Now all through the Bible we find the statement of two leading principles which are diametrically opposed to one another: the principle of Sonship or reliance upon God, and its opposite or the denial of God; and it is this latter that is called the spirit of Antichrist.
This spirit, or mode of thought, is described in the second chapter of the second epistle to the Thessalonians and the fourth chapter of the first epistle to Timothy; and its distinctive note is that it sets itself up in the temple of God, placing itself above all that is worshipped, and a similar description is given in Daniel 11:36-39.
The reason for this becomes evident if we look at the fundamental nature of the principles themselves. One is the principle of the Affirmative, and the other is the principle of the Negative. One is that which builds up, and the other is that which pulls down. One consents to the initiative being taken by that Spirit which has brought all creation into existence, and the other bids this Spirit take a back seat and denies that it has any power of initiative. This is the essence of the opposition between the two principles. Whatever one affirms, the other denies; and so, since no agreement is possible, the conflict between them must continue until one or the other gets the final victory.
Now if the spirit of Antichrist is what the Bible describes it, we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that it is now present among us. St Paul tells us that it was already beginning to work in his day, only that at that time there was a hindrance to its fuller development; but he adds that when that hindrance should be removed, the development of the spirit of Antichrist would be phenomenal.
The very earliest traditions tell us that what St Paul had then verbally explained to the Thessalonians was that the Roman Empire as then existing must pass away before these further developments could take place; but he was careful not to put this in writing lest it should expose the Christians to additional persecution on the charge of being enemies to the state.
This tradition is by no means a vague one. We first find it mentioned by Irenaeus [St Irenaeus, 140-203 CE, Bishop of Lugdunum (Lyon) — Ed.], the disciple of Polycarp [St Polycarp, fl. 2nd century CE, Greek Bishop of Smyrna — Ed.], who was himself the disciple of St John; so that we get it on the authority of one who had been instructed by a personal friend and acquaintance of the apostles, and we may therefore feel assured that in this tradition we have a correct statement of what St Paul had said regarding the nature of the hindrance to which he alludes in this epistle.
Therefore we may look deeper than the political conditions of St Paul's time to find the spiritual and causal nature of the hindrance to which he alludes. He tells us that at the time when he wrote, the spirit of Antichrist was already working, but that its complete manifestation was delayed till a later period by reason of a certain impediment which would be removed in due time; and a comparison of his statement with that of St Peter in the third chapter of the second epistle shows that the removal of this impediment and the full manifestation of the spirit of Antichrist were to be looked for in the time of the end.
Now Daniel says the very same thing (Dan. 12:1-4), and he points out the marks by which the time of the end is to be recognised. They are two: "Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased"; and if this is not an accurate description of things at the present time, well — I leave the reader to fill in the blank. We may say, then, that the time when the hindrance to the manifestation of Antichrist is to be removed is a time when knowledge has been increased; and if we reflect that the whole matter is one of spiritual powers, is it not reasonable to suppose that the hindrance which in St Paul's time prevented the fuller development of the spiritual power of Antichrist was ignorance of the nature of spiritual power in general?
Now this knowledge is becoming more and more widely diffused, and consequently the danger of its inverted application is today far greater than in St Paul's time; and therefore the more we realise what potentialities open before us, the more it behoves us to be on our guard lest we regard them in such a way as to take the place of God in the temple of God.
If we search the Scriptures, we shall find that the real Temple of God is Man. When Christ said, "'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up' he spake of the temple of his body" (John 2:19-21); and again St Paul says, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?" (1 Cor. 3:16). Moreover, the promise is, "I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people" (2 Cor. 6:16), and so on in many similar passages, a careful consideration of which leaves no doubt but that the true significance of "the temple" in Scripture is that of human individuality.
The meaning then becomes clear. The temple which is profaned is the innermost sanctuary of our heart, out of which come all the issues of our individual life: "as he thinketh in his heart so is he" (Prov. 23:7); and if this be true, then it is of the utmost importance who is enthroned there. Is it the All-originating Creative Spirit with its infinite love, wisdom, and power, or is it our personal knowledge and will? It must be one of the two. Which is it?
