Buch lesen: «The Creative Process in the Individual»

THE STARTING-POINT

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

old sayings it contains a much deeper philosophy than appears immediately

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

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

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

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

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

Personal Factor which, by an intelligent perception of the possibilities

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

reality ideas which previous generations would have laughed at as the

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

unseen causes into a better order make practical working realities of

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

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

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

show the lay of the ground.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

our studies advance that the prospect of increasing possibilities keeps

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

than we had anticipated.

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

such a sequence of cause and effect as the one we are in search of,

somebody else may find out the same creative secret also; and then, by the

hypothesis of the case, we should both be armed with an infallible power,

and if we wanted to employ this power against each other we should be

landed in the "impasse" of a conflict between two powers each of which was

irresistible. Consequently it follows that the first principle of this

power must be Harmony. It cannot be antagonizing itself from different

centers--in other words its operation in a simultaneous order at every

point is the first necessity of its being. What we are in search of, then,

is a sequence of cause and effect so universal in its nature as to include

harmoniously all possible variations of individual expression. This primary

necessity of the Law for which we are seeking should be carefully borne in

mind, for it is obvious that any sequence which transgresses this primary

essential must be contrary to the very nature of the Law itself, and

consequently cannot be conducting us to the exercise of true creative

power.

What we are seeking, therefore, is to discover how to arrange things in

such an order as to set in motion a train of causation that will harmonize

our own conditions without antagonizing the exercise of a like power by

others. This therefore means that all individual exercise of this power is

the particular application of a universal power which itself operates

creatively on its own account independently of these individual

applications; and the harmony between the various individual applications

is brought about by all the individuals bringing their own particular

action into line with this independent creative action of the original

power. It is in fact another application of Euclid's axiom that things

which are equal to the same thing are equal to one another; so that though

I may not know for what purpose some one may be using this creative power

in Pekin, I do know that if he and I both realize its true nature, we

cannot by any possibility be working in opposition to one another. For

these reasons, having now some general idea of what it is we are in search

of, we may commence our investigation by considering this common factor

which must be at the back of all individual exercise of creative power,

that is to say, the Generic working of the Universal Creative Principle.

That such a Universal Creative Principle is at work we at once realize from

the existence of the world around us with all its inhabitants, and the

inter-relation of all parts of the cosmic system shows its underlying

Unity--thus the animal kingdom depends on the vegetable, the vegetable

kingdom on the mineral, the mineral or globe of the earth on its relation

to the rest of the solar system, and possibly our solar system is related

by a similar law to the distribution of other suns with their attendant

planets throughout space. Our first glance therefore shows us that the

All-originating Power must be in essence Unity and in manifestation

Multiplicity, and that it manifests as Life and Beauty through the unerring

adaptation of means to ends--that is so far as its cosmic manifestation of

ends goes: what we want to do is to carry this manifestation still further

by operation from an individual standpoint. To do this is precisely our

place in the Order of Creation, but we must defer the question why we hold

this place till later on.

One of the earliest discoveries we all make is the existence of Matter. The

bruised shins of our childhood convince us of its solidity, so now comes

the question, Why does Matter exist? The answer is that if the form were

not expressed in solid substance, things would be perpetually flowing into

each other so that no identity could be maintained for a single moment. To

this it might be replied that a condition of matter is conceivable in

which, though in itself a plastic substance, in a fluent state, it might

yet by the operation of will be held in any particular forms desired. The

idea of such a condition of matter is no doubt conceivable, and when the

fluent matter was thus held in particular forms you would have concrete

matter just as we know it now, only with this difference, that it would

return to its fluent state as soon as the supporting will was withdrawn.

Now, as we shall see later on, this is precisely what matter really is,

only the will which holds it together in concrete form is not individual

but cosmic.

