Part One - Analysis Of Contents
Contents
INTRODUCTION.
THE hand of eternal progress is brushing the cobwebs from the corridors of time
and is again revealing to the human race the mysteries of being. As there is "nothing
new under the sun," the searchlight of Truth is bringing to light only what has
been known to the few in all generations. The time has now come when the few must
become the many. The whole world, from the least to the greatest, must know the
Truth, so that man may understand the great laws that govern his life. He must learn
to control his own destiny, to heal his own body and bring happiness to his own
soul. Ignorance must vanish and understanding must be ushered in. Man is no longer
to be governed by anything outside himself. Creeds, doctrines, churches, institutions,
organizations, governments are all being changed to give place to the realization
of the individual. There is a power in and through all that is working this great
transformation. All that will not measure up to the standard must fall by its own
weight; all that is in line with the Truth must still prosper. The time is at hand;
we are in the greatest age of all history; we are in the age of the unifying of
all people and all things into the "Ever Present One." "The temple not made with
hands" is now being silently builded by the emancipated souls of this planet.
This little book is an attempt to explain what each soul must discover for himself,
that he stands in the midst of an eternal creative power which presses itself around
his own thought, and casts back to him glorified all that he thinks. If it awakens
within the consciousness of one single individual the realization that the mind
of the Universe (which is the only mind that there is) is his own mind; that the
creative power of this mind is his also; that the manifestation of this mind is
his own individuality; that the love and power and peace of this mind is within
himself, it will not be written in vain. May it then do much in simplifying and
bringing to light some of the deeper mysteries and meanings of life.
ERNEST SHURTLEFF HOLMES,
October 1, 1918.
IN THE BEGINNING.
"IN the beginning, God!" Clear and expressive are these words. In the beginning,
God only. No manifest universe! No system of planets! Nothing of form or life, of
brute or man! God was the Spirit of All that was to be, but He had not yet moved
upon the waters. Then this All-Being moved, or began to create. Where did Spirit
move, upon what did It move to create; where did It get a pattern; what means or
power did It employ; through what agencies did It work? In short, what is the world,
ourselves included, made out of, and how did we and all else come into being? These
questions correctly answered would solve the problem of being and set men free.
Let us consider.
The Spirit was all; there was nothing else but Itself. All-Inclusive, Everywhere,
Infinite. This All-Spirit could not have had the impulse to move unless It were
self-conscious, therefore the Spirit is the Power that knows Itself; It is accordingly
All-Knowing as well as All-Present. Being one, undivided, whatever It knows, It
knows all over instantly. We find then that the Spirit operates through self knowing.
It moves, and that inner movement must be one of Infinite Power, moving upon Itself--since
It is all--and with a definite purpose. The Spirit, then, moves upon Itself, and
makes out of Itself all that is made. In other words, what we see comes from what
we do not see, through some inner intelligence at work, which knows there is no
power but Itself. "The things that are seen are not made of the things that do appear."
The only possible operation of intelligence is thought, or "The Word." So all things
were made by the Word, and "Without the Word was not anything made that hath been
made." How simple the process of creation when we understand it. The Spirit speaks--and
since there is nothing but the Spirit and it is All-Power, it has only to speak
and it is done; "The Word was with God and the Word was God."
From the Word, then, comes forth all that appears. Each life, human or divine,
each manifestation is a different kind of word coming into expression. The great
fact to dwell upon is that Spirit needs nothing to help It; It is self-conscious
and has all power and all ability to do whatever It wishes to accomplish. It operates
simply by speaking.
It is hard to get a clear concept of this great Ceaseless Cause, this something
from which all things come; at times we get into a maze of confusion when we attempt
to realize what the Spirit means. It is then that we should think of It as the great
reason behind everything. Being all-knowledge It must know Itself, and must know
everything It creates; so It knows us and It knows everyone. Since It is All-Presence
we can contact anywhere and will never have to go to some particular spot to find
It. As It is All-Knowing and operates through the power of the Word, It know everything
we think. Just how It creates we cannot know and need not attempt to understand,
for whatever this process of creation is, we find it is always an inner thought
process. We should keep this in mind--the Spirit makes all things out of Itself.
Everything comes into being without effort, and when we exert ourselves we are not
in accord with the Creative Spirit in the way in which It works. The impulse of
the Spirit to move must be caused by a desire to express what It feels Itself to
be--Beauty, Form, Color, Life, Love and Power. All things else we find in the manifest
universe are attributes of the Spirit, and are caused to spring into being through
the Word, because the Spirit wants to enjoy Itself.
We find, then, that the Word, which is the inner activity of thought, comes first
in the creative series, and all else comes from the effect of the Word operating
upon a universal substance. If the Word precedes all else, then the Word is what
we are looking for, and when we get it we shall have what the world has sought from
time immemorial. We must, if we wish to prove the power of the Spirit in our lives,
look not to outside things or effects, but to the Word alone. The human eye sees
and the human hand touches only that which is an effect. Unseen law controls everything;
but this Law also is an effect; Law did not make itself; the Law is not intelligence
or causation. Before there can be a Law there must be something that acts, and the
Law is the way it acts; it is intelligence. "In the beginning was the Word." This
Word or the activity of the Spirit, is the cause of the law, and the law in its
place is the cause of the thing, and the thing is always an effect; that is, it
did not make itself; it is a result. The Word always comes first in the creative
series; "The Word was with God and the Word was God" and the Word still is God.
