Your Faith is Your Fortune

N E

V 1 L

1905-1972

L E

B;

om in Barbados, West tn-
1 dies. Neville was the fourth
son in a family of nine boys and
one girl.. At age seventeen he came to the United States to study
drama. In 1 932 he gave up the theater entirely to devote
his attention to his studies in mysticism He began his lecture career
in New York City, and travelled throughout the country,
eventually establishing his home in Los Angeles In the late
1 950' s he gave a series of talks on television, and for
many years he lectured regularly, to capacity audiences.
at the Wilshire Ebell Theater in Los Angeles.
His ten books, written over a period of some thirty
years, deal with crea-
tive visualization and
the transformation oF
consciousness.

'our faith is youR foRtune

m

DHVORSS Publications

9

9 780875"160788
ISBN 0-A?51b-n7A-l,

<D

By the Same Author

AWAKENED IMAGINATION; THE SEARCH

THE LAW AND THE PROMISE

THE POWER OF AWARENESS

SEEDTIME AND HARVEST

FREEDOM FOR ALL*

FEELING IS THE SECRET*

PRAYER, THE ART OF BELIEVING*

OUT OF THIS WORLD*

RESURRECTION*

•These five books are included in one
volume titled RESURRECTION

Your Faith

is

Your Fortune

NEVILLE

DEVORSS Publications

Copyright © 1941
by Neville

All rights reserved No pan of this book may be reproduced in any form

without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer

who may quote brief passages for review purposes.

ISBN; 0-875164)78-6

Seventeenth Printing,1993

DeVorss & Company, Publisher

P.O. Box 550

Marina del Rey. CA 90294

Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGB

1. Before Abraham Was 9

2. You Shall Decree „ 11

3. The Principle of Truth 16

4. Whom Seek Ye? „ 26

5. Who Am I? 35

6. I Am He - 45

7. Thy Will Be Done « 54

8. No Other God - 59

9. The Foundation Stone 62

10. To Him That Hath .. 66

11. Christmas 4, „ 70

12. Crucifixion and Resurrection 76

13. The I'm-Pressioos ....„ „ 82

14. Cfrcumdsion _.„ 87

15. Interval of Time 91

16. The Triune God 97

17. Prayer w 101

18. The Twelve Disciples - « 106

19- Liquid Light _ _ 118

20. The Breath of Life ...121

21. Daniel in the Lions' Den _ 124

22. Fishing „ _ 129

23. Be Ears That Hear „133

24. Clairvoyance — "Count of Monte Cristo" 137

25. Twenty-third Psalm 144

26. Gethsemane 148

27. A Formula for Victory 156

Your Faith

Is

Your Fortune

t

MANS FAITH IN GOD IS MEASURED BY
HIS CONFIDENCE IN HIMSELF

BEFORE ABRAHAM WAS

Verily, verily, I say unto you before Abraham
was, 1 AM. — John 8 : 58.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God."

In the beginning was the unconditioned aware-
ness of being;, and the unconditioned awareness of
being became conditioned by imagining itself to be
something, and the unconditioned awareness of be-
ing became that which it had imagined itself to be;
so did creation begin.

By this law — first conceiving, then becoming that
conceived — all things evolve out of No-thing; and
without this sequence there is not anything made
that is made.

Before Abraham or the world was — -I AM. When
all of time shall cease to be — I AM. I AM the

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

formless awareness of being conceiving myself to be
man. By my everlasting law of being I am compelled
to be and to express all that I believe myself to be.

I AM the eternal No-thingness containing within
my formless self the capacity to be all things. I AM
that in which all my conceptions of myself live and
move and have their being, and apart from which
they are not.

I dwell within every conception of myself; from
this withinness I ever seek to transcend all con-
ceptions of myself. By the very law of my being I
transcend my conceptions of myself, only as I be-
lieve myself to be that which does transcend.

I AM the law of being and beside ME there is no
law. I AM that I AM.

YOU SHALL DECREE

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my
mouth; it shall not return unto me void, but it
shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. — Isaiah
55:11.

10

Man can decree a thing and it will come to pass.

Man has always decreed that which has appeared
in his world. He is today decreeing that which is
appearing in his world and he shall continue to do
so as long as man is conscious of being man.

Nothing has ever appeared in man's world but
what man decreed that it should. This you may
deny; but try as you will you cannot disprove it for
this decreeing is based upon a changeless principle.
Man does not command things to appear by his

[

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

words which are, more often than not, a confession
of his doubts and fears. Decreeing is ever done in
consciousness.

Every man automatically expresses that which he
is conscious of being. Without effort or the use of
words, at every moment of time, man is commanding
himself to be and to possess that which he is con-
scious of being and possessing.

This changeless principle of expression is drama-
tized in all the Bibles of the world. The writers of
our sacred books were illumined mystics, past mas-
ters in the art of psychology. In telling the story of
the soul they personified this impersonal principle
in the form of a historical document both to pre-
serve it and to hide it from the eyes of the uninitiated.

Today those to whom this great treasure has been
entrusted, namely, the priesthoods of the world, have
forgotten that the Bibles are psychological dramas
representing the consciousness of man; in their blind
forgetfulness they now teach their followers to wor-
ship its characters as men and women who actually
lived in time and space.

When man sees the Bible as a great psychological
drama with all of its characters and actors as the
personified qualities and attributes of his own con-
sciousness, then — and then only — will the Bible re-
veal to him the light of its symbology. This imper-

12

YOU SHALL DECREE

sonal principle of life which made all things is per-
sonified as God. This Lord God, creator of heaven
and earth, is discovered to be man's awareness of
being. If man were less bound by orthodoxy and
more intuitively observant, he could not fail to no-
tice in the reading of the Bibles that the awareness
of being is revealed hundreds of times throughout
this literature. To name a few: "I AM hath sent me
unto you." "Be still and know that I AM God." "I
AM the Lord and there is no God." "I AM the
shepherd." "I AM the door." "I AM the resur-
rection and the life." "I AM the way." "I AM the
beginning and the end."

I AM ; man's unconditioned awareness of being is
revealed as Lord and creator of every conditioned
state of being. If man would give up his belief in
a God apart from himself, recognize his awareness
of being to be God (this awareness fashions itself in
the likeness and image of its conception of itself), he
would transform his world from a barren waste to a
fertile field of his own liking.

The day man does this he will know that he and
his Father are one but his Father is greater than he.
He will know that his consciousness of being is one
with that which he is conscious of being, but that
his unconditioned consciousness of being is greater

13

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

than his conditioned state or his conception of him-
self.

When man discovers his consciousness to be the
impersonal power of expression, which power eter-
nally personifies itself in his conceptions of himself,
he will assume and appropriate that state of con-
sciousness which he desires to express; in so doing
he will become that state in expression.

"Ye shall decree a thing and it shall come to pass"
can now be told in this manner: You shall become
conscious of being or possessing a thing and you shall
express or posesss that which you are conscious of
being.

The law of consciousness is the only law of ex-
pression, "I AM the way." "I AM the resurrection."
Consciousness is the way as well as the power which
resurrects and expresses all that man will ever be
conscious of being.

Turn from the blindness of the uninitiated man
who attempts to express and possess those qualities
and things which he is not conscious of being and
possessing; and be as the illumined mystic who de-
crees on the basis of this changeless law. Consciously
claim yourself to be that which you seek ; appropriate
the consciousness of that which you see; and you too
will know the status of the true mystic, as follows:

14

YOU SHALL DECREE

I became conscious of being it. I am still conscious
of being it. And I shall continue to be conscious of
being it until that which I am conscious of being is
perfecdy expressed.

Yes, I shall decree a thing and it shall come to pass.

15

THE PRINCIPLE OF TRUTH

Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free. — John 8:32.

"Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set
you free."

The truth that sets man free is the knowledge that
his consciousness is the resurrection and the life, that
his consciousness both resurrects and makes alive all
that he is conscious of being. Apart from conscious-
ness there is neither resurrection nor life.

When man gives up his belief in a God apart from
himself and begins to recognize his awareness of be-
ing to be God, as did Jesus and the prophets, he will
transform his world with the realization, "I and my
Father are one but my Father is greater than I." He
will know that his consciousness is God and that

16

THE PRINCIPLE OF TRUTH

which he is conscious of being is the son bearing
witness of God, the Father.

The conceiver and the conception are one, but the
conceiver is greater than his conception. Before Abra-
ham was I AM. Yes, I was aware of being before
I became aware of being man, and in that day when
I shall cease to be conscious of being man I shall
still be conscious of being.

The consciousness of being is not dependent upon
being anything. It preceded all conceptions of itself
and shall be when all conceptions of itself shall cease
to be. "I AM the beginning and the end." That is,
all things or conceptions of myself begin and end in
me, but I, the formless awareness, remain forever.

Jesus discovered this glorious truth and declared
Himself to be one with God, not the God that man
had fashioned, for He never recognized such a God.
Jesus found God to be His awareness of being and
so told man that the Kingdom of God and Heaven
were within.

When it is recorded that Jesus left the world and
went to His Father it is simply stating that He turned
His attention from the world of the senses and rose
in consciousness to that level which He desired to
express. There He remained until He became one
with the consciousness to which He ascended. When
He returned to the world of man He could act with

17

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

the positive assurance of that which He was con-
scious of being, a state of consciousness no one but
Himself felt or knew that He possessed. Man who
is ignorant of this everlasting law of expression looks
upon such happenings as miracles.

To rise in consciousness to the level of the thing
desired and to remain there until such level be-
comes your nature is the way of all seeming miracles.
"And I, if I be lifted up, I shall draw all men unto
me." If I be lifted up in consciousness to the na-
turalness of the thing desired, I shall draw the mani-
festation of that desire to me.

"No man comes unto me save the Father within
me draws him, and I and my Father are one." My
consciousness is the Father who draws the manifesta-
tion of life to me. The nature of the manifestation is
determined by the state of consciousness in which I
dwell. I am always drawing into my world that
which I am conscious of being.

If you are dissatisfied with your present expression
of life, then you must be bom again. Rebirth is the
dropping of that level with which you are dissatis-
fied and rising to that level of consciousness which
you desire to express and possess.

You cannot serve two masters or opposing states
of consciousness at the same time. Taking your at-
tention from one state and placing it upon the other,

18

THE PRINCIPLE OF TRUTH

you die to the one from which you have taken it and
you live and express the one with which you are

united.

Man cannot see how it would be possible to ex-
press that which he desires to be by so simple a law
as acquiring the consciousness of the thing desired.
The reason for this lack of faith on the part of man
is that he looks at the desired state through the con-
sciousness of his present limitations. Therefore, he
naturally sees it as impossible of accomplishment.

One of the first things man must realize is that it
is impossible, in dealing with this spiritual law of
consciousness, to put new wine into old bottles or new
patches on old garments. That is, you cannot take
any part of the present consciousness into the new
state. For the state sought is complete in itself and
needs no patching. Every level of consciousness auto-
matically expresses itself.

To rise to the level of any state is to automatic-
ally become that state in expression But, in order
to rise to the level that you are not now expressing,
you must completely drop the consciousness with
which you are now identified. Until your present
consciousness is dropped you will not be able to rise
to another level. Do not be dismayed. This letting
go of your present identity is not as difficult as it
might appear to be. The invitation of the scriptures,

19

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

"To be absent from the body and be present with
the Lord," is not given to a select few; it is a sweep-
ing call to all mankind. The body from which you
are invited to escape is your present conception of
yourself with all of its limitations, while the Lord
with whom you are to be present is your awareness
of being.

To accomplish this seemingly impossible feat you
take your attention away from your problem and
place it upon just being. You say silently but feel-
ingly, "I AM." Do not condition this awareness but
continue declaring quietly, "I AM — I AM." Simply
feel that you are faceless and formless and continue
doing so until you feel yourself floating.

"Floating" is a psychological state which com-
pletely denies the physical. Through practice in re-
laxation and wilfully refusing to react to sensory
impressions, it is possible to develop a state of con-
sciousness of pure receptivity. It is a surprisingly
easy accomplishment. In this state of complete de-
tachment a definite singleness of purposeful thought
can be indelibly engraved upon your unmodified
consciousness. This state of consciousness is necessary
for true meditation.

This wonderful experience of rising and floating
is the signal that you are absent from the body or
problem and are now present with the Lord ; in this

20

THE PRINCIPLE OF TRUTH

expanded state you are not conscious of being any-
thing but I AM — I AM; you are only conscious of
being.

When this expansion of consciousness is attained,
within this formless deep of yourself, give form to the
new conception by claiming and feeling yourself to
be that which you, before you entered into this state,
desired to be. You will find that within this formless
deep of yourself all things appear to be divinely
possible. Anything that you sincerely feel yourself to
be while in this expanded state becomes, in time,
your natural expression.

And God said, "Let there be a firmament in the
midst of the waters." Yes, let there be a firmness or
conviction in the midst of this expanded conscious-
ness by knowing and feeling I AM that, the thing
desired.

As you claim and feel yourself to be the thing de-
sired you are crystallizing this formless liquid light
that you are into the image and likeness of that which
you are conscious of being.

Now that the law of your being has been re-
vealed to you, begin this day to change your world
by revaluing yourself. Too long has man held to
the belief that he is born of sorrow and must work
out his salvation by the sweat of his brow. God is
impersonal and no respecter of persons. So long

21

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

as man continues to walk in this belief of sorrow,
so long will he walk in a world of sorrow and con-
fusion, for the world in its every detail is man's
consciousness crystallized

In the Book of Numbers it is recorded, "There
were giants in the land and we were in our own
sight as grasshoppers, and we were in their sight as
grasshoppers."

Today is the day, the eternal now, when condi-
tions in the world have attained the appearance of
giants. The unemployed, the armies of the enemy,
business competition, etc., are the giants which make
you feel yourself to be a helpless grasshopper.

We are told we were first in our own sight help-
less grasshoppers and because of this conception of
ourselves we were to the enemy helpless grasshoppers.

We can be to others only that which we are to
ourselves. Therefore, as we revalue ourselves and
begin to feel ourselves to be the giant, a center of
power, we automatically change our relationship to
the giants, reducing these former monsters to their
true place, making them appear to be the helpless
grasshoppers.

Paul said of this principle, "It is to the Greeks
(or the so-called wise men of the world) foolishness;
and to the Jews (or those who look for signs) a
stumbling block"; with the result that man continues

THE PRINCIPLE OF TRUTH

to walk in darkness rather than awake to the realiza-
tion, "I AM the light of the world."

Man has so long worshipped the images of his
own making that at first he finds this revelation
blasphemous, but the day man discovers and accepts
this principle as the basis of his life, that day man
slays his belief in a God apart from himself.

The story of Jesus' betrayal in the Garden of
Gethsemane is the perfect illustration of man's dis-
covery of this principle. We are told, the crowds
armed with staves and lanterns sought Jesus in the
dark of night. As they inquired after the where-
abouts of Jesus (salvation), the voice answered, "I
AM" ; whereupon the entire crowd fell to the ground.
On regaining their composure they again asked to
be shown the hiding place of the savior and again
the savior said, "I have told you that I AM, there-
fore if ye seek me let all else go."

Man in the darkness of human ignorance sets out
on his search for God, aided by the flickering light
of human wisdom. As it is revealed to man that his
I AM or awareness of being is his savior the shock
is so great he mentally falls to the ground, for every
belief that he has ever entertained tumbles as he
realizes that his consciousness is the one and only
savior. The knowledge that his I AM is God com-
pels man to let all others go for he finds it impossible

23

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

to serve two Gods. Man cannot accept his awareness
of being as God and at the same time believe in
another deity.

With this discovery man's human ear or hearing
(understanding) is cut off by the sword of faith
(Peter) as his perfect disciplined hearing (under-
standing) is restored by (Jesus) the knowledge that
I AM is Lord and Savior.

Before man can transform his world, he must first
lay this foundation or understanding. I AM the Lord.
Man must know that his awareness of being is God.
Until this is firmly established so that no suggestion
or argument of others can shake him, he will find
himself returning to the slavery of his former belief.
"If ye believe not that I AM He, ye shall die in
your sins." Unless man discovers that his conscious-
ness is the cause of every expression of his life, he
will continue seeking the cause of his confusion in
the world of effects, and so shall die in his fruitless
search.

"I AM the vine and ye are the branches." Con-
sciousness is the vine and that which you are con-
scious of being is as branches that you feed and
keep alive. Just as a branch has no life except it
be rooted in the vine, likewise things have no life
except you be conscious of them. Just as a branch
withers and dies if the sap of the vine ceases to flow

24

THE PRINCIPLE OF TRUTH

towards it, so do things and qualities pass away if
you take your attention from them; because your
attention is the sap of life which sustains the expres-
sion of your life.

25

WHOM SEEK YE?

I have told you that I AM; if therefore ye seek
me, let these go their way, — John 18:8.

