A Parenthesis In Eternity: Living the Mystical Life

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A PARENTHESIS
ETERNITY

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A Parenthesis in Eternity, by the world-renowned teacher and bestselling
author Joel S. Goldsmith, is a dynamic guide to tapping the power that lies
within each of us. Like the millions of people who have achieved personal
fulfillment through Goldsmith's teaching, you will learn how to overcome
lifelong inhibitions and effect positive changes that will enrich your life with
greater meaning and purpose.

The "parentheses" of life, says Goldsmith, are the boundaries of birth
and death that mark off one's earthly existence. In this practical and
inspiring guide, he shows how to transcend those boundaries and trans-
form your life into a rich and vital experience. Here is a bold summons to
free yourself of limitations and get what you want and need out of life.

Joe! S. Goldsmith, a well-known spiritual teacher who lectured widely
throughout the world, wrote many books on mysticism, including The Thun-
der of Silence, The Art of Meditation, and Living the Infinite Way, His
teaching has been a source of inspiration and help to miliions.

Cover design by Alan Mazzetti

ISBN D-Dh-

HarperSanFrancisco

USA $18.03

CANADA S25.00

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51800

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Joel S. Goldsrr

A PARENTHI
IN ETERNI1

A PARENTHESIS
IN ETERNITY

Except the Lord build the house, they

labour in vain that build it.

— Psalm 127

Illumination dissolves all material ties and binds men together with the
golden chains of spiritual understanding; it acknowledges only the
leadership of the Christ; it has no ritual or rule but the divine, imper-
sonal universal Love; no other worship than the inner Flame that is ever
lit at the shrine of Spirit. This union is the free state of spiritual brother-
hood. The only restraint is the discipline of Soul, therefore we know
liberty without license; we are a united universe without physical limits;
a divine service to God without ceremony or creed. The illumined walk
without fear — by Grace.

THE INFINITE WAY

a parenthesis IN eternity. Copyright © 1963 by Joel S. Goldsmith. All rights
reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be
used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except
in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For
information address HarperCollins Publishers, 10 East 53rd Street. New York.
NY 10022.

FIRST HARPER & ROW PAPERBACK EDITION IN 1986

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARP NUMBER; 64-10368
isbn: 0-06-063231-3

98 97 96 95 RRD(H) 10

CONTENTS

Introduction

PART ONE

THE CIRCLE OF ETERNITY

The Basis of Mysticism

I The Two Worlds

II Release God

III The Spiritual Adventure

TV The Journey Within

V Sowing and Reaping

VI God, the Consciousness of the Individual

VII The Sacred Word

VIII The Mystical I

IX An Interval in Eternity

X Reality and Illusion

XI The Nature of Spiritual Power

XII The Discovery of the Self

11

18

33

45

55
66

77

87

100

112
124

1 33

Vlll

CONTENTS

PART TWO

RISING OUT OF THE PARENTHESIS

Attaining the Mystical Consciousness

XIII

The Unillumined and the Illumined

H5

XIV

"And They Shall All Be Taught of God"

158

XV

Self-Surrender

m

XVI

The Secret of the Word Made Flesh

182

XVII

The Mystical Life Through the Two Great

Commandments

196

xvm

The Function of the Mind

205

XIX

Attaining Divine Sonship

216

XX

The Meaning of Initiation

224

XXI

"The Spirit of the Lord God . . , Hath Anointed Me"

Z41

XXII

The Mystical Marriage

PART THREE

252

LIVING IN THE CIRCLE

Living the Mystical Life

XXIII Living In, Through, and By the Spirit

XXIV The Master Alchemist
XXV Losing "I"-ness in I

XXVI "My Kingdom Is Not of This World"

XXVII Living Above the Pairs of Opposites

XXVIII The Tree of Life

XXIX Beyond Time and Space

XXX God Made This World for Men and Women

XXXI "There Remaineth a Rest"

XXXII Address the World Silently with Peace

XXXIII The Inner Universe

259
267
274
285

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304

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337
345
356

A PARENTHESI
IN ETERNITY

INTRODUCTION

S.

'omewhere in consciousness there lies a land undiscovered, a land
not yet revealed by religion, philosophy, or science. I know that it
exists for it continually pushes itself into my awareness. I know that
when it discloses itself, it will change the nature of mankind: wars
will be no more, and the lamb will lie down with the lion. I know
its name, for it is revealed as My 1 kingdom or My grace. Christ Jesus
spoke of this Kingdom, but neither the spoken word nor the manu-
scripts so far discovered have revealed its full significance.

In my high moments I have lived and experienced this Kingdom,
and sometimes its atmosphere clings to me for days, but then again
it eludes me. Sometimes in healings I have witnessed its action, but
have caught only glimpses of it. It has shown me the human mind
of mankind and its operations, and how men can use the mind for
evil purposes as well as for good.

This spiritual kingdom, this inner world, is as real as the world we
see, hear, taste, touch, and smell— if anything, more real. What we
become aware of through the senses eventually changes and disap-
pears, but this inner world, these spiritual glories that are revealed to
us, these spiritual lights with whom we learn to tabernacle— they
never disappear.

1 The word "My," capitalized, refers to God.

I

2 INTRODUCTION

This is the world the Master Christ Jesus revealed, a Kingdom which
exists right here where we are if we will but receive the Spirit of God
within us. It is already estabJished here on earth, only awaiting our
recognition and realization.

Finding that Kingdom will in no wise take us out of the world. It
will leave us in it, but not of it. We will enjoy all the things that go
to make up a full and rich life; we will not become ascetics, but we
will no longer desire things or long for them, and even though the
riches of life will be a part of our experience, inwardly we will be so
free of them that our whole inner being will be lived in and of God.

The mystical world is a real world. It is a world of people and a
world of things formed of the illumined or enlightened consciousness.
But how do we become the illumined or the enlightened? How do
we find this mystical world? What is mysticism?

Mysticism is "the experience of mystical union or direct communion
with ultimate reality reported by mystics." It is "a theory of mystical
knowledge; the doctrine or belief that direct knowledge of God, of
spiritual truth, of ultimate reality, or comparable matters is attainable
through immediate intuition, insight, or illumination and in a way
differing from ordinary sense perception." 2

The mystical message of all times is the same. The language and
the mode of approach may be different, but the message and goal— the
attainment of conscious union with God— never change.

No one can become a seeker of God in his humanhood, but when
God touches a person to some measure of awakening, he is led to some
kind of a spiritual teaching. He may remain on that one path to the
end of his search, or he may go from teaching to teaching until ulti-
mately he finds that which meets his unsatisfied need and brings him
to God-realization. Although revealed in different languages, different
terms, and different forms, the inner unfoldment leads unerringly to
the one goal.

Nothing can equal the fascination and adventure of the mystical
life. It is a life of discovery, discoveries which forever lie ahead of us,
never behind. We may have had an experience yesterday that lifted

lMe [riam-Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, Third International Edition
(ipnngfield, Mass.: G. and C. Merriam Company, 1961}.

INTRODUCTION

3

us to the mountaintop, but we cannot live on yesterday's "pearl" or
on yesterday's manna because the experience of yesterday, regardless
of how great and soul-stirring it may have been, is only a preparation
for the greater ones that lie ahead. Always there is the challenge of
the intangibles awaiting our discovery here and now.

The kingdom of God is without limitation or boundary, and all the
truth that has been given to the world in the past thousands of years
is but a thimbleful in comparison with what there is yet to be discov-
ered. No one has yet experienced even one-millionth of what has
already been revealed.

Can anyone ever reveal the last word of spiritual truth? Can anyone
ever penetrate the depths of God? Can anyone ever discover the all-
ness of God? True, the mystics of all ages have given us glimpses of
truth, and their words carry conviction because behind the words is
the experience itself. But how much of what we have read of spiritual
revelation have we actually experienced? How much of it still lies
between the covers of a book? How much of it have we actually wit-
nessed? How much truth has come as an inner unfoldment with the
renewing strength and power of revelation?

Every aspirant on the spiritual path should be constantly alert for
some original revelation of truth. If he is content, however, to dwell
merely on words without drawing forth the deeper and richer mean-
ings of which the words are but the symbol, he is not being fed from
within, but from the pages of a book. Black ink does not taste good,
nor is there any sustenance to be found on the printed page, and those
persons who are living on the printed word are going to be just as hun-
gry as those who suffer from malnutrition. The sustaining substance
to be found in words, printed or voiced, lies in the truth that can be
drawn into consciousness.

The truths that are revealed in spiritual literature are seeds planted
in consciousness, and if those seeds are planted in an active and fertile
consciousness, they spring up and bear fruit; but if they are taken into
the sleeping consciousness— the unconscious or dead consciousness,
the consciousness that is living on form, ritual, or yesterday's thoughts
—they cannot break open, sprout, and mature.

Every word of truth that we hear or read should be taken into our

4 INTRODUCTION

consciousness as if it were a seed, and there nourished and fed. It
should be fertilized with meditation and by pondering and putting
it into practice, until in a moment of stillness and silence the seed can
break open, take root, and begin to bear fruit.

What we read, then, cannot become stale. Always there is the
expectancy that the very next paragraph may contain the "pearl of
great price" for us. The next paragraph, or the one we read tomorrow,
may be the "pearl" to our neighbor or to someone else. There is no
such thing as only one "pearl."

The spiritual life is a necklace that would fit around this entire globe
— so many pearls are there in it. Every statement of truth is a pearl,
every single principle is a pearl, every experience, almost every medita-
tion, is a pearl, if only we search for it deep enough within our own
consciousness.

Each grain of truth should be used as a steppingstone or bridge to
lead to a deeper awareness, letting more and more truth come to the
fore as we travel further and higher. If we are not alert, however, and
do not keep the ear and mind wide, wide open to see what lies ahead,
it would be the same as trying to cross the ocean in a boat while
asleep at the steering wheel.

Spiritual literature and spiritual principles are certainly stepping-
stones or bridges over which you and I can travel, but they are steps
or bridges leading where? Always to our own consciousness! That is
the only place where a truly spiritual teaching can ever lead— to our
own consciousness.

"God is no respecter of persons," and whatever is possible to one
is possible to all, but only to those who seek. Seek and find; seek and
find; but seek within the realm of your own consciousness. Your con-
sciousness and my consciousness are just as infinite as the conscious-
ness of any spiritual seer, and whatever degree of unfoldment any
illumined soul has had, we can have in an equally deep degree. We
may not express that Infinity in its fullness, but nevertheless that is
the truth about us.

Regardless of how much truth reveals itself to us, however, or how
many experiences we may have of a spiritual nature, as soon as these
have served their purpose, we let them slide out of memory and look

INTRODUCTION 5

forward to the next because the next one will be greater. If we should
write a hundred books on truth, or heal a hundred thousand people,
let us never believe that we will have come to the end of our conscious-
ness, because our consciousness has a depth far beyond that of the
ocean and a circumference greater than that of this entire universe and
of all the other universes yet unknown and undiscovered. There is no
limit to the depth of our being and the richness of our consciousness,
but we must dive deeply into ourselves to bring forth the revelation
of the nature of God, and eventually the nature of our own being.
Then we shall discover that God is in truth our very being and our

very life.

To seek, to find, and to experience this inner glow, this inner real-
ization of the Presence, this inner communication with God, and then
realize that each time that it is repeated it becomes a deeper, richer
experience, and a more fruitful one, so that there can never be an end,
or a sense of dullness, monotony, or boredom in it— therein lies the
real adventure of the spiritual life.

God is infinite; truth is infinite. It is for us to rise into that Infinity,
explore new avenues of truth, open new areas of our consciousness
because all this truth is our consciousness, our very own! At one level
of consciousness we can bring forth literature, art, inventions, or dis-
coveries. At a deeper level of consciousness we can bring forth spiritual
experiences up to, and including, the final one, which is known as the
marriage, or union, with God. It all depends on what we are seeking.

And what is it that we are seeking? Is it merely a healing of some
nature? Is it merely more comfort in the human world? Is it merely
a little happier companionship or a little more money? It is right to
enjoy health; it is right to have an abundance of supply; it is right to
have satisfying human companionships. And all these things inevitably
do follow, but if they alone are the goal of our search, we are debasing
truth. The goal itself is discovering the essence of spiritual wisdom,
exploring every comer of the spiritual kingdom, every depth of it,
every height of it. Therein lies spiritual adventure.

Who knows what great truth will be revealed to us? Who knows
what wonderful things lie ahead of us an hour from now? Who knows
what startling revelations of truth may come to us? It is marvelous

INTRODUCTION

when they come; it is wonderful when they happen, but they cannot
come if we permit some particular message to become crystallized in
us, or if we go to bed tonight thinking we know the truth or wake up
tomorrow morning believing we have reached the ultimate in spiritual
wisdom. Every day of the week must be a fresh day. With each day
there should always be an inner longing, not to recall or remember
something that was revealed the day before, but an acknowledgment
of our emptiness and a reaching out: "Father, Father! Come, come,
reveal Your message! Give me a vision today; let me know You
aright; let me go deeper into Your consciousness."

There are greater truths buried in our consciousness than any that
have ever come forth. Just as truth came through a humble shoemaker
like Jacob Boehme, so can world-shattering truth come through you
or me, and if it does not, it may be because we did not want it as
desperately as have the great mystics of the world, or because our in-
terest has been more on the surface of life than in its depths.

Sometimes students who have been studying for only a year write
me of their dissatisfaction, disappointment, and even discouragement
over their lack of unfoldment and progress. Often my response is, "In
just a year, just a year? There are another thousand million years ahead
of you, and no one is ever going to accomplish the transition from
that 'man, whose breath is in his nostrils,' to the man who has his
being in Christ merely by studying or meditating for a year." If the
kingdom of God were that easily attained, everyone would attain it.
But how few have done sol

Make no mistake, this is the most difficult of paths; this is the most
difficult life there is. It is far easier for a person to become a Croesus
with fabulous wealth or to attain great fame than to succeed in attain-
ing the spiritual life. It is far easier to accomplish anything in the
human world than in the spiritual because in the spiritual world you
and I are called upon to "die" before we can attain what we are
seeking.

The spiritual life is not gained by giving up smoking or drinking or
the eating of meat, or by studying for a few years, or by attending
church or classes. If only it were that easy! The Kingdom is attained
by "dying daily." Every day of the week, as a part of our involvement

INTRODUCTION

in the life of the Spirit, we must see to it that some trace of human-
hood either leaves us or is sent about its business. Every problem must
be viewed as an opportunity to rise above whatever the situation may
be, and if that sounds too difficult, it is better not to begin. But if
there is a drive in us that compels us to go forward, then we must be
patient and persist until we do attain.

Attainment is possible to everyone who sets out on this spiritual
adventure, and it is possible without price— except the one great price.
There is a price: "Sell all that thou hast." That is the price, and it is
paid in the coin of our devotion. It is the price the Master demanded
of his followers when he told them, "He that loveth father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me Sell all that thou hast Fol-
low me, and I will make you fishers of men." From this we can under-
stand how difficult spiritual attainment is and why our progress is
slow, and we will not complain. We will be satisfied, realizing that if
the followers of Jesus in his day had to walk those steps, so do we.

But although we may plumb the depths to the limit of our capacity
and fail to reach the goal, the search is still worthwhile, even if we
have to go on for years and years and years believing that we are not
making any progress. The truth is that with every effort, with every
expedition, with every search, with every meditation, we are moving
slowly and inexorably toward the goal of all life— union with God.

Problems and circumstances affect the lives of different people in
different ways. They can make or break a person, or they can leave
him where they found him. There is nothing tragic or disgraceful
about being broken or about being a failure, nothing at all. A person
who fails has tried, usually very hard, and there is a satisfaction in that,
and there is a hope in it because if a person continues to try, he can
never be kept down, and even though he may be broken, he will rise
up again. The tragedy, if there is one, or the disgrace, lies in being
willing to go on day after day, waking up in the morning and going
to bed at night, and being nowhere tomorrow that he was not yes-
terday.

Think of the unlimited opportunties there are in every large metro-
politan area for gaining a knowledge and appreciation of the great
art, literature, music, religion, and natural sciences of the world, and

8 INTRODUCTION

then think of the thousands of aimless people walking the streets of
those cities without even being aware of these opportunities, and more
often than not, not even caring. There is tragedy!

Is it not the same, only more so, with any truly spiritual teaching
or message? Are there not countless people in the world who are ex-
posed time and time again in some manner or by some means to
truth, and yet who pass "by on the other side"? That is sad because
finding a spiritual message could and should be the beginning of a
life of adventure. True, it does not always happen that way. It could
even leave us where it found us. It cannot break us— that it could
never do— but it can make us, and it should open life to spiritual joy
and excitement, to seeking and finding. It should spur us to turn round
and round and then to start all over again to see how much further
we can go on this Path.

There is no God out here in space. The God there is, is hidden
within us, waiting for each one of us to discover for himself. We do
not have to go any place in time or space. The spiritual journey, the
greatest of all adventures, is not made in time or space. It is a journey
in consciousness — and this journey no one can make for us.

T

PART ONE

HE CIRCLE

OF ETERNITY

The Basis of Mysticism

CHAPTER I

THE TWO WORLDS

T

_Lhe

. here are two worlds. There is "this world," and there is "My
kingdom." There is the world that we see, hear, taste 7 touch, and
smell, the world that we live in, in our business and in our home with
our family; and there is the world within, where we live when the
Christ has been raised up in us, the world inside our consciousness
where we are alone with God and where we tabernacle with the son
of God in us. On one hand, there is the mortal man, and on the
other, the spiritual son of God.

Paul, who was spiritually and inwardly taught by the Master, de-
scribed mortal man as the "creature," the "natural man" who "receiv-
eth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto
him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually dis-
cerned"; and explained that "as many as are led by the Spirit of God,
they are the sons of God."

Until we leam about the man who has his being in Christ— the
man we must become— we are that "natural man," that "creature,"
that mortal who must put off mortality, that man who must "die
daily,"

Progress on the spiritual path will be much more rapid once it is
understood that this human or mortal man, this "creature," the "nat-

11

12

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

ural man," is entirely cut off from God, is never under the law or
protection of God, and is never governed or sustained by God. If he
were, could there be murder, rape, arson, or war? Could there be death
if man were God-governed? Could there be disease? Could an airplane
go hurtling out of the sky to kill all the people in it?

If man were God-governed, would not disease have diminished?
But has it not rather increased? For every disease that has been
brought under control, have not two new ones, more deadly than the
old, made their appearance? Yet every day millions upon millions of
prayers go up to God; and then when a solution to the problems of
the ills of the flesh comes, does it come from God or from a bottle
of medicine, an antibiotic, or a new surgical discovery? Do not human
beings die of the most horrible diseases and tragic accidents? Does
God interfere?

Human beings suffer terrible injustices at the hands of others: they
are governed by tyrants; wars are fought, and the righteous do not
always win those wars. In every age there are those in slavery, there
are those in bondage. We have only to look at history to know how
many thousands of years this world has suffered from war, even
though every generation has felt, as we do, that war is wrong, that it
does not solve anything, and that no lasting good comes from it. Has
not every generation prayed to God to end war, and in all these thou-
sands of years, has there ever been an answer to such prayers? Are not
nations whose history goes back thousands and thousands of years
and whose people have been praying to God all those years still in
slavery, ignorance, and poverty?

God never has been known to do anything for a human being as
long as he is immersed in "the things of the flesh." A lack of under-
standing of this point causes many aspirants on the Way to miss the
mark, because they are forever trying to get God to do something to,
or for, a human being, but this He does not do. Regardless of how
much humankind suffers or enjoys, regardless of whether men are sick
or well, poor or rich, they are not under the law of God; they are not
fed, sustained, or protected by God; and for that reason the tragic
things that happen to the human race keep right on happening gen-
eration after generation, with only a few escaping the common fate.

THE TWO WORLDS 1 3

This need not be, for both Christ Jesus and Paul, as well as others
before them, taught that these experiences of the human race can
be avoided, and they also taught how it is possible to "come out from
among them, and be . . . separate," and bear fruit richly. That was the
whole purpose of the ministry of the Master— to reveal to the world
how to come out from among the masses and avoid the strife, the
lack, the sins, and the diseases that beset mankind.

Human beings think they can add spirituality to their humanhood
and thereby attain God's grace. This cannot be: there has to be a
"dying daily"; there has to be a putting off of "the old man"; there
has to be a putting off of mortality and a clothing with immortality;
there has to be a transition from the man of earth to that man who
has his being in Christ; there has to be repentance. God has no pleas-
ure in "the death of him that dieth . . . wherefore turn yourselves, and
live ye." There must be a turning before we can live again.

Most of us think that we can turn to God and persuade Him to add
something good to us, without our losing, giving up, or changing any-
thing. We expect to add immortality and divine Grace to our human
self. But it is only as the old man in us "dies" that the new man can
be "born"; it is only as we change our outlook that spiritual harmony
can begin to function in us and as us.

It is not that God, Spirit, is going to do something for mortal, ma-
terial man: it is that mortal, material man is to put off his materiality
that his spiritual identity may be revealed. It is nonsense to believe
that human beings are under the law of God when all the prayers
that the human race has ever invented have never brought God into
human experience: they have never brought peace on earth, elimi-
nated disease, nor have they overcome the sin or the poverty of the
world. Have the prayers of the Christians, the Jews, the Hindus, or
the Buddhists been answered? Why not? What is wrong? Is God a
respecter of persons? Is God a respecter of races or religions?

for thousands of years there have been human beings who have
observed every kind of ritual without ever approaching the kingdom
«f God. Jesus made that clear when he cautioned his disciples that
their righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees
who of all men were the most scrupulous in their rigid following of

14 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

the Mosaic law. And yet Jesus said that the righteousness of those
who seek the kingdom of God must be greater than theirs. They must
enter into the silent sanctuary of their own being and pray where men
cannot see them. They must not merely support the temple or the
church: they must do benevolences without letting anyone know
about them.

It is easy to be a human being full of trouble— that seems to be the
easiest thing in the world to be. But it is not easy to be the child of
God, spiritually free of troubles. Anyone who tries to live the Sermon
on the Mount or to give up this eye-for-an-eye and tooth-for-a-tooth
business, anyone who seriously tries to "resist not evil," anyone who
earnestly attempts to resist the temptation to return evil for evil, finds
such a way difficult at first. This is because, as human beings, we are
not children of God, nor are we under the law of God. If we would
be children of God, there is a price to pay, and the price is to "resist
not evil"; the price is to learn to pray for our enemies, to forgive sev-
enty times seven; the price is to dwell in the realization that we of
out own selves are nothing.

Gaining the kingdom of God has to be accomplished inside of our
own being. Something must take place within us; there must be a
conscious remembrance that the Christ abides in us. Through this
conscious remembrance of our oneness with God, the grace of God
becomes active, a Grace that brings things and experiences to us that
humanly would be improbable, if not impossible. There is a lessening
of dependence on our mind, our education, or our pocketbook, and a
greater reliance on the Infinite Invisible. Consciousness is being
opened to receive the invisible things of God, of which all things that
are visible are made.

The whole of the spiritual life has to do with an activity of con-
sciousness, an activity of your individual consciousness and of mine.
To live as the son of God and not as a human being means to dwell
consciously in the realization of an invisible Presence; it means to live
consciously in the awareness that God is the guiding and sustaining
principle of our life. There must be a change of base; there must be
a change of consciousness. It is not God who comes to the human
experience: it is the human being who has to give up the human
experience, exchanging it for his spiritual identity.

THE TWO WORLDS

15

I

Whether a person is good or bad is not the determining factor in
the descent of Grace upon him. There have been, and are, millions
of good people who have never attained their spiritual estate because
human goodness does not bring it about. What really counts is the
degree of devotion there is to the search for God. How much hunger-
ing and thirsting after truth is there? How much longing is there for
an understanding of God, for coming face to face with God?

It is not what our outer life is. We do not prepare for the accept-
ance of our spiritual identity merely by trying to change ourselves into
good human beings. Being good humanly has no relationship what-
soever to "dying daily." "Dying daily" is a realization that we are dis-
satisfied with our present mode of life, dissatisfied even if we have
economic sufficiency, good health, or a happy family. Still there is
that dissatisfaction, that sense of something missing in us. There is
an inner unrest, a lack of peace, an inner discontent.

Without this hunger and this inner drive, there is no "dying." But
as soon as we make the decision that we are going to walk the way that
leads to spiritual fulfillment, we have begun the necessary transforma-
tion of mind; we have begun our spiritual journey. First must come
the clear-cut realization that we cannot go on being just human
beings, and attempt to add God's grace to our humanhood. There
must be a turning; there must be an inner transformation. This has
nothing to do with our outer life. The change takes place within us.
The whole experience is an inner experience; it is one of consciousness,
but when it takes place, it affects our entire outer experience.

No one of himself has the power to receive God's grace. Grace
comes through an evolutionary progressive unfoldment of conscious-
ness. To illustrate that, let us go back in memory to our own life-
experience, and as we recall our childhood, youth, young adulthood,
and our thirties or forties, we may be able to pinpoint a time— possibly
even a specific date— at which a change of consciousness took place
within us which caused us to turn and look in another direction. It
niay have been a disease that compelled us to reach out and up to a
new and higher dimension of life; it may have been a sin or a false
a Ppetite; it may have been lack, limitation, or unhappiness; or it may
nave been just a natural unfoldment that led us to the place where
We were dissatisfied with life as it was being lived and wondered if

16 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

there were not something better, something higher. It was then that
our consciousness began to change, and even though we could not
observe any noticeable progress, progress nevertheless was being made
gradually from day to day and month to month.

Anyone far enough along on the spiritual path to be seriously pur-
suing a study of this nature was undoubtedly on the Path before he
was born into this experience. Whatever his former state of existence
may have been, had he not been on the Path in some previous life-
experience, he would not now be ready for a mystical teaching, nor
would he have been led to the reading of this book. Once a person
touches a mystical teaching, he is drawing closer and closer to the
ultimate realization of the name and nature of God and of his true
identity. Throughout all time, it has been true that when an individ-
ual realized the name and nature of God, that individual was free;
and furthermore, in proportion as that individual could impart this
realization or revelation, those who could accept and receive it were
made free.

In every age, when there has been a great religious teacher, there
have been those able to receive the imparted word of wisdom, to re-
spond to it, and to demonstrate divine sonship, but in that very same
age and very same country, there were also those who rejected the
Word, who were unwilling to accept the principles. Living side by side
were the saved and the unsaved, those who were able to rise above
the discords of the flesh, and those who could not receive the spiritual
word in their bosom.

No one who believes he is man or woman has even begun to sus-
pect spiritual truth. No one who believes that there is a power some-
where that can operate on him for good and a power that can operate
for evil has come even close to touching the hem of the Robe, for
there are no such powers. There is no power of good; there is no power
of evil.

No one can be prepared to receive this knowledge in one lifetime,
nor is anyone capable of assimilating this wisdom in one lifetime. It
takes many lifetimes of living and of spiritual unfoldment to prepare
an individual for the final revelation of his true identity. Only those
who have been prepared have the capacity to receive such truth.

r

THE TWO WORLDS 17

Do we have eyes and do not see? Do we have ears and do not hear?
We cannot see spiritual identity with physical eyes or hear the still
small voice and its impartations with physical ears. Every individual
has a Soul-faculty which has no relationship to the physical senses of
sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell, nor even to the intuitive sense
which is the seventh sense. It is this spiritual faculty which becomes
our power of discernment, the power to discern the nature of the two
worlds in which we live.

With such discernment this outer world becomes only a symbol, a
shell, almost a "suffer it to be so now." The real world is the world of
Consciousness and Its forms, not the forms created by nature, not the
forms created by the imagination of man or the forms we see with the
eyes, but the forms that Consciousness assumes, the forms that we
behold in the kingdom of God within us.

The lessons that we learn in the interior world become the basis
of our conduct in the outer world. The spiritual grace we leam within
becomes our life without. Without the impetus of this spiritual grace,
the life as lived on the outer plane is an animal life. It has its periods
of good and its periods of bad, its periods of health and its periods of
disease. It never knows the peace that passes understanding; it never
knows the life that God gave us, the life that is God, This life is dis-
cerned only through inner grace. Through this power of discernment
we glimpse the Spirit of God and then behold It 1 in others; we witness
that Spirit living in what we call human form, and just as the Spirit
of God lived as the human form of Jesus, so It lives as individual you
and me when we are animated by It.

Ah, yes, there are two worlds— the outer world of the senses and the
inner world of the Spirit, and once we have been touched by this inner
world of the Spirit, the "natural man" becomes less and less that the
son of God may be more and more.

1 In the spiritual literature of the world the varying concepts of God are indi-
cated ^ by the use of such words as "Father," "Mother," "Soul," "Spirit," "Prin-
ciple," "Love," and "Life." Therefore, in this hook the author has used the*
Pronouns "He" and "It," or "Himself" and "Itself," interchangeably in referring
t0 God,

CHAPTER H

RELEASE GOD

0.

nly the very courageous can embark on the spiritual journey,
and only those of great strength and vision can hope to continue on
this Path, Nearly twenty centuries ago, the Master made it clear
that the way is straight and narrow and few there be that enter. That
this is tiue is borne out by the fact that up to the present time very
few have been able to remain on the spiritual path and continue to
go forward. It is not easy to surmount superstition, ignorance, and
fear, and, despite prejudice and previous failures, to set forth in search
of new horizons.

We cannot adopt new ideas while still clinging to the outworn
beliefs of the past: we must be willing to relinquish our old concepts.
That is where the courage comes in, and the daring. It takes courage
to leave behind that which has proved to be unsatisfactory in our
experience. It takes courage to look at ourselves objectively and ask:
Have I sincerely worshiped God? Have I in some measure lived up to
my convictions about God?

When we turn to the search for God, we should be bold enough to
ask ourselves: Am I satisfied with such answers to prayers as have
been given to the world? Do I believe that such truth as has been
revealed is all the truth there is, or am I seeking for something yet

RELEASE GOD 19

unknown except to those few mystics who have experienced the
truth, tried to impart then knowledge, failed, and gone on their way?

Man's heritage is spiritual freedom, and if the revelation of Jesus
Christ has taught us nothing else, it is that we are entitled to live in
the full freedom of the Spirit as children of God, not as prisoners of
the mind and body.

Freedom is not a condition of mind or of body: freedom is a con-
dition of the Soul. If we do not find our freedom in Soul, we will find
only limitation and bondage in our experience. Freedom cannot be
given to a nation or to a race of people: freedom must first be real-
ized in individual being, and then some measure of that freedom can
be shared with those who are in need of it.

Nothing external to us can limit or hinder us because our freedom
must first take place in our consciousness, and this, no one can pre-
vent because fortunately no one can read our thoughts, look into our
consciousness, or know what is going on in our Soul. So it is that
wherever we are — at home, on the street, or at business — we can
make a transition from the slavery of the senses to the freedom of
the Soul. It all takes place within our consciousness.

There are those who complain that they cannot find this freedom
because of a lack of time, but there is no lack of time : that is merely
an excuse that one person uses; another uses as his excuse his lack of
money; a third, his lack of sight or of hearing. All these are just
alibis and excuses.

Some persons complain that they cannot study spiritual wisdom
because they cannot afford to buy books. Just another excuse! The
public libraries of this country and many countries of the world arc
filled with books and teachings of every nature. It would take only a
few minutes to pick up a telephone and leam how many informative
and inspiring books there are in the library or in a nearby second-
hand bookstore. The person who uses his inability to buy books as
an excuse for not studying is merely trying to hide from being taught
°r trying to ensure that he will not be taught.

Freedom is attained within us, and it is not at the mercy of time,
money, health, or relationships — not even at the mercy of those
countries that have made laws against religion.

18

20

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

The point that I am making is this: if we are bound by sin or
disease, or by any form of limitation, physical, mental, moral, or
financial, freedom is ours if only we have the desire to break through.
It cannot be a mild desire; it cannot be just the hope, "Oh, I wish I
were free; 1 wish I were like other people; I wish I knew what other
people know; I wish I had their education,"

These are excuses, alibis. There is education available for every-
body, from elementary schooling on up to courses in universities,
and this, without even attending classes in person. There is physical,
mental, moral, and financial freedom for anyone who has a sufficient
drive for freedom. Without that drive, it cannot be attained. There
must be such a desire for freedom that it is virtually a passion if we
are to attain the heights that we sit around wishing for, hoping for,
and complaining that we do not reach. No person and no condition
external to us are binding upon us. They may bind us for a year, or
five, or ten, while we struggle, strive, work, and pray for freedom,
but eventually freedom must come from every form of limitation.

The only thing essential to freedom is the desire to be free —
nothing else — because with the desire to be free, the means toward
bringing it about reveal themselves. It has been said that when the
student is ready the teacher appears, sometimes externally as a per-
son, sometimes as a book; but if in no other way, when the desire is
sufficiently deep, the teacher will appear inwardly because there are
just as many spiritual teachers on the inner plane as there are on
the outer, if not more.

Freedom comes only when we can break through the limitations
of our mind, when we do not try to pin everything down to a meaning
or confine every statement to meaning the same thing always. Words
sometimes seem to be contradictory, but that is because they mean
one thing today, and something different tomorrow, when they are
used in different ways.

The real things of life cannot be restricted. Freedom will not limit
itself to a word. It is like joy; it is like peace: we know what they
are, but we cannot describe or explain them because they cannot be
confined to a word or a phrase. How can anyone explain what the
Psalmist meant by "the secret place of the most High"? What is

RELEASE GOD 21

that? Where is it? Is it a place? Is it up high somewhere? Can "the
secret place of the most High" be located in time and space?

Paul said, "For in him we live, and move, and have our being."
How can we describe the place where we live, when we five in God?
Where is that? What is its climate?

We are instructed to open our consciousness. How do we open
our consciousness? What does it look like open, and what does it
look like closed? When we speak of going within, closing the door,
and entering the sanctuary to pray, where is that sanctuary? Is it in
our home? Is it in a church? Is it anywhere except in consciousness?

Those are just words, and if we try to break them down into their
meaning, we lose them. We might say that they are poetry. They are,
but we are never going to find the kingdom of God without poetry.
We must let imagery and poetry have their way with us, and not try to
confine ourselves to the literal meaning of words. Let us be free from
the limitations of made-up words and made-up prayers and accept the
poetry and the imagery of our Soul, accept our freedom in God— not
lose it by trying to analyze and dissect every word.

For years I have been seeking for a word in which I could imprison
what I am trying to teach, and so far I have not succeeded in finding
that word. What comes nearest to expressing my meaning is the
word Christ, but if we try to pin down that term and find a mean-
ing for It, we will lose It because what the Christ stands for cannot
be hmited within the confines of a word or a term.

The Spirit, or the Consciousness, of man cannot be restneted. We
cannot confine God; we cannot understand, analyze, or dissect God;
we cannot even name God. God eludes us when we try to put God
into the letters Go-d. The Soul of man is free; the Spirit of man is
free; the consciousness of man is free. That is why we cannot put God
m to a religion; we cannot put the Christ into a religion; and we can-
^t put religion into a man. We cannot confine, restrict, or limit
G °d, the Christ, or religion. These are free, and if we ever try to
Britain them within a form, we lose them.

One thing we do know: there is God, and the nature of God is

omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience. These do not limit

od, but the reason they do not limit Him is because we certainly

22 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

cannot claim to know the meaning of omnipresence, omnipotence,
and omniscience. Those are just words we use that have a special
meaning for us.

If we can accept the Christ, if we can open ourselves to receive
and rest in It, It will function in and through us. If we try to under-
stand or explain It, or have It explained, we will lose It. We cannot
bring It down to the confines of our mind. Nobody has ever had a
mind big enough to hold the Christ; nobody has ever had a mind
big enough to embrace It, and yet the Soul of man can experience It.
But we must be willing to experience It, and then let It go. The
experiences come, over and over, and they go. When they go, we let
them go because it is not possible for anyone to sit on Cloud Nine
twenty-four hours a day. Those to whom much has been given, of
them much is expected. So, when we receive even a ray of this
spiritual light, we have to come down to the valley and share it with
others who are seeking it.

Spiritual freedom is attainable by any one of us. It is our birth-
right. Every person on earth, be he white, yellow, or black, friend or
foe, Christian or Jew, Moslem or Buddhist, is entitled to the fullness
of life. But the attainment of that spiritual fulfillment does not come
lightly or quickly. The whole point is whether the desire for it be-
comes the ultimate meaning of life, or whether we are hoping to
achieve it in our spare time. It cannot come that way. It will involve
effort and struggle.

Why, then, are we not enjoying it? Only because of ignorance, an
ignorance of God and an ignorance of prayer, for when we know
God as He is, when we understand how to pray and to pray without
ceasing, we find that none of the evils of the earth come nigh our
dwelling place.

It requires boldness and daring to release God, to acknowledge
that we do not know God and that we do not know how to pray.
It takes courage to be done with the old and to seek the new, to
prove that we can live as children of God, as the very temple of God,
glorifying Him.

The first bit of courage required is to acknowledge that we have
never really prayed to God. Instead, we have prayed to some concept

RELEASE GOD

23

i"

of God, a concept that came either from our parents, a church, or
from books. Nevertheless, it was not God that was revealed to us, for
if God had been revealed to us, we would now be living as children
of God, and all our prayers would long ago have been answered.

No one can deny that in the presence of God there is fullness of
life. Who would be presumptuous enough to deny that "where the
Spirit of the Lord is," there is fulfillment and freedom, freedom from
all the discords of the earth? Unless we deny this, we must be willing
to admit that it is true; and if it is true, we will have to confess to
ourselves, "I have not known God: I have known some concept of
God which I have accepted and to which I have prayed, and this
concept of God is really an image in my mind, a thought, a belief, or
an idea." Such an admission takes courage.

If God is infinite, it must be self-evident that God cannot be con-
tained within the mind, yet we go on believing that some concept of
God in our mind is the infinite God. If the Spirit of God were as
close to us as to be within our mind, we actually would be children
of God, and as such would be set apart from this earth. But, instead
of having the Spirit of God, what we really have is only a concept of
God, a concept which may envision God as a man with a long white
beard sitting up on a cloud, as a man hanging on a cross, or as a
hundred other different concepts. And what do we do? We pray to
these images in our own thought and expect to receive answers from
them. Is that sensible? Is it reasonable?

No image that can be conceived in the mind can ever be God;
no concept of God ever entertained by man has the power to an-
swer prayer. Then, is not the acknowledgment that God is too great
to be bound by the mind and body the very first step that a seeker
must take?

"Thou shalt not make thee any graven image . . . Thou shalt not
bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them." What difference
whether the graven image is external to us or an image in thought?
It is still a graven image which we ourselves have carved out of our
°wn thought. Let us do away with graven images; let us have no
'mage of God; let us have no belief of what God is.

No one knows what God is, but if we think of God as Omni-

24 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

presence, we are free of concepts because since God is, God must
be here, there, and everywhere. There is no place where God is not,
or God would not be infinite Being. If we think of God as Omnip-
otence, we are not building any image of God: we are merely stat-
ing that God is the only power there is, the all-power and the omni-
present power. If we think of God as Omniscience, then we also are
not building an image in thought: we are merely realizing that there
could not be a God if Its nature were not infinite intelligence. In-
finite Intelligence, All-power, All-presence! And still there is no
picture in our thought, still no image in thought, still no creating of
a God in our image.

Ultimately, every concept of God we have ever had must be
dropped — every image, every belief. The moment we think Omnip-
otence, Omnipresence, Omniscience, we have no time, no space,
and no place, nor is there any time, place, or space where there
is an absence of God.

This may cause some to shout, "Oh, you have taken my Lord away
from me. Where have you buried Him?" Yes, yes, we have, and that
is a very healthy place to come to— where our Lord has been taken
from us. But was it our Lord, or was it our concept of Lord that was
taken away?

Do not think for a minute that every one of us is not guilty of
having created a God, and then going to Jerusalem to look for Him
— to Rome, to Mecca, or somewhere else. We have all done that:
it is part of human nature; it is part of the belief that we are man
and that somewhere there is God — and if we could only get the two
together! Originally, this was part of paganism, this making a mental
image of what God is, and then going out to try to find Him. Later,
this sense of separation from God was made a part of the teaching of
Christianity.

The beginner who thinks of God as something far-off, perhaps
only half believing that there really is a God, should be guided into
acknowledging that there is a God and that it is His good pleasure
to give him the Kingdom. But that is really a trap into which we are
leading him, for when he believes that there is a God and that God
is within him, then afterward, when he is ripe, we tell him, "Now,

RELEASE GOD 25

throw it away. That image was all right for yesterday, but today let
us throw all images away."

"You mean there is not a God, that God is not within me, that
there is no God above me, that there is no God here with me?"

"No, that is not what I mean. I mean that God is both within
and without, up there and down here."

We are now making a transition, having gained a better image
in mind than we had before, but only for the purpose of leading us
step by step up to the moment when we can say, "Now be still, be
still and know." That is all — just be still and know, but we are not to
know anything because anything we know will be incorrect, only an
object of sense, an object in mind.

God is: that is enough to know. No images! No concepts! In the
moment of not knowing, of unknowing — not in a moment of blank-
ness, dullness, or of falling asleep — in a vibrant aliveness, God is
experienced. Then we find that through this experience we live and
move and have our being in God, and God in us.

Mind and body cannot contain God, and He is so far beyond our
imagination that no one can draw pictures of Him or hold mental
ideas or concepts of what He really is. All we can do is to declare
with all our heart and soul that God is. Only God can maintain and
sustain the heavens, and hold the sun, the moon, and the stars in
their orbits. Only that which is beyond man's ability to conceive
could bring forth such wisdom as is evidenced by man's ingenuity in
his discovery of the principles underlying the inventions resulting in
the manufacture and use of the automobile, airplane, radio, tele-
phone, television, space rockets, and atomic energy. Only out of the
storehouse of God could these emanate.

Who can stretch his imagination sufficiently to conceive what God
<s, God that is the Source of all that exists in the sky and in the air
a »d in the earth and in the waters beneath the earth? We earth bound
creatures are aware of only one tiny corner of the universe, one little
s ?eck called the earth, but what must the wisdom of God be that
encompasses the countless planets, suns, moons, and stars of this and
a " the other universes?

' hink of the discoveries and inventions of past centuries, and then

26 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

remember that an entire century is of no more importance or signifi-
cance in the mind of God than is one grain of sand on all the beaches
of the world. Think of what is yet to be revealed! Think of the
marvels which already exist and have existed since time began, only
awaiting to be revealed!

After we begin to see how foolish it is to cling to a concept of God
will come the second piece of wisdom, and we will see how foolish
it is to tell God what we need or think we need, or to try to in-
fluence Him through our prayers to give us our desires, as if He were
capable of withholding good or as if He were some kind of human
being with power to give and to withhold. How limited is our con-
cept of God if we believe that we have the power to influence God to
do for us what He is not already doing, and how finite our sense of
God must be when we go to Him with our picayunish desires or
approach Him in any way except to ask for light, grace, and wisdom,
for an understanding of His ways, His laws, and His life.

When we pray, we should release God from any personal obli-
gation to us, release Him in the awareness that we are trusting that
which created this universe to maintain and sustain Himself and His
creation, that we are trusting God in His infinite wisdom to be about
His business and God in His divine love to care for His own. When
we do this, we are releasing God and no longer trying to channel
Him in the direction of our personal desires. Actually, we shall find
that we cannot release God, for God never was imprisoned in our
mind or in our desires, nor was He ever obedient to our will.

God will not change His ways to benefit or bless us: we must
change our ways in order to receive God's grace. We cannot bring
God to our disobedience and ignorance, but we can become obedient
and spiritually wise.

Let us give up every attempt to use God and every expectation
that God will do our will or fulfill our desires, and yield ourselves to
Him:

Not my will, but Your will be done in me. I do not ask You to
fulfill my desires, my hopes, or my ambitions: let me fulfill Your wilL
Your grace, Your direction.

RELEASE GOD 27

You have never failed me, but now, Father, 1 ask in what way I
have failed You. Nevermore will I ask You to do my will; nevermore
will 1 pray that You do something for me. Use me; fulfill Yourself in
me; let Your will be done in me.

Release me, Father, from all desires, hopes, wishes, and plans.
Let me be obedient to Your plan for me. Show me plainly the way
in which I am to go, and 1 promise to follow the light as it is given
to me. 1

We must let go of God and let God use us. We must release Him
from our mental clutches, stop hanging on to God, and let Him hang
on to us. If we are in ignorance of God and His ways, let us become
spiritually wise. If we are willfully disobedient to the laws of God, let
us correct ourselves and bring ourselves into attunement and align-
ment with His laws that the finger of God may touch us to His will
and His grace. The moment we relax and stop trying to bring God to
our mind or body, that moment we shall find that God has always
been there.

God has made a covenant with His own image and likeness:

Fear not! Fear not! If you walk through the fire, the flames will not
kindle upon you; if you walk through the water, you will not drown.
I' ear not! Let go and be confident. In quietness and in confidence
shall you realize your spiritual sonship.

My peace, give I unto you. Do you not see that there is no need for
you to struggle, no need to exert mental effort, or to attempt to mold
My will to yours? My peace, I give to you. That is My gift to you, a
spiritual gift of spiritual peace. Only let go!

And still with some there is a mental strain, as if it were not true,
as if we had to make it come true, or as if we had to woo God. The

com t ltauc ™ d portions of this book are spontaneous meditations which have
sen J ° auth or during periods of uplifted consciousness and are not in any
insert mt 5 nded t0 be used as affirmations, denials, or formulas. They have been
f t ] '" ? llis booi: from time t0 time to serve as examples of the free flowing
merit 6 ■i 1 i rit ' As the reader practices the Presence, he, too, in his exalted mo-
ts, will ieceive ever new and fresh inspiration as the outpouring of the Spirit.

28 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

mind struggles to get God instead of to let God, while all the time
the gentle Presence envelops and enfolds us.

We cannot make God do our will, but that does not leave us hope-
less. Rather does it give us added courage and strength because we
know there is no need to reach God in order to sway, influence, or
persuade Him. When we leam that, we will realize that instead of
releasing God, we have released ourselves from finite concepts of
God, from our ignorant superstitious beliefs about prayer, and from
the paganistic belief that we know more than God and have more
love than God.

When we pray for ourselves or for our neighbors, we evidently
think that we know better than God what our need is or what oul
neighbor's need is, and furthermore that we have the love to want
that neighbor to have it, but believe that God neither knows the
need nor has the love to want to fulfill it. In our innermost heart
we know that that is not true even though that is the human picture.

Human picture or no human picture, however, it is not that way
at all. God is not the servant of man and God does not act in
accordance with what man thinks God should be or how He should
work. If it were left to man to guide the affairs of the world, all his
friends and relatives would be blessed and all his enemies cursed.
Then, tomorrow when his enemy becomes his friend, this procedure
might be completely reversed: he might begin to pray for the enemy
who has now become his friend and curse the friend who has become
his enemy.

God is not like that. God is not changeable as we are, and we
must give up these childish concepts of God and grow into spiritual
adulthood, not attempting to tell God what His grace should be or
when, but resting in the confidence that His grace is our sufficiency,
and releasing ourselves from the absurd idea that we can reach some
God who may, if it pleases Him, do something for us.

Let us release ourselves into the rhythm of God and thereby be-
come a part of the rhythm of this universe. The Master gave us
explicit instructions as to how to do this; "'Take no thought for
your life. ... It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the king-
dom' — it is your Father's good pleasure to give you life eternal. Take

RELEASE GOD

29

no thought for your supply, for it is your Father's good pleasure to
give you supply. Take no thought for peace on earth, for it is your
Father's good pleasure to give you peace on earth."

Let us follow the Master's teaching. Let us give up believing that
our wisdom is greater than God's wisdom or that our love is greater
than God's love, and in silence let us accept God's grace. Silence is
the only form of spiritual prayer. True, we may use words and
thoughts to lift ourselves into an atmosphere where we can be still,
but the words and thoughts we are using are not prayer: they are
merely aids to lift us to the heights where prayer can be experienced.
If prayer is to be effective, whatever words or thoughts we use in
the preliminary stages of prayer must eventually come to a stop, and
we must retire within in the attitude of "Speak, Lord; for thy servant
heareth." Whether it takes a day, a year, or many years, it is impera-
tive to have those periods of silence until we do hear that still small
voice within and feel the Presence and Its power.

We do not have to go anywhere to find God: we carry God within
us, not in our mind and not in our body, and yet the kingdom of God
is within us. God constitutes our being; God constitutes our life;
therefore, our life is as eternal and immortal as God's life, for there
is only one Life. God constitutes our consciousness; therefore, our
consciousness is the same consciousness as the consciousness of God.
There are not two: there is only one. "I and my Father are one. . . .
He that seeth me seeth him that sent me."

There is only one Life, infinite Life; there is only one Conscious-
ness, infinite Consciousness; there is only one Soul, infinite Soul. The
Soul of God embraces man; the consciousness of God contains man;
and the life of God is the life of man — not a part of it, but all of it.
To pray aright, then, means to release God from any obligation
to give us more than we now have. True prayer is a realization that
God constitutes out being and our life. God is the Father, and God
•s the Son, and all that God the Father is, God the Son is; and all
that God the Father has, God the Son has: all the dominion, the
grace, and the glory.

To pray without ceasing is to rejoice all day long that the grace of
God is working in us and through us without our telling God or

50 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

pleading with Him, without our asking or desiring anything from
God because He has already given all good to us, and we have only
to be still to realize it and show it forth.

We have sought every kind of power in heaven and on earth to
meet our needs except one, and that one is the power that is within
us. That power is not in heaven, and it is not on earth; it is not to be
found in a book, in a building, or in great teachers. True, it is within
great teachers, but it is there in exactly the same measure that it is
within you and me, and in no greater degree. We are all equal before
God, and the grace of God that has given spirituality to one has given
it to all. The one difference is that only a few seem to have gained
access to it because only a few have learned that the power of God is
made manifest in silence and in stillness. It is a power that we can-
not use, but which we can permit to flow from us by our recognition
and realization of it.

As we walk the earth, realizing that the kingdom of God is within,
we are releasing this power and letting it flow out from us to the
world, but if we try to use the power of God or push it out into the
world, we lose it. It is when we realize quietly, peacefully, and con-
fidently that all the power of God is within us that we have it. We
need but be still and know that God in the midst of us is mighty,
and then go about our daily work, whatever it may be: housekeeping,
painting pictures, building buildings, or ministering to the sick. We
do all that we are called upon to do, always realizing that we are just
witnesses to God's glory and to the kingdom of God within us.

When we do this, our very presence makes the Spirit of God felt,
giving peace and comfort and uplift to others, not because we want
to be a blessing to our fellow man, but merely because we have
learned to be still and let God's power and grace flow without any
faelp from us, without forcing, begging, or pleading for it, and without
nny thought that you and I are spiritual. There is only one Spirit,
and that is God in the midst of us.

We are dishonoring God if we think that He is withholding wis-
dom, integrity, loyalty, fidelity, justice, or harmony from us or from
anyone else. Whatever qualities seem to be absent will quicklv begin
to appear as we learn to honor and love the Lord our God with all
our heart:

RELEASE COD 31

I will rest in the assurance that Thou, God, knowest my need
before I do, and it is Thy good pleasure to give me the kingdom.

I will not seek: I will rest. I will release myself from any belief that
Thou art separate and apart from me. "If I make my bed in hell"
Thou art right there with me. If "I walk through the valley of the
shadow of death" Thou art with me. Wherever I go, Thou goest
with me, for I and Thou art one.

Our realization and acknowledgment of this bring the presence of
God into activity in individual experience. It is important to remem-
ber that there is no power in the sky to which we can appeal to
save this world from catastrophe. There is no power except what
comes from God: there is no power in the whirlwind; there is no
power in the storm or the tempest; there is no power in madmen;
there is no power in ambition, lust, or greed. Power is only in the still
small voice within. Then, as we tell no man what we have learned,
but share the truth with those who by their dedication and devotion
have shown their readiness for it, we will be releasing this infinite
power into the world, and the world will respond.

We do not have to do or think anything to release the kingdom
of God into the world: we only have to know that it is, and be still.
It will do its own work. It may be that the faithful practice of the
principles of spiritual living by "ten righteous" men here, and
another ten there, will release this power of God on earth. Nobody
will be able to take credit for it. God's power has always been avail-
able — that is the glory! And no one can brag or boast that he is able
to use it. On the contrary, the greater the power that flows from a
person, the less the person is as a person and the greater he is as a
child of God. Within ourselves, however, we will know that releasing
God into the world brings spiritual freedom and spiritual fulfillment
to those who are receptive.

God's will, God's love, and God's law are all-embracing truth and
Universally in operation: for you, for me, for friend, enemy, saint,
smner, for the just and for the unjust. God's activity is not directed
t° you or me, and yet it includes you and me: it embraces all men
because of its all-inclusiveness.

^Ve cannot bring God to our body or mind: God is already the

32 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

life of every body; every body is the temple of the living God, whether
animal, vegetable, or mineral. We are now under God's law, God's
love, and in God's being, not by bringing God to us but by bringing
ourselves to God, and by placing every person— saint and sinner
alike — in God.

Those who bring themselves to God are the beneficiaries of God's
grace. Those who try to "finitize" God and pull Him into their
minds and bodies lose Him. Loose Him and have Him.

When we release ourselves from the mental struggle and let God
have His will here where we are, and in this whole universe, we have
released God and we ourselves are free. The fetters that bind us are
in the mind. It is with our mind that we are trying to hold on to God.
If we let our mind relax, we will realize that we cannot lay hold of
God, but that God can lay hold of us. We cannot use the mind to
get God. Our mind has a function, and it can operate constructively
in our life, but let us not try to use it to get God.

There is no struggle except in the mind. When the mind is still,
there is no strain, and God becomes a living presence: the Christ,
the individualization and individual experience of God, has come
alive in us. We feel It as a Presence, as a Cloak around us.

Release God from any obligation, and let God perform His work.

CHAPTER III

THE SPIRITUAL ADVENTURE

F

-L ro

rom earliest times this world with all its magnificence, yet punc-
tuated by untold tragedy, has been a mystery, with man himself the
greatest enigma of all. Here a man, and there a man, has sought to
penetrate this mystery, but for the most part men have gone about
their business, doing all that needed to be done humanly — some
with great integrity and some with less, some with great ability and
some with less, but all having one thing in common: all that existed
for them was what they could see, hear, taste, touch, or smell, or
could reason and think about.

They might have looked up at the sky occasionally — a passing
glance, a passing thought — but it had no meaning for them except
that the sun was up there in the daytime, often very uncomfortable,
and the stars and the moon were there at night, very beautiful. These
things had no significance: they were just something they saw or felt,
things they were aware of, but of which they had no knowledge,
and in which, at the moment, no interest.

To these people it was as if there were no world other than the
°ne in which they lived. They saw the horizon, and it was so real
">at, to them, it represented the edge of the world, and they did not
dare to go out to investigate. Had they only known the global nature

33

34 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

of the earth and the laws of navigation, they could have sailed all
around the world and found continents, islands, and unlimited
wealth, but because of their ignorance, they were confined within
the limits of their immediate environment.

Similarly, is not the world today filled with people, educated and
uneducated, yet knowing nothing beyond what they see, hear, taste,
touch, smell, or feel?

The human race, as we know it, is composed of men and women
living completely shut off from divine aid, divine sustenance, and
divine providence. From the most ancient of times up to modern
days, man has not only lived by the sweat of his brow, but has en-
gaged in strife to gain his ends, whether in the case of individuals,
or companies under the name of competition, or as nations under
the name of war.

Somewhere along the road, man lost sight of his identity and began
to look upon himself as a person separate and apart from his Source,
under the necessity of earning his living, having to provide for his
family, and later being compelled to protect his family and com-
munity from neighboring peoples who had also lost the awareness of
their true identity and, in seeking their livelihood, cared little
whether they gained it by earning, stealing, or by going to war for it.
Thus developed this world of human beings, each one of whom looks
upon himself as an individual separate and apart from others, with
interests of his own and with the responsibility on his shoulders of
providing not only for the present but for the future.

Among even primitive peoples, however, there must have been
some not earthbound, some able to rise above their surroundings,
able to rise in consciousness, and at least begin to question the
wonders of this universe. Those who watched the sky out on the
desert on a clear night, the stars hanging low, probably a moon
close by, or those who were alone on the sea surely must have sensed
the mystery of the atmosphere, of the sky, and something even of the
incomprehensibility of the desert and the sea.

The awesomeness of this great universe undoubtedly raised ques-
tions in ,the mind of the person who was already attuned to its
mysteries, or who for one reason or another had come into this world

THE SPIRITUAL ADVENTURE 3 5

unbound, not of the earth, earthy, walking the world, but not of it. At
nighttime, as he looked up into those wondrous, faraway, unreach-
able stars, he must have felt that there was a hidden mystery, some-
thing not known to the mind of man. Yet here it was; it existed. There
must be a meaning to those stars in the sky; there must be a cause.
To him, whether on land or sea, came the inevitable questions:
What lies behind this visible world? How did this world come into
existence? How did I come into existence? What am I doing on
earth? Is this really life— being bom, doing a little hunting and
fishing, raising a family and carrying on a business, and then getting
old and dying? Is this universe the product of something greater
than I, or am I just a little bit of protoplasm thrown out here on the
earth for a time and for no good reason? Is this an accidental world?
Am I here as a victim of chance and change, a victim of a merciless
desert, of a tidal wave, a hurricane, floods, fire, or other cataclysmic

disasters?

There must have been times in the experience of the men who
sought to penetrate the mystery of life when they envisioned the
possibility of being the masters rather than the victims, when they
really believed that this world had been given to them, and that it
was theirs. These may have been fleeting glimpses, but nevertheless
they surely were there.

Probably long days and nights of riding a camel across the desert
or waiting on board a small ship for a catch of fish led to extended
periods of introspection, wondering and pondering. True, this may
not have happened often, but someone, somewhere in the dim,
dark past, thousands of years before recorded history, caught a
glimpse of the inner man, the inner Self, and each one must have
interpreted and evaluated it differently.

As the centuries rolled by, the record of these many revelations
shows us clearly and unmistakably that these men of the long gone
past knew that they, as human beings, were not the men of God's
creating. They discovered, centuries before Abraham, Isaac, and
lacob, that there is within every person what has been called the
Christ, the spiritual man, the divine Self, the infinite Ego, the son
of God, and although each of these ancient mystics coined new

36 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

words and new terms to express this Withinness, they are all descrip-
tive of the same experience.

Four thousand years before the birth of the Master Christ Jesus,
there were teachers of spiritual vision revealing to their followers
man's true identity and instructing them how to live by an internal
Grace, rather than by external might and power. Those who were
at all receptive were drawn to these teachings and undoubtedly some
of them made the transition from the man of earth to the man who
has his being in Christ. There perhaps were not too many because
mankind as a whole has remained in complete ignorance of the
spiritual way of life. This ignorance can be likened to a group of
people, born and brought up on an island with no knowledge of, or
contact with, the outside world and therefore living as if their par-
ticular island were the circumference of the entire world with nothing
going on except what was taking place in that small and isolated
sphere.

In much this same way the three-dimensional man, the man of
earth, lives in a world circumscribed by his own limited concept of
himself and his world, believing that that is all the world there is
and that in order to survive it is necessary to lie, cheat, and to use
all the tricks of the trade even up to, and including, warfare. To him,
might is a right and normal way, and anything else is a sign of
weakness. This is the life lived by the man who is in ignorance of the
truth that there is another realm of consciousness which he could
enter and there find a more glorious life, one not lived by might or
by power, a world in which he could live at peace with his neigh-
bors, with his competitors, and with all other races and religions on
the face of the earth.

Just as the people on the isolated island could not move out into
a world they did not know existed, or the American Indians of five
hundred years ago could not move to Europe because they were not
aware that there was such a place, so it has never been possible at
any time in the past several thousands of years to tell man that he is
living in the prison of his own mind, hedged in by his own limita-
tions. How could man visualize such a thing! How' could he believe
something so far beyond his wildest imagination!

THE SPIRITUAL ADVENTURE

37

There have been individuals, however, who first of all had some
kind of an inner conviction that there is something beyond and
greater than this state of limitation, this state of mental imprison-
ment, and glimpsed that there is a fourth-dimensional or spiritual
realm about which they knew nothing. They merely had the feeling
within themselves that there must be something more to life than
being born, acquiring a family, making a livelihood, and dying; there
must be something better, something beyond all this.

The few who experienced this inner stirring were those who began
the search. But where and how could they begin to search for the
unknown? In those days, there were no books in which it could be
found, no schools, and no public libraries. How, then, could man
begin his search and where would he begin it? We can only specu-
late as to what he did, but that he had to begin within himself we
can be almost certain; there was no other place to turn. So probably
he began asking himself questions, pondering circumstances that
surrounded him, thinking about the meaning of them, and trying to
see beyond the appearance.

Miracle of miracles, one day something wonderful might happen,
and he would meet another man in whom he felt some sense of
kinship and attraction, and soon these two men would be talking to
each other, and then it would come to light that they were both
trying to fathom the same mystery and break through the veil of
illusion.

It might be that one man would say, "You know, I have heard
of a man over in the next village who seems to know something,
a very strange man. Let us go and find him." And off they would go
to find this strange character in a neighboring community. At first
they may not have been able to get a word out of him, but their
persistence finally might force their new-found acquaintance to
recognize them as set apart and on the Path, and then he might
begin to reveal to them the little secrets that he had discovered, He
""grit tell them of a temple miles away that other men of like mind
We te using as a meeting place.

In a temple, in a cave, or far back in the hills, they might come
upon some group of men who had found spiritual truth, and they

.

38 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

would then join this group. As time went on, these groups multi-
plied until there were some who had received the full light of
spiritual understanding. Experience soon taught them that there
was no use going out into the highways and byways to tell this to
other persons because most persons live inside their own minds,
limited by their own ignorance, and are unable to visualize anything
beyond their present mode of life, and therefore they cannot accept
any new teaching.

In the light of the gross ignorance of humankind, is it not quite a
miracle that Jesus found even as many as a dozen disciples whom
he could ask to leave their nets and follow him? The man of earth
living in his shell of ignorance, could have responded only with "How
can I ear n a living without nets to catch fish, or without a farm to
till? And you are telling me to leave all that! How can I do it?"

But evidently those who were drawn to the Master had enough
inner intuition to understand that even if they did not know where
he was leading them, at least they had the discernment to know that
the Master knew, and they could trust him.

Today, as then, if we tell the world that it is not necessary to live
in a dog-eat-dog world, but that there is another way, the question
comes back, "Well, what is it?" And there is no answer. The ma-
terialist has no way of comprehending what is meant by living by
Grace or how to live "not by might, nor by power" but by the Spirit
of God. Tins is a language that is as foreign to him as Sanskrit, and
so today, as then, the spiritual message reaches only those men on
earth who for some reason or other have had their eyes opened to a
Something beyond themselves and their world of strife and struggle
-not because anyone has told them or because they have read about
it, but because of their inner feeling. These are the people who even-
tually are led to a spiritual teaching. These are the ones who already
have eyes that can see and ears that can hear. These beginners on
the spiritual path are the neophytes, who even while living on this
human plane of mind and body are expanding the.r vision and
catcn.ng gl impses of another state Qf consdm]Sness< ™ w
begun the search.
With some, the search for ultimate reality is a very long search and

r

THE SPIRITUAL ADVENTURE

39

a roundabout way with many, many false steps. But in the end, none
f this is important. The only thing that is important is that the
search be begun and then that the seekers maintain within them-
selves a sufficient drive so that even if they have to take the long way
around and meet with stumblings and barriers, with discouragements
and problems, they do not give up, but always maintain within
themselves the hope and the conviction that there is a way to reach
this realm of the Real. With that inner conviction, step after step
will unfold, until eventually they find themselves home in God.
That was ensured right from the beginning of their journey on the
spiritual path.

The reason they could not take the step directly or quickly is that
the goal is something that as human beings they cannot conceive.
They do not know how to go directly to it, and therefore they follow
any little path that opens to them that promises it might take them
there, and very often find themselves going down a blind alley or a
dead-end street, having to retrace their steps and start all over again.
If they could but know positively what the goal is, they might reach
it more directly and quickly.

The things of God are such foolishness to the man of earth that
even if he were told what the truth is, it would appear so ridiculous
to him that he could not accept it, and for this reason alone he would
be led into all kinds of bypaths, trying to find ways that seemed more
sensible and reasonable to him. To the "man, whose breath is in his
nostrils," the spiritual path is absolutely impractical and unreason-
able.

To this man of earth, everything in the world is accomplished
through external activities, and so when he begins to seek for truth,
he tends to continue to search in the external, seeking in holy moun-
tains or in holy temples, thinking to find it here or there, even though
the Master stated very clearly that the kingdom of God is neither
Lo here! or, Lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within
you." That is plain language, but human beings cannot accept or
believe it, and the reason they do not believe it is that they cannot
understand it. It is so foreign to their thinking that it does not
register with them as being plausible or even as a possibility.

40 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

After a person has been on the spiritual path for a sufficiently
long period of time, however, eventually a revelation comes to him
from within his own being, or he is led to a teacher who can reveal
truth, and probably by the time he has found this teacher, he has
reached a readiness which enables him to assimilate the truth that is
to be imparted to him.

Human beings are the un illumined; they are born and brought up
in ignorance of their true identity, in ignorance of that indwelling
Something, and uninstructed by the divine Master. This is the human I
race as we know it; these are the people we read about in the news- I
papers: those in prison, in the prison of lack, sin, and disease, in the
prison of political and ecclesiastical slaver)', and scholastic ignorance j
— these are the unillumined, the earthbound.

From the beginning of all revelation it has been pointed out that
this need not be, that at any time we can turn within and begin our '
ascent out of the tomb of our darkness, out of the prison into the
light, out of ignorance into understanding. The unillumined can '
become the illumined. The man living in darkness can become the
light of the world. The man living in sin, disease, and poverty can I
become the son of God, and thereby an heir of God, joint-heir to all ]
of heaven.

Knowing this marks the beginning of our spiritual journey, the
ultimate end and purpose of which is illumination. In mystical
literature this illumination is referred to as initiation, or attaining
that mind that was also in Christ Jesus. What difference does it
make how this is expressed? The meaning is clear, and when our
footsteps have been directed to a spiritual path, inevitably we shall
arrive.

The ancients who discovered that within themselves was a Some-
thing recognized that whatever it was they had touched was not out
floating around in the air, nor did they have reason to believe that it
was up in the sky. They sensed that there was a Something indwell-
ing— a Something with a capital "S," Something that had a voice,
Something that could impart, Something that could reveal, and so
they learned to be attentive. They learned the nature of the ear that
can hear. They communed within themselves, and when the answer

THE SPIRITUAL ADVENTURE

41

came, they knew that from some deep pool within themselves,
some depth of Withinness, pearls of wisdom were being given.

So it was, then, that some one or more among these ancients de-
clared, and later wrote, that there is an indwelling Presence, that
there is a Christ, or son of God, within, but they were wise enough
to realize that this was really only another dimension of themselves.
It was not some other person occupying them: it was some deeper,
richer Self, and gradually they learned to commune with this inner,
divine, spiritual Self. They learned to receive instruction, and the in-
struction that they received became the basis of the religious teach-
ings of the great mystery and wisdom schools of India, Tibet, Egypt,
and later of Greece, Rome, and the Holy Lands.

Long, long centuries before Jesus, it was revealed that there is this
inner Self which is our true Self, and which is the Mediator be-
tween man and God. The connecting link between us and our
Source is this divine Center within us, the Christ of which Paul
speaks, the Father that dwelleth in us of which Jesus speaks. This is
the Mediator by means of which we reach the ultimate and absolute
Source of our being from whence we derive our experience on earth,
our function, task, and duty, our life, immortality, harmony, and our
preparation for the next phase of life, that which is to come when
we have been graduated from this earthly experience.

No one can commune with his Mediator, with his Christ-Self,
except by engaging in periods of introspection and inner communion.
If we keep ourselves so unreasonably busy in the outer world, how-
ever, that we do not have frequent periods of turning within, we miss
the ultimate experience of receiving the word of God out of the
mouth of God.

'I Tie purpose of a mystical teaching is to reveal the son of God
within. It is not to instill in us the worship of another deity in the
person of the founder of a new religion. True, even' spiritual teacher
must evoke gratitude and appreciation because of his life of dedica-
tion, but not worship. The real mission of the teacher and his teach-
lri g is to turn us back within ourselves until we, too, like the teacher,
r eceive impartations. When this begins in our experience, the earth
melts, the problems disappear; the discordant experiences of earth

42 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

are resolved and dissolved— not by any wisdom that we have, not by
what we have learned in books, but by the thunder of that silence
which is within us.

We need not hear an audible voice — we may, but it is not neces-
sary. We need not see any visions — we may, but it is not important.
What is necessary and important is that we enter the sanctuary, this
temple of God that we are and in which the presence of God dwells.
When we recognize this and go within, we then begin to commune
with that Presence. Very soon we shall see fruitage in our life, and
things will begin to happen for which we know we were not humanly
responsible. Something has gone before us to make the way straight;
Something has gone before us to prepare mansions for us; Something
walks beside us to protect us from the discords and inharmonies of
earthly living.

Only when we begin to understand that there is an inner king-
dom, only when we can agree that there is a realm of knowledge
unknown to "the natural man," only then can we begin our search.
We must arrive at the point where we are able to perceive what the
Master meant when he said, "My kingdom is not of this world. . . .
Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the
sword shall perish with the sword."

The mystical way, the infinite way, is not the way of the sword;
it is not the way of might or force: it is the way of stillness. Sooner
or later we must see that within us there is an inner realm. It will
answer every question. It will teach us in the only place where we
can be taught — within. The still small voice will instruct us in what-
ever our particular gift, talent, or field may be, whether in spiritual or
mathematical wisdom, art, literature, science, or music.

So great a genius as Einstein was aware that there is a point in
mathematics where the most brilliant mathematician comes to an
end of reasoning and thinking and steps off into the intuitive. And so,
if we wish to be limited by what everyone else has said about mathe-
matics, or what everyone else has written about music, we will be,
but we need not be.

All the art, science, mathematics, and religion have come out of the
Soul of man through his turning within and bringing forth glories

THE SPIRITUAL ADVENTURE

43

that have never before been known on earth, and there are still
greater things yet to be revealed. How far we are from tapping the
inner resources of our being! This makes it clear why it is necessary
in our age to attain the ability to meditate, to cogitate, and to com-
mune with our inner Self.

It is not too difficult to learn to do this after we come into the
awareness that there is a Presence that dwells within us. That was
God's gift to us in the beginning, and without this gift of God, man
would be an animal. The fact, therefore, that we have risen this far
above the animal stage proves that we have something within us that
has been developed to a higher degree. We are only at the beginning,
however, and just as the spider unfolds its web from within its own
being, so we must unfold grace, divine wisdom, and divine power
from within our own being.

The unillumined, unaware that they can have recourse to an
inner infinite Soure, have to endure all the limitations of this
world. The illumined, who have touched the infinite Divinity at the
center of their being, are never limited to time, space, place, or
amount. There is no limitation when we realize that the whole king-
dom of God is locked up within us. It does not have to be attained;
we do not have to go to God for it: we have to loose it from within
ourselves.

God, in the beginning, planted Himself in us and breathed into us
His breath of life. He did not breathe into us human life: He
breathed into us His life. God did not give us a limited soul, but the
Soul of God — infinite, eternal, and immortal — if we but go to that
Center.

When we have opened this Source within ourselves, we shall find
the Master there. We are never the Master: we are always the ser-
vant. But once we are illumined, the Master within us is expressing,
functioning, and performing.

Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." Who is
this He? The Master, the Spirit of God in us, the son of God that is
raised up by virtue of our acknowledgment and humility — not hu-
^dity in the human sense of permitting ourselves to be imposed upon
° r having to endure abuse, but humility in the sense of realizing that

1

44 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

whatever it is we are, it is because of the Master flowing out through
us. Without that, we would be nothing, less than nothing. The Spirit
of God has lifted us above the animal man into a people who can
live not only according to the Ten Commandments, but who can
go far beyond them into the Sermon on the Mount, and beyond the
Sermon on the Mount into a life by Grace in that interior kingdom.

CHAPTER IV

THE JOURNEY WITHIN

T

lhe

he person who is one with God is merely the transparency
through which God is living Its life: he does not have a life of his
own, a mind of his own, or even a body of his own. His body is the
temple of God, and his mind is the instrument of God, the mind
which was also in Christ Jesus. That mind can be attained only in
silence, not with words or with thoughts, although words and
thoughts may be used as a preliminary step in what we know as
meditation, which plays a vitally important part in the development
of our spiritual life.

