E. V. Ingraham – Creation and Recreation

 

CONTENTS

FOREWORD
CHAPTER I – LIGHT
CHAPTER II – THE FIRMAMENT
CHAPTER VII. – MORAL RELATIONS.
Chapter VIII – THE LAW.
Chapter IX – THE SPIRIT OF CONTROL.
Chapter X – THE BIRTHRIGHT OF THE SOUL
Chapter XI – THE VISIBLE AND THE INVISIBLE.
Chapter XII – REALIZATION

 

FOREWORD

IN THIS day when spiritual healing is coming into greater favor with the general public, the subject is being discussed from every possible angle. The lessons in this series are not an attempt to deal particularly with the methods of healing; they are offered to the seeker as an aid in attaining the consciousness in which he may realize healing for himself.

As healing is but a process of restoring man to the original perfection in which he was created, we can conceive of no bet­ter method of healing than that outlined in the Scriptures describing the original creation. It would seem to us that the plan followed by the Creator would be the most logical and effective plan for man to follow in his re-creation.

Although each passage of Scripture presents the possibility of many interpretations, we have tried to confine ourselves to the simplest and most practical viewpoint, in order that the greatest number may lay hold of the mighty power contained within God’s creative process. If, in your study and application of the creative steps, you gain a new and original realization of their meaning, so much the better. Inspiration and power will come to you with your own revelations.

We believe that it is most practical to enter upon these steps with the idea that all things which have been are of the past and, that at the moment of entering upon this series, a new creation is beginning. “Former things have passed away, be­hold I make all things new,” is the best possible mental attitude to assume.

Though these lessons have never be­fore been printed, they have been used in class work during the last ten years. We can say for them that in every case where they were given, at least one member of the class was healed. We therefore com­mend you to the care and keeping of the one infinite God who created you, and we know that the same Spirit which brought you forth out of his being, will restore you to .your divine perfection.

To get the best possible results from the application of these lessons, we suggest that, for the time being, you forget the thought of any specific thing you may be desirous of attaining. Center your interest upon attaining a realization of each step, knowing that the fulfillment of your de­sire will be the logical result of successfully taking the steps outlined.

 

CHAPTER I – LIGHT

It is no great task to arrive at a simple and practical interpretation of the first command of God in his creation. “Let there be light,” is the constant cry of all men at all times and in all circumstances. By the call for light each man means that he needs a new understanding of himself or of some situation arising in his life. Light and understanding are synonymous in our everyday expression.

Attaining understanding (light) is the most logical step that one can take in his attempt to work out any problem concerning himself or anything around him. When there is light we say, “We see,” and when we have attained to understanding we say, “We see,” the only difference being that one is physical perception and the other is mental perception.

Light, or understanding, is the mental vision which enables us to see things in their right relationships. By it is revealed the working plan by which all things are developed and worked out in an orderly way. Is it any wonder that “Where there is no vision the people perish”? (A. V.) Think what it would mean to work out existence without an understanding of underlying principles; effort would be directed by guesswork, and there would be no assurance as to the outcome of our effort. We cannot conceive of existence under such conditions.

But there is light for all who seek light in the right way. The Scriptures say: “But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God.” Of course many of us will say that man has always asked and that he still is lacking in the wisdom essential to his most intelligent progress. No doubt our failure to receive in the past was due to the fact that we asked amiss; or if the asking was all that it should have been, perhaps we did not know how to re­ceive that for which we asked.

A study of the nature of light upon the physical plane may help us better to com­prehend this question. Just as physical light has its mental correspondence, so does the law back of physical light have its mental correspondence.

The physical scientist tells us that what we know as light is not apparent in the light rays emanating from the sun, and that the rays are really dark until they strike the atmosphere of a planet. In other words, there is nothing of what we know as light until there is something to receive the light rays and thereby give them the power to illuminate.

God is omniscient and omnipresent, All­wisdom, everywhere present. As light rays are constantly emanating from the sun, so is the great God presence a con­stantly moving force throughout the uni­verse. There are no shadows except as something obstructs the sun’s rays. Neither is there any darkness or ignorance except as something obstructs the perfect presence of God in and through all things. The principle factor in shutting out the divine light seems to be man’s failure to acknowledge its presence. To receive the Jight, one needs but to open his mind to a positive acceptance of the eternal fact that God is ever present and that the all­knowing mind of God interpenetrates all space and all things at all times. If we always think of life in this way, there never can be for us a conscious lack of anything. The divine light will light every man that comes into the world; it is for him who accepts it.

Open-mindedness is necessary in at­taining new understanding in any direc­tion. Most of us fail to progress men­tally, physically, and financially, because our minds are not progressive. We are likely to accept today’s concepts as the ultimate, without taking into account the fact that tomorrow will doubtless yield new information upon every phase of life. Today’s concept is only for today, and is inadequate for tomorrow if we are to grow. This does not mean that we are unstable or undependable; it means quite the opposite. A progressive mathematics is stable and dependable; so the progres­sive mind, based upon the underlying prin­ciple of God as the foundation of all things visible and invisible, is stable and dependable. It is not an idea that makes a mind stable, but the premise from which the idea is evolved. With the very foun­dation principle of the universe underneath every idea, we evolve a dependable and stable mind.

One great reason why we do not pro­gress mentally is because we are not pro­gressive in regard to the one basic ideal of the universe. Until we allow our ideas of God to grow, our ideas of life and of the universe are limited in their capacity to unfold. One of our foremost aims in life should be to understand more of God. Instead of trying to understand him, have we not, all down the ages, held to the one idea that he was a person, endowed with superhuman powers, dwelling far away from us and not to be understood by man? Or, believing in the omnipresence of God as the underlying principle of all things, have we not been content to ac­cept only this fact, instead of opening the mind to greater realizations of this pres­ence and the vital relationship it bears to daily life? The truth is that God is in­finite, and each time we Look Godward we should receive more of that divine light which quickens and re-creates all things. Think what it would mean to have a more perfect realization of God each day. This is our privilege. We need but to keep our faces toward the light of his countenance, ever shining forth to illumine all men. Could the will of God, the creator of the universe, be other than to express himself in his creation? Could he come into a greater degree of manifestation without revealing himself in his creation? It would seem that the Spirit of God is con­tinually seeking to reveal to man the light which man is seeking—a knowledge of God and the universal plan.

Just as there is a material aspect and a mental aspect of light, so is there a physical capacity and a mental capacity by which man may see the light. The eye is the physical instrument by which we see the material light. There is, however, a mental vision much more potent than physical vision, for with it one can perceive the inner workings of himself or of things outside himself. “I have given thee an eye divine”—the inner eye of perception. Paul wrote of the eyes of the heart; Mat­thew wrote: “The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” In Proverbs we read:    “He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed.” These quotations do not refer to the physical eye alone, but to that eye of the mind which enables us to see beyond the range of the physical eye. A “single eye,” seeing only God in and through all things, fills man’s whole being with light, the light that knows no darkness. In this light man knows more and more of the true nature of God, his relationship to God, and at the same time learns his own true nature as a creation of God.

The more any particular line of thought is continued, the more one’s life is colored by that line of thought. In other words, whatever one is constantly viewing, men­tally or physically, becomes so interwoven in his being that it becomes a part of him. The ideas developed because of his con­stant vision become the light by which he undertakes the various tasks of life. The artist sees everything from the viewpoint of art; the financier sees everything in the terms of money; the musician sees every­thing in the terms of harmony. This is all brought about by a constant looking and delving into these various things. “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth,” is an invitation to use the vision which fills man with the true light which he seeks.

