DEAR Reader, are you hungry for the true bread of Life? Then are you willing to give up the belief that you are separated in some way from the source of this Heavenly manna-the Real man who is, in very truth, your Self ?
Why remain longer in the belief that you sojourn in a far country where the husks of lack, loss and limitation are your daily fare? You are not of that world at all, for “Ye are children of the Light.”
Really, you are not on a physical plane; you are not in a fleshly body; you have no human form; you are not subject to man-made laws or beliefs.
Really, you are of the eternal Substance. The Mind you have is that Mind which was also in Christ Jesus. Your only body is the body of light. Your very being is the radiant I-Am-Self.
But if you believe otherwise, and feel that you are living in and depending upon a material world of time and place, life and death, good and evil, then to you it appears so: and your ever-existent good, though never actually separated from you, is nevertheless hidden from your sense and sight; for where your state of awareness is, there also will be your experience.
In that mental journey-which is the belief of being in a far country, back to the recognition that we have never been absent from the Father’s house-many steps are to be taken. To think thoughts of health, wealth and success, even under a false impression that this may be done with a personal human mind, has been one of these steps, without a doubt. But now the night-mists are lifting and the new Day dawns more clearly.
Any method of thinking, apart from the conscious knowledge of possessing now the ChristMind, to which “all things are possible,” cannot deliver the full peace of God, nor the true, as well as lasting satisfaction to be found in the Master’s statement, “I AM the Way: I AM the Truth: I AM the Life.”
Transcending and overarching the general belief that while one’s mind is human he must still think divinely with it, there comes a higher concept and deeper insight, which is, that we should give no heed to a belief that our mind is “human,” but on the contrary, we should take the position that our mind is Divine, and thus, naturally, we think divinely with it. Such right vision and divine insight will surely bring us to the Horeb-height-that mountain of God where we behold and know Him as the I AM As we rise to the position that there is but ONE God, and hence but ONE Mind, we see there is not, and never could truly be, a so-called human mind, or mentality; moreover, it is not by spiritually educating a fictitious human mind that we come into the Divine, but quite the contrary is true-whoever shall lose his belief in a mind other than the one God-Mind shall find this very Mind to be his own.
It was a selfish belief, instead of a separate human mind, which prompted the Son, in Jesus’ parable, to desire to leave his Father’s house. And, later, the feeling of tender, yearning love in his heart brought back to him the awareness of his eternal unity, or oneness with the Father, and hence, with the original Perfect man which he was. And, dear Reader, this same true awareness will likewise bring us back. All thoughts of genuine value to man in this world have come to him through inspirational or intuitive knowing and feeling, which is the natural activity of the one perfect Mind within us all.
Spiritual illumination and inspiration come when we gladly surrender and shut out everything of self, and of the world, in order that we may hear God’s voice. The heavenly promise is then renewed and fulfilled – “I will instruct and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go.”
The truth of Being does not come to man in order to destroy any evil anywhere, but it comes to him that having caught a glimpse of it he may hunger and thirst for his real Self, the radiant I AM. Hear, O my people everywhere! The hidden, inner man of the heart is none other than your Self! And, moreover, is your perfection right now. Indeed, this perception is the “well of water springing up into everlasting life.” The Absolute teaching is not an abstract philosophy, nor some impossible and impractical transcendentalism, as often supposed, but delivers the accurate and intelligent understanding that one should give no heed to a self-imposed human mind, but instead, identify himself with his real Self in which is vested all-victorious power.
To you who are ready to leave a far country, I come. “No man cometh unto the Father but by Me,” his true Self, the Christ of God. This real Self, the perfect Man, is your actual Being -you, as you really are, and is found as you turn in full surrender of a self-imposed mind and resultant thoughts to God.
You are not a mortal man at all; instead, you are ever one with Light, Love and Power. Hence what will it profit you though you gain the homage of all men, and fulfill all your human desires, if you still have unrest and yearn for peace? So perceiving that “I, of mine own self, can do nothing,” the awakening process has begun.
Where is the Real man about whom so much has been written and taught? Where does he live? How is he related to you who are here, now? He is not located off in space, somewhere, nor in some other place or world, for, verily, he is to be found exactly at that place where you are this very instant. Thinking of the Real man as afar off, or on another plane of consciousness, veils your vision to the supreme fact that he, the Real man, is you, just where you are. For until man comes to himself, identified with his original perfect state as perpetually existing and intact now, how can he ever expect deliverance from a sleeping state called “mortality” and all that it includes?
Therefore “Cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein is he to be accounted of?” Isaiah had evidently discovered this essential step to take, and so should we all. Nor did Jesus concern himself with the right and the wrong thoughts of mortals, or men in dreams, but knowing himself to be the Real man, and likewise they as well, he spoke from this understanding of Reality, and all things were revealed to be as he commanded.
Can anyone but yourself let go of your own false believing? Can anyone but yourself rise out of your own self-deception? Jesus came to you and to me to show us a way out of such a dilemma of human existence. He penetrated its enigma by revealing the fact of our preexistent Christ-estate of Mind and body. Thus he demonstrated that man need no longer be victimized by selfish beliefs, but may rise and come forth as from death to life, from being lost to being found again. But to do this, he must come to himself-he must come to see who and what he really is.
