It is hardly surprising that New Thought had an influence on Marcus Garvey's life: According to Robert Hill in Marcus Garvey: Life and Lessons, "With its emphasis on mind mastery, New Thought offered a set of metaphysical theories that proffered to its millions of adherents a system of mental hygiene to equip them for the journey along the road to success (xxviii). In his essay, "The Universe" many New Thought ideas are used by Garvey to bolster his case for racial advance.
Lesson 13
The Universe
No man yet knows the riddle of the Universe. It has been the eternal puzzle, but men in their searching desires are aiming at unraveling the mysteries behind it. It contains universal knowledge beyond the knowledge of our world.
If man can succeed in ide{n}tifying the facts of the majority of units in the Universe, he approaches a greater degree of knowledge than those who confine themselves only to the investigation of things terrestrial.
The greater minds of our world have experimented and are experimenting in their desire to grapple with all the facts that sustain the Universe. No one knows if man will be permitted to enter into the mysterious realms of knowledge, but it is the duty of man to stretch his imagination afield, and gather for himself as much information as is naturally possible. Never rest therefore with your limited knowledge of the world, but seek to find other knowledge with which you may be able to lift yourself far above that which has been attained or accomplished by man.
In the Universe there are mysteries which may be mathematically or scientifically measured and reduced to the concept of the human mind. Let your mind reach out then to the grappling of these mysteries by an approach based upon reason. As man before you discovered many things, gravitation, the fixed positions of the stars, the regular movements of planets, and such heretofore hidden facts, you may in the search find out new truths upon which your race and civilization might climb to the highest pinnacle. Carry, therefore, always an observant eye and an analytic mind. You may suddenly stumble upon some truth for which your world is waiting.
It doesn’t matter who the person is, when he has discovered a truth, for which mankind is in need or searching, he becomes a hero and an immortal.
Try to grasp at immorality in the leaving behind of a never dying name, because of the exceptional things you have been able to perceive and discover through the hidden mirror of universality. If you can see visions and dreams and make your visions and dreams true, you may focus the facts and the truths beyond your immediate reach by measuring them with your sublime knowledge.
Find the cause to justify the effect. The effect is visible everywhere, but the cause is generally hidden; but follow the line by the degrees until you approach the start, the beginning, the source. Never stop half way but go right through. If you have good grounds to believe that there is something beyond. If there is a mountain it is suggestive that there is a valley behind it. Don’t rest with the mountain because you see it. Search for the valley because there may be much hidden there. Never cease studying the ideas or the facts that may lead you to a definite conclusion.
The things of this world have become common, because most of them have been revealed as far as we know but there are uncommon things even on this earth, and much so in the Universe, that we may search after and make use of as we make use of things today brought to us through the probing genius of other men who saw the need for more and searched for it and brought it to mankind. Edison saw the need for more light and he brought more brilliant electricity, Stephenson saw the need for more speed and he brought the rapid moving engine with its steam, Fulton saw the need for more river transportation and quicker speed and he brought his steamboat, Harvey saw the need for conquering the mystery of the human system and revealed the circulation.
Observe well and see what mankin{d n}eeds most in addition to what they have and try to bring it to them. That is the way you stand out in immorality, as these men do stand out among us today even though they have been dead and some for ages.
If I could lie down and dream out of my subconscious mind the dream of life, and find its source in a more direct way, how much more could I tell about life to astound and convince men of what life is.
It is the dreamer, the subconscious manipulator who sees things by looking through the mental darkness. See things therefore for yourself, and see them in a way that {words missing?} mysterious Universe.
It is said that God is behind the Universe. No man has ever seen God. Suppose you, like Christ, could see God. What a wonder and amazement! Christ saw God behind the Universe as Man. Christ was an object lesson to man’s glorification and knowledge, therefore if you approach thought with its deepest sublimity you may see as much as Christ saw when he saw God.
It is thought that created the Universe. It is thought that will master the Universe. Man must therefore use his thoughts to be the limit to get the best results from the Universe. No thinking, no knowledge. Proper thinking may lead you suddenly into the conquest of that which heretofore was mysterious.
If man can think most excellently, then he clim{b}s in that excellence to the companionship of the most excellent. For as he climbs in his excellence to the most excellent he shall not be presuming, but he shall be taking to himself up to the most excellent that which in other units was not excellent, and like the dutiful servant who used his talents and used them well, he shall be possessed of the talent of that servant who hid his and was ultimately deprived of it for the benefit of that servant who used his because he could appreciate the gift, so man in his excellence lofts himself highest to God by his mental industry, and the man who has not mental industry forfeits that mentality to the useful servant who climbs in his excellence to the most excellent.
Brush away the cobwebs of your mind, and see the Universe as looking through a crystal, because beyond you all is bright and beautiful.
The darkness is in you. See the light—see the light. We want knowledge to lighten our darkness. Bring down the light and knowledge into your soul and flash it through your mind like the spark from the thunderbolt, and all creation will ignite in one glorious illumination, and you will pass through the mysteries of the Universe with the knowledge and eyes of a God.
If I could dream my life into eternity, and come back, with wisdom should not I have the surpassing knowledge of my fellows? Then why not seek it since it is there for many to seek out, and to possess himself of it.
It is when you can reach up to it that you approach God’s elevation. Not in rivalry of God, but as coming to God of whom you were always a part, but for the darkness of your own soul. Illumine the soul and God’s brilliancy will be revealed as it was revealed to Christ{, w}hen the halo surrounded his head and He was declared the begotten Son of God in whom God was well pleased.
What a world of unfurlment. What a Universe of expectation to which man in his sublimity may climb. Why not be the first soul outside of Christ to climb in that sublimity to the most excellent.
The Greek Philos{o}phers suggested to the Greek youth that he should know himself. Across the temple of Delphi was written these words - “Man know t{h}yself,” but I may add also “man know t{h}yself, and man know the Universe, and man know your God.” In searching after this knowledge you may stumble upon the truth, a revelation that may lead you up to the heights of glory to be known as the greatest soul that fathoms the depths and reaches the heights.
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Exonerate Marcus Garvey
To be delivered to President Barack Obama
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