Mental vision is not a mystical sense but a very obvious one. It is that faculty of your consciousness by which you look back and see what you did yesterday; by this same faculty you look ahead and see what you expect to do tomorrow. It is the faculty by which you contemplate the power, the presence, the wisdom, and the love of God, and, by using it, gradu­ally your whole consciousness becomes il­lumined. The consciousness that God is within, through, and above all, is the greatest light that can burst upon the mind of man. When he sees that he is the product of the Presence and that he is, in degree, all that God is in infinity, he has then found the light that lights every man that comes into the world.

But this knowledge, like all other knowl­edge, is useless unless applied. We must make practical and keep active in our consciousness that knowledge which comes to us from contemplating the presence of God. This knowledge in turn becomes the foundation for new attainments and greater knowledge.

You may turn a very strong voltage of electricity through a copper wire, but in­crease the voltage steadily, and you will soon burn the wire. The wire has not the ability to increase its receiving capacity. Man, in his attaining of knowledge, may be compared to the copper wire, but with the difference that he has ability to in­crease his receiving capacity. He may, by a right application of the creative law, raise the standard of his mentality and of his physical body until a greater and greater degree of knowledge can manifest through him. But if he goes on in the attainment of knowledge without direct­ing its activity and reconstructive power into his body, he will at some time reach the point where he can no longer with­stand the tremendous activity of his awakened forces.

You need not hurry through the prob­lems which present themselves. It is best to be thorough in your work as you go along, knowing that there will come a natural and complete solution to each problem. The quickest way of attain­ment is by grounding oneself in the re­alization that God is the ever-available principle in and through all life. Hold steadfastly to the awakening spiritual con­sciousness within; direct it into and through every part of your body. Keep your mind so filled with the realization of the power and presence of God that you have no time to wonder why you do not progress or why things do not happen in a certain way. Then you will find your­self on the road that leads to the realiza­tion of your ideal.

God spoke the light into existence. We, the offspring of God, by our words spoken in the realization that they convey the creative power of God, will bring forth the perfect manifestation of light within our consciousness, in our bodies, and in our af­fairs. The spoken word does not neces­sarily mean an audible word, though at times the audible word may be most effec­tive. The thinking, the feeling, and the speaking of words and ideas in conscious union with the Father are factors in accom­plishing our re-creation.

Knowing the importance of an actual application of each step in our process of re-creation, let us apply this first lesson carefully, faithfully, earnestly, and per­sistently, regardless of appearances. It is the appearance which we wish to be rid of. The less attention we give to appearances the less sustaining power they have and the more energy we have to put forth in the manifestation of our new ideals. Let us make each step so complete and so ef­fective in our world that we may look upon the result and see, as did the Crea­tor, that it is very good. Let us speak each statement in the full consciousness that it is a formulated plan by which the creative power of God becomes manifest in and through and for us. The first state­ment is to render the mind open and recep­tive; the second is to establish a conscious­ness of the eternal fact that God does give understanding, and the third, to in­crease the receptivity by which the wisdom becomes a living part of oneself.

I AM an open channel for the expression of divine wisdom.

The Spirit of God is within and around me and the inspiration of the Almighty gives me understanding.

My consciousness is now illumined through my union with the all-knotving and ever-present mind of the Father ’within me.

 

CHAPTER II – THE FIRMAMENT

In taking up the second chapter, or step, it should be remembered that light is eter­nally progressive, and therefore the mind should be kept open to receive more and more of it. The first step has but liberated in the consciousness an ever-increasing radiance which unfolds daily, revealing sufficient knowledge for each day’s tasks and giving an understanding of every sit­uation as it arises. Light, once admitted to the consciousness, is a leaven which con­stantly grows, multiplies, and expands un­til it becomes an all-penetrating radiance, illuminating one’s entire being. We shall rely upon this light for guidance in our efforts to bring into manifestation our new heaven and new earth.

As we progress let us constantly be mindful of the fact that we need more of light, for it alone can make plain the way which leads to the goal of our aspirations.

The first command which went forth upon the second day of God’s creation was: “Let there be a firmament.” The firmament has its mental correspondence, though it is not quite so apparent as the mental correspondence of light. The Scriptures describe it as that which divides the waters from the waters. “And God made the firmament, and divided the wa­ters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firma­ment.”

It is a common thing to compare thought to water. “The sea of thought,” is an ex­pression familiar to every one. Here, then, is the first clue to the mental significance of the firmament. It is that which divides thought of a low degree (under the firma­ment) from thought of a high degree (above the firmament). We are accus­tomed to think of the firmament as that which divides the earth from the heavens. Webster defines it as the arch of the sky. In other words, the firmament can be de­scribed as that which divides the formed from the unformed, the relative from the absolute, the limited from the limitless.

There is, however, another way of look­ing at this matter of the firmament, for any line of division is also a point of union. We therefore wish to consider the firma­ment as that which unifies the limited with the limitless, the relative with the absolute. The moment the limited becomes unified with the limitless, it too becomes limitless. The world by itself seems a limited thing, but when viewed in connection with the universe, it becomes an integral part of the infinite.

Our great sea of thought is evolved from the two apparent extremes of the universe: one phase based upon the world with its apparent limitations, and the other phase based upon the universe with its infinite spaces. These two phases of thought savor of the nature of the source from which they come, and faith bridges the gulf between them. Faith is the firmament of mind which unifies that great realm of everyday ideas with those great ideals to which we constantly aspire.

While in the very first step of our re­creation, light brings us the realization that we are one with the Infinite, yet it remains for faith to make the actual at-one-ment with the Infinite. Mentally to perceive our oneness with God is good, but really to believe and to feel that this oneness exists, is the next step toward fulfillment in our consciousness. The work of this lesson, then, is to develop as clear a knowledge of faith as possible.

Faith is more than a belief in certain prescribed doctrines of the churches. One may profess certain things and subscribe to certain beliefs which have no definite bearing upon his active life. Faith is more dynamic than belief, and is always opera­tive in man’s mind to some degree, even though he may not stop to reckon with it.

Faith is a means to an end, therefore it is not a quality of the Divine Mind of the universe, as that mind is omniscience. Knowledge is the result of faith. “Faith ripens into knowledge.” But faith is not destroyed in knowing; it is expanded or fulfilled in knowing. God is the absolute, the embodiment of all wisdom, life, and substance, and faith is that faculty in the mind of man by which he unfolds into the comprehension of the absolute.

Faith precedes each activity of man, and is also involved in the act itself. Ac­tion produces results, and because of the proof in results, faith becomes active in greater degrees. The knowledge resulting from a proved principle always becomes the basis of a greater faith. Therefore faith is both a leading faculty in man’s attainment and a working force in bringing about that attainment.

To understand the psychology and the potent power of this wonderful faculty, faith, is to be possessed of one of the great­est secrets of the successes and failures of the race. Truly, “According to your faith be it done unto you,” is an unalterable law in the working out of all affairs and con­ditions in the life of man.

Faith is developed in consciousness by first giving our attention to a thing, an im­pulse, or an idea. If it makes an impres­sion upon us, we are likely to give it our consideration. After contemplating it for a time, we begin to think rather definitely about it. No sooner does it demand our thought than we automatically have some degree of faith in it as true or untrue. As we continue to watch, our belief in the power of the idea, the impulse, or the thing, increases until it seems inevitable that it will be made manifest, sometimes even in spite of our desires.

