thomas parker boyd - prospectus of life in the university of hard knocks (1920)

7/28/2019 Thomas Parker Boyd - Prospectus of Life in the University of Hard Knocks (1920)

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Prospectus of Life in the University of Hard Knocks

Thomas Parker Boyd, D.D., PhD.

Lifes Curriculum

Life begins with a question mark, and it should end with an exclamation point! Our business here is toknow the realities, to accept them as such, to interpret lifes meaning by the facts, and to adjust ourthinking and living to that meaning. In this way we open the whole field of knowledge. From thissearch for knowledge we develop certain final statements of truth, which are inclusive and conclusive,if not self-evident, which we call categories.

The first category is Being, embracing all that we know or may know of life, of substance, spiritual ormaterial. The second is Reality, embracing the truth in the unconditioned Absolute, and the relative.The third category is that ofQuantity, which includes the truth of unity, plurality and totality. Thefourth one is the category ofQuality, having reference to reality, negation, and limitation. The fifth isRelation, embracing substance and attribute, cause and effect, action and reaction. The sixth is

Modality, embracing possibility, actuality, and necessity.

These are loose adaptations of Aristotle and Kants famous categories. We accept the categoricalimperative for all life in our study, which is the absolute claim of moral law to our obedience, the legalsupremacy of the right, as revealed by scientific knowledge and as asserted by conscience or the moralsense, over human life. We have not followed these categories in any formal way, but have always keptthem in view while blazing the trail in a wilderness of opinions, where so many have pioneered, butfew have left any helpful landmarks.

We intend to interpret life according to scientific principles, to present obligation in a rationalphilosophy, to outline a conception of God, and formulate a destiny based upon science andphilosophys dealings with our experience, rather than past traditions. We do not disregard or

discredit these traditions when they have any content of proven value, but use them as side lights tointerpret life. We seek to explain only one phase of life: If there is a God, why do so many troublesloom so large? The very inadequacy of the answers to this question has made many despair of findinga suitable answer.

The origin, the course, and the end of troubles resolve into a ministry whose outcome is beneficent. Aswe ponder the course of human development, the furnace of trouble has played a mighty part in theworlds evolution from chaos up to form, order and beauty, from animalism, to savagery, tobarbarism, and finally up to civilization. It has been our one chief means of extracting the clinkers andslag from human nature.

The scientific observer beholds the sparkle the fast-flying emery wheel of trouble polishing somerough diamond of spirituality. We see pig iron refined into finely-tempered spring steel by heat,

chemical action and heavy hammering. We behold the entire universe, which is ultimately oneSpiritual Substance, and the fundamental law that raising lower energy forms to a higher expressionrequires heat, stress, and eons of time to reach the stage of soil and fruit. This material world processcorresponds to the action of pain and trouble in lifting human nature from animalism to Godlikeness.

All things in this universe are incorporated into a University of Hard Knocks, into which wematriculate ourselves at birth. It offers no correspondence course, no proxies. Attendance iscompulsory. We all begin as pupils and end sometime, somewhere as masters. Life adapts the courseto each pupil.

Just how we will have trouble depends upon our heredity, environment, temperament, and otherfactors that lend a personal bias. One takes his schooling in one allopathic knockdown dose ofcalamities, while another gets hers in little homeopathic pellets of annoyance. We may not alwayschoose how we will receive the lessons life seems to adjust them to us automatically. However, wemay choose how well we learn them, and how soon we may graduate. It is just possible that we may, as


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many have done, suggest improvements in the course of instruction to the Absolute Wisdom, ourteacher, only to find that He retires into "ways that are not our ways, and thoughts that are not ourthoughts."

Sometimes we throw down our books and quit school over night. Yet in the morning we find the tutorsof pain and trouble remain, and that school keeps right on. Daily we add new words to our vocabulary.

Every day an angel turns a new page in the great book of life, and we find a new set of words to learn.Monday we spell "joy," and Tuesday we wonder why we find lusterless "grief." Wednesday we learn tospell "love," and too often we next learn "disappointment." Friday we spell "happiness," and anotherday we read "sorrow." One day we spell "wealth," the next day we meet the hatchet-faced teacher,"want." Some words we have learned repeatedly, until they are our very own. Often we rebel and feellike quitting school, only to find that we cannot until we have at least learned to take good and badwith equal good grace.

Often we worry about tomorrows lesson. We find that the words that troubled our thoughts anddreams are not on the page at all, but new and strange ones. When will we learn that "sufficient untothe day is the spelling lesson thereof?" We would go to school with a happier attitude and come hometo a refreshing rest if we were content to learn todays lesson. As life proceeds, we learn at length thatsome great, loving and wise purpose lies back of all our experience, directs our schooling, and

interprets our thoughts and actions according to their spirit, rather than their form.

This course is personally conducted. It is yours while you are taking it, and the results will be yourswhen you are promoted. You begin as a pupil, you develop into a student, you are promoted to ateacher, and you unfold into a master. It matters not whether you finish the course in this world.Having entered, you may not quit until you finish the course. The illustrious ones of every age arethose who, without shrinking, have taken good and bad alike with full understanding of their purposeand results, and have passed upward into divine or cosmic consciousness.

Chapter 1. The College of Science, Natural and Otherwise

Sciences function is to discover, describe and register facts regarding the ways of being and ofhappenings. It finds events occurring in a certain way, and formulates the hypothesis that all similarfacts occur in that way. This hypothesis, which explains that class of occurrences, becomes known as alaw.

Science furnishes us with the great hypotheses of gravitation, the undulatory theory of light, theelectronic theory of physics, the "Big Bang" hypothesis of cosmology, evolution, etc. Since thesetheories of operation were the best explanations of the facts in a given series of events, observersaccepted them as the law of procedure in their respective realms. Similarly, by scientifically observingthe effects of various methods of directing mental and moral action for the individual and societyswelfare, we have evolved a knowledge of the laws governing mind, morals and conduct.

Science, concerning itself with matter and material happenings, gathers a mass of facts, classifiesthem and discovers how they happen. Certain axioms have arisen from this scientific study, valuableself-evident truths, such as, "Out of nothing, nothing comes. There is a cause for every effect. Nothingjust happens." The laws of matter apply to all material things, no matter in what form they exist. Thelaw of gravitation acts on the human body, just as it does on a piece of iron, and no amount of thinkingcan suspend this law.

The nutrients and methods of metabolism, or change, are similar in all living forms. Oxygen, aloneand in combination with other chemicals, is indispensable to all material life. Water is a large elementin all living bodies.

Under the law of the conservation of energy, theform of these bodybuilding factors may change, butthe substance must be present. Literally, "No man by merely taking thought can add a cubit to his

stature." Pure thinking alone can no more build the body than can feeding the body train the


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mentality without mental activity and "thought sustenance." Elijah, hungry, deserted his duty, buttwelve hours of sleep and two square meals made him the lionhearted prophet again.

The body must have a proper ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, with water and minerals, andno mental or spiritual substitutes exist for these. Science determines that the mental powers developthrough contact with the material world, acting upon it and reacting to it.

The brain, the instrument of mental activity and power, reaches its maximum weight about the age offorty. Then it begins to decline in weight and efficiency, unless kept constantly active by feeding onnew truths, wrestling with new problems, and seeking new achievement, in which case it constantlyincreases in power. No material nor spiritual substitute exists for mental exercise in the realm of truthand fact. A law of the mind exists, just as does a law of the body.

The development of the spiritual life, while largely influenced by the bodys condition, through thenervous system and the mind in their contacts with the world of material things, cannot depend oneither material or mental things for its sustenance. The soul must find its nourishment in a realm ofpurely Spiritual Substance, and be sustained by discourse and communion with an ultimate SpiritualBeing.

Beyond the study of such exercises and their effects, science has made no explicit pronouncement asto the essence of the realm of Spirit. However the spiritual activities and their effects warrant a cause,just as do movements and effects elsewhere.

The ideas of God, the souls immortality, the rational exercise of prayer, the effects of faith, hope andlove in producing character, all stand upon the same logical base as do the theories of gravitation,evolution and other great scientific doctrines. Their fundamental principles are identical, and theirmanner of proof is similar. They best explain the facts to which they relate.

The material method of science is one of exactness by weight and measure. It has the facts in hand. Instudying the mind, the method deals with mental action and the results left behind as the mindproceeds from the self as a center. In spiritual things it depends upon secondary evidences, for

example, faith produces peace and content. These are determined and reported by the actions andexperiences of those who exercise and enjoy them.