As soon then as he had said unto them, I AM
they went backward and fell to the ground. —
John 18:6

Today there is so much said about Masters, Elder
Brothers, Adepts and initiates that numberless truth
seekers are being constantly misled by seeking these
false lights. For a price, most of these pseudo-teachers
offer their students initiation into the mysteries, prom-
ising them guidance and direction, Man's weakness
for leaders, as well as his worship of idols, makes
him an easy prey of these schools and teachers. Good
will come to most of these enrolled students; they
will discover after years of awaiting and sacrificing

26

WHOM SEEK YE?

that they were following a mirage. They will then
become disillusioned in their schools and teachers,
and this disappointment will be worth the effort and
price they have paid for their fruitless search. They
will then turn from their worship of man and in
so doing discover that which they are seeking is not
to be found in another, for the Kingdom of Heaven
is within. This realization will be their first real in-
itiation. The lesson learned will be this: There is
only one Master and this Master is God, the I AM
within themselves.

"I AM the Lord thy God who led thee out of
the land of darkness; out of the house of bondage."
I AM, your awareness, is Lord and Master and be-
sides your awareness there is neither Lord nor Mas-
ter. You are Master of all that you will ever be aware
of being.

You know that you are, do you not? Knowing
that you are is the Lord and Master of that which
you know that you are. You could be completely iso-
lated by man from that which you are conscious of
being; yet you would, in spite of all human barriers,
effortlessly draw to yourself all that you were con-
scious of being. The man who is conscious of being
poor does not need the assistance of anyone to ex-
press his poverty. The man who is conscious of be-
ing sick, though isolated in the most hermetically

27

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

sealed germ-proof area in the world, would express
sickness.

There is no barrier to God, for God is your aware-
ness of being. Regardless of what you are aware of
being, you can and do express it without effort. Stop
looking for the Master to come; he is with you al-
ways. "I AM with you always even unto the end of
the world."

You will from time to time know yourself to be
many things, but you need not be anything to know
that you are. You can, if you so desire, disentangle
yourself from the body you wear; in so doing you
realize that you are a faceless, formless awareness
and not dependent on the form you are in your ex-
pression. You will know that you are; you will also
discover that this knowing that you are is God, the
Father, which preceded all that you ever knew your-
self to be. Before the world was you were aware of
being and so you were saying "I AM," and I AM
will be, after all that you know yourself to be shall
cease to be,

There are no Ascended Masters. Banish this super-
stition. You will forever rise from one level of con-
sciousness (master) to another; in so doing you mani-
fest the ascended level, expressing this newly acquired
consciousness.

Consciousness being Lord and Master, you are the

28

WHOM SEEK YE ?

Master Magician conjuring that which you are now
conscious of being. "For God (consciousness) calleth
those things which be not as though they were":
Things that are not now seen will be seen the moment
you become conscious of being that which is not now
seen.

This rising from one level of consciousness to an-
other is the only ascension that you will ever expe-
rience. No man can lift you to the level you desire.
The power to ascend is within yourself; it is your
consciousness. You appropriate the consciousness of
the level you desire to express by claiming that you
are now expressing such a level. This is the ascen-
sion. It is limitless, for you will never exhaust your
capacity to ascend. Turn from the human supersti-
tion of ascension with its belief in masters, and find
the only and everlasting master within yourself.

"Far greater is he that is in you than he that is
in the world." Believe this. Do not continue in blind-
ness, following after the mirage of masters. I assure
you your search can end only in disappointment,

"If you deny me (your awareness of being) I shall
deny you also." "Thou shalt have no other God be-
side ME." "Be still and know that I AM God."
"Come prove me and see if I will not open you the
windows of Heaven and pour you out a blessing, that
there shall not be room enough to receive it."

29

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

Do you believe that the I AM is able to do this?
Then claim ME to be that which you want to see
poured out. Claim yourself to be that which you
want to be and that you shaE be. Not because of
masters will I give it unto you, but, because you have
recognized ME (yourself) to be that, I will give it
unto you for I AM all things to all.

Jesus would not permit Himself to be called Good
Master. He knew that there is but one good and
one master. He knew this one to be His Father in
Heaven, the awareness of being. "The Kingdom of
God" (Good) and the Kingdom of Heaven are with-
in you.

Your belief in masters is a confession of your slav-
ery. Only slaves have masters. Change your con-
ception of yourself and you will, without the aid of
masters or anyone else, automatically transform your
world to conform to your changed conception of your-
self.

You are told in the Book of Numbers that there
was a time when men were in their own eyes as grass-
hoppers and becauseof this conception of themselves
they saw giants in the land. This is as true of man
today as it was the day it was recorded. Man's con-
ception of himself is so grasshopper-like that he auto-
matically makes the conditions round about him ap-

30

WHOM SEEK YE?

pear gigantic ; in his blindness he cries out for masters
to help him fight his giant problems.

Jesus tried to show man that salvation was within
himself and warned him not to look for his savior
in places or people. If anyone should come saying
look here or look there, believe him not, for the
Kingdom of Heaven is within you.

Jesus not only refused to permit Himself to be
called Good Master, He warned his followers, "Salute
no man along the highway." He made it clear that
they should not recognize any authority or superior
other than God, the Father.

Jesus established the identity of the Father as
man's awareness of being. "I and my Father are
one but my Father is greater than I." I AM one with
all that I am conscious of being. I AM greater than
that which I am aware of being. The creator is ever
greater than his creation.

"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." The
serpent symbolizes man's present conception of him-
self as a worm of the dust, living in the wilderness
of human confusion. Just as Moses lifted himself
from his worm-of-the-dust conception of himself to
discover God to be his awamess of being, "I AM
hath sent me," so must you be lifted up. The day

31

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

you claim, as did Moses, "I AM that I AM," that
day your claim will blossom in the wilderness.

Your awareness is the master magician who con-
jures all things by being that which he would con-
jure. This Lord and Master that you are can and
does make all that you are conscious of being appear
in your world.

"No man (manifestation) cometh unto me save
my Father draw him and I and my Father are one."
You are constandy drawing to yourself that which
you are conscious of being. Change your conception
of yourself from that of the slave to that of Christ.
Don't be embarrassed to make this claim; only as
you claim, "I AM Christ," will you do the works of
Christ.

"The works I do ye shall do also, and greater
works than these shall ye do, for I go unto my
Father." "He made himself equal with God and
found it not robbery to do the works of God." Jesus
knew that anyone who dared to claim himself to
be Christ would automatically assume the capacities
to express the works of his conception of Christ.
Jesus also knew that the exclusive use of this prin-
ciple of expression was not given to Him alone. He
constandy referred to His Father in Heaven. He
stated that His works would not only be equaled but
that they would be surpassed by that man who dared

32

WHOM SEEK YE?

to conceive himself to be greater than He (Jesus)
had conceived Himself to be.

Jesus, in stating that He and His Father were one
but that His Father was greater than He, revealed
His awareness (Father) to be one with that which
He was aware of being. He found Himself as Father
or awareness to be greater than that which He as
Jesus was aware of being. You and your conception
of yourself are one. You are and always will be
greater than any conception you will ever have of
yourself.

Man fails to do the works of Jesus Christ because
he attempts to accomplish them from his present level
of consciousness. You will never transcend your pres-
ent accomplishments through sacrifice and struggle.
Your present level of consciousness will only be tran-
scended as you drop the present state and rise to a
higher level.

You rise to a higher level of consciousness by taking
your attention away from your present limitations
and placing it upon that which you desire to be.
Do not attempt this in day-dreaming or wishful
thinking but in a positive manner. Claim yourself to
be the thing desired. I AM that; no sacrifice, no diet,
no human tricks. All that is asked of you is to accept
your desire. If you dare claim it, you will express it.

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YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

Meditate on these. "I rejoice not in the sacrifices
of men. Not by might nor by power but by my spirit.
Ask and you shall receive. Come eat and drink with-
out price."

The works are finished. All that is required of
you to let these qualities into expression is the claim
— I AM that. Claim yourself to be that which you
desire to be and that you shall be. Expressions fol-
low the impressions, they do not precede them. Proof
that you are will follow the claim that you are, it
will not precede it.

"Leave all and follow me" is a double invitation
to you. First, it invites you to turn completely away
from all problems and, then, it calls upon you to
continue walking in the claim that you are that which
you desire to be. Do not be a Lot's wife who looks
back and becomes salted or preserved in the dead
past. Be a Lot who does not look back but who keeps
his vision focused upon the promised land, the thing
desired.

Do this and you will know that you have found
the master, the Master Magician, making the unseen
the seen through the command, "I AM THAT."

34

WHO AM I?

But whom say ye that I AM? — Matt. 16:15.

"I AM the Lord; that is my name; and my glory
will I not give to another." "I AM the Lord, the
God of all Flesh."

This I AM within you, the reader, this awareness,
this consciousnes of being, is the Lord, the God of
all Flesh. I AM is He that should come; stop looking
for another. As long as you believe in a God apart
from yourself you will continue to transfer the power
of your expression to your conceptions, forgetting that
you are the conceiver.

The power conceiving and the thing conceived are
one but the power to conceive is greater than the
conception. Jesus discovered this glorious truth when
he declared, "I and my Father are one but my
Father is greater than I." The power conceiving
itself to be man is greater than its conception. All
conceptions are limitations of the conceiver.

35

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

"Before Abraham was, I AM." Before the world
was, I AM."

Consciousness precedes all manifestations and is
the prop upon which all manifestation rests. To re-
move the manifestations all that is required of you,
the conceiver, is to take your attention away from
the conception. Instead of "Out of sight out of mind,"
it really is "Out of mind out of sight." The mani-
festation will remain in sight only as long as it takes
the force with which the conceiver — I AM — orig-
inally endowed it to spend itself. This applies to all
creation from the infinitesimally small electron to
the infinitely great universe.

Be still and know that I AM God. Yes, this very
I AM, your awareness of being, is God, the only
God. I AM is the Lord— the God of all Flesh— all
manifestation.

This presence, your unconditioned awareness, com-
prehends neither beginning nor ending; limitations
exist only in the manifestation. When you realize that
this awareness is your eternal self you will know that
before Abraham was, I AM.

Begin to understand why you were told, "Go thou
and do likewise." Begin now to identify yourself with
this presence, your awareness, as the only reality. All
manifestations but appear to be; you as man have

36

WHO AM I ?

no reality other than that which your eternal self, I
AM, believes itself to be.

"Whom do you say that I AM?" This is not a
question asked two thousand years ago. It is the
eternal question addressed to the manifestation by
die conceiver. It is your true self, your awareness of
being, asking you, its present conception of itself,
"Who do you believe your awareness to be?" This
answer can be defined only within yourself regardless
of the influence of another.

I AM (your true self) is not interested in man's
opinion. All its interest lies in your conviction of your-
self. What do you say of the I AM within you? Can
you answer and say, "I AM Christ"? Your answer
or degree of understanding will determine the place
you will occupy in life. Do you say or believe your-
self to be a man of a certain family, race, nation,
etc.? Do you honestly believe this of yourself? Then
life, your true self, will cause these conceptions to
appear in your world and you will live with them
as though they are real.

"I AM the door." "I AM the way." "I AM the
resurrection and the life." "No man or manifestation
cometh unto my Father save by me."

The I AM (your consciousness) is the only door
through which anything can pass into your world.
Stop looking for signs. Signs follow; they do not

37

.

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

precede. Begin to reverse the statement, "Seeing is
believing," to "Believing is seeing." Start now to be-
lieve, not with the wavering confidence based on
deceptive external evidence but with an undaunted
confidence based on the immutable law that you can
be that which you desire to be. You will find that
you are not a victim of fate but a victim of faith
{your own) .

Only through one door can that which you seek
pass into the world of manifestation. I AM the door.
Your consciousness is the door, so you must become
conscious of being and having that which you desire
to be and to have. Any attempt to realize your de-
sires in ways other than through the door of con-
sciousness makes you a thief and a robber unto your-
self. Any expression that is not felt is unnatural. Be-
fore anything appears, God, I AM, feels itself to be
the thing desired; and then the thing felt appears.
It is resurrected, lifted out of the nothingness.

I AM wealthy, poor, healthy, sick, free, confined
were first of all impressions or conditions felt before
they became visible expressions. Your world is your
consciousness objectified. Waste no time trying to
change the outside ; change the within or the impres-
sion; and the without or expression will take care of
itself. When the truth of this statement dawns upon
you, you will know that you have found the lost

38

WHO AM I ?

word or the key to every door. I AM (your con-
sciousness) is the magical lost word which was made
flesh in the likeness of that which you are conscious
of being.

I AM He. Right now I am overshadowing you,
the reader, my living temple, with my presence, urg-
ing upon you a new expression. Your desires are my
spoken words. My words are spirit and they are true
and they shall not return unto me void but shall ac-
complish where unto they are sent. They are not
something to be worked out. They are garments that
I, your faceless, formless self, wear. Behold ! I, clothed
in your desire, stand at the door (your consciousness)
and knock. If you hear my voice and open unto me
(recognize me as your savior) I will come in unto
you and sup with you and you with me.

Just how my words, your desires, will be fulfilled
is not your concern. My words have a way ye know
not of. Their ways are past finding out. All that is
required of you is to believe. Believe your desires to
be garments your savior wears. Your belief that you
are now that which you desire to be is proof of your
acceptance of life's gifts. You have opened the door
for your Lord, clothed in your desire, to enter the
moment you establish this belief.

When ye pray believe that ye have received and
it shall be so. All things are possible to him who

39

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

believes. Make the impossible possible through your
belief; and the impossible (to others) will embody
itself in your world.

All men have had proof of the power of faith.
The faith that moves mountains is faith in yourself.
No man has faith in God who lacks confidence in
himself. Your faith in God is measured by your
confidence in yourself. I and my Father are one,
man and his God are one, consciousness and mani-
festation are one.

And God said, "Let there be a firmament in the
midst of the waters." In the midst of all the doubts
and changing opinions of others, let there be a con-
viction, a firmness of belief, and you shall see the
dry land; your belief will appear. The reward is to
him that endureth unto the end. A conviction is not
a conviction if it can be shaken. Your desire will be
as clouds without rain unless you believe.

Your unconditioned awareness or I AM is the
Virgin Mary who knew not a man and yet, unaided
by man, conceived and bore a son, Mary, the un-
conditioned consciousness, desired and then became
conscious of being the conditioned state which she
desired to express, and in a way unknown to others
became it. Go and do likewise ; assume the conscious-
ness of that which you desire to be and you, too, will
give birth to your savior. When the annunciation

40

WHO AM I ?

is made, when the urge or desire is upon you, be-
lieve it to be God's spoken word seeking embodiment
through you. Go, tell no man of this holy thing
that you have conceived. Lock your secret within
you and magnify the Lord, magnify or believe your
desire to be your savior coming to be with you.

When this belief is so firmly established that you
feel confident of results, your desire will embody it-
self. How it will be done, no man knows. I, your
desire, have ways ye know not of; my ways are past
finding out. Your desire can be likened to a seed, and
seeds contain within themselves both the power and
the plan of self-expression. Your consciousness is the
soil. These seeds are successfully planted only if, after
you have claimed yourself to be and to have that
which you desire, you confidently await results with-
out an anxious thought.

If I be lifted up in consciousness to the naturalness
of my desire, I shall automatically draw the mani-
festation unto me. Consciousness is the door through
which life reveals itself. Consciousness is always ob-
jectifying itself.

To be conscious of being or possessing anything
is to be or have that which you are conscious of be-
ing or possessing. Therefore, lift yourself to the con-
sciousness of your desire and you will see it auto-
matically outpicture itself.

41

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

To do this you must deny your present identity.
"Let him deny himself." You deny a thing by taking
your attention away from it. To drop a thing, prob-
lem or ego from consciousness you dwell upon God
—God being I AM.

Be still and know that I AM is God. Believe, feel
that I AM ; know that this knowing one within you,
your awareness of being, is God. Close your eyes
and feel yourself to be faceless, formless and without
figure. Approach this stillness as though it were the
easiest thing in the world to accomplish. This attitude
will assure your success.

When all thought of problem or self is dropped
from consciousness because you are now absorbed or
lost in the feeling of just being I AM, then begin
in this formless state to feel yourself to be that which
you desire to be, "I AM that I AM."

The moment you reach a certain degree of in-
tensity so that you actually feel yourself to be a new
conception, this new feeling or consciousness is estab-
lished and in due time will personify itself in the
world of form. This new perception will express itself
as naturally as you now express your present identity.
To express the qualities of a consciousness naturally
you must dwell or live within that consciousness.
Appropriate it by becoming one with it. To feel a
thing intensely, and then rest confidently that it is,

42

WHO AM I ?

makes the thing felt appear within your world. "I
shall stand upon my watch and see the salvation of
the Lord." I shall stand fimly upon my feeling, con-
vinced that it is so, and see my desire appear.

"A man can receive nothing (no thing) except
it be given him from Heaven." Remember heaven
is your consciousness; the Kingdom of Heaven is
within you. This is why you are warned against call-
ing any man Father; your consciousness is the Father
of all that you are. Again you are told, "Salute no
man on the highway." See no man as an authority.
Why should you ask man for permission to express
when you realize that your world, in its every detail,
originated within you and is sustained by you as the
only conceptional center?