Herein can readily be seen the method by which many men meet failure in busi­ness. Apparently everything may be go­ing smoothly, and then some idea suggest­ing failure, from one cause or another, may present itself. At first this may not make much impression, but it comes again and again, until it develops into an all- absorbing idea, seeming so much greater than the possibility of continued success that failure becomes inevitable. Faith in success has given way to faith in failure, and the man is carried on contrary to his desire. Thoughts of failure begin to rule his conduct and ultimately failure results openly. The same law of cause and effect operates in every phase of life. That which demands our attention develops into faith, faith into action, and action into results.

Constructive faith demands continual growth. When faith ceases, or when one reaches that degree of attainment equal to his faith, that moment the machinery of progress is reversed; that moment the indi­vidual inevitably begins to contemplate decline, and decline he will. When faith does not see beyond the present stage in life, the man cannot rise above that level, because there is nothing to lead him on. So long as one is growing, so long as one is unfolding, just that long he is living. After that, life is not life, but reflex ex­istence.

Perhaps the most frequently quoted statement in regard to faith is that of Paul’s, as given in the King James ver­sion: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” In the American Revised edition it is given: “Faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen.” These two translations, when seen in their true light, give us excellent under­standing of the real nature of this very im­portant activity of mind.

However, in a logical consideration of this subject of faith, it will be seen that we must reverse the statement, as nothing ever becomes substantial to the individual ex­cept in the face of some evidence, and con­viction is always preceded by some sort of assurance. Logically stated, then, this axiom of faith should be: Faith is the evidence (or assurance) of things not seen, the substance (or conviction) of things hoped for.

Right perspective is one of the first requisites to success. Attention paid to this fact will go a long way toward in­suring success in our undertakings.

What does faith, as the evidence of things unseen, mean to us? In explana­tion we might say that there are at this moment many things in our lives which were, at one time, entirely unforeseen. Yet the beginning of these things was doubt­less in a mere desire, or in something which attracted our attention. Light will come to us if we follow the steps in connection with the development and the working out of these things in our lives. First, we may have had a period of restless uncertainty, indefiniteness or even despondency; we did not know just what to do, and were not able to account for our feelings. Shortly after this we became conscious of the fact that we wanted something, but did not know just what it was. Later, perhaps days or even weeks later, we felt a desire for some definite thing or condi­tion. This desire readily ripened into hope, and hope into the faith that the de­sired thing or condition would ultimately be brought forth into manifestation. This development from the period of vague in­definiteness, or restlessness, to a fully de­veloped conviction, is of the evidence side of faith. Our darkest despondency is but the unformed prophecy of hopes yet unborn and should in itself be a period of hopefulness. Did not God’s creation be­gin when “the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep”? Yet out of that darkness he brought forth a universe. Why cannot we discover, in our dark moments, the in­centive for a new creation in our lives? If we can realize that our moments of darkness and despondency are but periods when a new ideal is coming forth, we can avoid the depression of these periods. Our hearts and our minds will be filled with interest and anticipation as we look to­ward the revelation which the darkness holds for us. This time is but the shadow of the holy hill of the Lord, or the first sign of a messenger bringing to our con­sciousness the knowledge of our next step in spiritual progress.

In adjusting oneself to the working out of this principle in its highest degree, it is well to associate each impulse with the highest possible standards. Such a re­alization as: “My life is now established according to the divine order of God, and only righteous ideals can come into my mind and be expressed in my life,” in­volves one of the most practical tests of one’s faith. If one entertains the fore­going ideal until he really believes it to be true, the ideal becomes absolutely true, and one’s life is governed only by the working out of the divine plan.

All this, however, belongs to the purely visionary, or “evidence” phase of faith. People who live continually in this phase of faith are called dreamers, and are never practical. Carlyle says: “Conviction is useless until converted into action.” Faith finds its fruition in action. It is in action that we find faith as substance, or as a builder of our desires and convictions into expressed realities.

Some people fail to understand faith as substance, because they try to associate it with that quality of being which has the capacity of form, that invisible substance of Spirit which comes into manifestation as flesh, or what is generally called matter. All visible matter is the substance of Spirit formed according to one idea or another, but it has nothing to do with faith except that faith was the means by which sub­stance was brought forth in its present form. Our faith and action in accordance with limited ideas have resulted in limited manifestations, and it is by faith and ac­tion in accordance with spiritual ideals that the new heaven and the new earth, void of limitation, will be brought into expression.

Substance means that which “stands under.” In the light of the foregoing ex­planation, it readily will be seen that faith is a faculty which stands under the formed substance, both as a forming ele­ment and as a coherent force which holds it in its present form. Did you ever notice how rapidly anything goes to pieces when people lose faith in it? If so, you can understand just how faith is a binding force in sustaining organized life.

One of the most striking illustrations of the practical application of faith is to be observed in studying the gambler. Can you not see, as the cards are being shuffled, a hope arising in him that he will draw a winning hand ? As the cards are dealt, that hope grows to a stronger and stronger desire, and that desire reaches its height as he discards certain ones and is dealt more from the pack. Each card that is added to his hand presents certain evi­dence as to his possibilities in the game, and this evidence accumulates until after the final drawing. He then studies his evidence very carefully and therefrom de­termines his plan of action. If the evi­dence is favorable, he proceeds to play; if unfavorable, he waits until another time. If he has faith in the hand he holds, he will follow up his conviction by definite action until the hand has proved exactly what it is worth.

We all have faith in the principles of Truth, but this question naturally con­fronts us: Have we faith enough, in the face of the facts presented and sanctioned by our own inner feelings, to act upon it? Faith without works is void, and he who would realize his ideals in life must learn to carry out in his daily conduct those ideals which harmonize with his desire. One writer has said: “If you want to know God, act as though God were.” He who lives as though he were in the presence of God is sooner or later re­warded by the realization of the wonder­ful benefits derived therefrom. As our hopes, desires, and faiths find response within us to the degree that we act upon them, it is only a short time until the hour of fulfillment arrives.

The following incident may serve to make the idea more clear: A young man student in a certain university was called upon to take part in a class play. Al­though he was considered a model young man, he was assigned the part of the villain. He put himself into this character so thoroughly that it left a lasting im­pression upon him. He was completely changed, eventually becoming a villain in reality.

If the law operated destructively in the life of this young man it should operate constructively in our lives, but in order that this be fulfilled, action is required. The ideals which we seek to have ful­filled in our lives must be lived, expressed, and given flesh and bone, to incarnate in and to work through.

“All the world’s a stage,” said Shake­speare. This is literally true, and each one of us plays many parts. As babes we were given names. Our parents and our teachers had certain ideas as to how we should enact our little parts in the life drama. Our friends and our neighbors had other ideas, and they taught us many lines which do not harmonize with the true character which we were destined to play —the character which we are always striving in one way or another to portray. Somewhere within this part which we feel drawn to express, is the great divine ideal impressed upon us in the beginning. If we will open our minds to the message which the ideal seeks to reveal to us, then follow out in action the ideals revealed, we shall have the reward of faith-fullness, and find these ideals literally expressed in our flesh.

Let us make strong the firmament of our minds by faithful application of the fol­lowing or of similar realizations:

My mind is open to the message of Truth which my inner faith would reveal.

