Nothing is more apparent than man, as he now appears, is the result of evolution. But in order to evolve, he had to have a principle from which to unfold. Since man is intelligent, he must have evolved from an Intelligent Cause. In studying the order of mans evolution, seems certain that it was necessary -from the time that he was brought to a point of self-choice -that he be left alone to discover his true nature. If man is endowed with attributes of self-choice and free will, he must be allowed to make this great discovery for himself. Even God could not make a mechanical individual. Consider any natures forces, they must have existed always, but, so far as man is concerned, they exist to be used only after he has discovered them and learned how to make use of them. Electricity was a reality in the universe when Moses led the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but neither Moses nor any of his followers knew anything about it. This is true of all natural laws; they have always existed but only when understood may to be used. In this way, life awaits upon mans discovery of natural laws, his discovery of himself, and his discovery of his relationship to the great whole. The principle of any science is invisible, theoretical, as is our idea of spirit. No one has seen God; no one has seen life; we have seen is the manifestation of life. No one has seen intelligence; we experience it. No one has ever seen causation; we see what it does, we deal with its effects. We do not see beauty. The artist feels beauty and depicts it as best he can, and the result of his effort is what we call the beautiful. The mathematician solves a problem, but the problem is not the principle of mathematics; the solution of the problem is an effect or a result of the application of the principle. We do not see LIFE, we experience living. Causation is invisible. The first great discovery man made was that he could think. This was the day when he first said I am. This mark his first day of personal attainment. From that day, man became an individual and had to make all further progress himself. From that day, there was no compulsory evolution; he had to work in conscious union with life. The basis from which man is evolving is infinite. Behind him is the Great Unknown but not the great unknowable. As the result of the discovery that he could think, plan and execute, man has built up a great civilization; he has perceived that nature works through him in order to work for him. He has harnessed electricity, compelled steam to do his bidding, conquered the air, built the cities, made the desert to bloom, and has thrown the lines of his commerce around the globe. Indeed, he has seemed to possess the earth during the process, even though little attention has been given to that still, small voice which said: Man, know thyself. Mans first discovery of his ability to think was taken as a matter of fact. He had always been able to think. It was proof that he existed; it gave him the ability to know his needs and to supply them. It appeared to be an automatic thing; it came with him and would doubtless die when he died. The brain seem to be the organ of thought, and, of course, when death stilled the brain it would no longer operate. However, a day came when some wise man claimed that it is not the brain that does the thinking, for if the brain could think it would keep on thinking when removed from the body; yet without a brain a man could not think, which proved that something behind the brain used it an instrument. Man does think, so behind the brain there must be a thinker. But where is the thinker? We do not see him. Have we a right to say there is a thinker, when we have never seen him? Yes, for the proof of this reality is evidence of his thought. Back of the organism is the thinker and the doer -the mind. This was the greatest discovery of all time. For it meant that the body without the thinker could not function. At first, man did not perceive this and thought only of his body as self-operating, but when discovered this was not the case, he found that he could consciously think and decide, and that something happened to his thoughts after he thought them; they went somewhere and returned to him as memory. Pondering on this, man came to the conclusion that memory was an active thing, and he reasoned after this fashioned: Memory must be the storehouse of all ideas that have passed through my mind. Memory is active, for thoughts come back to me. My thought is conscious of my body; my body is operated upon by my thought, and it must be operated upon by my memory, since memory is active; but since memory is the result of conscious thought, memory of itself is an unconscious operation of what was once a conscious thought. This is one of the most important conclusions which the mind of man has ever made. By changing his thought, he could re-mold his affairs; and by right thinking he could bring new conditions into his life! Tremendous! Thanks Google plus, for presenting this great piece to me today.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 02:20:12 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015