Your whole world may be likened to solidified
space mirroring the beliefs and acceptances as pro-
jected by a formless, faceless presence, namely, I AM.
Reduce the whole to its primordial substance and
nothing would remain but you, a dimensionless pres-
ence, the conceiver.

The conceiver is a law apart. Conceptions under
such law are not to be measured by past accom-
plishments or modified by present capacities for,
without taking thought, the conception in a way
unknown to man expresses itself.

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YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

Go within secretly and appropriate the new con-
sciousness. Feel yourself to be it, and the former
limitations shall pass away as completely and as
easily as snow on a hot summer's day. You will not
even remember the former limitations; they were
never part of this new consciousness. This rebirth
Jesus referred to when he said to Nicodemus, "Ye
must be born again," was nothing more than mov-
ing from one state of consciousness to another.

"Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I
do." This certainly does not mean to ask in words,
pronouncing with the lips the sounds, God or Christ
Jesus, for millions have asked in this manner with-
out results. To feel yourself to be a thing is to have
asked for that thing in His name. I AM is the name-
less presence. To feel yourself to be rich is to ask
for wealth in His name. I AM is unconditioned. It
is neither rich nor poor, strong nor weak- In other
words, in HIM there is neither Greek nor Jew, bond
nor free, male nor female. These are all conceptions
or limitations of the limitless, and therefore names
of the nameless. To feel yourself to be anything is
to ask the nameless, I AM, to express that name or
nature. "Ask whatsoever ye will in my name by
appropriating the nature of the thing desired and I
will give it unto you."

44

I AM HE

For if ye believe not that I AM, ye shall die in
your sins. — John 8 : 24.

"All things were made by him; and without him
was not anything made that was made." This is a
hard saying for those trained in the various systems
of orthodox religion to accept, but there it stands.
All things, good, bad and indifferent, were made by
God. "God made man (manifestation) in his own
image; in the likeness of God made he him." Ap-
parently adding to this confusion it is stated, "And
God saw that his creation was good." What are you
going to do about this seeming anomaly? How is man
going to correlate all things as good when that which
he is taught denies this fact? Either the understand-
ing of God is erroneous or else there is something
radically wrong with man's teaching.

45

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

"To the pure all things are pure." This is an-
other puzzling statement. All the good people, the
pure people, the holy people, are the greatest pro-
hibitionists. Couple the foregoing statement with this
one, "There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus,"
and you get an impassable barrier to the self-appointed
judges of the world. Such statements mean nothing
to the self-righteous judges blindly changing and
destroying shadows. They continue in the firm be-
lief that they are improving the world. Man, not
knowing that his world is his individual conscious-
ness outpictured, vainly strives to conform to the
opinion of others rather than to conform to the one
and only opinion existent, namely, his own judgment
of himself.

When Jesus discovered His consciousness to be
this wonderful law of self-government He declared,
"And now I sanctify myself that they also might be
sanctified through the truth." He knew that con-
sciousness was the only reality, that things objectified
were nothing more than different states of conscious-
ness. Jesus warned His followers to seek first the
Kingdom of Heaven (that state of consciousness that
would produce the thing desired) and all things
would be added to them. He also stated, "I AM the
truth." He knew that man's consciousness was the
truth or cause of all that man saw his world to be.

46

I AM H E

Jesus realized that the world was made in the
likeness of man. He knew that man saw his world
to be what it was because man was what he was.
In short, man's conception of himself determines that
which he sees his world to be.

All things are made by God (consciousness) and
without him there is nothing made that is made.
Creation is judged good and very good because
it is the perfect likeness of that consciousness which
produced it. To be conscious of being one thing and
then see yourself expressing something other than
that which you are conscious of being is a violation
of the law of being; therefore, it would not be good.
The law of being is never broken; man ever sees
himself expressing that which he is conscious of be-
ing. Be it good, bad or indifferent, it is nevertheless
a perfect likeness of his conception of himself; it is
good and very good.

Not only are all things made by God, all things
are made of God. All are the offspring of God. God
is one. Things or divisions are the projections of the
one. God being one, He must command Himself to
be the seeming other for there is no other. The ab-
solute cannot contain something within itself that
is not itself. If it did, then it would not be absolute,
the only one. Commands to be effective must be to
oneself. "I AM that I AM" is the only effective

47

YOTJR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

command. "I AM the Lord and beside me there is
none else." You cannot command that which is not.
As there is no other you must command yourself to
be that which you would have appear.

Let me clarify what I mean by effective command.
You do not repeat like a parrot the statement, "I
AM that I AM"; such vain repetition would be both
stupid and fruitless. It is not the words that make
it effective; it is the consciousness of being the thing
which makes it effective. When you say, "I AM,"
you are declaring yourself to be. The word that in the
statement, "I AM that I AM," indicates that which
you would be. The second "I AM" in the quotation
is the cry of victory.

This whole drama takes place inwardly with or
without the use of words. Be still and know that you
are. This stillness is attained by observing the ob-
server. Repeat quietly but with feeling, "I AM —
I AM," until you have lost all consciousness of the
world and know yourself just as being. Awareness,
the knowing that you are, is Almighty God; I AM.
After this is accomplished define yourself as that
which you desire to be by feeling yourself to be the
thing desired: I AM that. This understanding that
you are the thing desired will cause a thrill to course
through your entire being. When the conviction is
established and you really believe that you are that

48

I AM HE

which you desired to be, then the second "I AM"
is uttered as a cry of victory. This mystical revela-
tion of Moses can be seen as three distinct steps:
I AM; I AM free; / really AM!

It does not matter what the appearances round
about you are like. All things make way for the com-
ing of the Lord. I AM the Lord coming in the ap-
pearance of that which I am conscious of being. All
the inhabitants of the earth cannot stay my coming
or question my authority to be that which I AM
conscious that I AM.

"I AM the light of the world," crystallizing into
the form of my conception of myself. Consciousness
is the eternal light which crystallizes only through
the medium of your conception of yourself. Change
your conception of yourself and you will automatic-
ally change the world in which you live. Do not try
to change people; they are only messengers telling
you who you are. Revalue yourself and they will
confirm the change.

Now you will realize why Jesus sanctified Himself
instead of others, why to the pure all things are pure,
why in Christ Jesus (the awakened consciousness)
there is no condemnation. Awake from the sleep of
condemnation and prove the principle of life. Stop
not only your judgment of others but your condem-
nation of yourself.

49

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

Hear the revelation of the enlightened, "I know
and am persuaded by the Lord Christ Jesus that there
is nothing unclean of itself, but to him that seeth
anything to be unclean to him it is unclean," and
again, "Happy is the man who condemneth him-
self not in that which he alloweth."

Stop asking yourself whether or not you are worthy
or unworthy to claim yourself to be that which you
desire to be. You will be condemned by the world
only as long as you condemn yourself.

You do not need to work out anything. The works
are finished. The principle by which all things are
made and without which there is not anything made
that is made is eternal. You are this principle. Your
awareness of being is this everlasting law. You have
never expressed anything that you were not aware
of being and you never will. Assume the conscious-
ness of that which you desire to express. Claim it un-
til it becomes a natural manifestation. Feel it and
live within that feeling until you make it your nature.

Here is a simple formula. Take your attention
from your present conception of yourself and place
it on that ideal of yours, the ideal you had heretofore
thought beyond your reach. Claim yourself to be
your ideal, not as something that you will be in time
but as that which you are in the immediate present.
Do this, and your present world of limitations will

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I AM H E

disintegrate as your new claim rises like the phoenix
from its ashes,

"Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this
great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but
God's." You do not fight against your problem; your
problem will only live as long as you are conscious
of it. Take your attention away from your prob-
lem and the multitude of reasons why you cannot
achieve your ideal. Concentrate your attention en-
tirely upon the thing desired.

"Leave all and follow me." In the face of seem-
ingly mountainous obstacles claim your freedom. The
consciousness of freedom is the Father of freedom.
It has a way of expressing itself which no man knows.
"Ye shall not need to fight in this batde. Set your-
self, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord
with you."

"I AM the Lord." I AM (your consciousness) is
the Lord. The consciousness that the thing is done,
that the work is finished, is the Lord of any situa-
tion. Listen carefully to the promise, "Ye shall not
need to fight in this battle: Set yourself, stand still,
and see the salvation of the Lord with you."

With you! That particular consciousness with
which you are identified is the Lord of the agree-
ment. He will without assistance establish the thing
agreed upon on earth. Can you, in the face of the

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YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

army of reasons why a thing cannot be done, quietly
enter into an agreement with the Lord that it is done?
Can you, now that you have found the Lord to be
your awareness of being, become aware that the
battle is won? Can you, no matter how near and
threatening the enemy seems to be, continue in your
confidence, standing still, knowing that the victory
is yours? If you can, you will see the salvation of
the Lord.

Remember the reward is to the one who endures.
Stand still. Standing still is the deep conviction that
all is well; it is done. No matter what is heard or
seen, you remain unmoved, conscious of being vic-
torious in the end. All things are made by such
agreements, and without such an agreement there
is not anything made that is made. "I AM that I
AM."

In Revelations it is recorded that a new heaven
and new earth shall appear. John, shown this vision,
was told to write, "It is done." Heaven is your con-
sciousness and earth its solidified state. Therefore,
accept as did John — "It is done."

All that is required of you who seek a change is
to rise to a level of that which you desire; without
dwelling upon the manner of expression, record that
it is done by feeling the naturalness of being it.

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I AM H E

Here is an analogy that might help you to see
this mystery. Suppose you entered a motion-picture
theatre just as the feature picture came to its end.
All that you saw of the picture was the happy end-
ing. Because you wanted to see the entire story you
waited for it to unfold again. With the anti-climactic
sequence the hero is displayed as accused, surrounded
by false evidence, and all that goes to wring tears
from the audience. But you secure in the knowledge
of the ending remain calm with the understanding
that, regardless of the seeming direction of the pic-
ture, the end has already been defined.

In like manner go to the end of that which you
seek; witness the happy end of it by consciously
feeling you express and possess that which you de-
sire to express and possess; and you, through faith,
already understanding the end, will have confidence
born of this knowledge. This knowledge will sustain
you through the necessary interval of time that it
takes the picture to unfold. Ask no help of man; feel,
"It is done," by consciously claiming yourself to be,
now, that which as man you hope to be,

53

THY WILL BE DONE

Not my will, but thine, be done. — Luke 22:42.

"Not my will, but thine, be done." This resigna-
tion is not one of blind realization that "I can of
myself do nothing, the Father within me he doeth
the work," When man wills he attempts to make
something which does not now exist appear in time
and space. Too often we are not aware of that
which we are really doing. We unconsciously state
that we do not possess the capacities to express. We
predicate our desire upon the hope of acquiring the
necessary capacities in future time. "I AM not, but
I will be."

Man does not realize that consciousness is the
Father which does the work, so he attempts to ex-
press that which he is not conscious of being. Such

54

THY WILL BE DONE

struggles are doomed to failure; only the present ex-
presses itself. Unless I am conscious of being that
which I seek, I will not find it. God (your aware-
ness) is the substance and fullness of all. God's will
is the recognition of that which is, not of that which
will be. Instead of seeing this saying as "Thine will
be done," see it as "Thy will is done." The works are
finished.

The principle by which all things are made visible
is eternal. "Eyes have not seen nor ears heard, neither
hath it entered into the hearts of men, the things
which God hath prepared for those who love the
law." When a sculptor looks at a formless piece of
marble he sees, buried within its formless mass, his
finished piece of art. The sculptor, instead of making
his masterpiece, merely reveals it by removing that
part of the marble which hides his conception. The
same applies to you. In your formless awareness Ues
buried all that you will ever conceive yourself to be.
The recognition of this truth will transform you from
an unskilled laborer who tries to make it so to a great
artist who recognizes it to be so.

Your claim that you are now that which you want
to be will remove the veil of human darkness and
reveal your claim perfecdy; I AM that. God's will
was expressed in the words of the Widow, "It is
well." Man's will would have been, "It will be well."

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YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

To state, "I shall be well," is to say, "I am ill." God,
the Eternal Now, is not mocked by words or vain
repetition. God continually personifies that which is.
Thus, the resignation of Jesus (who made Himself
equal with God) was turning from the recognition
oMack (which the future indicates with "I shall
be") to the recognition of supply by claiming, *T
AM that ; it is done ; thank you, Father. ' '

Now you will see the wisdom in the words of the
prophet when he states, "Let the weak say, I AM
strong," Joel 3:10. Man in his blindness will not
heed the prophet's advice ; he continues to claim him-
self to be weak, poor, wretched and aU the other
undesirable expressions from which he is trying to
free himself by ignorantly claiming that he will be
free from these characteristics in the expectancy of
the future. Such thoughts thwart the one law that
can ever free him.

There is only one door through which that which
you seek can enter your world. "I AM the door."
When you say, "I AM," you are declaring yourself
to be, first person, present tense; there is no future.
To know that I AM is to be conscious of being. Con-
sciousness is the only door. Unless you are conscious
of being that which you seek, you seek in vain.

If you judge after appearances, you will continue
to be enslaved by the evidence of your senses. To

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THY WILL BE DONE

break this hypnotic spell of the senses you are told,
"Go within and shut the door," The door of the
senses must be tightly shut before your new claim
can be honored. Closing the door of the senses is not
as difficult as it appears to be at first. It is done
without effort.

It is impossible to serve two masters at the same
time. The master man serves is that which he is con-
scious of being. I am Lord and Master of that which
I am conscious of being. It is no effort for me to
conjure poverty if I am conscious of being poor.
My servant (poverty) is compelled to follow me
(conscious of poverty) as long as I AM (the Lord)
conscious of being poor.

Instead of fighting against the evidence of the
senses you claim yourself to be that which you desire
to be. As your attention is placed on this claim, the
doors of the senses automatically close against your
former master (that which you were conscious of
being). As you become lost in the feeling of being
(that which you are now claiming to be true of
yourself) the doors of the senses once more open, re-
vealing your world to be the perfect expression of
that which you are conscious of being.

Let us follow the example of Jesus who realized,
as man, He could do nothing to change His present
picture of lack. He closed the door of His senses

57

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

against His problem and went to His Father, the one
to Whom all things are possible. Having denied the
evidence of His senses He claimed Himself to be all
that, a moment before, His senses told him He was
not. Knowing that consciousness expresses its like-
ness on earth, He remained in the claimed conscious-
ness until the doors (His senses) opened and con-
firmed the rulership of the Lord. Remember, I AM
is Lord of all. Never again use the will of man which
claims, "I will be." Be as resigned as Jesus and
claim, "I AM that."

NO OTHER GOD

/ am the first, and I am the last; and beside
me is no God. — Isaiah 44:6.

/ am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out
of the land of Egypt, from the house of bond-
age. Thou shalt have none other Gods before me.
— Deut. 5 : 6, 7.

"Thou shalt have no other God beside me." As
long as man entertains a belief in a power apart
from himself, so long will he rob himself of the be-
ing that he is. Every belief in powers apart from
himself, whether for good or evil, will become the
mould of the graven image worshipped.

The beliefs in the potency of drugs to heal, diets
to strengthen, moneys to secure, are the values or
money changers that must be thrown out of the
power he can then unfailingly manifest that quality.
This understanding throws out the money changers

59

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

Temple. "Ye are the Temple of the Living God," a
Temple made without hands. It is written, "My
house shall be called of all nations a house of prayer,
but ye have made it a den of thieves."

The thieves who rob you are your own false be-
liefs. It is your belief in a thing not the thing itself
that aids you. There is only one power: I AM He.
Because of your belief in external things you think
power into them by transferring the power that you
are to the external thing. Realize you yourself are
the power you have mistakenly given to outer con-
ditions. The Bible compares the opinionated man to
the camel who could not go through the needle's
eye. The needle's eye referred to was a small gate
in the walls of Jerusalem which was so narrow that
a camel could not go through it until relieved of its
pack. The rich man, that is the one burdened with
false human concepts, cannot enter the Kingdom of
Heaven until relieved of his burden any more than
could the camel go through this small gate.

Man feels so secure in his man-made laws, opin-
ions and beliefs that he invests them with an au-
thority they do not possess. Satisfied that his knowl-
edge is all, he remains unaware that all outward ap-
pearances are but states of mind externalized. When
he realizes that the consciousness of a quality ex-
ternalizes that quality without the aid of any other

80

NO OTHER GOD
or many values and establishes the one true value,
his own consciousness.

"The Lord is in his holy temple." Consciousness
dwells within that which it is conscious of being.
AM man is the Lord and his temple. Knowmg
that' consciousness objectifies itself man must for-
' vc all men for being that which they are. He mus
feahze that all are expressing (without the aid of
another) that which they are conscious of being
Peter the enlightened or disciplined man, knew that
a change of consciousness would produce a change of
expression. Instead of sympathizing wi* the beggan
of life at the temple's gate he declared, Silver and
gold have I none (for thee) but such as I have (the
consciousness of freedom) give I unto thee.

