The way to Goodhood

Front matter

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Chapter One Manhood And Responsibility, The Goal

For long centuries, negativeness had been the rule among mankind. True, it is freely admitted that during these centuries there have been a few men who have ruled with an iron hand. These were positive in the extreme. But the vast multitudes under these men were practically slaves; for theirs was the duty to obey the slightest wish of those in power. They held no thought contrary to the thoughts of the ruler. If the ruler said war, all were ready to obey the call. If he said work, all were ready for work.

This i,s negativeness. There is no individual responsibility attached to such a life. The life is ruled by others, and on them falls the actual responsibility.

How ignoble is the life that is ruled by another mind ! How ignoble, the life that is controlled by another in all its actions, aye, even in its thoughts! The act ( s committed by those who are mere slaves to the behests of another bring with them a certain train of thought, even a certain religious belief; and, eventually, the one so controlled by another has lost all sense of responsibility, even in the exercise of judgment.

But the spirit of the long ago is fast passing away — the spirit of supreme negativeness. The new age has begun, the age of activity and positiveness. In the new age, gradually, though it may be slowly, men will, first of all, begin to think for themselves. More than this, they will not shrink from the responsibility of acting according to their thought. This will make of man an individual, it will give him manhood.

Throughout the centuries, it has been generally accepted, that, if an individual obeys the laws of the land and if he gives a reasonable support to the religious form that- receives the sanction of the ruling power, he thereby meets the conditions of being a man. But that idea is dead and gone. No longer is an individual thought of as a man simply because he i,s of the male sex.

To be a man in the true sense demands that he must think and act for himself. He must have the courage of his. own convictions. To do this and that, simply for the sake of winning the approval of some friend or some one in authority, to act thus and so simply because some one in power advocates it, does not meet the conditions of manhood and individual responsibility.

The way to manhood i,s the way to power. But it must be understood that the way to manhood and power is the way of individual responsibility. But with responsibility comes the strength to be responsible, the strength to carry and to shoulder greater responsibility. This brings out individuality in man. It develops manhood. And he who reaches manhood's true estate is well on the way to Godhood.

The new doctrine, the coming science-religion-philosophy, is the only law a strong man needs. Unles ( s he is a weakling, he does not need external laws to force him to do thus and so. The new doctrine does not lay down definite rules of action. It is a system of life. It teaches man |S0 to think, so to live, so to act, as to bring out the potential power in himself, thereby developing latent manhood. Through accepting the responsibility that rests upon him, he gains more and more strength, his manhood becomes more and more reliable, and he is led on and on toward .Godhood,

Man cannot solve the problem of existence by ignoring the duties of life, by holding himself in a negative ( state, by taking everything for granted, by looking upon life as an evil in itself, or by accepting things as they come, whether good or not good, with no effort to improve them.

The new doctrine proposes that man must take up the duties of life actively and positively. He must carefully consider all calls that are made upon him. He must hold himself in an active, positive state, but with no antagonism toward anything whatever, never with hate or malice toward any person or any condition. He must ever defend the right, the true self, defending it actively and positively, but with no malice or hatred or animosity, with no censure or harsh judgment, or ill-will, with no grudge or bitterness or envy. This — to be free from antagonism and censue of every type and description — is a prime essential of the positive type of mind which is unreservedly advocated by the New Commandment.

The New Commandment teaches man to look upon life as good. Existence in the present state is desirable, and is a positive and absolute good. Life on the present plane is not only necessary, but even glorious. If man accepts it as such, and considers every duty a pleasure, and if he does everything with the thought that it is for the best — by this attitude of mind, he shows himself a man in the true sense of the word. By persisting in thi,s attitude of mind and by executing the duties of life in this spirit, he shows himself more than a man. By executing the duties of life in this wholesome positive spirit, he manifests the possibility of attaining Godhood.

Life is not an evil, nor are the acts of the true life an evil. Nor are the pleasures of life an evil. They become evil only when indulgence in them results in harm either to the self or to another. Not otherwise are they evil. All Jhings that come to man are for a purpose. By denying them or by accounting them evil, we accomplish nothing. Neither do we accomplish anything, on the other hand, by meekly accepting all things as something to be accepted or as necessary evils to be endured. To accept things thus makes of man nothing more nor less than a mere negative machine, a nothingness.

Things which come to us in life are either to be accepted and acted on or they are to be cast aside as unworthy of our acceptance and unworthy of our performance. We are to give them careful consideration in order to determine whether they represent the positive or the negative side of life. If the negative, we should reject them or extract the positive aspects from the negative and encourage only the positive features.