Can there be darkness when light is present? Or can one sleep while he is awake? Obviously, then, it is no more possible for mental darkness or a dream of sin, sickness and limitation to continue to reign in our sense and thought when the light of our Divinity breaks in upon us, and abides. You are never actually in a dream, no matter how long you may be thinking you are. The man you think you are in a dream typifies the unreal mortal man, and the man awake typifies the preexistent real state-the original Perfect man. Whether you are awake or asleep, whether you are aware or unaware of it, you are ever the same man, namely, God’s Spiritual, perfect man: there is none other.
The source of a problem is incorrectly placed, or not traced back far enough, when it is said to originate in false thinking, for where and in whom did such thinking begin?
Sin and ignorance, which are generally supposed to cause sickness and limitation, are after all, but dreams of the man who went to sleep, or who did not remain consciously aware of the truth of his being. And it is this very man who must now lay hold of his ever-existing real state and so prove the nothingness of such sleep. Can you see this stupendous fact, now, for yourself? There could be no sin without a sinner, no belief without a believer, no sleep without a sleeper, and no claim without a claimant. That were an utter impossibility. So until man surrenders an illusion, knowing it to be such, how can he possibly be liberated from it?
The Way lies within yourself. You must become aware of your preexistent Self as the Self you manifested before going into a false state. Then the light of your Divinity will surely waken you to behold the futility of ever attempting to make over a dream and yet leave man asleep!
This clearer and fuller understanding of man will make new demands upon us all. The requirement facing each of us today is that we relinquish absolutely the foolish notion that our health, peace or prosperity depends upon any personal thought-taking method, and instead, understand thoroughly that our good abides in us, the true Christ-Self, and nowhere else. And we are this Man consciously to the degree that we put off the old beliefs and put on the new understanding. We may temporarily dream and seem to lose awareness of ourself as the original spiritual Man of God’s creating, but every dream has an end. So our common dream of separation from our true Selfhood, in which we all participate, will come to a close for each of us as we see and acknowledge the one Mind and no other, to be ours, here and now; our life to be the one eternal and immortal verity; and the Real Man to be none other than our Self right where we are, when so understood and expressed. And so may this prove to each of us to be the glorious Truth and radiant Light which Jesus promised would set us free.
It is absolutely certain that God made everything out of His own Perfection, and hence, all was, and still is, good and perfect. In this light we see that we are and must be spiritual and perfect-and more, we are Spirit and Perfection, for the Scripture reads, “That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.”
But to accept this fact intellectually or to truly see it inspirationally are two distinctly different viewpoints. To you who are ready to let go all personal methods in exchange for the Way, Lo, to you I come, and I AM with you always.
Now you can say, “I know that I AM! I know that my health, my harmony, my perfection, my happiness, and my abundance of every good are not located in my body or in my affairs, but only in my real Self-myself awake-the I-Am-Self. Here abide my unalterable, undefilable health and wholeness; my perfect spiritual senses and their distinct activities; my ever conscious awareness of Reality as all there is; and my complete experience of every good thing.
Therefore, seeing this supernal fact, my desire should be, and is, to cease believing that my health is dependent in any way upon a physical form or even upon a spiritual form, or body. Though my form may still appear to be physical I shall know that nevertheless I AM ever one with the I AM THAT I AM; and hence, as Jesus said at one time, so may I say at this time, “Suffer it to be so now.” The appearance of form as physical, need in no way deter, interrupt or hinder my conscious awareness that any form or body expresses but does not contain Me, the I AM, and therefore has no power to limit the wholeness which I AM. My sight and hearing, my tasting, smelling and feeling, are also in and of my radiant Self, the Christ-Man. They are perfect in Eternity, from everlasting to everlasting. Nothing in and of a so-called physical plane, and its man-made laws and theories, can in any way interfere with, change, deform, distort or limit my Spiritual senses, for they are no part of the body of the dream-world, but are wholly in the Christ-Self, the I AM, eternally one with God.
Now, dear Reader, why do you need to longer feel the necessity of a method of taking thought whereby you may attempt to make changes and corrections (called healing) in your physical appearance? Is it not more intelligent to see and understand that your health is never in or of anybody but belongs only to the spiritual perfect Man whom you already are?
The only necessary change or correction, therefore, should be made in your sense and feeling, in your apprehension and understanding; then your preexistent original estate of perfection will become true and real to you here and now. Could that which is true ever change? Or could Reality ever be less than it was always?
Why not transcend all ways and means of healing, changing, correcting or destroying thoughts or things, and take the high vision of Reality-the vision of being the I-Am-Self, the vision of seeing this Self as a fact now? In proportion as you see and feel Reality to be operative here and now, and in so far as you can, live in harmony with it, you change, as it were, from the state of sleep to that of being awake and aware. The Self-revealing light shows us that we take conscious possession of the real, divine Mind when we see that it is truly the only Mind, and so discard our thought of any other. Thus we go on thinking and feeling rightly, just accepting the simple fact that it is the mind of Christ which is doing it all.
