r being ever able to hinder such a one, or make
him bungle or fumble in anything.

"Wherefore, since neither all things are produced fortuitously, or by
the unguided mechanism of matter, nor God himself may be reasonably
thought to do all things immediately and miraculously, it may well be
concluded that there is a Plastic Nature under him, which, as an
inferior and subordinate instrument, doth drudgingly execute that part
of his providence which consists in the regular and orderly motion of
matter; yet so as there is also besides this a higher providence to be
acknowledged, which, presiding over it, doth often supply the defects
of it, and sometimes overrules it, forasmuch as the Plastic Nature
cannot act electively nor with discretion."

The Yogi Philosophy teaches of the existence of a Universal Creative
Will, emanating from the Absolute--infilled with the power of the
Absolute and acting under established natural laws, which performs the
active work of creation in the world, similar to that performed by
"Cudsworth's Plastic Nature," just mentioned. This Creative Will is not
Schopenhauer's Will-to-Live. It is not a Thing-in-itself, but a vehicle
or instrument of the Absolute. It is an emanation of the mind of the
Absolute--a manifestation in action of its Will--a mental product
rather than a physical, and, of course, saturated with the life-energy
of its projector.

This Creative Will is not a mere blind, mechanical energy or force--it
is far more than this. We can explain it only by referring you to the
manifestation of the Will in yourself. You wish to move your arm, and
it moves. The immediate force may seem to be a mechanical force, but
what is back of that force--what is the essence of the force? The Will!
All manifestations of energy--all the causes of motion--all forces--are
forms of the action of the Will of the One--the Creative Will--acting
under natural laws established by the One, ever moving, acting,
forcing, urging, driving, leading. We do not mean that every little act
is a thought of the moment on the part of the Absolute, and a reaching
out of the Will in obedience to that thought. On the contrary, we mean
that the One set the Will into operation as a whole, conceiving of laws
and limitations in its action, the Will constantly operating in
obedience to that conception, the results manifesting in what we call
natural law; natural forces, etc. Besides this, the Absolute is
believed to manifest its W