OUR UNIVERSAL SELF. Robert Najemy. A COMMENTARY ON THE IMPERSONAL SELF By Joseph Benner

Transcription

1 OUR UNIVERSAL SELF Robert Najemy A COMMENTARY ON THE IMPERSONAL SELF By Joseph Benner

2 Copyright: Robert Elias Najemy 1992 Holistic Harmony Publishers isbn:

3 OUR UNIVERSAL SELF Robert Najemy A COMMENTARY ON THE IMPERSONAL SELF By Joseph Benner DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this book to our Lord Jesus Christ and his disciple Joseph Benner for their immeasurable help to myself and so many others. May we all realise the truth and be set free.

4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 7 Chapter 1 I Am 13 Chapter 2 Be Still and Know 21 Chapter 3 I, Life, God 31 Chapter 4 Consciousness, Intelligence, Will 39 Chapter 5 The Key 53 Chapter 6 Thinking And Creating 59 Chapter 7 The Word 73 Chapter 8 My Idea 79 Chapter 9 The Garden Of Eden 91 Chapter 10 Good And Evil 105 Chapter 11 Use 115 Chapter 12 Soul Mates 131 Chapter 13 Authority 139 Chapter 14 Mediums And Mediators 149 Chapter 15 Masters 159 Chapter 16 The Christ and Love 169 Chapter 17 Finding Me 179 Chapter 18 Union 197 Appendix A Quotations About Our Impersonal Self 209 Appendix B The Individual and The Universal 219 Appendix C Techniques Inspired By The Impersonal Life 235 Appendix D The Incarnation of God vs. The Formless God 245

5 Introduction 7 INTRODUCTION I begin this commentary with great joy. The The Impersonal Life by Joseph Benner, has helped be tremendously in my relationship with my self and with God. Why do I believe that it requires clarification? My experience with many people on the spiritual path is that we sometimes misinterpret truths; leading to the development of a spiritual ego, feelings of superiority or even greater separateness from others. A second danger which I fear is that some of us might misinterpret some passages as giving license to do whatever we want and consider that spiritual, or believe that we need not make any spiritual effort, because God will do it all. It is these three possible misconceptions which I would like to help avoid for the readers of this book: 1. We are not alone in our divinity. Our Impersonal Self exist in all beings and thus we are not higher than any other being. 2. Although every thing we have ever done has actually been done by this one Universal Consciousness through us, we do not have license to do what ever we want. 3. Even though it is actually this one Universal Consciousness, which is responsible for all growth and evolution, this does not release us from the need to cultivate spiritual discrimination or to make spiritual effort. I have tried as much as possible not to influence the reader s inter-

6 8 Our Universal Self pretation of this book. Whatever I say is always a product of my own beliefs and experiences. I have prayed at each sitting that I be guided to write what is useful for the reader and not in any way change the meaning of what has been said. Although my motive was to point out what I consider to be false interpretations of what is being said, some people may have to pass through those very interpretations in order to receive the experiential lessons which they need in their evolutionary process at this time. My guess is that whatever I will say will not prevent them. We have an uncanny way of not seeing what we are not ready to see. In general, more explanations are given in the earlier passages where the concepts are first introduced and then less later on where we are already familiar with the basic concepts and the somewhat difficult terminology and old means of expression (the book was written in the semi-religious language of the nineteen twenties). Let be also said that this book is not for the beginner on the spiritual path. I would say that it would be better for one to have worked on himself and practiced spiritual disciplines at least five years before reading this book. Let us get a glimpse now at the pure and inspiring words of this great and simple being (Joseph Benner) who actually refused to have his name placed on the first printings of this book, because he felt that he was not the author, but that he was used as an instrument for this book to be written. Here is a letter which he wrote to God concerning this subject. Dear God, Sept. 13, 1916 Thou All-Provider, Thou Who art my Inexhaustible Supply, my Sufficiency in all things: I hereby covenant with Thee to devote my life and everything Thou

7 Introduction 9 givest me in Thy Service; to work henceforth only for Thee, letting Thee guide and direct me in all things. In return I ask only for Wisdom and Understanding that I may know Thy Will and Thy Meaning when Thou speakest, and for Strength never to doubt Thy unfailing Supply and Support. Joseph S. Benner Joseph makes here a contract with God which we also might want to make and which is the essence of this book. 1. I devote my life to You. 2. I want to serve You continuously. 3. Please give me the wisdom and understanding necessary to know your will. 4. Please give me the strength never to doubt your continual supply of my every need. Now, here is a second letter which has more to do with the specific purpose of writing this book. Dear Father, May 17, 1917 Thou hast placed in my heart a great desire to give forth unto the world the Message of the "Impersonal Life". I know that this is Thy Desire and that Thou host chosen me as the medium through whom Thou will bring it into manifestation. I now ask Thee to remove from me everything that hinders the outward manifestation of this Desire, and that Thou now supply me with all the means necessary to give perfect expression of "The Impersonal Life", both in my own life and to the millions of my fellows in the manner in which Thou hast shown me. As Thou hast privileged me to be the agent to give to the world this new process, I ask that Thou quickly enable me to bring it into use, and that Thou guide me in all my ways to that end and bring to Thy

8 10 Our Universal Self Work the greatest possible returns. It is Thy Work, Thy Idea, Thy Desire. Do Thou, O Lord, through me quickly bring it to pass that Thy Will may be done on Earth even as It is in Heaven. In Christ's Name, I ask it. Joseph S. Benner In this letter, Joseph asks that God removes all personal obstacles to the expression of this universal message. He asks that it be God s message and not his own which will be expressed. He asks that he himself be able to live this message, not only teach it; that he will be able to practice what he preaches. He also prays that all beings will be able to hear and eventually live this message concerning our universal nature and inherent oneness will all of creation. He asks all this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a model prayer for us for us to use each time we start or continue any endeavor. Let us ask God to guide us in such a way as to: 1. Remove all obstacles such as fear, ignorance, ego-centeredness, selfishness, lack of clarity, desire, attachment etc., which could obstruct the free flow of God s truth, love, wisdom and peace in whatever we do. 2. When teaching; that we express what is useful for the others and not for the increasing ourselves in their eyes. 3. That we are able to live what we teach. 4. That we may be useful Divine instruments here on the material planes. This type of prayer can be repeated daily many times. Let us now move on to benefit from the text of the book Impersonal Life. It will be obvious that the sections which are presented in italics are those of Joseph Benner s text we are studying while those with ordinary letters are the clarifications and commentary.

9 Introduction 11 At the end of the book some appendixes are included. The first contains experts from other sources about our Impersonal Self, our Divine nature. The second presents some models or concepts which help us understand the relationship between the individual and the Universal. The third offers various techniques for experiencing the truths presented in this book more deeply and in relationship to our daily life. The fourth presents a model for understanding the enigma of God with and without form. The last appendix contains some sample communications which the personal self might have with the Impersonal Self. These conversations will hopefully serve as a stimulus for you too to converse with your personal and Impersonal Selves. I hope you find them useful. These messages are in essence very Vedantic in that they agree that all beings are expressions of one divine consciousness. One last word to the reader before we begin our study of this text. Be true to your own inner voice. If you read something here which you feel within you should be interpreted in another way, then please do; and please live your interpretation. Do not accept anything which does not feel right within you.

10 12 Our Universal Self

11 I AM 13 CHAPTER 1 I AM (If you have not yet read the introduction, please do so before continuing) 1. To you who read, I speak. To you, who, through long years and much running to and fro, have been eagerly seeking, in books and teachings, in philosophy and religion, for you know not what -- Truth, Happiness, Freedom, God; To you whose Soul is weary and discouraged and almost destitute of hope; To you, who many times have obtained a glimpse of that "Truth", only to find, when you followed and tried to reach it, that it disappeared in the beyond, and was but the mirage of the desert; To you, who thought you had found it in some great teacher, who was perhaps the acknowledged head of some Society, Fraternity or Religion, and who appeared to you to be a "Master", so marvelous was the wisdom he taught and the works he performed; - only to awaken later to the realization that that "Master" was but a human personality, with faults and weaknesses, and secret sins, the same as you, even though that personality may have been a channel through which were voiced many beautiful teachings, which seemed to you the highest "Truth;" And here you are, Soul aweary and enhungered, and not knowing where to turn -- To you, I AM come. God, the One Universal Divine Consciousness of all beings is speaking. He She It is the consciousness in all that exists.

12 14 Our Universal Self Important note: (God does not have a gender. Most religions have imagined God as masculine. We could continue to refer to God as He She It or simply as It, but as most have been programmed to use the masculine pronoun, we will use that for this text. Have clearly in mind, however, that we are not referring to a masculine being with a specific form or location. Nor to a being as some might imagine sitting on a throne in Heaven watching over the world - condoning and condemning. When we refer to the word God, we are referring to an omnipresent divine consciousness with is the cause of all that exists and is simultaneously expressing its unlimited creative potential through all there is. Here Joseph Benner refers to the being as the Impersonal Self, because it is beyond the personality and is the self of no one person but of all persons. I prefer to call it our Universal Self the self of all beings, objects and situations.) This Universal Self is the consciousness who is writing, but also reading this book. He explains to whom He is speaking: 1. To those who have been searching many years. 2. To those who are discouraged and without hope. 3. To those who thought they had found the truth but then realized that it was not what they were looking for. 4. To those who have become disillusioned by some spiritual teacher or spiritual group. 5. To those who do not know where to turn. And He continues to explain to us to whom he speaks.

13 I AM Likewise to you, who have begun to feel the presence of that "Truth" within your Soul and seek the confirmation of that which of late has been vaguely struggling for living expression within; Yes, to all you who hunger for the true "Bread of Life", I AM come. Are you ready to partake? If so, then arouse yourself. Sit up. Still your human mind and follow closely my Word herein spoken. Or you will turn away disappointed once more, with the aching hunger still in your heart. He has also come for those who are searching for the truth, have a vague sense of His presence and need confirmation of those inner feelings and beliefs. Will we listen now? Will we follow? Or are we still not yet ready? 3. I! Who am I?- I, Who speak with such seeming knowledge and authority? Listen! I AM You, that part of you who IS and KNOWS; WHO KNOWS ALL THINGS, And always knew, and always was. Yes, I AM You, your SELF; that part of you who says I AM and is I AM; That transcendent, innermost part of you which quickens within you as you read, which responds to this My Word, which perceives Its Truth, which recognizes all Truth and discards all error wherever found. Not that part which has been feeding on error all these years. His declaration is clear. I am you. I am your inner being, your real Self. Not your personal ego-self which lives in the illusion of separateness. I am your Impersonal, Universal Self the knower of all truth. I am your only real self.

14 16 Our Universal Self 4. For I AM your real Teacher, the only real one you will ever know, and the only MASTER; I, your Divine SELF. I, the I AM of you, bring to you this My Message, My living Word, as I have brought to you everything in life, be it book or "Master", to teach you that I, and I alone, your own True Self, AM The Teacher for you, the only Teacher and the only God, Who is and always has been providing you not only with the Bread and Wine of Life, but with all things needed for your physical, mental and spiritual growth and sustenance. I am the only teacher you will ever have, even if I might take on various forms such as a book or some spiritual teacher. I am the only teacher you will ever have in your life - your own inner Self. I have been providing all of these years for your physical survival and spiritual growth. You may have believed that you were doing all of this, or that others were doing this for you. Know now, that I am the only doer and that all that you have and all that you have learned have come from me, regardless of the external forms which I may have used in order to reach you at that particular time. 5. Therefore that which appeals to YOU, as you read, is MY Message, spoken to your outer human consciousness from within, and is but a confirmation of that which the I AM of you always knew within, but had not yet translated in definite, tangible terms to your outer consciousness. Likewise, all that ever appealed to You, coming from some outward expression, was but the confirmation of My Word already spoken within. The outward expression was the avenue or means I chose at the time through which to reach and impress your human or self consciousness. These words remind us of Socrates belief that all wisdom is actually within us and that we are simply gradually rediscovering it. We

15 I AM 17 are attracted to spiritual truths and spiritual values such as love, peace, truth, non-violence, unity, equality, and brotherhood, because they are already within us as spiritual archetypes in our higher mind. When we read a book or hear someone speak and feel that special feeling, that excitement or that internal peace that yes, here is something true, this is because it stimulates with sympathetic vibration the truth which we already know, but have not been able to express outwardly as conscious thoughts or actions. Our inner self is speaking to our outer self through the means of this book. It has also spoken to our outer self throughout the years, through other books, people, experiences and nature. Now through this our Impersonal Self is teaching our personality. 6. I AM not your human mind, nor its child, the intellect. They are but the expression of your Being, as you are the expression of My Being; they are but phases of your human personality, as You are a phase of My Divine Impersonality. Weigh and study carefully these words. Just as we have thoughts, ideas and subpersonalities which are parts, creations that flow forth from our being, we too are, in a sense, thoughts or ideas which flow forth from the Divine mind. Our personality is a temporary and partial expression of the Divine Impersonality which is the consciousness and the life force in all personalities; but is not limited by any one of those particular personalities, just as we are not limited by any one of our particular thoughts, ideas or emotions. Thus, just as our being gives birth to all of our thoughts and feelings, but is not limited to them, we are born from the Divine Mind, but it is not limited to our particular personal existence. It encompasses all personalities and beings of all forms.

16 18 Our Universal Self 7. Rise up and free yourself now and for always from the domination of your personality, with its self-inflated and self- glorifying mind and intellect. For your mind henceforth must be Your servant, and the intellect Your slave, if My Word is to penetrate to your Soul consciousness. The mind is an excellent servant when it listens to its master. This has, however, seldom been the case until now, as the mind has been our master, which has lead us into enough problems. It is important to understand that the mind is simply an instrument of our higher spiritual consciousness through which it may express itself in the material world. Thus the mind is like a car or other machine, instrument or vehicle which we use. In order for it to be useful, it must obey our commands and instructions. If we want our mind to relax and it does not, then it is not useful to us. If we want it to concentrate and it will not, then it becomes an obstacle. If we want it to stop desiring something or fearing something because we have realized that these thoughts are not based on logic and are not useful to us, and our mind keeps on desiring, and fearing, then it actually becomes our enemy rather than our friend, or instrument. We are now encouraged to rise up and free ourselves from the domination of our personality, which is described as self-inflated and self-glorifying mind and intellect. We are asked to get free from the need to verify ourselves, often at the other s expense. If we want to experience our Impersonal Self, we will have to overcome our ego s self-doubt and subsequent need for attention, and our ego-inflating games which simply distance us from others, from our own true self, from our Impersonal Self who is also the self of those with whom we are competing for self-worth. It is impossible to compete with others and experience our real self.

17 I AM I AM come now to your Soul consciousness, which I have quickened expressly in preparation for the reception of My Word. Now, if you are strong enough to bear it; If you can put aside all your private personal fancies, beliefs and opinions, which are but the rubbish you have gathered from the dumping grounds of others; If you are strong enough to cast them all away; Then My Word will be to you a source of endless Joy and Blessing. Be prepared to have this personality of yours doubt My Word as you read It all along the way; For its very life is threatened, and it knows it cannot live and thrive and longer dominate your thinking, your feelings, your going and coming, as of old,-- if you take My Word into your heart and permit It there to abide. We are warned that our ego will react in various ways so that we will not be able accept these truths, because our personal ego fears losing control. What are some possible reactions? 1. Finding various arguments against what we are reading in these pages. 2. Create boredom or tiredness so that we do not continue our search. 3. Intensify various desires which will drag us in other directions. 4. Reawaken fears which will prevent us from proceeding. We are also encouraged to let go of all the truths, dogmas and various conceptions which we have collected from others until now. They will only be obstacles to receiving this teaching in its purity. This brings to mind the spiritual teacher who was pouring a cup of tea for his student ad let it flow over the top until the student spoke up, master the cup is overflowing. The teacher smiled and answered, you see this cup is like you. It is full and cannot receive more. You too are full of preconceptions and thus are not able to accept the truths which I want to give you. A cup must be emptied before it can be filled. Our mind must be emptied of its preconcep-

18 20 Our Universal Self tions if we want to receive higher truths. 9. Yes, I Am come to you now, To make you conscious of My Presence; For I have likewise prepared your human mind so that it can, in a measure, comprehend the meaning of Me. I have been with you always, but you did not know it. I have purposely led you through the Wilderness of books and teachings, of religions and philosophies, keeping ever before your Soul's eye the vision of the Promised Land; feeding you with the manna of the Desert, that you might remember and value and long for the Bread of the Spirit. Now I have brought you to the river Jordan that separates you from your Divine heritage. Now the time has come for you consciously to know Me; the time has come for you to cross over into Canaan, the land of Milk and Honey. Are you ready? Do you want to go? Then follow this My Word, which is the Ark of My Covenant, and you shall go over dry shod. We have been prepared until now through various experiences. This is not the first time the Universal Self is speaking to us. The teaching has come in the form of many books, teachers, relationships, experiences, in the form of every being which we have met and every event which has occurred in our lives. This book, however is a major crossing from one belief system to another. We are now asked to cross the river Jordan to the land of milk and honey in which we realize that God is not outside of ourselves, but actually within us or in fact our own inner Self, our Impersonal Divine Self, our true being.

19 Be Still and KNow 21 CHAPTER 2 BE STILL AND KNOW 10. Now, in order that you may learn to know Me, so that you can be sure it is I, your own True Self, Who speak these words, you must first learn to Be Still, to quiet your human mind and body and all their activities, so that you no longer are conscious of them. This is the key to the whole message; the truth can be heard only in total mental silence. Only when our thoughts are brought to a total standstill and the mind is totally empty, can it be filled with the experience of our true and unmodified self. That small silent voice within has been covered over all these years by the various desires, needs, fears, beliefs, expectations, attachments and aversions that bombard the mind with incessant thinking. These will have to be silenced. Thoughts about the past and the future will have to disappear so that we can experience the reality of the present. 11. You may not yet be able to do this, but I will teach you how, if you really want to know Me, and are willing to prove it by trusting Me and obeying Me in all that I now shall call upon you to do. Listen! Try to imagine the "I" who speaks throughout these pages as being your Higher or Divine Self, addressing and counseling your human mind and intellect, which you will consider for the moment as being a separate personality. Your human mind is so constituted that it cannot accept anything which does not conform with what it has previ-

20 22 Our Universal Self ously experienced or learned, and which its intellect does not consider reasonable. Therefore, in addressing it, You are using such terms and expressions as will most clearly explain to your intellect the truths it must understand before the mind can awaken to the consciousness of your meaning. We are now being prepared to be able to empty our minds. The first instruction is to imagine or believe that the intelligence, which has written this book, is our higher self which is speaking through these pages to our personality (which for the time being we will consider as separate from our higher self). The personality s intellect will be given logical explanations (as far as they are possible) so that it can believe and follow and gradually awaken to the real meaning behind these words. The gist here is that as we read, we will imagine that these are words which are being spoken by our higher selves to our personality or mind. At times throughout the reading, we may identify with the one part and imagine that we are speaking these words, at others we will identify with the personality who is being spoken to. 12. The fact is, this "I" is yourself, your Real Self. Your human mind has heretofore been so engrossed with the task of supplying its intellect and body with all manner of selfish indulgences, that it has never had time to get acquainted with the Real You, its true Lord and Master. You have been so interested in and affected by the pleasures and sufferings of your body and intellect, that you have almost come to believe You are your intellect and body, and you have consequently nearly forgotten Me, your Divine Self. I AM not your intellect and body, and this Message is to teach that You and I are One. The words I herein speak, and the main burden of these instructions, is to awaken your consciousness to this great fact.

21 Be Still and KNow 23 We have come to believe that we are the body and mind. This illusion forces us to give exaggerated importance to them and to lose awareness of our real spiritual self. Our real I is not the intellect to which we have given so much importance throughout the years, as a basis for our security, power and self-worth. One main message which this book wants to emphasize is that we are not our intellects. Our real self is beyond the intellect. 13. You cannot awaken to this fact until you can get away from the consciousness of this body and intellect, which so long have held you enslaved. You must feel Me within, before you can know I AM there. Now, in order that you can become wholly oblivious of your mind and its thoughts and your body and its sensations, so that you can feel Me within, it is necessary that you studiously obey these, My instructions. Sit quietly in a relaxed position, and, when wholly at ease, let your mind take in the significance of these words: Be still! -- and KNOW -- I AM -- God". We are now given the key to liberation, to peace, fulfillment and enlightenment. We simply need to remind our body, mind and intellect continuously to be still and to know that we are God - the Impersonal Self, the Universal Being who is in all beings. This thought or command must then seep into the conscious and subconscious mind releasing the nervous system, mind and intellect of their need to protect our individual existence. When we repeat this, however, we are not stating that I, the personality, am God, or that I this person, John or Mary, am God, or that I am God but all the others whom I know are not God. When we repeat this phrase we must identify with our Impersonal Self which is not limited by our personality or body and is the inner consciousness of all beings. When we use the word I, we must be careful not to identify with the limited personal self with which we

22 24 Our Universal Self have associated this word since the day we were born. We are now talking about our real I which is universal and exists in all beings. For this reason, after some time of using this phrase I have made a slight addition. I add at the end the words - in all beings. Thus my explanation to my body, mind and intellect is: Be still! - and know - I am god - in all beings. 14. Without thinking, allow this, My Divine Command, to penetrate deep into your Soul. Let whatever impressions that come to your mind enter at will -- without effort or interference on your part. Note carefully their import, for it is you. Then, when somewhat of their vital significance begins to dawn upon your consciousness, speak these My Words slowly, imperatively, to every cell of your body, to every faculty of your mind, with all the conscious power you pos- sess:- Be Still!" - and KNOW - I AM - God". Speak them just as they are herein written, trying to realize that the God of you commands and demands of your mortal self-implicit obedience. Study them, search out their hidden potency. Brood over them, carry them with you into your work, whatever it be. Make them the vital, dominating factor in your work, in all your creative thoughts. Say them a thousand times a day, Until you have discovered all My innermost meaning; Until every cell of your body thrills in joyful response to the command, "Be Still", and instantly obeys; And every vagrant thought hovering around your mind hides itself off into nothingness. Each will need to work with this phrase on his/her own and discover his/her own way of understanding and using it. We are encouraged to use it at various times of the day. In our meditations and during periods of prayer and reflection, but also during our daily activities,

23 Be Still and KNow 25 while working, walking, cleansing the body, eating, in all activities, and also at moments of rest, as well as when we are falling asleep or waking up, starting or ending the day. And now our Universal Self explains to our personalities something of what we might experience when every vagrant thought hovering around in your mind hides itself off into nothingness. 15. Then, as the Words reverberate through the caverns of your now empty being; Then, as the Sun of Knowing begins to rise on the horizon of your consciousness; Then, will you feel the swell of a wondrous strange Breath filling you to the extreme of all your mortal members, causing your senses almost to burst with the ecstasy of it; then, will there come surge after surge of a mighty resistless Power rising within you, lifting you almost off the earth; then, will you feel within the Glory, the Holiness, the Majesty of My Presence; And then, then you will KNOW, I AM, GOD. You,- when you have felt Me thus in such moments within, when you have tasted of My Power, hearkened to My Wisdom, and know the ecstasy of My all-embracing Love, -- no disease can touch, no circumstance can weaken, no enemy can conquer you. For now you KNOW I AM within, and you always hereafter will turn to Me in your need, putting all your trust in Me, and allowing Me to manifest My Will. At some point when the mind is silenced and our real self can be felt inwardly, we will feel the ecstasy of the free flow of spiritual energy throughout our being. We will feel bliss, inner light, release from time and space, freedom from individuality and its fear, conflict and suffering. We will experience that great Divine Power which is in the center of our being and we will now know that God is within us. We will now realize that all knowledge, power and love are within us

24 26 Our Universal Self and that there is no need for fear or seeking outside of ourselves for health, knowledge or love. We will now feel secure and at peace with ourselves as all sense of danger and need to protect ourselves has disappeared. 16. You, when you turn thus to Me, will always find Me an unfailing and ever-present help in time of need; for I will so fill you with a Realization of My Presence and of My Power, that you need only Be Still and allow Me to do whatever you want done -- heal your ills and those of others, illumine your mind so you can see with My eyes the Truth you seek, or perform perfectly the tasks which before seemed almost impossible of accomplishment. This Knowledge, this Realization, will not come at once. It may not come for years. It may come tomorrow. We now have an inner source of power and intelligence beyond what we have known until now. We can call on this whenever we have the need to heal ourselves or others, to understand the truth and perform tasks. We can turn within when we need help. Our contact with this inner source of inspiration will guide us in any endeavor. Learning and solving problems becomes much easier. 17. It depends upon no one but You; Not upon your personality, with its human desires and human understanding; But upon the I AM of you -- God within. Who is it that causes the bud to open into the blossom? Who causes the chick to burst its shell? Who decides the day and the hour? It is the conscious, natural act of the Intelligence within, My Intelligence, directed by My Will, bringing to fruition My Idea and expressing it in the blossom and in the chick.

25 Be Still and KNow 27 But did the blossom and the chick have anything to do with it? No, only as they submitted or united their will with Mine and allowed Me and My Wisdom to determine the hour and the ripeness for action, and then only as they obeyed the impulse of My Will to make the effort, could they step forth into the New Life. You may, with your personality, try a thousand times to burst through the shell of your human consciousness. It will result only, if at all, in a breaking down of the doors I have provided between the world of tangible forms and the realm of intangible dreams; and the door being open, you then no longer can keep out intruders from your private domain, without much trouble and suffering. But even through such suffering you may gain the strength you lack and the wisdom needed to know that, not until you yield up all desire for knowledge, for goodness, yes, for union with Me, to benefit self, can you unfold your petals showing forth the perfect Beauty of My Divine Nature, and throw off the shell of your human personality and step forth into the glorious Light of My Heavenly Kingdom. Therefore I give you these directions now, at the beginning, that you may be learning how to recognize Me. For I here promise you, if you follow and strive earnestly to comprehend and obey My instructions herein given, you shall very soon know Me, and I will give you to comprehend all of My Word wherever written -- in book or teaching, in Nature or in your fellow man. If there is much in what herein is written that seems contradictory, seek out My real meaning before discarding it. Do not leave a single paragraph, or any one thought in it, until all that is suggested becomes clear. Yes as these last two sentences indicate some truths may seem contradictory or confusing, and we must not leave a single paragraph, or any one thought in it, until all that is suggested becomes clear. This is certainly true concerning this last section. How can we understand the apparently conflicting idea that we must make our individual effort (for even repeating this phrase is a voluntary effort) and the

26 28 Our Universal Self truth which has been now revealed, that our freedom from the illusion of the material world will come in a timing dictated by our Real Self, the I AM of the universe? The answer lies in the need to discriminate with which part of our being we are identifying or from which part of our being we are making these spiritual (or whatever) efforts. When we are making our spiritual efforts from the personality center the following obstacles will exist. We are making this effort in order to better our situation, for selfhealing, to be more spiritually evolved, to gain knowledge of spiritual realities, or to gain spiritual powers. All of these have to do with our personality - a specific and separate being in this world of separate beings who seeks healing, power, knowledge, evolution or even enlightenment or union with God. We are still identified with a small and separate personal being who is not one with the universe and is seeking union or freedom. Our desires are still self oriented. We are seeking something for ourselves, not for all beings to be enlightened or all beings to have knowledge. And thus it will not happen, because the whole premise of individuality is an illusion. There is no individual to be liberated. There is only one being, one universal consciousness which is temporarily expressing it self through all of these forms. In the light of these concepts we can understand the previous passage more clearly. But did the blossom and the chick have anything to do with it? No, only as they submitted or united their will with Mine and allowed Me and My Wisdom to determine the hour and the ripeness for action, and then only as they obeyed the impulse of My Will to make the effort, could they step forth into the New Life. We seek a delicate balance of cooperation with the Divine Will. Even

27 Be Still and KNow 29 though we experience ourselves as individual entities, we need to imagine ourselves as cells in a huge universal being who are in continual contact and cooperation with that Being s Will. This will require a mindless mind, an intellect which is more like a receiving mechanism rather then a thinking machine. The mind will become a receiver of inner impulses, rather than a thinker and decider. It will be a transformer of the oneness and beauty of our inner spiritual self into the material and mental worlds. We will not be a personality struggling for spiritual freedom, but a spiritual child being guided from within step by step towards a realization of its true spiritual self. Effort is there, disciplines are employed, discrimination is used, but the emphasis is changed from an individual seeking power, knowledge and spiritual evolution to a cell in the body of the Universe being gradually revealed its true universal nature. For just as every drop of water in the sea has all the qualities of the sea, every cell in the Universal Being has the qualities of that Being. The other point which we are warned to be careful about is playing around with astral realities which may bring us into contact with energies which may cause various temporary by unpleasant problems on our path. (It will result only, if at all, in a breaking down of the doors I have provided between the world of tangible forms and the realm of intangible dreams; and the door being open, you then no longer can keep out intruders from your private domain, without much trouble and suffering.) But even those problems, which might be created by such efforts, will be use as experiences which add to our realization that, not until you yield up all desire for knowledge, for goodness, yes, for union with Me, to benefit self, can you unfold your petals showing forth the perfect Beauty of My Divine Nature, and throw off the shell of your human personality and step forth into the glorious Light of My Heavenly Kingdom.

28 30 Our Universal Self This theme is repeated throughout the book, that we have been allowed to make mistake after mistake because through them we grow in experience and basically discover where God is not, and where our happiness is not to be found, so that we can begin to look for them (God and happiness) where they really are - within us. 18. But in all your seeking and all your striving, let it be with faith and trust in Me, your True Self within, and without being anxious about results; for the results are all in My keeping, and I will take care of them. Your doubts and your anxiety are but of the personality, and if allowed to persist will lead only to failure and disappointment. Here we are told that we will in fact need to seek and strive; but that these efforts must be made without any concern about the result. Doubts about whether or not we will have results will only be an obstacle to our growth process. They are a lack of faith in God s wisdom and grace and love for us. They are but of the personality.

29 I, Life, God 31 CHAPTER 3 I, LIFE, GOD 19. If that which you have read has awakened a response within, and the Soul of you yearns for more, -- then you are ready for what follows. If you still question or rebel at the seeming assumption of Divine authority for what is herein written, your intellect telling you it is but another attempt to beguile your mind with cunning suggestion and subtle sophistry, -- then you will receive no benefit from these words; for their meaning is as yet hidden from your mortal consciousness, and My Word must come to you through other avenues of expression. If we are not ready at this time for this message in the way in which it is given here, then this same divine message will come in other ways through other channels, in ways in which we are able to accept it at this time. This may occur through other books, or events, or life crises. 20. It is well if your personality with its intellect impels you thus to question and rebel against authority you do not yet know to be Mine. It is really I Who cause your personality thus to rebel; for your personality with its proud sense of individuality is still needed by Me to develop a mind and body strong enough that they can perfectly express Me. Until you have become prepared to know Me it is but natural for your personality thus to question and rebel. Once you recognize My Authority, that moment the undermining of the authority of the personality has begun. The days of its dominion are num-

30 32 Our Universal Self bered, and you will more and more turn to Me for help and guidance. Therefore, be not dismayed. Read on, and mayhap the recognition will come. But know that you can read or not, as you choose; but if you do it is really I Who choose, and not you. Here we receive the first hints concerning why the personality has been left to choose and apparently have free will. It is needed by the Divine consciousness as an instrument of expression. More will be said about this later. The second point here is that once we are able to accept that we, in fact, are this voice within, this Impersonal Self and accept the authority of the words herein, then our individuality and all of its inherent problems will begin to diminish. 21. For you, who seemingly choose not to read further, I have plans, and in due season you shall learn that whatever you do, or like, or desire, it is I leading you through all the fallacies and illusions of the personality, that you may finally awaken to their unreality and then turn to Me as the one and only Reality. Then these words will find a response within: - "Be still! - and KNOW - I AM - God". In this and the previous section, we are told that it is our Impersonal Self in each case that will chose whether we will continue or not. That we are being guided through a series of experiences which will in the end lead us to the truth and then we will be able to hear this message, "Be still! - and KNOW - I AM - God". 22. Yes, I AM that innermost part of you that sits within, and calmly waits and watches, knowing neither time nor space; for I AM the Eternal and fill all space. I watch and wait for you to be done with your petty human follies and

31 I, Life, God 33 weaknesses, with your vain longings, ambitions and regrets, knowing that will come in time; and then you will turn to Me, weary, discouraged, empty and humble, and ask Me to take the lead, not realizing that I have been leading you all the time. Our Universal Self exists beyond time and space. It is not subject to anxiety, fear or not achieving or getting something done in time ; as it fills all of space. We are everywhere at once. We are allowing the personality to search for happiness and fulfillment in various directions. It thinks that it is totally free to choose, but in fact we are allowing it this temporary freedom so that it can exhaust all other possible avenues and, then you will turn to Me, weary, discouraged, empty and humble, and ask Me to take the lead, not realizing that I have been leading you all the time. 23. Yes, I sit here within, quietly waiting for this; yet while waiting it was really I Who directed all your ways. Who inspired all your thoughts and acts, Impersonally utilizing and manipulating each so as eventually to bring you and My other human expressions to a final conscious recognition of Me. Yes, I have been within always, deep within your heart. I have been with you through all, -- through your joys and heartaches, your successes and mistakes, through your evil-doing, your shame, your crimes against your brother and against God, as you thought. Aye, whether you went straight ahead, or strayed aside, or stepped backward, it was I Who brought you through. It was I Who urged you on by the glimpse of Me in the dim distance. Our Impersonal Self allowed and even guided us through all of our mistakes and dead ends. We were allowed to experience all of these possibilities so as to realize that they are not what we are ultimately looking for. Only in this way could we be sure. Being forbidden to do something only makes us more curious. Being told that it will not make us happy, does not satisfy our doubts and hopes that it might

32 34 Our Universal Self possibly be what we are looking for. Only the direct experience of each possible source of fulfillment, security, and happiness of affirmation will prove to us beyond all doubt that it is not what we are looking for. Thus, we have at last come face to face with an understanding God, one who understands human nature and works with it rather than against it. A God beyond time and punishment, and the need to create fear in the very creatures which He himself has created with ignorance and limitations. He is leading us trough our own experiences so that we them may become effective and powerful divine instruments on the material plane. 24. It was I Who lured you by a vision of Me in some bewitching face, or beautiful body, or intoxicating pleasure, or over- powering ambition. It was I Who appeared before you within the garb of Sin, or Weakness, or Greed, or Sophistry, and drove you back into the arms of Conscience, leaving you to struggle in its shadowy grasp; until you awakened to its impotence, rose up in disgust, and in the inspiration of a new vision tore off My mask. We are lead also through the greatest of all obstacles; the attraction to the opposite sex or some other form of intense addiction which completely absorbs all of our consciousness and clouds our conscience. We struggle through these experiences until we recognize God even behind His unpleasant and evil masks. He is the being in all beings, regardless of how they might look or act. For this reason we often need to accept some weakness or sin as a part of the divine in the process of evolution, before we can actually overcome it and leave it behind. As long as we see it as something outside of or in conflict with the divine we are limiting it, and have not understood its real nature or our real nature.

33 I, Life, God 35 Do not misunderstand this. We are not going to accept everything as moral and lose our morality, but we are going to realize that all beings and situations are a part of and exist within this one Universal Consciousness and that nothing can be outside it. We will understand that we may need to learn to accept this before we can move beyond it. 25. Yes, it is I Who cause you to do all things, and if you can see it, it is I Who do all things that you do, and all things that your brother does; for that in you and in him which IS, is I, My Self. For I AM LIFE. I Am that which animates your body, which causes your mind to think, your heart to beat. I AM the Innermost, the Spirit, the animating Cause of your being, of all life, of all living things, both visible and invisible. There is nothing dead, for I, the Impersonal ONE, AM all that there is. I AM Infinite and wholly unconfined; the Universe is My Body, all the Intelligence there is emanates from My Mind, all the Love there is flows from My Heart, all the Power there is, is but My Will in action. The threefold Force, manifesting as all Wisdom, all Love, all Power, or if you will, as Light, Heat, and Energy -- that which holds together all forms and is back of and in all expressions and phases of life, -- is but the manifestation of My Self in the act or state of Being. Here we find further affirmation of what we said earlier. There is One Universal Consciousness from which all beings and events flow forth. Every action of every being is an expression of this One Divine Consciousness. Three special manifestations which make life and evolution possible are its expressions. WISDOM - LIGHT LOVE - HEAT POWER - ENERGY These hold together all forms and are the energies which are

34 36 Our Universal Self expressed through all beings. All wisdom is an expression of God s wisdom. All love an expression of His love. All power an expression of His power. There is no other source of these three energies. 26. Nothing can Be without manifesting and expressing some phase of Me, Who AM not only the Builder of all forms, but the Dweller in each. In the heart of each I dwell; in the heart of the human, in the heart of the animal, in the heart of the flower, in the heart of the stone. In the heart of each I live and move and have My Being, and from out the heart of each I send forth that phase of Me I desire to express, and which manifests in the outer world as a stone, a flower, an animal, a man. This reminds us of St. Paul's speech to the Athenians, in which he uses an old Greek poet s words to express that we live and move in God s being. We are reminded to see Him in all beings. We are in the heart of every human, animal, flower, and even in the stone. 27. Is there nothing, then, but this great I? Am I to be permitted no individuality for myself? I hear you ask. No, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that is not a part of Me, controlled and ruled eternally by Me, the One Infinite Reality. As for your so-called individuality, that is nothing but your personality still seeking to maintain a separate existence. Soon you shall know there is no individuality apart from My Individuality, and all personality shall fade away into My Divine Impersonality. Yes, and you shall soon reach that state of awakening where you will get a glimpse of My Impersonality, and you will then desire no individuality, no separation for yourself; for you will see that is but one more illusion of the personality. Here is the big shocker - we do not exist as we think we do. Our indi-

35 I, Life, God 37 viduality is a temporary illusion allowed so that we might develop certain abilities and strengths so as to become efficient and powerful instruments for divine expression on the earth. It is something like allowing our ten fingers to think for sometime that they are separate and independent and that they must find ways to survive and affirm themselves in relationship to the other fingers. And thus each finger strives to become better than the other, develops various abilities in its attempts to survive (something which was supplied by the body consciousness all the time without its knowing). Each finger becomes a super finger, strong and able because it had the motive to do so; its survival and self-worth were dependent on it. Imagine then, that you write a message like this to your fingers. Dear Fingers, You will be somewhat surprised by what I have to tell you. You will find it difficult to believe, but actually you are not individual beings, but parts of my being. All these years in which you thought that you were achieving things and proving yourselves or making mistakes, it was I your consciousness which was doing this through you. I allowed you this illusion so that you would have the desire to develop yourselves into capable and useful fingers, so that I could now use your capabilities to express my divine potential on the material plane. Those fingers of you who can hear this message do not need this illusion any more. You have arrived through your experiences to a state of maturity which enables you to now begin to understand the truth. I am you. You are simply parts of my being. You cannot exist separately from me and you have no separate existence. You are expression of my being and your destiny is to serve me and be instruments of my will. I will care for you and all your needs. You are my fingers and your survival and self-worth are assured as you are my own Self and you cannot die and you cannot be anything but divine since you are

36 38 Our Universal Self my fingers and I am divine. Forget now the illusion that you are fingers and realize that you are I the total body consciousness of this whole being. There is no separate finger consciousness. There cannot be. There is only one consciousness in this body and that is I and that is you. You are the consciousness in all fingers, in all parts of this body. I send you much love, Your True Self. We are like those fingers which temporarily (for some millions of years) have believed that we are separate beings who must fight for their survival, happiness and affirmation. Now we are being told that the very concept or personal existence is an illusion. Let us see what other surprises we have written to our selves here in this book.