It matters not whether some one wishes to force certain conditions upon us, this is no excuse for our accepting them. Whether they come before us in the guise of duty or whether some one apparently stronger than we ourselves wants to pres,s them upon us, the New Commandment teaches that the mode of procedure is the same in so far as we are concerned. We are to consider the matter thoroughly, and carefully weigh conditions to determine whether they are for the good of ourselves and of other,s. If careful weighing of conditions proves that there is an advantage in accepting, then it is our duty to do so, even though we may not want to. For, in refusing, we refuse our duty and thereby become more negative, more the slave to conditions, more in the coils of the destructive pcrpent.

If, however, investigation shows that the proffered conditions are detrimental in that they may weaken us or bring disadvantage or bring advantage attended by injury to ourselves or others, then it is our duty to refuse them. The New Commandment demands that we shall refuse them even though great power and great influence are brought to bear to force us to do otherwise.

The New Commandment, "Be a Man that thou mayst become a god," insists that each individual is a free agent, and that no one can offer the excuse that he is forced to do thus and so.

Under no consideration is life to be accounted evil. It never has been evil and never will be, unless the one who lives it makes it so of his own free choice. Through the experiences of life, either we become men and women, individuals, beings gradually tending, by means of our own manhood and womanhood, toward Godhood.

To the soul, life i ( s a kindergarten. Through existence in the present state and on the present plane, we gain experience. It is here that we learn our lessons. It is here that we are tested, as the ore is tested in the furnace, only with the difference that the ore has no power of choice and must give up its gold ; whereas, man, through the power of free-will, may refuse to liberate the gold. The ore accepts the conditions of the furnace and sets free its gold. It is possible for man to accept conditions as a helpless slave, and, even though he may suffer severely under the heat of the testing, he may refuse to learn the lesson and refuse to appropriate its blessings. With man, something more than mere acceptance of conditions is necessary. He must accept in the right spirit. He must learn through the experience, and obey. He must let go of the dross, and love the gold into expression. This is the positive attitude of mind. This manifests manhood and a responsible attitude toward life's conditions.

Life, as we know it, is necessary for the soul and also necessary for the body. Without life on this plane, the soul could not become individualized, could not gain experience, could not become like the gods. The growth that results from wise experience can come only through being positive at all times, the master of self, the .slave of none, choosing the things that are an advantage and refusing the things that are a disadvantage.

The positive attitude of mind requires courage. But, as in all things el,se, courage grows through deliberate choice, on the one hand, through deliberate refusal, on the other. With courage comes strength, and with strength comes greater power to do and to accomplish.

The individual who accepts all things as they come, with no effort to master or to improve them is a negative life. The negative life is always the weak, diseased, unfruitful life. Through negativeness comes pessimism. Pessimism i,s like the water standing in the pool that has no outlet. It becomes a deadly poison. Such a poison and malaria-breeding condition is pessimism in the heart of man. There is strength and power in every individual, though it may be in an inert state. He who accepts all things as they come, thinking them to be evils which must be endured, is like the stagnant pool of water. He never uses his powers and his capabilities. He fails to become strong; for he gives no opportunity to the Man within, the god in embryo, to assert himself. A,s a result, his life becomes stagnant and eventually dies out, as the pool of water dries up and loses its individuality.

The New Commandment teaches the doctrine of manhood, of strength, of self-government. The individual who accepts the spirit of the command, "Be a man and thou mayst be a god," needs not to be governed by laws, by governments, by armies. He sees the glory and the beauty of life, and is too much of an entity ,too much of a man, to do that which may harm either himself or others. To him, life is glorious. He recognizes that life here is the mean,s to a greater, life, and that every act performed with full sanction of the reason for it will make the doer stronger and more of a man, and therefore nearer to Godhood.

Jo such an individual, may come the time when demands will be made upon him to do those things which do not fit into the true life and which do not receive the .sanction of the command to be a man in order that one may become a god. These demands may come from tho^e who are near and dear to him. But, if he realizes that the things demanded of him do not coincide with the Higher Ideal to which he has consecrated his life, he must summon all courage and strength to withstand their entreaties. He must assert his individuality, and call upon ail the forces of his being, in order to obey the dictates of his enlightened conscience.