In itself the Essence of Matter is precisely the fluent substance we have

imagined, and as we shall see later on the knowledge of this fact, when

realized in its proper order, is the basis of the legitimate control of

mind over matter. But a world in which every individual possessed the power

of concreting or fluxing matter at his own sweet will irrespective of any

universal coordinating principle is altogether inconceivable--the conflict

of wills would prevent such a world remaining in existence. On the other

hand, if we conceive of a number of individuals each possessing this power

and all employing it on the lines of a common cosmic unity, then the result

would be precisely the same stable condition of matter with which we are

familiar--this would be a necessity of fact for the masses who did not

possess this power, and a necessity of principle for the few who did. So

under these circumstances the same stable conditions of Nature would

prevail as at present, varied only when the initiated ones perceived that

the order of evolution would be furthered, and not hindered, by calling

into action the higher laws. Such occasions would be of rare occurrence,

and then the departure from the ordinary law would be regarded by the

multitude as a miracle. Also we may be quite sure that no one who had

attained this knowledge in the legitimate order would ever perform a

"miracle" for his own personal aggrandizement or for the purpose of merely

astonishing the beholders--to do so would be contrary to the first

principle of the higher teaching which is that of profound reverence for

the Unity of the All-originating Principle. The conception, therefore, of

such a power over matter being possessed by certain individuals is in no

way opposed to our ordinary recognition of concrete matter, and so we need

not at present trouble ourselves to consider these exceptions.

Another theory is that matter has no existence at all but is merely an

illusion projected by our own minds. If so, then how is it that we all

project identically similar images? On the supposition that each mind is

independently projecting its own conception of matter a lady who goes to be

fitted might be seen by her dressmaker as a cow. Generations of people have

seen the Great Pyramid on the same spot; but on the supposition that each

individual is projecting his own material world in entire independence of

all other individuals there is no reason why any two persons should ever

see the same thing in the same place. On the supposition of such an

independent action by each separate mind, without any common factor binding

them all to one particular mode of recognition, no intercourse between

individuals would be possible--then, without the consciousness of relation

to other individuals the consciousness of our own individuality would be

lost, and so we should cease to have any conscious existence at all. If on

the other hand we grant that there is, above the individual minds, a great

Cosmic Mind which imposes upon them the necessity of all seeing the same

image of Matter, then that image is not a projection of the individual

minds but of the Cosmic Mind; and since the individual minds are themselves

similar projections of the Cosmic Mind, matter is for them just as much a

reality as their own existence. I doubt not that material substance is thus

projected by the all-embracing Divine Mind; but so also are our own minds

projected by it, and therefore the relation between them and matter is a

real relation and not a merely fictitious one.

I particularly wish the student to be clear on this point, that where two

factors are projected from a common source their relation to each other

becomes an absolute fact in respect of the factors themselves,

notwithstanding that the power of changing that relation by substituting a

different projection must necessarily always continue to reside in the

originating source. To take a simple arithmetical example--by my power of

mental projection working through my eyes and fingers I write 4 X 2. Here I

have established a certain numerical relation which can only produce eight

as its result. Again, I have power to change the factors and write 4 X 3,

in which case 12 is the only possible result, and so on. Working in this

way calculation becomes possible. But if every time I wrote 4 that figure

possessed an independent power of setting down a different number by which

to multiply itself, what would be the result? The first 4 I wrote might set

down 3 as its multiplier, and the next might set down 7, and so on. Or if I

want to make a box of a certain size and cut lengths of plank accordingly,

if each length could capriciously change its width at a moment's notice,

how could I ever make the box? I myself may change the shape and size of my

box by establishing new relations between the bits of wood, but for the

pieces of wood themselves the proportions determined by my mind must remain

fixed quantities, otherwise no construction could take place.

This is a very rough analogy, but it may be sufficient to show that for a

cosmos to exist at all it is absolutely necessary that there should be a

Cosmic Mind binding all individual minds to certain _generic_ unities of

action, and so producing all things as realities and nothing as illusion.

The importance of this conclusion will become more apparent as we advance

in our studies.

We have now got at some reason why concrete material form is a necessity of

the Creative Process. Without it the perfect Self-recognition of Spirit

from the Individual standpoint, which we shall presently find is the means

by which the Creative Process is to be carried forward, would be

impossible; and therefore, so far from matter being an illusion, it is the

necessary channel for the self-differentiation of Spirit and its Expression

in multitudinous life and beauty. Matter is thus the necessary Polar

Opposite to Spirit, and when we thus recognize it in its right order we

shall find that there is no antagonism between the two, but that together

they constitute one harmonious whole.