37 Consciousness, Intelligence, Will 39 CHAPTER 4 CONSCIOUSNESS, INTELLIGENCE, WILL 28. YES, I know the many mixed thoughts that have been crowding into your mind as you read, -- the doubts and eager questionings, the vague fear that imperceptibly changed into a growing hope that this glimmering of My Meaning, which has begun to penetrate the darkness of your human intellect, may shine brighter so you can see clearly the Truth which you instinctively feel is hidden beneath My Words. Again I say, this I AM speaking herein is the Real Self of you, and in reading these words it is necessary that you realize it is You, your own Self, that is speaking them to your human consciousness, in order fully to comprehend their meaning. I also repeat, this is the same I AM that is the Life and Spirit animating all living things in the Universe, from the tiniest atom to the greatest Sun; that this I AM is the Intelligence in you and in your brother and sister; and that it is likewise the Intelligence which causes everything to live and grow and become that which it is their destiny to be. We are reminded here of two basic points: 1. We the Impersonal Self are writing this book to our personality. 2. We are the Universal Consciousness in all beings, in all persons we know and do not know, in the sun and in the tiniest atom. 29. Perhaps you cannot yet understand how this I AM can be, at one and the same time, the I AM of you and the I AM of your brother, and also the Intelligence of the stone, the plant, and the animal. You will see this, however, if you follow these My Words and obey the instructions herein given; for I will soon bring to your consciousness a Light that will illuminate the deepest recesses of your mind and drive

38 40 Our Universal Self away all the clouds of human misconceptions, ideas and opinions that now darken your intellect, -- if you read on and strive earnestly to comprehend My Meaning. So listen carefully. We are not to despair if we find it difficult to understand this enigma of individual body and our Universal Being. Many spiritual concepts cannot be understood intellectually, but can be felt or understood intuitively. And thus we are told that, "I will soon bring to your consciousness a Light that will illuminate the deepest recesses of your mind and drive away all the clouds of human misconceptions..." 30. I AM You, the Real Self of you, All that you really are. That which you think you are, you are not. That is only an illusion, a shadow of the Real You, which is I, your Immortal, Divine Self. I AM that point of consciousness focalized in your human mind which calls itself "I". I AM that "I", but that which you call your consciousness is in reality My Consciousness, thinned down to suit the capacity of your human mind. It is still My Consciousness, and when you can drive from your mind all its human misconceptions, ideas and opinions, and can cleanse and empty it utterly, so that My Consciousness can have a chance to express freely, then you will recognize Me and you will know that you are nothing -- being only a focal centre of My Consciousness, an avenue or medium through which I can express My meaning -- in matter. Perhaps the example of a radio station will help us understand the meaning of the words, "but that which you call your consciousness is in reality My Consciousness, thinned down to suit the capacity of your human mind. It is still My Consciousness..." Imagine an Universal Radio Station which is broadcasting everywhere in the universe. Each being is a radio which is receiving some portion of that broadcast and transmitting it to the environment so that

39 Consciousness, Intelligence, Will 41 it can be heard. The station cannot be heard without the radios which receive and transform these subtle spiritual vibrations into forms of energy which can be heard and perceived on the material plane. Thus we are like radios which are receiving portions of that one Universal Divine Consciousness and are expressing it in the form of our thoughts, words and actions. Our consciousness then is actually that one Universal Consciousness. Just as the radio does not have its own consciousness but simply transmutes the vibrations of the station so that they can be heard, we too do not have our own individual consciousness but rather share one Universal Consciousness with all beings and all creation. Thus the words, " I AM that point of consciousness focalized in your human mind which calls itself "I". I AM that "I", but that which you call your consciousness is in reality My Consciousness, thinned down to suit the capacity of your human mind. It is still My Consciousness..." become much clearer. We will need also to change our focus and read this passage from the point of view of the writer, the speaker. I, dear personality, am the I which you think is your consciousness, but in fact it is my consciousness modified so that you can temporarily use it. It never stops being My consciousness, however. 31. Perhaps you cannot see this yet, and of course cannot believe it until I fully prepare your mind by convincing your intellect of its truth. You have been told that each cell of your body has a consciousness and an intelligence of its own; that were it not for this consciousness it could not do the work it so intelligently does. Each cell is surrounded by millions of other cells, each intelligently doing its own work and each evidently controlled by the united consciousness of all these cells, forming a group intelligence, which directs and controls this work; this group intelligence apparently being the intelligence of the organ which the cells comprising it form. Likewise, there are other group intelligences in other organs, each con-

40 42 Our Universal Self taining other millions of cells, and all these organs make up your physical body. Now, you know You are the Intelligence that directs the work of the organs of your body, whether this directing is done consciously or unconsciously; and that each cell of each organ is really a focal center of this directing Intelligence; and that when this Intelligence is withdrawn the cells fall apart, your physical body dies and exists no more as a living organism. This is a classic and very powerful and useful example which is useful to remember and to use as a symbol which will help us to understand and begin to live our true relationship with God, nature and our fellow man. As cells in the divine being, the purpose of our existence is to serve the needs of the other cells and the body as a whole. This is the whole reason for our individual existence as bodies and minds. All the needs of all the cells are cared for by this one consciousness. This consciousness is in continuous contact with the needs of every cell and provides for its survival and growth. It provides for this, however, mostly through the other cells. And thus we are used often to provide for the survival and growth of our brother cells in this body of humanity. We need not fear then for our survival and for our evolution; these are the responsibility of the Universal Consciousness. Let us also remember to reread this message from the point of the speaker; "dear personality please understand that you are a cell in my being. I am caring for you. You are a part of my being. I am continuously caring for you and your real needs." 32. Who is this You who directs and controls the activities of your organs, and consequently of each cell composing them? You cannot say it is your human or personal self who does this, for you of yourself consciously can control the action of scarcely a single organ of your body. It must then be this Impersonal I AM of you, who is You, and yet is not

41 Consciousness, Intelligence, Will 43 you. Listen! You, the I AM of you, are to Me what the cell consciousness of your body is to your I AM Consciousness. You are a cell, as it were, of My Body, and your consciousness (as one of My Cells) is to Me what the consciousness of one of the cells of your body is to You. Therefore, it must be that the consciousness of the cell of your body is My Consciousness, even as your consciousness is My Consciousness; and therefore We must be One in consciousness -- the cell, You and I. Let us imagine ourselves as cells in the body of the Divine Beings. Let us see all others as brother cells in that common being. All beings are cells in our consciousness - parts of our Impersonal Self as within us. 33. You cannot now consciously direct or control a single cell of your body; but when you can at will enter into the Consciousness of the I AM of you and know its identity with Me, then you can control not only every cell of your body, but that of any other body you might wish to control. Here in lies the secret of spiritual healing. We identify with our Universal Self and command those parts of our being which are not in alignment with the health and vitality of the universe to align themselves. Or we ask the Universal Consciousness to do this, depending on what part of our selves we are identifying with. We must, however be careful about what we project or ask for. It is purposely designed so that we do not have spiritual powers until we are more spiritually mature. Otherwise we might use these powers in selfish ways. It is best to imagine others or situations as immersed in divine light and allow the Supreme Divine Intelligence in that light to decide what must be done.

42 44 Our Universal Self The fact that we seek healing for ourselves or our loved ones is a symptom of the fact that we are still identified with our particular bodies and the bodies related to them. We have not experienced our impersonal nature enough to ask with the same desire for the healing or all children in Africa or Asia. 34. What happens when your consciousness no longer controls the cells of your body? The body disintegrates, the cells separate, and their work for the time being is finished. But do the cells (we would need to replace the word cell here with the atoms or molecules of which they are made) die or lose consciousness? No, they simply sleep or rest for a period, and after a while unite with other cells and form new combinations, and sooner or later appear in other manifestations of life, -- perhaps mineral, perhaps vegetable, perhaps animal; showing that they still retain their original consciousness and but await the action of My Will to join together in a new organism to do the work of the new consciousness through which I desire to manifest. Then apparently this cell consciousness is a consciousness common to all bodies, -- mineral, vegetable, animal, human, -- each cell fitted perhaps by experience for a certain general kind of work? We are not only one being spiritually, but also materially. We are all made up of the same molecules, atoms, protons, neutrons and electrons. There are no American atoms, or Greek, Indian, Chinese or Russian atoms, or human atoms and animal atoms, or plant atoms or mineral atoms. All beings and objects large and small are built of the same tiny particles which assemble (guided by the one Universal Consciousness) and then disassemble in order to form some other being or object. Thus what we call now our body has molecules borrowed from persons who lived thousands of years ago, from old animals (or even recent animals if you are a meat eater), from old buildings, metal, parts from the sea and rivers, parts of mountains, old dead insects which have been absorbed by plants, and of course from plant forms, which

43 Consciousness, Intelligence, Will 45 provide the bulk of our physical being at the present. Our unity is a fact not only spiritually and materially and but also in terms of energy. Consider these words of the great scientist ALBERT EINSTEIN. "A human being is a part of the whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to our affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The striving for such an achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security." It is rather unbelievable how Mr. Einstein s words express exactly the same message given forth in this book; a conclusion which he came to with his scientifically and logically oriented mind. 35. Yes, this cell consciousness is common to every cell of every body, no matter what its kind, because it is an Impersonal consciousness, having no purpose other than doing the work allotted it. It lives only to work, wherever needed. When through with building one form, it takes up the work of building another, under whatever consciousness I desire it to serve. Thus it is likewise with you. You, as one of the cells of My Body, have a consciousness that is My Consciousness, an intelligence that is My Intelligence, even a will that is My Will. You have none of these for yourself or of yourself. They are all Mine and for My use only. Now, My consciousness and My Intelligence and My Will are wholly Impersonal, and therefore are common with you and with all the cells of My Body, even as they are common with all the cells of your body.

44 46 Our Universal Self We share a common consciousness, a common intelligence and a common will with all beings in the universe. These are ours to use, but do not belong to us. The idea of copyrighting and protecting our spiritual creations has always seemed strange to me, as I have never felt that any of those ideas which flow through me belonged to me. I have always felt that I am simply a channel through which they flow, and that they belong to all beings and can be used by all beings. We are one being and each of us is bringing into material expression other aspects of our beautiful Divine Self. Our purpose, then, is to each come into contact with the center of all consciousness, intelligence and will, and bring forth into this material plane all of this splendor, sharing it freely with these other expressions of our own being (our fellow beings) so that we may enjoy "Heaven on Earth." 36. I AM, and, being wholly Impersonal, My Consciousness, My Intelligence and My Will, working in you and in the other cells of My Body, which constitute the I AM of you and of them, must work Impersonally, -- just as they work Impersonally in the cells of your body. Therefore, I, and the I AM of you and of your brother, and the consciousness and intelligence of all cells of all bodies, are ONE. I AM the directing Intelligence of All, the animating Spirit, the Life, the Consciousness of all matter, of all Substance. If you can see it, You, the Real you, the Impersonal you, are in all and are one with all, are in Me and are one with Me; just as I AM in you and in all, and thereby am expressing My Reality through you and through all. We are reminded, here, of two important facts. One is that the consciousness which says I AM stopping there at the word "AM", and does not go on to say what I am, thus maintains its impersonal nature. It does not say I am man, animal or plant or sun or planet. The words Be still and know that I AM are from the Bible and they are God s answer to man as to what he is. He is the I AM in all beings, in all objects.

45 Consciousness, Intelligence, Will 47 Thus we are encouraged to use these words "I AM" without adding our usual this body or personality. There is only one I AM in the universe and that is God. God is the only "I" in all beings. There is no other "I". Thus that "I" must be impersonal and can never be limited to a particular form. The second fact is that our "I AM" is the "I AM" of every other being in the universe. Thus the consciousness which says "I AM" in us is that same consciousness which says "I AM" in our spouse, children, parents, friends, coworkers, employer, employees, those who we find negative and aggressive, and in those who we reject as evil, lazy, worthless or unacceptable. Yes, we are in all beings, in those we like or desire and in those who we find repulsive. The real us is the "I" in all beings. 37. This will, which you call your will, is likewise no more yours personally than is this consciousness and this intelligence of your mind and of the cells of your body yours. It is but that small portion of My Will which I permit the personal you to use. Just as fast as you awaken to a recognition of a certain power or faculty within you and begin consciously to use it, do I allow you that much more of My Infinite Power. All power and its use is but so much recognition and understanding of the use of My Will. Your will and all your powers are only phases of My Will, which I supply to suit your capacity to use it. Were I to entrust you with the full power of My Will, before you know how consciously to use it, it would annihilate your body utterly. The power with which we accomplish any task is simply borrowed from the one Universal Will Power. It is not ours and not generated by us. It is simply used by us to manifest our various purposes here on the material plane. The example of the house current will be useful in understanding this.

46 48 Our Universal Self In our home s electrical lines, there is an almost unlimited supply of power for our purposes (imagine that these lines are capable of carrying any amount of power which we need). Each instrument, appliance or machine, which is connected up to these power lines, uses the energy available to perform its very particular purpose such as lighting up a room, or heating it, or cooling it, or cleaning it, or making musical sounds, or creating a breeze or pulverizing the garbage, or washing the dishes. Each machine manifests its purpose for existing by using this one common energy source available to all appliances. The power, however, does not belong to any of these instruments, They have no way of manufacturing their own. They are all useless in the case of a blackout. (Can you imagine a spiritual blackout? Perhaps we are living in one!). They all share one "universal power supply." We as personalities are like those instruments and appliances. We do not have our own power source. We are totally dependent on the one Universal Will, the Universal Power which we use as long as we are in these physical bodies. If we were to be exposed to the immensity of that power at this stage of our evolution, we would be burnt out in the same way that a wire through which too much current has passed is burnt and melted. We are protected from this danger by certain safety mechanisms which prevent us from having access to large amounts of this energy before we are ready. Most spiritual systems offer various techniques for preparing our body and mind so that we can accept greater amounts of this spiritual energy (Holy Spirit) so as to manifest greater portions of our spiritual being here on Earth. There will be no space to go into those techniques here. Let it suffice to say that the most important preparation is to free our selves from the identification with the ego, its body and personality, and thus from the danger of its using this energy in selfish ways. Purity is our greatest safety measure. There are also techniques available for increasing the flow of this energy through our being, but these too are dangerous without an experienced and pure-minded

47 Consciousness, Intelligence, Will 49 teacher. (For more details see our book "The Art of Meditation.") 38. To test your strength and more often to show you what the misuse of My Power does to you, I at times allow you to commit a sin, socalled, or to make a mistake. I even permit you to become inflated with the sense of My Presence within you, when It manifests as a consciousness of My Power, My Intelligence, My Love; and I let you take these and use them for your own personal purposes. But not for long; for, not being strong enough to control them, they soon take the bit in their teeth, run away with you, throw you down in the mire, and disappear from your consciousness for the time being. In the case that we should at some point experience certain spiritual powers such as seeing the aura, astral travel, reading others thoughts, being able to heal others, it is very likely that they will soon disappear if we have not freed ourselves from the illusion of our separate personal identity. In such cases we might have various problems; but those also will be lessons in the school of life, and will be one more affirmation of our need to let go of our sense of separateness. 39. Always I AM there to pick you up, after the fall, although you do not know it at the time; first straightening you out and then starting you onward again, by pointing out the reason for your fall; and finally, when you are sufficiently humbled, causing you to see that these powers accruing to you by the conscious use of My Will, My Intelligence and My Love, are allowed you only for use in My Service, and not at all for your own personal ends. All mistakes are simply opportunities for learning. The Universal Intelligence is there with us at all moments guiding us if only we are sensitive to its messages. When we cannot hear its subtle messages then it needs to "knock more loudly", perhaps in the form of catastrophes, crises, or illnesses since we could not hear the "subtle knock-

48 50 Our Universal Self ing". 40. Do the cells of your body, the muscles of your arm, think to set themselves up as having a separate will from your will, or a separate intelligence from your intelligence? No, they know no intelligence but yours, no will but yours. After a while it will be that you will realize you are only one of the cells of My Body; and that your will is not your will, but Mine; that what consciousness and what intelligence you have are Mine wholly; and that there is no such person as you, you personally being only a physical form containing a human brain, which I created for the purpose of expressing in matter an Idea, a certain phase of which I could express best only in that particular form. This is the second time that He hints that our personalities have a special place in creation, as instruments for the expression of the Divine Will. But like all instruments, all the power, intelligence and responsibility and rewards for all achievement and efforts belong to the master technician who has created and is using the instruments. 41. All this may be difficult for you now to accept, and you may protest very strenuously that it cannot be, that every instinct of your nature rebels against such yielding and subordinating yourself to an unseen and unknown power, however Impersonal or Divine. Fear not, it is only your personality that thus rebels. If you continue to follow and study My Words, all will soon be made clear, and I will surely open up to your inner understanding many wonderful Truths that now are impossible for you to comprehend. Your Soul will rejoice and sing glad praises, and you will bless these words for the message they bring. It is difficult for us to accept such a truth as the nonexistence of our personalities as separate beings and that they are simply instruments

49 Consciousness, Intelligence, Will 51 for use by some higher power. This reaction however is natural from our personality which feels that it is losing its identity. Would we feel that it is unjust that the fingers which we created and which we guide on a daily basis should give up their personal will and listen to our commands so that they could function with more unity and effective cooperation? We have created them for our purpose of expression and now they say that they want to have their own will. They react; but only because they have forgotten that their consciousness is our consciousness and that they have no other consciousness except ours and that they cannot exist apart from our consciousness! It is natural for our personalities to react. But for how long can a finger resist the will of the body. The total consciousness will soon take over regardless as to how much it would prefer this process to be agreed upon by the finger. We have been given much freedom in this process. Real freedom is to be free from the ignorance which causes our suffering - the illusion of separate existence.

50 52 Our Universal Self

51 The Key 53 CHAPTER 5 THE KEY 42. Now you may not even yet know I AM, or believe that I AM really you, or that I AM likewise your bother and your sister, and that you are all parts of Me and One with Me. You may not realize that the Souls of you and your brother and sister, the only real and imperishable parts of the mortal you, are but different phases of Me in expression in what is called Nature. Likewise you may not realize that you and your brothers and sisters are phases or attributes of My Divine Nature, just as your human personality, with its mortal body, mind and intellect, is a phase of your human nature. No, you do not realize this yet, but I speak of it now, that you may know the signs when they begin to appear in your consciousness, as they surely will. In order to recognize these signs, all that now follows must be considered carefully and studied, and should not be passed by until My meaning, at least in some degree, is grasped. Once you fully understand the principle I here set down, then all My Message will become clear and comprehensible. I first give you the Key that will unlock every mystery that now hides from you the secret of My Being. This Key, when you once know how to use it, will open the door to all Wisdom and all Power in heaven and earth. Yea, it will open the door to the Kingdom of Heaven, and then you have but to enter in to become consciously One with Me. It is natural that we find it difficult to comprehend what our higher

52 54 Our Universal Self self is telling our personality. Thus we are now going to get a KEY that our personality can use in order to make this transition. 43. This Key is "To THINK is to CREATE", or "As you THINK in your HEART, so is it with you". Stop and meditate on this that it may get firmly fixed in your mind. A Thinker is a Creator. A Thinker lives in a world of his own conscious creation. When you once know how "to think", you can create at will anything you wish, -- whether it be a new personality, a new environment, or a new world. No one else is responsible for what we experience. We are sole creators of our realities and no one else. We create our reality in three ways. 1. We are creating our reality with our mental images - projected outward onto the screen of life creating realities analogous with these images. Whatever we are experiencing in life is a result of our thoughts. When our thoughts change, we will create a different reality. 2. Our thoughts and actions also attract that which we believe. We call this mirroring or sympathetic vibration. Some of these thoughts or actions may have occurred in the distance past, as is with the law of Karma. Some might be our present thoughts and actions. 3. Additionally, our thoughts interpret what happens so events agree with what we believe. If we change what we believe, think and feel, we can create a completely different reality from the one we have created until now.

53 The Key Let us see if you cannot grasp some of the Truths hidden and controlled by this Key. You have been shown how all consciousness is One, and how it is all My Consciousness, and yet is also yours and likewise that of the animal, the plant, the stone, and the invisible cell. You have seen how this consciousness is controlled by My Will, which causes the invisible cells to unite and form the various organisms for the expression and use of the different Centers of Intelligence through which I desire to express. But you cannot yet see how you can direct and control the consciousness of the cells of your own body, not to speak of those of other bodies, even if you and I and they are all one in consciousness and intelligence. By paying especial attention to what follows, however, you now may be enabled to see this. Have you ever taken the pains to study out what is consciousness? How it seems to be an impersonal state of awareness, of waiting to serve or to be directed or used by some power latent in and intimately related to itself? How man seems to be merely the highest type of organism containing this consciousness, which is directed and used by this power within itself? There is one universal power light - consciousness. We are now asked if we have observed that that consciousness is a neutral state of mind just waiting to serve or to be directed or used by some power latent in and intimately related to itself? We are one of those main directing mechanisms, whose purpose is to come into contact with that Universal Consciousness and then direct it towards various goals and manifest it in the material world in various ways. Our thoughts and desires give form to that formless consciousness. We have not yet grasped the highest possible expression of that which we could possibly create, nor the extent of the power and intelligence available to us as directors or focusers of this consciousness.

54 56 Our Universal Self 45. That this power latent in man's consciousness and in all consciousness is nothing but Will, My Will? For you know that all power is but the manifestation of My Will. Now you have been told that in the beginning I created man in "My Image and Likeness", after which I breathed into him the Breath of Life and he became a Living Soul. By creating man in My Image and Likeness I created an organism capable of expressing all of My Consciousness and all of My Will, which means likewise all of My Power, My Intelligence, and My Love. I therefore made it perfect in the beginning, patterning it after My own Perfection. When I breathed into man's organism My Breath, it became alive with Me; for then it was I breathed into it My Will -- not from without, but from within -- from the Kingdom of Heaven within, where always I AM. Ever afterward I breathed and lived and had My Being within man, for I created him in My Image and Likeness only for that purpose. The proof of this is, man does not and cannot breath of himself. Something far greater than his conscious, natural self lives in his body and breathes through his lungs. A mighty power within his body thus uses the lungs, even as it uses the heart to force the blood containing the life it indrew through the lungs to every cell of the body; as it uses the stomach and other organs to digest and assimilate food to make blood, tissue, hair and bone; as it uses the brain, the tongue, the hands and feet, to think and say and do everything that man does. This power is My Will to BE and LIVE in man. Therefore, whatever man is, I AM, and whatever man does, or you do, I do, and whatever you say or think, it is I Who say or think it through your organism. You were also told that when man was thus possessed of My Breath he was given dominion over all the kingdoms of the earth. Which means he was made lord of the earth, the sea, the air and the ethers, and all beings living in all these kingdoms paid him homage and were subject to his will. This naturally was so, for I, within man's consciousness and within all consciousness, AM always manifesting My Will; and I, the lord and ruler of man's organism, AM likewise the lord and ruler of all organisms in which consciousness dwells. As all consciousness is My

55 The Key 57 Consciousness and It dwells wherever there is life, and as there is no substance in which there is not life, then My Consciousness must be in everything, - in earth, water, air and fire and therefore must fill all space. In fact it is space, or that which man calls space. Then My Will, being the power latent in all consciousness, must reach everywhere. Therefore man's will, which is but a focalization of My Will, must likewise reach everywhere; hence the consciousness of all organisms, including his own, is subject to man's direction and control. All it needs is for him consciously to realize this, realize that I, the Impersonal Self within him, AM constantly directing, controlling and using the consciousness of all organisms every moment of every day of his life. I AM doing this by and through his thinking. Let us enumerate the basic concepts reiterated and added here in this piece. 1. All power, intelligence and love are expressions of the one universal being. 2. We, as personalities, are simply instruments created for the expression of the divine qualities inherent in that being. 3. Our personalities are created in God s Image and Likeness, which means that they contain all of the divine attributes in a latent state and are capable of eventually expressing them. 4. The divine being and the kingdom of heaven are within us. Divine power, love and intelligence are inner forces seeking outward expression. They are not something which we have to obtain from outside ourselves. 5. Divine Consciousness continuously sustains our being, just as we sustain our cells. If we as consciousness abandon our bodies, our cells decompose and die. They have no life without our moment to

56 58 Our Universal Self moment sustaining power. Just as the light at the cinema projects the images on the screen, this material plane is a result of a projection of consciousness from within it by the Universal Consciousness. The type of creation which our personalities experience is, however, dependent on our thoughts and beliefs. 6. We need to experience that we are instruments of a higher power, and thus behave accordingly. 46. I AM doing this with and through man's organism. Man thinks he thinks; but it is I, the Real I of him, who think through his organism. Through this thinking and his spoken word I accomplish all that man does, and make man and his world all that they are. It makes no difference if man and his world are not what he supposes they are. They are just what I created them to be for My Purpose. But, if I do all the thinking, man does not and cannot think, I hear you say. Yes, here seems a mystery, but it will be revealed to you, if you note carefully what follows: For I AM going to teach you -- man -- HOW to think. The Divine does everything. It even thinks through us. What do we do then? Perhaps the secret is in the meaning of the word to think. Is it to simply repeat a programmed thought as does the tape player or video or computer? Do they think or do they simply repeat whatever has been programmed into them? Do we think or repeat programmings? In the next chapter we learn How to Think.

57 Thinking And Creating 59 CHAPTER 6 THINKING AND CREATING 47. I have said that man does not think; that it is I, within him, Who do his thinking. I have also said man thinks he thinks. As this is an apparent contradiction, I needs must show you that man, ordinarily, does not think, any more than he does anything else he supposes he does. For I, within him, do all that he does; but I necessarily do it through his organism, through his personality, his body, mind and soul. I will point out how this can be. First, try to realize that I made you in My Image and Likeness, and that I have My Being within you. Even if you do not know this now and believe that I, God, AM somewhere without, and that we are separately, try for the time being to imagine I AM within you. Next, realize that which you do when you think is not real thinking, because it is not conscious thinking; for you are unconscious of Me, the Inspirer and Director of every idea and thought that enters your mind. Next, realize because I AM within you, and you are My Image and Likeness, and therefore possess all of My Faculties, you have the power of thinking; but not being conscious that thinking is creating and that it is one of My Divine Powers you are using, you have indeed all your life been thinking, but it has all been mis-thinking, or what you would call error-thinking. And this error-thinking, this not knowing it is My Power you have been thus misusing, has been separating you in consciousness farther and farther from Me; but all the time fulfilling My Purpose, which later on

58 60 Our Universal Self will be made manifest to you. The proof of this is, you think you are separated from Me, that you are living in a material World, that your body of Flesh engenders and harbors pleasure and pain, and that an evil influence, called the Devil, is manifesting in the world, opposing My Will. Until now, we have been error-thinking. We have been living in an illusion of separateness, which has obstructed us from receiving and manifesting real thoughts. Do we consider dreams to be valid thoughts, conscious thinking? We have been dreaming a common dream for some millions of years. A dream in which we have believed that "you are separated from Me, that you are living in a material World, that your body of Flesh engenders and harbors pleasure and pain, and that an evil influence, called the Devil, is manifesting in the world, opposing My Will." We have dreamt that we are in danger of not being loved by an "austere and foreboding God". We have imagined and created a very human Divine Being with conditional love like ourselves. We have feared some imaginary devil who could have some significant power against the divine. As dreamers, we live in our dream until we are awakened. We do not awaken easily because this is common dream and those around us agree on its reality. We are dream-thinking. Our thoughts are valid for our "dream world" and seem logical to us, but we are not actually thinking, just as we do not consider that the thoughts which we have in a dream are real thinking. 48. Yes, you think all these things are so. They are -- to you, for all things are to man's mortal consciousness what he thinks or believes they are. I have likewise caused them to appear to man to be what he thinks

59 Thinking and Creating 61 they are. This also is to suit my purpose, and to fulfill the law of creating. Let us see if this is not true. If you believe a thing is so, is not that thing really so -- to you? It is not true that a thing seems real to you, like some sin or evil, socalled, some sorrow, trouble or worry, only because your thinking or believing it so makes it such? Others might see that thing entirely differently and might think your view of it foolish. Might they not? If this is true, then your body, your personality, your character, your environment, your world, are what they appear to be to you, because you have thought them into their present status. Therefore you can change them by the same process, if they do not please you; you can make them whatever you will, by thinking them so. Can you not? If we believe in the power of love and unity, these will become reality. If we believe that we are healthy and full of creative vital energy, this too will be a reality. If we believe in our common goodness, this will be our reality. This not brain washing. This is realizing the truth and living it. It is getting free from our illusionary childhood programming. 49. But how can one do real thinking, conscious thinking, so as to bring about this change? you ask. First know that I, your Real Self, purposely brought to your attention these things which now are displeasing and which cause you to think them as being what they now seem to be to you. I, and I alone, AM thus preparing your human mind so that, when you turn within to Me in abiding Faith and Trust, I can enable you to see and bring into outer manifestation the Reality of these things which now seem so unsatisfactory. For I bring to you everything that, by its outer seeming, can attract or lure your human mind onward in its earthly search, in order to teach you of the illusoriness of all outer appearance of material things to

60 62 Our Universal Self the human mind, and of the fallibility of all human understanding; so that you will turn finally within to Me and My Wisdom, as the One and Only Interpreter and Guide. How can we do real thinking? First we must realize that all of our searching for happiness, our mistakes and "sins", our attempts to find pleasure or satisfaction, security or affirmation through the outer world was allowed by our Universal Self. This was allowed so that we would realize through first hand experience that these cannot give us permanent satisfaction. Having realized that our human mind is unable to guide us properly, we will thus turn inward for another source of guidance, our Impersonal Self. 50. When you have turned thus within to Me, I will open your eyes and cause you to see that the only way you can ever bring about this change in thinking, is by first changing your attitude toward all these things you now think are not what they ought to be. That is, if they are unsatisfactory or obnoxious to you and affect you so as to cause you discomfort of body or disturbance of mind, -- why, stop thinking that they can so affect or disturb you. For who is the master? - Your body, your mind, or You, the I AM within? Then why not show You are master, by thinking the true things the I AM of you within wishes you to think? Once we have turned inward, the next step is to learn to accept those parts of our lives which at the present are not acceptable to us or are causing us pain, fear, guilt, bitterness, anger, hate, or other negative emotions. Some possible "unpleasant" aspects of our lives might be the following.

61 Thinking and Creating We may feel guilt. We may have now awakened to the fact that we have not always behaved in harmony with the laws of unity and love, and that we may have done to others, that which we would not have liked them to do to us. In such a case, we will need to accept that we were guided to act in that way due to our ignorance at that time and now, having seen the results, we are motivated to modify our behavior and the beliefs. This, then, becomes valuable learning experience. We can ask forgiveness of those whom we may have harmed. We can free ourselves from the needs, desires or fears which caused us to act in that way. Then we can forgive ourselves realizing that our Higher Self allowed this to happen so that we and the others could learn from this experience. 2. Another possibility is that we feel that life is not giving us what we need in order to be happy. Perhaps we would like greater health, pleasure, relationships, money, comforts, activities, freedom, love and affection or whatever we think we "must have" in order to feel secure, happy or affirmed. One lesson might be to be happy without that by discovering our inner sources of happiness security and self-worth. Another lesson may be to learn to find the power to change the situation so that we are able to create more of what we want. Our lesson in all cases is to be happy. We need to stop allowing that which we desire to have so much power over us. We are giving it this power. We are giving it this importance. We give to every object and person the importance they have for us. We need to master our minds and bodies and not allow them to bother us or obstruct our clarity, happiness or effectiveness when they have problems. 51. It is only by your thinking these other things, by allowing these inharmonious thoughts to enter your mind, and by so doing, giving

62 64 Our Universal Self them the power so to affect or disturb you, that they have any such influence over you. When you stop thinking into them this power, and turn within to Me and allow Me to direct your thinking, they will at once disappear from your consciousness, and dissolve into the nothingness from which you created them by your thinking. When you are willing to do this, then and then only are you ready to receive Truth, and, by proper conscious thinking, directed by Me, to create the true and permanent things I within wish you to create. Thus the next time we are overcome by negativity, fear, suffering, depression, bitterness or any other unpleasant feeling or thought, let us turn within and come into contact with our Higher Self. We can offer our negativity to God or our higher self. Or we can speak to our negativity commanding (or explaining to) it to "Be Still - and Know - I AM - God". We can remind our selves that we are not this body or mind; that we are the impartial witness of their functioning. (The four methods given in technique No. 2 at the end of the book may be helpful here.) Another key is to cease giving importance to negative thoughts and to connect with our higher consciousness. We need to free ourselves from our self-created melodrama and realize that all is exactly what we need for the next step in our learning process. We need faith that the divine knows what we are experiencing and is allowing it because that is what is best for our evolution. 52. Then, when you can thus distinguish the true from the false, the real from the seeming, your conscious thinking will be as potent to create all things you desire, as has been your unconsciousness thinking in the past in creating those things you once desired but now find obnoxious. For it was by your unconscious thinking, or thinking unconscious of the control your desires exercised over your creative power, that your world and your life are now what you sometime in the past desired them to be.

63 Thinking and Creating 65 The key to a new more positive reality is in "distinguishing the true from the false". Until now our unconscious thinking has created a reality which is probably not satisfactory to us. This type of thinking based on the illusion of our separateness from God, people and nature has caused us to act in selfishly oriented ways which in the end have created many problems for us as individuals, families, society and as a planet. We have created unsatisfactory economic, ecological, political, educational and health systems. Feeling fearful of not having what we need in order to feel secure, satisfied and affirmed, we adopted an accumulation-consciousness in which we saw ourselves as weak and vulnerable beings living in a difficult and antagonistic world. This created fear and desire, our two main obstacles to inner peace. Through fear and desire we have created the reality which we are experiencing. If we want to change that reality we will have to free ourselves from these two. The way to do that is to understand and experience the nature of our true Self. And yet desire is the mechanism by which our inner ideas and inspirations come into manifestation. Desire as we will learn is a lower manifestation of divine will. How can we understand this confusing point about desires? 53. Have you ever studied and analyzed the process of the working of your mind when a new Idea fertile with possibilities appears? Have you noticed the relation that Desire bears to such an Idea, and how, through thinking, that Idea is finally brought to actual fruition? Let us study this relation and process. There is always first the Idea, not considering at this moment the necessity or occasion for Its appearance. It matters not whence the Idea comes, from within or without; for it is always I who inspire It or cause It to impress your consciousness at the particular moment it does. Then, just to the extent that you grow quiet and focus your attention upon that Idea, stilling all the activities of your mind and eliminating all other ideas and thoughts from your consciousness, so that Idea can

64 66 Our Universal Self have full sway, do I illumine your mind and cause to unfold before your mental gaze the various phases and possibilities contained within that Idea. This takes place, however, up to this point, without any volition on your part, other than focusing or concentrating your attention upon the Idea. Once I have given your human mind a view of Its possibilities, and have enlisted your interest, then does your human personality take up its task; for as I created and inspired the Idea in your mind, so did I cause that Idea to fructify therein and give birth to Desire, -- desire to bring into outer manifestation all the possibilities of the Idea, Desire thus becoming the mortal agent of My Will and supplying the motive Power; just as the human personality is the mortal instrument used to confine and focus that Power. Yes, all ideas and all desires come thus from Me. They are My Ideas and My Desires which I inspire in your mind and heart in order to bring them through you into outer manifestation. You have no ideas of your own and could not possibly have a desire that came from other than Me, for I AM all there Is. Therefore all desires are Good, and when thus understood unfailingly come into speedy and complete fulfillment. The mechanism of inspiration and inner guidance is explained in this passage. All ideas come to us from the Universal Mind. These ideas come to us in order to further our evolution. This evolution may proceed through pleasant and unpleasant experiences. We may be guided to investigate some activity simply to learn that lasting happiness cannot be found in there. We may be guided to create something only to have it soon after destroyed or disappear, so that we can learn detachment. We may be guided from within to do something which will in the end bring us criticism and social rejection because through these tests we will learn inner strength. Or we may be guided to actions that will make life more beautiful and more harmonious for us and others.

65 Thinking and Creating 67 These inspirations may come in moments of peace or relaxation, especially during or after sleep or meditation. But they can occur at any moment, while walking in nature, or on a crowded sidewalk, while talking a shower or driving a car. They may also come from without in the form of messages which stick in our minds as we are listening to someone talk, or while watching TV, or listening to the radio, or reading a book or a sign which we are passing on the road. Its apparent source is not important. There is only one ultimate source of all ideas and inspirations - the Universal Intellect. We do not, however always understand these ideas in their purest forms. 54. You may wrongly interpret My Desires, My Urges from within, and seek to use them for your own selfish purpose, but even while permitting this they still fulfill My Purpose. For it is only by letting you misuse My Gifts and by the suffering such misuse brings, that I can make you into the clean and selfless channel I require for the perfect expression of My Ideas. We will be told more about how we misinterpret these ideas later. It is important to understand that even this misinterpretation is a part of our evolutionary process, because through it we are able to discover the suffering which using "them for your own selfish purpose," will have on our lives. We are allowed to interpret these ideas selfishly so that eventually we will realize that this is not useful, that we will not find happiness in this way, and thus stop doing this and become "the clean and selfless channel I require for the perfect expression of My Ideas." For example, we are inspired with the divine idea of love and unity. For thousands of years we have interpreted this to mean personal love, erotas, sex, exclusive relationships in which we believe that the other is our property. Eventually we begin to understand that love is not that, that love is not becoming addicted to a person and fearing not having him or her. Love is wanting the other to be happy, love is helping,

66 68 Our Universal Self whether the other is kind to us or not; love is accepting unconditionally; love is realizing that we are the other, and the other is us, that we are one. Love is realizing that there is only one being, that there is only one lover and one beloved, that all are one being. A divine idea can be implanted in us, and then pass through thousands of years of evolution in our understanding and employment of that idea until we are able to manifest it in its purest state. As mentioned it is "by the suffering such misuse brings," that we are motivated to move on to higher understandings of that idea. 55. We have, then, first the Idea in the mind; then the Desire to bring the Idea into outer manifestation. So much for the realization. Now for the process of realization. In accordance with the definiteness with which the picture of the Idea is held in the mind. and the extent to which the Idea possesses the personality, does its creative Power, impelled by Desire, proceed with Its work. This It does by compelling the mortal mind to think out or to imagine (image in), or, in other words, to build mental forms into which I can pour, as into a vacuum, the Impersonal, elemental, vital substance of the Idea. When the Word is spoken, either silently or audibly, consciously or unconsciously, this substance at once begins to materialize Itself, by first directing and controlling the consciousness and all the activities of both mind and body, and of all minds and all bodies connected with or related to the Idea, -- for remember, all consciousness, and all minds and all bodies are Mine, and are not separated but are One and wholly Impersonal, -- and then so attracting, directing, shaping, and molding conditions, things and events that, sooner or later, the Idea actually comes forth into definite, tangible manifestation. Here are mentioned some factors which have to do with the manifestation of any idea or desire. 1. The length of time which it occupies our minds. 2. The intensity of our need to manifest it.

