But there is no reason why this law should cease to operate at this point, or at any point short of the whole. The test of the soundness of any principle is that it can operate as effectively on a large scale as on a small one; that though the nature of its field is determined by the nature of the principle itself, the extent of the field is unlimited. If, therefore, we continue to follow up the law we have been considering, it leads us to the conception of a unit of intelligence as far superior to that of the individual man as the unity of his individual intelligence is superior to that of the intelligence of any single atom of the body. Thus we may conceive of a collective individuality representing the spiritual character of any aggregate of men — the inhabitants of a city, of a district, of a country, or of the entire world.
This is by no means a merely fanciful notion. We find it as the law by which our own conscious individuality is constituted, and we find the analogous principle working universally on the physical plane. It is known to physical science as the "law of inverse squares", by which the forces of reciprocal attraction or repulsion, as the case may be, are not merely equivalent to the sum of the forces emitted by the two bodies concerned, but are equivalent to these two forces multiplied together and divided by the square of the distance between their centres. Hence the resultant power continually rises in a rapidly-increasing ratio as the two reciprocally exciting bodies approach one another.
Since this law is so universal throughout physical nature, the doctrine of continuity affords every ground for supposing that its analogue holds good in respect of spiritual nature. We must never lose sight of the old-world saying that "a truth on one plane is a truth on all". If a principle exists at all, it exists universally.
This at once becomes evident if we state it mathematically. For example, a, b, or c, multiplied by x, give respectively the results ax, bx, cx, which differ materially from one another though the factor x remains the same.
But, as I have said above, there is no reason why this principle should not be recognised as expanding from the individual until it embraces the entire Universe. Each man, as the centre of his own world, is himself centred in a higher system in which he is only one of innumerable similar atoms, and this system again in a higher until we reach the Supreme Centre of all things. Intelligence and power increase from centre to centre in a ratio rising with inconceivable rapidity until they culminate in illimitable intelligence and power commensurate with All-Being.
The subordination of the individual man to the Supreme Mind, so far from curtailing his liberty, is the very condition which makes liberty possible — or even life itself. The generic movement of the whole necessarily carries the part along with it. So long as the part allows itself thus to be carried onwards, there will be no hindrance to its free working in any direction for which it is fitted by its own individuality.
This truth was set forth in the old Hindu religion as the Car of Jagannath — an ideal car only, which later ages degraded into a terribly material symbol. "Jagannath" means "Lord of the Universe", and this signifies the Universal Mind. This, by the law of Being, must always move forward regardless of any attempts of individuals to restrain it. Those who mount upon its car move onward with it to endlessly advancing evolution, while those who seek to oppose it must be crushed beneath its wheels, for it is no respecter of persons.
Supreme Mind is Supreme Law, and can be calculated upon with the same accuracy as when manifested in any of the particular laws of the physical world. The result of studying, understanding, and obeying this Supreme Law is that we we thereby acquire the power to use it. Nor need we fear it with the old fear which comes from ignorance, for we can rely with confidence upon the proposition that the whole can have no interest adverse to the part of which it is composed and, conversely, that the part can have no interest adverse to the whole.
Our ignorance of our relation to the whole may make us appear to have separate interests, but a truer knowledge must always show such an idea to be mistaken. The same responsiveness of spirit which manifests itself as obedience to our wishes when we look to those degrees of spirit which are lower than our own individuality must manifest itself as a necessary inflowing of intelligence and power when we look to the infinity of spirit of which our individuality is a singular expression. In so looking upwards we are looking for the higher degree of ourselves.
The increased vitality of the parts means the increased vitality of the whole. Since it is impossible to conceive of spirit otherwise than as a continually expanding principle of Life, the demand for such increased vitality must, by the inherent nature of spirit, be met by a corresponding supply of continually growing intelligence and power. Thus, by a natural law, the demand creates the supply, and this supply may be freely applied to any and every subject-matter that commends itself to us.
It is true that to maintain our healthy action within the circle of our own individual world we must continually move forward with the movement of the larger whole of which we form a part. But this does not imply any restriction of our liberty to make the fullest use of our lives in accordance with those universal principles of life upon which they are founded. There is not one law for the part and another for the whole, but the same Law of Being which permeates both alike.
In proportion, therefore, as we realise the true law of our own individuality, we shall find that it is one with the law of progress for the race. The collective individuality of mankind is only the reproduction on a larger scale of the personal individuality; and whatever action truly develops the inherent powers of the individual must necessarily be in line with that forward march of the Universal Mind which is the evolution of humanity as a whole.