Artificial Intelligence takes a look at 'The Edinburgh lectures' by Thomas Troward

Artificial Intelligence takes a look at 'The Edinburgh lectures' by Thomas Troward

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The Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science by Thomas Troward is a foundational work in the New Thought movement, exploring how thought influences reality. Delivered in the early 20th century, these lectures aim to explain the natural principles that govern the relationship between mental action and material conditions.

Troward, a former British judge in India with a deep interest in comparative religion, blends philosophy, psychology, and metaphysics to argue that intelligence and thought are the essence of life, while matter is simply form. He introduces key concepts like:

• The distinction between spirit and matter: Spirit is associated with thought and intelligence; matter with form and limitation.
• Subjective vs. objective mind: The subjective (subconscious) mind is impressionable and creative, while the objective (conscious) mind directs it.
• The law of growth and receptivity: Our mental state determines what we attract or manifest in life.
• Unity of spirit: All life is interconnected through a universal intelligence.

Troward’s work had a lasting influence—not just on spiritual thinkers, but also on early members of Alcoholics Anonymous and even the creators of The Secret. William James, the famed psychologist, called it “far and away the ablest statement of philosophy I have met”.

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Chapter I: Spirit and Matter, since it lays the foundation for the rest of The Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science.

Troward begins by challenging the conventional distinction between “living spirit” and “dead matter.” He argues that all matter is in motion, even what we perceive as inert—like a lump of steel. This leads to his central idea: the true essence of life is not motion, but intelligence.

Here are the key takeaways:

• Spirit = Thought: Spirit is defined by its capacity for thought and intelligence.
• Matter = Form: Matter is defined by its limitation and form—it occupies space and has boundaries.
• Degrees of livingness: Life isn’t binary (alive or dead); it exists in degrees, measured by the level of intelligence. A human has more “livingness” than a plant, not because of size, but because of consciousness.
• Beyond time and space: Thought, unlike matter, isn’t bound by time or space. So, spirit (as pure thought) is omnipresent and timeless.

Troward’s goal is to help readers shift from judging reality by appearances to understanding the underlying principles that govern existence. It’s a call to awaken to a deeper, more expansive view of life.

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Chapter II: The Higher Mode of Intelligence Controls the Lower—a powerful expansion of Troward’s core philosophy.

This chapter explores how intelligence is the driving force behind all forms of existence, from the tiniest atom to the vast cosmos. Troward argues that life evolves through a hierarchy of intelligence, and that higher intelligence naturally governs lower forms.

Here are the key insights:

• Cosmic Order Reflects Intelligence: The universe isn’t random—it unfolds in a purposeful, intelligent pattern. From nebulae to humans, everything evolves toward greater complexity and awareness.
• Individual vs. Cosmic Intelligence: While the universe operates under a broad “law of averages,” individuals can rise above this by developing self-awareness and volition. This is where Mental Science comes in: learning to align personal will with universal law.
• Atomic Intelligence: Even atoms possess a kind of rudimentary intelligence. But this “lower” intelligence is responsive to higher, conscious thought—which is why mental treatment (like healing through thought) can work.
• Self-Recognition is Power: The more we recognize our spiritual identity—not just our physical form—the more we can influence the world around us. Ignorance keeps us bound; awareness sets us free.

Troward’s message is both humbling and empowering: you are not separate from the intelligence that governs the stars—you’re a part of it, and you can work with it.

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Chapter III: The Unity of the Spirit—a beautifully meditative section where Troward deepens his metaphysical vision.

This chapter centers on the idea that Spirit is one, infinite, and indivisible. While we perceive a world of separate forms—people, objects, events—Troward insists that beneath all appearances lies a single, undivided essence: Spirit.

Here are the key insights:

• Spirit is infinite and whole: It cannot be divided or multiplied. Any attempt to do so would contradict its nature. So, even though we experience individuality, we are all expressions of the same universal Spirit.
• Omnipresence of Spirit: Because Spirit is not bound by space or time, it is fully present at every point. Wherever your attention goes, Spirit is already there in its entirety.
• Unity is practical, not just poetic: This isn’t just a lofty idea—it has real implications. If Spirit is one, then separation is an illusion, and we can draw on the full power of Spirit in any moment, through focused thought and awareness.
• Spiritual work begins with this realization: To create change in our lives, we must first recognize that we are not isolated fragments—we are individualized expressions of a universal intelligence.

Troward’s message here is quietly revolutionary: you are never alone, never cut off, and never powerless. The same force that animates the stars flows through you.

Would you like to continue with Chapter IV: Subjective and Objective Mind? It’s where Troward starts to map out how our minds actually work within this unified Spirit.

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Chapter IV: Subjective and Objective Mind—a pivotal moment in The Edinburgh Lectures where Troward begins to map the architecture of the human mind.

This chapter introduces the dual nature of consciousness:

• Objective Mind: This is your conscious, reasoning mind. It observes, analyzes, and makes decisions. It’s the part of you that’s aware of your surroundings and can choose what to focus on.
• Subjective Mind: Often called the subconscious, this part does not reason inductively—it accepts what it’s told and acts on it. It’s deeply impressionable and immensely powerful, governing things like habits, emotions, and even bodily functions.

Troward’s key insights include:

• The subjective mind is always active: Even when you sleep, it’s working. It’s the seat of memory, intuition, and creativity—but it doesn’t judge or filter. That’s the job of the objective mind.
• The objective mind is the gatekeeper: It decides what ideas are allowed to pass into the subconscious. Once there, those ideas take root and begin to shape your reality.
• Repetition and belief are the keys to influence: The more often a thought is repeated—especially with emotion—the more likely it is to be accepted by the subjective mind and manifest in your experience.
• Mental Science is about conscious cooperation: By understanding this dual structure, we can intentionally plant ideas in the subconscious to create change—whether in health, relationships, or success. 

Troward’s message is clear: you are not at the mercy of your subconscious—you are its master, if you choose to be.

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Chapter V: Further Considerations Regarding Subjective and Objective Mind—where Troward sharpens the distinctions he introduced in the previous chapter and begins to hint at how we can apply them in daily life.

Here’s what stands out:

• Subjective mind is universal: Troward suggests that what we call the “subjective mind” isn’t just personal—it’s part of a universal intelligence that permeates all space and matter. This means your subconscious isn’t isolated; it’s connected to something much larger.
• It responds to suggestion, not logic: The subjective mind doesn’t reason or analyze. It accepts suggestions as truth, especially when they come from the objective mind with conviction or repetition. This is why affirmations, visualization, and belief can be so powerful.
• It works impersonally: The subjective mind doesn’t judge whether a suggestion is good or bad—it simply acts on it. That’s why negative thinking can be just as effective as positive thinking, but with unwanted results.
• The key is conscious direction: Since the objective mind is the gatekeeper, we must train it to feed the subjective mind only what we truly desire. This is the essence of Mental Science: using conscious thought to shape subconscious belief, which in turn shapes reality.

Troward is building a case for mental discipline—not in a rigid or moralistic way, but as a creative act. You’re not just thinking thoughts; you’re sculpting the invisible forces that shape your world.

