INTRODUCTION

 History has shown, that in every step man has taken upward to a higher plane of mental activity and ideality, he has taken each one by the overcoming of certain environments and by the freeing himself from some early beliefs which a broadening intelligence discovered to be fallacious. In advancing he has, however, al­ways carried with him certain dogmas of error in spite of the fact that others which had for­merly fettered him were thrown aside. Having made the intellectual advance, more light grad­ually came; and, with the mental horizon wi­dened by years of thoughtful observation, an­other and another step has been taken. At each advance some errors have been dropped, while some were still retained and carried forward. As I follow the ascent of man toward complete men­tal freedom, I can see most clearly that he has forged his own fetters, and that he alone is re­sponsible for his slow growth.

 

The dawning of the new century is marked as a thought-period in history. Representative man is doing his own thinking. He has advanced to a point where his conscious-ness has awakened to a conception of his possibilities. Step by step he has progressed through the ages; now, at one leap or bound, he links himself to Infinity and claims the realization of his hopes and ideals as his birthright. He demands if Infinity holds secrets that they shall be disclosed to him; be­cause he is one with infinite life.

Knowing this plane is attainable in the present age, and believing thousands and thousands are now approaching it, I present this volume, point­ing out the mental paths I have traversed and which led me to recognize man's heritage of power opening into his limitless possibilities.

From childhood, youth is found estimating his physical and mental strength by comparison with his fellows. Then, years attained or differences of ages form the criterion by which measure­ments are made. If he be younger than his com­panion, that is a sufficient factor or excuse for his being a class below in studies, or a less desirable partner in a feat of strength on the playground. If ambitious in one or both of these lines, he may pride himself in outstripping those of his own age a year or more. Fixed in one's early memories are these comparisons in the study of limitations, coupled with a certain degree of satisfaction if self-examination placed him in rank a shade above the average standard. From play-mates, from parents, from teachers, from friends comes this estimation by compari­son with others. It often wakens to ambitions, and this is healthful; but about all it draws un­intentionally the circles of limitation.

It is not strange that the effect of such en­vironment surr-ounding one is to center or direct the mind to the study of his own limitations, rather than to that of his unmeasured possibil­ities. How long it may take to outgrow this condition when a wider philosophy may be em­braced, each must learn for himself.

Considering the growth of man during the past century, one may note that although Prot­estantism long before had organized itself and brought forth several sects, separate and distinct from the church of Rome, the various schools and colleges continued essentially in type ec­clesiastic—each had its own dogmas and they stood sentinel barring advance, for they assumed to fix the boundary line of human knowledge, and thus drew down the curtains of limitations hiding from man the vistas beyond.

One purpose of all religions, however, was and is to teach the relationship between man and God. Even the most narrow of the creeds have declared, in substance, that man could do noth­ing against the will or purpose of God. God was to be sought in prayer to help man to his needs. It was God who saved him from dangers—God who gave him health—God who sent him sickness or sorrow in punishment for wrongs—God who gave him joy—God who prospered him—God who alone might save him—God who loved him. This God was all-powerful. He sent the rain and the sunshine—the buds and the blos­soms—the seed-time and the harvest. I know of no modern Western religion that does not in­vest God with all this power, and which does not teach that man should be thankful to God for every blessing he enjoys.

If I state correctly the teachings of our Western religions, might not this question be pro­pounded with assurance of an affirmative reply: If one had complete favor with God, might not God, if he would, grant that favored one all the blessings and powers craved, and would not that one then be, in those particulars, at least, equal to God? Even according to the old creeds, narrow as many of them were, they taught, in essence, that power came to man as a direct trans­mission from God. It came from an omnipotent energy, and yet man had access to that energy. The way to obtain God's favor was somewhat obscure. To guide one therein, platitudes were made use of. "Man must obey God's will," "Man must humble himself before God," "Man must have a new birth," were among the many that might be cited. Let one follow these indefi­nite instructions as best he might, yet unless he wrapped about him an unswerving faith, there was promised little hope of attainment. In short, God might have a wise purpose in withholding the blessings sought, so religion itself acknowledged its own limitations. Instead of teaching clearly a definite theory as to the rela­tionship between man and God, and how to bind the human with the Infinite, it merely suggested that through prayer and sacrifice there was a way, and further that that way might be found. Each must seek for himself. Each must hope, and pray—then be content, whether the coveted blessings were received or not.

