The Unity of Life

By the Unity of Life, it is meant—not merely the union of one form of life with another, or the development of the higher from the lower—but its true unity with the one being which we speak of as God and as man.

Life is one; it is an electrical, absolutely non-material stream of influence from the great source of life. It has not been, it cannot be discovered by the microscope or the dissecting knife; it is not material, and cannot be revealed to material eyes, but it informs matter and is manifested in and through it. If we think of the universe as a chain, it should be as of separate links strung together on an invisible string, and that string the breath of the Divine; without this breath, the universe would immediately dissolve, and vanish from mortal eyes. In the beginning, the earth was without form and void. In the beginning—that is, when the Living One saw fit to bring into outward manifestation some of the thoughts of His heart, and into the chasm, the void space, he breathed the breath of His own being. Then the fluid, gaseous, invisible matter cohered by the power of this breath, and a solid earth arose where before was no such thing. (Of the actual origin of matter we do not yet know, as we do not know the origin of life, only its first manifestations).

Life has, broadly speaking, four forms of manifestation. First, The Unconscious; Second, The Conscious; Third, The Self-conscious; Fourth, The God-conscious. Its lowest form may be seen in the bare granite; the second in vegetable life, the third in the animal, and the fourth in man. In these stages, the creation is well spoken of in Genesis. Now, these forms closely touch and are interrelated to one another; there is no great chasm between each, and the life is essentially the same in all; in the lowest, it is more motionless, more dormant, but as it rises in the scale its motion increases. Is it then the same life in me that is in the stone or the flower; in the wild beast or the singing bird? Yes, precisely the same, in greater fullness, or more highly developed, or in whatever way it may be expressed. As far as that side of us, our manifested being is concerned, we are absolutely at one with all nature. This life is ever-seeking fresh manifestations; when driven from one form by the break of death, it seeks another and pressed on by the will of its Father it seeks constantly to manifest itself, and pulses through the chain of the universe, flowing ever round and round in great cycles from God to God.

“Not a sparrow falleth to the ground without your Father”

—Thus spoke one who knew.

Nothing is so relentless, so cruel, so pitiless as Nature—she does not distinguish between ignorance and sin, between the strong and the helpless—all who transgress one of her immutable laws must pay the penalty, and probably entail suffering on others—for the individual she cares nothing, and but little for the type. This is what the scientists say; is it true? Yes, it is true; both sayings are true. How are they to be reconciled? First; no destruction of life is possible; it cannot be, it is never destroyed—forms fall to pieces, but the life escapes and is manifested in some other way. Stagnation is not the best state—the rock may well envy the flower that grows on its breast and lives (in that form) but a little day—the flower may envy the bird even if snared by the fowler—yet envy is not needed, and the life will pass in due time through all, from the lowest to the highest.

Second—Pain is caused by the conflict of the physical with the psychical; sin by the conflict of the psyche with the pneuma. Both are real blessings, for they stir the forces into stronger and better action. When we pass over we leave the lower forms of life behind, taking only the higher, and are clothed upon with a spiritual body, yet which is still a manifested form.

With regard to God-conscious life, this does not imply an ordinary faith in a God; the possession or non-possession of such faith is a small matter. God-consciousness implies the power of worship, of faith in, and love for another, for the race—something higher than the affection of a dog for his master; the power that can say—Let me perish, if through my loss others may gain.

Neither self, nor what self can give is the first thing, but a willing self-abnegation for the good of any.

This is God-consciousness, as it is his leading characteristic, so to speak. It has been found in all classes of men; in the heathen, in the philosopher, and in the babe in intellect. This is the seed of God, that can never perish but must be immortal as He is immortal. The chain of life, then, runs through all creation, binding all together, and into it is breathed the true breath of the Divine, giving to all a new and higher life which is their true “ ego,” and which shall endure when heaven, and earth, and all manifested being shall have passed away.

“I AWOKE!” Conditions of Life on the other Side, David Stott, London, 1895