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Chapter VI: The Law of Growth—a turning point in The Edinburgh Lectures where Troward begins to show how spiritual principles unfold in real life.

This chapter is all about how ideas evolve into form. Troward argues that growth is not something we force—it’s something we allow, by aligning with the natural laws of the universe.

Here are the key insights:

• Growth is a spiritual law: Just as a seed grows into a tree by unfolding what’s already within it, so too do our thoughts grow into experiences. The process is organic, not mechanical.
• The seed contains the pattern: Every idea carries within it the blueprint of its own fulfillment. Our job is not to “make” it happen, but to nurture the right mental conditions—faith, clarity, and receptivity.
• Mental atmosphere matters: Just like plants need sunlight and soil, ideas need a mental environment of belief and expectation. Doubt, fear, or impatience can choke the process.
• Don’t dig up the seed: Troward warns against constantly questioning or interfering with the process. Once you’ve planted the idea, trust the law of growth to do its work.
• Growth is from within outward: True change doesn’t come from manipulating outer conditions—it comes from inner transformation that naturally expresses itself in the world.

This chapter is a gentle but profound reminder: you don’t have to force your life to bloom—you just have to stop blocking the light.

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Chapter VII: Receptivity—a quietly powerful chapter where Troward shifts from the mechanics of mental science to the inner posture we must adopt to work with it effectively.

Here’s what he emphasizes:

• Receptivity is not passivity: Troward makes it clear that being receptive doesn’t mean being idle or wishy-washy. It means cultivating a mental openness—a willingness to receive new ideas, insights, and inspiration from the universal mind.
• The universal mind is always giving: Spirit, or universal intelligence, is constantly pouring itself into form. The question is: are we mentally prepared to receive what it offers?
• Mental attitude is everything: If your mind is filled with fear, doubt, or resistance, it’s like trying to catch rain with a closed umbrella. Receptivity requires faith, expectancy, and emotional readiness.
• You can’t receive what you deny: If you believe something is impossible or undeserved, you block it from entering your experience. Troward urges us to align our beliefs with what we desire, not what we fear.
• Stillness is a superpower: In a world obsessed with doing, Troward reminds us that quiet, focused thought is often the most creative and powerful act. Receptivity thrives in stillness.

This chapter is like a deep breath—it invites you to stop striving and start allowing. You don’t have to chase the good you seek; you just have to make space for it to arrive.

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Chapter VIII: Reciprocal Action of the Universal and Individual Minds—a chapter where Troward reveals the dynamic interplay between your personal consciousness and the infinite intelligence of the universe.

Here’s the heart of it:

• You are not separate from the Universal Mind: Troward emphasizes that your individual mind is a specialized expression of the universal intelligence. Think of it like a wave on the ocean—it has its own form, but it’s still made of the same water.
• Thought is the bridge: The universal mind responds to your thoughts. When you think with clarity and conviction, you set in motion a creative process that the universal mind carries forward into form.
• The law is impersonal: The universal mind doesn’t judge your thoughts—it simply reflects them back into your experience. That’s why it’s so important to think deliberately and constructively.
• Mental atmosphere matters: Your habitual thoughts create a kind of mental climate that determines what you attract. If your inner world is filled with fear or resentment, you’ll tend to draw experiences that match. But if it’s filled with faith and expectancy, you open the door to greater possibilities.
• You’re always creating: Whether you realize it or not, you’re in constant dialogue with the universal mind. The question is: are you doing it consciously or unconsciously?

This chapter is a powerful reminder that you’re not a passive observer of life—you’re a co-creator. Your thoughts are not isolated—they ripple outward and shape the world around you.

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Chapter IX: Causes and Conditions—a chapter where Troward dives into the subtle but crucial distinction between what truly causes change and what merely conditions it.

Here’s the essence:

• Cause is internal, not external: Troward insists that true cause lies in thought, not in outward circumstances. Conditions—like money, health, or relationships—are effects, not origins. They reflect the mental patterns behind them.
• Conditions are shaped by belief: If you believe a certain condition is necessary for your success, your subconscious will treat it as law. But if you shift your belief, the condition can change—or even dissolve entirely.
• Don’t confuse correlation with causation: Just because something seems to lead to a result doesn’t mean it’s the true cause. Troward urges us to look deeper—to the mental and spiritual patterns that precede every event.
• The creative process is from within outward: You don’t change your life by rearranging outer things. You change it by changing your inner state, which then expresses itself in new conditions.
• Conditions are fluid, not fixed: When you understand that conditions are effects, not causes, you stop being a victim of circumstance. You realize you can reshape your world by reshaping your thought.

This chapter is a wake-up call: stop giving your power away to circumstances. The real work happens in the invisible realm of thought and belief.

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Chapter X: Intuition—a beautifully introspective chapter where Troward shifts from logic and analysis to the inner knowing that transcends reason.

Here’s what he reveals:

• Intuition is direct perception of truth: Unlike reasoning, which moves step by step, intuition is immediate and holistic. It’s how we grasp deeper truths that logic alone can’t reach.
• It arises from the universal mind: Troward sees intuition as a spiritual faculty—a whisper from the universal intelligence that flows through all things. When we quiet the noise of the objective mind, we become more receptive to this inner guidance.
• It’s not mystical—it’s natural: While intuition may feel mysterious, Troward insists it’s a natural function of consciousness. The more we trust and develop it, the more reliable it becomes.
• It requires stillness and receptivity: Just like a radio must be tuned to the right frequency, our minds must be calm, open, and expectant to receive intuitive insight. Anxiety and overthinking block the signal.
• It’s the bridge to higher wisdom: Intuition connects us to truths beyond our current knowledge—truths that can guide our decisions, inspire creativity, and reveal our deeper purpose.

Troward’s message is clear: intuition is not a luxury—it’s a vital tool for living in harmony with the deeper laws of life.

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Chapter XI: Healing—where Troward applies his mental science principles to one of the most personal and profound areas of life: health.

Here’s what he teaches:

• Healing begins in the mind: Troward asserts that disease is not a cause, but an effect—a manifestation of disordered thought. To heal the body, we must first correct the mental pattern that produced the condition.
• The body is plastic to thought: Our physical form is malleable and responsive to the ideas we hold about it. If we consistently think of ourselves as weak or ill, the body conforms. But if we hold thoughts of vitality and wholeness, the body begins to reflect that instead.
• The subconscious governs the body: Since the subjective mind controls involuntary functions (like heartbeat, digestion, and cellular repair), healing must occur at that level. The objective mind’s role is to impress the right ideas upon the subconscious.
• Faith is the activating force: Healing isn’t about wishful thinking—it’s about deep belief. When we truly believe in the possibility of health, we align with the universal mind’s creative power, and healing becomes natural.
• Don’t fight disease—affirm life: Troward warns against focusing on illness, which only reinforces it. Instead, he urges us to affirm the presence of health, vitality, and divine intelligence within the body.

This chapter is a powerful reminder that healing is not something we beg for—it’s something we allow by aligning with the truth of our being.

