Excerpts from
"Making
Yourself The Master"
by Harvey Hardman
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in Adobe PDF eBook or printed form for $4.95 (+ printing charge)
FOREWORD
Each
chapter in this book contains the substance of a lecture delivered in
the course of my work as a teacher of Divine Science and metaphysics.
My purpose in assembling this material and giving it its present form
is to make available to the reader, in brief chapters, the instruction
and the inspirational values of the lectures upon which they are based.
A
word
of explanation is due to the reader who may be unfamiliar with some of
the terms employed. God and Principle are synonymous, and refer to the
impersonal Cause of all things. “Father” is used to denote the
universal Source of all individual life forms, but when so used in this
book, it is not to be confused with the idea of a personal God. The
Father of all things is not a person, but Principle. When the word is
capitalized and used to indicate the incarnation of the universal
Father in the individual human, a different meaning is involved. It
means then what Jesus referred to when he spoke, as he so often did, of
“The Father that dwelleth in me.” But he more often used the term “Son
of man,” and occasionally “Son of God.” Hence, whenever the terms
Indwelling Father, Master Within, Christ Mind, Soul, the I Am, the
greater Self, Son of God, are used in this book, the reference is to
the immortal Self of the individual.
In
this
connection it is well for the reader to understand that such
psychological terms as subjective mind, subconscious mind, and
subliminal mind, all refer to the same Plus-Entity in man that I have
mentioned in the above paragraph. In psychology this principle of
subjectivity is regarded as creatively active in maintaining the vital
functions of the body; the force back of intuition, habit, dreams, and
other modes of mental action involving super-normal powers. If the
reader will keep in mind these terms and their definitions, he will
encounter no difficulty in perceiving the scientific basis of the
instruction, and if the Law herein expounded is put into practice, he
will be able to improve the conditions of his life.
I
give
with the book my treatment for the reader, that he may, as a result of
his study, realize the presence and power of the Master-Self within
him. That realization leads to success, health, and happiness. In the
Name of the Master within you, you shall be able to live the life and
do the works of the Son of God.
Chapter
1
DOES MANKIND NEED A NEW
RELIGION?
“Oh, that I knew where I
might find Him!
Then He would guide me
aright.
He leaveth countless steps
behind Him
Yet passeth out of sight.”
The
eternal quest of man is to find God. Religions change and evolve as
man’s knowledge of the universe expands. When a religion fails to meet
the human need; when the human mind outgrows any system of religious
thought and practice, that religion begins to decline, and ultimately
dies and is forgotten. Thousands of religions, cults, and sects, have
thus come and gone in the course of human history, and doubtless other
thousands before the dawn of history.
Wherever
this has occurred, a new religion has sprung up to take the place of
the old. And yet, something of the abandoned religion has been carried
on into the new faith. So that an absolutely new and original religion
is as impossible as a new science.
Modern
science grew out of ancient magic and alchemy.
The
Hebrew religion drew upon a body of laws and teachings that were very
ancient when Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt. The very
name--Israel--is a compound of the names of ancient Egyptian gods.
Christianity grew out of the religion of the Jews. Protestantism sprang
from Roman Catholicism. Christian Science, to give a more modern
instance, was born of Christianity.
The
new
religion which is now coming into the world is not and cannot be an
original system of knowledge of God. It has its roots in the ancient
faiths. It will grow into a distinct type of religious thought and
practice, but some of the old terms and ideas will follow through. For
the old faiths have in them certain truths, and all truth is universal,
the property of any person or organized body of people who can perceive
and use it. One fact is becoming increasingly evident: mighty forces
are at work today to change man’s thought about God.
Millions
of men and women, in this country and throughout the world, are awake
to the need of a new religion. They are thinking as never before, and
the tide of emotion in these inarticulate masses is rising upon the
farthest shores of human life. Everyone who is at all sensitive to mass
thought and feeling is aware of the sinister swish of this emtional
sea. All are touched in some degree by its power.
A
new
kind of hunger is gnawing at the vitals of mankind--spiritual hunger.
Its effect upon mankind is more impressive than marching legions.
