31/115 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS By FRANK H. SPRAGUE

But as we have already indicated, both size and number have only apparent values in bodily distinctions; so that we have no absolute standard by which to estimate matter, either in regard to its dimensions or the number of units it expresses. Both considerations depend on the observer’s standpoint.

The absolute significance of number is expressed in the unit the basis of enumeration and infinity. Two lines may diverge from a point, but that point may be conceived to exist anywhere in an ideal scale that extends indefinitely in both directions. So with the conception Matter. Material units seem to diverge in endless numbers from any appreciable point we choose to designate in a wholly arbitrary scale.

The value of any given number is derived from the basis of number, the unit. But with a variable unit, it can have no absolute value. Therefore we are forced to the conclusion that as there is no absolutely fixed unit of matter, there can be no absolutely fixed number of material bodies. If space, and the unit of matter, and the number of its units, are all purely ideal, the material universe we perceive outwardly, cannot be absolutely real, but is only apparent.

Consciousness is manifested in centers; it appears in that way outwardly. The efficiency of any center depends on the degree of concentration it represents. Every center, as a mentality, reflects the Self. Mentalities develop through concentration. The mental factor of Being the mental phase of consciousness gives rise to innumerable images of the Self of selves, just as mirrors may be made to reflect and re-reflect an object indefinitely, so that it shall appear in every conceivable position and guise.

The position of each reflecting medium determines the form of the image projected by it. The way one’s life represents the Self depends on his view-point. Every form we observe in our outer world is in some degree an image of the Self.

Some of those images may be the vaguest conceivable representations of the original indistinct, imperfect, distorted; but in the last analysis, all derive their existence from the Self of selves. As mentalities develop, the images of the Self they reflect, or project, change. Some mentalities reflect only remote reflections of the original.

Here, then, we obtain a hint as to the correct solution of the problem of the apparent existence of an indefinite number of material centers. We have already referred to the fact that the abstract unit of mathematics can be multiplied indefinitely, and also that there is no absolutely fixed concrete unit of matter. Matter is not an entity; it is the outer correspondence, the symbolical expression of mind.

Material centers are the outward manifestations of mentalities, mind-centers. But mind-centers are transient, variable, everchanging; and as they change, the images they reflect change also. The basis of the formative principle manifested as Mind, is the Principle of principles Spirit the eternal, changeless, formless, unconditioned Essence of all that appears. The Spiritual Principle is the basis of all manifested life, just as the mathematical principle is the basis of every demonstration of figures.