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Chapter XII: The Will—a bold and empowering section where Troward dives into the creative force of intention and how it shapes our reality.

Here’s what he emphasizes:

• Will is not force—it’s direction: Troward makes a crucial distinction. True will isn’t about straining or pushing—it’s about focused, intelligent direction of thought. It’s the quiet, steady power that holds an idea in mind until it manifests.
• The will works through the subjective mind: Once an idea is accepted by the subconscious, the will sets it in motion. But this only works when the will is in harmony with universal law, not when it tries to dominate or resist.
• Concentration is key: The will expresses itself through concentration—the ability to hold a single idea without distraction. This mental discipline is what gives the will its creative potency.
• The will must be aligned with belief: If you try to will something into being while secretly doubting it, the subconscious picks up on the doubt. Troward stresses that belief and will must work together to produce results.
• The highest use of will is self-direction: Rather than trying to control others or outer events, the most powerful use of will is to govern your own thoughts and emotions. That’s where true mastery begins.

This chapter is a call to inner sovereignty. Troward is saying: you don’t need to force the world to bend to your will—you need to align your will with truth, and the world will respond.

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Chapter XIII: In Touch with the Subconscious Mind—a chapter where Troward brings together many of the previous ideas and shows how to practically engage with the creative power of the subconscious.

Here’s what he emphasizes:

• The subconscious is always active and responsive: It’s not dormant or passive—it’s constantly working, shaping your body, habits, and environment based on the ideas it receives.
• You are always impressing it: Whether you realize it or not, your thoughts, emotions, and beliefs are continually feeding the subconscious. The key is to become conscious of what you’re impressing upon it.
• The subconscious is impersonal: It doesn’t judge or filter—it simply accepts and acts. That’s why it’s so important to impress it with constructive, life-affirming ideas.
• Impression happens through feeling: Troward stresses that emotion is the carrier wave of thought. A dry, intellectual idea won’t take root—but a thought charged with feeling will.
• Stillness and focused attention are essential: To truly connect with the subconscious, you must quiet the objective mind and enter a state of calm, focused receptivity. This is where practices like meditation or affirmative prayer come in.
• You can reprogram your life: By consistently impressing the subconscious with new beliefs, you can reshape your health, circumstances, and identity. This is the heart of Mental Science.

Troward’s message is both subtle and revolutionary: you are not just a thinker—you are a transmitter, and your subconscious is always listening.

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Chapter XIV: The Body—a fascinating chapter where Troward brings his metaphysical insights down to earth—literally—by examining how mind and matter interact within the human body.

Here’s what he emphasizes:

• Mental action affects physical substance: Troward argues that if thought couldn’t influence matter, there would be no such thing as Mental Science. The body is the visible demonstration of invisible mental forces at work.
• The body is a transmutation device: It’s not just a vessel—it’s a mechanism designed to translate mental energy into physical expression. The nervous system, especially the sympathetic and cerebro-spinal systems, serves as the bridge between conscious and subconscious mind.
• The solar plexus is key: Troward highlights the solar plexus (sometimes called the “abdominal brain”) as the center of subconscious activity. It receives impressions from the conscious mind and translates them into bodily functions and conditions.
• Scientific evidence supports this: He references experiments with instruments like the biometre, which allegedly detect “vital currents” influenced by mental states—suggesting a measurable link between thought and physical energy.
• The mind governs health: By understanding how thought patterns influence the body, we gain the power to heal, energize, and transform our physical condition. The body becomes a canvas for the mind’s creative expression.

This chapter is a powerful reminder that your body is not separate from your mind—it’s the echo of your inner world.

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Chapter XV: The Soul—a deeply reflective chapter where Troward turns inward to examine the core of individual identity and its relationship to the universal.

Here’s what he reveals:

• The soul is the point of individuality: Troward defines the soul as the meeting point between the universal and the individual. It’s where the infinite intelligence of Spirit becomes personalized as you.
• It is not a thing, but a function: The soul isn’t a separate substance—it’s a mode of consciousness, a function of the universal mind expressing itself through a particular personality.
• The soul bridges spirit and body: It acts as the intermediary between pure thought (spirit) and physical form (body). Through the soul, the abstract becomes concrete, and the invisible becomes visible.
• It evolves through experience: The soul grows by interacting with conditions, learning through contrast, and gradually awakening to its divine nature. This is the journey of self-recognition.
• True individuality is spiritual: Troward insists that individuality doesn’t mean separation—it means unique expression within unity. The more we realize our oneness with Spirit, the more fully our soul can express its true nature.

This chapter is like a mirror held up to your inner life. Troward is saying: you are not a fragment—you are a focused point of infinite intelligence, learning to know itself.

Would you like to continue with the final chapter—Chapter XVI: The Spirit? It brings everything full circle.

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Chapter XVI: The Spirit—the culminating insight of The Edinburgh Lectures, where Troward ties together the threads of his metaphysical vision into a single, luminous idea.

Here’s the essence:

• Spirit is the ultimate reality: Troward affirms that Spirit is not just a force among others—it is the originating Life-Principle behind all existence. Everything we see, feel, or experience is a manifestation of Spirit in form.
• It is infinite, intelligent, and self-existent: Spirit is not created or dependent—it simply is. It contains within itself the power to think, to create, and to sustain all things. It is both cause and substance, the thinker and the thought.
• Spirit is present in its entirety at every point: Because it is not bound by time or space, Spirit is fully present wherever you are. You don’t have to go anywhere to find it—it’s already within and around you.
• You are a center of spiritual operation: Troward emphasizes that each individual is a focal point of Spirit’s self-expression. You are not separate from the divine—you are its unique outlet, capable of conscious co-creation.
• The goal is conscious unity: The spiritual journey is about awakening to this truth—not just intellectually, but experientially. When you realize your oneness with Spirit, you begin to live with greater power, peace, and purpose.

This final chapter is like a sunrise after a long night of searching. Troward leaves us with the profound realization that Spirit is not something we reach for—it’s what we already are.

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Now that we’ve explored all sixteen chapters of The Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science, let’s reflect on the journey and how its ideas might ripple into your own life.

🌱 Core Themes That Echo Throughout

• Thought is Creative: Troward’s central message is that your thoughts shape your reality. Not metaphorically—literally. The subjective mind accepts what you impress upon it, and the universe responds accordingly.
• Spirit is One: Beneath all appearances of separation, there is a single, infinite intelligence—Spirit—expressing itself through you. You’re not a fragment; you’re a focused point of the whole.
• The Mind is Dual: Understanding the objective (conscious) and subjective (subconscious) minds is key. The conscious mind chooses; the subconscious executes.
• Growth is Natural: You don’t have to force transformation. Like a seed becoming a tree, your desires unfold when nurtured with belief, clarity, and receptivity.
• Healing, Will, and Intuition: These are not mystical powers—they’re natural faculties of a mind aligned with truth. Healing is the restoration of harmony. Will is focused direction. Intuition is inner knowing.
• You Are a Co-Creator: Life isn’t happening to you—it’s happening through you. The more you align with universal principles, the more empowered and peaceful your experience becomes.