Spiritual hunger works more slowly, yet its effects are far more
powerful and significant than physical hunger. This new force is
shaking the foundations, not only of religions but of all the
institutions of modern civilization. And the essential cause back of
these fateful changes is the spiritual hunger of humanity.
If
the
craving for spiritual food is denied, reckless disregard of human life
and human rights will increase. The old religions have failed to
satisfy the spiritual needs of the modern man. The old moral and
ethical ideals are toppling because of the crumbling of the foundations
of the ancient religions. Those foundations were constructed out of
materials incapable of withstanding the impact of modern scientific
thought.
The
present civilization is doomed unless a new and vital spiritual force
comes to replace the weakened and discredited religions that were
originally imported into the Western World from the Orient. The most
superficial survey of the history of the world, at this time of and
immediately preceding the advent of Jesus and the birth of
Christianity, discloses the fact that humanity is in greater need of a
Messiah today than then.
The
hope, so long cherished by Christendom, that Jesus would come again in
the clouds of glory to redeem mankind from its sorrows and miseries, is
dead. Not one person in ten thousand has the slightest faith that such
an event will ever occur. And even if it should, Jesus would find the
same warring, greedy and selfish humanity to deal with that he faced
nearly two thousand years ago. And the primary reason he would find an
unchanged humanity is that the religions that were organized around his
name and his message left out of their creeds and doctrines the spirit
of his teachings.
The
old
forms and rituals, dogmas and doctrines, which he denounced and
renounced, were incorporated in the new religion called Christianity.
There was no definite break from tradition. New traditions were added;
new rituals invented; a new type of priestly authority was formed. But
the old spirit of intolerance and hatred, and the insolence of
intrenched power, still ruled the spiritual lives of the people. That
is why the old religion must go. That is why we need a new religion.
“Man
cannot live by bread alone.” He must have spiritual food or die. The
great question now being asked by a spiritually hungry world is, “What
is the bread of life?” We ask for food and are given the stones of
tradition. We cry for justice, and are referred to outgrown and
discredited dogmas and creeds. Our faith in the gods of tradition is
broken. War, poverty, and injustice; crime, misery and cruelty, all
stalk with unabated power through the world. It is apparent that the
god of the old religion was either a myth or else he has failed and
deserted us.
Our
hearts crave for freedom and fulfillment of the larger possibilities of
life. We feel deeply that the spiritual life should thrill us with its
promise of the new heaven and the new earth. But we listen in vain for
some word from the leadership of the old religions, that might light up
our world; some instruction to help us to master the strange new
environment which science and engineering has forced upon us.
Our
feet
are eager to follow a true spiritual light which shall lead us into a
new world of love and brotherhood and cooperation and social justice.
But the old religion provides us with neither light nor leadership;
neither spiritual food nor hope for freedom from the stark materialism
which today rules the world. Is there no help for the widow’s son? No
redemption for the spiritually and physically hungry millions of the
earth?
Yes
there is help. Mankind is seeing visions and dreaming dreams of a New
Age. Implicit in these aspirations and hopes is the germ of the New
Religion. The conception of that new Faith is already implanted in the
human soul, and it is ready to come forth and satisfy the human need
and the human longing.
Modern
man, released by science from his prison of fear; no longer harassed by
the spectre of hell; freed from the hypnotic spell of the belief in
Satan, is moved by the impulse of a searching curiosity about
religions. He is examining the foundations of the ancient faiths in the
light of a new conception of the universe.
The
myths and dogmas of the old theology no longer stir men to heated
controversy. The ideas of a personal God and a personal Devil do not
now arouse passionate hatreds and bitter antagonisms. A religious war
is today unthinkable. What no one can prove about ancient revelations,
and other old beliefs, no longer disturbs the mental atmosphere of the
common people, and such dogmas have long been rejected by the thinkers
and lovers of truth. The time is ripe for the birth of a New Religion
that will meet the spiritual and intellectual needs of the people of
the New Age.
But
traditions, especially those associated with religious beliefs, die
slowly. It takes more than a pat on the wrist to break up the dynasty
of religious authority, even when it is based upon such flimsy
foundation as supernatural revelation that is supposed to have taken
place thousands of years ago.