When we realize that man is like God (and he could not be otherwise, being made
out of God), we will realize that his word also has power. If there is but One Mind
then it follows that our word, our thought is the activity of that One Mind in our
consciousness; the power that holds the planets in their place is the same power
that flows through man. We must place the Word where it belongs, whether it is the
word of God in the Universe or the word of man in the individual; it is always first,
before all else, in the beginning. The real sequence is this: Cause, Spirit, Intelligence,
God; the Word, the activity of Intelligence; the effect, or the visible thing, whether
it is a planet or a peanut. All are made out of the same thing.
What we need to do is to learn how to use the word so that all will come to see
that they are creative centers within themselves.
A PRINCIPLE THAT CAN BE PROVEN.
KNOWING that Mind is, we have a principle that is absolute; it is exact; it is
going to correspond to our thinking about it. The first great necessity is to believe
this; without belief we can do nothing. This is the reason Jesus said "It is done
unto you even as you have believed." Always it is done unto people as they believe,
and there is Something that does it which never fails.
We must believe that our word is formed upon and around by this creative Mind;
for instance, we wish to create activity in our business; we believe that our word
is law about that thing, and there is something that takes our thought and executes
it for us. If we have accepted the fact that all is mind and that the thought is
the thing, we shall see at once that our word is the power behind the thing, and
that it depends upon the word or thought that we are sending out. (See Creative
Mind and Success by the author.)
So plastic is mind, so receptive, that the slightest thought makes an impression
upon it. People who think many kinds of thought must expect to receive a confused
manifestation in their lives. If a gardener plants a thousand kinds of seeds, he
will get a thousand kinds of plants; it is the same in mind.
THE WORD GOING FORTH.
SINCE this is true, everything depends upon our mental concepts. "As a man thinketh
in his heart, so is he''; the Bible reiterates this statement telling us many times
of the creative power of thought; Jesus taught nothing else; He said "the words
which I speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are life."
The Centurion coming to Jesus recognized the power of the word spoken by the
latter. He said, "I also am one in authority"; but his authority was on the physical
plane, and he saw that Jesus had authority on a Spiritual plane, for he said, "Speak
the word only."
The Bible also tells us that the word is not afar off but in our own mouth. It
is neither here nor there; it is within every living soul. We must take the responsibility
for our own lives. All must awake to the facts that they have absolute control over
their lives, and that nothing can happen by chance. Then they will have a broader
concept of God, a greater tolerance for their neighbor, and a greater realization
of their own divine nature. What a relief from strenuous labor; no more struggle
or strife. "Be still and know that I am God, and beside me there is none other."
The Spirit being all there is, we cannot conceive of anything that can hinder its
working. When the Spirit has spoken, the Word becomes Law, for before the Law is
the Word; It precedes all else. First is Absolute Intelligence, All-Power, All-Presence,
All-Causation; then the movement upon itself through the power of the Word; then
the Word becoming Law; the Law producing the thing and holding it in place.
So long as the Word exists the thing will exist, for since the Word is All-Power
there is nothing beside It. "I Am that I Am, and beside me there is none other."
This "I Am" is Spirit, God, All. There is no physical explanation for anything in
the universe; all causation is Spirit and all effect spiritual. We are not living
in a physical world but in a spiritual world peopled with spiritual ideas. We are
now living in Spirit.
God, or Spirit, governs the universe through great mental laws that work out
the divine will and purpose, always operating from Intelligence. This Intelligence
is so vast, and the power so great that our human minds cannot even grasp it; all
that we can hope to do is to learn something of the way in which it works, and by
harmonizing ourselves with it, to so align ourselves with Spirit that our lives
may be controlled by the great harmony that obtains in all the higher laws of nature,
but has been very imperfectly manifested in man. This brings us to the second point
of consideration.
WHY, AND WHAT IS MAN?
WE find in the physical universe that automatic laws govern everything; for instance,
the tree cannot say "I will not," because of the law that holds it in place; it
grows without any volition of its own. So it is with all nature; but when we come
to man we find a different manifestation of the Spirit, a being who can say "I choose."
In all creation, man alone is an individual; man alone is free; and yet man alone
wants, is sick, suffers, and is unhappy. "Man marks the earth with ruin"; why? because
he has not found his true nature. The very thing that should free him, and eventually
will do so, now limits him. God could not make an individual without making him
able to think, and he cannot think without bringing upon himself the results of
his thought, good or bad. This does not mean using two powers, but using the One
from two standpoints. Nothing in itself is either good or bad; all things exist
in mind as a potentiality; mind is eternally acting upon thought, continually producing
its own images from mind, and casting them out into manifestation. Man must be the
outcome- of the desire of the Spirit to make something which expresses the same
life that It feels. Man is made to be a companion of the Infinite; but to arrive
at this exalted plane of being, he must have his freedom, and be let alone to discover
his own nature; to return love to his Creator only when he chooses to do so. At
the doorway, then, of man's mind this wonderful God has to wait. "Behold, I stand
at the door and knock"; the opening must be on the part of the individual.