A difficulty common to scientific study of mental and spiritual activities is that the same stimulus failsto affect two people in the same way, mentally or emotionally. They do not see or feel alike. Also, thereliability of their states and experiences is not always dependable, especially their reports andexplanations of the causes. Finally, the difficulty of reproducing their experiences makes it necessaryfor science to generalize by studying the spiritual activities of humanity at large. We may take noindividualexperience as a criterion.

Science also discovers spiritual occurrences and experiences that lie outside the methods of materialactivity. It discovers the ego, or self, experiencing and perceiving activities outside the range of the fivesenses, and the realm of three-dimensional activity. It therefore posits, because of these facts, a fourthdimension as a possible field of activity and experience, such as Jesus used when he sent a vibrationacross a space to heal the noblemans son. It also posits a sixth sense of universal power of perception:Elisha, the prophet, saw the hosts of limitless Power on his side, ready to help at Dothan. Jesus sawNathaniel around a material corner.

Science, from tabulated facts, recognizes that character, intangible but very real, arises from suchspiritual activity. It also recognizes that we can grade and classify character, every individual form oflife eventually finds its own level. Every person comes or goes to his own place according to a certain"affinity" or spiritual gravitation.

Science, applying the law of the conservation of energy, recognizes that all seen things have come fromthe unseen, and that they may be resolved again into the unseen. Since the source and goal is unseen,

it follows that supplies from the unseen constantly maintain all life and all that pertains to life, whichGod sustains through the channels of activity, called laws.


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Science reaches the dignity of Divine Science when, by using the scientific method, they observe thatall things proceed from a first great Spiritual Cause, whose methods of operation are uniform, whoseeffects are unfailing. The most potent agencies are those nearest the purely spiritual. Those that wecall mental take their place lower down in the scale, while material forms of energy are still lessrefined. Yet, they are divine energies, adapted to use in their respective realms, as in Ezekiel 47:12 it issaid, "the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine."

Applying scientific methods to the problem of health, we can study the incidents and experiences inthe careers of historys great healers, and deduce certain general principles. The first principle is thatall disease comes from the violation of law, technically called "sin." Thus, all healing, technically called"righteousness" or "wholeness," comes by a return to keeping the law.

Science finds many diseases and ills of character purely material in their origin. Wounds, fractures,lesions, infections, auto-intoxications and abnormal forms of cell growth are in some way violations ofmaterial law. We cure them by faithful obedience to the law that we have broken, and by usingmaterial agencies, with a recognized specific action. Science recognizes a large class of lifes ills, whicharise from wrong thinking habits or violations of mental laws, which we must cure by reeducating themind in the proper methods and thought habits.

Many ills and afflictions, both of mind and body, grow from the violation of moral and spiritual laws,whose cure must logically depend on the sufferer being restored to harmony with the sources of moraland Spiritual Power and Life. The great Healer himself stated the principle of all these classes of illsarising from violation of the law, and their cure being in keeping the law: "Thy sins be forgiven thee" a declaration that invariably attended and was understood in the injunction, "Be thou made whole."So extensive was this truth that the Master Healer of the Ages made it apply to every form of ill.

Facts gathered and classified by scientific method reveal the common method of all healers, actively toinvolve, or implicitly to depend upon the faith of the individual who sought healing, or his friendsfaith. Without this faith, even the Master himself "could do no mighty works."

The same scientific analysis of healing reveals that faith was merely an instrumentin the healing.

The patient must exercise implicit faith, no matter whether the things that he believes are true or theperson in whom he trusts is genuine. Faith is the means of arousing within the patient powers that,operating through the channels or laws of heath, restores the sick one. The same analysis of healersmethods reveals a spiritual quality in the healer and in the patient, which proceeds from some unseen,limitless reservoir of health and power.

Some mighty practitioners of healing, such as Elijah and Jesus of Nazareth, frequently relied on theelement of physical contact and the use of material agencies. Elijah used the working principle of themodern artificial respirator to restart a boys breathing. Jesus touched blind eyes, deaf ears, paralyzedbodies, put spittle upon the tongue. He anointed a blind mans eyes with clay, which by the time hehad traveled to the pool of Siloam and scrubbed off this sticky mess, had by manipulation thoroughlystimulated the circulation and nervous activity in his eyes, besides arousing his faith and expectation.We observe the same practice of material contacts in the experiences of Paul, Peter and James. Similar

scientific analysis reveals the fact that a healer can send healing vibrations without the use of oralword or direct contact with the patient, as we see in the healing of the noblemans son and thecenturions servant.

The scientific deduction from these facts is that the use of material agencies alone is sufficient in manycases of purely physical ill to set in operation the healing powers that work through physical law. Rightthinking, established in many mental disorders, will restore the sufferer to normal mental balance andexperience. The restoration of harmony with the Spiritual Source of Life the Infinite God willproduce health commonly arising from spiritual disharmony. In other cases, combining two or allthese classified powers will prove effective where one might fail. Finally, whatever agencies may beused, we can trace their source to that region of perfect health from which One spoke and said, "I amthe Lord who heals thee."

In its last scientific analysis, therefore, health is a spiritual matter, the result of spiritual powershaving their source in the Absolute and operating through every agency which embodies the energy of


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the great "I AM." Similarly, we may deduce the truth that every good for us, whether it is peace,harmony, power or abundance, arises from our relationship to the invisible and Spiritual Reality, andit does manifest according to the measure of our conscious realization of that fact.

If knowledge of the truth gives us such wonderful privilege, then it also follows that ignorance of thetruth imposes our only limitation. The supreme test of scientific method is that thinking does not

make anything true. We can know only that which we have put to the test. The only way to graduatefrom the U.H.K. is to know things byproving them.

We are steadily moving back toward the Power House. We are still waiting for some master who shallgive us the formula by which we may unlock the atom and set free its vast power to replace our clumsyefforts at power, using the fast diminishing stores of coal, gas and oil.

Likewise the whole world is waiting the author of the Principia of the Spiritual Life, giving us itspowers, principles and laws so that the spoken word of truth shall become the living word of theChrist. Its miracle-working power shall banish the physical miseries of humanity by the finger of God,and make men whole through spiritual realization. The day is here the glory of its dawn is upon us.

Chapter 2. The College of Arts

The liberal art is a skillful adaptation and application of means to an end. In substance, it is a systemof rules and methods to simplify how we do certain actions. Applying the term "liberal" in its largestsense to art, we open the way continually to readjust to the rules to meet new conditions as they arise.Seven liberal arts open the field of scientific achievement for spiritual interpretation and applicationto theFine Art of Being Well, Happy and Prosperous.

Grammar

The first art is grammar, which is powerful expression through words. The grammar of the AbsoluteLife has one tense the present, expressing itself as "I AM THAT I AM." In human life it has three the future, the present, and the past. We see the working method of the tenses of the spiritual life inthe words, "Thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass." A conditioned present, in which certain thingswere done as prescribed, follows this future, and the record of the past reads, "And it came to pass."

The grammar of the spiritual life rises to the dignity of a fine art when we move its rules andexpressions past the textbook stage, and embody them in the personal pronoun I am. I can. I will thus rising from principles and formulas to the Personality of God in humanity. All of the moods,potential and otherwise, reach their highest expression in the indicative I am. I can. I do. I love. Ibelieve, etc. and, in the imperative "Go thy way. Be thou made whole. Take up thy bed and walk."

The grammar of the spiritual life is imperfect because it has no term for third personality without a

gender coloring. Its pronouns have no neuters. They are "I," "thou," "thee," therefore, God and theangels are all represented as masculine. However, the grammar of the spiritual life knows that "thereis neither male nor female," nor any other sign of division or incompleteness in the spiritual realm."He who does the will of my Father, the same is my brother, my sister, my mother."

Words are the incarnation of ideas. They bring us in sight of the Creative Word that was "with God inthe beginning." For the creative process is that God thought and called by name that which Hethought, and He became that which He thought, and it was Good. God spoke and it was done, Hecommanded and it stood fast, He sent His word and healed them. "Go thy way, thy son lives." "Withgreat power they gave witness and great grace was on them."

Now God has given it us to speak the creative word if we will learn the grammar of the spiritual life.Then whatever we shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever we shall loose on earth

shall be loosed in heaven. This is another way of saying that we will have authority over all things. The


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Spirit has a new language for each new unfoldment of the truth. In the grammar of the spiritual life,none but himself knows his new name.

