THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES

5. Spiritual Substance

That which is held in mind comes into form. The more that we hold in mind the beauty, the permeating essence, and the infinity of Substance, the more does its perfection come into perfect form for us.

Therefore, it is most important to learn to establish the realisation of the basic divine ideas rather than to use the limited intellectual concepts of manifest man’s habits of thought.

Paul taught us that Substance is Omnipresence. That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him though he be not far from every one of us; For in him we live, move, and have our being…Acts 17:27-28.

In this invisible sea of Substance, man is always near, within and all around him. It must make us aware of our divine nature to realise this Truth.

In the 139th Psalm, we have another lesson on the invisible, limitless Substance, out of which all things are formed. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvellous are thy works; and that your soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest part of the earth.

Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. – Psalms 139; 14-16.

These verses of the Psalm point out the invisible waiting Substance in which the perfect pattern of the One Mind inheres. All is contained in the limitless, spiritual Substance. It is formless and comes into form according to the habitual thinking and feeling and visioning of man.

When we accept the idea of Substance as Omnipresence, we know that there is nothing to fear; that there is no lack, in reality; that we need not be anxious, weak, ill, or poor, or lonely. We know that consistent holding to the ideal brings forth ideal results. Substance is moulded by our thought fingers. However, as we continue our study of Truth principles, we realise more and more that we, as humans, have no right to manipulate people or conditions.

We learn that the quality of creative goodness always responds to our vision of Truth, and so we place our effort on the envisioning of the divine attributes and our oneness with Spirit. Expectancy of good brings the Substance into form as needed. That is the glory and the wonder of the basic creative activity.

Bread is the symbol of Substance. In the Lord’s Prayer, in the feeding of the multitudes when Jesus broke the bread available to have it increase to sufficiency, and in the Last Supper when He asked the disciples to partake of bread naming it “my body”, we are shown the truth that Substance is the reality out of which all things are formed.

Form, however, does not refer to material objects only. We must remember that man is a threefold being, Spirit, soul and body. Each aspects of his being must be nourished and sustained so that he may express and manifest the divine ideal. Therefore, within Substance are the ideas needed for the orderly, subtle qualities of harmony, of envisioning, of power; within Substance, are the qualities of life and strength, of vitality, and beauty; within Substance are the component elements that make for prosperity, for abundance of supply, for achievement, and security.

Man’s soul is fed through his acceptance of Spiritual Substance as the living reality within him, and thus he gives more room to Spirit, the eternal identity of his being. Spirit never changes. It rests with man to expand his consciousness of the Presence, in order to permit more and more of the divine essence to come forth.

And so we understand that we include, in the Divine Attributes, the infinity and the all-ness of God. So we include Omniscience as the all-knowing Wisdom that God is. We include Omnipotence as the only Power, the One Power in the creation, and we understand that Omnipresence is God. There is no place outside of God. God, the One Mind, Spirit, permeates the whole creation as Omnipresence.

Now it rests with the individual to make these attributes living realities through study, quite meditation and prayer. When we give our earnest attention, Spirit fulfils.


End




Source: Faith and Works by Helen Zagat

THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES

5. Spiritual Substance

God is substance. Spiritual Substance is spiritual energy, emanating from God-Mind in creative activity. Spiritual Substance is the idea of all-ness in Divine Mind. It is the real out of which all things in the creation are formed.

We have accepted the truth that God is Mind and that Divine-Mind is all; but, for, many people, there remains a vague doubt or puzzlement as to how the eternal verity can be transformed into the minutiae of our daily needs in our little human lives.

At this point, let us be clear as to the real meaning of substance. We must make the distinction between the use of the word in the popular, worldly sense, and the metaphysical meaning. We are not using the word, substance, to designate a material manifestation, such as “an object made of a hard, shiny substance. Spiritual Substance is invisible to the five senses of man.

Spiritual Substance is invisible Mind-Energy, or Mind-Essence. It is the reality within the creation, either the invisible or the visible creation. Substance is that out of which all things are formed. It is the reality back of and within every visible form or expression in the creation. It is ever in process of movement. It is responsive to the pressure of man’s thoughts and feeling. That is why it is important for man to train his essential thinking patterns, and his emotions.

Spiritual Substance is really Omnipresence. It is the “body of God,” or the permeating essence. In this Substance inhere all the basic, creative ideas in Divine Mind. All that is needed is within the invisible, shimmering, radiant Substance. It is swift and unfailing in its response to man’s call of faith.

The comprehension of the attribute of Substance can be the key that opens the gate to the living of life in the miracle way. It is most important to probe beneath even what is called “deep meaning”. When we open our minds to Divine Wisdom, we receive revelation of truth to the consciousness. By meditation and receptivity, we are shown the true meaning.

Thus we receive a vivid realization of our connection with the Infinite and with the divine attributes.

Man has not recognised Substance because his thought has been centred on effect instead of cause; on the manifestation in matter instead of on the idea back of manifestation.

The truth is that Substance is the reality. We can comprehend this more vividly when we examine the Scriptures with understanding.

We have already referred to the book of Genesis, chapters one and two. And we find that Jesus proved the reality of the invisible Substance continually, as He taught and ministered to the people. In the fourth Chapter of the book of John, He tried to bring the truth of Substance to the attention of His disciples; Say ye, there are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. John 4:35. In this lesson, we see the meaning of Substance. All is ever waiting in the invisible, ready to come into form, according to the visioning of man. This visioning is above the psychological faculty of visualizing, which deals with the picturing of material things.

To envision the divine Principle is to make at-one-ment with Spirit. Then the perfection of Spirit works in us and through us and for us. The manifestation is greater than that which can think.

When we have a true comprehension of the invisible, omnipresent Substance, our underneath feeling and thinking mold the Substance in a general way, for the manifestation of good. There are times to be specific. For instance, one knows that one needs to meet obligations in our world, or that one wants health, or harmony in certain situations, or inspiration for achievement in creating work. Then give thanks that the invisible Substance, in which all divine ideas inhere, comes into manifestation to meet every good need and more.

That which is held in mind comes into form. The more that we hold in mind the beauty, the permeating essence, and the infinity of Substance, the more does its perfection come into perfect form for us.

Spiritual Substance, Divine Attribute to be continued………





Source: Faith and Works by Helen Zagat

THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES

4. POWER

God is Power. Divine Mind moving on itself generates power. There is only one Power. This is the power in the creation. It propels ideas into manifestation. Without power, there would be no manifestation. Faith, love, wisdom, life, requires power and strength to fulfil their offices in the creation.

The human consciousness must accept power in its divine aspect, in order to achieve results on life’s pathway. But there must be the realisation that there is only one power-God –Power. This power is good and only good. Any manifestation of power used evilly is the result of man’s mistaken use of free will and of the power to think. For instance, both the inventor and the counterfeiter use the one power.

The counterfeiter misuses that power for selfish ends; the inventor lets the power work through him for good purposes.

There is the good use of power, and there is the false use of power resulting in tyranny and dictatorships.

Jesus said: All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Matthew 28:18. We understand this to mean that when we unify with the Christ Mind, we can receive the flow of power in thought, and on earth which represents our body and circumstances.

With the realisation that God is all, and that God is Power, we begin to feel the glory of Omnipotence – All-Power. We know, with unshakable conviction that there is nothing to fear, that that Power, used with the attributes of Love and Wisdom, must bring forth vitality of expression in the soul; strength in body; active idea-patterns leading only to the good; and splendid achievement. In this power lies healing for ourselves and for others.

The word is empowered when we let divine power flow through us, balanced by the perfect activity of the law of being.

In the fortieth chapter of Isaiah, we find a vivid presentation of the principle as it is to be applied to the individual.

Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgement is passed over from my God?

Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding.

He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint. – Isaiah 40;27-29; 31.

We have the admonition to hold to the truth that God is always with us, within us, and all around us; that God is the Creator, the only Power. In realising our oneness with God, we partake of power to do all things. This power applies to our thinking, to our good judgement, to our visioning of ideals, to our bodies and to our circumstances.

We are the channels when we are receptive, and when we have faith in the One Presence and the One Power as the real activity within us.

End of Power Divine Attribute


Next……… Spiritual Substance Attribute



Source: Faith and Works by Helen Zagat

DIVINE ATTRIBUTES

3. Divine Love continued…..


We know that through the magnet of Divine Love, we draw to us our own. We know that each one can receive his own. There is no limit in the Infinite.

