tor; and that while
the former is invariable, the latter is variable, and that the operation
of the same invariable upon different variables must necessarily produce
a variety of results. This at once becomes evident if we state it
mathematically; for example, _a_, _b_ or _c_, multiplied by _x_ give
respectively the results _ax_, _bx_, _cx_, which differ materially from
one another, though the factor _x_ always remains the same.

This law of the generation of power by attraction applies on the
spiritual as well as on the physical plane, and acts with the same
mathematical precision on both; and thus the human individuality
consists, not in the mere aggregation of its parts, whether spiritual or
corporeal, but in the _unity_ of power resulting from the intimate
association into which those parts enter with one another, which unity,
according to this law of the generation of power by attraction, is
infinitely superior, both in intelligence and power, to any less fully
integrated mode of spirit. Thus a natural principle, common alike to
physical and spiritual law, fully accounts for all claims that have ever
been made for the creative power of our thought over all things that
come within the circle of our own particular life. Thus it is that each
man is the centre of his own universe, and has the power, by directing
his own thought, to control all things therein.

But, as I have said above, there is no reason why this principle should
not be recognised as expanding from the individual until it embraces
the entire universe. Each man, as the centre of his own world, is
himself centred in a higher system in which he is only one of
innumerable similar atoms, and this system again in a higher until we
reach the supreme centre of all things; intelligence and power increase
from centre to centre in a ratio rising with inconceivable rapidity,
according to the law we are now investigating, until they culminate in
illimitable intelligence and power commensurate with All-Being.

Now we have seen that the relation of man to the lower modes of spirit
is that of superiority and command, but what is his relation to these
higher modes? In any harmoniously constituted system the relation of the
part to the whole never interferes with the free operation of the part
in the performance of its own functions; but, on the contrary, it is
precisely by means of this relation that each part is maintained in a
position to discharge all functions f