In this way we learn more about how to multiply our good, since, with the divine Mind to which all things are possible, it is natural to have and enjoy the things which our heart desires. The here and the now is all that we are consciously aware of, for how could we live in the future, or in any place other than just where we are? This, then, is the time and the place where we multiply and replenish our good, for the I-Am-Self is here and never absent at any time. When you make a declaration, affirmation or statement of what you wish to do, or what you desire to bring to pass, remember this paramount fact: spiritual things must be spiritually conceived and brought forth. Therefore, when you think, do not feel that it is a human mind you are using with which to bring about some special good, but as the man of God, the I-AmSelf, know that you are thinking with the Christ-Mind and you will inevitably bring forth what is rightfully yours. Then your Word, spoken as by the divine Mind, is your authority that it shall not return to you void, but shall go forth and multiply your good. This was Jesus’ authority, and likewise may be yours.
You are consciously at-one with the divine Mind to the degree that you see, feel and express it, and believe in no other. Acting in the knowledge that this Mind is all-knowing and to it all things are revealed, state or declare your wish or need, and leave it with this Mind to fulfill, or bring to pass.
Back of us, around, above and within us is Power,-infinite, invincible and almighty. “I AM the real Man, at-one with the Father,” is the cry of the soul singing its way into the full realization that “All power in heaven and in earth is given unto Me.” You are of that which is ever “above.” Therefore your perception should be that Spirit includes your good, and is ceaselessly blessing you. Spirit denotes the real Substance; and the spiritual universe refers to creation as it really is,-good, perfect, harmonious, incorruptible and eternal.
To repeat: The Mind of Spirit should be considered the only Mind, and you should relate yourself to it by your recognition of it as the real and the true, and hence the very Mind which you are using now with which to think your good and true thoughts. You should also see and acknowledge that this Mind is Power, is Light, is Wisdom and is Love which never faileth.
Your vision determines your thinking. Your vision determines your feeling. Your vision determines your action. Your vision determines the multiplication of your good. Therefore to experience the perfect creation, which all must do, you should begin with the perfect vision,I AM the Self! Not, I am John or Mary Jones, but I Am the Self, the Christ-Man. And you should say this as the living fact and not merely as a mechanical affirmation. The I AM THAT I AM infinitely individualizes itself as the Christ-Self or I-Am-Self, each indivisible identity being capable of the full realization of his inherent wisdom and intelligence, hence his ability to multiply and replenish his sense of perfect creation. With clear vision and open heart we now proceed to learn more about how such multiplication is to take place.
Working from the principle of the one Mind, the one Power, the one Spirit-Life, take the position as the I-Am-Self, instead of I am John or Mary Jones, and with this vision make your wish for that thing which you desire to have, and which your own Mind informs you is right and good for you to bring to pass. Remember, you are thinking with that Mind to which nothing is impossible, and with the Love which never faileth.
The I AM THAT I AM is the infinite Power House wherein the ever-existent good is generated and maintained. According to Genesis, God declared: “Let the earth bring forth grass… Let the waters bring forth the moving creatures. Let the earth bring forth the living creatures. And it was so.” The command, you see, was definitely stated for the desired thing. Let there be this particular thing! “And it was so.”
Many people are uncertain of their desires, and so change them from day to day, whereas we should form definite ideas and clearly state them, for such is the prerogative of the divine Mind. So always, when and wherever possible, determine and speak the definite idea. A wish, aim, or desire, stated plainly, will bring forth “after his kind,” for to every seed there is a corresponding body, or manifested form, which is creation.
One may ask, But how am I to know that what I wish is right and best for me to have in my present experience? The answer to this question is: You cannot really know unless you are aware that you are associating yourself only with the divine Mind, and so from the standpoint of this Mind your desire must be right.
This is why, first of all, you should identify yourself with that state called the Christ or the I-Am-Self, for he is ever one with God, and to him all good is possible. Any desire of the true Self, or of the one Mind, is right and good, and capable of being brought forth into visible manifestation as illustrated in the first chapter of Genesis, as well as in Jesus’ life and miracles. As you identify yourself with the divine Mind, and no other, naturally you will begin to desire only those things which are right and best for you to have in your present experience. Your desire for some certain thing, therefore, will be proof to you that it is for you, since both the desire as well as the experience proceed from the same Mind. The I-Am-Self and the divine Mind are one and inseparable.
The questions may then be asked, “How can the divine Mind, or Spirit, create material things? Is not the thing created, or which is brought to pass, verily material?” To the one Mind, or Spirit, all creation is spiritual. Spirit could not create materiality, although limited vision calls it so.
Let us take, for instance, the lesson found in the New Testament where Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes. Here the disciples brought to him the two loaves and few fishes as representing all the food available. This was their vision. But Jesus “looked up into heaven” and gave thanks. Jesus lifted his vision higher than human sense would allow.
To human sense,-that is, to those who were not yet aware that they had never departed from their Father’s house, and so were ever associated with infinite plenty,-the supply of food was limited; and to this sense also it was material.
Jesus lifted his vision above human sense! The very food which they thought material and limited, he blessed. He placed a different interpretation upon it altogether, for the right discernment of Spirit ever beholds the inexhaustible and illimitable supply of thoughts and things. He saw in the loaves and fishes his own concept of food, and to him it represented spiritual good which may be increased or multiplied wherever one may be, according to the desirable amount needed, even were the necessity present to feed five thousand people.