Therefore, underneath currents of jealousy, of competitive anxieties, or of aggressiveness are washed away. Divine Love moves serenely through each life and through each situation to bring forth abundance of good.

The practice must be consistent. Learn to substitute the quiet peace of Love for troublesome feelings and emotions and thoughts. Thus we bend the mind and the feeling nature. Our whole being is truly transformed. We draw to us different conditions. We are safe and secure. Divine Love is a potent working force.

It is important to combine our study of the attribute of Wisdom with Love, in order to establish a balance. Wisdom deals with our power to think; Love with the feeling nature. If one or the other is over-emphasised, we are not in balance in our consciousness. The two working together help to give us a strong realisation of faith in the Presence. Should we try to acquire Truth principles in the intellect alone, or by hold to “Wisdom alone, we would not establish the full consciousness of our divine oneness. Should we try to over-emphasise the feeling aspect of faith, we’ll be thrown out of balance. So it important to let the two attributes have a combined place in our consciousness.

Moses gave the commandments as laws, impressing them with the attitude of ‘thou shalt not.’ He gave the commandment; Thou shall have no other gods before me, Ex. 20:3 and Deut. 5:7, as the first commandment.

When the Pharisees questioned Jesus to test Him, He said that the great commandment is this; - Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all they heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love they neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matthew 22; 37-40.

Here we find the lesson for us. Love is the greatest power. Within the law of Mind-creation is Love to equalise, to harmonise, and to fulfil. In addition, Jesus shows us that we, the human manifest man, are divine at our central point. To love our neighbour as ourselves is to acknowledge the harmonious oneness of Spirit, and to act on this Truth. We are all one in Spirit, though there are many individualisations. “The waves are many but the sea is one.”

In the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy, we find Moses enlarging his teaching to include love for God. However, he did not make this precept an integral part of the Ten Commandments. So we can understand that we are seeing the soul’s unfoldment from the Adam, through the Moses consciousness, to the heights of the Christ consciousness. Moses gave us the law. Jesus Christ gave us the fulfilment through at-one-ment with Divine Love. Love is the fulfilling of the law through the harmonious action of Divine Mind and its attributes.

Moses, in his emphasis on the law, gave us the law of cause and effect as being paramount. In the forgiving love of Jesus Christ, we find the law of divine grace, as rising above the law of cause-and-effect.

For the greatness of leadership of Moses there is a place in the progress of the soul. However, we can rise to the heights of the kingdom of God consciousness through the realisation of the Christ ideal, the Son-of God consciousness.

Jesus taught us that the law of grace works for us when we turn with our whole being to God. He showed us a Creator and a creation of love. We need only turn, and we shall receive blessings. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Luke 12;31-32.

In the parable of the Prodigal Son, Jesus taught us that the forgiving love of the Father is awaiting our turning in consciousness. The father did not even wait for the prodigal son to reach the house when he was returning in rags, after wasting all his patrimony on riotous living. The father saw him from afar off, and came forward to meet him lovingly and joyously, bearing gifts of clothing with the son needed. Jesus taught that we do not have to supplicate nor recite a list of our troubles. “The Father knoweth ye have need of these things.’

The essential point for us to understand is that we must turn. Many people do not understand what the turning means. It means that we must lift our thought and feeling from the appearances of difficulty, from belief in trouble and lack, from fears and doubts; and that we give our whole being unreservedly to Spirit, with quiet faith that Divine Love dissolves all obstacles and acts as the magnet to draw our good. It means that we turn to the beauty of God and contemplate the glory of the creation . It means that we are willing to acknowledge God as the Father, as the Lord that acts, as the Source of all-good.

In moments of darkness, hold to the Truth that Divine Love is the greatest force in the world. You will receive. This is the law of grace.

Grace is the free gift of God. It is the working of Divine Love, above the law of cause-and-effect. The condition for receiving peace and joy and fulfilment is our turning with faith. God does not question. God knows the heart, so we must learn to practice the realisation of Love and Wisdom, to be in the consciousness of Truth. Mistakes are erased when we learn to forgive, and to substitute true thoughts for the false ones. Then we offer the empty vessel ready for infilment.

We must remember to establish the truth that we are not seeking gifts outside ourselves. The source is within us and all around us. We must realise our spiritual identity.

Paul in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, the thirteenth chapter, gives us a beautiful and vivid exposition of the quality, properties and uses of Divine Love. He gives us the human use of the divine attribute. In the Revised Standard Version, the word ‘charity’ of the King James version is translated “love”. It has been said that the regular reading of this chapter brings about great changes in the life of an individual. Remembering that or world responds to our habitual thinking and feeling, we can expect wonderful thing on our pathway, when we are immersed in the attribute of Love and when we give our attention to absorbing the principle.

The End….Divine Love Attribute.

To be continued……… Power Attribute



Source: Faith and Works by Helen Zagat

THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES

3. Divine Love

God is Love. Divine Love is the harmonious action of Spirit. It is the idea of unity in Divine Mind. Love, as this harmonious action, is the cohesive, unifying power in the creation. It is the element that holds all things in right relationship. In the realm of the physical world, the law of gravity is an example of its cohesive action. In the realm of human relationships, divine Love is the harmonising quality that adjusts and balances.

God is love. Divine Mind moves serenely, seeing good only. This is the quality of love or harmony that permeates the whole creation, whether invisible or visible. The peace of divine creativity is always in the midst. Divine Love moves silently, steadfastly, never swerving, equalizing the movement of ideas.

Divine Love is the fulfilling of the law. It is the balancing, harmonising power. The laws in Mind find completion through this attribute. The element of Love could be compared to a chemical element that is essential to the completion of a formula. Through the agency of Divine of Love the creation moves forward. It permeates the whole.

Since we are trying to raise our understanding and to show forth the spiritual identity implanted within us, let us see how the attribute of Love can work miracles in us and in our world. First of all, we must remember that we live in a creation that is Divine Mind. Thus we partake of the vibratory action of Mind. It follows that we express that to which we give our attention, or habitual thinking power. Since the attribute of Love is that which acts on the other attributes to balance, to cement, to dissolve or to increase, to quicken, then when we give our attention to harmony, we place ourselves in the stream of harmonious action. The divine purpose in the creation moves in us. When we have faith that the good is done unto us, we see the miracle of enmities dissolved, obstacles to progress removed, seeming dangers averted. We see the miracle of the attracting powers of Love moving in to fill the place of fears, doubts, and ignorance.

Divine Love attracts to us our own. We must give our faith that the glory of the invisible creative activity is unfailing, and that it works in us here and now. We remember that creation is ever in the present.

While we hold the eye of the inner vision on the unfailing light and strength of God, the law inherent in Love and Wisdom works in us and through us and for us. The essential condition is to keep our thought and feeling balanced, and on the Truth of Being, rather than on the problem.

Inherent in Love is the cleansing element, or forgiveness. When we forgive ourselves, others, and conditions, we are really lifting our condemnation; we are removing the power of our thought and emotions from the condition. And when we have cleared the path, we open the way for the flow of Divine Love. It is the greatest force there is. All things are accomplished by it. When we practice Love, our lives are transformed.

This does not mean the use of sentiment, or of a holier-than-thou attitude, or of an egoistical attitude. It means the complete giving of the self quietly and impersonally, to the harmonising activity of Divine Love. It means the disciplining of thought and emotions, so that the attribute of divine harmony can work in us. This is the place to use the human will in order to let the divine will, or perfect law of order, be done in us.

Inherent in Divine Love is the good will of the Creator. This is not the dispensation of a personalised Being, but the unfailing working of the creative law of Divine Mind. However, as we truly accept the divine spark within us, does the Creator become personal for us.

So potent is this harmonizing element that Jesus gave it as the first commandment. By knowing divine Love impersonally, we can find harmony in our world. It is not necessary to like all people, for the element of personality enters in and we are not all of similar make up; but it is important to love all people impersonally. This is the way to achieve happiness for the individual and peace for the world. We withdraw our human intellectual manipulation, and quietly place ourselves in the stream of divine harmony. Lifting the individual consciousness to the plane of Divine Love, causes that quality to radiate into the environment and then to the world.

Amazing results follow this practice, when it is made a true part of the consciousness, and is not used as an expedient measure to gain ends. The first steps seem difficult, but practice establishes us in serenity and quiet power. We know that we are always divinely protected; that there is no need for anxiety or for grasping at what might be the rights of others. We know that through the magnet of Divine Love, we draw to us our own. We know that each one can receive his own. There is no limit in the Infinite.