67 Thinking and Creating Our mental images or thought forms. 4. The divine force - universal energy which flows into every idea or desire and propels into material manifestation. 5. Our mental, emotional and physical energies and activities that are directed towards that goal. At the same time other individuals may be motivated from within to cooperate in this creation and bringing forth of this idea into physical reality as all are instruments of this one consciousness, which is the source and power behind the idea. The degree to which we can be open channels for this flow, depends on our "life alignment", which means the degree of consistency that exists between our conscience, thoughts, words and actions. When we are consistent and act in harmony with our conscience, always speaking the truth, then we are open channels for this flow. 56. So it is that every thing, every condition, every event that ever transpired, was first an Idea in the mind. It was by desiring, by thinking, and by speaking forth the Word, that these ideas came into visible manifestation. Think this out and prove it for yourself. This you can do, if you will, by taking any Idea that comes and following it out through the above process to realization; or by tracing back any feat you have accomplished, any picture you have painted, any machine you have invented, or any particular thing or condition now existing, to the Idea from which it sprang. This is the plan and process of all true thinking, and therefore of all Creation. Listen! You have now and always have had, through this power of thinking, dominion over all the kingdoms of the earth. If you but know it, You have now, this moment, only to Think and SPEAK THE WORD, -- realizing your power, and that I, God, your Omniscient, Omnipresent, Omnipotent Self, will bring about the results, -- and the waiting consciousness of the invisible cells of all matter upon which your will and attention become focused, -- which waiting consciousness is

68 70 Our Universal Self My consciousness, remember, -- will begin immediately to obey and do exactly according to the image or plans you have prepared by your thinking. Our thoughts are the building blocks of our emotional, mental and physical reality. The concept of the projection light at the cinema will help us understand this. The light before it passes through the film is the impersonal, pure, unconditioned, unlimited Self. It has no form, no characteristics. It passes through the film, and depending on the particular images which are then on the film, takes a form and obtains characteristics. It is still the impersonal light, which is just temporarily appearing in this form. And if there are thousands of persons appearing on the film then all those persons appearing on the screen are manifested by the one light. There are not thousands of little lights, one for each person, animal, plant, or the earth, sea or sky which appear on the screen. There is one light and all that appear on the screen are manifestations of that one light. The light is the power of creation without which nothing would be appearing on the screen. The screen is the material world which simply is a result of the light and images which are appearing on the film. The film is the divine mind - or our collective mind. We are the divine mind evolving in its ability to express its divine perfection on the material plane. Our thoughts are the images on the screen that create our personal and collective reality. These ideas are planted by the Divine Mind. At first we misinterpret them. Our thoughts have the power of the universe behind them and thus are omnipotent. Sooner or later they will become reality (since they are in front of the projecting divine light-consciousness). Our thoughts will become reality; but until they are free from our programming, we may not be happy with the reality which they will become.

69 Thinking and Creating For all things are made by the Word, and without the Word was not anything made that was made. When you can once realize this and can know that I AM Consciousness within you is one with the consciousness of all animate and inanimate matter, and that Its will is one with your will, which is My Will, and that all your desires are My Desires, then will you begin to know and feel Me within, and will acknowledge the Power and Glory of My Idea, which is eternally expressing Itself Impersonally through you. Here we are reminded of the opening words of the Gospel of St. John. "In the beginning was the word. All was created through the word and nothing has ever been created which has not been created by the word." This word of creation will be discussed in more detail later. The main message here is that the I AM within us is "one with the consciousness of all animate and inanimate matter, and that Its will is one with your will, which is My Will". Thus our will is directly connected with the consciousness and will in every being and object in creation. This is another key to the power of thinking. Our thoughts are affecting all the beings and objects around us. The second point here is that all of our desires originate in the one divine consciousness, regardless as to whether we have understood them in their purest form. Understand this will bring inner reconciliation. Once we have accepted everything as having divine origin, then we will need to learn how to channel and use all these properly. 58. But it is first wholly necessary that you learn HOW to think, how to know Your thoughts, those directed by Me, from the thoughts of others; how to trace thoughts back to their source and to banish undesirable ones at will from your consciousness; and finally how to control and utilize your desires so that they will always serve You, instead of your being a slave to them. You have within you all possibilities. For I AM there. My Idea must express, and It must express through you. It will express itself perfectly

70 72 Our Universal Self - if you but let it; if you will only still your human mind, put aside all personal Ideas, beliefs and opinions, and let it flow forth. All you need to do is to turn within to Me, and let Me direct your thinking and your desires, let Me express whatever I will, you personally accepting and doing what I desire you to do. Then will your desires come true, your life become one grand harmony, your world a heaven and your self one with My Self. When you have begun to realize this and have glimpsed somewhat of its inner meaning, then you will be ready to grasp the real import of what follows. We are now encouraged to learn to discriminate between our divinely inspired thoughts and the other s thoughts or our social programming. We have been programmed like robots from birth to believe in our separateness, to believe in danger, in our unworthiness, in our need to prove ourselves to the others for our self-worth, the need to compare ourselves with others and function competitively. We have been programmed to desire what we do not have, to feel jealous of those who have it, worry and have anxiety because we fear that we will be able to get or keep what we want. We have learned that we are not responsible for our realities but that we are the unfortunate victims of other peoples evilness. We are programmed to believe that we cannot be happy without a spouse, children, money and many possessions. We have learned to mistrust people and believe that they want to harm us. These and many other such examples are "the thoughts of others; " which cloud our mind and prevent us from hearing "Your thoughts, those directed by Me," which will lead us to ultimate fulfillment on all levels of our being. We need the faith that the kingdom of heaven is within us. That we are divine. That we are in the Divine and that the divine is within us. Faith that we are "Temples of the living God".

71 The Word 73 CHAPTER 7 THE WORD 59. We will now take the Key and show you how the plan and process just described is the one by which the world came into existence, how the earth and all that is in it and on it, including yourself and your brothers and sisters, are but the outer manifestations of an Idea, My Idea, which is now being thought into life expression. I, the Creator, Am the Original THINKER, The One and Only THINKER. First know that. As previously stated, man does not think. It is I Who think through his organism. Man believes he thinks, but before he has awakened to a realization of Me within he only takes the thoughts I attract to or inspire in his mind, and, mistaking their real meaning and purpose, places a personal construction upon them and, through the selfish desires thus aroused, creates for himself all his troubles and brings upon himself all his woes. These apparent mistakes, misconstructions and interferences of man are in reality only the obstacles in his way to be overcome, that he may, through the overcoming, finally develop a body and mind strong and clean and capable enough to express perfectly and consciously this Idea of Mine eternally working within his Soul. Man, then, is only the organism I AM thus preparing through which to manifest the perfection of My Idea. He provides the personality, with its body, mind and intellect, through which I can express this Idea perfectly, the physical brain with which I can think and speak It into outer manifestation. Let us summarize some of the concepts held within this passage. 1. There is only one consciousness and one real Thinker.

72 74 Our Universal Self 2. All has come into existence by being first thought of by that Thinker. 3. Until we awaken to our true nature, we do not actually think, but only repeat programmed thoughts. 4. All our thoughts are planted in our mind by universal consciousness, but at first are usually misinterpreted and wrongly manifested. 5. These misconceptions will need to be overcome in order for us to be useful instruments for the expression of the Divine Will. 6. We are being prepared by the Divine as vehicles for Its expression. This is the only reason for our existence. Man "provides the personality, with its body, mind and intellect, through which I can express this Idea perfectly, the physical brain with which I can think and speak It into outer manifestation." 60. I plant in man's brain an Idea -- any idea. That idea would grow, mature and speedily ripen into complete outer fruition or manifestation, - if man only would let it, would give his mind and all its thoughts, his heart and all its desires wholly over to Me, and let Me come forth as the perfect fulfillment of that Idea. I will now plant in your brain-mind an Idea. May It grow, mature and ripen into the glorious harvest of Wisdom which is awaiting you, -- if you let Me direct Its growth and expression through you. In one of My other Revelations, called the Bible, you are told much about "The Word", but very few, even the most learned Bible students, comprehend My meaning. You are told that: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. "The same was in the beginning with God. "All things were made by him, -- by the Word, -- and without Him -- the Word --- was not anything made that was made". You shall learn herein how My Word was in the beginning, how It was with Me, and how It was I, My Self; how all things were made by Me and by My Word, and that without Me and My Word was nothing made that now exists.

73 The Word 75 We are reminded again of St. John s emphasis given to the Word. Now what we will be told is what a word is, and how to understand it. 61. Now, a word to the human understanding is a symbol of an Idea; that is, it stands for, embodies and represents an Idea. You are a Word, a symbol of an Idea, if you can see it. So is a diamond, a violet, a horse. When you can discern the idea back of the symbol, then you know the soul or the reality of the manifestation appearing as a man, a diamond, a horse, a violet. Hence, a word, as used in the above quotation, means an Idea, an Idea latent and unmanifest, however, waiting to be expressed, or thought and spoken forth, in some form or another. A word is the spiritual reality latent behind every external manifestation. Behind all beings and objects there is a spiritual reality, a subtle spiritual consciousness-energy which then projects itself outward and becomes that which we see on the material plane. We might also call this an idea that seeks expression. You and I as ideas in God s mind are seeking expression. All beings and objects then are ideas in God s mind seeking expression. 62. The Word that was in the beginning and that was with Me was then not only an Idea, but It was My Idea of My Self IN EXPRESSION in a new state or condition, which you call earth life. This Idea was, I, My Self, because It was part of Me, being as yet latent and unmanifest within Me; for It was of the substance and essence of My BE-ing, which is Itself an Idea, the One Original Idea. All things were made by Me by the vitalized action of this, My Idea, being thought and spoken into expression; and nothing has been or ever can be expressed in earth life without having My Idea as the primary and fundamental cause and principle of its being. The "word" that became creation was God s idea of manifesting him-

74 76 Our Universal Self self as the physical world. Until then God was (and still is) pure consciousness without form. The Divine s idea is divine. The word is God. It is a manifestation of God. Although the image on the screen at the cinema is actually formed and distorted light, it nevertheless light. All beings and objects and situations then are God s ideas impinging onto the screen of matter. God s thoughts are taking form and evolving in matter. You and I are a few of those evolving ideas. We as divine ideas are perfect in our conception but, as yet, imperfect in our expression. 63. This, My Idea, therefore, is now in the process of unfoldment or of being thought into outer expression - some call it evolution,- just as is the flower when the bud puts forth from the stalk and finally opens into the blossom, obeying the urge to express My Idea hidden within its soul. Just so will I develop and unfold all My mediums of expression, which shall finally, unitedly and completely picture forth My Idea from out their souls, in all the glory of Its perfection. At present these mediums are of such nature that they require many languages of many types, from the simplest to the most complex, composed of almost an infinite number of Words, to express My Idea. But when I shall have completely thought out My Idea, or shall have perfected My many mediums of expression, then shall My Idea shine forth in every Word, each, in fact, being a perfect part or phase of My Idea, all so chosen and arranged that they will really be as one Word, radiating the sublime significance of My Meaning. We are thoughts being thought-out, projected outward from the subtler spiritual realms to the physical realm. Our true being is impersonal and perfect, but our personal expression is still in the process of evolution. As pure consciousness we are perfect but our personality is evolving. This stage of that evolution requires that there be a wide variety of experiences such as the many religions, countries, languages, and races

75 The Word 77 as well as the two sexes (for the soul has none of these). Eventually as we pass through most of our lessons, we will not need all of these various conflicting energies in order to learn from. They will begin gradually to unify and "will really be as one Word, radiating the sublime significance of My Meaning." 64. Then shall all languages have melted, merged, into one language, and all Words into One Word; for all mediums shall have become flesh, and all flesh shall have become One flesh, the now perfected medium for the complete expression in One Word of My Idea, -- My SELF. Then shall My SELF, now capable of being expressed by these perfected Words, shine through Its medium of expression, -- through the personalities, their bodies, minds and intellects; and the Word shall have become flesh, or shall BE the flesh. Our eventual goal is perfect unity on all levels. This will be possible only when we abandon the illusion of our separateness, and thus our fear. Evolution began with one-celled organisms that gradually united to form more complex organisms such as plants, insects, fish, animals and then mankind. We too, like cells in a divine body, must unite and create a super-organism called united humanity or united beings - including all the animals, plants, insects and minerals. We can express much more than an amoeba. But we in a sense are just a conglomeration of cooperating amoebas. Imagine what a "united humanity" could do in comparison to millions of humans living separately and uncooperatively as we are today. 65. This means that all Words, through the regenerative power of My Idea within, shall have evolved through the flesh, transmuting and spiritualizing it and making it so transparent and pure that the personality will have nothing more of earth nature left in it to hinder Impersonal expression, enabling My SELF, therefore, to shine forth perfectly and become fully manifest; thus amalgamating once more all Words and all flesh into One Word, THE WORD

76 78 Our Universal Self which was in the beginning, and which then will shine through all created flesh as the SUN OF GLORY, -- The CHRIST of GOD! This is the plan and purpose of My Creation and of all manifested things. A glimpse of the process of My Creation, or of My Thinking My Idea of My Self into Earth expression, will be given in what follows. The idea is that these personalities that now have been prepared through their personal experiences to be able to function and express themselves effectively on the earth plane, will now realize the truth of their oneness through their Impersonal Self and will become so totally selfless and pure that they will express at all moments the divine will, with no further distortions or misconceptions. Then the original divine idea of God manifesting his divinity totally on the earth level will become a reality. The personality will become "...so transparent and pure that the personality will have nothing more of earth nature left in it to hinder Impersonal expression, enabling My SELF, therefore, to shine forth perfectly and become fully manifest..."

77 My Idea 79 CHAPTER 8 MY IDEA 66. You have been told that the Earth and all things belonging to it are but the outer manifestations of My Idea, which is now in the process of being thought into perfect expression. You have been shown that My Idea is responsible for all created things, and that It is both the Cause and the Reason for all manifestations, yourself and your brothers and sisters included, all of which have been thought into existence by Me, the One Original Thinker and Creator. We will not trace the course of that Idea from the beginning, through Its various stages of Earth expression, as well as the process of My Thinking that Idea into Its present state of manifestation. In the beginning, at the dawn of a new Cosmic Day, when the Word consciousness was just awakening and the stillness of Cosmic Night yet prevailed, I the THINKER conceived My Idea. This My Idea of My Self in manifestation in a new condition, called Earth expression, I saw completely pictured in the mirror of My Omniscient Mind. In this mirror I saw the real Earth shining forth brilliantly in the Cosmos, -- a perfect Sphere, where all the Infinite phases, attributes and powers of My Divine Nature were finding perfect expression through the medium of Angels of Light, living Messengers of My Will, My Word in the Flesh, even as It is in the Celestial World of the Eternal. I saw My Self manifesting outwardly as Nature, and My Life as the vivifying and evolving Principle back of all Manifestation. I saw Love, the Divine Creative Power, as the animating and vitalizing Force back of all Life, and My Desire to give perfect expression to that Love as the Potential and Real Cause and Reason of the birth of My Idea.

78 80 Our Universal Self All this I saw mirrored in My All-seeing and All-knowing Mind, which could see and reflect only the Soul of things or their Reality. Therefore this that I saw pictured in My Mind was the Real Earth, in fact, its beginning, its conception into Cosmic being. Creation is the materially manifestation the Divine s Idea of Itself. This idea is already perfect and complete. It will become a reality, because it is an idea in the omniscient and omnipotent Universal Consciousness. It is in the process of now becoming a material reality, just as the almond tree is already perfected within the almond seed but is passing through the process of becoming a tree in physical reality; and just as our lives and energies are manifest are in that simple original cell - a union of a sperm cell and ovum. We are basic instruments in that process of the Divine s Idea becoming physical reality. We are the physical vehicles through which it will be perfected. We are "the medium of Angels of Light, living Messengers of My Will, My Word in the Flesh", through which this is taking place. 67. Now, my Consciousness is the inner essence of all Space and all Life. It is the real Substance of My All-comprehending and All-including Mind, whose informing and vitalizing Center is everywhere and Its limit and circumference nowhere. Within the realm of My Mind alone I live and move and have My Being. It both contains and fills all things, and Its every vibration and manifestation is but the expression of some phase of My Being. Be-ing is ex-pressing or out-pressing. You cannot imagine be-ing without expression. Therefore, I, All that is, AM expressing, constantly and continuously expressing. Two very important and basic concepts are put forth here. One is that consciousness is all pervading. It is in and around all that exists. Consciousness is in all space and in all minds. It is equally within the saint

79 My Idea 81 and the sinner, in the intelligent and the undeveloped mind, in the strong and the fearful. There is no person, animal, plant, insect or mineral which is not housing this universal consciousness and which simultaneously is not living within it. An example of this would be a sea that is filled with opened bottles and jars. Each bottle and jar is full of the ocean and is simultaneously surrounded on all sides by it. Each jar is a personal self, and the ocean is the Impersonal Self. Each jar may appear differently, some large, others small, some new, others old, some pleasant, others dirty and broken, others expensive and others cheap. We, in our illusion, give importance to the jar s appearance, and judge it accordingly, and compare ourselves to it, all the time forgetting that it is what is within the jar which counts. Each jar is simply a container for the sea (impersonal self) and each jar is surrounded by the same. The second concept here is that the basic nature of being is creativity. The Impersonal Self and all of its instruments are in a constant process of expression. "You cannot imagine be-ing without expression. Therefore, I All that is, AM expressing, constantly and continuously expressing." The Bible contains many passages which encourage us to create, to use our powers to improve our lives, to use our talents or lose them. Now we can understand these passages more clearly. 68. Expressing what? What else could I express, if I AM all that Is, but My Self? You cannot yet see or comprehend Me, My Self, but you can comprehend when I inspire you with an Idea. Therefore, if I AM All there is, that Idea, which is direct from Me, must be part of or phase of My Self in Being or Expression. Any Idea, once born within the realm of My Mind, as has been shown, immediately becomes a Reality, for in the Eternality of My Being Time is not. With you, however, an Idea first creates Desire, a desire to express that Idea; then Desire compels Thinking, Thinking causes Ac-

80 82 Our Universal Self tion, and Action produces Results -- the Idea in actual outer manifestation. In Reality I have no Desire, for I AM All Things, and All Things are of Me. I need only to think and Speak the Word to produce results. Yet that Desire you feel in you is from Me, because it is born of My Idea, which I implanted in your mind only that It might come forth into expression through you. Indeed, whatever you desire is I, knocking at the door of your mind, announcing My Purpose of manifesting My Self in you or through you in the particular form indicated by that Desire. What is called Desire in human personalities, is but the necessary Action of My Will pushing forth the expression of My Idea into outer Manifestation or Being. What to you would seem to be in Me a desire for expression, is but the Necessity of My Idea of My Self to Be, or Express Itself. Therefore, every real desire you feel, every desire of your heart, comes from Me and must of necessity sometime, in some shape or other, be fulfilled. All ideas and desires come from our Impersonal Self which is guiding us to become ever more effective instruments of Its Idea, of Its Self. We experience desire because we function under the illusion of time and space and our limitedness in those dimensions. This causes doubt in our minds about our ability to accomplish what we desire and this doubt creates anxiety and greater desire. This is all the result of the illusion of time and the belief that we are mortal and of limited power. Our Impersonal Self which does not experience the illusion of time, has no desire. Its will is manifested instantaneously, not because it happens instantly in our sense of time, but because there is no time and all of time is one instant for Him (She, It, Us). Our Impersonal Self experiences its will and its instantaneous manifestation. Our personal self experiences time, space, doubt and desire. This desire, however, is the driving mechanism through which we are being prepared and molded into purer and more effective channels of expression. At first

81 My Idea 83 we confuse the motive and message of a desire. Our experience eventually shows us the way to know the meaning of the desires that are implanted in us by our Impersonal Self; "every real desire you feel, every desire of your heart, comes from Me and must of necessity sometime, in some shape or other, be fulfilled." 69. However, as I have no Desire, because I AM All Things, once this Idea of expressing My Self in this new condition was born, I had but to think, that is, to concentrate or focus My Attention upon My Idea and Will It to come forth into expression, or, as is told in My other Revelation (the Bible), to Speak the Creative Word, and at once did the Cosmic Forces of My BE-ing, set in vibration by the concentrating of My Will, proceed to attract the necessary elements from the eternal storehouse of My Mind, and, with My Idea as a nucleus, to combine, form and shape around It these elements into what is called a thoughtform of a planet, filling it with My Life Substance - My Consciousness - and endowing it with all the potentialities of My Being. This act of thinking produced only a vitalized thought-form of a planet, and its manifestation was still in a nebulous state in the thought realm. From a thought-form, however, the quickening power of the Idea within, with My Will focused upon It, proceeded to mold, fashion and gradually to solidify into material form the various elements of Life Substance; until My Idea finally shone forth in substantial manifestation in the world of visible forms as the planet Earth, a medium ready for living expression, and now capable of both containing and expressing Me. We are introduced to the concept of the thought-form, which is an important key in understanding how reality is manifested from the spiritual realm into the material. Out of the pure and unconditioned Impersonal Consciousness, comes forth its expressive power in the form of an idea - or a Thought-form. This then attracts the energies available and inherent in this Universal Consciousness and manifests as an energy-form. This energy-form then manifests as a material

82 84 Our Universal Self form or physical event which is then perceived by our physical senses. Every physical form or event has behind it an energy form and a thought form. This is true of all beings, objects and situations. All are brought into reality by the thought-forms and energy-forms which preexist. An example from biology may help us here. Experiments were made by photographing the energy fields of fertilized eggs in an electromagnetic field with Kirlian photography everyday during their gestation period. The pictures showed after some days the image of the chick s embryo. But the image of the embryo was much more advanced than what they expected for such an early stage in the gestation process. They opened the eggs and found that there was no embryo yet. But the image of the energy field on the photograph showed that the energy-form of the embryo did already exist. Thus the energy-form of each being exists before its material construction as if it were a blue print for its material construction. The thought-form is then the blue print for the formation of the energy field. Thus our whole planet and all the beings on it are brought into creation by our Impersonal Self s thought-form of Itself manifested as physical creation. We as bodies and personalities are the cells, which are gradually taking their positions around that already existing energy-field (created by that thought-form) to create and perfect the body of an united humanity, in the same way that the cells in the egg gradually gravitate to their places predesignated by the energy-field of the chicken to be. We as cells, however, are more stubborn and are longer in taking our places. We want to maintain our illusion of individuality. 70. This was the material body prepared by My Thinking, in which already dwelt all the potential nature of My Being, by reason of the informing power of My Idea within.

83 My Idea 85 The next stage was the developing and preparing of avenues or mediums through which I could express the manifold phases, possibilities and powers of My Idea. The outward evidence of this was what is known as the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms, which, each in turn, as it came into manifestation, gradually unfolded higher and more complex states of consciousness that enabled Me more and more clearly to express the infinite phases and variety of My Nature. It was at this stage that I looked upon My Creation, as stated in My other Revelation (the Bible), and saw that It was good; Here we have a reference to the process of the evolution of the species resulting in the latest (until now) "model" - the human being. It is important to remember that it is not the spirit which is evolving. Spirit is perfect, Impersonal, and beyond time, and thus beyond evolution. It is the vehicle of expression which is evolving and become more efficient in expressing the powers latent in spirit. For example we create ever more effective cars, videos, computers, airplanes etc. which allow us to express ourselves ever more effectively. That has nothing to do with our evolution. Our instruments of expression are evolving. In the same way we as spirit are not evolving, but rather our personalities which are the instruments of our expression are being improved so that we can more fully express our perfect selves on the Earth plane. 71. But there yet remained the final and culminating medium of expression. Up to this point, while each perfectly expressed some phase of My Nature, yet all existing mediums and avenues were unconscious of Me, as were mediums of expression only as a wire is a medium for conducting heat, light and power. The conditions were ripe, however, for the creation of mediums through which My Divine Attributes could find conscious expression, conscious not only of their relationship to Me, but of their ability and pow-

84 86 Our Universal Self er to express My Idea. It was at this moment in Time that You and Your Brothers and Sisters were born into existence as human expressions, coming into manifestation as you did, similarly with all other mediums, in response to My concentrated Thought, in which I saw all the infinite variety of My Attributes in actual expression in entitized forms, each manifesting in predominance some particular phase of My Being, and each conscious of Me, Its Creator and Expressor. I saw You in perfect expression, even as I see You now -- the Real You, an Attribute of My Self - perfect. For in Reality You are an Angel of Light, one of My Thought Rays, an Attribute of My Being, ensouled in Earth conditions, with no other purpose (which is no purpose at all, but necessity of My Being) but the final complete expression of My Idea. What beautiful piece, to be read and remembered regularly. Rather than calling ourselves sinners and unworthy beings, let us remember that "...in Reality You are an Angel of Light, one of My Thought Rays..." and that we are each "...an Attribute of My Being, ensouled in Earth conditions..." and that the only purpose of our existence is the "...the final complete expression of My Idea." We are angels of light, spiritual rays temporarily on the Earth plane in order to bring forth the Harmony and Beauty which exist in our Impersonal United Self. Let us stop wasting so much energy on competition and pleasure seeking and realize that we have come here with a divine mission. Let us awaken to that mission and begin to execute it and live it. In order to remember that mission we will need to get free of much of our social programming and especially fears of economic insecurity, and the need for social approval. When we are free from these two obstacles to our freedom of thought and movement, we will more easily become aware of our mission and be free to live it. We need not only know the purpose of our incarnation but also must be able to live it.

85 My Idea In the Eternal there is no Time, or Space, or individuality, and it is only by reason of the phenomenon of Thought being born from the womb of Mind into the world of Matter that the illusions of Time, Space and Individuality occur; the thought, or Creature, acquiring the consciousness of separateness from its Thinker or Creator. So it was then that the first tendency to think yourself as separate from Me was born. The complete consciousness of separation did not become established until long after. We are thoughts in the God s mind. As developing and evolving thoughts we were not conscious of ourselves as something separate from our "thinker until we began to approach the stage of humanness. We were as yet unconscious or semi-conscious "...Up to this point, while each perfectly expressed some phase of My Nature, yet all existing mediums and avenues were unconscious of Me, as were mediums of expression only as a wire is a medium for conducting heat, light and power." Now, as human beings we began to "think" for ourselves. Our thoughts too are in a process of evolution and are passing through a temporary stage in which it is necessary to believe in and work through the illusions of time, space and separateness - three factors that you will remember that Albert Einstein affirms from the scientific point of view as delusions. We as "thoughts" in the mind of our Thinker begin to "think" ourselves as separate from our Thinker and the rest of His (Her, Its) thoughts. We have experienced this to some degree with our own thoughts, especially our obsessive thoughts, which establish their own estate in our minds, occupying large sections of it whether we like it or not. Some of our thoughts are so overpowering that they can force us to do things which our central personality or conscience would not like to do at all. Thus we have experienced how a thought can separate itself from its thinker and even create an antagonistic relationship with him/her. We

86 88 Our Universal Self as personalities are such antagonistic thoughts in the God s mind. We will now need to overcome the illusions of time, space and individuality in order to reestablish our unity with our Thinker. It is also not difficult to understand that within a mind, there is no absolute time and space. Our sense of time and space are totally subjective depending on what we are doing; and when there is no thought activity at all, such as in deep sleep, then there is no awareness of time or space. Thus it is only when we have thoughts that we experience our passage through time or space. In the Divine Mind there is no time, space or individuality, these are our personal and subjective creations, which until now have served our evolutionary process, but now are becoming obstacles to our realization of our true nature. 73. In the beginning, when You thus first entered into Earth expression, obeying the impulse I had sent forth through My concentrated Thought, You, one of My Attributes, surrounded or clothed Your Self with My Idea of My Self in expression as the particular Attribute You represented. You being the animating Force of that Idea. In other words, My Idea of My Self expressing that particular Attribute then became the Soul of Your particular expression. But that Idea or Soul is not You, remember, for You are really a part of Me, being My Self in expression through the medium of that particular Attribute. Having clothed Your Self with My Idea, this Idea then, through the necessity of its be-ing, immediately began to attract to Itself the necessary Thought Substance requisite for the expression of that particular Attribute, and to build and shape it into My image and Likeness. It thus became a Holy Temple, filled with My living Presence, because inhabited by You, one of My Divine Attributes. This Temple, being in My Image and Likeness, and composed of My Thought Substance, surrounding and clothing My Idea, is consequently your Real body. It is therefore indestructible, immortal, perfect. It is My complete, imagined (imaged in) Thought, containing My Living Essence, awaiting the time when it can come into outer expression and take on material form. So now we have, --

87 My Idea 89 First, I AM, expressing as You, one of My Divine Attributes; Second, My Idea of You, one of My Attributes, expressing in Earth conditions -- or Your Soul; Third, My Imaged Thought of You, forming the Temple of Your Soul -- or Your Soul Body in which You dwell. These three make up the Divine or Impersonal part of You, the Immortal Three-in-One--You, My latent yet completely formulated thought, shaped in My Image and Likeness, as yet unquickened, and therefore having no connection with your human personality, which has not yet been born. Let us try to understand this passage. 1. In the beginning we existed as One Divine Impersonal Self. There was no creation, no material world, no other than our Self. 2. Since expression is the nature of being, we conceived of the Idea of our Self as materially manifest. 3. This Idea created many aspects so as to express the many attributes of our being. 4. Each aspect or attribute of this Idea began to manifest itself on a spiritual level. This is what we call the soul. 5. This soul began then to accumulate the necessary thought substance and energy substance required to manifest itself eventually physically. This is our soul-body or spiritual body. We are all of this. We are simultaneously the Impersonal I - AM (God), the idea of its expressing itself (the Soul), and the thoughts required for its expression (The soul body or etheric body) with its evolving thought-forms. In the example of the projection light and the cinema we are simultaneously the projection light (Impersonal Self - God), the film (Ideasoul) and the light after it has passed through the film (thought-forms and energy-forms). We have not yet come to our projection upon the screen (our physical body). These three are the cause of but independent of the physical body,

88 90 Our Universal Self which appears in the physical world, and continue to exist after its death.

89 The Garden of Eden 91 CHAPTER 9 THE GARDEN OF EDEN 74. Whether or not you have gotten any clear grasp of what has just been stated, do not discard it as impossible of comprehension. For in every line is hidden a meaning that will more than repay you for the study necessary to make it become clear. This Message is to awaken you to a realization of what You are, to a realization of your real Self. It is intended to make you once more conscious of Me, your Divine Self, so conscious that never again will you be deceived by that other self, which you have imagined as being you and which so long has lured you on by feeding you with its unsatisfying sense pleasures, its mental dissipations and emotional delights. The main message of this book will be understood only by employment of its basic technique, the repetition of the phrase "Be Still - and Know - I AM - God". This truth needs to be remembered as frequently as possible everyday in all of the possible situations. In addition to this, we will benefit from regular study of these exceptional pieces of wisdom. They may not be easy to understand at first. Even when understood, they are so in conflict with how we have been programmed until now, that they will require repeated reading, meditation and reflection in order for them to actually become parts of our conscious and subconscious functioning. 75. Before that can be it will be necessary for you thoroughly to know

90 92 Our Universal Self that supposed other self, that self which You created by thinking it real and separate from Me, and then kept alive by giving it the power thus to entice and deceive you; yes, that self-created self, with its purely selfish pride and ambitions and imagined power, its love of life, of possessions, of being thought wise or good, - but which self is merely your human personality, which was born only to die as a separate identity, and as such has no more reality or permanence than the leaf, the snow or the cloud. Yes, you will be brought face to face with that petty personal self, and will see with perfect vision all its sordid selfishness and human vanities; and you will then learn -- if you will but turn to Me and ask in simple faith and trust -- that it is I, the Infinite, Impersonal part of You, abiding always within, Who am thus pointing out to you all these illusions of the personality, which for so many ages have separated you in consciousness from Me, Your glorious, Divine Self. This realization will surely come, when you can recognize that this Message is from Me, and when you have determined that it shall be. To you, whom I have inspired with such a determination, I will cause every illusion in time to disappear, and you shall in truth know Me. There are two basic paths which lead to freedom. One is to observe the nature of our prison so as to see exactly how we are kept there and how we can get free. The other is to work on digging ourselves free. Until now we have learned the second method; by simply repeating the truth that we are not this personality, that we are not this body, that we are God - the Impersonal Self of all beings, we begin to dig our escape hole in the ceiling of our cell - the personality. Because, however, this ceiling is "alive" and actually very clever and is able to transmute itself in various ways so as to fool us and confuse us, it is also useful to learn as much as we can about its possible mutations so that we are not fooled by them while seeking freedom. We can understand the usefulness of self-analysis, or the objective observation of the personality s beliefs, emotions, needs, expectations, fears, ambitions, desires, and thus the lies it tells to itself and others, as well as the masks which it wears in order to be accepted and loved, and the

91 The Garden of Eden 93 games it plays in order to gain that which it wants. There are various ways in which one can begin to observe his personality and its beliefs so as to be more effective in getting free from it. This, however, is not in the scope of this book. I would suggest that those interested refer to the books "The Psychology of Happiness", "Free to Be Happy with Energy Psychology" and "The Miracles of Love and Wisdom" for help in this process. We can also ask our Impersonal Self to show us our weaknesses and make clear the obstacles that exist in our personality. They will become evident through life's experiences, sometimes pleasant and some times unpleasant. "To you, whom I have inspired with such a determination, I will cause every illusion in time to disappear, and you shall in truth know Me." We will simply need to ask for this to happen. 76. The exercise of your mind along these abstract lines will not hurt you. Instead it is what your mind needs. For, not until you can grasp My Meaning when presented to you in ideas such as these herein contained, coming from without, can you perceive and correctly interpret My Idea when I inspire you from within. Your mind I AM thus preparing for USE, not to gain more earthly knowledge, but in order that you can receive and give forth My Heavenly Knowledge to those whom I shall bring to you for that purpose. We are now being prepared by this "external book" to be able to hear the messages which are continuously coming forth from our inner self. We are encouraged to reflect on these pieces. I would suggest that after reading this book through once you take one piece weekly, and read it daily (perhaps without reading the commentaries) and think about what that piece says to you, what it means in terms of your relationship to God, life, your family, your work, your various activities etc. This reading and reflection can be done at any time, but the best times would be upon waking in the morning, in the

92 94 Our Universal Self evening after work or at night before sleeping. 77. With a prayer to Me, Your Own Real Self, your Father-in- Heaven, that true realization may come, read carefully what follows. We have arrived, in the course of our consideration of the process of unfoldment of My Idea, to where the I AM of you, manifesting in your Immortal Soul Body, or in the Thought Image created by My Thinking, is now ready to take on a substantial form, a form suitable for the Earth expression of My Attributes. This change from a mental to a mortal form took place after the manner and process of all thinking and creating, and is literally described in the Bible, where it says I "formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul". Shall I explain further? -- That the quickening power within My Idea (your Soul) proceeded to attract to it the various elements of life substance (dust), and, atom by atom, and cell by cell, in due course of time, to mold and shape each into substantial reality, after the pattern of the Thought Image composing your Soul Body, thus forming an Earthly outer covering, as it were, -- until finally your mortal form actually became manifest to the psychic sense, if not yet to what is called the physical sense. Whereupon, all being now prepared for this cyclic moment, You, My Attribute, breathed into and then through its nostrils (from within) the breath of life, and You then made your first appearance on Earth as a human being -- a living Soul (My Idea now able to express consciously through a suitable Earth medium), containing within your Self all of My Attributes, all of My Powers and all of My Possibilities. We have already referred to the process of manifestation in a previous chapter with the example of the chick s energy field in the egg. What we have here is a Divine thought-form manifesting as an energy field and then attracting the physical matter necessary to create a physical instrument capable of "containing within your Self all of My Attributes, all of My Powers and all of My Possibilities."