Rhetoric

Rhetoric is the art concerning the form and power of the symbolic expression of Truth. The mind isnot content with the bare facts. It must know their nature, the power behind them, and the laws oftheir production. It is not content with bare statements of Truth, but seeks ever to beautify the truthwith ornate diction, perfected formulas, and glowing symbolism.

The principle of evolution moves upward from crudeness to perfection, from ugliness to beauty, fromroughness to polish. The simplest spiritual service, obeying the same law, moves upward until itreaches the most elaborate ceremonial. The commonest daily activity inevitably takes on the characterof a sacrament.

We naturally turn to rhetoric for help in dealing with the immensities. The ten spies returning toMoses reported that, compared to the powerful Canaanites, "We are like grasshoppers." The ecstaticIsaiah, comparing the nations and peoples with the God who is vision-revealed, saw them as a "drop

in the bucket," as the "small dust of the balance." Only the boundless dimensions of length, breadth,height, and depth can express the greatness of Divine Mercy, Love, and Forgiveness.

Spiritual rhetoric exhausts language and imagery in picturing the greatness and goodness of theSupreme One. It does so properly to impress us with the dignity and character of His Life, of which weare living expressions, and thus help us to realize and use our own potentially divine natures toaccomplish Godlike results.

Logic

Logic is correct reasoning, especially by inference. The logic of Being is, "I am God, and beside Methere is none else." When science has gathered all facts, philosophy has formulated their purpose andend, and art has devised rules of application, the logic of life is that it begins with God and ends withGod.

Behind every effect stands the Cause. Back of all causes and causality stands the Changeless Cause.God alone is the Ultimate Being. Beyond light and darkness, truth and error, right and wrong, matterand spirit, and all expressions of duality, stands the one Ultimate Reality, saying, "Look unto Me andbe ye saved." By "ever looking unto Him, the Author and Finisher of our faith," all else is relativereality.

Steadfastly beholding Him who is Good, there is no evil.

Steadfastly facing Him who is Spirit, there is no matter with its laws.

Steadfastly facing Him who is Abundance and Completeness, there is no lack, loss, absence ordeprivation.

Steadfastly facing Him who is Love, there is no fear, for there is nothing to fear.

Steadfastly facing Him who is perfect Wholeness, there is no sin, sickness nor death.

Steadfastly facing Him who only hath Immortality, we are immortal.

Life detriments are all real to the downward vision that entangles our feet in the web ofthings, whilethings are nonexistentto the uplifted eye, beholding the One Reality. This is the logic of the spiritual

life, and points the way to be saved from the bondage of the senses, time, space, and limitation, intofreedom, aspiration and Godlikeness.


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Because God is, I AM.

Mathematics

Primarily mathematics deals with numbers and spaces. Nevertheless, its principles, applied to the

spiritual life, appear in such problems as, "Give all diligence to addto your faith, power, and topower, knowledge, and to knowledge, self-mastery," etc.

Subtraction comes first in spiritual mathematics. We debit false notions, wrong ideas, actions andhurtful habits, obsolete words and statements of truth. Then follows addition, for in spiritual additiononly likes can be added to likes. The unlike cannot be added.

Multiplication, the short method of addition, follows this. Spiritual potencies grow so fast that only theterms of multiplication can express the process. "Grace and peace be multiplied by the knowledge ofGod." Grace and peace are the multiplicands. Your knowledge of God is the multiplier. The productdepends on the size of the multiplier for spiritual attainment. "Acquaint now thyself with God and beat peace." The measure of your peace is your knowledge of God.

Spiritual division follows, in which diversities of gifts are imparted among humankind, according tothe proportion of their faith. This spiritual ratio and proportion are always evident in the endeavorswe put forth and the results that we obtain.

Spiritual mathematics presents the enigma that one and one make one, never more and never less,and these countless unities eventually make one unity, "that God may be all in all." It is an axiom ofmathematics that "a whole is equal to the sum of all its parts," which finds its parallel in SpiritualBeing, in which all individual expressions of life are summed up in the One Being.

Geometry

The great science of measurements, dealing with three-dimensional principles, deals with space that istopless, bottomless, sideless, endless. Spiritual geometry finds this boundless space filled with a Beingwhose Love dissolves sins, restores integrity, inspires effort, and molds character.

Spiritual geometry announces the great triangle of spiritual experience: Faith, Hope, Love. Faith andHope find and bring all the riches of the spiritual existence into spiritual realization, and make themsoul possessions and endowments. Love goes forth with arms extended, to shower its blessing andabundance upon others, and so to reflect its kinship to that God of Love, Whose language is giving.

Music

Harmony is an adaptation of parts, one to another, to form a connected whole. The lack of proper

adaptation between the various intervals in the scale brings disharmony, or discord. In the realm ofspiritual harmony is a conceivable kingdom of harmony, in which all wills move in unison of thought,word and deed. This is the Universal Stave.

Poetry has dreamed of the "music of the spheres." The illumined prophet saw in the seraphim thepersonification of the powers of the universe offering themselves to God in service. All inspired oneshave at times risen above the tumult and discord in the wheel of earthly things to see a Kingdom inwhich nothing offends, peopled with beings "without spot or wrinkle or any such thing," where evil,sorrow, and death end.

In moving upward toward this "far-off divine event, toward which the whole creation moves," humanexperience has developed two songs to still every earthly disharmony. A song is the constantlyrecurring note about a single theme, and its purpose is to fix our wandering-mindedness upon the one

essential truth by repetition.


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The ancient "Song of Moses" has for its theme, I AM THAT I AM. The "Song of the Lamb" has for itscentral theme that one Matchless Name, forever enshrined in the world of harmony, or heaven Jesus the Christ. Facing the troubles, the trials, the afflictions of this life, which have separated usfrom our heritage, "the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs, andeverlasting joy upon their heads." These are the songs they sing, the shouts of triumph before whichall walls of obstruction fall down.

Steadfastly facing Him, sing this old Song of Moses:

Oh, High and Lofty One inhabiting eternity,

Clothing Thyself with beauty, as with a garment,

Hiding Thyself under the names of relationship,

I know that Thou art, and that Thou art

The Rewarder of them that diligently seek Thee.

Deliver me by the might of Thy great name I AM.

Or this Song of the Lamb:

Oh Face of the Blessed, behold me

Bowing with every kindred and tongue

In glad allegiance to Thy loving care;

Breathe into me the breath of Thy deathless Life;

Feed me with Thine unfailing Substance;

Enfold me in the secret place of Eternal safety and power,

Thy matchless name Jesus the Christ.

Hidden in these songs is the might of that kingdom which, released by faith, brings food and clothingand plenty, rolls back the stone, stops the lions mouth, quenches the power of flame, makes Aeneaspalsy to depart, and makes Dorcas rise into life again. They are the songs of High Deliverance.

Astronomy

We first think of the world, our little earth, as the center of things. Then we learn that appearance hasdeceived us. We find some far-off sun to be the center. When we adjust to the heliocentric idea,astronomy aids us with a scale of distance and immensity beyond our power to conceive adequately. Ittells us of another center about which all things move, and guesses that even this great system is onlya small part of a vastly greater, until the mind can no longer grasp the thought, for it leads to infinity.

Astronomy shows us the wonderful forces playing in this material universe, the marvelous exactnessof the laws that govern it, the infinite intelligence manifest in the movements of its numberless worlds,and in the development processes everywhere. Astronomy hints of a wonderful beneficence in theresults of these activities, and how the whole situation adapts remarkably to our needs at our presentstage of unfoldment.


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So we are led to see in this universe, governed by Law and Order, the temporary form of a SpiritualReality, a Spiritual Universe of perfect Law and Order, of perfect Being, Life, Intelligence, Love,Goodness, and every other right idea, the sum of which we call God. God is over all, through all, in all,and all in all, the totality.

Our first thought of this infinity is that we are the Center of Being, which has no circumference. Yet

astronomy leads us to think of other centers like ours that make up a system of spiritual life called thebody of the Christ the divinely conscious. We are led to think of other worlds of intelligence, withtheir activities, "other sheep not of this fold," until at last, the mind conceives that all of them aregathered into one Being who is Infinite.

In this Being who is bottomless, topless, endless and boundless, we are ever in God. We cannot getlost in material earths or spiritual heavens. We cannot wander from our Fathers house, whichembraces all. We cannot lack any good thing, for all things are ours at any moment when we claim anduse them.

