1) Unity. God is all there is and manifests Itself throughout all creation, including within human beings. That is why the creative power in the universal is the same creative power in the individual. God immanent is God in creation. God transcendent is greater than creation. Spirit is conscious, and to be conscious, Spirit must be conscious of something. When It contemplates what It is conscious of, It is creative.

2) Involution and Evolution. The process of involution is the passing of Spirit into form. The process of evolution is the passing of form back into Spirit. This process is explained in detail in Bible Mystery and Bible Meaning. The original creative process of Spirit becoming form is the process of God involving Itself in creation, "Involution." The process of creation coming to the realization that it is Spirit in an ever-progressive way is the process of "Evolution," evolving back into the consciousness of Spirit. There seems to be some confusion in this area, because in the Science of Mind textbook Dr. Holmes uses the terms "involution" and "evolution" in a slightly different way. There, "involution" is the process of Spirit speaking Its Word into the Law and "evolution" is the Law, mechanically and impersonally creating form out of the Word. "The Spirit INVOLVES. The Law EVOLVES."

Troward’s idea of evolution is broader and includes the use of the Personal Factor. Put simply, in Troward's terms, Involution is Spirit knowing Itself as matter and Evolution is matter coming to know itself as Spirit.

3) The Personal Factor. Evolution proceeds generically and mechanically up to the point of the introduction of the Personal Factor. "Without the element of individual personality, Spirit can only work cosmically by a generic law. But this law admits a far higher specialization, and this specialization can only be attained through the introduction of the Personal Factor.’" The Personal Factor is the decision of the self-conscious individual to participate consciously in the evolutionary process. This begins when individuals discover or realize that they are intimately connected with the universal power of God. Through the Personal Factor, self-conscious individuals participate and further specialize the evolutionary process, which culminates when individuals consciously realize their Oneness with Spirit at all times.

4) The Reciprocal Relationship between Spirit and the Individual. As individuals open themselves to the Universal, the "Universal seems to pour itself into the individual," resulting in expanded individualization of consciousness. Individuals wish to express fully and completely as an individual. This desire pushes them into higher states of consciousness and ultimately they encounter the dimension of pure Spirit. The universal Spirit, through Its reciprocal action, wishes to express through the individual, and therefore meets the individual in universal mind. It is like a plant that is pushing itself up from below towards the sun and, at the same time, the sun is pulling the plant toward its universal rays.

This reciprocal action must begin with the individual opening to the possibility of a greater power. Individuals therefore, begin the process with an act of faith, inviting the Universal into their individualized minds and the Universal responds and pours forth Its energy into the consciousness of the individual according to the degree of acceptance and receptivity of the individual.

Troward uses the imperfect analogy of a great mirror with the word "Life" engraved on it, reflecting to a small mirror. As the smaller mirror reflects the word "Life," it also reflects it back to the larger mirror, and by this reciprocal action, there is generated an intensified energy of life, moving from the large mirror to the smaller mirror and intensifying into infinity. This is an imperfect analogy because it emphasizes reflection rather than emanation, but it captures in part the relationship of universal mind to individual mind.

5) Infinite Personalness. Infinite Personalness is really the Love of God that cannot be explained but can only be experienced. It is also called "The Presence." It has both intelligence and volition. We "touch -- the face of God" when we reach that "indescribable reciprocity of feeling by which we instinctively recognize something in another, making it kin to ourselves." This is the true meaning of worship. When the individual conscious mind comes into direct contact with universal mind, cosmic intelligence becomes individualized and individual intelligence becomes universalized. The two become one. "I am the person that thou art, and thou art the person that I am."

6) New Thought. New Thought is more than a philosophy that explains our true relationship to the divine. It is a new level of awareness, where everything we think is new, and where we continually create from Principle (our divine potential) and not from precedent (our experience). "Principle is not bound by precedent."

7) The Coming of the Divine Kingdom. Troward explains that the evolutionary process proceeds through the mineral kingdom, the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom, the human kingdom, and culminates in the Divine Kingdom. The coming of the Divine Kingdom is the kingdom of unconditional love on this planet. It occurs when the individual consciously has totally integrated individual mind with universal mind, i.e., there is no difference in essence. When enough individuals have achieved this state of consciousness, the Divine Kingdom manifests in a planetary way.

8) The Will of God. There is a universal will of God for growth and for good. But there is no Will of God for us as individuals. We must use the Personal Factor to put our individualized will into action. The will for the individual is the consciously and orderly announcement of purpose to the subconscious mind. The will focuses the energy of Spirit for a particular purpose. A modern theological term, that Troward does not use, but which explains this idea, is synergy. It means the combination of the grace of God and the will of the individual that produces regeneration. Troward is saying exactly the same thing in different language.

The grace of God is the gift of Spirit that has already been given. It is the universe waiting to particularize itself as us, but it will not do so unless we will it to be, by the use of the Personal Factor. God alone is only potential. The individual alone is limited. But together, unlimited potential becomes manifest reality. God needs humanity to express God. Humanity needs God to fully express humanity.