Man lives in a mind that presses in upon him from all sides with infinite possibilities,
with infinite creative power. The divine urge of infinite love crowds itself upon
him, and awaits his recognition. Being the image of this Power, his thought also
must be the Word or cause it the life. At the center of his being is all the power
that he will need on the path of his unfoldment; all the mind that man has is as
much of this Infinite Mind as he allows to flow through him. We have often thought
of God as far off, and of man as a being separate from the All Good; now we are
coming to see that God and man are one, and that that One is simply awaiting man's
recognition, that he may spring into being and become to man all that he could wish
or want. "As the father has inherent life in himself, so hath he given to the Son
to have life within himself." It could not be otherwise; we are all in Mind and
Mind is always creating for us as we think; and as we are thinking creatures, always
thinking, our happiness depends upon our thought. Let us consider the law of our
life.
THE LAW OF OUR LIVES.
SPIRIT creates through law. The law is always mind in action. Mind cannot act
unless intelligence sets it in motion. In the great universal mind man is a center
of intelligence, and every time he 'thinks he sets mind into action. 'What is the
activity of this mind in relation to man's thought? It has to be one of mental correspondence;
that is, mind has to reflect whatever thought it casts into it. Wonderful as Universal
Mind is, it has no choice but to create whatever thought is given it; if it could
contradict that thought, it would not be a unit, since this would be recognizing
something outside itself. This is a point in Truth which should not be overlooked.
The ONE MIND knows only its own ability to make whatever is given It; It sees no
other power and never analyzes or dissects; It simply KNOWS, and the reason why
people do not understand this is that they have not realized what mind is. The ordinary
individual thinks of mind only from the limitation of his own environment. The concept
he has of mind is the concept of his own thinking, which is very limited.
We are surrounded by an All Seeing, All Knowing Mind, which is One and runs through
all. The belief in the dual mind has destroyed practically all philosophies and
religions of the ages, and will continue to do so until the world comes to see that
there is but One. Whatever name is given it there is but One. It is this One that
creates for us, whatever we believe. Our thought operative through this One produces
all our affairs. We are all centers in this Mind, centers of creative thought activity.
There is nothing which appears in the manifest Universe other than an objectified
thought, whether it be a bump on your head, a growth on your foot or a planet. It
could not be there were it not made out of Mind, for mind is all there is to make
anything out of. Whatever is made is made out of it. Nothing exists or can exist
without a source from which it springs.
We are not dealing with a negative as well as a positive Power--not two powers
but one; a power that sees neither good nor evil, as we see it. It knows only that
it is all, and since it is all, it creates whatever is given it. From our limited
standpoint we often think of good, and evil; not realizing that, as yet, we do not
know the one from the other. What we call good to-day, we may call evil to-morrow,
and what we think to be evil to-day, we may to-morrow proclaim as the greatest good
we have known. Not so with the great Universal Power of Mind; It sees only Itself,
and Its infinite ability to create.
To the thinking person this will mean much; he will see that he is no longer
living in a limited universe, a world of powers, but that he is immersed in an Infinite
Creative Medium which, because of Its Nature, has to create for him whatever he
believes. Jesus understood this, and in a few simple words, laid down the law of
life: "It is done unto all people as they believe." This is a great thing to keep
in mind. It is done unto us; we do not have to do it, for it is done unto us of
a power that knows itself to be all there is. Could we even believe that some material
mountain would be moved, the power is there to do it. Without this belief there
is no real impulse for the Creative Mind, and we do not get an affirmative answer.
We must realize more clearly that this Great Power has to operate through us.
MAN'S PART.
CREATIVE MIND cannot force itself upon us because we have the power of self-choice.
It recognizes us when we recognize it. When we think that we are limited or have
not been heard, it must take that thought and bring it into manifestation for us.
When we look about us and see nature so beautiful, lavish and so limitless, when
we realize that something, some power, is behind all, and sees to it that plenty
obtains everywhere, so that in all things manifest there is more than could be used;
and when on the other hand we see man so limited, sick, sad and needy, we are disposed
to ask this question: "Is God good after all? Does He really care for the people
of His creation? Why am I sick? Why am I poor?" Little do we realize that the answer
is in our own mouths, in the creative power of our own thought. The average person
when told the Truth will still seek some other way.
God has already done for us--in a mechanical way--all that He can do; and having
been given the ability, we will have to do for ourselves the rest. Yet the Great
Power is always near, ready at any time to help, but we must use it according to
its own nature in harmony with its laws. Man should learn that he himself is the
center of this Divine activity. Realizing this, he must seek more and more to utilize
his own Divine nature, and by so doing he will come more fully under the protection
of the great laws that govern all life, manifest and unmanifest. Whatever man is,
he must find that because he is made out of God, he must be of the same nature.
This Infinite One cannot know anything outside of itself; anything that would be
a contradiction of its Divine nature; man's ignorance of his real nature binds him
with his own freedom, until he comes to see things as they really are, and not as
they appear to be.
In the Infinity of mind, which is the principle of all metaphysics and of all
life, there is nothing but mind, and that which mind does. That is all there is
in the Universe. That is all there ever was or ever will be. This mind is acted
upon by our thought, and so our thought becomes the law of our lives. It is just
as much a law in our individual lives as God's thought is in the larger life of
the Universe.
For the sake of clearness, think of yourself as in this Mind, think of yourself
as a center in it. That is your principle. You think, and Mind produces the thing.
One of the big points to remember is that we do not have to create; all that we
have to do is to think. Mind, the only Mind that there is, creates.
