THE MASTERY OF BEING. William Walker Atkinson
Have you the constancy which will enable you to look upward and not downward, forward and not backward, on the Path, caring for naught except to reach the summit of the highest peak of the mountain of Truth?
If you have these, O Seeker! then are you invited to participate in the Quest for Truth, in the Inquiry for Ultimate Reality, which is Spirit. You are invited to pursue the quest for this underlying, fundamental, actual, enduring, absolute Truth, this Ultimate Verity—Reality. The journey is long, arduous, and tedious. Its path is strewn with jagged rocks, which torment and bruise the feet of the intellect. Its grade is steep, and the traveler ofttimes loses his breath and feels insecure of his footing. His head swims and becomes dizzy. The spiritual air is very rare, and the unaccustomed lungs of thought pant with the unusual exertion. For remember, the Path of Knowledge leading to the recognition and realization of Reality winds around the sides of the steepest and highest mountain of human mentation. He who reaches its summit—he who gains its highest peak—has found "that which, when known, all things are known."
Chapter II.
Basic Principles of Reality.
THINKING MEN and women have ever meditated upon the nature, meaning, and reason of the Universe and of the Self. Beneath the popular creeds, philosophies, and dogmas of his particular time and place, man has always felt there must exist an inner Truth which, if known, would make all else intelligible. Hence the endless search for REALITY which has distinguished thinking men and women in all ages and all lands. Hence the ever present queries: "What am I?" "Whence come I?" "What is the object of my existence?" Hence the eternal "Why?" on the lips of thinkers of the past and present, in every clime, in every civilization, and among every people of the race.
REALITY.
"REALITY" is a term used by philosophers to designate that SOMETHING which is fixed, eternal, and unchangeable, and which underlies the universe of changing forms, shapes, and conditions of things, and which is the primal cause of them. Perhaps the best and clearest definition of REALITY—as the term is used in philosophy—is the following:—
"REALITY is that which does or may exist by itself, and is not considered as forming part of any other thing."
Anything that does not answer the above definition is held by philosophy to be non-reality, or mere appearance.
REASON.
While there have been some who have held that man can never hope to know aught regarding REALITY by the exercise of his reason, nevertheless the wise in all ages and all lands have held the inquiry to be legitimate and proper, maintaining that there is no finite limit to the reach of the human reason. This has been the report of the reason of the wisest of the race, as we may discover by a study of the philosophic thought of the past and present.
"There is no scientific problem which we may dare to say the mind of man will never solve; no mystery so deep or profound; no question has or ever will be asked but a mind or brain will be evolved capable of solving and answering."—Haeckel.
"If it becomes essential for mankind to know, infinite nature will evolve an organ of mind that can comprehend."—Stevens.
INTUITION.
In addition to reason, the faculty with and by which man forms judgments regarding phenomenal facts, there exists the faculty of intuition or direct knowledge of the inner facts of life, which is a higher phase of perception, and by which man receives more or less clear reports regarding the inner verities of his being. The perception of intuition is examined and passed upon by the reason, is associated and correlated to the report of the latter, and a new judgment—an intuitive-intellectual judgment—is formed and becomes a part of the "belief" of the man. Man, trusting to his intuition, and combining the perception thereof with the purely intellectual reports, is enabled to reach a higher consciousness of BEING than is possible by purely intellectual processes alone, or by pure intuition alone.
A GLIMPSE OF THE HEIGHTS.
In these lessons we shall ask you to consider certain fundamental reports of the reason, and the conclusions arising therefrom. In order that you may understand that which the Axioms of REALITY are designed to unfold into your conscious recognition,—that you may see in advance the aim and goal of the journey,—we invite you to carefully consider the following Fundamental Postulate in which is condensed the spirit of the basic teaching embodied in these lessons. A "Postulate" is "something asserted, to which assent is challenged or demanded."
In the Axioms of REALITY, and the teaching based thereon in the following lessons, the points covered by the Fundamental Postulate will be unfolded gradually, argued logically, and the reports of reason stated. In the Fundamental Postulate we are afforded a glimpse of the Path over which we shall travel, and the heights which we shall attain. In the Axioms of REALITY we have the various ledges or planes of the inquiry. Step by step we shall advance on the Path. Each Axiom affords a resting place and a halt. The student should master each step, and never leave the resting place of any Axiom until he has fully acquainted himself with it and associated it with those which precede it.
FUNDAMENTAL POSTULATE.
I. There exists an ultimate, infinite, and eternal principle of REALITY which is the essence, nature, substance, and principle of All-that-is. This principle of REALITY is the certain Something which abides, invariable and constant, as the essential principle in all things, all creatures, all entities, all beings, and which precedes and survives all their changes of form, shape, state, and condition. This principle ever remains itself, notwithstanding the infinite and eternal change in form, shape, state, and condition in which it may occur, appear, or present itself. This ultimate, infinite, and eternal principle is known as REALITY.
II. REALITY is Absolute Unity. It is Independent and Free; Whole, Complete, and Perfect; Original and Causeless; Eternal; Infinite; Ultimate; Absolute; Formless; Indivisible; and Immutable. REALITY is Infinite Substance, Infinite Energy, Infinite Life, Infinite Law, and Infinite Mind.
III. REALITY is in Eternal Creation. It is the support and background for the phenomenal appearance of numberless universes incessantly manifesting and disappearing. It is the changeless REALITY manifesting the eternal law of change. It is the unconditioned and absolute ground for all that exists conditionally. In Itself it is All-That-Is. In its Creation it is All-that-Appears; uncreate, it is The-All. Its Creation appears as the Cosmos.
IV. The Universe, with all contained therein, is created in and by REALITY considered as Infinite Mind. All Creation exists as Idea in the Infinite Mind of REALITY. The Will of REALITY is Universal Energy. The Pure Logic of REALITY is Universal Law. The Being of REALITY is Universal Life. The Substance of REALITY is Universal Substance. The Infinite Mind of REALITY, in its Ideative and Volitional activities, is the Creative and Conative Power of the Universe.
V. REALITY is immanent in its Creation, and in every part thereof. In the characters of its conscious creations it manifests itself as the artist in his work, the poet, playwright, or writer in his characters. The created universe is the cosmic dramatization of REALITY, through which it lives and acts, moves and plays its infinitude of parts. REALITY, being indivisible and immutable, is immanent in each of its creations in its Totality of Being. In and back of each conscious being is the Presence and Power of REALITY. REALITY is immanent in You. Hence the following
MESSAGE OF REALITY.
There is one principle of REALITY—the essence, nature, substance, and principle of All-that-is. This principle— REALITY—always remains itself, indivisible and immutable, notwithstanding the infinity of apparent differences in manifestation of form, shape, state, or condition under which it occurs, appears, or presents itself in the phenomenal universe. You yourself are the Manifestation of that principle—REALITY. And, likewise, You are identical with it in the totality of its essence, nature, substance, and REALITY. The recognition of this Identity by the Intellect constitutes the perception of Truth; the realization of it by Intuition constitutes Illumination; the manifestation of it