To be continued………



Source: Faith and Works by Helen Zagat

THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES

2. Divine Wisdom

God is wisdom. Because we have accepted the truth that God is Mind, Spirit, Living Intelligence, we can more readily comprehend the attribute of Wisdom.

Wisdom is the idea of absolute knowing in Divine Mind. God is all. Therefore God is Wisdom. Wisdom is the movement of Divine Mind, the light of creative Mind activity. This is knowing in the absolute.

Since man stems forth from God as the individualisation of the perfect Idea-Man, Wisdom is available to man. As man become receptive, so is he quickened by the movement of Mind. The light of Divine Wisdom quickens, inspires and uplifts him.

Divine Wisdom is the absolute aspect of knowing. Intellect is the human or relative aspect.

Since the creation is in Mind, the movement of Mind gives us a basis for our power to think. The One Mind “sees” its own image. The Christ Mind has within it the original principles of the Creator and the creation. Man partakes of the qualities of the universal Christ Mind when he turns consciously within.

The intellect is mind embodied. It is the human use of mind. It is not perfect. It has accepted experience as real. The intellect can turn within to Truth, or without to the evidence of senses. In the intellect is the power of choice. So man can choose the type of thought, feeling and action that he shall follow.

Since the intellect is finite, it has not the power of the original Mind. But man can lift his intellect to the One Mind, by becoming receptive to the invisible action of the Superconscious Mind, or the Christ Mind. The act of choice sets into motion the perfect laws of Divine Mind. When man gives his attention to spiritual ideas, there is set into motion a stream of pure spiritual ideas that take root in human consciousness.

As man continues to lift the intellect to the heights of the Christ Mind, the action of Divine Wisdom establishes an expression of spirituality. Expression is the inner working of man’s mentality. When expression is rooted in spiritual ideas of Truth, the whole being is raised and unfolds. Then manifestations of good follow. This is the reason for our effort to raise our thinking and our feeling nature. Our manifest lives and our soul’s growth go hand in hand.

This is a gradual process. Don not try to storm the gates of heaven. Try to watch the nature of your thought and your feeling. By establishing spiritual understanding in consciousness, we rise above petty resentments, hurts and foolish evaluations of people and events. By opening the mind to Divine Wisdom we learn to judge truly, to pierce through outer appearances to the real. We judge according to the divine plan. We judge righteous judgement. This does not mean that we accept all actions or situations; but we do not give them power. We turn to Divine Wisdom for guidance.

Knowledge and spiritual understanding are not identical. The intellect is man’s thinking faculty. Man acquires knowledge and a quantity of facts through the development of his powers of reasoning. However, the limitations of the human keep him from receiving the fullness of divine inspiration.

When man makes a practice of being quietly receptive to the action of Divine Wisdom, he finds that his thoughts and his acts are wonderfully guided.

Faith in the invisible movement of Wisdom brings forth miracles. We must be sure that we have been letting go of mere intellect thoughts about Truth and that we are truly open to the beauty and the power of Spirit.

It is important to distinguish between basic divine ideas and thoughts. Let us remember that God creates. Man makes his world. Divine ideas are basic. They have within them the activity that sets into motion varying aspects of the original. Thoughts are the action of human intellectualizing. Thoughts do influence the quality of our inner expression. But they are not basic. It is necessary to lift them into union with divine ideas in order to achieve real results.

For instance, in order to receive justice in a situation, it is important to hold to the idea of divine harmony, wisdom, true judgement and power, rather than to hold thoughts of what this one or that one said, or should say or do. When we stay with human thoughts of the human intellect, we are limited by the human. When we unify with the basic, creative divine ideas, the activity inherent in those ideas works for us, and takes the form needed.

Spirit knows; intellect thinks. The pure knowing of Divine Mind is the attribute of Wisdom. It is above human reasoning, and man can partake of its activity through faith.

It is important to direct our thinking toward the perfect divine ideals. Our thoughts are the immediate agencies that affect our lives. But the goal should be to so accept the basic ideal that even our thoughts will be lifted. Then we draw to ourselves harmonious situations, and all good. Do not try to think conditions or situations into your life. Do not try to manipulate the lives of others. Place your whole being under Divine Wisdom. People and events will fall into their right places. Answered prayer is the result of unification with God. The steps to this end lie in the comprehension and the acceptance of Truth principles.


To be continued………

Source: Faith and Works by Helen Zagat

THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES

Since we are trying to increase the quality of spiritual understanding in ourselves, we must establish a basis that is clear. To this end let us examine the nature of the divine attributes.

We realise from our study of Divine Science that God is Divine Mind or Living Intelligence, creating through infinite ideas. These perfect creative ideas are the basis and foundation from which the creation stems forth. The more alive and vivid that these attributes become to us, the greater is our growth and progress.

Since we understand that God is everywhere present as Mind Essence, and that God is all, there can be nothing outside of God. Therefore, we cannot consider these attributes as external gifts from a distant Being. Each attribute is God in another aspect. The One Mind, contemplating itself generates spiritual activity. The divine attributes are basic. They are God in creative activity.

For instance, when we understand Truth principles, we do no think that God gives life. We know that God is life, since are always connected with the Source through the “breath of life,” or Mind Essence, we partake of that perfect life.

The basic attributes are these. God is Life, Wisdom, Love, Substance, and Power. Since God is all, God Omnipresence, Omnipresence, Omnipotence.

Man has the power of choice since he is made in God’s image - that is, with the power to think and the power of volition. Man can choose to turn within, or to turn without; to turn in thought and feelings to the inner reality, or to turn to the changing appearance of the outer world. The inner is stable, perfect, eternal.

Let us examine the true nature of the divine attributes. Let us try to find the key that opens the way to our making them consciously ours. In this way shall we find the path to peace, safety, joy, health, prosperity and glorious unfoldment. This way leads us to unshakable faith in God.

1. God Is Life

God is Life. There is only one life, God-Life. Life is an attribute in Divine Mind. Life is the animating principle in the creation. It is the creative propelling force. It is the vital, lively essence that animates the whole creation.

All movement and animation are expressions of the idea of life in Divine Mind. This Life idea inheres in the omnipresent spiritual Substance, ever ready to come into manifestation according to the thought patterns of man.

God as the principle of orderly good is the life or vitality and activity within the creation.

Divine Life is the vital action of Divine Mind. It is the workable principle; creative activity; the full propelling force. Without life there would be no expression.

All manifest life has its first cause as an idea of life in Divine Mind. The cause is perfect. Any imperfect or evil effects are due to man’s mistaken use of the power to think. The character of the manifestation is dependent on the character of the thought and feeling patterns of man. Therefore it behoves us to make a consistent effort to change our thinking, to change our acceptance of unstable appearances to realisation of invisible Truth.

Through the ages, man has accepted appearances around him as cause. Ignorance, fears, lack or reasoning have caused man to build up a mountain of false beliefs that come into form as unhappy formations.

So, we must learn to clear out the false and to build into consciousness acceptance of the divine ideals. Then these ideals will come into form without a struggle, increasing in power as we become established in faith. Spirit fulfils.

Do not think that the only time to use the idea of Life is when one has an appearance of imperfect health. Quite the contrary, by accepting the divine attribute consciously we establish ourselves in its character, and so we do not attract the appearances of illness. The attribute of divine life, when we accept it, is the activity in our affairs as well. Thus we can see a career, a business or a profession that may seem to be stagnant, slow or failing, awakened to splendind activity. It is through divine life activity that achievement comes forth.

If we are truly desirous of finding heaven on earth, we must be willing to watch the subtle undercurrent of our thought and or our feeling, for old habits in consciousness persists. As the within so the without, is the way of manifestation.

If we wish to manifest health as we continue on our pathway of life rather than to accept the race belief of going downhill as the years of time pass, we must avoid the acceptance of thoughts that are heavy and that cramp the growth of consciousness. For instance, do not accept symptoms of illness in yourself on in others as being real. Do not give power to materiality as the cause of imperfect appearances. Substitute the idea of life, pure and perfect. Do not stay with a feeling of weariness or weakness. Immediately relax and declare: - God is Life, perfect, vital, pure. I am one with God. I am one with Divine Life. Spirit renews me.

Realise this Truth. Accept it. Practice until the truth in the statement becomes completely yours. Thus you are building into your consciousness and into your body the perfect Life attribute.

Knowing our oneness with God brings forth the divine attributes. Oneness really means likeness, sameness or identical nature. This full acceptance of oneness carries us forward on our pathway, to glorious heights of understanding and of growth.