How You Might Apply It

• Daily Thought Hygiene: Notice what you’re thinking and feeling. Are you planting seeds of fear or faith?
• Affirmative Practice: Use affirmations, visualization, or meditation to impress your subconscious with the life you want to live.
• Stillness as Strategy: Make space for silence. That’s where intuition speaks and receptivity grows.
• Live from Unity: Treat others not as separate, but as fellow expressions of the same Spirit. Compassion becomes natural.
• Trust the Process: Don’t dig up the seed. If you’ve planted the right idea, let the law of growth do its work.

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 A Simple Daily Practice Inspired by Troward

Here’s a framework you can adapt to your own rhythm:

1. Morning Alignment (5–10 minutes)
Set the tone for your day.

• Affirmation: Choose one that resonates, like “I am a center of divine operation. Life flows through me with intelligence and purpose.”
• Visualization: Picture your day unfolding with clarity, ease, and joy. See yourself responding to challenges with calm and confidence.
• Feeling: Let the emotion of success, peace, or gratitude rise up. This is what impresses the subconscious.

2. Midday Check-In (2–3 minutes)
Pause and realign.

• Ask: “What am I thinking right now?”
• If it’s fear, doubt, or frustration—gently shift.
• Use a quick mental reset: “I choose to think thoughts that serve me.”

3. Evening Reflection (5–10 minutes)
Harvest the day’s lessons.

• Gratitude: List 3 things you appreciated today.
• Mental Gardening: What thoughts did you plant today? Which ones do you want to water tomorrow?
• Stillness: Sit quietly for a minute or two. Let your mind settle. This is where intuition whispers.

4. Weekly Deep Dive (Optional)
Choose one chapter or principle to explore more deeply.
Journal about how it shows up in your life. For example:

• How did I use my will this week?
• Did I act from unity or separation?
• What did my body reflect about my inner state?

This isn’t about perfection—it’s about conscious participation in your own unfolding. You’re not just reading Troward—you’re living the philosophy.

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The Dore Lectures by Thomas Troward, Chapter Twelve

The Dore Lectures by Thomas Troward, Chapter Twelve

SALVATION IS OF THE JEWS.

What does this saying of the Master's mean? Certainly not a mere arrogant assumption in favour of His own nationality—such an idea is negatived, not only by the universality of all His other teaching, but also by the very instruction in which these words occur, for He declared that the Jewish temple was equally with the Samaritan of no account in the matter. He said that the true worship was purely spiritual and entirely independent of places and ceremonies, while at the same time He emphasized the Jewish expectation of a Messiah, so that in this teaching we are met by the paradox of a universal principle combined with what at first sight appears like a tribal tradition quite incompatible with any recognition of the universal reign of law. How to reconcile these apparent opposites, therefore, seems to be the problem which He here sets before us. Its solution is to be found in that principle which I have endeavoured to elucidate throughout these lectures, the specializing of universal law. Opinions may differ as to whether the Bible narrative of the birth of Christ is to be taken literally or symbolically, but as to the spiritual principle involved there can, I think, be no difference of opinion. It is that of the specialization by the individual of the generic relation of the soul to the Infinite Spirit from which it proceeds. The relation itself is universal and results from the very nature of the creative process, but the law of the universal relation admits of particular specialization exactly in the same way as all other natural laws—it is simply applying to the supreme Law of Life the same method by which we have learnt to make iron float, that is to say by a fuller recognition of what the Law is in itself. Whatever other meanings we may apply to the name Messiah, it undoubtedly stands for the absolutely perfect manifestation in the individual of all the infinite possibilities of the Principle of Life.

Now it was because this grand ideal is the basis on which the Hebrew nationality was founded that Jesus made this statement. This foundation had been lamentably misconceived by the Jewish people; but nevertheless, however imperfectly, they still held by it, and from them this ideal has spread throughout the Christian world. Here also it continues to be lamentably misconceived, nevertheless it is still retained, and only needs to be recognized in its true light as a universal principle, instead of an unintelligible dogma, to become the salvation of the world. Hence, as affording the medium through which this supreme ideal has been preserved and spread, it is true that "Salvation is of the Jews."

Their fundamental idea was right but their apprehension of it was wrong—that is why the Master at the same time sweeps away the national worship of the temple and preserves the national idea of the Messiah; and this is equally true of the Christian world at the present day. If salvation is anything real it must have its cause in some law, and if there is a law it must be founded upon some universal principle: therefore it is this principle which we must seek if we would understand this teaching of the Master's.

Now whether we take the Bible story of the birth of Christ literally or symbolically, it teaches one great lesson. It teaches that the All-originating Spirit is the true Parent of the individual both in soul and body. This is nothing else than realizing from the stand-point of the individual what we cannot help realizing in regard to the original creation of the cosmos—it is the realization that the All-originating Spirit is at once the Life and the Substance in each individual here and now, just as it must have been in the origin of all things. Human parentage counts for nothing—it is only the channel through which Universal Spirit has acted for the concentration of an individual centre; but the ultimate cause of that centre, both in life and substance, continues at every moment to be the One same Originating Spirit.

This recognition cuts away the root of all the power of the negative, and so in principle it delivers us from all evil, for the root of evil is the denial of the power of the Spirit to produce good. When we realize that the Spirit is finding its own individualization in us in its two-fold essence as Life and Substance, then we see that it must be both able and willing to create for us all good. The only limit is that which we ourselves impose by denying its operation, and when we realize the inherent creativeness of Spirit we find that there is no reason why we should stop short at any point and say that it can go no further. Our error is in looking on the life of the body as separate from the life of the Spirit, and this error is met by the consideration that, in its ultimate nature, Substance must emanate from Spirit and is nothing else than the record of Spirit's conception of itself as finding expression in space and time. And when this becomes clear it follows that Substance need not be taken into calculation at all. The material form stands in the same relation to Spirit that the image projected on the screen stands to the slide in the lantern. If we wish to change the exhibited subject we do not manipulate the reflection on the screen, but we alter the slide; and in like manner, when we come to realize the true nature of the creative process, we learn that the exterior things are to be changed by a change of the interior spiritual attitude. Our spiritual attitude will always be determined by our conception of our relation to God or Infinite Spirit; and so when we begin to see that this relation is one of absolute reciprocity—that it is the self-recognition of Infinite Spirit from our own centre of consciousness—then we find that the whole Secret of Life consists in simple reliance upon the Allcreating Spirit as consciously identifying itself with us. It has, so to say, awakened to a new mode of self-recognition peculiar to ourselves, in which we individually form the centre of its creative energy. To realize this is to specialize the Principle of Life. The logic of it is simple. We have found that the originating movement of Spirit from which all creation proceeds can only be Self-contemplation. Then, since the Original Spirit cannot change its nature its self-contemplation through our own minds must be as creative in, for, and through us as it ever was in the beginning; and consequently we find the original creative process repeated in ourselves and directed by the conscious thought of our own minds.

