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 ground, and this is all that this little volume professes to attempt; yet this may be sufficient to show the lie of the ground.
Now the first thing in any investigation is 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 way from, but by carefully following it up we may find that it will lead us further than we had anticipated.
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 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 harmonise our own conditions without antagonising 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 application; 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 someone may be using this creative power in Peking, I do know that if he and I both realise 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.
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 until later the question why we hold this place.
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 have 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 realised 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 co-ordinating principle, is altogether inconceivable — the conflict of wills would prevent such a world remaining in existence.
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 aggrandisement or for the purpose of merely astonishing the beholder — 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.
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.
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. Her I have established a certain numerical relation which can only produce 8 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 the multitudinous life and beauty. Matter is thus the necessary Polar Opposite to Spirit, and when we thus recognise it in its right order, we shall find that there is no antagonism between the two, but that together they constitute one harmonious whole.