PSYCHOLOGY AND LIFE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 116, 12 April 1930, Page 3

PSYCHOLOGY AND LIFE.

TRINE’S VIEWS EXPLAINED. ADDRESS BY MR C. F. SPOONER. Profound dicta oil the philosophy of life were uttered by Mr C. F. Spooner in an address delivered to members of the Palmerston North Psychology Club at the Theosophical Hall last evening. Mr Spooner based his remarks on the prelude arid preface of R. W. Trine’s book. “In Tune with the Infinite,"’ which is to be the basis of a series of lectures to be delivered during the winter. '. The prelude was read by the chairman (Mr J. L. Harwood) and the preface by the secretary (Mr C. Turnbull). A striking passage quoted was as follows: “There is a golden thread that runs through every religion in the world. There is a golden thread that runs through the lives and the teachings of all the prophets, seers, sages and saviours in the world’s history through the lives of all men and women of truly great and lasting power. . All that they have ever done or attained, to has been done, in full accordance with law. What one has done, all may do. This same golden thread must enter into the lives of all who to-day, in this busy work-a-day world of ours, would exchange impotence for power, weakness and suffering for abounding health and strength, pain and unrest for perfect peace, poverty of whatever nature for fullness and plenty.” Mr Spooner said that Trine’s book was full of psychology, though that word w.as not used on any page. All organised knowledge on. any subject was a science. Psychology had many definitions, the one’s most frequently met with being soul knowledge, the science of the mind, or the organised facts in connection with the functioning of the mind. The science of psychology was, therefore, the science of right thinking, or knowledge gained by experience without any process of reasoning. Man was the most difficult and complex being on the planet. His nature was dual, a mixture of good and bad, thoughtfulness and carelessness, religion and irreli'gion. His whole life was made up of optimism and pessimism. The wrongs of the universe to-day were the result of ignorance, nothing else. No man did wrong unless he thought ho would derive benefit, or unless he thought his wrong would not bo discovered. Both could be traced to ignorance. Tire brain was purely physical, and did not function of its own accord any more than a piano functioned without human agency. There was something behind the brain; some called it the riiind, which separated man from the brute creation. Man had a knowledge independent of the brain. Stating that Trine’s work was imbued with the spirit of religion, Mr Spooner affirmed that religion was God’s answer to man’s needs. Psalmsinging and' church-going did not constitute religion. A man might be an enthusiastic ' church-goer .and yet be entirely unscrupulous in his everyday life. This was not any reflection on the church! but rather on the individual. Religion had played a wonderful part in the uplift of man and was, in fact, one of the greatest steppingstones to life’s better things. In its highest sense religion was faith and practice. A religion that did not ennoble a man’s life was not worth tampering with. Yet it was possible for a man to bo religious and know little about God and a lot about himself. There was a discrepancy between man’s highest ideals and his performances,

and it should be his endeavour to bridge the gulf. It was the man who lived up to his ideals who was religious. Trine made reference to a universal religion, said the speaker, and though this was not yet accomplished, modern transport was bringing the people together to seek the best in all religions. There was internal evidence that the principal religions came from a common origin, God. The roots of the tree of universal religion were divine wisdom, the branches were the unity of God. His manifestation in a trinity, the existence of spiritual entities, the basic laws of sacrifice, cause and effect, tlio belief of life in two worlds and the brotherhood of man. All religion started with the unity of God and ended with the brotherhood of man. “If thought precedes action,” said the speaker, in referring to another aspect of the preface, ‘‘the value of right-thinking cnnnot be too strongly emphasised. Thought can be divided into two compartments, positive and constructive, and negative and destructive. A thought of health produces health, and a thought of sickness predisposes one to illness. The man with ideals, who learns to express those ideals carefully in thought, will be careful in his life. ' God exists in every frame, and the man who oan find the God within himself and lives in harmony with himself will find ‘the golden thread that runs through the lives and the teachings of all the prophets, seers, sages in the world’s history,’ the thread that makes him forever in tune with the infinite.”