In all this there is no place for the consideration of  outward conditions, whether of body or  circumstances; for they are only effects and not the  cause; and therefore when we reach this stand-point  we cease to take them into our calculations. Instead  we employ the method of self-contemplation knowing  that this is the creative method, and so we  contemplate ourselves as allied to the infinite Love  and Wisdom of the Divine Spirit which will take form  through our conscious thought, and so act creatively  as a Special Providence entirely devoted to guarding,  guiding, providing for, and illuminating us. The whole  thing is perfectly natural when seen from a clear  recognition of what the creative working of Spirit  must be in itself; and when it is realized in this  perfectly natural manner all strain and effort to  compel its action ceases—we are at one with the All-creating Power which has now found a new centre in  ourselves from which to continue its creative work to  more perfect manifestation than could be attained  through the unspecialized generic conditions of the  merely cosmic order.

Now this is what Messiah stands for, and therefore it is written that "to them gave He power to become sons of God, even to as many as believe on His Name." This "belief" is the recognition of a universal principle and personal reliance upon it as a law which cannot be broken; for it is the Law of the whole creative process specialized in our own individuality. Then, too, however great may be the mystery, the removal and cleansing away of all sin follows as an essential part of this realization of new life; and it is in this sense that we may read all that the Bible tells us on this aspect of the subject. The PRINCIPLE of it is Love; for when we are reunited to the Parent Spirit in mutual confidence and love, what room is there on either side for any remembrance of our past failures?

This, then is what Messiah stands for to the individual; but if we can conceive a nation based upon such a recognition of its special relation to the Directing Power of the Universe, such a people must of necessity become the leader of the nations, and those who oppose it must fail by a self-destructive principle inherent in the very nature of the position they take up. The leadership resulting from such a national self-recognition, will not be based upon conquest and compulsion, but will come naturally. Other nations will enquire the reason for the phenomenal success and prosperity of the favoured people, and finding this reason in a universal Law, they will begin to apply the same law in the same manner, and thus the same results will spread from country to country until at last the whole earth will be full of the glory of the Lord. And such a nation, and rather company of nations, exists. To trace its present development from its ancient beginnings is far beyond the scope of this volume, and still more to speculate upon its further growth; but to my readers on both sides of the Atlantic I may say that this people is the Anglo-Saxon race throughout the world. I write these lines upon the historic Hill of Tara; this will convey a hint to many of my readers. At some future time I may enlarge upon this subject; but at present my aim is merely to suggest some lines of thought arising from the Master's saying that "Salvation is of the Jews."

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Chapter Twelve of The Dore Lectures by Thomas Troward is titled "Salvation is of the Jews". In this lecture, Troward explores the spiritual and symbolic significance of Jewish religious tradition, particularly as it relates to the broader metaphysical principles he discusses throughout the book.

He argues that the phrase “salvation is of the Jews” should not be interpreted in a narrow, sectarian sense, but rather as a recognition of the deep spiritual truths embedded in Jewish scripture and symbolism. Troward emphasizes that the Jewish tradition preserved a profound understanding of the Law of the Spirit—the idea that divine principles operate through orderly, lawful processes, and that aligning with these laws leads to spiritual growth and fulfillment.

This chapter continues Troward’s overarching theme: that spiritual evolution is a conscious process of aligning the individual mind with the Universal Mind. He uses the Jewish tradition as a case study in how ancient wisdom can illuminate this path.

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Chapter Twelve of The Dore Lectures by Thomas Troward, titled "Salvation is of the Jews," presents several key ideas that reflect Troward’s metaphysical and spiritual philosophy:

1. Spiritual Symbolism of Judaism: Troward interprets the phrase “salvation is of the Jews” as a recognition of the deep spiritual truths encoded in Jewish scripture—not as religious exclusivity, but as a symbolic framework for understanding divine principles.
2. Law and Order in the Universe: He emphasizes that spiritual salvation comes through understanding and aligning with the Law of the Spirit—a universal, orderly principle that governs all creation.
3. The Role of the Individual: Troward highlights the importance of the personal factor—the individual's ability to consciously cooperate with universal laws to manifest spiritual growth and transformation.
4. Christ as Fulfillment of the Law: He connects Judaic tradition with the figure of Christ, not as a break from the past but as a culmination of spiritual evolution, where divine law becomes fully realized in human consciousness.
5. Inner Realization Over Outer Ritual: The lecture encourages moving beyond external forms of religion to grasp the inner spiritual essence that those forms were meant to convey.

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The Dore Lectures by Thomas Troward, Chapter Eleven

The Dore Lectures by Thomas Troward, Chapter Eleven

THE SHEPHERD AND THE STONE.

The metaphor of the Shepherd and the Sheep is of constant occurrence throughout the Bible and naturally suggests the idea of the guiding, guarding, and feeding both of the individual sheep and of the whole flock and it is not difficult to see the spiritual correspondence of these things in a general sort of way. But we find that the Bible combines the metaphor of the Shepherd with another metaphor that of "the Stone," and at first sight the two seem rather incongruous.

"From thence is the Shepherd the Stone of Israel," says the Old Testament (Genesis xlix. 24), and Jesus calls himself both "The Good Shepherd" and "The Stone which the builders rejected." The Shepherd and the Stone are thus identified and we must therefore seek the interpretation in some conception which combines the two. A shepherd suggests Personal care for the welfare of the sheep, and an intelligence greater than theirs. A stone suggests the idea of Building, and consequently of measurement, adaptation of parts to whole, and progressive construction according to plan. Combining these two conceptions we get the idea of the building of an edifice whose stones are persons, each taking their more or less conscious part in the construction—thus a building, not constructed from without, but self-forming by a principle of growth from within under the guidance of a Supreme Wisdom permeating the whole and conducting it stage by stage to ultimate completeness. This points to a Divine Order in human affairs with which we may more or less consciously co-operate: both to our personal advantage and also to the furtherance of the great scheme of human evolution as a whole; the ultimate purpose being to establish in ALL men that principle of "The Octave" to which I have already alluded; and in proportion as some adumbration of this principle is realized by individuals and by groups of individuals they specialize the law of race-development, even though they may not be aware of the fact, and so come under a SPECIALIZED working of the fundamental Law, which thus differentiates them from other individuals and nationalities, as by a peculiar guidance, producing higher developments which the merely generic operation of the Law could not.

