Spiritual science

Front matter

Class __^J5-il^5"

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CQEXRIGHT DEPOSE

Contents

Page

S. S. Symbol ii

Chapters

Preface

The purpose of the author in writing this hook is to give to the world spiritual truth from beyond the veil. Every man loves his Creator^ and within him has the desire for eternal life. Every man has a right to know the truth.

The author has studied many years and received many revelations which he knows to he truth y in harmony with the eternal law of Infinite Intelligence i The purpose of this hook is to teach truth. We can harmonize all things with truth.

May you read with profit, study with understanding, and comprehend with a new consciousness the real purpose of life. May the blessings of eternity go with you forever.

Remember that God is God, and mankind His children.

OUVER LORAINE) WrOUGHTON.

Chapter I. THE BEGINNING

There is but one God, the Creator of the Universe J reflecting Life, Love, Light, and Lavu,

The beginning is to find ourselves; then we can know that God is God, and mankind His children.

There are many theories regarding man's advent into this world, but laying this question aside for the present, we are sure we live, with power to think, move, and act, and we must learn how to think and how to live before we can know how and why we came and where we are to go.

Many teachers, when discussing life's problems, commence with the premise that somewhere there is an Intelligence who created all things.

We will commence our study of the problems of life at the point which we now occupy, and build out until we view the entire universe.

I ask you to go with me slowly, earnestly, and carefully, knowing that in your soul you desire to know the truth, and assuring you that when you know the truth, it will make you free. But remember that freedom carries with it the responsibility of knowledge.

The first question that most people desire answered was asked by Job: '7/ a man die, shall he live again?'* Many who think they have solved this question cease to care whether there is a God or not, or proceed to create a God to suit their preconceived ideas of a future life, and govern their conduct by a dogma which this self-created god has given them. This attitude reflects the common error of human mind, which is selfishness.

Religion has always been founded on the belief of eternal life; but that is not enough — we may know. It is our purpose to teach men how to know themselves, and that life is eternal. When we know that life is eter-

SPIRITUAL SCIKNCB. 25

nal, our next step is to learn how to gain that life in all its fulness. Our chief purpose in this world is to learn to live, and thus gain eternal life. We must sacrifice everything that would tend to deny us a sufficient knowledge of ourselves and our powers, which enables us to think and work, so as to entitle us to be numbered among those who have earned eternal life. Gathering this knowledge is life's work. We must not be radical nor egotistic, but constantly and earnestly seek the truth.

We cannot accomplish enough in this plane of consciousness to teach us all truth, for that is a work of eternity; but we must attain sufficient knowledge while in the flesh to be prepared for that life which comes after physical death. We must have a lifepurpose and a purpose in life. We must learn the law of sacrifice; we must learn the law of service; we must be born again; we must become children of truth; we must learn to keep the commandments of truth; we must bring ourselves into the consciousness of understanding to know the law of living, and abide it. True living consists in knowing God's law and keeping His commandments. We cannot reach the higher knowledge of Spiritual Science unless we know the law and live it.

The most perfect example of all who have overcome is the Christ. His life's purpose was to teach men the way. He was a prophet, expected by those who had gained the knowledge of Spiritual Science. He lived in the flesh just as we live in the flesh — surrounded by physical law — and the first indication we have of His life's purpose was when He said, ''Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business f' He realized at the early age of twelve years that there is but one purpose in life, and that is to render service to our fellow-men. We must make life a reality now to make it a reality hereafter. Duty cannot be found in the yesterday nor the to-morrow. We must recognize the law which makes men great in proportion to the good they do. This is the law of compensation. Compensation is life.

There are only two conditions of the human mind. The first is truth. Truth is the consciousness of reality. The second is error. Error is a misconception of truth.

As we journey through life, each act and deed must conform with the law of truth;, otherwise we fail. We must be able to discern truth or to point out error. What we think does not change truth, what we are does not change truth; what we believe does not change truth. Experience is a severe teacher. It comes through sacrifice and service. Through the law of sacrifice we learn to discern truth. Through the law of service we learn to discard error. If we build our lives upon truth, we will unfold. If we set our hearts upon truth, we will grow. Blind belief will not sustain us. Right belief is the highway to reality. Each individual must work out his own salvation by hving the laws of truth, with faith and understanding. Knowledge comes by removing the veil between our understanding and the true understanding — removing the dross from the gold — uncovering truth.

