The little affirmative is that which affirms particular conditions as all that it can grasp, while the great affirmative grasps a wider conception, the conception of that which gives rise to conditions. Cosmically it is that power of Spirit which sends forth the whole creation as its expression of itself, and it is for this reason that I have drawn attention in the preceding lectures to the idea of the creation ex nihilo of the whole visible universe. As Eastern and Western Scriptures alike tell us, it is the breathing-forth of Original Spirit; and if you have followed what I have said regarding the reproduction of this Spirit in the individual — that by the very nature of the creative process the human mind must be of the same quality with the Divine Mind — then we find that a second mode of the Originating Spirit becomes possible, namely that of operation through the individual mind. But whether acting cosmically or personally it is always the same Spirit and therefore cannot lose its inherent character which is that of the Power which creates ex nihilo. It is the direct contradiction of the maxim "ex nihilo nihil fit" — nothing can be made out of nothing; and it is the recognition of the presence in ourselves of this power which can make something out of nothing that is the key to our further progress.

As the logical outcome of the cosmic creative process, the evolutionary work reaches a point where the Originating Power creates an image of itself; and thus affords a fresh point of departure from which it can work specifically, just as in the cosmic process it works generically. From this new standpoint it does not in any way contradict the laws of the cosmic order, but proceeds to specialise them, and thus to bring out results through the individual which could not be otherwise attained.

The immense importance of this principle of creation from a single power will become apparent as we realise more fully the results proceeding from the assumption of the opposite principle, or the dualism of the creative power; but as the discussion of this great subject would require a volume to itself, I must at present content myself with saying that this insistence of the Bible upon the singleness of the Creative Power is based upon a knowledge which goes to the very root of esoteric principles, and it is therefore not to be set aside in favour of dualistic systems, though superficially the latter may appear more consonant to reason.

If, then, it is possible to put the Great Affirmation into words, it is that God is ONE, and that this ONE finds centre in ourselves; and if the full meaning of this statement is realised, the logical result will be found to be a new creation both in and from ourselves. We shall realise in ourselves the working of a new principle whose distinguishing feature is its simplicity. It is ONE-ness, and is not troubled about any second.

Hence what it contemplates is not how its action will be modified by that of some second principle, something which will compel it to work in a particular manner and so limit it, but what it contemplates in its own Unity. Then it perceives that its Unity consists in a greater and a lesser movement, just as the rotation of the earth on its axis does not interfere with its rotation around the sun because both are motions of the same unit, and are definitely related to each other.

In like manner we find that the Spirit is moving simultaneously in the macrocosm of the Universe and in the microcosm of the individual, and the two movements harmonise because they are of the same Spirit, and the latter is included in the former and presupposes it.

Because the individual of this class recognises the singleness of the Spirit as the starting point of all things, he endeavours to withdraw his mind from all arguments derived from external conditions, whether past or present, and to fix it upon the forward movement of the Spirit which he knows to be always identical both in the universe and in himself. He ceases the attempt to dictate to the Spirit, because he does not see in it a mere blind force, but reveres it as the Supreme Intelligence; and on the other hand he does not grovel before it in doubt and fear, because he knows it is one with himself and is realising itself through him, and therefore cannot have any purpose antagonistic to his own individual welfare.

In this way our affirmation of the "I am" ceases to be the petulant assertion of our limited personality and becomes the affirmation that the Great I AM affirms its own I AM-ness both in us and through us. Thus our use of the words becomes in very truth the Great Affirmative, or that which is the root of all being as distinguished from that which has no being in itself but is merely externalised by being as the vehicle for its expression.

We shall realise our true place as subordinate creative centres, perfectly independent of existing conditions because the creative process is that of monogenesis and requires no factor other than the Spirit for its exercise, but at the same time subordinate to the Divine Spirit in the greatness of its inherent forward movement because there is only ONE Spirit and it cannot from one centre antagonise what it is doing from another.

Thus the Great Affirmation makes us children of the Great King, at once living in obedience to that Power which is above us, and exercising this same power over all that world of secondary causation which is below us.

Thus in our measure and station, each one of us will receive the mission of the I AM.