To those who partook of the food, no doubt this spiritual expression looked exactly the same as their familiar so-called material loaves, whereas Jesus saw it as the manifestation of spiritual ideas. To the materialist, all things are material; to the spiritually-minded, all things are in and of Spirit.
For this reason many find the increase of their good so difficult: they are attempting to multiply spiritually the very things which to them are material, instead of multiplying spiritual ideas, spiritually. It may seem to take time, and one may need to exercise patience with himself, in order to learn how to translate his sense of things from a material basis to the spiritual and real.
“Ye must be born again,” is still the explained process of regeneration as taught by the Master who knew all things. “Ye must be born of water and of Spirit.” Not born again of materiality, -of time, place and limitation. Remember, a far country is not a place, nor a plane, but a state. We are therefore to leave one state,a state of falsely believing that we are material beings in a material world, and we are to take on the true state, the state of truly seeing that we are the real Man ever at-one with the real Mind. This is to be born again, born of water, -purity and receptivity, and born of Spirit, Truth and Reality.
We are not to leave one material viewpoint for another material viewpoint which may seem an advanced one; but we are to leave the state of seeing things materially to seeing things spiritually. And in order to do this, we are to raise our eyes (vision) to Heaven, Reality. We are to get a new and true viewpoint.
Here on earth is where you should, and can, multiply your good. Here on earth, with spiritual awareness and right vision, is where you may bring to pass your heart’s desire: for the spiritual ideas,-Wealth, Abundance and Prosperity,-stand back of all your desires for supply, and so may be brought into visible form to the degree that you see them as they are, acknowledge and accept them.
You are therefore to leave the belief of being material, or mortal, for the true understanding of yourself as spiritual and immortal. Once establishing yourself in this right and true position, or state, it will then also become easy and natural to establish your world and your affairs in their rightful places. To the spiritually minded, all is Spirit and its spiritual accompaniment. Should your desire be for a strong, healthy, active body, such a desire is good and right; and if you are certain that it arises in you, the I-Am-Self, instead of John or Mary Jones, then your desire will be consummated. You should remember that the form and action of the real Self must be like unto it in all ways. The I-Am-Self and the I-Am-Body are one, for Life includes its specific perfect form. Thus as you identify yourself with the I AM, you likewise identify your form, or body, with perfect action, health and harmony. Instead of thinking of the body as a dependent material object, think of it as simultaneously existing with the perfect Self which you are, and consequently good. Instead of seeing the body as limited by man-made laws, understand it to be eternal, changeless, complete and perfect in action, feeling and form: because ever-existing with the one perfect Life and Love which you are, and which includes ALL.
Some consider themselves material beings with material bodies. Others, having raised their vision, believe that they are spiritual beings, but that they still express material bodies. In the Self-revealing Light it is seen that in our real state we are each not only the perfect spiritual Self, but also the perfect spiritual body.
From first to last the body should be seen and thought of as included in the perfect Self, and then it will easily be seen that all that ever needs changing or correcting is one’s point of view. Thus as this is changed from belief to understanding, automatically one’s world seems to change also; and, whereas before there seemed to be discord, now harmony is expressed; and, whereas before there seemed to be lack and limitation, now plenty and abundance are expressed.
In this way Reality or the perfect Creation, comes to light. You should therefore ever keep the vision of REALITY before you,-Reality here, there, everywhere; and never declare anything which you do not wish to see manifested. Reality includes you, the perfect I AM, or spiritual Self; you, the spiritual and perfect body; and you, the spiritual and perfect universe. For nothing exists to you outside of your Self.
At some point in every one’s progress he will learn this real Truth about him Self, Body and Universe, and will leave all else to lay hold upon this Reality, which is his Father’s house, and also his own.
Verily, the Self is the Way to wholeness and harmony, to success and prosperity: for our Self is truly the Light of the world. We should therefore sing praises to this glorious Self, our own I AM, ever one with God, the Father. “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ,”-accept as your own the true (Christ) state-that perfect state of knowing, feeling and being which originally you had with the Father before the dreamworld began. In no other way can you personify the Real or Christ-Man. Do not attempt to bring the perfect state of Being into the mortal dream as though by so doing to repair the dream-conditions (while you are left to do further dreaming), but step out of the dream, as it were, by taking possession of your true Christ-state into which no dream can possibly come. “They which are the children of the flesh (thinking as in a dream) are not the (real state of the) children of God.”
You cannot return to the Father except by first returning to the perfect, real state, since this very state is the Christ, which is all-inclusive-eternally one with God. Paul writes very illuminatingly in the following verses:
“The head of every man is Christ; and the head of Christ is God….Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular…Christ is all, and in all.”
Thus we cannot return to the Father except be returning to the Christ-the position of perfect Being which is eternally one with God, even as the rays of light are one with the sun. The rays collectively represent the Christ, the Self-revealing Light, of which each one of us is a member in particular. Here we see why Peter declared so inspirationally to Jesus, “Thou art the Christ,” because he saw that man operating in the Christ-state Is the Christ-Man.