This process of development must harmonize with the scientific laws of life; there is no other way. We must begin where we find ourselves. We must use the knowledge we have to gather knowledge. Infinite Intelhgence will not give us more than we can use, and if we fail to properly use what we have, it will be taken away.

He who fails to live up to his intelligence is not true to himself, and will be cast out of his own. He is selling his birthright for a mess of pottage. It is our privilege to get full value out of ourselves. If we fail to do this, Truth, Knowledge, Wisdom, Sincerity, Purity, and Power will escape us, and our real selves will be sacrificed. This is idolatry. Idolatry is to give up the genuine for the counterfeit.

We are living men, possessing minds and souls, and have the opportunity to know the truth and its laws. To waste our strength now, attempting to solve the source of life while we are yet bound in the flesh under physical law, impedes our progress and consumes the power within us that is able to help us build perfection; after which there will be no problems to solve.

In the beginning, faith must be our support and comfort. Imperfection can not explain perfection. Error can not explain truth. When truth is established, perfection is attained, and error is not found in its consciousness. That which contains error is not truth. Truth can not be destroyed. Error does not exist outside of our idea. We must begin to build with the knowledge we now possess. We know — and it is a part of our consciousness to know — that we live, think, act, and have our being. To be, or not to be — to live, or not to live, is then the problem. If we build on truth, we discover our real selves ; if we build on error, the real self becomes lost in its confusion.

For us the beginning is now. We must patiently await our awakening through faith, thought, and right living.- If we are in error, we must awaken the consciousness of truth; if we are in truth, we are awakened, and have reached the consciousness to know our source, our purpose, and its fulfillment. We have that peace which comes from within. There are four important laws which must be the foundation of all the progress we make from now throughout eternity :

I St. Ourselves — the law of Preservation. 2d. Our fellow-men — the law of Charity. 3d. Our duties — the law of Service. 4th. Our reward — the law of Compensation.

We must know ourselves. We must learn to think. We must learn that thoughts become realities. We must learn that knowledge is power. We must learn to properly direct our thoughts and power when attained. Some men labor more to accomplish nothing than others to build a city. Let us consider the things within that are powerful. We are either positive or negative. We are either intelHgent or dull. We are either clean or sloven. We are either energetic or lazy. We are either reliable or unreliable. We are either willful or weak. We are either selfish or unselfish. We are either cautious or imprudent. We are either strong or weak. We are either healthy or sick. We are either thoughtful or ignorant. We are either wise or foolish. We kre either sincere or egotistic. We are either religious or irreverent. We are either spiritual or material.

The positive is the true condition; the negative, error. All life is positive. To be positive, we must understand. We must not be eccentric; but it should be the hope of every man to become balanced in all. To him who overcomes shall be given life everlasting. To attain self -balance is righteousness. God has made the law; the keystone is the Mosaic Commandments, the archway is the New Commandments.

It matters not what your belief may be, you cannot avoid these laws and preserve your eternal fitness; which comes by fasting and prayer. To fast is to eliminate the unnecessary; to pray is to constantly determine to attain the necessary. We should wait until spiritual power is unable to supply our needs before calling upon God, who has furnished us more than we are using. We should be ashamed to ask God to do our work. The problem is ours. The victory will be ours; but woe unto him who shall fail. ''There shall he weeping and wailing and gnashing oj teeth'' ; while ''the meek shall inherit the earth.''

Knowledge is the power of eliminating unreality and uncovering reality by positive action. God has given you all you need with which to build a perfect man. If you act the prodigal son and waste your strength in riotous living, casting your pearls before swine, following the fancies of supposed material pleasures, you worship in idolatry; you have sacrificed reality for unreality; you will be brought before the court of God a bankrupt; and life will be taken from you who have not and given to him who has. This is God's law, which is automatic and eternal. We must take an inventory of ourselves — be weighed in the balance and found wanting — befoie we can know our own measure.

Understanding where to build and where to destroy is the science of life. When we weigh ourselves by scientific analysis, we will find so much to do that we will see as much good in our neighbor as in ourselves. When we learn to think as we would have others think, we will have no time to find fault with our neighbor; we will be too busy preparing our own temple — building a house sufficiently cleansed to harbor spirituality, when our consciousness becomes awakened to higher development.

