REALIZATION OF INDIVIDUALITY
No great mystic ever lived who denied the reality of individuality. The higher the sense of Truth, the greater will be the realization of the uniqueness of individual character and personality. The Real Self is God-given and cannot be denied; it is the place where God comes to a point of Individualized and Personified Expression, and should be thought of in this light. "I am the Light of the world."
NORMALCY
All mystics have been normal people, that is, they have lived just as other people have lived. The only difference has been that they have sensed a greater Reality; namely, the Presence of the Living Spirit. The true mystic in every age has come into the world of affairs and lived among men, sometimes as a teacher, and sometimes in the ordinary walks of life, but always in a perfectly natural way. There is nothing peculiar or strange about a mystic. People who shroud themselves in a cloak of mystery are not true mystics but are laboring under mental delusions and subjective hallucinations. They may be sincere in their beliefs, but they are none the less wrong in their methods. It is a question if a real mystic would even realize that he is a mystic. He would be more liable to think of himself simply as one who understands that he is One with the Whole.
THE GREAT LIGHT
It is impossible, perhaps, to put into words or into print what a mystic sometimes sees, and it is as hard to believe it as it is to put it into words. But there is a certain inner sense which, at times, sees Reality in a flash which illuminates the whole being with a great flood of light. This, too, might seem an illusion unless the testimony were complete; for every mystic has had this experience; but some have had it to a greater degree than others. Jesus was the greatest of all the mystics; and once, at least, after a period of illumination, His face was so bright that His followers could not look upon it.
In moments of deepest realization the great mystics have sensed that One Life flows through ALL; and that all are some part of that Life. They have also seen Substance, a fine, white, brilliant stuff, forever falling into everything; a Substance, indestructible and eternal. At times, the realization has been so complete that they have been actually blinded by the light. There are instances where for several days after such an experience, the one having it could not see on the physical plane; for he had seen the Inner Light. Remember, all this takes place when in a perfectly normal state of mind and has nothing whatever to do with the psychic state. It is not an illusion but a reality; and it is during these periods that real revelation comes. Perhaps a good illustration would be to suppose a large group of people in a room together, but unaware of each other's presence; each is busy with his own personal affairs. We will suppose the place to be dark and that some one comes in and takes a flash-light picture of the room and its occupants. Should this picture be shown to anyone who was in the room before it was taken, it might be hard for him to believe that all of the objects in the picture were actually in the room. This is, of course, a poor analogy, but it does serve to elucidate a point. In flashes of illumination, the inspired have seen INTO THE VERY CENTER OF REALITY, and have brought back with them a picture of what they have seen and felt. Again, we know that this has not been an illusion or simply a subjective hallucination, for each age has had its mystics, and every age has produced the same results. ALL HAVE SEEN THE SAME THING. The testimony is complete and the evidence is certain.
WHAT THE MYSTICS HAVE TAUGHT ABOUT THE INDIVIDUAL
All of the great mystics have taught practically the same thing. They have all agreed that the soul is on the pathway of experience, that is, of self-discovery; that it is on its way back to its Father's House; and that every soul will ultimately reach its Heavenly Home. They have taught the Divinity to Man. "I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High." They have told us that man's destiny is Divine and sure; and that Creation is Complete and Perfect NOW. The great mystics have all agreed that man's life is his to do with as he chooses; but that when he turns to "The One," he will always receive inspiration form On High.
They have told us of the marvelous relationship which exists between God and man, of a close Union that cannot be broken; and the greatest of the mystics have consciously walked with God and talked with Him, just as we talk to each other. It is difficult to realize how this could be; it is hard to understand how a Being, so Universal as God must be, can talk with man; here, alone, the mystic sense reveals the greater truth and knows that, Infinite as is the Divine Being, It is still Personal to all who believe in Its Presence. It is entirely possible for a man to talk with the Spirit; for the Spirit is within men, and "He who made the ears" can hear.
INSTINCT AND INTUITION
That quality in an animal which directs its action and tells it where to go to find food and shelter, we call instinct. It is, really, Omniscience in the animal. The same quality, more highly developed, makes its appearance in man; and is what we call intuition. Intuition is God in man, revealing to him the Realities of Being; and just as instinct guides the animal, so would intuition guide man, if he would allow it to operate through him. Here again, we must be careful not to mistake a psychic impression for an intuitive one. Psychic impressions seek to control man; intuition always remains in the background and waits for his recognition. "Behold, I stand at the door."
All arbitrary control of man stopped as soon as he was brought to a point of self-knowingness. From this point he must discover himself; but intuition, which is nothing less than God in man, silently awaits his recognition and cooperation. The Spirit is always there if we could but sense Its Presence. Mystics have felt this wonderful power working from within, and have responded to it; and, as a sure evidence that they were not laboring under delusions, they have all sensed the same thing; had the impressions been psychic only, each would have seen and sensed a different thing; for each would have seen through the darkness of his own subjective mentality.