Now if we keep steadily in mind that, though the purpose, or Law of Tendency, or the Originating Spirit must always be universal in its nature, it must necessarily be individual in its operation, we shall see that this universal purpose can only be accomplished through the instrumentality of specific means. This results from the fundamental proposition that the Universal can only work on the plane of the Particular by becoming the individual and particular; and when we grasp the conception that the merely generic operation of the Creative Law has now brought the human race as far as it can, that is to say it has completely evolved the merely natural GENUS home, it follows that if any further development is to take place it can only be by the co-operation of the individual himself. Now it is the spread of this individual co-operation that the forward movement of the Spirit is leading us to, and it is the gradual extension of this universal principle that is alluded to in the prophecy of Daniel regarding the Stone cut out without hands that spreads until it fills the whole earth (Daniel ii. 34 and 44). According to the interpretation given by Daniel, this Stone is the emblem of a spiritual Kingdom, and the identity of the Stone and the Shepherd indicates that the Kingdom of the Stone must be also the Kingdom of the Shepherd; and the Master, who identified himself with both the Stone and the Shepherd, emphatically declared that this Kingdom was, in its essence, an interior Kingdom—"the Kingdom of Heaven is within you." We must look for its foundation therefore, in a spiritual principle or mental law inherent in the constitution of all men but waiting to be brought into fuller development by more accurate compliance with its essential requirements; which is precisely the method by which science has evoked powers from the laws of nature which were undreamt of in former ages; and in like manner the recognition of our true relation to the Universal Spirit, which is the source of all individual being, must lead to an advance both for the race and for the individual such as we can at present scarcely form the faintest idea of, but which we dimly apprehend through the intuition and speak of as the New Order. The approach of this New Order is everywhere making itself vaguely felt; it is, as the French say, in the air, and the very vagueness and mystery attending it is causing a feeling of unrest as to what form it may assume. But to the student of Spiritual Law this should not be the case. He knows that the Form is always the expression of the Spirit, and therefore, since he is in touch with the forward movement of the Spirit, he knows that he himself will always be harmoniously included in any form of development which the Great Forward Movement may take. This is the practical and personal benefit arising from the realization of the Principle which is symbolized under the two-fold metaphor of the Shepherd and the Stone. and in all those new developments which are perhaps even now within measurable distance, we can rest on the knowledge that we are under the care of a kind Shepherd, and under the formation of a wise Master Builder.

But the principle of the Shepherd and the Stone is not something hitherto unheard of which is only to conne into existence in the future. If there were no manifestations of this principle in the past, we might question whether there were any such principle at all; but a careful study of the subject will show us that it has been at work all through the ages, sometimes in modes more immediately bearing the aspect of the Shepherd, and sometimes in modes more immediately bearing the aspect of the Stone, though the one always implies the other, for they are the same thing seen from different points of view. The subject is one of immense interest, but covering such a wide range of study that all I can do here is to point out that such a field of investigation exists and is worth exploration; and the exploration brings its reward with it, not only by putting us in possession of the key to the history of the past, but by showing us that it is the key to the history of the future also, and furthermore by making evident on a large scale the working of the same principle of Spiritual Law by cooperation with which we may facilitate the process of our own individual evolution. It thus adds a vivid interest to life, giving us something worth looking forward to and introducing us to a personal future which is not limited by the proverbial three-score years and ten.

Now, we have seen that the first stage in the Creative Process is always that of Feeling—a reaching-out by the Spirit in a particular direction, and therefore we may look for something of the same kind in the development of the great principle which we are now considering. And we find this first vague movement of this great principle in the intuitions of a particular race which appears from time immemorial to have combined the two characteristics of nomad wandering with their flocks and herds and the symbolization of their religious beliefs in monuments of stone. The monuments themselves have taken different forms in different countries and ages, but the identity of their symbolism becomes clear under careful investigation. Together with this symbolism we always find the nomad character of the builders and that they are invested with an aura of mystery and romance such as we find nowhere else, though we always find it surrounding these builders, even in countries so far apart as India and Ireland. Then, as we pass beyond the merely monumental stage, we find threads of historical evidence connecting the different branches of this race, increasing in their complexity and strengthening in their cumulative force as we go on, until at last we are brought to the history of the age in which we live; and finally most remarkable affinities of language put the finishing touch to the mass of proofs which can be gathered along all these different lines. In this magic circle countries so remote from one another as Ireland and Greece, Egypt and India, Palestine and Persia, are brought into close contiguity—a similar tradition, and even a similar nomenclature, unite the mysterious builders of the Great Pyramid with the equally mysterious builders of the Round Towers of Ireland—and the Great Pyramid itself, perhaps antedating the call of Abraham, re-appears as the official seal of the United States; while tradition traces the crowning-stone in Westminster Abbey back to the time of Solomon's temple and even earlier. For the most part the erewhile wanderers are now settled in their destined homes, but the Anglo-Saxon race—the People of the Corner-Stone—are still the pioneers among the nations, and there is something esoteric in the old joke that when the North Pole is reached a Scotchman will be found there. And not least in the chain of evidence is the link afforded by a tribe who are wanderers still, the Gipsies with their duplicate of the Pyramid in the pack of cards—a volume which has been called "The Devil's Picture Book" by those who know it only in its misuse and inversion, but which when interpreted in the light of the knowledge we are now gaining, affords a signal instance of that divine policy by which as St. Paul says, God employs the foolish things of this world to confute the wise; while a truer apprehension of the Gipsies themselves indicates their unmistakable connection with that race who through all its wanderings has ever been the guardian of the Stone.

In these few paragraphs I have only been able to point out very briefly the broad lines of enquiry into a subject of national importance to the British and American peoples, and which interests us personally, not only as members of these nations, but as affording proof on the largest scale of the same specialization of universal laws which each of us has to effect individually for ourself. But whether the process be individual or national it is always the same, and is the translation to the very highest plane—that of the All-originating Life itself—of the old maxim that "Nature will obey us exactly in proportion as we first obey Nature"; it is the old parable of the lord who, finding his servants girt and awaiting him, then girds himself and serves them (Luke xii. 35 to 37). The nation or the individual who thus realizes the true principle of the Shepherd and the Stone, comes under a special Divine guidance and protection, not by a favouritism incompatible with the conception of universal Law, but by the very operation of the Law itself. They have come into touch with its higher possibilities, and to recur to an analogy which I have already employed, they learn to make their iron float by the very same law by which it sinks; and so they become the flock of the Great Shepherd and the building of the Great Architect, and each one, however insignificant his or her sphere may appear, becomes a sharer in the great work, and by a logical consequence begins to grow on new lines of development for the simple reason that a new principle necessarily produces new modes of manifestation. If the reader will think over these things he will see that the promises contained in the Bible whether national or personal, are nothing else than statements of the universal law of Cause and Effect applied to the inmost principles of our being, and that therefore it is not mere rhapsody, but the figurative expression of a great truth when the Psalmist says `"The Lord is my Shepherd," and "Thou art my God and the Rock of my salvation."

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Chapter Eleven of The Dore Lectures by Thomas Troward is titled "The Shepherd and the Stone." In this lecture, Troward explores the symbolic and metaphysical significance of the biblical story of David and Goliath. He interprets David as a representation of the spiritually awakened individual who, through understanding and alignment with divine law, can overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

The “stone” in the title symbolizes the focused power of thought—directed by spiritual understanding and faith. Troward emphasizes that true power lies not in brute force but in the intelligent and purposeful use of spiritual principles. The shepherd, humble and unassuming, becomes a symbol of inner strength and divine alignment.

This chapter continues Troward’s broader theme: that by understanding the creative power of thought and aligning with universal spiritual laws, individuals can transform their lives and circumstances.