"Stir up the gift within you." Stop begging and
claim yourself to be that which you decide to be^
Do this and you too will jump from your crippled
world into the world of freedom, singing praises to
the Lord, I AM. "Far greater is he that is in you
than he that is in the world." This is the cry of
everyone who finds his awareness of being to be
God. Your recognition of this fact wiU automatically
cleanse the temple, your consciousness, of the thieves
and robbers, restoring to you that dominion over
things which you lost the moment you forgot the com-
mand, "Thou shalt have no other God beside ME.

61

THE FOUNDATION STONE

Let every rnantuke heed how fe ^^
™- f°r other foundations can no man lay than
thatjs latd, which is Jesus Christ. Now if rZ
*M upon this foundation g old, silver, P ec7u S

cfere ^. — 1 Cor. 3: 10, 1 1, 12, 13.
Trfas LT da ? n K° f aU eXprcSSi ° n is ««*«*

2^ rs s , cannot find a CaU ^ of de-
lation other than his consciousness of bein ff Man

tofa he has found the cause of disease IfgS

and greed. AU such discoveries of man, catalogued

God. Tnere « only one power and this poweTis

62

THE FOUNDATION STONE

God (consciousness). It kills; it makes alive; it
wounds; it heals; it does aU things, good, bad or
indifferent.

Man moves in a world that is nothing more or
less than his consciousness objectified. Not know-
ing this he wars against his reflections while he keeps
alive the light and the images which project the re-
flections. "I AM the light of the world." I AM
(consciousness) is the light. That which I am con-
scious of being {my conception of myself) — such as
"I am rich," "I am healthy," "I am free" — are the
images. The world is the mirror magnifying all that
I AM conscious of being.

Stop trying to change the world since it is only
the mirror. Man's attempt to change the world by
force is as fruitless as breaking a mirror in the hope
of changing his face. Leave the mirror and change
your face. Leave the world alone and change your
conceptions of yourself. The reflection then will be
satisfactory.

Freedom or imprisonment, satisfaction or frustra-
tion can only be differentiated by the consciousness
of being. Regardless of your problem, its duration
or its magnitude, careful attention to these instruc-
tions will in an amazingly short time eliminate even
the memory of the problem. Ask yourself this ques-
tion: "How would I feel if I were free?" The very

63

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

moment you sincerely ask this question the answer
comes. No man can tell another the satisfaction of
his desire fulfilled. It remains for each within him-
self to experience the feeling and joy of this auto-
matic change of consciousness. The feeling or thrill
that comes to one in response to his self-questioning
is the Father state of consciousness or Foundation
Stone upon which the conscious change is built. Just
how this feeling will embody itself no one knows,
but it will; the Father (consciousness) has ways that
no man knows; it is the unalterable law.

All things express their nature. As you wear a feel-
ing it becomes your nature. It might take a moment
or a year — it is entirely dependent upon the degree
of conviction. As doubts vanish and you can feel "I
AM this," you begin to develop the fruit or the na-
ture of the thing you are feeling yourself to be. When
a person buys a new hat or pair of shoes he thinks
everyone knows that they are new. He feels unnatural
with his newly acquired apparel until it becomes a
part of him. The same applies to the wearing of the
new states of consciousness. When you ask yourself
the question, "How would I feel if my desire were
at this moment realized?" the automatic reply, until
it is properly conditioned by time and use, is actually
disturbing. The period of adjustment to realize this
potential of consciousness is comparable to the new-

64

THE FOUNDATION STONE

ness of the wearing apparel. Not knowing that con-
sciousness is ever outpicturing itself in conditions
ound about you, like Lot's wife you con^Oly
look baa upon your problem and again become
hypnotized by its seeming naturalness.

Heed the words of Jesus (salvation) : < Leave al
and follow me." "Let the dead bury the dead. Your
problem might have you so hypnotized by its seem-
L reality and naturalness that you find it difficult
to wear the new feeling or consciousness of your
savior. You must assume this garment if you would

have results. ■ , ., ,

The stone (consciousness) which the builders re-
jected (would not wear) is the chief cornerstone,
and other foundations no man can lay.

65

TO HIM THAT HATH

Take heed therefore how ye hear; for whoso-
ever hath, to him shall be given; and whoso-
ever hath not, from him shall be taken even that
which he seemeth to have.— Luke 8: 18.

The Bible which is the greatest psychological
book ever wrztten, warns man to be aware ofThat

rLr<? K Cn f f OWS m Wamil * "** «* s^-
mem To him that hath it shall be given and to

mm that hath not it shall be taken away." Though
many look upon this statement as one of the most
cruel and unjust of the sayings attributed to Jesus,
tsull remains a just and merciful law based upon
hfe s changeless principle of expression.

Man's ignorance of the working of the law does
not excuse him nor save him from the results. Law

66

TO HIM THAT HATH

is impersonal and therefore no respecter of persons.
Man is warned to be selective in that which he hears
and accepts as true. Everything that man accepts as
true leaves an impression on his consciousness and
must in time be defined as proof or disproof. Per-
ceptive hearing is the perfect medium through which
man registers impressions. A man must discipline
himself to hear only that which he wants to hear,
regardless of rumors or the evidence of his senses
to the contrary. As he conditions his perceptive hear-
ing he will react only to those impressions which he
has decided upon. This law never fails. Fully con-
ditioned, man becomes incapable of hearing other
than that which contributes to his desire.

God, as you have discovered, is that unconditioned
awareness which gives to you all that you are aware
of being. To be aware of being or having anything
is to be or have that which you are aware of being.
Upon this changeless principle all things rest. It is
impossible for anything to be other than that which
it is aware of being. "To him that hath (that which
he is aware of being) it shall be given." Good, bad or
indifferent — it does not matter— man receives muki^
plied a hundredfold that which he is aware ofjbe^
ing. In keeping with this changeless law^-^To him
that hath not, it shall be taken from him and added
to the one that hath," the rich get richer and the

67

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

poor get poorer. You can only magnify that which
you are conscious of being.

All things gravitate to that consciousness with
which they are in tune. Likewise, all things disen-
tangle themselves from that consciousness with which
they are out of tune. Divide the wealth of the world
equally among all men and in a short time this equal
division will be as originally disproportioned. Wealth
will find its way back into the pockets of those from
whom it was taken. Instead of joining the chorus of
the have-nots who insist on destroying those who
have, recognize this changeless law of expression.
Consciously define yourself as that which you desire.

Once defined, your conscious claim established,
continue in this confidence until the reward is re-
ceived. As surely as the day follows the night any
attribute, consciously claimed, will manifest itself.
Thus, that which to the sleeping orthodox world is
a cruel and unjust law becomes to the enlightened
one of the most merciful and just statements of truth.

"I am come not to destroy but to fulfill." Nothing
is actually destroyed. Any seeming destruction is a
result of a change in consciousness. Consciousness
ever fills full the state in which it dwells. The state
from which consciousness is detached seems to those
not familiar with this law to be destructive. However,

TO HIM THAT HATH
this is only preparatory to a new state of conscious-

ness.

Claim yourself to be that which you want filled full.
■'Nothing is destroyed. All is fulfilled." "To him that
hath it shall be given."

68

CHRISTMAS

Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall
bring forth a son, and they shall call his name
Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with
us. — Matt. 1:23.

One of the most controversial statements in the
New Testament concerns the virgin conception and
subsequent birth of Jesus, a conception in which
man had no part. It is recorded that a virgin con-
ceived a son without the aid of man, then secredy
and without effort gave birth to her conception. This
is the foundation upon which all Christendom rests.

The Christian world is asked to believe this story,
for man must believe the unbelievable to fully ex-
press the greatness that he is.

Scientifically, man might be inclined to discard
the whole Bible as untrue because his reason will not

70

CHRISTMAS

permit him to believe that the virgin birth is physio-
logically possible, but the Bible is a message of the
soul and must be interpreted psychologically if man
is to discover its true symbology. Man must see this
story as a psychological drama rather than a state-
ment of physical fact. In so doing he will discover
the Bible to be based on a law which if self-applied
will result in a manifested expression transcending
his wildest dreams of accomplishment. To apply this
law of self-expression, man must be schooled in the
belief and disciplined to stand upon the platform
that "all things are possible to God."

The outstanding dramatic dates of the New Testa-
ment, namely, the birth, death and resurrection of
Jesus, were timed and dated to coincide with certain
astronomical phenomena. The mystics who recorded
this story noticed that at certain seasons of the year
beneficial changes on earth coincided with astro-
nomical changes above. In writing this psychological
drama they have personified the story of the soul as
the biography of man. Using these cosmic changes,
they have marked the birth and resurrection of
Jesus to convey that the same beneficial changes take
place psychologically in the consciousness of man
as he follows the law.

Even to those who fail to understand it the story
°f Christmas is one of the most beautiful stories

71

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

ever told. When unfolded in the light of its mystic
symbology, it is revealed as the true birth of every
manifestation in the world.

This virgin birth is recorded as having taken place
on December 25th or, as certain secret societies cele-
brate it, on Christmas Eve, at midnight of December
24th. Mystics established this date to mark the birth
of Jesus because it was in keeping with the great
earthly benefits this astronomical change signifies.
The astronomical observations which prompted
the authors of this drama to use these dates were all
made in the northern hemisphere; so from an astro-
nomical point of view the reverse would be true if
seen from the southern latitudes. However, this story
was recorded in the north and therefore was based
on northern observation.

Man very early discovered that the sun played
a most important part in his life, that without the
sun physical life as he knew it could not be. So these
most important dates in the story of the life of Jesus
are based upon the position of the sun as seen from
the earth in the northern latitudes.

After the sun reaches its highest point in the heav-
ens in June, it gradually falls southward, taking with
it the life of the plant world so that by December
almost all of nature has been stilled. Should the sun
continue to fall southward, all nature would be stilled

72

CHRISTMAS

unto death. However, on December 25th, the sun
begins its great move northward, bringing with it
the promise of salvation and life anew for the world-
Each day, as the sun rises higher in the heavens, man
gains confidence in being saved from death by cold
and starvation, for he knows that as it moves north-
ward and crosses the equator all nature will rise
again, will be resurrected from its long winter sleep.

Our day is measured from midnight to midnight,
and, since the visible day begins in the east and ends
in the west, the ancients said the day was bom of
that constellation which occupied the eastern horizon
at midnight. On Christmas Eve, or midnight of De-
cember 24th, the constellation Virgo is rising on
the eastern horizon. So it is recorded that this son
and savior of the world was born of a virgin. It is also
recorded that this virgin mother was traveling
through the night, that she stopped at an inn and
was given the only available room among the ani-
mals and there in a manger, where the animals fed,
the shepherds found the Holy Child.

The animals with whom the Holy Virgin was
lodged are the holy animals of the zodiac. There in
that constantly moving circle of astronomical ani-
mals stands the Holy Mother, Virgo, and there you
will see her every midnight of December 24th, stand-

73

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

ing on the eastern horizon as the sun and savior of
the world starts his journey northward.

Psychologically, this birth takes place in man on
that day when man discovers his consciousness to be
the sun and savior of his world. When man knows the
significance of this mystical statement, "I am the
light of the world," he will realize that his I AM,
or consciousness, is the sun of his life, which sun
radiates images upon the screen of space. These
images are in the likeness of that which he, as man,
is conscious of being. Thus qualities and attributes
which appear to move upon the screen of his world
are really projections of this light from within himself.

The numberless unrealized hopes and ambitions of
man are the seeds which are buried within the con-
sciousness or virgin womb of man. There they re-
main like the seeds of earth, held in the frozen waste
of winter, waiting for the sun to move northward or
for man to return to the knowledge of who he is. In
returning he moves northward through recognition
of his true self by claiming "I AM the light of the
world."

When man discovers his consciousness or I AM
to be God, the savior of his world, he will be as the
sun in its northern passage. All hidden urges and
ambitions will then be warmed and stimulated into
birth by this knowledge of his true self. He will claim

74

CHRI STM AS

that he is that which heretofore he hoped to be.
Without the aid of any man, he will define himself
as that which he desires to express. He will discover
that his I AM is the virgin conceiving without the
aid of man, that all conceptions of himself, when
felt, and fixed in consciousness, will be embodied
easily as living realities in his world.

Man will one day realize that this whole drama
takes place in his consciousness, that his uncon-
ditioned consciousness or I AM is the Virgin Mary
desiring to express, that through this law of self-
expression he defines himself as that which he desires
to express and that without the help or cooperation
of anyone he will express that which he has con-
sciously claimed and defined himself as being. He
will then understand: why Christmas is fixed on
December 25th, while Easter is a movable date;
why upon the virgin conception the whole of Chris-
tendom rests; that his consciousness is the virgin
womb or bride of the Lord receiving impressions as
self-impregnations and then without assistance em-
bodying these impressions as the expressions of his
life.

75

CRUCIFIXION AND RESURRECTION

/ AM the Resurrection and the Life; he that be-
lieveth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he
live.—John 11:25.

The mystery of the crucifixion and the resurrec-
tion is so interwoven that to be fully understood the
two must be explained together for one determines
the other. This mystery is symbolized on earth in
the rituals of Good Friday and Easter. You have ob-
served that the anniversary of this cosmic event, an-
nounced every year by the church, is not a fixed
date as are other anniversaries marking births and
deaths, but that this day changes from year to year,
falling anywhere from the 22nd day of March to
the 25th day of April.

The day of resurrection is determined in this man-
ner. The first Sunday after the full moon in Aries
»-

76

CRUCIFIXION AND RESURRECTION

is celebrated as Easter. Aries begins on the 21st day
of March and ends approximately on the 19th day
of April. The sun's entry into Aries marks the be-
ginning of Spring The moon in its monthly transit
around the earth will form sometime between March
21st and April 25th an opposition to the sun, which
opposition is called a full moon, The first Sunday
after this phenomenon of the heavens occurs Is cele-
brated as Easter; the Friday preceding this day is
observed as Good Friday.

This movable date should tell the observant one
to look for some interpretation other than the one
commonly accepted. These days do not mark the an-
niversaries of the death and resurrection of an in-
dividual who lived on earth.

Seen from the earth, the sun in its northern pas-
sage appears at the Spring season of the year to cross
the imaginary line man calls the equator. So it is
said by the mystic to be crossified or crucified that
man might live. It is significant that soon after this
event takes place all nature begins to arise or resur-
rect itself from its long Winter's sleep. Therefore,
it may be concluded that this disturbance of nature,
at this season of the year, is due direcUy to this cross-
ing. Thus, it is believed that the sun must shed its
blood on the Passover.

77

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

If these days marked the death and resurrection
of a man, they would be fixed so that they would fall
on the same date every year as all other historical
events are fixed, but obviously this is not the case.
These dates were not intended to mark the anniver-
saries of the death and resurrection of Jesus, the
man. The scriptures are psychological dramas and
will reveal their meaning only as they are inter-
preted psychologically. These dates are adjusted to
coincide with the cosmic change which occurs at this
time of the year, marking the death of the old year
and the beginning or resurrecting of the new year
or Spring. These dates do symbolize the death and
resurrection of the Lord ; but this Lord is not a man ;
it is your awareness of being. It is recorded that He
gave His life that you might live, "I AM come that
you might have life and that you might have it more
abundantly." Consciousness slays itself by detaching
itself from that which it is conscious of being so that
it may live to that which it desires to be.

Spring is the time of year when the millions of
seeds, which all Winter lay buried in the ground,
suddenly spring into visibility that man might live;
and, because the mystical drama of the crucifixion
and resurrection is in the nature of this yearly change,
it is celebrated at this Spring season of the year; but,
actually, it is taking place every moment of time.

78

CRUCIFIXION AND RESURRECTION

The being who is crucified is your awareness of
being. The cross is your conception of yourself. The
resurrection is the lifting into visibility of this con-
ception of yourself.

Far from being a day of mourning, Good Friday
should be a day of rejoicing for there can be no
resurrection or expression unles there is first a cruci-
fixion or impression. The thing to be resurrected in
your case is that which you desire to be. To do this
you must feel yourself to be the thing desired. You
must feel "I AM the resurrection and the life of the
desire." I AM (your awareness of being) is the power
resurrecting and making alive that which in your
awareness you desire to be.

"Two shall agree on touching anything and I
shall establish it on earth." The two agreeing are
you (your awareness — the consciousness desiring)
and the thing desired. When this agreement is at-
tained the crucifixion is completed; two have crossed
or crossified each other. I AM and THAT— con-
sciousness and that which you are conscious of be-
ing — have joined and are one. I AM now nailed or
fixed in the belief that I AM this fusion. Jesus or I
AM is nailed upon the cross of that. The nail that
binds you upon the cross is the nail of feeling. The
mystical union is now consummated and the result
will be the birth of a child or the resurrection of a

79

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

son bearing witness of his Father. Consciousness is
united to that which it is conscious of being. The
world of expression is the child confirming this union.
The day you cease to be conscious of being that which
you are now conscious of being, that day your child
or expression shall die and return to the bosom of his
father, the faceless, formless awareness.

