SANCTUM MUSINGSOUR MENTAL LIFE[From The Rosicrucian Digest January 1934]
OUR knowledge of existence or
being starts with our own consciousness. In fact, it is our consciousness and
reason which assign form to all being. Being, of course, exists apart from the
mind of man and always has existed. Since being pervades the entire universe
and is the universe, it is self-generated. Something cannot arise from nothing;
for the same reason is all being indestructible, for where could matter or
energy be placed if it were to be removed from the universe? To destroy
something means to do away with it completely. If being is Infinite, its nature
must be without end. Therefore, it can be reduced indefinitely and yet have
existence. When a substance is reduced by man to motion or a primal energy, it
still is being, even if only an infinitesimal impulse.
It is through motion, the
eternal essence, that we perceive being. Where the motion is beyond our human
ability to detect it, there we say exists space. Therefore, by relative
comparison do we designate certain manifestations of our universe as matter and
others as space. If, in reality, space was a void, it would have no existence;
therefore, it would not be part of our universe, and our universe would
continue to be just that which had existence, or being, as previously declared.
But since we perceive space alike with matter, it, like matter, is also being,
a part of our physical universe. It is but a different phase of the
all-pervading universal Cosmic motion. As the true nature of what we designate
as space is not as yet perceivable by man, the sensations its impulses do
engender in the consciousness, through the senses, are always the same to all
men and for that reason all men assign the same form to space.
What man designates as matter
are particular manifestations of being, differences in motion, discernible by
the human senses, and these differences are given identity, name, and form by
the human consciousness. Fundamentally, all being is motion. Foundationally,
there is no difference between space and matter. Certain variations of motion
produce corresponding sensations in the mind of man. To these sensations man
attributes the form of things he says he knows. Our universe is therefore
formless. Knowledge is a matter of personal interpretation of the impulses
emanating from being and arises alone within the mind. We may perceive from
without, but we know from within.
The fullness of human life
depends on two functions. The neglect of either function deprives man of his
possible attainment. The first function is observation or concentration in the
popular sense--that is, voluntary alertness, the focusing of the consciousness,
by effort of the will, upon the impulses of matter received through the senses,
the effort to try to see, hear, taste, feel and smell as much as possible. This
is concentration upon the world of reality and the orderly assembly of the
consequent sensations by the reason. Failure to do this limits your knowledge
of being.
The second function is
meditation and imagination. After numerous sensations have been registered in
the mind or experiences acquired, there must be reflection upon them, if their
import is to be appreciated. The sensations must be recollected and carefully
scrutinized, and their worth determined. The imaginative process consists of
the assembly of these sensations into new sensations and forms not like
anything previously perceived. In this manner man may create in his mind a
reality, which in its composite form may have no existence in the universe,
even though the elements of that form would have. The imagination of man,
therefore, makes up the lack of his physical senses and his inability to
perceive but a portion of all being in the universe. Imagination enlarges man's
world of reality. Although the physical senses limit man to the knowledge of
only that being which he can perceive, the imagination affords him the
opportunity of countless combinations of the sensations previously received and
accordingly advances his sphere of reality. The dependability of imagination's
forms may be severely questioned, but so may be the dependability of the forms
attributed to the reality which man perceives through his senses. But inasmuch
as knowledge arises within the mind of man, the true nature of existence apart
from man's comprehension of it is of little consequence. This statement is,
however, obviously polemic. Consider well the importance and exercise of these
two functions of man.
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