nd and hand
become one, so that the hand is none other than the mind working. Now,
transferring this analogy to the microcosm, we see that we each stand in
the same relation to the Universal Mind that our hand does to our
individual mind--at least, that is our normal relation; and we shall
never put forth our full strength except from this standpoint.

We rightly realise our will as the centre of our individuality, but we
should do better to picture our individuality as an ellipse rather than
a circle, a figure having two "conjugate foci," two equilibriated
centres of revolution rather than a single one, one of which is the
will-power or faculty of _doing_, and the other the consciousness or
perception of _being_. If we realise only one of these two centres we
shall lose both mental and moral balance. If we lose sight of that
centre which is our personal will, we shall become flabby visionaries
without any backbone; and if, in our anxiety to develop backbone, we
lost sight of the other centre, we shall find that we have lost that
which corresponds to the lungs and heart in the physical body, and that
our backbone, however perfectly developed, is rapidly drying up for
want of those functions which minister vitality to the whole system, and
is only fit to be hung up in a museum to show what a rigid, lifeless
thing the strongest vertebral column becomes when separated from the
organisation by which alone it can receive nourishment. We must realise
the one focus of our individuality as clearly as the other, and bring
both into equal balance, if we would develop all our powers and rise to
that perfection of Life which has no limits to its glorious
possibilities.

Keeping the ancient Egyptian symbol before used, and considering
ourselves as the hand, we find that we derive all our power from an
infinite centre; and because it is infinite we need never fear that we
shall fail to draw to ourselves all that we require for our work,
whether it be the intelligence to lay hold of the proper tool, or the
strength to use it. And, moreover, we learn from the symbol that this
central power is generic. This is a most important truth. It is the
centre from which all the hands proceed, and is as fully open to any one
hand as to any other. Each hand is doing its separate work, and the
whole of the central energy is at its disposal for its own specific
purpose. The work of the central energy, as such, is to supply vitality
to the hands, a