All expressions are the results of such mystical
unions. So the priests are correct when they say that
true marriages are made in heaven and can only be
dissolved in heaven. But let me clarify this statement
by telling you that heaven is not a locality; it is a
state of consciousness. The Kingdom of Heaven is
within you. In heaven (consciousness) God is touched
by that which he is aware of being. "Who has
touched me? For I perceive virtue has gone out of
me." The moment this touching (feeling) takes place
there is an offspring or going-out-of-me into visibility
taking place.

The day man feels "I AM free," "I AM wealthy,"
"I AM strong," God (I AM) is touched or crucified
by these qualities or virtues. The results of such touch-
ing or crucifying will be seen in the birth or resur-
rection of the qualities felt, for man must have visible
confirmation of all that he is conscious of being.
Now you will know why man or manifestation is al-
ways made in the image of God. Your awareness

CRUCIFIXION AND RESURRECTION

images and outpictures all that you are aware of
being.

"I AM the Lord and besides me there is no God."
I AM the Resurrection and the Life. You shall be-
come fixed in the belief that you are that which
you desire to be. Before you have any visible proof
that you are, you will, from the deep conviction which
you have felt fixed within you, know that you are;
and so without waiting for the confirmation of your
senses you will cry, "It is finished." Then with a
faith born of the knowledge of this changeless law
you will be as one dead and entombed; you will be
still and unmoved in your conviction and confident
that you will resurrect the qualities that you have
fixed and are feeling within you.

81

THE I'M-PRESSIONS

And as we have borne the image of the earthly,
we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. —
1 Cor, 15:49.

Your consciousness or your I AM is the unlimited
potential upon which impressions are made. I'm-
pressions are defined states pressed upon your I AM,

Your consciousness or your I AM can be likened
to a sensitive film. In the virgin state it is potentially
unlimited You can impress or record a message of
love or a hymn of hate, a wonderful symphony or
discordant jazz. It does not matter what the nature of
the impression might be; your I AM will, without a
murmur, willingly receive and sustain all impressions.

Your consciousness is the one referred to in Isaiah
53:3-7.

THE I'M-PRESSIONS

"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of
sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as
it were our faces from him, he was despised, and we
esteemed him not."

"Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our
sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of
God, and afflicted."

"But he was wounded for our transgressions, he
was bruised for our inquiries : the chastisement of
our peace was upon him ; and with his stripes we are
healed."

"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have
turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath
laid on him the iniquity of us all."

"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet
he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a
Iamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her
shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth."

Your unconditioned consciousness is impersonal ; it
is no respecter of persons. Without thought or effort
it automatically expresses every impression that is
registered upon it. It does not object to any impres-
sion that is placed upon it for, although it is capable
of receiving and expressing any and all defined states,
it remains forever an immaculate and an unlimited
potential.

83

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

Your I AM is the foundation upon which the de-
fined state or conception of yourself rests; but it is
not defined by, nor is it dependent on, such defined
states for its being. Your I AM neither expands nor
contracts; nothing alters or adds to it. Before any de-
fined state was, IT is. When all states cease to be,
IT is. All defined states or conceptions of yourself
are but ephemeral expressions of your eternal being.

To be impressed is to be I'm-pressed ( I AM pressed
— first person — present tense). All expressions are
the result of I'm-pressions. Only as you claim your-
self to be that which you desire to be will you express
such desires. Let all desires become impressions of
qualities that are, not of qualities that will be. I'm
(your awareness) is God and God is the fullness of
all, the Eternal NOW, I AM,

Take no thought of tomorrow; tomorrow's expres-
sions are determined by today's impressions, "Now is
the accepted time. The Kingdom of Heaven is at
hand." Jesus (salvation) said, "I am with you al-
ways." Your awareness is the savior that is with you
always; but, if you deny Him, He will deny you also.
You deny Him by claiming that He will appear, as
millions today are claiming that salvation is to come;
this is the equivalent of saying, "We are not saved."
You must stop looking for your savior to appear and

84

THE I'M-PRESSIONS

begin claiming that you are already saved, and the
signs of your claims will follow.

When the widow was asked what she had in her
house there was recognition of substance; her claim
was a few drops of oil. A few drops will become a
gusher if properly claimed. Your awareness magnifies
all consciousness. To claim that I shall have oil (joy)
is to confess that I have empty measures. Such im-
pressions of lack produce lack. God, your awareness,
is no respecter of persons. Purely impersonal, God,
this awareness of all existence, receives impressions,
qualities and attributes defining consciousness, name-
ly, your impressions.

Your every desire should be determined by need.
Needs whether seeming or real will automatically be
fulfilled when they are welcomed with sufficient in-
tensity of purpose as defined desires. Knowing that
your awareness is God you should look upon each
desire as the spoken word of God, telling you that
which is. "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in
his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?"
We are ever that which is defined by our awareness.
Never claim, "I shall be that," Let all claims from
now on be, "I AM that I AM." Before we ask we
are answered. The solution of any problem associated
with desire is obvious. Every problem automatically
produces the desire of solution.

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YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

Man is schooled in the belief that his desires are
things against which he must struggle. In his ig-
norance he denies his savior who is constandy knock-
ing at the door of consciousness to be let in (I AM
the door). Would not your desire if realized save
you from your problem? To let your savior in is the
easiest thing in the world. Things must be, to be let
in. You are conscious of a desire; the desire is some-
thing you are aware of now. Your desire, though
invisible, must be affirmed by you to be something
that is real. "God calleth those things which be not
(are not seen) as though they were."

Claiming I AM the thing desired, I let the savior
in. "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any
man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come
in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."
Every desire is the savior's knock at the door. This
knock every man hears. Man opens the door when
he claims, "I AM He." See to it that you let your
savior in. Let the thing desired press itself upon you
until you are I'm-pressed with nowness of your savior;
then you utter the cry of victory, "It is finished."

^

CIRCUMCISION

In whom also ye are circumcised with the cir-
cumcision made without hands; in putting off
the body of the sins of the flesh by circumcision
ofChrisL— Col. 2:11.

Circumcision is the operation which removes the
veil that hides the head of creation. The physical act
has nothing to do with the spiritual act. The whole
world could be physically circumcised and yet remain
unclean and blind leaders of the blind. The spirit-
ually circumcised have had the veil of darkness re-
moved and know themselves to be Christ, the light
of the world.

Let me now perform the spiritual operation on
you, the reader. This act is performed on the eighth
day after birth, not because this day has any special

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significance or in any way differs from other days,
but it is performed on this eighth day because eight
is the figure which has neither beginning nor end.
Furthermore, the ancients symbolized the eighth nu-
meral or letter as an enclosure or veil within and
behind which lay buried the mystery of creation.
Thus, the secret of the operation on the eighth day
is in keeping with the nature of the act, which act
is to reveal the eternal head of creation, that change-
less something in which all things begin and end and
yet which remains its eternal self when all things
cease to be. This mysterious something is your aware-
ness of being.

At this moment you are aware of being, but you
are also aware of being someone. This someone is
the veil that hides the being you really are. You are
first conscious of being, then you are conscious of
being man. After the veil of man is placed upon your
faceless self you become conscious of being a member
of a certain race, nation, family, creed, etc. The veil
to be lifted in spiritual circumcision is the veil of
man. But before this can be done you must cut away
the adhesions of race, nation, family and so on. "In
Christ there is neither Greek nor Jew, bond nor free,
male nor female." "You must leave father, mother,
brother and follow me." To accomplish this you
stop identifying yourself with these divisions by be-

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CIRCUMCISION

coming indifferent to such claims. Indifference is the
knife that severs. Feeling is the tie that binds. When
you can look upon man as one grand brotherhood
without distinction of race or creed, then you will
know that you have severed these adhesions. With
these ties cut, all that now separates you from your
true being is your belief that you are man.

To remove this last veil you drop your conception
of yourself as man by knowing yourself just to be.
Instead of the consciousness of "I AM man," let
there be just "I AM," — faceless, formless and with-
out figure. You are spiritually circumcised when the
consciousness of man is dropped and your uncondi-
tioned awareness of being is revealed to you as the
everlasting head of creation, a formless, faceless all-
knowing presence. Then, unveiled and awake, you
will declare and know that — I AM is God and beside
me, this awareness, there is no God.

This mystery is told symbolically in the Bible story
of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. It is re-
corded that Jesus laid aside his garments and took
a towel and girded himself. Then, after washing his
disciples' feet he wiped them with the towel where-
with he was girded. Peter protested the washing of
his feet and was told that unless his feet were washed
he would have no part of Jesus. Peter on hearing
this replied, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my

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hands and my head." Jesus answered and said, "He
that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but
is clean every whit."

Common sense would tell the reader that a man
is not clean all over just because his feet are washed.
Therefore, he should either discard this story as fan-
tastic or else look for its hidden meaning. Every story
of the Bible is a psychological drama taking place in
the consciousness of man, and this one is no exception.
This washing of the disciples' feet is the mystical
story of spiritual circumcision or the revealing of
the secrets of the Lord.

Jesus is called the Lord. You are told that the
Lord's name is I AM — Je Suis. "I AM the Lord that
is my name," Isaiah 42 : 8, The story states that Jesus
was naked save for a towel which covered his loins or
secrets. Jesus or Lord symbolizes your awareness of
being whose secrets are hidden by the towel (con-
sciounsess of man). The foot symbolizes the under-
standing which must be washed of all human beliefs
or conceptions of itself by the Lord. As the towel
is removed to dry the feet, the secrets of the Lord
are revealed. In short, the removing of the belief
that you are man reveals your awareness as the head
of creation. Man is the foreskin hiding the head of
creation. I AM the Lord hidden by the veil of man.

SO

INTERVAL OF TIME

Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in
God, believe also in me. In my Father's house
are many mansions; if it were not so, I would
have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will
come again, and receive you unto myself; that
where I am, there ye may be also. — John 14: 1-3.

"Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in
God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are
many mansions; if it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if
I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again,
and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there
ye may be also."

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YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

INTERVAL OF TIME

The ME in whom you must believe is your con-
sciousness, the I AM; it is God. It is also the Father's
house containing within itself all conceivable states
of consciousness. Every conditioned state of con-
sciousness is called a mansion.

This conversation takes place within yourself. Your
I AM, the unconditioned consciousness, is the Christ
Jesus speaking to the conditioned self or the John
Smith consciousness. "I AM John" from a mystical
point of view is two beings, namely, Christ and John.
So I go to prepare a place for you, moving from your
present state of consciousness into that state desired.
It is a promise by your Christ or awareness of being
to your present conception of yourself that you will
leave your present consciousness and appropriate
another.

Man is such a slave to time that, if after he has
appropriated a state of consciousness which is not
now seen by the world and it, the appropriated state,
does not immediately embody itself, he loses faith
in his unseen claim; forthwith he drops it and re-
turns to his former static state of being. Because of
this limitation of man I have found it very helpful
to employ a specified interval of time in making this
joumey into a prepared mansion.

"Wait but a little while."

We have all catalogued the different days of the
week, months of the year and seasons. By this I
mean you and I have said time and again, "Why,
today feels just like Sunday" or "—Monday" or
" — Saturday." We have also said in the middle of
Summer, "Why, this feels and looks like the Fall of
the year." This is positive proof that you and I have
definite feelings associated with these different days,
months and seasons of the year. Because of this asso-
ciation we can at any time consciously dwell in that
day or season which we have selected. Do not self-
ishly define this interval in days and hours because
you are anxious to receive it, but simply remain in
the conviction that it is done — time, being purely
relative, should be eliminated entirely — and your de-
sire will be fulfilled.

This ability to dwell at any point in time per-
mits us to employ time in our travel into the desired
mansion. Now I (consciousness) go to a point in
time and there prepare a place. If I go to such a
point in time and prepare a place, I shall return to
this point in time where I have left; and I shall
pick up and take you with me into that place which
I have prepared, that where I AM, there ye may
also be,

Let me give you an example of this travel. Sup-
pose you had an intense desire. Like most men who

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are enslaved by time, you might feel that you could
not possibly realize so large a desire in a limited
interval. But admitting that all things are possible
to God, believing God to be the ME within you or
your consciousness of being, you can say, "As John
I can do nothing; but since all things are possible
to God and God I know to be my consciousness of
being, I can realize my desire in a litde while. How
my desire will be realized I do not (as John) know,
but by the very law of my being I do know that
it shall be."

With this belief firmly established decide what
would be a relative, rational interval of time in which
such a desire could be realized. Again let me re-
mind you not to shorten the interval of time because
you are anxious to receive your desire; make it a
natural interval. No one can give you the time in-
terval. Only you can say what the natural interval
would be to you. The interval of time is relative, that
is, no two individuals would give the same measure-
ment of time for the realization of their desire.

Time is ever conditioned by man's conception
of himself. Confidence in yourself as determined by
conditioned consciousness always shortens the interval
of time. If you were accustomed to great accomplish-
ments, you would give yourself a much shorter in-

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INTERVAL OF TIME

terval in which to accomplish your desire than the
man schooled in defeat.

If today were Wednesday and you decided that it
would be quite possible for your desire to embody a
new realization of yourself by Sunday, then Sun-
day becomes the point in time that you would visit.
To make this visit you shut out Wednesday and let in
Sunday. This is accomplished by simply feeling that
it is Sunday, Begin to hear the church bells; begin to
feel the quietness of the day and all that Sunday
means to you; actually feel that it is Sunday.

When this is accomplished, feel the joy of having
received that which on Wednesday was but a desire.
Feel the complete thrill of having received it, and
then return to Wednesday, the point in time you left
behind you. In doing this you created a vacuum in
consciousness by moving from Wednesday to Sunday.
Nature, abhorring vacuums, rushes in to fill it, there-
by fashioning a mould in the likeness of that which
you potentially create, namely, the joy of having
realized your defined desire.

As you return to Wednesday you will be filled with
a joyful expectancy because you have established the
consciousness of that which must take place the
following Sunday. As you walk through the interval
of Thursday, Friday and Saturday, nothing disturbs
you regardless of conditions, because you predeter-

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mined that which you would be on the Sabbath and
that remains an unalterable conviction.

Having gone before and prepared the place, you
have returned to John and are now taking him with
you through the interval of three days into the pre-
pared place that he might share your joy with you,
for where I AM there ye may also be.

96

THE TRIUNE GOD

And God said:, Let us make man in our image,
after out likeness. — Gen. 1 : 26.

Having discovered God to be our awareness of
being and this unconditioned changeless reality (the
I AM) to be the only creator, let us see why the
Bible records a trinity as the creator of the world.
In the 26th verse of the first chapter of Genesis it
is stated, "And God said, Let us make man in our
image." The churches refer to this plurality of Gods
as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy
Spirit. What is meant by "God the Father, God the
Son and God the Holy Spirit" they have never at-
tempted to explain for they are in the dark concern-
ing this mystery.

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three aspects
or conditions of the unocondidoned awareness of be-

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ing called God. The consciousness of being precedes
the consciousness of being something. That uncon-
ditioned awareness which preceded all states of
awareness is God — I AM. The three conditioned
aspects or divisions of itself can best be told in this
manner:

The receptive attitude of mind is that aspect which
receives impressions and therefore may be likened
to a womb or Mother.

That which makes the impression is the male or
pressing aspect and is therefore known as Father.

The impression in time becomes an expression,
which expression is ever the likeness and image of
the impression; therefore this objectified aspect is
said to be the Son bearing witness of his Father-
Mother. An understanding of this mystery of the
trinity enables the one who understands it to com-
pletely transform his world and fashion it to his own
liking.

Here is a practical application of this mystery.
Sit quietly and decide what it is you would like most
to express or possess. After you have decided, close
your eyes and take your attention completely away
from all that would deny the realization of the thing
desired; then assume a receptive attitude of mind
and play the game of supposing by imagining how
you would feel if you were now to realize your desire.

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THE TRIUNE GOD

Begin to listen as though space were talking to you
and telling you that you are now that which you
desire to be.

This receptive attitude is the state of consciousness
that you must assume before an impression can be
made. As this pliable and impressive state of mind
is attained, then begin to impress upon yourself the
fact that you are that which you desired to be by
claiming and feeling that you are now expressing
and possessing that which you had decided to be and
to have. Continue in this attitude until the impression
is made.

As you contemplate being and possessing that
which you have decided to be and to have, you will
notice that with every inhalation of breath a joy-
ful thrill courses through your entire being. This thrill
increases in intensity as you feel more and more the
joy of being that which you are claiming yourself to
be. Then in one final deep inhalation your whole be-
ing will explode with the joy of accomplishment and
you will know by your feeling that you are impreg-
nated by God, the Father. As soon as the impression
is made, open your eyes and return to the world that
but a few moments before you had shut out.

In this receptive attitude of yours, while you con-
templated being that which you desired to be, you
were actually performing the spiritual act of genera-

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tion; so you are now on your return from this silent
meditation a pregnant being bearing a child or im-
pression, which child was immaculately conceived
without the aid of man.

Doubt is the only force capable of disturbing the
seed or impression; to avoid a miscarriage of so won-
derful a child, walk in secrecy through the necessary
interval of time that it will take the impression to be-
come an expression. Tell no man of your spiritual
romance. Lock your secret within you in joy, confi-
dent and happy that some day you will bear the son
of your lover by expressing and possessing the na-
ture of your impression. Then will you know the mys-
tery of "God said, Let us make man in our image."

