XIII. THE RULES OF THE ROADS The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen. Frank Lloyd Wright (1869–1959), U.S. architect They can conquer who believe they can. Virgil (70 BC–19 BC), Roman epic poet No matter what road we follow, we find rules. These rules are of great consequence not only for navigating our way but also for providing us with an enjoyable experience. In our journey we have seen that the rules, or laws, of the roads are extremely important to New Thought and to many of the minds that influenced New Thought philosophy. After visiting each of the three main New Thought groups, we found sixteen common concepts held by these groups. We discussed in chapter nine what Jesus had to say about these concepts, and chapter fourteen explores what the rest of the world says about them. All, that is, except for one: God works by use of Divine laws. That is the topic of this chapter. We discovered that all of the minds we met along the Road to Well-Being—Hopkins, Eddy, Quimby, Evans, and Swedenborg—spoke of the spiritual, natural and Divine laws that are part of Reality. It is, in part, because of Divine law that mental healing is possible. This connection is discussed later in this chapter. The members of the Rebellious Road also taught about law, though Calvin’s concept of law was different from the Unitarians and the Transcendentalists. Emerson spoke of innate universal laws that apply to everyone and everything across all time. He, and Thoreau, too, spoke of the laws enacted by humans and showed how these laws cannot compare to the perfection of Divine Law. Along the Esoteric Road we encountered Spiritualism and Theosophy and their concept of natural law being the same as spiritual law. Blavatsky also spoke of cyclic and karmic laws that work in response to our level of consciousness. In support of such practices as telepathy and clairvoyance, Troward wrote that these activities follow laws as accurate as those that govern our normal faculties. He also said that we progress to higher states of being by consciously cooperating with the universal laws. The Rosicrucians taught of the natural laws that when applied, will produce an experience of Divine unity. We met Troward again on the Intellectual Road. His teachings about Divine Law influenced Holmes’s Science of Mind, in which God as the Thing-Itself manifests by using Divine Law. We learned that the One Mind is Subjective Law and is the creative medium in which Spirit works. This is also where we learned that Law is neutral. We found Drummond’s concept of the same Divine laws running through both the natural and spiritual worlds, and we found that the authority of law is the authority of God. We saw that Browning and Holmes equate Love with Law. We discovered that Larson and Trine both posited laws that govern our thought forces and showed us how we can make use of these laws to create the things and experiences we desire. We also discovered that Newton referred to God as Universal Law or Principle and that James understood the psychological law of mental equivalents. Along the important Road to Jesus we found that Jesus taught that he had come to fulfill the law, meaning that he showed mastery of the universal laws of God’s kingdom through his many so-called miracles. He commanded the winds, changed the elements of water into those of wine, and returned the dead to the living. Most important of all, he taught that we all could do what he did. Why? Because he worked by using the law, the same law that we can use if we place ourselves in the same consciousness as he did. It is done unto us as we believe. This is the law that Jesus understood, taught and used. Upon reaching the end of the road we again discovered Divine Law being taught by the philosophies of the East. In Hinduism and Buddhism, we found the law of karma or the law of cause and effect. In Taoism, we found the unvarying laws that underlie the changing universe, the understanding of which leads to a life of harmony and freedom. Embedded in these laws is the important concept of the yin and the yang—the polarity of opposites—which forms the basis for paradoxical logic and allows for a thing to be and not be at the same time. The Eastern world has known about and has applied to life for thousands of years the universal laws that permeate nature on all levels. It was not until the doctrines of the East became well known to the West that these divine laws were accepted into our unorthodox religions. This makes sense, for the unorthodox religions, New Thought among them, see God in nature or God as nature. It appears that orthodox clerics in the Western world did not entertain the notion of spiritual law until the late 1800s when Henry Drummond wrote Natural Law in the Spiritual World. Prior to that time it was accepted in religious circles that the only laws that applied to religion were the moral and social laws presented in the Bible, in spite of the fact that the spiritual laws were taught by Jesus. Outside orthodoxy, though, the existence of spiritual law was well known. Emerson, Swedenborg, Blavatsky, Davis, and many mystics mention these laws in their writings. We speak of Divine Law in the singular sense, and in one respect it is, for Divine Law is the One. However, within Unity is multiplicity, and within the One Mind are numerous Divine Laws. All of the laws, both spiritual and natural, flow from the same source and, in actuality, are the same laws. As Drummond points out, the invisible and visible realms are simply aspects of the same Reality and are governed by the same laws. Berkeley puts it this way: “Laws of nature are simply the habitual ways in which God wills things to behave.” Spinoza, too, says that the “ultimate universe is one infinitely enormous integrated logical structure” governed by “unavoidable, irreversible laws” (Sahakian). All of the founders of New Thought had much to say about these laws, and they all refer to God as Principle and Law. Holmes writes that Spirit creates through law, and law is mind in action. Every time we think we set mind into action. It creates for us whatever thought it is given, for law is immutable. Therefore, law works for us only as it works through us. By being conscious in our thinking we can determine the outcome of the law. Myrtle Fillmore comments that few among orthodoxy have ever suggested that Jesus used universal law to heal. Charles Fillmore contends that when we obey our inner guide, the laws established by infinite Mind automatically accomplish whatever we desire. He also says that Divine Mind creates by use of mental law. He speaks of “the divine creative law,” “the law of expression and form,” “the law of mind,” and a “higher law.” Brooks writes, “Law is the unchanging method by which God is expressing; it is always true to Divine Being. Law is the basis upon which truth rests. . . . God in action is law as well as love. . . . God expresses by law.” It is important to remember that Divine Law is not vindictive, though sometimes it may seem that way. Divine Law is corrective and instructive. It teaches us that we are responsible for the events of our lives, for the up times and the down times, for the so-called punishments as well as the rewards. We look now at the most important of these Divine Laws. Back to The Roads to Truth Back to the Table of Contents