 Feeling that an explanation of some of the words employed in an unusual way in these lessons may be helpful to the student, I herein offer a list of such words, together with my interpretation and references from Troward. Absolute "That which is free from limit, restriction, or qualification." (Webster.) "An idea from which the elements of time and space are entirely absent." (Troward.) Example: Thinking in the absolute would be simply dwelling upon the intrinsic qualities of love without reference to whom you love or the various forms through which love expresses itself. Mind is absolute because of its self-reaction. Being Life, that unformed power of life which controls circumstances and conditions. Read Troward's "Bible Meaning and Bible Mystery," pages 77-79. Belief A certain quality in the creative power of thought, which manifests on the external plane in exact correspondence to the quality of belief entertained. If you believe that your body is subject to disease, then the creative power of thought of disease results in a diseased body. Read Troward's "Edinburgh Lectures of Mental Science," page 14. Body The instrument through which thoughts and feelings are expressed. The envelope of the soul. Brain The instrument through and in which the action of the Universal Parent Mind expresses itself in specific form as individual thoughts. Brain is not the mind, but the mind's instrument. Christ A State of consciousness which is altogether good, and a quality of feeling which manifests in physical form. The most perfect spiritual concept. Circumstances The outward effect which corresponds to the inward tendency of thought. Conception William James says "...denotes neither the mental state nor what the mental state signifies, but the relation between the two." Concentration "Bringing the mind into a condition of equilibrium which enables us to consciously direct the flow of spirit to a definite, recognized purpose and then carefully to guard our thoughts from inducing a flow in the opposite direction." - Edinburgh Lectures of Mental Science. Page 88. (Troward.) Conditions The result of mental tendencies. Harmonious thought produces harmonious physical and material conditions, which still further react to sweeten thought. Consciousness Activity of mind which enables it to distinguish itself from the physical form in which it manifests. Create To bring into existence. Thought is creative, because it always brings into physical or objective existence forms which correspond to itself. Death Absence of life. Loss of consciousness, with no capacity to regain it. Example: If a thought has been absolutely eliminated from the consciousness and cannot be recalled, it is dead to you. Faith "The divine promises and individual faith are correlations." Combine them, and there is no limit to what you can do through the creative power in this quality of thought." Essential thought. Therefore every call to have faith in God is a call to have faith in the power of your own thought about God." (Troward) A confident expectant attitude of mind. Such a mental attitude renders your mind receptive to the creative action of the spirit of life. Have faith in the force of your own thought. You have many times experienced what it will do. Jesus' statement, "Have faith in God and nothing shall be impossible unto you." is not a mere figure of speech; it is a scientific fact, simply stated. Your individual thought is the specialized working of the creative power of life. (All Life.) Intelligence The Universal Infinite Mind. The highest intelligence is that mind which understands itself as the instrument through which the Intelligence which brought it into existence operates. Love Universal Life and Universal Law are one. The law of your being (your life) is that you are made in the image of God (the Creative Power which brought you into existence) because you are God's very self specialized. The law of your life is that your mind is "the individualization of Universal Mind at the state of self-evolution in which your mind attains the capacity for reasoning from the seen to the unseen and thus penetrating behind the veil of outward appearance. So because of the reproduction of the divine creative faculty in yourself, your mental states or modes of thought are bound to externalize themselves in your body and in your circumstances." (Troward.) Spirit It is impossible to analyze the nature of Spirit (or Life), but we can realize that whatever else Spirit may be, it is a self-creating power which acts and reacts upon itself, reproducing itself in inconceivable forms from the cosmos to man. (Just as your mind acts and reacts upon itself when you are memorizing.) Origin of all visible things. As it is independent of time and space, it must be pure thought, the embodiment of stored consciousness. A self-acting and self-reacting non-physical creative power or force. Its action can only be thought because thought is the only conceivable non-physical action. Thought The specialized action of the original, creative Spirit or Mind. Truth That which lives in you is truth to you. Visualizing Inward or mental vision. (Visioning). Life's creating power taking particular form. The act of producing in your mind the picture of any contemplated idea. Word Your individual thought is the specialized word or action of the originating mind-power itself. "That which starts the etheric vibration of life moving in a special direction," corresponding to the word, which originates special movement. "The seed which gives rise to the thing." Plant your word-seed in the Subjective Mind of the universe, and you are sure to receive a corresponding thing, just as truly as poppy seed produces poppies. Faith gives substance to things unseen. (The unseen word or thought.) |
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