Without the practice of meditation, a spiritual teaching, whether
pursued under the guidance of a personal teacher or through the study
°f books, descends to a purely mental exercise. Spiritual unfoldment
cannot come that way. It is meditation that makes a teaching come
alive, because meditation is the connecting link between our outer life
a nd our inner Self, which is God.

It is true that in the first stage of our spiritual life the only way we

can fill our consciousness with truth is through the mind. That is why

ln The Infinite Way we do not seek to stop the operation of the mind;

^e never tell anyone to stop thinking, to make any effort to stop

nought, or to try to destroy the thinking mind because the mind is

45

46 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

the gateway through which truth finds entrance to our consciousness.
The mind is the instrument through which we can become aware of
the spiritual wisdom of the ages— Scripture and spiritual literature and
teachings. It is through the mind that we discipline the body and
that we seek to discipline our thoughts; it is the mind that keeps itself
stayed on God; it is with the mind that we think spiritual thoughts;
it is with the mind that we ponder the deep things of the Spirit.

This pondering, these thoughts and words, we call contemplative
meditation. The words may be spoken or they may be thought, but
they are only a step leading to meditation itself. Since it is almost
impossible for most of us to keep thoughts from swirling about in the
mind and since it is difficult to bring about a complete cessation of
thought, the practice of contemplative meditation helps us reach a
state of consciousness in which we find ourselves ultimately in a com-
plete silence. A weight goes off the shoulders, and perhaps for ten,
twenty, or thirty seconds we are so still that not a single thought in-
trudes. That stillness at best, however, is a very brief period, but re-
gardless of how brief it is, in those few seconds we have attained our
contact with God, and that is all that is necessary for that moment.
Then we resume our conscious thinking and are ready to go about our
business.

When we sit down to meditate, we must seek to hear only the word
of God, desire only the feeling of God's presence, only the re-establish-
ment of ourselves with our inner Source, and nothing beyond that.
Then, when we feel the assurance of the Presence, our meditation is
complete: the Word becomes flesh, and the Spirit felt within us be-
comes tangible as individual experience.

It is when we think we know what things we have need of that we
are making our greatest mistake because we are measuring our needs
in terms of our previous or present experience, and are looking upon
life as a continuation of our past, the same, monotonous, dull way of
existence, except with possibly the addition of a little more health or
money; whereas, when the Spirit of God takes over in our conscious-
ness, It fulfills Itself at Its own level. That fulfillment may carry us
off into a new country or into a new activity— business, artistic, pro-
fessional, or social— because we have no way humanly of knowing the

THE JOURNEY WITHIN 47

will of God any more than we know the ways of God. But God's will
can work through us if we surrender ourselves and realize :

Thy grace is my sufficiency in all things. I take no thought for the
form in which that Grace should appear; I take no thought as to how
Thy will should work in me, or Thy ways. I seek only Thy grace.

J am content to relax in the assurance that Thou art omniscience,
all-knowing intelligence, divine, infinite, all-love, and I can trust my-
self more to the infinite Intelligence that governs this universe than
I can to my own judgment as to what I need, or what I would like to
do, or how I would like to live. Certainly, I can trust myself more to
the care of divine Love than I can to my own finite sense of love which
is not even as a grain of sand in comparison with the nature of that
Love which is God.

With each meditation there must be this surrender of ourselves to
the Spirit within, together with a realization that God's grace is our
sufficiency and that we are in meditation for the express purpose of
receiving the comfort of His presence. Nothing greater can come to
us than the still small voice of assurance because then we know that all
of Infinity is pouring Itself out for us, all of Omnipotence, and in that
there can be no power apart from God.

Once we know the nature of God, even in a measure, doubt and
fear seldom enter our consciousness because to know the nature of
God means to realize Omnipresence: God, here where we are now —
hereness, nowness. Knowing that, we relax in it, and we have nothing
more to do than to let there be light: let there be light in our life, let
there be love, let there be health, strength, and abundance, just let.
We do not try to make it so because, understanding the nature of
God, we know that it is God's will to provide all good.

My customary method of entering contemplative meditation is to
°pen my ears for a second for a subject to be given me, and if it does
n °t come quickly, then I take the word God. In my first meditation
early in the morning before I am out of bed, I attempt to align my-
self with the presence and power of God so that my day will be God-
governed, and not man-governed: a day of spiritual fulfillment, not

48 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

one filled with accidents, limitations, mistakes, and human judgment.
And so the contemplative part of the meditation might follow some
such pattern as this :

"This is the day which the Lord hath made." God made the sun
to shine today, giving us its light and warmth; God has provided the
rain and the snow in their due seasons; God has regulated the incom-
ing and outgoing of the tides. God has provided periods for sowing
and for reaping, for activity and for rest. God governs this world with
infinite wisdom, intelligence, and patience.

This day I am God-governed. God is the intelligence directing the
activity of my day, the still small voice protecting and sustaining me.

This is my prayer— that I be God-governed, that I never forget to
seek God every moment of the day. I pray that 1 may never forget to
thank God for my daily bread, never forget to realize God as the
Source of all, and that 1 am never unmindful of the limitless abund-
ance of supply which God expresses through me to all those who
come within range of my consciousness.

God's grace is with me throughout this day, and His presence goes
before me and walks beside me. In this Presence there is harmony and
fulfillment because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom j
from any and every limitation.

Then, having established myself in this meditation of words and
thoughts, I can now enter the true meditation or communion in which

I invite God, " 'Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth Thy will be

done— not mine." After a short period of listening, of inner com-
munion, stillness, quietness, and peace, the awareness of the Presence
is with me. And now I am free to go about my day's work.

The stress of the day, however, and the mesmerism of the world's
animosity, jealousy, and intrigue have a tendency to enter my con-
sciousness as well as yours, and with these come disturbing moments,
so there must be another period of contemplative meditation, and
this time it may take a different form.

"My peace 1 give unto you" is the promise of the Master, "not as
the world giveth"—not the peace that comes from a pocketful of

THE JOURNEY WITHIN 49

jnoney or from a bankful of bonds, not the peace that comes from
just a healthy body — but "My peace," spiritual peace, the peace that
passes understanding. That peace is all 1 seek; that is all I desire. 1 do
not ask for silver or gold, nor for the good or the peace of this world.
I ask only that this "My peace" be upon me.

Then I wait for those few minutes of inner communion, and again
I have prayed the prayer of a righteous man because I have sought
nothing but that which is the divine right of everyone: God's grace
and God's peace, not only for me, but for all those who may be led into
the realm of my consciousness.

Contemplative meditation, practiced faithfully, leads to a moment
of silence in which all words and thoughts are stilled, a silence so deep
that we become a transparency for the still small voice to speak to us.
The contemplation of God's grace, of God as the One and Only, and
the contemplation of scriptural passages which give the assurance of
the divine Presence lead to 3n inner stillness, and then the second
phase of meditation enters our experience. That is when something
comes to us, not something that we have consciously thought, hut
something that was thought through us. These thoughts come out of
the void, from the depth of the Infinite Invisible, out of that spiritual
consciousness which we are.

At other times a message may come to us, and if not an actual mes-
sage, a sensing that all is well, just a feeling of peace. Sometimes it is
a feeling of warmth, gratitude, or of love— not fo anybody, or for any-
body, or for any thing. It is a feeling complete in itself with no object.
« we are faithful in our work, this continues to occur more and more
frequently until the day comes when we abide so much in the Word
rl, at we are more or less in It all the time, and need only a moment of
tillness to bring forth some particular message to meet the need of
9*e moment. In this stage we have risen above the thinking mind, and
15 no longer our master: it is now our instrument. As long as we are
" earth, however, we are going to need our thinking mind, and we
°uld thank God for having given us one, but as we go higher and

higher

Part

in consciousness, this thinking mind will play a lesser and lesser

'" our spiritual life.

50 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

In this stage of our spiritual instruction, the impartation of truth
comes from within like an invisible Something pouring Itself out. We
merely tune in, and It imparts Itself to us. This is where two enter the
scene: I, myself, in meditation or contemplation come face to face with
the Presence within me, with that Something other than myself. This
may take the form of an inner glow, or at other times of a voice within
which seems actually to speak.

Sometimes we are not sure whether it really was a voice that we
heard or only an impression that we received. But whatever the form,
it is in this stage that we are in communion with God. An activity
takes place that goes back and forth, almost as if it were from me to
God and from God to me — a gentle flow backward and forward, in.
and out. Then I know that the Spirit is with me. "The Spirit of the
Lord God is upon me. . . . Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is i
liberty." It is an actual experience of release.

The third stage, that of conscious union with God, is the ultimate,
and in this stage the personal or separate selfhood disappears. It is as
if one were not aware of himself as a person, but as if only God Itself
were there. It must have been in moments like this that the Master
spoke from the standpoint of the word I 1 : "I will never leave thee,
nor forsake thee." That was not a man speaking: that was God speak-
ing, and at such times the man Jesus was temporarily absent from the
body. Later that same man said, "If I go not away, the Comforter will
not come unto you." That was God speaking when Jesus was absent
from himself and only the Spirit of the Lord was present.

There is a Presence that is as real as we are real to one another, and
once It is felt and experienced, there is a relaxing from personal effort.
When this Presence is realized, we shall find that It takes form as new
organs and functions of the body, as our home, family, supply, and as
our human relationships, even as a parking space.

"I can of mine own self do nothing" is the man Jesus speaking, but
then as the Presence is realized, "I have meat to eat ye know not of."
Later comes the third stage, when God speaks as individual being:
"I am the way, the truth, and the life," This is the Word made flesh,
God incarnate walking this earth, and that ultimately is the destiny
of every individual.

1 The word "J," italicized, refers to God.

THE JOURNEY WITHIN 51

There is an overturning and an overturning and an overturning in
individual consciousness "until he come whose right it is." That He is
God, There will be an overturning in our consciousness, and it will
appear to us as a warfare between the flesh and the Spirit, a warfare
between disease and health, between lack and abundance, and finally
between the two I's : the I that we are as a person and the I that is God.
And oh, the human being "dies" so hard! He wants to perpetuate
himself; he wants to be something, to do something, to know some-
thing. Thus, the warfare goes on until finally that human being is
shaken so thoroughly that he awakens to the fact that of himself he is
nothing, but that the I which is God is all.

Then meditation takes on its final phase. When, in this nothingness
of the individual, the Father speaks-takes over, heals, redeems, and
instructs— then the Father lives that life.

Eventually, every one of us will come to Paul's state of consciousness
in the realization, " 'I live; yet not I, but Christ,' the son of God, the
very Spirit and presence of God, lives my life." Then, and only then,
are we a state of humility that has in it not a single trace of virtue,'
but only the realization of the truth that we are nothing, that we can
do nothing and be nothing of ourselves.

It is true that this may bring with it a sense of emptiness, but
strangely enough with that sense of emptiness, there comes a sense
of completeness and perfection. Yet this is not in any personal sense;
it is not that egotistic sense that claims "I am spiritual," "I am per-
fect," or "I am whole." It is more a sense of having no qualities of
our own and yet feeling this transcendental Presence and watching
It live our life.

Once we are united with our Source, we discover that our life is
really the life of the Life-stream, the life of the Source of life which is
now flowing as our life. We are being fed by the Stream, by the
Waters falling from the clouds above, by a Source greater than our-
Se 'ves which is now flowing as our life.

Knowing this truth is a freeing activity. No longer do we feel cut

and alone, nor dependent only on ourselves: we are united with

j e Life-stream, no longer limited to our own wisdom, strength, or

fgevity, to our education, our social or economic status. Now we

ay e access to Infinity: infinite Wisdom, infinite Love, infinite Life,

52 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

the infinite Source of all good. No longer are we limited to our im-
mediate surroundings, to an island or a continent, and not even
limited to a whole planet. There is no limitation except that which
man places upon himself by believing that what he sees of this world
is all theie is to it, or that what he sees in the mirror is all there is to
him. What he is aware of with his senses is a part of him, but cer-
tainly rot the whole of his being, just as his little finger is a part of
his hand, but not the whole of it.

When we attain this contact with our Source, we have also made
contact with the Source of every person's life and are now one with all
spiritual life. The same life that flows in one of us is flowing in all of
us because there is only one Life-stream, only one Source of life, one
creative Force in life. Whether that spiritual life appears as a human
being, as animal, vegetable, or mineral form, we are now one with it
through the act of meditation which has united us with the Stream
within us, and we are one with the Stream which was in Christ Jesus,

The mind which was in Christ Jesus is your mind and my mind,
and when we have broken through this human exterior of mind and,
through meditation, have contacted the Source, we are then one with
the spiritual mind of the universe, which is the mind of the Buddha,
of Jesus, of Lao-tse, and the mind of every spiritual saint and seer. We
have become one with it when we have become one with the Source
of our own life.

The Spirit that is flowing through us is now consciously flowing
through all those who are attuning themselves to that One— those who
may be praying in orthodox churches or those who may be praying a
paganistic prayer. We are a blessing unto all of them because, regard-
less of their form of worship and while they may not know it, they are
turning to Something beyond the human, and in turning to that
Something, they are turning to the Christ, and all who reach out to
the Spirit in any way are blessed.

Often people in the last stages of illness who may not be religious
or may not even have thought of themselves in spiritual terms reach
out to God in their extremity and receive healing. Doctors report
that many times patients have had sudden healings without any
known reason, but this was perhaps because within themselves there

THE JOURNEY WITHIN 53

w3 s a reaching out toward God, and they probably tuned in and made
contact with someone in the act of meditation, and thus their prayer
w -as answered. As long as we succeed in making contact with our
Source, anybody, anywhere in the world, who is turning to Something
greater than himself, tuning in to God on any level — a false or a right
concept of God— may benefit from our meditation.

When we are filled with the Spirit, then everyone who is attuned
receives that Grace, each in accord with his need at that moment.
One receives God's grace in a physical or mental healing, another in a
moral or financial healing, and still another in greater joy in his house-
hold. The degree of dedication of our individual lives and the purity
of our consciousness and motives have an effect on the lives of all who
come in contact with us. Our individual conscious oneness with God
becomes a blessing unto all those who are receptive. Every time God
is released into this world through us, It has the opportunity of going
out into the world and neutralizing some of the carnal influences in
government, the courts, business, and industry, even in the arts and
professions.

Every time that we meditate— and we meditate only for the attain-
ment of this conscious awareness, this "peace, be still"— we are at that
same moment lessening the evil and selfish influences in the world.
The degree to which evil seems to be lessened may be of minute pro-
portions—it probably is— but once the Spirit is loosed, there are no
limits to Its far-reaching effects because there is no such thing as a little
of Spirit or a little power in this Spirit.

The Spirit Itself in infinite, and It is just as infinite through one as
It is through a million. This is proved in the lives of the great mystics:
me Spirit of God in Jesus Christ became the release unto a whole
Christian world; the Spirit in Gautama the Buddha became the light
a nd the illumination to all of India, China, and Japan for a long
Period of time. We cannot measure the effect of the Spirit, even when
" e Spirit finds entrance to this world through, or as, the consciousness
of one individual.

fTie ultimate of spiritual living is to live so completely in attune-
^ent with the Source, God in the midst of us, that the influence of
w °o which is flowing through us will flow out and be a law of good

54 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

unto all who come within range of our consciousness, thereby lifting
them up and increasing their desire for the spiritual. 3

2 For a complete exposition of the subject of meditation, see the author's':
The Art of Meditation (New York": Harper & Row, 1056; London: George
Allen and Unwin, 1957).

CHAPTER V

SOWING AND REAPING

M,

.ost people of the world believe that the evils they experience
have come upon them because of their sins of omission or commission.
Essentially this is true. But because they also believe that God has
inflicted these evils upon them as a punishment, they have been
cheated of the opportunity of avoiding them in the future. As long as
they believe that God, for any reason whatsoever, would sink a ship,
let an airplane fall, or permit children or adults to be mangled, lost,
drowned, or suffer disease, they cheat themselves of the opportunity of
learning why these ills have come upon them, and what they can do to
prevent them from touching their households.

The sun, the moon, and the stars were certainly not given by God
to the people of the earth as a reward for anything, nor were the
stiver and the gold, the platinum and the diamonds, the rubies and the
sa Pphires in the bowels of the earth, nor the pearls and the im-
measurable riches in the sea. All these are but the natural order of
Nation appearing in wondrous ways, but never given as a reward
c °m God, nor withheld as a punishment. The real nature of God is
express Himself, to express His qualities, character, and nature as a
harmonious universe,
" we could but see this world without people, we might better be

55

56 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

able to understand that it is a perfect creation of God, functioning
harmoniously and operating continuously. Whatever problems arise,
arise not from the world as such but from man himself. Acknowledg-
ing, then, that God is the creator of this universe, the maintainer and
sustainer of it, and that God governs this universe perfectly, without
any help, advice, or urging from man, we stop holding God responsible
for our ills and turn within and ask ourselves, "What about error?
What about evil? Whence come these, and how can we rid ourselves
of them?"

One of the first steps for anyone on the spiritual path is to leam
that on the human level of life there is such a thing as karmic law, the
law of as-ye-sow-so-shall-ye-reap, a law that we set in motion, individ-
ually and collectively. Every thought we think and every act we per-
form set in motion a law of action and reaction. If we sow to the flesh,
we reap corruption. The law within us knows what we are doing, and
it rewards us accordingly. Scripture credits God with that, but it is not
really God: it is karmic law.

If all our charity, benevolence, and philanthropy were done anony-
mously, if any and every bit of good we do were done without letting
a single soul on earth know that we were the instruments for it, our
reward would be tremendous. There is no God in heaven looking
down, patting us on the back, and saying, "Oh, my dear son, that is
so wonderful of you. I will reward you." No, nobody need know any-
thing about what we have done : the law itself, the law that we have
set in motion, knows and will operate to reward us openly.

On the other hand, we can do as much evil as we feel inclined to do,
and even though it be completely secret and no one ever learns about
it, that same law will react upon us, and eventually we will be
punished.

Whatever law we set in operation today will return to us tomorrow,
next year, ten or a thousand years from now. In other words, we arc
creating our tomorrows today, even unto the next century, and the
next and the next. This has nothing to do with God: this has to do
with you; it has to do with me; it has to do with our individual self-
hood.

But because there is only one Self, that which we do to another we

SOWING AND REAPING 57

are really doing unto ourselves. 1 1 am you, and what I do to you I do
to fliyseJfc whether for good or for evil. The good that I do to you has
a way of returning to me; the evil that I do to you also has a way of
returning to me because there is but one Self. It is as if I took money
out of my right-hand pocket and put it into my left-hand pocket. Re-
gardless of where I send my dollar— or my love— it ends up in my
own pocket. When we know that, it changes our whole concept of
giving and sharing from one of division to one of multiplication.

There is only one Selfhood; there is only one Being; and everything
that I do to you, I do to my Self; and everything that I do to my
enemies, I do to my Self. That is why it is important for me to take
time out every day to forgive all those who have aught against me, to
forgive any enemy of my nation, my race, or my religion— not because
I am a good man, but because I am wise: I am forgiving my Self. There
is only one Self; there is only one divine Being, and anything that I
do to harm your life has its reaction on mine. Anything that I do to
another must return to me. I may think that it is hidden, but it is
not hidden in the one place where ultimately the score is settled, and
that is within me.

If we close our eyes so that we are in darkness and then think, "I
seem to be in here all alone, and nobody but me is going to know
about anything I think or do," we soon discover that right there with
us is our Self. There is not a thing that we can think or do that is
not known to our Self, nor that our Self does not return to us. It is as
simple as that! We may think that our motives and deeds are hidden,
hut the "Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee
openly." The divine Law that sees in secret rewards openly.

We could not give away even a nickel without our Self knowing it
an d reflecting it back into our experience immediately. On the other
hand, we could not take five cents from anyone without our Self know-
,n g it and immediately beginning to make restitution through the
operation of karmic law, because there is a law of as-ye-sow-so-shall-ye-
rea p that eventually makes us pay for our wrongdoing, and rewards
Us for our good deeds. It is not God doing it: it is the law that operates

y ^Sce "Love Thy Neighbor," in the author's Practicing the Presence (New
"*: Harper & Row, 1958; London: L. N. Fowler and Co. Ltd., 1956)-

58

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

within us. That which the Son does, the Father is aware of, because
the Father and the Son are one.

In this whole world there is only one Self, and that which constitutes
my Self constitutes your Self and the Self of every person, in spite of
the fact that each one expresses his identity in an individual way.
There may be a thousand oranges on an orange tree, but there is only
one Life. So, too, there are millions of people on earth, but there is
only one Life, there is only one Self on earth, and that One is God,
Spirit: your Self and my Self.

Because of this oneness, then, what we do to another, we are actu-
ally doing to ourselves. If we do good to another, we set in motion the
law which returns that good unto us: we are casting good bread on the
water, and it is good bread that returns to us— but always because it
is an activity of the Self. Whatever of evil we set in motion, even
though it may temporarily harm someone, the greatest harm eventu-
ally is the harm done to us because it is we who have set in motion the
evil.

As long as the world is in ignorance of truth, it may be possible for
a person to do evil and bring harm to others temporarily, and prob-
ably even postpone the harm that returns to and befalls him. The evil
that we do may not return to us today or tomorrow, a year or even
five years from now, and often by the time it does return, we have
forgotten the event that set it in motion. But the law never forgets:
the law is inexorable.

In another century, or less time than that, this may not be true.
By that time, man may be enlightened enough to know that any evil
set in motion does not touch the one toward whom it is directed but
returns instantly to the sender. No one then will be able to do evil
because if he does, it will strike right back at him. It will never touch
those toward whom it is aimed because they will know that no weapon
that is formed against them will prosper. In the conscious realization
of their divinity, evil cannot operate in their experience.

In any given moment we can begin to prove this if we set aside a
daily period in which to realize that God is our Self, that Spirit is the
life and essence of our being, and that no evil can come nigh our
dwelling place because God is our dwelling place. To know that there

SOWING AND REAPING 59

is but one Selfhood and that that One is God is to set ourselves free.

We may not demonstrate this in its completeness because the
world's mesmerism still touches every individual, and as long as we
are on earth we will have some problems to meet, Yet, it is possible to
be free of eighty or ninety per cent of our problems if we realize that
God constitutes individual Selfhood : my Selfhood, your Selfhood, and
the Selfhood even of those with whom we do not agree, of those who
may be said to be our enemies, or our nation's or mankind's enemies.

To know this truth of God's identity as individual Selfhood means
that we recognize that whatever of good we are setting in motion, we
are setting in motion unto ourselves; whatever of evil we are setting in
motion, we are also setting in motion unto ourselves. This begins to
set us free from any capacity to do evil, even though for awhile it is
not easy to become completely free of this temptation. Nevertheless,
from the very instant in which we realize that there is but one Self,
we begin to lessen the world's belief that you and I are distinct from
one another, and that we can do good or evil to one another. Each one
of us is a law into himself.

This carries us a step further to where we can realize that it is not
God who is giving us our blessings, and it is not God who is visiting
upon us our evils: it is we ourselves, and not necessarily because we
are doing evil consciously. Often we bring more trouble upon ourselves
through our ignorance of this principle than by any evil that we do.
Even humanly speaking, there are very few really evil people in the
world— very few. Perhaps ninety-nine per cent or more of all the evil
in the world is committed through an ignorance of truth, and even the
evil for which we ourselves are or have been responsible has not been
s ° much because of an evil nature as because of an ignorance of
spiritual truth. Had we been taught the principle of sowing and reap-
ing early enough, our lives would unquestionably have been different.
But it is not too late! Our lives will be different the moment we con-
sciously accept the fact that there is but one Self, and that what we are
doing to another we are doing unto ourselves.

An understanding of karmic law enables us to begin to release God.
Within our own thought we hold God responsible for good and evil;
We fear God because we fear punishment. Many times we worship

60

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

God in the hope of a reward, a gift, or something or other from Him.
In fact, most of the prayers today are not prayers to God but prayers
to karmic law to violate itself. Many persons believe they can do evil
and then pray to God to give them good. That cannot be: good cannot
result from evil; evil returns as evil.

To place our faith and confidence in friends, political influence, or
in any form of human dependence is to sow to the flesh, and we will
reap corruption because someone will betray or fail us at the most
inopportune moment. If we place our hope in that which man has
created, whether made of silver and gold or of stone, whether a crucifix,
a star, or any other symbol of religious belief, sooner or later we will
be disappointed.

If our dependence is on persons and things, in the end that is what
we must reap. All this dependence on human ways and means is of no
avail and must inevitably lead to the frustration and disappointment
which are too often the lot of mankind.

To live the mystical life is to live in a normal, natural way, fulfilling
our function in life, whether in the home, school, office, or factory,
yet within ourselves realizing:

God is my good. God is the health of my countenance, my safety
and my security, my high tower, my rock, my foundation.

God is my abiding place, my home. I live and move and have my
being in the secret place of the most High, hidden from the world.
My body may be seen, but not the I of my being because I live in an
inner awareness of God. My body is out here walking and working in
the world, but I am not. I am living in the temple that is within me,
the temple that is my consciousness.

In any and every place or situation in life, I remember that I am
invisible, I am hid in the divine Consciousness. Wherever 1 am, in
the air or on the sea, I remember that underneath are the Everlasting
Arms.

If called upon to share with others, I can do so without feeling that
1 am taking something of my own to give away, thereby leaving my-
self with less, because all that 1 have is of God. If called upon for
extra work, I can do it without feeling that I am using up my strength
because alt the strength of the Father is my strength.

SOWING AND REAPING 61

I do not have to fear the passing of years because "before Abraham
m » I existed in the bosom of the Father, and that is where I exist

now. „

Only my body is visible, but not I: "I and my Father are one, and
we are invisible; we live in each other— the Father in me, and I in the
Father, inseparable and indivisible.

When we tabernacle in this way with God, we set in motion good
karma; we set in motion the karmic law of knowing the truth, and the
truth comes back to us. The reverse is true whenever we waste time in
hating, fearing, or loving unduly. This does not mean that there will
never be a momentary normal reaction to certain evil conditions, or
a natural rejoicing over good human conditions, but it means not
taking either one too seriously, not letting it eat into us, but remem-
bering:

God in the midst of me is the only power. I shall not fear what
mortal man or mortal conditions can do to me.

This is knowing the truth that makes us free. It has nothing to do
with God; it has to do with us; it has to do with our knowing the truth.
The more spiritual our consciousness becomes, the more harmonious
our outer life becomes because we have set the karmic law of good
into operation.

When we stop believing that God is going to Teward or punish us,
we will leave God alone to function: we will not try to advise or tell
Him what to do, when to do it, or how to do it. This will be honoring
God by giving him credit for knowing His own business and being
willing to perform it.

What we accept in our mind as being real and as having power is
what determines the kind of sowing we are doing. The more power we
E»ve to persons or to things, the more we are sowing to the flesh, and
the more corruption we reap. The more attention we give to abiding
'n the Word, the more we dwell on the truth that there is a Spirit of
God in us which teaches, feeds, supports, maintains, and transports
^, the more we are letting the Christ, Truth, abide in us, and the more
We are abiding in It.

62 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

As we continue a practice of this kind, we are throwing the weight
on the right side of the scale; whereas before, the majority of our
thoughts and deeds were bound up in human and materialistic values
and power. At first we may be giving only two, three, or four per cent
of our thought and time to entertaining spiritual truth, but gradually
as we continue the practice of the Presence, more weight goes over on
to the spiritual side, and very soon twenty or twenty-five per cent of
the time there is some spiritual truth or some spiritual conviction
occupying first place in our mind.

So it is that we go forward until the day comes when the weight is
so completely on the spiritual side that more than fifty per cent of our
waking hours and some of our sleeping hours, too, are occupied with
spiritual activities. The activity of the law never stops: karmic law
operates for good while we are asleep, or it may work for evil: it can
produce healing in us while we are asleep, or we can wake up feeling
ill; we can be so uplifted in our sleep that we wake up whistling or
singing, or we can wake up in the doldrums.

To go to bed at night with the final few minutes before sleep filled
with God is, in itself, enough to give us a restful night and a peaceful
morning. Always, we are thinking something: we are either knowing
the truth or not knowing the truth; we are either thinking spiritual
thoughts or carnal thoughts. Always, we are either placing our faith,
hope, and trust in the Infinite Invisible that is within our very own
being or in something covered with silver and gold, or of a fleshly
nature. In one way or another, we are setting in motion the law that
in the end either rewards or punishes us.

That is why the Master, even when he forgave and held the sinner
in no condemnation, could say afterward, "Sin no more, lest a worse
thing come unto thee." Why? He was not the one to say whether 01
not a person should be punished. It is what the person thinks; it is
what he does that determines that— not what the Christ does. When
we appeal to the Christ, the Christ can set us free in that instant—
but not tomorrow. It is up to us to go and sin no more, or sin less,
until such time as we are fully and completely in the Spirit,

Where there is receptivity to the Christ, there is spiritual regenera-
tion, and it makes no difference whether a person has been good or
bad, rich or poor, saint or sinner. What counts is the degree of re-

SOWING AND REAPING

63

ceptivity there is within him to the spiritual message because, in the
last analysis, it all comes down to the individual. True, the activity of
the consciousness of a spiritually endowed person can bring infinite,
divine harmonies into our experience, can bring release and freedom
to us, and can become a law unto us if we are willing to open our con-
sciousness to it. Some benefit may come to us through another, but
unless we cany on from that point, unless we ourselves respond and
open our consciousness to let the Christ abide in us, it is only tem-
porary.

Abiding in the Spirit, we set in motion the law of good karma. On
the other hand, living with our thoughts constantly dwelling on our
human affairs is setting in motion the karmic law of good and of evil
with the possibility of a preponderance of error, discord, or inharmony
because we are sowing only to the flesh.

To sow to the Spirit does not mean becoming ascetics; it does not
mean giving up our work, our profession, our home, or our family. It
has nothing to do with what we do externally: it has to do with what
is going on in our consciousness white our mind and body are perform-
ing their functions on the outer plane. What is going on in conscious-
ness determines whether we are sowing to the flesh or whether we are
sowing to the Spirit, and whether we are setting in motion the karmic
law of good or the karmic law of evil.

We do not always reap what we sow immediately or quickly. "The
mills of the gods grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding fine." It is
true that sometimes a person may live for many years in a measure of
spiritual realization before the overturning comes, and He comes
whose right it is. Then there are also those persons who indulge in
every manner of evil and seem to be able to do it for a long period of
years before their karma begins to operate. Therefore, we should not
be too discouraged if we do not see the fruitage of our spiritual ac-
tivity instantaneously because we have generations of humanhood and
numanness to cast out of our system. On the other hand, let us never
despair if the evildoer seems to flourish. We have no way of knowing
what goes on in his mind, in his soul, or in his body. It may be a worse
Picture than we think it is, and even if it is not, the karmic law adjusts
these things in its own time and in its own way.

To seek to return evil for evil is to set in motion karmic law of a

64 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

negative nature. Instead, let us, as we are taught, return good for evil—
not for the other person's sake! For our own sake! For ours because we
have some knowledge of how the law operates and how we set kannic
law in action. 'When we see this, we then realiEe, "Well, that means
that I have a lot of debts to pay for my previous sins of omission and
commission," But right here is where we come to the most encouraging
aspect of karmic law: "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as
white as snow." When? Now, in this minute! We do not have to
confess outwardly; in fact, it is not wise to do that, but confess within
ourselves: "This was not right"; "I know better than that"; "I am
done with that." Whenever we make a confession within ourselves,
we have annihilated the evil results of karmie law.

In the very second of her repentance, the woman taken in adultery
became a follower of the Christ, with no punishment, no period of
waiting. It was now: "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no
more." The thief on the cross was not condemned to a period of
purgatory, or to any suffering: "Today shalt thou be with me in
paradise." Why? Because he turned to the Master and asked for help.
The karmic law does not have to be worked out generation after
generation unless we choose it so. In other words, if we decide to cling
to our humanhood, we can be assured that the karmic law is con-
tinuing to operate, but any moment we choose to do so we can come
out from among them and be separate and apart. Then the past is
past— done away with.

In my work with all those sick physically, mentally, financially, or
morally, I have observed that, regardless of what their past may have
been or what particular sins of omission or commission they may have
committed, when they seriously turned to a spiritual teaching, the
penalty was erased. They may not have become angels overnight.
Who does! But that is not the point, even though it is possible to
accomplish that angelic state in a quick or short period of time by
"forgetting those things which are behind," and by setting good
karmic law in operation through sowing to the Spirit.

Our conscious oneness with God constitutes our oneness with every
spiritual being and idea. 2 That means that we are one, and as we love

2 This theme is developed in the author's Conscious Union with God (New
York: The Julian Press, 1962; London: L. N. Fowler and Co. Ltd., 1960).

SOWING AND REAPING 65

our neighbor as ourselves and act toward the other person somewhat in
the same way that we would like to be acted toward, in that degree are
we setting spiritual law in operation.

The responsibility of a spiritual student is great. No one else has
quite the same responsibility as do those of us on the mystical path,
because we cannot rely on the hope of most Christians that Jesus'
dving on the Cross will save us from all the penalties for our sins, or
that our minister, the confessional, the mass, or church attendance
will take away our burden. We cannot lean on any system or person.

Knowing the truth, following spiritual principles, sowing to the
Spirit instead of the flesh— only this will bring our regeneration, resur-
rection, renewal, and finally, our ascension above all materiality. In
that exalted state of consciousness even the karmic law of good ceases
to operate in our experience, because in the recognition that we
are never the actor or the doer, but that only God is acting and
doing through us, we have stopped sowing. Karmic law is then forever
nullified.

CHAPTER VI

GOD, THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE INDIVIDUAL'

M.

-any persons think that they understand the mystery of life
because they can trace the growth and development of themselves and
their children from a tiny seed at the time of conception to birth, and
then from birth to full maturity. But that is not the mystery of life:
that is the effect of the mystery of life. The mystery lies in what pro-
duced the seed and in what brought this seed into expression. No
matter how scientists may theorize as to the origin of life, eventually
they amve at a point that defies explanation because beyond the ap-
pearance of everything visible is an Infinitude, a Something that we
call Consciousness or Life, and this Infinity is expressing Itself as all
form, as the world and everything in it.

Everything that is visible first had to have an invisible Something
to send it into form, and that invisible Something is Consciousness
which sends Itself into expression as a seed and all that comes forth
from the seed. Were it not for Consciousness, there would be nothing
expressed as form. Regardless of how beautiful a thing may seem to be,
how wonderful or how abundant, we must look behind it and realize
that it could not exist but for the Consciousness that formed it.

A few years ago, a very severe winter was forecast for the Eastern
and Middle Western parts of the United States, a prediction based

66

GOD, THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE INDIVIDUAL 67

n the fact that the animals were growing much thicker fur than
usual, and that they were also storing up more than the customary
ajn ount of food for their use during the coming winter. But can an
animal decide how much fur it is going to grow? Does an animal know
that it is growing fur any more than we know that we are growing hair?
Then, what is the underlying cause of the growth of fur on an animal,
and why does the fur grow thicker in some years and thinner in
others? What causes an animal to store up more food one year than
another?

Very recently, another prediction was made to the effect that the
forthcoming winter would be extremely mild because practically no
fat was being found on the meat of the bears and the deer. Do these
animals know whether or not they are producing fat?

To those on the spiritual path, the answer is obvious : every animal
has a consciousness, and that animal's consciousness determines the
thickness of its fur, the accumulation of fat, and the amount of food
that it will store. It even provides coloring that blends in with its
native habitat as a protection.

Every bird has a consciousness. Does a bird know east, west, north,
or south? Yet the birds fly north in season and south in season, and
they are not supplied with maps. Only we need those when we travel,
not the birds. They know whither they are going, and why, and when.
What is there about a bird that knows this? Is it its brain, heart, feet,
or wings, or is it the bird-consciousness that carries the bird north and
south? Is there not a consciousness that acts without conscious
volition?

Does this not explain and give meaning to the scriptural passage, "I
can of mine own self do nothing. . . . The Father that dwelleth in me,
he doeth the works." There is something about us greater than what
We appear to be. Eventually, we will discover that that something is
0u r consciousness. It is with us up in an airplane; it is with us in a
submarine; it is with us on the ocean; it is with us on the earth.
" hither can we flee from our consciousness? If we make our bed in
" e ll, our consciousness is there to lift us out of it.

" once we perceive that God is our individual consciousness and
"derstand how this consciousness leads us in the way that we must

68 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

go, then for the first time we can honestly sav, "Oh, how love I the

Lord, my God! Oh, how love I this God of creation."

Only when we have discerned that God, the Infinite Invisible, func-
tions as our individual consciousness can we understand the true
meaning of the scriptural passages: "I will never leave thee, nor forsake

thee Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world "

What can be with us throughout all time except our consciousness?
The Master called this consciousness "the Father within," and he
said, "I and my Father are one." Certainly, we and our consciousness
are one! How can we be separate or apart from our consciousness?

Do you realize that a human body cannot stand by itself? Remove
consciousness from the body, and it collapses and falls down. Only
the omnipresence of your consciousness can make your body stand
upright. And what about your digestive organs? Can they digest or
assimilate food? Can you not see that if consciousness were not func-
tioning in your body, the stomach and digestive organs would be just
so much dead matter, without the power to move? What then causes
the operation of the organs and functions of the body? Is it a God up
in the sky, or is it the same consciousness that grows fur for the animals
and governs the birds in their flight-consciousness, their conscious-
ness, your consciousness?

This consciousness is all-knowing, and it molds your body in con-
formity with its needs. For those people who have lived for generations
m tropica! and subtropical climates, it has developed in them a deeper,
darker skin pigmentation, probably as a protection against the intense
heat of the sun; whereas for those living in the temperate zones, such
protection is not necessary and, therefore, the color of the skin of the
people living there is usually lighter. Here again consciousness has
formed itself in consonance with where it is expressing itself. It is
not an unknown God doing this: it is the consciousness of the indi-
vidual meeting his every need.

"Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these
things. ... It is your Father's good pleasure to give vou the kingdom."
Who is this Father? It is not any Father within your body: it is your
very own consciousness. Your consciousness knows what things you
have need of; it provided you with your body, and exactly the form of
body you need for your present experience.'

COD, THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE INDIVIDUAL 69

prom the moment of birth, however, you were taught to look to
others for what you needed; you were warned about the devil over here,
and the God up in heaven over there, and you began to be separated
from your consciousness. Soon you were so completely divorced from
vo ur consciousness that you went through life without ever drawing
on it. Then you began blaming those who did not give you what you
wanted or needed, when all the time your very own consciousness was
the source, the substance, and the activity of your every experience.

If you mount up to heaven, you take your consciousness with you;
if you make your bed in hell, it is with you; and no matter what prob-
lems or troubles arise, turning to your consciousness can bring release.
The deepest kind of a prayer might be a smile to yourself as you think
back on the animals that grow heavy fur in anticipation of a hard
winter and of the birds flying north and south in due season : "If their
consciousness can provide in advance for a cold winter, my conscious-
ness can provide for an eternity. If the birds have a consciousness that
leads them north and south, I also have a consciousness that leads me
north, south, east, or west, and that fills my storehouses and bams,
with twelve baskets full left over."

Consciousness has a way of providing the animals with heavy fur in
winter and light fur in summer, and this God which is our conscious-
ness has a way of providing for us in whatever climate we may be,
whatever weather or in whatever stratum of the air we may be living.
This consciousness forms and molds itself in accord with our need.

Once you understand that God is infinite, divine, spiritual, perfect
consciousness, yet individual, you have come close to knowing God.
How can you not love that God— perhaps not now, this minute, but
after a year in which you have found that that God has gone before
}'°u to prepare the way for you, that that God has walked beside you
as a protection, behind you as a rear guard? After a year of relaxing in

us infinite, divine Consciousness and finding the miracle of the

ystery of life, closer than breathing, how would it be possible not to
Iov e the Lord thy God?

*ou only have to remember those birds up in the sky and those

ir nals out in the woods, and you cannot help but smile when you

,ze that their very own consciousness provided so wisely and amply

hem without the birds and the animals having to say, "Father,

70 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

how about a heavier overcoat," or "How about taking me out for a
vacation this winter?" Do you not see that consciousness functions
without taking conscious thought— without taking thought for yo ur
life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, or wherewithal you
shall be clothed, or whether you are going to pass from sight at thirty,
sixty, or ninety?

When you can bring God closer to yourself than your skin, when
you can realize that the consciousness of the animals and the birds
meets their needs in advance, you begin to understand that you, too,
have a consciousness. Then you can relax, satisfied that yours now is
not a blind faith in an unknown God.

Watch the difference in your approach to life when you know God
aright, and then read the Gospels and understand life as presented by
the Master. I may be wrong, but I can almost detect a twinkle in
Jesus' eyes and see the look on his face when he is talking to the
multitudes: "Why are you fearing? Why do you come to me for loaves
and fishes? Did I not show you the mystery yesterday? Is there some
power out there that is going to eat you up, or stop you? Come on, get
up on your feet!"

Is God the consciousness of the animals, birds, and bees, and not of
us? Does God clothe the flowers in their beauty and give them their
form, outline, and perfume, and not us? Do they all have a God that
does such wonders for them, and not for us? No, it is only that we have
"prayed amiss."

In my mind's eye I can see Gautama before he became the Buddha,
I can see him walking through all those forests in India, going from
teacher to teacher, and being told that if he would sit in the lotus
position, stand on his head, lie down on a bed of nails, abstain from
eating meat, or cease praying to God for anything, he would surely
find God. The poor man is bewildered: he is honest; he is sincere. He
does it all, but he does not find God. Then when he decides to eat and
be comfortable, he sits down under the Bodhi tree and there, alone
with God, he meets Him face to face and receives his illumination.

He had been seeking God in practices, exercises, diets, and fasting,
and God is not to be found in any of these. God is to be found only
within. It is not easy to shut out the world and enter the inner

GOD, THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE INDIVIDUAL 71

sanctuary of your being, but if you have to do this and stay away from
the world for a year, or seven years, it is worth it because when you
find God you will find life eternal. Then you will never die. You may
pass from view, but you will never die, nor will you ever again be
anxious; and no matter what the human appearance or circumstance
may be— wars, persecutions, disasters— you will still keep going on,
knowing that this is the mesmerism of the outer senses. God does not
desert you, and if you will just stand still, the storm will pass, and you
will be out in the clear again.

The captain of a ship has to go through storms, but as he abides by
the principles of seamanship, he will sail out through the storm. No
storm can last forever. So with us. There are storms in this human
life— some of our own— but often we take on the storms of our families
or of our students who are unable to find their peace. Every teacher
must accept the burdens of his students and patients. He cannot
avoid it. He has to sit up nights sometimes; he may have to go weeks
and weeks with problems of this one, that one, or the other. He is
always taking on the burdens of those whom he is trying to lift across
the wilderness, but that also makes life interesting, because there, too,
no matter how severe the storms, no matter how difficult or deep, he
proves for himself and for others that the way out is to know God
aright.

To know Him aright is life eternal, but we do not know God
aright until we know Him as the infinite, divine Consciousness that
formed the sun, the moon, the stars, and the planets, that informs,
governs, supports, sustains, leads, and directs us to our ultimate
destiny, which is the realization of our true identity as that Conscious-
ness. I do not think we could be brought any closer to God without
bumping into Him.

Down through the years there have always been a few men who
nave realized that the goal of life could be achieved if only they could
and God, but for the most part they have thought of God as something
se parate and apart from themselves and they, therefore, have gone out
Etching for Him where He cannot be found.

Success in this search is possible only when it is understood that

onerousness is the substance of all form and the activity, not only of

72 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

all life, but even of the body, this very body with which we walk and
eat and sleep.

If there were not an invisible Consciousness forcing Itself into ex-
pression as form, there could not be a tree or even a leaf on a tree.
But the one Life is expressing Itself in infinite form as hundreds of
different species of trees, plants, flowers, grasses, and leaves. Life must
be pushing Itself into expression as these forms, but must not Life
have been present before Its forms were able to come into being or
manifestation?

The issues of life are invisible in Consciousness, and as a greater
understanding of this truth is gained Consciousness will then come
forth in greater measure in our experience. We are that infinite Con-
sciousness, but we are not showing forth that Infinity at this stage of
our experience. We are showing forth only the degree of Consciousness
which we can realize at this moment, but because we are evolving
states of consciousness, that should be a far greater degree than it
was twenty or thirty years ago. In fact, one of the purposes of living
on this plane is to provide our individual consciousness with the op-
portunity of evolving, evolving through and as us, as we open ourselves
to Infinity.

The kingdom of God is within our consciousness, and when we turn
within in meditation to this infinite Consciousness to let It flow, we
will show forth more of the Infinity which we are and always have
been, and next year a greater degree, and the year after, a still greater
degree. In other words, we are expressing as much of infinite Con-
sciousness as we can at the moment comprehend.

Let us begin with the realization that we are not form : we are con-
sciousness, and by our devotion to meditation, we bring forth a
greater degree and deeper awareness of God-consciousness. Conscious-
ness forever expresses Itself as individual forms of intelligence.
Whether it takes the form of a musician composing an oratorio, a
poet writing an epic poem, an artist giving a Mona Lisa to the world,
a sculptor carving out a David, or an engineer designing a bridge, it is
the one Intelligence that thrusts Itself out into life as form, as multi-
tudinous expressions of Its own infinite gifts.

When we realize that we are God-consciousness expressing Itself as

T

COD, THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE INDIVIDUAL 1 3

, n dividual form and variety, we do not feel so great a responsibility to
perpetuate our little selves, or even to be overconcemed about our
creature comforts. The Consciousness that existed before this particu-
lar individual experience had individual form is responsible for main-
taining and sustaining Itself as us, as our business, profession, ability-,
and as our integrity. The government is upon Its shoulders: the re-
sponsibility for living is not ours. Our only responsibility is to live up
to our present highest sense of right.

We cannot be other than we are at any given moment, any more
than a sunflower can be an orchid, or a blade of grass a rose. And if a
sunflower or a blade of grass should struggle to be something other
than it is— if it could-it would destroy itself. Many students on the
mystical path continually berate themselves because they are not more
spiritual and they want to know how to become more spiritual. They
cannot be! If only each one of us could relax and realize, "I am what
I am, and I cannot be other than I am. That which created Itself as
this form perpetuates it unto eternity."

That does not mean that we can grasp form and hold on to it. Just
as we cannot keep a child a six-year-old forever, so we cannot per-
petuate our own form on this earth. We all outgrow our bodies: our
infant bodies, childhood bodies, adolescent bodies. Life is a con-
tinuous process of outgrowing and outgrowing.

Life cannot be seen with the physical eyes. Life Itself is invisible:
we see only the forms which Life assumes. Life pushes Itself into ex-
pression as beautiful flowers and leaves, but we know that in time they
all drop away. The Life does not-just the leaf or the flower does. The
Life goes on forever and ever, always appearing as new forms.

We are Life— Consciousness. We are not that which is visible: we
are invisible Being appearing as form, but neither that form nor that
personality is our real being. Our being is Consciousness individual-
ized, the great infinite Consciousness which is manifesting Itself as so
many forms and varieties of beauty and harmony.

Living thus with the Invisible produces a miracle-change in our
life. We train ourselves not to eat or drink at any time without con-
sciously pausing for a second to realize that whatever it is that we are
going to eat or drink comes out of the Invisible. God appearing as our

74 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

individual consciousness is its source. Always, we him our thought to
God as the invisible Source, and then watch how in a few days od
weeks things begin to take place in our life that never happened before.

With everything that comes into our experience, we dwell for a
second on the invisible nature of its source, realizing that it has its
foundation in the consciousness which we are. That infinite divine
Consciousness which sent us into expression brings all good into our
life, or it would not be here, because nothing that is not a part of our
consciousness can appear to us. Everything that appears or is expressed
by us first has to be in our consciousness, or we could not be aware
of it

This can be proved by any person who, after walking down a busy
thoroughfare, stops to take stock of what he has seen on the street,
and then upon retracing his steps observes how many things did not
register with him at all. Why? Because they were not a part of his
consciousness. The point is that one person walks down a street and
sees every jewelry store he passes, and almost nothing else, while
another one sees every dress shop, and almost nothing else.

Everything that appears in our life must first be a part of our con-
sciousness. Therefore, when we recognize that each and every form—
the very table that is set before us, the dividends that come in, the
salary, allowance, interest, or whatever it is— is a product of conscious-
ness, then the whole nature of our life begins to change. Instead of
living a material life in and of things, we live a spiritual life in and of
Cause, and then the things appear in our experience as added things,
and by that time we no longer hate, fear, or love them; we merely
enjoy them as they come and go, but no longer have an attachment
to them. Tli ere is no way to break undue attachment, except through
dwelling constantly in the fact that there is an invisible Cause or
Source of all that appears.

And what is that Invisible but consciousness? And whose conscious-
ness but ours since it is our consciousness that is drawing to us our
experiences? When we realize God as the Substance and Fabric of
our consciousness, we then begin to draw forth from it only good, but
if we draw from human consciousness, there is always the possibility
of drawing good or evil.

r

GOD, THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE INDIVIDUAL 75

Consciousness is the essence and the substance of all that is. This,
however, would be as meaningless as saying that God is the substance
f all form or that God is the essence of our being, unless we under-
stand that we are talking about individual consciousness— not a con-
sciousness, nor the Consciousness, but our consciousness.

With that as a basis, out only concern is our own state of conscious-
ness because that is what determines our individual experience. Every
person benefits or suffers from his own acts, and this squarely puts it
up to the individual to determine the nature of his own experience.
Scripture of all times has brought out the truth that the individual is
responsible for his experience.

When we understand this, we shall understand the biblical passage,
"Cast thy bread upon the waters." Why should we cast our bread
upon the waters? Because this is the bread that must come back to us.
We cannot expect to enjoy the bread that someone else has cast upon
the waters, and whether or not we expect to, we shall not be able to
do it. The Master accepted this truth when he taught that as ye sow
so shall ye reap, which correctly interpreted means that whatever our
experience is, is an emanation of our consciousness. God— Infinity,
Etemality, Immortality— is our consciousness in its purest state. We
are not a self separate and apart from God: we are God expressed as
individual being. That is what we are when we are the Adam and Eve
in the Garden of Eden. 1

Only when the belief of two powers enters our consciousness do we
find ourselves cast out of the Garden of Eden, and then we live as
human beings who have to earn their living by the sweat of their brow.
We are human beings who live lives, sometimes good, sometimes evil,
sometimes healthy, sometimes sick, sometimes rich, sometimes poor,
and for most people the negative aspect usually predominates in their
lives. All these things happen to us because we now have developed,
through this belief of good and evil, handed down to us through the
a g«, a consciousness, a mind, and a life of our own, and we refer to it
as my life or your life, as my mind or your mind. And because of this
'dentification we find that we have a life to lose or a mind to lose.

> See "Who Told You?" in the author's The Thunder of Silence (New York:
" ar Per& Row, 1961; London: Geoige Allen and Unwin, 1961).

76 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

The search for truth has always and ever been a search for a way to
return to God-consciousness. All human experience is the Prodigal's
experience. The Prodigal had a certain amount of his father's sub-
stance with which he started uut, but each day that he lived he used
up some of it, and in the end he bad none left. So it is in human ex-
perience. We start out in life with some measure of God-life, but
because we believe our life is separate and apart from that God-life,
we call it our life and begin to use it up. By the time we reach three-
score vears and ten, or twenty, we have used it all up and with it our
strength and mental capacities.

Living the spiritual life means finding a way to return to the Father's
house and there be robed with the royal robes of sonship and have
placed upon our hand the jeweled ring of spiritual authority. On the
spiritual path, we are seeking to "die" to our human life, a life made
up of both good and evil, and be reborn in our original Essence, divine
Consciousness, or God-life.

Fulfillment begins to appear with the recognition that God con-
stitutes our consciousness and that that consciousness is infinite: it
embodies our life and our being unto infinity and eternity; and there-
fore, our good will unfold from within us, and the human ways
through which this is to appear will open.

We are Consciousness: Consciousness is our identity; Conscious-
ness is the infinity of our being; Consciousness is the source of our
being; Consciousness is the creative principle; and it is our state or
consciousness that has manifested itself as our particular form and
experience.

The most important factor in our lives and in our progress on the
spiritual path is Consciousness— our individual consciousness.

CHAPTER VII

THE SACRED WORD

I AM THAT I AM: Exodus 3:14

I am the bread of life: lie that cometh to me shall never hunger; and

he that believeth on me shall never thirst. John 6:35

Before Abraham was, I am. John 8:58

I am the light of the world. John 9:5

I am the wav, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father,

but by me. John 14:6

I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. John 11:25

I will never leave thee, nor foisake thee. Hebrews 13:5

Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.

Matthew 28:20

1

n an attempt to fathom the mystery of God, to explain what can
"ever be explained, and to encompass what can never be encom-
passed, man has used words. But words can never explain God. There
can never be a word that is God. Not even the word God is God, nor
the words Mind, Soul, Spirit, or Truth, for all these are effects objec-
,Ve to the person voicing them.

Jnere are no synonyms for God in absolute truth. Those that we
are really only attributes descriptive of God. Soul is an attribute

Use

°f the

purity of God; Spirit describes God's incorporeality; love,

. n< 3. principle, and law are facets of God-being; but none of these
1S "*lly God

77

78 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

When we are done with all these words, we are no closer to God
than we were before: we have not found God. And so, we go on to
another word, and another word, and another word. Finally, wJ
realize that we cannot find God in a word, in any word out here.«
Ultimately, we come back to the one word which holds the secret of
the ages — I. I is neither objective nor subjective, and that I is the I
that I am, the Knower. It is the Knower and the known, that which
knows and that which is known; and I am both: J am He.

If all the words that we use as synonyms for God really were God,
the room in which we are sitting and repeating those words would
be aflame with illumination, and there would be no disease or discord
in it. But all we are doing when we repeat these words is declaring
or affirming them, and since nothing happens, they therefore cannot
be God. There is no word that we can think of that is not the effect
of the thinker, and the thinker must be greater than any word he can
think, voice, declare, or write.

Regardless of what word we utter — even the word God — there is
an I that utters it, and an it to be uttered. After all the words have
come and gone, and we cannot see or hear them any more, I still
remain. I must be greater than any thought I can entertain, or any
concept I can hold or form, greater than any belief or theory that I
can formulate or accept.

Any word for God, except one word, would still leave an It and a
me. The only word that obliterates everything but itself is the word
I. J is the ultimate word behind which we cannot go because I is the
thinker, the be-er, the doer, the consciousness, the cause. There is no
word that really expresses God except the word I. If any other word
is used, there is still an I declaring it, and certainly the I that de-
clared it, thought it up, invented, or discovered it would be greater
than any of the words.

What was it but the understanding of the word I that made
Moses the leader and the saviour of the Hebrew people? This word
was so sacred that its use was reserved only for the high priests, an*
they were never allowed to voice it except on one day a year, when
they were hidden in the Holy of Holies, in the inner sanctuary ot
the temple, and nobody was allowed to be there to hear it.

r

THE SACRED WORD 79

Moses guarded this word carefully because he knew that human
beings tend to use the word I falsely. They use it to identify them-
selves as Jim, Bill, or Mary, If they were told that J is God, they
would translate that to mean that Jim is God, Mary is God, or Bill is
God; and we would have human beings going about flapping their
wings and sacrilegiously mouthing, "I am God."

For that reason the word I was held as a sacred, secret word, the
knowledge of which set the priests apart, and it was that knowledge
which constituted their priesthood — this understanding of their true
identity. With this understanding they could minister to the needs
of those who came to them, because anyone who knows the I can im-
mediately give up all concern for his own welfare, can feed the multi-
tudes, supply, support, and heal them.

King Solomon, too, had learned this secret and, during the build-
ing of his great temple, he promised that when it was finished all
those who had worked on the building would be given the password
that would enable them to travel in far places and always command
a master's wages. No one was permitted to know this password until
he had gone through every stage of his craft, from that of the lowest
apprentice up to that of a master.

Symbolically, this means that ignorant, illiterate, uncultured, and
unspiritual human beings are the apprentices, the lowest grade in
spiritual evolution, and in that state they could not be given this
password because it would do them no good, but if they worked up
through the various stages of humanhood until they arrived at a
place of discernment, of masterhood, they would be given the word
because they would then be able to understand it.

And what was that password? I AM. Those who know I AM will
never have to look to "man, whose breath is in his nostrils" for any-
^'ng. Anyone who realizes I AM can travel any place in the world,

ran or without scrip. Everything needed will be provided for him out

Withinness. He does not have to depend on charity, on the good
of anybody, or on influence. He carries with him everything that

W 'H ever need.

_ ne I AM known to Moses, Solomon, and Isaiah was the secret
m g of Christ Jesus: "I have meat to eat that ye know not of.

teach

80 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

. , . I am the bread of life. ... I am the way, the truth, and the 3if e%
... I am the resurrection, and the life. ... I and my Father are one,"
Yet the "Father ... is greater than all." In other words, the invisible
part of us is greater than the visible, and I is greater than we are
because we are fed by the f that we already are. 1 is not another word
invented by the mind of man; It is not another power, presence, or
character created in time or space: It is the I that we are that feeds
us, whether in the form of material for books, lectures, food on the
table, clothing, housing, or transportation. It all comes from the I.

The ultimate of the correct letter of truth is when we go beyond
using a word like God to where we are left with nothing but I, or
I AM. And that is enough.

J is God: there are not two. When this reveals itself to us, some-
thing warm, joyous, and sacred has taken place within us. This is the
"pearl of great price." Would we throw such a treasure out for the
lovers of baubles to trample on or to put in a ten-cent mounting and
wear? If the J of us is God, what is there external or internal to us
that can thwart God's will, destroy God's life, or destroy God's mind
or body?

Is there a God up in the sky? Is there a God sitting on a cloud? Is
there a God floating in the air? Is there a God walking around on
earth? I know not any; I have never seen or heard of any. The only
God that has ever revealed Itself is the one that has come thTOUg
the still small voice which is uttered within me. But there is nothing
within me but me; I am the only being that I am, and if I hear a still
small voice, it must come from within the depths of my Self. It
cannot be what is called a human self; it must come from that Self
of me which I recognize to be divine. If "I and my Father are one,'
I must be that one; and therefore, unless I know that I in the midst
of me am He, I do not know God.

I AM — not the bold, brazen "I"-man that wants to walk up and
down the street saying, "I am God," but the I-man that sacredly a n< *
secretly has received this inner assurance:

Be still, be still: I am God. You be still! Do you not know that I

THE SACRED WORD 81

fa the midst of you am God? I will never leave you, I am come that
you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly.
You be still! I am in the midst of you. I am your being, I am your
bread, your meat, your wine, your water. Let that mind of yours be
still; let those fears be still! There are no powers external to you; there
is no God in words or thoughts. I am God!

This is the "pearl," "the pearl" that must be hidden so that it is
not trampled upon, but it is a "pearl" that must be shared. It can
be shared, however, only with those who can receive it sacredly and
be trusted with it, because when it is given to the unprepared human
mind, that mind wants to use it to conquer the world: "Oh, I am
God, now I want a million. Ah! I want ten million, a hundred mil-
lion. Why not? I am God!"

But to the Soul that is prepared, It whispers: "Oh, I am God: J
do not need anything, I do not want anything. J have all that I
need, I have all that I want, and the world's baubles are of no inter-
est to me." We cannot be that I that is God and still be interested
in name, fame, or fortune. These will come to us, but by that time,
we will not value them.

As long as there is an "I" seeking God, we have not come home.
Only when we realize that I is God are we at home in Him, at peace,
for when we know that J and the Father are one, we have nothing to
°e unpeaceful about, nothing to fear and no one to fear, nothing to
"ate, nothing to resent. Neither life nor death can separate us from
fre love of God.

fa sharing this "pearl" it may be that a few who learn of it will
|»use it and thereby destroy themselves. They will not destroy us;

e y wdl not destroy the world: they will destroy themselves. Never-
' e e K, in spite of such persons, this truth must be revealed in order

a t those able to accept it can be completely free— spiritually free
"e realization of the great wisdom that Moses veiled from his

I A? 6 3nd that the Master was crucifi ed for revealing: "I AM THAT
M- ■ ■ . I and my Father are one."

If 1"

aivme Grace has given us the wisdom to accept this— and

82

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

nothing can give it to us but divine Grace — let us accept it sacredly
and keep it secret, not mouthing it or letting anyone know that we
know it.

If we tell a person not developed or trained in spiritual wisdom that
God is J, in his unillumined state, he will think that we are deifying
a human being. This is not true at all. The human being has to "die"
in order that the I which is his true identity may be revealed in all
Its purity, completeness, and fullness. That I which is God is the I
of you, but it is also the I of me, for there is only one I, one Ego,
There is only one divine Life which I am and which you are.

The Infinite Way teaches that a person must never say "I am
God" because it is not true. No human being is God. If a human
being were God, then every word that he spoke would heal the sick,
raise the dead, and open the eyes of the blind, but it does not. Why?
Because a human being is not God. But when he goes back into the
Kingdom of his own being in peace and in quiet, and hears the Voice
speak to him, "Fear not; I am here," that is God within him uttering
His voice, and the earth, the error, melts.

We are the instruments, the witnesses to God's word, and that
Word is I. But we must not speak I: we must hear I. These things are
so sacred and so secret that they should never be voiced by anyone:
they are true only if they well up within and are heard in the inner
sanctuary of our being.

When we are in prayer and feel that stirring which means that God
is on the field, a healing or an improvement takes place because
nothing can ever stand in the way of that I — nothing. We could
voice It from now until doomsday, and nothing would happen, but
if It voices Itself through us, then It becomes the Word made flesh-

The only thing that heals is the word of God, and even though it
may use the old familiar language, it always comes through as fresh
inspiration because it has come up out of the depths of the Soul. This
teaching does not claim that you and I are God : this teaching reveals
the I within you and within me, not by virtue of our speaking It, but
by our hearing It. This revelation does not make us one with the
Father: it establishes within us the realization that before Abraham

THE SACRED WORD 83

y iSt I and the Father were one. That I is the presence and the power,
an d It is omnipresent and omnipotent.

j is the embodiment of everything necessary for our unfoldment,
s0 that if we should leave our home with nothing, we could walk
wherever we chose — around the world if that is to our purpose — and
reach our destination, as long as we did not look outside ourselves,
taping someone would help us or give us a ticket or a dollar. Any-
thing is possible as long as we hold to I AM.

When we know that I is here, I is there, and I is everywhere, we
can use any one, or all, of the many synonyms there are for God —
Life, Truth, Love, Soul, or Principle. It makes no difference because
we are merely using terms describing attributes of God. No one can
ever define God for us, however, because I is indefinable. We do not
know what we are: we are a mystery even to ourselves. There is an I
within us that has never been known to anybody.

IE, in sacredness and secrecy, we keep locked up inside our own
being the word I, that which we are entertaining secretly will reward
us openly, and all those who are brought into our presence will feel a
divine impulse. It is as if a voice inside of us were speaking and say-
ing, "I in the midst of thee am God, and all that J have is thine."
Then we rest on the promise that the Infinite Invisible within is the
very Source of our life, that which created us in the beginning. God
created us — not human parents, but God. We are spiritually created
and spiritually formed, even though to human sense we entertain a
physical sense of that spiritual creation.

« we will learn to withdraw our gaze from this world and realize
Mat we are not dependent on anything in the external world, we shall
"Sgm to understand that I in the midst of us is mighty:

J need not put my faith in "princes"; I need not trust "man,
«ose breath is in his nostrils," but neither need I fear what man can
to me because I cany within me the great Saviour, the great Prin-
P ie , the I of my own being, the I which created and maintains
' the I that is the very bread of life: my meat, my wine, my water,
y Salvation, and my resurrection.

84 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

If this temple of my body is destroyed, in three days somethi
called I will raise it up again. Even if I were unconscious, even if J
were dead, I in the midst of me am alive, and that I will resurrect
even the body should there be any occasion for that.

What is it that restores the lost years of the locusts? I. What is it
that resurrects our body, business, home, strength, health, and
vitality? I. There is only one divine Presence and Power, and It is all
embodied in that which, sacredly and secretly, is called I.

The Master had great difficulty in imparting this idea to the
Hebrews who had observed ceremonies, rituals, and holy days, but
who had been given little or no spiritual enlightenment. All their
instruction had been in the realm of the mind and in the observance
of outward rites, and that is not sufficient. Spiritual teaching must
enter the heart; it must be in the Soul: it must be felt rather than
reasoned or thought; it must be intuitively understood. Only then
can we take the word / into the sacred and secret place of the most
High and dwell there with It. If we dwell in the secret place of the
most High and abide with that I, let the I abide in us, let that I
flood our consciousness, It will impart Itself to us and say: "Know
ye not that I am God? 'Be still, and know that I am God'; / in the
midst of thee am mighty. I will never leave you, nor forsake you."

Are we looking to some God other than the I for our health? If we
are, we are missing the way. The Tree of Life is truly planted in the
midst of our consciousness, and it is all embodied in that little word
I. "It is I; be not afraid. ... I will never leave thee." Let us keep this
Word in the center of our being, in our consciousness, keep tins
Word in our heart. Let us not parade or flaunt It, for if we do, we will
lose It. The more silently and the more sacredly we hold It, the
greater will be our demonstration of It.

No one can boast in the Lord; no one has the right to act as if &ti
secret were his personal possession. It is a secret, but it is not y ° r
secret and it is not mine: it is the secret of the mystics of all ages-
It was known to Lao-tse of China; it was known to Gautama ^
Buddha; it is the central theme of the teaching of Shankara; and it a

THE SACRED WORD

85

the central theme of the teaching of Jesus Christ as revealed in the
Gospel of John. It is the central theme of the life of every mystic.

The word J is the secret of the mystic's unfoldment! Even before
there was a concept of God in the mind of man, J, God, existed.
Before there were any human beings on earth, I existed as the creative
principle of all that is. It is difficult for a person to accept this idea
unless there is an answering response within, a something which says,
"Yes, that is what I have always believed, but could not voice. That
is what I have always known; that is what I feel."

J is the sacred word. It is a soft and gentle Presence, yet withal, a
powerful Presence. If we have a sense of rightness about this sacred
Word, then we can begin to hold It within ourselves and to five out
from the center of our being. Then it is that we can walk up and
down this earth as a blessing to all who come our way.

When a person has attained a realization of God, his very presence
is a benediction to others; and if he is charged with the care of some
consecrated place such as a church, temple, synagogue, or truth-
center, the atmosphere of his consciousness so permeates it that even
entering it is a blessing. Any place of worship where there is a
minister, rabbi, priest, or any person who is truly dedicated to the
spiritual way of life is holy ground, so holy that we have only to walk
into it to find healing. The stones themselves must cry out with
spiritual tongues, "The presence of God is here."

^ is not the temple that consecrates a man: it is the man who con-
secrates the temple. It need not be a temple, a church, or a syna-
gogue. What it is, is of little importance. It can be a room in our
home, or a chair, but if we are consecrated to God and if we fill our-
ev es with the conviction of the omnipresence of God, the very
^osphere around us is charged with spiritual power, and those who
Wa| k into that place feel its healing influence.

nerever there is this recognition of the presence and the Spirit

°d, the power of God is flowing, maintaining our mental, moral,

_ nc »al, and physical freedom, and then whenever a need appears,

and rCate Wtl3t seems ^ e a vacuum within us, a listening attitude,
ln that second, the right word comes to us, the word of God

86 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

which is quick and sharp and powerful, and which does the work of
healing, reforming, and sustaining.

There is only one I permeating every person, constituting all in.
dividual life, whether human, animal, vegetable, or mineral. That one
I is the Soul of all being, the creative principle, the activity, the
cause, the life, and even the body itself. It is both cause and effect.
It is I which is the sacredness of our being, the Consciousness of our
being. That it is that governs us. I in the midst of us is mighty.

Take off your shoes in the presence of that word I because you are
speaking the holy name of God.

CHAPTER VIII

THE MYSTICAL I

T

_Lhe

. he search for God must be conducted within, but this does not
mean within our body because no amount of mental or physical
probing has ever revealed the kingdom of God in any person's body.
Therefore, we can quickly put aside any idea of searching for it in
the spinal cord, stomach, heart, or even in the brain. The Kingdom
w to be found within—within us.

This leads us to the questions: Who are we? What are we? Where
are we? Most of us already know that we are not confined to our
body, and once we know that, we have taken a tremendous leap
forward on the spiritual path, because if we are convinced that we are
n °t in the body, it should not take very long or involve overmuch
reasoning to establish the truth that being out of the body and
'^visible, we must be incorporeal and spiritual, something other than
od y. So, when we seek the kingdom of God within, we are not
-eking for it inside the body, not even in the mind: we are seeking
Wlt hin ourselves

o understand the nature of life as consciousness reveals how it is
s 'ble for the kingdom of God to be within us, within our con-
Usness, within that part of us which knows, but within no paiticu-
part of our body. Consciousness alone constitutes the Self.

87

88 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

When we have realized ourselves as consciousness and can look at:
our body in a mirror and thank God that we are not there, thank
God that we have a body, but that we are not in the body— we are
invisible— we shall begin to understand the Master's great teachings
which are the "open sesame" to progress on the spiritual path.

"Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father,
which is in heaven." How can the son of that Father be other than
spiritual being, spiritual entity and identity, incorporeal and invisible
being? How can that son of God be seen walking the earth? The truth
is thab our real Self is never seen by anybody: it is completely in-
visible. True, our body is visible, but we are not. We are hid with the
Father.

The spiritual identity of our being is Melchizedek, the man who
was never bom, can never die, and is always invisible.

I am Melchizedek. I am lie that was never bom and will never
die, Self-maintained and Self-sustained. I am the offspring of God,
God Itself springing forth into manifestation and expression, God
Itself appearing as individual being with individual identity.

Nobody has ever seen Melchizedek— not with his eyes. Nobody
has ever seen you; nobody has ever seen me. You and I can see the
forms as which we appear, but we cannot see the reality because that
is invisible. We merely see a form, so big or so small, and who knows
ten years from now what size it will be, or where it will be, and it
makes no difference because it will not be the I of you or the I of me.

So we look in the mirror with a new kind of vision: Now 1 kno*
that I am not inside of this form: I am that which governs this form
I am that which moves around in, and is identified by, this form, I
I am not this form. I am in the bosom of the Father, and the Faffl
is in me: we are both in heaven, both spiritual. God the Fall
and God the Son are one, and that One remains our eternal spirit" 8
identity, that part of us which was never born and can never die.

"Neither death, nor life . . . shall be able to separate us from t
love of God." There is a Self which is inseparable from the love a n
the life of God, and when we discover that Self, we find the O

r

THE MYSTICAL I 89

^ith which we are one: the one Life, one Love, one Substance, one
Being.

The materialist cannot perceive this: the materialist looks in the
mirror and says, "There am I," but on the spiritual path we search
ourselves from head to foot and from foot back to head, and arrive
at the conclusion, "There am I not."

If we are honest, we will have to admit that nobody knows us ex-
cept ourselves, and perhaps more than ninety-nine per cent of us do
not understand or know even ourselves. There is an area of our being
that is not known — not to mother, husband, or wife. It is a secret
place in us, the real, true individuality of us that nobody can quite
perceive or understand, and that we keep hidden from the world.

That part of us is the J, that J which is individual identity, that I
which must have existed before conception, before there was a form
as which to manifest, fust as that I will continue to exist after I
relinquish this form. This does not mean that I will be without
form: it means that the form of that I will probably be of a differ-
ent nature and texture. It is merely this particular concept of form
that will be outgrown and will disappear. But I, I continue forever.

Does this mean reincarnation? In many cases it does because if we
ate bom into this particular plane once, there is no reason why we
could not be born into it a dozen times if there is a valid reason for
repeating the experience. The questions that must be answered by
each one of us are: Why did I choose to come here? Why was I
^nt here? The answer depends on our point of view. Were we sent
into expression here? Did we choose to come into expression, or did

e lust come? That you can only determine for yourself.

Priced" thC Hght ° f my ex P erience ' * sa y t0 vou wha t I am con-
that D ' S tme ' that We are sent here for a s P ecific P ur P°se and that
it to v ri>0Se " bdng worked out ' there is no wa y that I can convey

Soviet? 1 S ° ftat y ° U Wil1 beHeVe **" h is Up t0 you t0 arrive at that
it l «n within yourself, so that you can receive enlightenment on

'^w" C ° nViction of the twih of this is the result of my particular

here °nt m nCC ! 3nd eVe " n ° W 3S l tFy *° com P are m Y fomier life
! s plane with the one I am now living, the questions arise:

90 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

How could this happen? What could make such a thing happen
How could one live two such completely different lives and be twol
such completely different persons in the same lifetime? Then I go
bade inside and ask: Is this really true? Am I not now the person that
I always was, but unable to show outwardly what was inside because
I did not know how to reach it? Is not this what I have always longed
for? Is not this what I have always visioned, but could not break

through?

