“There is first a desire and a will to do, followed by the turning of the mind and the centralizing of it upon the subject that we wish to consider. The question here arises as to what is meant when we say that we have turned the mind to the consideration of a subject. Does it not mean that we have turned the consciousness in a given direction; and is not the life within us that, which produces consciousness? What is this within the human organism that makes us conscious when there is no special interest, thought, or effort in any direction?
This consciousness that we are, seems to carry forward the beating of the heart, the circulating of the blood, the digesting of the food, and all the processes of life without any apparent effort or annoyance on our part. The child lives, grows, plays, and amuses itself, while this something that we call life is carrying on the work of building and developing the child into the man.
If, however, the slightest derangement occurs in the internal workings of the body, pain is the result, and the peace and joy in the consciousness of being is disturbed. As this consciousness controls the body in its work of self-building and self-maintenance, in the child as well as the man, may it not be called vital thought?
In the consideration of intuition, in the preceding chapter, we referred to the law in accordance with which we were brought into being, in accordance with which the life is gathered from God, the Creative Source, ensphered and bound for the uses of the organism. Now this life has within itself all qualities. There is the life that organizes and forms the bird, the cat-life that forms the cat, the horse-life that forms the horse—each one of the different qualities of life forms an organism suitable for the expression of its own kind or quality.
Even if we do not admit that God is the Creator of all things, we must admit that there is a fountain from which all creative life springs and multiplies its kind. We know also that the study of living creatures shows that some live, grow, and are normal and happy under conditions which would be destructive to others, again showing the great variety in the quality of life. And whether these various forms of animate existence think or not, they certainly act in many respects as man acts when he thinks, so that we cannot avoid the suggestion that the kind or quality of life is the kind of thought, desire, and consequently, action.
When we turn our attention to the human family, we recognize there also a great diversity of thought, desire, sympathy, and feature. No two men look alike, nor do they think alike. It is a fact well understood in our courts that two or three men viewing the same scene, see it so differently that a disinterested person listening to their testimony, cannot but feel, that someone is perjuring himself.”
Hiram Butler
The Mark Of God: Understanding Your "I AM Presence" 