The
only
way to change human institutions is to change the human mind. This is
being accomplished at the present time on a scale and with a rapidity
never equalled in the annals of history. And the reason is to be found
in the modern press, magazines, radio, and the wonderful facilities for
communication and intercommunication provided by the postal service of
the world. The World Soul is mightily at work. Humanity is awake and on
the march to the new world of its dreams. No force shall be able to
withstand the spiritual migration of these restless and heart-hungry
millions.
To
meet
the spiritual needs of the soul of man, a new religion is not only
necessary, but it is now in process of formation and articulation. The
Messiah of the modern world is not a single Personality. Thousands of
men and women of vision are contributing to this great enterprise,
which is undoubtedly the work of the Western World. The obscure
symbolism of the Orient is unsuited to the Occidental mind. The New
Religion, when formulated, will be based on Principle rather than the
personality of any single Teacher.
With
Principle for its basis, the New Religion will be scientific. It will
teach men how to create a heaven here on earth. It will be a religion
without fear, either of gods or devils. It will be a religion devoted
to the ideals of social and industrial justice, rather than to “saving
souls.” It will consist of a body of demonstrable mental and spiritual
laws, based on Principle as the one Reality and Cause of all things.
The
answer to the problems of human life and human destiny are here now, in
the soul of man, and for the simple reason that the Universal Mind is
in man. As all the religions of the past were evolved by the mind of
man, so will it be with the New Religion. It is the task of man to
search out the Wisdom of the Eternal, which is incarnate within his own
being, and express it in terms that fit his spiritual needs and
aspirations.
The
intelligence of man is sufficiently evolved to enable him to work out
the problems involved in creating a new religion and a new and just
social order.
The
two
major fields of human thought and interest--religion and
science--should go hand in hand, religion becoming more scientific and
science increasingly religious in its attitude toward the laws and
forces of nature. It is the purpose of this book to show how this may
be accomplished.
Even
now, the greatest scientific minds in the world are looking beyond the
frontiers of matter and energy, into the region of Life and Mind. The
spiritual leaders who represent the organized religions show little or
no evidence that they are interested in applying the principles of
science and rational thought to religion. Nevertheless, there are many
laymen and scientists giving thought and time to this great problem.
The
late
Charles P. Steinmetz, shortly before his death a few years ago, when
interviewed with regard to what he considered would be the great
discovery in the field of human progress and scientific development,
made the following statement:
“The
greatest discovery and development of the coming years will be along
spiritual lines. Here is a force which history clearly teaches has been
the greatest power in the development of man and history, and yet we
have been merely playing with it and have never seriously studied it as
we have physical forces. Some day people will learn that material
things do not bring happiness and are of little use in making men and
women creative and powerful. Then the scientists of the world will turn
their laboratories over to the study of God and the spiritual forces.
When this day comes, the world will see more advancement in one
generation than it has in the past four.” The ideas and the instruction
contained in this book are based upon the conception that mental and
spiritual forces are governed by immutable laws, just as law governs
natural forces and elements. When we understand these laws of the
mental universe, we shall be able to use mental power scientifically,
and with the same degree of certainty that a physicist has in using the
forces of nature.
Each
chapter is a self-contained unit dealing with a special feature of the
mental Law. There is, however, a continuity of theme, which embraces
the principles, laws, and practices of the Divine or Spiritual Science.
The
chapter on the Law of Subconscious Mind Power gives the key to this
Science and to its practical use.
The
chapters on Divine Science, and Mental Law and Personal Destiny, make
clear the reasons for the individual’s responsibility for the use he
makes of the impersonal law.
It
is the hope of the author that those who have been confused by the
multiplicity of systems and metaphysical terms that have emerged during
the last twenty or thirty years, in which the metaphysical movement has
gained such great momentum, will find in these lessons a unifying and
convincing statement of the fundamental principles of the New Religion.
"Making
Yourself The Master"
by Harvey Hardman
Order
in Adobe PDF eBook or printed form for $4.95 (+ printing charge)
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