I can recall the day when, as a very young boy, my mother said to
me, "I know what's wrong with you, Joel. You're looking for God."

"Mom, how can you say that? I don't even know if there is a God."

"Oh, but I know. You're looking for God."

Certainly I was, and this life today is just the fruition. I came into
this world looking for God, but no one would believe that judging by
my first thirty-eight yeais. That hunger was all locked up inside of
me. I would not have dared to tell that to anybody, although when I
was nineteen, I could tell my mother, "I've discovered you're right.
There is a God, but I can't find Him. No matter with whom I talk,
they don't seem to know Him."

And she said, "Well, please don't stop, and when you've found
Him, come and tell me"— and I hope I'm telling her.

That is one way I know that I am the same 1 that I was when I
came into this world, the I that was born at a level that was seeking
God-realization, and It had to break through the shell and find

Itself.

This, I cannot prove to you. You will have to take my word tor n
or doubt it until you have an experience of your own that shows yo«
that this I of which you have been aware since you were bom really
existed before you came forth into this experience. By divine Grace
I have been shown other lives which I have lived, so I know that
was here before and I also know some of the experiences that I have

had. .

Every one of us in some time past, in some earlier form of evoluttc
was the animal man, then the mental man, and later was prepared I
come into this particular state, evolving into some measure of spirit '
man. All this takes time although it is really not a matter of time:
is a matter of evolution which in our experience appears as time-

THE MYSTICAL I

91

This is because eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil in what is known as the Garden -of-Eden experience has resulted
in the false state of consciousness which we call humanhood, and in
this state of humanhood we not only need one another, but we need
things, we need money, we need this, we need that. All human ex-
perience is a going out and a getting of things.

There is the man who is the purely animal man who goes after
what he wants with hammer and tongs, using the sheer physical force
of his body or the might of temporal weapons. Then there is the man
who goes after things with his mind, and although most persons are
honest and try to earn what they want, when these things do not
come easily, they sometimes develop tricks to get what they want
legally, but not too ethically, and if that does not work, they may go
outside the law and steal or even kill to get what they want. On a
larger scale, man resorts to a legal form of murder that is called war.

Eventually, perhaps after many lifetimes, that man who has de-
pended upon physical and mental force begins to rise to the status of
spiritual man, and that is the story of unfolding consciousness.

Whether you or I will be born again depends on this question:

Will there be a reason for it? There was a reason for my being born

this last time. It was because I had not made God-contact; the 1

had not broken through, and it took this experience to break the shell.

What further lessons have to be learned that can be learned only in

the context of a life-experience and whether there will be a need for

m e to be born again will depend on whether there is a need for the

particular service I have to offer on earth. If there is, I will reincar-
nate.

jo with you. It is your unfolding consciousness that has brought

u !n to this particular phase of experience sufficiently developed to

P 6 " yourself to a spiritual approach to life. You have lived on the

m al plane; you have lived on the mental plane; and now you are

Pproaching the spiritual plane. Let us not forget that during all this

]■ c ' "ere is still a little of the animal left in each one of us and a

e of the mental also, but by now most of us are committed to the

s Piritu a ]

Each

bt °ught

Way.

0l ie has formed for himself a body, a home in which he is

U P> and an activity in which to function, all of which serve

92 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

the purpose of developing consciousness to the point of recognition]
or realization. Every- experience of our childhood, the good as well am
the bad, and every experience in our business or home life have been
necessary to bring us to this unfoldment. We have always been fund
tioning at the particular level necessary for our spiritual development
because the purpose of our being here is to unfold spiritually, moving
from experience to experience until the I that we are stands forth in
all Its purity and fullness.

J is neither male nor female: I is I. I is neither bond nor free. I
is the universal, supreme, divine, true identity of all of us, regardless
of what form it may have assumed in this incarnation.

We must leam to live with this I in the midst of us, leam to look
to It for all inspiration. If we need an idea for a book or for a paint-
ing, for business or for law, regardless of what it is, the I encom-
passes it. And this I is within us. Then if it is necessary to find a
book, a teacher, a publisher — whatever it is — when we turn within,,
the I will appear outwardly as the form necessary to our unfold-
ment at any moment.

We never discard our form — our concept of form, yes. We dis-
carded one such concept when we were three years of age, one when
we were thirteen years, another at twenty-one, and still another
when we were in the forties. So we keep on discarding these concepts
of form, yet the I goes on forever, and the I always has form; I is
always embodied as form. I can never lose Its form any more than I
can lose my identity.

My true identity was never bom, and it will never die. It was
present when I was conceived in my mother's womb, and it will be
present and looking on when I pass from this scene, when my body
seems to remain here as I progress onward. That I is the I of me
which was bom, that I is the I of me which was a child, that I is the:
J of me in my maturity, and I is the I of me in my ongoing. I "
immaculately conceived, Self-created, Self-maintained, Self-sustaineA
inBnite, individual, eternal, and immortal.

That is my true identity, and that is the 1 that is looking o&
through my eyes. That is the I of me that now is a teacher and *

THE MYSTICAL I

93

healer, but that same I was with me when I was a salesman selling
merchandise. That I is the same I that was there when I was in
school' This same I kept watching these different stages of my un-
foldment, but It could not function any faster than Joel could catch
up with It. It is the I of me; it is the I of you; it is the 1 of our friend
and the I of our foe.

All those who put their hand to the plow must determine never
to turn back — never. Lot's wife turned away; she looked back, away
from God, and was lost. The way is straight and narrow, and few
there be that enter, but those few an; those who attain. And when
they attain, what is it they have attained? The awareness that 1
in the midst of them is mighty, the realization that I has been with
them since before Abraham, and that I will never leave them, nor
forsake them.

I in the midst of me feeds me, clothes and houses me, I in the
midst of me has never been limited. I in the midst of me has pro-
vided me with everything necessary, for I is nor dependent on "man,
whose breath is in his nostrils."

I in the midst of me need not advertise Itself; I in the midst of me
dwells secretly, sacredly, silently, abiding in God, and together we
two, who are one, walk this earth.

I in the midst of me is the spiritual son of God, the Christ, Mel-
chizedek—He who was never born, who will never die, and who is
and always will be invisible.

I am the invisible Presence within me. I am the invisible Presence

which goes before me to make the way clear; I am the invisible

resence which walks beside me as protection. I am the invisible

T ?sence which follows after me as a rear guard.

1 am the life of my friends, and I am the life of my foes: we are

Tte , yet each, individual in expression — one in essence, infinite, but

lv tdual in form and modes of expression.

l am the author in one, the composer in another. I am the healer

■ 0n e, the minister in another. I am the painter in one, the poet in

neT - I am the inspiration unto my life and the inspiration to

94 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

everyone who seeks inspiration, I can close my eyes at any time of the
day or night and turn to this Infinite Invisible, to the I within me
and receive new illumination, new light, new health, new strength.

Inwardly and silently, say the word J softly, gently— J, meaning
youi Self, your true identity. Close your eyes to all outer appearances
and inside the inner sanctuary, alone with God, listen to the voice of
God as It speaks to you:

I say to you: Son, cease from depending upon man. I am here in
the midst of you — this I that you have declared.

Listen to Me. 1 Look unto Me, the I of your being, and be saved.
Do not look to effects, do not look to persons, do not look to fame,
fortune, or position.

Look unto Me, for I in the midst of you am your bread, your staff
of life. You need not earn your bread by the sweat of your brow.
Work, but enjoy it. Work, and love it, but never feel dependent on
it for your living, for I am living you: I am your living.

I am your Being. I have placed Myself as the Tree of Life in the
midst of the garden which is your Self. I in the midst of you am
mighty.

Even your body is the temple of the living God which I am.
Your body, your mind, your soul: these are all dedicated to Me, and
I have ordained them. I have given to you your mind and your body.
I am the substance of your body. I am that which beats your heart
I am that which governs every organ and function of your body. I
did not make your body and then leave it to control itself. I made it
in My image and likeness, of My substance. I knew you before you
were conceived in the womb. I formed your very body in the womb-
I have never left it, nor forsaken it.

Many times you have left Me. Many times you liave made falsf
gods: gods of gold and silver, gods of pills, powders, and plasters, and
looked to them for health and joy. You have looked outside f or
pleasures, satisfaction, for peace, and yet I am the wine of inspiration
Seek Me while I may be found, and be at peace.

1 The word "Me," capitalized, refers to God.

THE MYSTICAL I

95

L

Does the creature talk back to the Creator? Does the clay talk to
the potter? No! I am the potter, I am the creator, and all creation
hearkens unto Me. The heavens declare My glory. The earth showeth
forth My handiwork. Do you know that I have given you dominion
over everything on earth, everything in the sky, everything in the
waters and beneath the earth?

I am the way: live by way of Me. Do not live by way of the world.
Do not live by way of form — even so powerful a form, as a hydrogen
bomb. I am your high tower, and I am your fortress. Hide in Me,
hide in the understanding that there is only one power, and I am
that. Look unto Me and be saved — not by might, not by power.

Put up your sword! Those who live by the physical or the mental
sword will die. Live by My Spirit— not by might, not by power, but
by My Spirit.

Dwell in Me; let Me dwell in you. If you dwell in Me, and if you
let Me dwell in you, if you live in the recognition that I in the
midst of you am your true identity, your eternal life, I will draw
unto you whatever is necessary for your harmonious unfoldment,
be it person, place, or thing.

Go into the inner sanctuary of your being and be quiet. Do not
pray in public. Do not tell man what you need. Do not tell man what
you would like to be. Do not tell man what you would like to do.

Live in Me! Let Me live in you, and let Me be the invisible
Presence that goes before you to prepare the way for you. Let Me
go before you, silently, sacredly, secretly.

Do not be impatient if it takes a little time for you to reach home.
You have already become involved with people and entangled in
Situations that you cannot have suddenly. You will have to be led
awa y from these without injury to the life, the well-being, or the com-
fort of others. You cannot have your life and well-being at the ex-
|&we of others. That is not the law. "Love thy neighbor as thyself"
ls the law. That, you can do, if you look unto Me, if you understand
" a t I in the midst of you am Self-sustained.

Do not be impatient if you have to take some long way around.

*"« bring you by a way you know not of. It will not always appear
■° you as a short cut; it will not always be without a few bleeding

96 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

footsteps or even a cross, but nevertheless I am leading you through-
this world of illusion back to your Father's house which I am.

I have meat— be assured of that. "I have meat to eat that ye know
not of." Do not let your mind get weary wondering how you are going
to get a home, companionship, supply, or health. Be assured that I
have meat. I already have meat, and wine, and water. Rest here, and
Jet it come to you.

Do not try to attract supply — not mentally, not physically. Just do
your work each day, the work that is given you to do. Do it in the
best way you know how, but do not do it for a living: do it for love.
Let the living be the added thing, I, your Father which art in heaven,
I, who am in the midst of you, I know your need before you do. It
is my good pleasure to give you the kingdom if you abide in Me and
let My word abide in you.

Live in Me, live in the realization that this I in the midst of you
is God, this I in the midst of you is ordained of God, for God is both
the Father and the Son, God is both the giver and the gift.

Trust this I at the center of your being. Trust Jt with your secret
desires, but do not let your secret desires be aimed at persons, places,
or things. Your secret desires must be for rest in Me, peace in Me,
satisfaction in Me, joy in Me.

Tabernacle with Me, for I in the midst of you am your life. I am
That which prospers you. I am That which draws unto you all that is
necessary for your spiritual development and unfoldment.

If there he forty years of wilderness before you reach the Promised
Land, be patient, be patient. You have made this wilderness through
which you must be led. If there is the experience of the cross, accept
it. You have brought it upon yourself, and it is just another way ottt
of the wilderness. Whether you make your bed in hell or in heaveth
I in the midst of you will never leave you, nor forsake you. Even if
you are the thief dangling on the cross, I will take you with me th&
very day into paradise.

Do not fear effects, do not fear outer conditions. I, the I of yov?
being, I am that part of you which was never born. I brought f^
into this experience; I will carry you through it; and I will carry y^
on into the next experience, even unto the end of the world.

.^

THE MYSTICAL I

97

Have I been so long with you, and you have not known Me? Have
I been so long with you, and you have not recognized that I am
Melchizedek, I am the Christ, I am the spiritual Son? When you
have gone far enough you will understand that I am God the Father
as well as God the Son. And then you will understand oneness.

You will understand that because I am infinite, there are no evil
powers. The evil pictures that you see and hear and touch and taste
and smell are made of the fabric of nothingness, the fabric of hypno-
tism, the fabric of suggestion. Do not fear them. They have no
entity; they have no identity; they have no real being. Only under-
stand them to be of the fabric of mental illusion — nothingness —
for I in the midst of you am the only power and the only presence.

"Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as
thyself." I am He, and I in the midst of you am the I in the midst
of your neighbor. Inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these
neighbors, you have done it unto Me, for I dm he, even as I am you.
Inasmuch as you have not done it unto the least of these, you have
not done it unto Me. Anything tlmt you have withheld from anyone,
you have withheld from yourself, for I am your Self, and I am your
neighbor's Self. I, God at the center of your being, am He; I, God,
am your neighbor.

I am Melchizedek. Everything that has form must pay tithe and
honor to Me. I am Melchizedek, the unborn, the undying. I am the
Spirit of God in you. I am your true identity. I am the very Soul
0/ your being, the very life of your being.

"Awake thou that sleepest." Awake, and when you awaken, you
will see Me as I am, and you will be satisfied with this likeness!

On the spiritual path, we make a transition from living under the
aw to living under Grace, and consciously remember that we are
n °t under the law. This means every kind of law: medical law — in-
ec tion, contagion, and heredity; theological law — punishment for

°s of the past or of the present, or sins of the parents or of the
& ra naparents. We no longer live under the laws of matter; we no

u ger live under the laws of mind; we no longer live under the laws
theology; we live under Grace.

98

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

Thy grace is my sufficiency in all things — Thy grace, not money t
not my heart, liver, or lungs. Thy grace is my sufficiency in all things
— in health, in supply, in companionship, in freedom, in joy, in peace,
in dominion.

Thy grace! I no longer live under the law. I do not live by taking
thought for supply, for God's thoughts are far greater than my
thoughts. 1 live by every thought that proceeds out of the mind of
God, by every Word, which is Grace. I live my life listening to that
still small voice.

1 am the child of God, heir of God, joint-heir to all the heavenly
riches. I have been given dominion over this body. I am free. I have
found my freedom in the realization of my true identity as I. As the
child of God, I am free, and 1 no longer live under the law of limita-
tion, but under Grace.

As human beings we are in the tomb where the Christ lies buried,
and ail that the world sees is this living corpse in which we are
entombed. Within us, in this tomb of human selfhood, is the Christ,
and in certain moments of our lives, such as can happen to us this
moment, an experience takes place, and then a few hours later when
we look in the mirror, we suddenly find that our eyes have been
opened:

I have been limited by a finite body and a bank account, circum-
scribed by their dimensions. Even my wealth was a tomb in which 1
have been buried, but now I am not in these: I am risen. I am no
longer buried in the tomb of a body, nor am I any longer subject to
its limitations.

This form is now a vehicle unto me, just like my automobile. And
this money — this also is a tool, an instrument, and a medium of ex-
change, something that has been given to me to use.

I am no longer in the tomb of finite belief: I have risen. I am no
longer entombed in a body or a checkbook. Now I am outside of
these: they are my servants, the tools given me for my everyday hf e -

Do not fear to step out on the waters of Spirit. Remember, yotf

THE MYSTICAL I 99

can only fail, and there is no disgrace in Failing, There is only dis-
grace in not trying. Everybody stumbles a little bit as he goes for-
ward. Even Jesus Christ was subject to temptations up to the last
moment. Do not be ashamed of the temptations that assail you. It
needs must be that we stumble and fall, that we be subject unto
temptation, for each of these strengthens us in our ongoing until we
reach the Mount of Transfiguration, and there having "died," we are
reborn of the Spirit, and those of our disciples who have risen suffi-
ciently behold us as we are, in our pure spiritual perfection, even the
perfection of the body.

Through Grace we attain a point of transition, and then our
friends and relatives say, "You have changed. Something wonderful
has come into your life."

CHAPTER IX

AN INTERVAL IN ETERNITY

J_ (ife has frequently been depicted as a circle, representing eter-
nity, without beginning and without end. If we visualize life in that
way and realize that our immediate human span of life is confined
within a segment of that circle and that all the other segments of the
circle are yet to be encompassed, we can see that within the confines
of that circle, there is a past as well as a future.

One mystic described this life as "a parenthesis in eternity." This
life! Observing life objectively and using the circle as symbolic of all
life, it is obvious that we have come from the past into a parenthesis
in the circle, and when this parenthesis is removed— the one marking
birth and the other marking death— we will be on our way into another
parenthesis, or what is called the future.

This should help us to understand that our present life on earth is
only an interval in eternity. We have come from somewhere and we
are going somewhere, but because life is an unending circle, we are
again going to come from a somewhere, and we are again going to go
to a somewhere, and this will go on, and on, and on. Will it ever end?
Who knows?

The ancients tell us that when we are perfected, that is, when we
live this life as God lives life, in that degree of purity, we will not

100

AN INTERVAL IN ETERNITY 101

enter the parenthesis again: we will just live in the circle, outside,
bevond, and above all human experience.

Even though the unillumined and uninitiated may claim that all
this is only speculative, I can tell you that there are those who have
completed their cycle of life on earth, and therefore would not have
to return to this-world experience. Nevertheless, they do reincarnate,
in some cases voluntarily and in others under instructions from those
w ho likewise have been graduated and who perhaps act as spiritual
influences behind this earth-plane.

That there is an evolutionary life process going on in this human
picture, surely few can deny. That human consciousness is unfolding
on a progressively upward spiral is born out by the fact that years ago
when nations had conflicts of interest, they seldom sat down to discuss
their problems, but settled them by going to war. The very horrors
of the wars that have been fought in the twentieth century, however,
have forced such an evolution in consciousness that nations are now
trying to work out their problems without warfare, even though here
and there, there is still a desire to return to the old way. On the whole,
the trend is away from war, perhaps because the realization is dawning
that war as it would be fought in this nuclear age would completely
annihilate the human species.

In other areas as well, a significant change has been taking place in
consciousness. Those of us whose memory goes back far enough can
recall that during the strikes in the ready-to-wear industry of New
York, in the coal mines of Pennsylvania, and in the automobile indus-
try of Detroit, it was not an unheard of occurrence for management
ai *d labor to engage in what at times amounted almost to a shooting
Wa r. There is little of that today, and more and more of arbitration and
Mediation, all of which represents an evolution in consciousness. In
le gal disputes, too, there is a greater attempt today to settle lawsuits
outside of court rather than to force every case into court.

If such a tremendous evolution has taken place in the past fifty
J ea rs, how much greater has been the evolution over the past thousand
'^rs! Cannibalism is now practically extinct; tribal wars which often

s ulted in the defeated men and women being pressed into slavery

a ve been almost completely wiped out.

WHJJA^ T'HP

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

102

Thinking of the progress and changes that have been made must
cause one to speculate as to how and why such an evolution has taken
place, inasmuch as every generation eventually leaves the human scene,
and a new one follows, Is each new generation better than the one of
twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, or two hundred years ago? Are these men
and women better, or could they conceivably be the same men and
women who learned lessons in their previous experiences and are now
profiting from them?

Is not everything that we learn in this lifetime transmitted to the
next generation? Will not the new generation take up where we leave
off? Will it not accept unquestioningly the mechanical and material
progress made by preceding generations?

Today we do not use whale-oil lamps, we do not study by candle-
light, we do not have to go out and hunt or fish for our food. And why7
Because we were not bom at the same state of development as our
ancestors. Had we been compelled to begin where our great-grand-
parents began, we would have had to go through the same process of
life as they, but we are the beneficiaries of an evolutionary state of
consciousness. We have come into this world more highly civilized
than our predecessors, but that would have been impossible if they
and we, too, had been bom from a standing start.

How can anyone fail to recognize that there is an evolutionary
process of consciousness going on constantly? This means that regard-
less of what conditions of evil we may behold they are transitory and
temporary. The next generation will have less of them, and the follow-
ing generation still less of them, and so on, and on, and on.

This does not mean that individuals in every succeeding generation
will avoid problems characteristic of its particular time or resulting
from catastrophic upheavals like world wars and economic disasters
which often bring on waves of juvenile delinquency, alcoholism, drug
addiction, and crime. With maturity and an exposure to a better and
higher way of life, many problems harassing the world today wi«
disappear.

Is it not possible that those engaged in crime may have carried sofflC
of this over from a previous still lower state of consciousness in *«
former life, just as very young children who give evidence of gr ea *

r

AN INTERVAL IN ETERNITY

103

musical skill or of an artistic or religious nature must have lived before,
peen on the Path, returned, and brought with them a developed state
f consciousness? Is it possible to believe that they could have learned
all these things from birth to three or four years of age? Is a mathe-
matical skill or an inventive turn of mind inherited, or is it the em-
bodied development that was attained in a former life?

Probably nature has wisely decreed that we cany with us into this
present experience no memory of specific hardships endured, or the
sordid aspects of former lives, but that we carry only the attained, de-
veloped consciousness, whether it be of music, literature, art, science,
or spiritual wisdom, and probably not even a memory of the particular
form it took.

If we could see this life as a parenthesis in eternity, we would
realize that each one comes into this parenthesis to advance himself
beyond what he was before, and therefore, there must be a going on
from this experience in order to evolve into the next.

There is no denying that in the consciousness of most people there
is a natural reluctance to leave the human scene, a reluctance to pass
on, make the transition, or whatever we may choose to call the change.
There is also a reluctance and resistance to having our friends and
relatives leave this experience. Strangely enough, there is no resistance
to birth which ushers in most of mankind's troubles. Then, why
should there be a resistance to death, which in most cases is an end to
many of our problems? True, we have formed the habit of being with
certain people and have become attached to them, and when they
ar e gone, a void is left which causes grief.

But even from a common-sense standpoint, how dull and monoto-
nous life would eventually become if we had nothing to do but go to
sleep at night, wake up in the morning, and unendingly go through a
found of doing the same things that we have been doing for sixty,
seventy, or eighty years! There has to be a break in that. What would
£ a Ppen to men who today retire at sixty-five and sometimes are frantic

y the time they are seventy or seventy-five, if they were to go on for-
mer and ever living that same kind of useless, monotonous existence?

Th,

er e must be an escape from this kind of "vegetating."

Hie beginning, then, of overcoming this dread and fear of death is

104

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

to Tealize that our human span here is but a preparation for anothci
experience, and we should bid Godspeed to those who have finished
this cycle and are ready for the next. This very overcoming of the fear
and dread of death would prepare us for a more harmonious experience
on earth and undoubtedly prolong our life, because many of the pass-
ings are unnecessary and are brought on by the very clutching to our-
selves of a material sense of life which often works in reverse and
hastens us out of this experience.

To understand, however, that we cannot be moved outside of our
cycle, that we are part of an eternal destiny, and that as we were
moved into this parenthesis, so we will be moved on out of it— but
only in accord with the unfolding of consciousness and not by being
pushed out of it— would expand consciousness and contribute to a
more satisfying human experience.

When we realize that we are a part of a circle, we no longer fear
what mortal conditions can do to us because we are under a divine
destiny, and nobody, no thing, and no condition can push us out of
this body until our time has come. Our time does not necessarily mean
the commonly accepted human span of years : it means the time re-
quired to reach the individual development of consciousness that is
possible to each one of us on this plane, a development which cannot
expand any further until it has made the transition into another ex-
perience.

Instead of pitying those who have reached advanced years and are
not functioning vitally and actively, let us realize that they, too, are a
part of a cycle, not acted upon by the human belief of threescore
years and ten or by the belief of deteriorating matter, but that they are
a part of this circle of eternity. With that realization, one of two
things happens: they either revive and lose ten, twenty, or thirty years
from off their shoulders, or if they have arrived at the fulfillment of
time, they will be released into their ultimate attainment. Whichever
it may be, they will no longer be victims of fear or dread, or of the
loneliness of those who hold them here because they want their com-
panionship.

From the standpoint of our spiritual development, it is important
for us to leam that when we came from that unknown somewhere, we

.

AN INTERVAL IN ETERNITY

105

brought with us an attained state of consciousness, and that while we
3 re here, we are expanding that consciousness. The period in which
we live on this earth is like a school. If we go through life wasting our
time and not availing ourselves of the opportunities for spiritual un-
foldment provided here, when we leave this plane we will have to re-
turn and go through the entire experience again, just as children who
do not leam the lessons of one grade in school must repeat the grade
in order to be ready for the next one. If we go out on a down cycle and
come in on another down cycle, it will just keep on, and on, and on,
until eventually every knee bends to God, to the spiritual life. So, if
we have to come back a thousand times— experience a thousand or
more parentheses— it is because we have brought it on ourselves.

This is a hard saying, and it is especially hard for those who are
afraid to face up to themselves, who are reluctant to admit that they
have brought all their problems on themselves. "Whatsoever a man
soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall
of the flesh reap corruption" — not only in this world, but in the
worlds to come.

As we visualize the circle and move around it, it is apparent that
everything we do at any given point of the circle determines what and
who we are at the next point of that circle. We either stay a mortal
material being and keep on going around and around, repeating the
same life-experience and reaping the same karma over and over and
over, or we are an expanding consciousness, and with every time
around we are a bigger, better, more spiritual consciousness with
greater dominion.

As we sow in this lifetime, so will we reap in the next. Many persons
nave thought of the doctrine of karma and reincarnation as being pri-
marily an Oriental teaching, and while it is true that it did originate
ln t" e Far East, this doctrine has been accepted and acknowledged the

odd over by mystics, poets, and philosophers to whose attention it

as been brought and who have seen the rightness of it. Many of these
erv people, however, are unaware of the Christian teaching of re-
pentance and do not understand that the Christ-teaching, unlike the

ne »tal teaching of karma, does not doom a person to his karma
11 it has been exhausted, but rather wipes out the past in the

106 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

moment of real repentance. With the recognition of the Christ, with

repentance and with turning, karma is instantly erased.

The approach of The Infinite Way to the concept of karma and
reincarnation, however, is different from that of other teachings which
embrace this doctrine. The Orientals teach that every bit of sowing
creates a corresponding karmic debt which must be paid off in this
lifetime or in subsequent lifetimes, and that regardless of any change
of consciousness in us, we must pay to the uttermost farthing, whereas
The Infinite Way teaches that irrespective of what sin of karma has
been stored up, in anv second of repentance, in a breath, we are as
pure and white as snow. In a moment of real repentance, in an awak-
ening which brings the realization that sin is no part of us and has no
right to be, in that second, karma is wiped out, and we are on the
spiritual cycle.

From there on, the sowing not only results in reaping while we arc
still here, but it results in an ever-greater reaping as we go on. Every
bit of metaphysical or spiritual wisdom that we have attained in this
lifetime is of value to us on this plane as well as hereafter, so that we
cannot separate karma from reincarnation, any more than we can
separate karma from our next year. Our next year is being built this
year. The degree of spiritual consciousness we can attain this year will
be evidenced in our outer life next year. An expanding and evolution-
ary consciousness will continue to operate forever— inside the paren-
thesis and beyond.

This must be true if there is any reason to life or any purpose in
living. Were the millions of people of India, China, and Russia bom
to know nothing but the suffering and horror of their lives for the past
hundreds of years? Are they only living out the destiny of the karma
they have built up in preceding lives, or are they struggling for freedom
from hunger, exploitation, and oppression because they are the very
ones who will return to enjoy the better conditions they are helping
to create?

Are the efforts that parents make to educate their children, even
though it may involve such a life of sacrifice that they themselves a'
never free from hackbreaking labor or household drudgery, made on J

for their children, or are they building their own karma? Their c
dren may not even benefit by their sacrifices, and it would make

Itil-

AN INTERVAL IN ETERNITY 107

difference if they did not because no one can build another's karma,
not even that of his own children. Each one builds his own, and what-
ever form this present life takes, even if it is a complete cycle of
sacrifice upon sacrifice, struggle upon struggle, it is for the development
of his own consciousness and will come back to him in the form of
education, freedom, and opportunity— whatever it is that he has given
to others.

There again is a wider application of the truth that the bread we
cast upon the waters will return to us. Some persons complain that
they have gone through their whole lifetime without having any bread
return. No, they have only gone through this parenthesis. This present
parenthesis eventually is rubbed out; and then when the next paren-
thesis comes into being, there is a higher experience, which is the
evolutionary fruitage of the one before.

It really is a form of ignorance and egotism to say that we have laid
down our lives for our country or for our children. We never did; we
never did! We have been building our own karma, and it would he
impossible to sow to the Spirit and not reap life everlasting, to sow to
freedom and not reap freedom, to sow to love and not reap love, to
sow to friendship and not reap friendship. Even if every friend on
earth betrayed us, that is only inside this parenthesis.

There is no need to feel sad or discouraged, therefore, about those
closest to us who have never touched the spiritual path because this
condition exists only within the limits of the parenthesis. Everyone
is free while he is here, and he is just as free to find his way when he is
no longer here. He has not wasted his life: he has merely wasted a
parenthesis. He will still have his awakening, and the fruition and

le tullness, because undoubtedly each one of us has lived the same

upid ]jf e tnat t ] ie ma j or jty f mankind lives— the life of the walking
^d, the Soulless life— and probably lived it dozens of times.

Just as in this particular experience we are beginning to awaken, so

e witness those who are living this experience or passing from it

unawakened, we can look at them with the realization that it

* s not: matter. This parenthesis is only a period of threescore

rs and ten, twentv, or thirty, but thev have all of eternity in which

awaken, and will.'

e are not building for eternity, of what benefit is sacrifice? Why

108 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

not live today because tomorrow we die? Why not enjoy it while we
are here? No, that we cannot do because we would be reaping a
negative and selfish karma, an ingrown self. If that is what we sow,
that is what we shall have to reap.

Many persons have never been exposed to the as-ye-sow-so-shall-ye-
reap teaching, nor to the teaching that the bread they cast on the
waters returns to them. These ideas have not been taught because they
are not popular subjects. Few persons want to be faced with the truth
that they are manufacturing their experience of next year right now,
and furthermore that at this moment they are manufacturing what
their life will be ten years from now. It takes only one step of the
imagination to see that karma really means that we are building not
only for the next ten or twenty years: we are building for eternity.

The only persons who are willing to face that are those who can
turn their backs on the past and determine to sow to the Spirit, de-
termine to have an end to this human bickering, greed, jealousy, and
fear, to stop worrying whether they pass on at thirty or at a hundred
and thirty, and to be willing to live each day as if they were building
tomorrow, and consciously to realize when they think or do wrong
that it has to be undone and cannot be left to accumulate.

It takes spiritual courage to face the teaching contained in the Bible
because when its true meaning is understood, it compels us to live in
the now, repent, and to begin sowing the right kind of seeds.

Our life-expression within the parenthesis need not be limited to
threescore years and ten or twenty, but on the other hand, it would not
make any difference if it ended at twoscore years or less because it is
not the number of years that develops us: it is the intensity of the
experience that expands consciousness. There may be those who com-
plete this earth-cycle within the parenthesis at thirty, forty, or fifty
and there may be others who will go on to seventy, eighty, ninety, 0-
a hundred; but whether early or late, the life-span can be completed U»
health if it is done in the understanding of life as expanding con*
sciousness, not as finite time.

It is possible and highly desirable to reach a place of recogniz^S
that our present state of consciousness embodies the spiritual progress
of every life-experience we have had since the very beginning— 110 *

r

AN INTERVAL IN ETERNITY 1 09

that there ever was a beginning to the circle or to what we call co-
existence with God. Every time that we meditate, we can realize that
our consciousness embodies the fruitage of our spiritual development
for a million years. It embodies every bit of spiritual development and
attainment that we have been accumulating throughout all time, and
it is present here and now as the degree of maturity that we have
attained. If it were actually the full maturity itself, we would no longer
incarnate except either voluntarily or under orders to perform a specific
mission.

In each parenthesis within the circle, we draw to ourselves the
atmosphere and environment in which we can best unfold: the par-
ticular parents who can give us the lessons we need whether they be
harsh or gentle ones, and the companionship needed for our develop-
ment. If we look back on our life now, many of us can recognize that
we would not be where we are except for some of the experiences that
we have gone through, even some that we would like to have avoided.

But whether we have or have not the courage to admit it, to face up
to ourselves, the truth is that we have drawn unto ourselves our own
state of consciousness, and so, too, as we enter the Path, we are drawn
into a spintual atmosphere and companionship which have no rela-
tionship whatsoever to racial, national, geographic, or religious roots.

Let us carry this a step further and realize that as we pass from

«"s experience and leave this plane of consciousness, we will be

rawn mm the very atmosphere necessary to learn the lessons impor-

m to our unfoldment, whether intellectual, emotional, or spiritual.

we are on the spiritual path, are we not then going to be drawn

tho° an „ atm0Sphere ° f Service where we wi " be companioning with
« of our spiritual household? If that does not include husband or

our ff Par ? tS ' br0thers ' or sisters ' ft is beca «se they are not a part of

band f l0ng 3S WC are °" ** earth 'P lane we d ° not disown hus-

°bliar m ° ther ' father ' Sht " S ' ° r Drothers - W e have a human

the m *° them Wh ' Ch We fulfi11 ' but aside from ^ we fol]ow
lej]?]i Mters teaching, "Who is my mother? and who are my breth-

Wtf,i e eCOgniZing 0UI com P anions ° n the spiritual way as mother and

here ar*»

^e persons who are greatly concerned for fear that they will

110 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

not rejoin their mother or father, their sister or brother, or their hus-
band or wife. They will rejoin them if that is their state of conscious-
ness; and, if that is what represents heaven to them, that will be their
heaven, even though it really is hell. But to them it will be heaven—
to be tied.

The moment that we are spiritually endowed, however, and have
attained the correct sense of who our mother and brother really are,
then we find ourselves tabernacling with those of our spiritual house-
hold. We fulfill ourselves spiritually among the spiritual lights who
have gone before us, and we are drawn higher, and higher, and higher,
and then we do not have to fulfill ourselves humanly, even if we re-
turn to earth.

The higher our spiritual development here, the higher we attain
there and the more quickly we attain even greater spiritual heights
because we are now free of the fetters of fear, ambition, lust, greed, and
hate. So our unfoldment is increasingly progressive after we have
been drawn into a spiritual atmosphere, just as our spiritual growth is
so much greater because we have been drawn to one another here. If
each one of us were trying to work out his spiritual salvation alone,
he would not make the progress that can be made in a united
spiritual atmosphere.

As we leave this plane and are drawn to those who have attained
spiritual wisdom, our development continues. Then, even if we do
reincarnate on earth, we will be fulfilling ourselves in a sphere more
closely akin to a spiritual activity. Those who have not gone far
enough spiritually will fulfill themselves culturally, educationally, ar-
tistically, or musically, but if they are developed spiritually, there will
be a spiritual function for them to perform, even before they incarnate,
because there are influences working behind the scenes that animate
those who are on the spiritual path here.

Nobody who is in a position of leadership in a spiritual activity here
is dependent entirely on his own state of consciousness. lie has at-
tracted to himself a spiritual atmosphere, a spiritual support a ntl
guidance, because on the spiritual level there are no such barriers $
heaven and earth, as over there and over here: they are one. Once **
are in some measure spiritually attuned, we are in the conscious!^

r

AN INTERVAL IN ETERNITY 1 1 1

f all those who are so attuned, whether they are here or there. In
other words, we are in and of the household of God.

The household of God is composed not only of people who are
here on earth, or of those who have passed: the household of God en-
compasses the universe. The household of God is embodied in our
consciousness, and we are embodied in the consciousness of the house-
hold of God.

Those who love God are brought into one household, one family,
one companionship, into a sharing with one another; and just as we
are sharing with those coming into the Light, so somebody with an
even higher consciousness is sharing with us.

CHAPTER X

REALITY AND ILLUSION

T

. o recognize that we live in two worlds, the world created by the
five physical senses and the world of Consciousness, is to bring our-
selves closer and closer to illumination.

In the first chapter of Genesis, God made man in His own image
and likeness, without any help from anyone. This pure spiritual
birth, this immaculate conception, is God manifesting and expressing
Himself and His qualities, Consciousness revealing Itself as form.
This is pure, unadulterated, spiritual creation, the immaculate con-
ception of man and the universe, God, the infinite Life expressing
Itself individually without any material forms, processes, or systems.

In the second chapter of Genesis, God not only creates but He
miscreates, and because of His mistakes, He has to do it over and
over again. First, He "formed man of the dust of the ground," then,
He brought woman forth from man's rib, and finally He decided W
bring man and woman together for the purpose of creation. Is "
reasonable to believe that the infinite Intelligence of this univet*
needed to make two attempts at creation? This man of earth, "o 1 *
natural man" who is not under the law of God, "neither indeed can
be," is not a man at all: he is a mythical creation of the hum* 11
mind, of the five physical senses.

To make clear how this mind creates, let us examine how it » a

112

REALITY AND ILLUSION 113

created a man-made God. Close your eyes for a moment, and take the
word God into your consciousness. Do you believe that this is God,
or is this not a projection of your mind? Has this God any power? Is
there really such a Presence, or is this just a self-created image of
your own thinking?

Let us go further afield and let us attempt to decide what God is.
Instantly to our thought comes an answer, but the answer is not truth,
and the answer is not God because the answer is a projection of our
background. Anyone who has been an orthodox Christian almost
immediately thinks of Jesus Christ. If one's background is Hebrew,
he probably thinks of a dear old Gentleman up on a cloud with a
long beard, looking down and wondering whom He is going to smite
or reward next; if one's background is metaphysical, he probably
thinks of God as Mind, Principle, or Law.

^ Regardless of what comes to our thought when the question
"What is God?" is presented, is it not clear that it is a picture pro-
jected into our thought, usually by someone we recognize and accept
as an authority. Perhaps the truest words ever spoken in reference to
God are: "If you can name It, It is not That." If we can think God
It could not possibly be That because how can we encompass an
infinite God in our thought processes? The harder we pray to this
^d that we have in our mind, the more barren will we become
All we have is a man-made projection of God, an image in thought.

e cannot pray to that— yes, we can, but we know what kind of an
answer we will get.

Now let us dig a little deeper into this subject. Suppose you ask

IZ ,<Wh ° 3m I? mat 3m I? What 3m 1 like? " Would ^ y
you r you gave to those questions be correct? Would not you or

Who'd St f " end 3nSWCr th ° Se questions in one wav and a Pwson
does not like you answer them in another? Could they come to

theV gree ? ent ° n the kind of P^ 011 y° u are? Whatever opinion

you T ¥ ' they are merely P I °i cctin g their own thought about

Hiine T T 0Wn pre ' udice or con cept, or an opinion based on some-

th ey V someone has told them. They do not know the real you:

ften, '^r^ 111 beliefs and conce Pts, many of them good, but all of
' subject to change tomorrow.

; v ery ones who pledged their undying allegiance to the Master

114 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

were the ones who ran away while he was being crucified. Some of
those who were sitting at his feet adoring him when he healed them
of their ills were among the loudest shouters of "Crucify hirn
crucify him." They never knew him. They had a picture in their
mind, an image in thought, but it never revealed the Master in the
fullness of his spiritual identity.

If we would know anyone, we have to discard everything that
we now believe, everything we have heard, and everyone's opinion
about him. We have to clear out and rid ourselves of all our con-
cepts of him. We first have to acknowledge that all we know about
him is some concept that has become crystallized in our mind. To
know a person, we would have to empty our mind of all opinions,
concepts, theories, and beliefs, and train ourselves to shut out every
opinion we have ever heard or formed because these opinions have
been formed only as the result of some personal experience which
pleased or displeased us.

If we could erase from our thought everything that we have heard
or read about a person — everything, every opinion that we ourselves
have formed — and say, "Father, wipe all this away. I am willing to
start all over. Show me this man as he is. Show me his name and
his nature. Reveal him to me," we would find that by turning within
with a listening ear, the truth would be revealed to us. In this way we
would know him aright. The I of him would be born in us im-
maculately.

Are you beginning to see how much we all have accepted about
God and about one another without any real knowledge? Those tf
our friends and relatives whom we like have in some way pleased
us, and when they do not, very often we do not like them any more,
which should prove to us that we are accepting others, not as they
are, but because of the concepts we entertain.

Is this not also true in politics? One President is a hero to sofl>&
and a devil to others. Another President is a devil to one, and a he*
to another, and this country has never yet had a President who **
not both a devil and a hero, depending on to whom we went for ^
information. Could anyone be a hero and a devil at the same tit 11 '
No; these opinions are not the truth about the man: they are &&
cepts of him formed by the five physical senses.

REALITY AND ILLUSION 1 1 5

The world that we see, hear, taste, touch, and smell is the world
the Master overcame, but it is not a real world: it is a world formed
by our sense impressions, by what we like or dislike at the moment
So it is that this world of the second chapter of Genesis, the world of
a man created out of dust, of a woman created out of a rib, and of
children created from the union of man and woman— this is not a
world, this is a dream. This is the world of sense impressions, beliefs
and theories which exists only as a mental concept, just as our man-
made God exists as a mental concept, and not as God.

This world of sense impressions is not under the law of God. All
kinds of fanciful ideas can whirl around up here in our mind all
kinds of fanciful pictures, but they are not under the law of God
they are not an expression of divine Intelligence. We can have
opmions about God, opinions about man, and we can have opinions
about one another, but they are not the truth, and the V do not come
forth from God. The world that we can see, hear, taste, touch, and
smell ,s not under the law of God, and yet this very world that we
are living m is under the grace of God when we see 'through the ap-
pearance to Reality. 5 P

In this world created by the senses, this unreal world of mental

mages, we are deceived by appearances because in "this world"

"like : , n "My kingdom," we are faced always with the pairs of

mlTl Evt 7 thin S has lts °PP° s *e: up, down; health, sickness;

^ ^ death; wealth, poverty; good, evil; purity, sin; white, black; gain,

°pJoT " ??** ^ thC WOdd ° f Sense that does not ^ve its
jwu7' ! WC a " aIy2e human ex P erience > we will see that life is

*e oth er w U ° US ^ t0 Ch3ngC ° ne ° f the P airS ° f °PP° sites ^
'"to ah, \ 3re } ' S tiying t0 Chan g e sickness int0 health, lack
« w e aw! nCe ' Sm int ° PUTity ' ° r Cvil int0 § 00d ' knowin g that even
of the sa t0morraw ft can be reve «ed again, with a continuation

,a * of c a mer W- ro,)nd - ™ e re ason &* this is clear: there is no
^ed an! '" " ■**** H there were ' S ood wou 'd be main-

^ orJLV UStamed - BUt ^ th£ h ^ d0m 0f God wh ™ *e law of
¥ do n Q !?' WC n0t ° nl y do not have a!I ^se pairs of opposires:

fhan w e h . even one of them - We do not have life an y ™°«

«ve death; we do not have health anv more than we have

116 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

disease; we do not have abundance any more than we have lack; we
do not have good any more than we have evil. None of these things
exists in the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God is a spiritual universe, and it has no qualities
and it has no quantities. The kingdom of God is the realm of being,
but that being is divine being— not good being because good has its
opposite, evil; not live being because life has its opposite, death; but
being— possessing no degrees, amounts, quantities, or qualities. "The
darkness and the light are both alike to thee."

Now close your eyes again, and as you look into the darkness,
if you see anything that looks good, it looks good or desirable only
because it is a mental image in your thought, and its goodness is
based on your concept of good. Someone else might look at that
very same thing and find it valueless because nothing is good or bad
but thinking makes it so: it is the concept of it that a person enter-
tains that makes it good or bad to him.

In this world of the senses, there is good and evil, and there is the
centering of attention on changing the evil into good. In "My king-
dom," the spiritual kingdom, we ignore the appearances and seek to
realize spiritual truth, to realize God's grace, God's presence, and
God's power. The moment that we feel a conscious oneness with
God, the appearance changes. To our human sense, the evil appear
ance now has a good appearance, the appearance of lack has an
abundant appearance, the sick appearance has a well appearance,
sometimes even the dead appearance has a live appearance. But «
are not fooled by the changed appearance. We know that in seek*
the kingdom of God within, we are merely beholding Reality appea
ing the grace of God appearing. We come face to face with Go
we see Him as He is, and we are satisfied with that likeness.

To understand the illusory nature of the finite world is to grasp t
kernel of all mystical teaching, but if it is misunderstood, it can *
as a deterrent to progress as it has in India which has one ot 1
noblest spiritual heritages of any nation on earth.

Perhaps the greatest of all the Indian seers was Gautama
Buddha whose revelation of absolute truth was so profound
while there are other revelations equal to it, there are none «*

REALITY AND ILLUSION 117

have surpassed it. Gautama had the full realization of the one Ego,
the one I which constitutes the Consciousness of the universe, and
he himself understood and proved that the appearance-world is maya,
or illusion. Because of its fruitage, his message spread like wildfire
across all of India, but his teaching of maya was misinterpreted.
The belief that the world is an illusion led to a do-nothing attitude,
a passive acceptance of the evil conditions in the world. His followers
failed to see that it is not the world that is illusory. The world is real:
the illusion is in the misperception of the eternal, divine, spiritual
universe which is the only universe there is, and which is here and
now.

Because of an illusory sense of the universe, however, the mortal
scene appears as mortality with all its errors, whereas it is in reality
a divine universe. This world is God's world; it is the temple of the
living God; but when we see it with finite eyes and ears, what we see
and hear is but the illusory picture of the reality that is there. The
illusion is in the mind that is falsely seeing the world: the illusion
is never out in the world. An illusion cannot be externalized. An
illusion is a deceptive state of thought, and it can take place only
within a person's mind, not outside it.

With our human eyesight we see a world constantly changing:
a world made up of young, middle-aged, and old people, of the sick
and the well, of the poor and the rich, of the unhappy and the
nappy. All this is an illusory picture in the human mind, but because

«e is only one human mind, it is an illusory picture in your mind
and mine. Such a world has no externalized existence.
co are aware of the world through our senses, but what the senses

6 n 'ze is illusion, an illusion not outside the mind but in it. To be
e to understand and grasp this idea, therefore, is also to be able to
pier!! ^^ tHat th ' S illusion cannot ** corrected in the outer
trvi re ' That " Why S0 much P ra y er fai]s - Through prayer, people are
m\V° impmve the i]iusion which > if the y succeeded in doing, would
, an illu s i 0n except that it would be a good illusion instead of a

u one.

wf iich t' S n0t ^ " thlS worM '" contrar y t0 ihe doctrine of pantheism
caches that this world is a manifestation of God, that God

118 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

transforms Himself into the world, so that God and the world are f
the same substance though the form is different. If this were true and
if the world really were a manifestation of God and made of th e
substance of God, it would be eternal, and there would be no chang.
ing process going on: no aging, no dying, and no decaying of either
animate or inanimate objects. There would be no seasons if this
world were of the substance of God because it would then be of the
substance of eternality and changelessness. God changes not: God is
the same yesterday, today, and forever; God is from everlasting to
everlasting; and if this world were made of God-substance, it would
be as immortal and as eternal as God, but it is not. It is changing
moment by moment, dying every minute and every day.

The erroneous assumption in the teaching of pantheism and of
much of modern metaphysics is that man is spiritual, that his physi-
cal body is spiritual, that trees and flowers are spiritual. This is true
of the reality of these, but it is not true of the physical manifesta-
tion as it is appearing to us through the senses. If the world were
spiritual, we could eat our food and have it too, we could drive auto-
mobiles that would never wear out, and we could have trees that
would grow forever.

But the substance of the forms we behold is not of that sub-
stance which is God, and once we perceive that, we shall understand
the true meaning of the word "illusion," which is that our perception
of what we behold constitutes the illusion. It is not that there is an
externalized illusion: it is only that what we behold is not the real
substance of which it is made: it is of the substance of mind, the sub-
stance of universal mind.

Theism goes to the opposite extreme. Theism regards God an
the world as two distinct substances, each having its own independei
existence as a creation of God, yet not made of the same substan
as God. How impossible it would be for God, the creative Princspl*j
to create anything unlike Itself, anything different in nature a
character from Itself, anything other than Consciousness! If ^
sciousness is infinite, there is no other substance beyond Consctf
ness, and the world of God's creating must therefore be Consci°
ness formed.

REALITY AND ILLUSION 119

The next question then is: What about this physical universe?
The answer to that is the Master's statement: "My kingdom is not of
this world." "This world" is the world of the Adamic dream; this is
the world of mortal conception; this is the world of mental projec-
tion. When we recognize this and are able to close our eyes and
realize the I in the midst of us, this body loses its sense of mortality;
even the material universe loses its mortal sense and becomes what
God's world really is — harmonious and perfect.

The truth is that God is Spirit, Consciousness, and therefore all
that really exists is God formed, God in manifestation. The world
that we cognize with the five physical senses, however, is not the
world of God's creating: it is the finite sense of the world which uni-
versal mind has created. With our mind, we cannot discern the
world of God's creating. We do not see God's kingdom : we see only
the human, limited, finite concept, or mental image, only the physical
concept of the spiritual universe. That is why it is changeable and
changing, sometimes good and sometimes bad, sometimes sick a«d
sometimes well, sometimes alive and sometimes dead, all these con-
ditions existing only as concepts and not as reality. It takes spiritual
discernment to know the things of God.

Let us not look at this visible world and call it spiritual, but on the

other hand let us not look at it and call it a creation separate from

God. Let us rather cleave to the Middle Path which leads to our inner

spiritual center where we are the Christ of God, and where we can

see that we are one with the Father.

aome of the people we see on the street, on television, and even

"°se around us certainly do not appear to be one with the Father,

nd surely many of us must wonder how this can be. Of course, we

now it cannot be because a person who is one with God would look

Cerent and act differently.

° call a human being the Christ is an indication that we either

' e been endowed with interior vision and are able to see the per-

as he really is, or that we are lying to him and to ourselves. No

an i!" ^ e '"^ Can ^°°^ U P 011 pfoysfeaMtj! and with his mentality detect
lln g Christlike. All the human mind can be aware of is a phvsi-

^'bod

L

y. and with it probably a personality, a personality that he

120 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

may or may not like, or one that he may like today and not tomor-
row. Only inner discernment, inner light, only an inner vision that
beholds something the eye does not see and the ear does not hear
can discern the Christ in any person.

To go into a prison, look at the assortment of men and women
there, and say, "You are spiritual; you are the Christ," would he
ridiculous, but if we went there clad in the Spirit, the Christ is what
we would see. We would never make the mistake, however, of voicing
such a statement to them or to anyone in charge.

When the Master asked, "Having eyes, see ye not? and having
ears, hear ye not?" he was referring to an inner vision, an inner
hearing, which we call spiritual discernment or Christ-consciousness.
Only the Christ can recognize the Christ, and when we understand
this, we will never look at a human form and declare, "You are well!
You are healthy! You are young! You are spiritual." We would never
do that, but if we could look through the appearance to the Christ
of God, the Christ ever-present, although not apparent to our hu-
man eyesight, we would be able to break the mesmerism that looks
at the body with the mind and believes the evidence of what it sees,
hears, tastes, touches, and smells; and in breaking the mesmerism,
we would be able, through our inner discernment, to behold the
spiritual nature even of a dying or a sinful person.

This is the difference between The Infinite Way and such teach-
ings as pantheism and theism, and that is what makes it possible for
healing work to be carried on in this teaching. In our spiritual work
we are not deluding ourselves with the idea that this physicality that
is wasting away with sin, disease, and death is spiritual, nor are * e
trying to spiritualize it and make it perfect: we are looking through
the appearance with inner discernment and there beholding the i"'
visible, spiritual child of God who was never born and will never die>
eternal right here on earth.

Miracles can be performed by the person who does not try to hea'
disease and who understands that he is but the instrument of Go°f
that God constitutes individual being, and that any appearance I
the contrary is illusory, a picture in the mind, without spiritual so b *
stance, spiritual cause, spiritual law, and without spiritual entity °
identity — maya, illusion.

REALITY AND ILLUSION 121

On the spiritual path, we do not try to change the external world;
ffe do not try to change our friends and relatives — their tempera-
ments, their dispositions, or their health— but we recognize that the
very omnipresence, omnipotence, and omniscience of God within
our own being make it impossible for sin, disease, death, lack, and
limitation to exist as externalized reality. These can exist only in the
mortal dream which consists of the belief in two powers. As that be-
lief in two powers is surrendered, so is the dream punctured.

Living in the fourth-dimensional consciousness, we seek nothing
from the dream. To seek supply, companionship, a home, or employ-
ment is to seek an improved dream, an improved illusion. It is seeking
our own concept of good which, after we get it, may not prove to be
the thing we wanted. We seek nothing of this world: we seek only the
realization of our oneness with God.

Whatever is to come forth into expression must come forth from
deep within, even though it still comes in ways that appear to be
external. When we see fruit on the trees, we are seeing the fruitage
of an invisible life, an invisible activity, an invisible unfoldment ap-
pearing visibly. As we lead the spiritual life, looking to no man, seek-
long nothing in the outer plane, but living in continual rapport with
the Life-stream, our experience will unfold as the fruit appears on the
tree, as an extemalization of an inward Grace.

When enlightenment has been attained, the temporal picture is
recognized for what it is: maya or illusion. Then when we are faced
wth evil people, evil or erroneous conditions, we will not fight them
w try to get God to do something to them or for them : we will re-
**> knowing that this is the illusion or hypnotism of the five senses.

hen we awaken from beholding this mortal dream as if it were

'fy, we will see one another as we are, and then we will love our

'gnbor as ourselves because we will discover that our neighbor is
out Self.

, this is apparent to us, not through knowledge, not because we
d ear ned a little more truth, but because we have developed a
Ch * !!!. ner s P^ tua l awareness and are able now to perceive the

■■ i ne object of The Infinite Way is to develop spiritual con-
ey. ess ' °ot primarily to produce health out of sickness or wealth
a ck. Those are the added things, and those who catch even a

122 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

grain of spiritual perception are showing forth health, prosperity, and
happiness, and thus they are living more useful lives.

But this is not the goal. The goal is attaining the spiritual vision
so that we can behold God's universe and can commune with Him
walk and talk with Him, live with Him, and learn to live with one
another, not merely humanly because our most joyous human com-
panionships are much more worthwhile when we have attained a
measure of spiritual companionship.

Spiritual companionship is achieved, not because we are studying
the same books, not because we belong to the same church, not be-
cause we owe allegiance to the same flag. None of these things en-
sures harmonious companionship. Only through our being united in a
spiritual bond, owing to our having attained some measure of spiritual
light, do we find companionship with people of any country or of any
religious conviction. There are no barriers once we have perceived the
nature of true being. Being has no nationality, no race, and no religion.
'Ibe reality of our being is God; the nature of our being is Christ; and
when we are able to discern that Being through inner spiritual vision,
we have a relationship that is eternal, eternal on earth and eternal
forever afterward.

Looking at life through the materialist's eyes, we would have to
grant that God has never overcome evil and that He never will over-
come evil, but if we look out at life through spiritual discernment,
we are convinced that God is infinite and that there never has been
an evil power, a negative power, or a mortal power. That heighten 6 "
vision heals sickness, changes sin to purity, insanity to sanity, a 11 "
death to life.

The attaining of some measure of this spiritual vision is enough-
It is an awareness that reveals that God is Spirit, that all that really
is must be spiritual, and that all the power there is, all the law the**
is, and all the life there is must be spiritual. There will never be 3"^
confirmation of this through our eyes because Spirit cannot be see* 1
with the eyes. The eyes must be closed to the objects of sense *
that we can inwardly behold God's creation.

The development of spiritual consciousness is the greatest 3^*
ment there is. Only in the degree of this attained consciousness a 1

REALITY AND ILLUSION 125

we able to see the spiritual forms of God's creating. This has nothing
{0 do with the development of the mind or with any intellectual
powers; it is not attaining the feeling of knowing more than we
knew before: it is a matter of attaining a depth of inner awareness,
an awareness that expresses itself not so much in words as in feelings.

CHAPTER XI

THE NATURE OF SPIRITUAL POWER

T

. he development of spiritual consciousness is possible when we
learn that there is only one power. If we can rise in spiritual vision to
the apprehension of the one truth that God is, that God is infinite
and omnipotent, and therefore nothing else or nobody else is power,
that is enough. This is spiritual discernment.

To the world, there are great powers and little powers, but he who
is anchored in spiritual consciousness knows that no weapon that is
formed against him shall prosper. If we accepted that literally, we
would believe that there is a deadly weapon that could prosper except
that God in some way is going to save us from it. To the uninitiatedi
that passage would indicate, "I have an enemy who has a deadly
atomic bomb, and I know what it can do to me, but fortunately Go"
says that no weapon that is formed against me shall prosper, an"
therefore I am now immune, and this deadly weapon can no IonS e
harm me."

But the weapon does do harm when it is let loose in the world. AI1
this is because people do not understand the real meaning ot *
weapon having power over them. The truth is that no deadly weap
has power because Life is God; and God has never made any" 11 '
to destroy His own immortality and eternah'ty. God is our life: we
eternal and immortal.

124

THE NATURE OF SPIRITUAL POWER

125

If we took out at this life through our mind, we are subject to every
manner of deadly weapon: germs, bullets, bombs, and so many other
things we need not rehearse them. Even an automobile on the road
c an be a very deadly weapon, and, above all, the calendar is so
deadly that all we have to do is to keep looking at it for threescore
vears and ten, and then any day we are due for extinction. But the
deadliest weapon of all is the mind of man that believes in two
powers, and therefore accepts a mind of its own in which evil is a
power. Neither bullet-proof vests nor bomb-proof shelters can save us
from that weapon. Only in the understanding that we are life eternal,
that God is our life, that we are immortal and spiritual, and that in
the entire kingdom of God there are no deadly weapons — physical,
mental, or otherwise — can we find safety and security.

With practice and meditation, we shall come to see that it is
literally true that there is no weapon that has power because there
is only one power, and that is the immortal life and the divine truth
which we already are. There is no life for us to attain; there is no
truth for us to attain: there is only the recognition of the truth that
we are the truth, that we are life eternal, and the realization that the
infinite nature of God makes it impossible for any deadly weapon to
exist.

When this becomes realized consciousness, we can face the bomb,
the bullet, the jion, or the weather: "I have lived in fear of you, but
the truth is that you exist merely as a belief in two powers. The only
existence you have is in the mind of man, and you cannot get outside
°t that mind to do anything to anybody. All you can do is to destroy
hose who entertain that same belief in two powers." These powers
at appear to be destructive are so only to the individual who insists
'at there is a "this," a "that," or an "it"; but it is he himself who has
, . e<] the weapon, and all that weapon is, is a belief entertained in
" ls own mind.

d ^° e WC acce P* ^ e principle that because God never made a
y weapon, no weapon that is formed against us shall prosper,
it i l, m k will explode in the midst of the very person holding
^ 's hand. He is the person with the belief in two powers, and

ltl his h

^"st reap the results of his belief
tha *is why

wrong mental practice, mental malpractice, whether

126 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

ft is done individually, collectively, or by universal belief, has rjn
power whatsoever except on the malpractioner himself. The rna]_
practitioner accepts two powers, and he is, therefore, a victim of h«
own belief. Harm can come to us if we agree with him that there are
two powers, and seek refuge behind a wall or in a statement of truth-
but if we know that we are life eternal and that nothing can destroy
the immortality of life or create a power destructive to the life of
God, we are no longer the victims of the belief in two powers. The
malpractioner believes in two powers, but as he sends out his belief
in two powers, it touches our understanding of one power, and all it
can do is to boomerang because those who accept the belief in two
powers go down under their belief.

If there is a person left in this enlightened age who is still en-
gaging in malpractice — trying to destroy the life which is God, or
trying to prove that there is a power other than God-power — it is an
object lesson to watch what happens to him when his malpractice
hits up against a person who has perceived the truth that God is
individual life. If we believe that there is an evil power from which
our understanding of God will protect us or if we believe that we
have an "in" with God that will save us from some evil, we are lost:
we have accepted two powers, and according to our belief so is ft
unto us.

The spiritual path demands complete purity, and by purity is
meant an absolute conviction that God is the only power there is:
there are no other powers. Omnipotence, which means All-power,
is spiritual; and if Omnipotence is spiritual, then neither material
nor mental powers can be power. To perceive that is to prevent not
only the individual, the group, or the universal belief from function-
ing in our experience, but also to begin to destroy it for the whole
world.

Realizing that no weapon formed against us has power develop 5
in us the mind that was in Christ Jesus which knows that there a tfi
no powers, physical or mental. The only power that exists is **
power of God, which is spiritual. Only a person who has that c ° n
viction has some measure of the Christ-mind, and even a tiny m^ 3
ure, a grain of that consciousness, can do wonders.

THE NATURE OF SPIRITUAL POWER 1 27

Even after Jesus had revealed the nature of spiritual power to his
disciple 3 ' they were unable to catch the full import of it sufficiently
to carry on his teaching to any great extent. And how many have
there been since the time of the Master who have discovered this
teaching in the Bible? The reason few, if any, have found it is be-
cause spiritual teaching is something that cannot be grasped by those
living primarily in the material and mental realm. As a matter of fact,
no one will ever learn the secret of spiritual power with his mind.

Spiritual power is not a facet of the mind. There is no amount of
knowledge that anyone can attain that is spiritual power because
knowledge alone cannot move mountains, heal disease, raise the
dead, or forgive the sinner.

Spiritual power can be brought into expression only through the
attainment of the fourth-dimensional consciousness, a higher aware-
ness than that which is possessed by the human mind. It makes no
difference what truth we study, or what truth we believe we know,
there is no spiritual power in it. There is no known truth that will
ever function spiritually.

If we were asked to give spiritual help to someone who needed
physical healing, mental stability, or moral regeneration, our only
possibility of success would be in proportion to our ability to be still,
to refrain from using spiritual power, and let spiritual power flow
through us. If we attempted to heal anyone spiritually or to try to
exercise a spiritual influence, we would set up a barrier that would
prevent our success.

Did Jesus make any conscious attempt to heal the woman who

broke through the throng and touched the hem of his robe? She was

ealed, but he could not have consciously brought forth that healing

DCCa use he did not know she was there, and if he had seen her, he

°uld not have known whether she was sick or well. He was merely
ding there being himself, abiding in the consciousness that the
er within was doing the work, and letting the Father have His

y and His will, not trying to channel it, or to make any attempt to
^spiritual power.

pintual power cannot be used, and yet it can manifest itself as

°lr lif

e and being. We can come into an awareness and an under-

128 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

standing of its nature, and thereby that power operates as Grace i*
our life, but we cannot pray it into doing that for us. We cannot
bribe God into doing anything for us: we cannot promise to be
good; we cannot even be good, and expect God to do something f or
us. What God is doing, God is doing, and no man can influence God

God -power is not to be invoked by man. God-power is not attained
by attempting to influence God in our behalf, God-power is not a
power over sin, disease, or death, any more than light is a power over
darkness. God is the creative, maintaining, and sustaining power
and God never made sin, disease, or death. Had He done so, they
could never be changed or removed. What God creates is forever
and that which God did not create was not made. Therefore, we do
not need any God-power to do something that never was made in
the beginning, that never had existence, and that represents only
our ignorance of the truth. If God ever created a disease or a law of
disease, we might as well give up all hope of overcoming it, for no
one is ever going to overcome God or God's works.

God is the all-power, and that power operates in our consciousness
in proportion as we know this truth. When we begin to realize God's
omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience, we shall need no
power, and we shall live "not by might, nor by power, but by my
spirit." When we have learned not to resist evil, not to fight it, and
not to try to get God to fight it for us, we will not have to labor for
our good: we will receive it by Grace.

Our very acknowledgment of the unreal and illusory nature of the
discords of this world is the spiritual power. If God is omnipotence,
then what power is there in any physical, mental, moral, or financial
condition? If God is all-power, can there be a power in any negative
condition? Every time we become aware of some negative, materia'.
or mental power, we must realize the truth of Omnipotence:

Spirit is the only power; spiritual law is the only power; spirit®
grace is the only power.

If God is omnipresence, we must be the very presence of G°°~
That must mean that there is no other presence, and even we, &&>

THE NATURE OF SPIRITUAL POWER 1 29

have no presence. Why? Because God fills all space, and that does
not leave any room for us, except in the degree that we are a part of
that Omnipresence. This wipes out that false selfhood, that ego-
selfhood, and leaves only the divine Selfhood which we are.

[f we are the presence of God, we must act like it. We never will
live by Grace until we make that acknowledgment and until we
know the truth that we are the presence of God, that each one of us
is that place where God shines through, that place where God is
fulfilling Himself individually. Every time we become aware of a
presence, whether it is a person, or a condition, or anything contrary
to what we know God to be, we have to know the truth: Omni-
presence. We will not judge by appearances and believe what our
eyes see: we will judge righteous judgment:

God is omnipresence; therefore, Spirit is the only presence —
spiritual lew, spiritual life, and spiritual formation — even though
my eyes cannot see it.

All this remains in the realm of theory or belief until we take the

next step which solves the mystery of spiritual power: we do not

have God and us. God is manifested as us; God is incarnated as us;

God's life is our individual life, and we have no life of our own.

Only the life of God is made visible as our life. God is our mind.

We have no Bill-mind, Mary-mind, or Joel-mind, no young mind or

°ld mind, no stupid mind or intelligent mind: there is only one

mind, the mind which is the instrument of God, and that mind is

°ur mind. Without this understanding of one mind, there is two-

n ess; and twoness, the sense of separation from God, is the source of

" e world's discords. There is no separation from God.

rhc truth is that God, divine Life, is our life. God, immortal Soul,

°ur Soul. God, divine Being, is our being, and even our body is the

em ple of God. This is the truth that makes us free. It is not praying

^od to do something; it is not seeking a God -power: it is knowing

e truth, and this knowing of the truth is spiritual power. It sets us

™m the continuous struggle and striving to do something, be

"tething, or accomplish something. It sets our minds free to rest,

130

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

to be still, and to know that we are one with the eternal, infinite

omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient God.

Omniscience— All-science, All-wisdom, All-knowledge! What is
there to think of a person who is trying to tell God, Omniscience,
what he needs? God is all-wisdom, and yet we in our ignorance beg
God, "Send me my rent next Monday." If God has a sense of humor
—and I am sure He has— He would wink and tip His halo, and
reply, "Are you telling Me?"

When we stop taking thought for our little selves and live in a
conscious realization of Omnipotence, we shall know that there is no
power to prevent God's gTace from reaching us because there is m
power other than God-power. If we live in the realization of Omni-
potence, there is no power creating sin, disease, death, lack, or limi-
tation for us, no power delaying our good, no power interfering with
our life by Grace.

We have been praying to a hole in the sky and expecting it to
shower down blessings, but how can we need blessings if Omni-
presence is true? If God is omnipresent, can there be God and any
other person or thing to be sought after or desired? If we already are
the presence of God, what more do we need? In God's presence is
fulfillment, and we are that Presence; therefore, in us in fulfillment.
There is no next Monday about it. Omnipresence means that we
are one with the Father now.

We can know Omnipotence, but we must know Omnipresence to
put the seal on it. We can know that God is infinite, all-power, all-
good, all-life, all-wisdom, but then we have to conclude with "And I
am the presence of that. That constitutes my being. That which I
have just declared about God is the truth about me. Since I already
am the presence of God, I do not have to look for any more God-
power than I already embody."

Intellectually, most persons agree that there is only one power,
but seldom do we find an individual who believes in one power
enough to rely on it. The attainment of the spiritual or transcendent 1
consciousness brings the conviction of this truth.

To attain that mind that was in Christ Jesus and to develop t n3t
consciousness which is the source of spiritual power, it is necess 3 *?

r

THE NATURE OF SPIRITUAL POWER

131

g rs |- to adopt the principle of one power, and then after having
adopted it, begin to apply it in every circumstance of life that pre-
sents itself to us, to face every situation with an understanding that
there is no power except what is derived from God because there
cannot be an infinite God of Spirit and material power, too.

"Choose you this day whom ye will serve" : the belief that there is
material force and power, or the truth that the Spirit within is the
only power. If we are reading the newspaper or listening to the radio
and hear threats of war or disaster, we must be alert within ourselves
to realize that there is but one power, the power of the Invisible. We
have to be able to meet every circumstance of life with the same
answer Jesus gave to Pilate: "Thou couldest have no power at all
against me, except it were given thee from above."

Why should we need to use power if there is only one power —
God? What would we want to use it for, on whom, or on what? And
why do we need any power to correct a belief in two powers? When,
through practice, we have trained ourselves so that we no longer use
the power of mind or try to use the power of Spirit, we are in spiritual
consciousness and we have the secret of spiritual power.

Spiritual power is the power that animates each and every one of
us, but it operates only when we stop trying to use God. The nature
of spiritual power is being, and it is being spiritual power here and
fow, it is functioning here and now, and there is no other power
functioning.

We cannot expect the Spirit of God to go out and do things of a
temporal nature for us: find a house, provide an automobile, or put
our competitor out of business. Spiritual power is not temporal
Power; it is not a power that is subject to our bidding or our will; it

°es not punish those who wrong us; it is not something that we can
"*% 't will not give us a monopoly of all the dollars, nor will it make

s dictators or help us pull down existing dictators.

*ne Christ is a spiritual power which reveals harmony, peace,
udance, and wholeness to us and transforms our affairs. This it
s not do by destroying anybody or anything. God has nothing to
v 'th temporal power. God is Spirit, and He does not remove
rs > enemies, lumps, obstacles, limitations, or restrictions. But

132 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

when we worship Him in Spirit and in truth, we find that there are
no such things. This can come only as we turn from praying to God
to remove a fever or rheumatism to praying that God reveal Himself
to us as Spirit, that God reveal the divine harmony of His spiritual
nature.

Let us surrender all belief in a God of temporal power — bury that
idea : — and let us resurrect from the tomb within ourselves where it is
hidden the truth about God as Spirit, Life, Love, and Light. Light
dispels darkness, but in the dispelling of that darkness, the darkness
does not go anywhere; it is not overcome or destroyed. So, too, when
we realize God as Spirit, our sins and diseases will disappear, but they
will not go any place: they will only be dispelled as illusions, just as
the light of knowledge dispelled the illusion of the horizon for those
who believed it was the edge of the world.

Human beings in their extremity seek to find a God of power.
Such a God is not to be found, for God is being, and when we over-
come any sense of wanting or expecting God to be a power over any
person, thing, or condition, knowing that there is no other power,
we will be able to abide in the Master's teaching of "resist not evil."
Why should we resist that which has no power?

There is no God that has to do something: God is already being
life, the life of all being; God is already being love, loving the saint
and the sinner. The emphasis is on is: God is life; life already is;
eternal life already is: there is but one life. Love already is. Let us
relax and rest in the is-ness of God, right where we are, giving up the
concept of God as a great power, and rejoicing that we can put up
our sword and that we need not fight— not physically, not mentally-
With this spiritual vision, we stand still and see the salvation of God,
resting in Omnipresence, Omnipotence, and Omniscience.

7

CHAPTER XII

THE DISCOVERY OF THE SELF

And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from
him. Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art
northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:

For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy
seed for ever. Genesis 13:14, 15

W.

as God speaking only to Abraham? Does God speak only
to a certain person, in a certain place, at a certain time? Or when
the voice of God speaks, does it not speak to His son, wherever that
Son is? Are not you and I that Son? Is not the Father saying to us,
"Look out there. As far as you can see, I give this land to you, be-
cause all that f have is thine"?

Our astronauts have seen half the world at one time. They have
encompassed this whole world, and for a few fleeting moments it was
theirs. They had conquered it, and yet not by themselves, but by the
1 °f all the scientists that made possible this feat— by the I that is
you and the I that is I. We possess all this world— all the way to
"e moon. True, nobody has a guaranteed title to it: it is ours in
l°int-ownership, as joint-heirs in God:

have access to all the heavenly riches; J have access to all of the
m ' Ve Principle of this world. I can look into infinity, claim it all,
en ioy as much of it as I need for my daily use.

