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My mind took an interest in transcendentalism this week and one
of the concepts that got my attention was "oversoul." Here is a
simple explanation:
"Oversoul is
the concept that there is a universal spirit that lives in all.
An example of an oversoul is
the spiritual connection amongst a person, tree and cat. ...
(philosophy, especially in transcendentalism)
A supreme reality or mind; the spiritual unity of all being."
Of course, I could not stop looking into transcendentalism
without going to one of the most famous Transcendentalist, Ralph
Waldo Emerson. He wrote: "The Transcendentalist adopts the whole
connection of spiritual doctrine. They believe in miracle, in
the perpetual openness of the human mind to new influx of light
and power; they believe in inspiration, and in ecstasy. They
wish that the spiritual principle should be suffered to
demonstrate itself to the end, in all possible applications to
the state of mankind, without the admission of anything
unspiritual; that is, anything positive, dogmatic, personal.
Thus, the spiritual measure of inspiration is the depth of the
thought, and never, who said it? And so they resist all attempts
to palm other rules and measures on the spirit than its own."
I
believe the most important statement in these words from Emerson
is "the perpetual openness of the human mind to new influx of
light and power." The open mind is what brings us to the highest
of truth that we realize at any point in time. Ernest Holmes in
his lectures on the Science of Mind and Spirit continually urged
his audiences to be open at the top. I absolutely believe that
we fail our teachers when we don't go any further in our seeking
of the truth than they achieved. This is why those who follow a
specific spiritual or religious teaching, doggedly, never reach
that center of knowing within their own souls.
Let's
look at some more of what I found fascinating in Emerson's
writings this week: "In like manner, if there is anything grand
and daring in human thought or virtue, any reliance on the vast,
the unknown, any presentiment, any extravagance of faith, the
spiritualist adopts it as most in nature. The oriental mind has
always tended to this largeness. Buddhism is an expression of
it. The Buddhist who thanks no man, who says, "do not
flatter your benefactors," but who, in his conviction that every
good deed can by no possibility escape its reward, will not
deceive the benefactor by pretending that he has done more than
he should, is a Transcendentalist."
Fascinating. Yes?
Keep the Faith!
Rev-Bates
(Reverend Dr. Henry Lee Bates)
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