We are born from above, from the limitations of our earthly temple into largeness of consciousness.Gradually we move upward to a destiny as limitless as God, in whom we live and move and have ourbeing. Our highest attainment in the University of Hard Knocks is to become fullyconscious of thisSpiritual Reality as always in action, always available, which works in and through us to attain everyideal, and fully to realize every divinely inspired impulse.

Besides these arts, and embracing them all, is The Fine Art of Being Well, which consists in the use ofmethods and rules by which we bring the body to harmonious cooperation in all of its functions,making it a fit temple for the indwelling of the Spirit of Life. We set our mind to the task of developingits forty and more faculties until it comes to the "measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."

The spirit, following the art of spiritual attainment, must reach that perception of the spiritual realitiesof existence and so work in harmony with them that when we shall appear in the glory of spiritualrealms, we shall be like Him, clothed with equal brightness and crowned with equal glory. This unity,in turn, may encompass that spiritual consciousness lying behind and expressing itself through the

material universe, to produce such a harmony in the workings of the body, the mind, and the spirit,and realize completeness here and now.

We formulate certain simple rules here, according to the laws of art to carry out the Fine Art of BeingWell, which includes well-being for body, mind, and spirit, whether it is health, happiness, prosperityor serenity of spirit, or whatever you want to be.

Earnestly desire to be perfectly whole, successful, beautiful, or whatever else you wish. The desireis innate. It is of God. The very fact that you desire it is the prophecy of its possibility and the warrantof its full realization, but you can intensify it by dwelling upon it, thinking and talking about it.

Visualize it. Mentally picture yourself as perfectly well and filled with abounding energy, as gracefulin movement, beautiful in form, bright and active in conversation, perfect in your love toward others,as successful and happy. See yourself as the image of the Perfect One. If you clothe yourself with HisHealth, Strength, and Goodness, you will find every ill slipping away, for "no man can see God andlive" after his former estate. This method applies for success or any other possible attainment.

Declare that the thing you desire and visualize is yours. Keep declaring it until it becomes the habitof your mind to think of yourself as you want to be. When it becomes your habit to think of yourself asyou want to be, you will be what you want to be. Declare until you no longer exercise declaration, butdwell in full consciousness and realization.

Believe that it is now yours, that your real self partakes now of the nature of the Divine Mind, theSource of perfect health, the Source of unbounded success. Know that health as now yours in reality.Because perfect health fills every part of your body, it will make every cell in your body vibrate with

perfect health.


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This faith arouses and calls all the healing powers of the Absolute to action, and your faith is themeasure of its working. "According to your faith be it unto you." Your faith is the sixth sense, theincorporeal eye that sees the Spiritual Reality, sees the crooked arm already straight, sees the troubledmind in perfect peace, sees the disturbed spirit resting serenely in the bosom of the God of love, seesthe one Absolute Reality in which appears the Divine Nihilism of all negative and relative things.

Get your will into action, for "It shall be unto thee even as thou wilt." Your imaging faculties mayvisualize health or success. Your desire may focus on what you want and put you in the right conditionfor realizing it. Your faith may arouse all healing potencies, but it remains for your will to direct theseto the desired end.

Your will must hold you in the attitude of receptivity to the divine healing agencies. It must direct yourthoughts and imaging faculty to the thing desired. It must resolutely divert your mind from pain,weakness, failure, depression, poverty or whatever it is. These negative ideas and conditions returnwith devilish persistence, and only the edict of a royal will can keep you from thinking, worrying, andfearing about them. Resolutely set your face away from them and toward the spiritual realities. Youneed only to attend to the causes of health. The effects are certain.

Interest yourself in others welfare. It will react on you. Go out and comfort someone in trouble, andyou will go home relieved of your own trouble. Send out a thought a prayer to another, thevibration will reach and help its object and will react for good upon you. Reduce your message to codeform, a single sentence, a single word. Let your love, compassion and desire to help empower yourmessage to wing its flight as you earnestly send it. No matter what the mental attitude or state of yourfriend, it will bring him relief.

Health, success, and happiness are all by-products of simply busying ourselves about other things andother peoples welfare. Scatter the seeds of truth, and the golden sheaves of freedom, health,prosperity, and happiness will be the rich harvest along your pathway, and will return manifold toyour own bosom.

The life of every individual proves the renewing power of a new interest. The art of living to defy the

ills of old age consists in forever finding a new and fresh interest for the mind and new activities forthe body. Many great minds of the ages have done their greatest work late in life by finding some newproblem to solve.

Service reveals the genius of living. The secret formula of genius is, "I am among you as one whoserves." The indelible watermark of genius is to work patiently to achieve the desired end, andresolutely to put aside discouragement or impatience, at least to prevent anyone from finding it out ifyou should feel them.

If you would graduate from the College of Arts, and know and enjoy The Fine Art of Being Well, youmust "study to show thyself approved unto God a worker who needs not to be ashamed." You mustearnestly seek the vision of the higher ends of living, then "endure as seeing Him who is invisible."You must "be strong and of a good courage." You must hold clearly in your mind your objective and

"patiently wait for it." You must fully believe that it is for you, and then "show your faith by yourworks." You must "work out your salvation," keeping ever in mind that "it is God that works in youboth to will and to do." For the Eternal Promise, "it shall come to pass," prefaces whatever life holdsfor you, and is crowned with the Absolute Period, "and it came to pass."

Chapter 3. The College of Law

The universe in its final analysis is spiritual. It is being adjusted to material form and mechanicalmeans of expression, an evolution from the unseen to the seen, from the Absolute to the relative, fromeverywhere to here, from eternity to the now. Evolution proceeds by certain orderly methods calledlaws. Law has no causality in it, but is a rule by which some power beyond it acts. A law is the way a

thing is done, energy following a certain norm or method of expression. Things exist and events occurin certain ways, called laws.


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The reign of law is universal. All realms are formed to be governed and perpetuated by law. Lawssuitable to their nature of existence and condition likewise govern all beings. A law exists forinanimate things, a law for the animate, a law for intelligent beings in the flesh, and a law for purelyspiritual beings. Everything must obey the laws governing it. The material world would be chaos if itdid not obey the laws of inertia and gravitation. The animal world would cease did it not obey the lawsof nourishment and growth.

Every rational being in the universe is bound to fail in obtaining this lifes vast good if he neglects tokeep the law of his being. Tradition says the early progenitors of our race so failed. Another traditionconcerns "angels which kept not their first estate," and it is possible that God Himself might fail if Hedid not fulfill the whole law, just as a vast business might fail for lack of organization, order, andcentral authority.

Among the fundamental laws of the material universe is the law of inertia, which holds matter in astate of rest. Another is the law of gravitation, which maintains the relation of each part to the others,and of all parts to the whole material organism. The law of the conservation of energy preserves thetotal of matter against waste, and under the law of the conversion of energy, the working forces mayadapt materials to any possible need.

Within the operation of these laws is the fact that heat and stress invariably attend in raising lowerforms of matter and energy to higher forms. The gold is extracted from the ore by heat and hardpounding. The fast-flying emery wheel brings the diamond to its power of expression. Ore goes frompig iron to spring steel by heat, hammering and chemical action. Perfume comes out of the flowerunder pressure.

In the realm of moral law, we realize strength of character under the influence of trial and temptation,just as the muscle gains strength by exercise. These grow from the laws governing the individualexpression as it meets the laws governing the social body, and the necessary adjustments to it.

The law of development in the mental realm is that thinking power unfolds according to mental laws.The mind acquires power in its contacts with material things, in seeking knowledge and control over

them. The mind gains facility of action through the stress of work. We strengthen the will byrepeatedly exercising the will in choosing one of two or more alternatives.

Cognition becomes clear only by our unceasing effort to think. Feelings become deep, reliable andinspiring only when we adjust the emotional life to changing conditions that constantly test them.Thus, the mind moves upward from ignorance to knowledge, wisdom and understanding through thestress and challenge of difficulty.

In the realm of Spiritual Laws, God makes those things of highest value most difficult of attainment.The things that he suffered made the Great Captain of our salvation perfect. We find the same thoughtin the words, "The God of all grace . . . after ye have suffered awhile, makes you perfect, establish,strengthen, settle you." Those who were "clothed in white robes" had already "come up through greattribulation." Humanity moves up from animalism to spiritual supremacy and power only in the

University of Hard Knocks.

