Chapter III
WORKING WITH THE LAW
W. John Murray
The
Realm of Reality
Divine Science Publishing Assoc.
New York, 1922.
“My Father worketh
hitherto, and I work.”
--John 5:17
[35] It is a
truth as ancient as the ancient days
that, though we cannot contract the
Infinite, we can expand our own
conception of it in such a way as to make
the Infinite serve us whenever we draw
upon it intelligently. This is only
another way of saying that the object of
true prayer is not for the purpose of
bringing about a change in God, quite so
much as it is for the purpose of bringing
about a change in men. In order for us to
work intelligently with any law we must
first understand that law, whether it be
that of mechanics, mathematics or
metaphysics. One cannot work contrary to
any law and accomplish desirable results,
and it is for this reason that an
intelligent comprehension of law is as
necessary in the religious realm as in
any other.
When it is
better understood that the Law of God,
like that of nature, is fixed and
permanent, unalterable and unyielding,
men will cease to pray for petty
benefactions and will seek rather [36] to
co-operate with Law, and thus bring into
their lives greater blessings than they
at present conceive. One cannot have read
the Scriptures carefully without
realizing how very important work is,
for, in some places, it ranks higher than
faith. James says, “Faith without
works is dead.” Another
says, “Ye see then how that by
works a man is justified, and not
by faith alone.” Creative work is
that which distinguishes the man from the
animal, and, more than this, it is that
which distinguishes a superior man from
an inferior one.
We know how
men differ in their attitude toward work
when we observe how the majority dislike
it, and how careless they are concerning
it. For one Josiah Wedgewood, who
permitted nothing to leave his pottery
shop that was not absolutely perfect, you
will find a million to whom perfection is
an unnecessary detail, providing the
market is supplied with imperfections at
a good profit. For one Dante or
Shakespeare whose every word must be such
that no other could take its place and
convey the exact meaning, we have
thousands who, at so much per word, write
stuff that is neither grammatical nor
commendable. It is the paintings of the
Michael Angelos and Raphaels which
survive and increase in value, while
millions of daubs are thrown into the
discard. For a work to succeed, whether
it be in art or literature, it must be as
perfect as man can make it, and this can
be accomplished only in the degree that
men love their work, for it is the
love [37] of work which gives to any work
its real value. Love of one’s work
makes for perfection.
It is when
we consider work in the light of these
facts that we see why Paul ranks work so
highly, for it is the visible complement
of faith, without which faith would be a
mere mental abstraction. Faith and works
are like the two oars in a boat which
must be used in perfect harmony if we are
to cross the river of life successfully,
for by using either one alone we merely
cause the boat to go around in circles.
“Working with the Law” is
only another way of saying
“Co-operating with God.” Men
have accomplished marvelous things who
did not realize they were co-operating
with God; indeed their sense of God was
very vague, and, in some instances, it
almost amounted to unbelief, but in so
far as they were working with the Law
they were co-operating with God, whether
they realized it or not.
The physical
world as we see it today is a visible
manifestation of man’s co-operation
with God. If man had not co-operated with
nature the race would still be trying to
keep body and soul together on wild
berries and the herbs of the field; but,
on the grounds that “necessity is
the mother of invention,” man was
compelled to work with the Law to produce
what nature unassisted would never
supply. We know that man alone could
never produce the appetizing and
healthful fruits and vegetables which he
now enjoys and prospers on, but we also
know that nature alone, and without
man’s co-operation, could not do it
[38] either. It is this working with the
Law which has served to raise the race
from the limited and the crude up to the
unlimited and the beautiful.
The God in
man, working with the God in nature, has
brought into objective manifestation the
invisible things which always exist in
the archetypal world of Ideas. In a way
that is only dimly perceived man is a
co-worker with God, as is evidenced by
the persistent improvement of the race.
The best in man is always working in
harmony with the Best in the universe,
which is God, and this naturally leads to
the “survival of the fittest”
in the individual, as well as in the
collective mass. When one looks at all
the labor-saving devices in the world by
which drudgery has been so greatly
abolished, one sees that it has all been
brought about by working with the Law.
Humanity seems to be divided into three
groups: those who, through ignorance,
work against Creative Law and suffer
untold miseries which might easily be
avoided; those who, through laziness,
refuse to co-operate with the Creative
Law; and those who do co-operate with the
Creative Law and increase and multiply in
consequence.
The inventor
is working with the Law whenever he
produces anything of utility, whether he
admits it or not, for it is always from
something higher than himself that he
receives his ideas and creative impulses.
He is a channel through which Divine
Intelligence communicates itself in terms
of beneficial production. The Law of
Creation, like that of electrical energy,
is not a new law [39] which man has
evolved; it is as old as God, for it is
God, and whenever men have worked with it
results always have followed and always
will. Every year at the Flower Show we
see the results of this working with the
law in the persistent improvements which
are taking place in the floral kingdom;
but these are only ocular evidences of
the persistent improvement which is going
on in the mind of the horticulturist, and
without which the rose and the
chrysanthemum would still be in their
primitive imperfection of size and color.
Nature alone never presented the race
with such things of beauty in the floral
kingdom and the architectural world as
God and man working together have
presented it. There are those who regard
all the improvements in the worlds of man
and of nature as things which occur
according to “the natural course of
events,” as if “the natural
course of events” was something
like the falls of Niagara, which could
not be stayed, something which went on
making changes in the world
consciousness, independent of man’s
thinking processes.
