313

XVI

OF TRUE INSPIRATION¹

In that eminently religious state wherein the soul is elevated or unfolded into the spiritual sphere of human existence, man stands on the apex of the material world and infinity opens its endless variety of scenes before the prepared vision. The mind is capable of realising its connections with the united spheres and of uttering, through inspirations flowing from the two sources, those great principles of truth which belong to both departments. This state is perfectly natural and attainable by every person. It may be enjoyed in the full possession of outer consciousness, apart from the magnetic sleep,² and it is then the result of consistent progress to a high state of personal harmony with the principles and attributes of that Divine Spirit which animates the Temple of Nature. Thus exalted, the mind is a medium for no isolated current of inspiration; the illumination is general and expands in all directions. The explanation is that all faculties are equally refined and exalted. The state may therefore be denominated a spiritual resurrec-

¹ See The Great Harmonia, Vol. Ill, pp. 295 et seq.
² This statement is worthy of note as probably indicating the condition in which—from his own standpoint—Davis would have explained the genesis of some among his later works. The Principles of Nature was dictated, according to the claim, in a state of trance magnetically induced, but subsequently he worked by impressions and by voluntary transition into what he terms an interior condition. The impressions were for him inspirations, received—as he says above—amidst full possession of normal consciousness.

314

The Harmonial Philosophy

tion of natural passions and attractions into the moral and intellectual departments of the mind, which are themselves cleaving to a world of more perfect knowledge.

The term inspiration may be defined as significant of vision and prophetic perception, accompanied by a light of understanding, or of the rational principle.¹ True inspiration is based upon psychological principles: it is of various kinds and is graduated as regards quality and quantity. It is the illuminating presence and influence of God in the soul. It is co-essential and co-extensive with the human mind, and yet—in consequence of social inequalities, ecclesiastical materialism and individual imperfection—high inspiration is enjoyed by few of the earth's inhabitants. Pure inspiration is, however, confined to no particular person, age or nation: it is universal as the Spirit of God. There are four general sources of thought or knowledge: (1) The life-springs of the soul, (2) the suggestions of external Nature, (3) the well-springs of humanity, and (4) the inexhaustible fountains of the spiritual universe. Plenary inspiration and infallible knowledge belong to God alone; but God lives in the soul of every animated thing and in the same proportion as His life-essence is immanent therein so is that living object a receptacle of God's truth, an ex-

¹ It is, however, defined alternatively as a quickening and vivification of the truth-attracting affections natural to man, while revelation is the appropriation and comprehension of the resultant thoughts and ideas by the truth-containing faculties. The human mind is said to be capable frequently of inspiration when not capable of revelation commensurate therewith, for the spirit can and often does feel vaguely the indwelling presence of some great truth for months and even years before the intellect is sufficiently enlarged to individualise and express it. Where there is no intellectual comprehension of an interior truth there is no revelation to that person. Inspiration, without a reasonable understanding of its import, is enthusiasm; but if intellectual comprehension be blended with inspiration, the result is a philosophical or practical revelation to the mind.—The Great Harmonia, Vol, V, p. 16.

315

Of True Inspiration

ponent of His goodness, a prophet of His love and an expounder of His inspiration. Where God is, there is illumination. He has not withdrawn His Spirit from Nature, nor His germinating principles from the soul of man. The mind that will may feel, and he who seeks to be inspired may draw from one or all of those sources through which the Infinite communes with the finite. The spiritual worlds are so many scales of music, extending from the remotest orbs to Deity. If man would learn this celestial harmony he must join the heavenly band and strive to swell the symphony by becoming himself a harmonious note in the scale. As certainly as this universe is warmed by love and enlightened by wisdom, as certainly as God is the Resident of the magnificent edifice of material creation, of which the spiritual universe is the dome, so shall every human soul emit that light which the presence and omnipotence of an All-Perfect and Ever-Living God shall impart by the spontaneous breathings of His Omnipotent Spirit.

The human mind is benefited permanently when the reason-principle is illuminated: this constitutes true clairvoyance and the true spiritual condition. Once more it is enjoyed only by that soul whose entire faculties are attuned one to another and all to the constitution of things. Properly considered, the spiritual and inspired state is the complete development and harmony of the individual.¹

¹ It depends on constitutional integrity as an effect of physical and mental equilibrium—which is thorough health—and as the foundation of every known excellence. It is the basis of truth's harmonial temple. Such inward personal righteousness, such balance between forms and forces, unfolds a hungering and thirsting love of truth. At times it is even painful, but it swells the heart like a spiritual rosebud and enlarges the mind's capacity.—Ibid., p. 17.