6.
What we are conscious of is constructed out of what we are not conscious of. Not only do our subconscious assumptions influence our behavior but they also fashion the pattern of our objective existence. They alone have the power to say,
“Let us make man . . objective manifestations . . in our image, after our likeness.”
7.
If you assume that you are what you want to be your desire is fulfilled, and in fulfillment all longing is neutralized. You cannot continue desiring what you have already realized. Your desire is not something you labor to fulfill, it is recognizing something you already possess. It is assuming the feeling of being that which you desire to be.
Believing and being are one. The conceiver and his conception are one, therefore that which you conceive yourself to be can never be so far off as even to be near, for nearness implies separation.
“If thou canst believe,
all things are possible to him that believeth.”
Being is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen.
If you assume that you are what you want to be, then you will see others as they are related to your assumption.
8.
The mystery to which Paul referred when he wrote,
“This is a great mystery… He that loveth his wife loveth himself… . And they two shall be one flesh,”
is simply the mystery of consciousness.
Consciousness is really one and undivided but for creation’s sake it appears to be divided into two.
The conscious (objective) or male aspect truly is the head and dominates the subconscious (subjective) or female aspect. However, this leadership is not that of the tyrant, but of the lover. So, by assuming the feeling that would be yours were you already in possession of your objective, the subconscious is moved to build the exact likeness of your assumption.
Your desires are not subconsciously accepted until you assume the feeling of their reality, for only through feeling is an idea subconsciously accepted and only through this subconscious acceptance is it ever expressed.
It is easier to ascribe your feeling to events in the world than to admit that the conditions of the world reflect your feeling. However, it is eternally true that the outside mirrors the inside.
9.
Prayer is the key which unlocks the infinite storehouse.
“Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
Prayer modifies or completely changes our subconscious assumptions, and a change of assumption is a change of expression.
The conscious mind reasons inductively from observation, experience and education. It therefore finds it difficult to believe what the five senses and inductive reason deny.
The subconscious reasons deductively and is never concerned with the truth or falsity of the premise, but proceeds on the assumption of the correctness of the premise and objectifies results which are consistent with the premise.
This distinction must be clearly seen by all who would master the art of praying.
No true grasp of the science of prayer can be really obtained until the laws governing the dual nature of consciousness are understood and the importance of the subconscious realized.
Prayer . . the art of believing what is denied by the senses . . deals almost entirely with the subconscious. Through prayer, the subconscious is suggested, into acceptance of the wish fulfilled, and, reasoning deductively, logically unfolds it to its legitimate end.
“Far greater is He that is in you
than he that is in the world.”
10.
All transformation is based upon suggestion, and this can work only where you lay yourself completely open to an influence.
You must abandon yourself to your ideal as a woman abandons herself to love, for complete abandonment of self to it is the way to union with your ideal.
You must assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled until your assumption has all the sensory vividness of reality. You must imagine that you are already experiencing what you desire. That is, you must assume the feeling of the fulfillment of your desire until you are possessed by it and this feeling crowds all other ideas out of your consciousness.
The man who is not prepared for the conscious plunge into the assumption of the wish fulfilled in the faith that it is the only way to the realization of his dream is not yet ready to live consciously by the law of assumption, although there is no doubt that he does live by the law of assumption unconsciously.
But for you, who accept this principle and are ready to live by consciously assuming that your wish is already fulfilled, the adventure of life begins.