With the dawning of the twentieth century, we find a greater liberality in creeds—a broader view of the Infinite even among those who cling to belief in the personality of God. They see in their churches good fruits—they enjoy the social meetings—the intellectual treats given by the clergy—the fine choirs and soloists who furnish music—and all seem to have a place in modern civilization. I present here no criticisms on this. When a more advanced civilization demands more, it will have it.

My purpose in leading up to my theme in this way, however, is to show that the crudest dogmas all agreed that man was a recipient of power from without—from God. If the way to attain were not made clear, why that is only one of a myriad of obscurities of modern theology. There was the source of power from which man must draw to attain his purpose. Thus vaguely all these creeds taught man's wonderful, limit­less possibilities when he labored under God's guidance and favor.

Religion, in its broadest sense, signifies the upreaching of man to all his possibilities. In its original signification, it represented the binding of the human back to its own fatherhood. Study ancient or modern creeds as one will, there is always found within them a directing power never compassed, exerting its indomitable force over man. This was called God. The ancient Jew invested it, to the average reader, with a tyrannous personality, while the modern Jew recognizes no personal God. Practically every branch of the Christian Church holds to the personal idea comprised in a mystic trinity. They approach or link themselves with this omniscient power by prayer or petition, after first advising God by way of preface, of his own promises to man. They take God at what they call his word. He has placed them here. He has made certain promises. They ask their fulfillment, conditioned if this be consistent with his will and purpose.

My view of God is broader than that. Living within that limitless source of all power, I know I have the right to draw from it all I would to fulfill any upward, noble longing of my soul; and I know I shall receive, if I harmonize myself with the throbbing vibrations of infinite force. That harmonizing, however, is my task—my respon-sibility and my joy.

Studying man in the abstract then, through the dogmas of ancient and modern creeds, we see he has been declared, even by them, limitless. He has access to infinite power—if the Infinite favor him as the Infinite may, he himself becomes a God. These dogmas within themselves led up to this conclusion, yet the clergy fell short of pursuing them to this point. Emerson dared follow the logical premises to the inference to be drawn from them and boldly declared that "the simplest person, who, in his integrity, worships God, becomes God;" and that that one "believes he cannot escape from his good—that the Highest dwells within him."

If, therefore, the dogmas of ancient as well as modern religions found man all powerful and limitless if God were with him, they reflect the human longing. In many of them, we may see the reflection of the age, its crudities and errors; but, back of all, is the human longing to blend itself with an energy uncomprehended, yet be­lieved to exist and to encompass all.

Modern science has taught us that light and sound are, to the brain, simply different intensi­ties of motion; and this may lead to discoveries of forces within man that could not have been conceived of till this revelation was made. One set of vibrations is carried through the medium of the ear to the brain and interpreted sound; another impresses itself upon the optic nerve and is distinguished as color or form. Methods to awaken atrophied parts of the body have been learned, because of our clearer conception of all that is embraced in that single word, motion. The measuring of the vibration of force from planet to planet, through the medium of reflected light, has widened man's conception of the uni­verse. As he learns more of it, his own horizon of knowledge broadens—his own conception of his place in the universe. The great strides man has made during the past fifty years have lifted him upward, toward the Infinite, so that he may now receive, through vibrations, more of that unmeasured, undefined, yet all-pervading power. To avail ourselves of the wisdom of others, we must, at least, have unfolded mentally so as to appreciate the wisdom they possess. To obtain the power from the Infinite which we desire, we must be developed consciously so as to be able to receive and hold the vital, magnetic vibrations that are flashed from infinite energy through the ethers to intelligence.

