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For
many years there has been an endless discussion as to the origin of evil.
Theologians have told us that God is Love, and that God is Omnipresent. If
this be true, there is no place where God is not. Where, then, is Evil,
Satan and Hell?
Let us see:
God is Spirit.
Spirit is the Creative Principle of the Universe.
Man is made in the image and likeness of God.
Man is therefore a spiritual being.
The only activity which spirit possesses is the power to think.
Thinking is therefore a creative process.
All form is therefore the result of the thinking process.
The destruction of form must also be a result of the thinking process.
Fictitious representations of form are the result of the creative power of
thought, as in Hypnotism.
Apparent representation of form are the result of the creative power of
thought, as in Spiritualism.
Invention, organization and constructive work of all kinds are the result of
the creative power of thought, as in concentration.
When the creative power of thought is manifested for the benefit of
humanity, we call the result good.
When the creative power of thought is manifested in a destructive or evil
manner, we call the result evil.
This indicates the origin of both good and evil; they are simply words which
have been coined in order to indicate the nature of the result of the
thinking or creative process. Thought necessarily precedes and predetermines
action; action precedes and predetermines condition.
Part Twenty will throw more light upon this important subject.
PART TWENTY
1. The
spirit of a thing is that thing; it is necessarily fixed, changeless and
eternal. The spirit of you is -- you; without the spirit you would be
nothing. It becomes active through your recognition of it and its
possibilities.
2. You
may have all the wealth in Christendom, but unless you recognize it and make
use of it, it will have no value; so with your spiritual wealth: unless you
recognize it and use it, it will have no value. The one and only condition
of spiritual power is use or recognition.
3. All
great things come through recognition; the scepter of power is
consciousness, and thought is its messenger, and this messenger is
constantly molding the realities of the invisible world into the conditions
and environments of your objective world.
4.
Thinking is the true business of life, power is the result. You are at all
times dealing with the magical power of thought and consciousness. What
results can you expect so long as you remain oblivious to the power which
has been placed within your control?
5. So
long as you do this you limit yourself to superficial conditions, and make
of yourself a beast of burden for those who think; those who recognize their
power; those who know that unless we are willing to think we shall have to
work, and the less we think the more we shall have to work, and the less we
shall get for our work.
6. The
secret of power is a perfect understanding of the principles, forces,
methods and combinations of Mind, and a perfect understanding of our
relationship to the Universal Mind. It is well to remember that this
principle is unchangeable; if this were not so, it would not be reliable;
all principles are changeless.
7.
This stability is your opportunity; you are its active attribute, the
channel for its activity; the Universal can act only through the individual.
8.
When you begin to perceive that the essence of the Universal is within
yourself -- is you -- you begin to do things; you begin to feel your power;
it is the fuel which fires the imagination; which lights the torch of
inspiration; which gives vitality to thought; which enables you to connect
with all the invisible forces of the Universe. It is this power which will
enable you to plan fearlessly, to execute masterfully.
9. But
perception will come only in the Silence; this seems to be the condition
required for all great purposes. You are a visualizing entity. Imagination
is your workshop. It is here that your ideal is to be visualized.
10. As
a perfect understanding of the nature of this power is a primary condition
for its manifestation, visualize the entire method over and over again, so
that you may use it whenever occasion requires. The infinity of wisdom is to
follow the method whereby we may have the inspiration of the omnipotent
Universal Mind on demand at any time.
11. We
can fail to recognize this world within, and so exclude it from our
consciousness, but it will still be the basic fact of all existence; and
when we learn to recognize it, not only in ourselves, but in all persons,
events, things and circumstances we shall have found the "Kingdom of heaven"
which we are told is "within" us.
12.
Our failures are a result of the operation of exactly the same principle;
the principle is unchangeable; its operation is exact, there is no
deviation; if we think lack, limitation, discord, we shall find their fruits
on every hand; if we think poverty, unhappiness or disease, the thought
messengers will carry the summons as readily as any other kind of thought
and the result will be just as certain. If we fear a coming calamity, we
shall be able to say with Job, "the thing I feared has come upon me"; if we
think unkindly or ignorantly we shall thus attract to ourselves the results
of our ignorance.
13.
This power of thought, if understood and correctly used, is the greatest
labor-saving device ever dreamed of, but if not understood or improperly
used, the result will in all probability be disastrous, as we have already
seen; by the help of this power you can confidently undertake things that
are seemingly impossible, because this power is the secret of all
inspiration, all genius.
14. To
become inspired means to get out of the beaten path, out of the rut, because
extraordinary results require extraordinary means. When we come into a
recognition of the Unity of all things and that the source of all power is
within, we tap the source of inspiration.
15.
Inspiration is the art of imbibing, the art of self-realization; the art of
adjusting the individual mind to that of the Universal Mind; the art of
attaching the proper mechanism to the source of all power; the art of
differentiating the formless into form; the art of becoming a channel for
the flow of Infinite Wisdom; the art of visualizing perfection; the art of
realizing the omnipresence of Omnipotence.