The Law of Operation

The law works after the Principle of Cause and Effect, rather than by rewards and punishments. Weaccept this in all material things, but debate it in human affairs, because we can feel the effects ofdisobeying the law. We can think about it, conjure up the specters of right and wrong, and doourselves to death by letting them gain a headway in our life. We think that God is rewarding orpunishing us according to our experiences, pleasurable or otherwise, when the operation of this Lawof Cause and Effect is really correcting our views of life and enlarging our outlook.

The idea in Jobs day was that when someone suffered, it was a sign that he was a sinner. The severityof his suffering determined the enormity of his sin, all of which they attributed to the action of a


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Personal Being against whom he had offended. It was a crude groping after the Law of Cause andEffect.

In Jobs particular case, he had ceased to grow because he was so well situated and so comfortable.This violation of the Law of Growth caused all the effects as we see them in that wonderful narrative.Trouble emancipated him from the limitations arising from failure to grow, and saw the result in a

greatly enlarged enjoyment of life.

He had not knowingly violated the law, true. Nevertheless he received the full benefit of the effects ofhis unknowing violation of the Law of Progress, not because he deserved it, but because he neededthe emancipation into larger life, through practicing a higher obedience to the Law of Life.

All Law Is Positive & Constructive

All its results are beneficent if we know and keep the natural movement of the law. When we violatethe law, consequences follow whose repetition may eventually become a law of itself. Digestion, forinstance, normally follows keeping the law of dietetics, while the violating the law brings a new andunpleasant law of procedure called indigestion. The laws of heat, when kept, can bring comfort in any

climate, but violated, a new law of expression, called cold, comes as the absence of heat.

The Laws of Light, when kept, flood our pathway with light and certainty, while their violation bringsdarkness and uncertainty or the absence of light. Mental activity brings knowledge, while mentalindolence leaves us in negative ignorance. The positive "Law of Life in Christ Jesus" a law ofconscious oneness with God, obeyed gives us character like God, and makes the soul "free from thelaw of sin and death," which is the absence of conscious oneness and harmony with God, and becomesa rule of existence by disobedience. From these facts it appears that what at first is merely a negative,or the absence of the positive, rises by continued action into the dignity of a law of wrong procedure,with its effects.

All good comes from the keeping of the law in its particular realm. All evil comes because of not

keeping the law. Every ill, therefore, is the result of law unkept. No moral turpitude may be attached(perhaps the law was not broken intentionally, especially not with the purpose of injuring self oranother), yet the effect comes from sin, which is the violation of the law, consciously or otherwise, bythe afflicted one or by someone else.

The Master of the University of Hard Knocks recognized the fact that all evil moral, mental orphysical arises from some form of sin, when he said, "It is as easy to say thy sins are forgiven thee, asto say, arise, take up thy bed and walk." He could not say one without saying the other. The fact thathe could say the one and it would happen was evidence that he could say the other and it, too, wouldhappen. When he said one, it always included the other. Finally the fact that he used the expression,despite whether the trouble was physical or spiritual, showed that he regarded all ills as arising fromsin.

All ill comes then from sin. Sin is a violation of the law, a missing of the mark. The remedy for sin is tokeep the law, to hit the target. The remedial work begins when we stop sinning.

The consequences of the law are automatic. If we get pain by violating the law, we get ease by keepingthe law. Every law is remedial and healthful, and the moment we begin to keep it, recovery begins. Touse the old form of thought, if the law is self-punishing, it is also self-rewarding. "Cease to do evil, andlearn to do well," was the scriptural recognition of the automatic, remedial, self-healing action of thelaw.

The Law Is Changeless, But Adaptable

All law is immutable. We cannot change it. It cannot be broken with impunity, but we may adapt it to

the conditions of existence. As the conditions in a given case change, the law adjusts to meet the newconditions of existence. For example, vegetarianism was the dietary law when the population was


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scattered and the activities of life were simple. With a complex civilization arose the necessary use offoods in more concentrated form and more easily procurable under all conditions.

Society permitted things in the time of Moses were no longer sanctioned under the more enlightenedtimes of the Master. Our consciousness concerning the use of intoxicating substances, slavery, and therights of women, has risen so that we are again adapting the law to ever-changing conditions.

The Value of a Law

A law is important according to the interest it protects. The Law of Existence, expressed in the primalinstinct of self-preservation, has made respect for human life, and the right for life, liberty and thepursuit of happiness, to assume the place of first importance, while the questions of possessions,morals, and all else come in as secondary considerations.

The laws of the physical body are very important, but they relate to what is but temporary. The lawsconcerning the mind and soul are supremely important because they concern the immortal soul andits destiny through development. The violation of the physical laws does not popularly fall in the samecategory of sinfulness as the violation of moral laws.

The law is remedial, every time, great or small, in the interest it protects. The moment thelawbreaker becomes a law-keeper the healing action of the law begins. The Master calmly stood in themidst of the blindest, most bigoted definition of sin and their demand for its punishment, and said,"Neither do I condemn thee. Go thy way and sin no more."

God promised Israel that when they began to keep the law, the Lord would restore to them the yearsthe locusts, the caterpillar and the cankerworm had eaten. It is a wonderful way of saying that whatone needs to do is to know and keep the law, and he shall be made whole. What he has lost or itsequivalent shall be restored to him. To know the truth and keep it, as it applies to his particular case ofviolating the law, will make him free from the bondage of sin and enter him into the glorious liberty ofthe sons and daughters of God.

The remedy for any ill is to know the law, declare and keep it. We do not deny the darkness nor try todrive it out, but we obey the Law of Light by turning on the electric current. We do not cure pain bymerely denying it, but by obeying the law of ease and comfort, by emphasizing the fact that God is theGod of all comfort, and using the things that make for comfort.

In the sight of the law, pain is but a symptom of growth. Trouble is a trumpet call to triumph overdifficulties. Stumbling blocks form a golden stairway leading to the heavens of repose and peace.Every knock is a boost. Every fall is an upward movement.

Accept them, therefore, as a part of the curriculum in the University of Hard Knocks, which iseventually to graduate you into self-mastery. Take them cheerfully. If the cup of trouble is presentedto you, drink of it. Take your medicine and do not play with the spoon, at least not until you have

swallowed the dose.

You neutralize half the ill when you get rid of self-pity. Do not be sorry for yourself. Do not try to workon others sympathy. Such an attitude is a sign of weakness. The call to suffer and endure and tomaster the causes of suffering challenges the best within us. Only a weakling wants to be protectedfrom the necessity of meeting and solving the problems of life of his own initiative and persistence.

Matter is the material expression of energy. Withdraw energy and matter disappears. Energy is kineticand potential. It is God in action or at rest. It is uncreated, for it is a principle of Divine Being. Wecannot increase or diminish it. We may raise its action and materialization takes place. We maydecrease or change its action, and dematerialization takes place. In other words, certain combinationsof energy move into material expression while other combinations move to destroy material form. Yet

we neither increase nor diminish the volume of energy.


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The number of the laws of expression a given person can obey measures the manifestation of power inthat combination of energy that we call human life. Since all the powers of God are potentially in us,subject to our command, it follows that we can at will increase or decrease the volume of energy weexpress, and so determine the richness and beauty of our life.

Isaiah 45:11 recognizes this power to command the powers of the universe in the pastoral parable of

Edenic creation, where God is represented as saying, "Concerning My sons, and concerning the worksof My hands command ye Me." God offers this mastery of energy to him who will know and keep itslaws, so that he may at a word make the oil and meal or the loaves and fishes increase, the swelling orblindness to be healed, or the anxious mental fretting to cease. It is the authority to command theinvisible powers and know that "it shall be as thou wilt."

Summary

The reign of law is universal. The law is no respecter of persons. If even God should violate His ownlaws, He would cease to be God. If we violate them, we cease to be Godlike. The law is corrective andconstructive. Its effects are educative rather than destructive. The whole scheme of living consists inlearning the laws of life and keeping them.

The physical body passes through all the processes of growth and change and renewal in obedience tolaw. Any attempt to run one department of the organism by the laws governing another departmentinevitably calls up the old tutors of pain and disease. No amount of right thinking can make anamends for eating wrong food combinations. Nor can perfect breathing in the open air replacenourishing food, or proper exercise. The laws of metabolism, which demand the breathing of plenty ofoxygen, are as imperious in their demands as those of dietetics or hygiene. The law is, therefore, ourschoolmaster to bring us to health.