ILLUMINATION AND COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS
There is such an experience as Illumination and Cosmic Consciousness; It is not a mystery, however, but is the Self-Knowingness of God through man. The more complete the operation of that Power, the more complete has been man's conscious mentality; for the illumined do not become less, but more themselves. The greater the consciousness of God, the more complete must be the realization of the True Self,—The Divine Reality.
Illumination will come as man more and more realizes his Unity with the Whole; and as he constantly endeavors to let the Truth operate through him. But since the Whole is at the point of the Inner Mentality, it will be here alone that he will contact It. "Speak to Him, thou, for He hears."
The only God man knows is the God of his own Inner Life; indeed, he can know no other. To assume that man can know a God outside himself is to assume that he can know something of which he is not conscious. This does not mean that man is God; it means that the only God man knows is within. The only place that man contacts God is within; and the only life man has is from within. God is not external, but is Indwelling, at the very center of man's life. This is why Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven is within, and why He prayed, "Our Father Which art in Heaven."
THE HIGHEST PRACTICE
The highest mental practice is to listen to this Inner Voice and to declare for Its Presence. The greater a man's consciousness of this Indwelling I AM is, the more power he will have. This will never lead to illusion but will always lead to Reality. All great souls have known this and have constantly striven to let the Mind of God come out through their mentalities. "The Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works." This was the declaration of the great Master, and it should be ours also; not a limited sense of life but a limitless one.
THE POWER OF JESUS
The occult significance of the power of Jesus is easily understood when we study His method of procedure. Consider His raising of Lazarus from the dead. He stood at the tomb and gave thanks; this was recognition. He next said, "I Knew that Thou hearest me always"; this was unification; then
He said, "Lazarus, come forth"; this was command. The method is perfect and we will do well to study and follow it. This method can be used in all treatment. First, realize that Divine Power Is; then unify with It, and then speak the word as "one having authority," for the Law is "the servant of the Eternal Spirit throughout all the ages."
TURNING WITHIN
We should turn within, then, as have all of those great souls who have blessed the world with their presence; we should turn within and FIND GOD. It should seem natural to turn to the Great Power back of everything; it should seem normal to believe in this Power; and we should have a sense of a Real Presence when we do turn toward the One and Only Power in the entire Universe. This method is by far the most effective. It gives a sense of power that nothing else can, and, in this way, proves that it is a Reality. It would be a wonderful experiment if the world would try to solve all of its problems through the power of Spirit. Indeed the time will come when every one will, "From the highest...to the lowest."
A sense of real completion can come only to that soul which realizes its Unity with the Great Whole. Man will never be satisfied until his whole being responds to this thought, and then, indeed, "Will God go forth anew into Creation."
"To as many as believed gave He the Power."
Lesson Five: The Perfect Whole
The threefold Universe, with all of Its attributes, interspheres Itself. We find the Spirit, or Conscious Mind, the Soul or Subconscious Mind, and the Body, which is the manifestation of the union of Spirit and Soul, simultaneously present at every point. This chart represents the Indivisible Whole, within which are all of Its parts; the Absolute, within which is the relative; the Uncreated, within which is all Creation.
Creation is the giving of form to the Substance of Spirit. Spirit, being All and Only, there is nothing for It to change into but Itself; therefore, It is the Changeless, within which must take place all change or manifestation of Itself. Change is simply motion within Life.
The Infinite, of Itself, is Formless, but within It are contained all of the forms which are the expressions or the outlines of Its experiences.
Spirit is the Limitless, within which is all space; Spirit is Timeless, within which is all time. "Time is the sequence of events in a Unitary Whole." Creation and experience are eternally going on, but a particular experience is measured by time and has a beginning and an end.
The big circle represents the Universal, within which is the individual; the One Person within Whom are all people. There is really but One Person in the Universe; but within this One Person all people live, "for in Him we live, and move, and have our being." It is the Source and center of all Life, Power, Action, Truth, Love, Mind, Spirit, the Ever and the All. It is, of course, God.
INDIVIDUALITY
The point within the big circle represents the personality and individuality of man, indicating that he is a center in the Divine Mind or God.
Man is the Personification of the Infinite Life; and so we place, just above this point and on the inside of it, "The Son"; and just above this (with no line to divide them) are written the words, "Our Father which art in Heaven," taken from the Lord's Prayer. There is no difference between God, the Absolute, which is Our Father in Heaven, and the Son, so far as actual Being is concerned. The Son is simply a point where God recognizes Himself as Personality or Individualized Being. It is within that we find the Unity of God and man; there is no separation.
Man, having his existence in the Unitary Whole, which is Indivisible, is compelled to accept the fact that his life is God or Spirit; but to say that man is God, which is equivalent to saying that any part equals the whole, is to contradict logic and reason, and limit the Limitless Idea. It is enough to say that we are at one with the Whole. It is both within and without. In perhaps a more liberal sense we could say man is in God; immersed in God; saturated with God. God permeates all life, and in man we find that this Infinite Mind or Intelligence comes to a point of Individualized Self-Consciousness.
