|
THE WAY OF THE PRACTICAL MYSTIC THE HAMBLIN SPIRITUAL COURSE READ A REVIEW OF THIS BOOK Henry Thomas Hamblin and the Power of Thought WHITE EAGLE is quite exceptional among spiritual teachers in the extent to which he stresses the power of thought whether positive thought (making good things happen by our attitude) or negative thought (which he says is truly what brings about 'bad' karma: thought, not deed). I can equally well remember how important it was to my aunt, Joan Hodgson, in the teaching she gave to students in the Lodge about health and healing. There is, of course, quite a tradition of teaching about the power of thought from teachers of a more material type, from Emil Coué through Norman Vincent Peale to the whole 'New Age' movement. Straddling the gap between these more secular writers and one like White Eagle is the powerful but immensely benign figure of Henry Thomas Hamblin (1873 - 1958). 'HTH' as he liked to be known, was deeply Christian in his thinking, but constantly uncomfortable with the clergy and with 'clerical' Christianity. He left the business world to found a spiritual retreat in Sussex, at Bosham. The Lodge has many links with the Trust that was set up to safeguard Hamblin's legacy. Clare Cameron, long-term editor of what was known as The Science of Thought Review was a regular worshipper at the Temple at Liss and her poems are still from time to time reprinted in this magazine. Many Lodge members also used to visit the Norfolk guesthouse run buy Derek Neville, another of Hamblin's followers, and another editor of the Hamblin magazine, when it changed its name to New Vision, was Lodge member Stephanie Sorrell; and one of the Hamblin Trustees is a White Eagle brother. And why should there be such a strong link? Precisely because HTH's mysticism, and in particular his teaching about the power of thought, so well confirms and amplifies what White Eagle says. A few months ago, under the title THE WAY OF THE PRACTICAL MYSTIC, there appeared a previously-unpublished Hamblin course in what HTH called 'Applied Right Thinking', the subject of this review. It is a twenty-six part course that was originally sent out in individual lessons, by post. This is in many ways HTH's magnum opus and he spent a great deal of time preparing it, and then totally rewriting it. Any reader who wishes to develop his or her capacity for constructive and creative thought will benefit from this volume. Hamblin is uncompromising in its attitude to short cuts on the spiritual path in the same way White Eagle is. He believes people have to make an effort, every minute of the day (in this respect there is almost a foretaste of the spirit teacher Emmanuel saying the only choice you ever have to make is between love and fear, but that the choice needs to be made with every single breath you take). Above all, HTH is deeply practical, something which shows in the very way the lessons are constructed. The one area where HTH seems slightly to differ from White Eagle is his reluctance to allow affirmations that seem to take humanity beyond its human limits and to own its innate divinity. By contrast, White Eagle positively urges us to do this: to affirm 'I am divine spirit', 'I am divine love', and so on. Ultimately, the difference is unimportant, for neither teacher wishes us to be arrogant but both seek to help us use our will and mind to move towards perfection. In the end, both teachers come together in a phrase from St Matthew; Wherefore if thine eye be single, all thy body shall be full of light. Highly recommended. Stella Polaris (White Eagle Lodge magazine), February 2005 |