Nature – System

While this subject could be readily assumed to approach the subject of God, we will find that through out this four-way system of analysis, He/She isn't addressed per se. The reason is that we factually are missing so very much data about this Higher Intelligence that forming comparatives is actually impossible, not just improbable. What I have covered from Hartshorne and others where they have attempted to discuss/describe God is only in relation to how they themselves consider humankind has represented and benefited from His/Her works. There are no known books which practically and effectively describe the exact powers and effects such an Entity has or can create. Certainly all the science on this planet hasn't been able to do so – but by design, science can't.

As covered in the above section on Religion, humankind isn't perfect and was never created as such. So any human prophet is not a perfect translator of Divine Inspiration, Will or Thought. Much less the problem we have historically, where the bulk of those people who have acted as channels for this influence were not themselves writing or recording all that was said and intended. Jesus spoke in parables for most of his sayings. The Apostles got special translations from him of the true meaning. But most of them didn't write down these secrets or clarify them. Instead, we got mostly third-hand transcriptions of the verbal traditions several generations after the fact. While we have a few exceptions, such as Mohammad and possibly Moses, both of whom reportedly wrote their own works, again I cannot hold that what any human prophet related is a perfect rendition of what was originally Divinely intended or said.

Truth is a personal belief, one which is proved workable and effective for that individual. The reason we do not have Absolute Truths is because of our own inherited Free Will. Because we can make our own mind up about things, no two people share the same concept on anything and so there are no truly Absolute Truths. At least we here explain how Science has become the modern-day Tower of Babel. The more scientists specialize, the more they disagree. As well we have the observer-expectancy effect, where the act of observing changes the outcome of the experiment. No wonder that science studies are like polls, the result changes depending on who you ask and how.

The closest ideals we can reach are having Laws which are consistently found to have the same effect, regardless of who applies them. The Law of Gravity has very few exceptions, all such apparent exceptions found under extreme conditions, usually in laboratories, non which can be created by the average individual walking down the street. There is the Law of Cause and Effect, variously stated and applied, but covers the fact that every effect has a cause.

This point of recurring observable natural laws explains how the self-help books have become modernly successful. There are enough versions of the same data around that people are able to choose one which aligns to and supports their existing belief-system. Readers do not have to be defensive and so can absorb workable truths more readily. The traditional Kahunas in Hawaii trained their students only by answering the student's originated questions, not through a set lecture outline, textbook assignment or Power Point presentation. It was up to the student to originate. King covers a similar study philosophy happening when he was studying under an African shaman. He was given a stone as a gift, but not told what to do with it. Only when he thought about it later was he able to find out the use and purpose for that gift. This also follows the Hindu (among others) saying, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”

In this Nature four-way section, we get into the meat of many core New Thought beliefs which enter the public sphere through popular self-help books. To summarize some of the basic Laws of this per Haanel, Troward and others:

1.Thought creates Form. Higher intelligence and individual intelligence require each other to produce form into matter. Higher intelligence pervades all forms and is available to all thought.

2.By the Law of Attraction, thought attracts similar thought and so form is manifested.

3.Similarly, the Law of Correspondence says that the exactly as the internal thought exists, so will the external universe correspond.

4.By the Law of Cause and Effect, every cause creates an effect; each effect is traceable to a cause. This also means that each effect in turn becomes cause of a new effect.

5.The Law of Growth states that once a thought is committed, the accompanying factors to bring this into manifestation will then accumulate until the form shows up. As well, we then have the continuing postulate, where the form continues to grow unless counter-acted upon.

This is no final list of laws. One under investigation deals with Love, which is arguably prior to each of the above and deals with the inherent good and ability to create in all of us and this universe. I have listed here the five laws common to all New Thought and self-help references I've covered as part of this book's research.

This is no abbreviated study or shorthand study of New Thought, which itself has been changing with varying philosophic advances and now covers probably the widest variety of solutions to any of humankind's problems. Trying to narrowly define this subject is like trying your hand at herding cats or corralling mercury. I can only describe for you what points I utilize in this study as helpful/effective for my uses as well as those other have found useful. I go into other explanations below where I tie in various New Thought traditional understandings to modern scientific studies, where the modern now comes back to ancient Eastern traditions as an explanation for what they are now finding by their experiments to be true and useful.

Universe

Universe contains the most interesting scene of New Thought and perhaps the more controversial points. Universe covers one's concept of how the universe is set up, the belief-system one holds and works from. With any other part of New Thought, this only works exactly the way one thinks it does. Most New Thought self-help authors have brought forward this point James Allen noted, that “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (See Proverbs 23:7.) Thought tells the universe how to act and what to produce. This is clarified in both Troward and Haanel as to exactly how this occurs. Further a person's thoughts, or belief-system, may block possible utilization of the universal forces, due to limiting personal thought.