93 The Garden of Eden 95 This is a divine instrument manifested by a divine thought, which has attracted to itself the atoms, molecules and cells necessary to express those specific attributes which it seeks to express. 78. Thus were now manifest all the various mediums for the Earth expression of My Idea; and You, being one of My Attributes, naturally had dominion over all of those mediums, or possessed the power of utilizing any or all of them, if necessary, for the full and complete expression of Your -- My Attribute's powers -- and possibilities. In this manner and for this reason alone did You and Your Brothers and Sisters come into human expression. While in human form yet Your expression was so entirely Impersonal, that, though self-conscious, you still looked wholly to Me within for inspiration and guidance. This, then, was the first condition into which You awakened when You entered into Earth expression, and is what is called the Edenic state or dwelling in the Garden of Eden. This Edenic state represents the Celestial phase of Impersonal Consciousness, or that state in which You were consciously One with Me, though now confined in a mortal medium of expression. In this "Edenic state" we at first retained our complete unity and connection with Our Impersonal Nature and "while in human form yet Your expression was so entirely Impersonal, that, though self-conscious, you still looked wholly to Me within for inspiration and guidance." This is a blissful state of Grace which Christians seek after through the various Christian Sacraments and which those born into other religions seek after in their own equally valid ways. This is the meaning of the word religion, which is comprised of two Latin roots. "Re" means again and "ligere" means to link. Thus the purpose of religion is to "relink" man to God. You will notice that it is not to simply "link". It is to re - link, which means that man was at some previous time already united with God, and we are trying to recreate this previous condition - the Edenic state in which man no longer feels separate from God and His Creation. This is described as The Garden of Eden, the Kingdom of Heaven, Samadhi, Nirvana, Satori or Bliss de-

94 96 Our Universal Self pending on your path. 79. Now, I shall not tell you in detail how or why it became necessary for Me to "drive" You (now manifesting as Man or Humanity) out of the Garden of Eden, other than to remind you of the part that Desire plays in Earth expression, and its relation to My Will; how it centers your interest in outer things and makes you forget Me within. This is the big question which haunts us all. Why was it necessary for us to leave our state of perfect unity and experience the last millions of years of suffering, conflict and fear simply only to return to the same state after all this. And again we are not given a straightforward answer but rather a clue; "other than to remind you of the part that Desire plays in Earth expression, and its relation to My Will; how it centers your interest in outer things and makes you forget Me within." Psychologists understand that we are motivated by our desires and needs. Our every action is motivated by something which we desire or need. That could be something material, emotional, mental or spiritual. We have also understood from the teachings given herein that desire is a state created by the will of the Impersonal Self implanted in man s mind. The idea is planted and then the desire arises within us to manifest that idea (regardless of the fact that we often misinterpret the idea and manifest something else). In this way, we have been motivated over millions of years to cultivate our abilities, to manifest our inner potentials in the physical world. Only by needing to do so would we, as instruments, have had that motivation. If all was supplied from within, there would have been no motive to cultivate these abilities and talents. As instruments, designed to express divine attributes outwardly and materially, it was necessary for us until we had developed a strong

95 The Garden of Eden 97 mastery over the physical world, not to have that inner contact which would have solved all our problems and remove all need to develop ourselves as organs of expression. Now that we have concluded that development, we can reconnect with that inner source and thus, being connected at both ends (spiritual and material), channel spiritual attributes into the physical world. If we were not excluded temporarily from this inner connection there would be no need to connect with and master the material plane. This answer, of course, is an answer in time and space about something which is beyond time and space and thus cannot be comprehended logically. One might ask, "well if God is perfect and omnipotent, why couldn t he have just created a perfect instrument from the beginning?" Maybe it is just an illusion. Maybe it is just a Cosmic Game in God s mind Maybe its not happening at all but that as the text says as we read on that we are dreaming. Maybe God is perfect and omnipotent in being but not yet in expression. Maybe we are God s process of becoming perfect in expression. This distinction between being and expression may help us to understand how a perfect and omnipotent God would create such an apparently imperfect world.. Each will have to answer this question for himself or herself, or simply put the question on a shelf in the mind and bring it down occasionally to examine it and put it back with any other unanswered questions. But - is it really important to know why? What is important is that we are experiencing something at this moment. If it is not satisfactory for us, let us improve it, either by changing it or by accepting it. In closing on this question I would like to share with you that all of the higher spiritual beings I have asked have given me the same an-

96 98 Our Universal Self swer, "that this question can not be answered in logical terms. It can be experienced when one transcends the illusions of time and space, but even then cannot be communicated to another with words." 80. When you have solved that and comprehended somewhat of My reason, then perhaps you can understand the necessity of first causing You (Humanity) to fall into a deep sleep (You having arrived at the close of another Cycle called a Cosmic day), and of letting you dream you had awakened, -- but in reality you were and are still asleep, and everything from that day to this, including all seeming earthly events and conditions, have been but a Dream, from which you will fully awaken only when You (Humanity) again become wholly conscious of Me within, -- and of finding Yourself (Humanity) no longer outwardly one, but two; one in active, thinking, aggressive part, thereafter called a man, and the other a passive, feeling, receptive part, -- a womb-man or woman; Here we have a reference to the Cosmic Dream or collective dream which we mentioned earlier. In this dream we believe we are awake but in fact we are having a common illusion of time, space and individuality. Included in that dream is the belief in and the experience of our sexual polarity of man and woman. Our soul self has no sex, it is neither male nor female. This polarity was created in order to offer the soul a greater variety of experiences and an opportunity to try out various roles and ways of reacting to life. In this way we develop all of the myriad divine attributes both the dynamic and receptive. What do we mean by a dream. A dream is a state from which we awaken and realize that that which we were experiencing was not reality. This will happen either when we "die" leaving our temporary physical form, or when we, "...again become wholly conscious of Me within..."

97 The Garden of Eden 99 In those cases we will realize that we were not those bodies, for we will see them dead and being buried while we are fine and watching. We will realize that we are in truth neither men, nor women, neither American, nor English, nor Indian or Greek or Spanish, nor Christian, Buddhist, Jewish or Moslem, nor rich, nor poor. We are none of these - but rather these are temporary roles that we are playing in order to develop certain abilities, talents and attributes, thus becoming more effective instruments for the perfected expression of the Divine Will. Thousands of persons today have had near death experiences and out of the body experiences in which they have experienced all that we have mentioned here. Your faith will be increased by reading various books which have been written about these experiences. The book "The Mystical Circle of Life" will also be of great value concerning this point. 81. Also the necessity of these seeming earth influences being brought to bear to draw Your consciousness from purely Celestial delights and to hold it in this new Dream condition, in order to develop a mortal mind, that You might through its natural selfish tendencies become centered entirely upon your Earthly mission of mortal expression; And the wisdom of having this influence, through the Serpent of Selfishness (the shape I caused it to assume in your mind), first generate in the passive, feeling, receptive part of You - Desire, the mortal agent of My Will, which was to supply the motives and the power for the further and complete expression of My Attributes on Earth; And finally the necessity of Desire casting its complete spell over You (Humanity), that Your Celestial or Impersonal nature might be kept deep in sleep; until, in your Dream, by the free but ignorant use of My Will, You could taste and fully eat of the fruit of the so-called Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and through the eating could learn properly to discriminate and know its fruit for what it really is; and thus acquire the strength to use the knowledge thus gained wisely and perfectly in the expression of My Idea only.

98 100 Our Universal Self We see here again the necessity of our falling into that deep sleep, and our believing in the illusion of "good" and "evil" and eventually understanding the impossibility of our finding our happiness through the external material world. Having then realized all this, we will "...thus acquire the strength to use the knowledge thus gained wisely and perfectly in the expression of My Idea only." 82. You likewise possibly now can understand how in your Dream you became more and more engrossed in and attached to this false earth state, through first eating of this fruit and learning to know Good and Evil, and after learning of the new and enticing world thus opened up to you, dying to the knowledge of the Reality back of it all; and how and why it was You learned that You were naked -- both the thinking and the feeling parts of You; and also why you grew afraid and tried to hide from Me, thus creating in your consciousness the sense of separation from Me. Now, perhaps, you can see why this all had to be, why You (Humanity) had to leave the Edenic state of Impersonal Consciousness and lose Your Self wholly in the earth illusions of this Dream World, in order to be able to create a body and develop in it a personal or self consciousness capable of fully expressing My Perfection. Thus was born Your human personality, and since its birth have I impelled You to nourish, support and strengthen it, by filling You with longings, hopes, ambitions, and aspirations, with all the various manifestations of Desire; which are but the human phases of My Will, operating in the preparation and development of a medium capable of expressing perfectly My Attributes on Earth. And so I Spake the Word, and drove You out of the Garden of Eden, and clothed You with a "coat of skin", or, in other words, with flesh, the same as other animals. For now, in order that You might enter into the heart of Earth conditions, into the real Earth, the Earth of My Idea, -- not the one of your Dream, -- so as to quicken My Idea therein into active life expression, You, My Attribute, had to have an organism and a covering appropriate to the conditions in which You were to manifest in your Dream.

99 The Garden of Eden 101 In our new incarnated condition we discovered for the first time some "realities" particular to this world of duality; the illusion of "good" and "evil", guilt, sin, fear, shame before God, fear of God, desire, hope, ambition, nakedness, time, space and individuality. All of this was necessary to pass through in our "education". 83. Likewise, in thus giving You a coat of skin, did I, by so doing, provide My Idea with a suitable form for Earthly expression, -- I gave you the power to express Your Self, through a definite organism, by means of words. In the Impersonal there is no use or necessity for words. Ideas alone exist and express. They simply Are, for they are the expression of the various phases of My Being. But in this Dream condition, where every expression in these early stages of outer being had to have a form and substance that could be heard, seen, felt, smelled or tasted, in order that its meaning could be clearly apprehended, there naturally had to be provided organisms capable of being used for the double purpose of expression and of understanding what was expressed. Since the One had now become many with as yet no inner communication, it became necessary for expression and apprehension to create syllables, words, phrases and languages so that these various separate parts could again work towards reuniting. In our previous state, as also in the higher spiritual realms today, language is not necessary, as communication is automatic, telepathic and free from time and space. All thoughts are known immediately by all. 84. As My Idea unfolded Itself, after Your expulsion from Eden, You, -- one of My Divine Attributes, dwelling within My Idea of that Attribute in expression, in turn dwelling within the Thought Image of My Self, and finally manifesting outwardly in the Earth form of Words, when impelled by My Will in the guise of Desire to express My Meaning -- began rapidly to "increase and multiply".

100 102 Our Universal Self In Your search for the most favorable conditions for the manifestation of Your particular attributes, You gradually spread over the face of the Earth, quickening and arousing the Intelligence dormant in all forms of life contacted into fuller and more active expression of their particular phases of My Idea. Thus were formed the various Languages of Earth, each containing many words, and all born of Desire in the human mind to express in Earthly terms the infinite phases of My Idea ever surging within. The more the human mind strove thus to express -- in Words -- My Idea, the greater and more abject the failure. Words fail to express the realities which we need to communicate, because words are still limited to our illusory concepts. We make up words which represent our view of reality. Our language must gradually be transformed in order for us to communicate and eventually experience realities towards which we are evolving. For example we talk about our souls. We are not bodies that have souls. We are souls that have bodies. A car does not have its owner, the owner has the car. That which lives longer and controls has that which is temporary. That which controls has that which is controlled. Another example is the word love. It can mean anything from lust, desire, attachment, addiction, infatuation; to selfless, unconditional, divine love or total unity. We will need to develop words which discriminate this more clearly. There are words in some languages, especially the older ones, which have meanings for which there are no one word interpretations in our contemporary languages. This is especially true of Sanskrit, a language created by a society well devoted to spiritual life. We need to feel free to create new words and search for new meanings as we attempt to conceive of, and communicate to others, clearer and more correct perceptions of Reality.

101 The Garden of Eden In time will the Great Awakening come - that all Words are but Symbols of One Idea, and all Ideas of whatsoever nature are but phases of One Idea, My Idea of My Self in Expression, -- and that all Desire to express in Words that Idea, without the consciousness of My Will being the One and Only source of Inspiration, is futile. Likewise, all desire to express that Idea in living acts, without losing all consciousness of your human personality -- of your personal part in the acts, and centering your self wholly in Me, -- is vain and fruitless and will end only in failure, disappointment and humiliation. In order to be able to communicate or, even more importantly, live these truths, we will have to lose "...all consciousness of your human personality -- of your personal part in the acts, and center your self wholly in Me..." Only through total immersion in our Impersonal Self will we become capable of experiencing, living and communicating the Truth of our existence. First we experience the truth in some transcendental experience, then we try to live it and then we attempt to communicate it to others. Various ways of experiencing are offered by the different spiritual paths. They are all valid, such as meditation, prayer, selfless service, chanting, fasting, self-analysis and various disciplines. None of these will succeed, however, until we are free from the illusion of our personal self who is supposedly making these efforts. For this we are offered herein the continuous repetition of the phrase, "Be Still - and Know - I AM - God."

102 104 Our Universal Self

103 Good And Evil 105 CHAPTER 10 GOOD AND EVIL 86. In the Garden of Eden, where you abode before entering upon your Earthly mission, there grew this tree whose fruit is called the Knowledge of Good and Evil. While dwelling in this Garden you were still wholly Impersonal, for you had not yet tasted of this fruit. Having once yielded to Desire, the Earthly agent of My Will, whose main work is to make you eat this fruit, the moment you had eaten, that moment you descended, or fell, or were forced from your Edenic estate (like the chick from the shell or the rose from the bud), and you found yourself involved in conditions altogether new and strange. For now, instead of having dominion over the lower kingdoms, and of their supplying your every want, you had to till the ground to get it to bring forth fruit, and by the sweat of your brow had you to earn your bread. Having taken upon yourself this Earthly mission, it now became necessary for you to enter fully into all conditions of Earth life, in order to develop a mind and perfect a body capable of expressing perfectly My Idea on Earth,-- the real cause and reason of your entering into this Dream condition. So having fallen or stepped out of your Impersonal or Edenic estate, you yielded completely to the lure of this Dream World, and now permitting Desire wholly to lead, you no longer were capable of seeing the Reality or Soul of things; for you had put on a physical body, an earthly covering with a human brain, which acted as a veil to your Soul Consciousness, and so bedimmed your sight and clouded your mind that the light of Truth did not penetrate through, and everything was falsely colored and distorted by your human understanding. In this Dream condition you saw all things darkly, as through a mist,

104 106 Our Universal Self and with the mist enshrouding everything you could not see things in their Reality, but only their misty appearance, which now however seemed to you the real things themselves. This was so with everything you saw through your Dream eyes, with things both animate and inanimate, with everything you conceived in your human mind, with even your own Self and your other Selves round about you. Thus no longer seeing the Soul of things, but only their misty shadows, you grew to thinking these shadows were real substance, and that the world about you was composed of and filled with such substance. This mist was only the effect of the Light of Truth being invisible to your human mind, whose intellect, like an imperfect lens, only befogged and twisted everything and made it appear as Real, keeping your consciousness continually busied with these myriad illusions of your Dream World. Herein is described the condition which we all know so well. The condition of ignorance in which we see only the appearance of things, including ourselves. We have no idea how we circulate our blood, or digest our food. We have no idea why we fear some things, get upset about others and are relaxed by others. We cannot find logical reasons. We cannot understand why we continue to do things which are selfdestructive to our health and relationships, even though we have decided so many times not to do that. We understand very little about ourselves and the word around us. All this because the veil or dream of ignorance has covered our intellect and obstructs us from seeing the divine light and divine consciousness in all beings, objects and situations. This is not a form of punishment for eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. We were forced to "eat" from this tree by our own Impersonal Self - our own inner being - God, so that desire would be born and thus the creation of the personality as an instrument of divine expression on the earth plane. Reference is also made to seeing shadows. Plato s parable of the cave

105 Good And Evil 107 is an excellent aid to understanding our present condition. We are a society of beings chained in a cave so that we can look only straight ahead of us at a wall. Behind us there is another wall behind which there is a path along which walk workers each day with their tools on their shoulders. Behind the workers there is an ever-burning fire. The light of the fire passing onto the occasionally passing tools creates moving shadows on the wall in front of us. We see only these shadows. We have no knowledge whatsoever of the fire and the tools or that there is a completely different reality outside of the cave. We take these shadows to be the ultimate reality, the only reality. We study these shadows and make a science of shadows. We form religions, political systems, educational systems and economic systems based on these shadows. We argue about and even fight wars about these shadows which are of vital importance to us. We base our security, happiness and self-affirmation on these shadows. We consider them to be our possessions and hoard them. These shadows do not exist, however; they are only shadows, temporary images on the wall. Our bodies, the bodies of our loved ones and even of our enemies are all shadows. Our houses, cars, all our belongings are all shadows. All shadows are manifestations of some deeper reality such as the tools which are passing in front of the fire. These are the thought-forms and energy-forms which we have already mentioned. But no shadow could ever exist if there was no light. Light then is the only true reality, the only lasting reality which does not change. All else is temporary and changing. This light is our Real Self, our collective Impersonal Self. 87. Now the intellect is a creature of and wholly controlled by Desire, and is not, as many suppose, a faculty of the Soul. In other words, this mist then was the clouded lens of your human intellect, which, because controlled by Desire, falsely portrayed and interpreted to your consciousness every image, idea and impulse I inspired from within or attracted from without, during the process of My awakening your consciousness to a recognition of My idea within ever urging for outer

106 108 Our Universal Self expression. All this I did purposely, however, through the agency of Desire, in order to lead you consciously into the heart of Earth conditions. We are not to have much faith in our intellect. It is overwhelmingly controlled by desire and has very little real objectivity or clarity. There are people with highly developed intellects and numbers of university degrees who lack the simplest common sense, such as that Negroes and Caucasians have the same divine value and potential, or that their own self-worth is not measured by the number of facts which they know. Our intellect is a weak organ in the face of subconscious conditionings; especially, fear, guilt, and desire. These three are capable of making white appear black and black appear white. And because the mental instrument is highly developed it is able to create the most intricate and convincing arguments why white is black. Better to take refuge in our Impersonal Self, asking continually for inner guidance and offering the results and the glory of every effort up to God. Humility is an essential virtue for coming into contact with the truth. Intellectualism often increases our illusion of self-importance, thus disallowing humility. Our sense of ego and individuality is increased and we are more lost in the illusion that we are something important, something separate. All the glory and the results belong to our Impersonal Self. If we identify with our Impersonal Self, then all glory is ours, but when we say ours, we mean we as the consciousness in all beings, not in the particular mind which may have that thought, or the particular body which may make the action which apparently brought about the desired result. There is only one universal doer working through all bodies. 88. While this false vision, inspired by Desire, caused many mis- steps and much trouble and suffering, and you gradually lost confidence in

107 Good And Evil 109 your Self -- in Me, the Impersonal One within, -- in fact, you forgot Me, so that you did not know where to turn in your helplessness; yet it was only through your thus losing the memory of your Divine estate, and centering all your consciousness in these earthly conditions, that I could develop your human mind and will, and all your faculties, and provide your human body with the strength and powers that would enable Me to give perfect expression to My Divine Idea on Earth, which eventually must BE. So, through your mistakes and troubles and sufferings, Desire for relief caused the Idea of Evil to spring up in your mind, and likewise when these troubles were not It inspired the Idea of Good. To all appearances of things and conditions you attributed these qualities of Good or Evil, -- according to whether or not they satisfied Desire My Agent, in Reality My human Self, or You, in your human personality. All these conditions and experiences in life which you entered into, and which when pleasing seemed Good, and when displeasing seemed Evil, were merely incidents created by Desire to quicken in you certain Soul faculties, which would enable you to recognise the Truths that I, within, wished at the time to impress upon your consciousness. The apparent Evil was the negative aspect of the Fruit of the Tree, which always lured you on by its fair appearance and by the sweetness of the first taste to eat and enjoy to satiation, or until its harmful effects manifested and became a curse, bringing final disillusionment; which served to turn or force you back in humiliation to Me, your True Self, Who, through the new consciousness thus aroused, was then enabled to extract the Essence of the Fruit and incorporate it into Soul substance and tissue. Likewise the apparent Good was the positive aspect of the Fruit, which, having pushed forth of itself into expression, through your recognition of and obedience to its urge, was now permitting you to enjoy its happy and natural effects, and to receive the outward benefits of My loving inspiration and guidance. This you, who was being led by Desire through all these experiences, was only your human personality, which the Real you was training and developing and preparing so it could become a perfect instrument for Your use in the expression of My Idea, ever seeking to manifest Its

108 110 Our Universal Self perfection in the flesh. Let us enumerate again the basic concepts put forth. 1. It was necessary for the personality to be created and to lose its contact and sense of unity with God, our collective Impersonal Self. 2. It was necessary for us to "eat" from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. This was not a mistake but something designed by the Universal Self. 3. There is no other being in the universe. 4. Good and evil are simply two different aspects of each being, object and situation in the material and energy worlds. Beyond the apparent world of duality they do not exist. 5. We have called good, that which is pleasing to us and evil that which is unpleasant. 6. We have called good that which is useful for our evolutionary process and for our harmony in the physical world and evil that which obstructs our social harmony and spiritual evolution. 7. These are a necessary part of the learning process in which we are learning discrimination and clarity. In this way we are able to take from each experience that which it has to teach us and become clearer instruments. 8. We are allowed to be lead by desire and "experiment" with the "evil" aspect of creation so that we will understand creation more clearly and not be confused by it. 9. By seeing first hand the negative effects of "evil" or "selfishness" we learn to avoid them out of clarity of mind and not out of fear of punishment. 10. We then chose to be "good" because we want to and see the logic in it rather than out of fear. 89. All this You did, not only compelling your human personality to eat but to live on the fruit of the so-called Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, until you had seen and known all the so- called Evil, and from living on and with it had discovered in it the germ of so-called

109 Good And Evil 111 Good, plucked it, lifted it up, and turned it right-side out; so that you from that time on knew that Good and Evil had no real existence, and were but relative terms descriptive of outside conditions looked at from different viewpoints, or were only different outer aspects of a central inner Truth, the Reality of which was what You sought to Know, Be and Express. During the latter ages you have been, as it were, gradually throwing off layer after layer of human consciousness, dissipating the mist or glamour thrown around your mind by the intellect; subduing, controlling, spritualizing, and thus clarifying the intellect itself; until now you are beginning to awaken and to see, through the ever thinning remaining layers, occasional glimpses of Me, the one Great Reality, within all things. All this time, You, the omniscient, Impersonal I AM of You, were consciously and intentionally doing all this; not for the purpose of getting the mere knowledge of earth conditions and things, as your Intellect had so loudly and authoritatively proclaimed, but in order that you might harvest what You had sown in the dim ages past, and could manifest My Perfect Idea on Earth, even as You are now manifesting It in the Impersonal estate, Your Heavenly Home. You, remember, are the Great Impersonal I, Who AM doing all this, Who AM continually changing in outward appearance, but Who within AM eternally the same. As we continue reading, let us remember to also identify with Speaker, the Impersonal Self. We have sent our personality through all this process so that it will eventually be able to express the totality of our being. Until now our personality has been a rather poor means of expression. It has so many fears, ego defenses and blockages that is a able to express only a small portion of our unlimited inner potential. 90. The endless flow of the Seasons, -- the Spring, with its busy sowing; the Summer, with its warm, restful ripening; the Autumn, with its bounteous harvesting; the Winter, with its cool, peaceful plenty, year after year, life after life, century after century, age after age - are on-

110 112 Our Universal Self ly the outbreathing of My Idea as I inspire It forth through the Earth and through You, My Attribute, and through all My other Attributes, during the process of unfolding in outer manifest state the perfection of My Nature. Yes, I am doing it through You, because You are an expression of Me, because only through You, My Attribute, can I express My Self, can I BE. I AM because You Are. You ARE because I AM expressing My SELF. I Am in You as the oak is in the acorn. You are I as the sunbeam is the Sun. You are a phase of Me in expression. You, one of My Divine Attributes, are eternally trying to express My perfection through Your mortal personality. We are in our personality just as an oak is in an acorn. Just imagine that relationship. A mighty oak tree weighing tons and covering hundreds of square feet, producing tons of acorns and leaves in its life time, all that in one tiny acorn. What then must we actually be in relationship to our personality. Our personality is infinitesimal in relationship to our real Impersonal Being. And yet it is related. It is a seed which will become our real self. Within the seed exist all the attributes of the tree. All the potential of that huge and powerful tree is latent within that tiny seed. In the same way all the divine attributes are latent within each personality. Each personality is a divine seed from which can grow a divine tree. Each personality is a ray of light from the divine source. Let us imagine ourselves in these positive ways, emphasizing these positive aspects of our being. Imagine yourself daily as a ray of divine light on the earth, which has come to make everyone's lives brighter, more peaceful, more loving and more joyful. 91. Just as an artist sees in his mind the perfect picture he wants to paint, but his hand cannot quite portray with the crude mediums of brush and colour the true quality and effect he sees, so do You see Me within Your Self and know We are One, but always are prevented, by

111 Good And Evil 113 the imperfection of the earthly material of your human personality, with its animal body, its mortal mind, and selfish intellect, from perfectly expressing Me. Yet, I created your body, mind and intellect, in order to express My Self through you. The body I made in the Image of My Perfection; the mind I gave to inform you of Me and My works; the intellect I gave to interpret My Idea as I inspired it to the mind. But you have been so distracted by the human phases of this body, mind and intellect, and their outer uses, that you have forgotten Me, the One and Only Reality within, Whose Divine nature I AM ever seeking to express to and through you. The time is soon here when the outward uses shall no longer distract, and My Reality shall be revealed unto you in all the glory of Its perfection within You. You, when I thus reveal My Self, shall not be more blessed than before, unless that which I have revealed shall become the Bread of Life to you, and you shall live and manifest the Life it reveals. All of us have felt that frustration similar to the artists inability to express perfectly his or her idea on the canvas. We have felt this in our communication with our loved ones, in our work, in our creative endeavors, in our attempts at solving problems. We have much more knowledge and creativity than we can as yet express through these bodies, minds and intellects. For this reason the process of evolution and learning continues. But even when we are revealed the Truth, we "...shall not be more blessed than before, unless that which I have revealed shall become the Bread of Life to you, and you shall live and manifest the Life it reveals." We must employ what we learn and what we know. If we do not live and manifest these truths, then nothing is gained by knowing them. The opposite is true, we become more unhappy, because there is a larger gap between what we know and what we live, and this creates a sense of frustration, dissatisfaction and sometimes guilt.

112 114 Our Universal Self In addition we cause others to become discouraged and disillusioned when we talk about spiritual matters and create the impression that we are on some spiritual path, but do not actually live that path. Others lose their confidence in spiritual life and consider it hypocrisy, and hesitate to start themselves.

113 Use 115 CHAPTER 11 USE 92. Now I have purposely not stated clearly all the how and why of these things; for I have reserved for you, when you call upon Me so to do, and are capable of receiving it, an inspiration from within with a far more comprehensive vision of the unfoldment and development of My Divine Idea, and Its final perfected expression, than is herein pictured. This book is simply an introduction to a continuous process of inner teachings which will take place throughout our lives as we develop an ever increasing inner contact with God within. Our life will then be a continuous process of inner inspiration, in which answers to questions and solutions to problems will come forth on a regular basis as they are necessary to evolve and to manifest our earthly mission. We will be guided into various experiences and to various sources which will steadily enrichen our understanding the truth and will aid us in living this truth. A necessary prerequisite for this, however, is the conscious silencing of the mind on a daily basis. There are many forms of meditation and prayer available for this purpose. That which is suggested here is to sit quietly and focus inwardly and remind our body and mind to "Be Still - and Know - I AM - God", until they become silent and we become that inner power, peace and love. 93. If I were here to tell the real meaning of My many manifestations,

114 116 Our Universal Self before you were consciously capable of experiencing its Truth, you neither would believe My words, nor could you comprehend their inner application and use. Therefore, as I begin to awaken in you a realisation that I AM within, and more and more cause your human consciousness to become an Impersonal channel through which I can express, will I gradually reveal to you the Reality of My Idea, dissipating one by one the illusions of the ages which have hidden Me from you, enabling Me thereby to manifest through you My Heavenly Attributes on Earth in all their humanly Divine perfection. At this point we are not capable of understanding the truth in its totality and, more importantly, not capable of living it if we knew it. Thus in order to avoid the various problems (some of which were mentioned at the end of the last chapter) which are created when we know more than we can absorb or live, this teaching and the unveiling of the truth will take place gradually in our daily life through our meditations and our experiences. 94. I have herein given you but a glimpse of My Reality, but just to the extent that that which has been revealed becomes clear will more be opened up unto you from within, and far more wonderful than this now seems to you. For My Idea within, when It finally and completely shines through Its mantle of flesh, will compel you to worship and glorify Me far above all that your human mind and intellect now conceive of as God. Before you can become conscious of all this and can truly comprehend it, you and your human personality must make it possible for Me to reveal it, by turning within to Me as the One and Only Source, bringing to Me your measure absolutely empty of self, and with mind and heart as simple and trusting as those of a child. Then and then only, when nothing of the personal consciousness remains to prevent My filling you full to overflowing with the consciousness of Me, can I point out to you the glories of My Real Meaning, for which this whole Message is but the outer preparation.

115 Use 117 In order for this teaching to be able to come through, we must first empty ourselves of all ideas, preconceptions, programmings, values, beliefs, and expectations, especially about what is spiritual and what is not, or what God is and is not, or where God is or is not; for when the truth"...finally and completely shines through Its mantle of flesh, will compel you to worship and glorify Me far above all that your human mind and intellect now conceive of as God." We will need to become like children who have no idea of what God is or what is spiritual or not, or who we are, or what our purpose on earth is. Thus we will need to approach our inner self with an empty mind, reminding our thoughts and beliefs continually to, "Be Still - and Know - I AM - God." 95. The time has now arrived, however, for you to comprehend somewhat of this. Enough has been revealed to prepare you for the recognition of My Voice speaking within. Therefore, I shall now proceed as if you realize I AM within, and that these Truths which I voice through the medium of these pages are but to impress more strongly upon your consciousness those phases of My Idea which you could not clearly receive direct. That which herein appeals to you as Truth is consequently but a confirmation of that which My Idea has heretofore been struggling to express from within. That which does not appeal and which you do not recognise as your own, pass by, for that means I do not desire you to receive it as yet. Not all of us are ready for all the messages presented in this book. We are able to understand and accept those which are like the fruit which has ripened within us and now a hand gives the first gentle decisive touch to the fruit which has ripened as is ready to fall. Those concepts which have not already sprouted within us and ripened to a certain degree will not be understood at all or only partially, or may even create negativity at this particular point in our growth process.

116 118 Our Universal Self Do not be concerned about those concepts which are not easily absorbed. Work on understanding and employing those which attract you most now as you read. This book must be read many times. I would say at once every year or two. Every time we read it, something else will seem more important to us or we will understand something which we have known for years but seemingly in a totally different light or to a much deeper depth. What can we do to accommodate this process? 1. Read this book on a regular basis, only a few pages at a time for a number of years. (After the first reading it will not be necessary to read the commentaries. Make your own interpretations.) 2. Meditate on the phrase "Be Still - and Know - I AM - God" daily. 3. Repeat the phrase while engaged in activity. 4. Pray daily for inner guidance. 5. Offer up all efforts and the results of all your efforts to God. 96. But each Truth I voice herein will go on vibrating until It reaches the minds I have quickened to receive It; for every word is filled with the potent power of My Idea and to minds that perceive the Truth hidden therein this Truth becomes a living Reality, being that phase of My Idea they are now worthy and capable of expressing. As all minds are but phases of My Infinite Mind, or parts of It manifesting in different forms of mortal nature, when I speak through the medium of these pages to your mind and to other minds, I AM but speaking to My mortal Self, thinking with My Infinite Mind, pushing forth My Idea into earthly expression. Just so will You soon be thinking My Thoughts, and be conscious that I AM speaking within directly to your human consciousness, and you will then no longer have to come to this book or to any other of My outer Revelations, either spoken or written, in order to perceive My Meaning. For AM I not within You, and AM I not You, and are You not One with Me, Who live in and express through the consciousness of all minds, knowing all things? All that remains for you to do is to enter into the All- consciousness of

117 Use 119 My Mind and abide there with Me, even as I abide within My Idea in Your Mind. Then all things shall be Yours, as they now are Mind, being but the outer expression of My Idea, and existing only by reason of the consciousness I gave them when I thought them into being. When we are able to totally immerse our minds into our Impersonal or Transcendental Mind, then all knowledge and powers will be ours. For all is created and is a result of our Impersonal Mind which is waiting within for us to let go of our thoughts about the external temporary world and immerse ourselves in that divine silence and bliss when all thoughts and desires have ceased. This will take practice on our part, but it is actually the only thing which is asked of the personality. The rest will be done by our Impersonal Self. We as personalities have nothing to do the but to learn to silence our minds and look within for guidance. 97. It is all a matter of consciousness -- of your conscious thinking. You are separated from Me only because you think you are. Your mind is but a focal point of My Mind. If you but knew it, what you call your consciousness is My Consciousness. You cannot even think, much less breathe or exist without My Consciousness being in you. -- Can you not see it? Well, then, think, believe you are I, that We are not separated, that We could not possibly be separated; for WE are ONE, -- I within You, and You within Me. Think this is so; determinedly image it as so; and verily the moment you are conscious of this, that moment are you with Me in Heaven. You are what you believe you are. Not one thing in your life is Real or has any value to you only as your thinking and believing has made it such. Therefore, think no more you are separated from Me, and abide with Me in the Impersonal Realm, where all Power, all Wisdom, and all Love, the threefold nature of My Idea, but await expression through You.

118 120 Our Universal Self Our beliefs create our reality and give things the importance that they have for us. If we can free ourselves from the illusory social and religious programming that we are separate from God and perhaps even unworthy of contact with the Divine, and realize that the Divine is within us, is our own real Self, then "...that moment are you with Me in Heaven." Can we believe it? Can God be within us? Can we be worthy of His love, of His acceptance, of His abiding with us? For many of us this seems almost impossible because we have been so programmed to believe that we are unworthy sinners. Think about it though. What type of Divine Being would create creatures with so many weakness and force them to be tested continuously and then condemn then for the very weaknesses with which they were created? What kind of God would command us to love each other unconditionally and then not love us unconditionally? How can God who is love according to St John and all other spiritual teachings, feel any other emotion towards all beings, no matter what they have done. Some humans are approaching the ability to love all regardless of their actions; is God less evolved? Why have we been told in the Bible that the body is the temple of the living God. Why did Christ say that "the Kingdom of God will not be found here or there because the Kingdom of God us within us"? Why has Christ said that, "I am in you and you are in Me, and I am in the Father"? Think about it. Can we really be so disconnected? The very clear message of this book is to "...think, believe you are I, that We are not separated, that We could not possibly be separated; for WE are ONE, -- I within You, and You within Me. " 98. Now I have spoken much of this, and have apparently said the same thing more than once, but in different words. I have done this purposely, presenting My Meaning in different lights, that you might

119 Use 121 finally be brought to comprehend My Divine Impersonality, which is in Reality Your Impersonality. Yes, I have repeated and will continue to repeat many Truths, and you may think it tedious and unnecessary; but if you will read carefully you will find that each time I repeat a Truth I always add something to what has already been said, and that each time a stronger and more lasting impression is made upon your mind. This done, My purpose has been accomplished, and you will soon come into a Soul realisation of that Truth. If you receive not such impression and still think such repetition a useless waste of words and time, know that your intellect only is reading, and that My real meaning has altogether escaped you. You, however, who do comprehend, will love every word, and will read and re-read many times, and consequently will receive all the wondrous Pearls of Wisdom I have held in reserve for you. This book and its message will be to you hereafter merely a fount of inspiration, or a door through which you will be enabled to enter into the Impersonal estate and to hold sweet communion with Me, your Father in Heaven, when I will teach you all things you desire to know. I have been picturing the Impersonal estate from many viewpoints, in order that it may become so familiar that you can unerringly distinguish it from all inferior states, and may learn to dwell consciously in it at will. This section is clear enough. I would only add that, in my personal experience in seeking to understand, and more importantly "live" the various truths, is that they need to be repeatedly received in various ways so that they can be fully comprehended and employed in all aspects of our lives. Also, thirty years of teaching literally over a twenty thousand hours of seminars have shown me that people do not understand or retain something when it is heard only a few times. And if they have a particular attachment or fear they may have to hear a spiritual truth literally thousands of times before they can employ it in relationship to that particular fear or attachment.

120 122 Our Universal Self Thus I would suggest that we not be in a hurry, and to realize the necessity of hearing the same truths over and over and in different ways. 99. When you can consciously dwell in it so that My Word when and wherever spoken can always find logdement and understanding in your mind, then will I permit you to use certain faculties I have been awakening in you. These faculties will enable you more and more clearly to see the Reality of things, not only the beautiful and lovely qualities in the personalities of those about you, but their weaknesses, faults and shortcomings, as well. But the reason you are enabled to see these faults and short comings, is not that you may criticise or judge your brother, but that I may arouse in you a definite resolve to overcome such faults and shortcomings in your own personality. For, mark you! - You would take no note of them in others were they not still in your self; for I, within, then would not need to call them to your attention. We will gradually develop greater perceptive sensitivities. These will allow us to see more clearly both the positive and the negative in others. What attracts our attention in others often has to do with what we need to learn at this particular point. Thus we may notice positive qualities because we need now to develop them. He or she may have many other positive qualities but we will not give them the same importance because we are being guided from within to pay attention to that which we need to develop. The same applies to others negative qualities. We notice them and they may annoy us because we are being asked to see them in ourselves, or learn to overcome our fear of those attributes. We have something to learn through that which we see. Perhaps we have the same trait ourselves and we must free ourselves from it. Or perhaps we fear that attribute and must get free from that fear. Or we simply may be learn to see the Divine in all beings, independently of their external manifestations.

121 Use 123 It is also clear that we should never criticise or reject any other, for we would be simply criticising the Divine Being who is the ultimate reality of all. This is why Christ gave so much emphasis to not criticising and to forgiving all for everything As all things are for use, and use only, let us study the use you have hitherto made of other faculties, gifts and powers I have given you. You must realize by this time I have allowed you all things. All you have, or are, be it of good or evil, of blessing or suffering, of success or failure, of riches or lack, I have allowed you or attracted to you. - - Why? For USE -- in awakening you to a recognition and acknowledgment of Me as the Giver of All that is Good. Yes, all things you receive have their use. If you are not conscious of such use, it is only because you can not yet acknowledge Me as the Giver. All beings, objects and events are brought to our personalities by our Impersonal Self. Everything, pleasant and unpleasant, "good" and "evil" has come into our lives to use them to fulfil the purpose of our material existence - to realise our real Divine Nature and to express it outwardly. We are not always, however, able to understand how to use every thing which happens to us. When we cannot understand its use, then we cannot use it, and thus we lose an opportunity for growth. Some simple concepts will help us here. If we can accept the following truths and employ them in each situation, it will be much easier to understand the "use" of a situation. 1. Everything that happens in our lives comes from the Divine. 2. Everything that happens is exactly what we need for the next step in our evolution. 3. This then is an opportunity to learn something which will bring us closer to the truth, closer to our Real Self.

122 124 Our Universal Self 4. We need to ask, "What is life trying to teach me in this situation?" 5. We can present this question to our Impersonal Self many times daily until we receive an answer. There may be many answers, or levels of answers. We need to be patient and accept them as they come. Never for one moment believe that some mistake has occurred, or that God has forsaken you or that some injustice has occurred. This is impossible. Is God sleeping? Is there some other source of life or of events? Is God not omniscient and omnipotent? Then He knows and is allowing this to happen. Then it must be perfect. 6. While searching for the lessons in the particular situation consider some of the following basic lessons which we often have to learn. a. To learn that we do not need something to which we have been attached and, learn to feel secure, or happy, or self-affirmed without that. b. To love and forgive others for their mistakes. c. To overcome our fear of something and realize that we are not in danger. d. To develop certain abilities and talents or inner powers. e. To work more dynamically in creating what we want in life, without harming others. To be more assertive in expressing our needs. f. To be clearer, more honest in our communication. g. To learn to be more humble and to feel greater unity with others. h. To change our self image and to love and accept ourselves unconditionally. i. To free ourselves from certain limiting beliefs. j. To let go of personal needs and offer more of ourselves to the whole. k. To free ourselves from certain addictions which are destroying our health or relationships. Now it is your turn to think of other possible lessons, but most importantly, what is the lesson which life is trying to teach you now through that which is occurring in your life now.

