pression is conveyed in terms of this medium, and if I paint one in
water-colours my conception will be conveyed in terms of that medium,
and the methods of handling will be perfectly different in the two
pictures.

This applies all round; and if we keep this generalization in mind, it
will render many things clear, especially in psychic matters, which
would otherwise seem puzzling.

Now we ourselves are included in the general creation, and consequently
we have in us a generic or _type basis_ of personality, which is
entirely impersonal. This is not a contradiction in terms, though it may
look like one. We belong to the class Genus Homo, the distinctive
quality of which is Personality, that is to say, the possession of
certain faculties which constitute us persons, and not things or
animals; but at the same time this merely generic personality is common
to all mankind, and is not that which distinguishes one individual from
another, and in this sense it is impersonal; so we may call it our
Cosmic or Impersonal Personality.

Now it is upon this cosmic element, inherent in all things from mineral
to man, that Thought-Power acts, because, being impersonal, it has no
private purpose of its own with which to oppose the suggestion that is
being impressed upon it. The only thing is, that according to the rule
just laid down, the response will always be in terms of the cosmic
element which we have thus set in motion. Therefore on the human plane
it will always be in terms of Personality.

The whole thing comes to this, that we impart to this impersonal element
the reflection of our own personality, and thereby create in it a
certain personality of its own, which will express itself in terms of
the inherent nature of the impersonal factor, which we have thus
temporarily invested with a personal quality; we are continually doing
this unconsciously, either for good or ill; but when we come to
understand the law of it, we must try so to regulate the habitual
current of our thoughts, that even when we are not using this power
intentionally, they may only exercise a beneficial influence.

In our normal state this cosmic element in ourselves is so closely
united with our more conscious powers of volition and reasoning, that
they constitute a single unity; and this is how it should be, only, as
we shall see later on, with a difference. But there are certain
abnormal states which are worth considering, because they make clearer
t