Personally destructive habits can then result in an inability to perceive, which ties in above under the Ability four-way.

Troward in his Edinburgh Lectures, makes an interesting point, that our relation and concept of God actually affects what we will receive in terms of our manifestations on what we think God is, what His powers consist of and how far they extend. Here is the explanation of how the different concepts of God produce different effects, where all religions are self-fulfilling prophecies. Because the Old Testament God is one of Justice, this is the exact effects looked for and noted by the individual who adheres strictly to this one volume. Islam's Allah allows holy war against non-believers. Deities under Wicca are more supportive and ecological, as well as those in the Amerindian traditions. So cultures who in the majority follow these religious beliefs have more supportive and ecologically oriented cultures overall.

This actually gives the mechanics behind how the Golden Rule works, since one is creating thoughts under the ideal that people should treat him that way. And so, since reciprocity is part of the thought, this is what is attracted. But practically, this is the Law of Attraction at work, regardless of whether one thinks is works or not.

In Huna, we see that this concept of one's thoughts creating one's universe is reflected in King's work as the interaction via the Ku (subconscious/low self) to the Amakua (super-conscious/high self). The more one meditates and coordinates with the High Self, the more the manifestations will occur. James points out in his tape series Initiation Into Huna that in the bulk of modern cultures, people are trained to not have a connection to the High Self/God from the beginning of their lives, and have to be introduced to this force via religious baptism or some ceremony. Through the ceremony, people are then agreeing that this individual is now connected to Higher Thought/Universal Mind/God and then this became so. Regardless of the culture's training system, it has always been up to the individual to put such connection to use.

Huna was the breakthrough in my research which started tying modern science to our most ancient beliefs. The Amakua, higher self, or super-conscious has properties which are now being understood in objective science through Quantum Physics. I stated earlier that the individual is connected to this quantum universe regardless of his own decisions under Free Will. All his choice leaves him is to take advantage of these connections or let them have their way with his life. The universe exists, tied together on the sub-particle level, independent of what we know as time and space. The Amakua is also the traditional storage place for all memory. Recent quantum physics theories of memory, as James quotes some studies, are that the memory is held in the bodies' cells on a holographic basis. Michael Talbot extends this concept through his Holographic Universe, where he cites various studies that support the idea of memories (factually, all data) being stored throughout this quantum field.

In Huna, accessing this area is through contacting the Amakua, which is not traditionally composed of a single entity or deity, but actually several sub-structures with various entities who can be contacted to forward and fill requests according to their specialty and the ability of the petitioner. Various Psi talents as well as Swedenborg's interesting life can therefore be explained as such. While angels have fallen out of favor in our last half-century (despite the movie “Miracle on 43rd Street” playing annually at Christmas), their presence would be supported through such a theory. Telepathy, clairvoyance, all these and other ESP talents are then explained under this model – which again, comes from several sources, not just a single conjecture. Further, as all data is available through this field, this also explains such phenomenon as “channeling” and other psychic work.

Talbot points out that many traditional sources, such as Sufi mystics, have understood this world of the internal universe far more than we Westerners with our objective science have even begun to scratch the surface. As covered above, what you believe is what you chose to believe. He describes the Sufi's who have explored Heaven as within the individual, existing simultaneously while we live our lives “out here”. Of course this then brings new meaning to the phrase “The kingdom of heaven is within you.” (See Thomas 3, Luke 17:20-21.) (Compare also, the movie and book What Dreams May Come for a graphic example of this concept of Heaven and its eastern philosophic roots.) The universe then manifests according to your beliefs and how much you agree with the beliefs of those around you. To this point, you can literally change your world and universe completely through thought. Those who doubt, don't/can't. It is just that simple. This is covered under the Faith element above.

To go into the various and multitude of studies and literature about this quantum hologram parallel to the super-conscious/Amakua/Higher Intelligence is beyond the scope of this book. I only point this out as an illustration of what can be analyzed through this particular four-way.

Gift

Under Gift, we have a point of inspiration showing up, although it is per many authors due to the individual's participation and connection with the universe – that is, the quantum hologram or Amakua under Huna. Per Troward, “the universal mind is the creative power throughout Nature” and so through accessing this higher intelligence, inspiration and intuition appear in proportion to the amount of thought by the individual. In New Thought, this gives the necessity for gratitude. Being truly grateful for all manifestations which come your way enhances your and the Higher Intelligence's ability to manifest.

Gift is also defined as a talent or skill. Certainly this then links to Ability, which has Gratitude as a sub-element.

As covered above, gift is a two-way street. One must give to others and to the universe itself in order to have any flow or expansion or increase of life-quality. This is the structure which shows its value. Gift can be increased through giving as well as grateful receiving. Both flows would have to be increased to increase the element of Gift. Any gift would be more appreciated when it has higher integrity and contains or contributes to a higher quality of life.

