for on this basis it becomes impossible for us to misuse them. Therefore it
is that all systematic teaching on these subjects begins with instruction
regarding the Creative Order of the Cosmos, and then proceeds to exhibit
the same Order as reproduced on the plane of Personality and so affording a
fresh starting point for the Creative Process by the introduction of
Individual Initiative and Selection. This is the doctrine of the Macrocosm
and the Microcosm; and the transition from the generic working of the
Creative Spirit in the Cosmos to its specific working in the Individual is
what is meant by the doctrine of the Octave.





CHAPTER VI

THE STANDARD OF PERSONALITY


We have now got some general idea as to the place of the personal factor in
the Creative Order, and so the next question is, How does this affect
ourselves? The answer is that if we have grasped the fundamental fact that
the moving power in the Creative Process is the self-contemplation of
Spirit, and if we also see that, because we are miniature reproductions of
the Original Spirit, our contemplation of It becomes Its contemplation of
Itself from the standpoint of our own individuality--if we have grasped
these fundamental conceptions, then it follows that our process for
developing power is to contemplate the Originating Spirit as the source of
the power we want to develop. And here we must guard against a mistake
which people often make when looking to the Spirit as the source of power.