“In Christ shall all be made alive.” Verily as we operate in this, our real state of knowing and expressing, we shall all be alive to our Perfection as changeless and eternal, free from any mortal dream. “In him (the Christ state) dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Ye are (now, as in the beginning) complete in him,” and so need only to take conscious possession of this eternal Truth, and in so far as you can, live and act therein, to be set free from the mortal dream.
“Therefore, if any man be in (the) Christ (state) he is a new creature,-(verily, the Christ-Man, the I-Am-Son) ; old things (of the dream) are passed away, behold, all things become new (as they were originally).” “No man cometh unto the Father but by Me,”-the only way to the God-Consciousness is through the Christ-state, for “without Me,” the true state of knowing, feeling and expressing, “you can do nothing,”-for only because you are not fully conscious of your real state, nor fully operating in it, does the dream of bondage and limitation persist.
This is the very truth which we should bring to that man who is called a mortal. When he comes to us for help we are to say to him, “You are not of this world. You are not of perishable flesh and blood. You are not both good and evil. You are not intended to experience death, but only life. You are God’s perfect man exactly where you stand: you need only to feel this, and live in harmony with it, and you will begin experiencing it.”
Truly until one comes to see himself as he is, he will never leave a far country of dreams and fables. When you come to yourself, you see who you are, and seeing this you naturally see what body you have, what universe you live in, what power you make use of, what Mind you utilize and what Life you are living, feeling and experiencing. With such transformation of sense and view there also appears a corresponding transfiguration of body and affairs.
Does the Christ-Self exist because of what you, personally, think or feel? Does the Real man, or man in his Real state know about Spirit and flesh, good and bad, or about time and place, sin, sickness and death? What is it that the I AM knows? It knows I AM, and besides Me there is none else! It knows, “I AM in the Father, and the Father in Me.” Thus I AM ever one with the I AM THAT I AM.
Say it over and over, sing it softly to yourself-I AM THAT I AM. Lovingly, earnestly, expectantly. Do not attempt to define what it means, nor analyze your feeling, but just say it, and it will begin to reveal itself to you, for the I AM THAT I AM reveals Itself to me, to you, to all who say, I will arise and go unto my Self in my true state of being-where nothing can oppose me-nothing!
The I AM does not depend upon thought or feelings, times or places, conditions called sin and goodness, life and death, for its existence: the I AM THAT I AM says, I AM all power, I AM all perfection. Do not confine Me to this or that idea or thought, word or saying. Do not limit Me to churches or ministers, to man or woman, to books or sentences. I AM THAT I AM, the Unconditioned, the Eternal One.
There is but the one I AM THAT I AM. There is not one big “I” and millions of smaller “I’s.” One Life is all there is, even as one air is all the air there is. This one I AM THAT I AM includes granite heights, crystals, trees, flowers, birds, animals, man, and all created things. Surrender, therefore, the ifs, buts, whys and wherefores for this absolute state of yourself -your radiant I – AM, ever the Self-revealing Light. The I AM does not concern itself with your sins or limitations, with your past or future. Does not concern itself with your body or affairs; with your father or mother, your husband or wife; with your station in life, your color, age nor education. The I AM concerns itself only with you. Ever it declares, There is no cause or effect besides Me; I see no ignorance or darkness, no evil, anywhere, for to Me there is nothing but Myself. I am the All in all.
I AM found when all else fails; when all other means are of no avail; and when no thinking can find the way out. Lo, your extremity is my opportunity to prove to you Myself to be your All-in-all. I AM present always, the neverfailing, Self-existent One. If you make your bed in hell, lo, I AM there. If you take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, ever there I AM, for I AM with you wherever you are. I am your Self.
I AM the Self which, apparently, you have wandered away from-but only as in a dream which you can readily see, if you will, has no substance at all. No dream can ever separate us, for I AM with you wherever you are. I AM with you in your sorrow, in your failure, in your defeat. I AM with you in your joy, in your pleasure, in your success. What is darkness to you shineth as the light to me.
I AM the Self to whom you now lovingly turn. None of your delusions affect Me. Ever I AM at your side waiting only your awareness of Me, your recognition and realization of Me as your All-in-all, to set you free from any false belief in separation. When you leave all for Me, then shall you find Me. When you cry out yearningly from your heart to Me, then shall you hear My voice answering you. I AM your hope of Glory. I AM your bright and morning Star. I AM the Lord, your God. I AM YOU, your Self. Acknowledge Me in all your ways. Acknowledge your Self in its true position, and thus enjoy its supreme ability and power in all your undertakings. See your radiant Self as verily the Real man about whom so much has been written, for lo, these many years. See this Self, -your Self-as the Christ Self,-all-victorious, pure, complete, supreme, triumphant in all things and in all ways.
As you have loved, and praised, believed’ in and worshipped Jesus, the Christ, as the perfect and adorable One, even so must you now think of and consider your Self, for, dear Reader, the Self of Jesus and the Self of you and of me is not separate or different, but is, in very truth, the same,-“That they all may be ONE; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us.”