The difference is immense, and it consists in this: if our personal knowledge, wisdom, and will-power are the highest things we know, then we are left exactly where we were and are making no advance. We may, indeed, accumulate a certain amount of knowledge of the hidden laws of physical and psychic forces not commonly known to our fellow-men, which knowledge must necessarily carry a corresponding power along with it; but this only places us in a position where we more urgently need a higher knowledge and a higher wisdom to guide us.
We are sowing causes all the time with only a very limited outlook as to what they will produce; but if we are conscious that we have submitted our action to the guidance of the Supreme Wisdom and Love, we know that we must be importing into it an adjustment with the great purpose of the Universe.
We cannot grasp that purpose in all its details and infinite extent, but we can see that it must be an unending growth into ever increasing manifestation of the Life, Love, and Beauty which the All-originating Spirit is in itself.
That Spirit is in itself Unity, and its Self-expression is through its manifestation in Multiplicity; and the more clearly we see this, the more clearly we shall see that the way to co-operate with it is by seeking to make our own thought the channel of its Thought. But to do this is to recognise the presence of a Divine Intelligence guiding our thought and a Divine Power working through our actions; and this recognition, coupled with the desire that our thought should be thus guided and our actions thus vivified, is the very essence of Worship. It is the very opposite to the mental attitude which sets itself up as needing no guidance and no help from a higher source, and which denies the working of any higher power; and so worship becomes the foundation principle of the life. This does not mean a specific ceremonial observance, but the adoption of the principle of worship, which is the recognition of the true relation of the individual mind to the Parent Mind from which it springs.
Therefore it is that the Great Teacher laid down only one rule for worship — that it should be "in spirit and in truth". The essence and not the form is what counts, because the whole thing is a question of mental attitude. It is that attitude of constant Receptiveness which is the only possible conscious correlative to the infinite Divine Givingness. To attain this is conscious union with the All-creating Spirit.
The mark of the opposite mental attitude is to take no heed of such a Guiding Power, and then the only alternative is to set one's self in its place. When we realise that spiritual causes are always at the back of external phenomena, and the more we come to see that particular causes can be resolved into variations of an ultimate cause, the more our intent to rule that ultimate cause must result in self-deification.
But the bad logic comes in not seeing that the real ultimate cause must be entirely originative — that this is just what makes it worth seeking — and trying to deprive it of this power by attempting to compel it instead of looking to it for leading.
I daresay some readers will smile at this, and I am well aware that it is quite possible to build up an apparently logical argument to show that what I am now speaking of is a merely fanciful idea; but to these I will not make any reply — the matter is one requiring careful development, and a partial and inadequate explanation would be worse than useless. I must therefore leave its discussion to some other occasion and in the meanwhile ask my readers to assume the existence of this Force simply as a working hypothesis. In asking this I am not asking more than they are ready to concede in the case of physical science, where it is necessary to assume the existence of purely speculative conditions of energy and matter if we would co-ordinate the observed phenomena of Nature into an intelligible whole; and in like manner I would ask the critical reader to assume as a working hypothesis the existence of an Essence intermediate between the Originating Spirit and the world of external manifestation.
The existence of such an intermediary is a conclusion which has been arrived at by some of the deepest thinkers who have ever lived, and it has been called by various names in different countries and ages; but for the purpose of the present book I think I cannot do better than adopt the name given to it by the European writers of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries. They called it "Anima Mundi", or the Soul of the World, as distinguished from "Animus Dei", or the Divine Spirit, and they were careful to discriminate between the two.
If you look in a Latin dictionary, you will find that this word, which means life, mind, or soul, is given in a twofold form, masculine and feminine, Animus and Anima. Now it is in the dual nature thus indicated that the action of spiritual causation consists, and we cannot eliminate either of the two factors without involving a confusion of ideas which the recognition of their interaction would prevent us falling into.