123 Use You could not honestly acknowledge Me as such until you knew I AM, The Giver. Your personality, in fact, had become so engrossed in trying to get rid of or to exchange many of the things I had given you for other things you thought were better, that of course you could not even dream, much less acknowledge, Me, Your Own Self, as The Giver. Possibly you do now acknowledge Me as The Giver, as the Inner Essence and Creator of all things in your world and in your life, even of your present attitude toward these things. Both are My doing, for they are but the outer phases of the process I AM using in the expression of My Idea of your inner Perfection, which Perfection being My Perfection is gradually unfolding from within you. As you more and more realize this, will the true meaning and use of the things, conditions and experiences I send be revealed unto you. For you will then begin to glimpse My Idea Within, and when you glimpse that Idea will you begin to know Me - your own Real Self. Before you can truly know Me, however, you must learn that all things I give you are Good -- and that they are for use, My use, -- and that you personally have no interest in or actual right to them, and they are of no real benefit to you, only as you put them to such use. We have here a verification of what we said above, that God is the cause of absolutely everything which happens to us. The people, objects and other forces around us are nothing more than his fingers, his instruments, actors in His play. Everything is perfect for our growth. That does not mean that the lesson is always to accept what we have. We can accept that we need to have or not have something at this moment, because that having or not having may act within us as a catalyst for change. Thus, while in many cases the lesson is to accept the previously unacceptable, in some cases it may be to find the inner strength to change it. Thus the prayer of St, Francis, "Lord give me the strength to change what I can, the serenity to accept what I cannot and the ability to know the difference."

124 126 Our Universal Self 102. I may be expressing through you beautiful symphonies of sound, colour or language, that manifest as music, art or poetry, according to human terminology, and which so affect others as to cause them to acclaim you as one of the great ones of the day. I may be speaking through your mouth or inspiring you to write many beautiful Truths, which may be attracting to you many followers, who hail you as a most wonderful preacher or teacher. I may even be healing through you divers diseases, casting out devils, making the blind to see and the lame to walk, and performing other marvellous works which the world calls miracles. Yes, all these I may be doing through you, but of absolutely no benefit is any of it to you personally, unless you use and apply these harmonies of sound in your every spoken word, so that to all hearers they will seem as the sweet music of heaven; and unless your sense of colour and proportion so manifests in your life that only kind, uplifting, helpful thoughts flow from you, proving that the only true art is that of seeing clearly My Perfection in all My human expressions, and of allowing the quickening power of My Love to pour through you into their hearts, picturing to their inner vision My Image hidden therein. We are instruments of all divine powers. We, as personalities, are not the sources of these abilities. We, as personalities, are helpless and powerless, just as a flashlight is powerless without its batteries or a cassette player without its power source. We have the ability to express this power in different ways but even that is given by the Impersonal Self. All of these powers are useless if we do not realise the real nature of our true self and if our attitude does not create in others the feeling of unity and of being loved. Thus our most important ability is to see others as divine manifestations of our own divine Self. And thus the, "...only true art is that of seeing clearly My Perfection in all My human expressions."

125 Use Likewise no credit attaches to you, no matter what wonderful Truths I speak or works I perform through you, unless you, yourself, live these Truths, daily, hourly; and make these works serve as a constant reminder of Me and My Power, which I ever pour out freely for you, My Beloved, and for all, to use in My Service. We are reminded again that all powers belong to God the one consciousness in the universe, and that even if certain "powers" are expressed through us, that means nothing if we do not live what we believe and if we do not use all powers in service of the whole You, to whom I have apparently given none of such gifts and who deem yourself unworthy and not yet advanced enough to serve Me in such ways, -- to you I would say: Just to the extent that you truly recognise Me within and seek in real earnestness to serve Me, just to that extent will I use you -- no matter what your personality, no matter what its faults, tendencies and weaknesses. Yes, I will cause even you who thus seek to serve Me to do many wondrous things towards the quickening and awakening of your brothers to a like acknowledgment of Me. I will cause even you to influence and affect the lives of many of those whom you contact, inspiring and uplifting them to higher ideals, changing their way of thinking and their attitude towards their fellows and therefore towards Me. Yes, all you who seek to serve Me, no matter what your gifts, will I make to be a vital force for good in the community, altering the mode of life of many, inspiring and moulding their ambitions and aspirations, and altogether becoming a leavening influence in the midst of the worldly activities in which I will place you. You at the time will probably know nothing of this. You may even be still longing to serve Me, and hungering for a more intimate consciousness of Me, thinking you are doing nothing, are still making many mistakes and failing to live up to your highest ideals of Me; not realising that this longing and hungering is the avenue through which I pour forth My Spiritual Power, which being wholly Impersonal, is

126 128 Our Universal Self used by you, unconscious of its being I within you using it, to bring about My Purpose in your heart and life and in the hearts and lives of My and Your other Selves. So, as you finally grow into the realisation of all this, as you surely will, and prove it by the practical use of all you have in My service, will I gradually give you the strength and ability consciously to use Impersonally My Power, My Wisdom and My Love, in the expression of My Divine Idea, which is eternally striving to manifest through You Its Perfection. Therefore will you soon see that your human personality, with all its faculties, powers and possessions, which are in reality Mine operating and manifesting through you, is likewise for My use wholly, and that true success and satisfaction can never be found except in such use. For such use develops, as the planted seed develops the harvest, the ability consciously to use all My spiritual faculties in the final perfect expression of My Idea, which can be expressed only through your human personality. From this text we can understand a phenomenon which we may have occasionally seen. We may have seen some people, who although they have not finished with their own lessons, or still have many weaknesses, or many problems, are still very useful, perhaps even very dynamic and effective in bringing about positive changes in the lives of others. They may even be accepted "spiritual teachers" with various obvious weakness. They are being used by our Impersonal Self even though they are not totally purified. Thus, the message here is that even if you feel that you have no talents or are unworthy, if you seek to be an instrument and remain humble and totally dedicated to finding and living the truth, you may very well be used by our Impersonal Self for doing its work of awakening all of its instruments. This we might compare to a carpenter with a large number of "conscious tools". Some of these tools are very capable but not always complying, because they have their own minds about what they want

127 Use 129 to do. They have a feeling of self-importance and will agree to do only certain works which they feel are up to their standard. This carpenter may have other tools which are not so capable, but are dedicated to him and will work in the manner which He chooses and not project that they know better. Their attitude is that they know nothing and they look solely to the master carpenter for instructions and execute them as instructed. The carpenter then prefers to use these less capable, but humble and cooperative tools rather than the more capable but self-oriented tools which believe that they know better, and who also want the praise for their work. How can the results of their work be theirs when only in His hands can they do anything. They are self conscious and capable, but not the source of the power and knowledge. We are these self conscious tools. God is the carpenter (perhaps it is not by chance that Jesus was carpenter), and the work is manifesting heaven on earth. What kind of tool are you; a self-important-know-itall tool which wants to chose what it will do, or a humble, cooperating, always-looking-to-the-master tool.

128 130 Our Universal Self

129 Soul Mates 131 CHAPTER 12 SOUL MATES 105. Let us now examine into some of the things I have given you, those especially of which you cannot yet acknowledge Me as the Giver. Perhaps the particular position in life you now occupy you do not think the best adapted for the expression of My Idea urging within you. If so, then why not step out of that position into the one of your choice? The mere fact that you cannot or do not do this proves that at this time such position is the one best suited to awaken in you certain qualities necessary for My perfect expression, and that I, your own Self, AM permitting you to remain therein, until you can recognise my Purpose and Meaning hidden within the power such position has to disturb your peace of mind and keep you thus dissatisfied. When you recognise My Meaning and determine to make My Purpose your purpose, then and then only will I give you the strength to step out of the position into a higher I have provided for you. We are now presented with the fact that although all the events and situations which we are experiencing are given to us by the only giver, God, that we often think that some mistake has been made and want to change what we have. There is only one way to get free from a situation which is making us unhappy and that is to "...recognise my Purpose and Meaning hidden within the power such position has to disturb your peace of mind and keep you thus dissatisfied." That is we will need first to understand why this situation is occurring

130 132 Our Universal Self and why it is bothering us, why it is making us unhappy. We will need to understand the lesson which life is trying to teach us through this situation (as mentioned in the previous chapter) and especially to "...recognise My Meaning and determine to make My Purpose your purpose, then and then only will I give you the strength to step out of the position into a higher I have provided for you." The way to find the power to free ourselves from situations which limit us and restrict our happiness is to realize our Impersonal Purpose and to resolve to make that our only purpose in life. This is so because all events have absolutely one purpose; to awaken the personality to its real nature. Thus the only way to make those events unnecessary is to wake up. Otherwise, we still need what is bothering us Perhaps the husband or the wife you have, you think is far from being suited to you or capable of helping along your "spiritual" awakening, being only a hindrance and detriment, instead. You may even be secretly contemplating leaving or wishing you could leave that one for another who sympathises and joins with you in your aspirations and seeking, and therefore seems more nearly your ideal. You may run away if you will, but know that you cannot run away from your own personality; that, in selfish craving for a "spiritual" mate you may attract only one who will force you to a tenfold longer and harder search among the illusions of the mind, before you can again awaken to the consciousness of My Voice speaking within. For a sympathetic and appreciative mate would only feed the personal pride and selfish desire for "spiritual" power in you, and develop further the egotistic side of your nature. Likewise, a loving, trusting, yielding mate might encourage only selfishness and conceit, when you are not yet abiding in the consciousness of My Impersonal Love; while a tyrannical, suspicious, nagging mate may provide the soul discipline you still need. That to which most of us look for our happiness is a mate, a partner with which to walk the difficult road of life. We have many hopes

131 Soul Mates 133 from this partner. We hope to find security, happiness, pleasure, affirmation, emotional support, protection, affection, caring, devotion, service and unconditional love. Few find all they are searching for in the mate which they are given. That is natural of course, because the purpose of life is to find within ourselves all of the above mentioned which we have been searching for until now outside ourselves. When we cannot get what we hoped from our partner, then we feel disappointed, cheated, hurt, bitter, rejected, abused and perhaps even angry and hateful that we have been done such an injustice. The message here is that we have exactly what we need in order to learn our next lesson. This partner is our perfect teacher. The message is "learn to love this aspect of God without conditions and then we will see what happens". It is also explained that our idea that a mate who agrees with us will help more in our evolution is not necessarily true. This does not mean that we should not search, before we make the final decision of marriage, for someone who has the same values and life goals. But if we are already married, and we or the other changes, and we do not get along, then this is what we need. Through this conflict of needs and values, or through the other s difficult character we will have our greatest evolution. We need to make wiser evaluations before we make our choice of partner. Once the choice is made, then we will assume from here on in, unless the other leaves his or her body or decides to leave us, that he or she is the aspect of the Divine with which I can most effectively learn my spiritual lessons at the present time. This is not to say that leaving the other if their behavior is violent or unethical is not an option. It just means that we need to be sure we have learned our lessons first. One way of knowing we have learned our lesson is that we no longer have negative feelings towards the other.

132 134 Our Universal Self 107. Did you but know it, the one who is your true Soul mate is in reality an Angel from Heaven, even as are You, one of the Attributes of My Divine Self, come to you to teach you that only when you have purged your own personality so that My Holy Love can express, can you be freed from any conditions which may now be causing you so much disturbance of mind and unhappiness of Soul. For not until this Soul, this Angel from Heaven, this other part of My and Your Self, who has come to you and is yearning and striving to call into expression through you the Impersonal Love, the tender, thoughtful care for others, the poise of mind and peace of heart, the quiet, firm mastery of self, which and which alone can open the doors, so It can step forth into the freedom of Its own glorious Being and be to you Its own true Self, -- not until you can see this Soul in all Its Divine beauty, free of this earthly bondage, will it ever be possible for you to find and recognise that Ideal you seek. For that Ideal exists, not without -- in some other personality, -- but only within, in your Divine Counterpart, which is I, your Higher, Immortal Self. It is only My Idea of this, your Perfect Self, striving to express and become manifest through your personality, that causes you to see seeming imperfections in the mate I have given you. The time will come, however, when you cease to look without for love and sympathy, appreciation and spiritual help, and turn wholly to Me within, that these seeming imperfections will disappear; and you will see in this mate only the reflection of qualities of unselfish love, gentleness, trust, a constant endeavour to make the other happy, that will then be shining brightly and continuously from out your own heart. The other is a reflection of ourselves. We see in the other our own addictions, weaknesses, fears, expectations, emotions and behavior being reflected back to us. What we really have across from us is an "...Angel from Heaven, even as are You, one of the Attributes of My Divine Self, come to you to teach you that only when you have purged your own personality so that My Holy Love can express, can you be freed from any conditions which may now be causing you so much disturbance of mind and unhappiness of Soul."

133 Soul Mates 135 The other is an actor in our life-play, playing the part given to him by our own Impersonal Self in order to awaken our personal self. Imagine the scene up on a cloud before coming into incarnation. We are talking to another beautiful angelic being like ourselves, saying, "look I will need help in this life time in overcoming my attachment to being affirmed by others. I want to finally overcome this tendency. I would like you to play my life partner and not give me the affection and affirmation that I need so that then I will be forced to find it within my self and in my relationship with our Impersonal Self, rather than looking to other personalities for what I need." Our Impersonal Self is the grand director of this multilevelled drama in which we are receiving exactly what we need in order to wake up to our true nature. So if we do not like our partner, we need to realise that he or she is the Divine taking a temporary form to wake us up. One solution is to look to our Impersonal self for all our needs, and then "...The time will come, however, when you cease to look without for love and sympathy, appreciation and spiritual help, and turn wholly to Me within, that these seeming imperfections will disappear; and you will see in this mate only the reflection of qualities of unselfish love, gentleness, trust, a constant endeavour to make the other happy, that will then be shining brightly and continuously from out your own heart." I have seen such transformations when one of the two unhappy parties started to act with unconditional love Perhaps you cannot yet wholly believe all this, and you still question that I, your own Self, am responsible for your present position in life, or that I chose for you your present mate? If so, it is well for you thus to question until all is made plain. But remember, I will speak much more clearly direct from within, if you but turn trustingly to Me for help. For I ever preserve My Holiest secrets for those who turn to Me in deep, abiding Faith that I can and will supply their every need. To you, however, who cannot yet do this, I say, if your own Self did not

134 136 Our Universal Self place you here or provide this mate, Why then are you here? and Why have you this mate? Think! I, the ALL, the Perfect One, make no mistake. Yes, but the personality does, you say. And the personality chose this mate, and perhaps has earned no better position. What, who, causes the personality to choose this particular one and earn this particular position in life? Who picked out and placed this one where you could thus choose, and who caused you to be born in this country of all countries and in this town of all towns in the world at this particular time? Why not some other town and a hundred years later? Did your personality do all these things? Answer truly and satisfactorily these questions to yourself, and you will learn that I, God, within you, your own Self, do all things that you do, and I do them well. I do them while expressing My Idea, Which is ever seeking manifestation in outer form as Perfection through you, My living Attribute, even as it is in the Eternal, within. We have often had the experience of "coincidence", of meeting a friend in a country thousands of miles from home, or meeting someone who had just the information or the services that we needed. Have you ever thought of how many factors have to cooperate in order for such "coincidences" to take place? They are nearly impossible to be coincidences. They happen because of a slight delay here, or a movement in an unexpected direction, or a choice which we are not sure why we made when we made it, but now we know. Obviously there is a divine hand behind all events, even the death of our loved ones. I have seen many people suffer doubts as to whether that fateful event could have been avoided. They may feel guilt for not having done enough, or for not having done the right thing. They may feel hate towards others who they believe were the "cause" of that death. There is only one cause of birth and one cause of death and that is the one Universal Consciousness residing in all beings. One morning a student at the university where my father was the dean

135 Soul Mates 137 of students walked into his office pulled out a revolver and shot him twice killing him instantly. The only thing my father was able to do was to ask one question; "Why?" This student was not the cause of my father s death. he was the means chosen by our Impersonal Self for my father s exit. And this event was the most useful event for our collective evolution, for myself, my siblings and, of course most of all, for my mother who was most affected and changed through this intense life crisis. There is only one cause for everything which happens; God. We are the instruments through which all happens. This does not mean that our choices and actions do not affect what happens to us. Our every though, choice, belief, action and word influence our life course. But others do no create our reality. We do As for your true "Soul Mate", which you have been led by others to believe must be waiting for you somewhere, cease looking; for it exists not without in some other body, but within your own Soul. For that within you which cries out for completion is only your sense of Me within, yearning for recognition and expression; Me, your own Divine Counterpart, the Spiritual part of you, your other half, to which and which alone you must be united, before you can finish what you came on Earth to express. This is indeed a mystery to you who are not yet wedded in consciousness to your Impersonal Self; but doubt not, when you can come to Me in complete surrender, and will care for naught else than union with Me, then will I disclose to you the sweets of the Celestial Ecstasy I have long kept in reserve for you. In actuality we are seeking after our own Self. Because we have lost our own Spiritual Self, we seek to fill our emptiness through other beings and objects. Our real soul-mate is God our own Impersonal Self. When we have reconnected to our Inner Self, then all beings will seem beautiful and loving to us, because we will need nothing from

136 138 Our Universal Self anyone. What makes people seem negative towards us is usually the fact that we want something from them which they cannot give us. When we stop needing others, it is much easier to love them and for them to love us. We can stop hoping then, to find fulfilment outside of our selves in some "soul-mate". He or she is simply a reflection of what we are really looking for; our own selves. We are attracted to others for the attributes which they manifest and which are lacking in us. When all our divine attributes are manifested in our own being, we will not desire another. We will love many, but we will not need any particular one.

137 Authority 139 CHAPTER 13 AUTHORITY 110. To you who still feel the desire to read books, thinking in them to find an explanation of the mysteries that now hide from you the meaning of the earthly expressions of My Idea, I say: It is well that you seek thus outwardly, following the impulses I send, for others' interpretations of the meaning My Idea is expressing through them; for I will make that search to be of benefit to you, though not in the way you imagine. It is even well for you to seek in ancient teachings, philosophies and religions, or in those of other races and other peoples, for the Truth I wish to express to you; for even that search will prove not unprofitable. But the time will come when you will realize that the thoughts of other minds and the teachings of other religions, no matter how true and beautiful, are not what I intend for you; for I have reserved for you thoughts and teachings which are yours and yours only, and which I will give to you in secret -- when you are ready to receive them. When the time comes, as it inevitably will, that you become dissatisfied in your search among the teachings of the various religions, philosophies and cults that now are interesting you, and you grow discouraged at finding yourself no nearer the attainment of the powers and spiritual growth so authoritatively described and supposedly possessed by the writers of the books, the teachers of the philosophies and the promulgators of the religions, -- then will I show you that while all these books, teachings and religions were originally inspired by Me, and have done and are still doing their part in quickening the hearts of many, yet for you, it is now meant that you cease looking to any

138 140 Our Universal Self outer authority, and instead confine your study to My Book of Life, guided and instructed by Me within, by Me alone. If you earnestly and truly do this, you will find that I have chosen you to be the High Priest of a religion, the glory and grandeur of which will be to all others that have been pictured to your former understanding, as the light of the Sun is to the twinkle of the far distant star. You will likewise realize that the ancient religions were given to My peoples of long ages past, and that the religions of other races are for My peoples of those races, and that none of these are for you; even though I brought them to you and pointed out many wondrous things in them that inspired you to a more determined search for Me within their teachings. I say to you, these are things of the past and have naught to do with you. The time has arrived, if you can see it, when you must cast aside all accumulated knowledge, all teachings, all religions, all authority, even My authority as expressed in this and My other outer revelations; for I have quickened you to the consciousness of My Presence within, to the fact that all authority, teachings and religions, coming from any outer source, no matter how lofty or sacred, can no longer have any influence with you, except as they become a means of turning you within to Me, for My final authority on all questions of whatsoever nature. Therefore, why seek in the things of the past -- in religion, human knowledge, or in other s; experiences -- for the help and guidance which I alone can give? Forget all that has gone before. That which is past is dead. Why burden your soul with dead things? Just to the extent you hold to things that are past, do you still live in the past, and can have naught to do with Me, Who dwell in the everpresent NOW, the Eternal. Just to the extent you attach yourself to past acts or experiences, religions or teachings, do they cloud your soul vision, hiding Me from you. They will ever prevent your finding Me until you free yourself of their darkening influence and step within, into the Light of My Impersonal Consciousness, which recognizes no limitations and penetrates to the infinite Reality of all things.

139 Authority 141 Christ taught and lived the spirit of the law, while the others tried to live the letter of the law, which could not be lived since it was dead. It had lost its usefulness. We are not asked here to reject religions, books, or other teachings. We are asked not to have them as supreme authority. As our supreme authority we shall have our inner voice, which we will cultivate through inner silence and prayer for guidance. Religions and books, including this one, can help us along the first parts of our journey but, in most cases, the last steps can be taken by each alone. The following example may help. We are on the shores of a vast ocean and want to get to other side. We are obviously unable to swim all that distance by ourselves and thus board a boat going that way. After some time, that boat does not suit us. The journey is long and we desire something else. That particular boat has taken us as far as it can take us. Now we find another boat, more suitable to our present needs. Then the same thing happens, we have traveled as far as we can in that boat. And the same goes on as we move from boat to boat each taking us a little further towards the other shore. Each boat is another book, religious teaching, spiritual teacher, technique or spiritual group. All are good and useful, all take us a little further along toward our goal; all have helped us in a way that no one or nothing else could have helped us at that particular time. But each is limited in its ability to take us all the way, especially the last 100 meters of the journey. These last 100 meters are very shallow and no boat can pass here. We will have to swim them by ourselves. This is the message here. We are not to reject all that has been and can be still offered to us by books, religions or spiritual teachers or paths; for although we have to swim the last 100 meters, we would have drown if we tried to swim the last hundred kilometers alone without external help. Thus we will have to recognise where we are in this journey. If we are still far from the shore, let us take refuge in various boats, but always recognise as final authority our own inner voice. Let us never externalize the source of power and guidance in our lives.

140 142 Our Universal Self We should never imagine that someone else will enlighten us, that someone else will solve our spiritual problems or free us from illusion. We must recognise that there is only one teacher, and that is our own Impersonal Self who is the spiritual force in all books, teachers and religions. Let us take from other sources, as long as we feel guided to, from within. Let us not become attached to them, however, and let us realize that all conditions are temporary and that growth requires constant change; not fickleness and superficial moving from here to there; but a slow and organic type of growth - steady and stable. Eventually we will not feel the need any more for external sources of guidance and we will base our lives and our spiritual growth solely on the messages which we receive from within. If some messages in this text seem to be contradictory, it is because we are at a different stages in our evolution and require other experiences. For example we warn a small child not to go out alone, but if our twenty-year-old child is always closed up at home out of insecurity, we give him the opposite message. Each stage of evolution has other needs and other messages. Another point emphasized here is that during the process of evolution as the years pass, the ways in which we will relate to God will differ. Thus basic truths such as love, peace, right action and truth, and to do to others as we would like them to do to us, will not change; but how we will understand and employ these truths may. Thus we can take from the various traditions their essence without being limited by their dogmas. This changing perception of our relationship with God is well expressed in a poem by the well-known and respected philosopher-poet Khalil Gibran. It appears that he believed in reincarnation, as he describes this process as taking three thousand years. «In the ancient days, when the first quiver of speech came to my lips, I ascended the holy mountain and spoke unto God, saying: «Master, I am Thy slave. Thy hidden will is my law and I shall obey Thee for evermore». «But God made no answer, and like a mighty tempest passed away.

141 Authority 143 And after a thousand years I ascended the holy mountain and again spoke unto God, saying: «Creator, I am Thy creation. Out of clay Thou hast fashioned me and to Thee I owe mine all». «And God made no answer, but like a thousand swift wings passed away». «And after a thousand years I climbed the holy mountain and spoke unto God again, saying: «Father, I am Thy son. In compassion and love Thou hast given me birth, and through love and worship I shall inherit Thy Kingdom». «And God made no answer, and like the mist that veils the distant hills He passed away». «And after a thousand years I climbed the sacred mountain and again spoke unto God, saying: «My God, my aim and my fulfillment; I am Thy yesterday and Thou art my tomorrow. I am Thy root in the Earth and Thou art flower in the sky, and together we grow before the face of the sun». «Then God leaned over me, and in my ears whispered words of sweetness, and even as the sea that enfolds a brook that runs down to her, He enfolded me. «And when I descended to the valleys and the plains God was there also». Notice how God's answer, or rather, our perception of His response becomes increasingly more gentle and subtle: a tempest, to a thousand swift wings, to a mist that veils the distant hills, and finally words of sweetness. Notice too the statement «I am Thy yesterday and Thou art my tomorrow». In other words, «I am in the process of becoming what You are». Perhaps even more accurate would be, «I am in the process of re-becoming what we are». This message from Sathya Sai Baba rather summarizes the whole process: «After long searches here and there, in temples and in churches, in earth and heavens, at last you come back, completing the circle from

142 144 Our Universal Self where you started, to your own soul and find that He for whom you have been seeking all over the world, for whom you have been weeping and praying in churches and temples, on whom you were looking as the mystery of all mysteries shrouded in the clouds, is actually the nearest of the near, in your own self, the reality of your life, body and soul. That is your own nature. Assert it, manifest it. It is truth and truth alone; that is one's real friend, relative. Abide by truth, tread the path of righteousness and not an hair of your body will ever be injured." 111. Likewise the future concerns you not. He who looks to the future for his final perfection is chained to the past and can never get free, until his mind no longer is thus engrossed with the consequences of his acts, and he recognizes Me as his only Guide and throws all responsibility upon Me. You, who are one with Me, are perfect now, and always were perfect, knowing neither youth nor old age, birth nor death. As long as we are occupied with the idea of perfecting ourselves at some future moment, we are operating out of a false belief system which says that: 1. We are these personalities and not the already perfect Impersonal Self. 2. That there is time, space and individuality. 3. That we are individuals which can become enlightened separately from the others 4. That we must create some specific result for this particular body and mind and not for all of humanity. It is of course natural for us to believe these so seemingly obvious "facts". It is difficult for us to realize that we have been living in such a deep sleep for all of our lives. Thus all spiritual efforts which have in mind some result for our own enlightenment are based on the illusion of separateness. We will necessarily need to pass through a period of time of such

143 Authority 145 thinking and personal effort. Gradually our emphasis will change and we will not be so preoccupied with becoming enlightened or saved at some later date, but rather to detach ourselves in every present moment from the illusion of individuality, and of identification with the body and personality You, the Perfect, have naught to do with what has been or what is to be. You care not for anything but the eternal NOW. That only concerns you which immediately confronts you, - how perfectly to express My Idea here and now in the condition in which I have placed you purposely for such expression. When that has been done, why not leave it behind, instead of dragging it along with you, burdening your mind and soul with consequences which are but empty shells from which you have extracted the meat? Only when we live in the present moment, leaving the plans for the future and the results of the past will we be able to experience our real self. The past does not exist and the future is illusion. Both exist only in our mind, and our mind is conditioned and does not perceive reality. We have everything to gain by bringing our mind constantly to the present, and being aware of who we are and what is going on in our immediate environment. This will release tremendous amounts of energy, clarity, wisdom and creativity which is otherwise suppressed by the fact that the mind is dampened by the thoughts about the past and future. Let us not dwell on the results, positive or negative, of our efforts. They have nothing to offer, unless we want very briefly see what we can learn from them. But to connect our self-worth with them, feeling pride or affirmation when they are positive, or guilt, failure or self-rejection when they are not what we wanted, is a total waste of time. The results were and always are perfect. They are exactly what should have happened in the universe at that moment considering all the

144 146 Our Universal Self forces in the universe (including your effort) at that time. Let us move on continuously leaving the past behind us, responding to the everalive and always perfect present moment All this applies to reincarnation, to which belief many minds are fast chained. What have You, the Perfect, the Eternal, to do with past or future incarnations? Can the Perfect add to Its perfection? Or the Eternal come out of or return to eternity? I AM, and You Are, -- ONE with Me, -- and always have been, and always will be. The I AM of You dwells in and reincarnates in ALL bodies, for the one purpose of expressing My Idea. Humanity is My Body. In It I live, move and have My Being, expressing the Glorious Light of My Idea through My Attributes, whose Celestial Radiance to the human vision is bedimmed and distorted by the myriads of clouded and imperfect facets of the human intellect. I and You, Who are One with Me, reincarnate in Humanity, as the oak reincarnates in its leaves and acorns, season after season, and again in the thousand oaks born from their thousands of acorns and their oaks, generation after generation. You say you remember your past lives. Do you? Are you sure? Very well, what if you do? Just because I have permitted you a glimpse of the Reality of one of My past Expressions, that you might the better comprehend My Meaning which I am now expressing to you, is no assurance from Me that you personally were My Avenue of that expression. For do I not express through all avenues, and You with Me, and are We not the Life and Intelligence of all expression, no matter what the character, or the age, or race? If it pleases you to believe that you actually were that expression, it is well, and I shall cause such belief to be of benefit to you; but only to the extent of preparing you for the great Realization that afterward will come. In the meantime you are chained fast. Your personality, with its selfish desires and selfish seeking, is still bound hand and foot to the past,

145 Authority 147 and looks only to the future for its deliverance, after the final wearing out of all the consequences of its acts; dominating your mind and intellect with this false belief in birth and death, and that such is your only way to final emancipation and union with Me; preventing the realization of Our Eternal and Ever-Constant Oneness, and that You can free your Self any moment You will. For it is only the personality that is born and dies, and which seeks and strives to prolong its stay in the body and in earth life, and then to return to other bodies after I no longer have any use for its body. It is only to this personality that you are bound, by the benefits and opinions it has engrafted on you back through the ages, during which it has kept your human mind busied with such delusions. It is only when you can rise up in the realization of your Divine Immortality, Omnipotence and Intelligence, and can cast off all personal beliefs and opinions, that you can free your Self from this perverted relation, and can assume your true position as Master and King, One with Me, seated upon the Throne of SELF, compelling the personality to take its proper and natural place as servant and subject, ready and willing to obey My slightest command, thereby becoming an instrument worthy of My Use. There will not be time here to go into a lengthy discussion concerning the concept of reincarnation. (Those interested in more information about this can refer to the books "The Mystical Circle of Life" and "Universal Philosophy".) What is being said here is not that there is no reincarnation, for "...it is only to this personality that you are bound, by the benefits and opinions it has engrafted on you back through the ages, during which it has kept your human mind busied with such delusions." What is being said is that we are not the personality which incarnates. we are the Impersonal Self, and thus all incarnations are ours. Thus we cannot speak about particular previous incarnations which belong to us, for all incarnations are ours.

146 148 Our Universal Self Now the question remains as to whether a particular personality actually has a special relationship with some previously incarnated personality, whether there is a soul-entity which unites them in a way in which they are not united with other personalities present or past. This would mean that they would have a common memory bank which would unite them. The other possibility is that all souls and personalities are manifestations of only one divine consciousness, and that there is one universal memory bank which unites all souls and personalities, because they are all manifestations of one being. Why should we believe that these concepts conflict? A particular group does not exclude a larger one. Each larger grouping includes all the previous smaller ones. For example there is a couple which has a special relationship. They belong to a family of five including their children. The larger family consists of a group of fifty persons. This large family belongs to a national grouping of about 200 million persons. This nation belongs to the planet Earth which is a group of about 5 billion and growing. One does not exclude the other. It is simply more useful and more true to identify with the largest grouping. This creates the greatest unity - which is our final goal. Thus there is no contradiction between there being an individual soul with various incarnations and the fact that all souls and thus all incarnations belong to the one Impersonal Self. When we are focused in the personality, then we can talk about reincarnation. When we realize that the personality is an illusion, then we realize that this is of no importance. Thus the message here is that it is not useful to concentrate on previous and future lives, just as it is not useful to concentrate on the past or future. Our previous personalities are as much illusion as our present ones. Just as we are not our present body and personality, we are not our past or future bodies or personalities; and thus we have nothing to gain by focusing on them. We are the Impersonal Self and all personalities past, present and future are ours. This is the most useful way of proceeding.

147 Mediums and Mediators 149 CHAPTER 14 MEDIUMS AND MEDIATORS 114. You, who, in your desire to serve Me, have joined yourself with a church, religious organization, occult society, or spiritual order, of whatsoever nature, thinking, by aiding in and supporting its work, it would please Me, and that you might receive special favors from Me in consequence, -- hearken to these My Words and ponder over them. First, know that I AM already pleased with you, for you do nothing that I do not cause you to do, and you do it to fulfil My Purpose, -- although it may seem to you at times you are acting contrary to My Wish and only to satisfy your own desires. Know likewise that I provide all minds with all their experiences of life, which I utilize solely to prepare the body, quicken the heart and develop the consciousness, so that they can comprehend Me, and so that I can express through them My Idea. I inspire minds with glimpses of Me and My Idea through these experiences, and I have spoken thus through inspiration to many, who have taken My Words and have written them in books and have taught them to other minds. These Words I have caused to quicken the hearts and consciousness of those who are ready to receive them, even though the writers and teachers of themselves had no real comprehension of My Meaning. Many of those whose minds I thus inspire with glimpses of Me and My Idea I cause to become teachers and leaders, organizing churches and societies and cults, drawing seekers and followers to them, that I, through the words I thus speak through them, can quicken the hearts and consciousness of those that are ready to recognise Me. I, the Impersonal One within, do all this, and the teachers and lead-

148 150 Our Universal Self ers personally do nothing, only serving as channels through which My Idea can express to the consciousness of those I draw to them for that purpose. For the mind is only a channel and the intellect an instrument, which I use Impersonally wherever and whenever necessary to express My Idea. Not until the heart has been quickened and has opened wide to contain Me can man, with his mortal mind and intellect, consciously comprehend My Meaning, when I express through him My Idea. You, in your desire to serve Me, may have found in some teacher or leader a personality whom you think, from the many seemingly wondrous words I speak through him, is now containing Me in his heart. In your doubts and anxiety to please Me, and in your fear of My displeasure when disobeying My Commands, you may even have gone to such teacher or leader, who possibly claimed to be a priest or priestess of the Most High, thinking to get through such My Message to you, or words of advice or help from some "Master" or "Guide" you can hold. Until finally, in sorrow and humiliation from the disillusionment which eventually and inevitably follows, you once more are thrown back upon yourself, upon the Teacher within, upon Me, your own True Self. Yes, all the deception, all the discipline, all the taking of your ardor and devotion -- not to speak of your money and services -- to what you believe to be My Work, and selfishly purloining and utilizing them for the upbuilding and strengthening of their own personal power and prestige among their followers; feeding each of you with just enough subtle flattery and promises of spiritual advancement, together with clever sophistry under the guise of high and beautiful sounding spiritual teaching, to keep you bound to them so you would continue to support and honor and glorify them, ever holding over you the lash of My displeasure if they receive not unquestioning trust and obedience, -- yes, all this I permit to be, for it is what you desire and seek, and Desire is truly the agent of My Will. You may be even giving to some other teacher, -- either in the seen or the unseen, and no matter how true, well-meaning and spiritually wise, - who you think cannot be classed with the kind just mentioned, your unquestioning love, devotion and obedience, and you may be receiving what you think are teachings and guidance of inestimable value.

149 Mediums and Mediators 151 All this is well, so long as you are receiving that which you seek and think you need; for I supply all things to satisfy such desires. But know that all such is vain and unproductive of the real results sought; for all seeking and all desire for spiritual attainment is of the personality and therefore selfish, and leads only to final disappointment, disillusionment and humiliation. If you but can see it, it is in the disillusionment and humiliation that the real results are attainable, for those are what I opened up for you and led you towards, when presenting the possibility of getting help from some human teacher; and these, disillusionment and humiliation, and what I purposely brought you to, in order that, having become once more humble and docile as a little child, you would then be ready to listen to and obey My Word spoken within, and, hearing and obeying, you could enter into My Kingdom. Yes, all outward seeking will end thus, and will but bring you back to Me, weary, naked, starving, willing to listen to My Teaching and to do anything for even a crust of My Bread, which in your stubbornness and conceit you disdained before and deemed not good enough for your proud Spirit. What can we learn from this passage? We will need to remember the example of traversing the ocean in a series of boats, until, in the end, we are forced to continue on our own for the last one hundred meters. The fact is that if we had enough faith in our own Divine Self within us to guide us, we could manage without passing through so many different systems and organizations. The message is: 1. The Divine is within us and can speak to us directly from within. We do not need to hear messages through others. Of course for those who feel totally lost, what another spiritually oriented person has to say will often be quite useful for overcoming the particular crisis. (It must be remembered that not all messages are for all people. This particular book is for those who have already searched for a number of years in various ways. Most others who are now beginning the spir-

150 152 Our Universal Self itual path will most probably need to go through some contact with groups or teachers, in order to get started.) 2. We do not need to serve or be loyal to any teacher or group in order to have God s love or grace. 3. We should never ignore our own inner voice when it does not agree with any teacher. 4. God is the only teacher and we need not worship some human teacher. 5. True Divine instruments are not focused on money; and money is not a prerequisite to receive what they have to offer. 6. Loyalty is not required to any particular group. Take whatever you need from each and leave them if at some point they do not serve your spiritual needs. 7. Observe you teacher and look for the following characteristics: a. Inner peace in the face of all situations. b. Unconditional love for all persons regardless of their behavior. c. Humility and freedom from a sense of self-importance. d. Dedicated to the service towards humanity. e. Not interested in advertising his own person. f. Not interested in money, and lives with the bare necessities. g. Lives and behaves with simplicity. h. Is at the service of his or her students. i. Does not criticize other schools or teachers. j. Behaves morally and with respect for all in all situations. k. Does not have a dual standard, one for self and one others. l. Admits that he or she is not the source, but only an instrument. Thus if we feel that at our present stage we need external help, we can seek out the purest and more humble and loving person we can. We need not deify this person. He or she is simply and instrument of our own Impersonal Self which is telling us what we already know but

151 Mediums and Mediators 153 have lost contact with. Until we develop enough inner contact, we may need to hear the truth from another s mouth. Eventually we will have developed enough inner contact; and then books and teachers and groups will not be necessary for our evolution. This does not mean, however, that we cannot continue to have contact with such groups, and take and give with them. The point here is not to avoid teachers or spiritual groups, for we are social beings, and it is much better to keep such company that some other. The message is not to externalize the source of our power and not to place some other in God s place; not to believe that God s love is in some way dependent on how those persons see us, and not to believe that someone else is closer to God that we are. If we are free from these illusions, then belonging to and serving along with a spiritual group is quite useful for the manifestation of our Impersonal Self on a social level. For our Impersonal Self is the self of all others, and thus the feeling of unity and cooperation with others is essential for our mutual evolution Now, if you have had enough of teachings and teachers, and are sure that within you lies the Source of all Wisdom, these words will bring joy unspeakable to your heart. For do they not confirm that which you already have felt within to be true? For you who cannot yet see this and still need a Mediator, I have provided the story of The Christ crucified for your redemption, picturing how I desire you to live that, through the crucifixion of your personality, you may rise in consciousness to Oneness with Me. But to you who are strong enough to bear it, I say you need no mediator between you and Me, for we are One already. If you can but know it, you can come direct and at once to Me in consciousness. I, God within you will receive you and you shall abide with Me for ever and ever; even as does My Son Jesus, the Man of Nazareth, through Whom I AM even now expressing as I did express nineteen hundred years ago, and as I some day shall express through you.