His refusal to comply with the wishes of his loved ones, may give rise to many conditions hard to meet, conditions unforeseen and unbelievable, even to the mqst vivid imagination. But, no matter what the result or the outcome, to him, it is always the same. He will face the crisis with firm, ness and with courage. He will not go counter to, or compromise, his convictions of right. Nevertheless, — and note well this point — the New Commandment, "Be a Man," demands that, in it all and through it all, he shall entertain no censure, no malice, no ill-will, no antagonism, no bitterness, towards those who are instrumental in placing him in such a crisis. The New Commandment, which exacts of every individual manhood, honor, and a sense of responsibility, as well as a prophetic recognition of Godhood, is also exacting in its demands that, in it all and through it all, he shall be free from resentment and harsh judgment toward ' conditions as well as personalities.

This is the meaning of a positive state of mind as opposed to a negative. Not only is the positive mind firm in the position that it deliberately takes, but it is also free from antagonism toward those who are the instruments of testing its strength. Not only does it fight to the bitter end for its best understanding of right, but it al,so preserves equanimity of spirit and a rig-id control over itself, allows ing no personal grudge or malice to gain entrance into the sacred precincts over which the New Commandment is establishing its power.

It is not an impossibility for one to give hi,s life rather than to forfeit allegiance to the Ideal Standard he has placed before himself. But, by losing his life in the contest of right, he only gains a greater life. While he who yields to carnal authority when divine authority bids him Nay, becomes slave to carnal forces. In this way, he ,sells his birthright, and enters serfdom to those who have forced him to violate the command to be a Man and thereby eventually to become a god.

The New Commandment, with all its pronounced emphasis upon firmness, and positiveness as opposed to negativene^s and destruction, by no means advocates antagonism to establish authority. On the contrary, obedience thereto, in so far as it is possible, is clearly and unmistakably encouraged. Strict obedience to the Law of Right and of Goodness, above all else, it teaches. Refusal to comply with the wish of friend and enemy alike is demanded when compliance means to degrade the Divine Spark, which i,s indeed both "author and finisher" of the command, "Be a Man and thou mayst be a god."

The doctrine of manhood and responsibility teaches not nihilism. It teaches absolute individuality. It does not teach a return to nothingness, as the goal and as the only ■satisfactory outcome of the bane and the evil of existence. On the contrary, it teaches a return to Godhood, as the goal and as the natural and inevitable outcome of living the life that exalts manhood and develops the Godhood latent in man. As the natural outcome of the beauty and the glory of existence, it anticipates Individualized God Consciousness — this, the goal, far from nihilism and lo,ss of identity in the Great Sea of Universal Substance !

In the life of those who accept the New Commandment as their standard, hate and other forms of destructive ness can have no place, for the reason that hate and kindred forms of destructiveness can accomplish nothing. No matter what demands may be made upon one, no matter how unreasonable or unjust, to hate those who press hard and cruel conditions upon him and to feel malice toward them, does not add ,strength to resist the demands and to surmount the obstacles placed in his way. This one point is the foundation argument — the basic reason — for not giving way to negative and destructive states of mind. Whereas — to repeat by stating the same thought affirmatively — by holding one's rnind positively and actively free from hate and ill-will toward the agents of undesirable measures, he gains marvellous strength and power, which may be used in resisting the demands and in surmounting the obstacles placed in his way. Hate and malice, being in themselves negative and evil, ally the soul in which they are held with the very forces that demand unreasonable things of him, and thereby he is weakened.

The true spirit of resistance is simply to consider the demands as wrong and not to comply, and yet to recognize that those who make the demand have not yet learned the Law, and therefore are not to be judged harshly for their point of view. The true spirit of resistance is firm in its refusal, but it is equally firm in maintaining the positive attitude of kindness and non-censure toward all parties involved.

Thus it is seen that hate and malice are never called for, and that good never comers from them. A summing up of all the strength of the being is necessary for emergencies. A love power that recognizes the good of existence and the right of choice, a love power that also gives to others the right of choice, the right to live their lives according to their standard — this is a requisite of the command, "Be a Man and thou mayst be a god." Firmness with one's self is demanded, not only the firmness that holds one true to one's own standard of right, but the firmness that refuses to interfere, even in thought and feeling, with the liberty of others. This is the attitude of mind that brings power ; and, though temporary suffering may come from it, such suffering actually brings greater power and greater manhood, and allies one more closely with the Godhead.