When once we recognise the nature and function of Amina Mundi, we shall find that, under a variety of symbols, it is referred to throughout the Bible and indeed forms one of the principal subjects of its teaching; but to explain these Bible references would require a book to itself. In general terms, however, we may say that Anima Mundi is "the Eternal Feminine" and the necessary correlative to Animus Dei, the true Originating Spirit. It is what the medieval writers called "the Universal Medium" and is that principle which, as I pointed out in the opening chapters of this book, is esoterically called "Water".
It is not the Originating Principle itself, but it is that principle through which the Originating Principle operates. It is not originative but receptive, not the seed but the ground, formative of that with which it is impregnated, as is indicated by the old French expression for it, "ventre saint gris", the "holy blue womb" — the innermost maturing place of Nature; and its power is that of attracting the conditions necessary for the full maturing of that seed with which it is impregnated and thus bringing about the growth which ultimately culminates in completed manifestation.
Now the chief characteristics of subconscious mind are its amenability to suggestion and its power of working out into material conditions the logical consequences of the suggestion impressed upon it. It is not originative, but formative. It does not provide the seed, but it causes it to grow; and the seed is the suggestion impressed upon it by the objective mind.
If, then, we credit the Universal Subjective Mind with these same qualities, we find ourselves face to face with a stupendous power which by its nature affords the matrix for the germination of all the seeds of thought that are planted in it.
Looking at the totality of Nature as we see it — the various types of life, vegetable, animal, and human, and the evolution of these types from earlier ones — we can only come to the conclusion that the Originating Mind, Animus Dei as distinguished from Anima Mundi, must in the first instance see things generically — the type rather than the individual — much as Plato puts it in his doctrine of archetypal ideas; and so the world, as we know it, is governed by a Law of Averages which maintains and advances the race whatever may become of the individual.
We may call this a generic or type creation as distinguished from the conception of a specific creation of particular individuals; but, as I have explained more fully in The Creative Process in the Individual, the culminating point of such a generic creation must be the production of individual minds which are capable of realising the general principle at work and therefore of giving it individual application.
Now it is the imperfect apprehension of this principle that causes its inversion. It is recognising Anima Mundi without Animus Dei. And the more a man sees of the immense possibilities of his own thought and volition working upon Anima Mundi while at the same time ignoring Animus Dei, the more likely he is to grow too big for his boots. He then logically has nothing to guide him but his own personal will; and with all the resources of Anima Mundi at his disposal, there is no saying to what extremes he may not go. "L' appetit vient en mangeant" [appetite comes from eating — Ed.], and the more power he gets, the more he will want; and the more his desires are gratified, the more he will become satiated and require fresh stimulus to his jaded appetites.
The knowledge, then, of the enormous possibilities stored up in the Anima Mundi, or the Soul of Nature, is the great instrument through which the power of the Antichrist will work. It is, indeed, the acquisition of this power that will more and more confirm him in his idea of self-deification; and note that though for convenience I use the singular pronoun, I am speaking of a class — that is, of all who do not offer to God the sincere worship of trust in the Divine Love, Wisdom, and Power. I use the name Antichrist as that of a class, and one which seems likely to be widespread before long, though this in no way excludes the possibility of some phenomenally powerful leader of this class attaining to a pre-eminence which will make him the typical manifestation of the principal of self-deification.
Antichrist, whether as class or as individual, has attained to the recognition of a great universal principle which I have endeavoured to set forth in this and other books: the principle of the introduction of "the Personal Factor" into the realm of unseen causes. He has laid hold of a great truth.
To this power based upon self-deification is opposed the power based upon the worship of God; and the fact to be noted is that they are both using the same instrument. Both work by the power of the personal factor acting upon the impersonal Soul of Nature. The Anima Mundi itself is simply neutral. It is responsive to impression and generative of the conditions corresponding to the seed sown in it; but being entirely impersonal, it is without any sort of moral consciousness and will therefore respond equally to the impress of good or of evil.
