WHAT MAN IS AND DOES
In studying the plan of the Universe, we see need of a mediator, and realize that Creation would not be complete without Spiritual Man. We also perceive that God is dependent upon Man, for the fulfillment of His manifestation, just as man is dependent upon God for the wisdom and power that shall enable him to gain dominion over the negative forces in nature.
To truly know God and Man and understand both their relatedness and distinctiveness, is to know all that is to be known. The injunction “Know Thyself” that has rung down the ages, touches a responsive chord and opens up a rich field for metaphysical study. Mankind is waking up to the truth chat self-knowledge is the key to self-dominion, and, that to understand Himself, His source and his destiny is a pursuit worthy of his best endeavor.
Pope has well said that “The proper study of mankind is man.” He grasped the truth of Being, and understood the nature, scope, and office of the Great Intermediary, between God and visible Creation. Knowing the practical value of proper self understanding, Pope emphasized the importance of acquainting ourselves with “God’s Man” which is the Great Effect or Over Soul which Emerson tells us about, and which is the true self of each one of us.
As God-Principle is the circumference of Cause so Man the Image of God is the boundary of Effect, or Expression. We find that the direct, product of First Cause is Primal Man. In His nature, is involved, more than a spark of Divinity, or part of God, for Mind is not divisible. So man as effect, is not a part of God, but a consequence of the entire nature of its producing Cause and images what God does as well as what God is, what Mind does, is all important, for motion is back of product.
From the active aspect of Mind, comes “Idea” as a direct result of Thought force. Hence we have Mind, Thought, Idea, a spiritual sequence, or trinity, bound together by Divine Compulsion which is simply another name for the Law of Cause and Effect.
The abstract truth of Trinity Itself is apparent, but growing out of it are mighty consequences which we as souls have to meet, unfold and adjust. Because I exist there must be a cause back of me. That cause must have been active, that activity is the link that binds me to my cause.
The Trinity of Mind, Thought, Idea, is permanent, and has a practical bearing, but this we have to prove to ourselves by making actual what is already potential, as a divine possibility.
Because of the lack of suitable words, we have to use personal terms to illustrate impersonal Principle. God is “Father” in the sense of Source. The “Son” has his being in God, and in God he lives. Nothing can come between the Father and Son, for in the nature of their relation as cause and effect they are necessarily at one, for they vibrate in unison. The God-Energy is continually flowing into its expression or outlet, so the son is continually fed and renewed from the God-Fountain. So we find that God is not only “Our Source” but our unfailing sustenance.
Because of what it is in Itself, and its relation to God, Being can never be changed by the things of time or sense. The Divine Image is spiritual and as such is subject only to the Absolute God which is Spirit Itself. Being is our “God derived” individuality, and is relative to God, but in turn becomes absolute to all, that results from the “Power to think” which is the activity direct from Being.
Because of the nature of the Genus Man, the article “A, or An” is not applicable, neither has this God man any plural, for he stands forth as the one full complete, changeless expression of the One God to which nothing can be added and from which nothing can be taken away.
As the perfect spiritual Whole or Genus, Man contains as species all the lesser natures, or particular expressions. They are all factions in the unit of expression for the “Great I am” epitomizes God and is also the epitome of visible creation. Man is the Great Macrocosm that contains the Great Microcosm or world in miniature.
[TruthUnity note: I believe the author is saying that humanity, created on the 6th day, encapsulates in it’s being all lesser natures of what was created in previous days. That is to say that we not only evolved from lower order primates, but also from all forms of life. She will elaborate on this in when discussing Darwin in lesson three. This insight has much to say about how we will view our “dominion” over creation.]
There is that in First Cause that must be liberated, so we perceive that Universal Man as the medium for manifestation is a divine necessity. The great purpose of creation is incarnation or embodiment, and man is the natural channel through which God makes Itself known or pushes into visibility.
The Divine spiritual and natural organisms are integral parts of this perfect Whole. In It are involved all the factors necessary to express, represent and manifest what is locked up in the invisible realm.
Man, the Idea of Mind is both the “Inlet” and the “outlet” through which the Great Unknown is brought to light. From the foregoing, we are bound to conclude that man is not the product of evolution, but precedes it, and as the repository of Life or the Created of God, is back of all organic life, Man, because of what he is in nature, essence and purpose does not belong to time, but is simultaneous with God and therefore was in the Beginning. Neither is God’s man an object in space, but is invisible, belonging in the realm of causation, Himself without form, but containing all forms. Man is rooted in God just as the branch is rooted in the vine, and like the branch draws his sustenance from the parent stem or vital essence which is God. Man is not simply a partaker of the Divine, but a whole taker, and user of the God Substance and Energy. Because of this unity, all that is possible to the Father God is involved in the nature of Man, the “Son”. Man is equally active with his cause and given action. There must be product as result.