I have absolute faith in my divine self as revealed through my highest desires.

The creative poxver of God Works with me toward the fulfillment of these desires.

My faith ripens daily into the absolute knowledge that 1 am the free and whole son of God, and I live in a manner en­tirely worthy of my divine heritage.

 

CHAPTER III – THE FORMING OF SUBSTANCE

While not fundamentally important, the actual materialization of one’s desires and ideals is a point of great importance. Success in this direction depends not only upon an understanding and an applica­tion of the preceding lessons, but also upon an understanding and an application of this, the third lesson.

It will be noticed that the two preced­ing lessons deal with the active, or cre­ative, force. In this lesson we are to learn of that universal element in which and through which this force clothes and ex­presses itself. As on the third day of cre­ation there came the command, “Let the dry land appear,” so does the third move­ment of mind deal with that element which gives actual form to the various activities of the mind.

Jesus Christ often referred to nature in his attempts to make plain the workings of divine law, and in this phase of his teachings we may find some of our most valuable lessons. It will be observed that the whole movement of nature is toward expression in form; that the forces of na­ture are always active, but, in order to manifest, they must have some element with which to clothe themselves and through which to express themselves. This same thing is true in regard to man; much of man’s difficulty develops because he has not discerned the fact that the movement of the creative mind of the universe is to­ward a more complete and perfect ex­pression in himself and in all other formed things. Also, much of his difficulty is due to a misconception of form. The general thought about the formed world and the things therein is that they are limited.

This idea is not true. Like all other di­vine qualities, form is infinite in its nature, in its endurance, and in its capacity for formation and transformation.

All formed things—or that which we have called the material—are in reality but the visible manifestation of a universal substance. “What is seen hath not been made out of things which appear.” By a right understanding of this fact, man may learn to deal successfully with the expressed universe.

Briefly stated, substance is that partic­ular quality of being which has the ca­pacity of form. The fact that sub­stance becomes apparent to the senses of man is no reason for recognizing it in any other than its divine relationship. How­ever, we sometimes forget that “Without him was not anything made that hath been made,” and that fundamentally all things are not only of divine origin but are also divine in nature. By overlooking this fact we have robbed ourselves of one of the most vital elements in life, and our world, our bodies, and all things con­nected with them have been more or less burdensome, causing us to seek release from them. Joy, peace, and freedom come not through a separation from the manifest world, but through finding the unity between the manifest world and the infinite phases of it, which are as yet not apparent to the senses of man.

It is a known fact that there are sounds which the ear cannot record and that there are things which the eye cannot see. To progress beyond the apparent limitations of these senses, we must learn to take into account those things which at present are beyond sense perception. Especially in this third step of our re-creative process, let us learn to take into account the fact that beyond all manifest form is a great sea of universal substance, out of which all visible things have been formed, and that this invisible substance is the real sus­taining element of all formed things. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

One of the first things which man should learn in regard to bringing forth his ideals in form, is not to depend solely upon material already formed. His great­est success will come in dealing with vir­gin substance and with the feeding of his entire nature with that invisible substance which is the word of God daily becoming flesh in all creation. At first, substance may seem more or less intangible, but as we contemplate it and seek to open our consciousness to it, it will become more and more tangible to us.

Just as truly as God is the source of all of man’s ideas, just so truly is he the source of man’s supply; the secret of sup­ply is found in the universal and invisible substance of which we have been speak­ing. God is the giver of every good gift and every perfect gift; God’s supply for man is infinite, inexhaustible, and in­stantly available. Man has no need which cannot be supplied instantly, if he will take the necessary steps to acquaint himself with supply and will make secure his own conscious unity with God, who is not only the source, but the supply itself.

Now that we have given up our ideas as to the limitation of so-called matter and have come to know it as the manifest sub­stance of God, we can readily see that it is just as capable of re-formation and transformation as it was capable of forma­tion in the beginning. Then further, when we give up the idea that substance ends where our vision ends, and come to realize that there is substance above and beyond our present range of vision, we are well on the way toward the possibility of bring­ing forth, into actual form, the fulfillment of our every high and true desire.

The substance quality of being is not an active force; it is a plastic, passive ele­ment which moves only as it is moved upon and is formed only as some forming element or force lays hold of it. Its form is therefore characterized in accordance with the nature of the moving force which forms and animates it. This is the reason for the limitations which man feels in his body; whenever he can change the ac­tivity of his mentality, which is the form­ing, animating force of his body, the body itself will be different. The body is in no sense limited, nor is any manifest thing in the world limited. Only man’s vision is limited and, though the vision leaves off within a certain range, substance, which composes the body, continues into infinity. Just as the great mind of God fills all time and space, interpenetrating the mind of man, just so the great Christ body of ra­diant spiritual substance interpenetrates the body of man. We die because we discern not this body, which is the very foundation and the real sustenance of our own bodies and of our entire existence.

With these two great phases of the uni­verse before us, each of which is the coun­terpart of the other and each of which is useless without the other, also with the knowledge that our concept of the ele­ments is the measure of their expression and duration in our individual lives, we have a tangible basis from which to pro­ceed in accomplishing our ideals.

From a general survey of the situation as herein presented, it can be seen that the pivotal point around which all things in the life of the individual revolve, lies within the individual. Man’s lack does not result from any lack, on God’s part, of ample and available creative force, nor in substance as an ample and available element with which to clothe this power in an infinite and perfect creation. The lack is in man’s failure actually to con­tact these divine elements and to attune himself to them.

Two things seem necessary in order that man may reap the full benefits of the re­sources that are his in God. The first of these is a recognition of the universality of these resources. The second is a con­scious conduct in harmony with this fact.

Not every fleeting idea or emotion that passes through man’s consciousness ac­tually accumulates new substance and builds it into his texture, though such feel­ings do make their impress upon his present accumulation of substance. The sustained and balanced thought is the real building factor in his consciousness.

“A rolling stone gathers no moss;” nei­ther does a wandering mind accumulate a sufficient amount of substance with which to clothe itself. Before we can effectively reconstruct our being, we must develop a goodly degree of self-control, so that our thoughts and our feelings will be directed and sustained in accordance with our true desires. The mental activities must also be poised in the here and now, and be definitely related to our present being, in order to have the greatest effect. The abiding realization that has a definite rela­tionship to the present self accumulates the universal substance to the most perfect de­gree, and by it a stable and permanent structure is built. By permanent we do not mean limited, but an enduring structure that perpetually will show forth the real character and quality of the realization.

Therefore let us minister to all high ideals and true emotions by realizing for them and with them the eternal substance of God clothing them with form and build­ing for them the eternal Christ body. Shall not, then, the Christ in us acknowl­edge this act by saying: “I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me”? Though we may not realize that we are serving the Christ by thus incarnat­ing our highest ideals, yet shall the Christ also say: “Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me.” Every high ideal that relates man and God is of the Christ, and every such ideal embodied within us is just so much of the Christ born in us and so much more of the Christ again come in the flesh.

We can feed the hungering multitude of cells and ideals and true emotions within us with this living substance, and so enrich our whole being in the realization that we will know that:

The substance of God is now come forth in me and feeds and nourishes my entire being.

The Word of God is now made flesh in me, and I am formed anew with living substance.

The infinite resources of the universe now flow to me, and my whole being is enriched. God himself is my supply, and I am refashioned in his image and likeness.