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Chapter Eleven of The Dore Lectures by Thomas Troward, titled “The Shepherd and the Stone,” dives into the spiritual symbolism behind the biblical story of David and Goliath. Here are the key takeaways:

• David as a Spiritual Example: Troward interprets David as a metaphor for the spiritually awakened individual—someone who overcomes adversity not with brute strength, but through alignment with divine law.
• The Stone as a Symbol: The stone David uses is not just a weapon—it symbolizes focused, purposeful thought guided by spiritual understanding and intention.
• Power of Inner Alignment: The humble shepherd represents the quiet strength that comes from being in tune with spiritual truth, suggesting that this inner harmony can triumph over external challenges.
• Victory Through Principle, Not Force: Goliath stands for overwhelming obstacles or material power. Troward’s point is that true mastery lies in the intelligent application of spiritual principles, not raw power.
• Creative Thought as a Transformative Force: This chapter reinforces Troward’s broader message—that our thoughts, when aligned with universal spiritual law, have the power to shape and transform our realities.

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The Dore Lectures by Thomas Troward, Chapter Ten

  The Dore Lectures by Thomas Troward, Chapter Ten

THE WORSHIP OF ISHI.

In Hosea ii. 16 we find this remarkable statement:—"And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call Me Ishi, and shalt no more call Me Baali"; and with this we may couple the statement in Isaiah lxii. 4:—"Thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah; for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married."

In both these passages we find a change of name; and since a name stands for something which corresponds to it, and in truth only amounts to a succinct description, the fact indicated in these texts is a change of condition answering to the change of name.

Now the change from Baali to Ishi indicates an important alteration in the relation between the Divine Being and the worshipper; but since the Divine Being cannot change, the altered relation must result from a change in the stand-point of the worshipper: and this can only come from a new mode of looking at the Divine, that is, from a new order of thought regarding it. Baali means Lord, and Ishi means husband, and so the change in relation is that of a female slave who is liberated and married to her former master. We could not have a more perfect analogy. Relatively to the Universal Spirit the individual soul is esoterically feminine, as I have pointed out in "Bible Mystery and Bible Meaning," because its function is that of the receptive and formative. This is necessarily inherent in the nature of the creative process. But the individual's development as the specializing medium of the Universal Spirit will depend entirely upon his own conception of his relation to it. So long as he only regards it as an arbitrary power, a sort of slave owner, he will find himself in the position of a slave driven by an inscrutable force, he knows not whither or for what purpose. He may worship such a God, but his worship is only the worship of fear and ignorance, and there is no personal interest in the matter except to escape some dreaded punishment. Such a worshipper would gladly escape from his divinity, and his worship, when analyzed, will be found to be little else than disguised hatred. This is the natural result of a worship based upon UNEXPLAINED traditions instead of intelligible principles, and is the very opposite of that worship in Spirit and in truth which Jesus speaks of as the true worship.

But when the light begins to break in upon us, all this becomes changed. We see that a system of terrorism cannot give expression to the Divine Spirit, and we realize the truth of St. Paul's words, "He hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." As the true nature of the relation between the individual mind and the Universal Mind becomes clearer, we find it to be one of mutual action and re-action, a perfect reciprocity which cannot be better symbolized than by the relation between an affectionate husband and wife. Everything is done from love and nothing from compulsion, there is perfect confidence on both sides, and both are equally indispensable to each other. It is simply the carrying out of the fundamental maxim that the Universal cannot act on the plane of the Particular except through the Particular; only this philosophical axiom develops into a warm living intercourse.

Now this is the position of the soul which is indicated by the name Hephzibah. In common with all other words derived from the Semitic root "hafz" it implies the idea of guarding, just as in the East a hasfiz is one who guards the letter of the Koran by having the whole book by heart, and in many similar expressions. Hephzibah may therefore be translated as "a guarded one," thus recalling the New Testament description of those who are "guarded into salvation." It is precisely this conception of being guarded by a superior power that distinguishes the worship of Ishi from that of Baali. A special relation has been established between the Divine Spirit and the individual soul, one of absolute confidence and personal intercourse. This does not require any departure from the general law of the universe, but is due to that specializing of the law through the presentation of special conditions personal to the individual, of which I have spoken before. But all the time there has been no change in the Universal Spirit, the only change has been in the mental attitude of the individual—he has come into a new thought, a clearer perception of God. He has faced the questions, What is God? Where is God? How does God work? and he has found the answer in the apostolic statement that God is "over all, through all, and in all," and he realises that "God" is the root of his (the individual's) own being, ever present IN him, ever working THROUGH him, and universally present around him.

This realization of the true relation between the Originating Spirit and the individual mind is what is esoterically spoken of as the Mystical Marriage in which the two have ceased to be separate and have become one. As a matter of fact they always were one, but since we can apprehend things only from the stand-point of our own consciousness, it is our recognition of the fact that makes it a practical reality for ourselves. But an intelligent recognition will never make a confusion of the two parts of which the whole consists, and will never lead the individual to suppose that he is handling a blind force or that a blind force is handling him. He will neither dethrone God, nor lose himself by absorption in deity, but he will recognize the reciprocity of the Divine and the human as the natural and logical outcome of the essential conditions of the creative process.

And what is the Whole which is thus created? It is our conscious PERSONALITY; and therefore whatever we draw from the Universal Spirit acquires in us the quality of personality. It is that process of differentiation of the universal into the particular of which I have so often spoken, which, by a rude analogy, we may compare to the differentiation of the universal electric fluid into specific sorts of power by its passage through suitable apparatus. It is for this reason that relatively to ourselves the Universal Spirit must necessarily assume a personal aspect, and that the aspect which it will assume will be in exact correspondence with our own conception of it. This is in accordance with mental and spiritual laws inherent in our own being, and it is on this account that the Bible seeks to build up our conception of God on such lines as will set us free from all fear of evil, and thus leave us at liberty to use the creative power of our thought affirmatively from the stand-point of a calm and untroubled mind. This stand-point can only be reached by passing beyond the range of the happenings of the moment, and this can only be done by the discovery of our immediate relation to the undifferentiated source of all good. I lay stress on these words "immediate" and "undifferentiated" because in them is contained the secret of the whole position. If we could not draw immediately from the Universal Spirit our receiving would be subject to the limitations of the channel through which it reached us; and if the force which we receive were not undifferentiated in itself it could not take appropriate form in our own minds and become to each of us just what we require it to be. It is this power of the human soul to differentiate limitlessly from the Infinite that we are apt to overlook, but as we come to realize that the soul is itself a reflection and image of the Infinite Spirit—and a clear recognition of the cosmic creative process shows that it cannot be anything else—we find that it must possess this power, and that-in fact it is our possession of this power which is the whole raison d'etre of the creative process: if the human soul did not possess an unlimited power of differentiation from the Infinite, then the Infinite would not be reflected in it, and consequently the Infinite Spirit would find no outlet for its CONSCIOUS recognition of itself as the Life, Love, and Beauty which it is. We can never too deeply ponder the old esoteric definition of Spirit as "the Power which knows itself": the secret of all things, past, present, and future is contained in these few words. The self -recognition or self-contemplation of Spirit is the primary movement out of which all creation proceeds, and the attainment in the individual of a fresh centre for self-recognition is what the Spirit GAINS in the process—this GAIN accruing to the Spirit is what is referred to in the parables where the lord is represented as receiving increase from his servants.

