to the full realization that he is in reality an individualized manifestation of that Life?

Firstly, then, a full realization of omnipresent spiritual Reality, an unchanging Goodness, of which the universe is an expression; secondly, an adjustment of all thought and all activity to this great proposition and to its natural consequence, that man, made in the image of this Supreme Spirit, is spiritual, and receives constantly an influx of life and good and truth that will lead him on to the fulfilment of his highest destiny: this is the mark, and we can answer unequivocally that it is universally attainable.

These statements of Being are the basis of the highest religious teaching. The most advanced science teaches the same; the universality of Life, the oneness of the Universe, the beneficence of Law, the supremacy of Mind. Thousands of people are solving the problems of life by these propositions, now, day by day. Life must be continuous; there can only be NOW. What is for one is for all. God is no respector of persons.

The removal of the cause of the disease of apprehensiveness is reduced thus to a simple change of mind on our part, to a different way of thinking, to a training of our mental activities away from ignorance and error, along the lines of cosmic truth, to include all that is good and beautiful. Our thinking faculties are our own to use as we will. Power is born of desire; we may drop all anxiety and apprehensiveness if we will. As we train ourselves to accept that view of God and His universe which accords with highest reason and science and intuition, there will be no place for apprehensive thoughts. As these disappear, we become more and more open to the influx of all that is true and whole­some and hopeful; in a word, of all that is Divine. Our fear is turned into courage; our faith is transmuted into works.

If God be for us, who, or what, can be against us? Thus we come to know the Immanent Life of the world, the ever-creative Love. We come to recognize ourselves as manifestations of this Life and Love, through the ideal manifestation that was in Christ. This is life eternal, an ever-progressive, ever-widening and ever-deepening life, from now, henceforth. In it, perfect love casts out fear, and thus the end of religion and of education is attained.

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