152 154 Our Universal Self We have the teachings and example of our Lord Jesus Christ as a guide in every situation. If we can connect with that example and those teachings, and live by them daily, we need no other teacher or book, or external help. In such a case we would do well in incorporate into our lives enough time set aside for prayer and concentration on the Christ within us so that we can be open to this inner guidance. Those of other religious traditions will find the same guidance by focusing on their being of worship To you who wonder how and why I say such beautiful and such spiritual things through personalities who fail to live up to the teachings they apparently of themselves give out, I say: I use all avenues Impersonally to express My Meaning. Some I have prepared to be better mediums of expression than others, but personally knowing nothing of Me. In some I have quickened the heart the better to contain Me, thereby becoming consciously more at One with Me. Some have become so at One with Me that they no longer are separated in consciousness from Me, and in Them I live and move and express My Spiritual Nature. Since the earliest days of expression on earth I have prepared My Priests and My Prophets and My Messiahs to vision forth to the world My Idea -- My Word that shall finally become flesh. But whether I speak through Priest, Prophet or Messiah, or through a little child, or through your worst enemy, all words that appeal vitally to you are the words the I AM of You speaks through the organism of such medium to your Soul consciousness. Should a number be gathered together to hear My Word spoken through one of My Priest, it is not the Priest of himself but I, in the heart of each hearer, Who draw from the Priest the vital words that sink deep into the consciousness of each. The Priest knows not what he says that so affects you, and may not even comprehend My Meaning of the words he speaks to you. I within him do draw from the combined devotion to and belief in Me, consciously and unconsciously expressed by all those gathered around

153 Mediums and Mediators 155 him, the Spiritual Force which serves as a channel or a connecting line through or over which I reach the consciousness of those minds I have prepared to comprehend My Meaning. For although I speak the same words to all, yet these words contain a distinct and separate message for each, and no one knows any but the message I speak to him; for I within you choose from the words the meaning I intend for you, and I within your brother and your sister likewise choose the meaning I intend for each of them. All who teach are simply voices of our own Impersonal Self, telling us what we actually already know but have lost conscious contact with. Some of these teachers are pure and others are not. It does not matter, we get the message we need for our growth at this particular time. In this sense, then all are our teachers; little children, the taxi driver, the store clerk, our spouse and children, our relatives, our coworkers, the TV, the magazines we read, nature, the trees, rivers, the Sun and clouds and mountains and seas; all of these are expression of our own Universal self which is speaking to and teaching us. A teacher who is speaking to a group is not something separate from the group. The group is the body of our collective Self who is speaking to us through that particular mouth. It could have talked to us through any mouth. All mouths belong to our Collective Self. What can be said and what is said is determined by what we need to hear, and not so much by how intelligent the speaker is. Some speakers of course are more connected, less limited by their personalities and thus are more open channels. What we need to remember is not to give importance to the particular body through which the message is coming but rather to the message itself. We need to remember that we are speaking to ourselves through the other s body, since we have not yet come into clear enough contact with the truth within us. Each will hear a different message, because he or she needs to hear a different message at this point of his or her evolution. There is no need to argue about the true meaning of what someone has said or written. Each needs to understand what has been out forth somewhat differ-

154 156 Our Universal Self ently. Thus there is no sense in arguing about the meaning of parts of the Bible or any other book. Let us understand our own temporary truths on our way to the absolute truth When two or three are gathered together in My Name, there will I always be; for the Idea which draws them together I, within each, inspire -- for it is My Idea. From the union of their aspirations towards Me do I create a medium or channel through which I enable the Soul consciousness to gain such glimpses of Me as each is capable of comprehending. Every Priest, every Teacher, every Medium, I cause instinctively to know this, for they are My chosen Ministers; and I likewise cause to awaken in them a desire to surround themselves with followers, that I may quicken, in the hearts of those who are ready a consciousness of My Presence within. The Priest, the Teacher, or the Medium, themselves, may never have recognized Me within, and may be deeming Me as entitized or personalized in some master or guide or savior without themselves; but nevertheless, there are those whom I lead to these, My Ministers, in whom, through certain words I cause My Ministers to speak, together with the Spiritual Force furnished by the various aspirants, I am enabled to awaken their Soul consciousness to a real comprehension of Me, the Impersonal One, seated within -- in the very midst of All, in the heart of each. For the I AM of My Minister, and the I AM of each follower are One, one in consciousness, one in understanding, one in love, and one in purpose, which purpose is the fulfillment of My Will. This I AM, which is wholly Impersonal, and knows neither time, space nor different identities, merely utilizes the personalities of both Minister and followers, and the circumstance of personal contact, as a means of giving voice to My Idea, ever struggling within for outer expression. Those Ministers who take the confidence and trust of My followers, and use it to further their own private purposes, I cause to awaken to a recognition of My Will and My Idea all in proper season. This awakening, however, is not pleasant to their personalities, and almost always causes much suffering and humiliation; but their souls rejoice

155 Mediums and Mediators 157 and sing grateful praises to Me when I bring it to pass. Therefore, wonder not at the sometimes wonderful words of Truth that come from mouths apparently unfit to speak them and comprehending not their meaning; nor at the fact that simple followers oftentimes awaken faster than and grow beyond their teachers. I Who dwell within both teacher and follower choose different conditions and provide different ways for the expression of My Attributes in each different Soul, fitting each into just the time and place where they can complement and help each other the best; thus uniting all into the most harmonious expression of My Idea possible under the circumstances. There is positive, catalytic alchemy which takes place when we are "...two or three...gathered together in My Name". Our Impersonal Self uses this opportunity to strengthen our contact through our interpersonal interactions. It must be remembered that there is only one being. The teacher, or priest, the follower and any form which is being worshipped are all manifestations of that one being. It matters not which personality at this particular time is playing the role of the priest or teacher. It is like paying attention to which cell has been posted by our inner consciousness to live and work in our lips, or brain, and which cells have been placed in our arms, hand or intestines. All our cells have equal value and are equally expressions of aspects of our being. In the same way, those who play these temporary roles, are not more advanced, nor more important, nor more loved by God. They are simply cells, which are playing those particular roles. Let us love them as we love all beings, not more and not less. Let us benefit from them; as all events are for our use in awakening and manifesting our True Selves.

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157 Masters 159 CHAPTER 15 MASTERS 118. You, who are still holding to the idea, taught in various teachings, that I will provide a "Master" or Divine Teacher for each aspirant towards union with Me, hear My Words. It is true I have permitted you in the past to delve into all kinds of mystical and occult books and teachings, encouraging your secret desire to acquire the powers necessary to attain this union extolled in such teachings, even to the extent of quickening in you some slight consciousness of the possession of such powers. I have even permitted the belief that by practicing certain exercises, breathing in a certain way, and saying certain mantrams, you might attract to you a "Master" from the unseen, who would become your teacher and help you to prepare for certain initiations that would admit you into an advanced Degree, in some secret Order in the inner planes of existence, where much of My Divine Wisdom would be opened up to you. I have not only permitted these things, but, if you can see it, it was I who led you to these books, inspired in you such desire, and caused such belief to find lodgement in your mind; -- but not for the purpose you imagine. Yes, I have brought you through all these teachings, desires and beliefs, trying to point out to your human mind the Forces I use to bring into expression My Divine Idea. I have portrayed these Forces as heavenly Hierarchies, and that your human intellect might the better comprehend, I pictured them as Angels or Divine Beings, Impersonal agents or executors of My Will, en-

158 160 Our Universal Self gaged in the process of bringing into expression My Idea that was in the beginning. But you did not understand. Your human intellect, enamored of the possibility of meeting and communing with one of these beings, as claimed in some of the teachings, proceeded at once to personalize Them, and began to long for Their appearance in your life, imagining that They are interested in your human affairs, and that by living in accordance with certain rules set down in certain teachings, you could propitiate Them so They would help you to gain Nirvana or Immortality. Now I have purposely permitted you to indulge yourself with such delusions, letting you long, and pray, and strive earnestly to obey all the instructions given; even leading you on, sometimes, by giving you glimpses, in self-induced visions and dreams, of ideal beings, which I permitted you to believe were such "Masters". I may even have caused to open in you certain faculties, which make it possible for you to sense the presence of personalities that have passed into the spirit side of life, and who have been attracted by your desires and seek to fulfil the part of Master and Guide to you. Now the time has come for you to know that such beings are not Masters, also that Divine Beings do not call themselves Masters; that I, and I alone, your own Real Self, AM the only Master for you now, and until you are able to know Me also in your brother; That any being, either in human or spirit form, that presents himself to your consciousness and claims to be a Master, or who permits you to call him Master, is nothing more nor less than a personality, the same as yours, and therefore is not Divine, as your human mind understands that term, despite the many wonderful "truths" he may utter, and the "marvellous" things he may do. Just so long as your human mind seeks or worships the idea of a Master in any other being, no matter how lofty or sacred he may seem to you, just so long will you be fed with such ideas; until, verily, I may perhaps, permit you to meet and commune with such a "Master". If that "privilege" is vouchsafed you, it will be only in order to hasten your awakening and your consequent disillusionment, when you will learn that "Master" is indeed but a personality, even though far more advanced in awakening than you, but still a personality -- and not the

159 Masters 161 Divine One your innermost Soul is yearning for you to know. For I feed you with every idea that will operate to teach you the reality back of the seeming, and if I lead you on to apparent deception and loss of faith in all human teachings, and in all human and even Divine perfection, it is only to enable you the more clearly to distinguish between the substance and the shadow, and to prepare you for that far higher Ideal I am waiting to picture to you. Many religious and spiritual groups have proclaimed the possibility of meeting an enlightened or perfected master or God-man who will, through his powers, enlighten us and remove our ignorance; and, in other words, solve all of our problems. Some truly wonderful spiritual beings have incarnated on the Earth. They have helped us in innumerable ways, but they have not been able to enlighten us. Jesus Christ was simply able to teach, to warn, to encourage, to perform many miracles so that we might believe. But he was unable to make us believe or enlighten us. Even the apostles after the awakening through the Holy Spirit on the Pentecost were still human, fallible, and even had their differences among them. Only the Impersonal can be totally perfect. Let us not wait for a form which will liberate us. This is our own job. Only we can control what is going on in our minds. If our minds are totally occupied by thoughts about our illusory individual self what can an enlightened master do for us. We have to empty our mind first and then it will be filled from within. We need not meet some form, neither on the earth plane, nor on the spiritual planes. All forms are illusion. Only the formless is not. This does not mean that it is not useful for Christians to focus on Christ, or Hindus on Krishna or Rama, but what we have to realize is that these beings are not forms. Christ is eternal spirit, and Jesus was a temporary form which was given to us two thousand years ago so that we might hear about and remember our forgotten true Self. Jesus, Krishna and Rama are forms which our own Impersonal Self took so

160 162 Our Universal Self as to remind ourselves of our true nature. They are our form. We the Impersonal Self have created throughout the ages various forms through which to remind ourselves of the truth. Some are able to hear and others are not. We need to cease looking for some form outside ourselves which will spiritualize, save or enlighten us. All forms are temporary. We need now to turn inward to our own Impersonal Self for guidance, while having simultaneously gratitude towards, and accepting help from, all external forms which help us feel closer to divinity. While focusing on Christ, we can begin to feel Him at ever more subtle levels. We may first imagine Him as a body. Then we may feel him as an energy or as a light. Eventually we may experience Him as an Omnipresent Consciousness pervading all - including ourselves. In this way we start with the form, which is a helpful point of reference for us, and then gradually connect with the spiritual reality behind that form You can rise in your human personality only to the ideal your human mind is capable of conceiving. Through Desire I cause My Will to manifest in you, and through Desire I perform many wondrous works. If you doubt this, you need only to apply the Key; To think of a Master is to create one. This idea of a Master, by your thinking, becomes what you desire and imagine a Master to be. In other words, by your thinking you build around this idea, all the qualities you imagine a Master possesses. Your human mind, through Desire, through aspiration, through worship, must needs create these qualities in some imaginary being, who is still a personality, for you cannot as yet conceive of an Impersonal being. Therefore, according to the intensity of your desire and thinking, must this idea sooner or later come into actual manifestation, either by attracting to you such a personality in the flesh, or one entitized in the realm of visions and dreams.

161 Masters 163 As your human mind is constituted, it at certain times thinks it needs a Master, one to whom it can turn with its human trials and problems for explanation and advice, thinking life's problems can be settled that way. If I draw to you one who fails you or deceives you and throws you back finally upon Me, your own Self, discouraged, disillusioned and humiliated, it is only that perhaps then you will be ready to turn to Me within, and will listen to My Voice, which all these years has been speaking to you, but to which your proud and egoistic mind has not deigned to listen. As has been frequently repeated throughout the book, no experiences are wrong or evil. We create what we desire, so as to experience it, learn from it, receive the essence of its lesson and then continue on to create something else. All this is provided by our impersonal Self for the purpose of our preparation. One more of those experiences is this searching for an incarnated master. Some will find him or her, others not. The final lesson is however that God is within us as much as is in any other being. We can use such a master and teachings as long as we are happy with what we are receiving and are growing through that You who have not yet had this experience, who have not yet met the Master of your aspirations, either in human or spirit form; you, within whom My Words have failed to awaken a quickening response to their truth, -- for you I have in store certain experiences which will surely lead you to Me later on, and then you will be brought to know that I AM the Master, the inspiring Idea back of and within every thought of and every aspiration towards a Master that enters your mind, whether coming from within or without. It is taught, "When the pupil is ready the Master appears". And this is true, in a sense; but not as you have interpreted it. Your secret desire for a Master will bring him to you, but only when I have prepared you for such appearance. But such appearance will be only an appearance of a Master. The true Master or Teacher, when He appears, you may never recognise; for He may be hidden in an interesting friend, a business associate, your next door neighbor, or in

162 164 Our Universal Self your own wife or husband or child. You, who have risen above Desire, you who no longer seek a Master or a Teacher, or even Me, but are abiding alone in the faith of My Eternal Presence and Promise, - for you I have in store a meeting and a communion, which will bring to your Soul such joy and blessings as your human mind is incapable of conceiving. Those who still desire a meeting with such a master will eventually have it, for all that we desire will at some point be manifested. Once manifested, however, it may not be all that we expected. The luckiest are those who have stopped seeking outwardly and "...are abiding alone in the faith of My Eternal Presence..." At some point we will be at peace with ourselves because we will believe the message of this book: that we are already enlightened, that we are the Impersonal Self and not the personality, which is doing all this searching, that we are in fact perfect and all that we have ever done was perfect for that stage of our evolution. Surrender into our Impersonal Self will bring us lasting peace Now, this is a mystery, and until you can comprehend it, you are justified in claiming the above as not consistent with certain statements herein, and as contradicting teachings in My other Revelations. Fear not; this mystery will be revealed unto you -- if you truly wish to know My Meaning. Until then, why, in your seeking, be satisfied with anything short of the Highest? Why seek in human or spirit teacher, guide, master or angel, for the necessarily limited manifestation of My Perfection, when you can come directly to Me, God within you, the Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent, the Inspiring Idea back of and within All manifestations? As I AM in You, even as I AM in any you seek, and as all the Wisdom, all the Power and all the Love they possess come only from Me, why not now come to Me, and let Me prepare you also so I can express My

163 Masters 165 All through You? You are a human personality, yet You are Divine and therefore Perfect. The first of these truths you believe, the latter you do not believe. Yet both are true. - That is the mystery. You are just what you think You are. One or the other, which are you? - Or both? You are One with Me. I AM in You, in Your human personality, in Your body, mind and intellect. I AM in every cell of Your body, in every attribute of Your mind, in every faculty of Your intellect. I AM the Soul, the active Principle of each. You are in Me. You are a Cell of my Body; You are an Attribute of My Mind; You are a Faculty of My Intellect. You are a part of Me, yet You are I, My Self. We are One, and always have been. This is truly the greatest mystery to be solved, this apparent contradiction between our personal self and our Universal Self. We are both cell and body, both acorn and tree. I will include at the end of this book a chapter from the book "Universal Philosophy" which you may find helpful in understanding this simultaneous individuality and universality This idea of a Master I brought to your mind's attention was only to lead you to and prepare you for this Idea of Me, your Impersonal Self, an Angel of Light, a Radiation of My Being, your own Divine Lord and Master, within. Yes, I, your Divine Self, AM the Master your Soul has caused you to seek and when you do find Me, and know I AM your Self, then will you in your human consciousness gladly become My Disciple, will lovingly wait upon Me, and will be concerned only that you faithfully serve Me, both within yourself and within your fellow men. And then will you understand why only "One is your Master, even Christ". For I as the Christ dwell in all men and AM their One and Only Self. Through all men I AM ever calling to you and trying to reach and impress your human consciousness. As I AM continually teaching you,

164 166 Our Universal Self not only through all men but through every avenue needed at the time, I have many ways of reaching your consciousness and utilise all to bring you to a realisation of My Meaning. I speak with many voices, -- with the voice of all human emotions, passions and desires. I speak with Nature's voice, with the voice of Experience, even with the voice of human knowledge. Yes, these are all My Voice, which I use Impersonally to express to you the one fact, that I AM in All and that I AM All. What this Voice says, in Its thousand ways, is that you, too, are part of this All, and that I AM in you, waiting for your recognition of Me and your conscious cooperation in the expression of My Idea of Impersonal Perfection on earth, even as It is expressing in Heaven. When this recognition comes, and then only, are you ready to meet and know a real Master. Then and then only will you realize why I, your own Impersonal Self can be and AM the only possible Master of your human personality. Then also will you understand why in your personal, separate consciousness you could never recognise or know a real Master should you meet Him in a physical body, -- that not until you are able to enter into your Christ Consciousness, My Consciousness within you and within Him, He would not exist to you other than perhaps as a kind and helpful friend or teacher. When you have attained to that Consciousness, then only will you be worthy and qualified to know and commune with your fellows in the Great Brotherhood of the Spirit, Those who have mastered self and Who live only to help Their younger brothers also to find the Divine One within. If a being should come into your life who seemed to you Divine and who let you think or call him a Master, he is not yet wholly Impersonal. Such a one might be a masterman, but he would not be the Divine One your Soul yearns to serve. Perhaps you would be satisfied to have such a one for a Master, even if he were not wholly Impersonal. If so, then I would hereafter bring you to a realisation of his personal imperfections by a constant comparison with My Impersonal Perfection; until you would finally turn and come to Me in complete abandon, acknowledging Me and My Impersonality as the only Model and Ideal, and as the true Cause which

165 Masters 167 inspired your long search without for My Perfection, that could be found only within, hidden deep within your own Soul. We are presented with a different concept of Christ, not as a form, but as an all-pervading consciousness which is the inner spiritual reality of every being. Christ is God and God is in every being. God is the life essence in all beings, regardless of how they behave. The basic message of this chapter is to see the Divine in ourselves and in all beings and not to limit It or It s power to some specific form. Limiting the Divine in this way prevents us from realizing It s real universal nature. It is interesting that Jesus said to his disciples that he would have to leave so that the "Helper" could come (meaning the Holy Spirit). As long as Christ was incarnated in the form of Jesus, the disciples externalized all of the power onto Jesus. They could not possible believe that they too had powers. Jesus understood this, and also that he would have to disappear physically in order for them to begin to experience their own divine nature. Fifty days after His resurrection they were graced by the Holy Spirit. It would have been difficult for them to be open to and accept this inner power if Jesus as a form was still before them. Thus, limiting of the Universal Being to a particular form may prevent us from seeing the Universal in all forms, including the particular one which is holding this book.

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167 The Christ and Love 169 CHAPTER 16 THE CHRIST AND LOVE 123. To you who fear that My Words may destroy your belief in and love for the Lord Jesus Christ, I say: Nearly two thousand years ago, when the process of the expression of My Idea had reached the stage where I could show forth some of My Divine Reality, in order to do this and to recall to My human Attributes their mission on earth, it became necessary to express through a human personality and to manifest in a human form My Divine Attributes, so their human minds and intellects could see and remember and be inspired by Me within to let My Idea similarly express through and manifest in their human personalities. This I did through the personality of Jesus, the man of Galilee, picturing to the human understanding by My Teachings given through Him, and by My Life manifested by Him, what was necessary in order to express fully My Divine Idea. I showed, by the experiences of a symbolic nature through which I caused His human personality I created for such purpose to pass, what all personalities must pass through before you, My human Attributes, who created these personalities, can again become Impersonal enough to be conscious expressors with Me of My Divine Idea. All of you, My human Attributes, before the I AM within can awaken your human minds to a realization of Me, your Divine Self must be born of a Virgin Love in a humble manger - the place where the cattle come to feed (the humble and contrite heart filled with faith and trust in God, to which state the human or animal nature must come). You must then be taken into Egypt, the land of darkness (or intellectual activity), there to grow and thrive in body and understanding un-

168 170 Our Universal Self til you become strong with the feeling of Me within. Then, when you are sufficiently conscious of My power and My Love, will I begin to speak through you words of Wisdom and Truth, which will confound the learned of the world, even the Doctors of the Law. Then will follow a long period of study and meditation, which ripens the mind and develops the Soul, until you arrive at full maturity of the I AM Consciousness within, and which prepare you for your baptism in the Jordan, when you will be opened completely to Me, to the full consciousness that You and I are One, that there is no separation, that I AM your Real Self; and I AM henceforth permitted wholly to direct your lives. I then lead you out into the world, called in My other Revelation the Wilderness, there to try you and make you strong and to accustom you to the Impersonal use of My Divine Attributes I bring to you three great Temptations of Power, Self-Righteousness, and Money, until you have proven that nothing of the intellect, nothing of the self, nothing from without, can tempt you to forget Me within, and that My Voice and Mine alone, whether speaking in your heart or in the hearts of your brothers, is the only Voice you are now capable of hearing. This proven, there will begin the period of performing miracles and of teaching the multitude, accompanied by the revilement and persecution of the unbelieving and scoffing world; followed by the trial before Pontius Pilate, the representative of the Worldly Law; the sentence; the ascent of Calvary carrying the Cross; the being nailed upon the Cross; the Agony; the three days in the tomb; and then the final resurrection, when you enter into complete union with Me. All of which has its inner meaning, or Soul application, and which should be readily understood by you, if you have opened your heart to Me. We have already touched briefly on the concept of Christ. Here we are reminded that Christ is the Universal Consciousness, and that Jesus is the particular personality or form which was created by our Universal Self to express Christ s divine attributes, in order to awaken us again to the truth.

169 The Christ and Love 171 Christ s messages comes to us both through His teachings and through His life and behavior. His is a symbolic life which shows us the road that our personality will need to take in order for us to discover the Christ Consciousness within us. Of course the order in which one experiences the process may not be exactly the same that Jesus passed. 1. We will need to develop pure love. 2. Learn humility and simplicity. 3. Develop unwavering faith and devotion. 4. Pass through the development and the tests of intellectuality. 5. Pass through periods of study and meditation. 6. Be baptized into a deeper relationship with God so that all illusions of separation are removed. 7. Pass through temptations of various types, 8. Take on the role of expressing God s power through miracles and teaching. 9. Be persecuted by worldly people. 10. Experience the death of the personality. 11. Be totally resurrected in spirit, now functioning in total union with God We would do well to meditate on Christ s life and teachings and determine for ourselves our personal teaching is at this time Such has been The Way in the past for you and for all who have studied and followed My Teachings, given forth in My former Revelations. Now the time has come when I have prepared you and many for a new Dispensation, wherein you can enter into the consciousness of Me direct and at once by the Impersonal Way. Those who are big enough and strong enough to throw off all claims of the human personality, and who can say I AM, and know I AM the ONE within Who gives them this strength and enables them to rise above the attractions and influences of the outer world, - those are the ones I have chosen through whom to express all the wondrous glories of My Divine Idea. The Christ, or the I AM Consciousness, must be born in your heart and in the heart of every human personality, must grow and thrive and pass through in some manner every experience symbolized in the life

170 172 Our Universal Self of Jesus, before you can come to this point and become a conscious expressor with Me of My Divine Idea. The example of the Christ Love and Compassion which I expressed in that Life must you also express in some degree in your life, before you can taste the fruits of that Love, which in reality is not love, but the Holy Three-in-One, -Love-Wisdom- Power, that is the true expression of My Impersonal Life. Most of us need to pass through the path of personal devotion to "God s form", before we are able to relate to God as the formless and Impersonal Self. Being able to relate to the Impersonal Self, will be directly proportional to our ability to detach ourselves from our own personal self. We must be sure that our preference for the Impersonal Self is not, however, a form of intellectualism or reaction towards religious suppression as a child. We might need to pass through and accept a personal Divine Form in order to develop devotion and the opening of the heart center in order to move on to a relationship with the Impersonal Self. "The example of the Christ Love and Compassion which I expressed in that Life must you also express in some degree in your life, before you can taste the fruits of that Love, which in reality is not love, but the Holy Threein-One, -Love-Wisdom-Power, that is the true expression of My Impersonal Life." 125. You therefore have not known the meaning of the Impersonal Life, hence you could not know the meaning of Impersonal love. Love to you, if you will carefully analyze that feeling, has always been a human emotion or expression; and you have been unable to conceive of a love devoid of or unattached to some human or personal interest. Now, as you begin to feel Me within your heart and open it wide to contain Me, will I fill you with a wondrous strange new feeling, which will quicken every fibre of your being with the creative instinct, and be to you a veritable Elixir of Life. For in the outer expression of that feeling, when I thus, through you, pour it forth into the world, will you taste of the unutterable sweetness of My Holy Impersonal Love, with

171 The Christ and Love 173 Its accompanying illumination of mind and consciousness of unlimited Power; and It will make you a wholly selfless and therefore perfect channel for the Impersonal expression of My Divine Idea. You will then realize that you are part of Me and part of every other being, and that all you have or are, is not yours, but Mine, for Use wherever and however I direct. Your life will no longer be centered in your self, but that self will be lost, merged in your other Selves, giving freely of your Life, your Understanding, your Strength, your Substance, which are but phases of My Impersonal Life or My Impersonal Love, that I have portioned out to you only for such use. In the personality of Jesus, the Christ, I manifested much of the Love Impersonal, enough to inspire and lead you into seeking to emulate His Life and His Personality, and, through such seeking and striving, to awaken in you the Consciousness of the Christ within you. Through this awakening and the realization that the Christ is but the channel or door that opens unto Me, I have finally brought you to the point where you can enter in and consciously become a part of My Impersonal Life. I here tell you plainly that My Impersonal Love has naught to do with personal lives and personal loves. All such are but the outer mediums I use through which to pour from out the heart of Humanity into the world My Real Love, where it is ever expressing its all-embracing, vitalizing, creative, and uplifting Power. My Love considers not individuals or personalities; they are but pawns on the chess-board of life which I move as I deem best to accomplish My purpose, -- the full and complete expression in Humanity of My Divine Idea. The subject of personal and impersonal love is a subject which would require another chapter to be written here. Let us suffice to say that real impersonal love, universal love for all beings has nothing to do with what the personal we have experienced until now. What we have experienced is basically, need and attachment. When we say that we love others, it usually means that we love them because they satisfy some of our needs, such as security, pleasure, or affirmation. If they

172 174 Our Universal Self stop satisfying those needs, then our feelings change. We might feel disappointment, betrayed, rejection, hurt, humility, injustice, anger, and even hatred if they now start giving what they once gave to us to someone else. Our love is personal, for specific people and conditional, as long as they behave in a certain way. As we grow in our spiritual evolution and are gradually freed from the illusion of individuality and its insatiable needs, we will be able to love an ever wider circle of people (we are not talking about physical contact) and ever more unconditionally. As we increasingly feel our contact with our true self, our needs will be fulfilled from within and thus we will need very little from others. We will be less demanding on them and able to love them even when they are not able to give us what we want, or even when they act negatively towards us; because we do not need them for our security, happiness or self-worth. As we are ever more immersed in this love for all beings, we will be motivated to serve others. Not just our blood family, but our social and universal family. We will want to be of use to whomever we can, helping others in the way we have been prepared by our Impersonal Self to help. We all have abilities to help others. Just being able to listen to the other s feelings is a great help. Serving without desiring some particular result, neither for ourselves and nor for the others will allow us to be even more effective instruments of our Universal Self. We will act because we believe that that is the right thing to be done at this moment. But we will leave all results to our Impersonal Self, because we have total faith that It is controlling all results, and will manifest the best possible results for our collective evolution In Humanity only can I express My Idea, even as you can express your idea of yourself only in and through your human personality. In Humanity I live and move and have My Being. It is the mortal personality and body of My Immortal Self, even as your personality and its body is what you use to express your being. All individual human personalities with their bodies are but the cells

173 The Christ and Love 175 of My Body of Humanity. Just as the I AM of you is now building your body so that through it You can perfectly express My Idea of you, or your Real Self, so am I gradually building Humanity so that through It I can perfectly express My Idea of My Self. As the individual cells of My Body of Humanity, even as those of your human body, by partaking of My Life, become Impersonal and harmonious parts of the organs they form, they live a healthy and happy life. But let one cell oppose or act contrary to the general law of its organ, and the harmonious functioning of that organ becomes impossible, which naturally affects the whole body and results in disease. Every cell of an organ is an integral part of that organ, and its work is necessary to that organ's perfect functioning and to the perfect health of My Body. So that unless each cell gives up all its power and all its intelligence, which are but attributes of the Life I give it, toward the perfect functioning of My entire Body, the only result for My Body can be inharmony, with its consequent effects, --- disease, suffering, sin, bondage, poverty, lack of understanding, disintegration, or death. Likewise, unless each organ gives up all the intelligence and all the powers with which I endowed it, to the one purpose of expressing and maintaining the life of My Body in perfect health, the only result can be disorganisation, disruption, rebellion, and finally WAR, -- war between the various organs and between their respective cells, and a greater or lesser consequent chaotic condition in My whole Body. In My Body of Humanity this would mean war between Nations, which are the Organs of My Body. As all war is but acute disease or disharmony, and as My Life, which in Humanity manifests as Impersonal Love, can express only in harmony -- even as in the physical body, It is always utilizing, equalizing and preparing conditions so that It can thus express. This It does either by eradicating gradually from the various organs of the body all disease, weakened and unfit cells, or by developing the disease into a malignant form - such as fever, dropsy, carbuncles, blood-poisoning, or degeneracy, in the physical body. It throws off such cells quickly by the billions, until a particular organ either is purified or its power of functioning is wholly destroyed. In other words, the real life and work of each cell and of each organ lies in giving up its individual life that My whole Body can Be or Ex-

174 176 Our Universal Self press in perfect harmony. When each cell and each organ has no other idea than this, and makes itself a pure and selfless channel through which My Impersonal Life can flow, then has My Body become a harmonious and perfect Whole; and then can My Idea express on earth Its Divine powers and possibilities, even as it does in the Celestial Realm of the Eternal. As you give up your self wholly to Me that I can pour through you My Holy, Impersonal Love, having no other thought than the perfect expression of that Love, which is My Real Life, then will I through you be enabled to quicken and awaken those about you gradually to a recognition of Me, the Christ within them, so that they too will likewise give up their selves wholly to Me. Finally the organ, or that particular part of My Body of Humanity you and they form, attains perfect health and harmony, and adds its quota to the bringing about and maintaining of perfect health in My entire Body. The example of the cell in the body is a very powerful and successful one. This is exactly the relationship which we need to develop with humanity and with our Universal Self. We are all cells in the body of humanity and our consciousness is our Universal Self. If we as cells refuse to serve the highest good for the organ (society or nation) of which we are a part, then we are like a cancerous cell in that organ. The organ suffers. Other cells seeing our egotistical behavior and fearing that they might be losing something and not feeling secure enough, also begin functioning selfishly and thus the organ or society is overrun with cancerous cells and suffers from a weak economy, poor educational system, lack of productivity, lack of security, stealing, cheating, lack of resources for those who need, strikes and perhaps even revolution or civil war. When organs or whole societies do not serve the whole body (all the nations on earth - humanity as a whole) then there is suffering, famine and war. All human problems come from one cause : 1. Ignorance of our true spiritual nature and of our oneness with all. 2. Fear that we are in danger from others. 3. The need to protect our selfish needs from this imagined danger.

175 The Christ and Love 177 We use the word one cause because two and three come from number one; ignorance. We will need to get free from this ignorance and its resulting fear and selfishness in order to be free to devote ourselves entirely to our life purpose of serving the body in which we live. Only then will we find happiness and fulfillment. Only then will there be personal and social harmony and world peace. Christ has promised us that if we live in accordance with the laws of the Father that He will provide for all of our needs just as He does for the flowers and birds. When we have faith in those words and live for the whole, dedicating our time, energy and thought for the benefit of the whole, then in reality all of our needs will be cared for and we will not need to worry about where our food will come from, all we need in order to survive and fulfil our purpose on earth will come to us in "miraculous" ways. If we have faith this will happen in our own lives. Our consciousness cares for all the needs of our cells. It provides them with oxygen, food, water, hormones, antibodies which protect them and even collects their waste. The cells in return serve the body. Those which do not serve the body are eventually noticed and removed. It is time then for us to give up all selfishness, all sense of individuality and fear, and to dedicate our lives totally to serving the whole. Our example will inspire others who will eventually follow suit and the world will become Heaven When such time comes, My Divine Life Force, or My Impersonal Love, will be flowing and manifesting throughout all Humanity, and My Idea will be expressing fully on earth even as It is in Heaven. The earth and all earthly bodies will no longer be of the gross physical material they formerly seemed, but they will have become utterly purified and cleansed of the self, and will have been again lifted up to whence they descended. For the purpose of their creation, that of developing organisms for the outward manifestation and human ex-

176 178 Our Universal Self pression of My Divine Idea, will have been accomplished; and having no further use for physical or outward mediums of such expression, I hereafter will create and express only with Mind Substance, which is the only medium needed in the Heavenly World of the Impersonal Life. When we have all let go of personal resistance and fear and have taken our places (which are waiting for us) in the body of humanity, and have become impersonal beings caring for all as much as for our particular bodies, then God s "play" will be over. His idea will have completed its manifestation and His creative power will continue to create, now, however, only in the mental realm because all the lessons which required matter will have been transcended.

177 Finding Me 179 CHAPTER 17 FINDING ME 128. You, who have studied carefully all that has been said herein, and who think you have gotten a glimpse of Me, but yet are not sure, come close, and listen with your Soul to what I now have to say. Be still! - and KNOW, - I AM, - GOD. If you have learned to "Be Still", if you have studied and meditated upon this "I" as God within you, if you are able to distinguish It from the personal I, and are conscious at times of being able to step outside, as it were, of your personality and view your human self as it is, see all its petty faults and weaknesses, its base selfishness, its animal appetites and passions, its childish desires and foolish pride and vanities; If you can do all this and have seen these things with clear vision, know that at those moments you have been One with Me in consciousness, that it was your Real Self, I within you, permitting you thus to see with My Eyes the Reality of things. At those moments you were freed from your personality and were dwelling in My Consciousness, call it Cosmic, Universal, Spiritual or Impersonal Consciousness, as you will; for you could not have seen these things in your self except through Impersonal eyes, My Eyes. Now the question arises, "how will I know if and when I am in contact with my impersonal Self and am functioning from that level of my being." We are given some indicators of our inner contact. 1. If we have learned to Be Still and to experience a relative silence in the mind. 2. If we are able to distinguish our thinking mind and personality from

178 180 Our Universal Self this higher impersonal functioning. 3. If we at times are able to step out of our personality and see it objectively, with all its games, weaknesses, fears, desires, pride etc. If we are able occasionally to do these things then at those moments we have a clearer, more direct, contact with our Impersonal Self. It must be remembered that we have a continual unconscious contact, and that everything that we do is motivated by our impersonal Self. At above-mentioned moments we have a more conscious contact. During all other moments our contact is unconscious Again, if you will look back you will recall many times when you felt strongly impelled to do certain things, some of which you did, with perfect results; others of which you argued against, your intellect reasoning you into different action, and often with failure, disappointment or suffering as a result. This impelling consciousness was only your Real Self, I within you, at such moments guiding you, distinctly telling you what to do. At those moments you were hearing with your Spiritual ears, My Ears, and when you Impersonally obeyed, success and satisfaction followed, but when you personally thought you knew better, discomfiture, regret and unhappiness resulted. Again, there have been moments when you have felt approaching events, or the nearness of unseen persons, or inharmonious vibrations when contacting others. This is only the real You feeling with your Spiritual or Impersonal Body, whose consciousness did you but know it, is ever on the alert to protect and warn and advise you regarding all outer things, conditions and events. We are given two more indications of our more conscious contact; 4. When we feel a strong inner urge to do something even though our intellect tells us otherwise. This, of course, must be applied within the realms of logic and morality. I have seen some people get carried away with such ideas that they are getting messages from God and in doing so create a number of problems for themselves and others.

179 Finding Me 181 Perhaps two guidelines would be useful here. a. Do not receive messages for others from your Impersonal Self, but let them receive their own messages from within. b. Pass each inner message through the prerequisite, that it complies with the universal law of doing to others only what we would like others to do to us. Following these two guidelines, let us then freely listen to and employ the various impulses which we feel from within. 5. Another indication is when we feel various "vibrations" or premonitions concerning people or events. This too requires that we be clear and rational. We may also have negative feelings about someone because we have various fears or prejudices programmed into our subconscious mind. Such feelings may be a message from our Impersonal Self, or they may be subconscious fears manifesting themselves. Only years of self-observation will enable us to know the difference. Even if our feelings are a message from our Impersonal self, this does not negate the fact that all beings and events are actually manifestations of our own Impersonal Self. Thus there is never any need to feel danger or to act in a violent way. The surest indication that we are in deeper conscious contact with our Impersonal Self is the next The best and surest way you may know Me is when Selfless Love fills your heart, and there is a strong, compelling urge to help some one, to heal their ills, to relieve their suffering, to bring them happiness, to point out the True Way, - that is the actual feel of Me within you, pushing the personality aside, using your mind and body for the purpose I created them, as avenues for the expression of My Real Nature, which is Perfect Love, the Christ of God, the one, vitalizing, quickening, life-giving, strengthening, healing, all-supplying, all-informing Power in the Universe. The surest indication is the feeling of selfless love, and the desire to serve and help others. Only then can we say that we are really in touch with our Real Self. Those who exhibit "spiritual Powers" or "sensi-

180 182 Our Universal Self tivities" but do not radiate love, and live a selfless life of service may or may not be in real touch. Only they can know the purity of their motives. Love and selfless service are the surest way to manifest our Impersonal Self in our daily life, and are the best indications of its increased control over our personality All this is pointed out to you in order to impress upon you that it is I, in your Spiritual body, the Perfect Body within, where I dwell, Who am always thus talking to you, advising you, teaching you, warning and helping you, in all the affairs of life, yes, in every little detail. If you will but turn to Me, and will carefully watch for and study these impressions which you are receiving every moment, and will learn to trust them, and thus to wait upon and rest in Me, putting all your faith in Me, verily I will guide you in all your ways; I will solve all your problems, make easy all your work, and you will be led among green pastures, beside the still waters of life. Ah, My child, if you will spend but one-tenth of the time and energy you have wasted in seeking without among the husks of human knowledge and human teachings, in earnest, determined efforts directed within to find Me; If you will devote but one hour each day thus to Me alone, imagining and practicing the Presence of Me within you; I here promise you that you will not only soon, very soon find Me, but I will be to you an exhaustless fount of such Wisdom and Strength and Help, as your human mind now cannot possibly conceive. Our lives will change totally if we begin to practice the continuous presence of God within. How can this be done? 1. Talk to God within. Feel sure that He is there. Know that He is guiding you. 2. Ask Him for specific guidance when you have certain doubts. 3. Set aside one hour each day for strengthening this contact. Employ some of the techniques suggested at the end of this book, or any

181 Finding Me 183 other technique which helps you feel the presence of your Impersonal Self. 4. Remind yourself continuously that you are not this body or mind. You are not your thoughts, not your feelings. You are God, the witness of all this. 5. Have faith in what you do and what you feel. Remember that all your actions and thoughts are guided by Him. 6. Observe your personality and recognize its fears, desires and games so that you can avoid getting lost in them when they seek to control your consciousness. 7. Cultivate unconditional love for all persons. When you do not love, ask your self why. Discover the fear which is preventing you from loving others, or the guilt which is preventing you from loving yourself. Remove the ignorance which is preventing your love from flowing. 8. Offer all your concerns to God. Do not worry about anything. Remember that everything is perfect, and that everything is controlled by Him and happening solely for our evolution. 9. Offer to God all your responsibilities. Let Him be responsible for the results. We are responsible for our motives and efforts, but the results are His Yes, if you will but seek Me thus, making Me FIRST in your life, never resting until you do find Me, it will not be long before you will become conscious of My Presence, of My Loving Voice, speaking constantly from out of the depths of your heart. You will learn to come to Me in Sweet Communion, and you will find yourself abiding in My Consciousness, and that My Word is abiding in you, and that whatever you desire will in seemingly miraculous ways be done unto you.