Few people seem to understand the nature of the law and so think that they have
got to do something, even if it is only holding a thought; thinking or knowing is
what does the thing. It will make it much easier for us when we realize that we
do not have to make anything, just to know; that there is something back of the
knowing which does the work for us.
That person gets the best results who realizes that he can use this divine principle;
he who can get the clearest concept of his idea, and who can rely on mind to do
for him, keeping everything out of his thought that would contradict the supremacy
of Spirit or Mind.
By simply holding a thought we could not make anything but by knowing in mind
what cannot we do?
BONDAGE AND FREEDOM.
NEVER get away from the fact that you are surrounded by such a power; it is the
principle of demonstration. It knows every thought. As we send forth our thought
into it, it does unto us. The person who is ignorant of this law must by that ignorance
be bound by his thought, by his human beliefs. One who understands will begin to
break these ties that bind him; one by one he will destroy every negative thought
until at last he is able to think what he wants to think; and so he frees himself
by the use of the same power that at one time bound him. We must destroy all thought
that we would not see manifest and hold to that which we would see, until we receive
the affirmative answer.
Never struggle, Mind makes things out of Itself, there is no effort made. Don't
think that there is so much to be overcome. Have only a calm sense of perfect peace
as you realize that God is all, and that you are using the perfect law and that
nothing can hinder it from working for you. Many people are learning to do this,
and no one has yet failed to demonstrate who has been steadfast, using the law in
a consistent and persistent trust.
All that we have to do is to provide the right mental and spiritual attitude
of mind and then believe that we already have, and the reward will be with us. We
shall see it.
The time will come when we will not have to demonstrate at all because we will
be always living so near to the law that it will do all for us without much conscious
thought on our part.
So when you say, "I am poor, sick or weak; I am not one with the Creative Mind,"
you are using that creative power to keep yourself away from the Infinite; and just
as soon as you declare that you are one with God, there is a rushing out to meet
you, as the Father rushed out to meet the prodigal son. "The Spirit seeketh," but
as long as your mind thinks in the terms of conditions you cannot overcome. The
difficulty comes from our inability to see our own Divine nature, and its relation
to the Universe. Until we awake to the fact that we are one in nature with God,
we will not find the way of life; until we realize that our own word has the power
of life we will not see the way of life; and this brings us to the consideration
of the use of the Word in our lives.
THE WORD.
"THE Word was with God and the Word was God." "The Word is nigh thee, even in
thy own mouth that thou shouldst know it and do it." What does this mean? It clearly
states that whatever power there is in the Word (and it says it is All Power) is
also in our own mouths. There is no avoiding the fact that the Bible claims for
man the same power in his own life and his own world that it claims for God. In
the lives of the majority, men do not realize that the Word is in their own mouths.
What Word? Little do we realize that this Word which they are so earnestly seeking
is every word they hear, think or speak. Do we who are endeavoring to realize the
greater truths of life always govern our words? If any word has power, it follows
that all words have power. It is not in the few moments of spiritual meditation
that we demonstrate, but we bring out the possibilities of the hidden word when
we are allowing our thoughts to run in any direction; not in the short time spent
in silence, but in the long hours stretching themselves into days, months, and years,
are we always using the word. An hour a day spent in silent meditation will not
save us from the confusion of life; the fifty-one per cent. of a man's thinking
is what counts. It is easy when we are alone to brave the storms of life; surrounded
by our own exalted atmosphere we feel the strength of the Infinite; we rise in Spirit,
we think we are experiencing the ultimate of truth, that all things are ours. These
moments in a busy life are well spent, but must unavoidably be brief. But what of
the rest of the day; what of the busy street, of the market place, and of all the
daily contact with life? Do we then obtain? Do we keep on in the same even way?
Or do we fall before the outer confusion of our surroundings? We are still creating
the word and setting it afloat in the great ethers of life. Are these words creating
for us? Yes!
How necessary, then, to "keep the independence of the solitude"; how seldom we
do this!
"God sent an angel to speak to me--
A word He was fain I hear;
And the angel brought the message
And whispered it in my ear.
"God knew I needed the word He sent--
I had lost the zest of fight;
And the right was all but beaten;
The wrong it was all but right. p. 16
"Simple the word that He sent me--
But it soothed a spirit raw
With the pain of too much striving--
’Twas 'Love fulfills the law.'"
Few people indeed in the day in which we live are well poised. Where do we find
the man who can live above his surroundings, who in his own thought can dominate
all conditions, and in the midst of the crowd keep his own even way, and his own
counsel? When we do meet with such a person we will know him; for we shall find
on his face the image of perfect peace.
We shall detect in his bearing the ease and independence that comes only to the
man who has found himself and who is centered not in the outer but in the inner
world.
Such a character as this has the power to attract to himself all of the best
in the world; he is a center toward which all else must gravitate. The atmosphere
which he creates and with which he surrounds himself is one of absolute calm and
peace. The world at once sees in this man a master, and gladly sits at his feet.
And yet this man who has risen above the thought of the world cares not that other
people should sit at his feet. He knows that what he has done all may do, and he
well knows that all the teaching in the world will not produce another such as he.
He knows that it is not from the teaching but from the being that true greatness
springs. So this man does not go around teaching or preaching; he simply IS.
THE MAN WHO HAS ARRIVED.
THE man who has arrived will realize that he has done so in the midst of an outer
confusion; he will be the one who has gone into the silence for strength, and has
come out into the world equipped with power from on high; but that light which he
has received must be kept burning.