Therefore in estimating the final result, Anima Mundi may be entirely eliminated from our calculations. To put it mathematically, if Anima Mundi be represented by the same quantity on either side of the equation, it may be struck out from both sides, and then the real calculation will involve only the remaining factors. In the case we are considering, the only other factor is that of Personality, and consequently the ultimate question at issue is: on which side is the greater force of Personality.
It is true we cannot analyse or fathom the profundities of that Spirit, and from this point of view we may speak of it as "the Unknowable"; and so we may not be able to define what the All-creating Spirit's consciousness of Personality may be to Itself; but unless we entirely deny our derivation from it, must it not be clear that it must contain the infinite potential of all that can ever constitute personality in ourselves? And if this be so, then the growth of our own personality must be proportioned to the extent to which this potential flows into us; and to adopt the receptive mental attitude towards our Creator which will allow of such an inflowing is to take that attitude of Worship which Antichrist denies. Therefore the greater power of Personality is on the side of the worshippers of God.
Then, if this be so, their control over the powers of the unseen is greater than that of the Antichrist, but they do not seek to control those powers in the same way that he does. He knows no personality but his own, and so he seeks to gain this control by his own knowledge of particular laws and by his own force of will and is thus limited by the capacities of his own personality, however extensive they may be. His method is to consciously control Anima Mundi for his own purposes by his own strength.
Those on the opposite side do not thus seek to subject Anima Mundi to their personal will. Many, perhaps the majority of them, do not even know that there is any such thing as Anima Mundi, and so they rely on a simple trust in "the Father". And those among them who do know it know also that the worshipper of God may entirely eliminate it from consideration, as I have already said, and so they also rely upon simple trust in "the Father"; the only difference is that, knowing something of the nature of the medium through which the unseen powers are working on both sides, and that the ultimate question is only that of Personality, they should have a yet stronger faith than their less instructed brethren, though in kind it is still the same faith — that of the Son in the Father.
Whether, then, instructed in these matters or not, the worshippers of God will by their very faith and worship be exercising a constant influence upon Anima Mundi, attracting all those conditions which must tend to their final victory over the opposing force.
Their worship enshrines the All-creating Spirit in their hearts, and their thoughts of Him and desires towards Him go forth into the Soul of Nature, impregnating it with the seed of the good, the beautiful, and the life-giving, which must assuredly bring forth fruit in its own likeness in due time.
Their method may not produce the sensational effects which may, perhaps, be produced by their opponents when the development of psychic forces reaches its climax, but in the end all such temporary wonders will be swept away by the overflowing of power which must result when Anima Mundi becomes permeated by Animus Dei, not merely as now in the generic sense of the maintenance of the world, but also in the specific sense of the introduction of the Personal factor in its complete Divine manifestation.
When we see this, the why and wherefore of even that great climax of the present age which the Bible sets before us becomes intelligible. We may not be able to predict specific events, but we can recognise the development of principles, and so we see more clearly the meaning of those inspired prophecies which would otherwise be enigmatic to us.
Then when we see that these prophecies are in no way isolated from the natural laws of the Universe, but rather are based upon them and are in fact the description of those very laws operating in their widest field of action on the human plane, we shall feel the more confidence in those hints of definite measures of time which they afford us.
This is a very important part of their message, and though we may not be able to reckon the precise day or year, we may yet come to a very close approximation of our present whereabouts in the chronological calendar, and there are many indications to show that we are very rapidly approaching that climax which the Bible calls the end of the age.
This, however, is far too large a question for me to open up in these concluding pages, and perhaps it may be my privilege to treat of it at some future time; but I have endeavoured here to offer some suggestions of the general lines on which the Bible student may intelligently approach the subject, realising the close connection that exists between the Bible teachings regarding the forgiveness of sin, the spirituality of worship, the development of personality, and the originative action of the All-creating Spirit. These are all parts of one great whole and cannot be dissociated. To dissociate them is to pull down the edifice of the Divine Temple; to realise their unity is to build up — that true Temple of God which is the Individuality of Man made perfect by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
It shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord shall be saved. [Acts 2:21 — Ed.]
Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out. [John 6:37 — Ed.]
MARANATHA.