CHAPTER IV.

INFINITE LIFE AND THE BEGINNING OF ITS

EXPRESSIONS

The origin of Life does not concern us, as we cannot know of it. The human mind cannot conceive of the condition of Nothingness, which must have preceded Life if anything could have preceded it. We must all instantly admit that nothing appears in response to our mental search for anything that could have been prior to Life, Mind. It is not within us. But Infinity is within us, and therefore we must reason that knowledge of its origin is not within Infinity itself, that it did not begin, that it has always been. The same line of reasoning leads us to the conclusion that it cannot and will not end, that it always will be. Speculations, therefore, with regard to the origin of Life must always be fruitless except in weakening the mind that attempts them. Though our minds cannot grasp a condition of nothingness, they can grasp a condition when there was only one thing-Life, Mind. Accepting this condition as our first possible premise, let us examine it before proceeding to find the minor premise. It is well described by the Hebrew seer as

the universe "without form and without void," that is, nothing had taken shape, yet there was no emptiness, Mind being All of it, Everywhere. It was, as it is, Indivisible, for there was nothing to divide, there being no dimensions, as there cannot be where there is no Thing. It was, as it is, Immobile, there being no place for it to go. It was its own Positive, its own Negative, the Absolute. We can conceive of no Mind desiring to be Alone. We know of no Mind so great that it does not desire companionship. To procure this companionship Infinite Mind expressed itself, exactly how or when we are not sufficiently developed to find out. Our Reason, seeking the first Expression and founding our judgment upon the necessities of the case, concludes that Life, acting and re-acting within its Positive and Negative self, produced motion controlled by the Positive, by these vibrations of varying degrees of velocity forming constrictions or vortices of its Negative self, and these constrictions, dense or volatile according to their vibrations, constituted what we designate as "Matter." Science teaches us that these Expressions were made in their simplest form, and are known as Elemental Atoms, between eighty and ninety of which have been discovered by research. This theory of the original Expression appears reasonable. By beginning with the protoplasm, Infinite Mind has been continuously

occupied and interested by Development, as it would not have been had everything at once made its appearance in its most perfect form. It thus appears that from the conditions we find today, Expressed Things are the Negative side of Infinite Life, as they are all in motion. Impelled by the Infinite Urge, every elemental atom is seeking perfection by effecting combinations, these combinations seeking further combinations, and these combinations seeking still further complexity of Expression. The movements of these atoms in continually readjusting themselves cause what we designate vibrations. As has already been pointed out, the presence within Infinite Life of things having dimensions introduced the element of Space, which is not infinite, but the relativity of one object to another. The movement of these things in their readjustments introduced the element of Time, which is but our method of reckoning the number of vibrations necessary to convey a thing from one locality to another. So long as Expressed Life remains in existence, Time and Space must be, though our conceptions will always be relative to the number of vibrations they require in their movements. Thus when the bodies we possess become finer in our development we shall move with the velocity of thought, though we shall never be able to escape entirely from our consciousness of being a thing with dimensions.

Indeed, we never will desire this, for it would mean the loss of our identity.

The points you are desired to hold as established until further evidence is adduced are these:

That Infinite Mind is Positive, Immobile, Indivisible, the Absolute;

That Expressed Mind is Negative, and controlled by the Positive. It is composed of the Elemental Consciousnesses, which are' Indestructible. The Subconsciousnesses into which these elemental atoms are formed by combinations are temporary, being formed and dissolved by the Infinite Urge to progress and development;

That all things are, always have been, and always will be-Mind, the only Creative Element.

The last point, that everything is Mind, may as well be finally dealt with at once. When Mind was alone there could have been nothing else. In its creative or expressional efforts it had nothing but Itself as material, no tool but Motion. Since then nothing has been imported into Life, as there is nowhere to bring it from, Life being everywhere and everything always. Therefore everything has continued to be, and is now, Life, Mind; in various degrees of activity, it is true. These various degrees of activity in themselves are Mind, directed by Mind,

never under any circumstances or conditions becoming anything but Mind, always acting and re-acting as Mind.

This is becoming quite generally recognized by scientists, who in their researches by inductive reasoning reach the same conclusion-that everything is Mind. These scientists have found some eighty or ninety elementary consciousnesses in the world, which by their various partnerships and combinations have formed themselves into the varied Expressions of Life we see about us. They have traced some of these atoms, these consciousnesses, far beyond the range of vision, to where they measure one fifty-millionth part of an inch in diameter, and can have an existence as entities only in our mind. No scientist has yet attempted to weigh or measure the atoms of which Mind is composed, and it may be reasonably conIcluded that there are no such atoms, Infinite Life being indivisible, and that the so-called inaterial atoms finally disappear into the essence of Thought, of Mind. It is here contended that when the point is arrived at that the atom has its sole entity in the mind it becomes a Mind atom, and therefore can by no one be considered as anything but Mind. To hesitate further in calling everything Mind and assuming Mind to be the only creative element would seem to be merely materialistic and scientific pedantry.