THE MASTERY OF BEING. William Walker Atkinson

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СКАЧАТЬ which alone is actual Being. The two cannot exist at the same time. Either REALITY is not, or else Nothing is not. Either REALITY is, or Nothing is. We have discovered the fact of the existence of REALITY; therefore, we must of necessity deny the existence of Nothing. It may seem childish to assert so emphatically that Nothing has no existence. But when we meet with the assertion of Nothingness advanced by certain thinkers as an explanation of the facts of being, we shall see the necessity of either affirming or else denying its existence. Hence this absolute denial and negation of Nothing and Nothingness. They are meaningless words and have no counterpart or reason in actual existence and being. These terms are valid only in the fact of bringing REALITY into positive and clear relief by reason of the contrast. As a positive concept, "Nothing" is fallacious, fictitious, and untruthful, having no basis in verity, REALITY, fact, or experience. It is a mere statement of the absence of existence. "Nothing" either is or is not. The reason refuses to accept the idea that it is, therefore it reports that it is not. With this report also comes the report that "from Nothing no thing can come"—"ex nihilo nihil fit." And, likewise, "into Nothing no thing can go." Anything that appears to come from Nothing, or to go to Nothing, is seen by the reason never to have been,—to have had naught but an illusory and fictitious shadow of existence.

      AXIOM OF ABSOLUTE UNITY.

       FIFTH AXIOM OF REALITY: REALITY is Absolute Unity and Oneness.

      This axiom announces the Absolute Unity of REALITY. By Absolute Unity is meant Absolute ONENESS OF BEING. Absolute Unity does not mean a mere loose association or union between diversified parts or separate things, such as the union of atoms or parts of a thing; or the association of individuals, such as a congress, army, crowd, assembly. Absolute Unity means a state of absolute oneness, absolute singleness as opposed to plurality. Absolute Unity does not mean a temporary union; Absolute Unity means an eternal, fixed, immutable, and invariable Unity or Oneness. Absolute Unity means unity absolute, without any qualification or reservation whatever.

      The Absolute Unity of REALITY is the report of all trained and developed reason directed to the subject. All philosophy worthy of the name has expressed the necessary report of the reason that Ultimate REALITY is One and one only. Science has agreed in this report and has announced the existence of a One "infinite and eternal energy from which all things proceed." It is a mathematical and logical truism that "the infinite must be absolute unity." Without such Absolute Unity the facts of the phenomenal universe cannot be explained. The constant change of form, the constant correlation of energy, the constant transformation and transmutation of substance—all these indicate the existence of one common and universal essence, nature, substance, and REALITY, from which all manifestations of form, shape, state, condition, and activity are expressed.

      Denial of the Absolute Unity of REALITY is the denial of the ultimate principle of REALITY itself, and the assertion of the existence of many Principles of REALITY. This, if true, would destroy all infiniteness and cause every one of the many principles to be finite, bounded, limited, and opposed to each other. All human thought and experience is directly opposed to this conception. Every instinct, intuition, and reason of the human mind reports the logical necessity of the existence of a One Ultimate Principle of REALITY by whatever name it may be called. All philosophy, and all science, holds to this idea of the Absolute Unity of the Ultimate Principle of REALITY. The trained and developed human reason inevitably reports this fact as axiomatic. A Unity which is not an Absolute Unity is a mere temporary and loose union, and is but the assertion of Non-Unity.

      AXIOM OF INDEPENDENCE AND FREEDOM.

       SIXTH AXIOM OF REALITY: REALITY is Independent and Free.

      This axiom announces the independence and freedom of REALITY. By "independent" is meant "not dependent; not supported by, or reliant upon, others." By "free" is meant "not subject to control by others; not subordinated, constrained, restricted, restrained, or subjected to others."

      There is nothing other than itself upon which REALITY can depend, rely, or support itself, or by which it can be controlled, subordinated, constrained, restricted, restrained, or subjected. REALITY being the essence, nature, substance, and principle of All-that-is, there can be nothing else upon which it can depend, and nothing else to which it can be subject or subordinate, nor by which it can be restrained, restricted, or controlled. The reason inevitably reports that REALITY, by the very facts of its essence, nature, substance, and principle, must be and is independent and free.

      AXIOM OF WHOLENESS, COMPLETION, AND PERFECTION.

       SEVENTH AXIOM OF REALITY: REALITY Is Complete, Whole, and Perfect.

      This axiom announces the Wholeness, Completion, and Perfection of REALITY. By "whole" is meant "containing the total amount; total; entire." By "complete" is meant "finished; lacking nothing requisite to wholeness and perfection; not deficient in any respect." By "perfect" is meant "consummated; whole; finished; nothing wanting or lacking."

      REALITY is perceived to be whole, complete, and perfect by the very fact of its essence, nature, substance, and REALITY. It being the essence, nature, substance, and REALITY of All-that-is, and there being nothing other than itself in existence, it follows that there can be nothing that could make it whole, or complete and perfect it, if it be not so already. If it is held to be not whole, complete, and perfect, then it must also be held that it can never become whole, complete, or perfect, for there is nothing which could be added to it to make it whole, complete, or perfect it, and nothing that could act as the maker-whole, completer, or perfecter. It cannot be made, by change, more whole, complete, or perfect than it is, for it cannot become other than itself. If there is anything lacking in or to REALITY, then such must always remain lacking, for REALITY is All-that-is and cannot be other than itself. The reason inevitably reports that REALITY is whole, complete, and perfect.

      Chapter V.

       Axioms of Reality—Continued.

       Table of Content

      AXIOM OF ORIGINALITY AND CAUSELESSNESS.

       EIGHTH AXIOM OF REALITY: REALITY is Original and Causeless.

      THIS AXIOM announces the Originality and Causelessness of REALITY. By "original" is meant "preceding all others; first; primary; primitive; that which is the origin, cause, source, or primary root from which all else has proceeded." By "causeless" is meant "without preceding cause, origin, root, or source; uncreated." REALITY is perceived to be primary, first, preceding all, the source, origin, or root from which all else has proceeded. It is also perceived to be uncaused and uncreated. As it is the essence, nature, substance, and very being of All-that-is, and as there is nothing other than itself, it must be original and uncaused, for there is nothing else which could have preceded it, nothing else which could have caused it, nothing else which could have created it. It cannot have proceeded from or been caused or created by Nothing, for Nothing is denied and is not in existence. If there is a Creator of REALITY,—a Something preceding it,—then that Something is really REALITY, and that which we have been considering as REALITY is a mere manifestation or appearance,—in which case the inquiry is merely moved back a point and the axiom still stands in its full effect and virtue.

      REASON VS. IMAGINATION.

      All human thought and reasoning, carried to its logical conclusion, brings one to the inevitable conclusion that there must be assumed to exist an ORIGINAL SOMETHING, an Uncaused and Uncreated Thing. The reason cannot escape this conclusion, although the imagination may find it impossible to image or make a mental picture of an original, uncaused, uncreated thing. The imagination having had experiences only with secondary, caused, and created things, is unable to picture the СКАЧАТЬ