Since God is all, there is nothing outside God. Since God is Life, there is nothing outside Life. Therefore, there is no death in reality. There are only varying aspects of life. And so, when a soul slips off the garment of this visible, manifest life, it has moved to the other side of Divine Life. To establish this understanding in our consciousness helps to release the accepted burdens of old age, weakness, sickness, death and sorrow; and to build in the qualities of life showing forth as health, vitality, strength, joy, purpose.

We learn to think of the universal oneness of the Creator and the creation. We know that there is no separation, in truth, when a loved one has gone to the other side of life. We do not mourn but we try to realise that that one is continuing on a pathway of life, ever evolving. There is no real separation, for we are all one in Spirit.

Jesus taught: - In my Father’s house are many mansions. This indicates to us the many aspects of Life.


To be continued………

Source: Faith and Works by Helen Zagat

GOD AND MAN ARE ONE

As students of science we start with a new concept of man, an idea which may be new to our thought, but which is eternal in Truth. As man understands that his true state, his eternal nature, is perfect since he is one with his perfect Source, he claims his own perfection as something innately his, implanted within him by the divine Mind, not something which he has earned or which comes to him from outside himself.

As his vision enlarges the perfect unity between the Divine and all mankind is revealed to the consciousness of man, He begins dimly at first, to glimpse the truth of his sonship; gradually he sees the everlasting nature of all things. The divine nature can never be lost for it is an eternal truth, and sooner or later everyone must awaken to its presence within him. Eventually each one will be able to say, “I am because God is, God is the reason or the cause of my being, the source of my existence. All that I am must be found in God, and most truly I cannot be something that my source is not. My source decides my nature. The stream is like the fountain from which it flows.”

Jesus was quoting from the Old Testament when he gave but two commandments: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” Deut. 6:5, and “…thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself…” Lev. 19:18. These commandments are fulfilled as man recognises the perfect nature in all creation. When we realise the oneness and divinity of Life in all things we sense a universal justice, strength, and harmony back of all creation which when understood will be expressed as love. Understanding that the whole of Truth must be found in infinite Mind, we have a standard by which to judge all things, a basis from which to reason of Truth.

We now turn from appearances and” judge righteous judgement”; we decide what is true from our knowledge of an omnipresent principle of Truth rather than from a personal opinion or feeling. Whatever God is, is Truth.

All Truth is eternal in nature; true love can never change; true understanding cannot fail; true life can never end. This is al true now. Conscious awareness of the Truth and the opening of our hearts and minds to the acceptance of the fullness within our own nature is our greatest need. All good, wisdom, strength, life, health, love are ours now. Let us accept them.

Begin each day with an acknowledgement of omnipresent Good. Think of yourself as a son of God. Think of your children, your friends, and all persons, not as they seem by observation, but as they are in God. Think of them as that which is, was and ever shall be; as that which thinks and knows; as that which the Expresser expresses perfectly.

Know that what is true of God is true of you and of them. From this standpoint you can intelligently master the problems of life. From this standpoint it is right for you to accept for yourself all thoughts and feelings of divine love, truth, knowledge, power, strength, health, happiness, success, and perfect harmony. By making this your daily practice you will partake of the free gift of eternal life, you will be remembering God the Good. Through this consciousness the healing of body and affairs takes place and Good is made manifest. End

From Divine Science Its Principles and Practiced: from the works of Malinda Elliot Cramer and Fannie Brooks James

GOD AND MAN ARE ONE

And God said; let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Genesis 1:26

In order to understand and accept the truth concerning the reality of good and the unreality of evil, it will be necessary to consider the source or beginning of all that is. In order to reason aright we determine the first and originating cause.

In the beginning God – God the Uncreate, the perfect Mind, the only Source, the omnipresent Principle, the eternal Spirit – created. All is contained within God, the perfect Mind, the cause of all that is, the source of all form. God, the Good, eternal and changeless; God, the beginning out of which were all things made which were made. “And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. Genesis 1:31

Creation is the emanation of life and substance from the one original Source which can only be the infinite, omnipresent, eternal and changeless God. Creator being the Source is therefore the substance of the stream; as the tree is the source and substance of its branches and fruit; as the bay is one with the ocean of which it is an extension.

The emanation of the life and substance of God into creation must mean that the life and substance of creation is as perfect as that of the Creator, God Himself. The essence of all created things must, by logical reasoning, be eternal Spirit-Substance and the idea of each created form must be held within God-Mind in order to maintain existence. All creation is within the Creator, or Source, before coming into form, for in the Invisible is the eternal Idea of all that makes up creation, while in the visible is the expression or living form of Idea. Reason tells us that it is necessarily true that all living forms are included within Omnipresence, since Omnipresence embraces ALL within itself.

Creation is God in Self-manifestation. Divine Science explains the law and order of perfect God-Mind involving itself within creation, revealing itself in form as nature and mankind. “I am the beginning and the end, the first and the last. “ Rev 22:13. The universal Spirit, the only life and substance is the beginning, the source. That which emanates from this One is the end; it too is Spirit, for there is but one presence, one life, and one substance. Creation is Spirit. Everything begins and ends as Spirit. God is omnipresent Principle. The source and origin, that from which anything proceeds; the beginning, the first.” It is first cause wherein we find the true nature of all things. Then with God as our beginning our nature is decided by His.

Divine Science has taught these truths that Spirit and Substance are two aspects of the same reality, God. It has always taught that so-called matter is pure divine energy manifesting as form, repeatedly pointing out that Substance is Spirit, eternal and changeless in essence. The outward form may seem to change, but the inner form, which is God’s thought, remains eternally the same. “… whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever; nothing can be put to it, nor taken from it:…” Eccl. 3:14. All substance is one. All substance is pure, whole, and perfect. The visible universe is the Spirit of God in action. All is God and God in action.

Man then is eternally one with the infinite Source and in nature is the image and likeness of the Eternal as it expresses in living form. This is the truth of which Jesus was fully conscious for he declared, “I and my Father are one.” John10:30. There is but one source of all. God. Man is one with God, hence he is like God. That which begins in Spirit is Spirit to the end. Since all that is has its source in Spirit, we can confidently say, All is Spirit.” God and man cannot be separated. God is Spirit Universal and is expressed and manifest as living soul and body. Spirit contains within itself all souls and bodies before they are expressed, just as the vine holds branches and fruit within itself before they are expressed or pressed out.

All of man’s possibilities lie in the truth that he is divine as is his Creator with whom he is one. He is one with God whose nature is love, wisdom, knowledge, understanding, power, life and joy. These are known as inherencies of God, and they are attributes which man inherits by nature of his oneness with God. Man is one with God who is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient.

Concentrated thinking upon the broadness of this thought brings out some degree of God’s infinitude, some idea of the fullness that is all in all.

There is only one Mind, one Substance, one Source, one Presence, one Power, one Life – All Good.

Although Truth is omnipresent and changeless; although man lives, moves and has his being in God, the All Good; although he dwells in the kingdom of heaven, if he is conscious of it, he may go on his way lacking many things and losing the blessedness that IS his. “Heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ,” men may, through ignorance of the truth, be slaves of misery, doubt, and poverty. It is KNOWING the truth that makes man free. Man gives a sense of reality and power to evil when he fails to recognise that his source, his life, his very existence through time and eternity is God the Good. Truth must be recognised in order to be realised and to become a power in the lives of men.

Ignorance of the truth of his Being does not alter man’s true nature, for the REALITY of man never changes. Ignorance is the seeming great delusion of the world. It unknowingly takes this for what they are not; that is, takes the expression for the Expresser, the body for the source of Self, the brain for the source of Mind, the letter for the Spirit and, in general, causes a sense of disorder of disease.

To be continued…..


Source: Divine Science: Its Principles and Practice – from the works of Malinda Elliot Cramer and Fannie Brooks James

WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING... Final

Misunderstanding has brought untrue conclusions. God is not a person, ruling with a rod of iron, but the one unchanging Law of the Good which works ever and always for the Good of all. God does not punish man; -- his is one with Divine will, to work in harmony. Jesus, the greatest demonstrator of the law of the universal good the world has ever had, said: “I come to do the will of my Father.” He healed those who came to him. He was loving and kind to the sinner. He gave freedom to those in bondage to disease, fed the hungry, raised the dead, and taught the doctrine of comfort, peace, joy and understanding. He gave out the saving words of Truth, “I and my Father are one,” and “Ye are one with the Father even as I am one” (in substance)

If these things were true when Jesus was manifest on this plane then they are true today. When one’s understanding has realised the divine Truth that God’s will is unchangeable and immutably good then old conceptions will pass away, freedom will be manifested, and the past with it false teachings will dissolve into nothingness.

