90/115 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS By FRANK H. SPRAGUE

Every man’s first acquaintance with the world is made through separate impressions, which of themselves afford no suggestion of relationship. Only as he begins to be conscious of his own individuality or organic unity does he discover unity in the world around him. Perception leads from the many to the one, from variety to unity; expression leads from the one to the many, from unity to variety.

To gain the spiritual consciousness, to live “as seeing the invisible,” one must, first of all, be filled with a single, deep desire to know the Truth; without such an incentive, every attempt will prove vain. He must also be ready to completely renounce opinion, prejudice, wilful propensities, narrowness and all merely personal considerations, whether of thought or impulse, that can in any way interfere with the attainment of a higher state of consciousness.

The mental soil, being thus purged, in a negative way, of those forces which impede, choke and dwarf the realization of spiritual ends, and being rendered receptive to truth, is ready for a fresh growth of emotions and thoughts. As seeds of various kinds are constantly scattering abroad over every available tract of the earth’s soil, springing up, and growing into plants,

each according to its own species, so in the inner life, the same irresistible impulse of growth and propagation is encountered. Seed-thoughts of every description are distributed broadcast throughout the realm of mind, and find lodgment in every unoccupied nook and cranny; but wherever the field is preoccupied by a vigorous growth,

so that they are unable to take root, they perish. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” As the outer world of nature “abhors a vacuum,” so does the inner world of thought. Wherever a mental vacuum exists, thoughts of all descriptions rush in promiscuously to fill it.

A horde of nondescript, ill-defined sentiments and impulses mental weeds is always ready to enter in and take possession of the undisciplined mind, run riot, and scatter ruin and desolation. Thoughts are seeds of emotions; and emotions dominate the world of psychic beings.

Having, then, resolved to pursue the spiritual life, it only remains for us to discover the best means for its advancement. How can its growth be encouraged and accelerated most effectually? In a general way, by surrounding ourselves, as far as possible,

with an atmosphere calculated to nourish the germs of spirituality; by bringing ourselves within the reach of influences that conduce to their unfoldment. Every means that tends to draw our thoughts in that direction, should be eagerly welcomed.