The laws of mental development are just as specific as those for the organism. Any neglect or over-development of any of the elements of mental life, as Cognition, Feeling, or Will, results in unbalancedmentality. Obedience to the laws of education gives one balanced mentality, a trained mind, and leadsto mental efficiency and culture. The law is therefore our schoolmaster to bring us to knowledge andwisdom.

Likewise the moral nature develops by obedience to the moral laws as ages of human experience haverevealed them. However faulty the form of the Ten Commandments, they stand for the protection ofspecific interests of the moral nature, which can never change while we live on the earth. The law istherefore our schoolmaster to bring us to character and self-mastery. From this triple realm of thereign of law, the spiritual life develops by attention to the spiritual laws of being, and so "the law is ourschoolmaster to bring us to Christ," the Anointed, which is, in a word, the consciousness of Onenesswith God.

Chapter 4. The College of History

History relates to the material world, its development, the forces and processes involved therein, andthe probable end. It relates to the processes by which life came upon the earth, and the steady upwardmovement of that life through all its variant forms until it reached human form. It deals withhumanitys rise from animalism, up through savagery to civilization. History studies the records ofthat progress as they appear in the political, social, economic, and personal experiences of people.

The sources of the history of the material world are found in the structures that abide. The stories ofthe rocks, and soil, the testimonies of the air, earth and water are all eloquent witnesses of someintelligent purpose, finding material expression for some fruition beyond the material world itself.Living forms carry the record of an evolutionary process within them, by which we may learn tounderstand their rise, their use, and their probable end.

Biology, a scientific study of these records, has shown us how life began with a single cell whoseunlimited multiplication has resulted in peopling the earth with living creation. It shows how each


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form carries the history of its own development within itself, and the hereditary influences of all theforms that have gone before it and of which it is an improvement.

We are rewriting history concerning our origin in the world and the length of our stay here as wediscover records in the vestigial remains in the human body, hereditary traits, other marks of life, andcertain impulses, both vague and well defined. Traces of human life, from remote geological ages and

others more recent, yet antedating written records, have enabled the modern historian to present anintelligible case for humanity, which has put a new interpretation upon the ancients highly coloredsymbolical attempts to account for the world and the life upon it.

We must read even the written records of human progress as if we were entirely detached from them,otherwise the element of personal interest or sympathy enters and we make the historical record tosay things that the facts do not warrant. For history is not only a record of the facts of life, but is also aphilosophy of these facts. Moreover, we must have the facts in hand before we formulate thephilosophy, or we will read the facts to suit the philosophy, instead of adjusting the philosophy to thefacts.

In every age, persons of special gifts and unusual illumination have organized and recorded theexperiences of humanity in a way that enables them to formulate some statement of the cause, methodand purpose of living. These have been the seers of the ages, the men and women who have toweredabove their fellows, and their records have been incorporated in what we know as the "Sacred Books"of humanity.

Among all the volumes so written and classified, one stands out, peerless and alone as an authority inall matters of physical, mental, and moral life, because of its evident fidelity to facts, and itsreasonable explanation of those facts. It deals with personal and national affairs in every stage ofhuman progress and experience. Its text, in poetry and in prose, deals with the most interesting andexalted subjects, the earliest origin and history of the human race, the providential government ofGod, the alternate progress and declension of civilizations, the ways of God in dealing with men, theconsummation of Divine Wisdom, Purity, Love, and Life in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

The scope of the Bibles records embraces laws, hymns, prophecies correspondence, philosophy,nuptial songs, and elegies, in their bearing upon national, social, and individual life. One strain ofagreement runs through it all a harmonious presentation of the most sublime views of God, as toHis Nature, Character, words and works, as to humanity, our origin, fall, redemption, hope, anddestiny, duties and privileges, relationships in life, here and hereafter. Illumined ones from every walkof life wrote it in the most simple style, yet in the most beautiful, dignified and ornate diction. Inshort, it is the record of the unfolding of the Consciousness of God in humanity.

The Scriptures stand out among the worlds "Sacred Books" as the standard of religious history. It isthe faithful record of the greatness and weakness of human nature, of humanitys oft-repeatedfailures, and glorious achievements. In it are exhibitions of human animalism and divine possibilities.In it are traces of the origin of all religions and the ideal for the attainment of spiritual supremacy bylooking upward to the Absolute. In it is marvelous symbolism, and commonsense, matter-of-fact

statements. We can read it as history, as a summary of human experience, although it deals largelywith humanity as a single nationality.

We have never understood some of its figures of speech, subject to a great variety of interpretations.Its writers give most of its facts from an experimental viewpoint. Many of its terms are obsolete, andsome of its substance mythical. Many of its texts suffer in translation from the original languages,while others gain in significance.

We must study the Bible, take it as a guide, but not worship it as a fetish. We do not accept itsstatements because of some theory of inspiration, but because the facts recorded are in line withsimilar facts verified today by scientific method. It is the organized experience of good and bad people,for encouraging and warning. We accept the Bible as authority, not from a single statement or text,but from the general principles of rightness underlying all its statements.


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This history, like all history, is not merely a record of happenings, but a study of the movement ofgreat principles and forces underlying the phenomena of life, as they crop out here and there in someupward movement and its climax. These usually involve some nation or individual, sometimes givingthe impression that history is made for a few nations or for the glorification of a few individuals.

If we are to read history intelligently, we must fix our attention not on the events of a year, a lifetime,

or even centuries. We can read it aright only in millenniums. We cannot safely write the history of anygiven generation for at least a century afterward. We can read and understand the history of theJewish people only in the light of millenniums, reaching back to Moses, Jacob and Abraham, and canaccount for it on no other ground than the worship of an Almighty Jehovah, by people who were Hischosen elect and specially privileged. This made the Jew the miracle of history.

We read the history of an individual or a race in millenniums of the past, not by a few spectacularitems or persons, but in the final achievement. Just as the life of an individual does not consist of a fewprominent actions, but must be interpreted by a process called the "logic of life," the summing up ofall his actions and thoughts, as they have obeyed the movement of the great Divine Impulse that"works in him both to will and to do." History is, therefore, the record of the expression of theUniversal Life, in all its forms of growth, flower and fruit.

An individuals history must begin back beyond all material worlds in that most Supreme Oversoul,the Father of Spirits, the Source of all Life. There it entered all the movements of the Absolute Life,and when it came forth into material incarnation, it brought with it factors of the Divine Nature andCharacter, which have outlived all incarnations, and rise into unutterable longings to return to itsSource. This is the "spirit in man which the inspiration of the Almighty hath given understanding."

We read the first steps of humanitys material incarnation in the protoplasmic forms of all organic life,thence through the seven great stages of animal evolution in which they took on their physical andmental characteristics, traces of which still abided with them after they had taken on human form andwere "planted" or made to stand upright in an earthly Eden.

We must read the record through all those ages of savagery, in conflicts with animal creation from

which humanity was but a few steps removed. In the struggles to preserve life, constant fears andalarms, and watchfulness against surprise, each human took part in all the lives of his ancestral strain,at last rising from savagery to civilization, with instincts of fear, suspicion, and conflict. Then we readhumanitys history in the light of national ideals, racial prejudices, tribal characteristics, and familytraits. This is the hereditary setting of individual history.

Biography enters into all the facts of environment, home, school, work, love, and religion as they affectour personal peculiarities of temperament. Our relations to these beget habits of action and thought,which eventuate into character. And character is the honor earned in the University of Hard Knocks inwhich we struggle from the first protoplasmic cell of organic life until that moment when we lay asidethe temple of the flesh, and put on the vesture of Immortality.

History is therefore the individual collective record of living souls, each of whom came from God,

under the motive of finding expression. Each bears the characteristic qualities of its source, who isLife, Love, Truth, Goodness, Power, Beauty. Every exercise of initiative in obeying the laws ofexpression, and in finding variations in the applications of these laws, brings results that make up thesum of living. All the experiences of loving and serving are additions to our personal knowledge. Thesewe must compare with the organized experiences of all the past, carefully checking up with the same,yet keeping the way open for variations of experience so that the history we are helping to make shallbe an advance on the past. The history of the body opens with the sentence, "Unto us a child is born."It closes with the sentence, "He is gone."