Thus to understand how, when, and where to build, and what to destroy, we must be able to analyze ourselves, and ascertain our relationship to those things which surround us. Begin with the fundamental principle and premise: that we are sure we have life, with power to think, act, and move; with charity and direction toward those whom we see about us in God's image and likeness. As we expand our expression of thought and look beyond us, we can see that all is Life, and Life is all ; all is Light, and Light is all; all is Love, and Love is all ; all is Law, and Law is all.

Life is existence; Love, to recognize that others exist; Lights to understand; and LaWy to apply.

As we analyze ourselves thoroughly, we observe that we are creatures of intelligence, and that intelligence is a law of our existence; and as we observe the great field of Nature and the universe about us, we find within it the reflection of a plan which appeals to our intelligence; and as we reason, compare, and analyze, we must conclude that intelligence is behind the universal plan; and that this intelligence reflects Life as we see it in the universe, and Love, because we find charity between and among all things, and Light, or understanding to sustain these things, and Law, or direction to guide them.

Thus we find ourselves prepared to conclude that the principle of intelligence, wisdom, and power to create Life, Low, Light, and Law must contain Life, Love, Light, and Law. This power to create intelligence such as we find within otirselves must be intelligence; for certainly it would be foolish to conclude that non-intelligence could create intelligence, and we are forced to observe that mankind is not self -creative. The fowl eats the corn and grows feathers, the horse eats the corn and grows hair, the hog eats the corn and grows bristles, and the cow eats the corn and grows horns. In this law man has no part. In Nature there are many instances where animals live upon the same kind of food, but manifest entirely different forms of life.

We also know that in plant life different plants growing in the same- soil manifest entirely different natures, and some people think they require the different forms of plant life as food to maintain health. Surely man has no part in the laws manifesting animal and plant life; neither has he aught to do with their supply, but he can cultivate them. So can he cultivate himself by right thought; and his supply, which comes from within as well as from all life, is unlimited to attain ' truth.

We can go a step further and say that there can be but one Creator, and this Creator is Life, Love, Light, and Law; because that which is created, the universe, reflects Life, Love, Light, and Law, Thus our first premise: God is Life, Love, Light, and Law\ and our first tenet : There is hut one God, the Creator of the universe, reflecting Life, Love, Light, and Law, To comphehend these principles is the beginning of understanding, and perfect understanding accepts God. But Job said, ^'Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?'' To acquire knowledge and be able to impart it to others is an achievement of a lifetime. ''God said. Let there be light: and there was light.'' Light and darkness, knowledge and ignorance, are continually before us. To acquire understanding, we must turn our faces toward the light.

The progress of the world has been marked by great characters and great souls, who have sacrificed all for knowledge, that they might impart it to others; yet many people accept the wisdom and understanding of these great minds as they would swallow a prune seed — they never get the kernel; to get the kernel, we must crack the shell; it matters little how we crack the shell if we get the meat, but we cannot crack the shell without faith.

Thus, things which we find in Ancient Script are not true because we find them recorded, but better might we say that they are recorded because they are the true testimony of life or reality.

Thus the beginning is to prepare ourselves to gather these truths and bring them into our own understanding. Preparation consists in bringing ourselves into proper attitude to receive, cleanse the body, open the mind, and purify thought; then determine to sacrifice all for truth, and decide to apply what we learn. Eliminate that which you cannot use — that which does not build — and center your forces for action upon that which you desire; then bring yourself into the form of service, and attract good by doing good. The test of truth is demonstration. A thing that is true will work. A principle that is true can be demonstrated. Think, express, apply, demonstrate — this is the scale with which to measure progress. When you succeed in demonstrating, give out that which you have received. As you live the knowledge you have, day by day you will gather knowledge as you go. When you give out truth, you will receive truth in return — this means growth; when you give out error, you receive nothing in return — this means death. Never be too old to learn. Age is only relative, and experience only comparative. He who is too old to learn is already dead, but does not know it.

The instruments that we must use to gather knowledge are logic, reason, and analysis. We must learn to divide things into their simple parts — to compare one with the other, determine their values, and establish their purpose by active service. To do this, we must keep an open mind, a healthy body; be courageous and steadfast, never swerving from the path of duty and righteousness. Steadfastness means to ever keep an even mind. The result will be an equal development of all your talents, forces, and powers — bringing yourself into harmony with the laws of truth. Education is a process of elimination — not a process of addition. Righteousness consists of more than being good; it includes the acquiring and demonstrating of power and better achievement; broadens the ability and opens the path to better and bigger things: the discovering of truth and the elimination of error; the development of understanding, which brings power and authority.