Not alone in the silence but in the busy throng must all of us find the way of
life. Our every thought creates. For the majority of us these thoughts come in every-day
affairs, some of which are very trivial, but these too will be demonstrated.
We have missed the whole point, unless we have learned so to control our thought
that time and place make no difference.
THE POWER WE HAVE WITHIN US.
WE have within us a power that is greater than anything that we shall ever contact
in the outer, a power that can overcome every obstacle in our life and set us safe,
satisfied and at peace, healed and prosperous, in a new light, and in a new life.
Mind, all Mind is right here. It is God's Mind, God's creative Power, God's creative
Life. We have as much of this Power to use in our daily life as we can believe in
and embody.
The store house of nature is filled with infinite good awaiting the touch of
our awakened thought to spring forth into manifestation in our life; but the awakening
must be on our part and not on the side of life. We static! at the gateway of limitless
opportunity in the eternal and change-less NOW. Now is the day in which to begin
the new life that is to lift us up to the greater expression of all that is wonderful.
The word that we speak is the Law of our life and nothing hinders but ourselves.
We have through ignorance of our real nature misused the power of our word, and
behold what it has brought upon us, "the very thing that we feared." But now it
shall produce a new thing, a new heaven and a new earth.
INDIVIDUAL IDEAS.
WE find that in the Universe every separate idea has a word, a mental concept
behind it, and as long as that word remains the thing is held in place in the visible
world; when the concept is withdrawn the idea in the visible melts away, disappears;
it ceases to vibrate to the word, which is the law behind it, for when the word
is withdrawn the condensation of the ether that forms the word melts again into
the formless. There was a time when the world was without form, and from the word
alone all things were made that are made. When our word says that there is no longer
life in our bodies, the life principle withdraws and our bodies return to the substance
from which they came. Here is the great mystery of life, that we are able to use
this creative word for whatever purpose we may desire, and that word becomes the
Law unto the thing for which it was spoken.
And so in our lives we might say that without our word was not anything made
that was made. For we are given the power to sit in the midst of our lives and direct
all their activities. There is no struggle and no strife necessary. All that we
have to do is to know. We must awake and with the glorified consciousness of an
emancipated soul use our God-given power.
THE REASON FOR THE UNIVERSE.
THIS Universe is the reason, first of an Infinite Intelligence which speaks or
thinks, and as this thought becomes active within itself, it creates from itself,
at the power of its own word, the visible Universe. We are living in a Universal
activity of mental law, we are surrounded by a Mind which receives every impression
of our thought and returns to us just what we think. Every man, then, is living
in a world made for him from the activity of his thought.
It is a self-evident proposition that Mind must create out of Itself; and this
Self being Limitless, it follows that its creative power is without limit.
MIND IN ACTION.
EVERYTHING that we see is the result of mind in action. We all have a body and
we have what is called a physical environment; we could have neither if it were
not for mind. The law implanted within us is, that we need nothing except ourselves
and this All-Wise Creative Mind to make anything; and that just so far as we depend
upon any condition, past, present or future, or upon any individual, we are creating
chaos, because we are dealing with conditions and not with causes. Every living
soul is a law unto himself, but of this great truth few people are conscious. It
seems difficult for the race, which feels itself to be so limited, to comprehend
the fact that there is a power that makes things directly out of itself, by simply
becoming the thing that it makes, and that it does this by self knowing. But we
will not demonstrate until we see at least some of this, the greatest truth about
life.
We should realize that we are dealing with the principle that is scientifically
correct. It will never fail us at any time but is eternally present. We can approach
the Infinite Mind with a depth of thought and understanding, knowing that it will
respond, knowing that we are dealing with reality.
Jesus, who saw this very dearly, laid down the whole law of life in a few simple
words: "It is done unto you as you believe." We do not have to do it, it is done
unto us, it is done by a power that is all. Could we believe that a material mountain
would be moved, it would be done unto us. But unless we do believe there is no impulse
for the creative power and we do not receive. Life externalizes at the level of
our thought.
ACTION AND REACTION.
THERE is something that casts back at us every thought that we think. "Vengeance
is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord," is a statement of eternal truth and correspondences
against which nothing can stand, and whatever man sets in motion in mind will be
returned to him, even as he has conceived within himself and brought forth into
manifestation. If we wish to transcend old thoughts we must rise above them and
think higher things: We are dealing with the law of cause and effect and it is absolute;
it receives the slightest as well as the greatest thought and at once begins to
act upon it. And sometimes even when we know this we are surprised at the rapidity
with which it works. If we have been misusing this law we need not fail; all that
we have to do is to turn from the old way and begin in the new. We will soon work
up out of the old law into the new which is being established for us. When we desire
only the good the evil slips from us and returns no more.
ARRIVING AT A HIGH CONSCIOUSNESS.
THE best way to arrive at the highest consciousness is to have a great faith
in the willingness and the ability of Life to do all for us, by working through
us. We must believe in the inherent goodness and all-powerfulness of the Spirit
of Truth. And so every path leads us back to the one point and we must learn to
realize the near presence, the great reality. There, through the door of our own
thought, we enter into the Universal Consciousness, into a complete realization
of life and truth, of love and beauty; and as we sit in the silence of our own souls
and listen, it will be the greatest thing that we will ever do. In that completeness
we are lost and yet we are found. This is what is meant that a man must lose his
life in order to find it. We are lost to the human and found in the divine. We realize
that we are One with Cause.