Primal motion as the term implies is antecedent to the consequent activity in effect. Man is the direct outcome of the “God said” and because of the persistence of “original motion, man to whom this energy is transferred in turn becomes a producer.
From transferred energy or the “Power to think” (which is the natural activity belonging to man) we have shape, or person, while through man from God we have soul. Shape is merely a vehicle by means of which, what is potential, in Being may take form on the objective plane.
God creates. Man forms, which shows a difference between the working of “Thought Force” and power to think. The product of the former is expression while from the latter comes representation.
Man is not only the Image of God, but in this Image is involved the “likeness” which must be made manifest by means of soul through shape, which is the “image in the Image” and is the God-ordained means through which what is involved or evolved appears.
Shape is a fundamental factor in Being and as such is good in Itself, but must be kept in its place as figure, and not confused with number which precedes it, and makes figure possible. Clearly, visible shape can never become the “living Entity” that uses it, for shape is temporal and material, while that which uses it is eternal and spiritual. That which sees is back of what is seen, and is conscious of what it sees. The User is greater than the body or shape, for the possession, so the soul is greater (CORRECTION). The User is greater than the body or shape, for the possessor is greater than the possession, so the soul is greater than the shell it looks upon or uses.
Effect like its cause is not active intentionally, but of necessity. Action in effect is compelled because of the Initial Impulse that pushes it. The activity of Mind, the Creative Force is limitless while the product of “transferred Energy which is the motion of man (the Idea) brings outline which always implies limitation. It goes with figure or shape because shape does not comprise the whole, but is simply the mask which hides the Real Man.
Man, the first factor out from God not only bears likeness to His Cause but is also different. This is a logical necessity, for were there no difference between Cause and Effect they would be identical, and there would be more than One Absolute. They are not separate, but forever distinct, — forever “at one” in the sense of unity, but not in the sense of identity. They are bound together by the eternal Law of Cause and Effect, and are interdependent, but not inter—changeable. The one compels the other, but they cannot change places for each has its special office in the Divine Plan, and both are eternally the same factors.
Ideal Man is complete, whole, entire, and does not become manifested man or soul. Manifested man or soul is in the becoming state and may expand or become more and more of what he is in Being.
As a living soul he came forth from God and his destiny is involved in his origin. The difference between substance and motion is the same as the difference between Being and doing, which are the passive, and active aspects of First Cause.
We have found, that the motion of Mind does not cease with its direct product, but that it pushes through Primal Effect, and presses onward, thus compelling further product, so we perceive that in addition to the natural action of Generic man which results in representation, we have also the continuation of original motion through the Genus which ultimates in reproduction.
In Expression which is “put forth” by First Cause, is produced and presented what inheres in that Cause while Representation and Re-produciion are the “putting forth” anew of what is involved in Man or Primary Effect.
These two activities from and through working in parallel lines give us the compound result Re-presentation and Reproduction, shape and soul, which together constitute personality. Because of what the true Being is in Itself and Its relation to God and because of what its activity may bring to us as souls it behooves us to become acquainted with the Genus Man which is the Individualized Expression of the Great Universal Principle, which is God.
The way to do this is, to “face about” and look away from the plane of person and center our thoughts upon the spiritual self which is both the Image and likeness of God. In this way we begin to “put off” the old false sense of who and what we are, and begin to unify ourselves with God’s Man which is our own real, true Being, Spiritual, Living, Loving, Substantial, Intelligent. The Idea of Infinite Mind, the Image of God, the Father in Heaven, — the Spiritual Ego to which “living soul” may look for its daily supply of spiritual manna upon which it may feed, and thrive and grow.
God can never become like man, but man is destined to become God-like. The Scriptures say: “Ye shall become as God” and all because Man’s destiny is involved in his origin which is Divine. God does not draw night unto man, but man as he works his way back to his source draws nigh unto God. Truly, the only way to get back to God is to think our way back, or draw rdgh in consciousness.
The personal God is the consequence of the impersonal. Through understanding the latter becomes personal to each one of us, so that we can truly say “My Lord and my God.” What we all need is more self-knowledge, for we can never rightly use these hidden forces until we understand their nature and the Law that governs them. Electricity is a great force that can be used to benefit mankind or ignorantly handled it may bring disaster instead, and just so, “Thought,” the greatest force in the universe (either for weal or woe) must be exercised understandingly in order to reap the real good.
Mind, — Thought, — Idea, — the universe rests on this spiritual trinity. Effect is that which reveals its cause, but is forever distinct from it. Just as the sun and the sunlight, the rose and its fragrance are distinct, but not separate are cause and effect like unto each other, and forever at one, but each maintains its identity which gives us interdependence without interchangeableness.
“I am one with my source, in essence, nature and purpose. My Father and I are one.”