Jesus taught “Ask and ye shall receive.” In the stillness (silence) where nothing but the voice of wisdom is hear, where Spirit meets Spirit, seek understanding. “Pray in secret and your Heavenly Father will reward thee openly.” It is written “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, the things that God hath prepared for them that love Him”

The Divine Will is the will of the higher self. It cannot make an error or lead into inharmony. How can you realize the Divine Will? By entertaining thoughts only of the good. Through living the higher self you will awaken to the Truth that Gods’ will is your will. The farther the thought is removed from the material plane, the more you realise your nearness to Infinite Wisdom. The more the thought is spiritualised, the more powerful it becomes. Let go of all beliefs that acknowledge any other power than God. This in itself will be a treatment of disease or illness you are harbouring. “To depart from evil (in thought) is to get understanding.” This, man does in the degree that he consecrates the personal will to the will of God and determines that no will shall be done in and through his life except it be born of Infinite Wisdom.

God would have us healthy, happy satisfied, free, here and now; but we must in every detail of our life be guided by Divine Wisdom, being careful not to allow the personal to take precedence. This has reference to the habit of wishing and longing for things we do not in the least need. We may get what we longed for, only to find it is not what we needed at all, and in the possession of it we will be limited instead of helped in our progress. Remember, we draw ourselves that which we desire.

Whatever inharmony comes into our lives is the result of a misunderstanding of the Creator’s plan. Jesus said to his disciples, “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send, he shall teach you all things, “ but this “Spirit of Truth” the world will not receive because of its ignorance, yet it dwelleth in you. It is the Spirit of Wisdom; a real presence. We know it as the “still, small voice and it can be depended upon to guide and direct us aright in everything from the smallest to the greatest affairs of life. This statement is being proved true by hundreds of people every day.

The burdens we bear are or our own making and are heavy or light in accordance as we obey or disobey the law. Jesus said, “My burdens are light.” Instead of wondering how our neighbours can do this thing or that, or letting our mind be bound by the incidents of our every-day life, or allowing our circumstances to determine our thinking; we should learn to follow the guidance of Omniscience. You question, “How shall I distinguish the voice of Wisdom from the voice of worldly wisdom”? While Elijah’s thoughts were in a tumult, whirling here and there so that his very being was shaken by their presence, he did not hear the voice; but in the stillness, after Divine Love had burned out (overcome) this inharmonious conditions, he heard Divine Wisdom speak, directing him, and giving assurance of protection. When you come to a place in your journey and know not which way to turn, go into the stillness, ask the Spirit of Wisdom to give you understanding on the problem that vexes you, and peace will come to your troubled soul. Ask earnestly and in faith, then expect your desire to be fulfilled. It may not come immediately; it will come with such an inner conviction of its truth that you will know what to do and what to say. This is Wisdom and Understanding.

All things are worthy of Divine guidance, not alone the great propositions of life, but everything, and in Truth the time is always present tense, the now. There is always a best way and that is keeping the law of All Good. Then whatever you undertake to do you should do it right and well. “Whatsoever they hand findeth to do, do it with thy might,” remembering, of myself I do nothing, the Father in me He doeth the works.” When you accept the highest, best word that comes to you in the silence, you are obeying the right impression. Man must hear, accept and obey the voice, if he would be divinely led and realise God’s Omnipresence. Man is too apt to want to have his own way, but if he obeys Spirit, he will find that all things work together for good. After you have learned obedience, learned to be satisfied, even when the way is not so clear as may be desire, be contented. Once you have submerged your will in the Divine Will you will have no regrets. “God’s will is my will,” I am satisfied,” are truths which if held persistently will bring peace and harmony.

The lesson of obedience to God’s love much be learned, and the sooner you overcome the habit of disobeying the voice the sooner you will find yourself on the high-road to health, happiness, and prosperity. Perfection consists in doing. “He is neither the greatest saint nor the wisest man, that knows the Truth most, but he that practices it.” In the silence, quietly, gently, positively affirm, “I hear only words of Wisdom; “I will obey.” “Divine Wisdom makes known to me only the highest Good.”

Having once put yourself into the care of the Almighty, do not turn back lest you will fail to reach that place of perfect security where Love and Wisdom reign supreme. “Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principle.” In a man’s self is his might. The great need of humanity is to understand God as He is; to realise the Omnipresence and Omnipotence of the All Good. It is written “If any one lacks Wisdom; let him ask of God.” “Before they call I will answer and while they are yet speaking I will hear. “Every high desire of your heart will be filled full by Divine Wisdom; even as you think, the building is going on. All one need do is simply ask and he shall receive.

Worldly wisdom says there is both good and evil – and wise in its own conclusions endeavours to get rid of the evil by condemning it instead of overcoming it. You can never win the evil-doer to a higher life any other means than love; the seed-thought you would send another has its root within yourself. “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom and getteth understanding,” then will he remove his mental hands from his brother, thus helping him to break the chains of ignorance that are holding him down. Get Wisdom, get understanding, look for the good in every thing and every-body. The spirit of Divine Wisdom rests in the heart of each one of the Father’s sons; It fills men with sweetness, governs them with courage, and enlightens with excellence those who are subject to its direction.

Truths

“I am understanding.” “I hear only words of Wisdom.” “Divine Wisdom guides me and makes known to me only the highest good.” “I am one with the will of the Father.” “God’s will works only the good.” “Judge not that ye be not judged.” “Live the life of Truth and be a light to the world.”

WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING

In all states of consciousness there is no spiritual growth without understanding and wisdom. “Wisdom is Divine Principle.” Through Wisdom comes true understanding. It is the higher plane of understanding. Every faculty of mind has its own work. One faculty cannot develop for another any more than the hand can perform the work given the foot to do. Without Understanding, man cannot build to the highest. Understanding is an attribute of the mind, not merely that intellectual state arrived at through the study of books or from giving lodgment to the sayings of others. In Truth it is a conscious recognition that the Spirit of Wisdom within man is the same in essence, though not in degree, as Infinite Wisdom. The Father and Son are one. “It is the spiritual awakening on the saving power of Truth. “Because of ignorance concerning the reality of God, man taught that sin, sickness, poverty and all seeming evils are realities. Paul preached that through ignorance, having the understanding darkened, we are alienated from the life of God.

Men have built great centers of learning, have sought education on the material plane, and have defined a little learning as wisdom. With the acquisition of learning based on materiality comes pride of life, “Which is not of the Father. “And which works destruction to the individual. So long as man remains ignorant of his true self the circle will repeat itself. “There is a Spirit in man, and the Almighty given him understanding. “By giving recognition to this Spirit of Wisdom in man, your true self, you will become conscious of your oneness with Infinite Wisdom.

Education on the material basis is from without; it is the acquaintance with facts on the evidence of a third party. You enter school-room, take a book and read a page to you it has not much meaning, yet when another person explains his idea of the subject matter, you accept his version because you believe he as analyzed it.

True education is from within; it is to lead forth the facts of which you are possessor. “Jesus spoke always from within, and in a degree that transcends all others. “He was made perfect in that higher Wisdom which knows the Omnipotence of God. He declared the “Kingdom of God is within you, “then there must be the dwelling place of the attributes of God, the Spirit of Wisdom. If we would know God we should make it the purpose of our lives to identify ourselves with the good only and should seek for and obtain Spiritual Understanding. “Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.” It is only by experience that we come to understand the difference between intellectual and spiritual knowledge. There is no purifier in this world to be compared with spiritual knowledge, and he who is purified in devotion findeth spiritual knowledge springing up spontaneously in himself in the progress of time.” We gain spiritual knowledge in just the degree that we are able to accept and assimilate Truth. Intellect accepts Truth; Wisdom applies Truth.

You hear a Truth statement but it does not interest you from an intellectual standpoint; you believe it true, but you drop it for something else in which you are interested. At another time a difficult problem may present itself and you worry over it, finally, you go to God in the silence, wisdom brings froth from within the very Truth you are interested in. Immediately you see the application your problem. That truth is yours from the moment you make use of it and as long as you use it. Spiritual knowledge comes in the stillness, in the silence; where peace has been brought about by love; there wisdom builds to the highest.