133

134 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

In the materialistic way of life, it is a natural thing, humanly, f or
us to be proud of being American, Canadian, English, German, or
whatever our nationality may be. But what happens to that swash-
buckling materialism when we discover our Self, when we discover
that we all are brothers and sisters, regardless of the flag that flies
over us, the color of our skin, or the church to which we belong, and
realize:

Never am I limited to a country, to a nation, or to a state. I am
limited only to the kingdom of God, and there I am of the household
of God, heir of God, and joint-heir with every spiritual being in this
great wide world of ours, of one great family, one great spiritual
brotherhood.

To rise above the limitations of personal sense does not make us
any less good citizens; in fact, it makes us better citizens, but better
citizens because we respect the citizenship of other persons. Real
citizenship is to live in fellowship, but this cannot be experienced
until the nature of our true identity is understood, and then, whether
we are Jew or Greek, bond or free, we are all of one spiritual house-
hold.

Nothing can establish permanent peace in the heart of an indi-
vidual except the entrance into that heart of the Christ, the Spirit
of God. As peace is established in the heart of the individual, ulti-
mately it will be established in the world, a peace that comes, not
by the knowledge of man, nor by the wisdom or power of man, but
by the Spirit of God functioning as the consciousness of man.

This Spirit which God has planted in the midst of each one of us
seems to be absent because of our ignorance of Its presence, but
when we become aware of this invisible, transcendental Presence as-
our Self, in that moment does It begin to function in our experience.
We then become something more than creatures sentenced to earn
our living by the sweat of our brow or to bring forth children in pain
and suffering. No more are we separate and apart from God.

How could the son of God have any power other than to be the
son of God? Is it possible for God to lose His son, or so to lose H' s

THE DISCOVERY OF THE SELF 1 > S

power that He would allow one of His sons to wander from His
household? God has never lost His dominion over the spiritual king-
dom, and spiritual man has never left his Father's house. Just as
there is no fallen man in the sense of God's man falling into a state
of mortality, so it would be equally impossible for mortality ever to
rise into immortality and become a child of God.

To know our true identity destroys the mortal sense of existence
which has kept us earthbound. Earthbound! Some of us can re-
member how our cities and towns looked before there were auto-
mobiles on the streets and airplanes buzzing overhead. How
earthbound we were! How limited we were to the little plot of
ground where we lived! Even our work had to be close by because of
the limitations of early forms of transportation.

The first release from that limitation came with the automobile
which made it possible to travel as far as twenty, thirty, or forty miles
in a single day. With that, our vision increased, and our knowledge
grew because we could take in greater territory, meet more people,
and come into contact with broader areas of life. How different life
is now when we travel easily and comfortably four, five, or six hun-
dred miles a day in an automobile! Almost simultaneously with the
increased mobility made possible by the automobile came the day of
the airplane which took us completely above the earth, and made
our travels and our experience almost limitless. We were no longer
earthbound. We had entered a new dimension of life.

But those who have experienced the limitlessness and boundless-
ness of the Spirit have gone far beyond the new dimension of the
automobile and the airplane into still another dimension of life—
unbelievably higher and wider.

Just as men were limited in the early days by the existing means of
transportation, so are we earthbound by the belief in a limited being,
a hmited life, and a limited mind. The process of dropping this
belief i s exactly the same as the process of dropping our sense of
'Citation in regard to travel at sea, by automobile, or by airplane.
* re quires rising to a higher altitude of understanding, recognizing

e taws of Spirit, and letting the sense of mortality drop away.

*"e kingdom of God is, and always has been, perfect. What is

136

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

called mortal existence not only is no part of God's kingdom, but
cannot even evolve into God's kingdom. Mortal sense and mortal
creation have no part in God, never have had, and cannot be td
turned to God. Mystical wisdom does not teach that a mortal is t
become immortal, but that he must "die daily" and be reborn of
the Spirit, that is, he must awaken to the awareness of his true
identity, and just as he would drop any illusion, so he must drop
once and for all time the belief that he is fallen man.

When we are unclothed of mortality and clothed with immortality,
there is no fallen man: there is only the original, perfect man, the
spiritual identity which is now, and always has been, intact, just as
a child taken from a family of wealth and culture and brought up
in poverty, possibly in sin, disease, and ignorance, is still the child
with the same identity and potentiality with which he was originally
born. He has merely been clothed upon with an illusory identity,
but his name, identity, wealth, and all the other things that belonged
to him at birth could be restored in any moment. This child did not
fall: he is the same child he was at birth. All the experiences that
he has gone through have merely been imposed upon him, but his
original heritage and identity are what they were in the beginning.

Ultimately, we shall all discover that our true identity is Christ,
and although we may have been brought up as Jones, Brown, or
Smith, our real name — our identity and our potentiality— is Christ,
the spiritual offspring of God, In the moment that this truth is
revealed to us, all that has been imposed upon us by human belief
will drop away, and as soon as we begin to perceive our true nature
and identity, it will not take long to become accustomed to the
atmosphere of Spirit which is our original abiding place.

Bit by bit, as we pursue the spiritual path, as we realize that o ur
real heritage and identity are in God and that we are of the house-
hold of God, living in fellowship with the children of God, we begtf 1
to lose pride in our family name and heritage, and, inwardly, we may
take on a new name, indicating that we have come to a place when
we identity ourselves with our Source. Now when we say h *
understand that we are not speaking about five- foot-five or si*-* 00
one of flesh, about a white skin or a black one, or about Occident

THE DISCOVERY OF THE SELF

137

r Oriental features. Now we are identifying ourselves with our
Source, which is God, the creative Principle of our being.

While we were living the materialistic life, we depended on rela-
tives, friends, parents, husband, wife, children, employer, business,
investments, and, in the end, on social security. How sad that the
God-created, God-maintained, and God-sustained man should have
to look forward to living on some pittance handed out to him near
the end of his days— especially in the light of the truth that he is
an heir of God. An heir of God, and thinking in terms of pittances!
We have to make a transition from the materialistic concept that
believes that we must earn our living by the sweat of our brow, or be
dependent on someone else who is doing it for us. We have to come
out and become separate from the atheistic belief that we do not
have contact with Infinity, with our Source.

Let us in this moment do away with the belief of being that
fallen man who in some way or other has to struggle back to the
kingdom of God, and let us realize here and now:

I and the Father are one. The Father is Spirit, and I am the off-
spring of that Spirit, therefore I am spiritual. I dm of the household
of God, under the dominion of God, "joint-heir to all the heavenly
riches" by virtue of the Spirit of God that dwells in me.

God has never removed His Spirit from me, and certainly no man
has the power to undo the work of God. The Spirit of God that
dwelt in me in the beginning must be the Spirit of God that dwells
m me now, awaiting first, recognition, then, acknowledgment, and
finally, realization.

Something must sing within us that this is true, or else we are in

" e untenable position of having to acknowledge that God is not

0R ini P otent ; that God permitted His son to fall, that God made

P^sible the failure of man to live, move, and have his being in God,

r »at God instigated the Fall. How can we ascribe such things to
od? How can we believe that there is a God capable of losing a

"—even one Son out of all the billions of Sons that have been

n 'fested as form? How could we trust such a God or have faith

138 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

in the infinite capacity of God, if we also believed that a son of God
could be lost out of the kingdom or that one single child of God
could go astray with or without the knowledge of God? If God is
all-knowing— and God is— then nobody wanders out of the kingdom
of heaven without God's knowing it, not even a sparrow.

We have never left the kingdom of God: we have never left the
jurisdiction and government of God; we have never come under any
law but the law of God, and have never lived any life but the life
of God. God-life is the life of all being, and there never has been
any other.

Whether man accepted the belief of limitation in the form of
being confined to the earth and not able to travel on water, or in
the air, or of being able to travel only a few miles in a day, let us
understand that all these limitations are not, and never were, actual
limitations: they were but due to man's ignorance of the laws govern-
ing these activities. These laws have always been available to man,
and at any time a knowledge and application of them would have
enabled him to rise above his bondage to the earth. They became
practical in his experience, however, only when he was able to open
himself to receive the wisdom that is be von d the visible.

So we enter the Fourth Dimension of life in the same way, by
realizing that we need not be earthbound. Being earthbound or
limited to the three-dimensional world is only a sense of limitation
that has been imposed upon us because of our ignorance of that
transcendental consciousness which is our heritage. It was our birth-
right, and it is ours now because the kingdom of God cannot be
restricted or limited, nor remain forever hidden. We do not have to
fight our way back to God; we do not have to find God: we have
only to open our consciousness in the assurance that God could
never lose us. How could God lose His Self? His Self is our Self,
for there is but one Self.

Your Selfhood is the unconditioned Self. So is my Selfhood. It
wholly spiritual: It is, in fact, Spirit Itself, which has no race, 0*"
tionality, or religion. This Selfhood of you and of me co-exists W 1
God, has co-existed with God in the Is-ness which God is — witho
beginning and without ending— and this Selfhood has known i°
vidual expression throughout all time.

T

THE DISCOVERY OF THE SELF 1 39

You are this Selfhood, and I am this Selfhood, living as one of God's
incarnations; and that Selfhood remains eternal in the heavens, un-
touched and unaffected by the surroundings in which we find our-
selves. With birth, however, there has sprung up around the one
Self a sense of human identity, and from the moment of conception
this begins to be identified with its surroundings.

Selfhood Itself, the Selfhood of you and of me, is unconditioned,
and therefore, in the actual realization of our previous life-experience,
it becomes possible to know the unconditioned freedom of the Self,
to be wholly and completely fiee of national, racial, and religious
theories and doctrines, and all inhibitions or conditionings.

To accept intellectually the truth that we are that unconditioned
Self is one thing, but to experience It in a measure is another thing,
and to experience It in Its completeness is quite another. A step
leading to the realization of the absolute, unconditioned Self is to
experience the Self as It lived in Its previous incarnations, or at least
in some of these, so that it becomes possible to live free of one's
immediate surroundings, or free of the surroundings of this present
incarnation.

When I have been able to see myself as an American, as a Hebrew
of two thousand years ago, as an Arabian, or as a Chinese, it is a
simple matter to see the trappings that have attached themselves to
me in each of these incarnations, and to see that the 1 never came
down to the level of these trappings or conditionings, but remained,
as It always is, the Self. Then, and then only, did I have the ultimate
experience of realizing the unconditioned, absolute Self. In this, of
course, I see it is possible to have been either male or female, white
0r black, Occidental or Oriental, and although the Self that J am

as never been any of these, yet It has drawn unto Itself all of these
as the need was established for the particular experience at specific
times.

J his realization of our Self enables us either to surrender this

f ese "t incarnation, or to remain in it, and yet not be of it or con-

ioned by it, but to live always as the Self. In this realization, we

come the universal Self, or the Self of all others, more especially

°se with whom we come in close contact.

Paiate and apart from our fellow man, there is no God to worship,'

140 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

no God to love, and no God to serve. We are loving God only as
we love our fellow man; we are worshiping God only when we are
serving our fellow man.

When Jesus taught, "He that seeth me seeth him that sent me,"
when he referred to your Father and my Father, was he claiming to
be God's only child, or was he not rather speaking about a universal
relationship? Is there any God separate and apart from man? Has
not God manifested and revealed Himself on earth as man, and when
we look upon one another, are we not seeing the Father that created
you and me and sent us forth into expression? And since you and
your Father are one, in serving you, I am serving my Father; in
loving you, I am loving my Father.

There is no God up in the sky, or down below in the earth or
the sea, "The kingdom of God is within you." If we are to find that
Kingdom, therefore, we shall have to seek inside to find it, for that
is where it is; and if we wish to show our love for God, we shall have
to express love to one another because that is where we will find the
God to love. If we want to serve God, we had better leam to serve
one another, because only in that way can we serve the Father that
sent you and me into expression.

Every bit of love that we express is a love that is expressed to us.
When we are expressing love impersonally to the downtrodden and
abandoned people of the world, we are really expressing love to our-
selves because the Self of those others is the Self of us. This is the
Way: there is but one Self. I am that Self; and I am that Self even
if I am appearing as you. I am that Self, even when I am appearing
as the beggar or the thief. Is it not easy, then, to forgive, knowing
that I am forgiving myself, that I am forgiving my own ignorance,
forgiving my ignorance even when it appears as someone else?

"Love is the fulfilling of the law." Therefore, love is the Way, ^
this means the love that I express, for I am the Way. I must express
love, forgiveness, and patience; I must pray that the light of the world
be revealed even in the darkest consciousness. I must do unto others
as I would have others do unto me, because the 1 of me is the I °*
the other: we are one. The Self of me is the Self of you, because
there is only one Self, and this is God's Self. This is oneness; B : '

THE DISCOVERY OF THE SELF HI

is divine sonship. The spiritual way of life is a recognition of one-
ness, sonship. °

The Way brings the recognition that the J of me and the I of
you are one and the same I. The I AM that I am is the I AM that
you are, because this is the I AM that God is, and God is the I AM
winch is the I AM of you and the I AM of me. Therefore, the
recognition of I AM-ness is the Way.

It is some measure of this realization that enables us to live as if
I am you and you are the I that I am, and therefore we are one-
and smce all that the Father has belongs to me, all that I have also
is yours. This is a state of consciousness which is a step beyond doing
DBto othm as we : would have others do unto us, because it recog
nizes that the Self of us in the Self of the other, and therefore, all
that we are doing is always done unto the Self that we are

ITiere are no boundaries in the spiritual relationship, for there is
only one / AM, and that J AM is universal, individually manifested
and expressed as every individual, past, present, and future. I AM
-5 the Way, and the more we dwell in the remembrance of our true
■aentity, the closer we are living to the Way.
I AM-ness is oneness, divine sonship, and because of this sonship
e have a spiritual relationship of brotherhood based on the under-

V 3 v g , °1 °^r S ™ th ° Ur S0UrCe " ™ e Wa ? is ™ en <^ the
moicZ^ e ^ y V hG reC ° gnitl0n ° f ° Ur trae identit >' * **
n^re of the /on ' " * ieC ° 8niti0n °' * "^ ° f °* "* the

*]f^£? ° f T^™ " ^ attainment ° f ^ realization of one's

comi 1 S ° iS 3 continuin g experience of the Self, with a

£B down to the persona] sense of self only for the purpose of

<* i T r te W ° T \ t0 * d ° ne - Th£ att3inment 0f the ^tical
into H C ° UrSe ' thC ascension ° ut of the personal sense of life

the experience of life lived as the Universal and the Divine

is thT !" Ae Way ' I AM k the Iife 0f me and the «* of you. I AM
diviner m0r ! ty ° f m£ 3nd the immortali ty of you. 7 AM is the
* ^race by wh.ch we live. And this is the basis of all mysticism

i

R

PART TWO

ISING OUT

OF THE

PARENTHESIS

Attaining the Mystical Consciousness

CHAPTER XIII

THE UNILLUMINED AND THE ILLUMINED

T

-Lhe

he parenthesis in which we live consists of the degree of mental
or material limitation that we come under through the universal
belief in two powers. Removing the parenthesis means unseeing the
human picture and becoming consciously aware of our spiritual Self-
hood.

What we are really doing on the spiritual path is trying to wipe
°"t that parenthesis by realizing that we are not living in any form
of human limitation: time or space, calendars or climates. Fhe more
*e attain a living realization of the spiritual nature of our being

">ugh meditation, the fainter the parenthesis becomes and the
C °if r we are to becoming one with Infinity and Eternality.
^ »c moment we perceive that there is but one Life and that we

so k" 1 ^ tfl3t *^ e ' ^ e P arentnes i s is being removed, at least being
rubbed out that there are only faint traces of it left. For centuries

■w trim* ti *

^ ° m e, there may be remnants of that parenthesis in the lives of
■ Us > but it will not be such a hard and fast parenthesis that it

lso »s us in mortality, that is, in a material concept of life.
f a <]j ^ me ditation that results in an inner response hastens the
tie,,, ^ °, Ut oi tne parenthesis. Every experience of depth in medita-
ak « us less subject to the limitations of the parenthesis, less

145

146 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

subject to the calendar, to climate, and to the changing economic
conditions of the world.

One of the evils of living inside the parenthesis is that we resist
change. As long as our particular parenthesis is halfway comfortable
we want to live in it. It does not even have to be a healthy or
wealthy parenthesis so long as there is enough for survival and the
pain is not too severe. But while human nature resists change, spir-
itual unfoldnient compels change, breaking up the old patterns con-
tinuously. In fact, spiritual progress demands that every form be
broken, no matter how good it is. No matter how comfortable life
may be, Spirit will not let us rest in some degree of finiteness, even
if that finiteness should be what the world calls a million dollars or
its equivalent. To Spirit, that is still finiteness, and Infinity does not
mean that Spirit is going to give us two million: it means that It is
going to give us greater freedom, greater harmony, and increasingly
less dependence on material forms and limitations.

Advancing evolving consciousness would ensure an improved state
of affairs, but that improvement probably will not come, as it should
come, as a natural evolution of progress, because human beings are
too determined to hold on to what they have, and they will not give
up their limitation for something unknown. Human nature tries to
hold on to the past, to hold on to present limitations: it is unwilling
to break through for something else.

If we were willing to surrender each day what we had yesterday,
we would find something better tomorrow, but our very attempts tc
hold on to what -we have takes it away from us by force. The onl) r
way in which we can remove the parenthesis harmoniously arw
without pain is by allowing the changes to come without living > n >
or trying to hold on to, the past, and by not believing that evCJ
change means failure, even though it may temporarily cany with it
lack of some of the material comforts. The spiritual universe has
different set of values from that of the material.

Even death does not remove the parenthesis and put us into »
circle of eternal life. The wiping out of the parenthesis is a 000
plished as an activity of consciousness; it is a "dying" to our hum
hood and a "birth" to our spiritual identity. That is not a phy sl *

THE UNILLUMINED AND THE ILLUMINED 147

death or birth: it is the "dying daily" and the being reborn of the
Spirit of which Paul spoke. It is an act of consciousness.

The parenthesis is human life, and our purpose on this Path is to
remove ourselves from the parenthesis while we are here on earth
If we do not do that here, we will still have the opportunity after-
ward, but the passing from this plane into another experience does
not of itself remove the parenthesis and place us in eternity or give
us immortality. In fact, if we leave this stage of our experience in a
human sense of life, we awaken in a human sense of life in another
parenthesis. The other side of the grave is still a parenthesis.

In the degree that we become more and more aware that Spirit
is the only power, and that we do not have a separate life or con-
sciousness of our own, but that God constitutes our being does the
parenthesis become lighter-fading, fading, fading. With every spir-
itual realization that we have and with every meditation that results
m a conscious contact with God, the parenthesis is growing fainter
until eventually, in the final conscious union with our Source, comes
the complete elimination of the parenthesis.

The function of a religious teaching is to lead man to the aware-
ness of his true identity and to reveal secrets of life that have,
heretofore, been hidden because human obtuseness has rendered
man incapable of understanding the underlying principles of exist-
ence. In his unillumined state, man does not realize that in order
w prosper and be fruitful he must live in accord with spiritual laws,
t in accord with his own will or personal desires. He cannot act as

canT e WCrC n ° SUCh ' aWS and th£n CXpeCt t0 live ^"nom'ously, nor
He escape the operation of spiritual law by attempting to make
f JJis own laws as he goes along.

hI* §rCat maStCrS Wh ° br ° Ught f ° rth the 0riginal herrings upon
gove m0dem rdi S ions are built knew that there were invisible laws
lQ J'ng this world, and they taught man how to bring harmony

the J"? throu S h 3n understanding of these laws, promising, as

Nily I 6r dld ' th3t th ° Se Wh ° foi3ow in this Wa y wouId bear fru 't

in st ead "J " 1 " W ° rdS ' they W ° uld ** worki "g with th e laws of life,
I n ot working in antagonism to them.

,eir gross human ignorance, most persons accept the appear-

148 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

ance that they have come into this world with nothing. Working
from that basis, almost from the beginning, they try to add to thern-
selves. Whether it is a baby trying to take some other baby's rattle
away, or whether it is a nation trying to take some other nation's
land or industry away from it, most persons live their lives on the
assumption that they have nothing, and therefore, they must get
something, work for it, plan and plot for it.

Then there are those who reach a stage in which they realize the
futility of this constant striving and struggling for the things that
perish, things which after they are obtained prove to be shadows. It
is at this stage that some persons turn from this seeking for things
in the outer realm to a seeking for them from God. That which they
have not heretofore succeeded in gathering to themselves by ma-
terial means, they now hope to get from God. Even though this is
only a faint glimpsing of the Path, it is at least an opening wedge
because it does turn some people from the expectation that they can
get from the material world that which will satisfy to the belief in
some invisible Source from, or through which, their good may come.
Those who fail to find God an open door to health, wealth, and
success are naturally led to seek further for the Way, or to seek the
meaning of the Way.

It is not given to a human being of himself to decide when or
whether he will enter the Path or the Way, and until the Spirit of
God touches a person, he has no interest in finding it, and certainly
no inclination to follow it. In the life of every person, however— and
not necessarily in this particular lifetime or lifespan— at some titoc
or other he will be touched by the Spirit. He may never know when
this actually happens : all he knows is that a curiosity has developed
in him, a hunger, or a thirst for something— he knows not what—
that drives him forward. It is at such a moment that he enters tW
Path, and from that point on, it does not lie within his power v
decide to what extent he will embrace it, or how far he will go-
Early in his progress, however, he learns that there really a re °
bad people and good people; there are not sinful people and P*
people; there are not sick people and well people : there are ° J
those who do not know the truth, and those who do : the unillurru 11
and the illumined.

THE UNILLUMINED AND THE ILLUMINED 149

Those who are in sickness, sin, or poverty are the unillumined:
they do not know their true identity, and they are therefore wander-
ing in the wilderness, seeking for harmony, but seeking for it in the
wrong direction. They are struggling for things, for fame and fortune,
honestly believing that when they attain these, they will have at-
tained their goal of happiness, peace, and contentment. But do they?
Are they not usually in the same misery they were before they at-
tained them? True, they may be enjoying their misery in more
luxurious surroundings, but the misery is there nevertheless, and the
reason is that regardless of the outer attainment, the inner self is
still starving and thirsting.

In his state of unillumined being, each person has a life of his own
ito live, a life probably destined to be manifested on earth for three-
score years and ten— a little less or a little more— a life subject to
disease and death, a life that began and must therefore end. This
constitutes the unillumined, the human race.

When a person is illumined, however, that is, when he knows the
truth of his real identity, he loses all capacity for sin or poverty, and
for disease as well; he loses the propensity and the potentiality for
evil in his life, but only in proportion to his illumination.

The illumined do not live by laws of limitation, by the law of
threescore years and ten, by the laws of good and evil. They live by
the Grace and Truth the Christ Teveals, not a Grace and Truth
separate and apart from the son of God, but a Grace and Truth as
the life of the son of God. The individual illumined with the under-
standing of the nature of God and the nature of his own being is no
tonger the "creature," but is now the son, the heir of God, living
"nder Grace.

Once even the tiniest little crack of insight into the nature of God

ls opened, the rest comes more or less quickly, because now, instead

bnnd faith, there is a complete relaxing from mental strife,

r,1 ggle, and effort in the realization that, since God is infinite

saom and light, we can rest and let God illumine, instruct, and
guide us.

., n even a small measure of spiritual illumination must come
realization that God is not to be prayed to and that there is
lln g for which we can pray. This first glimmer of light reveals

152

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

for their families, it is quite understandable why, upon returning
home from a day of such labor, the men would be more eager for
food and sleep than for study and meditation. The women, also, with
their large families and arduous duties would hardly be ready for
serious study or have any interest in the deep and abiding things of
life.

For these reasons, and probably many others, practically the
only place where revealed truth was taught was in the mystery schools
that existed thousands of years ago in Egypt and brer on in Greece
and in Rome, There were also such schools in India, and some of
them were found as far north as Tibet. Those of a religious or
philosophical turn of mind became the students in those schools or
in the religious orders where truth was taught.

In order to ensure against the misuse of truth, a candidate for
membership in a school of wisdom was required to pass very rigorous
tests and give evidence that he was not entering the school for
personal or selfish motives, or with any idea of immediate material
gain, but that he was entering it in a sense of dedicating his life to
the most High and proving his dedication by service to mankind.

One of the main requirements was that students remain for at
least six, seven, eight, or nine years in order to receive instruction,
and as they absorbed the lessons taught, they were advanced by
degrees. Undoubtedly, in some of these schools, there were teachers
of great spiritual wisdom, although it was the mental and the occult
realm of thought that received the most attention in those days.

The early Hebrews also conducted religious schools where those
with a religious bent were accepted for instruction and eventually
became priests or rabbis— some lesser lights and some greater.

At the time of the Master, Judaism was divided into three maj° r
sects, the Essenes, the Sadducees, and the Pharisees. Of all these
the Essenes probably had developed the highest degree of spirit 113
wisdom. The practices of this sect, however, differed in so man]
respects from those of other groups that it was greatly persecut
and eventually became almost an underground movement. Becatt
of this, and in my opinion, primarily because of this, the Esse"
became the most highly organized and disciplined of any or

THE UNILLUMINED AND THE ILLUMINED

153

judaic sects. They came to a place where they lived almost entirely
]jv rules and regulations, and the im partition of spiritual wisdom
played only a minor part. In fact, for the Erst seven or eight years
f 3 person's membership in that order, he was not allowed to know
an y of the secrets of its wisdom. Such an emphasis on discipline,
rules, and regulations not only killed whatever inspiration an indi-
vidual might have brought to a group, but it undoubtedly destroyed
anv hope he may have had of reaching his goal.

Some scholars believe that Jesus was a member of the Essenes,
but parted from them because he felt that truth should be given to
the people, whereas the hierarchy felt that the people were not
ready for it. It was because Jesus imparted truth to the people, the
truth that would have set them free, that he was crucified.

Although the Master did teach this truth, he perhaps recognized
that the masses, as such, could not at their stage of consciousness
understand it. Probably, he hoped that here and there among them,
there would be one or two, a dozen, or a hundred who would be
able to perceive the spiritual nature of truth and demonstrate it,
and that as time went on these dozens here, and hundreds there,
would perpetuate the message and continue to give it to succeeding
generations until eventually everyone would have the truth.

kven though the masses could not receive the truth the Master
taught, there were many persons who did, and because of that, for
the next three hundred years, mighty works were done by those who
had become followers of the Master's teaching: spiritual healing con-
tinued to be practiced; every person was given freedom of thought;
at, d inroads were made on the dogmatism of some of the Hebrew
ects which taught that only the Hebrews were worthy of being
§ iv en the truth.

t must have been a great struggle for Paul to break through the

Q'tional narrowness of the existing Judaic sects and to begin

m S truth to the Gentiles. It must have been a great wrench for

Cr to learn that lie must call nothing unholy that God had made,

01 him, too, to begin preaching to the Gentiles. But when Peter

an] arrived at the state of consciousness where they were willing

e ach to the pagans, and as they began to bear witness to the

154 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

spiritual truth that there is neither Greek nor Jew, bond nor free,
and that we are all one in Christ Jesus, they broke down the barriers
of spiritual ignorance.

The moment a person begins to know the truth, he breaks down
barriers: he is set free, whether from economic lack, bigotry, bias,
nationalistic pride, or from narrow religious convictions. The truth
reveals the universal nature of God's love which is bestowed alike
on saint and sinner, and is not reserved for those who belong to a
particular church.

This truth was in existence thousands of years before Jesus. It did
not set many people free, but that may have been because only a
limited number were permitted to learn about this truth. Unfor-
tunately, it has not set many free since that time because of mental
inertia which is only a polite term with which to describe downright
laziness.

Let us face it: we are mentally lazy. The truth is available, but
we do not fenow the truth. We read it. We read it and say, "Isn't it
beautiful!" We hear it, and we say that it is even more beautiful,
even more powerful. And then probably we go home and either wish
we could make it come true or hope to find a spiritual master who
will do it for us. The fact is that it is not going to be done for us by
any spiritual master now, any more than it was done by spiritual
masters in the days when there were more of them on earth than
there are today.

Many years ago this wisdom was taught in the mystery schools,
in some fraternal lodges, and in religious orders, but today there are
no such schools on earth. Such as do exist on the inner plane are
available only to those who have spiritualized their consciousness t<
the extent that they can find entrance into the spiritual orders which
exist behind the scenes, that is, beyond the realm of the human mm*
Those who have thus spiritualized their consciousness through kno*
ing the truth make a transition from being the man of earth, de-
scribed by Paul, to being that "man in Christ . . . whether in &Q
body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell."

We are men of earth until we know the truth and demonstrate
sufficient degree of it so that we reach a state of consciousness whic
is no longer fettered by ignorance, superstition, and fear. In tlw

THE UNILLUMINED AND THE ILLUMINED 155

state of consciousness, we are enabled to penetrate behind the realm
f mind into the realm of divine Consciousness, but it takes spiritual
Illumination to make that possible.

These ancient schools of wisdom had neither silver nor gold to
give, neither name nor fame. What they had to offer was spiritual
illumination, the transcendental consciousness which would lead the
aspirant into harmony, joy, peace, and glory, but not always in the
wav that he might outline.

In such a school, initiation, which was a significant landmark on
the spiritual journey, always took the form of going from darkness
to light, from material sense to spiritual consciousness, from the un-
illu mined state of consciousness to the illumined; and while the
method of study, practice, and unfoldment might differ from place
to place, and from one era to another, the goal and the result were
always the same— the development of a transcendental state of
consciousness.

Many different terms have been used to describe the enlightened
consciousness. In Christian mysticism, this enlightenment is some-
times referred to as Christ-consciousness; in India, the aspirant who
has received a measure of spiritual light is said to have attained the
Buddha-mind; whereas in Zen Buddhism the term used is safari. The
terms are different, but the idea is the same.

Whenever an individual attains a very high state of consciousness
or what is understood to be illumination, he is said to be enlightened.
Each of the great spiritual teachers, Christ Jesus, Buddha, Shankara,
received complete illumination and became the light of his particular
world.

Illumination really means going from a human state of conscious-

nej s to a spiritual state of consciousness, the transcendental or Christ-

c °nsciousness, which is above and beyond the human. While it is

not beyond possibility for any human being to attain this in some

^ee, it cannot be experienced by the human state of consciousness,

When a measure'of light comes to a person, it brings with it new
tacult;

Hi
oft

■es and new experiences. "There are diversities of gifts." Among
^e is the gift of healing which some enlightened leaders have had;

et s have had a gift for spiritual teaching, that is, the ability to lift
tu <3ent above his own humanhood into an enlightened state;

156 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

others have received by Grace an inner power of prayer which has
enabled them to release many, many persons from their discords and
inharmonies.

A case in point, of course, is Moses who, brought up in the social
climate of the court and well educated, was just an ordinary person
until that one great mountaintop experience when he came face to
face with God, received his illumination, and attained transcendental
consciousness to the extent that a whole new faculty developed
within him. He was lifted to such heights that he was enabled to
return to Egypt and, without taking up the sword, to lead the
Hebrews right out from under Pharaoh. Under the direction and pro-
tection of this transcendental consciousness, he guided them out
from slavery, lack, limitation, ignorance, and superstition, across the
wilderness until they came into view of the Promised Land, and
brought them into some measure of freedom and light, the measure
of course being only that of which they were capable at the time.

So it is, then, that this man Moses, with no special or outstanding
talents to set him apart from other men, became at that moment of
attainment a leader and a liberator of a whole people. Throughout
the history of the Hebrews, from Abraham right on up to Christ
Jesus, whenever an individual was endowed with the transcendental
consciousness, he, too, was given the strength and wisdom to bring
a measure of freedom, light, grace, and healing to the people under
his care.

Christ Jesus is perhaps the most outstanding example of an attained
transcendental consciousness. Very little is known of his early life
bevond the fact that he was of a family of carpenters, that he himself
worked as a carpenter, that it is believed he was educated in the
Essene Order, and that he was trained as a rabbi. Eventually, he went
out to preach, but because he possessed gifts that the other rabbis
of that day lacked— gifts that even Gamaliel, the greatest of the
Hebrew teachers, did not possess— the great gifts of healing and
supplying, of leadership, teaching, and of revelation, and because he
often preached contrary to the teachings of the Hebrew hierarchy;
he aroused its ire.

During this period, and a thousand years or more before it, mafl

T

THE UNILLUMINED AND THE ILLUMINED 157

learned the hidden secrets of the spiritual life in these schools of
wisdom. It should be remembered, however, that the secrets imparted
were not the same in every school because when we come to the sub-
ject of truth, we find that truth is revealed on two different levels,
the mental and the spiritual.

Two types of schools therefore developed side by side: those that
taught the power of the mind, and the purely spiritual that revealed
how to unfold spiritually and develop the transcendental conscious-
ness. On the level of mind, great works and great feats of magic
can be performed, and sometimes this deludes people into believing
that they are witnessing God in action, when it is nothing more nor
less than the action of the mind.

It is vitally important that every aspirant on the spiritual path
should recognize and know the difference between these two ap-
proaches. Whatever exists on the material or mental plane of life
can be used in two ways, for good as well as for evil. The effects of
spiritual or transcendental consciousness, on the other hand, can be
only good.

Seeking entrance to the spiritual path is no different today from
what it has always been. It must always be, not for the purpose of
personal gain, not for a selfish motive of any kind, but only for the
purpose of enlightenment.

CHAPTER XIV

"AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD"

A,

.11 work on the spiritual path is directed toward the develop
ment of a consciousness higher than that of the intellect or human
mind. In the beginning, when there was no awareness of good or of
evil, man lived out from the divine Consciousness, but after what is
known as the Fall of Man, he took unto himself a consciousness of
his own. He no longer had an awareness of the Father-consciousness:
he now had a mortal consciousness, a consciousness of death, as does
everyone who is under the universal belief in two powers. The pur-
pose of work on the spiritual path is to bring about the return to this
divine state of consciousness.

In some cases, the impartation of that mind which was in Chnst
Jesus takes place in an individual when, through some act of Grace
within himself, the Master — I am not speaking now of a man: I a" 1
speaking of the Master, the divine Consciousness— touches an lfl '
dividual and operates in him without the help of a teacher or with-
out the help of a teaching,

Paul, who received his illumination thirty years after the CruC*
fixion, had no personal teacher to help bring about the spirit" 3
transformation which took place in him. His religious teache >
Gamaliel, was a scholar with a thorough knowledge of Hebie 1 *

158

"and they shall all be taught of cod" 159

theology* but probably with little spiritual awareness, and spiritual
power seems to have been completely absent from him. So, this Saul
f Tarsus, who had been out on the mission of persecuting and help-
ing to kill Christians, this Saul, one of the most highly educated and
trained of religious scholars, but apparently without a trace of the
spiritual, received his illumination from within himself without the
help of a teacher or of a teaching on the outer plane.

Paul may have received his teaching and illumination directly
from the Spirit of the Christ Itself, but it may well be that because
of his identification with the Judaic movement in the days of the
Messiah, he attributed his illumination to the man Jesus who may
have appeared to him and taught him. It may even have been that
the consciousness of Jesus actually was there as the instrument of
this illumination, just as in the case of John who claimed that he
was taught by Jesus Christ, and this fifty years after Jesus had been
crucified.

Gautama the Buddha went from teacher to teacher for at least
seven years, and some say more; and while he must have absorbed
something from each one, it was only after he departed from all
teachers and began to draw upon the resources within himself that
he had the experience of complete illumination under the Bodhi
tree.

Without the aid of human teachers or teachings, these men un-
doubtedly all received their illumination through their own inner
devotion to the search for truth, and they are all in agreement that
without this illumined mind, man is spiritually nothing: with it he is
spiritually everything.

There are two ways of receiving instruction leading to illumination,
bu t always that instruction involves a progressive unfoldment and is
b y degrees. One way is by direct impartation from God to the con-
SCl ousness of the student, the way Gautama, Jesus, John, and Paul
a ttained it. The other way is through a teacher and his teaching,
Whether by direct contact or through his writings. In either case, if the
n stniction is truly spiritual in nature, it is God revealing Itself.

wringing about some degree of development of that mind which

as also in Christ Jesus has for centuries been the activity of teachers

160 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

working with students; and these students, through learning ar ,j
applying specific truths, plus the contact with the teacher's conscious,
ness, gradually take on spiritual light and spiritual power until thev
finally attain the ultimate.

No one can attain spiritual illumination by choice. If that were
possible, probably those with the greatest financial resources would
be the first to receive it because if they were interested in finding
God they could search out a spiritual teacher and arrange to have
him give them all the instruction needed until they reached the goal
Spiritual illumination, however, cannot be bought with money.

No teacher ever chooses a student for any human reason: because
he has money, time, or because he may be a good friend. The teacher
knows the consciousness of the student and leads him on, and on,
and on, watching and waiting for the signs that indicate that there is
now a preparedness not only to receive the divine Grace but also the
capacity to continue in It.

Unless a person is one of the few able to receive Grace without a
human teacher, undoubtedly there comes a time when it is necessary
for him to be in the physical presence of his teacher. It is said that
when the student is ready, the teacher appears. This does not mean
when the student thinks he is ready; it has no relationship whatso-
ever to what the student thinks. It means when the student is actually
ready.

But how will the student know when he is ready? When the
teacher appears and taps him on the shoulder. Until then, a student
has nothing to do but abide within himself, perfect himself, accept
whatever guidance is given to him of which he feels a Tightness, and
then pray that his day of illumination will come. This day the teacher
will recognize before the student does, and usually the teacher is
standing by waiting for the student to look up. There comes an ex-
perience which in human life is called love at first sight, and that is
what happens when the teacher recognizes his student, and the
student recognizes his teacher.

It is possible that sometimes a spiritual teacher may misjudge the
readiness of the student. Certain it is that Jesus miscalculated the
readiness of about twelve of his disciples, but he took those who were
most nearly ready, and he did not do too badly with them. Two <*

"AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD" 161

three of them turned out fairly well, and that is a good percentage.
ar e must remember that he came in contact with only a limited
number of people, many of whom were ignorant, illiterate, and cer-
tainly untrained in spiritual matters. Had they all been Essenes,
njobablv his disciples might have accomplished more than they did,
but the)' were not.

It is difficult, almost impossible, for any teacher to say, "You are
perfect. You are going to attain the full selflessness." The best that
a teacher can do is to sense that a student is ready, not necessarily
that he is going to fulfill himself or that he is going to attain the
heights of spiritual realization, but that he shows forth all the quali-
ties necessaty for attainment, and from then on, it is up to the stu-
dent whether or not he can attain.

At this point the teacher gives the student all that he has to give,
and then it rests with the student to what extent he will be able to
complete the journey. No teacher can complete that journey for a
student: the teacher can only take the student, lift him, bring him to
discernment, and, at a specific time when so instructed from within,
confer the initiation. From then on the student, working with the
teacher, can go forward, but whether he attains the full measure in
this lifetime is something no one can foretell.

Hie giving and receiving of spiritual instruction is a sacred act
and one which must be undertaken by both the student and the
teacher with the utmost dedication and consecration. Real spiritual
instruction begins only when the student is able to turn to God with
such receptivity that he can hear Him speak to him, or when the
student has found his teacher or his teaching and comes into the
Presence of that teacher or teaching with no questions, with no
de sire but one: Reveal truth to me.

'he proper attitude of the student is one of sitting at the feet of

le roaster, not with questions, but almost with a pleading, "Give me

an understanding of God! Reveal God; reveal Truth." As the student

s 'n quiet expectation, confidence, and assurance, the teacher is able
et the word of God pour through his consciousness, and then it is
a teacher talking, not a man or a woman, but the very Spirit of

1 the Orient this kind of teaching was known long, long centuries

162 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

before the Christian era. In this system there is a spiritual teacher
who has attained some measure of spiritual wisdom — some more and
some less — and who by sitting quietly in his cave, in his mountain
retreat, or by the riverbank gradually attracts those individuals who
feel drawn to him. These, then, become his student body. They wfll
sit around the teacher, come back day after day for a session, and
sometimes remain for two, three, or four nights and days, or for
years, sleeping outdoors if necessary, until some measure of light
begins to dawn in their consciousness.

There are other teachers in India who have founded ashrams
or have established small temples or places of worship where students
can come to them, led there by an inner impulsion. There is no ad-
vertising, of course, nor is there ever any reaching out for students.
People sometimes travel thousands of miles just to spend a week or
two with a particular teacher. Some students come and remain with
the teacher for many years because today, in spite of radio and tele-
vision, there are people, particularly in the Orient, who know that
truth cannot be imparted or absorbed over a busy weekend, and they
therefore find it quite normal and natural to spend from three to
seven or more years with their teacher.

When the student comes into the presence of a spiritual teacher,
if he has prayed earnestly and sincerely to be led to his teacher or
teaching, he will be in the presence of one who has little knowledge
to give, but one who, because of his hours of meditation and attained
conscious union with God, will be such a transparency that the Spirit
pours through him either in words, thoughts, or in complete silence.
In whatever form the instruction is given, however, if the student u
receptive, he will receive the impartation. So the work is primarily
meditation, with occasional impartations of truth from the teacher
which the student can use in his meditations until he attains a degt 66
of awareness of some of these truths.

If the student's mind is in a state of questioning and disputation
if he doubts or has not yet recognized his teacher, he cannot accep
spiritual instruction from him. Truth can be received only when ""
student reaches that deep humility which is willing to admit, "I 3 *
empty; I know nothing. Fill me." Then when he comes into r
presence of his teacher or finds his teacher's writings, he will be P 18

L

AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD*' 163

pared to accept the teaching in humility and without argument, just
as we have been prepared to accept the teaching of the Master, not
because there is the authority of Christ Jesus behind it, but because
something within tells us that this is the truth and we must follow
in this way.

No aspirant on the spiritual path should ever be influenced to
follow a spiritual teaching simply because his friends have embraced
it, are enthusiastic about it, or because it appears to be successful or
popular. That has nothing to do with him.

No one should ever be in a hurry to choose his teacher or his
teaching. Rather should a person wait until he has such an inner
conviction that he has found the right way for him that there is no
turning back. Then, when it is revealed to him that this is the way
for him, he will follow it even if it is a very difficult one.

When a student finds his spiritual teaching, he should thereafter
give up all others, and be as true to that teaching and the teacher as
he expects the teacher to be to him. A student has a right to expect
from his teacher complete and utter devotion to God and also all the
assistance he can give to the spiritual unfoldment of his student; but
the student must give that same devotion to God, to his teacher, and
to his teaching, abandoning all others and clinging only to the one.

No one should try to ride two horses in the same race. It has never
keen successfully accomplished. Tire Master warned that there are
many, many persons taking upon themselves the Robe and setting
themselves up as the Christ who are not "Christs" at all. There are
Oaay teachers parading under the banner of truth who have no
understanding of, or relationship whatsoever to, truth. No one can
te ll another who these are. The student himself will have to be led of
«e Spirit to find out whether the teacher with whom he is working
13 "lie that should come."

When John the Baptist questioned whether Jesus was the Promised

nc > Jesus' answer was, "Go and shew John again those things which
^ e do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame

a| k, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised

P. and the poor have the gospel preached to them.'' That is the only
pt Jof that can be given.

Nobody can decide for another which teachers and which teach-

164 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

ings are true or false. Each one has to stand within himself and
measure whatever is offered to him against what he witnesses as
demonstrable truth. By the fruitage of the teaching and by the life
of the teacher, each one will have to determine which teaching is for
him, but no one should attempt to work with two, three, or four
teachings at the same time. The Master called upon his disciples to
leave their nets — leave their past, leave everything of which thev
were convinced, leave everything behind them — to follow him, and
he would make them fishers of men.

When a person goes to God, it must be with complete surrender
and a complete yielding. At first that is not possible because every-
body has some religious convictions, even if his convictions are
atheistic ones. The student who turns to truth discovers that many
of his former beliefs were erroneous man-made teachings or interpre-
tations of teachings, and that he has followed them only through
blind obedience and ignorance. Then when he comes to the truth,
he is shocked to discover that he cannot continue to accept some of
his most cherished beliefs because, to his enlightened sense, they are
not true. Some of these he is able to surrender easily, but to others
he will cling with unswerving tenacity.

The surrender of all that the student has held most sacred often-
times takes place against his own inner convictions, against the faith
and beliefs that have been stored up for years and yean. These he
finds difficult to relinquish, and so he continues to attempt to grasp
the new while still clinging to the old.

The way of truth is not easy. It is not easy to be a seeker after
God because in the end we have to drop all our cherished convictions
and come to that new day when we make the great discovery that
God is in the very midst of us.

One function of a spiritual teacher is to reveal the principles with
which the student must work in order to lift himself in conscious*
ness to an apprehension of the Divine. The Master gave his disciple
just such a way when he urged them to pray for their enemies, t°
pray for those who despitefully used them, to pray in secret, to gi vC
alms in secret, and to forgive unto seventy times seven. Jesus' f°''
lowers were expected to put these teachings into practice, and j usr
as he pointed out certain principles, so today docs a teacher of sp> n |

"and they shall all be taught of cod" 165

ua l wisdom receive his own spiritual impartations and reveal them
to his students. Such teachings are of no value, however, as long
as they are merely impartations from the teacher to the student. They
become meaningful and effective only when the student puts them
into practice.

Some persons think that reasoning and logic are sufficient for the
attaining of the spiritual life, but I learned long ago that no spiritual
teaching can be imparted intellectually. The reading of books alone
will never give the majority of seekers the real import of a truly
spiritual teaching because no one can grasp a spiritual teaching from
books unless he is spiritually attuned.

Only through spiritual consciousness can truth be imparted, and
it is for this reason that so much time must be devoted to medita-
tion, both on the part of the teacher and of the student. If a student
has lifted himself up out of his reasoning, thinking mind into that
area of consciousness where his intuitive faculties have full play, then
he can comprehend and understand what the teacher is imparting.
Otherwise, he is able to hear only with his ear, and in imbibing a
spiritual message, hearing with the physical ear is meaningless.

After he has revealed the principles with which the student must
work, the second function of the spiritual teacher is to open the con-
sciousness of the student so that a way can be made for the student
to reach the center of his own being where God can reveal Itself to
him. God is no respecter of persons. God does not choose out of all
mankind a Lao-tse, a Buddha, a Shankara, a Jesus, a John, and a
Paul and expect all the rest of the world to sit at their feet. No, the
w °dd sits at the feet of the enlightened one to learn how he became
a light and how it can go and do likewise.

If the student is faithful, a spiritual teacher can open that student's
consciousness to a receptivity to the Father within, so that the actual
vjod-experience can come to him. Some persons receive spiritual
'gnt very quickly, others more slowly, depending upon the develop

le nt of the individual: what his background is, how prepared he is
give up the reasoning, thinking, arguing mind, and how willing

e 1S to sit, as it were, at the feet of the master and receive, and re-
Ceiv e, and receive.

^hile there is nothing that can either be asked or answered

166

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

through the mind that will enhance a student's spiritual understand-
ing or powers one iota, in the beginning it is natural for students to
have questions which, when answered, may in some measure correct
any false impressions the student may be entertaining and help clear
away some of the underbrush in his consciousness, thereby preparing
him for a spiritual experience. The teacher does answer the student's
questions, but the continued asking of questions means that the stu-
dent has not attained that inner awareness, and his attention must
be directed, not to having his questions answered, but to going deeper
and deeper into consciousness until he comes up with the "pearl,"
No spiritual teacher avoids answering questions that will clarify
the meaning of the message, but once a student has attained the
actual contact with his Source, questions seldom arise. As God un-
folds in his experience, he is left without questions, without any doubt
about what to do, or why. He is not concerned about understanding
what sin is, or about being guided as to what he should or should not
do. If he knew of how little importance these things are, he would
never let them disturb his thought. His one concern would be to fol-
low the light that is within him.

Since spiritual impartation does not come through the human
mind or through the reasoning faculties, the only reason that ques-
tions have any place at all in the unfolding of spiritual consciousness
is because the hodgepodge of erroneous teachings, which many have
been taught from their earliest years, will continue to puzzle them
until it is cleared out. The day must come, however, when the stu-
dent realizes that all his questions, together with their answers, are
absolutely worthless so far as his spiritual development is concerned.
Spiritual development comes about through the experience of God,
not in questions or answers. Through meditation, the teacher works
to elevate the consciousness of the student, and this makes the stu-
dent free. It is not a matter of knowing or not knowing the answer
to questions posed by the human mind: it is a matter of attaining
spiritual consciousness. Real spiritual teaching begins when the atti-
tude of the student is: "I have no more questions. All I want now is
answers, and I want those from God. I want them to come through
inspiration either from my teacher or directly from the Spirit of G°&
within me."

'and they shall all be taught of god" 167

Up to the time that such answers are received, the student must
satisfy his mind by asking questions. That is the only method by
which he can dispose of his queries, skepticism, and doubt, but he
should rid himself of these as quickly as possible and then be done
with that phase of his spiritual journey, which is only the pre-be-
ginning stage. Even the beginning of spiritual wisdom is not attained
until the questions are out of the way and the student is completely
emptied and pleads, "The past is passed. I am not even interested in
what I heretofore thought or believed. I do not care about answers
to questions: I care only about the God-experience. Fill me; fill me
with spiritual wisdom; fill me with the presence and power of God."

With that attitude, the student has entered the beginning stage—
the First Degree. From then on, by the grace of God which has been
given him, the teacher can impart not only spiritual wisdom, but
spiritual consciousness. Sooner or later, the way opens so that the
student will receive his own impartations from within. The same
light that has come to every mystic can then come to him; the same
truth that has revealed itself to every mystic can then reveal itself to
him. Truth in its essence is the same, but it comes in different lan-
guage and in different degrees to each and every person.

Truth has come to hundreds of people, but it always comes through
an individual. Just as God spoke through Gautama the Buddha,
Lao-tse, and Shankara, through Jesus, John, and Paul, so God can
speak through the words of any God-realized person, and when the
student himself has made the God-contact, truth will come through
him.

Tire teaching that is imparted without words and without thoughts
1S the only absolute teaching there is. There have been students in
The Infinite Way who have been able to receive such teaching, and
w hcn that happens there are long periods of complete silence in
w hich no word is spoken, and none thought, and yet the message is
conveyed to them.

fheie does not have to be any conversation between teacher and
student because there is an area of consciousness which is really an
area of impartation, so that without speech and without thought

^atcver communication is necessary between the student and the
ea cher will take place. It is not necessary to speak or to think when

168

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD

169

two people are attuned, but they cannot be attuned by having some-
thing in common humanly — only by knowing that / AM.

When no personal sense enters, either in imparting or receiving,
that is absolute teaching. It is accomplished entirely on the spiritual
plane. When the Absolute is reached and the student rises with the
teacher into divine Consciousness, the human sense of truth drops
away.

The spiritual teacher is not a mentalist. He never intrudes into the
mind of his student, nor does he ever try to influence his student's
thought even for good. The teacher's work is the purely spiritual work
of making contact with God, and then letting it appear to his si

:

it is

dents as it will.

The ultimate destiny of a student has to be realized in his own
consciousness. True, he may avail himself of a teacher, of a teaching,
or of books. Books, of themselves, however, will not make his demon-
stration: they are merely tools or instruments for his use as he goes
into his periods of contemplative meditation. When he is in prayer
and communion in that inner sanctuary within himself, there the
transition takes place, the Word is heard, and ultimately the indis-
soluble union is revealed.

If the teacher is in conscious union with God and the student
attuned to the teacher's consciousness, sooner or later the student will
have some kind of an experience. It may be an experience in which
he has an actual realization of the presence of God. If he is a Chris-
tian, it may result in his recognizing a presence that he identifies as
Jesus Christ; if he is a Buddhist, he may identify it as Buddha; but it
is the same Consciousness appearing as different forms. Even though
It appears as a person, It will be God appearing, and what the stu-
dent has done is merely to translate the appearance into what most
nearly approaches his idea of a spiritual teacher.

The spiritual teacher makes conscious contact with God, and then
if the student is sufficiently attuned, that conscious union may o°
occasion appear to Iris student as a mystical experience in which h«
will behold some form of Reality that he will translate in accordance
with his own state of consciousness.

Through the God-contact of the teacher, the student receives th 6
God-experience and his illumination, but no teacher can do this t Qt >

r to, a person by willing it, desiring it, or trying to mate it come
about through any mental means. This will only thwart it and can
lead to danger.

Truth imparts itself through the teacher-consciousness, and when
the student is Teceptive, that teaching is received, but because the
instruction is not received in the mind, but in the Soul, the student
would not be able to pass a rigid examination on it. The only way to
know whether or not he has received it is that the light is shining in
his face, and the fruits of the Spirit are appearing in his experience.

Within the consciousness of each one of us there is a something.
It is impossible to reveal the true nature of it, except to explain that
to me it seems as if it were a tightly closed bud, almost like a fresh
new rosebud. As students come to me, I can sometimes feel that
something in them, that tight little bud in their consciousness, and
1 know it is their spiritual nature, the Christ or the divinity of them.

In Oriental teaching this is symbolized by the lotus. As the lotus
opens, it represents a greater degree of spiritual illumination, and
this can be observed in all Oriental art where figures representing
attained spiritual consciousness are depicted as either sitting or
standing in the middle of the open lotus. Spiritually interpreted,
that means that they are rooted and grounded and established in the
divine Consciousness.

Often I see this little bud in the consciousness of an individual,
and as the relationship of student and teacher continues, I can watch
as it opens and unfolds until it is a full-blown flower.

Some of us may not humanly have a spiritual teacher or even
know of one, but inasmuch as no spiritually illumined person has
e ver passed from Consciousness, all the great spiritual lights of the
Past are still functioning, and they are just as available to you and to
^ as is a teacher living on this plane right now. There are many
Persons who have contacted a teacher within their consciousness

ithout ever having had a teacher on the outer plane. This does not
'flean that they have achieved their spiritual light of themselves. No

e can do that. The light is awakened in them by someone who is

le hght, whether or not they contact him in the human experience

< Jr

are even aware of his existence.

1

Should it be necessary for us to find a teacher or even to contact

170 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

some teacher on the inner plane who could be an instrument fo r
bringing this wisdom to us, he will appear. When we are in medita-
tion, we are tuning in to the I that we are, the Source, and receiving
whatever is necessary from that Infinity. It may be that right from the
pure Source Itself wisdom comes, unfoldment and revelation. Some-
times it leads us to a book in which we find what we have been seek-
ing, but that is only because we are not yet fully attuned to receiv-
ing it directly from the Source. There are other times when the
great spiritual lights of past ages serve as teachers to us. God never
brings the activity of the spiritually illumined to an end, and that
spiritual illumination is available now and is operating on earth, in-
spiring, teaching, and helping all those who are turning to God,

For example, today I am a teacher revealing truth, but if tomorrow
I should do what we call "die" and my physical presence should
leave this world, that would not remove me. My I would still be
here. What is done with my body would make very little difference
because the 1 of me would still be here and could still teach if only
those reaching out for that teaching can realize that there is no
death and that we are separated from physical sight but not from
actual communion.

If we truly believe in deathlessness, we know that Lao-tse, Gautama,
Jesus, and John are still functioning, but because we cannot be aware
of anything outside our consciousness, the only place they can func-
tion is in our consciousness: they cannot be up in heaven and they
cannot be out in space. It is perfectly possible, therefore, for any
great teacher to be our teacher until such time as we have complete
access to the Source and Fount Itself without mediation.

Many persons receive impartations in this way without even know-
ing that they have a teacher because all teachers do not announce
or reveal themselves: they merely work through the consciousness
of the individual in a completely impersonal sense. Whether we a
touching the I Itself or whether there is mediation is of no imp '
tance. If the impartations are coming through a teacher, they a
■coming from the Source — not from the teacher, only through t
teacher. No teacher could be a teacher if he were not one with V*
Source.

"and they shall all be taught of god" 171

There is an invisible bond connecting us with every spiritual being,
person, activity, thought, and thing in the entire world. Through the
tealization of that, we are instantaneously at-one with the spiritual
consciousness of those who have lived throughout all time. We are
instantaneously at-one with the spiritual consciousness of everyone
functioning on earth, and of all those who have not yet been born.

Everyone exists here and now. But where is here? Are we talking
about a room or about consciousness? The J of us is not, and never
can be, in a room. The room in which our body is, is in our conscious-
ness. That is what makes us aware of it. So, if we are attuned to the
inspired masters of all ages, we have them with us at this moment
in our consciousness.

On this point hinges a tremendous revelation: we are never alone.
Just as we attract to ourselves the companionship we deserve at any
given moment, so in our invisible life there is companionship. As
Jesus could tabernacle with Moses and Elias whom he looked upon
as great teachers and spiritual seers, so do we today have those who
are our companions on the spiritual path. You have yours, and I have
mine — if so be we awaken to the realization that none of these has
died, that our own is with us, and our own teacher is within us.
Your teacher may be a man or a woman living in this particular
parenthesis, or your teacher may be an invisible Presence and Power.
Such is the mystical life.

This communion is always with a divine state of consciousness, not
with a human consciousness existing on another plane. Regardless
M how many generations have elapsed, the possibility of contact
exists because merely possessing a different form would not change
" e situation. We are not limited to a body; we exist not as a physi-
ea "ty» but as the I that we are, that I which we know ourselves to be.

" I wish to commune with you, I have to close my eyes, shut out

the

a ppcarance, and go deep down within my consciousness. There

find the J that you really are— the Soul, the divine child of God,

e * that lives in the bosom of the Father and has never left the
Father.

e do not have to go any further than to turn to the f within to

r ecei

Ve impartations of truth and of wisdom from the Source because

172 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

that I is one with the Source. In the very chair where we are sitting
are both the Father and the Son — God the Father, and God the
Son. We have only to turn within, and the 1 which is the Father
begins to reveal Itself, Its truth, Its wisdom.

Then if these impartations do not come in the form of words or
thoughts, it makes no difference: they will still appear as effect. We
may have no awareness that anything has taken place, but as long as
we have gone within and made ourselves a state of receptivity, we
can be assured that something is going to happen in the visible.

Let us never forget that we do not have to go out searching for
masters, or turning round and round in our mind trying to find
them. What we have to do is to seek the kingdom of God, to desire
God -consciousness and God -awareness, and if this is to come to us
through the God-inspired, they will find us. It mav not even be necesr
sary that we know the identity of those who are destined to guide us.
There are many inspired and illumined men and women on earth who
are totally unaware of that identity or of the individual source of their
inspiration and strength. Others are consciously aware of specific
identities, but I have never known of one who had this awareness
who sought it. It was the grace of God that brought it to him.

If we seek illumination from any being less than God, we certainly
can be led astrav into idolatry. But if we seek it of God, and it comes
through an instrument of God, through one illumined of God, there
is no idolatry in that, and there is no personalizing of it. If we under-
stand that masters are merely those individuals who, bv their spiritual
preparedness, have been illumined of God, wc will not worship
them: we will appreciate them and be grateful to them for being
instruments through which God appears to us. If we see them a s
something separate and apart from God, however, we may make the
mistake of worshiping them as masters, and that can lead to trouble
just as if we were to worship human teachers on this plane instead o>
understanding what their function is and what makes them teachers-
Teachers are not teachers because of themselves- they arc teachers
because of a preparation that has been going on over many lifetir» eS
and has made of them transparencies through which God, Trut' 1 '
can be revealed to human consciousness.

"AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOd" 173

When we understand teachers in that light, we will be grateful
to them for the life they lead, but we will never go so far afield as to
worship them; and when they pass from our personal experience,
are will not feel that truth has been taken from us. Rather will we
understand that from then on, truth will come either directly to us
from within our own being, or if we have not yet reached that stage,
another teacher or master will find us.

So whether our particular teacher is on this plane or another, we
can understand him correctly only if we understand that he comes to
us as an instrument through which God, Truth, can reach us. Then
if perchance we become aware of someone acting as an instrument
from another plane and if through that contact the fruitage is good,
we need not fear it, but welcome it. If, on the other hand, we find
ourselves touching a realm on another plane made up of good and
evil, we can know that we have touched only the human plane,
whether here or there.

The real teacher knows that I was before Abraham, and that I
will be with him until the end of the world. That we are unable to
see this teacher or this I with our human eyes makes no difference
because I is not a physicality: J is Spirit; I is consciousness; I is life
eternal, and if we can understand that, then where the / of the
teacher is physically will never concern us, for that I will always be
where we are, unto the end of the world, unto the end of time. J
will be where we are, but inasmuch as the J of the teacher is the I
W us, we can have that individualized J with us wherever we are by
wowing that the I of our being is where the I of the teacher is: we
ar e inseparable and we are indivisible.

At a certain moment, when all the necessary requirements have

^n fulfilled, the light of the teacher's consciousness illumines the

udent, and then the student comes into the full awareness of his

tUe identity and has a transcendental experience. When that takes

f ac e, the student is as free and independent as the teacher, and is

he f u ]] anc i complete realization of his true identity and of the

ntity of every man, woman, and child in the world.

Th

d

r ough this developed spiritual eye, we see the heart of an in-
1Vld "al and the heart of nature: the heart of a leaf, of a flower, and

174 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

even the heart of a stone. There is no such thing as dead matter.
Everything there is lives and breathes, and everything there is has a
soul. There are souls in stones, and there are souls in trees, but these
souls are the one Soul interpreted at different levels. Seen materially,
a stone is a stone. Seen mentally, a stone can be a weapon. Seen
spiritually, a stone is really a little spark of God— a jewel, a gem—
and strangely enough, it is incorporeal: it has form, structure, color,
and beauty, but it does not have density. So with a tree: a tree has
form, light, beauty, color, grace, but it has no density when perceived
through the transcendental consciousness.

No man of himself can bestow the Holy Ghost upon another, but
as an instrument of God, the teacher becomes the transparency
through which God reaches human consciousness, elevates and
purifies it, lifts it from the stony soil into the barren, and from the
barren into the fertile.

CHAPTER XV

SELF-SURRENDER

q

S-Audents setting out on the spiritual adventure often labor under
the misapprehension that they are going to mount up on to Cloud
Nine, Ten, or Eleven and not come down to earth at all except
perhaps to help a few of their neighbors. But it does not work out
that way, although at first there may be for them an "adding to"
kind of experience,

The spiritual path is a way of sacrifice; it is a giving up, a sur-
render. If we can picture the Master saving to his disciples, "Leave
your nets," or the disciples, the apostles, and the two hundred going
about carrying the Christ-message far and wide, yet taking no thought

1 their life, depending upon neither purse nor scrip, suffering
Persecution and later on death itself, we can begin to realize that

e way of the Christ is not a way of getting, but of givingness: it
iSa way of surrender.

dually the metaphysical student does not come to a truth-teach-
surrender or to give up anything. His primary thought is on

Hat he

will get out of it, and while there should be no criticism or

111 nation of those who are on that level of consciousness, it

c ond

"lUst h

3 8 . e re cognized that getting has nothing whatsoever to do with

P'ntua] teaching.

175

176 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

It is true, however, that the first year or two of study does result
in a considerable amount of getting for most students. Their per.
sonal lives begin to be adjusted; harmonies come into their experj.
ence: greater health, sometimes a greater supply, and nearly always
a greater sense of peace.

A year or so later they run into a little trouble : the ego comes into
the picture as students begin to realize that in order to attain spir-
itual grace they are called upon to surrender all human qualities,
desires, and passions— not only their evil ones, but also traits labeled
by the world as good. Many cherished things have to go out the
window when the Spirit comes in. Many comforts have to be re-
linquished, and this is the period when even physical difficulties may
arise.

The human body has within itself the potentiality of discord and
disease, and if it is left to itself, these errors would just continue
multiplying until they became serious enough to cause pain. Under
a program of two or three years of very serious spiritual work, how-
ever, these errors are not permitted to lie dormant: they are roused
up.

It is not only physical discords that lie dormant in most persons,
but the ego itself because in many cases it has had very little op-
portunity to receive any attention. Those who have known little of
honor and glory and who often feel like nobodies, which really all or
us are as human beings, suddenly begin to blossom and find them-
selves in the midst of activities heretofore unknown. Then it is that
the dear little ego is fanned and begins to feel important. With that
comes the period of rebellion— the inability of the ego to maintain a
proper perspective— and a period of struggle ensues.

In other words, during this second, third, or fourth year of very
serious spiritual study, we can expect the worst of us to come to the
surface, whether it is a physical worst, a mental worst, or even »
moral worst. In many different ways the early years are troublesorn
ones because, if the temptations that come are not wisely handled'
we can find ourselves, not only like Lot's wife looking back at t«
city, the state of consciousness, that she had left, but also walking

back to those cities, to those places of outgrown consciousness

arhicb

we have long since gone beyond. The goal looks so far away that

\VC

SELF-SURRENDER 177

^ay become discouraged and decide to turn back. It is in these vears

therefore, that we need to watch ourselves most closely to be sure that

,ve are not overcome by our problems or by the situations that face us

but that we continue moving forward.

During this period of unrest, doubts and questions come to our

thought: Am I on the right path? Is this my way? If we could but

remember the changes that have taken place in our life or if we

could just recall the blessings that we have witnessed in the lives of

others on this Path, we would know that regardless of what may have

happened to us, this is still the way. Unfortunately, in this period of

doubt, most persons forget all the evidence they have had over the

vears which should have been sufficient to prove to them that this

is the way for them.

And so it is that at this point those of us who aspire to the spiritual

life must remember that the goal of the Spirit is not more or better

matter. The goal is not merely adding more material good, not

doubling or quadrupling our income, or turning a sick body into a

well one. If, however, we believe that those things represent the goal

and that judging by appearances we have failed to reach that goal,

fre may be tempted to leave the high road and turn away from what

our real goal should be.

The spiritual path leads to God-realization, to God-government

arid God-control. Along the Wav, and as a result of our progress on

that Way, healings come to us: physical, mental, moral, financial,

and healings also of discordant human relationships. These, however,

ar e not the goal: they are but the added things. At some point in

°ur experience they may serve as a temporary- proof of the Tightness

ot the Path, but in the final analysis they never are, because "neither

"I they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." But these

ea lings, nevertheless, do serve a purpose, and a good one, and they

** necessary to the fulfillment of the teaching of Jesus Christ.

1 am come that they might have life, and that they might have it

or e abundantly." That is the promise, but there are footsteps

!1, g up to the fulfillment of that promise, and these are some-

es very, very hard, primarily because of the surrender that is
^ssary/ '

0r the person who is merely seeking more harmony in his daily

F,

178 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

life, however, this surrender is not necessary. A little reading or an
occasional call upon a practitioner or a teacher will give him sufficient
help to make him comfortable so that he can go along avoiding mo$t
of the discords of human life, and leave the ultimate working out of
his salvation to some future time, perhaps even to some future lif e
But for those who cannot rest in that, for those who have felt the
son of God in their breast and who have had their footsteps turned
to a spiritual path, there is no such thing as being satisfied with a
little physical comfort, mental and moral stability, or financial se-
curity. There has to be the pressing onward to the ultimate goal,
and that is where the surrender comes in.

We must surrender all desire to the one desire: to see God face to
face, to know Him, and to let the will of God be made manifest in
us. There must come the complete surrender of our personal selfhood,
so that the Spirit of God can fulfill Itself in us in accordance with
Its will, not with ours.

It is the will of God that we have life eternal; it is the will of God
that we bear fruit richly. As a matter of fact, the Christ is planted
in our consciousness for one reason, and one only : that we might be
at peace; that we might have life and have it more abundantly; that
if we are blind, our eyes may be opened; if we are deaf, our ears may
be unstopped; in other words, that the grace of God fill us with an
infinite abundance of spiritual good. Christ Jesus said not one word
about using the spiritual path as a goal to acquire palaces and king-
doms and earthly treasures. Rather did he say, "My kingdom is not
of this world."

The student of spiritual wisdom must pray, not for the king-
doms of this world, not for "the four temporal kingdoms." One o
the reasons for our discontent is that the four temporal kingdom'
have not been fulfilled in us as we had hoped thev might be, a "
now we are being called upon to surrender our desire for thos*
kingdoms— for the things of "this world," for the things for wrn c
we have heretofore prayed. Our goal must now be the purely spin*
one of attaining the kingdom of heaven.

The kingdom of heaven is a state of great peace and harm 1

on? ;

it is a place of many mansions where everyone is a master,

and the*

SELF-SURRENDER 179

are no servants. What a strange kingdom! A place in which there
af e all these great wonders, but no servants to take care of them,
gach one >"s a master, and each one is his own servant. Unfortunately,
however, some persons believe that heaven is a place where they will
^ masters with servants to wait upon them. It must come as a
shock to many to realize that in their spiritual ongoing, there are no
places of honor, greatness, or fame; there are no kings and princes;
there is no upper ten or lower five. All these are one in Christ Jesus:
there are no greater and no lesser. There is only a complete depend-
ance on the Spirit of God.

There is a Spirit of Christ, and It will raise up our mortal bodies;
It will be the bread and the wine and the water to our experience;
It will take us out of those empty years of the locusts. There is a
Spirit, but there is a price to be paid for It— a surrender. Spirituality
cannot be added to a vessel already full of materiality. We cannot
add the kingdom of heaven to our personal sense of self; we cannot
attain the kingdom of heaven if there is an inordinate love of per-
sona] power, a love of glory, a love of name or fame, or a desire
merely to show forth the benefits and the fruitage of the Spirit in the
form of better human circumstances. Our vessel must be empty of
self before it can be filled with the grace of God.

The Master Christ Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, touched
"e lepers, and served in any and every way to show that it was not
"e. himself, who had power, but that it was the grace of God that
*as operating through him, not a Grace in him alone, but a Grace

a t would operate in all those who were willing to leave their nets
a "d empty themselves of self.

Wh

s <tt to do
stand

en a person realizes that it is impossible for him of his own

any mighty works, impossible even to have enough under-
'"uaing to heal a simple headache, then, and then only, does he
■^coirie
*'ork

an empty vessel through which the Spirit of God can do Its
■ °" earth. It is when sitting humbly and completely aware of
fun S . 1Ilabint y' even to know how to pray, that the Spirit of God can

l0 n and perform Its miracles on earth,
ifjg spirit of God is ever-present to lift us up out of our every
7* but it has to have a human consciousness to use as an

1

180 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

instrument. There had to be a Jesus Christ to perform those miraca.
lous and instantaneous healings in Galilee. There had to be discing
to carry on the healing work. God always acts through an individual
consciousness, just as He acted through Moses, Elijah, and the
disciples, and as He has acted through the mystics, metaphysicians
practitioners, and teachers of these later days. God operates through
the instrumentality of individual human consciousness when indi-
vidual consciousness is purged of its desire for self-glorification, for
self-profit, or for whatever it is that "the four temporal kingdoms"
represent to a person.

When we come to the point of serving as practitioners or teachers,
we shall have to be courageous and completely purged of any per-
sonal sense because we will undoubtedlv offend many of the very
persons whom we wish to bless. In this ministry there can be no
catering to anyone because of his position, wealth, or fame; there
can be no catering to the grosser part of human nature. Even' person
will have to be brought to the same state of surrender, and, there-
fore, we may have to "pluck out eyes," "cut off hands," and point
out, "This way is straight and narrow, and you either follow in the
straight and narrow way, or you will not enter." This Path is not the
pathway of popularity. We may make ourselves unpopular because
we will be called upon to discipline, to correct, and to teach undevi-
ating principles which the human mind resisted in the days of Moses
and of Jesus Christ, and always will resist. The human mind had to
have its golden calf even after Moses had revealed the nature of God;
it wants a golden calf today because human nature does not like t>
surrender its golden calves, and the biggest golden calf it has i
self— self-indulgence, self, self, self. The human mind wants an]?'
thing but self-surrender.

Man has to be a hollow emptiness through which the Spirit p? 3 )'
but when the Spirit prays in and through man, spiritual fruitage ta*
place in this world. It is the Spirit of God that performs the g^
healing works on earth through those people who are able to be »
and silent, listening ever and always for the voice of the Lord. 1
the emptiness inside, the Spirit of God flows, and spiritual fn»
appears.

SELF-SURRENDER lfi]

Certainly in the early stages it may be painful when tfo « ■ ►

is breakmg up the humanness in us; certainly there Jl J*^

t0 rbances in our existence. These we must accept with L£ j

This very pain and these very disturbances indicate that JE J"

u , Now they are bang roused up, rooted out, and if we are £ n ful
we will be purified. ^ u ™

CHAPTER XVI

THE SECRET OF THE WORD MADE FLES

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God.

The same was in the beginning with God.

All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing
made that was made.

In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it
not.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that ill
men through him might believe.

He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light

That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into
the world.

He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the wond
knew him not.

He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become t
sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Which were bom, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, not '
the will of man, but of God. .■

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beM
his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of g 18
and truth. John v.t'H

T

±he

» cnflD'

he Word becomes flesh, that is, the Word becomes the sod
God in the consciousness of men. The consciousness of most
is dark so that it cannot receive or believe in the son of God. " u

182

THE SECRET DF THE WORD MADE FLESH

183

those who can receive, to those who have some measure of spiritual
n ttiitio n J to them the son of God can come and be received, and
wause the son of God can be received even by one person in all
the world, that makes it possible for all men, for us, too, to become
jons of God.