As well, one should constantly give to others without expecting any return. This gives the greatest results and pleasant surprises in your life. Simply working to cheer everyone up around you does wonders, even perfect strangers by offering them an honest smile. Doing any assigned job with vim and vigor, always working out how to improve the efficiency of the place, will bring about trust and improved relations in that organization. This is an explanation for Jesus' offering the “other cheek” to his enemy. The parable is not just the obvious passivity, but also how to consciously give love in return for any anger, which defuses it and ends the vicious cycle of giving fear back to the fear which caused that anger.

Note well: the universe you live in is a gift to you.

Integrity

This is a key point to any self-help work, and to any belief-system itself. If Life didn't have a complete plan when it invested itself into that combination of elements we call a body, it would quickly dissipate into so many disparate chemicals on the floor. For the individual, one must constantly review his/her own belief-system to make it complete and whole, interlocking and bullet-proof. As well, your little system has to integrate with the other systems around you and the universe as a whole.

The whole discussion of meditation above has that little caveat – if you don't work at what you want to manifest with a completely positive, affirmative attitude, then you will get exactly what you are thinking or affirming, which is self-doubt and fear. All of the authors I've noted on this subject agree exactly on this point. You get exactly what you think. Think big, think positive – you get big, positive effects in your life. Think bad about someone around you and you will attract bad thoughts about you (and bad effects toward you) coming in.

There is built in reciprocity to this universe. This is described in detail throughout the New Testament, particularly at Matthew 7: 1-12. Within here is Jesus' version of the Golden Rule, which he says sums up the entire Law and the Prophets of the Hebrews. Powerful stuff, but true as any truth can be known. As I said above, anyone can make empirical tests of this – the Golden Rule will give volumes of data to support itself. So the person who treats others poorly will be treated poorly. If a person wants joy in his life, he should start by cheering others up. If he is lacking something, he should start giving things away. That's just the way this universe is set up, how the good continue to win, and the evil continue to get sick and die off. You only get back what you give – all the major religions in the world say so, not just the Christians.

It has been said that one could develop all the virtues of the saints backwards from this one datum. Logically this is correct, providing one built up the self-discipline to maintain that quest. The whole subject of the Gnostic approach to religion is to attain “gnosis”, which is the point of being able to achieve the oneness with God (literally, “knowledge”) that Jesus did in his life (as well as various other saints and prophets in this and other religious faiths). While I have a great deal more studies to do down this line, it seems that this is possible within just the data I've gone over above. Certainly the panentheistic point of God being within all things (as the quantum hologram argument above) leads to this being a matter of looking within yourself for reasons you aren't already accepting this as so. Certainly every cell in your body already has the road map to accomplish your own enlightenment if you only care to drop your doubts and increase your faith and trust in that Higher Intelligence within.

Your Integrity, your morals, your ethics – all these can and should be worked backwards from how you are currently thinking. Anyone you mistreat, per Dyer, you are training how to treat you. Respond with charity, with respect – and that is the response you receive. Argue with someone and get an argument back. Any bitterness you encounter can be countered with compassion, as Jesus recommended, and turn that person's life around. But it is up to your idea of your own integrity, plus how your actions reflect these, which determines how your life operates and the quality of it.

Life

Above this, see how life is represented through the various other elements. One can imbue people and objects with life. As one recognizes the life within them and acknowledges this, more life manifests. Making more life isn't just more procreation. If you grant beingness to those around you, even the inanimate objects and machinery, these things tend to run better and live longer, healthier lives. This is simpler to do than it sounds. One only need extend his/her own beingness into that around one and participate causatively in their existence. This creates or co-creates more life in them. If you don't understand it at this point, it is really something that you simply have to try. Some people beat their horses into submission and obedience. However, the horse whisperer is able to train wild horses without even raising his voice. Routinely petting dogs rewards all the guarding work they do for you and assist their training to do even better..

Life is an action as well as a state of beingness. One can spread one's beingness along to others and to objects in ones environment. This is logical as the quantum hologram exists apparently in every structure of every element in this planet.

Spoiling pets or children is simply the action of not keeping the rules straight on who is controlling things, who pays the bills, and what the exchange agreements are. But even spoiled animals and kids can be straightened up by using good control on them to change their bad habits and behavior patterns. The key point is to always use good control and help the others around you to live good, positive lives by being good to them and treating them as you would like to be treated, certainly better than you expect to be treated.

There is far more to be written about Life in general. Other authors have included a host of factors under this name. I've sought to simplify this topic by including it last, after all the other elements and four-way thunks above.

A person can make far more sense out of life if he/she knows its basics.