I’m reading a book right now that vascilates between lucid moments of insight and complete obscurity.  The writing is full of 1900-isms, co-influenced by Thomas Troward’s early British education and later years as a judge for 25 years in India.

He’s challenging to understand (think Philosophy 500 level) so I’m grateful I’m taking a class along with it. We discuss the question marks scribbled in our margins. Mine usually say, “HUNH?”

The book is called The Creative Process in the the Individual and emanated out of a speaking engagement Troward was invited to give about his epistemology. The part I love the most is that he didn’t even really start diving into this creative work (in writing, anyway) until 57 when he retired from the bench.

What’s interesting to me beyond the book itself is the influence it has had on much of the modern day ideas and is even mentioned in such pop culture icons as “The Secret,” and indeed the whole “New Thought” movement. His influences are a melding of daily Biblical readings and membership in the Church of England from 1-18 years old mixed with Hindu and Buddhist influences from spending a quarter of a century in India.

New Thought, or how I understand it, is basically buying into the premise that what we think affects what happens. You know, back to the old “If you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” Thanks for that, Mr. Ford. It’s not hard to see that our thoughts create our realities. We bring into being (for better or worse) that which we focus on with our mental energy. He, the judge he was, talks much about laws–the laws of the universe–and how our thoughts filter through those laws to create realities we may not even be aware we are creating.

That’s where you come in. You and I, and each other being on the planet without exception, is here for a purpose so unique and beautiful that nobody else can touch it. Just as you have a unique fingerprint, you have a unique physical manifestation (life) that only you can imprint on the world. By using this to its fullest, you evolve all of humanity, and this is happening at a more rapid rate than ever right before our eyes.

Each of us has a creative space inside. We are meant to find it and share it with the world while we are here. Often others can see it better than you can yourself. We’re made like that. Your best measuring stick is to hold it up against your highest bliss and see if they match.