 

CHAPTER IV – THE SUN, MOON, AND STARS

Fundamentally there are but three steps in the creative process. These three steps often are gone over and over from different angles, yet each repetition is but the same process, with varying degrees of applica­tion. As one applies any formula or proc­ess for the first time, it may convey to him only a vague and general conception of the principle involved. A second appli­cation will reveal more minute details of its specific application. With each repeated consideration and application it is clearer, until it eventually becomes a habitual part of his working consciousness.

In the first chapter of these lessons we learned not only that light represents un­derstanding, but that our understanding in the beginning is a general concept of the great fundamental principle of life. In this chapter we are to learn something of the specific application of the light to the un­derstanding of the individual conscious­ness. This is where the re-creative proc­ess really begins in our own being. But let us keep in mind that if our re-creation is to be a perfect success, it must be in perfect accord with the original creation. In other words, we always must seek to realize God’s idea in and through all, as the very beginning and ending of every creative activity in ourselves.

On the fourth day of God’s creation came the sun, moon, and stars. As in the first day, we have light, but in this in­stance the light is specifically identified ac­cording to certain degrees or standards. With the sun there is light, but with the reflected light of the moon and the myriad stars, there is darkness. Man, in the dark­ness of his own ignorance, has become lost in the maze of a multitude of ideas; when he really finds the true light, there is no darkness of ignorance in him.

The very foundation of any man’s thought or act is the degree of light he has upon the point involved. The character and permanency of any structure which man builds, either within himself or outside of himself, is determined largely by the foundation upon which it is built. If that foundation be firm, the structure is stable and enduring; if it be infirm, the structure is insecure.

The fourth day’s creation illustrates the three general foundations upon which man builds. Ordinarily in his worldly activity, he builds upon a purely intellectual con­ception of life and its various phases. Here he finds innumerable ideas, and while some of them are more or less vital, yet he sooner or later finds himself lost and con­fused. Again, in his ignorance he may strive to live in the reflected light of some one else. He may try to carry out the ideas and practices of some successful man, and this course in turn may not bring him the realization of life and success which he feels it should. It is said that for every originator there are a thousand imi­tators. Emerson says that “imitation is suicide.” Sooner or later we must learn that life is self-expression; that the mere carrying out of other people’s ideas is only moonshine; that the ideas have no direct light in them except to the one who him­self conceived and expressed them. This does not mean that we should disregard other people’s ideas, but that we should consider them only in the light of our own deepest conviction and feeling and thus re­late them to the growth and development of our own consciousness.

The only man who truly lives is the man who has conscious touch with the great universal mind of God—the man who is able to bring forth new ideas and ideals from this mind and give them ex­pression in his life. Is not this the real lesson which Jesus Christ himself tried to teach us? It is certainly the life which he exemplified. He who builds upon this foundation has found the “light, even the light which lighteth every man, coming into the world.” The sun of the fourth day’s creation, then, is typical of the Christ ideal in the life of the individual.

In I Corinthians 3:11, Paul writes: “For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Have we understood just what this means? Are we not inclined to think merely of the man, Jesus Christ, personally rather than about all that he represented? Or are we not prone to think of him as he was, rather than as he is? It was said by the prophet Isaiah that they “shall call his name Immanuel,” which means “God with us.” Jesus Christ verified this rela­tionship to mankind when he said: “Lo, I am with you always.”

This present aspect of the Christ is of greatest importance. To believe in Jesus only as he lived two thousand years ago is to live only in a reflected light, but to live in the consciousness of the living Christ, “Immanuel,” the very Spirit of God seek­ing to incarnate in all men here and now, is to come into the full radiance of the Son of God. “Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” To know Christ as he really is today is to know him as the very soul of your being, as your direct contact with God and the living principle of your own present life.

As the light of the first day became cen­tralized in the sun, so does our general concept of God centralize itself in Christ, the Son, for “Christ is all, and in all.” Christ is God’s idea of all men, and as God was the beginning of the created uni­verse, Christ must become the beginning of our re-creation. This is the real founda­tion upon which we all must build.

It is also well that we concern ourselves actively with readjusting ourselves to this foundation rather than with speculating concerning some of the more relative things about the man Jesus. “For who among men knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of the man, which is in him ? even so the things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God.” And no man will know the truth about Jesus Christ until the Christ Spirit be formed within him. “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” is another declara­tion of the truth concerning him who came to be a light to the world.

In the truest sense, Christ represents the God mind identified with man. His great declaration was: “The word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.” The realization of this declaration is the end toward which we all should work, for did he not say: “that where I am, there ye may be also”? Yet have we not taken this to mean: “That where I go, there ye may go also”? What did he mean as to place, when he made the statement, “where I am”? He must have referred to the relationship in which he stood to the Father, and the purpose back of the State­ment must have been to encourage all men to enter into that same relationship.

Therefore in this day let the Sun of Righteousness become the light of your life, that Christ may come again in the flesh to redeem your whole world and to reveal to all men the power of his great light.

The following affirmations should help you to gain this realization:

I let that same mind form in me which was in Christ Jesus.

The Christ of God is this day born in my consciousness, enlightening my whole being.

I no longer Wander in darkness. I am the Son of God, and Christ is the light of my life.

This day is the Sun of Righteousness risen in my consciousness and become manifest as radiant light throughout my entire being.

 

CHAPTER V – THE FISH OF THE SEA

The fish of the sea and the fowls of the air were the fifth day’s creation. These creatures are symbolized in the conscious­ness of man as thought. It is not at all uncommon to hear reference made to the “sea of thought” or to compare thought to birds.

The fifth step in our re-creative process deals directly with the reconstruction of our own individual consciousness. This step is also entirely consistent with the com­mand : “Be ye transformed by the renew­ing of your mind.”

The natural product or outcome of faith is knowledge. “Faith ripens into knowledge.” Thus it may be seen that just as the fourth day was the specific out­working of the first day’s creation, so is the fifth day the specific development of the second, confirming our statement that the last three days are but a repetition of the first three days. However, the only proc­ess by which faith ripens into knowledge is by its becoming an active principle rather than being a visionary process. It is not only in believing that certain things are possible, but it is an active working in that direction which brings them to fulfill­ment. The believing and feeling sides of faith must become definitely formed ideas as bases of action.

Here is where the ordinary person fails in his demonstration: Instead of realizing that the first function of faith is in the re­construction of his consciousness, he tries to rearrange his outer world. We so often hear people say: “Well, if I just had this or that, I should be happy. If I were well, I should be happy. If I were wealthy I should be content and realize my wealth. If I had plenty of friends I should have a sense of companionship.” “Knowledge is power,” and the right sort of accumulation of ideas becomes the force which produces external things and conditions. The fact is that if people would systematically go about developing the right sort of happy spirit, they would be well. If they had a consciousness of the facts of the relation of man to his universal supply, they would be conscious of wealth, and the consciousness would be the power which would produce the outer sign of wealth. If they would develop a sense of oneness with the uni­verse, thereby establishing a sense of con­stant companionship, no matter where they were, they would, as a natural conse­quence, draw to them the outer and visible signs of companionship. The force or power which produces a thing is always more important than the thing which it produces. Therefore learn to heal the mind first. If the body is sick, heal the mind of its sense of disease and of those disturbing mental activities which tend to dis-ease of mind. In cases of poverty, let us heal the mind of the poverty idea. Let us reconstruct our entire consciousness ac­cording to the truth about supply—that supply is infinite, instantly available, and inexhaustible when the law of supply is complied with.