Although man may have had erroneous con­ceptions of God and the relationship existing be­tween him and the source of power; still, as he has evolved and learned to think and reason in­dependent of creeds or dogmas or majorities, the possibility of a personality directing infinite force is passing from consciousness. Can human intelligence conceive of a personality combined with omniscience, omnipotence and omnipres­ence? Man has evolved into a greater man, and he has extended his relationship with Being—he has learned, in some degree, how to appropriate or avail himself of some of its energy—he has commenced to walk with God. Still he cannot claim familiarity, for his comprehension has as yet embraced only the little his unfoldment per­mits him to grasp. He has barely started to cul­tivate acquaintance with God, or Energy.

The evolution of man is now advancing him to a plane above where the mists of ignorant superstitions can rise. The old dogmas pre­sented paths that apparently started one right, but led to tangled morasses. New paths ap­peared which seemed to help to extricate, but pursued, led to shades of density and darkness. Emerging from these, led by flashes from infinite light, man has continued in his upward march. A new century has dawned; and now, standing on a plane over which bright sunlight spreads, he sees something of the vastness of meaning and grandeur in a human life. Within that life is the germ of infinite possibilities. He is now not oppressed with the fear of an omnipotent force restraining him as he journeys onward in pur­suit of knowledge. He is free, and within him­self a new power has taken lodgment. This may be termed a mental growth, but it is more—it is an ascent through evolution to a higher manhood. If one has reached this plane and looks back­ward, he will discover that the long struggle man has made to acquire knowledge was largely a battle with ignorance. Now he can understand why dogmas of error existed and restrained. In reasoning from cause to effect, the teachers could only follow lines within the range of their own horizon of knowledge. No one—no philosophy is to be censured or criticized. Church dogmas held high the dangers of mental plunges beyond their own sounded depths; and fear was trans­formed into an entity that stood guard over man's intellectual advancement. These dogmas claimed to tell where the priceless jewels man was seeking for were to be found—they suggested ways to reach them; and then, in substance, declared man should love the Infinite just as fondly whether his prayers were granted or not.

Late in the century past a new sect appeared under the appellation, Christian Scientists. Some of their statements were quite astounding to modern methods of thinking. The funda­mental pillars of their philosophy were: There is no matter, and disease is a delusion of sense. They grew and multiplied, and now claim about two millions of converts in this country. Among these are prominent lawyers, judges, businessmen, soldiers, orators and poets. They claim wonderful cures have been brought about through the simple agency of affirmation and denial. In theory, they claim by these means to draw power from infinite energy, or to attune the vibrative force enveloping one to that great harmony. The mental scientists, on the other hand, believe in the potency of affirmations, but reject denials in toto. They are not yet as firmly organized a body as the Christian Scien­tists, as they have no recognized head or synod. Perhaps this is well for it gives each individual freedom. Both the Christian and the mental scientists have eliminated the personal God from their written or unwritten creeds; and both are now teaching the limitlessness of man. Their prayers are the affirmations of health, power, wealth, joy, thus enveloping their selfhoods with an attractive atmos-phere which can receive the vibrations from infinite force. This they claim brings to one the realization of desire.

Modern spiritualism comes forward also, and shows an astonishingly large body of converts, though its history extends back only to the mid­dle of the century just passed. In some partic­ulars it is closely allied to both the Christian and mental scientists, though the stricter fol­lowers of either may deny the possibility of in­tercourse between those dwelling here and those who have passed to what may be beyond. The power of thought, however, to bring one his de­sires, is clearly accepted by the modern spirit­ists. They are one with the mental and Chris­tian scientists on this, though the way the end may be brought about differs. They believe each one draws about himself spirit guides and these are the messengers and forces to assist him to the attainment of desire.

