That we are all members of one body, branches of one vine, is a matter of faith and of feeling; but with the first use of the weapon of higher thought the paradox of the one and the many is capable of so clear and simple a resolution that the sublime idea of human solidarity is brought down from the nebulous heaven of the mystic to the earth of every day life.  To our ordinary space-thought, men are isolated, distinct, each “an infinitely repellent particle,” but we conceive of space too narrowly.  The broader view admits the idea that men are related by reason of a superior union, that their isolation is but an affair of limited consciousness.  Applying this concept to conduct, we come to discern a literal truth in the words of the Master, “He who hath done it unto the least of these my children, hath done it unto me,” and “Where two or three are gathered together in my name.”  If we conceive of each individual as a “slice” or cross-section of a higher being, each fragment isolated by an inhibition of consciousness which it is moment by moment engaged in transcending, the sacrifice of the Logos takes on a new meaning.  This disseverance into millions of human beings is that each may realize God in himself.  Conceiving of humanity as God’s broken body, we are driven to make peace among its members, and by realization we become the Children of God.

LIVE OPENLY

“Blessed are the meek,” “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness.”  “Blessed are the peacemakers.”  It would not be impossible to trace a relation between higher space thought and the other beatitudes also, but it will suffice simply to note the fact that the central and essential teaching of the Sermon on the Mount, “Let your light shine before men” is implicit in the conviction of every one who thinks on higher space:  he must live openly.  By continual dwelling upon the predicament of the flat-man, naked, as it were, to observation from an eye which looks down upon his plane, we come to realize our own exposure.  In that large world all that we think, or do, or imagine, lies open, palpable; there is no such thing as secrecy.  Imbued with this idea, we begin to live openly because we must; but soon we come to do so because we desire it.  In making toward one another our limited lives open and manifest, we treat each other in the service of truth as though we were all members of that higher world.  We imitate, in our world, our true existence in a higher world, and so help to establish heavenly conditions upon earth.

NON-RESISTANCE TO EVIL