If one is lacking in external things, or if his own external expression is not to his liking, let him resort to the reconstruction of his mind. If, on the other hand, he seems to be lacking in ideas, if he does not seem to know what to do, let him resort to faith and let him check up his whole being according to this basic principle upon which all human structure is built.

We are inclined to underrate the value of faith and ideas, yet we know that in truth they are dynamic powers, the right application of which will solve every problem of human life. An idea is not only the most powerful thing in the uni­verse but also the most valuable. We necessarily think before we act. Is it not therefore of more importance that we rightly construct the mentality than that we attempt to rearrange external things which are but the products of our acts? If the cause of an act is correct, that act and the product thereof will be all that they should be.

But before we can avail ourselves of the full measure of power contained in thought, we must take into consideration the entire thinking capacity of the individ­ual. In studying self we find that we think in terms of Spirit, or thoughts which relate us to the universe. We also think in terms of the intellect, or thoughts which relate us to the world. We also think in terms of emotion or feeling. All these phases of our thinking capacity develop a certain degree of power and our full measure of power comes only when all three of these phases are developed and organized. They must also be trained to work as one instead of as three, and must move to one purpose instead of to many. If we think of our spiritual natures as something removed from our daily activities and relating only to a future state, we by this one act rob ourselves of the greatest degree of power available to man. In fact this phase of our mentality must become the all-impor- tant phase of our thinking activities, and the intellectual thought and feeling must become secondary to it.

Jesus Christ reversed the common con­cept of the psychological process in man. Today we feel that our consciousness is developed by a series of material impres­sions, while Jesus Christ taught that the beginning of all thought activity is in God. “The words that I say unto you I speak not from myself.”

As faith is replaced in God as the sus­taining principle in all our being, then our thought will be evolved from the same basis as that of the Christ and “all author­ity … in heaven and on earth” will be restored to us by this process.

It has been said that “it is easier to forecast the future than to reconstruct the past.” This is true because in a sense every idea is a prophecy of its own fulfillment, and we can know with some accuracy what our future is likely to be by studying the character and the quality of our daily thoughts. We may not at first recognize this fact, but when we consider that our every act is the result of our thought, it will readily be recognized that thought is the determining factor in all human activity. The effectiveness of thought and its power to fulfill itself depend upon the basis from which thought is evolved. If the origin be in the mind of man, it has but the impetus of that individual. If it be born of God, it has back of it the impetus that created and is continually re-creating the universe.

Many a man conceives a “whale of an idea” which he thinks may bring him peace and happiness. Very often he gives himself up entirely to the development of this idea, only to awake to the fact that, like Jonah’s whale, it has swallowed him. But, as was the case with Jonah, such a state is possible only when man is trying to avoid the idea which God has for him. Man’s idea must be sustained by himself, and sooner or later requires all that man can give it. A divine idea is sustained by all of Infinity and is a service to man rather than a demand upon him. No matter what the state in which man may find himself, the first operation of his mind should be Godward. A mind that is en­riched by contact with the infinite mind of God cannot want for understanding of what to do or how to do a thing, or for the motive power which will enable it to do successfully what it tries to do.

Right here is a very practical idea which we all can afford to consider: learn­ing to see things and conditions through

God instead of seeing God through things. You know that vision has a tendency to amplify the things which are closest to us. When we look at the thing or the problem first, it seems so close to us and occupies so much of our attention that it grows to abnormal proportions. Then when we try to look to God or elsewhere for a possible solution of our problems, we see but a vague prospect of success. Two things cannot occupy the same space at the same time; that is a law of physics and it applies also to our minds. When a mind already is filled with the idea of great problems and difficulties, where is there room for the ideas or realizations which will meet the situation? The necessary thing in connec­tion with the re-creation of our minds is the giving up of our present ideas of everything and then looking to the infinite mind of God that is within and around us, that we may receive the necessary idea—motive power—which will truly solve the problem at hand.

“Whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away.” When we really turn away from the misconceived ideas that are striving to be fulfilled in our lives, we are destroying our own false prophets. Any misdirected force can be diverted into a constructive channel; also there can be substituted for it a constructive activity which will carry us on toward the goal of our aspiration.

An idea also has a money value. We all have seen instances which proved this. Jesus Christ knew and took advantage of the fact that an idea has a money value. When he was confronted by the problem of paying his taxes he sent one of the dis­ciples for a fish and the fish had a coin in its mouth. That incident is only symbolic of the value of an idea. He also knew the source of true ideas. When the dis­ciples had been fishing all night and had caught nothing, he told them to cast the net on the right side. The disciples obeyed him and they caught a great draft of fishes. When man opens his mind in the right way to the perfect mind of God, there is an inrush of ideas sufficient to meet his every need. When we have the right idea about a situation, we know how to meet it and we usually conduct ourselves in har­mony with it.

It is just as important first to recon­struct the mentality in order to establish right conditions in the external, as it is to see to the development of electrical energy before attempting to produce electric light or electric power. Every active force in the universe has a distinct influence upon the formed world; the degree of that in­fluence is dependent upon the nature of the force. The greatest force in the uni­verse is the one which created the universe —the Spirit of God which in the beginning moved upon the face of the deep. Just as iron filings come to a piece of steel that is magnetized, so do all things in heaven and on earth come to the man whose mind is filled with the realization of the power and presence and activity of the Spirit of God.

Let us always look back of things for the answer to our questions and the solu­tion to our problems and the satisfaction of our desires. The very power which will change the entire face of our world is in­stantly available to all men, no matter in what stations of life they may be. But it must be remembered that the Spirit of God requires a basis of action, an instru­ment through which to express itself.

Let that same mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, and you will have re­created your mind and incarnated the power which makes all things new in heaven and on earth.

This day is my mind re-created by ideas from the perfect mind of God.

That same mind which Was in Christ Jesus is available to me, and I now receive it into my consciousness as the governing principle of my mind and life. The Christ mind in me is fruitful and every divine idea increases and multiplies in me until I think on the thoughts of God after him.

 

CHAPTER VI – THE BEASTS OF THE FIELD

Again we come to the point of manifes­tation in the creative process. The sixth day of God’s creation was expressed by bringing into manifestation the beasts of the field. Man also was included in this day’s creation. This is the most external manifestation of the creative process; indi­vidually it means the Word of God be­coming flesh.

Our conception of flesh and the manifest world has been entirely wrong, so far as we have conceived of flesh as something apart from God. It is, in reality, the “temple of the living God,” and we must alter our present concept to conform to this Truth.

Farther on in Genesis we are told that Adam named all the animals. Adam, or materially minded man, has given to all things their animal names; throughout the ages we have been blind followers of the blind. Because certain things in us have been called animal forces, and the like, we have continued to accept them as such. A name indicates that which is embodied in the essential nature of a thing, and nothing in the life of an individual can develop be­yond the name which the individual has placed upon it. One of the first steps which we should take, therefore, is the re­naming of everything in us, as well as out­side of us. Take, for instance, the body itself. It is not a material thing. It is the very substance of God brought forth into visible form. True, we have misshaped it and it does not now appear to us to be godly. However, if we will call it by its true name, the “temple of the living God” (the very substance of the Word of God become flesh), it will recognize its name and respond in a manner that will con­vince us of the truth.