All the mystics of the world have revealed that there is but one
Selfhood, one Ego, one infinite Being. God created individual being,
individual you and me, in the image and likeness of Himself, not
through the act of human conception and birth, but He sent man
forth into expression as the showing forth of all that He is and has—
and this without any processes.

Because of this spiritual relationship with God, man is one with
his Creator even though at some remote time he left his Father's
house and decided to be something of himself, thereby becoming
the Prodigal. He was not satisfied to share the Father's wisdom, His
wealth, and His grace, so when he wandered away from the Father's
house, from that divine I, he took unto himself the personal sense
of "I," trying to make his way by means of his own efforts, wisdom,
and strength, but failing— failing miserably. There in essence is the
whole story of the human race. It is the story of the "natural man"
who is not under the law of God.

That has been the experience of every one of us. Before we under-
stood the nature of God and of individual being, we perhaps thought
°f God as some far-off being, probably sitting on a cloud or up in
heaven, a sort of superhuman Father who rewarded us when we were
good— if He happened to notice it — and who punished us when
we were evil, which He always noticed. In those darkened days God
as a kind of super-Santa Glaus, who, if we succeeded in pleasing,
'5 n t condescend to do something for us, and who, if we displeased,
°uld hold us in some kind of darkness or inflict some punishment
u P°n us.

n that darkened stage we had to rely on ourselves alone for our
grcss through life, earn our living by the sweat of our brow, go
|7 °ugli Hfe subject to all its laws— health, economic, and legal—
n y of them unsound and unjust, and live under the domination,

c "mes of family and sometimes of government. We had no

184 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

access whatsoever to anything of a spiritual nature that could solve
our problems for us or be of any help in an emergency. We w^g
human beings, unenlightened, unillumined; we were in darkness;
we entertained a sense of a selfhood apart from God. God was j
million light years away, beyond the stars; and in that sense of sepa-
ration we believed that our sins and those of all our forebears were
operating to keep us from God.

In our innermost hearts we felt dissatisfied and incomplete because
we had not shown forth the wealth of the son of God, nor the
health and perfection of life eternal. Feeling that absence, that sense
of separateness and that incompleteness, we reached within ourselves
and asked, "O God, where art Thou? Is there a God, or have I been
deluded? Is there a supreme Being, or have I been fooling myself in
trying to find One?"

This inner pleading testified to the vacuum somewhere within ns,
and this vacuum cried out to be filled. This vacuum, or sense of
separation, may have appeared in us as sin, false appetite, disease,
or poverty. What difference the form? However it appeared, it was
really a sense of incompleteness, and this brought about within us
a longing to be complete and whole. We may have interpreted this
as a longing to be healthy, or to have a sufficiency of supply, or as a
longing for companionship, but deep within us, our real longing
was to be reunited with our Source.

Yet at that very same time this Word made flesh, this son o
God, dwelt in us, but was shrouded about with so much darkness
that we could not perceive It; we were not aware of Its presence

So in this spiritual darkness, brought upon us by our ignorance

of

the truth that within us is this Word made flesh, this Light of t
world, we struggled by ourselves with whatever measure of hurna
wisdom or human strength we had.

But whether we struggled for a healing or to be free of sin, ***':
appetite, or lack, what we were really struggling for was to get b a
to our Father's house, to drop this sense of the personal "I,
once more rest in the assurance that we are not a prodigal. In
earnest longing and struggling, this false sense of self drops av

THE SECRET OF THE WORD MADE FLESH 185

and greater harmony appears. In our ignorance we call that a heal-
jjjtr. It is not: it is the more-appearing of our divine Selfhood.

Paul rightly declared, "Neither death, nor life . . . shall be able
to separate us from the love of God." In reality we have never been
separated from God; we have never been separated from our good,
from on r wholeness and completeness; but from the time we were
infants we have been taught about a personal "I," and we have,
therefore, entertained this false sense of self which claims, "I am
Mary," "I am Bill," or "I am Joel," instead of humbly realizing:

"Be still, and know that I am God." I at the center of me is God,
and therefore, I live by Grace and by divine inheritance.

To live by that divine inheritance does not mean that we do not
work. There is no provision in heaven or on earth for parasites. Re-
gardless of the material wealth that we may inherit, we cannot sit
by and watch the sun rise and set without working, and in some way
making a contribution to this world.

So it is that even though we are heirs of God and, through our
spiritual realization, do ultimately derive our good from God, we
will work, and work more hours and more diligently than we did
when we were working merely for a living because now we realize
uiat we cannot manifest God's glory only eight or twelve hours a
da y: it takes twenty- four hours every day to show forth God's grace
a *io God's glory. The whole of life becomes a matter of letting this
pmtiial Influence flow through, but because we are united with one
another, everything that flows through from the Father to any one

of

Us is instantly shared bv all of us.

of
tain

Nothing can come into our experience except through an activity
0llr consciousness. It is through our consciousness that we enter-

a sense of separation from God, from good— supply, companion-
Pi wholeness and completeness— but it is also through our con-

1; »ncss, when we consciously make ourselves one with the Source
good, that we are restored to this realized oneness with God.

1 a, s consciousness man either lacks or has. Within his conscious-

186 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

ness he either separates himself from his good, or he meets up with
his good. Whatever it takes, therefore, to fulfill him at his present
level of life can come to him only through an act of his consciousness
and that act must be repeated again and again until eventually ^
culminates in conscious union with God.

Attaining union with God does not usually come at a' single
bound. It is more than likely to be the result of years of dedicated
study, meditation, and service, the earliest stage of which might be
called the First Degree. When we come to this First Degree, we
begin to leam that there is a God and that we are so much one with
Him that He performs that which is given us to do.

As we persist in following the teachings of the Christ, learning to
forgive seventy times seven, praying for our enemies, and resisting
not evil, we draw closer and closer to the realization of our true
identity and the realization of the presence of God within us. But
we cannot go into His presence with a cruel and condemnatory at-
titude toward life: we have to go in gently and peaceably, quietly
and confidently, if we hope to hear that still small voice.

Gradually, we attain a conscious at-one-ment with the infinite
Source of our being, a greater and greater awareness of Infinity. We
become more and more aware that there is a Presence that goes
before us to make "the crooked places straight." We feel that we are
not alone, that within us there really is this Infinite Invisible. At
times it seems almost as if It were within our chest, sometimes as if
It might be sitting on our shoulder or standing back of us, but we
are aware, even if dimly, that there is a Father, an invisible Presence
and Power, and more and more we relax in It. All this is progress
in the First Degree.

As we come toward the latter part of the First- Degree-experiencet
we begin to perceive that we are living more by Grace than by effort'
we are living more by a power that is doing things for us without
our taking conscious thought, and sometimes doing them before *
even know there is a need for them. Something seems to be g 011 *
before us and changing the relationships between us and '
people we meet.

The end result of passing through this degree is the gaining or

THE SECRET OF THE WORD MADE FLESH

187

absolute inner conviction that where we are, God is, that the place
w hereon we stand is holy ground, that there is a He that performs
that which is given us to do, that there is a divine Grace that pro-
vides for our needs, "not by might, nor by power," but by the very
gentle Spirit of God that is within us.

In spite of this continuing awareness of a Presence within, there
js yet another barrier that separates all men from the realization and
demonstration of God: the belief that there are two powers. In the
early stages of our study of truth, we seek God as a power because
in our ignorance we would like to use God-power over some other
power. But the greatest attainment at this stage of our unfoldment is
the realization of God as One, not as a power over some other
powers, but as the only Power. It is when we begin to come into
the realization of God as the only Power that we no longer fear
external powers in any form, not even "the armies of the aliens."

In going through the First Degree, a transformation of conscious-
ness takes place, and in proportion as we attain an awareness of
God's presence and a realization of the Infinite Invisible, we begin
to lose our hate, our fear, and our love of the external world. We no
longer hate or fear germs, infection, contagion, epidemics, or acci-
dents; we no longer hate, fear, or love form in whatever varietv
expressed: we are beginning to attain the realization of the non-
power of all form. We do not fear earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes,
cyclones, or floods: we understand that because of the infinite nature
of spiritual Being these are not power. They are the "arm of flesh,"
nothingness.

I nrough the building up and strengthening of our realization of
Y°d as a Presence, as Law, as Life eternal, and as Peace, we are at

e same time losing our fear of all material forms, whether appear-

8 as condition or person. We are beginning to feel as the Master
before Pilate: "Thou couldest have no power at all against me,
t were given thee from above." Through our enlightened

^nscio
s tado\

usness, we perceive that all the evils of this world are but
3 ws brought about by the universal belief in two powers, and
re losing that belief in proportion as God is becoming more and
e r eal as a Presence and a Power.

188

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

Hie enlightened consciousness is a state of individual conscious,
ness— yours and mine— when the fear and the hate of external fonti s
begin to disappear. Undue love for the things of this world also
lessens, although that does not mean that we are not to appreciate
the beautifu! things of life, experience them, and if it serves an?
purpose, own them. It does not mean that we are not to enjoy a
beautiful home, if so be it is brought into our experience; it does
not mean that we are not to enjoy wealth, if wealth comes our way:
it means that we are not to be so attached to any form of materiality
as to make of it a necessity, a something of importance in our life
when it really is but a part of the passing picture.

Losing our hate, fear, or love of the external realm is not achieved
by the mouthing of words or the making of affirmations or declara-
tions, but only by the developing of our consciousness through the
realization of a divine Presence which in the end we realize to be our
own Self, the very I of our being.

At the beginning of our spiritual journey we were in darkness, in
gross spiritual ignorance; we did not know the truth. Because of this
we were living in material consciousness: our whole sense of life
was materialistic; everything that we thought of was from the ma-
terial standpoint; and power was placed in matter or in form, either
for good or for evil. We were aware of ourselves as individuals living
our own lives, fluctuating between successes and failures, all because
we were limited to our own mind, our physical strength, and our
persona] sense of right and wrong.

One of the first things we learned was that we are not alone, that
there is a Presence within us, a Presence greater than anything B
the world, a Presence that in the beginning we call He, not for any
particular reason because this Presence has no gender: It is neitJitf
male nor female; It is incorporeal and spiritual; It can never t
seen, heard, tasted, touched, or smelled; It is known only as *'
experience It. We may say that we feci It, but we do not feel
through any sense of touch that we have. More correctly, we rwg
say we are aware of Its presence.

We practice this Presence, which we later identify as God,
waking in the morning and recognizing that God gave us this « j

THE SECRET OF THE WORD MADE FLESH 189

that God rules the day as God rules the night, and that just as God
governs all the forces of nature, so does He govern us.

As human beings we are not God-governed, nor are we under
the law of God; and for this reason anything can happen to us—
anything from slipping in the bathtub to running out in front of an
automobile, or picking up a tiny little germ and being laid low in
hed and ill for weeks. Anything can happen to us until we become
aware of the Presence and begin practicing the truth within ourselves
every day.

As we continue in this practice, an inner stillness takes place. We
become more quiet within, more peaceful; we have greater confidence
in ourselves because now we know that there is Something greater
than ourselves working with us, in us, and through us. It may be
that we hear the still small voice speak to us as clearly as any person
might speak, giving us specific instructions in a language that we
cannot possibly misunderstand. Sometimes we are aware of a great
light within ourselves, and just the presence of that light changes our
entire outer experience.

There are many ways that this Presence can announce and reveal
Itself to us, but one way we can know whether it is a true spiritual
experience is that there are always signs following. These may be in
the form of the healing of some physical, mental, moral, or financial
discord. The experience may bring about happier human relation-
ships with others; it may increase our supply; or it may find employ-
m «it for us. In one way or another, a spiritual experience is always
a <Xompanied by signs following — what in metaphysics is called dem-
onstration.

While this process is going on, something else is taking place at the

s& nre time. Intsead of putting our entire hope, faith, and reliance

m the external world and instead of living by the world's standards

life, W e now begin to see that there is a spiritual Something that

°f far greater importance than the material. There is a Spirit

ltllin us, and it is this Spirit that is playing the most important

role
If:

m our life.

sonig need arises in our experience that involves a sum of money,
*> not immediately set about planning, scheming, or figuring

ISC

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

alow we can obtain that amount of money, but rather we realty
H'lit a minute! 'Man does not live by bread alone'— by outet
fets; man does not live by money alone." Then we drop the proh
ia, and very soon whatever is necessary for its solution comes into
to experience. It may cost money, but if so, the money will be
frctided; or it may even come without the need for money. It is not
ittey that is the need : it is the word of God that is the need, and
4a the word of God comes, it either furnishes the money, or
'kever is necessary without money.

Dnring the days of our dependence on human ways and means, if
*we having a physical problem, such as the heart causing diffi-
culty, our whole attention would have been centered on correcting
k functioning of the heart; but now, through this practice of the
feetice and through meditation, something within says, "Man shall
Kt live by heart alone, by liver, lungs, digestion, or elimination, but
b'tvery word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God!' " Now we
*siMt thinking in terms of heart, liver, or lungs; we are not thinking
s trims of digestion, elimination, or muscles: we are realizing that
H lives by the word of God. As a result of that realization, either
iitoigan or function of the body is repaired, or we are able to live
■fflfortably without it.

larough inner unfold men t we learn in this First Degree that
*taeas before we thought we needed things on the outer plane and
"3 whole life struggle was to attain more of these things, now «#
'<ai from that struggle and realize that "man does not live by
fed alone."

As re took our first faint steps toward the Kingdom, we were led
bins spiritual revelation: "Know ye not that the kingdom of Gw
isu'thin you7 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God? Kn° w
What the son of God, the Christ, dwelleth in you?"
These words came with some measure of conviction of their truth
id our heart answered, "This is what I believe, or what I wo°'
li« to believe— that I am not alone in the world, that God has not
ttme out into this world and then abandoned me. God h a *
W me on this earth that I may glorify Him. But how can

&1

God in any way, bound as I seem to be by my sins,

THE SECRET OF THE WORD MADE FLESH 191

diseases, my false appetites, and my poverty? How can I glorify God
j n my struggle to survive, in my struggle to provide for my family?
flow can I glorify God?"

The answer is, "You cannot! But if the Spirit of God dwells in
you, then you become the child of God, and are heir to all the
heavenly riches."

Our first instruction in spiritual wisdom reveals that we are no
longer to look up into the skies, and that the hills to which we look
for our help refer to the high places in consciousness. When we
return to the highest sense of our Self, to the Christ of God that is
lifted up in us, we are looking unto the hills. Our vision turns within
and upward into that altitude of consciousness where we can discern
that the Word has become flesh and dwells in us.

When, in a flash, Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus was
blinded to his ignorance, to his past, to everything that he had known
before, and when all of his former beliefs were wiped out, he became
a pure vessel, with his sight restored to him, a sight beyond physical
sight— spiritual vision. He recognized that the Light shining within
him was the Christ; he knew that the son of God had been raised
up in him.

He dwelt alone with this sacred secret, retiring from the worid to
commune and tabernacle with this Word made flesh within him.
He learned to be less concerned with the physical sense of life and
its needs, wants, or fulfillments. Now he was lifted up in conscious-
ness, and he was tabernacling in his mind with this Spirit that had
been raised up, this Spirit bom in the lowly mental environment of
the humanly wise, but spiritually ignorant, Saul of Tarsus. And just
as Joseph and Mary carried the Babe down to Egypt for several years,
So Paul carried his Christ to Arabia, hiding there and letting It grow
and develop in him until he himself became so consciously aware of,
a "d one with, It, that just as the old Saul had "died," now the new
aul began to live less and less, as the Christ lived in him more and
more.

Finally, the day came when the Christ could speak to Paul, "Begin

y ur ministry. Go out into the world and preach Me. Preach to all

e, i that I, the Word made flesh, dwell in you, and not only in you,

1

192 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

Paul, but in all those whom you address. Say to every one of them
'The Spirit of God dwells in you.' And when your friends, the dis-
ciples, and others try to caution you to give this Word only to y )e
Hebrews, for the Hebrews are the chosen of God, and only they are
worthy to receive this Word, you will suffer their persecution; y 0ll
will be tried for standing for the truth that the Word made flesh
dwells in the consciousness of all mankind, whether Jew or Gentiie
whether Christian or pagan. You will carry to the world the uni-
versality of the Word made flesh. You will break this bondage to
one religion, to one teaching, to one teacher; you will reveal to all
mankind that the Word becomes flesh, and dwells in the con-
sciousness of all men, awaiting their recognition."

Paul went out into the world spreading the glad tidings to those
of all religious beliefs: "I bring to you the message of the son of God.
I bring to you the revelation of the Word made flesh that dwells
among you as the Light of the world— as the Light unto your world,
I bring to you the revelation that you are children of God. 'Neither
circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,' neither fasting
nor feasting availeth anything: you are already the children of God,
for the Spirit of God dwells in you."

The Word made flesh is the son of God, or Christ, and It is in
the midst of us for the purpose of performing the will of God. I"
this very moment there is within us the son of God, the Christ, and
Its function is to heal and to raise us out of our "dead" humanhood,
to restore the "lost years of the locust," to forgive us whatever »
we have committed while in ignorance of our true identity. Th' 5
Christ is forever saying to us:

I am come that you might have life, and that you might have-
more abundantly. Relax'. Rest! You have sought Me. I was here 6
Vie time, but now you have found Me.

Now you know the folly of sin; now you know the stupidity °!
and now you know something even more important: there '*
necessity for sin. No longer is it necessary to steal, no longer
necessary to bear false witness, to scheme, to plot, or to take u»l!
advantage, for I in the midst of you am mighty; I in the mi"- 5 *

THE SECRET OF THE WORD MADE FLESH

193

you am your bread and your supply unto eternity. I am the source of
Opportunity and of inspiration. I am the light unto your world.

I am the resurrection, and if your body has been wasted away by
jj-fi or disease, I will raise it up again. I— the Word made flesh, tho
Christ that dwells in the midst of you— I am here to raise up your
body from the tomb of sin, from the tomb of disease, and even from
the tomb of old age.

Do not let even the calendar defeat you, for I am the resurrection,
and I am here to resurrect you out of that old body into a body not
made with hands, a spiritual body, eternal in the heavens. You do
not have to go through physical death to attain this new body: just
dwell in the realization of Me in the midst of you! Morning, noon,
and night, ponder Me, think on Me, dwell in Me, trust Me, rely on
Me.

Know the truth that I am in the midst of you, and I am mighty.
I am performing the function of God in you and through you. I in
the midst of you am the mediator between you and your infinite
Source.

Those things that I receive from the Father, I bestow upon you.
The gift of Grace, the strength, the healing power, the redemptive
power, and the forgiving power that have been given to Me of the
Father, I in turn give unto you. Look unto Me and be saved 1 .
Relieve in the son of God, and that that son of God, the Word made
te, the Christ, is in the midst of you.

Since "before Abraham was, I am" here in the midst of you. I will
n ever leave you, nor forsake you. Even if your parents forsake you,

will not forsake you. I will be with you unto the end of the world.

°m to go before you to light your way and to prepare mansions

far you.

Regardless of the trials or tribulations that face us on our human
°ur recourse is to remember consciously the Word made flesh

*av,

at dwells within us, and Its function. If we slip, Its function is to
us np again; if we sin, Its function is to forgive us, seventv

tlm « seven.

Aft i_ ■
ner this truth has been revealed to us, we then begin a most

194 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

difficult part of our journey because now comes that period when &.
have to make truth a part of our own being, and bring it to fruition
in our individual life. The way to accomplish this is through pra c
ticing the presence of God.

Very soon this practice of the Presence becomes second nature to
us, and we can hardly draw a breath without realizing that but for
the grace of God, we could not draw it. The body of itself cannot
breathe; the body of itself cannot stand on its feet. A body, separate
and apart from consciousness, collapses and falls down. We cannot
live a moment without the conscious realization of the function of
this Spirit of God in us.

When the full significance of the meaning of the Word made flesh
dawns upon us, and we realize that It is the mediator between God
and man, we begin to see that this presence and power of mediation
is in our consciousness, and therefore, all that the Father intends for
us individually to have is ours by the grace of this realized, raised up
son of God in us.

This continued practice of the presence of God leads to an inner
silence and stillness, so that the turmoil of the world does not enter
in, and when we sit down, we find ourselves in a meditation in which
we come into conscious union with God, and we are witnesses now
to the Christ that is living our life, beholders of Its glory.

We are no longer living by might or by power; we are no longer
living by human wisdom, but by a divine Wisdom that flows out
through us in what seems to be a human way. We live now, not by
force, but by Grace, as if there were Something always out here
knowing our need before we do, and supplying it. This comes about
through the unfoldment and revelation that are attained in medita-
tion when we have contacted that inner wellspring of life, that
inner force which is our true Selfhood.

In relaxing from conscious effort, struggle, might, power, concertU
worry, and fear, the glory of God can be made manifest through on 1
personal life, so that all men may witness it and know that w^
the Spirit of God is come to individual life, that life becomes one o
glory and of service. No one's life becomes glorified that he may #°
through life sitting on Cloud Nine: one's life is glorified that it nW

THE SECRET OF THE WORD MADE FLESH 195

, e a service and a dedication to the Creator of all, the Spirit of God
that dwells in us.

During the First Degree, we come to the realization that there is
th ; s inner spiritual Substance, Activity, or Law, and that It is flowing
out through our consciousness, becoming the substance of our new
svorld. The man of flesh has "died," and in a measure that man who
has his being in Christ is now beginning to come alive, resurrected
from the tomb of material beliefs and risen into the realization of
his spiritual identity.

CHAPTER XVn

THE MYSTICAL LIFE
THROUGH THE TWO GREAT COMMANDMENTS

T

he first stage of our spiritual unfoldment is an experience of
coming more and more into a conviction of the Presence and Its
availability in all circumstances and conditions. Simultaneously with
this growing assurance, we also become aware of how much we are
failing to live up to the stature of manhood in Christ Jesus and how
far short we come even from measuring up to the Ten Command-
ments,

Realizing the presence of God and tabernacling with Him awakens
us to our failings, and it is at this point that we enter the second
stage of our spiritual life. Here it is that we begin consciously to try
to live up to the Commandments, particularly those we have most
failed to observe. It is not too hard for us to discover the degree of
envy and jealousy that may be lurking in us, the bias and bigotry, t" e
little lyings and deceits, the hypocrisies. These all come to light be-
cause the more we bring the word of God into our consciousness, the
more we expose our own lack of godliness. This forcibly brings to oo f
attention the necessity of developing a greater ethical and m ora
sense.

In this second stage of our unfoldment, therefore, we earnestly W

196

MYSTICAL LIFE THROUGH TWO GREAT COMMANDMENTS 1 97

t0 live up to our highest sense of right, depending on the presence of
God to help us and relying on the inner Invisible to lift us to a
higher degree of humanhood. We begin to think; more about being
benevolent and charitable, and about practicing brotherhood. Not
onlv do we recognize the importance of caring for our own families
and those needing help in our community, but we begin to think in
terms of people in foreign countries, of aid for the distressed, or of
providing education for those who at the moment cannot afford it.
We turn our thought in the direction of living for others, helping
them, and of bringing about better human relationships between
management and labor or between members of different religious
denominations. All this is an attempt to make the Ten Command-
ments an integral part of our daily life.

These Commandments were a part of a code of ethics given to the
world by the Hebrews in the form of rules governing their religious
conduct. Whether it was something concerning dietary laws, fasts,
feasts, rituals, or one's personal life, everything was regulated accord-
ing to laws which apparently proved so effective that they have been
largely carried forward into the present Christian era and adopted by
many people, despite the fact that Jesus emphasized only one of the
Ten Commandments. To that one he added another from ancient
Hebrew teaching, thereby giving the world the great Christian ethic
embodied in the two great Commandments:

TIi on shalt love the Lord thv God with all thy heart, and with all thv
soul, and with all thy mind.
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Matthew 22:37, 39

Hie importance Jesus placed on these two Commandments did
n °t imply that he considered it right and moral to violate the other
ommandments — to steal, lie, cheat, defraud, bear false witness, kill,
T commit adultery — because those to whom he was speaking under-
°°d that a strict adherence to these two great Commandments
° u 'd naturally make obsolete and unnecessary all the others.

ere 'n lies the difference between living as a human being under

e 'aw and living as the child of God under Grace. In order to ap-

C1 ate this difference it is necessary to understand why, and how,

198 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

nine of the Ten Commandments could be dropped from a teaching
and yet right and perfect conduct be maintained.

No one can live the Christ-life by willing or desiring to do so
Living this life is not a matter of will because, if he could, everyone
would like to live without the temptation of sin or disease, everyone
would like to be honest. Until God comes through and makes Itself
felt in a person's consciousness, he cannot live by Grace: he must live
under the law, and more especially the law of the Ten Command-
ments. Although living under the Commandments is only a step in
human evolution, it is a necessary one in the experience of those
human beings who have not yet been touched by the Spirit because
the alternative is living in violation of them, and this inevitably
leads to destruction.

Living in obedience to the Ten Commandments is very much like
living in obedience to city, state, national, and international laws. If
we live according to these Commandments, we will be able to avoid
most of the troubles that afflict the men and women of this world:
we will certainly stay out of jail and we will have more harmonious
human relationships. This obedience, therefore, not only makes of us
good citizens, but it takes us a step beyond that to the point where
we are also good brothers one to another universally, and we thereby
bring into concrete expression love and good will.

But now let us see what happens when we begin keeping the
two great Commandments in our mind and in our heart, bound
upon our arm, and even hanging upon our doorpost. To love God
supremely means to place our entire faith, hope, confidence, reliance,
and assurance in God, to acknowledge Him in all our ways from rising
in the morning until sleeping at night, and to understand and rely on
God as infinite Intelligence and divine Love. It is a relaxing into that
assurance given in the Twenty-third Psalm, "The Lord is my shep-
herd; I shall not want," and a resting in it without mental agitation,
without fear, doubt, or concern. There is no other way to love God
supremely except to place ourselves wholly and completely in Hi" 1 '
under Him, and with Him.

Jesus knew that since God and man are one, there is no way °*
loving God without loving our neighbor, and the only measure of * at

L

MYSTICAL LIFE THROUGH TWO GREAT COMMANDMENTS 199

love is that it be the same kind of love wherewith we love ourselves.
■Therefore, to live, doing to no man what we would not wish to have
done unto ourselves, giving forth nothing to another that we would
„ot willingly, gladly, and joyously receive, produces an effect beyond
jhat which is involved in humanly loving God supremely and our
neighbor as ourselves.

A third factor enters, and this is the great mystery. In loving God
supremely and in acknowledging Him as the Principle of our life, the
Source of our good, the Substance and the Law of our being, we are
being unselfed. We are departing from the materialistic plane of life
in which self-preservation is the first law of nature, a law that is com-
pletely antagonistic to the law of God and contrary to the spiritual
life. The Master revealed that the highest form of life and love is to
lay down our life — not to preserve it at the expense of someone
else's, but to lay it down in the realization that in losing our personal
sense of life, we gain life eternal.

This does not mean that we must let someone kill us, although it
does mean that if it were a question of our life or another's, we would
be called upon to lose ours rather than take the other's, hard as that
may seem. Actually what it means is that in the acknowledgment of
God as our wisdom, as our strength and the health of our coun-
tenance, and as the life, substance, and reality of our being, we
are, by that acknowledgment, giving up a measure of our personal
sense of life. There is no other way of finding life eternal than by
laying down our personal sense of life.

In the personal sense of life we are almost always confident that
atl y wisdom we express is our own; we are quite certain that the
health of our body is ours; we glory in our mental and physical
opacities because we believe that they are ours, different and set
^ice apart from the mind and body of others. On the other hand,
as God is recognized as constituting the health of our countenance
" the source of our intelligence, guidance, wisdom, and direction,

e are thereby providing the necessary atmosphere and consciousness

r the awareness and the capacitv to understand the mystery of
Un£ clfedncss.

lr ni!ar!y, when we love our neighbor as ourselves, we bring about

200

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

a state of being in which we watch ourselves more closely to see that
what we do and think gives offense to no one, and in this connection
it must be remembered that it is not merely what we do that rnav
give offense, but even what we think.

Until this past century it was believed that as long as we kept anv
critical, destructive, carnal, or sensual thoughts within ourselves, we
were not harming anybody because these thoughts remained locked
up within us. The Master, however, knew, as all mystics know, that
this is not true. The thoughts that flow out from us are sometimes
more powerful than the physical acts, and it was because Jesus recog-
nized this that he taught that it was not sufficient to resist the act of
stealing, but that it was necessary even to give up inwardly coveting
anything belonging to another because the nature of what goes on
in a person's mind permeates the atmosphere.

It is hardly possible to be in the presence of a mystic or of a
spiritually endowed person and not feel a sense of lightness, a joy, or
a spiritual uplift. On the other hand, it is also hardly possible to be
in the presence of a gross individual and not fee! the heaviness, lust,
animality, or greed that is emanating from him.

Adopting the attitude of loving our neighbor us ourselves does not
mean to be anxious or worried about our neighbor, but it does mean
to watch our thoughts and deeds toward him. There, of course, we
come to the mystical point of maintaining in our consciousness the
truth about our neighbor— the truth, yes, but not the truth about a
human being; and here is the line of demarcation: it is not enough to
believe that our neighbor is good; it is not enough to believe that out
neighbor is our equal, or that our neighbor means well, because none
of those things may be true of him.

It would be ridiculous to call certain people good, honest, ana
spiritual when their actions testify to quite the reverse qualities-
Loving our neighbor as ourselves does not mean adopting a Pollya nna
attitude and saying to a criminal, ''Oh, you are a sweet person, and a
child of God"; it does not mean looking upon some of our politi' cal
figures and trying to realize how gentle and honest they are. AH ^ a
comes under the heading of stupidity.

To love our neighbor as ourselves means to acknowledge that G°

MYSTICAL LIFE THROUGH TWO GREAT COMMANDMENTS 201

; s just as much the reality, life, mind, and law of our neighbor as He
js f ourselves, whether or not our neighbor knows it or is acting in
accordance with it. This does not mean looking at an evil person
a nd calling him good, but it means looking at him and understand-
ing that the same God that is our very being and our very breath is
a ] s o that close and that near to him. It means to understand that
God constitutes the nature of his being as well as of ours. Let it be
clear that this does not mean looking at carnality and calling it
spiritual; it does not mean looking at mortality and calling it immor-
tality: it means looking through the appearance to the reality.

"If then I do that which I would not . . . it is no more I that do
it, but sin that dwelleth in me.'' So, regardless of a person's degree of
sin, wc do not claim that he is a sinner, even though at the moment
there may remain a sense of sin in him. In this way we are acknowl-
edging God as constituting our neighbor, even those neighbors who
do not yet know their identity or that which is the reality of them,
or that which could release them from their discords.

We are not trying to live other persons' lives : we are trying to live
our own lives in accordance with the two great Commandments.
When we accept these as our guide and adopt them as our way of
life, wc have not only embarked on our spiritual journey but have
made some headwav on it: we have become followers of the Master
and students of the real Christianity, of that which basically con-
stitutes the Christ-teaching, and in that moment we have come out
horn the mortal sense of life and have made ourselves separate.

With our vision held high in the continuous acknowledgment of
^*°d as that which constitutes individual being, we are so completely
unselfed that at some given moment the miracle takes place, tire
m iracle known as the Annunciation which is the conception of the
^"nst m our consciousness.

% desiring or willing it, we cannot, of ourselves, receive the Christ.

*■ ' s an act of Grace, but It comes in a moment of unselfedness, when

e arc loving the Lord our God supremely and loving our neighbor

s °urselves. In that split second of unselfedness, room is made in our
c ° n seiousness for the entrance of that Seed, the Christ, and then, as

e nurture It silently, secretly, and sacredly within ourselves, telling

X

202 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

no man, eventually the Birth takes place, and it becomes evident that
we are a new being, that we have "died" to the old and been reborn
to the new, that we have put off mortality and are being clothe^
upon with immortality.

This life of self-effacement is not a belittling of ourselves; it is not
being overinterested in, or concerned with, ourselves. Rather is ft
practicing what was learned in the First Degree, watching our
thoughts and inner feelings, keeping consciousness in line by means
of the continuous acknowledgment of God, and holding our neigh-
bor in our consciousness in the same light in which we would like to
be held in the consciousness of our neighbor.

If we could, we would all prefer to be judged by whatever measure
of spiritual light and divine sonship we have attained rather than as
merely good human beings and certainly rather than as bad ones. If
we could have our way, we would have all men overlook our human
errors, and if we could rise high enough in spiritual consciousness,
we would also have them resist any temptation to praise our human
good. We would have them look through both the good and the evil,
and behold God operating through and as us.

This is sowing to the Spirit and not to the flesh. This is the recog-
nition of the spiritual integrity and identity of every person, so-called
good or bad, in spite of appearances. It is a recognition of God as the
central theme and true identity of all being, and then permitting that
recognition to bring something new and different to light in the con-
sciousness of those individuals.

Loving our neighbor as ourselves, then, is giving our neighbor that
same recognition of godliness that we give ourselves, regardless of the
appearance of the moment. That neighbor may be the woman taken
in adultery or the thief on the cross, but we have nothing to do with
that. What we have to do with is to love all our neighbors by knowing
their true nature, just as we would be loved by having them know o« r
true nature, in spite of what outward appearance may temporarily
be evident.

In the loving of God and the loving of our neighbor there is 3 °
unselfedness which creates something of a vacuum, an absence of 3(l
awareness of the little "I," insofar as I, Mary, or I, John, or I, Joel, atf
concerned. That little "I" for the moment is absent, and in J

MYSTICAL LIFE THROUGH TWO GREAT COMMANDMENTS 203

absence conception takes place — the overshadowing by the Holy
Ghost, the Annunciation, or the planting of the seed of the Christ
within us.

From then on we walk quietiy, sacredly, and secretly with this
inner Presence until It comes into visible manifestation. And if we are
wise we take It down into "Egypt" for a few years and hide It, until
we are so thoroughly imbued with It, so thoroughly alive in It, that
we can expose It to the gaze of the world and not be affected by the
world's persecution of, or animosity toward, It, for the world always
violently opposes any manifestation of the Christ.

The Christ in the midst of us foreshadows the death and destruc-
tion of mortality, and it is to that mortality that the human race
wants to cling: mortality in the form of its personal good, in the
preservation of its personal self, in the preservation of either its per-
sonal fortune or national survival at the expense of anything or any-
one else. The nature of mortality is such that it resists anything that
would dethrone that personal sense of self. So it is that if we were to
tell our friends and relatives how to live without taking thought
for what they should eat, that they should pray for the enemy more
than they pray for their friends, or that they must forgive seventy
times seven, we would bring upon ourselves their criticism, judgment,
condemnation, and eventually, if they had the power, crucifixion,
albeit not in the same form as Jesus' crucifixion.

In Scripture there is that nine-month period before Mary brings
forth the Christ-child, in other words, before the visible evidence of
^hristliness can be brought into manifestation. Then there is the

§"t into Egypt to hide the Babe, a two-year period in which It
could grow so strong that later, without wavering, Jesus was able to
toount the Cross, knowing full well that the hatred and mental mal-
practice of mankind — envy, jealousy, bigotry, lust, carnality — are not
power.

I takes those two, and possibly more, symbolic years in "Egypt,"
e n after the Christ has been bom in us, to come to the full realiza-

II of the non-power of the carnal mind, the non-power of human
e mporal power, whether that of Pilate, of the Sanhedrin, or of

Mother Goliath.

In

°Ur first experience of Christ-realization we may be tempted in

■

204 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

our enthusiasm to expose It to the world, but in so doing we may l 0se
It because it is only by degrees that the Christ is enabled to p rove
Itself to us, first in minor ways, and then ultimately in the ability to
stand before our particular Pilate or to rise out of any tomb of sot-
row, disease, trouble, or poverty.

Being humanly good and living under the Ten Commandments
is wise and necessary for all of us at a certain stage of our un?oldment
but for those who have embarked on the spiritual path, it is vitally
important to take a further step, and that is to embrace the two great
Commandments, consciously living them until that point of self-
surrender, that point of vacuum where we make way for the grace of
God to establish the Christ-presence within us. This is our path;
this is our goal.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE FUNCTION OF THE MIND

f\i

fter we have been in the First Degree long enough for its
lessons to solidify in consciousness, we begin to realize that we our-
selves are responsible for our character and for the harmonies or dis-
cords that are coming into our experience, and that it is within our
power to prevent or remove the discords and inharmonies of life
from being a part of our experience.

When we were living only as human beings, it was largely a mat-
ter of chance or luck whether the right circumstances came or the
wrong, the right person or the wrong. The one thing every human
^'ng is sure of is that he is not responsible for the ills that befall
*m and, if he is honest, he will have to admit that he is not too
^sponsible for the good things that happen either: they just happen.

When we realize that we ourselves have it within our power to

termine our experience, that we could have prevented most of our
roubles had we only known what we know now, and moreover that

e c an begin at any moment to change the entire course of our ex-
igence, we begin to take hold of our life and mold it in accord with

T desires, not just accepting what someone thrusts upon us or

•t the world deals out to us.
a we sow, so shall we reap. In the human experience it is we,

205

206 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

ourselves, who are forming our own life, and we are doing it cither bv
living a materialistic kind of life or by beginning to understand that
we can live by the word of God if we will but take the word of God
into our life. We reap what we sow.

In the Second Degree a great principle is revealed: a mind im.
bued with truth is 3 law of harmony unto our life; a mind ignorant
of truth results in a life of chance, luck, and circumstance, a life over
which we have no control. We can control our life only in propor-
tion to the truth we entertain in our consciousness. We ourselves
can determine whether we want one hour out of twenty-four of
harmony, or twenty-four out of twenty-four. We alone can determine
how much of our attention we wish to give to truth, to every Word
that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

In the early stages of the Second Degree we begin to apply and
use principles of truth, taking hold of our life and governing it by
spiritual law. If there is a problem of supply, we realize that supply
is spiritual, within us; it is the very presence of God, for God is ful-
fillment. We work along this line; we remind ourselves of truth, and
mentally apply every statement of truth we know to the erroneous
appearances that present themselves. If we have a task to perform
and it seems to be too hard for us, we turn within and remember
that He perfects that which concerns us. As we relax in that re-
membrance, before we know it, our task is performed.

It is in this second stage that our humanhood mounts and im-
proves, and we are coming closer to where we can be like the scribes
and the Pharisees, claiming that we are righteous and virtuous, good
men and good women, and proud of it — and of course we are trying
our best to make everybody else over in our own image and likeness.

It is not long before we begin to think that we of ourselves are
doing all this and that we are very clever and capable. We are ridding
ourselves of all our discords and bringing about harmony, and «
think that this mind of ours is really powerful. It is then that we may
begin to believe that mind is God.

There are many persons who use the word "mind" as synonym^"
with God, but the very fact that we can use our mind is in i"
proof that mind cannot be God because it is hardly possible 0"

THE FUNCTION OF THE MIND 207

an yone could use God, and moreover since the mind can be used
f or both good and evil, it cannot be God, for God is above the pairs
f opposites.

When the secrets of the mind were first revealed, it was evident
that the mind could be used for both good and evil. But some of
those who learned these secrets could not maintain their spiritual
integrity, nor did they have sufficient humility to be servants. To
these people conversant with mind-power and its potentialities, the
idea presented itself that inasmuch as they knew how to work with
thought, thought and mind must be power. Mind, according to them,
therefore must be God; and thought, the instrument of God, must
be power. This led them away from the spiritual path; they dropped
out of their particular wisdom school; and some of them became
founders of what are known as the black brotherhoods. These brother-
hoods were made up largely of men who had originally been part of
a spiritual teaching, but who, after discovering the powers of the
mind, left that teaching and formed brotherhoods where they could
make use of mental powers for their own glorification and personal
P r °fit. Unquestionably, many members of these groups used mental
power for what to them was a good purpose, but too often these
mind-powers were used primarily for selfish or ulterior purposes.

Many books have been written on the subject of witchcraft, voo-
<"»ism, and malpractice, some of them containing authentic ac-
counts of actual experiences which testified to the fact that while
^e people had touched the realm of mind, they had not yet
°uched the realm of Spirit. The ceremonies, rites, and rituals of

ost of the primitive races of which I have any knowledge were,
nd are. based on the power of the mind. Participants in the primitive

™ a l dances shriek, holler, and scream, and paint their faces in

P°tesque fashion, all for the purpose of frightening the spectator,

'I ling fear in his heart, and a dread of some terrible power close at

"". Every trick of the art of suggestion is used.
le higher we go in spiritual awareness, the more we learn about
j t . men tal realm, not because we seek that knowledge, but because
revealed to us. It is like being on a mountain top where, having

^thu]

the summit, we can see from that height down into the

208 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

valley far better than those who are looking out from the limited
perspective of the valley. Those who are on the spiritual level can see
into the mind, thereby becoming aware of things that those living a
materialistic and mental life can never know because they are too
close to the picture and too much involved.

A knowledge of the secrets of the mind gained through spiritual
wisdom is entirely different from the knowledge gained through the
human mentality. Moses, for example, had been initiated into all
the secrets of occultism at the Court of the Pharaohs, and when he
returned to Egypt after his I-AM-THAT-I-AM revelation, he and
Aaron performed mental tricks such as transforming the rod into a
serpent and turning the water of the river into blood. This was pure
mental manipulation. It all took place on the mental plane and was
in no sense spiritual.

What we must remember always is that even when such tricks are
used by spiritual-minded men, they are still mental. They may play
a part in the life of the spiritual disciple who rises high enough, as is
evidenced in the experience of Moses, but they will do so only foi
one reason. Moses made no use whatsoever of these mental tricks
when he was at the stage of leading the Hebrew people, but in the
presence of the Pharaoh and ail his magicians, how do we know
but that he may not have felt himself called upon to prove to them
in their own language what he could do?

A person of developed mentality can withdraw consciousness from
any part of his body, and have no sensation there. In India, this
mental control is a form of yoga which teaches such complete control
of the body that a person can virtually do anything with it that a
wants, depending on the degree of his practice and determination

In our humanhood we are usually subject to the whims of W
body: it tells us when it feels pleasure, when it is in pain, when it
cold, and when it is hot, and we do not seem to be able to do anj
thing about it except change the outer conditions in an attempt
make it happy. As we rise into the mental plane, however, the a
does not exercise that much control over us, and often instead o
telling us, we can tell it how to act and feel. This is because we ^
arrived at the place where we realize that heat and cold are

THE FUNCTION OF THE MIND 209

p t0 perties of the body: they are properties of the mind. The body
joes not know when it is hot or cold; it does not even know whether
it is alive or dead. The mind of man does know, and therefore the
mind can be trained to reach that point of development where re-
gardless of how hot or how cold the body is, the mind does not report
it.

Men of spiritual illumination leam everything there is to he known
about the mind and the body, but they do not use this knowledge for
performing tricks, for show, or for a display of power. If an occasion
should arise when they need to use it secretly and sacredly for some
demonstration of dominion, or if there is ever a time when they feel
the necessity of using it in public, they might do so. Normally, how-
ever, those of spiritual illumination do not ever resort to an exhibi-
tion of mental power, although it is true that the spiritually illumined
know how the mind operates and how it can be manipulated.

'Hie mind does have a rightful purpose in our experience. At the
present time, the scientific world is beginning to agree with the find-
ings of spiritually developed men and women that mind is the sub-
stance of this physical universe. The universe that we know with the
physical senses is not a material universe: it is a mental universe. This
materia] body is not material: it is a mental creation, the mind-
creation of the second chapter of Genesis. 1

The substance of body is mind. In and of itself, the body is dead;
11 has no life, no sensation, and no intelligence; it cannot move
' ■elf about. It is our mind that governs our body, and therefore our
*&f can behave or misbehave, according to our mind. When we
Perceive this, we can understand that as long as we are functioning
the level of mind, we are functioning on the level of either good

T ev| l. so this cannot be God. God is neither good nor evil: God is

spirit.

n We Second Degree, then, we learn that the truth with which the

•nillcl

ab nnd

is imbued becomes tangible as the health of our body, as the
a "ce of our supply, and as the harmony of our experience.

S^iri-M*™ com P ,cte exposition of this subject see "Transcending Mind" and
5r »cr iT 6 " Mind" in the author's The Thunder of Silence (New York:
Row . 1961; London; George Allen and Uiiwin, ig6i).

210

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

Whereas before we were spiritually blind, in ignorance, and goy.
erned by circumstances, conditions, environment, and prenatal ex-
periences, now we are being governed by the truth that we entertain
in our consciousness. Truth is the substance and the law of harmony
but this truth does not dangle around in the air: it must be embodied
and incorporated in our mind.

If we use the mind for personal and selfish ends without con-
sidering the effects upon others or upon the world, we are heading
for trouble, because as we sow, so shall we reap. If, in using our
mind for our own gain or satisfaction, we injure anyone, that injury
will return to us. There is no denying that we can use the mind in
any way we want to use it — erroneously, selfishly, or personally, and
without due regard for the rights of others — but this may prove
extremely dangerous and may be fraught with dire consequences.

As long as the mind is governed by truth, there will be no selfish-
ness in it because we will not be directing the mind toward specific
ends, but only toward attaining a greater awareness of truth, and
letting this truth change our consciousness.

Entertaining truth in consciousness is not for the purpose of being
able to buy expensive automobiles, palatial yachts, or magnificent
homes; it is not for the purpose of reducing a fever or getting rid of
a disease: the purpose of entertaining truth in consciousness is to
spiritualize mind and body, to bring to our awareness the light of
truth so that our whole being may be transformed from a material-
istic sense to a spiritual sense. By the truth entertained in our con-
sciousness, by this renewing of our mind, we are transformed from
the man of earth into that man who has his being in Christ.

But this truth must be the truth about God. There is no truth
about man; there is no truth about supply; there is no truth abou
health; there is no truth about safety. The only truth there is, is "^
truth about God, the truth that God is the substance of our body,
our business, and our life. God is the cement of our human relati
ships: God is our fortress and our high tower. In Him, not in mateO"
or physical structures, do we live, and move, and have our being-

God must be in everything we do throughout our work in
Second Degree — God. By dwelling in this consciousness of God

THE FUNCTION OF THE MIND 2 1 1

our being and nature, gradually all hate, fear, and love of the outer
world disappear, and their place is taken by a realization of the Spirit
within.

Every word of truth that we embody in our consciousness becomes
the breath of life to us, even the very activity of the organs of our
body. We do not have to think of any of our bodily functions: all
we have to think of is of God as the activity and the law unto our
being, and then all action is performed harmoniously and perfectly
in accordance with divine law.

Originally, the mind was— and it must again become that for
which it was created— an instrument of awareness and knowledge.
For example, through our mind-faculties we can know that God
governs the weather, but with our mind we cannot make the weather
good or bad, although by realizing God as the very nature, sub-
stance, and activity of weather, we can bring harmonious weather
into visibility. Using the mind to create something or to draw some
person to us would be taking the mind out of its natural orbit, and
we might thereby bring forth something that could become a Frank-
enstein to us.

When the mind is used for the purpose of knowing the truth, that
truth then becomes the law of harmony unto our experience; it sets
us free from every sense of limitation: physical, mental, moral, and
financial The truth that we entertain in our consciousness takes over
0u r life, eliminating discords and inharmonies and bringing about
P^ce, harmony, and security.

ft is in this Second Degree that we decide whether we will serve
J*» or mammon, and if we decide to serve God, we must determine

fojT many h ° UrS a day we wil1 serve Him ' Even tually, those who

°w this Path learn that there is not a moment of the day when

JJ* mind is not stayed on truth. They do not have to state truth

j.^ciously: they are living it. It is much the same as living an honest

thou h° neSt Pe ° ple IiVC honestlv: *<* do not entertain in their
a toui d ldCaS0f dish °nesty, but that does not mean they have to go
have declann S' sta * ir <g, or affirming that they are honest. If they
Wsfl/^^ a " h0nCSt St3te ° f consciousness > th ey merely live

212 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

In the unfolding of our spiritual consciousness, which means out
progress or journey from a material sense of life back to the Father's
house, we may have to know and affirm truth for hours and hours
and hours to break the discordant appearance. We have to live with
this truth until, through our meditations, there eventually comes a
time when the contact with our Source is so well established that we
never have to use the mind again for the purpose of knowing the
truth: truth springs up from within our own being and utters itself
to us. We do not declare it any more: it declares itself.

When the Voice utters Itself through us, the healing is instan-
taneous and complete. So it is that when we have studied truth,
worked with it and lived it, filled our consciousness with truth day
and night, then one day in our meditation, we find that whenever
it is necessary for a truth to appear, we have only to close our eyes,
turn within in an attitude of "Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth,"
and then truth comes up from within and announces itself to us.
When that happens, there are signs following.

At Erst we fill our consciousness with truth until the mind is
transformed from a material to a spiritual base; then we stop using
our mind as a mental power to make something happen, and let it
become an avenue or an instrument of awareness through which to
receive God's grace. Ultimately we live by the Grace that flows from
the Spirit within, and that becomes apparent to us through the mind.

From the time of our entrance into the First Degree, we worked
toward the goal of the God-experience, but whereas in the First
Degree we concerned ourselves only with practicing the presence
God and with meditation, in the Second Degree we begin to apply
every word of spiritual truth we can to our daily living, thereby
spiritualizing the mind until eventually our mind no longer reaches
out for some kind of a weapon— whether mental, verbal, or phyS'C*
—but automatically goes within for a word of truth.

At that stage of consciousness, regardless of what problem P rese f
itself, we reach into our consciousness for a word of truth wl
which to meet it. Whereas the human mind would think of runni I
to a policeman, to a law court, or to some other kind of a hum
weapon, we rush back inside ourselves for the truth with which

THE FUNCTION OF THE MIND 213

peet the situation. We are now learning not to use the commonly
acC epted modes or means of life, but to rely upon the word of truth
that is within our consciousness. Eventually we will draw from within
our own consciousness enough truth to change our entire world be-
cause we are learning in this Second Degree that our consciousness
embodies all the truth that has ever been known from the beginning
of time.

For more years than can be numbered, religion has had as one of
its objects the conversion of individuals in the hope that, if all the
people of the world could be converted, a new world would emerge.
What most of these zealots have failed to realize is that by the time
everyone had been converted, a new generation would have been
born, and they would have to begin the same work all over again.

The Infinite Way reveals, however, that the conversion of the
world or even of a whole generation is not necessary: it is only neces-
sary that a sufficient number attain the ability to go within and
draw their spiritual good from that Withinness, and then the next
generation will be born into this new consciousness. It is out of the
understanding that good and evil are impersonal that the state of
consciousness of the next generation is being built. The state of con-
sciousness that we are forming, therefore, is not merely your con-
sciousness or mine. Can consciousness be limited to time or space?
h not every word of truth that is transforming our state of conscious-
ness also, in a measure, transforming the state of consciousness of the
ent,re worId? Once truth is brought to light in individual conscious-
ne ss, the next generation will be born into the same state of conscious-
n «s that we have developed.

J? 0llsci °usness cannot be limited. God is individual consciousness
* G od is infinite; therefore, our consciousness is infinite. Through
ivith^ 31123 * 1011 ° f th ' S Infinit >'' a com POser could shower the world
for ,,° riginal melodi es, or a writer could invent new plots and ideas
scio neXt hundred y ears " T"' 5 complete reliance on infinite Con-
m ea USri " SS does not entail § oin S out int ° th e world for anything: it
Sfccfc! g0 ' ng Within ourselves ' bringing forth all things needful as the
kta, S ,° f a s P irituaI impulse, and then beholding how this Infinity

" s ftsclf on the outer plane.

rSO>

-

214 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

The part the mind plays in all this is at once apparent. Through
the activity of our mind it is we who go back into our consciousness
into the center of our being, and draw forth spiritual truth. Thereby
we are enriching our entire life — our body as well as our mind.

The earth has to be fertilized; it has to have water and sunshine
and in proportion as it gets these, does it bring forth abundant fruit
So with us. The mind must be enriched; it must be fed with spiritual
meat, wine, and water; and the only place it can get these is from
the Soul, from the deep Withinness. As we bring this nourish-
ment up and let it feed our mind, we are building that mind in us
which was also in Christ Jesus, and that mind becomes the sub-
stance of our body. Whatever the nature of the food we feed our
mind, that is the nature of the quality of our body since our mind is
the substance of our physical body. Every time that we tum within
and bring forth a word of truth, we have released it into conscious-
ness, and we have not only fertilized and enriched our own state of
consciousness but we have enriched the state of consciousness of the
world.

Mind, in and of itself, is neither good nor bad. Mind is uncondi-
tioned. Behind our mind we stand, and we have the power to fill our
mind with good or with evil, with abundance or with lack. We can
fill our mind with truth, leave it empty, or we can let it be filled with
the mesmerism of the world. Mind is unconditioned, and we arc
either letting it be permeated with the rubbish of "this world" or
with wisdom, with material or with spiritual thoughts.

Because the mind is an instrument, it can become aware of truth
in its entirety, whereas if it relies wholly on what is already known,
it never can rise out of its self-imposed limitations and learn what is
awaiting its opening. As long as we do not limit our mind to what we
hear or read and as long as we are willing to go back into our Self)
we can be taught of God — given wisdom, safety, and direction. This,
however, does involve a surrender of the little self and the ability t°
be still and know that the I at the center is God; it involves a will'
ingness to listen and let God direct and illumine the mind.

When we have progressed in the Second Degree to the point
where we have spiritualized the mind, where we understand the mirw

THE FUNCTION OF THE MIND 215

be an unconditioned channel for God's wisdom, and have learned

be still, then when problems are brought to us for solution, we are
n0 t concerned about thinking thoughts, but go within and let His
voice utter itself, let ourselves be instructed from within, and let
£jj s power come through.

Although it usually takes students from five to nine years to en-
compass the Second Degree — not a quick process — they do not have
to wait those long years for the fruitage to appear. The fruitage be-
gins to come very quickly: it is only the full attainment that does
not coriie so quickly.

"Choose you this day whom ye will serve." Shall we serve the dis-
cords and inharmonies of this world along with some of its pleasures,
or shall we rise above both its discords and pleasures and leam the
secret of "My kingdom"?

In the First and Second Degrees, most of us do attain harmony
of body, pocketbook, and of human relationships, but this is only a
step on the spiritual path because we have not yet discerned the real
nature of immortality, eternality, and infinity, of completeness and
of perfection. That lies ahead of us — but not until we have encom-
passed these two degrees.

"In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. ... Be still,
and know that I am God." J, that J, way deep down inside us, that
1 comforts us, that I is the Presence, that I will instruct us. Then we
will never have to use our mind as a power, but this rich spiritual
food which wells up from within will feed our mind and become the
substance and activity of our life and our body.

1

ATTAINING DIVINE SONSHIP

217

CHAPTER XIX

ATTAINING DIVINE SONSHIP

WL

hen we have encompassed the First and Second Degrees,
a new dimension of life, an entirely different area of consciousness,
opens up to us. In that moment there is something within us that
is no longer a quotation, an affirmation, or a recalling of truth: it
is an experience. We have entered the Third Degree, where we no
longer live by the standards of this world, where the values are
different, and life is governed not so much by what the outer law is
as by what our inner integrity is. It is at this point that we pass
from law to Grace.

As human beings we live under man-made laws which continue
to operate as long as we remain in ignorance, and until we are
awakened, we are held in slavery to all kinds of mental and physical
laws.

As we come to an awareness of a spiritual Presence within us,

gradually become immune to these laws because as we pass into t

third stage, the Presence lives our life, and It cannot be

if is
fluenced, nor can It be acted upon by physical or mental laws:

immune to them for they are only theories, superstitions, and

universal belief in two powers. In proportion as the son of Go

raised up in us, these laws do not operate, and not only are we

216

reC eptive or responsive to them, but we aid in nullifying them for
others who may come to us.

When an immunity is developed to material and mental laws,
#e live in an entirely different world because then we do not have
to take the law into consideration, nor do we have to be concerned
about things. Having found the kingdom of God and dwelling in it,
something else is taking over the responsibility for our entire ex-
perience. The government is on His shoulder, on this divine Son
which in the Third Degree is now raised up in us. In our humanhood
It was dormant; It stood by and could do nothing. Regardless of
what wrong was done to us, we had to resign ourselves to it unless
our human wisdom or strength could provide an escape for us, and in
most cases it could not.

In the awareness of this transcendental Presence, however, we
have entered a state of consciousness where we do not have to fight
and oppose error, or continuously try to destroy it. We are now in a
state of consciousness where error does not touch us— we are not
even aware of it. We are not just experiencing more and better
human things and conditions, but a new factor has come into our
life, a new joy.

Probably the only way that this can be explained is that in our
humanhood we experience pleasure or satisfaction because of some-
thing that takes place out here. For example, learning that some
activity has been successful or awakening on Christmas Day to find
ourselves blessed with beautiful gifts arouses joy in us; but, on the
other hand, failure or the absence of gifts might bring sorrow.

Our joy as well as our sorrow is usually prompted by outer occur-
ences, whereas from the moment that this transitional experience
^gins, joy, which is an integral part of our being, bubbles up from

't'l in without any external cause, and when sorrow comes, it is
eco gnized as "this world" and is quickly dissolved.

'n the Third Degree we do not try to demonstrate anything in the
, ter world: we are seeking only that inner release or peace which,

'tself, is the demonstration and the attainment of our goal. It is
to be attained for any purpose, but only for itself, and it pro-

Ce s an effect in the outer experience that follows just as daylight

<-J,

4"

218 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

accompanies the sun. The sun does not rise and then produce light-
the sun itself constitutes the light. Just so, we discover that there »
no God to give us health, supply, or companionship; there is no
God to give us anything, but there is God, and when this Spirit i»
consciously realized, It is the very substance of our outer experience

As the sunshine does not give us light, but is the light, so the
grace of God within does not produce something in the outer plane:
the grace of God within is the very substance of the good that is to
appear outwardly. There is no such thing, therefore, as the presence
of God and a discord; there is no such thing as the presence of God
and lack or limitation. God is the peace, God is the comfort, God
is the supply.

Spirit and Its outer activity are one; Spirit and Its formations aTe
one; Spirit and Its creation are one. Spirit does not create in the
sense of their being a Spirit and a creation: Spirit is the substance
that appears outwardly as form, not as the form of what we see,
hear, taste, touch, or smell but as spiritual form. The impressions
received through the senses represent our concept of that spiritual
Presence that is here.

In this third stage, we outgrow and undo all the work of the first
and second stages. We stop depending on a God, and while this may
sound incredible to those not yet advanced to this stage, it is not
too difficult to do because, with the experience of the Christ, every-
thing is provided for us before we know we need it. The Christ im-
parts wisdom, provides protection, and bestows love, and there is no
need to depend on anything without: there is always That which is
going before us to make "the crooked places straight"; there is
always That which is walking beside us as our safety and security.

Such heights of consciousness are not experienced in the first two
stages. There we have only our own thoughts, hopes, and the as-
surance of the mystics who have written the Scriptures and the meta-
physics of the world. These are a staff upon which we lean, and they
stand with us until we receive the Experience.

With the advent of the Experience, however, all of this changes.
Very slowly it begins to dawn in consciousness that we are no longe*
the person we were because now we are not depending on sorflC

ATTAINING DIVINE SON5HIP 219

nl0 te God, thinking or talking about a far-off God, and certainly
aot trying to influence Him. Not only are we not trying to be good,
and of course, anyone who advances into the Third Degree could
n ot be bad, but now there is no awareness of goodness because there
Is nothing with which to compare it: there is no temptation to be
bad. In fact, nothing from without now acts as any kind of a tempta-
tion to us.

It is like the mathematician so well-grounded in his science that he
never for a moment is tempted to believe that twelve times twelve
is one hundred forty- three. There is simply a complete awareness of
one hundred forty-four. The mathematician would not be able to
understand those of us who are always faced with the temptation
that two times two is not four, and three times three is not nine.

It is difficult for anyone living in this consciousness of the Third
Degree to understand a person who steals or lies, or who attempts
to gain his ends by false advertising. Wliat must be going on in a
mentality that engages in such practices when there is no need for
them? "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof," and there-
fore, is not all that the Father has ours? Yet in this higher conscious-
ness, we never consciously think of these truths; they never enter our
mind except when someone presents the opposite picture to us, and
there is the need to assure him of God's loving, omnipresent care.

When we come to the third stage, which is reached by passing
through a series of initiations, each marking a transition from a lower
state of consciousness to a higher one, there is no sowing and there
's no reaping: there is only a state of divine being, the fourth-
dimensional consciousness which, when attained, enables us to live
% Grace. When the son of God is raised up in us and is alive, we
"ced take no thought, for It is of the essence of Omnipotence, Omni-
P r esence, and Omniscience; It is the All-knowing, the All-powerful,
11 ie All-presence, and It does these things for us.

hi our humanhood we are a sleeping entity, but when we awaken,
w »at do we find? We find ourselves in His image and likeness;
^' e find that there is a God, that God cares for His son, and that you
and I are that Son. We are consciously one with God; and then we
Ca » give ourselves up to be crucified, sent to war, or to anything else

■*<■'■*,

220 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

that the human mind wants to do to us, and we will walk right out

of the tomb, free and clear— we will walk right out of the situation

Why? Because the son of God is spiritual and, therefore, is no i

subject to the laws of cause and effect, nor is he subject to karrnic

law.

In this Third Degree we are no longer good or bad, we are no
longer well or sick, and we are no longer rich or poor: we are just a
state of divine being, and it is not that we are that of ourselves; it
is that This that has taken possession of us is it. There is then no
personal responsibility for supply or for health : our only responsibility
is to live in God.

When this experience of living in God first comes to us, it is dis-
turbing because, just as in our first stage we were "dying" to the
negative sense of life and being reborn into a more positive sense,
now we are "dying" all over again. This is not only an annihilation
of our undesirable humanhood, but it is also an annihilation even of
our good humanhood, and at first it is frightening and disconcerting
as veil after veil drops away, and we come face to face with naked
truth.

The first flush of enthusiasm on the spiritual path brought to us
a sense that being healthy is a proof of our spiritual understanding,
and being wealthy is, of course, another great proof of the degree of
that understanding. But in the Third Degree we rise into the con-
sciousness where there is no health and there is no wealth. There is
neither good health nor bad health; there is neither virtue nor vice;
there is neither honor nor dishonor; there are neither high people
nor low people; there are no greats, near-greats, or not-so-greats: there
is only a spiritual state of being which is described as "My kingdom,"
My consciousness, the Christ-consciousness— and that is not a state
of improved humanhood.

In our first stage of spiritual development we were improving our
humanhood merely by virtue of our greater awareness of a spiritual
Presence. In the second stage we were consciously improving ov*
humanhood so as to measure up to our highest concept of goodness,
virtue, integrity, loyalty, and fidelity, using the mind as an instru-
ment for the activity of the Spirit. But in the third stage all this

ATTAINING DIVINE SONSHIP 221

is taken from us. In this degree we cannot rejoice in our benevolences,
in our health, or in our wealth because now we see that we do not
have any of these of ourselves. The Christ, the spiritual Son, is our
life, our health, our wealth, and the source of our good. This spiritual
Selfhood, this Messiah which is within us— this is our good, the
source of it, the experience of it, the expression of it. In this there
is no little human "I" left

The final experience is the annihilation of our human self, of its
good qualities as well as its evil; it is "dying daily" until even the
best of humanhood is gone, and spiritual identity is revealed. Death
to the materialistic concept of life and a rebirth of the Spirit— this is
what takes place through our spiritual unfoldment and progress on
the Path.

When the transition takes place, sometimes slowly or sometimes in
a flash, it always leaves us with a trace of our old self, This is a diffi-
cult period because we have glimpses of what spiritual living can be,
and yet at the same time we have the frustrating experience of not
being able to live in the Spirit continuously. While our old un-
til umined self does not dominate the scene, its shadow still lingers,
and we are often tempted to indulge in the old habits and modes of
life. So there is a need for great patience until the son of God has
been more fully raised up in us.

The Master, himself, even after having made the transition from
being a Hebrew rabbi to being the Christ, was tempted three times,
which indicated that there was enough of personal sense left to tempt
him by saying: "With this power, you can make yourself great.
Show this power; show the world that you and God are on such
•ntimate terms that He will not let anything happen to you. Show
the world that you have all the supply in the world because you are
So close to God; show the world that you are a saint."

Rut these temptations were overcome because of Jesus' realization
of the nature of each temptation. He did not try to reform himself;
" e did not say, "Oh, I am weak; God has left me." He did not try
blame it on anything: he recognized instantly when he com-
manded, "Get thee behind me, Satan," that this was the impersonal
Sa *anic suggestion of a selfhood apart from God. This was truly a

C

E-

222 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

temptation to believe that he and his Father were not one, tw
there was an "I" and a God, and that he was some favorite of God
He recognized this as an impersonal mesmeric suggestion, an im
personal evil, or impersonal tempter. He refused to accept an "p
who could be good or bad. He did not accept an "I" who needed
food, clothing, or housing; he did not accept an "I" who required
healing. He knew the truth, "I and my Father are one," and that
that J would never leave him or forsake him; It would be with him
to the end of the world.

In that revelation and realization the total "death" of the man of
earth took place, bringing about his complete rebirth in Spirit as
Christ-consciousness so that thereafter he knew himself as the Christ,
the son of God. Then Jesus, the son of man, was "dead," and the
Christ was risen from the tomb of mortality, of mortal identity, and
stood revealed as individual, infinite, eternal individuality.

Jesus Christ was not absorbed in God: he remained as individual
identity, as he does to this moment, just as all the mystics who have
attained conscious union with God live now, live here, and are avail-
able to every individual who attains even a touch of Christhood.

When we rise high enough, we, too, tabernacle with those who
have left human sight and are on the level of Christ-consciousness,
for we are of one household, in one place, and of one Father con-
sciously realized.

In Christ-consciousness there is divine harmony, and this divine
harmony, in some measure, makes itself evident in various ways in
our experience. Because of the activity of the Christ in consciousness,
we witness healings in our bodies and minds, healings in our human
relationships and in our economic condition. We have seen how the
activity of the Christ lifts our individual experience out of the world
of sickness and health, swinging back and forth between good and
evil, and even though we may not attain the fullness of the Christ,
at least if there is "a thorn in the flesh," we forget "those things
which are behind," and live as much as we can in this higher con-
sciousness.

When we first set out on this Path, let us not forget that we al-
ready are the Christ, but that the Christ is so heavily veiled that w 6

ATTAINING DIVINE SONSHIP

223

cannot behold the real Self. Every moment of our journey the veils
are dropping away from us— the claims of humanhood— until eventu-
a ]]v we stand forth and see ourselves as we really are, sons of God,
united in a brotherhood with all mankind, wherein there is neither
Greek nor Jew, bond nor free, where all are one in Christhood.

Nevermore can we be evil any more than we can be good; never-
more can we be sick any more than we can be well; nevermore can
we be dead any more than we can be alive. Henceforth we are the
sons of God, the offspring of God, God Himself incarnated as
individual being, God Himself made manifest.

t :

CHAPTER XX

THE MEANING OF INITIATION

I

JLr;

L nidation is an act of Grace bestowed on individuals at a certain
time in their unfoldment, lifting them into the master-state of con-
sciousness. There is far less opportunity for a student to attain in-
itiation in the Western World than in the Eastern because in the
West we are brought up from childhood with the idea of equality.
We are taught that we are all equal, and therefore we do not have
the correct understanding of the role of a spiritual teacher, or what
spiritual consciousness is. We do not realize that while we may have
political and economic equality, we are far from being equal in spirit-
ual development.

We of the Western World do not lend ourselves to becoming
students of a spiritual teaching. Oh yes, we are very eager in the first
year or so to jump up from the status of a beginner into being a r
least a master, and then going on from there. Attaining the spiritual
life, however, does not come so quickly: it is a life of continuous
dedication to that which is greater than we are.

Personally, I do not believe that a student can consciously prepatf
for initiation, nor have I ever seen anyone who had initiation as his
goal achieve it. Rather the goal must always be the attainment of

224

THE MEANING OF INITIATION 22S

that mind that was in Christ Jesus without any thought of receiving
initiation or experiencing the effects of initiation.

As the student takes his first steps on the Path leading to illumina-
tion, he leams to meditate on the indwelling Spirit. Initiation carries
dim from one step to another into the awareness of the Presence, on
a nd on and on, purifying him to the extent that he no longer wants
God to destroy his enemies, but is willing always to forgive and love
them because he knows that it is only through their ignorance that
evil is being expressed. He is purified to such a degree that he no
longer wishes to gain his ends by any personal sense of might or power.
In way after way his life becomes so purified that it is lived in dedica-
tion to others.

The world loses its attractions for him, not because he planned or
willed it so, nor because he studied to bring it to pass. Rather has an
experience taken place within him. The Spirit of God has begun to
come alive; his Soul-center is being opened, and instead of indulging
in the pleasures of the world, he now finds himself more at home with
persons who are spiritual-minded and with books of an inspirational
and spiritual nature. He has not yet reached the Absolute, but hav-
ing been elevated above human consciousness, he is now partaking
of the nature of, and living in large measure in, the divine Conscious-
ness, being fed and clothed by It. The activity of this Spirit is making
of him a better human being and is making of his human life, a bet-
ter life.

Now comes the period that is described in the mystical literature,
both of the East and of the West, as "dying daily." This is the ex-
perience of putting off mortality and putting on immortality. It is an
experience in "death," an experience that comes to very few, but
w hen it comes, it carries them further along the Path up to illumina-
tion.

On the spiritual path we have to "lose" our life before we can gain
spiritual life, that is, we have to lose our physical sense of life, that
^nse which believes that we are alive because the heart is beating or
"^cause the lungs and the digestive and eliminative tracts are func-
l °ning. We have to come to a point where life is living the body, not
tne body living the life. At present it is not we who are living ° ur

226 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

Kfe. The body tells us, "I have a cold"; "My heart is not functionin
properly-or my liver, or my lungs." It is constantly telling us aboi
all the things that are threatening our human sense of life.

How stupid can we be? Life is eternal. The life of God is eternal
The life of God is infinite. There is only one Life, and therefore that
eternal Life must be your life and mine. The very life that we are
living is infinite and eternal, and it is not dependent upon the action
of the body: the action of the body is dependent upon life. Such a
realization leads us to the period of transition where we move from
existence in the body to an existence which is external to body, and
yet which governs the body.

Before this transition is complete, usually so much good has come
into our experience that we think we have entered the land of milk
and honey. We have become accustomed to good health, and if we
have not achieved it, at least we would like to experience it. Probably
sometimes we envy the people who are forty, fifty, or sixty years of
age, and have never had a day of illness in their lives. We wish we
could be like that, but it is not to be so-not on the spiritual path.
To most persons this is as far as they go on the Path in any one
lifetime, unless they have made some progress in a previous existence
and are now ready to go beyond it. It is a shock for them to discover
that when all is apparently going so well, that is just when their real
problems begin. Now the really deep ones come-problems of life
and death.

Sometimes I find myself smiling a little sadly when I read in my
mail of the number of people who want initiation. I wonder what
would happen to them if they came up against real initiation and
had to go through some of those fiery trials that are included in every
mihation of the spiritually illumined. How manv Lot's wives there
would be to turn around and look back at the good old city'

It is not usually taught that before there can be an ascension there
must be a crucifixion. It is comforting and comfortable to accept the
theological belief that Jesus was crucified for us, and that therefore
we can experience the ascension without the crucifixion. That we
should never believe. No, to experience the ascension, we have to take
all the footsteps that Jesus showed us including the temptations and
the crucifixion.

THE MEANING OF INITIATION 227

These temptations do not come only when we are lowly mortals,
fesus' three temptations in the wilderness took place after he was
w ellestablished in his spiritual life. Knowing that he had glimpsed
the secrets of life and could do many miraculous things, now came
the temptation to use this power. How could such a thing have hap-
pened to Jesus Christ at his advanced stage of development? How
could he have been tempted to glorify himself, to enrich himself, to
use personal powers? If we study this experience of Jesus, we will
understand why it is that just when we think we are entering the
kingdom of God, our trials begin, and our temptations.

The temptation of Gethsemane came to Jesus when he was a
fully ascended Master, and that of Golgotha when he was already
a Saviour. Even he did not attain the infinity of his being until after
the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and the Ascension that finally
lifted him completely above material sense or finite form.