There are
others who speak of things unusual as
“occurrences which take place in
God’s own good time,” as if
they could not have taken place at
any time and in any place,
whenever God’s Creative Law was
complied with. The reason why so many
hopes have been deferred is not because
Divine Mind was delaying the process, but
because man was not availing himself of
God’s Law and thus bringing into
manifestation [40] the things which God
had “ordained for him before the
foundation of the world.” If there
is one thing more than another which
needs to be understood it is the
always-ready and never-failing
responsiveness of Divine Mind to any
intelligent demand that may be made upon
it. God does not have to take our needs
under consideration and think them over
before granting them, as would a
president or a king, for He is Infinite
Wisdom and knows beforehand what things
we need.
Neither is
the answer to our prayers delayed because
there is not enough in the Divine
treasury to fulfill our request at the
moment, as sometimes happens when appeals
are made for funds to save human life in
a nation whose treasury is empty. The
electrician does not have to wait for
electrical energy to make up its mind
before he can begin to avail himself to
it; all he has to do is to understand the
law of conduction and transmission and
the answer to his prayer is instantaneous
the moment he establishes contact. The
mathematician does not have to speculate
as to the willingness of the mathematical
principle to come to his rescue when he
is in difficulty. He has learned from
long experience that all that is required
of him is that he work according to its
rules and his answer is automatic. It is
this working with the law in these
domains which gets results, and
this is none the less true in that mental
domain where the working out of
one’s own salvation is the
paramount issue. In nature and in art, in
mathematics [41] and in music, we know
that it is only as we work with the law
that there is any real achievement, and
now we are learning that our religious
lives must be guided more by law than by
emotion, if our religion is to be as
workable and satisfactory as our
mechanics.
At this
point the question presents itself as to
what is the Law, and what is the
Law’s intention. There are those
who tell us that the Law is Universal
Mind and that Universal Mind has no
intention “because it is
impersonal.” But over against this
we have those words of Jesus: “Fear
not, little flock; for it is your
Father’s good pleasure to give you
the kingdom.” And from this
statement it would seem as if Divine Mind
had intention, and that this
intention is a good one.
It is not
that Universal Mind has no
intention, but that its intention is for
Universal Good, and this is precisely
what we must know so that our intention
will take the same direction, knowing
that whatever works for Universal Good
will work at the same time for individual
health and happiness, on the principle
that that which blesses the whole will
bless all its parts. Once let us accept
the idea that Universal Mind has
intention, and that this intention is
always the same, and always beneficent,
and then it is only a question of
reconciling our intentions to the
Universal Intention, and the Universal
Good becomes a particular expression.
This is what is meant by working with the
Law, for when man’s intention [42]
is God’s intention, and not a mere
personal caprice, a force is called into
action which gives direction to the
undirected Absolute. Working with the
Law, when we understand it, will become
as simple as touching a button and
getting a flood of light.
In athletics
and in war we recognize the necessity of
team-work, and now we find it in the
field of philanthropy, as well as in
church and in commerce. When a man thinks
he can work alone he has a fool for a
partner, and hence the recognized need
for co-operation. When the Allies worked
together, and not separately, the war
quickly ended. There can be no real
success, financially or otherwise, until
man makes God his ally.
We are told
that “One with God is a
majority.” This is understood when
we see how unassailable a man’s
position becomes when he is working with
Law. The Law is always on our side when
we are on the side of the Law, but let us
go contrary to the Law and we at once
invite disaster. “The fool hath
said in his heart ‘there is no
God,’” but that will not help
him as long as there is Law to reckon
with. Jesus said, “He that is not
with me is against me.” This is not
to be limited to a liking or a disliking
of his personality, for what is really
meant is that whosoever is working with
the Law is working in harmony with
God’s intention and all things
conspire in his favor, as when a boy
throws a stick into a stream [43] all the
force of the stream conspires to carry
that stick in the direction in which it
is flowing.
God’s
intention is a stream of spiritual
consciousness always flowing in the
direction of man’s highest
interests. Most men stand on the bank of
the stream and idly watch it pass by.
These are the men who are neither hot nor
cold in matters that make for the general
good. Others try to swim against it and
are dashed upon the rocks of self-conceit
and ultimate failure, while a
comparatively few are throwing their
sticks of thought into it and in this way
uniting their purpose with the Divine
purpose. Our object in working with the
Law is not for the purpose of gaining
ascendancy over other men, or of
regulating the affairs of the outer
world, but for the purpose of rising
above our own limitations and exercising
dominion over the world of diverse
emotions within ourselves. By working
with the Law we draw particular benefits
to ourselves and others, for we become
healthier, happier and holier, and these
improved conditions reflect themselves on
those with whom we come immediately in
contact.
The Law will
serve only in so far as we utilize it.
Rivers will flow and oceans roll whether
we use them or not, but if we are wise we
will use them. Nature will continue from
one century to another without our
co-operation, but if we are wise we will
co-operate and compel her to serve our
highest purposes in increased production.
Universal Mind will go on through all
eternity [44] whether we make it our ally
or not, but if we have wisdom we will
make it our ally. The tendency of the
Universal Mind is to express itself in
harmony, and when this becomes the
tendency of the individual mind, it is as
when two streams unite and mingle and
then flow on harmonious to the same
end.
All things
work together for Good to them that love
Good, because the Love of Good unites
itself with the stream of Good, and not
because Good steps out of its way to show
its gratitude. All failure is due to
taking sides with the finite that is
within us. All success is due to taking
sides with the Infinite that is within
us. Working with the Law, we make God our
Silent Partner. We become consciously
identified with the Source of all Power
and can affirm:
“All good gravitates in my
direction, for I am One with God. I love
It, I work with It, I attract It. It is
now working through me to will and to do
of Its own good pleasure; for this is its
intention, and my intention is to bring
all my thoughts into harmony with it, so
that whatsoever I think or do shall be
done to the glory of God, the
all-Good.”
Chapter
4
* * * * *
The Realm of Reality
Table of
Contents
(Formerly at
Northwoods Divine Science Resource
Center)