When the individual perceives this relation between himself and Infinite Spirit, he finds that he has been raised from a position of slavery to one of reciprocity. The Spirit cannot do without him any more than he can do without the Spirit: the two are as necessary to each other as the two poles of an electric battery. The Spirit is the unlimited essence of Love, Wisdom, and Power, all three in one undifferentiated and waiting to be differentiated by APPROPRIATION, that is, by the individual CLAIMING to be the channel of their differentiation. It only requires the claim to be made with the recognition that by the Law of Being it is bound to be answered, and the right feeling, the right seeing, and the right working for the particular matter we have in hand will flow in quite naturally. Our old enemies, doubt and fear, may seek to bring us back under bondage to Baali, but our new stand-point for the recognition of the All-originating Spirit as being absolutely unified with ourselves must always be kept resolutely in mind; for, short of this, we are not working on the creative level—we are creating, indeed, for we can never divest ourselves of our creative power, but we are creating in the image of the old limiting and destructive conditions, and this is merely perpetuating the cosmic Law of Averages, which is just what the individual has to rise superior to. The creative level is where new laws begin to manifest themselves in a new order of conditions, something transcending our past experiences and thus bringing about a real advance; for it is no advance only to go on in the same old round even if we kept at it for centuries: it is the steady go-ahead nature of the Spirit that has made the world of to-day an improvement upon the world of the pterodactyl and the icthiosaurus, and we must look for the same forward movement of the Spirit from its new starting-point in ourselves.

Now it is this special, personal, and individual relation of the Spirit to ourselves which is typified by the names Ishi and Hephzibah. From this stand-point we may say that as the individual wakes up to the oneness with the Spirit, the Spirit wakes up to the same thing. It becomes conscious of itself through the consciousness of the individual, and thus is solved the paradox of individual self-recognition by the Universal Spirit, without which no new-creative power could be exercised and all things would continue to proceed in the old merely cosmic order. It is of course true that in the merely generic order the Spirit must be present in every form of Life, as the Master pointed out when He said that not a sparrow falls to the ground without "the Father." But as the sparrows He alluded to had been shot and were on sale at a price which shows that this was the fate of a good many of them, we see here precisely that stage of manifestation where the Spirit has not woke up to individual self-recognition, and remains at the lower level of self-recognition, that of the generic or race-spirit. The Master's comment, "Ye are of more value than many sparrows" points out this difference: in us the generic creation has reached the level which affords the conditions for the waking up of the Spirit to self-recognition in the Individual.

And we must bear in mind that all this is perfectly natural. There is no posing or straining after effect about it. If YOU have to pump up the Life, who is going to put the Life into you to pump it? Therefore it is spontaneous or nothing. That is why the Bible speaks of it as the free gift of God. It cannot be anything else. You cannot originate the originating force; it must originate you: but what you can do is to distribute it. Therefore immediately you experience any sense of friction be sure there is something wrong somewhere; and since God can never change, you may be sure that the friction is being caused by some error in your own thinking—you are limiting the Spirit in some way: set to work to find out what it is. It is always LIMITING the Spirit that does this. You are tying it down to conditions somewhere, saying it is bound by reason of some existing forms. The remedy is to go back to the original starting point of the Cosmic Creation and ask, Where were the pre-existing forms that dictated to the Spirit then? Then because the Spirit never changes it is STILL THE SAME, and is just as independent of existing conditions now as it was in the beginning; and so we must pass over all existing conditions, however apparently adverse, and go straight to the Spirit as the originator of new forms and new conditions. This is real New Thought, for it does not trouble about the old things, but is going straight ahead from where we are now. When we do this, just trusting the Spirit, and not laying down the particular details of its action—just telling it what we want without dictating HOW we are to get it—we shall find that things will open out more and more clearly day by day both on the inner and the outer plane. Remember that the Spirit is alive and working here and now, for if ever the Spirit is to get from the past into the future it must be by passing through the present; therefore what you have to do is to acquire the habit of living direct -from the Spirit here and now. You will soon find that this is a matter of personal intercourse, perfectly natural and not requiring any abnormal conditions for its production. You just treat the Spirit as you would any other kind-hearted sensible person, remembering that it is always there—"closer than hands and feet," as Tennyson says—and you will gradually begin to appreciate its reciprocity as a very practical fact indeed.

This is the relation of Hephzibah to Ishi, and is that worship in Spirit and in truth which needs neither the temple in Jerusalem nor yet in Samaria for its acceptance, for the whole world is the temple of the Spirit and you yourself its sanctuary. Bear this in mind, and remember that nothing is too great or too small, too interior or too external, for the Spirit's recognition and operation, for the Spirit is itself both the Life and the Substance of all things and it is also Self-recognition from the stand-point of your own individuality; and therefore, because the Self-recognition of Spirit is the Life of the creative process, you will, by simply trusting the Spirit to work according to its own nature, pass more and more completely into that New Order which proceeds from the thought of Him who says, "Behold I make all things new."

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Chapter Ten of The Dore Lectures by Thomas Troward is titled "The Worship of Ishi", and it explores the evolution of humanity’s relationship with the Divine—from fear-based obedience to conscious, loving alignment.

Troward draws from the biblical reference in Hosea, where God says, “Thou shalt call me Ishi (my husband), and shalt call me no more Baali (my lord).” He interprets this as a symbolic shift from a servile, authoritarian view of God to one of intimate partnership and spiritual union. In other words, we move from worshipping a distant ruler to recognizing the Divine as a loving presence within us.

He emphasizes that true spiritual growth comes not from fear or blind submission, but from understanding and embodying the creative, loving intelligence that governs the universe. This chapter continues Troward’s central theme: that aligning our thoughts with this higher principle allows us to shape our reality in harmony with divine law.

It’s a powerful message about reclaiming spiritual agency and embracing a more personal, empowering connection with the Infinite. Would you like to explore how this idea might apply to your own spiritual path or creative practice?

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Chapter Ten of The Dore Lectures by Thomas Troward, titled "The Worship of Ishi," presents a profound shift in how we relate to the Divine. Here are the key takeaways:

1. From Baali to Ishi: Troward draws from the biblical verse in Hosea where God says, “Thou shalt call me Ishi (my husband), and shalt call me no more Baali (my lord).” This marks a transition from a relationship based on fear and servitude to one rooted in love and partnership.
2. Spiritual Maturity: He argues that true spiritual growth involves moving beyond obedience to external authority and instead cultivating an inner, conscious connection with the Divine.
3. The Divine Within: Troward emphasizes that the Divine is not a distant ruler but an indwelling presence. Recognizing this allows us to align with the creative intelligence of the universe.
4. Love Over Law: The chapter encourages a shift from worship based on rigid law to one inspired by love, beauty, and understanding.
5. Empowerment Through Unity: By embracing the Divine as “Ishi,” we reclaim our spiritual agency and participate in creation as conscious co-creators.

It’s a beautiful call to evolve from fear-based religion to a more intimate, empowering spirituality.

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