“If a man walk in the night (unillumination) he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.” (John 11:10). Our righteousness shall be brought forth as the light if only we will be receptive to progressive ideas, to new revelations, and to the ever-revealing Light of the Self. Many who read these lines know that they are not advancing as they should, nor as they once did, yet they feel that they are striving harder than ever before; that they read and study the books of Truth faithfully; that they are sincere in their declarations and prayers; still they do not progress in demonstration, nor understand why this is so.
Arise and come forth! ever calls the Self. As new leaves in Spring push off the old ones from the tree, so the new and more advanced ideas of Truth which we apprehend and accept push away outgrown beliefs and theories. Most frequently, at first, we obtain the light through teachers and books, but this same spiritual illumination may also come to us directly from God, the I AM THAT I AM, without the channel of any outer communication whatsoever.
It often happens that after many years of study one may seem to come to a standstill, to a place where he makes no further progress. It is apparent then that he needs fuller light, though perhaps unwilling to make this acknowledgment, even to himself. Then, again, fuller light may have been presented to him which he refused to listen to or accept.
Of course this refusal to progress must retard one’s return to the Self, bind him to old positions outgrown, and close the door to the divine Truth which should always be kept wide open. As the sun shines on us all alike, so also Revelation of the Truth of our Being may come to us all,-to anyone who will receive it. Working with prescribed thoughts, as such, day after day, struggling with the repetition of sentences, no matter however true, keeps one in a far country where “no man gave unto him.” Meanwhile, the realization is dawning that it is for all to come of themselves to the perfect radiant Self.
One must arise, welcome and follow the beckoning light, and so come to the perfect state where the Self really lives. In this way he finds the All-good, and all problems vanish.
Many are now in the process of such awakening. Our waking, or coming into the real state, is not instantaneous as in our waking from a night’s sleep; for indeed, it seems to require much time with all of us; yet how grateful we should be that we are beholding the Way, and ever we are gaining a better understanding of Jesus’ life and teaching; that we have received so much help from others who have blazed the trail before us, and that this
Self-revealing Light ever continues to shine upon us-to reveal and make Itself more fully known to us.
In these latter days it is to be expected that more abundant light will come swiftly and will break suddenly, perhaps, in full radiance upon the quickened senses, so that a complete awakening will take place. But until this event comes we should do all we possibly can in the way of preparation for the Way, the Light, the Resurrection, by acknowledging our Real self to be present with us right here on this so-called physical plane, for such, after all, is the true awareness.
Right here where we are expressing a so-called physical body, and right here where we have believed that we were using a so-called human mind, is the time and place where we are to see and claim the perfect Christ-Self, and no other, as the one Self of each and all of us. This is the Truth which will surely set us free from any opposite beliefs. This one-Self is the Self of us all, is the Son, of God, the Real man, and is “the one altogether lovely.” Individuality is infinite in expression, as you and I and every other man, woman and child. We each have a distinct individuality which expresses and makes manifest the one Christ-Self.
We read in the Bible that “in the beginning” God created man in His own image. He did not have diversified ideas about man, but completely perfect ideas of all that man is and includes. Each of us, then, whom God created, must be the personification of the perfect and original Man which is the Christ-Man. Jesus exemplified this creation perfectly.
As there is but one idea of mathematics, or as mathematics is one and not two, so Christ is one, and this one is called the perfect Self, or the real Man. And as we may each have and use all there is of mathematics, and still all is left for every one else, likewise one may express, use and manifest the one Christ-Man, and still every one else may do the same. When this illustration is clearly seen and understood, then you will apprehend and realize the oneness of the Christ-Man, and also his infinity. You will always have your distinct individuality, you will never merge, as it were, into another individual, but will ever express and exerience the original spiritual Man.
When we are commanded to “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ,” this means that we are to put on the Christ state, for this is the state which is Lord of all. As we put on the Christ state, or function in this true state of knowing, feeling and expressing, we are the Christ man, and no other. We can put on “the new man” only by operating in our real and true position, for then, automatically, we become the Real man of God’s creating.-“For it pleased the Father that in him,-the Real Christ-man, should all fullness dwell.” Jesus perfectly expressed Man in God’s likeness, for we read in John’s gospel:
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Thus Jesus, was, and still is, the Christ. There are not many “Christs” anymore than there are many mathematics. The word “Christ” means, primarily, the perfect state of spiritual Being. The Christ is the state of knowing and being Perfection. When man expresses this Christ-state, then he is called the Christ-Man. This Christ, or perfect state of Being, exists potentially in every one of us. It exists the same as one’s waking state exists in him even while he sleeps; nor could he ever be separated from it. In the preceding booklet, “The Self-revealing Light,” it is clearly shown and explained how man’s waking state exists in him even when asleep; how as he loses sleep by waking, he then consciously operates in that state. Thus as we lose a dream state by putting on the Christ state, or consciously operating in it, we experience Reality.
Today, like the pendulum of a clock, we find ourselves swinging, as it were, between the position of the wakeful Immortal and the selfi fi mposed position of the sleeping mortal; and, as St. Paul says, “It is high time that we awake out of (such) sleep.” Indeed, the time is definitely here when we must see just what this sleep means and includes: for it was this very sleep which originally dimmed our vision of perfect God and perfect Man and brought about all that we are unhappily experiencing today.