And behold one came and said unto Him, ''What good thing shall I doy that I may have eternal life?'' And He said unto him, ''Why callest thou me good? There is none good hut one, that is, God: hut if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments,'* To begin aright, you must come into the kingdom of God. A government, to be of value, must be founded upon a law of authority — must be able to demand and enforce obedience to that law, and must be able to protect the citizenship of obedience. If we expect the protection of citizenship in the kingdom of God, we must abide the law of that kingdom. You are not subject to the law of any country unless you reside within that country. So it is when we neglect the laws of God, we put ourselves outside of his kingdom. God has ordained the law to support His kingdom. When we support His kingdom, he will support us.

So Christ answered and said: ''Thou shalt do no murder; Thou shall not commit adultery; Thou shalt not steal; Thou shalt not hear false witness; Honor thy father and thy mother, and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. If thou wilt he perfect, go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shall have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me,'' And the young man went away sorrowing, because he had much of this world's goods. He thought he had been keeping the commandments, but when the test was applied to demonstrate whether he loved his neighbor as he should, he was unable to act; he preferred to depend upon material law for his support, rather than to come into the kingdom of God. He did not abide the law, therefore he was not entitled to protection and citizenship under the law, and he went away sorrowing.

We have this lesson taught in the illustration of the man who had two sons: ''A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to-day in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: hut afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not^ Which of these should be entitled to pay? If you understand this lesson, go and teach all nations. The responsibility rests upon you.

Thus we conclude that the beginning is to find the way of salvation; to learn that ''the

Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want''; that there is but one God, the Creator of the Universe, reflecting Life, Love, Light, and Law; that man is a child of the perfect God.

SPIRITUAI. SCIJENCE. 43

Chapter II. PHYSICAL MAN

Nature is constant testimony of God's reflection of the Divine Principle,

Man can be divided into three component individuals, which are the Physical man, the Mental man, and the Spiritual man.

The physical man is our first inheritance. It is in harmony with natural laws that we should attain perfect physical development.

Physical power, force, and action are the instruments which we niust use to manifest and perform our objective duties — the common every-day things of life. It is the little things in life that count. To enjoy our physical inheritance, we must claim it and use it for good purpose. That which is used for aught hut good is subject to the law of self-destruction. You cannot commingle powder and fire without explosion; you cannot mix physical force with abuse, misuse, and neglect without bringing about its destruction.

In sustaining health, it is not physical structure which we must deny; we cannot conserve that which does not exist; but we must deny the erroneous attitude which reflects sickness, and affirm that truth, structure y and life cannot become sick; realizing that erroneous thoughts are sickness, reflecting the ills of ignorant mind. To heal the physical body of any erroneous condition, we must realize that the body in health is reality and the creation of Divine Intelligence. To deny that the physical body exists is to deny God and His most perfect work.

Physical structure is a natural phenomenon and we observe it in many forms of life. Nature is a physical manifestation and a constant testimony of physical structure when harmonized with truth. Physical structure is real; it is God's idea. Error fails to reflect physical structure and destroys itself. Physical structure is not error, but is substance. Physical structure is the phenomena of life manifesting the principle of life. When we conceive truth, we become order, purity, harmony, reflecting the principle of the Father of all life.

Misconception of physical structure is error, death, matter, inharmony, confusion, and disorder. Physical structure and health is truth, life, reality, and order. Physical ignorance and sickness is matter, confusion, and disorder. Understanding physical structure and physical laws is the manifestation of truth, and that which brings stability, control, and command.

Thus physical structure is not matter, while material disorder is matter. The problem is to command and control the physical manifestation and overcome lack of control and lack of the true manifestation. We must first learn to keep the physical law and command the physical law before we are able to claim our physical inheritance, which is strength, health, and endurance.

The manifestation of physical structure is the manifestation of the mental man reflected through the physical man. If the reflection is sickness, disorder, and lack of control, it represents a mental man of misunderstanding, misconception, an^d error. If the physical structure in its manifestation reflects health, it is the phenomena of the mental man in truth and order. Health is the thermometer and index indicating whether or not the physical law is being met in thought.