Had Jesus succumbed to those temptations, there would be no
Christian teaching today because he would have failed the tests re-
quired of him for his initiation. Every initiate on the way to the
Absolute reaches the place where he is tempted to accept the fortune
that is awaiting him, if only he wants to reach out for it; every
initiate is tempted to accept the world's fame. These temptations
come to all those on the spiritual path, and usually at a time when
they have reached the place where they are good human beings and
are about to shed their humanhood.

With a small degree of illumination, it is not too difficult to
achieve fame or to gain fortune. Many opportunities open to those
who have attained some measure of spiritual light, and it is when
these temptations in the form of such opportunities present them-
selves that a choice must be made: whether to bend every effort
toward the acquisition of wealth and fame or to renounce all ambi-
tion to be numbered among the great and powerful. While there is
nothing wrong about name or fame that comes of its own accord
without seeking it, those individuals who use the knowledge or power
mat has been given to them for that purpose lose their way on the
spiritual path. All of humanhood must be renounced, and every
person on this Path must "die" and come to this point of absolute
realization:

228 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

Of my own self, I am nothing. There is a Spirit within me that
does the work; there is a Presence; there is a Power.

I am a beholder of this invisible Presence and Power at work I
watch how It goes before me and witness the miracles It performs

When this spiritual way of life begins to change our nature and
we find ourselves being cut off from society, we do not always realize
that we are going through a transitional period and that once this
transition has been made and we are completely isolated from our
former associates, we will be led into the companionship of those of
our own spiritual household. But as long as we are still tabernacling
with the world, we are not going to meet those of our own house-
hold. It is only when we have "died" to the world that suddenly out
of this whole universe one person crosses our path whom we recognize
as a kindred soul, and then another and another.

If our lives are cluttered up with the social activities in which our
friends and relatives have involved us, however, we are not free to
enjoy the companionship of that one, two, or more who eventually
cross our path, nor are we free to make the journeys that are some-
times necessary to be in their company because we may not always
find that one, two, or three in our own community. It is true that
we may see these companions only once in a year or once in three
years, but that will not make any difference because this is a spiritual
companionship that takes no thought of time or space, and even if
there were years in which we were physically apart from those of our
spiritual household, upon the next meeting we would be wholly at-
one.

The student who is at the stage of witnessing his friends and
relatives drop away, and for that matter the whole world, sometimes
becomes fearful and lonesome and begins clutching at something at
someone, and very often he is clutching at the wrong thing or the
wrong person. And why? Because he cannot take aloneness, and #
he cannot endure aloneness, he cannot enter into this fife.

As spiritual truth begins to reveal itself in a person, a silence
descends upon him, an inability to speak and to be a part of the
world's gabble, gabble, gabble, and this of course makes everyone
feel that he is odd. Even those who are starting on the Path cannot

THE MEANING OF INITIATION 229

quite understand that desire to be still, that total inability to say
anything and yet to impart and even to receive, and so this, too,
w hich is another form of that inability to endure aloneness and quiet-
ness, breaks up many a student's progress on the way.

Many do not realize that the "my own" which "shall come to me,"
referred to by John Burroughs, is contingent upon an attained state
f consciousness which is absolute stillness and peace. When that is
attained, all a person has to do is to be a beholder and watch the
whole world come to him. Most persons go through life frustrated
because their own does not come to them: their own companion
does not come, their own opportunity for service, their own oppor-
tunity for showing forth God's grace. They do not realize that "my
own" will not come to a human being. It will not come except by
being still and knowing that I is God, and then letting the aware-
ness that the I of our being is Omnipotence, Omnipresence, and
Omniscience perform Its work.

This can be attained only in the degree that each one of us realizes
that I am I, that I am Consciousness, that I am the Consciousness
which brought me and every individual being forth into expression,
even including the trees and all that is. This does not mean that we
have conscious dominion over things in the external world; it does
not mean that we can "mentalize" anybody and everybody and
thereby bend them to our will. The indulgence of human thought in
the direction of control is domination and often ends in tyranny and
destruction— usually self-destruction— and is such a form of egotism
that it almost borders on insanity.

When we realize that all dominion lies in not exercising that
conscious dominion which in the end becomes domination, it is
because we know the truth of the I-AM-ness of our being. To know
that since I is God and that I is the very I that I AM, then that
1 AM has dominion over everything on the earth, above the earth, and
^neath the earth. To be still and know that I am God makes way
for a divine Presence to go out before us, prepare mansions for us,
and draw unto us our own When we know the I, we will know that
* is the creator, but there must be no egotism connected with that.
That, too, is one of the great temptations.

Verv few initiates succumb to these temptations and fall by the

230 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

wayside after a certain point in their development, but up to that
time, even though the teacher knows that the aspirant is ready, the
aspirant does not always fulfill that readiness, largely because per.
sonal sense is still in the saddle.

As long as there is any personal sense of self, we try to protect it
and whenever anything seems to threaten it, we rise up to do battle.
Such a reaction may cause us to fall by the wayside because on the
spiritual path we are not permitted to take up the sword, fudas, who
was so close to the Master as to be his treasurer, retained enough of
a sense of personal selfhood that he wanted to be "top banana," he
wanted to be the most important disciple, and as soon as any of the
others seemed to gain the favor of the teacher, he rose up to protect
his position.

The personal sense of self that has left in it even a trace of ambi-
tion, envy, or jealousy is enough to trip up a student at any stage of
his development. Until he has completely lost all sense of self and
there is no further possibility of falling away, every initiate faces the
temptation of fame or money, and if it is not a mad ambition for
money, it may be just the ambition for enough money to ensure
security. These are the devil- tempters. The enlightened conscious-
ness has no need for safety or security and no need to be concerned
about a future, but until one has attained that state of consciousness,
the temptation is certain to be present, and there is always the possi-
bility that the initiate may yield to it.

The fabric of every temptation that assails us consists of some form
of personal sense. It is only with the final illumination, that final
experience of God incarnating as individual man, a revelation that
has come to so few people in all the world, that personal sense is
dead. At this stage of unfoldment there is none of the human self
left. Fame means nothing, fortune means nothing, safety means
nothing. Does God need safety? Does God need security? Impossible!

But students on the Path have not attained that final revelation
of God incarnated as the Self, the revelation that enabled the MasteS
to say, "He that seeth me seeth him that sent me." How few there
are who can make the statement, "You are looking at God"! And
until they can do that, there is some measure of personal sense rf"

THE MEANING OF INITIATION 231

gaining that could cause them to fall. After that, when all personal
ense has been eliminated, when there is no "I," "me," or "mine,"
there is only God, there is only the Light Itself, and this is Self-
supporting, Self-maintaining, and Self-sustaining, needing no help
from any human source.

The final step for every initiate is the command to "die." No one
attains the heights until he reaches a complete surrender of self,
a willingness to give up the human sense of self, give it up com-
] ete ] y _if necessary to jump off the cliff into the ocean, to swim out
to sea, to keep swimming and never turn back, to do what the Mas-
ter commanded: "lose" his life, "die" to his human sense of life.

The "death" of the self is explained in different ways in different
teachings. In the older teachings, in addition to the story of Osiris
and the Phoenix rising up out of their own ashes, there are accounts
of the crucifixion of six spiritual masters before the time of Jesus,
each of whom rose again. In the wisdom schools the final attainment
was always dependent on the "death" of the student. Every student
of a wisdom school was required to go through a "death," be "buried,"
and "resurrected"— raised up again— before he was given the spirit-
ual status of a master. In the ancient Egyptian teachings, as well as
those of Greece, there is always the "death" of the master, followed
by his resurrection and rebirth. Many fraternal teachings include, as
a part of their ritual, the "death" of the initiate, and his being raised
up again. This "death" of the self is exemplified in the Master's ex-
perience by the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and the Ascension
above all personal selfhood.

Crucifixion can be an actual physical crucifixion, and resurrection
can be an actual resurrection from the grave, but not necessarily so.
They may be symbolic to show the "death" of the self and the rais-
ing up of that divine Selfhood which we are, out of the dust of that
corpse, out of the tomb. In other words, the crucifixion, which is the
"death," or the crossing out of the self, may come in any dark night
of the Soul when the last trace of selfhood is being swallowed up
a "d there is nothing left but the light of the divine Selfhood— no

vestige left of any "I," "me," or "mine," just the J that is the I of us.
Whether during this particular lifetime on earth or in another,

i

232 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

the day must come when we "die"— not in the sense of a physical
death as the result of disease, age, or accident, but a "death" tn
all human sense. We can know how rapidly we are "dying" by jj, e
degree to which we insist on the preservation of our human self
which is said to be the first law of nature. If we are at the stage of
consciousness where we would shoot to death a burglar who had
entered our home, we have not yet "died": we are still in human-
hood, still living a life of self-preservation. If we believe that in the
event of any conflict our country should throw a bomb before the
other country does, we have not yet started on the spiritual path:
we are still under the law of self-preservation. The connotations of
that law are terrifying to contemplate. It is another way of saying
that our life is more valuable than that of others.

On the spiritual path, and particularly as we rise high enough
above and beyond all personal sense of self, we are able to under-
stand that when the Master commanded his disciple to put up his
sword it was as if he had said, "I know that they are going to crucify
me, but what is the difference whether I die, or this soldier dies?
Is it not the one Life? Is it right to kill him in order to protect me?
Life is life, whether it is his life or my life. I have taught you to lay
down your life that you may End it. I know what my fate is, but do
not take someone else's life to protect my life because then all that
I have taught you is lost."

Only in the degree of our self-surrender, only in the degree of what
we give up, will we ever find our Self, and if we think to preserve or
save our life by taking that of another, we have given telling evidence
that we have not advanced very far spiritually. It takes only a little
spiritual light to see that the life of one person cannot be more
important than that of another, for life is life. The truth is that my
life is your life, and your life is my life; and when you die, I die;
when I die, you die.

We are never on the spiritual path until we have risen above the
pairs of opposites, above good and evil, above "me" and "mine,
above "thee" and "thine," until we have risen to the place in con-
sciousness where there is One. When there is One, and One only*
we can feed the multitudes and have twelve baskets full left over,

THE MEANING OF INITIATION 233

yc can heal the multitudes, we can forgive the multitudes, but not
W 'hile there is a sense of a little self that is seeking for itself.

That which originally caused us to be cast out of our spiritual
home into a material sense of the universe was duality — the belief in
a selfhood apart from God with its belief in, and fear of, two powers.
It js not in someone else that this belief is overcome: it is overcome
in us, and by us.

The overcoming is never the overcoming of something out here:
it is always the overcoming of a belief that has been accepted in our
consciousness. The overcoming is within out own consciousness.
The longer we postpone that overcoming, the longer will we postpone
the day of our final initiation when we become the master of our
experience.

No one attains the spiritual heights except those who have been
in the lowest depths. When we are going through our darkest human
experience, very few of us actually believe that God is with us. Most
of us are convinced that He has forsaken us. But God has never for-
saken anyone — not even those in the lowest depth of sin imaginable.
God is just as much omnipresent with the sinner as with the greatest
saint.

When Moses was leading the Hebrews through their forty years of
wilderness-experience, I doubt that many of the Hebrews around
him would have acknowledged that God was present; but Moses
himself surely must have known during all those forty years that the
place whereon he stood at any given moment was holy ground. Had
God not been with Moses, would there have been an end to those
forty years in the wilderness and the next step into the land of milk
a nd honey?

Elijah, too, must have had a little feeling, for a time at least, that
Perhaps God was not present when he was out in the wilderness and
Wa s being so persecuted. But if God had not been present, ravens
w °uld not have fed him, or the poor widow, nor would he have
to und cakes baked on the stones in front of him. Regardless of the
P^blems through which Elijah went, had there not been Omni-
presence, Elijah would perhaps never have been heard of again.
w hat an inspiration it is to us when at the end of his trials and

234 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

tribulations, God reveals to him, " 'Yet I have left me seven thousand
in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baa!' — I have
saved out your completeness, your perfection, your harmony, ari{ j
your mission in life." God always saves out for us, too, our complete-
ness, perfection, harmony, and mission in life.

If God had not been with Jesus, even on the Cross, could there
have been a Resurrection? Separate and apart from God, does man
have powers of good, powers of resurrection or ascension? It is im-
portant for those of us on the spiritual path to recognize that
wherever there is the restoring of the lost years of the locust as in the
case of Elijah, Isaiah, and Joel, wherever there is an experience,
such as the ministry of Jesus Christ culminating in the Resurrection
and the Ascension, there must be Immanuel, God with us, there
must be Omnipresence, even though there have been those intervals
in which the appearances were not outwardly testifying to the
Presence.

Watching Paul in his persecution of the Christians and in his
many attempts to eradicate them completely, it would have been
hard to believe that God was with him. If we had been part of that
Christian band, we would have looked on Saul of Tarsus as a devil
But he was not so great a devil that God was not with him. In fact,
God was with Paul awaiting recognition and realization even in the
years of his ignorance, in the years of his persecutions and what the
Christians would have called his deviltries. God was with him when
he received the light and when he became a major factor in the found-
ing and teaching of the Christian faith.

Peter and John were imprisoned, but God must have been with
them in the prison, or else there would have been no escape for
them. But there was an escape, and there was a whole ministry await-
ing them because of Omnipresence, and not so much because o*
That as because of their recognition of It.

There is no one anywhere, at any time, without Omnipresence.
There is no one anywhere, at any time, who does not have the full'
ness of the Godhead within him, regardless of what crosses, trials, or
tribulations, regardless of what years of ignorance, sin, fear, or evil
may be his lot. And but for these trials there would be no rousing
out of mortality, out of humanness, out of evil humanhood, a nd

THE MEANING OF INITIATION 235

] a ter on there would be no rousing out of good humanhood, although
eventually, both of these steps must be taken.

In the beginning of our spiritual experience we are merely coming
ut of the mortal or erroneous sense of life, usually into a good sense
f human life — healthier and more abundant. But that is not the
ultimate of life: the ultimate of life is spiritual realization.

To attain that spiritual realization, the primary responsibility of
the student is the practice of meditation. It is in meditation that he
loses the self with a small *'s," and gains the Self with a capital "S."
It is in meditation that he is developing, enriching, and unfolding
his inner Self, but not while the human mind is busy with the ambi-
tion or desire for attainment.

The preparation for spiritual attainment, if there is any, therefore,
is to forsake a goal. Let us suppose that initiation came to a student
at this moment, and then he was told never to appear in public
again, never to let himself be seen, but to find a cabin in the woods
somewhere, and pray. How would he feel if he were a master and
nobody else knew it, and he could not even wear a robe? Everyone
who has attained that high realization has been given something to
do that, while he was doing it, made it impossible for him to have
name or fame. The Master Christ Jesus was not known as the Saviour
or the Messiah during his own lifetime: he was a simple rabbi walk-
ing up and down the streets and villages of Palestine. Later, he was
given the honor of being the Saviour, but only later.

Certainly, then, a prime requisite in the preparation for initia-
tion on the spiritual path is the understanding that the aspirant
is ready to be unknown and to be nothing. If he is instructed to
sit in silence the rest of his days, he will sit in silence. If he is bidden
to go off somewhere and pray for the world, he will do that, and
above all things, he will never let his neighbors or friends or anyone
else know that he is a person of spiritual attainment. That is a denial
°f attainment.

A real master does not look anything like a master: the real master
•s more like the servant who comes knocking at the door, asking, "Can
)ou give me a little food?" and if we have the vision to recognize him
a s a master, there is a great blessing in it for us.

I he more of a master one becomes, the more of a servant he really

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J. -

236 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

is. There never has been a real master who called himself master
there never has been a master who did not realize that he was not a
master, but a servant, a servant to all who came unto htm heavy
laden, to all who came seeking the Light. He who has attained the
consciousness of a master becomes the servant of everybody, and a
person with such a high state of consciousness could never stoop
even to have a lurking desire to set himself up to be bowed down
to and worshiped.

When a person is identified by the title of master or guru, it is
only a means of signifying that individual's spiritual attainment. The
person we see is not the master. What constitutes the master is his
divine Consciousness. Did not the great Master tell us in effect,
"Do not call me master, do not call me good: there is but one Mas-
ter, there is but One good"?

No one can take credit for attaining the spiritual heights because
no one has done anything to deserve or earn it, even on the lower
levels. I can remember the time of my entrance to the spiritual
path when the first signs given me were that I cared no longer for
smoking, drinking, or playing cards. I could not even go across the
border and put a two-dollar bet on a horse. All of that disappeared.
How foolish it would have been if I had taken credit for this, and
boasted about how noble I was when I had nothing at all to do with
it. These things were simply taken from me: there was no credit
accruing to me.

As one goes higher on the spiritual path, he attains a humility
and a complete freedom from worldly fear. Almost with the first
spiritual experience, the fear of death disappears because in the
realization of life eternal, it becomes of relative unimportance
whether he lives on this plane or on that. No one attains spiritually
while a fear of death remains in consciousness. But there again,
how could a person possibly take credit for not fearing death, when
it is something he did not accomplish, but something that was done
for him by the Grace that was given him.

In order to attain the spiritual heights, every initiate must go
down into the depths and go through a period known as "the dark
night of the Soul," which may last months and months. This is a time

1

THE MEANING OF INITIATION 237

of anguish, a period of barrenness in which he is torn apart and feels
cer tain that God has forsaken him, that he is unworthy, that he has
made a mistake, or that he has committed a sin, and God has there-
fore cast him into outer darkness. The reason for this desolation is
n ot that God has thrown him off: it is only that a greater, deeper
light is coming, and there must be an emptying-out process before
that greater light can come.

There are many "dark nights of the Soul" on this Path until the
final one. The final one, of course, is the real night of the Soul, and
that very nearly costs some their life before they can pass through
that particular experience and come out into the full realization of
the light.

This "dark night of the Soul" culminates in the "death" of per-
sonal selfhood and the lifting of the initiate into the master-state of
consciousness. In this experience the initiate may witness a tremen-
dous light, a filmy cloud, or a pillar of cloud, descending as if from
above and taking form on earth as an individual. In other words, he
beholds God incarnating Himself as man, and in this vision I, God,
is now I, man: the Father has become the Son, and now I am that
I AM. 1 am He; I am He that should come.

With this revelation there exists forever after what the world calls
teacher, saviour, or guru, but which is really the light of God mani-
fested as man, and the power shown forth is the power of God which
appears to others to be the power of a man. That is why so often an
individual has been set up and glorified as God : it was not seen that
it was not a man who was God, but that God was the man. There is
quite a difference! A man is never God, but God becomes the man.

While it is true that there have been only a few full and complete
God-incarnated-as-men on earth, there have been very many who
nave appeared as God incarnated on earth in a measure, and some
>n a very great measure. Otherwise the works they have performed
c ould not have been performed because they were always works
'hat a man could never have done. No man could have left as his
contribution to the spiritual literature of the world the Gospel of
John, the Advaita Vedanta, or any of the gTeat original teachings
t"at have become the spiritual heritage of man.

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238 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

The Absolute is not a teaching but an experience. When it j.
given in words in a book, it is a revelation, but still not a teaching
Nobody can teach anyone to become the God-incarnated man, but
after it has been revealed, it can be taken into consciousness, and the
measure of the readiness of the student will be the measure of ^
experience of it.

Although there are some few in the history of the world who have
come to earth so highly endowed spiritually that they have received
the impartation of the Spirit directly by Grace without the interven-
tion or help of a teacher, the vast majority of those who have at-
tained the realization of the Absolute have attained it through a
teacher.

What might be called the first revelation of the Absolute is accredi-
ted to Krishna, and while there are no proofs of his attainment, nor
are there any manuscripts attributed to anyone by the name of
Krishna, this name recurs again and again and again in religious
literature, and is always in some way associated with the revelation of
God as individual being, God as the only I AM, and that God, or
I AM, constituting individual being.

We have no knowledge of how many attained this consciousness
in the days antedating written accounts, but probably one of the first
authentic records of such an attainment is that of Melchizedek. With
Melchizedek there was no teaching; he taught nothing to anyone;
and if he did impart his experience of the Absolute, there is no record
of it. Our only information is that there was such a person as Mel-
chizedek, he to whom even Abraham, the father of the Hebrew
nation, paid tribute, that is, acknowledged as greater than himself—
Melchizedek, never born and never dying. Has anyone but God Itself
never been bom and never died? No, only God is from everlasting
to everlasting; therefore, it was the awareness of his identity as spir-
itual being, as God, as the J AM that was fully revealed as Mel-
chizedek.

Moses, too, on the mountain top, at the very height of spiritual
revelation, received the awareness that I AM is God. He never taught
the Absolute, however: he attained It. The teaching he gave to his
followers was a very relative one. To try to reveal to them what he

THE MEANING OF INITIATION 239

had attained was an impossibility, and the most he could do with his
followers was to attempt to teach them to be good human beings,
a nd this by means of The Ten Commandments.

Isaiah and John, also, undoubtedly attained the Absolute, but they
never taught It: they merely revealed in their writings that they had
attained It and Its truth. In one way or another, a teacher can show
that he has attained the Absolute and can impart It in a measure,
but he cannot teach It because It is not a teaching: It is an experi-
ence.

With Sliankara, the experience of the Absolute became more of a
teaching. While he probably did not achieve it in the same degree
as Moses and John, and certainly not in the degree which Melchiz-
edek attained, still he was able to leave behind him a wealth of
writing which became the foundation of the Advaita Vedanta, the
only absolute teaching of India,

Whenever an individual attains conscious union with God and
realizes in some measure the I-ness of his being, he is in the Abso-
lute, he is then the divine Consciousness expressing Itself. When
this happens, he either decides that he has finished with this par-
ticular phase of existence, lays down his body, and departs, con-
tinuing his life in an incorporeal form, or he is given some specific
mission on earth and continues working to accomplish that mission
until it is fulfilled, because the Consciousness which he now is per-
petuates him as long as the need remains for his earthly experience.

Moses took his people right to the Promised Land, and probably
fust have felt that that ended his ministry. Elijah undoubtedly
completed his mission because he ascended and rose beyond visible
Manifestation without having to go through disease or accident.
) e sus must have felt that his work was done because in the presence
°* his disciples, he "lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said ... I have
"nislied the work which thou gavest me to do." John was given the
M'ssion of preparing the manuscript of the Gospel of John, so that
Ul at revelation might be preserved, and Shankara was enabled to
c °mplete his work of presenting the philosophy of the Advaita
Atlanta of India.

Each one who attains some measure of the realization of the

240

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

Absolute has a work to perform, and part of that work is irnpartin
the Absolute to those few who are able to receive It. Not all are abl
to accept It because it takes, first of all, an evolved consciousness
and secondly, it requires the ability to leave all to follow the work
Scripture speaks of leaving mother and father, and sister and brother,
for My sake. There are not many people who have done that, nor
many who are, or would be, willing to do so. There are not mariv
who, if asked to leave their "nets" and follow the Christ, would
actually give up their jobs and leave their families to follow that
Me. That does not mean, however, that there are not such, nor
does it mean that it is not happening, because it is.

"Many are called, but few are chosen." There are many who re-
ceive some spiritual light, but instead of instantly saying, "Ah, I
must follow this to the end," they usually are content to rest in the
additional comfort gained. They accept the increased human good
and are satisfied with it, rather than seeking to find the principle
that brought it about.

Spiritual evolution comes about not in one lifetime: it comes
about over a period of many, many lifetimes. There are those who
receive some measure of spiritual light, but aside from using it to
gain better health, more abundant supply, or more satisfying com-
panionship, go no further with it. This, however, gives them such a
firm foundation that in their next parenthesis thev go higher, and it
is possible that in the one following that, or the one after, they
will attain the highest initiation and receive the illumination of the
Absolute,

CHAPTER XXI

"THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD GOD
HATH ANOINTED ME"

o

\_y nee the mystical realm has been touched, we live in a world
where things happen that never happen in the human realm. It was
in this realm that Jesus was living at the time of the Transfiguration,
and it was through his conscious oneness with the Father that he
was able to show Moses and Elias to the disciples, thereby proving
to them that these prophets had never died.

In the mystical realm there is no past, present, or future: there is
only now. The form that we think of as our body is not externalized
reality, nor is it outside of our being: it is a mental concept or image
in thought. The spiritual form as which we exist today is the same
form as which we existed yesterday, and it is the form as which we
w il] exist forever. The I of us and of all God-substance are one and
fte same, and even the body is made of that same pure substance. I
is incorporeal and spiritual; I has form, but it is not a dense form:
]t has no thickness and it has no weight. It is really a "light" form.
To begin to perceive this is to understand that our present existence
ls of the same spiritual nature as our pre-existence was and as our
future existences will be.

As we unfold spiritually, we are no longer quite as aware of

241

r

242 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

physical form as we were before. Instead of noticing the physical
appearance of a person we meet, we quickly look into his eyes be-
cause behind those eves sits the I. We have learned by now that a
person can never be found in any part of his body: in his feet, legj ;
torso, or even in his brain. It is in meeting the eyes that we meet
the person.

The further we go in spiritual development, the less awareness
we have of, and the less importance do we impute to, outlined
physical form. We begin to perceive other forms of beauty, real
beauty, intelligence, even love and life shining out of a person's eyes,
or around his lips. We hear something in his voice and catch
glimpses of something deep within him.

As our state of consciousness evolves to a higher level, we even rise
above that and become aware of an aura or an atmosphere, and re-
gardless of what the physical appearance or the speech of a person
may be, we are either drawn to the atmosphere flowing out from
him, repelled by it, or we are indifferent to it.

Everyone carries his atmosphere with him, and there is no way to
hide it or cover it up. For a person of spiritual discernment, it is not
too hard to sense whether those with whom he comes in contact are
simply good human beings or whether they have developed spir-
itually to any degree. Something tells us when that spiritual develop-
ment is present in a person. The person himself cannot tell it be-
cause, if he does, that is a denial of it. But we can feel it and are
attracted to it. In fact, such a height of spiritual elevation can be
reached that a person with a highly enough developed spiritual con-
sciousness can see the entire body of a spiritually illumined person
disappear and, in its place, there will be nothing left but light. It may
be either a light around the body with the body invisible, or the
entire body may be a body of light. This is a momentary thing; •
does not last for long, but it does happen.

Nobody can say, "I am spiritual, and my body is light," and then
expect that others will be able to see that light. No, even when a
person has attained the place where he is a body of light, no ° nl
else can see that body as light until he himself has attained the
gree of spiritual illumination that makes it possible to witness wW
is there.

"THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD GOD . . . HATH ANOINTED Me" 243

At the time of the Transfiguration, Jesus was at the stage of his
u nfoldment where he was no longer a man: he had become the

Way, the Truth, and the Life— incorporeal and wholly spiritual

but as far as those in his immediate environment were concerned, he
was still walking around in what the universal human mind in-
terprets as human form. His friends, relatives, and followers had not
risen in consciousness. They still remained on the human plane, so
they, therefore, were able to cognize only materiality.

During the experience of the Transfiguration, Jesus had with him
the most highly developed of his disciples, and inasmuch as by this
time they were perhaps too far advanced spiritually to be taught
much more of the letter of truth, they were with him on the Mount
only for inspiration, meditation, and illumination.

Through his meditation and through his going deeper and deeper
within himself, he was able to raise his disciples the extra notch that
was necessary so that their human sense was "dead," and as he be-
came more deeply immersed in the Spirit, the fullness of his spiritual
body, his light-body, was made evident to them. They had "died" to
their finite sense and had been lifted to a state of consciousness
where they could behold him as he really was.

Every practitioner who has worked spiritually, or even one who has

used mental arguments, has been lifted up above mental argument

to a place where it stopped, and quietness began. Such a practitioner

lias witnessed something much like the Transfiguration even though

he may not have been aware of it. In response to a call for help

"Om some person, he may have so far forgotten the person and the

condition in his knowing the truth about God that all of a sudden

" e came to the end of the mental argument and for just a flash—

ne tiny bit of a second— something happened: it was as if he had

iCc n spiritual man, and then he knew that everything was all right.

. «C may not have realized what had happened, but in that blind-

§ flash he lost all sense of corporeality and saw man as he is. He
did

He

n ©t see him with his eyes: he perceived him with his inner vision.

'tua] di

saw with inner spiritual discernment, and with that inner spir-

it,

iscernment there was that second's glimpse of the real man.

we continue with our spiritual development and unfoldment.
catch a glimpse of spiritual man, sometimes even of spiritual

r -

244 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

form, and eventually we arrive at the place where it is almost a daily
experience to see some person, usually a patient 01 a student, J n
his spiritual identity.

The Transfiguration is not an experience of two thousand years
ago. It is a continuing experience that always has been and always
will be. It is an experience in which individuals so lift themselves
above the physical or mental state that they become less aware of the
corporeal form, and more aware of what is shining through that form.
Thus we have Transfiguration, and we have it here, and we have it
now, available for all who have eyes to see.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me
to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-
hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. Luke 4:18

That is the mystical experience. But before that happens, we are
human beings, separate and apart from God, mortals who have no
God-contact, who are not blessed or reached by God, and not even
known to God. When we first feel that divine Presence, however,
we are ordained; we are no longer human beings, no longer mortal:
we are now the sons of God. We are still the son of man insofar as
those who see our body are concerned; we eat and drink, use trans-
portation, and carry on our normal daily activities, but we are the
son of God in that those things are the least part of our life. The
major part of our life now is the presence and power of God, the
same Presence and Power which Jesus said anointed and ordained
him to heal the sick.

When a person comes to that place where a transition has take:
place in his consciousness and he no longer looks out on this
and sees men and women, good and bad, sick and well, but 1$ a
to see through the human picture to the spiritual reality, that on
spiritually ordained.

There is no need to tell this to anyone, to advertise, or to v
it because when the Spirit of the Lord God is upon a person an
has received light, there is something within his consciousnes
communicates itself silently to others. They feel comfortable
presence, and they ask him to pray for them.

"THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD GOD . . . HATH ANOINTED Me" 245

It makes no difference where he lives, whether in a tiny village or
a big city as the word spreads, he will be called upon for comfort,
healing, and eventually for teaching. His work will grow because the
m oment anyone has a healing, he is quick to tell his friends and
relatives and to write to those in other cities and states. The teacher
may never receive honor in his own city; he may remain hidden in
his home and not even his next-door neighbor realize the work that
),e is carrying on, but he will be known far and wide. Nothing
spreads quite so rapidly as the news about a healer who can heal.

The Master was wise when he said, "Go and tell no man." No
person should ever advertise in any way the spiritual light that has
come to him, or give testimonies about it, but he does give a cup of
cold water in this spiritual Name whenever the opportunity presents
itself. An indication of the degree of spiritual light that has come
to anyone is his willingness to be anonymous, to stay away from the
activities of the world, and to be drawn only where he can be of
service.

If we sincerely love truth, we will give ourselves unstintingly to
the search. Whatever is necessary to do, we will do: if it is to buy
books or teachings, if it is to give time, if it is effort, if it is devotion,
rf it is meditation, whatever is necessary to give, we will give. Every
part of our life must be dedicated to God; our first fruits must be
given to God, for God is not to be attained with a little spare time
or a little spare change. It takes the whole heart, the whole Soul, the

nole love of one's being, and above all things, it takes secrecy. We

et not our right hand know what our left hand is doing. We do

tell our neighbors or our friends and relatives that we are seeking

because when we have found Him, they will know it without

filing them.

, er y person who goes into spiritual work must be certain that
I as been called and ordained of the Spirit and that he has not
b u m Er ,i s activity simply because of a human desire. To desire
f a ' L,a ' activity is a wrong desire: to want to meet God face to
Uii s ' ° ex P en ' ence Him, to want spiritual light and illumination—
lot - ■ le 0n ^ ^ es ' re triat ' s worthwhile. Human ordination does

make

a man spiritual, nor does it make of him a healer or a

246 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

comforter. Only spiritual ordination from the Father within can do
that. What happens to a person after the light comes rests with God,
not with man.

The spiritual teacher must wait until he knows within himself
that the Spirit of the Lord God is upon him and that he has been
ordained to heal the sick, to lift up, to redeem, to forgive; and he
must also be very sure that he is ready to pay the price.

Few people realize the price that has to be paid for engaging in
spiritual work. Many still have the idea that it is a part-time job, or
that a person in this ministiy works for an hour or two a week giving
lectures and classes, and then hires a big firm of income tax spe-
cialists to make out his income tax. That is nonsense. Spiritual work
demands a seven day week, and usually a twelve- to eighteen-hour
day. As a rule it means the loss of one's family, and it always means
the loss of one's friends because in spiritual work no one has the
leisure necessary to enjoy friendships or for time-consuming social
dilly-dallying.

If a person is not prepared to leave this world and all his friends,
even his family if necessary, he obviously has not been ordained and
has no right to embark on this activity, because in spiritual work no
one's life is any longer his own. The truly spiritual teacher belongs
to his students and patients. If he is unwilling to have a telephone
at his bedside and be awakened at any hour of the night, or if 1
does not go about almost with a walkie-talkie, he does not belong
in the work because he must be at the beck and call of telephones,
mail, and telegrams or cablegrams seven days a week. There is n
time out for weekends or vacations, and it is extremely rare for the
person in this work to have even an occasional holiday.

Sometimes the price is paid in the coin of loneliness. No matta
how many students the teacher of spiritual wisdom may have <
how many friends, in his spiritual life he will have to be content W
live all alone in the center of his being. He may be physical
present with many people, but he is not otherwise present. The pn
is high! Everyone who has been successful in this work knows W
very high it is; and the price one has to pay in loss of family a»
friends, and in loneliness, does not take into consideration

"THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD GOD . . . HATH ANOINTED ME ' 247

hatred that is brought down upon the person who stands for truth—
sometimes the persecution, and always the misunderstanding. No-
body can quite see another's motive because he is not seeing through
the same state of illumination, and what someone else is thinking
and doing very often looks wrong to a person who is on a different
level of consciousness.

So die questions that must be answered by us in the depth of our
consciousness are: Do we love the Lord God with all our heart and
with all our Soul, and for no other reason than to want to know
God? Do we want to make that dedication and devotion to God our
life, and leave the healing and teaching to the Christ within us? This
we must answer in our hearts. Only a love of God, a love of being in
God's company— away from people, not with people— must remain.

Above all things, if we have any desire whatsoever for the spiritual
life, we must realize that we cannot at the same time have a desire
for some outer activity. Our only desire must be for God Himself: to
love Him, to know Him, to commune with Him — and not for any
reason. If we have a reason, we will erect a barrier. No one must ever
go to God for a reason. To go to God to commune with Him, that is
enough. Then, if we are entrusted with spiritual work, that is just
one of the added things.

On the day when the Christ touches us, that is the day of our
mystical experience. We do not become mystics— we may never be-
come mystics on this plane. This experience of the Christ may be
°nly the preparation for the day when we will be mystics, but we will
nave the mystical experience, and it will be followed by others, as
'°ng as we are living in the awareness of the Presence.

In the assurance of the Presence we Test, not on our human wis-
dom, our human health, or human strength: we rest on It, and It is
atr nost like resting back on a cloud, so tangible and so evident is It.
" is much more valuable, much more powerful, much more present,
n< i much more satisfying and reliable than any human relationship
las ever been.

That is the I AM; that is the Christ; that is the son of God. When

c son of God is conceived or bom in us, from then on, if we
Ut ture It, if we keep reaching toward It, relying on It, keep turning

248

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

within and acknowledging Its presence and power, It develops and
grows. We have to take It down to "Egypt" to hide It because if w „
tell our friends and neighbors about It, they may ridicule us to such
an extent that we may wish such a way of life had never become a
part of our experience; but as we keep It secret and sacred, one day
It becomes evident by Its fruits.

It never becomes evident as a tangible thing. Nobody will ever
come up to us and say, "Oh, you have the Christ." But very often
people do come up to us and ask, "What are you doing lately?" 01
"What are you reading or thinking? You seem to be changed, and
things seem to be improving for you." There is no recognition of the
Christ as such. What has happened is that the Spirit of the Lord
God is upon us, and now we are ordained to speak the truth, to heal
the sick, and to comfort those in need of comfort.

After this first glimpse comes to us, this first awareness that there
is a Presence within us which really does miracle-working things,
from then on we behold It at work. "He performeth the thing that
is appointed for me. . . . The Lord will make perfect that which
concerneth me."

In the very moment we attain a realization that we are no longer
alone, that there is a Presence and a Power within us, we have
touched the mystical experience, the experience of a transcendental
infinite Presence, a transcendental Something that cannot be ex-
plained. It goes right to the roots and the marrow of our bones and
bodies and makes us every whit whole. It cements relationships. It
takes persons out of our lives, too, who cannot be a part of a spiritual
life.

There are many persons who have mystical experiences, but they
are not therefore mystics: they have merely accidentally had an ex*
perience that was never again repeated. Mystics are those individuals
who have attained conscious union with God and who can attain
this union almost at will— although not completely so because »
is not a matter of human will power. Those who do actually attain
the mystical consciousness recognize it for what it is, and they there-
after live in that consciousness at least in some measure most of the
time, and in the fullness of it at frequent periods.

"THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD GOD . . . HATH ANOINTED ME" 249

Many a time some students have felt that they have had a spiritual
experience, but have found later that it was either an emotional or an
occult one, stemming from the mental realm and not the spiritual,
gut when we have a genuine spiritual experience and the Presence
becomes very real to us, and there is an inner stirring or awakening,
there are always signs following so that we cannot mistake the way.
]f some question remains in our mind as to the validity of the ex-
perience, obviously we have not had the experience, for when that
occurs there is no question.

God is positive. God never leaves us in doubt. He may make us
wait. In fact, in the spiritual life there are often long periods of
waiting, waiting between one step and the next, between one un-
Eoldment and the next, or between one experience and the next.
Spiritual experiences do not come every day of the week, just by
turning something on and turning it off, or by closing the eyes for
meditation.

Each spiritual experience is like a plateau, and our progress on
the Path like a series of plateaus. We reach a particular plateau,
and then stand there, seemingly making no progress, and all we can
do is wait. There is nothing to do but wait. Just as a rosebud cannot
be hurried into a rose, but must take its normal natural time to
unfold, so must a spiritual experience.

So we have an experience, and it is deep and rich; it is bright;
it is light; and it gives us a vision beyond anything we have ever
known before. We live with that, and we work with it, and we dream
with it, and all the time whatever work is given us to do is performed.
Then it seems as if everything is taken away, and there comes an
emptiness, a vacuum, a sense of absence from God, a sense of sepa-
ration, but this is only to make us ready for the next step or plateau,
for a still higher experience and unfoMment.

These experiences are not given to us lightly, nor do we earn them
I'ghtly, nor can we ever deserve them. They come by Grace, and
e ach one places a demand on us that we fulfill life at the level of
that realization until by Grace the next one is given us. We cannot
doubt these experiences, nor can we ever tell of them. This may be
surprising because many books have been written about initiation

n

250 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

and about the lives of the great masters. But do you believe that arjo
one of these accounts is authentic? Do you believe that any master
has ever revealed the inner secrets of his spiritual life? In all th e
history of the world could there be a manuscript or a book fully
revealing the inner life of a mystic? Can such an experience ever be
expressed in words?

Even though the mystical experience may not come to you in its
fullness, it is not likely that you are on this Path without the possi-
bility of having some measure of spiritual experience. The very fact
that you have been led to a spiritual path would indicate that there
is something in store for you of that nature. When it does come, re-
gardless of how small the experience may be, or how great, do not
share it with anyone because to do so is virtually to ensure that it
will not happen again, and that it will not bear fruitage.

If you have a spiritual teacher who has played a part in bringing
you into the light, you may share your experience with your teacher,
and thereby be led into a greater expansion of consciousness because
your teacher knows how to hold your experience secret and sacred,
and deepen and enrich it. But no one else— not a parent, not a
wife, not a husband, not a child, not a friend— should ever share
the depth of a spiritual experience— no one but your teacher, if you
have one.

Those who have never had a spiritual experience do not speak
this language, and they therefore have no way of understanding what
we are talking about. Friends and relatives think we have gone off
center, and they begin to doubt our sanity. So it is the part of wisdom
to remember that spiritual experiences are not a subject to be
flaunted before the world to bolster one's ego or to make one seern
great in the eyes of others.

Many persons believe that the spiritual experience will increase
their health and wealth, or increase their powers, making itself
evident in some human way. But the Master did not accumulate
wealth, and in his own days on earth he was never accepted as a '4
saviour. He was a very much misunderstood person, and a much
persecuted one. He never attained name or fame while on earthi
nor for hundreds of vears afterward.

"THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD GOD . . . HATH ANOINTED ME" 251

A mystic is never known as a mystic to anyone except the few
ff lio have the ability to discern the spiritually real behind the ap-
pearance. A real mystic will never set himself up as a great teacher
or as the head of anything because that is not the nature of the
mystic. Left to himself, a mystic would prefer to live separate and
apart from the world and carry on his work in secret.

Ibe mystic wears no robe; the mystic wears no halo: the mystic
is a simple person with an inner light and with enough wisdom to
keep that light hidden from the outside world— not to seek place or
position by means of it, but always willing to share it with those who
recognize and desire it.

If we have a spiritual experience or have been given a spiritual
message, the world will beat a pathway to our door. If we have the
light, if we are the light, we shall never need to announce it: the
world will seek us out. It is far better to wait until we are ordained
of the Spirit, and then let those who have seen the son of God raised
up in us come to us, and let us share with them whatever measure of
light we have.

CHAPTER XXII

THE MYSTICAL MARRIAGE

E

I very mystic eventually achieves such a oneness with the Spirit
within that forever afterward there is a union with the divine Con-
sciousness. That which is human and that which is divine meet: the
human element is dissolved, and all that is left is the divine. The
two become one. This coming together in oneness is called the
mystical marriage, the spiritual marriage. This Marriage is sym-
bolically described in some mystical literature, such as the Song of
Solomon, as the union of the male and female, brought together by
a Jove that transcends love in any human sense. It has no sensuality
in it because there is no corporeality about it, and yet this relation-
ship that develops between the spiritually endowed individual and
God can be described only in terms of love.

In the consummation of the mystical marriage, the Father and
Son become one: "I and my Father." There is a close, intimate
relationship between the two. "He that seeth me seeth him that
sent me." There are no longer two : there is only one. It is no long et
Jesus, son of Joseph: it is now Jesus, the son of God, the Christ, ot
Jesus, the Christed one.

In many spiritual teachings the names of the disciples are chang^
at a certain point in their unfoldment. Their former names identic

252

THE MYSTICAL MARRIAGE 253

them with a physical body and a human ancestry. Thus it was that
Simon was called Simon Bar-Jonah, meaning Simon, the son of
Jonah, but when he awakened to his divine sonship, his name was
changed to Peter. He was no longer identified with his human an-
cestry: he now took on the name of his spiritual ancestry, the Rock.

Today in some spiritual teachings when a certain point in the
student's development is reached, the teacher gives the disciple a
new name, symbolic of the "death" of his humanhood, and signi-
fying that he has "died" to his past history, he has "died" to his
mother and father, sister and brother, and has been reborn of the
Spirit. To everyone who attains the mystical experience comes this
changing of name and of character, even though it may not be out-
wardly known. Those to whom it happens do not tell the world
about it, but when it happens, they know it.

The bestowing of the Robe is also a mystical experience, and every-
one who comes into the mystical consciousness has felt that Robe
descend upon him. He would never refer to it: it is an inner spiritual
experience — not an outer robe, but something to be worn spiritually
as a garment which one places around himself to separate him from
whatever is left of human sense in his consciousness.

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. , . .
I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Here is the mystical
marriage: Paul and his Christ. They are wedded, they are one. Paul
does nothing without his Christ. The Christ thinks through him;
the Christ works through him; and this is the fruitage of the Marriage.

Every mystic not only experiences this dual relationship of "I"
and the indwelling Christ, but each one, at certain times, transcends
this relationship and becomes that higher One. He loses sight of his
human identity. The Master revealed that he had attained this high
state of complete union when he said : "I and my Father are one. . - -
before Abraham was, I am." This is the Master speaking from his
Godhood, from those moments when he had transcended the duality
of the Marriage and had become the He that is greater than any
!l,J man identity.

Mystical literature gives accounts of those who, at some time or
ot her, transcended the sense of a Presence always within them, and

254 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

became the Presence Itself. There must inevitably come a time in
our spiritual journey when we realize our I-ness, and then we are
that One, and the other one has disappeared from view. So far there
is no record of anyone's attaining that level and remaining on it
permanently, although this does not mean that it has never hap-
pened. It means only that when that state is attained, the person's
work is finished here, and he leaves this plane of consciousness.

The ultimate of the mystical experience is conscious union with
God. It is a state of inner communion so intense and so lofty that
the person disappears and exists then only as the infinite J, while at
the same time maintaining his individuality as a person. There is no
absorption into God at any time, even in the moment of conscious
union.

In the period just before the full and complete union, there is
sufficient oneness so that the mystic perceives his oneness with all
life:

I am the life of the grass; I am the life of the tree; I am the life of
the ocean. I can look up from under the sea and see the sky, but at
the same time I can look down from the sky and see the sea. I can
look out from a tree and see the birds, and at the same time be the
bird that is sitting on the branch of the tree. I am the life of <i«
being.

I am consciously sitting on a star, or inside of a star, looking out
at this world, while at the same time looking up from the ground dt
the star. I am the life of the stone, and at the same time I am look-
ing up from the ground at the stone.

I am here, and I am there, and I am everywhere: I permeate v*
creation. I can see in every direction at once, and always as if "*/
Selfhood were centered in just one tiny spot, and yet in every sp°
at the same moment. I am the life of every person around me. I df "
the mind, I am the law, and I am the power of Grace unto then*'
I am the way, and I am the truth, and I am the life.

Always in the end the spiritual aspirant discovers that the kingdo 11
of God is within him, and realizing that, pondering it, almost und* 1 '

THE MYSTICAL MARRIAGE

255

standing it, step by step he is taken along both the mental and the
spiritual path until one day the parenthesis is erased, his initiation
is complete, illumination comes, everything drops away, the Light is
there, and he realizes:

I am That. That which I am seeking, I dm.

Then comes a complete inner release from personal selfhood, from
human sense, and I stands revealed within as his identity.

PART THREE

L

IVING

IN THE CIRCLE

Living the Mystical Life

CHAPTER XXIII

LIVING IN, THROUGH, AND BY THE SPIRIT

T

Xhe

he attainment of the fourth-dimensional or illumined con-
sciousness is the secret of harmonious, abundant, and gracious living,
living without strife or struggle, completelv free from the material
sense of life. This freedom of the illumined is really a freedom from
ignorance because only the ignorant can cleave to the belief that life
is dependent on things and people in the external realm. Is not the
whole material sense of life characterized by a faith, hope, and
reliance on the external? To believe that life is dependent on a heart
and sustained by food alone, or that strength is dependent on the
development of muscles, in short, to believe that life is subject to,
°r dependent on, any thing or any thought is material sense.

The truth is that life governs the external realm, but to come into
agreement with that, we must understand that out body and our
mind belong to us, and that it is I that governs that mind and that
body, not the mind or the body that governs us.

In the degree that we realize that J governs the mind and J
g°vems the body are we illumined and free from the domination of
m 'nd and body. The mind is given to us as a thinking apparatus so
tliat we can think what thoughts we want to think. We have a mind
and we therefore determine what is going to occupy our mind.

259

260

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

But inasmuch as we are human antennas, we often find ourselves
thinking the thoughts that everybody else is thinking. That is why
at times fear overwhelms us, a fear that is not our fear but the uni-
versal fear that we pick up through our everyday contact with the
world. This that comes to us by way of the universal mind can be
fear or it can be doubt, it can be almost anything; and until we are
aware of the 1, those things will continue to intrude into our ex-
perience and dominate us. But that domination will become less and
less, the more we realize the I. There must be that recognition of I— I
Self -complete being:

I am the embodiment of all that God is. Because of my oneness
with my Source, all that is true of the Source is true of me, for I and
my Source are one.

Even when we come to a place where we are convinced of this
truth, this is not yet illumination. Illumination does not take place
merely by reading words and agreeing that they are beautiful, and
hoping they are true. Illumination is that moment of realization
when we know that whereas before we were blind, now we see.

Illumination is the attainment of that fourth-dimensional con-
sciousness in which we no longer see materially, hear materially, or
believe materially, but in which we see through the appearance, just
as we would see through the appearance of a mirage on a desert.

The human being, living in the third dimension, sees an ailing
body or a disturbed mind, and longs to do something about it,
whereas the fourth-dimensional consciousness sees through it. This
does not mean that this higher consciousness has no awareness or
the existence of such things, but to the fourth-dimensional con-
sciousness they do not have existence as reality. That is the difference.
Even Jesus Christ saw the crippled man, but while his physical ey«
took cognizance of this condition, his inner eye saw through tn
appearance to the man's Christhood.

The fourth-dimensional consciousness sees the discords as well a-
the beauties of this world, but when it sees these, it does not becom
hypnotized, enthralled, or excited by them. This enlightened c°

LIVING IN, THROUGH, AND BY THE SPIRIT 261

sciousness sees both abundance and lack as but temporary phases of
human existence— here today, and perhaps gone tomorrow— full well
realizing that it makes little difference what the appearance is be-
cause the reality is still there. And what is the reality? The reality is
consciousness. If through our consciousness we manifest a certain
amount of supply or abundance, and if for some reason it is wiped
away, what difference does that make, if we still have the conscious-
ness that brought it forth?

It is much the same as stripping a tree of its fruit. What difference
does it make as long as we have the tree? If the tree is still intact,
in due season it will have another crop of fruit because that is the
nature of the tree. And so, too, it is the nature of our consciousness
to produce and reproduce itself, to multiply, so that regardless of
what may be taken away, the consciousness of it remains, and tomor-
row it will begin producing again.

The substance of the fruit is consciousness, and whatever con-
sciousness contains, consciousness can bring forth. Inasmuch as God
is our consciousness, our consciousness, therefore, contains infinity, so
the measure of our bringing forth the fruits of consciousness must be
infinite. If, on the other hand, we believe that we have a conscious-
ness of our own, we measure our fruitage in terms of our education
and experience, and since these are limited, they cannot bring forth
infinity. The fourth-dimensional consciousness is satisfied to have
that mind which was also in Christ Jesus, but it requires illumination
to be able to realize that, and until that illumination comes, we will
continue to judge by appearances and thereby hold ourselves in
limitation.

When the fourth-dimensional consciousness is attained, even in
a measure, life begins to flow more by Grace than by effort. Things
c «me more easily and more abundantly than ever before, because
vv "th illumination comes the realization that the I of us, individual-
•zed as our consciousness, embraces infinity, and good flows forth
from our consciousness into visible expression. The more we abide
in the truth, "I have meat to eat that ye know not of," the more we
"ring infinity into expression.
The only way we can arrive at a state of complete Self-reliance is

262 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

to attain such a measure of the fourth-dimensional consciousness
that we are content to know, "I and the Father are one, and all th«
the Father has is mine," and then close our eyes to the outside
world. There has to be this inner conviction: "If there were not a
soul in the world, I and my Father are still one. If I were a million
miles from civilization, I and my Father are still one, and my m .
foldment must come to me from within." As we abide in that, we
are free of dependence on "man, whose breath is in his nostrils."

Illumination brings freedom from dependence on persons and
things, and the only perfect human relationship there can ever be is
one in which we do not look to anyone for anything. It is impossible
to want anything from anybody and not have friction develop. No
matter how close two persons may be, the moment one of them
wants something from the other, 3 defense mechanism is set up, and
conflict ensues. There is no way to enjoy perfect human relation-
ships except to want nothing from anybody. Then we have normal,
happy relationships because we are free to share without thinking of
any return. We will never be free of needing money, companionship,
or a home until we reach the stage of illumination in which we have
no desire for any of those things because they are all in-built, all
included in the consciousness which we are.

We do not try to demonstrate persons, things, or conditions be-
cause if we succeeded in gaining any desired object, we might be
afraid to let it go, and on the spiritual path we must not be afraid
to let anything or anyone go. In fact, at least once a day there should
be a period of releasing this world and everything and everyone in it.
We have no right even to try to hold on to the truth that we learned
yesterday. If we could empty ourselves every day of all we know, we
would make way for what God has to reveal and what man has
never so far even yet received. If we are trying to hold on to any-
thing or anybody, if we continue to live on yesterday's manna, we
are living wholly in materia] consciousness, and we have no measur-
able amount of illumination. The manna falls day by day, and the
more receptive we are, the greater the measure of it that we receive.
The three-dimensional consciousness thinks always in terms of
that which has concrete form. On the other hand, the fourth-dimen-

UVING IN, THROUGH, AND BY THE SPIRIT 263

sional consciousness sees the form, but looks through it and finds
concreteness in the Invisible. The real substance is in the Invisible,
the Invisible which is the I AM, the invisible I AM which we are,
the invisible Being, the invisible Life, the invisible Omnipresence
which we are. All this seems so intangible that we cannot grasp it
with our mind, and that is our safety and security, because if our
mind were able to grasp it, we can be assured that that is not It.

The fourth-dimensional consciousness, Christ-consciousness, or our
consciousness when it is illumined, does not have to labor or struggle :
it has to be only a state of receptivity. It is always receiving by Grace;
it is always receiving nourishment because of the ever-presence of
that invisible meat, bread, wine, water, substance, law, and activity.
"I have meat!" There is more power in the realization that we have
meat that the world knows not of and that we embody within our-
selves the divine Substance of all form than in all that we could
attract to ourselves in the external world, because with this inner
realization, supply will multiply itself over, and over, and over again,
as the plants keep multiplying leaves, flowers, and fruit. It is just a
continuous state of multiplication once we realize Withinness:
within us is the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Allness.

Desirelessness attests to the degree of illumination. By the degree
to which we no longer desire persons or things from the outside
world, can we measure our progress. Our progress spiritward can also
be measured by watching our own reactions. The less we feel called
upon to use a power, the higher we are going spiritually. The less
use we find for powers, even God-power, the closer we are drawing
to the realm of Is.

God is\ There is nothing we can say, do, or think that is going to
make God do anything. The kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom:
it is not of "this world," and the more we try to use spiritual power
for the purpose of attaining the things of this world, the further we
ar e from the attainment of spiritual enlightenment. We are free in
Proportion to our freedom from seeking for powers, even spiritual
powers, and to the degree that we can relax in n on -power.

"Resist not evil" is the realm of the Fourth Dimension. In the
third dimension, humanhood teaches, "Resist the devil, and he will

264 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

flee from you." Not so the fourth-dimensional consciousness in
which the command is "Resist not evil." The more we relax in this
assurance, the more we are in the Fourth Dimension, and the higher
is the state of our illumination.

Illumination frees us from the fear, hate, or love of any form i n
the external world. The nature of God is light, or enlightenment,
but since we can never know light except through our consciousness,
it is only our enlightened consciousness that constitutes our God.
Consciousness, the universal Consciousness, is individually expressed,
and our consciousness is that Consciousness, but not until the
moment of illumination. Up to that moment, we are "the natural
man [who] receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God"; we are not
under the law of God, "neither indeed can be."

Only when we reach the stage where we realize God as our Con-
sciousness have we reached the stage of immortality. The difference
between the continuity of life after death and immortality is that the
continuity of life after death is just a continuation of the same state
of consciousness that existed prior to death, whereas immortality U
the expansion of consciousness to the point of infinity.

The human being is bom, matures, deteriorates, and dies — all this
as an existence separate and apart from God, all this as a personal
selfhood that has in it no element of spiritual law, spiritual life, or
spiritual creation, all this as a purely animal life. That is why, even
when the heart has practically stopped beating, it can be kept active
by means of a drug, but it is not the God-life that we are sustaining
with a drug: it is the animal life. God-life cannot be affected by
drugs: human life can be.

What a difference there is between the "natural man" who lives
like a vegetable and is fed by food alone and the individual that we
are when some measure of illumination takes place and we no longer
live by bread alone, but "by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God"! What a difference there is between the individual
that we are when we are not being fed just by books, but being taught
of God— when inner light is coming to us directly from within, when
we find ourselves experiencing Grace that we have not earned or
deserved, but yet which comes to us!

LIVING IN, THROUGH, AND BY THE SPIRIT 265

The degree of our illumination will determine the degree of our
freedom, freedom from personal sense, freedom from living on ex-
ternals, freedom from outer dependencies, freedom that enables us
to tabernacle and commune with our inner Selfhood, not only
blessing us, but eventually making us forget ourselves and using us
nlv as instruments for the blessing of others.

Spiritual freedom comes with illumination, and with that illumina-
tion, no more power is given to the things or thoughts of the outer
world. At some period in our study or meditation, the light dawns,
and whereas before we knew the truth intellectually, now we feel it,
now we see it, and now we live it.

It is a great miracle when we can look out at all the people in the
world, those close to us as well as those far away from us, and realize
that we can tabernacle together, be friends, and can live in the same
house, but always, under all circumstances and conditions, "I and my
Father are one." There is that sense of oneness, that circle of joy
and of sharing, and yet with it a separateness and a lack of de-
pendence.

It is usually much easier to be free of places and things than to be
free of persons; but to be able to see everybody in the world and
have no sense of need or attachment, to see each one free as an in-
dividual unit maintained in oneness with his Father— this is the
height of freedom. This is the supreme freedom. It is one of the
last freedoms to be attained, and certainly the greatest freedom that
can come on earth. When we have attained our freedom from per-
sons, or freedom in our spiritual oneness, we are then united with
everyone on a spiritual basis, and this is a relationship unlike any
other in all the world. The strange thing is that in attaining that
freedom, we find ourselves bound to people throughout the world,
<hawn to them, and they are drawn to us— in freedom, always in
freedom.

There is the Spirit of God in man, the Spirit of life, of abundance,
and of wisdom; there is the Spirit of God's presence in man. There
' s the Spirit of God in us; there is the Spirit of love, of peace, and
of comfort. There is the Spirit of the divine kingdom within you
a "d within me.

266 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

I live by the Spirit of God, not by external things, thoughts
persons, but by the Spirit of God.

This is the real meaning of the life of Witliinness, the mystical
life that lives in and through the Spirit, rather than in and through
the material world. It releases us from all attachment to the outer
universe: we have no fears, no hopes, no ambitions. We are living
in the Spirit, through the Spirit, and by the Spirit. And this is
living the mystical life.

CHAPTER XXIV

THE MASTER ALCHEMIST

T

. oo many Occidentals believe that the mystical life is not only
impractical, but largely a figment of the imagination. In this age,
however, the way of mysticism is being shown to be, not something
mythical, mysterious, or occult, but spiritual, and a far more prac-
tical way of life than any yet devised in the human realm. It changes
life from the everyday humdrum human experience with its trials
and tribulations and its ups and downs to an entirely different kind
of life, one lived from within, and yet not lived by us, but rather
lived through us — a life in which we pass from living by taking
thought and by our own effort to living by the Spirit.

The Master Christ Jesus taught his followers to "resist not evil,"
to cease from strife of all kinds whether by the sword or the law, and
to give twice as much in return if something were taken from them.
Such a teaching sounds very impractical for this day and age, but as a
"latter of fact, it is far more practical than living a life dependent
™r its security and safety upon an army, navy, and air force: not
only would we be relieved of the staggering expense of maintaining
them, but we would also be relieved of any danger from an enemy
because in this way of life there are no enemies. It would be as im-
possible to live with this transcendental Presence and have an enemy

267

268 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

as it would be to live with It and then find oneself in danger from
snakes, wild animals, starvation, or any other form of physical or
mental discord.

This is a very difficult idea for the human mind to grasp. What the
unillumined mind sees, hears, tastes, touches, and smells seems so
real, and the material and mental universe looks so real, that nothing
could be considered quite as ridiculous as to stand before the highest
temporal authority of the day and calmly state, "Thou couldest have
no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above," oi
to say, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
The human mind is simply unable to understand such an attitude.
But that is the human mind. The unconditioned mind, the illumined
mind, the mind that comprehends the meaning of the word f, that
mind is an instrument for the activity of the divine Consciousness.

When we can rise to the fourth-dimensional state of conscious-
ness, we do not need anything anyone else possesses: we then live not
only in freedom from fear, for there is nothing to fear, but in peace,
security, and freedom from every discord of human experience. As the
Master's consciousness becomes our consciousness, and as we enter
that circle of eternity, we too can know:

Within my own being I have the kingdom of God. It is not out-
side, or in the heavens: the kingdom of God is within me.

In this moment of quietness I hear God say, "Son, thou art ever
with me, and all that I have is thine. I have meat the world knows
not of. I am the meat, and the wine, and the bread. I am the resur-
rection. I am life eternal,"

All of this is within me; all of this is embodied in my consciousness.
All of this constitutes the Withinness of my own being.

I myself embody the kingdom of God and all that is therein. 1
do not have to curry the favor of "princes" because I embody my
bread, meat, wine, and water unto eternity.

Within me there is a Presence that says, "I will never leave the*'
nor forsake thee. I will be with thee to the end of the world. I OXR
thy bread, and thy meat, and thy water."

THE MASTER ALCHEMIST 269

This Kingdom is already established within me, and I need not
look outside my own being for anything.

Such a relationship with our Source makes our relationship with
every person one of love and sharing. It is literally true now that we
do not need anything that anyone else has and that no one needs
anything that we have because within our own being is established
this infinite Storehouse, this infinity of Good, this allness of God.
As we continue to look within, It pours Itself forth as we need It,
abundantly and with twelve baskets full left over to share with others.

The key to living a complete and fulfilled life lies in the realization
that there is a mystical, transcendental Presence within us that has
already provided our infinite supply unto eternity, that contains with-
in Itself our companionship unto eternity, and that has within Itself
the power of fulfillment.

What a miracle takes place in our lives when our sight is removed
from looking upon a person as a possible source of something and the
realization dawns that all that we can ever need of infinite abundance
from everlasting to everlasting is within us! What courage and
strength are ours! We are no longer living on our intellectual power,
our physical power, our inheritance, or by virtue of our business or
employment: we now live because we know that there is a mystical
Presence called I within us, an I that is our eternal substance and
to which we can look to fulfill Itself and to multiply.

But just as we have no way of proving that an apple tree has life,
for we have never seen its life, so we can never see, hear, taste, touch,
0r smell this invisible Withinness. We will always be able to witness
'ts fruitage, however, just as every spring we see the inner invisible
l! ' e of the apple tree flowing and manifesting, producing buds, blos-
soms, leaves, and eventually fruit. Looking at the tree in full bloom,
We have little difficulty in believing that that tree has a beautiful
ail d an abundant life, a life that functions even during those seasons

"Cn the tree appears to be dead and barren. Life is invisible, and
a 'though we never see life, we do see the fruitage of it.

So it is that although we never see the Christ of our own being,

270 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

nor will we with our eyes ever see the Christ of another's being, the
Presence is easily and quickly recognizable in those who live in the
constant awareness of Withinness: there shines forth an inner peace,
integrity, and joy that are at once apparent. More than that, there is
the necessary measure of abundance in their life as well as the health,
protection, and security.

At some point in the initiate's progress on the Path, he feels this
invisible Presence stirring, and It either speaks to him in the still
small voice, or in some other way gives him the assurance that It is
with him and that It will never leave him:

Live and move and have your being in Me; live and move and
have your being in the realization that I am here, that I go before
you to make straight the way, and to prepare mansions for you.

I go before you to multiply the loaves and fishes.

I go before you to be the cement of love between you and all
whom you meet in your business, professional, and family life.

I am He that is your rest and your abiding place.

Be still and know that I in the midst of you am God, an invisible
Presence, to human sense intangible, but tangible in expression and
practical in life.

When this moment comes — and I would not give anyone the im-
pression that until that time there are not many periods of doubt,
frustration, and sometimes even false hopes — and after it comes,
there is another period when there are many joys and many suc-
cesses, and then occasionally in between there are doubts and frus-
trations because the fullness of the realization has not yet been ex-
perienced.

Until such time as that fullness dawns, we have the benefit of
teachers and the companionship of one another, and then in the
dawning of that fullness a whole new life opens, a life of dedication,
filled with new joys and new experiences. Hidden capacities and
hidden talents come to light as this realized Presence opens up >
new pathway in life and new vistas of experience.

Until illumination takes place, we do not live a full life or even a

THE MASTER ALCHEMIST 271

God-protected life because we are living separate and apart from
God — not that God is absent from us, but if God is not consciously
known it is just as if He were not there. It takes the experience of
illumination — darshan or satori — to awaken us to the invisible
presence and Power that will live our life for us, instruct, teach,
guide, direct, support, maintain, and sustain us. This is not accom-
plished by out directing or ordering the Presence, but rather by re-
laxing into that Presence and letting It make the decisions as to
what direction we are to go, or in what capacity we are to function,
and when and where and why. This entire activity remains on the
inner plane without taking conscious thought, and yet the fruitage
appears in the outer life.

At this stage of our life we come into what might be called a life
of prayer, a praying without ceasing. From early morning to night,
and sometimes in the middle of the night, we are living constantly
and consciously in the realization:

Thou within me art mighty. Thou within me art the presence and
the power in which I rest. Thou art my bread and my meat; Thou
art the inspiration of my life, and its fulfillment.

There is a constant communion going on with this inner Grace,
and before we know it, we are bearing witness to experiences in oui
life that we did not consciously set in motion and which we recog-
nize to be the result of Grace, an act of God brought into our life
without any human volition or human will. When this begins, our
faith and confidence deepen; we relax our fears about tomorrow,
n «t month, or next year in the assurance, "What more can I have
f han the divine presence of God Himself within me, the Source of
a '», the Creator of all, the Maintainer and Sustainer of all? And all
'"ii is walking around within me!"
Such an assurance would enable us to look everv man, woman, and
"''d in the face as much as to say, "You will never have to fear me.
have access to a divine Source that you know not of. I have meat
)e world knows not of. Keep what you have; enjoy what you have:
tave no designs upon it."

272

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

The miracle is that we would never be called upon to say or even
to think this because now that we have this infinite Source within
ourselves, no one could ever come into our presence without feeling
that he does not have to put up a mental wall of protection against
us. Lines of anxiety and concern disappear from our face: it shines
with the confidence and certainty of our own abundance, and with
our willingness to share. Our eyes are pure: no longer does desire
look out from them; no longer does fear haunt them. Our whole
bearing testifies to the fact that we have found Aladdin's lamp.

"Aladdin's Lamp," usually placed in the category of the fairy tale,
is really the truest story in all the world, built on truth, but written
in such a way as to conceal the truth from those too gross to perceive
it. This is the story of J, the I that is within our own being, the son
of God, the Presence which is the power of resurrection unto out
body, business, home, and family. Whatever temple in our life has
been destroyed, the I will raise it up again. This I that is within our
very own being, this is the Aladdin's lamp* — and we do not have to
rub it; we do not even have to tell it our desires. It knows our need
before we could possibly utter it, and it is Its good pleasure to ful-
fill it. Our only part is to remembeT that we have the hidden Alad-
din's lamp; we have the power of alchemy.

Every one of us has a MasteT Alchemist within his own being,
and Its name is I. This I will take the dross of human nature and re-
fine it. This I will take ignorance and provide the necessary knowl-
edge in its place; It will take the grossest, most material human
nature and evolve it into the Christ; It will take the lowly fisherman
or the tax collector and make of him a spiritual disciple.

Ponce de Leon went out searching in time and space for the Foun-
tain of Youth, and all the while he was carrying it in his own breast.
There is no greater fountain of youth than I AM: I is the fountain or
youth; I is the fountain of life eternal.

Did not the Master say to the woman of Samaria at the well i n *
many words: "If you knew who I am, you would ask me, and I coul
give vou water that would bubble up into life eternal"? And I can-'
this I that is in the midst of us, if only we know who I is, and whs*
is. If we could know the I that is at the center of our being, *

T

THE MASTER ALCHEMIST 27?

would have the wellspring of life eternal, the fountain of youth,
within our very own being.

The mystical life has to do with the secret of our true identity.
"Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? . . . Whom say ye
that I am?" If we have risen to the spiritual level of a disciple, we
will respond with, "Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.
Thou art the beloved of the Father. The Father is in you, and you
are in the Father, for you and the Father are one, even as I am in
the Father and the Father is in me. And you are in me, and I am in
you, and we are one in the Father."

This completes the circle. When we realize that because of this I
that we are, because the I within us is one with God, and because
there is only one God, and therefore only one J, we are one with
every spiritual identity in the world of the past, the present, and the
future. We are one with all spiritual identity, whether on the level
of the saint, the human being, the animal, the vegetable, or the
mineral.

We are one with Infinity by reason of our oneness with the J
that we are. The I that 1 am is the I that you are, for there is only
one I, the Father in heaven; and He is your Father and my Father;
He is the I of your being and the J of my being. Therefore, when I
am one with my Father, I am one with you, one with your spiritual
identity, with your love, with your life, with your truth, but not
only with you who are human beings, but with you of the animal
world, the bird world, the vegetable world, and the mineral world.
w e all know one another because of our oneness with the I that
w e are.

There is nothing fictional about alchemy, the turning of dross or

a se metals into gold. That is not fiction: that is fact. When this

^chemy takes place in us, when that catalyst, the divine Spirit,

°"ches us, It transmutes the base and useless part of our nature into

e gold of our spiritual nature, into the purity of divine Conscious-

Ss > and then in some degree we are less human than we were, and

m °re divine.

CHAPTER XXV

LOSING 'T'-NESS IN I

T

_Lhe

here are very few persons in all the world who are really in-
terested in living spiritually or in attaining the spiritual goal, and
certainly there are even fewer who have any conception of what it
means to "die daily" and be reborn of the Spirit. Many must inevi-
tably fall by the wayside, but those few who understand that true
greatness, true wisdom, and true success lie in the very opposite direc-
tion from that of glorifying the self or pushing forward the personality,
and who remain and persist, will reach the highest degree of spiritual
consciousness, spiritual awareness, and spiritual unfoldment.

To submerge the personality and make it subservient to that which
is greater than itself is well-nigh impossible for most persons and
gives rise to inner conflicts which may deflect them from the path
leading to the goal. Through meditation and the practice of the
Presence, however, the mind is stilled, and an awareness of this
Something greater than themselves is developed. Eventually, a state
of complete quiescence in which there is no thinking or planning »
reached, and the human will yields to the divine will.

This surrender of the human will to the Divine can be roO»
readily understood if we use the analogy of a cube of ice floating < n
glass of water. The ice rests in the water, cradled in it: it has n

274

LOSING 'Y'-NESS IN I 275

power to move itself. Only the water can propel it from one place to
another. The ice itself is inert, immobile, passive, its every motion
dependent upon the movement of the water. Let us think of our-
selves as the ice, and of Consciousness as the water, while we wait in
silence and stillness for the movement of Consciousness. In other
words, we must wait patiently for the will of God to make itself
known; we must be as completely quiescent as the piece of ice.

Such a state can be achieved only when all desire has been sur-
rendered because desire nourishes the personal sense of 'T'-ness. As
long as there is a desire, there is a projection into the future; as long
as there is a regret, there is a return to the past, both of which are
dead, without substance and without life. Yesterday and tomorrow,
therefore, must be discarded in newness. Now is the only life; now is
the only reality; now is the only time.

There can be no desire, not even the desire to give, for that, too,
feeds the sense of 'T'-ness and bloats the ego. There must be a*
complete resting, as the ice rests in the water, or as the sap flows up
from the roots of the trees into the branches to form the buds,
flowers, and leaves of the tree. The ice has no concern or worry: it
lets the water move it where it will. The tree has no concern or
worry about whether there will be enough rain or sun in due season:
it waits patiently; it does not try to interfere with the normal and
natural flow of life.

So, too, we must not interfere with the free flowing of life by in-
acting 'T'-ness into the already completed picture, an "I"-ness
*nich manifests as fear of the past or dread of the future: concern,
anxiety, desire.

The difference between living the life of 'T'-ness and the spiritual

1 e is the difference between permanent success and some temporary

»nse of success. The "I-me-mv" life is limited and hampered b V that

' J i -ness which is dependent upon personal experience, educa-

( | 0n > the personal sense of what is right or wrong, or on what is timely.

tbe degree, however, that we can relax in an inner silence, quiet,

^ peace, we can be led of the Spirit, influenced by an infinite Wis-

J**, an infinite Intelligence, and an infinite Power.Then our actions

y become the earning out of the divine will, not our will. This

276 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

ability to be still and to let divine Grace move us leads to a
governed, God-directed, and God-impelled life.
* At first it may not be easy to make the transition from the ordi-
nary 'T'-life to the life of spiritual guidance and protection, but
actually it takes only a few months of meditation and really serious
practice of the Presence to come to a place where we can accept
divine guidance, the divine will, and divine movement.