OUTER SUGGESTIONS.
NEARLY all people are controlled by outer suggestions, and not by inner realizations.
Ordinarily man thinks only what he sees others do, and hears others say. We must
all learn so to control the inner life that outside things do not make an impression
upon our mentalities. As we are thinking beings, and cannot help thinking, we cannot
avoid making things happen to us, and what we need to do is so to control our thought
processes that our thinking will not depart from the realization of that which is
perfect.
Man is governed by a mind which casts back to him every thought he thinks; he
cannot escape from this and need not try; it would be useless. The laws of mind
are simple and easy to understand. The trouble with us has been that we have laid
down great obstructions, and then have tried to overcome them. Stop trying, stop
struggling, begin to be calm, to trust in the higher laws of life, even though you
do not see them; they are still there.
Did you ever see the law that causes a plant to grow? Of course you did not,
and yet you believe in this hidden law of growth. Why do you believe? Simply because
every year, out of the seed time comes a harvest. Shall we not have as great faith
in the higher laws of being? To those souls who have dared to believe has come as
definite an answer as came to those who believed in receiving a harvest from the
planted seed. This law is, and if we would see results we must use it; that is,
we must provide the mental receptivity that will prepare us to accept the gift when
the Spirit makes it. This receiving is a mental process, a process in which we lose
all sense of limitation.
If you wish to demonstrate prosperity, begin to think and talk about it, and
to see it everywhere. Do nothing that contradicts this thought either mentally or
physically. The world is full of good; take it and forget all else. Rise above depression
and be glad that you are saved from adversity; the human mind needs to be cleansed
from the morbid thoughts that bind through its false beliefs.
No living soul can demonstrate two things at the same time, if one contradicts
the other. There is no way except to let go of all that you do not wish to come
into your experience, and, in mind, take all that you do wish.
SEE, HEAR, TALK ABOUT, AND READ ONLY WHAT YOU WISH, AND NEVER AGAIN LET A NEGATIVE
THOUGHT COME INTO YOUR MIND.
God knows good only, and when we are in line with good He knows us; when we are
out of harmony with good, we say, "God has forgotten us." On the one hand we have
an Infinite Intelligence which has brought us up to where we are to-day; and having
done all that it can for us now lets us alone to discover our own nature. On the
other hand we have the Infinite Law--which is an activity of God--and we can use
it for what we will, only with this provision, that, in so far as we use it for
the good of all, are we protected.
The law obtains through all nature that as a man sows, so must he reap. Now the
Father has brought us to where we can understand life, and we must go as we choose.
If we are in harmony with the great forward movement of the Spirit, there is nothing
that can hinder our advancement; if we oppose it, somewhere along our pathway it
will crush us. As with individuals so with nations; in so far as they work with
a right spirit they prosper; when they begin to fail in the use of this law they
begin to fall. He who understands will take the position of one who wishes to work
in union with the Power of Good; and to such an one will come all the power that
he can conceive of and believe in; his word becomes in expression as the very word
of God, and he must realize it to be all powerful. So the one who is truly united
with Good will wish to express only the truth for all; and in doing so he is working
along the lines of the unfoldment of the Spirit, and though he may seem to fail,
from the ordinary standpoint, yet his success is assured; for he is at one with
the only ultimate power before which, in time, all else must fall.
THE USE OF THE GREATER CONSCIOUSNESS.
IN practice the emancipated soul must always realize that he is in union with
the Father; what the Father does, he can do in his own life; what God is, he can
become. His word must be spoken with absolute authority; he must know; there should
be no uncertainty. The word is the only power; everything must come from it, and
nothing can stand against it; it is the great weapon which he is to use against
all evil and for all good. It is his shield against all adversity and his sure defense
against all seeming limitation.
The secret place of the Most High is in his own soul, where God dwells in eternal
peace and infinite calm. Here he walks the waters of life undisturbed by the waves
and the storm. Divine companionship is his for all eternity. Peace which transcends
all human confusion comes, and he realizes that indeed he is honored of the Father.
His word is flung out and will work and none can hinder it; the sense of sureness
is complete. Heaven and earth may pass away, but the word goes on and on accomplishing
that thing for which it was sent; and all power is given to it on earth and in heaven.
If he speaks to the sick and they receive, it will heal them. If he says the word
of prosperity it will manifest, and nothing can hinder it; the world will abound
with good, and his cup run over with life.
What more can we ask! What greater realization of life than to know that God
is with us! From this great realization comes peace, a peace which the world little
understands, and a calm which is as deep as the infinite sea of love in which he
realizes himself to be immersed. Peace brings poise, and the union of these two
gives birth to Power. No person can hope to arrive while he believes in two powers;
only as we rise to the realization of the One in and through all can we attain.
When we speak the word there must be no confusion but only that calm reliance which
knows that "Beside me there is none other." Realize that Spirit is All Causation,
and that all things are made out of it, by the operation of the word through it,
and that you can speak the word that is one with the Spirit and there will be no
more confusion. "As the Father has inherent life in himself, so has he given to
the Son to have inherent life within himself." "Speak the word only and it shall
be done." "The word is in your own mouth that ye should know it and do it." "Stranger
on earth, thy home is heaven; Pilgrim, thou art the guest of God."