You will know that the plurality of Gods referred
to is the three aspects of your own consciousness and
that you are the trinity, meeting in a spiritual con-
clave to fashion a world in the image and likeness
of that which you are conscious of being.

100

PRAYER

When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and
when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy
Father which is in secret; and thy Father which
seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. — Matt.
6:6.

What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, be-
lieve that ye receive them, and ye shall have
them. — Mark 11:24.

Prayer is the most wonderful experience man can
have. Unlike the daily murmurings of the vast ma-
jority of mankind in all lands who by their vain
repetitions hope to gain the ear of God, prayer is
the ecstasy of a spiritual wedding taking place in the
deep, silent stillness of consciousenss. In its true sense
prayer is God's marriage ceremony. Just as a maid

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on her wedding day relinquishes the name of her
family to assume the name of her husband, in like
manner, one who prays must relinquish his present
name or nature and assume the nature of that for
which he prays.

The gospels have clearly instructed man as to the
performance of this ceremony in the following man-
ner: "When ye pray go within in secret and shut the
door and your Father who sees in secret will reward
you openly." The going within is the entering of the
bridal chamber. Just as no one but the bride and
groom are permitted to enter so holy a room as the
bridal suite on the night of the marriage ceremony,
likewise no one but the one who prays and that for
which he prays are permitted to enter the holy hour
of prayer. As the bride and groom on entering the
bridal suite securely shut the door against the out-
side world, so too must the one who enters the holy
hour of prayer close the door of the senses and en-
tirely shut out the world round about him. This is
accomplished by taking the attention completely
away from all things other than that with which
you are now in love ( the thing desired ) .

The second phase of this spiritual ceremony is de-
fined in these words, "When ye pray believe that ye
receive, and ye shall receive." As you joyfully con-
template being and possessing that which you de-

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PRAYER

sire to be and to have, you have taken this second
step and are therefore spiritually performing the acts
of marriage and generation.

Your receptive attitude of mind while praying or
contemplating can be likened to a bride or womb for
it is that aspect of mind which receives the impres-
sions. That which you contemplate being is the
groom, for it is the name or nature you assume and
therefore is that which leaves its impregnation; so one
dies to maidenhood or present nature as one assumes
the name and nature of the impregnation.

Lost in contemplation and having assumed the
name and nature of the thing contemplated, your
whole being thrills with the joy of being it. This thrill
which runs through your entire being as you ap-
propriate the consciousness of your desire is the
proof that you are both married and impregnated.
As you return from this silent meditation, the door
is once more opened upon the world you had left be-
hind. But this time you return as a pregnant bride.
You enter the world a changed being and, although
no one but you knows of this wonderful romance,
the world will in a very short whUe see the signs of
your pregnancy, for you will begin to express that
which you in your hour of silence felt yourself to be.

The mother of the world or bride of the Lord is
purposely called Mary, or water, for water loses its

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YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

identity as it assumes the nature of that with which
it is mixed; likewise Mary, the receptive attitude
of mind, must lose its identity as it assumes the na-
ture of the thing desired. Only as one is willing to
give up his present limitations and identity can he
become that which he desires to be. Prayer is the
formula by which such divorces and marriages are
accomplished.

"Two shall agree as touching anything and it shall
be established on earth." The two agreeing are you,
the bride, and the thing desired, the groom. As this
agreement is accomplished a son bearing witness of
this union will be born. You begin to express and
possess that which you are conscious of being. Pray-
ing, then, is recognizing yourself to be that which you
desire to be rather than begging God for that which
you desire.

Millions of prayers are daily unanswered because
man prays to a God who does not exist. Conscious-
ness being God, one must seek in consciousness for
the thing desired by assuming the consciousness of
the quality desired. Only as one does this will his
prayers be answered. To be conscious of being poor
while praying for riches is to be rewarded with that
which you are conscious of being, namely, poverty.
Prayers to be successful must be claimed and appro-

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PRAYER

priated. Assume the positive consciousness of the

thing desired.

With your desire defined, quietly go within and
shut the door behind you. Lose yourself in your de-
sire; feel yourself to be one with it; remain in this
fixation until you have absorbed the life and name
by claiming and feeling yourself to be and to have
that which you desired. When you emerge from the
hour of prayer you must do so conscious of being and
possessing that which you heretofore desired.

105

THE TWELVE DISCIPLES

And when he had called unto him his twelve
disciples, he gave them power against unclean
spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all man-
ner of sickness and all manner of disease —
Matt. 10:1.

The twelve disciples represent the twelve qualities
of mind which can be controlled and disciplined by
man. If disciplined they will at all times obey the
command of the one who has disciplined them.

These twelve qualities in man are potentials of
every mind. Undisciplined their actions resemble
more the actions of a mob than they do of a trained
and disciplined army. All the storms and confusions
that engulf man can be traced direcdy to these twelve
ill-related characteristics of the human mind in its

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THE TWELVE DISCIPLES

present slumbering state. Until they are awakened
and disciplined they will permit every rumor and
sensuous emotion to move them.

When these twelve are disciplined and brought
under control the one who accomplishes this control
will say to them, "Hereafter I call you not slaves but
friends." He knows that from that moment on each
acquired disciplined attribute of mind will befriend
and protect him.

The names of the twelve qualities reveal their na-
tures. These names are not given to them until they
are called to discipleship. They are: Simon, who
was later surnamed Peter, Andrew, James, John,
Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James the
son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Canaanite,
and Judas.

The first quality to be called and disciplined is
Simon or the attribute of hearing. This faculty, when
lifted to the level of a disciple, permits only such im-
pressions to reach consciousness as those which his
hearing has commanded him to let enter. No matter
what the wisdom of man might suggest or the evi-
dence of his senses convey, if such suggestions and
ideas are not in keeping with that which he hears,
he remains unmoved. This one has been instructed
by his Lord and made to understand that every sug-
gestion he permits to pass his gate will, on reaching

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his Lord and Master (his consciousness), leave its
impression there, which impression must in time be-
come an expression.

The instruction to Simon is that he should permit
only dignified and honorable visitors or impressions
to enter the house {consciousness} of his Lord. No
mistake can be covered up or hidden from his Master,
for every expression of life tells his Lord whom he
consciously or unconsciously entertained.

When Simon by his works proves himself to be
a true and faithful disciple then he receives the sur-
name of Peter or the rock, the unmoved disciple, the
one who cannot be bribed or coerced by any visitor.
He is called by his Lord Simon Peter, the one who
faithfully hears the commands of his Lord and be-
sides which commands he hears not.

It is this Simon Peter who discovers the I AM to
be Christ, and for his discovery is given the keys to
heaven, and is made the foundation stone upon which
the Temple of God rests. Buildings must have firm
foundations and only the disciplined hearing can, on
learning that the I AM is Christ, remain firm and
unmoved in the knowledge that I AM Christ and
beside ME there is no savior.

The second quality to be called to discipieship is
Andrew or courage. As the first quality, faith in one-
self, is developed it automatically calls into being its

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THE TWELVE DISCIPLES

brother, courage. Faith in oneself, which asks no
man's help but quietly and alone appropriates the
consciousness of the quality desired and — in spite of
reason or the evidence of his senses to the contrary —
continues faithful — patiently waiting in the knowl-
edge that his unseen claim if sustained must be real-
ized — such faith develops a courage and strength of
character that are beyond the wildest dreams of the
undisciplined man whose faith is in things seen.

The faith of the undisciplined man cannot really
be called faith. For if the armies, medicines or wis-
dom of man in which his faith is placed be taken
from him, his faith and courage go with it. But from
the disciplined one the whole world could be taken
and yet he would remain faithful in the knowledge
that the state of consciousness in which he abides
must in due season embody itself. This courage is
Peter's brother Andrew, the disciple, who knows what
it is to dare, to do and to be silent.

The next two who are called are also related.
These are the brothers, James and John, James the
just, the righteous judge, and his brother John, the
beloved. Justice to be wise must be administered
with love, ever turning the other cheek and at all
times returning good for evil, love for hate, non-
violence for violence.

IDS

YOUR PAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

The disciple James, symbol of a disciplined judg-
ment, must when raised to the high office of a su-
preme judge be blindfolded that he may not be in-
fluenced by the flesh nor judge after the appearances
of being. Disciplined judgment is administered by
one who is not influenced by appearances. The one
who has called these brothers to discipleship con-
tinues faithful to his command to hear only that
which he has been commanded to hear, namely, the
Good. The man who has this quality of his mind dis-
ciplined is incapable of hearing and accepting as
true anything— either of himself or another— which
does not on the hearing fill his heart with love.

These two disciples or aspects of the mind are one
and inseparable when awakened. Such a disciplined
one forgives all men for being that which they are.
He knows as a wise judge that every man perfectly
expresses that which he is, as man, conscious of be-
ing. He knows that upon the changeless foundation
of consciousness all manifestation rests, that changes
of expression can be brought about only through
changes of consciousness.

With neither condemnation nor criticism these
disciplined qualities of the mind permit everyone to
be that which he is. However, although allowing
this perfect freedom of choice to all, they are never-
theless ever watchful to see that they themselves

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THE TWELVE DISCIPLES

prophesy and do — both for others and themselves —
only such things which when expressed glorify, digni-
fy and give joy to the expresser.

The fifth quality called to discipleship is Philip.
This one asked to be shown the Father. The awak-
ened man knows that the Father is the state of con-
sciousness in which man dwells, and that this state
or Father can be seen only as it is expressed. He
knows himself to be the perfect likeness or image
of that consciousness with which he is identified. So
he declares, "No man has at any time seen my Father,
but I, the son, who dwelleth in his bosom have re-
vealed him; therefore, when you see me, the son,
you see my Father, for I come to bear witness of
my Father." I and my Father, consciousness and its
expression, God and man, are one.

This aspect of the mind when disciplined persists
until ideas, ambitions and desires become embodied
realities. This is the quality which states "Yet in my
flesh shall I see God." It knows how to make the
word flesh, how to give form to the formless.

The sixth disciple is called Bartholomew. This
quality is the imaginative faculty, which quality of
the mind when once awake distinguishes one from
the masses. An awakened imagination places the one
so awakened head and shoulders above the average
man, giving him the appearance of a beacon light in

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YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

a world of darkness. No quality so separates man
from man. as does the disciplined imagination This
is the separation of the wheat from the chaff. Those
who have given most to society are our artists, sci-
entists, inventors and others with vivid imaginations.

Should a survey be made to determine the reason
why so many seemingly educated men and women
fail in their after-college years or should it be made
to determine the reason for the different earning
powers of the masses, there would be no doubt but
that imagination played the important part. Such
a survey would show that it is imagination which
makes one a leader while the lack of it makes one a
follower.

Instead of developing the imagination of man, our
educational system oftentimes stifles it by attempting
to put into the mind of man the wisdom he seeks.
It forces him to memorize a number of text books
which, all too soon, are disproved by later text books.
Education is not accomplished by putting something
into man; its purpose is to draw out of man the wis-
dom which is latent within him. May the reader call
Bartholomew to discipleship, for only as this quality
is raised to discipleship will you have the capacity
to conceive ideas that will lift you beyond the limi-
tations of man.

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THE TWELVE DISCIPLES

The seventh is called Thomas. This disciplined
quality doubts or denies every rumor and suggestion
that are not in harmony with that which Simon Peter
has been commanded to let enter. The man who is
conscious of being healthy (not because of inherited
health, diets or climate, but because he is awakened
and knows the state of consciousness in which he
lives) will, in spite of the conditions of the world,
continue to express health. He could hear through
the press, radio and wise men of the world that a
plague was sweeping the earth and yet he would re-
main unmoved and unimpressed. Thomas, the doubt-
er — when disciplined — would deny that sickness or
anything else which was not in sympathy with the
consciousness to which he belonged had any power
to affect him.

This quality of denial — when disciplined — protects
man from receiving impressions that are not in har-
mony with his nature. He adopts an attitude of total
indifference to all suggestions that are foreign to that
which he desires to express. Disciplined denial is not
a fight or a struggle but total indifference.

Matthew, the eighth, is the gift of God. This
quality of the mind reveals man's desires as gifts of
God. The man who has called this disciple into be-
ing knows that every desire of his heart is a gift from
heaven and that it contains both the power and the

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plan of its self-expression. Such a man never ques-
tions the manner of its expression. He knows that the
plan of expression is never revealed to man for God's
ways are past finding out. He fully accepts his de-
sires as gifts already received and goes his way in
peace confident that they shall appear.

The ninth disciple is called James the son of
Alphaeus. This is the quality of discernment, A clear
and ordered mind is the voice which calls this dis-
ciple into being. This faculty perceives that which is
not revealed to the eye of man. This disciple judges
not from appearances for it has the capacity to func-
tion in the realm of causes and so is never misled
by appearances.

Clairvoyance is the faculty which is awakened
when this quality is developed and disciplined, not
the clairvoyance of the mediumistic seance rooms,
but the true clairvoyance or clear seeing of the mys-
tic. That is, this aspect of the mind has the capacity
to interpret that which is seen. Discernment or the
capacity to diagnose is the quality of James the son
of Alphaeus.

Thaddaeus, the tenth, is the disciple of praise, a
quality in which the undisciplined man is woefully
lacking. When this quality of praise and thanksgiving
is awake within man, he walks with the words,
"Thank you, Father," ever on his lips. He knows

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THE TWELVE DISCIPLES

that his thanks for things not seen opens the windows
of heaven and permits gifts beyond his capacity to
receive to be poured upon him.

The man who is not thankful for things received is
not likely to be the recipient of many gifts from the
same source. Until this quality of the mind is dis-
ciplined, man will not see the desert blossom as the
rose. Praise and thanksgiving are to the invisible
gifts of God (one's desires) what rain and sun are
to the unseen seeds in the bosom of the earth.

The eleventh quality called is Simon of Canaan.
A good key phrase for this disciple is "Hearing good
news." Simon of Canaan, or Simon from the land of
milk and honey, when called to discipleship, is proof
that the one who calls this faculty into being has be-
come conscious of the abundant life. He can say with
the Psalmist David, "Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest
my head with oil; my cup runneth over." This dis-
ciplined aspect of the mind is incapable of hearing
anything other than good news and so is well quali-
fied to preach the Gospel or Good-spell.

The twelfth and last of the disciplined qualities of
the mind is called Judas. When this quality is awake
man knows that he must die to that which he is be-
fore he can become that which he desires to be. So
it is said of this disciple that he committed suicide,

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YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

which is the mystic's way of telling the initiated that
Judas is the disciplined aspect of detachment. This
one knows that his I AM or consciousness is his
savior, so he lets all other saviors go. This quality —
when disciplined — gives one the strength to let go.

The man who has called Judas into being has
learned how to take his attention away from problems
or limitations and to place it upon that which is the
solution or savior. "Except ye be born again you
cannot in anywise enter the Kingdom of Heaven."
"No greater love hath man than this, that he give his
life for a friend." When man realizes that the quality
desired, if realized, would save and befriend him, he
willingly gives up his life (present conception of him-
self) for his friend by detaching his consciousness
from that which he is conscious of being and as-
suming the consciousness of that which he desires
to be.

Judas, the one whom the world in its ignorance
has blackened, will when man awakes from his un-
disciplined state, be placed on high for God is love
and no greater love has a man than tins — that he lay
down his life for a friend. Until man lets go of that
which he is now conscious of being, he will not be-
come that which he desires to be ; and Judas is the
one who accomplishes this through suicide or de-
tachment.

116

THE TWELVE DISCIPLES

These are the twelve qualities which were given to
man in the foundation of the world. Man's duty is to
raise them to the level of discipleship. When this is
accomplished man will say, "I have finished the
work which thou gavest me to do. I have glorified
thee on earth and now, O Father, glorify thou me
with thine own self with the glory which I had with
thee before the world was."

117

LIQUID LIGHT

In him we live and move, and have our being.
—Acts 17:28.

Psychically, this world appears as an ocean of
light containing within itself all things, including
man, as pulsating bodies enveloped in liquid light.
The Biblical story of the Flood is the state in which
man lives. Man is actually inundated in an ocean of
liquid light in which coundess numbers of light-beings
move.

The story of the Flood is really being enacted to-
day. Man is the Ark containing within himself the
male-female principles of every living thing. The
dove or idea which is sent out to find dry land is
man's attempt to embody his ideas. Man's ideas re-
semble birds in flight — like the dove in the story, re-
us

LIQUID LIGHT

turning to man without finding a place to rest. If
man will not let such fruitless searches discourage
him, one day the bird will return with a green sprig.
After assuming the consciousness of the thing de-
sired he will be convinced that it is so; and he will
feel and know that he is that which he has con-
sciously appropriated, even though it is not yet con-
firmed by his senses. One day man will become so
identified with his conception that he will know it to
be himself, and he will declare, "I AM,* I AM that
which I desire to be (I AM that I AM)." He will
find that as he does so he will begin to embody his
desire (the dove or desire will this time find dry
land) thereby realizing the mystery of the word
made flesh.