Infinite Love overcomes all thoughts of malice, unforgiveness, and selfishness, Jesus prayed. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. “The spirit dominant in Jesus is the same today in you as it was in him. The Christ Spirit, perfect in understanding. When Love has wrought a consciousness of peace, it is succeeded by a higher consciousness, that of Divine Wisdom, which gives out knowledge and understanding. Love, by overcoming, has made it possible for Wisdom to build upon a solid foundation. The greatest up building is accomplished in the stillness or silence, for “without sound of ax or hammer or other tools, “the wise man builds the “Temple of the Living God.” The reason we do not trust Divine Wisdom in the fullest sense of the word is because we have devoted too much time to the sordid things of life. Our degree of realization has been so small that we have had more fear than faith in the Word. It is only in the degree that we trust the God within, the Love, Power, Wisdom, as the All Good, that we get the realization of Love, Power, Wisdom, of the All Good. To us, God will no longer be mere principle or theory but a living reality to whom we may turn in every affair of life, even as a child turns to its loving earthly parent. Our concern should be to “prepare the heart clean like paper whereon Divine Wisdom may imprint characters to His own liking.”

Man, in his ignorance of God, pictures God as both loving and wrathful, treating His children as an earthly king might do his earthly subjects, rewarding and punishing, healing and afflicting, according to man-made laws. The light pierced the darkness when Jesus said, “God is Love.” “Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?” God is Omnipresent, Unchangeable Substance, out of which all the needs of man are fulfilled, whether they are of spirit, body or environment.

One who portrays God as Creator who withholds the least part of good from one of His creations, the one who declares hate and Love, evil and Good, death and Life, health and disease, sin, poverty, sickness, sorrow, as all emanating from the same source, a God Infinite Love, this one has “ Wisdom that descendeth not from above, but is earthly,” It is the world’s wisdom on the world plane and you will never be able to trust God to heal your body, or give to your own Good so long as you believe it. “But the Wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.”

The wonder is that having heard the word pictures painted by those who has the wrong concept of God (yet whom we have considered intelligent) as a monster of cruelty who will awful suffering upon defenseless man, that, all man-kind has not rejected him.

To be continued

From: Prove Me Now, by Isadora Minard

THE POWER OF AFFIRMATIVE THINKING...final

There is a power greater than we are and we must find our partnership with It. There must be an acceptance in our own mind, a belief within our own consciousness, a belief that does not deny itself. It is a belief that says, "It is so." You and I have to do this.

Perhaps we ask for something, or accept something, or affirm something and then it seems as though we are not going to get it. We must continue to know that we are dealing with a Power that causes the invisible to become visible! Now, we are not holding thoughts, but we are creating a thought pattern upon which the creative Power is always acting. This is one of the greatest ideas concerning thought, but we seem to overlook its full and complete meaning

The second proposition is: We are thinking, choosing centers of awareness in this Mind; and according to the sum total of all our thoughts, we are either silently attracting good to us of repelling it from us. Let us consider certain attitudes of thought that ought to be salutary. For instance, the necessity of having an attitude of gratitude. Gratitude is not only a virtue; but it also is part of a practical philosophy of daily life. There is no wise way of living than to remember every morning what Life has given us, and to lift up our thought in thankfulness for every bounty we possess.

We occasionally need to put ourselves on a strict mental regimen, say, for a whole week, in which we would speak not negative word, refraining from faultfinding or condemnation of any one or anything. For quite a number of years there has been a somewhat similar theory in the field of clinical psychology. This is valuable because we cannot get something from nothing. It is what we have that is the starting point from which the greater good must come. If we pose over all the things we do not have, we will start with less than nothing.

For to what we have not, we have added a spirit of complaint. And no intelligent person can assert that a focus of attention on what he does not have is the way to get what he really needs.

It is the sum total of all our thinking that we have to consider; and in doing this, one of the first things to learn is that, about ninety percent of our thinking is entirely unconscious it goes on when we are not aware of it. Psychologists now believe that perhaps eighty-five percent of accidents are unconsciously invited, and that at least seventy percent of diseases are created unconsciously, and that our success and failure in life is largely an unconscious process, and of course our happiness or our misery is almost entirely so.

Scientific investigation verifies that we are talking about reality. Most of our thinking is unconscious. Here is where the habit patterns are caught and laid down even from infancy. It should be our purpose to find out what these thought patterns are; and when they are unhappy, or morbid, or filled with fear, change them in order that the natural, normal flow of Life Itself shall be resumed.

Now we have the basic premises developed to where we can use them, because we know what we are doing, and so we come to the third idea; We can change our thinking, and by so doing cause the Law, the invisible creative Force, to act for us in an affirmative way rather than in a negative manner. It may seem astonishing, but Jesus actually gave us a technique for this - perhaps the greatest technique that was ever given in the whole history of the world. He told us that when we pray we should enter the closet of the self, close the door of the senses, and make known our request. We must affirm the good and forget the negative.

Good and negative are not equal in power, because, of course, good always overcomes negativity. But when we do this, we should be certain that we accept the answer and that we know we are going to receive it. When we pray, we must believe that we have, and we shall have. We actually can change our thinking and cause the Law to give us freedom.

What more could we ask? What more could anyone receive from Life? To learn how to think constructively is to learn how to prove or demonstrate what is good. Many sciences are coming into closer agreement with the things we believe. We can be renewed and transformed by the renewing of our minds. there is One Mind, God-Mind, and this is the mind of man at the level of his understanding. Divine Intelligence stands ready to pour into our consciousness every idea of good, and an infinite Law within this Intelligence acts upon our acceptance or belief, making it visible in our experienced.

We should take time daily go guard our thoughts, persisting in our awareness of God's Presence and Power. We could do it in this way: Today I give my attention to that which is in accord with the good, that which I want to have manifest in my experience, as well as my neighbours or friends experience. I realise there is no necessity for any appearance which is contrary to this good. I know that I am created to express the nature of God in all that I am and do. I do now free myself from every false of morbid sense of life, I keep in tune with the Divinity within me that I may experience that which is perfect and joyous

There is an intelligence that actually can and will do whatever ought to be done for us is we really believe this and accept Its action. Science, revelation, intuition, and experience teach that we ought to believe. But it follows that if we say It cannot then It cannot. If we limit It to a little good, we need to practice believing, because thoughts are things.

When we say, I believe and there is no doubt in me, we do two things, We affirm our belief, and by so doing we build a positive acceptance in the mind. at the same time we reject our doubts. This is the way creative thought works, and realising that so much of our thought is unconscious , we merely affirm that the is nothing in us that denies the good we have affirmed.

After we have done this with persistence there will come a gradual acceptance of or affirmation; and we shall learn that as we build up an affirmative attitude things will begin to change in our experiences. It may take a little time; but now we have courage,knowing that a creative Power is acting upon our thought.

THE POWER OF AFFIRMATIVE THINKING

The power of any thought rests in our belief and acceptance of it

There is a Power in the universe greater than we are and we all use It. We are surrounded by a creative Power, call It what you will, which responds to us; and since It responds, It will have to respond to us in the way that we use It. The question is, Why don't we use this Power more effectively? If all things are possible to faith, Why don't we have a greater faith?

Whatever we think faith is or may be, it must be something that we do within our consciousness, even though we feel it has a relationship with something greater than we are. Faith starts with ourselves, like doubt or fear. Faith, being nonphysical, has to be a mental thing. Someone will say it is a spiritual thing, a prayer, or a hymn of praise. It doesn't not matter what we choose to call It; if we did not have a mind, we could not pray and we could not sing a hymn of praise.

Faith, then is within our own conscious awareness, something that is taking place within us right now; not something imaginary, but something that is actual. What kind of thought should we have if we are going to oppose a thought of fear? One that will be affirmative and that will really do something. The faith we have to exercise is a conviction. Faith is not merely a generalisation, or a statement, or like any other thought. Faith has to be in something, about something, or for something; it has to be located. It is an acceptance of that which may still be invisible in our experience.

Let us figure out just how we should use faith to better advantage in our lives. First, we should begin with the idea that we are One with universal Mind, and therefore we are all united with Its creative action which does things to us and for us by doing them through our consciousness. This invisible Force we think of as Law, or the Power that acts.

Next, we should consider that we are also centers of self conscious awareness, individuals in this Mind with the ability to think, to choose, and to know; and that according to the sum total of all our thoughts we are either attracting good to us of repelling it from us.

Finally, we can change our thinking to be affirmative, and in so doing, cause the Law, the invisible creative Force, to respond to us in an affirmative way rather than in a negative manner. Faith itself is an affirmation that good is greater than the negative, and is an acceptance of that good.