When the realization of the power and presence of God is liberated through the flesh, the same change takes place in the flesh that takes place in an electric light bulb when the electricity is turned on—the flesh becomes radiant and loses its sense of density. Such a body is not a limited place in which to live; quite the reverse, for in it we find the greatest possible de­gree of freedom and expression.

Cease to judge the body according to appearances. Only in appearance does anything begin and end, appear and dis­appear. Interpenetrating all time and space is the very substance out of which all things have been formed and in this primal substance they all are limitless, all are joined, and in reality are one.

We live in bodies and worlds of our own conception. Our own estimate—our way of naming them—is the measure of their development. In what kind of body do you live: flesh, mental, or a radiant

Christ body ? Any kind of body is possible to you, but in order to have the desirable kind of body you must build your concept of body accordingly. This does not re­quire a change of location or of flesh itself, but it does require a constructive mental attitude toward everything. With each new concept of life do we not live in a new world, and does not this change make some change in our own physical being? Notice the transformation of your own face when, after your world has seemed blue or discouraging, encouraging news comes to you. A miracle has happened. All the principles of healing have been in­volved in the change from a frown to a smile. The only difference is in the in­tensity of feeling and the depth of the concept.

The question of body redemption, or the bringing into body consciousness the consciousness of the perfection and free­dom of spiritual life, is attracting the at­tention of the race today more than ever before. Medical and other sciences are beginning to recognize that under right conditions the body of man should not die. This is the portion of Jesus Christ’s teaching which seems to have been least comprehended in the past; even now we are only beginning to see its possibilities. It is not at all surprising that we have not understood this possibility as it deals with the most advanced teaching which he gave, a teaching which bears upon the subject of the last enemy which man must overcome. A great advance in conscious­ness is necessary to comprehend his true meaning in regard to this last and greatest attainment.

The generally accepted meaning of Christ’s teaching in regard to the question of eternal life, is that life which is eternal is of the future and comes after the death of the physical body. Life comes after death only in the sense referred to by Paul when he said: “I die daily.” This only implies a death of one’s personal limita­tions and imperfections—the carnal—and implies a new birth each day, a birth into a new and higher realization of the power and presence of Christ in oneself.

The matter of withdrawing life from the physical body as a means of attaining the freedom of life eternal, is not substan­tiated by the teachings of the Scriptures, but quite the reverse is true. The Scrip­tures emphasize the importance of more abundant life in the physical body. Let us consider this subject in the light of the following quotations:

Whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die. . . .

I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. . . .

Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. . . .

The whole creation groaneth and travail- eth in pain together until now . . . waiting for . . . the redemption of the body. . . .

The body is . . . for the Lord; and the Lord for the body: . . . Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? . . . Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you. . . .

Glorify God therefore in your body. . . .

Christ also is . . . the saviour of the body. . . .

A Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall fashion anew the body . . . that it may he conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working whereby he is able even to subject all things unto himself. . . .

The Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead . . . shall give life also to your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

And so we might go on with innumer­able quotations setting forth the impor­tance of the complete redemption of the body. That redemption is a definite con­sideration in the process of re-creation, and our success in the outer world de­pends very largely on the degree to which we succeed in giving the Christ principle expression in every phase of ourselves.

One thing that we should remember is that it is “the spirit that giveth life,” and that it is the “Christ in you” which is the savior of the body. This is the way and it is very clearly set forth in the foregoing quotations. Let us accept now the idea that the body has a definite place in the plan of redemption; that our re-creation includes every phase of our being, and that now—now—is the time of fulfillment. Only thus can we fulfill the full purpose of God in our lives. This is the work of the sixth day.

The complete and perfect man is at­tained only by the union and blending of his threefold nature. This blending comes through a practical application and a set­ting into action, through the very flesh, every spiritual impulse which comes to us. Too often our impulses are outward, toward things, instead of from the Spirit within toward the flesh of our own being in order that it may be quickened, vital­ized, and daily re-created.

The spiritually awakened perceive that to be “saved” signifies something vastly more than the saving of a soul that it may go to the kingdom of heaven. The king­dom of heaven, according to the Lord’s Prayer, is to come into the earth. If so, the earth, our bodies, and all manifesta­tion must be prepared to receive. But he that sins cannot be of the kingdom, and death is the wage of sin. Life’s final at­tainment is in the fulfillment of the prayer: “May your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire.” Death is the enemy to be overcome, and it is to the valiant overcomer that the crown of glory is given.

“But,” say some, “I do not want to live here in this body always.” Of course not, and you do not, even now, and cannot, year after year, live in the same body. The body continually is being renewed and each of us has had more bodies than he is years old. The trouble is, the work­ing pattern of these bodies has not been changed properly and the structure is therefore not to our liking. Give the body an entirely new pattern every day, a pat­tern conveying some of those physical characteristics which you think will be more desirable, and see if you do not like each day much better than the one before. If so, carry the same general plan out ev­ery day of the year, and note the progress made during the year. Then extend this same process of improvement over a series of years, and see whether there is not in this practice something even more satisfac­tory than any heaven you have pictured in the past.

No matter what a man’s belief in regard to a future life has been, he holds to this phase of life as long as he can. The im­petus of the soul is toward expression; this impetus overbalances man’s belief that peace comes after death, and he clings to life, as a result. This impetus of the soul transcends pain and poverty. Even he who pretends to want to die will cling to life. What we need is to find the joy of living, and he who has not found the joy of living has not found his harmonious re­lationship with God, whose moving spirit is toward expression today just as it was in the beginning. It is the Father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom; when we once have the kingdom it will be a matter of but little importance where we are, for the joy of freedom and of dominion of Spirit is ours wherever we may be. We no longer are subjects of conditions and cir­cumstances, but stand in dominion over all things, the dominion which was given us in the beginning and which is now our divine heritage.

But let us not spend too much time in contemplating the ultimate in this respect. Rather let us spend our time studying and applying those principles which lead us into a more complete expression of life, here and now. The ultimate then will take care of itself. The great question is not what the outcome of this life will be, but what is the most practical and beneficial thing for us to do today in order that we may establish ourselves so far as possible within the kingdom; what will “save” us today, as much as possible, from limitation, sorrow, and suffering.

The important thing which we must realize is that man is not spirit as distinct from soul or body; neither is he soul only, or body only. Man is a composite of these three departments of his being. He is Spirit plus soul plus body. The thing which we most need at this point in our re-creative process, is some unifying influ­ence that will bring these three depart­ments of our being together until they func­tion as one instead of as three.

Jesus Christ said; “I AM the way.” I AM is the only truly centralizing influence in the individual. We dissipate our forces by saying, “I shall be so and so by and by,” or “I was so and so yesterday.” It is not what I have been or what I shall be, but what I AM, that counts. What is my real estimate of myself today? Just what do I involve in this Name of all names, and what do I include in my essential nature? Until the good of yesterday, the hopes of tomorrow, the inspiration of Spirit, the functions of mind and the responsive­ness of flesh all are incorporated into our present being and allowed to become cor­related into one and born into one whole expression, here and now, we are not availing ourselves of the full powers and possibilities that are ours.