When you lose control of the physical man , reflection will appear in health, and if health is not present, your indicator is testifying the results of violation of the physical laws, which must be adjusted by right thinking and righteous conduct before health can be restored. Thus health is the compass of righteous thought and conduct, as a final rule, and when man is not healthy he is guilty of ignorant thought and error and must correct it.

The physician deals mostly with the physical man and physical laws, and should not be condemned because he may, through surgical operation, mental or chemical treatment, remove physical conditions which the patient is not strong enough to overcome because of his failure to think right. However, it may be safely said that those who think right and understand the operation and application of physical law will require no physician. The physical body, under the direction of an understanding mind, is the greatest chemical laboratory in the universe. But this understanding is a process of growth and development of the individual in accord with his application of the laws of truth. Denying matter is not denying substance, structure, and life. Neither can the affirmation of truth admit matter, which is confusion.

Matter is that which appears real to ignorant mind, because of the disorder of those elements which, when properly arranged, manifest truth. We may correct error, but we cannot overcome truth, because truth ever was and ever will be. Error appears to exist only because we misconceive truth. Error has no law unto itself except confusion. Truth is ever eternal and permanent. Physical truth is harmonizing the physical law. Error disorganizes our physical law.

The first mission of man is to learn and then apply the law of physical structure. Substance in proper action, under the direction of mind, is life, and life is substance in action performing its mission of preparation.

Everything we accomplish is only a stepping-stone to our next inheritance, and the first must always be sacrificed for the second. We ^sacrifice our food that we may have blood, we sacrifice our blood that we may have brain tissue, we sacrifice our brain tissue that we may learn to think, and we sacrifice our thoughts that we may form ideas. Thus we find that to attain the physical law is only to sacrifice it for a higher law. Health is only a means to an end. We must sacrifice our strength that we may perform our mission; but we must not cast our pearls before swine and consume our forces in riotous living; if we do this, we have burned our oil before the coming of the bridegroom, and we will have no oil left with which to light our lamps when opportunity appears before us.

Mental man has no conception of life outside of its phenomena and manifestations. All that we perceive through our mental senses in mineral; vegetable, and animal life, including mankind, are the physical manifestations and phenomena of the Life Principle. When the Life Principle appears in all its force, these forms of life manifest perfectly. When the Life Principle partially appears, these forms of life operate and manifest imperfectly, and in them is found blight, disease, and decay, and lack of physical structure. When the Life Principle disappears, these forms of life immediately cease to manifest. The materials out of which these various forms of phenomena are made manifest to the senses are not permanent in their texture and existence, while the principle of manifestation is permanent. The physical body is constantly preparing and using material substance. We cannot operate on the physical plane except throughl^substance.

There is no diflerence between material substance in the physical body and material substance out of the physical body, after the Life Principle disappears.

Denying matter is not denying substance and structure. Affirming truth is not denying substance, structure, and life. Life is substance in action; serving, fulfilling its mission. Life is active, positive; matter is inert, negative. Substance in action is phenomena, expressions, and demonstrations. Phenomena are never present in the absence of life and action. Life, mind, spirit, and action reflecting through substance manifest phenomena in their various forms, beauties, conditions, and degrees. Thus we may say that mental man has no conception of life outside of its phenomena. He cannot conceive of the plant except as it manifests — . reflecting through substance; he cannot conceive of a universe except as it manifests — reflecting through substance; he has no conception of animal life except as it manifests through substance; he has no conception of

God except as He manifests through substance. Still, as we gather the dry dust upon the earth and find that it is dead and lifeless until it is mixed with moisture, warmed by the sunlight, and given breath of life by the atmosphere; it will not grow the tender plants nor bring into blossom the beautiful rosebud — so can we know that substance, unless it is harmonized with life and action and the force and power of mind and spirit, will not manifest in the kingdom of mankind and bring forth a child of that kingdom.

Thus physical structure is phenomena, action, life, and truth. Material inertia is eri;or and death. Physical structure in sickness is the phenomena of ignorant mind, error, and matter. Physical structure in health is the phenomena of perfect mind, truth, and order.

Thus we find that Love, Light, and Law in action is Life, Faith, and Truth. This is the key unlocking our first inheritance and the power commanding the physical man.

Unless we attain and are able to use our first inheritance, we need have no hope of gaining our second inheritance. ''To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree oj lifer