Theoretically, we believe that the personality which we possess is on the pathway of self-discovery; for everything bears witness to this belief; as fast as we discover any truth, it is there to use. We never create Truth—we discover and use It. We believe, then, that as man continuously unfolds his personality, he will find latent capacities of which he has never dreamed.
FURTHER EVOLUTION
Since his whole life is the unfoldment of intelligence, according to law, man can only evolve as he recognizes greater possibilities—there could be no other way. The arbitrary process of evolution ceased when man became an individual; and any further evolution will be through self-recognition; but back of him is the whole of Life surging to express Itself. This is what is known as the Divine Urge. It is that Instinctive, Omniscient "I am" in man, always pushing him on and up; but It can only express for him as It flows through him. That person has the greatest power who the most completely recognizes himself to be one with this Infinite Mind. That is why Jesus said: "I speak not of myself" (it is not this individualized point); "but the Father that dwelleth in Me" (that is, God, our Father, Which is in Heaven); "He doeth the works."
The evolution of man, which is the unfoldment of Spirit through his personality, will be more complete when his objective and subjective faculties are more perfectly balanced; that is, when he has conscious control of the spiritual forces which surge for expression. The psychological nature has to change somewhat, and the subjective tendencies that hinder the Whole from coming to a point of conscious contact must be neutralized. This would produce illumination or the consciousness of his Unity with the Whole.
In treatment, we work until we penetrate the false thought within and break through to Reality. There is no limitation, either in Infinite Intelligence or in Infinite Law. The whole limitation which we experience is not, of itself, a reality or an entity, but is simply one of the forms within the formless which we are outlining.
THE TRUTH IS KNOWN
Our conscious intelligence is as much of Life as we understand. We have stopped looking for the Spirit, because we have found It; It is what you are and It is what I am; we could not be anything else if we tried. The thing that we look with is the thing that we have been looking for. That is why it is written: "I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High." We have stopped looking for the Law. We have found It. In the Universe we call It the Universal Subjectivity or Soul; in our own experience we call It the subjective state of our thought, which is our individual use of Universal Law. We have found the Law and demonstrated It. We find that both the Law and the Spirit are Limitless. What is it that we need for a greater freedom? Nothing but a greater realization of what we already know.
We should never hesitate to say that we know the Truth, because we do; for the realization of the Unity of God and man is the Truth. We simply need a greater realization of this. How are we to get it? Only by penetrating deeper and yet deeper into our own Divine Nature; pushing farther and farther back into the Infinite. Where are we to do that? There is no place except within that we can do it. Who is to do it for us? No one. No one can. People can heal us; they can set the Law in motion for us and help us to become prosperous;—that is good and helpful; but the evolution of the individual, the unfoldment of personality, the enlightenment of the Soul, the illumination of Spirit, can come only to the degree that the individual himself purposes to let Life operate through him. "Let this Mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." This is the Mind of God,—the only Mind,—the Supreme Intelligence of the Universe.
THE ANSWER IS IN MAN
The answer to every question is within man, because man is within Spirit and Spirit is an Indivisible Whole. The solution to every problem is within man; the healing of all disease is within man; the forgiveness of all sin is within man; the raising of the dead is within man; Heaven is within man. That is why Jesus prayed to this indwelling "I am" and said: "Our Father Which art in Heaven." He also said: "The Kingdom of God is
within you."
Each of us, then, represents the Whole. How should we feel toward the Whole? In the old order, we thought of the Whole as a sort of mandatory power, an autocratic government, an arbitrary God, sending some to Heaven and some to hell; and "all for His glory." Now we are much more enlightened and we realize that there can be no such a Divine Being. We have meditated upon the vastness of the Universe of Law, and we have said: "God is Law; there is a Divine Principle Which is God." In the new order, we are liable to fall into as great an error as the old thought fell into, unless we go much deeper than thinking of God simply as Principle. God is more than Law or Principle. God is the Infinite Spirit, the Limitless, Conscious Life of the Universe; the One Infinite Person within Whom all people live. The Law is simply a Force.
GOD—INFINITE PERSONALITY
God or Spirit is Supreme, Infinite, Limitless Personality. And we should think of the Divine Being as such—as completely responsive to everything we do. There should come to us a sense of communion, a spontaneous sense of Irresistible Union. If we had that, we would demonstrate instantaneously.
An evolved soul is always a worshiper of God. He worships God in everything; for God is in everything. God not only is in everything, but He is more than everything He is in. "Ye are the light of the world"; —that is, God in us. All that we are is God; yet God is more than all we are.
The nearer consciousness gets to the Truth, the more Cosmic sweep it has, the more power it has. Angels wait upon individuals who perceive Cosmic Purposes and Powers, because the Whole is crowding forth into expression. Let a man recognize a Cosmic Purpose, which is the expression of Life, Truth and Love; let his thought vibrate to the higher and grander realization of life, and see how—automatically—he becomes more powerful.
The Science of Mind Page 17