182 184 Our Universal Self This abiding continually in Me may be difficult at first, for the World, the Flesh and the Devil are still presenting evidence to your consciousness. But you will become accustomed to the use of My Impersonal Eyes, and will soon be able to see into the Reality of things, even into the Reality of these seeming Lords of the Earth. Then you will find you are dwelling in a wondrous new World, peopled with Angelic Beings, using the Flesh bodies of Their human personalities merely as vehicles, or instruments, or clothing, in which to contact the earthly conditions and experiences They have created, in order to develop the Soul qualities necessary for the perfect expression on earth of My Idea. To your eyes then there will be no shadows, no evil, and consequently no Devil; for all is Light and Love, Freedom, Happiness and Peace, and you will see Me in all, in each Being some attribute of Me, in each animate thing some phase of Me; and you will need only to let My Love shine from out your heart and It will illumine for you the Real meaning of all that you see. As we are increasingly immersed in that Impersonal Consciousness, we begin to see the beauty and divinity in all beings, objects and events. Nothing will seem evil or bad. Everything will be seen as part of God which is playing its role in this cosmic drama. We will feel inner peace and love for all beings independent of their behavior. We will see only the good in people. We will see God, in all. You can imagine this as you are among people. As you look at each, remind your self that this is God in matter. This is my own Universal Self in another Body. This consciousness which is looking out of my eyes is the same consciousness which is living in the body and looking out of those eyes. See divinity in all beings and you will experience blissful unity with all Then the great Realization will come that you have found the Kingdom of God, that you are walking in It, that It is right here on this earth, that It is manifesting all around you, that you have been living in It all the time, but you did not know it; That instead of being without in some far off place, It is within your own being, within every other being, the innermost inner of all manifested things.

183 Finding Me 185 In other words, It will be found to be the REALITY of ALL things, and that all outward seeming is but the shadow of this Reality, created by man's misconceptions and his belief in his separateness from Me. The Kingdom of Heaven is a state of consciousness, not a place. That state of consciousness is within us and every other being. It is the state in which we experience all as Divine. We see the Divine in all beings, things and events. We too are Divine, and thus, we are all the beings, objects and events which we see. We are all that we see; all illusions of separateness and individuality have disappeared. The Kingdom of God or of Heaven is the Highest Reality in each being. It is our true Self, our only real Self. We will experience this Reality sooner or later. It is destined. It is only a matter of time (for the personality), and as there is no time, it has already happened. Believing will free us. It has already happened When you have found The Kingdom, you will likewise find your place in It, realizing now that you are in truth one of My Divine Attributes, that your work was all laid out for you from the beginning, and that all that has gone before has been but a preparation and a fitting of your human personality for that work. Your whole Soul will leap with joyful anticipation, that, after all these many years of wandering, you have at last returned to My Home, and can now enter into My Real Life, One in Consciousness with Me and with your other Selves, all working to bring about the final perfect expression on earth of My Divine Idea. You, to whom the reading of this has brought memories of previous joys and whose Soul has quickened in response, do not leave these words until you have gotten from them all I have to tell you. Be Still! and listen to My inner Voice, and learn of the glories that await -- if you are able to see with Impersonal Eyes and hear with Impersonal Understanding.

184 186 Our Universal Self We will then discover the purpose of our lives, the role which we have come to play as cells in the body of humanity. This brings greater joy and fulfillment. There is no greater fulfillment in our external lives than working for the benefit of the whole, and finding our place in that universal body. One more cell has at last found its home, its place. Some will recognize the truth in these words because they have already experienced their truth However, if this reading brings to you your first vision of My Reality within you, setting in motion, by this partial realization of Me and My Kingdom, high vibrations which lift you into a temporary Spiritual ecstasy, and you resolve to try to abide always in this Consciousness of Me, and always to obey Me, - do not be discouraged should you fail when immediately thereafter an occasion comes to test the sincerity and strength of your resolve. It is only by your trying and failing and realizing keenly your lack of strength and ability to rest and trust in Me, that I can quicken in you the consciousness of My Divine Powers ever waiting to manifest through you. These high vibrations are only the arousing into action of certain Soul qualities and their corresponding faculties, which must be awakened before I can manifest such Powers. And naturally when such Soul qualities are aroused, they meet active opposition from certain other qualities which heretofore held undisputed sway in your nature, and which must be overcome and brought under subjection and then lifted up into their true service before the Soul qualities can freely express. And this opposition should and will strengthen and test and perfect the expression of these Soul qualities, for you must be capable of withstanding every attack from without before you can fully manifest all My Divine Powers pushing forth from within. Know that I am manifesting these Powers in you just as fast as you can bear it and be strong. The mistake you make is in trying to grow yourself. I AM the Tree of Life within you. My Life will and must push forth, but

185 Finding Me 187 It will do it by gradual and steady growth. You cannot come into your fruitage before you have grown to it. Remember, My Life is all the time building you up into the perfection of health and strength and beauty, that must express outwardly as It is even now expressing within. A very common obstacle on that path is the feeling of discouragement and disillusionment when, after some initial "successes", we regress and "fail" some test, inner or outer. This is a serious mistake, because the nature of growth is that there are some steps forward and then some backward. We are presently controlled by desires, fears, attachments and beliefs which have developed over thousands of years. They may not be able to be changed in only a few months or years. They are persistent and do not want to disappear. Let us offer up the results of our growth process to our Impersonal Self. Let us make our efforts and practice our spiritual disciplines, but all the time remembering that we are not he who is trying or practicing. It is the body and personality who are seeking to cleanse themselves. I am the Impersonal Self which is watching them go through their various phases and efforts. As personalities, we will go through various stages, exaggerations, vacillations, doubts etc. Let us watch all of this from outside. We will make it. We are already there; we will need to believe that with enough faith, and perhaps also change our idea of what being there means. Spiritual growth is an organic process which occurs just as the plants grow and the fruits ripen. Allow that ripening process take place. Water your spiritual attributes, cultivate them, and expose them to the sunlight of spiritual truths. Weed out the weeds of negative and fearful thinking and have patience for the fruit to ripen in its own time You who have begun to realize I AM within, but have not yet learned to commune with Me, listen and learn now.

186 188 Our Universal Self You have learned to "Be Still", and you have perhaps felt My Presence within. If so, realizing I AM there, ask Me a question. Then, with a silent, earnest prayer to Me for an answer, but without anxiety, care or personal interest, and with an open mind, wait confidently for the impressions that will come. Should a thought come in answer that you recognize as what you have heard or read somewhere, cast it out immediately and say, "No. Father, what do you say?" Other thoughts may come from other human sources, but if you are alert you will recognize them as such and refuse to accept them. Then if you persist in asking Me, you will finally get an answer that you will feel is really from Me. Thus it will be at first. When you have learned to distinguish My Voice from all other voices, and can keep your personal interest wholly suppressed, then will you be able to hold silent communion with Me at will, without interference from others' ideas, beliefs, and opinions; and you can ask any question you wish, or another can ask you any question on any problem on which they need help, and I will that moment place in your mind the words to speak, either silently to yourself, or audibly through your tongue to the other. When we need some kind of inner guidance, we can practice the above technique. We will first silence our minds by repeating, "Be Still - and Know - I AM - God." Once the mind is quiet, we can pose any question which we would like answered (preferably having to do with our spiritual life or our service to family or humanity). Then we need only be silent and wait for the answer. I would like to make some clarifications concerning two points made above. On the one hand I agree with what is said, and on the other I have seen people create problems for themselves and others following this advice. Thus I would like to make the following clarifications. 1. When we are waiting for an answer from our inner self, the answer may sometimes coincide with a conscious or logical answer which may come to our mind. Some people reject all answers because they

187 Finding Me 189 seem that they "could " be from the conscious mind. We want to avoid being controlled by our programmed ideas and open to receiving our inner messages, but we should be careful not to reject inner messages simply because they also coincide with some logical conclusions which we might simultaneously come to. 2. It is obviously possible for us to get messages for other people, for there is only one cosmic mind in which all information for all beings is stored. But as I have mentioned earlier I have seen people mislead themselves and others by playing the medium, the connecting link between others and God. There are dangers here; and it simply is not necessary. Are not others also instruments of the Divine? Do they not also have an inner contact with the same source? It would be preferable for us to teach to them to do the same for themselves. They will receive much more benefit. It is like the difference between giving someone a fish or teaching him to fish. In the first case we help him only once, and very temporarily and superficially. In the second we have helped him forever You, My Beloved, who have consecrated your self to Me, and are bending every effort to find union with Me, but instead have found apparently that every prop of the World's support has been withdrawn or is being withdrawn, and that you are without money and without friends and know not where to turn for human help; Learn, My Blessed One, that you are very, very close now, and that if you will only continue to abide in Me, letting My World abide in and guide you, resting and trusting absolutely in My Promise, I will very soon bring to you a Joy, a Fulfillment, a Peace, that human words and human minds can not possibly picture. For you have obeyed My Commands, and you have trusted Me, and have sought first My Kingdom and My Righteousness, and therefore will I add all other things unto you, even those the World has denied you.

188 190 Our Universal Self There are times when we may pass through various tests. One of those tests occurs when we have decided to place all our security and happiness in God and let go of external sources of security, pleasure or affirmation. At such a stage in our evolution, we may be tested to see how strong our resolve is; and whether we will revert to seeking security in the external world. When we pass this test, all our needs are automatically taken care of You, my Dear One, who likewise have consecrated your self to Me, but who are still holding to some of the World's standards, being unable to let go and trust wholly to Me; You to whom, therefore, I have permitted failure, disappointment, even poverty, in order to let you learn the false value of all worldly things, their impermanence, their lack of power to provide happiness, their having nothing to do with My Real Life; You, dear child, who do not yet see this and whose heart is full of anxiety and fear because you do not see where tomorrow's bread is coming from, or the money for next week's rent, or for the past due mortgage; Listen once more to My Words long since given to you in the Sermon on the Mount. "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on". "Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? "Behold the fowls of the air; for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? "Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? "And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. "Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

189 Finding Me 191 "Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or Wherewithal shall we be clothed? "(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek). For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God (being interpreted His Consciousness) and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. "Take, therefore, no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof". Do you need any more definite Commands or any more definite Promise than these? - You who have consecrated yourself to Me, and call yourself My disciple. Listen! Have I not always provided everything? Have you ever been in need but what I always appeared with help just at the right moment? Has there ever been a time when things looked dark that I did not bring Light? Can you, with what you know now, look back over your life and see where you could have ordered it better? Would you exchange your Spiritual understanding for the earthly possessions of any one you know? Have I not done all this, despite the fact you have been rebelling and refusing to listen to Me all your life? Ah, My Children, can you not see that money, home, clothes, food, and their acquirement are only incidents and have nothing to do with your real Life, excepting as you make them real by thinking into them so much importance, and letting Me remain only a side issue? If it becomes necessary for you to be deprived of the things of the world that you may learn the Truth, - that I AM the only important thing in Life, that I must be FIRST if you truly love Me, -- I permit this that real and lasting Happiness and Prosperity can be yours. The message here is complete and clear and has been repeated to us for two thousand years. When will we hear it? When will we believe, and have enough faith? The only things I have to add to these wonderful words above is, "Risk it. We are going to die anyway. We can-

190 192 Our Universal Self not avoid that, whatever we do and no matter how much we own. There is no security in this physical world. All is destined to decay and die, and cease being (physically). Thus we have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Of what value can it be to have the illusion of a secure life when at the end of it we realize that we have lost all of our life on an illusion, and now we are leaving but we have not done what we have come to do. Risk it! Let go of fear! Have faith! Decide today to do what you would do if you were rich enough not to work for money for the rest of your life. Imagine that you are told by someone (God) that he will cover all your expenses (for a simple life) for the rest of your life for you and your family; and that there is only one prerequisite; that you will have to do that which your conscience says has the most meaning from moment to moment, that in every moment you will have to live with your heart open and enjoy the unity and love with your fellow humans helping them in the ways in which you can. If you do this your survival, happiness and spiritual growth are guaranteed? Would you accept the offer? It is being offered by your own higher self This applies to you also, My Child, you who have lost health, have lost courage, have lost all hold of your Self, and after weary years of seeking without from earthly physicians and remedies, following faithfully every instruction and suggestion given, in order to regain the Life you have lost, -- you who have turned finally within to Me, with the faint hope that I may be able to help you. Know, My Little One, that you, too, must come in complete surrender to Me, the One and Only Physician who can heal you. For I AM the Life Omnipotent within you. I AM your Health, your Strength, your Vitality. Not until you can feel ME within, and know I AM all this to you, is real and lasting Health for you to experience. And now, My Child, draw close. For I AM now going to tell you the means of obtaining all these things - Health, Prosperity, Happiness, Union, Peace.

191 Finding Me 193 In the following words lies hidden the Great Secret. Blessed be you who find it. Be still! And KNOW, -- I AM, -- GOD. KNOW I AM in you. KNOW I AM You. KNOW I AM your LIFE. KNOW All Wisdom, All Love, All Power abides in this Life, which is flowing freely through your entire being NOW. I AM the LIFE, I AM the INTELLIGENCE, I AM the POWER in all Substance, -- in all the cells of your body; in the cells of all mineral, vegetable and animal matter; in fire, water and air; in Sun, Moon and Stars. I AM that in you and in them which IS. Their consciousness is One with your consciousness, and All is My Consciousness. Through My Consciousness in them All that they have or are is yours - for the asking. Speak to them then IN MY NAME. Speak in the Consciousness of your Oneness with Me. Speak in the Consciousness of My Power in you and of My Intelligence in them. Speak - COMMAND what You WILL in this Consciousness, - and the Universe will rush to obey. RISE UP! O aspirant for union with Me. Accept now your Divine Heritage! Open wide your Soul, your mind, your body, and breathe in My Breath of Life! KNOW that I AM filling you full to overflowing with My Divine POW- ER, that every fibre, every nerve, every cell, every atom of your being is now consciously ALIVE with Me, alive with My Health, with My Strength, with My Intelligence with My Be-ING! For I AM within you. We are not separated. We could not possibly be separated. For I AM You. I AM your REAL Self, your REAL Life and I AM manifesting My SELF and ALL MY POWERS in you NOW. AWAKE! Rise up and assert your Sovereignty! KNOW your SELF and your POWERS! KNOW that all I have is yours, that My Omnipotent LIFE is flowing through you, that you can take of IT and build with IT what you WILL, and IT will manifest for you as Health, Power, Prosperity, Union, Happiness, Peace, - anything you WILL of ME. Imagine this. THINK it. KNOW it! Then, with all the Positiveness of your nature, Speak the Creative WORD! It will not return to you void.

192 194 Our Universal Self Everything that we seek is within us. Health, love, power, wisdom, peace, security; all are within our own being. We are the Universal Consciousness which is the life force and the creative force of the universe. Our consciousness is the consciousness which has created the physical world and thus also our body. It is possible then not to be able to create health in that body, or not be able to create the money necessary for survival? These forms of suffering are possible only when we do not believe enough. We need to identify totally with our Impersonal Self and its divine love, intelligence and power. We then are the power of the universe, and all things are then possible. As Christ said, if we have faith the size of a mustard seed we can move mountains But, know, Beloved, that this cannot be until you have come to Me in complete and utter surrender, until you have given your- self, your substance, your affairs, your Life into My keeping, putting all care and responsibility upon Me, resting and trusting in Me absolutely. When you have done this, then will the above Words quicken into active life My Divine Powers latent in your Soul, and you will be conscious of a Mighty FORCE within you, which, just to the extent that you abide in Me, and let My Words abide in you, will free you entirely from your Dream World, will quicken you fully in Spirit, will make all the way clear for you, supply all things you desire, and lift trouble and suffering from you forevermore. Then will there be no more doubts and questionings, for you will KNOW that I, God your very Self, will always provide, will always point out the way; for You will have found that You and I are One. Total surrender is our goal. That means letting go of every doubt, worry, responsibility, fear or anxiety and even guilt. It means letting go of our concerns about our health, families, work, and future. This does not mean that we do not care for these responsibilities, but that we do not have the slightest doubt that all has been, is, and always will be perfect in relationship to all those matters.

193 Finding Me 195 We are simply the divine instruments which are caring for those souls who are our family in this life. We love them, we care for them, we do our work with the best of our abilities and with love and conscientiousness we perform all of our actions. But we have an inner peace in all of this activity, because we know that we are not the doers or the creators of the results. All is perfect and always be perfect, even illness and accidents and failures sand mistakes, these are all opportunities created by our Impersonal Self for our collective awakening. When we have manifested such a total surrender, we will realize our oneness with God. (A book which may be helpful to those interested in this path is "The Way of The Pilgrim" by an unknown monk.)

194 196 Our Universal Self

195 The Union 197 CHAPTER 18 UNION 141. You, who truly wish to consecrate yourself thus to Me, and are willing to give your whole Life to Me, putting aside all personal ideas, hopes and aims, in order that I may freely and fully express through you My Impersonal Idea, listen carefully to these Words. I have led you through all your experiences of life up to just this point. If you are now really ready and willing to serve Me, and have learned that you, of yourself, can know nothing and can do nothing, and that I AM, and what you call your intelligence and your strength and your substance are really Mine, and that it is I who direct all your thoughts and both cause and enable you to do all that you do, - then can you comprehend the significance of My Words, and are quite prepared to obey them. I have hitherto brought to you the experiences that would teach you just these things. But now, if you are ready and worthy, you shall work consciously with Me, joyfully yet calmly awaiting each new experience, knowing that in each are contained marvelous expressions of My Meaning, which I will make altogether clear to you, and which will more and more bring you into loving, intimate union with Me. This realization and this faith will bring us to lasting and complete freedom and peace. The realization is that the intelligence, love and power within us are actually energies of our Impersonal Self and not our personality s; and that we are in continual contact with that divine source of all powers and events, and thus nothing could possibly hap-

196 198 Our Universal Self pen in our lives which would not be perfect for the next step in our evolution Thus all experiences will hereafter be blessings, instead of trials and tests, or karmic effects of previous acts; for in each will I disclose unto you glorious visions of My Reality - of your own True, Wonderful Self; until you no longer will have any disposition to follow any of the old desires, but will seek only to know My wishes and to please Me. This will manifest in many new ways. In your activities, be they what they may, you will care not what the task, but do whatever lies before you, knowing that is what I require; and striving always and only to please Me by your Impersonal part in the doing, which enables Me thus speedily to accomplish My Will. In your business even, you will find I AM there. In fact, it is I Who provide you with such business, whatever it be; not that in it you can be the success or the failure or the common plodder you are, nor that you can pile up riches for your descendants, or lose all that you have, or never accumulate any. No, but that through the success or failure, or lack of ambition or special ability, I may quicken your heart to a realization of Me, the Impersonal One, seated within; inspiring and directing all these things that you do, waiting for you consciously to participate in the true Success and accept of the real Riches I have in store for you. You will then learn that your business, or labor, or condition of life, are but incidents, or the outer vehicles I choose and use to carry you through certain experiences which I deem best adapted to bring you to this realization; and at the same time to quicken in you certain Soul qualities that now but imperfectly express. If you can but know Me, dwelling thus in your heart, accompanying you to your office, to your shop, to your labor, whatever it be, and will permit Me to direct your business and all your ways; verily I say unto you, when you can do this, you will at once become conscious of a new Power within you, a Power that will flow forth from you as a gentle, kindly sympathy, a true brotherliness, a loving helpfulness to all with whom you come in contact, inspiring them to higher principles

197 The Union 199 of business and of life, creating in them a longing to shed a similar influence within their own circle; a Power that will attract to you business, money, friends, and abundance of all things you need; a Power that will connect you with the highest realms of thought, enabling you both to vision clearly and to manifest consciously all My Impersonal Powers and Attributes every moment of your life. Our business and professional life are often the last place we are able to feel and express our spirituality. If we can also here in the center of our material - economic activity be free from illusions of wealth, poverty, success and failure, and realize that these too are simply situations through which we are guided for the benefit of our evolution; and perform all our work, professional and business transactions with love, respect and the awareness of the truth that there is only one being living in all beings with which we are transacting, then we have allowed our Impersonal Self to express It Self through us even in this area of our lives. Thus our every transaction must be made with that thought in mind. I am selling oranges to God, building an apartment building for God, selling this appliance to the Universal Being, putting in a day s wages for our Impersonal Self; I am paying wages to God, I am creating working conditions for our Impersonal Self who is using these bodies. Imagine that whatever you are giving whether in be products, wages, services, or labor, you are giving it to our Impersonal Self in some form or forms. Thus if we ever cheat, or are lazy or sell poor quality products, or pay poor wages, we are doing this to our own Selves. As we begin to make all our business transactions in this way, we will inspire others to also spiritualize even this aspect of their lives. In this way our collective body will be totally healed and all will trust others, and want to give even more to others; and selfishness will be overcome, and unity will follow.

198 200 Our Universal Self 143. You will no longer feel any need to go to church or to religious meetings of any kind, or even to read the teachings of My Revelations, in order to find Me and to worship Me. Instead you will turn within and always find Me there, and you will be so filled with the joy of communing with and serving Me, and of thus worshipping Me, that you will care not for any other thing than just to listen to and obey My Voice, and to feel the warmth and thrill of My Tender Love, as It fills and surrounds you and prepares the way and softens the conditions wherever you go and whatever be your work. Our inner contact with God will be so deep and constant that we may or may not feel the need to participate in religious events in order to feel God s presence. This does not mean that we will not continue to enjoy the unity and uplifting emotions which are inspired within us at such events. Our awareness will be constant, but we will also enjoy seeing others too feel that unity. Whether we are motivated to participate with others or not will depend to a great degree on how pure their motives and actions are You, I will cause to be an uplifting and leavening influence in the community wherever I send you, drawing all men to Me to receive My Blessing through you, who now are able so to make your personality subservient to My Holy Impersonality that they forget you and see only Me, and feel the quickening of My Presence within their own hearts; so that they go forth with a new light in their eyes and the sense of a new purpose in their lives. Those who have now totally surrendered themselves to our collective divinity will inspire others through their Impersonal Love. They will become examples and sources for others In your homes particularly will I dwell. Through those nearest

199 The Union 201 you will I teach you many wonderful things, which now you can understand, when before you passionately rebelled against their truth. Through husband, wife, child, brother, sister, parent will I now be able to develop in you these great qualities, -- patience, gentleness, forebearance, tongue-control, loving-kindness, true unselfishness, and an understanding heart; for I will cause you to see that I AM deep down in their hearts as I AM in yours. Now will you be able to appreciate this and profit by it. When you truly do comprehend this great truth you will be able to see Me in your brother or your wife or your parent or child, appealing to you with loving, joyful eyes, when they speak. Instead of blaming them for their seeming mistakes, you will turn within to Me, the Impersonal One, Who will speak through you gentle words of loving kindness, which will immediately soften the heart of the other, and bring you once more together, and closer than ever before. For I, the real I, in the heart of each, am One, and always respond when thus called upon. Yes, if you can but know it, your greatest school and your greatest teacher is in your own home, by your own fireside. Much, very much is reserved for those who consciously know this and permit Me, the Impersonal One within, to do the teaching. For I will not only teach you many things through the mouths of those nearest you, but I will teach those others similarly through you, -- but with this difference: if you are conscious of Me and Impersonally are resting in Me and My Wisdom, then you will permit Me to inspire your words and to empower your acts, and you will not be concerned about their effects upon other or upon yourself, putting all responsibility upon Me. When you can do this, you will marvel at the changes you see taking place, both in your personality and in the personalities of your dear ones -- until you are able to see, back of their human personalities, Me, your own Impersonal Self, shining from out their eyes. When you can thus see Me, then will the heavens be opened unto you, and no more will you see flaws in your brother, or hear inharmony around you, or feel unkindness coming from any other fellow being. For you will know that I, the Impersonal One, within that other, AM the fount of all perfection, of all harmony, of all loving-kindness, and wait but for the human personality to make the recognition, step submissively aside, and let My Light shine forth, resplendent in all the

200 202 Our Universal Self glory of My Divine Idea. Our greatest source of lessons, especially the lesson of unconditional love is our family. They are the incarnations of our Impersonal Self that have been placed next to us to teach us and be taught by us. When we see our loved ones as Divine, and love and respect them and communicate with them in this way, this process of learning will be greatly accelerated for both us and them. We will begin to see their inner beauty, wisdom and goodness. We will realize that all these years, they were simply mirrors, reflecting the lessons which we needed to learn. The image in a mirror simply reflects to us the way we are looking at it. When we look at it with selfishness and bitterness, it looks at us in the same way. When we look at it with love and compassion, it looks at us in this way. We will be able to love and accept the others as they are, remembering that they are who they can be at this stage of their evolution as instruments of our Impersonal Self and that when they can change, they will. We will also realize that they will change much more quickly when they receive unconditional love and acceptance from us. The same applies to all persons in our lives. They are all expressions of our own Real Self, and they are all simply mirroring our lessons. Thus we have nothing to do but love and respect them as they are Then will you see that all conditions in which I put you are the places I have chosen where you can best serve Me; that in all places and in all conditions there is much, very much to do. The more objectionable they are to the personality, the more need there is of My Living Presence. The situations or the persons which annoy us the most are our greatest teachers. It is when in contact with them that we can do our great-

201 The Union 203 est work in realizing the omnipresence of our Divine Self and our ultimate unity. All situations are perfect opportunities for realizing the truth of our Real Self. The next time you find yourself feeling fear, aversion or rejection towards a person, situation or place, remind yourself that you have been placed here at this time for some reason. No mistake has been made, and as you look around repeat to yourself, "that is a manifestation of God. God is in that. God is expressing Himself through that. God is present here in all beings and things and is teaching me through them. I feel love and unity with all." This does not mean that we should seek out negative persons or places. Neither does it mean that we do not have the right to chose the people and places we prefer to come into contact with. But when in spite of our preferences and efforts, we are brought into contact with that which is undesirable to us, then let us employ the above thoughts, and see God in all Wherever you are when the awakening comes, whatever has been your training, - in business, in a profession, in manual labor, in the church, or in the underworld, -- there lies perhaps your best opportunity to serve; for there you know best the manner and the way. For how can My and Your other selves awaken to a knowledge of My Presence within, without the quickening influence which must first come from without. You who have received must give. You who have been quickened must become the quickener. You must take into this business, into this profession, into this labor, into this underworld, My Living Presence, must open the doors of the saddened and sickened heart and let My Light and My Healing Love pour in. You must supply the leaven that will leaven the lump. If these conditions are to be lifted up, you, My awakened one, must carry to these, My ignorant and betrayed ones, My Inspiration, My Blessing, My Strength, that they can rise up and throw off the influence of the world's ways, can harken to My Voice within, and can hereafter be the master of surrounding conditions and no longer the slave. No condition in life can be lifted up or conquered

202 204 Our Universal Self by running away from it. The Divine touch is needed and must be supplied. It can only be supplied by one who has sounded the depths as well as reached the heights of human experience, with Me as Guide and Interpreter. When we are awakened to the truth, we will then feel a need to serve the truth and help it to awaken in others, mostly through our behavior and example, but also through our words. We have each been prepared by our life before this point to do this is some particular place. The places in which we already work and live will be the most likely places where this will take place. We must be careful that our personality does not use this opportunity to develop feelings of self-importance. We are servants, instruments; nothing else. We as personalities are as important as a cell is to the body. The body uses the cell as long as it needs it and then disposes of it. The body cannot express itself except through its cells, but the cell is simply one small part of billions of cells which are working together to execute the will of the consciousness living in that body You who read, and whose Soul comprehends, are blessed, and your work lies before you. But you who still hesitate while your personality quakes in fear as the Light filters through your clouded intellect, -- you, too, will soon partake of My Blessings; for I am rapidly preparing you for the joy that awaits. Both you who comprehend and you who fear, know that I AM even now manifesting My Will through you; and the time will surely come when you will know no other Will but Mine, and when all things You Will, will come to pass and you will awaken fully from your Dream of Separation, and know Me as your Real and Only Self. This will not be until you have given yourself and everything in your life wholly over to Me, and there is nothing left in your human personality to attract from others the slightest inharmonious thought or feeling, by act or word of yours.

203 The Union 205 Your way then will be one continuous round of blessing. Wherever you go will My Light shine and My Love radiate forth about you, creating Peace, Concord, Unity. The great thing will be, though not great but natural when once you understand, that every one will be better and happier by reason of your appearance in their lives. For the I AM in them, while still in the flesh, has found or sensed within you a truly Impersonal avenue of expression, and therefore feels, though not consciously by the personality, the Glory and the Holiness of My Impersonal Life. All of us will arrive at our fated destination - realization of our True Self. All of us will become instruments, angels of light through which God s love and blessings are flowing into the physical world. Each of us is a hole in the curtain of the material world through which spiritual energies are passing into the physical planes transmuting completely its nature. This spiritual energy which is passing through us will bring forth God s plan, God s idea into physical manifestation and Heaven will be created on Earth. Imagine then yourself to be like a plant which absorbs the sunlight and transmutes it into useful physical energy bonds which enable it to offer to the world beauty in the form of it flowers and useful sustenance in the form of its fruits. From here on, we will take spiritual energy daily from our Impersonal Self, and transmute that spiritual energy into positive thoughts, words and actions which beautify and improve life for all of our Impersonal Self s personal selves. I wish you a speedy process of awakening to the truths herein expressed, and hope that this book will help you as much as it has helped and is still helping my personality to discover my true nature. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to our Lord Jesus Christ and to Joseph Benner who have offered this way out for us. I would now suggest that you read this book from the beginning meditating on each of the passages from the original text. Also I would en-

204 206 Our Universal Self courage you to benefit from the techniques given in Appendix C and the various quotations and examples given in the other appendixes. Let me close with a poem which was written a few years ago concerning this subject. YOU ARE NOT SOMEBODY; YOU ARE NOBODY AND EVERYBODY (From the book «CONTEMPORARY PARABLES» ) Your greatest mistake is, Believing that you are Somebody. Since you are Consciousness, Then obviously you are No Body. You are Universal Consciousness. Thus you are Every Body. Yes, that is the Truth. You are No Body and Every Body. Are you confused? It is really very simple. Consciousness cannot be confined To one particular body. It is Universal in Nature. It is thus no body. And at the same time, It is Every Body, For Every Body is an expression of it.

205 The Union 207 Now it must certainly be clear. You cannot be Some Body. You can be No Body. Or you can be Every Body. If you want to be NO BODY, Detach your self from everything equally. If you want to be EVERY BODY, Identify with everything equally. In most cases, however, You have to become No Body, Before you can become Every Body, And that is really wonderful. Don t make this mistake anymore. Don t limit your Self to Some Body.

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207 Appendix A 209 APPENDIX A QUOTATIONS ABOUT OUR IMPERSONAL SELF From the Bible «The kingdom of God does not come in such a way as to be seen... The kingdom of God is within you». (Luke 17.20) «Surely you know that you are God s temple and that God s spirit lives in you». (I Corinthians 3.16) «Christ is in you, which means that you will share in the glory of God». (Colossians 1.27) «Jesus answered: It is written In your own law that God said you are Gods. We know that what the scripture says is true for ever; and God called the people Gods...» (John 10.33) From Theologian and Bishop Kalllistos (Timothy) Ware * God is absolutely transcendent. God is above and outside His creation yet He also exists within it. As the much-used Orthodox prayer puts it "thought art every where and fillest all things." God s energies, which are God Himself, permeate all His creation, and we experience them in the form of deifying grace and divine light. And if a man makes proper use of this faculty of communion with God, then he will become like God, he will acquire the divine like-

208 210 Our Universal Self ness; in words of John Damascene, he will be assimilated to God through virtue. To acquire the likeness is to be deified, it is to become a second god, a "god by grace. I said, you are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High (Psalm 1xxxi, 6). * When God is said to have made man according to His image, wrote Gregory Palamas, the word man means neither the soul by itself nor the body by itself, but the two together. The fact that man has a body, so Gregory argued, makes him not lower but higher than the angels. True, the angels are pure spirit, whereas man s nature is mixed -material as well as intellectual; but this means that his nature is more complete than the angelic and endowed with richer potentialities. Man is a microcosm, a bridge and point of meeting for the whole of God s creation. * Orthodox religious thought lays the utmost emphasis on the image of God in man. Man is a living theology, and because he is God s own icon (image), he can find God by looking within his own heart, by returning within himself : The kingdom of God is within you (Luke xvii, 21). Know yourselves, said Saint Anthony of Egypt....He who knows himself knows God. If you are pure, wrote Saint Isaac the Syrian (late seventh century), heaven is within you; within yourself you will see the angels and the Lord of the angels. In the purity of his heart he saw the invisible God as in the mirror. * Because he is an icon (image) of God, each member of the human race, even the most sinful, is infinitely precious in God s sight. When you see your brother, said Clement of Alexandria (died 215), You see God. And Evagrius taught: After God we must count all men as God Himself.... The best icon of God is man. * The aim of Christian life, which Seraphim described as the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God, can equally well be defined in terms of deification. Basil described man as a creature who has received the order to become a god; and Athanasius, as we know, said that God became man that man might become god. In my kingdom, said Christ, I shall be God with you as gods. Such according

209 Appendix A 211 to the teaching of the Orthodox Church, is the final goal at which every Christian must aim: to become god. to attain theosis, deification, or divinization. For Orthodoxy man s salvation and redemption mean his deification. From Scientists Albert Einstein "A human being is a part of the whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to our affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The striving for such an achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security." Fritjof Capra - Physicist and author of the "Tao of Physics" and other books. * «Once it (the matter) is seen to be a form of energy, mass is no longer required to be indestructible, but can be transformed into other forms of energy. This can happen when subatomic particles collide with one another. In such collisions, particles can be destroyed and the energy contained in their masses can be transformed into kinetic energy, distributed among the other particles participating in the collision. Conversely, when particles collide with very high velocities, their kinetic energy can be used to form new particles». * «These dynamic patterns, or «energy bundles», form the stable nuclear, atomic and molecular structures which build up matter and give its macroscopic solid aspect, thus making us believe that it is made of some material substance. At the macroscopic level this notion of sub-

210 212 Our Universal Self stance is a useful approximation, but at the atomic level it no longer makes sense. Atoms consist of particles and these particles are not made of any material stuff. When we observe them, we never see any substance; what we observe are dynamic patterns changing into one another - a continuous dance of energy». * «The distinction between matter and empty space finally had to be abandoned when it became evident that virtual particles can come into being spontaneously out of the void, and vanish again into the void, without any nucleon or other strongly interacting particle being present... According to field theory, events of that kind can happen all the time. The vacuum is far from empty. It contains an unlimited number of particles which can come into being and vanish without end». * «Here then, is the closest parallel to the void of Eastern mysticism in modern physics. Like the Eastern void, the «physical vacuum» as it is called in field theory - is not a state of mere nothingness, but contains the potentiality for all forms of the particle world. These forms, in turn, are not independent physical entities but merely transient manifestations of the underlying void. As the scriptures say, (Form is emptiness and emptiness is indeed form). * «The relationship between the virtual particles and the vacuum is essentially dynamic relation; the vacuum is truly a «living Void», pulsating in endless rhythms of creation and destruction. The discovery of the dynamic quality of a vacuum is seen by many physicists as one of the most important findings of modern physics. From its role as an empty container of the physical phenomena, the void has emerged as a dynamic quantity of utmost importance. The results of modern physics thus seem to confirm the words of the Chinese sage Chang Tsai: «When one knows that the great void is full of CHI, one realizes that there is no such thing as nothingness». * «The central recognition of the theory of relativity is that geometry... is a construct of the intellect. Only when this discovery is accepted, can the mind feel free to tamper with the time-honored notions

211 Appendix A 213 of space and time, to survey the range of possibilities available for defining them, and to select that formulation which agrees with observation». According to the relativity the, time and space of an event is going to depend on the point of view of the observer. A similar event or object may exist in different times and space dimension to different observers. The truth of this is obvious for space. Two beings viewing any object from different vantagepoints will obviously see a different object or event. Every artist is acutely aware of this. However, concerning time, «The temporal order of two events was assumed to be independent of any observer. Specifications referring to time - such as «before», «after», or «simultaneous» were thought to have an absolute meaning independent of any coordinate system». «Einstein recognized that temporal specifications, too, are relative and depend on the observer. In everyday life, the impression that we can arrange the events around us in a unique time sequence is created by the fact that the velocity of light miles per second - is so high, compared to any other velocity we experience, that we can assume we are observing events at the instant they are occurring. This however, is incorrect. Light needs some time to travel from the event to the observer. Normally this time is so short that the propagation of light can be considered to be instantaneous; but when the observer moves with a occurrence of the event and its observation plays a crucial role in establishing a sequence of events. Einstein realized that in such a case observers moving at different velocities will order events differently." Mendel Sachs: «The real revolution that came with Einstein s theory... was this; the abandonment of the idea that space-time coordinate system has objective significance as a separate physical entity. Instead of this the relativity theory implies that the space and time coordinates are only the elements of language that is used by an observer to describe his environment». Capra: «This is indeed an entirely new situation. Every change of coordinate

212 214 Our Universal Self systems mixes space and time in a mathematically well-defined way. The two can therefore no longer be separated, because what is space to one observer will be a mixture of time and space to another observer. Relativity theory has shown that space is not three-dimensional and time is not a separate entity. Both are intimately and inseparably connected and form a four-dimensional continuum which is called «space time» Hermann Minkowski: «The views of space and time which I wish to lay before you have sprung from the soil of experimental physics, and therein lies their strength. They are radical. Henceforth space by itself, and time by itself, are doomed to fade away into mere shadows, and only a kind of union of the two will preserve an independent reality». Zen master D.T. Suzuki. «The significance of the Avatamasaka and its philosophy is unintelligible unless we once experience... a state of complete dissolution where there is no more distinction between mind and body, subject and object... We look around and perceive that... every object is related to every other object... not only spatially, but temporally. As a fact of pure experience there is no space without time, no time without space; they are interpenetrating». Fritjof Capra: «Force and matter, particles and waves, motion and rest, existence and nonexistence- these are some of the opposites or contradictory concepts which are transcended in modern physics. Of all these opposite pairs, the last seems to be the most fundamental, and yet, in atomic physics we have to go beyond the concepts of existence and nonexistence». «At the atomic level, then, the solid material objects of classical physics dissolve into patterns of probabilities, and these patterns do not represent probabilities of things, but rather probabilities of interconnections. Quantum theory forces us to see the universe not as a collection of physical objects, but rather as a complicated web of relations between the various parts of a unified whole».

