1. Inductive reasoning is the process of the objective mind by which we compare a number of separate instances with one another until we see the common factor that gives rise to them all.
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2. Induction proceeds by comparison of facts; it is this method of studying nature which has resulted in the discovery of a reign of law which has marked an epoch in human progress.
3. It is the dividing line between superstition and intelligence; it has eliminated the elements of uncertainty and caprice from men's lives and substituted law, reason and certitude.
4. It is the "Watchman at the Gate" mentioned in a former Part.
5. When, by virtue of this principle, the world to which the senses were accustomed, has been revolutionized; when the sun has been arrested in his course, the apparently flat earth has been shaped into a ball and set whirling around him; when the inert matter has been resolved into active elements, and the universe presents itself wherever we direct the telescope and microscope, full of force, motion and life; we are constrained to ask by what possible means the delicate forms of organization in the midst of it are kept in order and repair.
6. Like poles and like forces repel themselves or remain impenetrable to each other, and this cause seems in general sufficient to assign a proper place and distance to stars, men and forces. As men of different virtues enter into partnership, so do opposite poles attract each other; elements that have no property in common like acids and gasses cling to each other in preference and a general exchange is kept up between the surplus and the demand.
7. As the eye seeks and receives satisfaction from colors complementary to those which are given, so do need, want and desire, in the largest sense, induce, guide and determine action.
8. It is our privilege to become conscious of the principle and act in accordance with it. Cuvier sees a tooth belonging to an extinct race of animals.
This tooth wants a body for the performance of its function, and it defines the peculiar body it stands in need of with such precision that Cuvier is able to reconstruct the frame of this animal.
9. Perturbations are observed in the motions of Uranus. Adams and Leverrier need another star at a certain place to keep the solar system in order, and Neptune appears in the place and at the hour appointed.
10. The instinctive wants of the animal and the intellectual wants of Cuvier; the wants of nature and of the minds of Leverrier and Adams were alike, and 110
thus the results; here the thoughts of an existence, there an existence. A well-defined lawful want, therefore, furnishes the reason for the more complex operations of nature.
11. Having recorded correctly the answers furnished by nature and stretched our senses with the growing science over her surface; having joined hands with the levers that move the earth; we become conscious of such a close, varied and deep contact with the world without, that our wants and purposes become no less identified with the harmonious operations of this vast organization, than the life, liberty and happiness of the citizen are identified with the existence of his government.
12. As the interests of the individual are protected by the arms of the country, added to his own; and his needs produce certain supply in the degree that they are felt more universally and steadily; in the same manner does conscious citizenship in the Kingdom of nature secure us from the annoyances of subordinate agents by our alliance with superior powers; and by our conformity with the fundamental laws of resistance or inducement offered to mechanical or chemical agents, we distribute the labor to be performed between them and man to the best advantage of inventor and user.
13. If Plato could have witnessed the pictures executed by the sun with the assistance of the photographer, or a hundred similar illustrations of what man does by induction, he would perhaps have been reminded of the intellectual midwifery of his master and, in his own mind might have arisen the vision of a land where all manual, mechanical labor and repetition is assigned to the power of nature, where our wants are satisfied by purely mental operations set in motion by the will, and where the supply is created by the demand.
14. However distant that land may appear, induction has taught men to make strides towards it and has surrounded him with benefits which are, at the same time, rewards for past fidelity and incentives for more assiduous devotion.
15. Induction is also an aid in concentrating and strengthening our faculties for the remainder of the journey, giving unerring solutions for individual as well as universal problems, by the mere operations of mind in the purest form.
16. Here we find a method, the spirit of which is, to believe that what is sought has been accomplished, in order to accomplish it: a method, 111
bequeathed upon us by the same Plato who, outside of this sphere, could never find how the ideas became realities.
17. This conception is also elaborated by Swedenborg in his doctrine of correspondences. And a still greater teacher has said, "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."
(Mark xi. 24 R.V.) The differences of the tenses in this passage is remarkable.
18. We are first to believe that our desire has already been fulfilled, its accomplishment will then follow. This is a concise direction for making use of the creative power of thought by impressing on the Universal subjective mind the particular thing which we desire as an already existing fact.
19. We are thus thinking on the plane of the absolute and eliminating all consideration of conditions or limitations and are planting a seed which, if left undisturbed, will finally germinate into external fruition.