Furthermore, it must be remembered that to comply with an unjust demand may, for the time being, give freedom. But it is quite possible that this freedom and the consequent compliance with an unjust request may put the one granting it in a bondage extending through ages, and may even end in complete destruction of that which should have become, first of all, an individual, a Man, and, lastly, a god. For be it remembered that Godhood can never be reached except by the way of manhood and individuality.

In life, there are but two paths. The one is the path of negativeness and pessimism. It grows out of the belief that existence itself is evil and undesirable, and that the only way to become free from it is to comply with every request and every urge, and to offer no resistance whatever to them, no matter what their nature. It grows out of the mistaken notion that a machine-like acceptance of all conditions, a resignation that questions not, a submission that meekly acquiesces and patiently endures, ends eventually in a state of glory. According to the new doctrine, rather than leading to a state of glory, it lea^s to destruction and annihilation. For negativeness in itself is a state of destruction, because, through negativeness, everything in the system is poisoned, and even the good that might be therein, like the water in the stagnant pool, is become a poison. This state of being ends in nihilism; for it is the negative, nihilistic state. There is no strength, manhood is missing; and, where manhood is missing, Godhood cannot be found.

The other path is the path of positiveness and otpimism. Let there be no misconception regarding the words, positive and po ( sitiveness. Let it be emphasized that they do not refer to the state of mind that thinks itself alone in the right, nor do they refer to a pompous stubbornness nor to a disagreeable aggressiveness in pushing one's own claim or one's own views. These words refer to the attitude of mind that looks upon life and existence on this plane as beneficent in its purposes and in its possibilities. The positive attitude examines all things with open mind and heart, and calmly rejects that which savors of destructiveness. It determines its act,s by whether they promise to be of advantage followed by no disadvantage, by whether they promise good results attended by no detrimental effects. More than this, the positive attitude refuses to harbour destructive thought and feeling toward any person or condition. Thi,s is one of the most truly essential conditions of true positiveness. It is apt to be overlooked as a requisite of the positive attitude. That love and goodness and kindness in judgment of others, and generosity of spirit toward both men and things, are active, positive, strong, virile virtues, is a truth that needs pronounced and unsparing emphasis. These are the essentials of strength and manhood and honor. The day is past when brutality and cruelty and domineering aggressiveness are to be associated with the positive attitude of mind. Ever and always is the positive attitude optimistic and hopeful; for it is based on the law of constructiveness and growth.

This is the path that leads to manhood. In every unworthy impulse resisted, there is increased strength. The personality becomes the individuality, and eventually the individuality rises to Godhood.

The disappointments of life cannot be avoided by shunning the responsibilities of life. The life that undertakes to shun disappointments is a continual disappointment in itself. It is a life that is fundamentally negative. It is a reed-like life, which is blown this way and that by every gust of wind, by every opinion, never at peace with itself or with the work in which it is engaged, never finding happiness, but ever meeting disappointments and mfsery, full of censure and bitterness because conditions are not as the negative mind thinks they should be.

Such a life, though lived under the belief that it is honoring God, is, nevertheless, tending continually toward nihilism ( so long as it holds the negative point-of-view toward all things. With nihilism, there is neither responsibility nor reward, neither love nor hate. With nihilism, there is nothing except a long dream of nothingness, from which there is no awakening; for the latent power of the individual has passed on to the great chasm of nothingness, there to be reformed, it may be, and, possibly, to be made use of by another entity. The old being has passed away, it has been changed, not by the individual, but by the power of the Great Law, which either forces us to bring out all latent possibilities within us or does it for us. Note this point, however; when the Law does it for us, it takes the right cf individuality from us, and another being is given the opportunity of developing into individuality the Divine Spark that had been ours. This is the price, the reward, of nihilism.

Life itself is a responsibility. The sooner mankind comes to a recognition of this fact, the better it will be. The sooner this fact is understood, the sooner will a true, natural, divine, beautiful state of existence on this plane be ■brought about, wherein all will accept life as worthy and desirable. Responsibility is the way to manhood. Manhood is the way to Godhood and deific power and deific conciousness.

Chapter Two Heaven, The State Of Happiness, Must Be Found On Earth

Prevalent among all former schools of religion and philosophy has been the belief that earthly happiness is a dream, an impossibility, and that, even if it were possible for man to know happiness on earth, it would be a mortal sin to seek happiness. Contrary to this doctrine, the New Commandment teaches, absolutely and without qualification, that earthly happiness i,s a possibility, nay, even more, that it is a necessity, since those who do not find peace and happiness on this plane will not find it on any other plane of being, that for them peace and happiness do not exist.