The fact is that there never has been, nor will there ever be, more of God avail­able than there is now. There is no possi­bility of the future that is not more a possi­bility now. There is nothing which man can be that he is not now, under the divine plan. The most effective and practical thing that we can do is to accept now the full measure of our divine sonship, even to the degree that it includes the radiant Christ body which is the very substance of the Word of God become flesh. All that belongs to Christ belongs to us. When we are in right relationship with the Father, we shall receive as the Christ received. It was not Jesus alone who was the Christ, though only he may have shown forth his Christhood. The race of man is the Christ of God and it is our mission, yours and mine, to show forth our Christhood. Only thus is the full purpose of God fulfilled in his creation, and only thus is our re-crea­tive process complete.

Let us fulfill our sixth day of re-creation by realizing the truth of the following statements:

Yet in my flesh shall I see God.

I see in my flesh the expression of the pure, free substance of Spirit.

My flesh is the radiant substance of God, expressing his perfect life and intelli­gence.

My spirit, soul, and body are unified in Christ as one living expression of God.

 

CHAPTER VII – THE SABBATH DAY

And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

The question of the Sabbath day has occupied a very prominent place in the minds of both the religious world and the commercial world. The day itself affords opportunity for much speculation, but it is now quite generally accepted that the days of God’s creation were cycles of time, or movements of his own mind in the cre­ative process, rather than days as we know days. It was not until the fourth day of creation that the sun, moon, and stars were created, to designate days as we know them now. We are truly in the seventh day of God’s creation now, and this is the day in which his creation of per­fect man is coming forth. If you will read the description of the seventh day’s creation as given in Genesis, you will find that the report does not mention the day’s coming to a close, as it does in the ac­counts of the previous days. The seventh day of creation is yet with us and its per­fect work is yet in process of manifestation.

A thought seems to have become prev­alent in the minds of many people that because God rested on the seventh day he entirely withdrew from his creation, or else became inactive in it. Because of this belief, many men have the notion that our everyday life is something entirely separate and distantly removed from the life and activity of God. This is not true. It is apparent in the story of the seventh day and all through the Scriptures that God is very active in the lives and affairs of all men. If God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, he must be moving in his creation just as much today as he was in the beginning. If there is any difference perceptible, it is not in the na­ture of his moving or in the great under­lying purpose toward which he moves, but in that he moved to create in the first place, and now moves to animate and per­fect his creation. The vital thing for us to remember is that even as God moved upon the face of the deep in the begin­ning to bring forth a creation, he moves just as truly in all creation now, and is the life, intelligence, and substance of cre­ation. If God was my breath of life in the beginning, he is the breath of life to me now, and to reap the full benefit of life I have but to open myself to receive it.

A natural question for one to ask who begins to see this new significance of days, is whether it is necessary to observe the Sabbath as it is taught and practiced in the world today. It is not our intention to deal with customs or with days as we know them, but to arrive at some better understanding of the laws at work back of the days of creation. We think that for many reasons it is well that we observe the seventh day as we are observing it. Christ taught that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. If a person will earn­estly endeavor to live better, to conduct himself according to a higher standard on the Sabbath, he eventually will learn to live better every day. If he does good on the Sabbath, he will learn to do good every day, and surely it is not lawful to do anything but good on any day. A change of thought and act is always good for one mentally and physically, particu­larly if the change is toward something better. The laws of God and the work­ing of divine Principle do not destroy the laws of man, but fulfill them; the laws of God so change the conduct of man that he naturally lives with his fellow man in a manner that does not violate his proper relationship with his fellow man.

The Sabbath day is a day of rest, but rest is not inactivity. It is rather a harmony of activities, or a co-activity of man’s entire being. The rest of God was not inertia, for there is an infinite amount of activity described as having taken place upon that day.

The thing which man calls unrest or tiredness is only a lack of coactivity among the different departments of his being. This fact can be illustrated by many ex­periences in our own lives. Have we not all been “tired” at some time and then some one came along and suggested a party, a ride, or something which had a strong appeal to us, and instantly the tiredness disappeared? This change was brought about by the introduction of an idea to which the entire nature responded. Rest comes instantly when the demand is made upon one’s entire nature by the arousing of one’s interest. The experience clearly proves that rest entails, not a ces­sation of all activity, but a harmonizing of all of one’s activities, mental, emotional, and physical, to a common interest.

The rest of God was merely a rest from creating, but he continued to act in and through his creation. Can you not realize something of this rest in your own ex­periences? Suppose you have been very active in making a piece of wearing ap­parel. There comes the day when it is finished and you put it on, that you may wear it. Does not a great sense of rest come? You cease to create, but continue your activity by acting through the gar­ment. In all of your experiences in life, have you ever known such rest as the rest of realization—the realization that a task was properly completed and that you could then express through it? Activity never stops with the completion of a thing; it is transferred from the producing state to the animating state.

The inventor affords us another very good illustration of the principles under discussion. He conceives an idea and be­comes very active in creating or building the required mechanism. When this ma­chine is completed, it embodies the in­ventor’s thought and proceeds actively to express this thought. To the degree that this idea is sustained in the machine, to that degree is the machine perfect, but when it no longer conforms to that idea it is out of harmony.

So let us not overlook the tremendous activity of God which is continued in the seventh day of his creation, and is there­fore active in all creation now as its life, its substance, and its intelligence. In the seventh day, instead of God’s becoming inactive, he became the Lord God, or the ruling force in his creation. He was then not only creator, but ruler of his own cre­ation. He was Jehovah God, or God identified as the controlling element in the created universe.

Man knows only inharmony and un­rest when the various elements of his being move toward diverse ends. Can you not see what we do to ourselves when we plan for the soul’s activity toward a far-away heaven somewhere in the sky? With our minds interested in merely intellectual pur­suits, and the emotions following another course of action entirely independent of our spiritual standards or of sound reason, the body is left to drag along with almost no power to animate it. Harmony or rest will come when we can correlate all our activities with the activities of God. Was not Christ’s yielding of his spirit to the Spirit of God the final step leading up to his resurrection? Just so will our resurrection and our complete re-creation come when we have thoroughly expanded our own activities until everything in us moves with the will of God to the same end to which he moved in the beginning and to which he still moves in all creation.

In the beginning God moved to create, and naturally he moved to bring forth a perfect creation. As he moves in all cre­ation now, it is to perfect that expression of himself until it shows forth all that he is. We shall not find complete rest until we train all of the elements of our being to move in this same direction. Man’s mis­sion is to become Christ even as Jesus be­came Christ, by giving himself to the Father that the Father may work through him to overcome sin, sickness, and even death. Only in this process can all of man’s forces work to a common end and in perfect harmony with the will of God.

God created in the attitude of “Let there be,” and in that attitude man finds his greatest power. “Let” does not de­note inertia any more than rest does. It denotes merely an openness of mind to incorporate a greater and more dynamic power than that to which he has been ac­customed. It is a giving up of a lesser ac­tivity for a greater activity, and many diverging activities for activity in one di­rection—the fulfillment of the will of God in every phase of our being.

God’s rest is in finding his completion and realizing his expression in his own cre­ation. Man will find his rest in realizing his completeness in God.

I  rest in the realization that the will of God is the one and only active power in me, perfecting my whole being according to his own perfect ideal.

This day is the Word of God fulfilled in my flesh, and I become the man divinely created.

From this day forth I live by “every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God,” and I find complete unity in him.

I consecrate my whole self to the fulfillment of the will of God, and I find rest for my soul, peace for my mind, and health for my body. All-powerful is the mighty Spirit of God daily re-creating me accord­ing to his image and likeness.

 

The End