THE GREATER CONSCIOUSNESS.
MAN is surrounded by a great universal thought power which returns to him always
just as he thinks. So plastic, so receptive is this mind, that it takes the slightest
impression and moulds it into conditions. There are two things in man which his
thought affects, his body and his environment. At all times he is given absolute
control over these two things, and from the effect of his thought upon them he cannot
hope to escape.
At first, being ignorant of this fact, he binds himself by a misuse of the laws
of his being; but as he begins to see that he himself is responsible for all that
comes to him on the path of life, he begins to control his thought, which in its
turn acts on the universal substance to create for him a new world.
The great soul is learning more and more to dare to fling out into mind a divine
idea of himself, and to see himself perfect and whole.
If he has a divine thought he will get a divine thing, if he has a human thought
he will get a human thing; he will receive whatever his innermost thought embodies.
And so we find in the Bible twice repeated these words: "To the pure Thou wilt show
Thyself pure and to the froward Thou wilt show Thyself froward." It is done unto
all as they believe.
We often wonder why it is that we are not making better demonstrations. We look
about and observe that some are getting wonderful results, they are speaking the
word and people are being healed. We see others struggling along with the word,
and nothing seems to happen; and when we inquire into the reason for all this we
find it to be very plain indeed. All is mind and we are mental, we are in mind and
can only get from it what we first think into it. We must not only think but we
must know. We have to provide within ourselves a mental and spiritual likeness for
the thing desired. The reason why so few succeed, then, must be because they have
not mentally really believed to the exclusion of all that would deny the thing which
they believe in. And the reason why others do succeed must also be because they
have absolutely believed and allowed real power to flow through and out into expression.
They must have a real concept of life. Hold an object in front of a mirror and it
will image in the mirror the exact size of the object. Hold a thought in mind and
it will image in matter the exact likeness of the thought. Let us take this image
which we hold before a mirror and change it ever so slightly and there will be a
corresponding change in the reflection. It is just the same in the mental world;
whatever is imaged is brought forth from mind into manifestation.
We must not deny that which we affirm. We must reason only from that cause which
is spiritual and mental and weed out all thought that would deny its power in our
lives. There seems to be something in the race thought that says man is poor; man
is limited; that there is a lack of opportunity; that times are hard; that prices
are high; that nobody wants what I have to offer. No person succeeds who speaks
these ideas. When we express ourselves in this way we arc using a destructive power.
All such thoughts must go, and we must all realize that we are an active center
in the only power there is.
We must get the perfect vision, the perfect conception; we must enlarge our thought
until it realizes all good, and then we must swing right out and use this Almighty
Power for definite purposes. We should daily feel a deeper union with Life, a greater
sense of that indwelling God, the God of the everywhere, within us. When we speak
into this Mind we have sown the seed of thought in the Absolute and may rest in
peace. We do not have to make haste, because it is done unto all as they believe.
"In that day that they shall call upon me I will answer."
People will often ask, "What is the best method for demonstration?" There is
but one answer to that question; the Word is the only possible method of demonstrating
anything; the word really felt and embodied in our thought. Then the word becomes
flesh and dwells among us and we behold and experience it. We will ask for no other
way when we understand this.
The person who does not understand these laws will be likely to say that this
is presumptuous; that it is even sacrilegious; but this comes only from a lack of
understanding of the fact that all is governed by law, and that all law is impersonal
and universal. We have just as much right to use spiritual law as to use so-called
physical laws. Strictly speaking there is no such a thing as a physical law, as
all things are spiritual and all law is a law of the activity of the Spirit. The
greatest use of these laws will always come to that soul who is the most deeply
spiritual, as such an one comes the nearest to using law as God uses it. So to the
really great soul there must come a very close relationship with the Invisible God;
this relationship cannot be expressed in words but only in inner feeling which transcends
the power of words to express. God must become the great reality, not simply as
the principle of life, but more as the great Mind which knows, and which at all
times understands and responds. To say that God does not understand our desires
would be to rob the divine mind of all consciousness and place God lower in the
scale of being than we ourselves are. On the other hand we must be careful not to
believe that God thinks evil and understands that which is not perfect, as then
we would have an imperfect being for the First Cause.
We should more and more learn to think of things in the absolute, that is, to
think of things as not limited by conditions. Realize at all times that the Spirit
makes things out of Itself, and needs no beginning except its own self-recognition.
Then we must cognize our relation to this great power as one of absolute correspondence;
what we think into it, it takes up and does for us as we think. It should not be
an effort so to think; we should do so with ease, without strain. The law must return
to us; we have no responsibility except to provide the proper channel. It can return
only in the exact way that we think. If we think struggle is the reality, we shall
gain our demonstration, but struggle will have to be the result. There is a law
of reflection between Mind and the one who thinks; and it is not only what a man
thinks but also how he thinks that "shall be done unto him."
If you believe absolutely that you can do a certain thing, the way will always
be opened for you to do it; if also you believe that time will have to elapse, then
you are making that a law, and time will have to elapse. If on the other hand you
believe that mind knows just how and never makes mistakes, but lets it be done unto
you, then it will be done. Confusion brings more confusion; peace begets more peace;
we cannot imagine the Great Spirit hurrying or worrying, fretting or trying to make
anything happen. The only reason we worry and fret is because we have thought there
was some other power which could bring confusion. Such is not the case. There is
but one, and we are always using that one but using it according to our belief.