There may be, however, different standard^ in regard to what constitutes peace and happiness. If the one criterion of happiness is earthly possessions and carnal sen,sedelights, then, the New Commandment agrees with the prevalent teaching that it is a snare and a delusion, a phantom of mortal mind, a chimera, even an impossibility. The New Commandment holds the standard that peace and happiness come through living in harmony with the laws of God and of Nature. When man lives in harmony with Nature and his God, the mind finds peace and the conscience gives rest. The two — a peaceful mind and a restful conscience — constitute^ true happiness. This type of happiness is independent of, and superior to, earthly possessions.

Happiness is a factor to which all men have right. In other wordjS, all men can find happiness if they seek for it according to the laws of true happiness. Peace and happiness are as natural to the true human being as are eating and sleeping; in fact, they form a part of his life, as do eating and sleeping. So interrelated, indeed, are happiness and the ordinary functions of life that one can not be thoroughly happy if normal functioning of physical organs is interfered with. Happiness depends in part upon good health.

Good health, nevertheless, which is simply the result or a natural life, is not the only means to happiness and peace. Even with good health, one cannot be entirely contented and at peace, unles ( s he 1 possesses a conscience that is free from accusation and a mind that follows the path toward freedom.

The slave, bound to a master, whether that. master be the church, the state, some other agency, or his own "selfish self," is not free. He can become free only by asserting the power of the inner Man and by exacting of himself obedience to the law of his own divine nature. The man that is afraid to think for himself, afraid to do what he thinks is right, afraid to assert himself, knows not happiness and peace. The path of freedom is the path to happiness.

The New Commandment exalts manhood and womanhood, and insists that, to become a complete being and to exemplify the divine attributes latent in him, was the one aim and design of the Father in sending forth His soulchildren to this plane in bodies of flesh. It is kere they gain experience. Here they choose whether to be of free mind or whether to be in bondage. No man has greater right to h^s ideals than has another. The right to ideas is not dependent upon external authority nor upon social distinction, but upon degree of wisdom and knowledge.

Ignorance is a hard and a most cruel taskmaster. There can be no freedom so* long as man hugs to his breast ignorance and an "all-wise" opinion. He who refuses to read and to study, who refuses to be a learner of

God and Nature, is a slave to ignorance and his own petty whims — a slave, iron-bound and shackled.

In knowledge and wisdom, gained through experience and study and application, in the proper use: of knowledge and wisdom — in these alone, i,s to be found health, freedom, peace, and happiness. Th^se, without exception, must be found by man here and now; for, in the life beyond, bereft of a physical body, man cannot find them.

Happiness is the birthright of man. If he does not find it, whose fault is it? All the laws of Nature proclaim that happiness is the heritage of man. The birds, though they may be killed the next moment, ,sing songs of joy, caring nothing for a future day or year, but living in the Now, happy, joyful, tuneful, because they live according to their nature, obeying the laws of their being, abusing no faculty, and being in bondage to no one in the bird kingdom.

Man has the same right and the same privilege. As the bird lives in the bird world, absolutely healthful because it obeys the laws of its kingdom, so man may live in the human kingdom, strong, vigorous, and healthful because he is obedient to the laws of his kingdom. As the bird forgets the past and thinks not of the future, and sings a song of happiness in the present, so may man in his world learn from the bird, wisdom, trust, and peace. The bird is wise in the wisdom of its kingdom, while man is ignorant in respect to himself and his plane of being; and, through ignorance, he becomes the slave both to himself and to others. Strange to say, a false philosophy and religion have made him believe that happiness is an error, a mortal sin, a jsomething not intended for man in this world, something, which, however, he may gain in the next world as a reward for denying himself happiness in thi,s life. Such a religion forgets that, in all things, man must make a beginning, and that this world is the world of beginnings, and that it may also be the world of endings, provided the beginning is made here and now.

An error, indeed, is it to believe that the desire for earthly happiness is a chimera that lures man on to destruction, and leads him on to error and ,sin, and that, if continually held, will force the soul of man to return to earth again and again until it is free from the desire. The desire for happiness is simply the desire for peace and perfection. No man can be fully perfect until he is entirely happy. Nor can one reach entire happiness until he has reached perfection. The desire for happiness is not an error or a sin. Yet equally true is it that the desire for happiness grows and changes, expands and modifies itself, as man advances toward perfection. Ultimate happiness and ultimate perfection are identical.