The history of the Soul is written in countless aeons when it came from the bosom of the Absolute intomaterial form, moved up through all creative stages of development, learned to stand upright, learnedto make intelligent sounds, found symbols for their expression, learned to make fire, and inventedwritten symbols for ideas. Humanity thus achieved personal character, which we finally make into the

likeness of the Son of God, then leave the flesh and rise into the Paradise of the spiritual life.


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The coming out from the Father of Spirits into flesh records the "fall," whose memory all traditionshint. Our return to God in conscious oneness is our rising again. We weave the facts of theseexperiences into the philosophy of History, which is the unfolding record of Gods loving purpose.

Chapter 5. The College of Anthropology

The wise psalmist, beholding in wonder the glories of the heavens, and the economies of earthadjusted to the use of humanity in its development, asked, "What is man that Thou art mindful ofhim?" He knew that God provided for all other things in this world, but they were secondary to theinterests of humanity (Anthropos, the one looking upward), for we alone are capable of the rationaluse and appreciation of it all. Then he answered his own question, "Thou bast made him a little lowerthan God, and crowned him with glory and honor."

The traditions and myths conceived our origins as an immediate creation at the hand of God, as thecrown and splendor of all creative action, perfect in all respects. Then came the story of the Fall, toaccount for our present condition. Then began the process of our recovery. This is the brief outline oftradition accounting for humanity.

Science, reading the unimpeachable records written in our body, organs, and features, our mental andmoral nature, all bearing the marks of kinship with the animal world, has answered the question thatwe are the climax of an evolutionary process that began with a single cell, in which the Oversoulclothed a particle of Being with material form, gave it the power of multiplication or growth, caused itto unfold upward through vast periods of time by selection and fitness, until, at last, Homo sapiensstepped forth from the rest of his kind, an animal looking upward, and standing upright.

Science follows this history from animalism, savagery, barbarism, and all the intermediate steps inwhich humanity slowly left its animalism behind, and finally reached a civilized state. Science datesthe period when the animal stepped upward to human form, which corresponds to the biblicalcreation, to a far more remote antiquity than the records of tradition suggest. We find the traces ofhuman culture and civilization far earlier than any records. Pictographs are the earliest intelligentrecords, then the tools of still earlier ages, and we find human remains with animals of a longforgotten past in another geological period.

The pictures and symbols that were the earliest forms of record followed the prehistoric culture, thensigns for letters, then writing, language, the family, the clan, the tribe, marriage, the nation and othersocial origins, all indicating a vast evolutionary process. The teaching power of all these facts is thatlife, from the Source of all life, somewhere in ages past began to express itself in material form, andthat the essence of this life principle is the same, whether it is in protoplasm, tadpole, frog, fish,serpent, animal or human. In other words, we prove the unity of all life, so that we safely posit ourorigin in the Absolute Life of the universe.

As we develop, we first attain a human consciousness through whose activities we realize that we are

brothers to the race. We next develop cosmic consciousness, in which we are brothers to the worm andall living. We finally develop Divine Consciousness, by which we are the sons and daughters of theAbsolute, in the sense that we are a part of the Universal Being.

A scientific study of the body reveals the indelible marks of our animal ancestry in some forty vestigialremains of organs and parts that we no longer need. In the lower forms of life, automatic and reflexmovements were in the ascendancy, while as the scale of intelligence rises, these decrease andvolitional actions increase. Those parts of the body least controlled by intelligent volition, such as thevegetative organs, are most richly endowed with reflex equipment, while those parts of the bodyequipped for motived movement are very scantily supplied with reflex movements. All these factsindicate the steady movement upward to the supremacy of mind over matter.

Science detects the traces of our emotional and mental life in the lower forms of life, as the instinctive

power of nest-building, or the remarkable structural skill in a honey bees cell, or the maternalinstincts in birds and animals. It finds our intuitions, instinctive movements, many of our emotions


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and animalism of mind and character to be improvements upon similar qualities in our more humbleancestors. As the brain, the seat of the higher consciousness, develops, the altruistic sentiments arise,the arts and sciences develop, and the higher qualities of life and character are in the ascendancy.

Stress and danger filled primitive humanitys surroundings. Their constant effort to defend their lifeand interests, their recent emergence from animalism, made fear a hereditary feeling, and by far the

most powerful and elemental emotion. In their ignorance of the nature and laws of the great naturalforces playing upon them and about them, in which they detected some seeming intelligence ormethod, they attributed their action to gods, whom they constructed in their own image. They gavetheir gods the same selfish passions as themselves, and feared and placated them by any and everymeans. The first gods were fear gods, and the first religion reverenced fear.

They evolved social customs growing from contact with their fellows, which resulted in trust, mutualdependence and love, until the gods became the gods of love, while religion changed to the reverenceof love. Humanity gradually merged the many gods, whom they esteemed to be necessary to carry onthe various interests of the universe, into the conception of one God, and faith passed from polytheismto monotheism.

This glimpse of the headlines of human development reassures us that our origin is in the AbsoluteBeing, and prophesies that our destiny is in the attainment of Universal Consciousness. The process ofevolution is the chosen method for bringing many life expressions into separate existence, giving themindividualities, clothed with personality or character. This is the Infinite in us, and if we would knowthe Infinite, who is the sum of all finites, and we must learn of God through the Infinite in ourselvesand others.

This thought of the Infinite is also the basis of universal hope, and so a warrant for the aspiration tohighest attainment, for in science, no energy, substance or life is lost. Some expressions of life risemore rapidly to the Infinite standard by a vast impelling pressure in life, true, but that same truthguarantees the persistence of each individual expression until it reaches its highest destiny.

Science has coined the term "survival of the fittest" to describe the stress under which we have

progressed, which shows that all things bearing upon our life, character, and destiny, and the thingsleading up to us, are incorporated into a University of Hard Knocks. The actual causes and powersembodied in the ministry of trial and trouble provide its curriculum. We can prophesy this outcomewith certainty, for we have written its results in the organized experiences of humanity, and they speakauthoritatively.

Accepting our matriculation gladly, we find ourselves allied with an Intelligence in whom there is novariableness nor shadow of turning. We find ourselves identified with a Love from which nothing canseparate us, and eventually we discover that we perfectly reflect all the qualities of the Infinite. Thenwe have graduated, for we have found the goal of life.

Chapter 6. The College of Economics

We find the basic principle of economics in the unity of all life, and in the solidarity of all its contentsand interests. We include the interests of the individual in the larger interests of the community. Wevest those in turn in the State, while we hold those of the State in trust for the nation, and the nationsinterests can stand fairly only in their relation to all peoples. Just as the State holds ultimate right toindividual holdings, so we vest all interests of all nations in the ultimate Wisdom and Purpose behindall life. We hold a broad fundamental principle of community of interest in all things that we class aspossessions.

In the processes of production and consumption of material, cooperation is the keynote of all realeconomic progress. Competition may stimulate rivalry and lead to greater prominence of the few, butit ends inevitably in needless waste, for the Ultimate Intelligence has decreed that moth and rust, and

profligate sons and daughters shall work to bring these prominent ones back toward the commoninterests.


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Economic freedom rests upon two facts. First is the individuals ability to produce. Full consciousnessof that ability is real wealth. The other is an equitable distribution of the results of this applied ability.These results more than supply everyones legitimate needs. We must predicate economic freedomupon the granting to others all the rights claimed for self. The measure of freedom is in exactproportion to the mental attitude toward others and their rights. Wealth further consists in what onecan distribute prudently, and this process creates a reflex supply, on the principle of "Give and it shall

be given to you again." Yet we prefaced this with the understood truth that you have already had valuereceived.

The eternal Principle of Compensation demands an equitable return, which you either have alreadygiven or will receive. Equitable compensation given and required are the stepping-stones to lastingpossessions. Therefore, give value received. Pay as you come. Pay as you go. Do not pauperize. Leteach person feel that the Law of Compensation demands an adequate return for every service. It is anunwritten law, but a universal proverb, that we appreciate that for which we give an equitablecompensation, and the obedience to that law is the stepping-stone to material freedom.

The right to consume is predicated upon the fact that we have earned it. He who receives withoutmaking compensation is a loser at last. Any other basis of action violates the Law of Compensation,and tends to pauperize the consumer, for prosperity is what one is, not the abundance of things that

he possesses. Apart from the happiness and satisfaction in their use, material resources have noabiding value.

Ownership rests upon the conception that the owner is a custodian of public resources, which officecarries the right to ones quota of supply, and the obligation of stewardship in making sure that othershave their quota. Just as economy of personal energy demands the laying up of a reserve for furtherservice in living, so economy of material resources is an obligation to conserve a reserve supply for thepractice of altruism.