This is our divine birthright, nothing hinders but ourselves. Remember that since
all is mind, you cannot demonstrate beyond your ability to comprehend mentally,
that is, beyond your ability to know about a certain thing. For instance, suppose
you wish to heal some one who is sick; your ability to do this will depend entirely
upon your ability to see perfection mentally, coupled also with the realization
that your word destroys everything unlike itself. If you try to see perfection for
a few minutes only, it will never heal. Your thought goes on at all times, and in
the moments when you least realize it, conditions are being moulded for you. It
is not enough to declare consciously for the truth. The truth must be lived or no
good results will be forthcoming.
THE PERFECT UNIVERSE.
THE one who desires to heal must stop seeing, reading about, discussing, or listening
to conversation about sickness. There is no other way under the sun except as we
let go of that which we do not desire, and take that which we wish to have. There
is too much of this deceiving ourselves into thinking that we can do two ways at
once. We may deceive ourselves and possibly other people, but the law remains the
same, a law of mental correspondences, and nothing else. We cannot go beyond our
ability to realize the truth; water rises only to its own level. In our patients
as well as in ourselves and our environment we will reflect what we are, not at
our best in the few moments of silence, but in the long run of ordinary life and
thought.
To acquire the larger consciousness is no easy task. All that we have believed
in which contradicts the perfect whole must be dropped from our thought, and we
must come to realize that we are now living in a perfect universe, peopled with
perfect spiritual beings, each of which (coupled with the Great Divinity) is complete
within himself. We must see that we are one in the great one, and then we will not
separate or divide, but unite and add to, until in time we will find that we are
living in an entirely different world from that in which we had once thought we
were living. Of course this will meet with much opposition from those unenlightened
souls whom we must contact in the world. But what of that? Remember, the great man
is the one who can keep in the crowd the calm, even thought, the deep, divine reliance
on principle. And more, this is the only way to help or to save the world. In time
all people will come to the same understanding. You are lifting up the standard
of life, and those who are ready will follow. You have no responsibility to save
the world except by exemplifying the truth. The world must save itself.
All are alike; there is no difference between one person and another. Come to
see all as a divine idea; stop all negative thought; think only about what you want,
and never about what you do not want, as that would cause a false creation. Too
much cannot be said about the fact that all are dealing with only one power, making
and unmaking for man through the creative power of his own thought. If . there is
something in your life that you do not want there, stop fighting it--forget it!
ABOUT STRUGGLE--KARMA.
THERE is too much struggle coming into the metaphysical thought. Often we hear
some seeker after truth say, "I have a big fight ahead." O foolish and untaught,
how can you hope to enter in! The kingdom comes not from without, but from within,
always. Stop all struggle and wait upon the sure principle that creates whatever
it wills because there is nothing to oppose it. As long as we think that opposition
exists we are blocking the way for the clearer vision. Those that take up the sword
must perish by it; not because God is a jealous God, but because that is the way
the law must work.
Cause and effect must obtain everywhere. Do not even fuss about your Karma; too
often we hear people say, "This is my Karma." This may be true enough, but how many
people know what they mean when they use the word Karma? Do you realize that your
Karma is nothing but your false thinking, and that the only way to escape it is
to think the truth, and that brings in the higher law? When the greater comes in
the lesser leaves because there is no longer anything to give life to it. The past
is gone when we learn to forgive and to forget.
This erases from mind all that is held against us, and even our sins "Are remembered
no more against us forever." Fate is in our own hands, and when we will rise to
that pure atmosphere where we see things in their completeness, and know that an
All-Wise Power is behind it all, we will see that the Infinite Mind could wish for
us only that which expresses itself in limitless terms. The whole trouble has been
that we reason as men and not as Gods. "I say ye are Gods and every one of you Sons
of the Most High."
The great law of life is thinking and becoming; and when we think from the lofty
heights of the Spirit we will become great, and not until then. Do not try to convince
any one of the truth; that will bring confusion. Truth is, just as much as God is;
and the whole world is coming gradually into the realization of it. Keep the truth
within your own soul, lift your own self above the confusion of life, and then people
will believe. So all our thought is to be created in the realization of the One
becoming the many, without struggle, without fear; stripped of all that denies the
truth.
How limited we are, how little our thought! How the human race rises in the morning,
plods off to the day's work, plods home at night, sore and tired, eats and sleeps,
works and dies. As has been said of man, "Man works hard to get money to buy food
to get strength to work hard to get money to buy food to get strength to work hard
to get money, etc." This was never intended; it is the curse imposed on the man
who believed in two powers, one of good and one of evil. To us there has come a
greater vision, and to those who believe and act as though it were true it is proving
itself.
We must turn from all human thought and experience. We are not down trodden,
depraved and miserable sinners, born in sin and conceived in iniquity and shame,
some to go to heaven and some to hell and all to the eternal glory of God. This
is a lie, it always was and always will be. But as long as we believe in a lie it
seems to be present with us.
Man is born of the Spirit of God Almighty, is pure, holy, perfect, complete and
undefiled; is at one with his eternal principle of being. Many people are finding
this out and as a monument to its truth millions are daily proving it for themselves.
Somewhere down the path of human experience we will all awake to the realization
that we ourselves are heaven or hell.
We live in Spirit awaiting the touch of thought that believes. All people look,
a few see.