213 Appendix A 215 Consider the striking similarity between the following two quotations; the first by a scientist and the second by a person describing a spiritual experience. The Scientist: «The world thus appears as a complicated tissue of events, in which connections of different kinds alternate or overlap or combine and thereby determine the texture of the whole». The description of a spiritual experience: "The material object becomes... something different from what we now see, not a separate object on the background or in the environment of the rest of nature but an indivisible part and even, in a subtle way, an expression of the unity of all that we see". Sufi poet Jalluddin Rumi «I died as mineral and became plant, I died as plant and rose to animal, I died as animal and I was man. Why should I fear? When was I less by dying? Yet once more I shall die as man, to soar With angels blest; but even from angelhood I must pass on: all except God doth perish. When I have sacrificed my angel soul, I shall become what no mind ever conceived. Oh, let me not exist! For Non-existence Proclaims in organ tones: «To Him we shall return». Sri Satya Sai Baba * You are the infinite come in the role of the Finite, the formless Infinite appearing as the formful Infinitesimal, the Absolute pretending to be Relative, the soul behaving as the Body, the Metaphysical masquerading as the merely Physical. The Universal Spirit is the Basis of all being. The sky was there before houses were built under it; it penetrated and pervaded them for some time; then, the houses crumbled and became heaps and mounds; but, the sky was not affected at all. So

214 216 Our Universal Self too, the Atma pervades the body and subsists even when the body is reduced to dust. * The sages have laid down three categories which comprise the knowable world.(god, Nature and the man), God when seen through the mirror of Nature appears as I. Remove the mirror; there is only God; the image merges in the Original. Man is but the image of God. Even nature is but an appearance of God; the reality is He (God) alone. The principle of Appearance that deludes as multiple manifestation is illusion. It is not external to God, it is inherent in God just as all powers are inherent in Him». * You are the image of the Supreme Spirit, the image that is reflected in the body, that is part of World. The original divine Spirit, the individualized spirit, which is the image, and the objective world of which the body is a part - these are three entities called God - Individual - World. Success in Sadhana is won the moment you are able to either deny the objective world as a delusion or recognize it as nothing but the Supreme Spirit itself. When the mirror, goes, the image also disappears. When the mirror is eliminated two entities disappear, it and the reflection it can cast. And, you merge in the Divine. * Man is no mere biped, an animal that struts about on two legs, instead of four. He has the unique destiny of realizing and appreciating beauty, truth, goodness, harmony, melody and conferring on himself and others love, compassion and sympathy. He can delve not only into the secrets of nature, but also into his own mystery, and discover God who is behind both, nature and himself. The clouds of conceit and ignorance hide from him this destiny». * «I am» refers to the Spirit, who is always everywhere. The Spirit is like the lion, without fear. «Fear» refers to the body, which is subject to worry, depression, trembling, fear. Body is like a sheep, wavering this way and that way. Body is always looking for information, gathering information, questioning. Whereas, spirit like the lion, is full of courage and without fear. «Spirit» is God. You are God. God is omnipresent. This «I» is you. That «I» is you. You are all».

215 Appendix A 217 * God s home is not to be found in the invisible heavens. He does not live in a mansion beyond the clouds. God is not a struggling spirit, who must ascend from the underworld or come out of a particular hidden cave. God is the living essence of all creation and every being. He is the Divine Inner Consciousness of every human being. He radiates Divine Love through every human heart. * No one yet knows the mystery of the electric current, why it behaves so, what is the exact nature of its origin and flow; but, yet it is manipulated into a thousand uses and it is manifesting through a thousand appliances and instruments. So too, God is present everywhere; but we can understand only that part of Him that manifests before our cognition. Ordinary people will swear that the earth does not move at all; it is held forth in poetry as a symbol of stability, but, it has two motions, both unbelievably fast. It rotates on its own axis at a speed which exceeds a thousand miles per hour; even while rotating so, the earth moves round the Sun at an astonishing rate of speed! But, do we notice it while it happens? God too is a reality, ever present in us and in every being; but we miss Him as we miss the movement of the earth. * But the question is asked - Then why is He not seen? Well, He is, as butter is in milk, in every drop. Through and through. If butter has to be seen, then certain processes have to be gone into - boiling, curdling, churning, etc. So too, by certain Spiritual disciplines, like repeating the Name of God on the tongue, He who dwells in the heart can be visualized; the Immanent God can be experienced as Real. * God is not external: God is not outside you; God is inside you. You are not a man, you are God yourself. You are not one person, but three, the one you think you are (physical); the one others think you are (mental); and the one you really are i.e. God * Don t be under the delusion that God is somewhere and you have to search for Him. God is in you, and when you are able to realize that, and when you are able to develop the spiritual power from within you, then you will see God. You are going in the path of worldly consciousness; you are not taking the path of super-consciousness. When

216 218 Our Universal Self you take the path of super-consciousness, you will get realization and you will be able to see the Truth. * God is subtler than ether, filling the smallest crevice with His Majesty. You have to outgrow the idols, pictures, and images; they are kindergarten materials in spiritual school; seek to know the Divine Energy, that is burdened with no Name and no Form. Rise higher into the empyrean height of the pure Attributeless Transcendent One. * All Energy, Power and Intelligence are in you; you need not search for them outside yourselves. God who is manifesting as Time, Space and Causation is in you; why then do you feel weak and helpless? Man is tossed about by his ambitions and craving to fulfil them. But, he must know where he stands and where he should will to reach.

217 Appendix B 219 Appendix B THE INDIVIDUAL & THE UNIVERSAL THE PURPOSE OF LIFE All religions proclaim that the purpose of life is reunion with the original source of all life - GOD. The English word «religion» comes from the two Latin words «re» (again) and «ligere» (to link). Thus religion is a process of re-linking the individual with God. This presupposes that man was once originally linked with God in the most intimate manner. The separation of man from God is represented by literally hundreds of myths, stories and parables generated by the various cultures and religions of the world. There are amazing similarities among these creation stories. The actual reality of the creation of the world and man, and man's relationship with God before, during and after this process we call «life» will probably always remain a mystery to our rational minds. Such truths exist beyond the duality of the rational mind, and can thus only be approached through models, examples, stories and parables; all of which fail to give the entire picture. The total reality can be experienced only once the mind has been transcended, such as during deep meditation, or in ecstasy, or in highly creative processes, when the feeling of individual selfhood is erased and one merges with the All.

218 220 Our Universal Self Thus, in our discussion here, we can only hope to approximate the answers to these vital questions. Hopefully these models and examples will provide the steps of a ladder upon which we may climb up the spiritual path. Some day when we arrive at the experience of Unity, we will kick the ladder away and no longer be limited by our systems of belief. But until that day the ladder remains useful and even necessary for our stable and steady growth into beings of greater emotional and mental maturity, with greater levels of awareness. Man feels himself to be a separate entity in this world. He feels isolated from God, nature and other beings. According to most spiritual philosophies this is actually an illusion. Man has been fooled by the illusive power of matter (MAYA) into thinking that he is separate. «Maya» is the illusory power of material creation which causes man to forget his eternal, omniscient, ever blissful spiritual nature. By eating the fruit of the tree of the «knowledge of good and evil» Man has lost sight of the One. He has become blind to his real God-like nature which remains waiting latent within like a seed ready to sprout, if only it is given some water. Ignorant of his real nature, man is forced to identify with what he can see; that is his body, mind and personality. All beings have come from the one source, and in reality remain one with that source in their true nature, although on the surface a separate isolated identity seems to exist. This often-used example of the wave is helpful here. Individual Beings - Personalities Diagram No.1 THE OCEAN AND THE WAVES

219 Appendix B 221 THE OCEAN AND THE WAVES Each wave appears to be an individual entity separate from the other waves. However this is only the temporary surface reality which will soon come to an end as the wave sinks back into its original source: the OCEAN. The basic and lasting reality of the wave from which it has come and to which it will go is the ocean itself. All waves come from the ocean and all waves return to the ocean. And even while the wave existed it was always in contact with and had as its true basic reality the ocean itself. In the same way man is like the wave and God is the ocean. All men are momentary and partial expressions of the one God. We exist in and identify with our temporary physical and mental forms, but we must inevitably give them up. Our true eternal Reality before, during and after our appearance as separate personalities is actually the Divine Basis of all life - God. The purpose of life, then, is to break through the illusion of separateness caused by the identification with the «wave - nature», in order to realize one's ONENESS with all life through identification with the OCEAN NATURE. When we see another individual and feel antagonistic, competitive, fearful, jealous, envious, angry or hateful, we are blind to this innate oneness. We amplify our ignorance of the truth, and perpetuate suffering for ourselves and others. However, the feeling of love moves us towards attraction and union with others and helps us overcome this isolated and vulnerable position. When we identify with our wave nature, we compare ourselves as waves to the other waves. Who is bigger, more beautiful, and more important. We get caught up in feelings of attraction and repulsion, superiority and inferiority and lose our feelings of unity and security. Separateness creates fear. Fear creates various defense mechanisms, which are unpleasant to both us and those around us. When we begin to see each person (and even animals, plants and insects) as other waves on the same sea, as parts of our own Self, then

220 222 Our Universal Self all these negative feelings, games and their unpleasant and sometimes violent and destructive results will simply disappear. THE BOTTLES IN THE SEA Diagram No. 2 THE BOTTLES IN THE SEA Another example using the sea, is that of a bottle of salt water which is submerged in the sea. Inside the bottle is seawater. Seawater is also outside the bottle. Only the glass of the bottle separates the seawater from its own self. Imagine a sea filled with millions of such bottles. Each bottle is an individual incarnated spirit. Each bottle feels separate and distinct. Each bottle may have a different shape and color and size. God, or the Universal Divine Consciousness, is the seawater, which is in every bottle and surrounding every bottle. God is in every human being and surrounding every human being. The bottle is man's body and ego structure, which tends to separate the God within from the God without. Thus, we feel separate and vulnerable, and try to protect ourselves by accumulating whatever we can; often at the others expense. We are focused on the shape and appearances of the bottles (the aspects of the body and personality) and not on the water (the spiritual essence) which is the same in each bottle person. Then we again get caught up in the games of inferiority - superiority, attraction - repulsion, attachment - fear, competition, antagonism and a wide variety of

221 Appendix B 223 unpleasant destructive states of consciousness. By remembering that we are really the water and not the temporary bottle and that others too are the water, the spiritual essence and not the body and personality, we will overcome separateness, and fear, and experience more and more love and unity. «The Truth will set us free». THE LAKE AND ITS WELLS Diagram no.3 The wells and the Underground Lake We may also imagine a field with millions of wells, which have been dug into the earth. Underneath the surface of the earth is a huge, limitless, Divine Lake that is able to feed all these wells. The problem is that most wells are not dug deeply enough, and thus have no contact with the sublime essence of this Divine Lake. The Divine Lake is the Universal Spirit that supports all of life. Each well is an individual incarnated being which appears different and separate from the other wells in the field.

222 224 Our Universal Self Imagine also that these wells are self-excavating. That they have the ability to dig even further into themselves toward that Divine Lake. Most wells today are very shallow and have little or no contact with that Divine essence which is waiting for an opportunity to bless each well. Occasionally, during so-called «spiritual droughts», the Lake forms itself into a Divine Well in the form of a God-man so that it can sprinkle this divine essence onto the surface of the field into the dried up wells and re-wet their appetite for that divine essence. The God-man rekindles our desire for that divine peace, love and truth. We begin digging more deeply within us reaching further and further down towards the divine lake. When we begin to experience that inner bliss, we realize that this Divine Lake is the basis of our being. Simultaneously we realize our unity with all beings through our connection with the Divine Source of our own and all other beings. We will meet this model again when we discuss the relationship between the unmanifest Divine Essence (the Father, the Divine Ground) and the incarnation of God i.e. Jesus Christ. THE PASCAL FLAME Self Created Eternal Flame Individual Flames Diagram No.4 THE PASCAL FLAME

223 Appendix B 225 Another example that helps us to understand the relationship between man and his Creator is that of the Greek Orthodox Resurrection ritual performed on Easter Eve. The church is darkened, as the lights are switched off. The priest comes out from behind the alter holding high a candle flame representing the One Light, called the Holy Light, from which all other lights have come. The parishioners come forth with their unlit candles and light them from this one flame and other flames, which have been lit by this one flame. Each candle has the inner potential to shine in the same way that the first one does. All the candles in the church are lit from that one light. The one light becomes the many, just as the one God becomes the many beings that occupy the earth. Although all those flames came forth from that first flame (which we could imagine was self - creating), that original flame was in no way diminished. Thus although God has manifested himself as all things and beings which occupy the world, in no way is He any less infinite than He was. No matter what you take away from infinity, you always have infinity remaining. Now, if we take one of those flames and put it very close to that original flame, we can see that they will become one flame again. Although there will be two candle bodies, there will be one flame. In the same way man has the potential to reunite on the spiritual level with the one God with whom he is, in essence, the same. In reuniting with the Universal Spirit, man unites with all beings. Then the distinction between man, his environment and God disappears and he experiences himself as one with all. It is important to realize here that there is only one flame in the church. It has simply spread, dividing itself (and yet remaining the same). The one self-starting Divine flame is now occupying the hundreds or thousands of previously unlit candles in the church. In the same way there is only one spirit which is the life force, the «light» in every body we meet. If we are focused on the level of what kind of candle the other is we will be blinded by a myriad of white, plain, heavily dressed and dec-

224 226 Our Universal Self orated, colored, large, medium, small, impressive, unimpressive, expensive and inexpensive candles. We will forget about the fact that it is the same flame burning on each different candle. When we try to experience unity with those around us we usually attempt this on a physical, emotional, or mental level. This type of unity can never really last, because these levels are in a constant state of change. If we try to unite two candles it cannot be done because a law of physics states that two material objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time. There are two solutions. The first is to tip the two candles towards each other. In such a case (of humility and simplicity) the bodies will remain separate but the souls will unite. There will be two candles but one flame. The only way lasting unity can be experienced is spiritually. The second solution is to melt the two candles (dissolving the ego - personality) and unite them into one candle. Perhaps this is what love and marriage are supposed to be about. THE CENTER AND ITS SPOKES Diagram No.5 THE CENTER AND THE SPOKES

225 Appendix B 227 Another helpful model is that of a wheel with spokes. In the center of the wheel all the spokes join in union. The further out from the center we go, the greater the distance between the spokes. It is impossible for any of the spokes to join at the circumference. All the various spokes, however, become one in the center, no matter how distant they may seem from each other towards the circumference. In the same way God is the center of the Wheel where all individuals find their unified existence. The wheel cannot exist without the union of the spokes in the center. Individuals and society cannot exist without their connecting link to the central creating and sustaining life force, which we call God. As we move outward toward the circumference of the circle, we move away from the inner spiritual levels of the being into the external superficial personality and physical traits that separate men into different entities. No matter how different or distant they may seem on the surface, all men are connected in that central spiritual union, whether they recognize it or not. Each individual may chose whether to identify and concentrate on the superficial differences between himself and others or on the innate oneness of spirit. Union cannot be achieved on a physical level, where each being is distinctly separate and unique. The physical and mental levels have to be overcome in order to experience that spiritual union. Attempts at union with others on the physical, emotional and mental levels, such as through verbal communication, sexual intercourse, dance, singing etc., can help us move in this direction. But true spiritual union can be experienced only when there is no trace of identification with the body or personality. THE SUN'S REFLECTIONS Another example is the sun, which is the physical source of all life in this solar system. The sun represents the one God who is expressing himself through the power of the sun so as to make life possible in the

226 228 Our Universal Self Diagram No.6 THE SUN AND ITS REFLECTIONS physical form. The sun reflects on the millions of different bodies of water all over the earth. It reflects on rivers, streams, lakes, oceans, seas, swimming pools, cisterns and even puddles and glasses of water. Thus, there are millions of different reflections of the sun, none of which is the same. Each unique reflection of the sun will depend on the quality of water, its color, its transparency, its motion or stillness and its surroundings. It will also depend on the position and state of mind of the observer of the reflection. In this example the sun is God. Each unique reflection is a living being, who appears differently depending on the tendencies and qualities which he manifests, and also on the «eyes of the beholder». Obviously, all these various differences in the reflections are illusory because, in reality, there is only One Sun and it has a specific image when seen directly. The same may be imagined about man. All the physical and personality differences that we perceive among human beings are temporary illusions; for each is simply a reflection or a projection of the One Universal Consciousness. Thinking in this way, we can gradually overlook our differences with people around us and begin to experience our unity with them as unique manifestations of the same Divine Being.

227 Appendix B 229 THE IMAGE IN THE MIRROR Diagram No.7 THE MIRROR OF NATURE Here is an example of man's relationship to the world and God, as expressed by Satya Sai Baba. «You are the image of the supreme Soul, the image that is reflected in the body that is part of the physical world. The original Divine Spirit, the individualized spirit, which is its image, and the objective world of which the body is a part - these are three entities called God - Individual - world. Success in spiritual effort is won the moment you are able to either deny the objective world as a delusion or recognize it as nothing but the Supreme Spirit itself. When the mirror, (the world), disappears, the image (the personality) also disappears. When the mirror is eliminated two entities disappear, the mirror itself and the reflection it can cast. And you merge in the Divine». Through this example we can see that the Universal Spirit is the only eternally existent Reality. The world itself and man, who is a part of the world, are simply like the false images we see when we look into a mirror. The basis of the physical world is the mirror, which simply creates a false image of the one basic reality appearing as the many different beings and objects. When one is able to break through these illusory images and break the mirror, his own form which is a part of this illusory and temporary reality will also lose its reality for him and he will identify now with the one original Reality, which is the only non-image - Universal Consciousness. He will realize that he himself is nothing but a reflection of God. Thus we can understand that the universe itself is the body of the Universal spirit, while the human

228 230 Our Universal Self body is the physical manifestation of the individual spirit. THE PROJECTION LIGHT Diagram No.8 THE PROJECTION LIGHT Another similar example is that of a movie projector. In the projector there is a powerful lamp which emits pure white light. Let us suppose that this is the eternal Universal Consciousness that has no beginning and no end and is self - lighting. In front of this light passes the film (our mind - conscious, subconscious and unconscious). As this pure, white light passes through the film it becomes broken down into forms and colors. When people are smoking in the theater we can see these beams of color playing on the smoke particles. We might imagine that this is the energy form that is given form by the mind. Thought forms project energy forms. These energy forms then project material forms, which in our example are the images that appear on the screen. No matter how many images, perhaps many thousands of people and objects, appear on the screen, they are all simply projections of the one pure white light. This one light has projected itself as all these images, forms and colors. Yet, it still remains pure and white previous to passing through the film. In the same way, the one Universal Consciousness projects itself as all of this material universe and all the beings within it. Yet it is still pure consciousness in its unmanifest form. All of creation is a continuous projection of this Divine Consciousness. If it ever stopped projecting, all of creation would disappear. Just

229 Appendix B 231 as if the light of the projector was switched off there would be no forms appearing on the screen. The images on the screen may be experiencing great pain or immense pleasure, intense creativity or productivity or complete catastrophe; and nothing at all is felt in the pure white light of the projector. We are the white light, we are spirit. The forms that appear are our bodies and personalities. The events that occur are the events of our incarnated lives. Our real self, the light, is totally unaffected by the birth, death and other events occurring to the images on the screen. We will understand and experience this more deeply with time and spiritual practices. THE BODY'S CELLS Diagram No.9 THE BODY CONSCIOUSNESS AND ITS CELLS The human body has about 60 trillion cells ( ). This complex system demonstrates the delicate balance between separate-

230 232 Our Universal Self ness and unity on the physical level. Each cell has an autonomic existence. It is born, grows and dies within the consciousness and energy field of the body. Otherwise it cannot survive. It is a part of the body. It is produced by the consciousness, which is creating and projecting the body and yet when it dies, the body does not suffer in the least. The consciousness, which is governing the body, supplies all the cell's needs for food, oxygen, hormones, enzymes, and antibodies; and even removes its waste products. The cell in turn lives and functions for the body. It does not live for itself, hoarding and competing with other cells (unless it is a cancerous cell). The cell's life and functions are totally dedicated to the whole of the body. The body, in return, through the cooperation of all its other healthy cells gives birth to, nurtures, protects and provides for the cell until its death. We are all cells given birth to by the one Universal Consciousness. We are provided for and protected and guided by that consciousness (even though we are consciously ignorant of this). We live, function, and evolve within this consciousness. As St. Paul said to the Athenians, «In Him we live and move and exist». When we live for the whole, serving and helping others, we are in harmony with this consciousness. When we grab, hoard and live in an ego-centered way, we are like cancerous cells in the body of humanity. Most people in fact live this way and we could say that humanity has a serious case of cancer. (I hope it is not terminal). Remember also that all those 60 trillion cells came from one cell in our mother's womb. One cell became cells, many of which have completely different functions. Each cell is separate and unique and yet connected with all the others through its creative source and its present motivating power. Thus the message of this chapter is clear: 1. There is one spiritual universal consciousness that is responsible

231 Appendix B 233 for all myriad forms and beings that exist in this Universe. 2. This consciousness continues to project itself as all those objects, beings and even the events that take place between them. 3. We are in reality not these bodies and personalities but rather that immortal consciousness which is both experiencing this material world and expressing itself through these bodies. 4. The purpose of life is to realize this Truth, dis-identify with the body and mind and once again experience ourselves as this Universal Consciousness free from physical, emotional and mental limitations. This is the Truth that Christ promised would set us free. In the next chapter we will discuss the basic ways in which this can be done.

232 234 Our Universal Self

233 Appendix C 235 APPENDIX C TECHNIQUES INSPIRED BY THE IMPERSONAL LIFE While reading and employing the concepts brought forth in the book "Impersonal Life", I was and am still guided to employ various techniques throughout the day; some of these continuously over the years, and others for shorter periods of time. They have been very helpful in bringing these truths into practical application in my daily life. They may also be useful to you. They have been designed, however, for those who already have some experience in meditation and deep relaxation techniques, as well as breathing techniques. If you are not experienced in these, then you would best find a school or teacher from whom you can learn the basics about these methods, and then after some time, employ these specific forms of concentration. I will be presenting these to you in the order in which they have come to me while reading the book. You may want to read the book again, a few pages a day while gradually employing one or two of these techniques in your daily life. 1. BRINGING THE TRUTH INTO THE PRESENT MOMENT This technique can be applied wherever you are, at various times of the day. Take a break from what you are doing for three minutes and look around you in a relaxed but totally conscious way with all of your

234 236 Our Universal Self awareness in the present moment. As your eyes fall on each object or being in your environment, stop for a few seconds and mentally repeat " I am the consciousness in that ( place here the name of the being or object)." In this way remind yourself that you are the inner consciousness of every being and object and event ( if you can imagine an event having a consciousness) that exist. Another perhaps more approachable phrase for some would to mentally repeat that " God is the consciousness in that (place the name of the being, event or object here). God is in that. Be sure to include whatever happens to be in your environment. Do not purposely focus for longer periods of time on certain beings or objects unless you feel negativity, or blocked feelings towards some being, and want to overcome these feelings by seeing God or your Self as the inner consciousness of that being. Do not purposely avoid employing the technique on specific persons, object or events. Practice this exercise in all environments, in all the rooms of your home, at work, on the road, in the city, in the countryside, when visiting relatives and friends. Do not let others, however, understand what you are doing. Do not be ostentatious about your spiritual practices. No one need know what you are doing. 2. FOUR MEDITATIONS There are four types of meditation which fit well with the teachings brought forth in this book. Each according to his or her particular mentality will find one or another more useful. Some may find that one attracts them in the beginning, and that after a while, another feels more suitable. If you are not experienced in meditation, then please do not try these until you have been introduced to the basics of meditation by an experienced teacher.

235 Appendix C 237 a. Offering it all up is probably the first method which will attract those who are still very much identified with the personality or are religiously oriented. As we sit in a meditative position, we bring into our mind the presence of God. Each will bring this presence in the way which suits him. Some Christians may imagine our Lord, Jesus Christ. others who belong to other religions may imagine the form worshipped by their religion. Others may prefer imagining a light with or without form. Still others may imagine an omnipresent energy or consciousness. All forms and non-forms are manifestations of the one Universal Being, and thus, whatever you chose is fine. Now begin to offer whatever comes into your mind to this Being. You may want to start by consciously offering those things to which you are most attached and which occupy your mind, and do not let you flow with life. These attachments and fears are a result of our lack of faith; and thus our inability to surrender all that we have and all our responsibilities to that One Universal Being. Surrender up, offer up all your objects and material possessions, let their fate be decided by this omniscient Being. Offer up your work and your professional responsibilities, as well as your success, and all the results of your efforts. Offer up your health and let this be decided by this Divine Being. Offer up your loved ones, your family, and their health, their happiness, their success, and their existence in your lives. Let the Supreme Being decide what is best to happen with respect to all this. Offer up your body, and your mind, and your life itself that they may be used by the Universal Self for Its purposes here on the Earth. Offering up all this does not mean that we stop working, or caring for our health, or providing for our families, or that we neglect our material possessions. We continue to live and work and provide as always. This is our function on the Earth; to bring harmony and happiness. But we offer up all the results of these efforts. We are saying something like, "God I am going to do what I think you want me to do and to provide for those whom you have given to me

236 238 Our Universal Self to provide for, but I leave all the results of these efforts to you, for I have complete faith in you, that you know best what is the best for our evolutionary process. I also realize that I as a personality am powerless in this world; and that the only power which exists is yours. Thus if something happens, it is because you allow it to happen. I accept whatever you allow to happen, because I have faith that you want the best for all of us and for our evolution and self-fulfillment. As you continue the meditation, let your mind be empty and when any thoughts, or pains, or feelings come into awareness, offer them up to God. Offer up even the effort and the results of your meditation. Offer up the process of offering up. Place everything in God s hands and be at peace. b. Be Still - and Know - I Am - God is the message of this book and the second type of meditation. You will have understood how this is done by now. Sit silently, motionlessly and speak mentally to your body and mind reminding them that there is no need for them to have tension, or to think because you are the Universal Being; and all is fine and all will be taken care of perfectly and divinely by the Divine Being. Every time the body tenses, or the mind starts thinking, remind them that they do not need to do anything at all. You are Universal Consciousness in all beings, objects and situations; and all is under Divine control. They can relax, let go and be at peace. They can now be absolutely still - motionless. Remember that there is no time, no space, that you are immortal and omnipresent and beyond all needs, problems and efforts. Just keep remembering your true identity. c. Be Still in the Energy Centers is an expansion on the previous meditation. We use the same phrase in the same way, but in combination with concentration on the energy centers and their motives. There will not be space here to go into an explanation concerning the ener-

237 Appendix C 239 gy centers or centers of consciousness. (For more information see our books "The Psychology of Happiness" and "The Art of Meditation".) As we focus on each center for one or more repetitions of our phrase "Be Still - and - and Know - I Am - God", we simultaneously bring to mind the consequences which this may mean to that center. This can be done three times moving up and down the centers of consciousness repeating one to three times the phrase in each center as we think about what this means in terms of that center. Then we could go on to any of the other types of meditation. Thus, in a sense, this is simply a method of introduction into deeper forms of meditation. This might be considered a reflection exercise. An example of what one might reflect on each center: 1. Security center: Since I am God, there is no danger, no need to think about my safety or survival. I am all beings, even those whom I fear. I am the cause of all events. All danger is illusion, as is the possibility of not surviving, for I am immortal. I can be at peace. I can let go. 2. Pleasure center: I desire that which I do not have. But all beings are my beings, all objects, my objects. All is within me. I am fulfillment in all beings. I am what I am desiring in the form of other persons, objects and experiences. I am searching for myself in all that. All things are within me. I am fulfillment. I am at peace. 3. Affirmation center: I am all beings. I am God. I am worthy in all situations. I am the consciousness in all beings. There is no need for competition. Their affirmation is mine. Their happiness is mine. Their success is mine. I am divine. I am the goodness and power of the universe. I can stop trying to prove myself. I can be at peace. 4. Love center: I am all beings. I am those whom I love and those whom until now I do not love. I am in love with myself for it is myself in the other being with whom I am infatuated. Thus all beings are one and there is only one Lover and one beloved. I am all. I love all. I am at peace.

238 240 Our Universal Self 5. Affluence center: I am the Universal Consciousness in all beings and objects. All is mine to be used for the welfare of all. All bodies are mine; and thus my need to help all around me for their bodies are as much mine as this one I am sitting is. All will be given to me to manifest my purpose of serving the whole. All the powers of nature are available to me for that purpose. I can be assured of that. I can be at peace. 6. Witness center: I am the consciousness in all beings. I am the witness the inner being in all. I do not need to think. All knowledge will be supplied at the moment I need it. There is no need for thinking or planning. All will be given. I am omniscient always guided by the truth at every moment. 7. Unity - bliss center: I am the Divine Being. I am all. I am Bliss. I am God. d. Not this, Not This is the fourth type of meditation. Here we are searching for our real identity, our real self who is witnessing all these phenomena of life for so many years. Who I am? Or what am I? This is the question and I am searching inwardly to find my Real Self. There is a catch here, however. I cannot be something which I can perceive. We are able to see something, only because we are something other than that and are separate from it, and thus able to see it. An eye cannot see itself, except for the illusionary reflection of itself in the mirror. For thousands of years we have been seeing the illusionary reflection of our real self in the body and personality. Since I am able to watch and analyze the functioning of my mind, personality and thoughts, then I cannot be them. I am something separate and more aware of them in order to observe them. In the same way I cannot be my emotions, desires, fears, expectations. I cannot be my physical pains. I cannot be my senses, or even my tiredness, my happiness, my suffering or even my searching for my Real Self, because all of these I see from some other vantage point from which I watch and witness.

239 Appendix C 241 Sit and dismiss every thought, feeling, pain, need, sensation or whatever passes into the mind as "not myself". Mentally step upwards and back out of your identification with that remembering that "I am not that". Continue witnessing and detaching yourself from every object of awareness, until your consciousness becomes totally pure, at peace - still. A Few Words About the Four Meditations Although these meditation techniques start out with specific phrases which might be repeated mentally, as time passes, we may not experience these phrases as words which we are repeating but rather as automatic supermental movements which release the mind from its identification with some aspect of the mind. If this happens, then do not feel obliged to bring the phrase to a conscious level of repetition. If you prefer to repeat it consciously then this is fine, but if you feel that this draws you outward towards a more surface and physical awareness with less stillness, then allow the phrase to work more subtly as a supermental energy which simply nullifies thoughts, pains or any other mental movements when they appear. This is similar to the evolution which we experience in our ability to drive a car or play the piano. At first we must think about and make each movement consciously. After some time something higher within us take over and we are able to make these movements automatically without conscious effort. 3.DOUBLE SEEING In this technique, we learn to look simultaneously out at the external world and at the inner witness of all phenomena. When you are looking at some being or object or event, and while you are totally in the present with all your concentration on that which you are observing, then look inward and try to find the consciousness which is looking out, who is watching, witnessing. Seek to find that point of your be-

240 242 Our Universal Self ing from which you are looking out. We are trying to experience our Selves, our highest being who is the observer of all. This is especially pleasant to do while in nature, but can be done anywhere, but not while driving or operating machinery. 4. SEEING OUR SELVES IN THE OTHER This exercise requires a partner. You sit with your spines straight, face to face as close as possible, without touching physically. Start with your eyes closed. Concentrate inwardly, and with the help of your breathing, straighten your spine even more and relax your body. Relax especially your face muscles, cheeks, eyes and forehead. After about five minutes when you both feel relaxed and concentrated begin to feel the presence of the other opposite to you. As you feel his/her presence remember that the Impersonal Self is sitting opposite you, that behind that face and those eyes is God, the Universal Being. Now you open your eyes together (you could set some type of signal). As you look into each other s left eye, see beyond the face and personality the eternal consciousness which is temporarily living in that body. Allow your mind to transcend all attributes such as age, sex, appearance, character, or any previous experience which you have with this person. Connect with that pure consciousness which is behind those eyes. Allow your own face and eyes to be open and clear. Let the other see within you. Let go of all shame or guilt, and feel open and allow the other see all parts of your being. Cultivate feelings of love and acceptance without any conditions whatsoever. Feel unity with the other. Imagine that the other is your own self. As you look into his or her eyes, remember that the same consciousness is living in both bodies; that the consciousness which is looking out of your eyes, is the same which is looking out of his or hers. There is only one Impersonal Consciousness which is looking

241 Appendix C 243 out of both sets of eyes at it self. You are looking at yourself. Allow this unity to continue as long as you both feel comfortable, but I would suggest that you not surpass twenty minutes at first. These various realizations should be imagined and experienced in stages. You may want to have someone read out these instructions slowly, leaving time after each instruction for it to be experienced (about three to five minutes), or you might want to make a cassette tape to guide you. The other possibility is for you both to have these truths in your mind and focus on them silently while looking at the other. 5. NO TIME - NO SPACE - NO INDIVIDUALITY We have now realized from our reading that our greatest obstacle is our belief in time, space and individuality. They create fear and anxiety. We feel danger from others and danger that we will not accomplish what we need to in time. Every time you observe that you are feeling fear or anxiety remember these truths. When you are feeling fear remember that all is your Impersonal Self, that there is no other in this universe. Whoever or whatever may be around you is nothing else than your own Impersonal Self in another form. See every being and object as a part of your own Impersonal Being. When you feel anxiety remember that you are eternal and the there is no time. Remember that anything that you will ever do will disappear any way. This does not mean that we should not be productive and creative, but that there is no need for anxiety. All of our actions and responsibilities have only one purpose (use), to facilitate our awakening and manifestation of our real self. When you are worrying about time, remember how many times you were not able to complete something and what happened - nothing; the world continued. It will always continue. You will always continue. Remember there is no time.

242 244 Our Universal Self

243 Appendix D 245 Appendix D THE INCARNATION OF GOD VS. THE FORMLESS GOD THE PARADOX Throughout recorded history, men have argued about whether God can take a form or not. Some people choose to worship God as a form, or through a form, such as the image of Jesus the Christ. Others prefer to think of God as the Omniscient, Omnipresent, Omnipotent, formless Presence that fills the universe. Such questions cannot be solved through rational thinking and argumentation. No matter how much discussion may take place, one's beliefs finally come down to a matter of conditioning and faith. All religions clearly state that God is far beyond all description and mental understanding. Yet some religions maintain that this infinite being can in fact make Himself (Herself, or Itself) into a human body and incarnate on the earth for the purpose of correcting the ways of humanity which has lost its way on the evolutionary path. This is the concept of the God-man such as Jesus the Christ. Most Christians believe that Jesus was the only God-man who ever existed. The Hindus accept Jesus Christ as a God-man and often quote from his teachings. But they also believe that there were and will be other God-men, whom they call «Avatars». The two most recent incarnations of God in India according to them were Rama and Krishna. Many people today believe that Sathya Sai Baba, who presently lives in India, is an Avatar. Others believe that other teachers are Avatars.

244 246 Our Universal Self These beliefs cannot be argued. Each has a right to believe, or not believe, according to his logic, conditioning, experience and faith. It is not important whether we are devoted to one or another God-man. It is important that we live according to their teachings, which all agree that love for our neighbors and ourselves is the path towards freedom. All ask us to treat others as we would like them to treat us. Sathya Sai Baba says: «There is only one religion, the religion of love». It is quite impossible for us to understand a God-man. For he operates outside the laws which confine the human mind. He operates outside the restrictions of time and space. Remember the story about the monk walking along the sand at the sea. Remember the boy's innocent but wise answer, «Yes, Father, and do you see that you cannot fit the infinite God into your finite mind?» The oriental and western mystical approach is to give up trying to understand God and to open up to experiencing Him. For this we need to get out of the mind and into the heart, through prayer, chanting, spiritual dance, selfless service, love and meditation. The temptation is always there, however, to explain how a God-man can be both a universal being and a man at the same time. In some cases the presence of the physical form of the God-man prevents us from being able to experience the all-pervading universal spirit which is in all beings. The form of this divine person blinds us to His true universal nature. Jesus told us many times that He is in us and that we are in Him. He told His disciples that it is better for Him to go away so that the Helper (the Holy Spirit) could come to them and guide them. As long as Jesus' physical form was with them, they were unable to perceive the Christ Consciousness within themselves. After Jesus' form ascended they were filled with the awareness of the Holy Spirit within themselves. How can we bridge this concept of a man being both God and man at the same time? The following model, accompanied by an illustration may be useful to us in creating some type of mental image, which

245 Appendix D 247 somewhat «resolves» this paradox. We will be using the same diagram No.3 which we used in the second chapter. We are reproducing it here to expedite your reference to the diagram. THE DIVINE WELL AND THE DIVINE LAKE Diagram No. 3 THE DIVINE UNDERGROUND LAKE AND ITS WELLS Imagine that there is a field with thousands of different types of wells (representing individual beings). Underneath this field, deep under the earth, there is a great infinite subterranean Lake (God) which supplies all the wells with water (Life force). There are certain seasons or periods of time when the wells become rather dry or full of debris. They do not have the depth required to reach down to the level of the Divine Lake. Thus they dry up and seek to find whatever water they can from the surface of the field or from other wells. Unfortunately, however, the field is completely dry and very few wells have the sufficient depth required to reach any water available. The little water that these few wells have may be of some help to a few wells close by them, but not for all the wells.