Chapter 6
Intelligence and Substance
The intellect does not readily comprehend that within and without us is a Universal Principle, pulsating with all the attributes which we conceive as only possible to personality. Yet we live, move and have our being in a sea of substance which is Intelligence itself, and has wisdom far beyond any we can imagine any personality to possess. Even on the lowest plane of materiality inventions are bringing about a condition of things which in a crude way hint at a Universal Mind. With the aid of the telephone one may communicate with thousands of different minds at the same time, and yet be miles away from them. Carry this on to the plane of Spirit, and we have a symbol of the Mind that speaks in the silence to all who listen. Poets and mystics have always claimed that trees, flowers, earth, air and water have a language that can be understood by sympathetic minds. When Shakespeare said, “Look how the floor of heaven is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold; there’s not the smallest orb which thou behold’st, but in his motion like an angel sings,” he was not indulging in the vagaries of his imagination, as has been the opinion of a practical world, but he gave voice to a truth which the ordinary mind does not sense. But cold science is today encroaching upon this domain of hidden beauty, as exemplified in recent experiments which show that light produces sound. The experimenter caused a beam of sunlight to pass through a prism so as to show the solar spectrum, or rainbow, and then by turning the disk and throwing the rays onto a preparation of silk, lampblack, etc., different tones were produced. Now who can say that sunlight does not have a language of its own, and that man, an epitome of all things in the universe, may not by virtue of his kinship, come into such harmony with the Creative Mind as to catch the thought and musical accompaniment of the sunlight, as Wagner did of the storm?
We are beginning to realize that back of all form is the idea which it stands for; that the soul of things is their only reality, and that when we can come en rapport with that soul through the mind, a new universe is opened to us. Man is the focus of the Universal Mind, and may be likened unto the lamp in the magic lantern. The Ego, or Divine Principle, is the manipulator and can at will throw any image it wishes on the canvas of phenomena. So you who are thinking thoughts of error are throwing like images into your own or your neighbor’s atmosphere, that will eventually cast their pictures on the canvas of matter, of which your material bodies form a part. By the same law, if you persistently think thoughts of truth, regardless of temporary material seeming, the picture will sooner or later appear just as you formulate it in your mind. The persistent holding in the mind that the universal intelligent Principle, which we call God, is a potent power working through you for the good only, will as certainly bring about that result as that the sun will rise tomorrow. It will not be a special dispensation of God for your particular case, but the outworking of a universal, inexorable law. Be wise; put yourself into the hands of this law; get understanding, and the health, peace and happiness certain to follow.
The operations of thought are not understood in detail, but we know that specific forms are built up and vivified with a seeming of life through certain modes of thinking. Every thought molds from the etheric essence a form symbol, which symbol has a certain degree of temporary life, and by virtue of that life impresses itself upon the body and shows forth in disease or health. Hence, thoughts have their hidden laws, with which those experienced have become familiar, and it is safe to follow their directions until you arrive at a stage of unfoldment where you know for yourself. It is evident that the condition of error in which humanity finds itself at the present period is the result of ages and ages of wrong thinking; and as “thoughts are things,” before we can get a flood of new concepts we must clear away the old. It has been found that this can be done most effectively by the disintegrating power of denial. The great errors of the race have become universal beliefs, have formulated laws, and are regarded by the mass of the human family as the immortal creations of the Supreme Ruler. Deny these false claims and you will dissolve the brain cells that give them house room.