Jehovah schooled the Hebrew tribes in the principle of the divine ownership of the land and all thatthe land could produce. Israel was the tenant of the land, and steward of the produce. The custody ofthese was committed to them as their right because of their relationship to the Most High, and

because no high degree of civilization was possible apart from some form of individual ownership.

Two facts safeguarded this ownership. The first was "It is He that giveth thee power to get wealth."The other was that they held it in trust for others. The gift of stewardship is as sacred as the gift ofprophecy, and sometimes more immediately practical.

The secret of abundance still rests in an understanding of vital oneness and harmony with the All-abundance, and He has given us a sure method of realizing it. "Be diligent in business, fervent inspirit, serving the Lord." Two counts of the three conditions in this great formula of success concernwhat the person is, rather than what he has. Riches of personal character bring contentment, andattract material prosperity. The service that we give most freely and abundantly is the key to opulence,for it reacts upon him who gives it.

The laws of supply and demand automatically adjust the two sides of the equation in all economicquestions. The demand clearly recognized will find that the supply is nearby. We receive what we arereally looking for, with clear recognition of its source, and acceptance of its conditions.

Abundance and want are largely creatures of our own suggestion. Most of the worlds poverty restsupon the highly suggestive heresy that there isnt enough to go around, while in reality, the Fathershouse is filled with an abundance and to spare.

The principle of value rests upon the utility, durability, and quality of a given resource. The tiller of thesoil produces elementary resources, which furnish the materials for progress. The builder organizesthese materials into forms of utility. The educator develops latent mental resources, which are morevaluable and lasting than material ones. The spiritual teacher produces the highest of all resources, for

spiritual qualities are the fundamental and everlasting standards of value. Economics must recognizethat all values, whether material, mental or spiritual, come within the scope of its provision forgoverning their production, use, and distribution.


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Disease and war do not cause our most stupendous loss, but the undeveloped mental and spiritualpowers in the individual, and collectively in the nation. Economics relates to our temporal well-beingin the widest sense. It refers not only to material production, distribution, and consumption, but to allthe conditions of organized society, as the use or misuse of the resources entering social life hasadvanced or retarded them.

Primal among these resources is the self-preservation instinct, and next comes the creative impulseand power, an economical and wise use of which peoples the earth with an ever increasing populationof an ever advancing type. It equips them with instruments and tools for a steadily growing mastery ofall life powers, whether they are physical, mental or spiritual.

Lack of economical rule in directing and expressing this impulse result in waste in the forms of lust,disease, race-suicide, birth defects, crime, drugs, and the instruments of destruction and butchery ofmodern warfare. No amount of denial of the evil of these things will change them. Only a return to thepractice of justice and right, and other ethical qualities in economics can stop the waste, and make"the desert places blossom as the rose."

Economics is also concerned with the proper use of the individuals own vital powers, challenging hisright to waste them by needless indulgence or by such selfish hoarding as comes from a philosophy ofegoism whose endless monotony results at last in frazzled nerves, abnormal ideas, and functionaldisorders, all of which reduce his efficiency.

As the only remedy economics proposes an altruistic activity whose variety and diversion tend topreserve normality of mind and body, and so conserve the energies for the highest ends. The warrantfor this "seeking each anothers welfare" is found in the Masters summary of the law, "Thou shalt lovethy neighbor as thyself." This is at once ego-altruistic, and is the key to the highest welfare of the race.

Only the most careful study and application of the laws of economics in the University of Hard Knockscan steadily reduce and finally eliminate the morally defective criminal class, and populate the worldwith people who are made in the image and demonstrate that image through unselfish service.

The practice of these economic principles will graduate the student in the University of Hard Knocksinto the possession of and the mastery over material possessions, and into the more lasting values tobe found in the understanding of mental and spiritual power.

Chapter 7. The College of Psychology: The Science of the Mind

The Study of the Self

Psychologys method is to gather the experiences of humanity, and from them formulate the laws ofmental activity. Certain terms constantly recur in the study. The spirit of humanity is the Divine Lifeas it came from God, the Absolute Spirit, sometimes called the superconscious or Divine Mind. Thesoul is the undivided self. It is the spirit overlaid with the influences and effects of materialincarnation and evolution. The mind is the dual expression of the soul in conscious and unconsciousactivity. Thebodyis the instrument of the mind through which it acts upon the material world and bywhich material things reacted upon it.

Consciousness includes the activities of the mind, which includes both conscious and unconsciousprocesses. Cognition, Feeling, and Will are the main elements of consciousness. Cognition and Willface outward, and are the channels of perception through which the soul knows material states, whileFeeling faces inward, by which the soul may know itself. These overlap and are inseparable. IfCognition predominates, we have the coldly intellectual. If Feeling predominates, we have theemotional types. If Will predominates, we have the types of leadership and personal force.

The body influences the mind in that it is the minds instrument. The point of contact is the brain andnervous system. Impingement of the bones or contraction of the muscles and put pressure on a nerve,cutting off the motor nerve supply, causing functional disorder, because it impairs mental control.


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Poor breathing leaves the blood loaded with carbon dioxide which renders the brain sluggish andreduces thought power. Lack of exercise slows the liver and allows the blood from the portalcirculation, loaded with poisons, to pass back into the circulation, poisoning the brain and depressingmental activity. These and many other physical conditions impair the mechanism through whichthought finds outward expression. If the instrument is unstrung, it destroys harmony and the musicbecomes discord.

The Mind Influences the Body

First: The mind influences the body objectively and consciously, by directing its movements andactivities, and determining the materials with which it will be built and renewed. Second: The mindinfluences the body subjectively and unconsciously, by directing all its functional processes, andreporting, classifying and controlling all its sensations. Intense mental concentration, anxiety, suchemotions as fear, worry, anger and nervous shocks through bad news, etc., act first on the conscious,then on the unconscious side of mental life.

Stress lands the sympathetic nervous system, locking up the innumerable reflexes of the organs, oroverstimulating them, and thus causes many serious derangements of the body. The converse is true,

right thinking and normal emotional states keep all the functional activities in vigorous and healthycondition when we obey the physical laws.

The conscious side of mental activity begins after birth. We develop it to enable the soul to find its waysafely through the earthly labyrinth. It is the architect of the body, mind and character. Theunconscious activities are present with the first cell with which our bodies start. The unconsciousfashions and forms our bodies according to a plan carried over in consciousness from our ancestors. Itrenews our bodies with the materials that we consciously furnish it. It is the builder and renewer ofthe body. The conscious activities arise in reason. The unconscious activities arise in suggestion, byaffirmation or implication.

The mind also acts and reacts upon itself. The steady assertion of having a strong will or a perfectmemory, produces a strong will and a good memory, while such statements as "I am losing mymemory or will power," weaken them. Making positive affirmations to others will prove helpful, andwill react upon the one declaring them. All the mental powers like will, memory, reason and judgment,gain strength by being called into action, just as a muscle grows strong by being exercised. Everyappeal to turn from a chosen plan of action is a test, a temptation, which yielded to, weakens the willand the character, but conquered, strengthens the will and beautifies character.

We have formulated standards of action for all the mental and spiritual faculties from humanexperience. Followed slavishly, these destroy all initiative, while disregarded entirely, they expose thedoer to all sorts of bad results. Followed as general landmarks, leaving freedom for personal initiativeand action, they result in the highest attainable effect.

Meeting and solving the great problems of life as contained in philosophy, science and art, gives added

power to every mental faculty. Wrestling with the problem of what is best for self and others and thendoing the best, issues in strength and moral character. Seeking to know and fulfill all relationshipswith the spirit, gives spirituality.

Continued action of a given sort forms a habit of action. Persisted thinking in certain ways results inthought habits. Continued dwelling of the mind upon a single thing until it is ever uppermost inconsciousness, produces a fixed idea. Allowing the imagination to dwell on and clothe this fixed ideawith unusual power and effects, will end in an obsession. Constantly dwelling on imaginary thingswill produce a hallucination, while allowing yourself to think that chance and whim runs the worldwill eventually cause the mind to drift into any a type ofphobia.

Turn the mind to behold law, order, and wisdom under the direction of an Absolute Mind, and allthese mental errors will end.

7/28/2019 Thomas Parker Boyd - Prospectus of

thomas parker boyd - prospectus of life in the university of hard knocks (1920)

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