20. To review: Inductive reasoning is the process of the objective mind, by which we compare a number of separate instances with one another until we see the common factor that gives rise to them all. We see people in every civilized country on the globe, securing results by some process which they do not seem to understand themselves, and to which they usually attach more or less mystery. Our reason is given to us for the purpose of ascertaining the law by which these results are accomplished.
21. The operation of this thought process is seen in those fortunate natures that possess everything that others must acquire by toil, who never have a struggle with conscience because they always act correctly, and can never comport themselves otherwise than with tact, learn everything easily, complete everything they begin with a happy knack, live in eternal harmony with themselves, without ever reflecting much what they do, or ever experiencing difficulty or toil.
22. The fruit of this thought is, as it were, a gift of the gods, but a gift which few as yet realize, appreciate, or understand. The recognition of the marvelous power which is possessed by the mind under proper conditions and the fact that this power can be utilized, directed, and made available for the solution of every human problem is of transcendental importance.
23. All truth is the same, whether stated in modern scientific terms or in the language of apostolic times. There are timid souls who fail to realize that the 112
very completeness of truth requires various statements—that no one human formula will show every side of it.
24. Change, emphasis, new language, novel interpretations, unfamiliar perspectives, are not, as some suppose, signs of departure from truth, but on the contrary they are evidence that the truth is being apprehended in new relations to human needs, and is becoming more generally understood.
25. The truth must be told to each generation and to every people in new and different terms, so that when the Great Teacher said—"Believe that ye receive and ye shall receive," or when Paul said—"Faith is the substance of things not seen," or when modern science says—"The law of attraction is that law by which thought correlates with its object," each statement, when subjected to analysis, is found to contain exactly the same truth. The only difference being in the form of presentation.
26. We are standing on the threshold of a new era. The time has arrived when man has learned the secrets of mastery and the way is being prepared for a new social order, more wonderful than anything ever heretofore dreamed of.
The conflict of modern science with theology, the study of comparative religions, the tremendous power of new social movements, all of these are but clearing the way for the new order. They may have destroyed traditional forms which have become antiquated and impotent, but nothing of value has been lost.
27. A new faith has been born, a faith which demands a new form of expression, and this faith is taking form in a deep consciousness of power which is being manifested in the present spiritual activity found on every hand.
28. The spirit which sleeps in the mineral, breathes in the vegetable, moves in the animal, and reaches its highest development in man is the Universal Mind, and it behooves us to span the gulf between being and doing, theory and practice by demonstrating our understanding of the dominion which we have been given.
29. By far the greatest discovery of all the centuries is the power of thought.
The importance of this discovery has been a little slow in reaching the general consciousness, but it has arrived, and already in every field of research the importance of this greatest of all great discoveries is being demonstrated.
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30. You ask in what does the creative power of thought consist? It consists in creating ideas, and these in turn objectify themselves by appropriating, inventing, observing, discerning, discovering, analyzing, ruling, governing, combining and applying matter and force. It can do this because it is an intelligent creative power.
31. Thought reaches its loftiest activity when plunged into its own mysterious depth; when it breaks through the narrow compass of self and passes from truth to truth to the region of eternal light, where all which is, was or ever will be, melt into one grand harmony.
32. From this process of self contemplation comes inspiration which is creative intelligence, and which is undeniably superior to every element, force or law of nature, because it can understand, modify, govern and apply them to its own ends and purposes and therefore possess them.
33. Wisdom begins with the dawn of reason, and reason is but an understanding of the knowledge and principles whereby we may know the true meaning of things. Wisdom, then, is illuminated reason, and this wisdom leads to humility, for humility is a large part of Wisdom.
34. We all know many who have achieved the seemingly impossible, who have realized life-long dreams, who have changed everything, including themselves.
We have sometimes marveled at the demonstration of an apparently irresistible power, which seemed to be ever available just when it was most needed. But it is all clear now. All that is required is an understanding of certain definite fundamental principles and their proper application.
35. For your next exercise, concentrate on the quotation taken from the Bible,
"Whatsoever things ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them." Notice that there is no limitation, "Whatsoever things" is very definite and implies that the only limitation which is placed upon us is in our ability to think, to be equal to the occasion, to rise to the emergency, to remember that Faith is not a shadow, but a substance, "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.