16. An
understanding and appreciation of the fact that the infinite power is
omnipresent and is therefore in the infinitely small as well as the
infinitely large will enable us to absorb its essence; a further
understanding of the fact that this power is spirit and therefore
indivisible will enable us to appreciate its present at all points at the
same time.
17. An
understanding of these facts, first intellectually and then emotionally,
will enable us to drink deeply from this ocean of infinite power. An
intellectual understanding will be of no assistance; the emotions must be
brought into action; thought without feeling is cold. The required
combination is thought and feeling.
18.
Inspiration is from within. The Silence is necessary, the senses must be
stilled, the muscles relaxed, repose cultivated. When you have thus come
into possession of a sense of poise and power you will be ready to receive
the information or inspiration or wisdom which may be necessary for the
development of your purpose.
19. Do
not confuse these methods with those of the clairvoyant; they have nothing
in common. Inspiration is the art of receiving and makes for all that is
best in life; your business in life is to understand and command these
invisible forces instead of letting them command and rule you. Power implies
service; inspiration implies power; to understand and apply the method of
inspiration is to become a superman.
20. We
can live more abundantly every time we breathe, if we consciously breathe
with that intention. The IF is a very important condition in this case, as
the intention governs the attention, and without the attention you can
secure only the results which every one else secures. That is, a supply
equal to the demand.
21. In
order to secure the larger supply your demand must be increased, and as you
consciously increase the demand the supply will follow, you will find
yourself coming into a larger and larger supply of life, energy and
vitality.
22.
The reason for this is not difficult to understand, but it is another of the
vital mysteries of life which does not seem to be generally appreciated. If
you make it your own, you will find it one of the great realities of life.
23. We
are told that "In Him we live and move and have our being," and we are told
that "He" is a Spirit, and again that "He" is Love, so that every time we
breathe, we breathe this life, love, and spirit. This is Pranic Energy, or
Pranic Ether, we could not exist a moment without it. It is the Cosmic
Energy; it is the Life of the Solar Plexus.
24.
Every time we breathe we fill our lungs with air and at the same time
vitalize our body with this Pranic Ether which is Life itself, so that we
have the opportunity of making a conscious connection with All Life, All
Intelligence and All Substance.
25. A
knowledge of your relation and oneness with this Principle that governs the
Universe and the simple method whereby you can consciously identify yourself
with it gives you a scientific understanding of a law whereby you may free
yourself from disease, from lack or limitation of any kind; in fact, it
enables you to breathe the "breath of life" into your own nostrils.
26.
This "breath of life" is a superconscious reality. It is the essence of the
"I am." It is pure "Being" or Universal Substance, and our conscious unity
with it enables us to localize it, and thus exercise the powers of this
creative energy.
27.
Thought is creative vibration and the quality of the conditions created will
depend upon the quality of our thought, because we cannot express powers
which we do not possess. We must "be" before we can "do" and we can "do"
only to the extent to which we "are," and so what we do will necessarily
coincide with what we "are" and what we are depends upon what we "think."
28.
Every time you think you start a train of causation which will create a
condition in strict accordance with the quality of the thought which
originated it. Thought which is in harmony with the Universal Mind will
result in corresponding conditions. Thought which is destructive or
discordant will produce corresponding results. You may use thought
constructively or destructively, but the immutable law will not allow you to
plant a thought of one kind and reap the fruit of another. You are free to
use this marvelous creative power as you will, but you must take the
consequences.
29.
This is the danger from what is called Will Power. There are those who seem
to think that by force of will they can coerce this law; that they can sow
seed of one kind and by "Will Power" make it bear fruit of another, but the
fundamental principle of creative power is in the Universal, and therefore
the idea of forcing a compliance with our wishes by the power of the
individual will is an inverted conception which may appear to succeed for a
while but is eventually doomed to failure - because it antagonizes the very
power which it is seeking to use.
30. It
is the individual attempting to coerce the Universal, the finite in conflict
with the Infinite. Our permanent well-being will be best conserved by a
conscious cooperation with the continuous forward movement of the Great
Whole.
31.
For your exercise this week, go into the Silence and concentrate on the fact
that "In him we live and move and have our being" is literally and
scientifically exact! That you ARE because He IS, that if He is Omnipresent
He must be in you. That if He is all in all you must be in Him! That He is
Spirit and you are made in "His image and likeness" and that the only
difference between His spirit and your spirit is one of degree, that a part
must be the same in kind and quality as the whole. When you can realize this
clearly you will have found the secret of the creative power of thought, you
will have found the origin of both good and evil, you will have found the
secret of the wonderful power of concentration, you will have found the key
to the solution of every problem whether physical, financial, or
environmental. |
