THINKING AND DESTINY

Harold W. Percival

CHAPTER V

PHYSICAL DESTINY

Section 7

Possible chaos in the world. Intelligences govern the order of events.

Human thoughts, the very large majority of human thoughts, are opposed to universal law and order. Man’s desires are mostly lawless, frivolous or vicious, and he gives rein to them when he thinks he can. Most people would, if they could, restrain others and be unrestrained themselves.

Where the acts of every person are limited by ignorance and inertia and often stimulated by self-interest, and most people desire laws for protection on the one hand, and on the other are not unwilling to break them if they can do so without too much danger to themselves, there would soon be chaos in this world and a breaking up of all institutions if men were left to themselves. Intelligences and complete Triune Selves govern affairs according to the law of thought. Elemental beings under their direction do the mechanical part, and are the material with which they work. Every thinking man sees that intelligence of some kind must be behind or within the working of the visible universe. Some assume that there is a single Intelligence whom they call God. The difference between that idea and this system is that the gods of religions are described as personal and as arbitrary in the creation and government of the world, whereas the real “God” of every human is directly related to the conscious doer within him. The Light of his Intelligence is the Light through which alone he can see into the Light of the Supreme Intelligence. The visible world outside is built and destroyed by upper elementals which obey the orders of Intelligences and complete Triune Selves, under the Supreme Intelligence and see to it that the law of thought is carried out.

The Triune Selves and Intelligences are the managers of the continuing play. They arrange the scene, call the players and let them act. Every human is an actor in some spot of the world’s stage. At a certain time and place which the Triune Selves or the Intelligences determine, they let him play the part he has prepared himself to play. He is not aware of this preparation made by his thinking. He has forgotten the design and the way in which he designed, but he finds himself on the stage, and is buffeted, coddled, led or lured by others who are in the same or a similar position as he is. His actions may affect himself alone or a few or hosts. The Triune Selves and Intelligences cannot change the destiny of an individual or of a group; all they can do is to retard or accelerate the exteriorizations that would produce chaos and destruction of the human race in less than fifty years if not timed intelligently. They do not interfere with any cycle in its working, but at critical times they guide the course of a cycle so as to allow or prevent an intersection with another cycle or cycles.

Men think and act for their own selfish ends. They have little control over the result of their action beyond their immediate object. Only the Triune Selves and Intelligences know what men’s thoughts call for, and the destiny of the greater and smaller groups to which people belong. They manage the order of events by selecting time and place for them, so that the human race will be preserved and continued opportunity will be given to the doers in human beings.

But this opportunity can be continued only upon one condition. That is, that in the sum of human thought the good shall outweigh the bad. What is here spoken of as weight is determined not by quantity but by quality of thought. While it is true that the majority of men are uninformed and their thoughts are largely superficial, callous or vicious, yet there are among humanity many who have fundamental and rugged virtues, whose thoughts have made them honest, self-respecting and self-sacrificing, so that they receive more Light from their Intelligences. Usually such men play no public part, for the public would not have them. However, they turn the balance and so furnish a condition which permits the Intelligences to regulate the time and place of events in orderly succession. They go on as long as there are a few sincere and honest men and women, the power of whose virtuous thoughts is greater than that of the inert, selfish, corrupt and vicious multitude. This condition of the human race is not surprising. Their thinking does not focus Light of the Intelligence; it is limited by the four senses. So they do not know what they are or where they are going.

If there comes a time when the power of the thoughts of the vicious so preponderates as to make any recovery hopeless, then an Intelligence lets a fire god or a water god give to the race what its thoughts have called for. Then follows the destruction of the race by water or volcanic action: the crust of the earth shakes and opens, flames pour forth, and the earth crust sinks while the waters sweep over the land and submerge it. New land rises out of the ocean and awaits the coming of a new race.

That is what happens when the people of a country or of the world determine by their thoughts and acts that they will not live by law and order; that they will use force against law and justice; or that they will give reign to the senses and indulge in debauchery, lawlessness, drunkenness. That would be the beginning of the end of civilization.

But the people of the world are giving evidence of awakening to their responsibilities in life. They begin to understand that as individuals they cannot live and enjoy separately or in separate communities, that their lives are related to the lives of others, and of other peoples. Individuals of different countries are understanding that as they desire independence, so also do the peoples of other countries desire independence. And that if any one people were to deprive another people of their independence, they are in turn liable to lose their own independence. Individuals among different peoples are awakening to the fact that independence, as individuals or as a people, is dependent on their responsibility; that individuals of a people cannot have independence without responsibility; that the degree of their independence is limited to the degree of their responsibility. Independence and responsibility are inseparable. Independence with responsibility will open the way and bring with it more light, the Conscious Light, which will be the entrance into a new Way of life: The Way of life that can eventuate in the establishment of a permanent civilization of Self-Government on this earth.