Everything in the world is a crystallization of this
liquid light. I AM the light of the world Your aware-
ness of being is the liquid light of the world which
crystallizes into the conceptions you have of yourself.

Your unconditioned awareness of being first con-
ceived itself in liquid light {which is the initial ve-
locity of the universe.) All things from the highest
to the lowest vibrations or expressions of life are
nothing more than the different vibrations of veloci-
ties of this initial velocity; gold, silver, iron, wood,
flesh, etc., are only different expressions or velocities
of this one substance — liquid light.

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YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

All things are crystallized liquid light; the differ-
entiation or infinity of expression is caused by the
conceiver's desire to know himself. Your conception
of yourself automatically determines the velocity
necessary to express that which you have conceived
yourself to be.

The world is an ocean of liquid light in countless
different states of crystallization.

120

THE BREATH OF LIFE

Did the Prophet Elijah really restore to life the
dead child of the Widow? This story, along with all
the other stories of the Bible, is a psychological drama
which takes place in the consciousness of man. The
Widow symbolizes every man and woman in the
world; the dead child represents the frustrated de-
sires and ambitions of man ; while the prophet, Elijah,
symbolizes the God power within man, or man's
awareness of being.

The story tells us that the prophet took the dead
child from the Widow's bosom and carried him into
an upper room. As he entered this upper room he
closed the door behind them; placing the child upon

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a bed, he breathed life into him; returning to the
mother, he gave her the child and said, "Woman,
thy son liveth."

Man's desires can be symbolized as the dead child.
The mere fact that he desires is positive proof that
the thing desired is not yet a living reality in his
world. He tries in every conceivable way to nurse this
desire into reality, to make it live, but finds in the
end that all attempts are fruitless.

Most men are not aware of the existence of the
infinite power within themselves as the prophet.
They remain indefinitely with a dead child in their
arms, not realizing that the desire is the positive in-
dication of limitless capacities for its fulfillment.

Let man once recognize that his consciousness is a
prophet who breathes life into all that he is conscious
of being, and he will close the door of his senses
against his problem and fix his attention solely on
that which he desires, knowing that by so doing his
desires are certain to be realized. He will discover
recognition to be the breath of life, for he will per-
ceive — as he consciously claims himself to be now
expressing or possessing all he desires to be or to
have — that he will be breathing the breath of life
into his desire. The quality claimed for the desire
(in a way unknown to him) will begin to move
and become a living reality in his world.

122

THE BREATH OF LIFE

Yes, the Prophet Elijah lives forever as man's limit-
less consciousness of being, the widow as his limited
consciousness of being and the child as that which he
desires to be.

123

DANIEL IN THE LIONS' DEN

Thy God whom thou servest continually; he
will deliver thee.— Daniel 6: 16.

The story of Daniel is the story of every man. It is
recorded that Daniel, while locked in the lions' den,
turned his back upon the hungry beasts; and with
his vision turned toward the light coining from above
he prayed to the one and only God. The lions who
were purposely starved for the feast remained power-
less to hurt the prophet. Daniel's faith in God was
so great that it finally brought about his freedom
and his appointment to a high office in the govern-
ment of his country. This story was written for you
to instruct you in the art of freeing yourself from
any problem or prison in the world.

Most of us on finding ourselves in the lions' den
would be concerned only with the lions, we would

124

DANIEL IN THE LIONS' DEN

not be thinking of any other problem in the whole
wide world but that of lions; yet we are told that
Daniel turned his back upon them and looked toward
the light that was God. If we could follow the ex-
ample of Daniel while threatened with any dire dis-
aster such as lions, poverty or sickness, if, like Daniel,
we could remove our attention to the light that is
God, our solutions would be similarly simple.

For example, if you were imprisoned, no man
would need to tell you that what you should desire
is freedom. Freedom or rather the desire to be free
would be automatic. The same would be true if you
found yourself sick or in debt or in any other pre-
dicament. Lions represent seemingly unsoluble situ-
ations of a threatening nature. Every problem auto-
matically produces its solution in the form of a de-
sire to be free from the problem. Therefore, turn
your back upon your problem and focus your atten-
tion upon the desired solution by already feeling
yourself to be that which you desire. Continue in this
belief, and you will find that your prison wall will
disappear as you begin to express that which you
have become conscious of being.

I have seen people, apparently hopelessly in debt,
apply this principle, and in but a very short time
debts that were mountainous were removed. I have
also seen those whom doctors had given up as un-

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YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

curable apply this principle and in an incredibly short
time their so-called incurable disease vanished and
left no scar.

Look upon your desires as the spoken words of
God and every word of prophecy of that which you
are capable of being. Do not question whether you
are worthy or unworthy to realize these desires. Ac-
cept them as they come to you. Give thanks for them
as though they were gifts. Feel happy and grateful
for having received such wonderful gifts. Then go
your way in peace.

Such simple acceptance of your desires is like the
dropping of fertile seed into an ever-prepared soil.
When you drop your desire in consciousness as a
seed, confident that it shall appear in its full-blown
potential, you have done all that is expected of you.
To be worried or concerned about the manner of
their unfoldment is to hold these fertile seeds in a
mental grasp and, therefore, to prevent them from
really maturing to full harvest.

Don't be anxious or concerned as to results. Re-
sults will follow just as surely as day follows night.
Have faith in this planting until the evidence is
manifest to you that it is so. Your confidence in this
procedure will pay great rewards. You wait but a
little while in the consciousness of the thing desired ;
then suddenly, and when you least expect it, the thing

126

DANIEL IN THE LIONS' DEN

felt becomes your expression. Life is no respecter of
persons and destroys nothing; it continues to keep
alive that which man is conscious of being. Things
will disappear only as man changes his conscious-
ness. Deny it if you will, it still remains a fact that
consciousness is the only reality and things but mirror
that which you are conscious of being. The heavenly
state you seek will be found only in consciousness for
the Kingdom of Heaven is within you.

Your consciousness is the only living reality, the
eternal head of creation. That which you are con-
scious of being is the temporal body that you wear.
To turn your attention from that which you are
aware of being is to decapitate that body; but, just
as a chicken or snake continues to jump and throb
for a while after its head has been removed, likewise
qualities and conditions appear to live for a while
after your attention has been taken from them.

Man, not knowing this law of consciousness, con-
stantly gives thought to his previous habitual con-
ditions and, through being attentive to them, places
upon these dead bodies the eternal head of creation;
thereby he reanimates and re-resurrects them. You
must leave these dead bodies alone and let the dead
bury the dead. Man, having put his hand to the
plough (that is, after assuming the consciousness of

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the quality desired) , by looking back can only defeat
his fitness for the Kingdom of Heaven.

As the will of heaven is ever done on earth, you
are today in the heaven that you have established
within yourself, for here on this very earth your
heaven reveals itself. The Kingdom of Heaven really
is at hand. Now is the accepted time. So create a
new heaven, enter into a new state of consciousness
and a new earth will appear.

128

FISHING

They went forth, and entered into a ship, and
that night they caught nothing. — John 21:3.

And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right
side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast
therefore, and now they were not able to draw it
for the multitude of fishes. — John 21:6.

It is recorded that the disciples fished all night
and caught nothing. Then Jesus appeared upon the
scene and told them to cast their nets again but,
this time, to cast diem on the right side. Peter obeyed
the voice of Jesus and cast his nets once more into
the waters. Where but a moment before the water
was completely empty of fish, the nets almost broke
with the number of the resulting catch.

Man, fishing all through the night of human ignor-
ance, attempts to realize his desires through effort

129

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

and struggle only to find in the end that his search
is fruitless. When man discovers his awareness of be-
ing to be Christ Jesus, he will obey its voice and let
it direct his fishing. He will cast his hook on the right
side; he will apply the law in the right manner and
will seek in consciousness for the thing desired. Find-
ing it there, he will know that it will be multiplied in
the world of form.

Those who have had the pleasure of fishing know
what a thrill it is to feel the fish upon the hook. The
bite of the fish is followed by the play of the fish;
this play, in turn, is followed by the landing of the
fish. Something similar takes place in the conscious-
ness of man as he fishes for the manifestations of life.

Fishermen know that if they wish to catch big
fish, they must fish in deep waters; if you would
catch a large measure of life, you must leave behind
you the shallow waters with its many reefs and bar-
riers and launch out into the deep blue waters where
the big ones play. To catch the large manifestations
of life you must enter into deeper and freer states of
consciousness; only in these depths do the big ex-
pressions of life live.

Here is a simple formula for successful fishing.
First decide what it is you want to express or possess.
This is essential. You must definitely know what you
want of life before you can fish for it. After your

130

FISHING

decision is made, turn from the world of sense, re-
move your attention from the problem and place it
on just being by repeating quietly but with feeling,
"I AM." As your attention is removed from the world
round about you and placed upon the I AM so that
you are lost in the feeling of simply being, you will
find yourself slipping the anchor that tied you to the
shallows of your problem; and effortlessly you will
find yourself moving out into the deep.

The sensation which accompanies this act is one
of expansion. You will feel yourself rise and expand
as though you were actually growing. Do not be
afraid of this floating, growing experience for you
are not going to die to anything but your limitations.
However, your limitations are going to die as you
move away from them for they live only in your con-
sciousness.

In this deep or expanded consciousness you will
feel yourself to be a mighty pulsating power as deep
and as rhythmical as the ocean. This expanded feel-
ing is the signal that you are now in the deep blue
waters where the big fish swim. Suppose the fish you
decided to catch were health and freedom. You be-
gin to fish in this formless pulsating depth of your-
self for these qualities or states of consciousness by
feeling "I AM healthy"— "I AM free." You continue
claiming and feeling yourself to be healthy and free

131

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

until the conviction that you are so possesses you.
As the conviction is born within you so that ail
doubts pass away and you know and feel that you
are free from the limitations of the past, you will
know that you have hooked these fish. The joy which
courses through your entire being on feeling that you
are that which you desired to be is equal to the thrill
of the fisherman as he hooks his fish.

Now comes the play of the fish. This is accom-
plished by returning to the world of the senses. As
you open your eyes on the world round about you,
the conviction and the consciousness that you are
healthy and free should be so established within you
that your whole being thrills in anticipation. Then,
as you walk through the necessary interval of time
that it will take the things felt to embody themselves,
you will feel a secret thrill in knowing that in a little
while that which no man sees, but that which you
feel and know that you are, will be landed.

In a moment when you think not, while you faith-
fully walk in this consciousness, you will begin to
express and possess that which you are conscious of
being and possessing; experiencing with the fisher-
man the joy of landing the big one. Now, go and
fish for the manifestations of life by casting your
nets in the right side.

132

BE EARS THAT HEAR

Let these sayings sink down into your ears; for
the son of man shall be delivered into the hands
of men, — Luke 9:44.

"Let these sayings sink down into your ears, for
the Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of
men." Be not as those who have eyes that see not and
ears that hear not. Let these revelations sink deep
into your ears, for after the Son (idea) is conceived
man with his false values (reason) will attempt to
explain the why and wherefore of the Son's ex-
pression, and in so doing will rend him to pieces.

After men have agreed that a certain thing is hu-
manly impossible and therefore cannot be done, let
someone accomplish the impossible thing; the wise
ones who said it could not be done will begin to tell
you why and how it happened. After they are all
through tearing the seamless robe (cause of mani-
festation) apart they will be as far from the truth
as they were when they proclaimed it impossible. As
long as man looks for the cause of expression in
places other than the expresser, he looks in vain.

133

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

For thousands of years man has been told, "I AM
the resurrection and the life." "No manifestation
cometh unto me save I draw it," but man will not
believe it. He prefers to believe in causes outside of
himself. The moment that which was not seen be-
comes seen, man is ready to explain the cause and
purpose of its appearance. Thus the Son of Man
(idea desiring manifestation) is constandy being de-
stroyed at the hands (reasonable explanation or wis-
dom) of man.

Now that your awareness is revealed to you as
cause of all expression, do not return to the dark-
ness of Egypt with its many gods. There is but one
God. The one and only God is your awareness. "And
all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as noth-
ing." "And he doeth according to his will in the army
of Heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth
and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, what
doest thou?" If the whole world should agree that a
certain thing could not be expressed and yet you be-
came aware of being that which diey had agreed
could not be expressed, you would express it Your
awareness never asks permission to express that which
you are aware of being. It does so, naturally and
without effort, in spite of the wisdom of man and
all opposition.

"Salute no man by the way." This is not a com-

134

BE EARS THAT HEAR

mand to be insolent or unfriendly but a reminder
not to recognize a superior, not to see in anyone a
barrier to your expression. None can stay your hand
or question your ability to express that which you
are conscious of being. Do not judge after the ap-
pearances of a thing, "for all are as nothing in the
eyes of God." When the disciples through their judg-
ment of appearances saw the insane child, they
thought it a more difficult problem to solve than
others they had seen; and so they failed to achieve
a cure. In judging after appearances they forgot that
all things were possible to God. Hypnotized as they
were by the reality of appearances, they could not
feel the naturalness of sanity.

The only way for you to avoid such failures is to
constandy bear in mind that your awareness is the
Almighty, die all-wise presence; without help, this
unknown presence within you effortlessly outpictures
that which you are aware of being. Be perfectiy in-
different to the evidence of the senses, so that you
may feel the naturalness of your desire, and your de-
sire will be realized. Turn from appearances and
feel the naturalness of that perfect perception within
yourself, a quality never to be distrusted or doubted.
Its understanding will never lead you astray. Your
desire is the solution of your problem. As the de-
sire is realized, the problem is dissolved,

135

YOUR PAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

You cannot force anything outwardly by the
mightiest effort of the will. There is only one way you
can command the things you want and that is by
assuming the consciousness of the things desired.
There is a vast difference between feeling a thing
and merely knowing it intellectually. You must ac-
cept without reservation the fact that by possessing
(feeling) a thing in consciousness you have com-
manded the reality that causes it to come into ex-
istence in concrete form. You must be absolutely
convinced of an unbroken connection between the
invisible reality and its visible manifestation. Your
inner acceptance must become an intense, unalter-
able conviction which transcends both reason and
intellect, renouncing entirely any belief in the reality
of the externalization except as a reflection of an
inner state of consciousness. When you really under-
stand and believe these things you will have built up
so profound a certainty that nothing can shake you.
Your desires are the invisible realities which re-
spond only to the commands of God God commands
the invisible to appear by claiming himself to be the
thing commanded. "He made himself equal with
God and found it not robbery to do the works of
God." Now let this saying sink deep in your ear-
BE CONSCIOUS OF BEING THAT WHICH
YOU WANT TO APPEAR.

136

CLAIRVOYANCE

Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear
ye not? and do ye not remember? — Mark 8: 18.

True clairvoyance rests, not in your ability to see
things beyond the range of human vision, but rather
in your ability to understand that which you see.

A financial statement can be seen by anyone, but
very few can read a financial statement. The ca-
pacity to interpret the statement is the mark of clear
seeing or clairvoyance.

That every object, both animate and inanimate, is
enveloped in a liquid light which moves and pulsates
with an energy far more radiant than the objects
themselves, no one knows better than the author j
but he also knows that the ability to see such auras
is not equal to the ability to understand that which
one sees in the world around about him.

To illustrate this point, here is a story with which
the whole world is familiar, yet only the true mystic
or clairvoyant has ever really seen it.

137

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

SYNOPSIS

The story of Dumas' "Count of Monte Cristo" is, to the mys-
tic and true clairvoyant, the biography of every man.

Edmortd Dantes, a young sailor, finds the captain of his ship
dead. Taking command of the ship in the midst of a storm-swept
sea, he attempts to steer the ship into a safe anchorage.

On Dantes is a secret document which must be given to a
man he does not know, but who will make himself known to
the young sailor in due time. This document is a plan to set the
Emperor Napoleon free from his prison on the Isle of Elba.

ra

As Dantes reaches port three men (who by their flattery and
praise have succeeded in worming their way into the good graces
of the present king) fearing any change that would alter their
positions in the government, have the young mariner arrested
and committed to the catacombs.

IV

Here in this tomb Dantes is forgotten and left to rot. Many
years pass. Then one day Dantes (who is by this time a living
skeleton) hears a knock on his wall. Answering this knock, he
hears the voice of one on the other side of the stone. In re-
sponse to this voice Dantes removes the stone and discovers an
old priest who has been in prison so long that no one knows
the reason for his imprisonment or the length of time he has
been there.

138

CLAIRVOYANCE
COMMENTARY

Life itself is a storm-swept sea with which man wrestles as

he tries to steer himself into a haven of rest.

II

Within every man is the secret plan that will set free the
mighty emperor within himself.

Ill

Man in his attempt to find security in this world is misled
by the false lights of greed, vanity and power.

Most men believe that fame, great wealth or political power
would secure them against the storms of life. So they seek to
acquire these as the anchors of their life, only to find that in
their search for these they gradually lose the knowledge of
their true being. If man places his faith in things other than
himself, that in which his faith is placed will in time destroy
him; at which time he will be as one imprisoned in confusion
and despair.