When man functions in his natural state, as God created him to do, he is then an Immortal consciously aware of his true state of being in the Kingdom of heaven. Should he choose not to remain in this state, however, as clearly illustrated by the rich man’s son, he enters what the Bible calls a mental sleep where he is not fully aware of himself as he really is. Thus we see that though the son may choose which state he will serve, still the true state is always present, and ever one with the Father, and the other state but denotes a mental lapse from the true and real, so constitutes the unreal state where unhappy and discordant conditions spring up.
When light is withdrawn from a room, the result is called darkness, and in precisely the same way, when we withdraw ourselves from the True state of being by becoming mentally asleep to the truth that we are ever the Perfect man of God’s creating, and so ever completely harmonious, and lacking nothing, the result is then called mortality. Thus it is imperative that we waken and remain awake, to enjoy the Peace and Happiness of that True state where, actually, we are the Light of the world.
How shall we place ourselves in this true state, as it were, so as to be the Real man, here and now? Just our fervent and earnest desire to do this, more than to do anything else in the world, will immediately and effectively help to bring this about. When the heart really and truly desires, above all else, to live the true life of peace, loving-kindness and goodness, and so is willing to give up, so far as it is able, any contrary seeing, thinking and feeling, one instantly finds himself in that True state of being, even as upon opening his eyes from slumber, he immediately enters his day-time experience.
So, first of all, lovingly desire to live more fully in your true Christ state,-that original and ever-existing state of perfect Man, and long with all your heart to leave a selfish, self-indulgent state of seeing, thinking and believing in which we have all so long lingered. Let us come to the Father, now, and humbly say, “Father, forgive me, for I knew not what I was doing.” Truly, such yearning, heart’s desire to please God, as well as an utter willingness to abandon a false state of mental sleep, permits the Light to stream in.
Present in, and back of every created thing, is the real Life, the real Mind and the real Being, of which things are only the symbols. Perfection is the original essence and spiritual nature of all that is. Back of a world of change, of impermanence, rests the Eternal which is the Unchangeble. Ever underlying the finite is the Infinite. Underlying our dream is the waking state of Spiritual consciousness. Underlying all falsity is the truth. Underlying death is life-eternal.
What we call Reality is God, existing without beginning or end, underlying all forms, and all things, and the primal cause of them. Reality exists of and by itself, it depends upon nothing, for it is the I AM THAT I AM. It abides invariable and constant in all things; it precedes and survives all changing forms, states and conditions.
This Reality for which everyone searches day after day, (although he may know it not), is in and of nothing man invented. This is why so often he misses the Way, because he is looking where Reality can never be found. He feels “a mighty famine,” and foolishly continues looking for the substance of the all-good amidst the husks of materiality, hereby entangling himself more and more in the dream of a material existence. “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I Am God, and there is none else.” (Is. 45:22) Such is that innermost call of Love, which each of us must, sooner or later, heed and obey.
Dear Reader, begin now to answer to this greatest of all the demands made upon us, which is to love. Inspirational and intuitive thinking and feeling are not physical emotions, nor the properties of a make-shift mentality, but they denote the conscious possession of that Mind which was in Christ Jesus. Be assured of this from the revelation vouchsafed to you from on High.
Verily, we must find God to be Love,–in the heart of man. The Bible uses this word “heart” as symbolical of the innermost and vital part of man, even as Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” So counteract, or offset, the hold which past or present mistakes may have had upon you, by letting Love permeate your whole being; and it will generate, automatically, that right feeling which is called forgiveness: for this, Jesus taught, must precede light and illumination.
Love and forgive your enemies by looking through their mistakes to catch a glimpse of the radiant Self standing in their midst untouched by any mortal dream-appearance. From this place, which is holy ground, blotting out of memory that mortal-appearing man or woman who has treated you wrongly or unkindly, perceive that it is not this sinning appearance which you are bidden by Spirit to love. No, indeed! It is the Christ-Man whom you should recognize, and into whose shining face you should smile, and whose hand you should clasp in understanding love.
Do this, Beloved, that you may be the obedient Son of the Father; and upon you will dawn that light which is brighter than the sun; and if your limbs are fettered you will presently find them supple and usable again, and if restrictions have been placed upon your affairs they will be released, and you will walk in freedom; for where your loving feeling is, there shall your complete and happy experience be also.
The higher illumination and understanding reveals the fact that we are really not living on a material plane which would involve the necessity of destroying, either physically or mentally, our ever-increasing and multiplying problems, sorrows and limitations. What is termed a “plane” is really a certain state of awareness, instead of a place. This is what makes our freedom possible, because we need not move from one place to another, but merely from one point of awareness to another higher and more enlightening one, in order to become a new creature and exclaim, Behold, all things are made new.
Thoughts which spring from Love inspire and elevate our aims and efforts, and draw us into the realization of our true estate. We may have believed that Truth or Mind is one entity, and Love is another, but the Self-revealing Light shows us that Wisdom and Love are but two aspects of the same Self. Love is perfected in Wisdom, and Wisdom is revealed in Love. So, to seek for Wisdom, or Truth, as though it were separate from Love, is to be unaware of one of the basic facts of Being.