Let us start to develop and use our first idea: We are already One with the universal Mind and Its creative Power can do anything. This is the basis of all faith and of all effective prayer; and since prayers have been answered, we may accept that this is certain. It is why Jesus told us that when we pray we are to believe we have what we desire. When he said, "as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee, 'he implied there is a Power that can, will, and must react to us. It does so in an affirmative manner if that is the way we think.

This is why it is that when we pray or meditate we must do so affirmatively, and we must do so in the present time. We must say or think of our desire as taking place now. Up to the time of Jesus, people believed that God might help them; that there were concessions He might make if people pleased Him, or performed certain rites or ceremonials. Jesus brought a new kind of teaching, -today we call it "affirmative thinking". He talked about a Power that operates on our belief the way we believe it; and that we may see definite results of our belief in our experience.

So we find that faith is an affirmative belief. There is a Power that operates upon our thought the way we think it, and we can use our faith consciously and definitely and intelligently and for specific purposes. When we do, we should expect something to happen. And we are not to deny it in the meantime! Perhaps this is the greatest responsibility of all, and it is not easy.

But the Law can bring us only as much good as we can mentally accept. This accepting is an act of our own consciousness; it is an act of faith. No one before Jesus had ever talked so simply about faith. People have come to realise that he was talking about a spiritual Law in which we are all rooted. There is a Power greater than we are and we must find our partnership with It. There must be an acceptance in our own mind, a belief within our own consciousness, a belief that does not deny itself. It is a belief that says, "It is so." You and I have to do this.

To be continued...

TRUTH'S PRACTICE

Can we maintain ourselves in the high attitude of Infinite Goodness, while in its opposite, this mundane sphere? When you regard the Spirit of Infinite Goodness as the only Spirit and Presence, it being all of power, all of goodness, all of love, all of truth, all of life, all that is, you are in the high attitude of Spirit, you have gone up into the mountain, where all false belief and its effect is seen as false belief and appearance only, over which you have entire control. Ignorance is the cause of all suffering, and knowledge and truth is its remedy. When we take our position in truth, which is one of the knowledge, we are able to erase false belief, by striking at the root of error in our own mental conditions.

What we refuse to admit in the soul - or even in the mentality, we have not heard thus all error is rejected. If therefore, thine eye be single - to truth - thy whole body shall be full of light.

Mentalities that blend with the consciousness of Spirit, know that they are the light of the world, and will let their light so shine, that the Spirit will be manifest or apparent. No ill can befall one who sees no ill. They who fulfil the royal law, resist not evil, for they see no power in what is called evil; goodness being infinite, they know naught but goodness.

The principle of mathematics is not revealed by the error in the problem; we do not perceive the principle until we turn from the error. God is not revealed by the errors of His children.

We do not perceive and manifest God, until we turn from error to God. The law of love is not manifest in us, while we are recognising the hate manifest in others. All bitter fruit is the product of false seeing and believing, or misinterpretation.

Spirit perceives its own truth; and to the pure all is pure. Hence it is impossible to obtain knowledge from error, or by error, or even from error, in effect, or by effect.

The practitioner of the science of Infinite Spirit or truth has the mistakes of the whole world to erase or correct when healing.

The science of God is absolute mathematics. they who wish may demonstrate and prove it. A true practitioner will administer truth for all beliefs of imperfection. To heal is to manifest truth in the body. "He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your bodies because of His spirit that dwelleth in you." Truth is the remedy, and the only remedy, for error, and will not compromise with it. All may heal, who will administer truth - free from personal will and desire, by thinking, speaking and acting it. Healing by the Spirit of Truth, is casting out error by the power of God, and is not a kingdom divided against itself. When the Spirit of Truth is manifest in the patient, God is manifest.

Truth is equally good for all, the more we give of this remedy, the more we are conscious of it. In healing do not in thought hold your patient as the body, nor use personal will; have no desire for special effects, otherwise it will not be a science treatment. When we speak from Spirit and claim all goodness for another, our measure is according to Spirit, and is just and right.

Truthful statements, made like unto God, destroy erroneous belief, which is unlike God.

(Truth's Practice - Final lesson)

TRUTH'S PRACTICE continued...

Commence your work in the place and condition that you are in, by thinking and saying: I do not fear, there is nothing to fear. The spirit of Goodness is omnipresent; it is love, power, faith or substance, it is all that I need and want. I love the truth and am in truth and of the truth, which is fearless and free.

Let your thought be that the Infinite Goodness, in which you live, sustains, in every hour, guides and gives in every need. Seek to make your thoughts loving and kind toward all persons and every thing, and it will be like unto the One which gives and sustains all that live.

Disease and pain, so to speak, are always effect; so they are subject to us; and this isdemonstrated by truthful thought, and the non-reality of disease is proven. Where fear and negation are not, pain is not. When there is an appearance of pain, if you doubt not that truth will heal you; speak quickly the words of life and Truth, and you will prove its mastery and freedom. Whatever the the occupation may be, truth applies alike to all, and is the remedy for all error.

Let not work, worry or fret you, you may prevent it from so doing, by thinking that the more I worry and fret, the less competent am I to execute and make desirable conditions that the strength and concentration which is necessary for the accomplishment of the work, is expended in worry and fretting; therefore, say there is nothing to worry and fret about, that you desire to do what you are doing, and that you are happy. If you thus affirm, believing, your work becomes a pleasure, and worry ceases.

Spirit manifests with order and law. Its thought is a living image of itself; Its word is a form or symbol of It's thought. It has no anxiety nor worry; fear, fault finding,are effects of selfishness, or self desire; in the present moment, hour, or day, there is sufficient work to be done, without thought of the morrow or fearing the future.

If we build a bridge, vessel, or structure of any kind, the plan of the structure is first completed,, then the builder, step by step, is guided by the plan to its completion. Each day brings its duty, or new part of the work, which brings it further on the way toward a perfect whole; and today's work, which brings it further on the way toward a perfect whole; and today's work in a preparation for tomorrow's work.

No amount of anxiety can aid the work or hasten its completion, or change the plan. If by accident any part of the structure be destroyed, no amount of anxiety can aid in replacing it; the work must be done again, and all that can be done can be accomplished better without anxiety and fear, than with it, so, also, can the problem of life be demonstrated by each individual.

Some conscientiously say: I feel that I am powerless to help myself; I have not attained to truth, but I believe I could attain to it and live the life if I was situated as some are, etc, Do not feel discouraged though you have tried a thousand times to live the life, and have seemed to fail, all effort is success in motive. Do not be anxious about your situation- be willing to commence your work in your present surroundings, for you now know that you are not subject to elements, climates, surround environment, heredity, nor any mortal thing; for the immortal cannot be subject to the mortal.

TRUTH'S PRACTICE

To be healed, means a spiritual or normal condition, which brings into expression consciousness of unity and wholeness. A spiritual and normal condition is one like unto Infinite Spirit, with which we are one. That we manifest and realise the harmony of Spirit, we are to acquire a knowledge of what we are, and know that we are forever concerned with the permanent and real, and not with the transient and passing.

To know the truth, that we are one with the Whole or Holy Spirit, is to know that we are one with all goodness; not to deny, negate, nor refuse in any way to accept this all-inclusive truth, but to affirm it in thought, word and act, is the great work which lies before us. Affirmation brings realisation, for it is the word of truth and life; it is the pinnacle of absolute consciousness, above temptation and sense delusion, and reveals to us that we are superior to time, place and circumstance.

They who realise this truth, are caused to turn from darkness to light, from the seeming to the real, from dis-ease to ease, from fear and its torments, to love and its bliss, from unkindness to justice, from doubt to faith, from false belief to knowledge, from the tempter to God, in which and by which all live: "THE BREAD OF LIFE"

The first work to be done preparatory to correct interpretation, is to erase false belief; by means of this primary work, consciousness is realised that you are superior to all effects, or to the visible universe. Through right habit of thought, sensation, word and deed, the effect of thought becomes harmonious, and we realise peace, in earth, the body, as it in heaven - Spirit.

If you find that through force or habit, so called, you are thinking and reasoning in favor or the belief in sin, sickness, death, envy, prejudice, hate, etc, do not feel discouraged, but deny and erase that line of thought by thinking, speaking, and manifesting their opposite. Think and manifest salvation, and not sin; health, not sickness'; life, not death; justice, not envy; love, not prejudice; truth, not hate - by so doing you serve God, Goodness, and make desirable conditions. The science of God is also the science of Goodness, the law of which is love.