The Hindus who follow the teachings of Buddha compress within two words, Karma Yoga, which may be translated work or doing work, their methods and ways, not of linking or binding man to infinite force, but of attaining knowledge and teaching man that within his very being all force is coiled up. They boldly assert that this human body is the greatest body in the universe, and a human being the greatest being; that man is higher than all animals, than all angels; that none is greater than man. To bring one to knowledge of his true selfhood a course of discipline is voluntarily entered upon by those who are desirous of attaining mastery. With purpose true and steadfastness in contin­uing the work, it is claimed the Yogi will, in due time, find himself (as he is and always was) the essence of knowledge, the immortal, the all-pervading. The Hindus recognize inspiration in every man's nature to be awakened or discov­ered by discipline, and the ancient prophets of the world as great Yogis of the past. In their philosophy, limits to man's powers are incom­prehensible.

I claim, therefore, that in naming man limit­less I have only voiced the teachings of the ages. I am aware that from the pulpits we are often told much of man's weakness and worthlessness. It seems that the clergy are prone to overlook the fact that their own dogmas also tell of man's divine origin and his infinite possibili­ties, if he enjoy the favor of God. In the poetry of the anti-Jacobin, I find:

"Man only,—rash, refined, presumptuous Man—Starts from his rank and mars Creation's plan! Born the free heir of nature's wide domain, To art's strict limits bounds his narrowed reign; Resigns his native rights for meaner things, For Faith and Fetters, Laws and Priests and Kings."

Bailey in Festus gives direction as though in­spired:

"Let each man think himself an act of God,

His mind a thought, his life a breath of God."

Robert Browning caught a clear vision of the coming man with limitless possibilities beyond:

"Man's self is not yet man,

Nor shall I deem his object saved, his end

Attained, his genuine strength put fairly forth,

While only here and there a star dispels

The Darkness, here and there a towering mind

O'erlooks its prostrate fellows. When the host

Is out at once, to the despair of night;

When all mankind alike is perfected,

Equal in full-blown power,—then, not till then,

I say, begins man's general infancy."

If one would rise above his environment, lift himself out of the steady refrain of man's crit­icism on man. Forget the emphasized short­-comings of humanity as told too often by many preachers and orators, and silently contemplate the evolution or ascent of man as shown by authentic history, I feel he would be convinced that man's possible attainments cannot be meas­ured—that boundary lines to his onward intel­lectual march are unthinkable.

Once let man place himself firmly on this plane, and he will know that it is folly to longer question if the wish of his soul may be gratified. If man is limitless, every desire of his soul can be won. Let him grasp this truth so fully and completely that none of the dogmas of ignorance and superstition can make him waver for a mo­ment. This is his primary task, in order that he may use wisely the mighty forces within his own selfhood.

Standing then secure on this intellectual height, he may note that the teachings of the ages show he must draw new power to himself from infinite energy of which he is a part, or uncoil it from the soul reservoir within himself. It may be that by our modern methods of discipline to consciously receive the vibrations from the Unlimited, it also is required that there may be an unwinding, to some extent, of this coil of knowledge within the soul in order that our con­scious selves may be recipient. I am convinced from my own experiments and methods of dis­cipline (though also recognizing that power can be drawn from the Universal) that the Hindu philosophy is true—that within the soul of man there is a reservoir of wisdom. As one learns to enter this mighty reservoir, this cathedral of power, consciousness broadens; and then his upliftment will permit him to touch other keys of Energy's magic harp of harmony. Man's growth begins in bringing to consciousness some of this knowledge sealed within, then advancing step by step till he finds himself in perfect tune with the harp of infinite Energy, its vibrations are entered and he becomes of them a part, con­sciously contributing to and receiving from the pulsating force guarding and encircling the uni­verse. When discipline has brought him this development, then he may know and sing, with the poet, to all the world:

"No pent-up Utica contracts our powers,

But the whole boundless universe is ours.''

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