To begin with, the retiring into a quiet state should not be of more
than two or three minutes' duration at the most-probably only one
or one and a half minutes would be better-but this should be re-
peated as many times in the day as possible, and it should be repeated
at night any and every time that one may awaken from sleep, and
then again early in the morning. If we make a habit of turning within,
even for that one minute, we are preparing our consciousness for
the experience of receiving divine Grace.

living as human beings has cut us off from the kingdom of God
which is within us, and what we are doing in our periods of silence
and quiet is maintaining a contact with this Withinness in which
our entire good is already established. The kingdom of God is within
us It is within us in all Its fullness, completeness, and perfection
This means that the fullness of life, its completeness and perfection,
is alreadv established within us from everlasting to everlasting 1
we were to live a thousand years on earth, our completeness for I
length of time is within us: fulfillment, infinite supply, infinite wis-
dom, infinite Grace-Infinity Itself. It remains for us to open out
a way for this Infinity to escape and find expression.

But how do we open the way for infinite wisdom, eternal life, «n
divine love to flow out from us? First of all we must beg* ,
acknowledge that Infinity is, and if we acknowledge that It alrea y
is and is within us, we should give up all attempts to get or actu
anything from outside ourselves. Instead, we should center our att
tion on letting It escape from within our own berng. Then ev
time that we close our eyes, even if it is only for fifteen seconds,
to acknowledge:

LOSING 'Y'-NESS IN I

277

The kingdom of God is within me. Lord, let It flow forth tf

expression.

1

After that moment of acknowledgment, we return to our work,
whatever its nature, and are active in what we have been given to
do today. We take no thought about tomorrow, All we are called
upon to do is to live in this moment, and to live in the assurance
that the full Christhood, the fullness of spiritual being, is established
within us.

This is making a transition from the human sense of life in which
we look to others for our good to the spiritual life in which we look
within ourselves, and let God's grace flow out from us.

No one can expect or be expected to prove this beyond the ca-
pacity he has attained: no one should try to walk on the waters until
he has been given an inner assurance that he may attempt it. If the
still small voice tells him to take a step which at the moment he can-
not humanly see as right, it should be taken only after the contact
within is so certain that there can be no question but that the Voice,
and not the human will or desire, has spoken. When the Voice
speaks, It never leaves a person with the responsibility of doing
something alone through his human strength and wisdom, but It is
always beside him, performing that which It gives him to do.

In the early stages it may appear that this frequent turning within
is not producing any fruitage, and that is why so many persons lose
heart and give up. It is like the hundreds of people who have taken
piano lessons and who today would be able to play quite acceptably
had they only had enough perseverance to continue practicing the
scales and exercises which would have developed proficiency in the
ar t; but instead they became discouraged and lost interest when, in a
comparatively short time, they found that they could not perform
Wl th the facility of a concert pianist. So also, in the spiritual life
w nen results do not come quickly, some of us stop making an effort.

The spiritual life differs so completely from human experience
'"at when we embark on this course, we are really setting out on un-
charted seas, not that others have not been there before us, but the

8 of someone else's journey does not always point the way for us.

e have to have the patience to move forward slowly, yet with stead-

st purpose. Above all things, from this moment on, we must never
e pt any sense of limitation, we must never feel that any good is

joiid our capacity or reach, or that any heights are too high to at-

278 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

tain, for there arc no limits to the I which we are, after we have
made contact with It.

In proportion as we understand that we are one with the Father
in that proportion do we understand that all that the Father has is
ours: the mind of God is ours, the life of God is our life, the Soul of
God is our Soul. There is only one Spirit, one Life, one Soul — and
that is yours and mine.

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and
let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the
air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping
thing that creepeth upon the earth. Genesis 1:26

That dominion was not given us as something of ourselves, but
by virtue of the I that we are, the I that is within us, the J that con-
stitutes our individual being. That is why we can rest as if we were a
piece of ice floating in the water, and let the water move us, let the
water be the substance of our being, its activity, quality, and quan-
tity.

The substance of the water and the substance of the ice are the
same, H 2 0, and all that is true of the water is true of the ice. What-
ever qualities water has, ice has. These are not two separate sub-
stances, these are not two separate qualities: ice and water are one-
two different forms, yes, but they are one in essence, one in sub-
stance, and one in quality. The ice does not turn to the water for
anything that the ice does not already have, but its movement is
dependent upon the activity of the water.

That same relationship exists between man and God. It is true that
God is invisible to human sight, but nevertheless God is the sub-
stance of which man is formed and the substance as which he lives
and moves and has his being. The qualities of God are the qualities <»
man, and yet God is always the greater, for God is the creator, the
law, and the activity of man.

To understand this makes it clear that in our spiritual identity *
that God is, we are. There is no need, therefore, to turn to God to
something: there is the need only to recognize this relationship °
oneness, and then create within ourselves a vacuum, so that we ca
realize:

LOSING 'Y'-NESS IN I 279

My being is constituted of the quality, the substance, and the
essence of God; and it is the law of Cod that governs, guides, directs,
and instructs me.

The nature of our being is the same as the nature of God-being,
for we are one. Relaxing in that oneness, we permit the Invisible to
govern, uphold, sustain, move, feed, clothe, house, direct, and instruct
us. This is different from thinking of ourselves as something separate
and apart from God, having to ask God or attempting to influence
Him: this is the difference between successful spiritual living and
unsuccessful living of any type.

God's grace governs us. God's grace is our sufficiency, but that
Grace is not brought into our experience by praying to God in the
sense of asking, pleading, or seeking for it. Rather does it come by
relaxing into an atmosphere of receptivity.

At this very moment let us turn from the human picture which
is presenting itself to us and realize that we live and move and have
our being in God. Wherever we are, let us relax in the Invisible. We
cannot see, hear, taste, touch, or smell It, but through faith, through
an inner conviction, we can understand that the place whereon we
stand is holy ground, that where the I of us is, God is, that the king-
dom of God is within us, right where we are, and then, feeling that
relax. &

The God that made and formed this universe is certainly capable
of maintaining and sustaining your identity and mine unto eternity.
'hen why not let God's intelligence move us as It will— feed, clothe,
house, direct, resurrect, restore the lost years of the locust, and return
* to the Father's house-let His will be done in us without any
' d ea at all of its being necessary to tell Him what we need, or what
we would like, without any idea at all of advising God as to what we
'ould have, or what we think we should have, or even what we
*°uld like to have?

L^t us acknowledge God as infinite Intelligence and divine Love
a,ltl be satisfied with that:

am satisfied to be what You want me to be, to do what You want
e ( o do, to be where You want me to be.

280 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

1 live and move and have my being in Your consciousness. You ar e
closer to me than breathing; You know my needs before I do. It «
Your good pleasure to give me the kingdom, and I can rest and relax
in You.

We must relax in His consciousness; we must relax in His Spirit,
His wisdom, His judgment, and His will. A person who does that is
developing a healing and redeeming consciousness because he is not
seeking a God-power; he is not acknowledging a power that has to be
overcome: he is living in God-power. That is going back to the full-
ness of mysticism in which we learn that evil has no existence at all
except in the mind that believes in good and evil.

The healing consciousness comes only to those who arrive at a
state of consciousness in which they can live consciously at-one with
God, in full and complete confidence that God is infinite, needing
no help from anyone. In this God -consciousness there is nothing for
God to battle, nothing for God to overcome.

The mystical life rests on the premise that in the presence of
spiritual consciousness neither material nor mental power is power.
That is the healing consciousness, and in its presence human power
of every kind dissolves. All spiritually illumined individuals are in
agreement that they know nothing of the nature of any power with
which to overcome sin, disease, lack, or inharmonious human rela-
tionships, but they also testify that in proportion to their attainment
of an inner stillness, without any sense of needing a power, the dis-
cords evaporate.

The realization that God is the one infinite all-power and that
neither material nor mental power is power is what constitutes spint-
ual consciousness. Spiritual consciousness is not something mysten-
ous: it is not a consciousness of might, power, or human effort, but
the consciousness of My Spirit. Spiritual consciousness acknowledges
that God alone is power; it is a consciousness that is not divided, a
consciousness that sees with a single eye, and sees but one Power, of e
Presence, one Being, one Cause.

Spiritual consciousness is our individual consciousness when we
longer give power to physical force or mental force, but understand

LOSING ' Y'-NESS IN I 281

God as the only Force, and then live the command of feus CW
•'Rest not evil." We do not consciously direct S^Z^.
ness: it performs ,ts function in us and through us, and we mereTv
become aware of what it is imparting to us

For example, our hand, of itself, cannot go up and it cannot *o
down; it cannot give and it cannot withhold. We must move the
hand. We must direct it. If we are living on the physical or mental
level, then we can do this for good or for evil; but if we have attained
even a measure of the consciousness that God alone is power then
the hand is moved, not by us personally, but by the divine I that we
are, and never for evil, never for destruction, never for harm We are
not consciously moving it; we are letting it be moved bv the Con-
sciousness which is God, the Consciousness that we are

This is true also of our body: we can move it where, when and
how we want to, and we can move it for good or evil. The choice
hes within us. But in proportion as we come to the realization that
Uod .s the only consciousness, we will find that our body is being
moved. We are not consciously moving it: it is being moved but
never toward sm, never toward disease or old age, and never toward
death. It ,s being moved in accord with the grace of God, and when
he tjme comes to pass from this human scene for greater experiences
« will be a passing, not a pushing out.

Cod is the one and only infinite consciousness, the all good Mv

consciousness, and everything within the realm of my consciousness is

MJd-govemed, God-maintained, God-sustained, God-fed God divine

onsciousness, is the substance of all form: there is no evil form

re is no destructive form, no harmful form, no injurious form, for

^M is the substance of all form.

qu^'J ™, fS ° f thC name and nature of God ' All fo™ is of the

SeS^S?^^ G ° d ' 3nd ** Under the law of God - As ™
"stand God to be the substance of all form, in the clarity of our
. vi Slon we wi n know that there can be no destructivc {

CTv 01 r fU ' f0rm " W£ d ° n0t den >' tliat there « germs,

*aliJ- c e 3 germ cannot •* in !"rious or destructive in the

«stam of one Power, one Intelligence, one Love, and one Life.

endless of the name or nature of the problem which is brought

282 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

to our awareness, we have to begin with the truth that God is one-
one Presence, one Being, one Power — and all that God is, we are
God-consciousness is our consciousness, and nothing can enter that
consciousness which "defileth ... or maketh a lie." In this truth of
oneness, of one Being, one Presence, one Power, there are no opposing
powers.

When we rest in that truth, it picks us up and transforms the mind,
the body, and all that is called our life or outer experience, which is
not really an outer experience at all but an experience that is taking
place within us, in that inner world that is the only world there is.

This consciousness of truth, which is attained through medita-
tion, becomes the illumined consciousness. We may have a realiza-
tion about one facet of truth, and we may bring forth mighty works
with that, but let us never believe, when we have had a realization of
truth, even to the extent of illumination, that we have gone the full
distance. We have only started on the Path. Afterward, there come
realizations of other truths, more and deeper realizations, and actually
this goes on forever, and as far as I know, it never ends. This must
be so because of the infinite nature of God.

God is forever imparting Itself to us, infinitely. The beginning of
wisdom is the understanding that all that we are seeking is already
established within us, and that we are seeking only to bring it forth
from within our own being. This will prevent us from worshiping
something or someone outside our own being. As we realize the
nature of the J within us, fear will lessen and eventually fade away
because then we will neither fear nor worship anything or anybody
external to us.

In the brief periods of meditation which we should experience as
many times a day as possible, our first thought must be:

God made this day, perfected it and decreed its activity. His wto **
done in me today.

Even if we have time for nothing else, we will have made a cofl"
tact with the Presence and prepared the way for the infinite glory oi

LOSING V-NESS IN I 283

God to express as us. In that short meditation, we have acknowledged
the presence, the power, the life, the wisdom, the perfection, and the
protection of God. We have fulfilled Scripture by denying ourselves
as if we of ourselves were anything, and we have made ourselves re-
ceptive and responsive to the spiritual influence in the realization
that we alone do not live our life, but that Christ lives our life.

There are not too many persons who are at this moment fulfilling
their spiritual purpose and activity, or even any activity which ap-
proximates it. They therefore must do whatever is given them to do
today and let the future take care of itself by acknowledging God to-
day, even while scrubbing the floor or preparing a meal. Acknowledg-
ing God in these activities that seem so far removed from a spiritual
activity brings God into actual expression, and leads them from one
activity to another, and another, and another, until they are being
fulfilled spiritually.

Wherever we may be today, in a prison, in a hospital, or in a men-
tal institution, in the most luxurious home or the most poverty-
stricken one, we disregard the appearance.

What the appearance is has nothing to do with our oneness with
the Father; what the condition of the person may be has nothing to
do with it; whether we are sick or well, living or dead has nothing to
do with that realization of oneness, and cannot alter it. Those con-
ditions are the appearance, but the J of us is picking us up where
w e are at this moment, and from now on, I in the midst of us will
wad, direct, govern, feed, clothe, and house us.

To attempt to leave the place where we are now through human
tteans and while in the same state of consciousness would serve no
Purpose because without a higher consciousness of truth we would
eventually return to the same place where we are at this moment.
** w c abide in the truth that I in the midst of us is one with God,
° u r consciousness becomes enriched, deepened, broadened, and filled
' !t h spiritual truth. Gradually— sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly
^ t[ "uth comes alive in us, and as this truth which we are fills our
°nsciousness, it literallv appears outwardly as greater harmony in
° Ur experience.

284

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

We must live and move and have our being in the consciousness
that we are one with the Father, and that all that lie has is ouis r
here and now, where we are. As we continue to disregard the appea t .
ances, not trying to change 01 improve them, but standing fast where
we are, we let the Spirit move us as we are prepared for It.

CHAPTER XXVI

'MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD"

T

J-o]

. o live in My kingdom is to live in the circle of eternity. "This
world" is the world of mankind, but My kingdom is of an entirely
different nature. My kingdom is not the realm of physical health. My
kingdom is not the realm of material riches. We all know what
constitutes physical health, but what is the health of My kingdom?
What is the health of the spiritual kingdom? What is God's state
of health, and the state of health of the son of God?

We know of what material supply and material wealth are con-
stituted, but what are heavenly riches? What does it mean to be
joint-heir to all the heavenly riches"? What are the heavenly
riches to which we are heir, and yet which we are not enjoying in
tn e human scene? They cannot have anything to do with such
things as money, investments, or property because "My kingdom is
"ot of this world."

On the spiritual path, therefore, there is no use in going to "My

kingdom" to get something for this world. We must seek first the

fcln gdom of God; we must leam how to pray so that in praying to a

~°d of Spirit we are praying only for heavenly riches, spiritual

ea 'th, and spiritual companionship.

As long as we are trying to get material riches, physical health, or

285

286 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

human companionship, that is what we will get, and it will some-
times be good and sometimes evil, sometimes right and sometimes
wrong, because all materiality is made up of the belief in two powers
— good and evil. But if we keep our consciousness aligned with spir-
itual reality and keep our desires in the realm of spiritual form and
spiritual well-being, we shall experience the joy and the peace of
spiritual oneness.

To seek to know the nature of heavenly riches, of spiritual health,
and of spiritual companionship is not seeking for anything of a ma-
terial or human nature: it is a resting in the Grace of the spiritual
kingdom. The word "Grace" cannot be translated into such things
as money, houses, or families. We have to leave the word "Grace"
right where it is, and if we do not understand the meaning of Grace,
we can always pray that God reveal His grace to us.

Getting rid of problems before we have attained spiritual wisdom
merely opens the way for another problem, or seven problems, until
we are compelled to learn to pray aright. For example, if a headache
or any other ill can be removed without advancing us in spiritual
understanding, what will have been gained except a temporary
period without a headache? Sooner or later, another headache will
come, and eventually we will have to take our stand and realize that
this problem will be with us forever unless we are given the necessary
wisdom with which to meet it. Just as Jacob wrestled all night long
with the angel, praying that he would not leave him until he had
received his enlightenment, or the spiritual truth necessary to the
overcoming, so must we be steadfast in prayer.

Only our problems compel us to seek spiritual good. For the most
part, human beings are content with good health, a sufficiency »
supply, and moderate happiness in family life, and after these needs
have been satisfied, many persons feel that there is little more to t»
desired from life. Those of us, however, who have had problems
thrust upon us, not by God, but through our ignorance of God, an*
have had to go through some very trying experiences, know that o
for those problems we would never have risen above the level of W
ing good human beings.

MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD*' 7 87

To live the spiritual life and to pray aright means that insofar as
possible we put the problem aside, and begin with the realization
that God's kingdom is not of this world, so it is useless to pray for
anything in this world. Let us therefore learn to pray for those things
that are of My kingdom, and to seek only the grace of that Kingdom.

Our function on the spiritual path is to learn what the kingdom of
God consists of. Isaiah said, "Cease ye from man, whose breath is
in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?" The human
being is that "man, whose breath is in his nostrils." Why, then,
should we take thought about making that man better, healthier,
or richer? Why take thought about him when we can take thought
about the son of God? But first we must know what the son of
God is.

The ancient Greeks taught: "Man, know thyself." And what is
this Self, but the son of God in us. There is a part of us, an area of
our consciousness which is the son of God, and yet how few of us
have any knowledge of this part of our being or any acquaintance
with our innermost Self? How can we know that son of God in us?
Only by turning within where the kingdom of God is, taking the time
to be alone to seek the kingdom of God within. If we have to beg
God, then let us beg God to reveal Himself, to reveal the son of God
in us, to reveal the nature of His grace and of the spiritual kingdom,
and the nature of the heavenly riches to which we are heir.

As we give ourselves to the seeking of this spiritual kingdom, we
discover that our outside world falls into place by itself; things begin
to happen; and suddenly we awaken to find that the grace of God
has brought us something of an unusual nature in the form of a
healing, an enriching, a supplying, a companioning, or the teacher
^hose function it is to open our eyes. But these will not come while
w e are praying for them. They come, not by taking thought or by
Paying for them, but by dropping them out of our thought and
etting God take care of our needs in His own way while we center
° Ur attention on what the kingdom of God realized is. All the en-
ding things of the material realm are added unto us when we do
°t pray for them, when we seek only the Kingdom, when our

1

288

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

thought is no longer on the things of this world, and is centered on
the spiritual kingdom.

When we have progressed sufficiently far on this Path, doubtless
we, too, as was the Master, will be tempted to use spiritual power, and
it is then that we must resist the temptation to perform miracles, and
be guided by the Master's spiritual wisdom not to glorify or cater to
the self. If we could turn stones into bread, we would not need God,
and those of us who are on the spiritual path would rather be an hun-
gered than to find ourselves not needing God. It would be tragic to
come to the place where we believe that we have risen so high that
God has no place in our life. Rather, then, than attempt to perform
a miracle that will make a show of our power, we will put away the
temptation to pray for persons, conditions, or circumstances and
make our life of prayer one of spiritual seeking, a seeking for spiritual
enlightenment and spiritual Grace, one of praying for the under-
standing of the nature of spiritual riches and spiritual fulfillment.

What is fulfillment? What does "in thy presence is fullness of joy"
mean? How does that fullness express and interpret itself? What is
the fullness of God? When we seek the understanding of that spir-
itual wisdom, all things will be added unto us, and they will appear
in due course without our taking thought: we need only do every-
thing that is given us to do every hour of every day and do it to the
best of our ability, keeping our mind centered on God, the things
of God, and the realm of God.

As has been pointed out before, one of the cardinal principles of
spiritual living is that, to the transcendental consciousness, temporal
power is not power whether it is of a physical or a mental nature.
Only the grace of God is power, only the realized consciousness or
oneness, of one power and of the non-power of all else other than
God. Prayers have failed because they have largely been an attempt
to overcome a temporal power which in reality is not a power. Such
prayer is like trying to overcome the mirage on the desert or u* e
trying to overcome two times two is five. How can we use a power
over a non-existence?

The human world is filled with temporal powers: disease, money!

politics, war, and preparations for war. To persist in the age-o

id

MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD" 289

prayer of "God, overcome our enemies," or "God, overcome those
atomic bombs" is to waste precious time and energy because such
prayers have never succeeded and never will succeed.

The struggle physically and mentally, and finally the attempt to
use God to overcome the evils of this world, must fail because they
are not power and do not need to be overcome. It is only our ac-
ceptance of the universal belief that evil is power that causes us to
linger in evil conditions. The instant we accept God as Omnipotence,
our problems begin to fade away.

When we realize that the Christ-kingdom is not of this world,
and yet that that Kingdom is the only power in the world, then, when
we are presented with an evil appearance, no matter who or what it
may be, we stop and ask ourselves, "Is this spiritual power? Is this
evil power of God? Can there by an evil power coming from God?
Is not any such claim of power, therefore, only temporal power?"

The whole teaching of the Master was the revelation of the non-
power of that which appeared as power. To the blind man, he said,
"Open thine eyes": he knew that there was no power to keep them
closed. To the man with the withered hand, he was able to say,
"Stretch forth thine hand" : he knew that there was no power to stay
the hand. Jesus' entire ministry was a revelation that what is called
"this world," while it exists and he was given the mission to dissolve
it, does not exist as power; it exists only as an appearance. That
realization enables us to sit back in quietness and in confidence and
realize:

God alone is power. This, that has been troubling me and that I
have been battling, is an appearance that I am retaining in my
thought as a mental image: it is not really a thing. I cannot win a
"aitle over nothing, but 1 can relax in quietness and in confidence,
and realize that this picture with which 1 am confronted is nothing
"Ut a picture— not a person or a condition, even though it may ap-
pear as person or condition.

As soon as we recognize evil as temporal power, we can inwardly
sr >nle and realize that this means no power because that which is

290 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

not of God is not power. God lias given us dominion over all that
exists, and therefore, this that appears as effect is temporal. All power
is invisible. This danger that is so very visible and apparent cannot
be power and cannot be of God.

And as we sit beside a person who is ill, and realize, "I will not
give power to this disease, this sin, or this false appetite. This is
temporal power which means it is no power, and I will not believe
in it," we shall find him getting better, and then we will know that
we have proved, if only in a small way, that temporal power is not
a power in any form.

The spiritual life is not the overcoming of evil but the recognition
of the nature of evil: evil is not ordained of God; evil has no law of
God to sustain it; evil has no God-existence, God-purpose, God-life,
God-substance, or God-law : it is temporal, the "arm of flesh," or
nothingness.

As long as we are praying for a God-power to overcome evil, we
are resisting evil, but when we are anchored in the truth, we relax
in the realization that this thing that is facing us is a mirage, not a
power, and that we need not fear what mortal man can do to us,
or what he can think or be. All fear of mortal power is dissolved—
temporal power, material power, the laws of infection, contagion,
calendars, or age — because we know that nothing in the realm of
effect is power. All power is invisible, and that which is appearing
to us as power is a mental image in thought, a picture, a mistaken
concept of power.

Knowing this truth will make us free, but while we are knowing
it our thoughts and action must conform to the truth we are know-
ing. We cannot be denying the power of effect and the next minute
indulge in it, or to put it more bluntly, we cannot deny the powei
of effect and then hate somebody or fear somebody because he is a
part of that effect.

If we are unable to do this one hundred per cent, or if occasionally
we fail, we must not be disheartened. It is hardly possible for any*
one to change overnight from a material state of consciousness to a
spiritual state of consciousness, or to become wholly and comple te v
spiritual after only a year or two of study and meditation.

MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD 291

Let us be grateful that from the moment we have set foot upon the

spiritual path and begun to practice living this way, in some measure,
we are attaining that "mind . . . which was also in Christ Jesus,"
and in that measure, however small, we are demonstrating outwardly
the fruitage of it. The point is not that we expect to attain Christ-
hood in a single bound, but that with every day of this kind of
prayer and meditation, we are attaining some measure of that Christ-
mind. As we look out at the temporal universe, let us realize:

This world is not to be feared or hated or loved: this is the illusion,
and right where the illusion is, is the kingdom of God, My kingdom.

My kingdom is the reality. This, that my eyes see or my ears hear,
this is the superimposed counterfeit, not existing as a world, but as
a concept, a concept of temporal power.

My kingdom is intact; My kingdom is the kingdom of God; My
kingdom is the kingdom of the children of God; and My kingdom
is here and now.

All that exists as a temporal universe is without power. I need not
hate it, fear it, or condemn it 1 need only understand it.

As we are able to understand the nature of the temporal universe,
the forms of this world will begin to disappear: forms of sickness, sin,
false appetites, and lack and limitation. All these will drop away, and
in their place will be harmonious conditions and relationships, and
these will be the showing forth of our higher state of consciousness.

Our world is the extemalization of our state of consciousness: as
w e sow, so shall we reap. If we sow to the flesh, we will reap cor-
ruption: sin, disease, death, lack, and limitation. If we sow to the
Spirit, we will reap life everlasting.

The word "sow" can be interpreted to mean "to be conscious of."
" we are conscious that the spiritual kingdom is the real and that
tn at to which the five physical senses bear witness is without power,
temporal, the "arm of flesh," we are sowing to the Spirit and will
rea P harmony in body, mind, purse, and human relationships. If we
c °ntinue to fear "man, whose breath is in his nostrils," if we con-
tll 'uc to fear infection, contagion, and epidemics, we are sowing to

292 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

the flesh; whereas, if we realize that all power is in the Invisible, we
are sowing to the Spirit, and will reap divine harmony.

My kingdom, the Christ-kingdom, is the real, and it is power. All
that we see, hear, taste, touch, and smell, the temporal kingdom, is
the illusion and is not power.

The spiritual path is a training ground where we gain the convic-
tion that the temporal world is presenting merely a picture of tem-
poral power, and temporal power is not power. The Invisible alone is
power, the Invisible which is the I we really are.

Let us cany that idea into our consideration of the body. Because
our body is visible, there is no power in it; it cannot be well or sick:
the power is in the I that we are. If we believe that this body has
power, we are giving power to the temporal universe. Looking out at
a finite world and a finite body, we can change our entire experience
by realizing:

Since you are effect, the power is not in you; the power it not in
this body: the power is in me. I direct my body, and my body cannot
talk back to me. I talk to it, and I assure it that I am its life, I am its
intelligence, I am its substance, I am its law — that I which I am —
and then the body has to obey.

Such a practice turns us away from looking for material good. We
are not thinking in terms of a better physical body: we are "absent
from the body, and . . . present with the Lord," and our whole at-
tention is turned in the direction of spiritual harmony, not better
human relationships, not better health, and not just more dollars,
but to the peace and harmony of My kingdom:

My kingdom reigns here, not human good and not human evd—
My kingdom, the kingdom of God.

If there is any human evil here, any sin, any hatred, envy, jealousy,
or malice, what of it? It is not person, and it is not power. It cannot
manifest, and therefore it has to die of its own nothingness. It <*
temporal, and it is impersonal; it is forever without person in wftorrt,
on whom, or through whom to manifest. It is the "arm of flesh,
or nothingness.

"MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD" 293

Divine love, not human love, is the only power operating in the
place where I am. Divine wisdom, not human intelligence, is the only
power operating in my life.

Thus, more and more our attention is centered on God's kingdom
and His grace rather than on form and effect, and then as we are
absent from the body of form and effect, that body, form, and effect
appear harmoniously.

CHAPTER XXVII

LIVING ABOVE THE PAIRS OF OPPOSITES

F.

rom the time of the second-chapter-of-Genesis creation, man has
lived in a world of two powers, fluctuating between good and evil,
and often experiencing more of evil than of good. As he gains the
concept of one power, and one alone, and perceives that there is
neither a good power nor an evil power, he is no longer fascinated by
either the good or the evil of human experience, and he becomes
less identified with sensations that arise from one or the other.

Man gradually learns to look upon evil without emotion, without
attaching it to anyone, one might say almost without sympathy. He
recognizes the nature of the appearance, and instead of accepting it
as real, he accepts it as an appearance or as an illusory experience.
This is not always easy to do, and it is far easier to see the illusory
nature of an appearance of evil than it is to see the illusory nature or
an appearance of good; but, easy or hard, the attitude must be attained
and maintained that if the good is not of God, it will not be perma-
nent, and therefore there is no use in rejoicing over it.

It is obvious that this attitude takes a great deal of pleasure out
of the human aspects of life, just as it takes a great deal of misery
out of it, but it does replace those human emotions with an innef
conviction that behind this visible scene there is a spiritual reahtyt
and at any moment it can come into full view.

294

LIVING ABOVE THE PAIRS OF OPPOSITES 295

When a call for help comes, our first and natural human reaction
js the desire to change the evil appearance to a good one. If we are
to succeed in spiritual living, however, we must very quickly bring
to conscious awareness the truth that the object of a spiritual min-
istry is not to change disease into health, for health is only one of
those temporary conditions that become disease tomorrow, next
week, or next year, and not to decry the evil and try to bring about
the good; but rather to turn away from the appearance and keep our
gaze on the Middle Path, realizing that right where there is an ap-
pearance of either good or evil, there is spiritual reality.

An evil appearance of today can change into a good appearance
tomorrow, and, as we so well know, every good appearance can soon
be turned into an evil one: the peace on earth one day is only a
momentary pause before another war; perfect health today is only a
temporary condition which germs or the calendar can change. In the
human picture we are on a merry-go-round that goes round and
round and round; in the human picture we sway like a pendulum
between sickness and health, between lack and abundance, between
war and peace, going back and forth, but never getting anywhere.

But the pairs of opposites do not operate in My kingdom: My
kingdom is a spiritual kingdom in which everything is intact; My
kingdom is under the direction, protection, maintenance, and sus-
tenance of its divine Principle, God. In My kingdom there is no
darkness. That statement would seem to imply that darkness is evil,
but by the time we reach the Third Degree, we have risen to the
spiritual stature of the Psalmist who said that "the darkness and the
kght are both alike to thee."

Darkness and light are the same. In the eyes of God there is no
difference between them. In the spiritual kingdom there is neither
%ht nor darkness in any physical sense: there is only Spirit, a Light
w hich has no similarity whatsoever to what we know as light.

Light in the spiritual sense is the illumined consciousness, not
'lhimined by a light but illumined by wisdom. "Whereas I was blind,
n °w I S ee" does not refer to blindness or to an absence of sight. It
ls *^e figurative way of stating that whereas before we were in igno-
rai >ce now we have attained wisdom. Ignorance is frequently re-

1

296

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

fened to as darkness, and wisdom as light, but there is no actual
darkness or light about them.

It requires months, sometimes years, of spiritual experience before
we can realize that in My kingdom light and darkness are the same,
and that we are not trying to change darkness into light, or to get
rid of darkness in order to get light. Darkness and light are one.
Grasping that concept is a big leap for anyone, but for the person
ignorant of spiritual wisdom and untrained in metaphysics and
mysticism, it is an even greater leap—almost an impossible one— to
grasp the idea that disease and health are one. They are really just
opposite ends of the same stick. When we can state with conviction,
"As far as 1 am concerned, darkness and light are one. I am not
seeking to get rid of one to get the other: I am seeking only to realize
spiritual wisdom, spiritual truth, and the divine Presence," then we
shall begin to perceive the spiritual nature of this universe.

It is when we are trying to get rid of something, or to get some-
thing, that we have left the spiritual universe for the universe of
human concepts. Neither disease nor health has any part in the
spiritual life: all that exists in the spiritual life is God, Spirit infinitely
and eternally manifested as individual incorporeal being.

Incorporeal being cannot be known through the senses of sight,
hearing, taste, touch, or smell: it can be experienced only in our
consciousness, but once that experience comes to us we shall really
understand that darkness and light are one. And what is that one?
Mortal illusion, maya, appearance. Whatever we are aware of through
the senses-sickness and poverty today, or health and wealth tomor-
row—is arl illusion. We are not beholding reality until, through our
spiritual awareness, we behold incorporeal spiritual being.

When we can look out upon this human world and ask, "Wha
has it profited the world all its wars?" and receive the answer,
"Nothing," we are beginning to reach the goal. Hand in hand with
this question must come a second one, "What has it profited the
world all the days in which there has been no war?" and this, too
must receive the answer, "Nothing." Spiritually, it is not war or p#^
we are seeking: it is the government of God, spiritual governmert
divine government. And where does this take place? In our co
sciousness. That is where it must be realized.

LIVING ABOVE THE PAIRS OF OPPOS1TES 297

No matter how many solutions are offered today to the problems
of the world, tomorrow they will break out in new and more serious
forms. The end of all this shifting back and forth will come only
when we perceive the nature of spiritual power, and realize that
spiritual power has nothing to do with good conditions today or
evil conditions tomorrow. Rather does it have to do with our under-
standing that we are not seeking to change the conditions of matter
but to realize the omnipresence of Spirit, that we are not seeking to
turn sickness into health or war into peace: we are seeking the gov-
ernment of God, the revelation and the realization of God as our
consciousness.

This changes our whole mode of life. Under our old way of
living, the best that we could hope for was to turn some evil condi-
tion into a good one or some negative condition into a positive one,
and even though there was the ever-present fear that it would not
be permanent, we were always striving for those temporary moments
of health, of peace, or of harmony.

The revelation and understanding of one power helps us to arrive
at the consciousness where we do not seek to change the negative to
the positive. In the realization of one power, we not only stop seeking
some material power with which to meet our need, but we stop seek-
ing a spiritual power.

Since there is but one power, then, there is nothing on, against,
or for which to use this power. What in essence does this really
mean? What does it mean to reach a point in consciousness where
we relinquish all thought of using God as a power? Have we not
thus really released God from responsibility? And is not that exactly
what we all must learn to do?

God is forever about His business. God is the creative, maintain-
ln g, and sustaining influence of the spiritual universe. God governs
"is universe by Grace, and this not tomorrow or next week. The
divine Grace that has been in operation from everlasting to ever-
tasting will continue from everlasting to everlasting without our
bribing or trying to influence God, without our praying, pleading, or
Qoing anything else to persuade God to do His own work. God is,
a "d this includes the truth that God is forever about the business of
k'ng God.

298 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

Our function in prayer and meditation is to "know the truth," and
the truth will make us free: know the truth that there is but one
power; know the truth that "thou couldest have no power at all
against me, except it were given thee from above"; know the truth
that in the kingdom of God, light and darkness are the same. This
constant, consistent, and dedicated knowing of the truth will develop
a state of consciousness that does not shift back and forth between
the evil and the good: it holds itself at least with some measure of
stability to the spiritual path and to spiritual realization.

God is, but in order to realize that God is we have to rise above
time and space because in Is or Is-ness there is no time and no space.
God's is-ness is from everlasting to everlasting; therefore, nothing is
ever outside the jurisdiction of the is-ness of God; nothing in the
spiritual kingdom has ever gone wrong. Our whole state of con-
sciousness has to change from a material base, from its functioning
in two powers, to a resting in the is-ness of God.

In the entire kingdom of God there is nothing of a changeable
nature, nothing of a discordant or inharmonious nature, nothing
that needs healing or improving. In that state of consciousness we
are no longer hypnotized by appearances, nor are we compelled to
try instantly to change the evil to the good, or to try to hold on to
whatever good appearance there may be. This does not in any way
affect our outer life. As this spiritual realization comes to us and our
life becomes more harmonious, we are no longer dealing with a good
appearance that was once evil: we are now dealing with the spiritual
reality that has come into view.

Sometimes students are not happy with the detachment that must
come to them as they continue on the spiritual path. Often they
feel as if they were losing something worthwhile in life. Their
treasured art objects, their pets, and their lifelong friendships are not
quite so important to them as heretofore. The world is becoming
more objective to them— their body and even their life. In looking
out at this world as a beholder, much of what constitutes a great pa rt
of human life, that is, emotion, is lost.

It is true that there is a reorientation of human values as students
go forward in the spiritual life: they are not quite so hurt by t" e
negative aspects of human life, but neither can they rejoice so mucB

LIVING ABOVE THE PAIRS OF OPPOSITES 299

over the good things as they once did. Feelings and emotion do not
enter into daily life to the extent they formerly did. As these things
drop away, however, there are gains that far outweigh the losses.

When we become beholders of life, we do not look out at life
3nd wonder what is going to happen. We behold what God is doing.
The beholder on the spiritual path awakens in the morning and real-
izes, "This is God's day; 'this is the day which the Lord hath made.'
What is God going to do with this day in its relationship to me?
What experience will the activity of God bring to me this day?"

In that objective and detached way we go through the day with
the expectancy of something just around he comer, the feeling that
whatever God brings to pass in this hour, the next hour, and the
hour after that is the product of God, and the effect of the activity
of God. We now come into the experience of an unchanging har-
mony. We are at that point where we are no longer as concerned
with outer effects as we once were; we have come to that place of
looking at the appearance whether good or bad, and realizing its
illusory nature.

Concerning ourselves with the nature of the appearance indulges
and perpetuates the hypnotism. Morning, noon, and night, we must
maintain within ourselves a spiritual balance in the realization that
in the kingdom of God there is neither good nor evil: there is only
Spirit; and in the kingdom of this world the appearance of evil and
the appearance of good are equally illusory. If we wish to bring about
a spiritual demonstration of Christhood, we cannot concern ourselves
with the momentary appearances, but must hold fast to the spiritual
truth within ourselves.

Although the kingdom of God is invisible and incorporeal to
human sight, it is tangible and real to those who have the spiritual
^sion to behold it. Only through spiritual awareness, through spir-
itual consciousness, through the fourth-dimensional consciousness,
Christ-consciousness, can we behold spiritual identity. We cannot
Sfi e spiritual identity with our eyes, but just as God can look through
light and darkness and behold them as one, so can the spiritually
"'umined look through the appearance of good or bad humanhood
an d behold Christhood.

In a mystical teaching we have no right to look at a human being

300

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

with the idea of changing evil into good, disease into health, or lack
into abundance. What we must do— and it is imperative that we do
it— is to look through the appearance and realize:

Unseen to my human eyes, this is the Christ, the son of Cod,
I do not seek to change him, improve, reform, or enrich him. I foofe
through the appearance, and remember that even though I cannot
see it, here is spiritual Identity.

For those who have been trained to see the unreality of erroneous
appearances, this may not seem to be too difficult to do, but the
reason most of us do not have greater success in looking through
the appearance is that we do not applv this principle when we see
good human appearances. Why should there be rejoicing over a
healthy, wealthy, successful, or happy appearance when the whole
picture can be reversed in less than an hour?

It is not easy for anyone, riot even for the spiritual student, to be
able to look at himself, his friends, or his relatives when they are the
healthiest, the wealthiest, and the purest, and realize that this is
only an appearance, but that invisible to human sight is the Christ,
the spiritual son of God, the Reality. If a person is able to do that,
however, he will always be tabernacling with the spiritual identity of
his friends, relatives, and students. It is the very love of God flowing
through him that is closing his eyes to appearances and showing him
the Soul of everv person, of those who are good as well as those who
are bad— the same pure Soul which is God.

In proportion as we can be in this world, but not of it— in it,
and yet not be fascinated by the human identity of persons, but
realize that even' person is really the Soul of God made evident on
this earth— we shall be living in "My kingdom." This takes a de-
veloped inner vision which sees the presence of God in every person.

It is amazing what miracles take place when we give up all at-
tempts to make bad people good or sick people well, and begin to
dwell in this realization:

God, reveal to me Thy spiritual Selfhood; reveal Thy spiritual Son;
show forth the son of Cod in every individual.

LIVING ABOVE THE PAIRS OF OPPOSITES 3()1

With this vision we begin to see and to feet spiritual sonship all
around us. People act differently toward us and we toward them
because we are no longer treating them as we think they deserve to
be treated. We hold no one in condemnation because we know that
it is only his ignorance of what he is doing, his ignorance of his
divine sonship, that makes him act as he does. Crimes against so-
ciety and individuals— lying, stealing, cheating, defrauding— can be
committed only as long as we think that you are you, and I am I.
All that stops the minute we discover that we are brothers with the
same Father, and that we belong to the same family and live in the
same household. At once this makes the world less real and My king-
dom more real, revealing the universe as a spiritual kingdom where
nothing has to be attained by force.

This is the mystical life: we look not at the good human appear-
ance and rejoice in it, but look through the good, as well as through
the evil, human appearance, and behold Christhood. We can do it.
We all can do it. True, it requires some discipline and some training
because what we are trying to do is to overcome the effects of hun-
dreds of generations of those who have left us as a heritage the
belief in two powers. We are casting aside both the good and the
evil to behold the spiritual, casting aside both good health and bad
health in order to attain the realization of that Christhood which is
our permanent identity in God. Only our spiritual identity as the
child of God enables us to eat of that meat the world knows not of.

It is not by virtue of being a good human being that any of us
can claim that we are "joint-heirs with Christ" because good human-
hood is as far from heaven as bad humanhood. The scribes and the
Pharisees were the very best of the Hebrews: the most religious, the
greatest worshipers of the one God, the greatest supporters of the
temple. Being good was an obsession with them, and yet the Master
told his followers that their goodness must transcend that of the
scribes and the Pharisees. Humanly that would have been well-nigh
lr n possible because they had already practically attained perfection.

Real goodness lies in the ability to realize that the kingdom of
^°d is ours, not by virtue of our goodness, but by virtue of our
spiritual identity. This means being courageous enough to throw
as 'de all thought of our badness past or present, and in the same

302 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

breath to throw aside our goodness as well— throw them both out
and take no credit unto ourselves for the good and no condemnation
for the evil, but claim for ourselves only our spiritual identity in
God. In this relationship with God we shall find that we are one with
God, we are joint-heirs with God to all the heavenly riches, but as
long as we think that our evil ways are keeping us from those riches
or that our good is bringing us closer to them, we are missing the
way.

The one who believes that some error, some temporary evil, or
some mistake of omission or commission is separating him from
God is just as far off the beam as the person who believes that his
goodness is earning him God's grace. No one attains God's grace
by goodness alone: God's grace is attained by the realization of
spiritual identity; and in the recognition of our spiritual identity, we
will be good in every spiritual way. How that good measures up
with human goodness there is no way of knowing, but spiritual in-
tegrity can come only through our relationship to God, and not by
virtue of any good qualities or because of any personal sacrifices or
efforts.

Our human experience of the past and the present with its good
and evil is the mortal dream, but within our Soul we are God-being;
in our inner light, we are children of God; in the depths of our
inner being, we are one with God; and we have "meat," which we
may not even have earned or deserved, but we have it nevertheless
by virtue of divine inheritance.

Many of us have received, or will receive, much that we know in
our heart and soul we do not deserve. Far more will this be true m
our spiritual experience when we find God's goodness pouring itseli
upon us faster than we can accept it and realize that nothing in our
human life entitles m to this. It comes to us as the grace of God
from which neither life nor death can separate us.

There is no place where we can go and be separate from Gods
care, God's jurisdiction. God's life, and God's law. Whether we live
on one side of the veil or on the other is of no importance excep
to those few people who temporarily will miss our physical presence'
But very soon, when that sense of absence is healed, nothing L

LIVING ABOVE THE PAIRS OF OPPOSITES 303

changed, no one has lost anything, no one has been hurt, for in God
life and death are the same. They are mortal appearances, human'
illusions. To understand that both are of the same substance the
fabric of nothingness, and that there is no difference between life
and death brings about an understanding of the meaning of im-
mortality.

Immortality has nothing to do with life or death, for life and
death are but illusory pictures, whereas immortality is the spiritually
real, etemality is the spiritually real, incorporeality is the spiritually
real. Life and death are two phases of human illusion just as are
disease and health, poverty and wealth, sin and purity.

On the spiritual path we have to overcome both the evil and the
good, and while it is true that in our first stage we do try to change
ill health into good health, as we advance on this Path we realize
that we have to rise above good health just as we rise above poor
health into the realm and the realization and the consciousness of
God's presence as Spirit. To the illumined consciousness, darkness
and light are one.

1

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE TREE OF LIFE

T.

,o understand the nature of the mystical way of life, and to
understand it fully, we must first of all understand the underlying
conflict that exists among human beings, the struggle between all
men on the face of the earth. Even between husbands and wives,
parents and children, there is conflict, and the conflict is always a.
battle for the supremacy of the ego. Each one wants to be some-
thing of himself, and that something enters into conflict with the
something of the other self.

So it is that throughout the human scene there has always been
conflict. True, there is an appearance of peace, but as long as each
one has a self of his own, he will be catering to that ego, trying to
manifest, express, or benefit it.

This poses the question: Is it possible for human beings to live
together harmoniously, or must they live in constant warfare of one
nature or another? None of the efforts made to bring about peace
on earth and good will among men has ever been successful for any
length of time, largely because these efforts have been based on at-
tempting to unite people humanly, when for the most part they have
no common interest.

Some contend that in union there is strength, but this is a fallacy

304

THE TREE OF LIFE 305

Ever since time began, tribes have been uniting, countries have been
uniting, and churches have been uniting, but so far no such union
has brought about permanent strength. It lasts for a while, then some
other combination arises and falls to make way for still another com-
bination. There is no strength in any union founded by human be-
ings, nor has one ever proved to be enduring.

The only strength there is, is in spiritual union, but that in itself
is a paradox. There cannot really be a spiritual union because there
are not two to unite. There is only one Self, and as long as I recog-
nize that the Selfhood of me is the Selfhood of you, I cannot be
antagonistic toward you, but neither can I unite with you because
there are not two of us: there is only One. There may be many forms,
but back of the forms there is the One.

True peace can be established between us only when there is a
subjugating of the ego in the realization that there is but one Ego,
but one Self, and God is that Ego, that Self, and God constitutes
the Self of every individual. Now instead of being in conflict with
one another, we are united.

There may he a hundred papayas on one tree, but there is onlv one
life, one tree, and anything that injures the tree ultimately injures all
parts of the tree. The life of the tree constitutes the life of every
branch, and of every piece of fruit on it. If each papaya felt that
"t had a life, a dignity, and an identity of its own, there would soon
be a struggle. Only because of the oneness of the fruit with the tree
can the tree, branches, and fruit all abide together harmoniously.

Now for a moment try to visualize a branch of a tree that is cut

W. set off by itself, having no relationship with the tree whatsoever,

a "d you will understand what is meant by twoness. Moreover, were

« Possible for any one part of the tree to have an ego, it woul'd also

e possible for a branch to become envious of all the good that is on

e tree and want some of it, or the tree, seeing the glory of the
ra nch, might want to subdue or possess it.

B ut look again and see that branch back on its tree: now there is
^ tree and one life, and the life of the tree is the life of every

the' h ^ thC treC ' l1lerC ' S n ° Uni0 " there bccause there are not two:
er e is just one. There can be dozens of branches, but there is only

506 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

one life, one intelligence, one source of supply — just one — and the^
fore, no single branch of a tree could ever be in conflict with any
other branch of that tree.

As we understand this about a tree, soon we shall also be able to
understand and realize that there is a Tree of Life, a central source
of Life, and that we are all parts of that Life. We are not separate
branches, as we appear to be, but we are bound together by an in-
visible tie, which is Life Itself, the central theme of being. Life is the
Tree of which we are all branches, and we all derive our life, intelli-
gence, love, care, and protection from the same Source.

Let us return once more to the branch that has been cut off from
the tree, a branch that at this moment is laden with fruit. Imagine
how proud that branch of the tree might be of its wonderful fruit,
and how it might think, "What a glorious thing I am! I am so beau-
tiful! I have such exquisite flowers 1 I can bear such luscious fruit!"
Then imagine what might happen to all this fruitage in just a few
days when, because the branch has been severed from the tree, life
is no longer feeding that branch, and when life no longer feeds it,
there is nothing left for it to do but to wither, and naturally there
will be no more flowers and no more fruit of which to be proud.

This is similar to what happens to a person when he believes that
he is intelligent, good, strong, wealthy, healthy, or moral. Think
what happens to this person when one of these days, wandering
around as a separate branch, he begins to feel himself withering up
inside, and hears his friends say, "Oh, that's natural! You're getting
old." But it is not natural at all from the spiritual standpoint. It is
natural only because he has been feeding his ego, and believing that
he, of himself, is something, when the truth is that he is something
only because he is one with the Tree of Life.

Those who are living the ego-life are fighting or competing with
one another, trying to supersede or be better than another, richer
or more beautiful, living a life of friction because there is always 1
a sense of twoness. Wherever and whenever there is twoness, there
is bound to be friction because one person is always hitting
up against the other. But all this friction disappears, all com-
petition and all opposition disappear, in the realization of oneness.

THE TREE OF LIFE 307

When the conviction of oneness is realized, we perceive that each
branch derives its good from its Source, and therefore there is no
need for one branch to compete or 6ght with another branch, to try
to get the better of, or overcome, another, because each branch then
realizes what John Burroughs so beautifully expresses in his poem
"Waiting": "My own shall come to me." Why will it come? Because
it is coming to us from our Source, not from another branch, not from
somebody else, and not from going out into the world trying to get it.
This removes any desire or compulsion to take anything away from
anyone else, or to draw anything to us from any outside source. "My
own shall come to me"— mine, not yours.

Om own will come to us from the Source because we are branches
of the Tree of Life, and we are fed by the life of that Tree, which
finds a way to draw to us out of the Ground whatever our particular
nature requires. The function of a branch is to be still and know that
it is not merely a branch but part of a tree. When we look at a tree
from afar, we do not dissect it and point out that here is the trunk
of a tree, and there is a leaf. No, we see the tree as a whole, consti-
tuted of trunk, branches, leaves, and fruit. So is the Tree of Life con-
stituted of you and me, and all the other you's and me's in the world,
and even though our particular function may be that of a branch,
a part of the tree, nevertheless, we are the Tree, Itself.

As long as we are united with the Tree, whatever it is that is func-
tioning the life of the Tree is supplying us with our wisdom, love,
guidance, direction, activity, remuneration, recognition, and reward,
with whatever it is that is to become a part of our life.

The ego-man, the man of earth, is always asserting himself in the
world: discussing, arguing, striving, competing, fighting. The con-
templative, the man of God, may be out in the world doing whatever
his work may be, but mentally and spiritually he is at home within his
own being.

The contemplative does not withdraw from an active life; in fact,
he may become increasingly active. He would undoubtedly be better
qualified to be the president of a corporation than an ego-man, be-
cause the ego-man could accomplish only what his own mental power
could encompass, but the contemplative would draw his wisdom

308 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

from an inner Source to which the ego-man would have no access.
The contemplative knows that the branch cannot dictate to the
tree, and that the branch need not tell the tree what it needs, 01
when it needs it. The branch knows that it has to be still and let the
tree manifest its own glory, and any glory the tree manifests will be
showered upon, and shared with, the branches, and that will include
all that the branch may need. The only function of a branch is to be
still and let, and in due time the life of the tree will provide the
branch with all that it needs; and then when the branch is full of
flowers and fruit, instead of taking pride in it, the branch- will be
humble and remember that it is but showing forth the glory of the
tree, and that of its own self it did not, and could not, create this
beauty, this fruit, or this wealth.

As good begins to unfold in our experience, whether it is peace,
harmony, health, or abundance— whatever it may be— we have to
develop that deep humility which enables us to recognize that this
is the showing forth of God's glory, God showing Himself forth as
our health, our life, and our supply; and in the recognition of this, we
are contemplating God's grace, His love, omnipresence, and omnip-
otence. In dwelling in that contemplative state we are permitting
the law of life to function in our mind, being, body, and business.
Furthermore, the flow is normal because it is not cluttered up or cut
off by an ego trying to boast or preen itself, and give credit to itself.

It is so easy to think that we can be of benefit to one another.
This is the natural belief of the natural man, the ego-man. One
branch cannot really benefit another branch, however, because what-
ever benefit may come to you or to me through each other is really
only the Life Itself using us as Its instrument. The blessings that come
into our experience from any direction are really God Itself flowing to
us. It is true, of course, that as servants of the most High we also serve
each other, but we serve only as instruments of God.

The truth that enables us to serve each other is knowing that I
have nothing of my own to give you, and you have nothing of your
own to give me: we derive our good from the same Source because
we are one— one Tree. We are the manifestation of one Tree o
Life and, by an invisible bond, we are all branches of that one Tree.

THE TREE OF LIFE 309

The person who knows this is beginning to purge himself of ego
because he does not see himself as the source of someone else's good'
he is thinking only in terms of one, not of two. Where there are two
there will eventually be friction, even when temporarily one is doing
good for another.

The antidote for all friction is a realization of oneness. We must
keep consciously before us a picture of the Tree of Life, and we must
see ourselves as branches of that Tree, each growing from the cen-
ter to the circumference, with no dependence upon one another,
yet with a co-operativeness because we are parts of one complete
whole.

In the mystical life, a person lives constantly and consciously as out
from the Center, in the realization of oneness, and with every temp-
tation to see twoness, opposition, or competition, he inwardly smiles
in the realization: "Be not afraid, it is I. There is only one of us here,
not two. There is not a 'me' and danger, there is not a 'me' and
competition, there is not a 'me' and an enemy — that is twoness."

The way of the mystic is not a struggling to overcome enemies
and a striving to make friends. The mystic knows, "It is I; It is J —
this Tree is all there is. Even if I am seeing a thousand different
branches, it is one Tree. 'It is I; be not afraid.' There is one Tree of
Life, and we are all one in that Tree, and of that Tree."

The mystic has had long months, and sometimes even years, of
being faced with outward temptations to believe in twoness, to be-
lieve that there is a "me" and another, and he has overcome such
temptations by the ability to look around and realize that, while there
may seem to be a dozen different persons, actually they are all one
Tree, all parts of the Tree of Life, and therefore, whatever is good for
one is good for the others. This is the Master's teaching of "Love thy
neighbor as thyself," and it is only when we are seeing our neighbor
a s a part of this Tree of Life that we are loving him as ourselves: we
ar c seeing him fed from within, sustained, strengthened, healed, and
resurrected from within, needing no outside aid.

In living this life the mystic becomes a blessing without con-
sciously desiring or attempting to be. All those who come into his
Presence feel something emanating from his consciousness. And

310 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

what is it that they feel? Not any desire to do good: just the ability

to live at the Center in this contemplation of oneness. _

The ego-man is always desiring something out here; he is always
getting something, doing something, achieving something, and that
Sn r and onter Lultant turmoil can be felt The mystic is a wa^s
Lng at the center of his being. Regardless of what work he is per-
fonlg, he is not reaching out to attain or to compete he » not
s nVing to get anything from anyone: he is at rest, and that rest is
fdt by everyone who touches his consciousness, that is, everyone of

3 wSnT ^petition, opposition, or friction of any kind com*
into our experience, we retire to that center o ^^
realizing that we are not two, but one, we ag.»
oTdivine harmony. As long as we can translate an appearance of twc
ness into the picture of the Tree of Life, we are the hght of the
world and a blessing to it.

The pnnciple which would unite people and ensure hannonious
and fruitful relationships in the family, the community and _ ev n
tolly the state, the nation, and all the nations of the world is con-

scious oneness with God.

When a person carries this relationsh.p of oneness with God ^o
his business or professional life, he increasingly draws un to lumseK
those who more nearly represent his state of conscousne s^Thefc*
to a fulfilled life, as well as the key to success, is m oneness «th God.
Only in our relationship of oneness with the Father can wehavea
permanent bond at any and every level of human «^n«-on £
Ll of friendship, the marital, the social an business level, W
can be one through our oneness with God, and in that oneness i*
flows a iov at every level. ., >31

Tt is only in oneness with God that peoples of all the world a*
united in the household of God: Americans English, Chines ;
Japanese, Africans. In that oneness we are of the same hou hoW
our relationship with God, our fellowship in the spirit, and our com
muiuon with God un.te us in communion with one another.

One day we shall be able to prove that when a penonj ™kes L,
contact the first order of business on h,s agenda, he wul draw to hu*

THE TREE OF LIFE 311

self in marriage someone interested in the spiritual way of life, some-
one searching for God, someone who is also seeking to attain con-
scious union with God, and that common interest will be the bond
that will enable them to enjoy a marriage, fruitful in every respect.
There are so many factors involved in marriage: companionship,
parenthood, social and community responsibilities, and financial
arrangements; but when there is this spiritual rapport, all phases of
the relationship fall into their proper place. Without this spiritual
bond even the best of marriages has little or nothing in it but a
human relationship which is sometimes pleasant, and oftentimes
very unpleasant.

It is not possible for two or more people to live together in God
and lie to one another, cheat or defraud one another — it cannot be
done. A person would wreck his mind and body who attempted thus
to live contrary to the way of God or the will of God, trying to bring
his human will, human desires, and human tricks into a spiritual
way of life. Whoever attempted to deviate from spiritual integrity
would soon be uncovered and be removed. No treachery or devious
practices can remain covered up. Nothing is hidden from God. There
is only one reason that dishonesty in human relations continues,
only one reason: human beings do not knowingly or willingly expose
their conduct to the light of God, They are clever enough to stay
away from God, and for a time they may succeed in their wickedness,
but when they bring themselves close to God, they find that they
cannot deviate from spiritual integrity.

Nothing "that defileth ... or maketh a lie" can enter the con-
sciousness of those who are united in the family and household of
God. When we understand that we are one with the Father and that
wc are the temple of God, is it not clear that sooner or later we will be
compelled to live up to that estimate of ourselves? The moment that
We can begin to catch that vision, we cannot then violate our in-
tegrity, nor can we violate our relationships with others, especially
when we realize that inasmuch as we are the temple of God, so is
everyone else.

To recognize others as well as ourselves as the very temple of God
's a step toward the fulfilling of the Commandments to love God su-

i\

312 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

prcmeiy and our neighbor as ourselves. The truth is that humanly
nobody can do that. We can try, but we are on the Way only when
the first instinct to want to know God aright comes to us, an inner de-
sire to discover the nature of "My kingdom" and "My peace." Then
our relationship to God and man changes: love enters in, not your
love or mine: it is the love of God that has entered into whatever
part of our consciousness we have opened to its flow, and that love
of God becomes the love for God and for man.

We give evidence of our love for God in our love for our neighbor.
There is no God hanging up in space — not in the space in this room
or above the room, and not in the space above the ground, or the
space above the sky. The only God there is, is incarnated in our
Sou!, and in the Soul of every individual.

The only way to love God is to love one another, but not just those
others in our immediate environment. That would be such a restric-
tive sense of love that it would be selfishness rather than love. If
this love that we feel for one another is true love, it makes us also
want to help people who are in distress, people of any nation, any
coIot, or any creed.

If this love that has entered our heart does not give us an interest
in all of the unfortunates of the world, we can be assured that it is
not the love of God, and we have deceived ourselves. We love one
another only because we have opened ourselves to God and have
thereby discovered the God in me and the God in you, and found It
to be the same God, the same Life, and the same Love. Even though
depressed and despised peoples of the world may not yet know their
identity, we do; and moreover, we know that one of these days they
will awaken to their true identity, just as those persons whose ma-
terial needs are being met so abundantly that they feel no need of
God will someday awaken to their spiritual identity.

There can be peace on earth, peace between nations and races,
peace in our communities, peace in our homes, but this peace will
come on a permanent basis only when it comes because of some
measure of realization of our relationship to God. We ourselves must
first attain that realization.

As we attain even a degree of realization that God has incarnated

THE TREE OF LIFE 313

Himself as our very being, that we are the temple of God and God
dwells in us, we begin to draw unto ourselves from out of the world
those who are traveling in the same direction, those whose goal is to
dwell in the household of God, the Temple not made with hands.
The invisible bond with which we are bound together is our con-
scious union with God, and because of our realized oneness, we draw
to ourselves out of the world all those with any measure of love for
God.

CHAPTER XXIX

BEYOND TIME AND SPACE

A s

.s human beings we live in the past, the present, and the
future. The past has been, and there is nothing more we can do
about it; the future has not come, and there is nothing that a human
being can do except wait to see what the future is going to do to him.

On the spiritual path our whole attitude toward the past and the
future is changed because we realize that we are building our future
now. Whatever fills our consciousness this minute is the seed we are
sowing, and it determines the type of fruitage we will have. If we are
sowing to the flesh, we will reap a future of corruption; whereas, if
we sow to the Spirit, we will reap in the future, life everlasting.

In the absolute sense there is no future: the future is only a con-
tinuation of the present; it is an extension in time and space of the
present; and it is safe to say that our future will be this present,
whatever this present is, extended into time and space.

Since life is consciousness, the seeds that we sow in our conscious-
ness at any and every moment of the day will determine the nature
of the crops that we will reap in that extension of the present which
is called the future. There is no future separate and apart from this
minute: the future is only this minute extending itself, and the nature
of that future must be the nature of this minute extending itself. So ;

314

BEYOND TIME AND SPACE 315

jf we abide in the Word and let the Word abide in us now, we will
reap richly, spiritually, divinely, and harmoniously.

Man is continually sowing the seeds of his own future. Each min-
ute of his life he is building tomorrow, and next year, and the year
following, and even ensuring that there will be these years to come.
W'e build our life in consciousness by the nature of that which
occupies our thoughts. As we live this minute, this minute extends
itself forward into time and space, carrying with it the quality with
which we have imbued this minute.

If constantly and consciously we are realizing that God is Spirit,
and God is law, and therefore that law is spiritual, and if we are
governed by spiritual law, that becomes the law, not only to this
present moment, but this present moment goes on extending itself
in time and space. All there is to time and space is our conscious-
ness extending itself. If our consciousness ever stopped functioning,
time and space would no longer exist for us.

Time plays no part in the functioning of God. There is only now
in the spiritual kingdom, there is only this moment, this continuing
moment. It is because of this continuing moment that everything
that happens in the future will happen. If next month all the leaves
on the trees in the park will have turned brown, yellow, or red, it is
only because of the process going on in the tree this minute. When
the leaves drop off the trees in the autumn, it is because of what took
place in the tree prior to that time. What occurs this minute deter-
mines what conditions will be an hour from now, a day or a week
from now. God is functioning this minute, and it is because of this
minute that something occurs when it becomes "this minute" a
minute from now.

Whatever activity of the Spirit is going on now determines the
activity of the universe a second from now. God cannot inaugurate
an action. God cannot make two times two four now, and if He
Wanted to do so, He could not make it five either. What two times
t^o is has been determined from the beginning of time.

God ts, and the only time God is, is now. God is "is-ing" now, and
"lis "is-ing" continues as a continuity of the now. It is always now in
God's kingdom: it is never fifteen minutes ago or fifteen minutes
from now.

316 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

We are living a godless life every moment: that we waste time
living in the past. There is nothing God can do about the past
because God is not there: God is here, and God is now. The place
whereon we stand is holy ground — now. If anything is to take place
in what we call the future, it has to be as a continuing of the presence
of the God of now. The only way to bring ourselves under God's law
is to give up both the past and the future and align ourselves with
God through the realization of Omnipresence, Omniaction, Omni-
being, all here now.

This is living the life of the-place-whereon-I-stand-is-holy-ground.
If at any time our lack of understanding of that has resulted in our
being in prison, in a hospital, in sin, in disease, or in poverty, then
the remedy is to begin this second where we are, get up-to-date with
God, and realize Omnipresence.

We know nothing about tomorrow, nor can we have the faintest
idea of what will take place tomorrow. If we think we know, we are
limiting our tomorrow to what we know about yesterday and today;
and if we do that, we are not leaving ourselves open for a God-experi-
ence.

God does not operate tomorrow. The tomorrow-operation of God
is dependent on the now-operation of God because God is function-
ing only in this split second, and in every continuing split second.
Even God cannot take a rosebud and in a few minutes turn it into
a full-blown rose. God functions now. We, then, being a part of the
functioning of the now, unfold in accordance with the nature of our
being, but we cannot do this without God. We cannot get God to
do it yesterday, and we cannot get God to do it tomorrow. The
tomorrowness of God is due solely to the nowness of God. Now,
God is God, and God is an eternal God, functioning eternally in the
now, never in the past and never in the future. When we are living
in the future, we are living as godless a life as if we were living in the
past.

If we are leading the mystical life, however, we will have a period
of thanksgiving when we retire at night, thanking God for the way
He has managed this universe the past twenty- four hours, and giving
Him a little pat on the back because the sun and the moon came up
on time, the rain came in due season, and the sunshine; the tides

i

BEYOND TIME AND SPACE 317

came in and the tides went out on time. He deserves a little credit
for such accuracy and balance, and with that as a basis, we can look
forward with confidence to tomorrow. Undoubtedly, tomorrow He
will take care of all this, too, so that tonight we can go to sleep and
trust it to Him.

And when we wake up in the morning, we will not again attempt
to take over all the responsibility for this universe but we will re-
member, "God, You did all right last night without my help. I think
I'll trust You with today."

The mystic does not sit around worrying about what is going to
happen to the world: the mystic beholds life and watches God at
work. If he wants to see the sun rise, he gets up early, but then
realizes that he is watching an activity of the Principle that governs
this universe.

As we become beholders and watch each hour unfold to see what
God does with it, we overcome the egotistic belief that this is our
world and that we are responsible for it. We do not fear "man,
whose breath is in his nostrils," man who has forged the weapons of
this world; but we awaken in the morning with the same confidence
with which we went to sleep at night, leaving this world in His care.
And we leave the day in His care, too, and learn to stand a little bit
to the right of ourselves, watching how beautifully God runs this
universe, and how He provides in advance for every need. This is a
glorious universe when we behold God at work, God in action.

This is being a witness. A witness is not an active participant: a
witness is one who bears witness, who sees and beholds. That is what
we are: God's witnesses. At first this principle is difficult to practice.
It takes time to become accustomed to trusting God with our days
with the same degree of confidence that we trust our nights to Him.
Some of us would not trust Him with the night, except that we are
too tired to stay awake!

Those of us who do sit up much of the night meditating and
communing are not doing so for the purpose of helping God. We
meditate because we like to behold God at work even in the middle
°f the night, and He does as many miraculous things then as He does
*« the day.

"Now is the day of salvation." Now is the only time, and now is the

318

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

perfect time. Now J am. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God."
When? Not tomorrow, not when we are dead — now! Now do we live
and move and have our being in Christ-consciousness.

All life is predicated on now. As long as we are living on the human
level of life, the law of as-ye-sow-so-shall-ye-reap will operate in our
experience; and that means that as we sow now, so will we reap. The
nature of our sowing determines the nature of our reaping, but the
reaping in the future cannot be any more harmonious than the sowing
that we do in the now. The spiritual fruitage of tomorrow is the
product of the spiritual sowing of now, and if we do not sow spiritually
now, there will be no spiritual fruitage later. All karma can be erased
in any moment because the results of karma can last only while the
seeds of karma are operating. As soon as a person moves out of that
material consciousness where he sowed materially, there is no more
material reaping because he is not there: he has "died."

In the moment that we "die" to the past, we are reborn in this
nowness, and in our rebirth in the Spirit, we carry with us nothing of
the past, not any more than the butterfly carries with it anything of
the worm. After the worm has spun its cocoon and has had a long
period of quiet, separate and apart from the outside world, it dies,
and the butterfly is bom, but that butterfly has no remembrance of
its worm-state.

Any moment in which we have the conscious realization of the
presence of God, we have "died" to our materialism. The birth of
the Christ has taken place. Twenty times a day it can take place
in meditation, and each time it does, some part of the human past
that has continued to intrude is wiped out.

It is necessary to have periods in which we consciously live as
though we were looking right down a long straight line of now,
seeing nothing of the past, being unconcerned about the future, and
living now in conscious oneness with the Father.

When in our silence this oneness has been confirmed in us, God
is working with us, and we can go ahead. If we are called upon to
make plans for next week or next year, we can make them, or even
for ten years ahead, if after our meditation we are given any plans-
Such planning does not make this an act of the future: it makes it a n
act of the present extending itself forward.

BEYOND TIME AND SPACE 319

When it is said that we do not make plans for the future, that is
true in one sense, but not in another. For example, when an aware-
ness comes that there should be class and lecture work in various parts
of the world, this idea is presenting itself to me in some given present
moment. Although this involves the future, the idea came in the
present, and the carrying out of it can be considered a continuation
of the present, and I can then go ahead with plans of a human nature
which include the necessary arrangements. In that sense we do plan
for the future, but these plans aTe only the product of God working
with us now, and revealing to us that there should be a class here or
there at a particular time. As soon as that conviction comes, then
we make all the plans, but that is not human planning: that is
merely taking the human footsteps following the divine plan that
lias been revealed to us.

Worrying about the past, being concerned or having a guilt com-
plex about it, is a waste of time because there is no God in the
past, and if God is not in the past, we might as well remove ourselves
from it, too. Moreover, there is no need for undue concern about the
future, except insofar as plans for the future are the natural result of
ideas that are given to us in the present as to what to do about the
future.

As this principle of nowness is grasped, every moment of life be-
comes a vital and important one. No yesterdays can ever be impor-
tant after we have learned this lesson. Even if we achieved some great
thing yesterday, we cannot rest back satisfied with that accomplish-
ment because we are not going to achieve anything in the future
except as a product of what we do today. It is today that we are build-
ing our future. The past is past, and there is nothing we can do about
it. But there is a great deal we can do about the immediate present
which governs all that we call the future.

A spiritual realization now produces harmony that can make itself
evident tomorrow or next year; it can set in morion forces that may
bring about tangible effects a year from now. The realized truth of
this instant is preparing the way for our next incarnation and deter-
mining at what level it will be. If we are satisfied with whatever we
have achieved during our years here, if we are not concerned with
anything beyond this lifetime, or if we are convinced that we live

320 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

only for this earth-span, there is no need to pay attention to any of
this.

If, however, our study of spiritual wisdom, our meditation, and out
contemplation have convinced us that life did not begin at birth and
that it will not end at what is called death, we must of necessity be
as much concerned for our life a hundred vears from now as we are
for our life next year. It is for this reason that we have to come con-
sciously to a realization of the newness of life because we cannot
even mold next year, except on the basis of what we are molding
in this moment of conscious awareness.

Life is a continuing experience; consciousness is a continuing
experience; and what we are conscious of now determines the nature,
state, and degree of our consciousness in all the tomorrows of which
we may ever dream. We never live in any time other than now; we
have never lived other than at this moment. Every moment of our
life has been a "this moment." We cannot live behind it, and we
cannot live ahead of it: we must live out from it. When we realize
that the depths of our consciousness and the heights of our spiritual
attainment are the measure of our peace as we rest and sleep tonight
and the measure of our health and harmony tomorrow, then ours is
the responsibility for living every single moment in the conscious-
ness of now, and the consciousness of that now determines all the
future "nows."

The harmony of this month is the product of the depth of our
spiritual vision of last year, of our hours, days, weeks, and months
of study, meditation, and preparation. Every moment of last year
went into whatever degree of harmony we are experiencing this year.
So it will be unto eternity — not only throughout this lifetime, hut
throughout all the lifetimes to come.

It was only because the Master had demonstrated life to be eternal
and immortal that he was visible to his disciples after the Cruci-
fixion. His life after the Crucifixion was the product of every moment
of his life on earth. Whatever he had attained on earth he carried
with him. The great lesson of the Resurrection, as far as we are con-
cerned, is that it demonstrated that life goes on beyond the grave.

The question is: What is the nature of that life beyond the grave.

BEYOND TIME AND SPACE 321

To the world, this is a serious problem, and one for which it has no
answer. No one is certain what form life will take on the next plane
of experience, whether it will be lived on Cloud Nine, or whether
it will alternate between heaven and hell. Although the world as a
whole has not yet arrived at any understanding of that, mysticism
reveals that our life after the transition will be the result of our life
before the transition, and that every bit of spiritual awareness that
we embody on earth is the degree of spiritual awareness with which
we will begin our new experience,

A high school graduate with an A and B record needs no fortune-
teller to predict what his scholastic achievement in college will be.
It is very likely to be of a high order because the knowledge and
study habits gained in his high school years will serve as the founda-
tion upon which to build greater achievements. So it is that the degree
of our attained spiritual awareness is the degree that carries over with
us this year, next year, the year after, and eventually beyond the
point of transition.

We can accept and prove this only if we can realize that, because
of our study and meditation in the preceding years, we at this
moment exist at a certain degree of realized consciousness. Because
of our willingness to give up some of our material pleasures and
profits for the development of our Soul — keeping our thought stayed
on God and dwelling in the secret place of the most High — there
has been at least some measure of unfoldment of our consciousness.
And that unfoldment is responsible for whatever degree of harmony,
peace, happiness, satisfaction, and abundance we are now expressing
and enjoying. By the grace of God we have given ourselves to the
attainment of further spiritual light, and we are now in a state of
consciousness showing forth some spiritual fruitage.

So it will always be. The health, the success, and the fruitage that
will come to us this year or the year after can be measured by the
degree of our attention to our spiritual development. How foolish it
would be to feel that all wc are doing is making life a little more
comfortable for ten, twenty, or thirty years, that all this ends at the
grave, smack up against a tombstone. But that is what we will bring
to ourselves if we accept that in our thought.