Be still, O, so still. Endeavor to feel warm, pulsating love for God, for Self, for all. Let tenderness, forgiveness, unselfish goodness flood and fill you completely with their divine effulgence. Then light and peace will envelop you, and you will sing songs of joy and gladness. Inspirational thoughts, too, will come to you effortlessly, and Love will lift you above the sense of sleep and of twilight into that realm where it is always Day, and where it is a joy just to live and to be.
Thus shall you understand that glorious saying, “He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” For you know that it is so.
We know that while standing in the light we could not be in darkness; just so we know that knowing and feeling our place in the true Light, we cannot believe in, or be conscious of the untruth, or unreality. And even though we may still appear to be in human form, now we know where we came from and who we are. Even while we live, apparently, in a so-called physical world, we may claim, and make good our claim, that we are the I AM Self living in the Kingdom of heaven.
This is the spiritual vision which we must always utilize in order to see things correctly. When we rightly claim the actions, functions and organs of our body to be perfect now, which is the vision in the Self-revealing Light, we do not focus attention on a physical appearance, as though attempting to spiritualize what is called matter; nor try to change any form from sickness to health, or from disease to harmony: nor do we hold any false picture-form of body in thought while the true vision is ours.
Right where I am apparently expressing a discordant or limited condition of any kind, right here is where I am to realize and declare the very truth of myself as not material but spiritual, not matter but Spirit, since God, Spirit, is All in all. I am not dreaming now but I am awake in the Light, and so I am partaking of Reality and Perfection. Truly and joyously, I love the fact of my continuous and uninterrupted Harmony which is eternally mine since I ever exist in the Christ who is one with God. I know that my remedy for any and all falsehood is the Truth that discord of any nature is unreal since not of God, and that God and His Perfection is present with and in me always. Inasmuch as troubles of all kinds are wholly mental, and never, as it seems, physical, then by seeing, knowing and feeling Love, Perfection, Harmony to be God, who is All in all, and knowing that the Christ of God is right within me, having power, o’er all victorious, I know the mental dream will leave, since no darkness can abide in the light.
I am convinced that it is spiritually required of me that in so far as I am able, I must steadfastly and continuously endeavor to live my daily life and contact with people and things consistent with my spiritual Idea and real feelings, for such consistent activity is the means to bring about my awakening. I now clearly understand and accept as true the words written in 1875 by a great spiritual teacher-“The body of Spirit is spiritual and not material…. We shall be found Love, Life and Truth because we understand them.” Thus, more and more, I am depending upon the Reality which I AM for my health, wealth and happiness, and less and less upon man and his mistaken laws in a far country.
I know that “Christ is the end of the law” of discord and all dreams of separation from Perfection. Thus as I function in this Christ, (which state is always within me) that is, as I remain worshipping, loving and living in the Christ state of Light and Understanding, I find that I am in the Kingdom, I am at peace, I am filled with the glory of Harmony and Reality-verily, I am “hid with Christ in God” where no evil shall come nigh me. “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.” In the Absolute teaching we deal with the Truth which is Reality without beginning or end. We deal with the true Mind, the true thoughts, the true body, the true universe, and the true Christ-Self, always.
Instead of trying to educate a mind to become divine and immortal, which, paradoxically, we had considered human and mortal, we can see now the folly of such a notion. From a higher point of vision all things appear different. Attempting to renovate or remodel our thinking so as to change a human mind into the Mind of Christ is not the teaching of the I-Am-Light. Furthermore, holding in belief that the body is physical by nature, and still attempting to renew and remedy it by means of spiritual thinking, is not a true application of the Absolute.
The only Mind that we should deal with is the one Mind back of every true and perfect idea. And the only body we should consider is the body which expresses naturally these ideas of wholeness. Then, automatically, we give up the notion of healing a human mind, or bringing the harmony of the I AM into a human body. We see the futility of it. We see as never before the great necessity to know and feel that there is but the ONE Mind, the ONE Body, and the ONE Life-expression; and that there is none else.
When apprehending Reality, one will also learn to understand the nature of unreality. He will see with the vision of Spirit; he will know with the intelligence of Mind; he will feel with the heart of Love; and he will be satisfied that he is waking in His likeness.
This may be one of the reasons why many complain of failure or inability to demonstrate the Truth in body and affairs-they are attempting to apply the truth of Being directly to sick bodies and sick affairs: whereas the Truth can be applied only to vision, thought, sense and feeling.
Attempting to heal physical bodies or spiritualize human mentalities metaphysically, or by right thinking, overlooks the paramount fact that all discord, limitation and imperfection are totally unreal, because untrue! The eternal, real and true conditions already exist in the one Christ state, to be seen, accepted and utilized wherever vision is clarified sufficiently to thus behold the omnipresent Christ-Man. “Behold, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me.” As we rise to welcome the Self revealing Light, and behold the I-Am-Self, the entangling dream-shadows effortlessly slip from us. With winged feet we speed toward our goal – that Horeb height where the I AM THAT I AM stands revealed, and rapturously we exclaim with the apostle, “Beloved, now are we the Sons of God,”– now are we the Son-Self, the radiant I-Am.