"Whatsover a man soweth, that shall he reap". His habit of thought is expressed in the body; he reaps in manifestation what he by thoughts sows in mentality; the present thought will bear its fruit in due seaon. They who would be free from error, must be willing that error should pass from their mental vision; must be willing not to believe in error, then maintain that position, and think no error.

The lesson of letting go, is an important one to understand. To get understanding is to let go of error.

Some persons say they fear to let go of the belief on the reality of sin, sickness and death, for fear that they may come upon them, and for this reason they are afraid not to fear. It is written, "God hath not given you the spirit of fear," with its torments. He has given you the spirit of perfect love with its bliss, which when recognised, obeyed, and manifest, casteth out fear.

When we abide in that truth which God hath given us, we give up false beliefs in fear, for His love and truth. He who manifested patience, divinely, while suffering, said, The things that I feared, have come upon me."

Lessons in the Science of Infinite Spirit:Malinda Elliot Cramer

GOD, THE ONE SOURCE

God, being the source of all life, must necessarily be the source of health. Health is the pure inflow of Creative Life coming to us freely for the free operation of all our powers. Life in its fullest and freest sense is synonymous with health. God is the source of all life, the fountain of health.

There are few people who do not believe in God. But the conception of God varies largely with the individual.

God exists in all created things. The word ex-ist means a standing forth out of, or a manifestation of, being. As the scientist have reduced all energy to the atom and this to the etheric principle we can see how God dwells in and composes all things. He manifests Himself in man, in life, mental, physical and spiritual. Even the least religious person realises that there is an area in the soul in which God can be felt.

God is the Principle of Life in and through all nature. He is immanent (indwelling) in all created things. These are expressions of God, the projection of God's thought into visible form. Hence, man in a manifestation or expression of the Divine Idea of Man, and here we must refer to the Mosaic account of Creation, where- in we are told that God made Man in His own image and likeness.

This does not mean, that we are imaged in God's form physically, or have a likeness to Him corporeally, for our physical formation is entirely designed as an equipment for earthly requirements. But it means that we are made in God's image and likeness spiritually -- we are all emanations of the Divine Spirit.

The Divine Principle is self-manifesting in Law, and as such can be and is in all things created and uncreated. It permeates the Universe. In personalising God we are certain to err because of our conception of personality. We limit the Infinite in its powers and operations. The poet tells us that to the one who sees God in nature every bush is a burning bush and the ground on which he stands is holy. And we know that the statement is true. God's omnipresence would be impossible were He a person. This view takes nothing away from that which regards God as person merely. It adds scope and distance to that concept, which has been limited. It explains what before one could not well understand.

It was this image that Jesus sought to impress on our consciousness. For while we can understand God best as Principle we cannot apprehend Him as principle solely, since principle is not sentient, whereas God is both Principle and Consciousness. God has created nothing that is not in Himself.

Many people may regard this as cold and abstruse view of God, whom they consider humanly as a tender, loving Father. But there is no other way in which He can be apprehended because He is Spirit; His Being is on a plane totally different from ours.

One revelation of God's presence or power within the individual soul is worth all the books ever written so far as that one person is concerned. If every person who believes in God were asked as to the cause of his or her belief the answer would be: I believe there is a God because He has manifested Himself to me. I have felt God within me."

IMMEDIACY

...seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. - Luke 12:31

Every person is responsible for the stewardship of his life. That we are conscious beings means we have to take this precious gift and develop its potentials. We have to exercise faith in an eternal Good even in the midst of changing circumstances. Our stewardship is to let the Divine attributes come into fruition through our thoughts, word, and deed. The wonder of life is that we can look upon beauty, we can sense what is wise. We have an infinite Intelligence within ourselves we can use positively and constructively, and which will lead us into the ways that are peaceful, wholesome, and right for our expressions.

Our faith must have an immediacy about it in order to keep it vital. It should prod us to extend our living into ever new realisations of God; we should step beyond today's experience with new courage, widen our horizons of concern through loving, healing action.

The great Biblical commandments always point us toward God's perfect creative and healing Power in our lives; our part is to accept It. Let us tend our lives with prayer, meditation, and practice; water well with sincerity, prune with honesty, harvest with joy, and share.

I am indwelt by the Divine Wholeness, and accept today every
quality that makes for my complete wellbeing- physically,
mentally,and materially. I let love and peace and joy
permeates every activity and extend their healing action
to all whom I meet.

USING FAITH TO BETTER ADVANTAGE IN OUR LIVES

Firstly we should begin with the idea that we are One with Universal Mind and therefore we are united with Its creative action, which does things to us and for us by doing them through our consciousness. This creative action we think of as Law, or the Power that acts.

Next, we should consider that we are also centers of self-conscious awareness, individualisation of this Mind, with the ability to think, to choose, and to know; and that according to the sum total of all our thoughts we are either attracting good to us or repelling an acceptance of that good.

Let us start to develop and use the first idea; We are already One with the universal Mind, and its creative Power can do anything. This is the basis of dynamic faith and of all effective prayer; and since prayers have been answered, we may accept that this is certain. It is why Jesus told us that when we pray we are to believe we have what we desire. He implied that there is that can, will, and must react to us. It has no choice other than to react to us, in an affirmative manner if that is the way we think.

That is why it is that when we pray or meditate we must do so affirmatively, and we must do so in the present tense. We must say or think of our desire as taking place now. Up to the time of Jesus, people believed that God might help them; that there were concessions He might make if people pleased Him, or performed certain rites of ceremonies. Jesus brought a new kind of teaching - today we call it "affirmative thinking:. He talked about a Power that operates on our belief the way we believe it; and that we may see definite results or our belief in our experience.

We find that faith must be an affirmative belief. There is a Power that operates upon our thought the way we think it, and we can use our faith consciously and definitely and intelligently and for specific purposes. When we do, we should expect something to happen, and we are not to deny it in the meantime!

The Law can bring us only as much good as we can mentally accept. This accepting is an act of our own consciousness; it is an act of faith. There must be an acceptance in our mind, a belief within our own consciousness, a belief that does not deny itself. It is a belief that say, "It is so".

Perhaps we ask for something, or accept something, or affirm something, and then it seems as though we are not going to get it. We must continue to know that we are dealing with Power that causes the invisible to become visible! We are creating a pattern upon which the creative Power is always acting. this is one of the greatest ideas concerning thought, but we seem to overlook its full and complete meaning.

Realise we are thinking, choosing centers of awareness in this Mind; and according to the sum total of all our thoughts, we are either silently attracting good or repelling it from us.

Let us consider certain attitudes of thought that ought to be salutary. For instance, the necessity of having an attitude of gratitude. Gratitude is not a virtue but it also is part of practical philosophy of daily life. There is no wiser way of living than to remember every morning what Life has given us, and to lift up our thoughts in thankfulness for every bounty we possess.

We occasionally need to put ourselves on a strict regiment, in which we would speak no negative word; refrain from faultfinding or condemnation of anyone or anything.

It is the sum total of our thinking that we need to consider; and in doing this one of the first things to learn is that about ninety percent of our thinking is entirely subconscious - we are not aware of it while it goes on. Our success or failure in life is largely a subconscious process, and of course our happiness or misery is almost entirely so.

Scientific investigation verifies that you and I are talking about a reality. Most of our thought processes are subconscious. Here is where the habit patterns are caught and laid down, even from infancy. It should be our purpose to find out what these thought patterns are; and when they are unhappy, morbid, or filled with fear, change them in order that the natural, normal flow of Life Itself shall be resumed.

Now we have the basis premises developed to where we can use them, because we know what we are doing, and so we come the third idea:

We can change our thinking, and by so doing enable the Law, the invisible creative Force, to act for us in an affirmative rather than in a negative way.

Jesus gave us a technique that when we pray we should enter the closet of the self, close the door of the senses, and make known our request. We must affirm the good and forget the negative. When we do this, we should be certain that we accept the answer, and know we are going to receive it.

When we pray we must believe that we have, and we shall have. We actually can change our thinking and permit the Law to give us freedom.

What more could we ask? What more could anyone receive from Life? To learn how to think constructively is to learn how to prove or demonstrate what is good. We can be renewed and transformed by the renewing of our mind. There is One Mind, God - Mind, and this is the mind of man at the level of his understanding. Divine Intelligence stands ready to pour into our consciousness every idea of good, and an infinite Law within this Intelligence acts upon our acceptance or belief, making it visible in our experience.

Source: Ernerst Holmes (Science of Mind Magazine March 1981)