322 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

Now, now, now are we the children of God, not yesterday or to-
morrow, only now! Now, "I and my Father are one," and this now
that we are living is a continuing experience because whatever we are
now we are infinitely and eternally, and if we are one with the Father
now, and if all that the Father has is ours now, we have only to live
in this now.

According to the clock, it may have been ten minutes ago when
we first began considering this whole subject of "now," but are we
living ten minutes ago, or are we living now? And is not that now of
ten minutes ago the continuing now unto this moment, and are we
not higher in consciousness now than we were ten minutes ago? Ten
minutes of now-Hving in the Spirit must bring forth a deeper, richer
consciousness, and yet, if that living in the consciousness had not
been started in the now of ten minutes ago, where would we be now,
ten minutes later? We would be back where we were ten minutes
ago, but we are not. We have more truth, more awareness, more
conscious alertness, and that only because we started with what we
had in the house ten minutes ago, and we have built on that.

What have we built on? Now! Now! The conscious remembrance
of what we are now, of who we are now, the conscious remembrance
of the nature of life, and of law, and of Spirit now.

It is this realization of the nature of consciousness, the realization
that consciousness is conscious only now, that helps us in every
department of our life. As we look out at the trees in the park or in
our garden, we can see that they are living now. They cannot live
yesterday, and if there is to be a tomorrow for them, there has to be
a continuing now. There will be no tomorrow for those trees unless
it is that of a continuing now. So there is no after-life for anything 01
anyone except as that after-life is a continuation of now.

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate
us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38, 30

Neither life nor death can separate us from the consciousness of
living now, and that is the only moment we should want to live.

BEYOND TIME AND SPACE 323

Now is a continuing experience beyond the confines of the flesh.
Life is expressing Itself now. That takes away the words "I," "y°u,"
"he," and "she" and enables us to move out of finiteness and mor-
tality into Infinity and Etemality. When we use these personal pro-
nouns, whether consciously, unconsciously, or subconsciously, our
thought goes back to the space between the cradle and the grave, to
birth days and death days. We are attached to that appearance— that
finite appearance— but if we live in the realization that just as Con-
sciousness is expressing Itself, so Life is expressing and living Itself, we
have gone beyond the finite form, and are in Infinity and Etemality.
As long as we are thinking of our life, our body, and our affairs,
and how to change or improve them, we are in the parenthesis, in
finiteness and in limitation. But the moment we can see the whole
circle, we are not confining Life to the parenthesis. We may be wit-
nessing It at the point of this particular parenthesis, but at least we
are witnessing the Life that has no beginning and will have no ending,
and we are thereby erasing the parenthesis.

No spiritual truth is true about life as lived in the parenthesis,
so we have to go beyond the parenthesis and realize that Conscious-
ness is now revealing Itself as form. If we think of form as the Life,
however, we are in the parenthesis, but if we see form as Life express-
ing Itself, It must go on and on forever even if It has to create new
forms every hour.

If you and I believe that we are expressing love, we are holding
ourselves inside the parenthesis. If, on the other hand, we see that
Love is expressing Itself, Life is manifesting and forming Itself, and
Consciousness is unfolding and disclosing Itself in infinite form and
variety, we are lifted out of the parenthesis and moved into Eternity.
Fternity never ends. Eternity has no past; Eternity has no future;
Eternity is a continuous now.

Through meditation we can reach back into that Eternity because
in meditation we are opening ourselves to Infinity, watching for It to
express Itself, watching for Consciousness to appear as form, what-
ever the form may be at the moment. When we are in meditation,
we are inside of the parenthesis but reaching outside, reaching way
back into Consciousness so that there may be more of Consciousness,

324

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

more of Life, Love, and Truth expressed in what appears to be the
parenthesis, but which is rapidly breaking the bounds of the paren-
thesis. We are sitting in what appears to be finiteness, reaching back
into Infinity and Eternity. That Eternity is always functioning now,
it is always now that we are reaching back into Eternity, and this
makes for a continuity of now.

As we gain the true concept of what now means and as we live in
this now, then all of a sudden we awaken to realize that what we
have been trying to do is to live three lives at one time — past, present,
and future. We have been thinking of the good of the past and
thinking of getting more good in the present and the future. All this
has proved to be merely a way of separating ourselves from God.
But now is the only time when we are the sons of God; now is the
only time when I is with us, and that I will never leave us, nor for-
sake us, I is the bread of life now.

It all comes back to nowness, living in the now, and not trying to
hug to ourselves the tatters of what we wore yesterday. If we can
give up our yesterdays and our tomorrows for a spiritual experience
that we can have in meditation now, and then continue living in the
realization that the grace of God is functioning now, we become the
leaven, until all of human consciousness begins a process of being
lifted out of the parenthesis.

CHAPTER XXX

GOD MADE THIS WORLD FOR MEN
AND WOMEN

M

1

_^an is a prisoner of his mind. He is locked up inside his mind
just as a little chick is locked up inside the egg. If it could look
around inside the shell, it would see only darkness; it might even
feci a sense of hunger and find no food there, and certainly, above all
tilings, no companionship. In this lone, tightly locked up shell, that
little chick must wonder what it has to live for. There is nothing for
it to be happy about, but on the other hand, there is also nothing to
be unhappy about: it has never known the world so it does not know
what it is missing. All it knows is what it is experiencing while
locked up inside the shell, and yet it does not even know that it is
locked up inside its shell.

As far as the chick is concerned, it might stay on there forever,
living in that darkness. It might even find enough food in the shell
to keep it alive. It would not really be living: it would be existing,
and of itself it could no nothing about it. There it is, and it looks as
if there it is doomed to be. But fortunately for these little chicks,
there is something beyond themselves, there is something that causes
a chick to peck at the shell, and to keep pecking and pecking at it
until it breaks a hole in it and sees some light.

325

326 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

Imagine what goes on in a little chick's mind when it begins to
catch a ray of light from outside, and realizes that there is something
out there that it has not seen, something it has not felt, some place
it has not been. It keeps pecking away, and pecking away. It knows
nothing about an outside world; it has no desire to get out; and
probably left to itself, it would be satisfied with the comfort of the
shell in which it is enfolded; but there is a something that eventually
compels the chick to break open that shell and come outside, and
find a great big world in which to go looking for food, and other
chicks with which to play.

In the first six hours that that chick is out of the shell, it will find
more new and interesting things than would a child at the foot of a
Christmas tree on Christmas Day. It is now no longer restricted, no
longer bound, but is able to look out into the world and see, hear,
feel, and experience countless things in a great new world.

Is not the force of nature that pushes the chick out of its shell
the same force that urges and pushes the unbom child forward and
out of its mother's womb? It, too, knows nothing of the great outside
world, and all it learns from the moment of birth is gained from its
parents, teachers, environment, and experience. Knowledge from
these sources comes through conditioned minds, and enters a mind
conditioned by these factors. All that most people know about what
is going on in this world is known through the limitations of a con-
ditioned mind. They are living a restricted and limited life: they do
not know the limitless possibilities of their own being. They are
living in a shell that we call the skull, thinking only their own
thoughts, believing only their own concepts, and accepting their own
limitations.

It is a stultifying world in which to live, this world of one's mind,
because that mind knows nothing beyond its own limitations. It
knows nothing except what it has experienced, or what somebody
else who may have a very limited concept of the world has told it,
and so it accepts every kind of belief that is given to it, every law
of limitation, finally settling down on a little plot of ground about
thirty by sixty and calling it home, considering itself lucky even to
have that much.

GOD MADE THIS WORLD FOR MEN AND WOMEN

327

Most persons are on a treadmill: they eat, drink, and sleep; they
have families; they are living a life of limitation, locked up in their
minds. In a few, something stirs inside the mind and makes them
wonder: Is there something beyond this that I know? Is there some-
thing bevond this that I am seeing with my eyes, or hearing with my
cars, or thinking with my mind?

Let us take the blinkers off our eyes and really begin to see the
trees, plants, and other forms of life on this planet, picture the vast-
ness of the ocean stretching out to the horizon, look up at some of
the towering mountains of this world, and see the world beyond the
mountains, beyond the seas, and watch the moon shining on the
ocean with its cool beauty, lighting up the mountains, showing us
something of the vastness of the Infinite; observe the millions of
stars up in the sky, each one a world, each one telling its own story
of light, of fire, of its reason for being where it is, and of that which
caused it to be. Why are they there? What are they doing there?
What purpose do they serve?

Suppose that there were no men or women on earth? To what
purpose would all of this be? To what purpose would there be a sun,
a moon, and stars; those gigantic trees of all kinds; plants, flowers,
vegetables, fruits; diamonds in the ground and peai.s in the sea; if
there were not men and women, if there were not what we know as
human life on earth, which is not human life at all but divine?

Once we begin to peck our way through the shell of the human
mind and look outside, we find that all of this glory is there for yon
and for me. God has created an illimitable universe, not only for
birds to fly in the atmosphere and fish to swim in the water, but that
man should travel, own, and enjoy it— not own it in a sense of having
title to a little piece of land, but own it in the sense of being a part
of its beauty and magnificence. If we think in terms of owning even
a square mile of land, we must see how small that is in comparison
to the vastness of the world. But when we can look down on the
panorama that stretches out before us and realize that God made this
for our enjoyment, the wonder of this universe surges through us.

Nobody can buy an ocean, and nobody can buy a large enough
piece of land to feel that he possesses very much of this earth. If

328 A. PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

only we lift the restrictions imposed upon us by the mind, and, in-
stead of seeing our own man-made limitations, mind-made limita-
tions, come out of this ironclad skull and live, not exist by
circumscribing our lives to eating three meals a day, having a place
to sleep, or a family to enjoy, we will begin to see that a universe
such as we have here must have been created by nothing less than
what we call God.

To create a universe such as this must have taken the wisdom of
an infinite Intelligence, of a divine Love— a great love— but a love
for what or whom? It must have been a love for us that all this has
been given us to enjoy, not to own or possess, but to enjoy, to be
grateful that there is a God, a Something, a Spirit that has created
this great universe and then set us down in it.

If we compress ourselves inside our skull, we have no more vision
than the chick that is inside its shell, That is the limit of its world,
and this skull will be the limit of our world if we permit the petty
little thoughts that crowd in upon us, the little room, the little town,
or the big city where we live to shut out the grandeur round about
us. If we let these "little foxes . . . spoil the vines," we are unable to
open our minds to an awareness of the divine qualities that exist
throughout this world, the qualities that exist as the love of men and
women, not only family love, but the love that is the cement of
relationships on a world-wide scale, and on a personal as well as an
impersonal scale. It is a love that is not limited to the few people who
are around us: it is a sharing of the love of people throughout the
world.

How can we be aware of the people in this world? There is only
one way. We have to peck that shell open; we have to break through
the limitations of this mind that tries to tell us that there arc only
the people and the territory around us, and we have to open our
vision until we are aware of the sun, moon, and stars, the oceans ana
mountains, and then before we know it, as our vision grows wider
and wider and wider, we discover that there are lands and countries
across the sea filled with people. We may not have seen them wit"
our eyes, but when we stop this limited thinking, based only on what
we know, we open ourselves to what God knows, the God that

COD MADE THIS WORLD FOR MEN AND WOMEN 329

placed us here and that placed all of this here for us; and the God
within us reveals that there is something beyond our immediate
environment: there are people beyond, there are joys, glories, and
experiences beyond this present one.

It is not necessary to travel the world to experience this expansion
of consciousness. Once we have opened our consciousness to the
tremendous universe about us, it begins to come to us. It comes in
books, in visitors, in new experiences; and it comes in interior revela-
tions. We would never have to leave our own environment, and yet
this whole universe could be brought right to our doorsteps. In one
way or another, we can enjoy art, literature, sciences, inventions, and
discoveries, as well as people because there are always people traveling
from country to country so that the joy of meeting them would be
ours— but only if we have broken through the limitations of the mind
so that we are not anchored to this finite sense that tells us we are
restricted to the room in which we are sitting.

If it could consciously think, the chick would call the shell in
which it lives its world, but then, when it is out, roaming around
its barnyard, it unconsciously goes a step further and thinks that this
new environment is its world. That may forever be the limit of the
world of the chick, but to us it is not. We are never confined to time
or space because we are not locked up in our skull: we are not even
locked up in our body. There is something that acts as a force to
drive us to look out, to look up, to look around. We would not do
it but something within us is nudging, pushing, and compelling us
to look around until we become aware of this immensity all around
us, of the beauty, harmony, joy, and companionship, of the past, the
present, and the future.

Simultaneously with this increased awareness comes introspection
leading to Soul-searching questions: Why am I on earth? Am I
reallv living, or am I only existing from one day to another? Is my
life just a round of going from home to office, or from home to the
market place? Does my life consist of going from one meal to the
next, from one night's sleep to the next? Am I really living? Am I
a part of this wot Id? Was this world meant for me? Was I born to
hve in a tinv corner of the world, or was this whole world created

330 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

and given to me? Is not the earth mine? Are not the heavens mine?
Are we less than Abraham? And did not God say to him, "For all the
land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever"?

The higher we climb in an airplane, the further we see; the
higher we rise in consciousness, the wider and broader will be our
vision. Soon we will realize that we are not here. We are not here
even on this limited piece of ground. We have broken through the
limitations of the skull; we are no longer tied up inside of a skull
bone; we are not even limited to this body: we are I.

Now, as we look up and sec ten thousand square miles of sky, ten
thousand square miles of ocean, and the people of all nations, of
every quality and quantity, all of a sudden we find that we are I.
We are out of the shell, out of the skull on a mountaintop of vision,
and we hear: "All that you can see is yours." See? Not with our eyes!
All that we can apprehend, all that we can comprehend, all that we
can discern. Anything that we can envision is ours!

This world was created for us. The whole earth, the times and the
tides, are ours. We are heirs to this universe, joint-heirs. We do not
want title to it, any more than we want title to a two-million-dollai
painting. It is enough to be given the privilege of going into an art
museum, filling our Souls, our eyes, and our minds with its beauty,
and then in the quietness of our homes, reliving the wonder of that
painting. Our enjoyment of it may be far greater than that of the
man who paid his two million dollars for it, for he may be too much
aware of its dollar value and his sense of possession. In that sense of
possession he is locked up in his pocketbook. To be confined to a
pocketbook— even a big one— is a dark place to be locked up in, a
strong prison.

But what freedom comes when this that is within us forces us to
go higher and higher in vision, breaking bit by bit out of the skull.
and more and more realizing the nature of our true identity as I, th e
offspring of God, the heir of God, joint-heir! There are no limitations
then to our inheritance, no limitations to our vision, no limitations
to what we can possess. The whole earth is ours, and the sun, the
moon, and the stars. How much more could we have if we had legal
title to them? We would still have to leave them where they & e
for everybody who did not have title to them to enjoy.

l

GOD MADE THIS WORLD FOR MEN AND WOMEN 331

This that pushes the chick out of the shell, this is pushing us out
of the shell, out of this limited skull, forcing us to push those skull
bones away so that we can be free, and be the f that we are. When
we do this, we realize that wherever we look we are meeting our
brothers and sisters, wherever we look we are seeing our mother and
father or our children— everywhere, everywhere. Even the birds, the
dogs, and the cats come running up to show that they sense that
they have been recognized by their brother, and they, too, see their
brother and know as they are known. The vision through which we
see is the vision that is given back to us.

There is no limitation, and now we know that there is not even
the limitation of time. We are not even limited to the century in
which we live. There, too, is another example of how being locked
up in those skull bones makes us believe that our life is being lived
only in this twentieth century. That is such a small part of our life.
Our life really encompasses all the past and the present, and all of
the future that we can climb high enough to envision. If only we
climb high enough in our spiritual vision, we can know this whole
world for generations to come. It is all here to be seen; it is all here
to be experienced.

Nothing new is going to be created tomorrow, not a thing; all
that was is now, all that ever will be is now; but we have to ascend to
the mountaintop of vision to behold it, and we arrive at that moun-
taintop when we have broken through all limitations and know, "I
am J, the son of God, heir of God, joint-heir to all the heavenly
riches." Then we walk out on the street, by the sea, up the moun-
tain, or go flying through the air with no sense of personal possession,
just a sense of enjoyment of all there is because it is free.

In the early years of my work, a very prosperous and successful
businessman came to me for help. He was an extremely busy man
and claimed that he had no time or money for any kind of relaxation
or recreation. Morning, noon, and night were spent taking care of
his possessions. As he studied with me, I would say to him, "Let's
take this weekend off."

"Oh no, I can't do that. No, I have to take care of my business."

"Oh, come, let's enjoy ourselves for a few hours!"

"No, no; I have appointments."

332 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

"What are you going to do with all this money? After all, at the
rate you are going, you will probably drop dead before you get a
vacation to spend it on." So it was that out of the Spirit it came,
"Let's look around here, and see if we can't find some things to
enjoy that don't cost any money. Let's go over to Central Park, stand
around the lakes, and watch the children with their little boats, and
the birds in the bird sanctuary."

So we went to Central Park; another time we sunned ourselves on
a roof garden; and yet another time we attended a concert. It was
not long before he began to say, "You know, the best things in life
really are free." And they are, if we can free ourselves. The world is
free, but we are not free.

It is because we are not free that we bind everything with a price
tag. Originally, the most worthwhile things in life never had price
tags on them: it is we who placed these on them. God has never
put a price tag on time, space, or place. God has never put a price
on mountains, lakes, or oceans, and it is only when we are locked
up in this skull that we are bound by the limitations that the human
mind has placed on such things.

Come out, break through the limitations of your mind, and do not
believe the signs that you see. Work more with yourself; realize who
you are. There is no more rewarding experience than to take a day
off for walking where you can see mountains, lakes, or the sea, and
if you do not live where these are, you can always look up at the sun,
moon, and stars, at the flowers and trees. All of this was made for
the upliftment of our Soul, for the fulfillment of our lives. They
were given to us so that we might have beauty in our lives, not the
kind we must pay for, but the beauty that is already present by
virtue of the fact that God made it before He made man, and then
He made man to enjoy it. God placed food in the ground and trees
in the earth; He formed the mountains, the lakes, the seas, the rivers
and streams, and He did it for us; but it is we who put the beauty
and the value into these. Everything in this universe is translated
into its true worth by our inner awareness.

Men and women are prisoners of their minds, and they see only
the limitations of their own thinking until they begin to break

GOD MADE THIS WORLD FOR MEN AND WOMEN 333

through its barrier and look out at this world, and in observing the
grandeur of the universe, then realize, "It is all here for me. See what
God has done for me, to give me this universe to live in and all
this beauty to enjoy."

Parents work a lifetime accumulating an estate so that they can
have the joy of leaving a munificent legacy to their children. How
much greater God's love must be that He has stored up the secrets
of mathematics, science, art, literature, music, and all the great
wisdoms of the world for us, His sons and daughters! Why then do
we go around bemoaning our fate, fearing some insignificant little
event or condition, with the great fear of death lurking always in the
background, as if death could make any difference in our relationship
with God? Neither life nor death can separate us from the love of
Cod; neither life nor death can take from us that which God has
stored up for us— and God has stored up this whole universe.

Is it not sinful to believe that God stored it up for some particular
person, family, country, or race? Would we not have to be locked
up within the confines of a skull to believe that what God has done
is for some one person or group of persons? It is not for some special
person or group: it is for everybody capable of accepting it, when
he can break through this limitation and realize: "I am J; I am the
offspring of God; I call no man on earth my father. There is but One,
He that created me in His own image and likeness and made me heir
to His whole creation."

If we keep living within the confines of our mind, we are like the
chick in the shell, and will never be able to encompass the limit-
less heritage that Abraham was given: "Look, look out! As far as
your eyes can see, I am giving to you." How far can our eyes see,
not our physical eyes, but the eyes that look out from the mountain-
top of spiritual vision? How high can we rise in consciousness to
realize we are not another kind of chick in a shell, not a man locked
up in a skull? Let us break open that shell, stop thinking in terms of
Suite personalities, come out, and realize, "I am J."

When we are on this mount of vision, we can look down and see
"Ho the mind, see the nasty little scrawny things that make us do
the things we do-the limiting things, the evil, selfish, and jealous

334 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

things. We see these dark places in our mind, and longingly wish,
"Oh, if I could only break open that shell and come out and realize
that I am I, and that there is no reason for me to act this way, no
reason to do this because I am an heir of God." Then when we have
grown sufficiently beyond and above our little "I"-self, we can look
out and not be jealous of another's success, but rejoice that another
soul has opened itself to the vision of its true identity, and come into
its heritage.

Only from the spiritual heights can we see that the earth is not
matter, and that it cannot be divided up into building lots. It makes
no difference if we are on a small island or a great big continent, we
are subject to limitation as long as we are living in that skull bone
called "me." There are persons who are gloriously free, persons who
have never traveled beyond their small community, but through their
vision they have brought the wealth of the world and the people of
the world to them.

We do not live in time or space: we live in consciousness. We can
live as big as our consciousness can be, or as small as what can be
compressed between the bones of the skull, as if all that is taking
place in there is the world. The less time we spend in our limited
sense of mind, the better off we will be.

When we go into meditation, we are not living in the mind with
our thoughts: we are living in a receptivity to Infinity. That is why
we do not think our own thoughts in meditation; that is why we do
not restrict ourselves to what we know; we do not just declare what
we think, or believe, or what our concept is. When we turn within
in meditation, it is to realize that the kingdom of God, the Kingdom
of this whole universe, is within. So our chest expands to include the
whole of God's universe, and now we can look into that silence and
darkness and experience His whole wisdom coming to us, His whole
love, His whole life, His whole companionship flowing forth, because
now our consciousness is as big as the universe: it is holding the
whole universe inside of it.

If we think in terms of our education or lack of it, we are bound
up in finiteness because no one person could store up enough knowl-
edge out of books so that it would be equal to one grain of Gods

GOD MADE THIS WORLD FOR MEN AND WOMEN 335

wisdom. We have to go beyond all that we know or think we know,
all that we have learned or think we have learned. We have to go
beyond that to the infinite Unknown, and until we reach into the
infinite Unknown, we do not have the limirlessness of God's king-
dom. The wisdom of God can reveal itself to any individual in the
world today just as it did to those ancients to whom the laws of
mathematics and engineering were first revealed, the laws that made
possible the pyramids, the great temples, and Caesar's roads that are
:>till being used in Italy and in England, roads that have stood for
thousands of years.

The architectural wonders of a bygone world that are unequal ed
and still stand as marvels today were possible to men because they
had access to the Wisdom behind the wisdom of man. The only
way in which they could have accomplished these miraculous things
was to go back in consciousness into the infinite Unknown, and let
It declare Itself. Just as the great music, art, literature, and science
must come through contact with the Source, so must the secrets of
the universe that are being unlocked to us today be tapped through
contact with that same Source.

Why are these great things being revealed to us today? Are they
not being revealed because man is an heir of God and entitled to
all that the Father has— all the joy, all the abundance, all the
infinity, all the life, all the love, and all the wisdom? Man is entitled
to every bit of it, and it is being revealed unto him for his use, his
joy, his beauty, that his life may be one of Grace and peace. When
this is understood, we can then take the next step and realize, "I am
that man; I am that being for whom all of this has been created."

To each of us will come whatever fulfills his nature. To me, the
principles of mathematics and science will not come because that
would not fulfill my particular nature. To me come the secrets of
the spiritual universe and of the Soul of men who have lived through-
out all the ages because that fulfills me. In that, 1 find my joy and
my companionship; in that, I can tabernacle. But then there are
others to whom will come the mathematics, the chemistry, the arts
and sciences because these will fulfill their nature.

God is infinite, and we are infinite in being. There is an infinity of

336 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

nature on earth, and each one of us has some part in that nature as
which we are to be fulfilled. It is all here for us, and we are so great
in God's eyes that He has stored it up for us, that we may know
infinite and boundless good.

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and
the stars, which thou hast ordained;

What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man,
that thou visitest him?

For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast
crowned him with glory and honour.

Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands;
thou hast put all things under his feet. . . . Psalm 8:3-6

The greatest thing on earth is men and women. In them we find
fulfillment; in them we find God's Soul, full of life, full of love,
full of joy, full of peace. We can enjoy the magnificence of this uni-
verse—its mountains, lakes, oceans, stars, sun, and moon; we can
enjoy good food, comfortable homes, and wholesome recreation, but
none of these constitutes our real joy. We know real joy only in men
and women because in them we find the whole of God revealed. The
whole of God is stored up in us, and all this world is really an
instrument, a playground of joy, a place of inspiration made for our
fulfillment

CHAPTER XXXI

'THERE REMAINETH A REST'

0,

f old it was taught that there should be one day of Sabbath
each week, a day devoted to worshiping God and living in His word.
In order to be immersed in the Spirit, this Sabbath was to be kept
entirely free of all worldly cares and worries.

The mystical meaning of Sabbath is a resting from power. All
through the year and throughout our entire life, we resort to material
and mental forces and powers, and the period in which we rest from
the use of these forces, thereby experiencing the spiritual Presence,
is in reality the only Sabbath there is.

Ideally, there should be at least one entire day in the week set
aside for such rest, but because of family duties and professional
responsibilities that is often well-nigh impossible. Everyone can have
a Sabbath during the day or night, however, even if it is only in ten-,
fifteen-, or twenty-minute periods. Then, when an occasional day
tomes along completely free, there is the opportunity of living with
Hie Bible and other spiritual writings, living in meditation, and thus
experiencing a full and complete day of spiritual refreshment.

A Sabbath is only truly a Sabbath if we do not permit the human
world to come into that period. We must have one purpose alone:
tf J seek the realization of His presence, His power, and His grace.

337

338

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

When we emerge from these periods, usually we find that the
"things" are added unto us: whatever knowledge we need to carry
on our business, whatever physical strength or moral support.

In The Infinite Way no provision is made for specific Sabbath
periods such as any one day of the week or any one hour of the
day, nor for rest homes, cl lurches, monasteries, or retreats. In the
light of spiritual revelation the Sabbath is not so much a specific day
of the week as it is a specific state of consciousness. Any day of the
week— Saturday, Sunday, Monday— any day can be a Sabbath. This
very hour can be our spiritual Sabbath, and again tomorrow morn-
ing at six o'clock, if we understand that the Sabbath means a
period of rest from our physical labors, material resources, human
faith, and more especially a rest from temporal power.

The true Sabbath is a resting from any power which we know or
can understand, and in that resting period something takes possession
of us and renews us. There is no indication anywhere in Scripture
that on this Sabbath we must sacrifice our thinking capacity, our
thoughts, or our actions. It is not said that we shall not think
thoughts, only that we shall not "take thought" for what we shall
eat, or what we shall drink, or wherewithal we shall be clothed: it is
pointed out only that there should be spiritual renewal.

As a matter of fact, even to fast from food for a period makes of
our particular Sabbath a period of renewal. The holiest Sabbath
periods are the davs of fasting: fasting from the pleasures of the
senses, even fasting from the necessities such as eating and sleeping,
and from those things upon which normally we place reliance. "In
quietness and in confidence shall be your strength"— in quietness
and in confidence is the source of strength, in quietness and in
confidence is the period of spiritual renewal because it is a denial of
sense,

Jesus did not teach that we should not eat bread: he said that we
should not live by bread alone. Jesus did not deny to anyone the
eating of meat: he said, "I have meat to eat that ye know not of.
He did not denv to anyone the partaking of bread, water, or wine:
he said, "I am the bread of life."

Those on the mvstical path do not deny the human body: t <

"there remaineth a rest" 339
bring spiritual refreshment to it. They bring a food to the body which
is not a material food, but a spiritual food which produces spiritual
energy. That spiritual food is obtained through fasting from material
food and physical activity, even from mental food and mental
activity, during which period the transcendental Presence permeates
mind and body, renewing them, so that a person then finds himself
with greater mental capacities and greater physical capacities than he
has heretofore known.

In The Infinite Way there is no denial of the mind or of the body.
Rather do we let the mind and the body become imbued with the
Spirit; we let the mind and the body be fed, clothed, and housed by
the Spirit; we let the Spirit be the resurrection to both mind and
body; we let the lost years of the locust be restored to us— those years
of our spiritual barrenness, years in which we were only physical and
mental beings— in order that our ancient, true Selfhood may be
revealed. This can be done only through the Spirit, and the Spirit
can be entertained only through silence, in quietness, confidence,
and assurance, and in a resting from the physical and the mental
activities of daily experience.

Resting from worry and fear; resting from knowing, doing, think-
ing, and taking thought; resting in stillness, peacefulness, assurance,
and confidence does not mean that we have to play God. Our only
function is to be still, to be quiet and at peace. Nothing is expected
of us, for J, the Spirit of God in us, will perform that which is given
us to do.

If we give the first fruits of our time, the first few minutes of
every hour, to God, sooner or later we shall learn that we can earn
our living in a shorter number of working hours than heretofore
seemed necessary. So it is that we do not need to use sixty minutes of
every hour: we can accomplish more work in fifty-four, -five, -six, or
-seven minutes than we ever did before in the full sixty minutes, if
those other minutes are reserved for quiet and spiritual renewal.
Everyone who has ever lived the spiritual life has discovered that
when he has given himself wholly to God and dedicated his work to
God, the quantity of his work is greater and the quality better.

The bibles of the world are replete with accounts of religious men

340 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

and women who have at some time or other laid down their persona]
sense of life and dedicated themselves to God. They have not gone
hungry, homeless, or friendless, but rather have they prospered.

The Old Testament prophets experienced intervals of spiritual
refreshment for as long as forty days and forty nights. It was also the
custom of the Master to go apart for many hours and have a Sabbath,
a freedom even from ministering to his disciples, and spend them
in an inner contemplation of the spiritual universe. There were times
when he went apart for days and fasted from his labors, fasted even
from acts of benevolence, and lived wholly and completely in the
Spirit

In monasteries and wisdom schools the idea of the Sabbath reached
a high point of development. Those entering such schools or mon-
asteries were required to give up all their worldly interests, desires,
and possessions in order to devote themselves to a lifetime of restin;
in the atmosphere of God and making themselves subject unto God

Living in and through God is what we are all striving for, but th
one great fault to be found with a complete withdrawal from thj
world is that once the normal, human activities of life are separated
from the spiritual life we are likely to think that the world of the
Spirit has no relationship whatsoever to daily life. Under such a
system the spiritual life is set apart, and in the end rendered value-
less because unless the Word becomes flesh, that is, unless th
atmosphere of God can be made a part of daily living— not something
set apart for those people who desire to retire from human life
unless the atmosphere of God can really come to embrace the human
universe and have a part in its functioning, It docs not fulfill Itself.

All periods of turning from our customary reliances and hopes*
from our recurring fears and doubts, to an inner stillness in whi>
there is no power— no power that we know, no power that we ca
understand, and no power that we can use— are Sabbaths.

For the laborer in the field, the worker in the factory, or the
office worker, the Sabbath may be the one day in the week which
he can dedicate to God, but eventually all of us must leam to
seize upon short periods of stillness and quietness while about o
labors, so that out of every block of time there will be one, two, o

"there remaineth a rest" 341
three minutes for inner devotion, a time set aside for the eating of
spiritual bread and spiritual meat. "Labor not for the meat which
perisheth" is only another way of saying, "Rest and relax from your
labors for this brief moment."

Spiritual work, or laboring "not for the meat which perisheth,"
is a resting from mental activities as well as a resting from physical
activities because spiritual power is not generated by what we know
with our minds. What we know intellectually leads us to the place
where we are released from doing and from knowing into that
moment of listening, and then being filled from within.

If we have such Sabbath periods and are able to abide in the
presence of the Lord and be absent from the body, the body of our
home or the body of our work, be absent from this world and be
present in the consciousness and Spirit of God, we shall discover
that when we return to our labors, we carry with us the atmosphere
of God. By casting our burdens upon the Lord, our labors become
lighter and our burdens less. His yoke is easy, and when we take
upon ourselves this yoke of God, it carries the weight of the labor
and frees us to perform whatever we have to do without worry,
without fear, and without any feeling of heaviness, any drag, or any
weariness.

Our periods of meditation are really our Sabbath periods of inner
spiritual refreshment and renewal. When they are observed regularly,
there is no need to set aside one whole day in a week because our
Sabbath is being observed throughout every day of every week.
Usually, when we begin with one period of ten or fifteen minutes
of Sabbath each day or night, that time becomes so important that
we find it necessary to have three or four such periods. We feel a
greater hunger for these ten- or fifteen-minute intervals of Sabbath
than we will ever feel for food.

The possibility of having a whole day or a weekend once in a
while, in addition to those periods of meditation, is really worth
thinking about because only those who have had the experience of
living for an entire twenty-four hours in nothing but spiritual
literature, meditation, and Scripture can appreciate what a difference
this Sabbath can make in one's experience. Being able to live in a

342 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

piece of beautiful poetry, more especially of a spiritual nature, or in
some thought-provoking bit of prose brings us into that same holy
atmosphere in which these writers were living when those gems came
through.

All mystics and the founders of the great world religions have had
periods when they were completely in the Spirit, and in those
moments they received the highest and most spiritual impartations,
many of which comprise a great part of the scriptures of the world,
whether Hebrew, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, or Moslem.

There are degrees of awareness of spiritual consciousness. Con-
sciousness Itself is always at the standpoint of absolute perfect Being,
but we are not always in a state of absolute awareness. When we are
abiding in the impartations of truth which have come through the
great spiritual lights of the world, however, and particularly in those
hours when we have gone apart from the world, we are living in the
consciousness of those who brought them forth, and then we actually
feel ourselves in the very presence of God just as those great seers
did when they were receiving these impartations.

The object of a Sabbath is to lay aside the world, that world
which Jesus said he had overcome. We, too, are to overcome i^
even if we overcome it for but fifteen minutes or an hour. Whether
we give one hour a day, fifteen minutes, or whether we take a full
Sabbatical day or occasionally a full Sabbatical weekend, we become
so filled with the Spirit that like spring, it is bursting out all over.
Then we come down from the mountain into the valley, as Jesus
did, and heal the sick, comfort the comfortless, feed the hungry,
and help to lighten the burdens of the world, sharing with others
some of the Spirit that has been given to us in our Sabbatical period-

The day will come when every person will have free access to the
Spirit and the presence of God, and every person will be able t
walk into that holy sanctuary, the Shekinah, and there tabernacle
with God in meditation and contemplation.

Father, 1 am here with Thee for only one purpose: I must kno#
wlmt Thou art, who Thou art, where Thou art, and why Thou art-
I must even find out if Thou art, attain some awareness, some c°

"there remaineth a rest"

a

343

sciousness, that Thou dost exist, and that Thou dost really exist
within me. I must find some way of linking up Thy Spirit with my
individual life.

1 hunger and thirst to know Thee. I must tabernacle with Thee,
commune with something within myself that is greater than my
human self, something greater than my human capacity or my
human goodness or human evil, tabernacle with something in me
that is divine. If there were not something divine in me, or about
me, I could not be alive and I must know what this something is.

Lord, how long can I go on living without knowing Thy
presence within me? How long can this go on? Am I to live here
threescore years and ten, twenty, or thirty, and at the end feel that
I have contributed nothing to this world, nothing to Thy kingdom,
nothing to Thy people? Why am I on earth? Am I to live a wasted
life with nothing to show for it at the end but just a living?

1 would do Thy will if 1 but knew Thy will; I would live the
spiritual life if I knew how to live it. Now, here in the inner
sanctuary of my oviti being, cut off from the world, Father, reveal
Thyself. Reveal Thy will, Thy way, Thy kingdom; reveal Thy pur-
pose to me.

As we continue with this kind of meditation, eventually an answer
will come from within. There will be a period of release, and we will
feel a quietness and confidence and a complete freedom from this
world. Then we can go back to our life again because we have had
our interval of spiritual renewal and peace.

One day we come to what is the grandest experience that can take
place in a human life: we lose all desire except the one desire-
consciously to know God. Now as we go into our meditation, we
have overcome the world. It is almost like feeling a hand on top of
our head in a benediction as we pray:

Let Thy grace be my sufficiency. I ask not for persons, things, or
conditions: I ask only that I may honestly be able to say that Thy
grace is my sufficiency, whatever form it may take, fust let me know
I hy grace, know and fulfill Thy will, sit at Thy feet, tabernacle with

344 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

Thee, and feel that Thy life is my life. Let me only know that

wherever 1 am, Thou art; and that wherever Thou art, I am.

I am at the state of unknowing. Let Thy wisdom be expressed
through me; let Thy wisdom be my wisdom. Supply the wisdom,
the energy, and the Grace that 1 may always feel my own nothing-
ness, and yet feel an eternal and ever-present perfection and com-
pleteness through Thy grace and Thy wisdom. I have no work to do
but that which Thou givest me, and 1 have no wisdom with which
to do it but Thy wisdom, and no power with which to perform it
but Thy power. Let me always abide in Thee.

We are not surrendering ourselves to God's will unless we make a
conscious surrender of ourselves to that Will by disclaiming any will
of our own:

I have no will and no desire of my own. Fill me with all that Thou
art. Fill me with Thy wisdom, Thy might, Thy justice, that 1 may
have nothing of myself and be nothing of myself, but be the All that
Thou art.

What a Sabbath that is! What a fasting that is from the world,
the things of the world and the people of the world, and how it
spiritually fills, renews, and rejuvenates us! After that we can come
down from the mountain into the valley, mingle with and help meet
the needs of those who are drawn to us, not because of any virtue
in us but by virtue of the grace of God which now fills us.

We are in the presence of God any time that we can close our
eyes to this world and retire into our inner sanctuary. If we have
these periods of Sabbath, we shall find that as we go out into this
world we will be a light unto those who are still in the darkness,
worrying only about this world, a light to those who have not
learned to tabernacle with God.

CHAPTER XXXH

ADDRESS THE WORLD SILENTLY WITH PEACE

M

.ore and more, as we follow the mystical path, we become
spiritual centers, and out from us is projected spiritual light and
wisdom, the spiritual Presence and Power. Sometimes it is hard for
beginners to grasp the idea that no one attains spiritual wisdom or
spiritual light for his own sake, or for any personal benefit that may
come to him. Whenever spiritual light comes to a person, he is called
upon for that light, and from those who have the most, of them is
the most expected.

It is almost unthinkable that Moses could have gone away to live
the rest of his life by himself after he had received his illumination
on the mountain. How could Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jesus, John, and
Paul have hidden their spiritual light under a bushel basket, or gone
away to a cave somewhere or a mountain retreat, and lived this
spiritual life unto themselves?

This is true also of those who are lesser lights. Every grain of
spiritual light that we attain is meant, not for ourselves, but that it
may be used for the benefit of human consciousness in general, until
''urrtan consciousness is entirely dissolved, and nothing remains but
t" a t mind which was also in Christ Jesus. It might seem that the

345

346 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

light an individual receives dissolves some of the grosser conscious-

ness of his own being, but that is not true, because no one, of him-

self, has any mortal consciousness. All the mortal consciousness there

is, is the universal sense of separation from God, which is a universal

hypnotism.

Every bit of light that any person receives, therefore, dissolves
some measure of that human, mortal, or carnal mind, some measure
of the vast human illusion of which material sense consists. This dis-
solution of material sense can be observed in our own experience or
in that of our family as these spiritual principles solve some problem
for us or remove some undesirable trait or negative experience.

As we take each principle of truth and apply it to the working
out of some personal problem, and as we attain enough light so that
the particular problem is met, we will find that thereafter we wil! be
called upon, day after day, to share our understanding and to apply
the wisdom given us to the problems of others. We may wonder how
our friends know that we have this light, and humanly they do not
know: it is only that spiritually they have discerned the direction
toward which the)' can turn for help.

The demands made upon us will become greater and greater, as
our spiritual light and wisdom increase, until eventually we discover
that we are not only more aware of the problems of the world, but
we are also beginning to apply our understanding of truth to them.
Then we will observe how quickly the light that we have received is
beginning to dispel the darkness of the wider circle of humanity.
In our early experience there are practitioners and teachers to
whom we can turn, and they usually solve most of our problems'
for us. This is but a temporary relationship because the time comes
when we begin to meet our own problems through our own under-
standing, and turn to someone for help only when we are faced with
a problem that does not yield to our present understanding. Then,
of course, we have every right to seek the help of those who have
attained some deeper realization of truth, and who have gone a step
further on the Path. As we continue, however, we find ourselves ask-
ing less and less help of others, more and more able to solve our
own problems, and also able to help those in out immediate environ-

ADDRESS THE WORLD SILENTLY WITH PEACE 347

ment, and eventually we begin to work spiritually with the problems
of the world.

All the help that we can ever be to anyone, any group, or to the
world is in direct proportion to our understanding of the spiritual
principles with which we are working, and to the degree of spiritual
consciousness we have attained. Ours is the responsibility to study, to
meditate, and to do all that is necessary to bring greater light to our
individual consciousness, not for our own sake alone, but that this
light which touches our consciousness may flow forth to the world
and benefit it, that we may become a center from which goes out this
light of healing, regeneration, blessing, peace, comfort, and especially
forgiving.

How few of us realize the importance of the forgiving conscious-
ness! Does not everyone carry with him the memory of some sin of
omission or commission which, if he could, he would recall or undo?
Do we not all have at least some small feeling of guilt? Are we not
always hoping for our own forgiveness and trying to forgive ourselves,
and often finding that very hard to do? That is why it is so necessary
that each one of us develops the forgivingness side of his conscious-
ness, so that everyone who comes to us may feel a complete absence
of judgment, criticism, or condemnation.

We do not go about telling anyone that we do not condemn him.
We would hardly say to another, "I know that underneath, you are
as much of a sinner as I am." We do not express this audibly: we
know it, and we know that just as we wish to be relieved of our sins
of omission and commission, so do we know that everyone else does.
Above all other things, it behooves us to develop within ourselves a
consciousness that inwardly, silently, and sacredly — not outwardly in
speech — can say to our relatives and neighbors, "There is no judg-
ment upon you; there is no memory of the past: there is only the
understanding of this moment." This was the attitude shown forth
by the Master when he forgave the woman taken in adultery, and
when he said to the thief on the cross, "Today shalt thou be with me
in paradise."

Sin has a far deeper meaning than the commonly accepted con-
cept of it. Sin is not only lying, stealing, cheating, bearing false wit-

348

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

ness, committing adultery and murder; sin also includes those minor
ignorances into which we were all born: the human judgments and
inhibitions, the human fears and superstitions. The forgiving con-
sciousness dissolves all of this.

Anyone who can realize that the errors of his life have all been
brought about by ignorance, superstition, and fear can easily de-
velop a forgiving consciousness. That kind of a consciousness is a
healing consciousness because it understands the nature of the uni-
versal fears, superstitions, and ignorance. It lives always in that at-
mosphere of releasing everyone from his hidden fears and hidden
sins, whether of omission or commission, all of which are not per-
sonal, hut the result of a universal sense of condemnation.

Fot what I would, that do I not; hut what I hate, that do I.

Romans 7:15

In this statement Paul recognized that there was nothing personal
about sin. Sin becomes a part of our experience only because it is a
part of the universal ignorance of human consciousness; and then in
some weak moment we indulge the very things that later we regret,
most of them minor, but occasionally something of a major nature.
What a blessing it is, when faced with a sense of guilt, to come into
the presence of a person whose mind is not filled with criticism,
judgment, and condemnation, but who understands, forgives and
forgives, and whose gentleness is such that no thought enters his
mind of any harsh nature!

This is having that mind which was in Christ Jesus, and as we rise
to that state of consciousness, everyone who comes within range of
our consciousness feels what the world calls love. Forgiveness is an
attribute of love; understanding is an attribute of love; and above all r
understanding the universal nature of the evils of the world is love.
To understand is to forgive; to forgive is to love our neighbor as our-
selves.

When we understand the impersonal, universal nature of evil, we
will understand the spiritual nature of individual being, and why,
in spite of those things that outwardly appear to be our faults, we are
forever and always the temple of God. We will understand why it is

.

ADDRESS THE WORLD SILENTLY WITH PEACE 349

that these faults are not ours, but the universal hypnotism, and that
our real nature is a center from which emanates God's grace and
God's love, a very center of peace and harmony. This inner peace can
come to us only when we have released mankind from its faults, our
neighbor from responsibility for his past, and our friends and rela-
tives from our condemnation: "Go thy way in peace. Thou, too, art
the child of God; thou, too, art the temple of the living God "

On every hand mankind is gripped by fear in the face of nerve-
shattering world conditions, and those of us who have been able,
even in a measure, to see the unreal nature of the evil rampant in the
world have not only the responsibility of releasing people from their
fears, but, in releasing them from their fears, preventing the greater
tragedy that their fears may bring upon them. People do not fear
because they are cowards: they fear because they are gripped by a
universal hypnotism that makes them act in ways foreign to their
own nature. It is mass hysteria, having its foundation in ignorance.

All world affairs eventually will be subject unto the influence of
the Divine through the prayer that God's grace is sufficient unto this
world. We do not pray to God for victory or that our enemies may
be destroyed. We abide in the will and the way of God. We do not
make the mistake of trying to channel God to do our will: we pray
that the Spirit of God flow through us and bring justice to earth, not
in accord with our concept of it, but in accord with the divine idea
of justice; we tune in to God in the realization that if we make this
contact and God is on the scene, there will be equity, mercy, har-
mony, peace, and all the divine qualities made manifest equallv
everywhere. We do not let the conditioned mind determine what
we hope God will do, or how He will do it: we approach God with
an unconditioned mind:

Thy grace is my sufficiency. Thy grace is the sufficiency unto this
universe. Let It take form as It will.

The Word becomes flesh. All that concerns us is to hear the Word,
and then let that Word become flesh, not outlining what form It
">IiouId take. Let us never go to God with any thought of victory over

350

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

anything or anyone. Victory always implies a right and a wrong; it
means a winner and a loser, and there cannot be winners in God,
nor can there be losers. There cannot be a right in God or a wrong
in God: there can be only Spirit, spiritual Grace, and spiritual har-
mony, and this not in accord with man's opinion.

The questions knocking at the consciousness of all those who, to a
degree, are living in the circle of eternity, and who are thereby living
according to the two great Commandments, are: How can we ex-
press our love for our fellow man in a concrete way? How can we
help to allay these fears and quiet this mass hysteria?

First, and above all things, we must withhold judgment and under-
stand that people are not responsible for their fears: they are victims
of a mass hypnotism. After we have done that, we can turn to the
specific truth of Scripture which reveals that God is the life of man,
the life of the universe, eternal and immortal life. Whatever life we
have, then, is the life that was given us of God, and it must be God's
life that is our life— divine, spiritual, immortal, and eternal Life. Do
we, therefore, have any other life but that which was given to us of
God, our Father?

What a release from all fear would come to us once we could
realize that God constitutes our life eternal, that the Father's life is
our only life, that we have no life of our own to lose, that we have
never had any life but the life of God, that the very Spirit of God
dwells in our being, even in our body, and that our body is the
temple of the living God!

Disease has no power of survival in our body once we are able to
discern that we have no life of our own. God constitutes the very
breath of our being, the very life of our being. The belief of age and
limitation has no power when we see that our life did not come into
being fifty, sixty, or seventy years ago, but that the life that came into
expression then is the immortal life that came forth from the Foun-
tain of Life. God breathed into us His life— not your life or mine, but
His life — and His life is my life and your life, and His life is immortal
life and eternal life, and you and I are the temple of that Life:

Thank You, Father. I had no life of my own to begin with, and

ADDRESS THE WORLD SILENTLY WITH PEACE 351

have no life of my own that can come to an end. The life that I have
been given is Your life, the life of the spiritual son of God.

As we abide in that Word and let that Word abide in us, as we
consciously entertain this truth, we become aware of the effect that
it has on our mind and body. To understand that the life of God is
animating us is to "die" to the belief that we have a life of our own,
and that it even has an age attached to it.

ft will not be long before we feel the magical effects of this truth
in our mind and in our body, and as we continue to dwell in the
Word, quickly we will begin to realize that this is a universal truth.
Silently and secretly, we shall find ourselves looking at every mem-
ber of our household and rejoicing in the truth: "I know thee now
who thou art. The life of God is your life; the Christ-life is your
life"; and soon there will be changes in the mind and in the body
of everyone around us.

Now we are becoming the center from which this light is flowing,
the center through which forgiveness, understanding, and truth will
begin to pour. Then, as we read or learn of this mass hysteria, whether
it is some epidemic going its rounds or whether it is long-range mis-
siles or bomb-proof shelters — whatever it may be — we will be so at
peace within ourselves that as we see our friends succumbing to this
hysteria, within ourselves we will say, "Thank God, I know that you
have life eternal, and whether you know it or not, I know that your
life is not in danger, I know that not even your body is in danger,
for your body is the temple of the living God." The peace that flows
out from us will be felt throughout the whole community, and as it
flows from community to community, the day will come when this
hysteria will end.

Peace must begin somewhere, and it must begin with one in-
dividual. Spiritual light has always entered consciousness through
one individual so permeated with truth that a dozen disciples here,
or a half dozen there, have caught hold of it, and then from them
come the fifty, the two hundred, and the two thousand. No one can
be the light of the world: he can be only the light that sparks the
light in others until it spreads around the world. So it is that we be-

352 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

come that one in our household, that one in our neighborhood, and
depending on the depth and degree of our own love, we can become*
the one to a whole nation or a group of nations. Why not? It always
begins with one.

We can be that one; we can be that light in the measure of our
understanding; but if we do not perceive that the God that is om
life and the life of every individual is the same God that was the life
of Jesus Christ, we can have no part in bringing peace to this troubled
and fearful world.

Are not all death and destruction based on the belief that each one
has a life of his own, a life that can terminate at some particular
moment? But there is only one Life, one Father, one Creator, one
creative Principle, and this One has breathed into us that Life which
is eternal and immortal. How could any weapon destroy that Life?
Once we can really see this, we become, not only the light unto our
world, but the life unto our world. We resurrect our neighbor from
the tomb of the belief that he has a life of his own and that it is in
danger. We become the source of the peace that passes understand-
ing; we become the source of forgiveness; we become the comforter,
None of us was born just for the purpose of living threescore years
and ten, twenty, or thirty, accomplishing something for ourselves
or for our families, and then dying. None of us was born to attain
name or fame, except such as comes to us as a part of God's glory.
We were all born to show forth God's glory, and the only reason we
exist is to show forth God's life on earth, His eternal and immortal
life. When we really know that, deep down inside, we are virtually
addressing it to every member of our household, but if we are wise,
we do this silently, sacredly, secretly.

The prayers that we pray in secret are the prayers that are answered
openly. The truth that we address to another which has for its main
purpose letting the world be made aware of how much truth we
know is so much wasted truth. It is a waste to those to whom it is
addressed and, furthermore, it deprives us of the benefit of it because
we ourselves lose a little in giving it where it is not wanted.

There is only one time when truth should be voiced, and that is
when truth goes out from a spiritual teacher to an open and receptive

ADDRESS THE WORLD SILENTLY WITH PEACE 353

consciousness. Then it goes out in a circle and comes back because
there is that spiritual bond between teacher and student. Teaching
truth to the masses serves no purpose, but when seekers bring them-
selves to a spiritual message or teacher, they are receptive and re-
sponsive, and the message that comes through is a blessing to them
and to the teacher. When we find someone eager to hear and to learn,
then we share openly whatever we have learned: otherwise we pray
silently, secretly, and sacredly, and these truths that we know within
ourselves are received by those who could not receive them con-
sciously, but who can receive them because of the spiritual bond that
exists among all children of God.

Within ourselves we can know the truth about everyone in our
household :

You are the child of God; you are the temple of the living God.
God is your life, your Soul, your being, your mind; and even your
body is the temple of the living God.

We know this truth silently and sacredly, voicing it audibly only to
those who ask and seek it, those who welcome it.

Then, as we leave our household, we remember that in order to
love our neighbor as ourselves, we must know this truth about every
neighbor, friendly neighbor and enemy neighbor, nearby neighbor
and neighbor ten thousand miles away:

You are the Christ, the son of the living God. The Christ-life is
your immortal and eternal life. The life of the Father is the life of
all mankind.

Such a realization may touch those in high places and in low places,
in every kind of place, and may awaken them in the measure of their
readiness.

Our responsibility in life is to be a center of light, to be the light
of the world, and so to permeate ourselves with truth throughout
our waking hours that it circulates in our consciousness even when
we are asleep. Our spiritual being never sleeps, and anyone who

354 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

reaches out to us finds this truth awaiting him, even while our
physical senses are at rest. Our consciousness rests in action, but we
spark it by the fact that our last thought at night is one of spiritual
truth, a welcome to anyone in the world, anywhere, any time, to
reach out to our consciousness to find the blessing of the truth we
have known before we dropped off to sleep.

Every time that we consciously remember that the only life there
is on earth is the life of God, we are helping to allay fear, we are
helping to restore the peace that passes understanding. Until peace
has been established in our innermost being, there will be no domestic
or world peace. Only when peace shall have been established in the
minds and hearts of mankind will peace be restored nationally and
internationally.

At some period of each day, we must face out toward the world
and remember:

ADDRESS THE WORLD SILENTLY WITH PEACE 355

Soul, and in some measure lightens his burden, sometimes freeing
him from sin, disease, and false appetites.

As we unite with the Source of life and let It have Its will, Its
rule and reign on earth as it is in heaven, wherever there is a receptive
thought, wherever there is an individual who may be saying, "Oh,
God, God, God, help me! Is there something beyond the human?"
that Soul will be touched by the Spirit of God that is upon us. We
thereby unknowingly become transparencies through which this light
flows to a world full of darkness, sin, ignorance, poverty, and bond-
age. To be the instrument through which God's grace may touch all
human consciousness and enlighten and awaken it that all mankind
may be free— this is living the mystical life.

Lo, I am with you always. I am the life divine; I am eternal life.
I am with you always.

As we thus address our household, our neighborhood, and then go
to the window and address the world, we will be the light of the
world.

When the grace of God is received in your consciousness and
mine, it is not a static and limited something embodied somewhere
within our frame: it is a light that permeates us and flows out through
us and from us; and inasmuch as there are no barriers to the activity
of Spirit, this light which we have received as the result of our union
with our Source flows out through the walls and windows of oui
homes into the world and becomes a leaven wherever an individual
is raising his thought to God, regardless of what concept of God he
may entertain. Whether he be in a hospital or in a prison, whether
he be walking the earth free or be living in some nation where he is
in slavery, if he is lifting his thought above human power, to what-
ever may be his concept of the Divine, the light which goes out from
us and through us because of our meditation reaches that receptive

CHAPTER XXXIII

THE INNER UNIVERSE

F

J— I very spiritual aspiration, every effort in the direction of God-
realization, is a step forward out of the parenthesis into the full and
complete circle of eternity. As we sow, so shall we reap, and if today
we are sowing to the spiritual awareness of life, the parenthesis is
becoming fainter and fainter. But if we are sowing only to physical
comfort — health, wealth, and position — is it not inevitable that we
will remain imprisoned in the parenthesis, reaping both material
good and material evil?

Our primary concern, therefore, is with the sowing of this present
moment, and that has nothing to do with anyone else. There is no
one who can help and no one who can impede our spiritual progress.
We determine to what extent we will dedicate ourselves to the
spiritual path; we determine how seriously we will devote ourselves
to this Way. If we are devoting ourselves to an inner spiritual prac-
tice, no one can interfere with it because no one knows that it is
going on.

It makes no difference what violent objections to this way of life
we may encounter in our home, in our business, school, or social life.
Nobody knows what is going on in our mind because we are praying
in secret; we are living in an interior world, an interior universe.

THE INNER UNIVERSE 357

This is a secret life that we are living, this mystical life, and it does
not serve any purpose to violate that secrecy by telling others about
it, more especially those who have no interest in it.

'in this moment we can leave our family outside— father, mother,
sister, brother, husband, wife-leave all to enter the Christ-Spirit.
Life is so completely individual that, for the time being, we can
forget that there is anybody else in the world but ourselves. We can
forget any obligation or duty we may have to others; we can forget
our past, whether it is good, bad, or indifferent, and even if we are
not fully able to do so, we can try to forget the future in the realiza-
tion that we are creating our future: our tomorrows are determined
by what we do today.

The Christ-Spirit is right here where you are and where I am.
This presence of the Christ is in the midst of our own being. It is
filling our consciousness. We do not have to reach out for It; we do
not have to think: all we have to do is to be still, and let It talk to us
from within our own being.

The kingdom of God is within us. Within our very own being is the
kingdom of Love. If it is love that seems to be lacking in our ex-
perience, we do not look outside our own being for it, for even if we
seem to find it, we will be disappointed. All we have to do to find
love is to turn to this great spiritual realm that is within us, and
there divine Love has Its abode.

Go within yourself, rest there, and acknowledge Its presence, pray
that It reveal" Itself to you, invite It to now out from you, and then
give action and expression to It by letting that love pour out to your
friends and your enemies, to your nation's friends and your nation's
enemies, to men of good will and men of evil will. Open your heart,
embracing the whole world, and say to yourself, "Love, flow out:
flow out to the saints to support them in their activity; flow out to the
sinners to cleanse and purify them; flow out to the tyrants to soften
and give them mercy and justice."

If you seem to lack wisdom, turn within, remembering that the
nature of God is infinite intelligence, and infinite intelligence is in
that kingdom of God within. If you need wisdom, pray that the
wisdom already locked up within your being as the grace of God be

556

358 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

made manifest to you in proportion to your need of it. Seek wisdom
but seek it within yourself. Pray for it. If your need at this moment
is for guidance, turn within. Do not seek the guidance of "man, whose
breath is in his nostrils." Turn to the one place where infinite intelli-
gence and loving guidance await you, the kingdom of God.

Freedom— seek your freedom from within : do not seek your free-
dom in the externals. It makes no difference whether it is a govern-
ment or a church that would shackle, whether it is a sick body, sin
or fear, turn within and you will find that freedom is a quality of
God, and it, as every quality of God, is already locked up within you.
When you achieve the demonstration of freedom from within
you will experience it in the without; but be sure that when you in-
vite freedom to come forth, you are also willing to give freedom to
those you are holding in bondage. Even if you are holding them in
bondage to the belief that they are human beings, give them their
freedom. Recognize that nobody is a human being, but that God sits
m the midst of every individual, past, present, and future, so-called
hvmg, soolled dead, and so-called unborn. You cannot have free-
dom unless you first give freedom. You cannot have love unless you
first give love. You can have only what you are willing to give: what
you hold on to you lose— that is a spiritual law.

You can never get supply spiritually or in any other way. Supply
is an activity of God; supply is the gift of God; supply is that which
is embodied and embraced within God, and God is in the midst of
you. Therefore, an infinity of supply lies within you, but if you let
your vision stray outside to the husband or wife who may seem to be
the channel, to the position, the business, or the securities that may
seem to be the avenue, you may be lost, for everyone on earth has
found sometime or other that all outside reliances collapse.

Whether you think of supply in terms of a supply of love, of home
and companionship, a supply of opportunity and recognition, a supply
of money, compensation, or reward, the supply is within you and
must flow out from you, and you must live your realization of its
omnipresence by beginning with a penny, if necessary, and giving it
to some impersonal purpose. Supply is omnipresent within you-
supply will never leave you, nor forsake you. You can never go any

THE INNER UNIVERSE

359

place where supply is not. You cany it with you just as you carry
your integrity, your loyalty, and your fidelity. You cannot leave it
behind because supply is spiritual : it is your awareness of God in the
midst of you to be proved by beginning at once to give, share, and
express it.

If necessary, you have to give forgiveness: you have to sit down
and search your thought and see what or whom there is on the face
of the globe that you are holding in condemnation, criticism, or
judgment, and forgive it or them. Forgive, forgive.

God is infinite being, and God is the infinity of your individual
being. Demonstrate this, prove it. Begin, in whatever way is open to
you at this second, to let God's grace flow out from you. Do not pray
that God's grace come to you: open out a way to let God's grace
flow from you.

There is a Presence within you that goes before you to "make the
crooked places straight," Your realization of It releases It. There is a
cement within you that cements your relationships with everybody in
the whole world: your realization of that releases it.

This world is governed from within. This world, this outer world,
is governed from within. No flower blooms except by virtue of an
invisible activity. An invisible activity draws from the earth into the
roots, and sends that which is drawn in up into the branches and
out into the shoots that finally become the blossoms and the fruit.

There is an interior bond between you and God that makes it
possible for God to send you where you will find whatever you need:
the truth, the employment, the human relationships. The power is
within you, and it is invisible.

What you behold in this world consists of effects, but there is not
anything that you can behold that is not the result of an inner
activity. You release this inner activity which goes out into the world
invisibly and then produces visible fruitage. To abide in the Word
is an invisible procedure. You cannot live in God externally; you
cannot live in the Word externally: you must live in the Christ in-
ternally; you must let the Christ-word abide in you internally; and
then you will bear fruit richly externally.

This world is invisible. The effects of it become visible— the fruit-

360

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

age and the harmonies — but the Cause, the Law, the Creator, the
Activity, and the Substance are invisible. They are part of an invisible
universe, and thanks be to God, that invisible universe is locked up
within you. The Kingdom, the invisible Kingdom which is the source
of the visible universe, is within you. You release the forces that bless
you, and in your ignorance you release the forces that curse you. But
the kingdom of God, the whole of God's creation, is within you.

This is an invisible world. Human beings live only on the exterior
fringe of life, and that is why they find little or no satisfaction. In
childhood they gain a momentary pleasure from their toys, and then
they smash them: they are no longer useful, no longer satisfying, so
they are broken, and another toy has to be found, and another and
another. Then man finds a game, and then a business, and sometimes
he finds a church, but nearly everything he finds is in the exterior
world. He lives on the surface of it, and he gets a little pleasure out
of it, a little joy, and perhaps a little profit, and then because it does
not bring lasting satisfaction, he wants to break it up. Nothing in the
exterior will ever satisfy, but when we learn to let the Invisible flow
out and release Itself through us, It appears as fruitage of which we
never tire.

The kingdom of God, the whole Source and Fount of this world,
is within you, and it is this invisible world, so beautiful, so satisfying,
and so complete, that appears as outer fruitage, as food, clothing,
home, human relationships, marriage, or whatever it is that is needed.
Then you never weary of it; you never tire of it: it is always joyous.
You pass from glory to glory because, in this mystical life, you no
longer hold on to form. You find joy in this city or that; you find
companionship in this person or that; you find truth in this religion
or that; you find peace in this church or that. You find them because
you did not seek them in external forms, but released them from
within your own being, and then they appeared outwardly as infinite,
eternal, joyous, and satisfying forms.

This world within has been called a mystical world, and the life
that flows from it, a monastic life. Many persons have misunderstood
these terms, and they think of the mystic and the mystical as some-
thing mysterious, or of the monastic life as entering a monastery or
a convent, bottling oneself up away from society, thereby avoiding

THE INNER UNIVERSE 361

labor and removing all temptation to sin. Is it not foolish? Some of
the hardest workers in the world are in monasteries and convents,
and if they did not lose their sense of sin before entering upon this
life, they carried their sin with them right into the monastery and
convent. You cannot bottle yourself up in any place where you will
not find some measure of loneliness, sinfulness, lack and limitation—
if these are in you.

The mystical life is the life you live when you recognize that the
invisible Presence within you is the reality, and that It forms the
joys of your outer experience. When you find the source and sub-
stance of your joy, prosperity, happiness, wisdom, and love within
you, and then automatically find it developing into fruitage in the
without, you are living the mystical life which often results in living
the monastic life.

In the monastic life, you live within, where you find your com-
pleteness in God, and where you discover that you do not need
anyone or anything because you have found Self-completeness in
God. You draw to yourself worthwhile companions, understanding
and loving relatives, capable and honest business associates, because
the monastic life bears fruitage on the outer plane in harmony and
all forms of good.

You are living the monastic life when you are in the business
world, even if you are surrounded by a thousand people, because
within, you are living as one with the Father. You are living the
monastic life when you are married if you have found your Self-
completeness within, and then share it with your companion without.
You are not living the monastic life if you are dependent on parents,
wife, husband, or children, and cannot find your peace without them.
You have not found the monastic life if, out in the business world,
you are placing your dependence on person, influence, power, or

money.

The monastic life is a life of Self-completeness. You can lead the
monastic life while living in the midst of a busy city or alone on a
desert because you have found your Self-completeness within, and
yet that Self -com pie ten ess you have discovered within, you share
with others. That is the true monastic life.

You do not have to live separate and apart from your family or

362

A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

your business; you do not have to be separate and apart from this
world. You can hold political office, and still lead the monastic life,
if you have inner integrity, and bring to that political life the in-
tegrity of your inner life.

The greatest, the most satisfying, rewarding place in all of this
world is within you. There you can tabernacle with the Spirit of
God in you. And do not be surprised if in that temple within your-
self you meet the saints and the sages of all times, for these saints
and sages are only spiritual consciousness at different levels, and you
must expect to meet spiritual consciousness within yourself at many
levels. When you make your contact with God within, you find
fulfillment, for it is by what takes place within that you establish
your outer life, and the degree, intensity, quality, and quantity of
the without.

Living in the interior world ensures a perfect balance to life. If
you live wholly on the outer plane, everything with which you come
in contact ultimately becomes just a toy that either breaks of its
own weakness or that you yourself break. If, however, you live part
of your time in this interior world, tabernacling in the kingdom of
God, communing with the inner Presence, you will then find that
that inner substance you have released will appear outwardly as a
successful day, a protected day, a day in which you can bless those
with whom you associate.

Of your own self you can bless nobody. You are of no value to
anyone except in the measure of your contact with the Spirit within.
As you draw on the kingdom of God within you, it has a way of
satisfying all those who come to you. It becomes meat and drink,
opportunity, supply, home, happiness, and joy.

The springs of water within bubble up into life eternal, and it is
water you can draw without a bucket. How? By living an interior
life, by realizing that the Substance of all form is within, and then
by going in and being with It, praying with It, living with It, and
releasing It.

You have meat that the world knows not of, but you must go
within to find it, to share, experience, and release it. "I am the
bread of life." Why struggle so hard for bread? Why fight for it,

THE INNER UNIVERSE 363

sometimes lie, cheat, and deceive for it? Why? You need not fight.
All good is within you, but if you do not go within, if you do not
learn to spend a little more time there, if you cannot find there a
peace, a joy, it will not appear outwardly, and you will walk through
this world, with nothing to give anyone.

If you have quantities of money and give of it, the world may hate
you for it. If you forgive those who have wronged you and tell them
so, they will hate you because they wronged you. You have nothing
to give humanly— no one has, not even Jesus Christ himself had.
But as you spend time with your Father within, God's grace within
you can flow out, and you can share abundantly with all who are a
part of your experience. God's grace is equal to any demand that can
be made upon it. No demand upon you can be too great when you
have divine Grace upon which to draw.

The interior world, the world within you, is the world of Reality.
Externally, you find only forms, hollow forms, if you have not first
gone within to make contact with the Father. The promise is, "I
will never leave you, nor forsake you." What good is that to you
if you do not go inside and meet that I? 1 is there in the midst of
you; I is mighty in the midst of you. But what good is that to you if
you will not go in and get acquainted with that I?

You must have periods day and night when you go within to meet
God. But because for centuries He has been hidden under layers
of humanhood, centuries in which man has been walking up and
down the world, living on the edge, the outside of the world, living
for the externals, the first few times you go within you may not
meet Him. With patience, however, eventually you will.

There is probably a thick crust of self between you and the I that
is within you. Be patient: knock, and it will be opened unto you;
ask, and it will be given to you— but go within and knock, go within
and ask, "Father, reveal Thyself." Learn to go within because the
whole kingdom of Reality is locked up deep inside of you; the whole
of the Christ is embodied within you. It is not walking the streets
of Jerusalem, although I will say to you, that if you walk the streets
of Jerusalem with sufficient humility, you will feel It there. You can
walk the streets of Damascus and feel Paul walking right beside you.

364 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

In that great rush of mass humanity that today walks the street
called Straight, where Paul walked, you can actually feel Paul's
presence.

The Spirit of God is within you, but how are you going to meet It
if you play around on the surface of the world with toys and baubles?
Go within and meet the Christ which is the Spirit of God individual-
ized. This Spirit of God was the intelligence and the love of Lao-
tse; It was al] that went to make up Gautama the Buddha; It was the
life, heart, and soul of Jesus.

The message of Jesus Christ has given It to the world in words so
plain that you cannot miss It. You cannot miss It if you once catch
a glimpse of the truth that he is revealing an interior kingdom, an
interior world that is more real than the exterior one. The interior
world cannot be destroyed, and even if a bomb were released that
destroyed this whole earth, there would still be as much of God as
there was before. When there were only a few million people on
earth, was there less of God than there is now with three billion?
Will there be more of God next year when there are an additional
one hundred fifty million on earth? Is not God always present in
Its completeness and Its perfection even when there is but one? Is
not the allness and the fullness of God represented in everyone?

You are that one. The fullness of the Godhead bodily is expressed
as you. If you were the only person left on the face of the earth, you
could live the monastic life— complete, perfect, and harmonious.
If there were a billion around you not understanding and not be-
lieving, you still could lead the monastic life, that full and complete
life in God, because you could always close your eyes in your office,
in a park, or in your own kitchen, turn within, and realize, "Within
me is the secret of the universe. Within me is the whole secret!
The Holy Grail is within me; the word of God is within me, the
Hebrew Torah, the Ten Commandments, the Bhagavad-Gita, the
Hebrew Testament, the Christian Testament— all of these are within
me. I can open myself to them, and let them flow out."

You go within and tabernacle with God, with the Christ, and with
the saints and sages of all ages, and when you come out into the
exterior world, their spirit will flow out through you to be the

THE INNER UNIVERSE 365

bread, the wine, the meat, and the water to those who come in con-
tact with you in your family life, your business, your social, and your
political life. They may not know the Source— they do not have to
know It. That is your secret, and it is a secret you can divulge only to
those who know how to respect and appreciate it.

To the many persons you meet every day, you are just a man or
a woman in everyday clothes, and for the most part they are com-
pletely unaware that locked up in you is the secret of life, the king-
dom of God, the healing grace of the Christ, the power to multiply
loaves and fishes, the joy and peace of the universe. Locked up in
you is the power to attract to the word of God all those who are
seeking God.

To some extent all of you have demonstrated this, but not enough.
To some extent I have demonstrated it, too, but not enough. I
know, as you now know, that there is an interior world, a real world
which is the Source of the outer world, the creative, maintaining, and
sustaining Principle of the outer world.

You must learn to tabernacle with God, to commune with Him at
the center of your being. Meet Him there every day. And there, too,
you can meet all the other people that you have known on the spir-
itual path. Go within yourself and meet them there. You can never
be alone— those you know on the spiritual path are always with you.
They are as much a part of your consciousness as your own family, if
only you will close your eyes and look for them there.

Every word of truth that God has ever uttered is locked up within
you. Loose it and let it go, but never tell this secret except to those
of your spiritual household. Do not expose your "pearl" to those who
are not connoisseurs of pearls. Do not ever give anyone an oppor-
tunity to ridicule your inner life. Do not let anyone try to destroy
your faith, your understanding, or your wisdom. You have a "pearl"
for which the people of the world would sell their souls if they only
knew what it could do for them.

This is the mystical life. This is the monastic life:

"I and my Father are one" and in God I find my Self-complete-
ness, and then when I open my eyes and go out into the world, I

366 A PARENTHESIS IN ETERNITY

share the glories of God, the grace of God, the peace of God that
passes understanding.

I of myself am nothing, but I can go within and there enjoy God's
grace.

No man can take your riches from you; no man can take your
peace. The world cannot find you when you are living inside because
it knows nothing of an interior world, and if it were told, it would
only laugh in disbelief. If the world strikes at you, it will merely be to
take your money, your property, or your business. It does not know
that those are your toys, the fruit that grows on your Tree of life,
the effect of the mystical life. And so that is all the world will ever
want to take from you. If it does try to deprive you of this fruitage,
you will remain undisturbed because you know that if this attempt
should be successful, a process of spiritual multiplication is already
in progress, and in due time there will be more fruitage on your
Tree.

No man can take your peace from you after you have discovered
the interior world. After you have discovered that within you is the
substance of all form, the law of all effect, the divine Grace, never
again can the world disturb you, never can it touch you.

The heart and the soul of The Infinite Way is its mysticism and its
monasticism, a way of life that has nothing to do with leaving the
world on the outer plane. It has all to do with leaving the world
while you go within and eat of that inner meat, drink of that inner
water, tabernacle with the saints and sages— the Christ— and then
come out and enjoy every person and every thing that God's grace
hangs on your Tree of Life.

Set in Linotype Electra

Composed, printed and bound by The Haddon Craftsmen, Inc.

Harper & Row, Publishers, Incorporated