IV

Here behind these walls of mental darkness man remains in
what appears to be a living death. After years of disappoint-
ment man turns from these false frinds, and he discovers with-
in himself the ancient one (his awareness of being) who has
been buried since the day he first believed himself to be man
and forgot that he was God,

139

YOUR FAITH 13 YOUR FORTUNE
SYNOPSIS

The old priest had spent may years digging his way out of this
living tomb only to discover that he had dug his way into
DanteY tomb. He then resigns himself to his fate and decides
to find his joy and freedom by instructing Dantes in all that he
knows concerning the mysteries of life and to aid him to escape
as well.

Dantes, at first, is impatient to acquire all this information;
but the old priest, with infinite patience garnered through his
long imprisonment, shows Dantes how unfit he is to receive
this knowledge in his present, unprepared, anxious mind. So
with philosophic calm he slowly reveals to the young man the
mysteries of life and time.

VI

As Dantes ripens under the old priest's instructions, the old
man finds himself living more and more in the consciousness of
Dantes. Finally, he imparts his last bit of wisdom to Dantes,
making him competent to handle positions of trust. He then
tells him of an inexhaustible treasure buried on the Isle of
Monte Cristo.

VII

At this revelation the walls of the catacomb which separated
them from the ocean above cave in, crushing the old man to
death. The guards, discovering the accident, sew the old priest's
body into a sack and prepare to cast it out to sea. As they leave
to get a stretcher Dantes removes the body of the old priest
and sews himself into the bag. The guards, unaware of this
change of bodies, and believing him to be the old man, throw
Dantes into the water.

140

CLAIRVOYANCE
COMMENTARY

V

This revelation is so wonderful that when man first hears it
he wants to acquire it all at once; but he finds that, after
numberless years spent in the belief of being man, he has so
completely forgotten his true identity that he is now incapable
of absorbing this memory all at once. He also discovers that
he can do so only in proportion to his letting go of all human
values and opinions.

VI

As man drops these cherished human values he absorbs more
and more of the light (the old priest) until finally he becomes
the light and knows himself to be the ancient one.

I AM the light of the world

VII

The flowing of both blood and water in the death of the old
priest is comparable to the flow of blood and water from the
side of Jesus as the Roman soldiers pierced him, the phenomenon
which always takes place at birth (here symbolizing the birth of
a higher consciousness) .

141

r

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE
SYNOPSIS

vin

Dantes frees himself from the sack, goes to the Isle of Monte
Cristo and discovers the buried treasure. Then, armed with this
fabulous wealth and this superhuman wisdom, he discards his
human identity of Edmond Dantes and assumes the title of the
Count of Moore Cristo.

CLAIRVOYANCE
COMMENTARY

via

Man discovers his awareness of being to be the inexhaustible
treasure of the universe. In that day when man makes this dis-
covery he dies as man and awakes as God.

Yes, Edmond Dantes becomes the Count of Monte Cristo.

Man becomes Christ.

142

143

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE
TWENTY-THIRD PSALM

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.

II

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.

Ill

He leadeth me beside the still waters.

TWENTY-THIRD PSALM
COMMENTARY

I

My awareness is my Lord and Shepherd, That which I AM
aware of being is the sheep that follow me. So good a shepherd
is my awareness of being it has never lost one sheep or thing
that I AM aware of being.

My consciousness is a voice calling in the wilderness of human
confusion; calling all that I AM conscious of being to follow
me. So well do my sheep know my voice they have never failed
to respond to my call; nor will there come a time when that
which I am convinced that I AM will fail to find me.

I AM an open door for all that I AM to enter. My awareness
of being is Lord and Shepherd of my life. Now I know I shall
never be in need of proof or lack the evidence of that which I
am aware of being. Knowing this, I shall become aware of being
great, loving, wealthy, healthy and all other attributes that I
admire.

II

My awareness of being magnifies all that I am aware of
being, so there is ever an abundance of that which I am con-
scious of being. It makes no difference what it is that man is
conscious of being, he will find it eternally springing in his
world. The Lord's measure (man's conception of himself) is al-
ways pressed down, shaken together and running over.

m

There is no need to fight for that which I am conscious of
being, for all that I am conscious of being shall be led to me
as effortlessly as a shepherd leads his flock to the still waters
of a quiet spring.

144

145

F,

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

IV

He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in the paths of righteous-
ness for his name's sake.

TWENTY-THIRD PSALM

COMMENTARY

IV

Now that my memory is restored — so that I know I AM
the Lord and beside me there is no God— my kingdom is re-
stored. My kingdom— which became dismembered in the day that
I believed in powers apart from myself — is now fully restored.

Now that I know my awareness of being is God I shall make
the right use of this knowledge by becoming aware of being
that which I desire to be.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, 1 will fear no evil; for thou art with me; they rod and
thy staff they comfort me.

VI

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine
enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

VII

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my
life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

14ft

Yes, though I walk through all the confusion and changing
opinions of men, I will fear no evil for 1 have found conscious-
ness to be that which makes the confusion. Having in my own
case restored it to its rightful place and dignity, I shall, in spite
of the confusion, outpicture that which I am now conscious of
being. And the very confusion will echo and reflect my own
dignity.

VI

In the face of seeming opposition and conflict I shall succeed,
for I will continue to outpicture the abundance that I am now
conscious of being.

My head (consciousness) will continue to overflow with the
joy of being God.

VII

Because I am now conscious of being good and merciful, signs
of goodness and mercy are compelled to follow me all the days
of my life, for I will continue to dwell in the house (or con-
sciousness) of being God (good) forever.

147

GETHSEMANE

Then cometh Jesus with them, unto a place called
Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit
ye here, while I go and pray yonder. — Matt.
26:36.

A most wonderful mystical romance is told in the
story of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, but
man has failed to see the light of its symbology
and has mistakenly interpreted this mystical union
as an agonizing experience in which Jesus pleaded
in vain with His Father to change His destiny.

Gethsemane is to the mystic the Garden of Crea-
tion — the place in consciousness where man goes
to realize his defined objectives. Gethsemane is a
compound word meaning to press out an oily sub-
stance: Geth, to press out, and Shemen, an oily sub-

148

GETHSEMANE

stance. The story of Gethsemane reveals to the mys-
tic in dramatic symbology the act of creation. Just
as man contains within himself an oily substance
which, in the act of creation, is pressed out into a
likeness of himself, so he has within himself a divine
principle (his consciousness) which conditions itself
as a state of consciousness and without assistance
presses out or objectifies itself.

A garden is a cultivated piece of ground, a specially
prepared field, where seeds of the gardener's own
choice are planted and cultivated. Gethsemane is such
a garden, the place in consciousness where the mys-
tic goes with his properly defined objectives. This
garden is entered when man takes his attention from
the world round about him and places it on his ob-
jectives.

Man's clarified desires are seeds containing the
power and plans of self-expression and, like the seeds
within man, these, too, are buried within an oily
substance (a joyful, thankful attitude of mind). As
man contemplates being and possessing that which
he desires to be and to possess, he has begun the
process of pressing out or the spiritual act of Crea-
don. These seeds are pressed out and planted when
man loses himself in a wild, mad state of joy, con-
sciously feeling and claiming himself to be that which
he formerly desired to be.

149

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

Desires expressed, or pressed out, result in the
passing of that particular desire. Man cannot possess
a thing and still desire to possess it at one and the
same time. So, as one consciously appropriates the
feeling of being the thing desired, this desire to be
the thing passes— is realized. The receptive attitude
of mind, feeling and receiving the impression of be-
ing the thing desired, is the fertile ground or womb
which receives the seed (defined objective).

The seed which is pressed out of a man grows into
the likeness of the man from whom it was pressed.
Likewise, the mystical seed, your conscious claim that
you are that which you heretofore desired to be, will
grow into the likeness of you from whom and into
whom it is pressed. Yes, Gethsemane is the cultivated
garden of romance where the disciplined man goes to
press seeds of joy (defined desires) out of himself
into his receptive atdtude of mind, there to care for
and nurture them by consciously walking in the joy
of being all that formerly he desired to be.

Feel with the Great Gardener the secret thrill
of knowing that things and qualities not now seen
will be seen as soon as these conscious impressions
grow and ripen to maturity. Your consciousness is
lord and husband; the conscious state in which you
dwell is wife or beloved. This state made visible is
your son bearing witness of you, his father and

150

GETHSEMANE

mother, for your visible world is made in the image
and likeness of the state of consciousness in which you
live ; your world and the fullness thereof are nothing
more or less than your defined consciousness objecti-
fied.

Knowing this to be true, see to it that you choose
well the mother of your children — that conscious
state in which you live, your conception of yourself.
The wise man chooses his wife with great discretion.
He realizes that his children must inherit the qualities
of their parents and so he devotes much time and
care to the selection of their mother. The mystic
knows that the conscious state in which he lives is
the choice that he has made of a wife, the mother
of his children, that this state must in time embody
itself within his world; so he is ever select in his
choice and always claims himself to be his highest
ideal. He consciously defines himself as that which
he desires to be.

When man realizes that the conscious state in
which he lives is the choice that he has made of
a mate, he will be more careful of his moods and
feelings. He will not permit himself to react to sug-
gestions of fear, lack or any undesirable impression.
Such suggestions of lack could never pass the watch
of the disciplined mind of the mystic, for he knows
that every conscious claim must in time be expressed

151

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

as a condition of his world — of his environment.
So he remains faithful to his beloved, his defined
objective, by defining and claiming and feeling him-
self to be that which he desires to express. Let a
man ask himself if his defined objective would be a
thing of joy and beauty if it were realized. If his
answer is in the affirmative, then he may know that
his choice of a bride is a princess of Israel, a daughter
of Judah, for every defined objective which expresses
joy when realized is a daughter of Judah, the king
of praise.

Jesus took with Him into His hour of prayer His
disciples, or disciplined attributes of mind, and com-
manded them to watch while He prayed, so that no
thought or belief that would deny the realization of
His desire might enter His consciousness. Follow the
example of Jesus, who, with His desires clearly de-
fined, entered the Garden of Gethsemane (the state
of joy) accompanied by His disciples (His disciplined
mind) to lose Himself in a wild joy of realization.
The fixing of His attention on His objective was
His command to His disciplined mind to watch and
remain faithful to that fixation. Contemplating the
joy that would be His on realizing His desire, He
began the spiritual act of generation, the act of
pressing out the mystical seed — His defined desire.
In this fixation He remained, claiming and feeling

152

GETHSEMANE

Himself to be that which He (before He entered
Gethsemane) desired to be, until His whole being
(consciousness) was bathed in an oily sweat (joy)
resembling blood (life) , in short, until His whole con-
sciousness was permeated with the living, sustained
joy of being His defined objective.

As this fixation is accomplished so that the mystic
knows by his feeling of joy that he has passed from
his former conscious state into his present conscious-
ness, the passover or crucifixion is attained. This
crucifixion or fixation of the new conscious claim
is followed by the Sabbath, a time of rest. There
is always an interval of time between the impression
and its expression, between the conscious claim and
its embodiment. This interval is called the Sabbath,
the period of rest or non-effort (the day of entomb-
ment).

To walk unmoved in the consciousness of being or
possessing a certain state is to keep the Sabbath. The
story of the crucifixion beautifully expresses this mys-
tical stillness or rest. We are told that after Jesus
cried out, "It is finished !" He was placed in a tomb.
There He remained for the entire Sabbath. When
the new state or consciousness is appropriated so you
feel, by this appropriation, fixed and secure in the
knowledge that it is finished, then you, too, will cry
out, "It is finished !" and will enter the tomb or Sab-

153

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

bath, an interval of time in which you will walk un-
moved in the conviction that your new consciousness
must be resurrected (made visible).

Easter, the day of resurrection, falls on the first
Sunday after the full moon in Aries. The mystical
reason for this is simple. A defined area will not
precipitate itself in the form of rain until this area
reaches the point of saturation; just so the state in
which you dwell will not express itself until the
whole is permeated with the consciousness that it is
so — it is finished.

Your defined objective is the imaginary state, just
as the equator is the imaginary line across which the
sun must pass to mark the beginning of spring. This
state, like the moon, has no light or life of itself,
but will reflect the light of consciousness or sun — "I
am the light of the world — I am the resurrection and
the life."

As Easter is determined by the full moon in Aries,
so, too, is the resurrection of your conscious claim
determined by the full consciousness of your claim,
by actually living as this new conception. Most men
fail to resurrect their objectives because they fail to
remain faithful to their newly defined state until this
fullness is attained. If man would bear in mind the
fact that there can be no Easter or day of resurrec-
tion until after the full moon, he would realize that

154

GETHS EM AN E

the state into which he has consciously passed will
be expressed or resurrected only after he has re-
mained within the state of being his defined objec-
tive. Until his whole self thrills with the feeling of
actually being his conscious claim, in consciously liv-
ing in this state of being it, and only in this way,
will man ever resurrect or realize his desire.

155

A FORMULA FOR VICTORY

Every place thai the sole of your foot shall
tread upon, that have I given unto you. — Joshua
1:3.

The majority of people are familiar with the story
of Joshua capturing the city of Jericho. What they
do not know is that this story is the perfect formula
for Victory, under any circumstances and against
all odds.

It is recorded that Joshua was armed only with
the knowledge that every place that the sole of his
foot should tread upon would be given to him; that
he desired to capture or tread upon the city of Jericho
but found the walls separating him from the city im-
passable. It seemed physically impossible for Joshua
to get beyond these massive walls and stand upon
the city of Jericho. Yet, he was driven by the knowl-
edge of the promise that, regardless of the barriers
and obstacles separating him from his desires, if he

156

A FORMULA FOR VICTORY

could but stand upon the city it would be given to
him.

The Book of Joshua further records that instead
of fighting this giant problem of the wall, Joshua
employed the services of the harlot, Rahab, and
sent her as a spy into the city. As Rahab entered
her house, which stood in the midst of the city,
Joshua — who was securely barred by the impassable
walls of Jericho— blew on his trumpet seven times.
At the seventh blast the walls crumbled and Joshua
entered the city victoriously.

To the uninitiated, this story is senseless. To the one
who sees it as a psychological drama, rather than as
a historical record, it is most revealing.

If we would follow the example of Joshua our vic-
tory would be similarly simple. Joshua symbolizes to
you, the reader, your present state; the city of Jericho
symbolizes your desire, or defined objective. The
walls of Jericho symbolize the obstacles between you
and the realization of your objectives. The foot sym-
bolizes the understanding; placing the sole of the
foot upon a definite place indicates fixing a definite
psychological state. Rahab, the spy, is your ability
to travel secredy or psychologically to any place in
space. Consciousness knows no frontier. No one can
stop you from dwelling psychologically at any point,
or in any state in time or space.

157

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

Regardless of the physical barriers separating you
from your objective, you can without effort or help
of anyone annihilate time, space and barriers. Thus
you can dwell, psychologically, in the desired state.
So, although you may not be able to tread physically
upon a state or city, you can always tread psycho-
logically upon any desired state. By treading psycho-
logically I mean that you can now, this moment,
close your eyes and after visualizing or imagining a
place or state other than your present one, actually
FEEL that you are now in such a place or state. You
can feel this condition to be so real that upon opening
your eyes you are amazed to find that you are not
physically there.

A harlot, as you know, gives to all men that which
they ask of her. Rahab, the harlot, symbolizes your
infinite capacity to psychologically assume any de-
sirable state without questioning whether or not you
are physically or morally fit to do so. You can today
capture the modern city of Jericho or your defined
objective if you will psychologically re-enact this
story of Joshua; but to capture the city and realize
your desires you must carefully follow the formula of
victory as laid down in this book of Joshua.

This is the application of this victorious formula
as a modern mystic reveals it today:

First: define your objective (not the manner of

158

A FORMULA FOR VICTORY

obtaining it) — but your objective, pure and simple;
know exactly what it is you desire so that you have
a clear mental picture of it. Secondly: take your
attention away from the obstacles which separate
you from your objective and place your thought on
the objective itself. Thirdly: close your eyes and
FEEL that you are already in the city or state that
you would capture. Remain within this psychological
state until you get a conscious reaction of complete
satisfaction in this victory. Then, by simply opening
your eyes, return to your former conscious state.

This secret journey into the desired state, with
its subsequent psychological reaction of complete sat-
isfaction, is all that is necessary to bring about total
victory. This victorious psychical state will embody
itself despite all opposition. It has the plan and power
of self-expression. From this point forward follow the
example of Joshua, who, after psychologically dwell-
ing in the desired state until he received a complete
conscious reaction of victory, did nothing more to
bring about this victory than to blow seven times
on his trumpet.

The seventh blast symbolizes the seventh day, a
time of stillnes or rest, the interval between the sub-
jective and objective states, a period of pregnancy
or joyful expectancy. This stillness is not the still-
ness of the body but rather the stillness of the mind

159

INEIANAPOLIS-MAHION COUNTY P !_
"'I lli'lllli II II I "«

llllli II
3 1978

■IN,
03363

3025

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

— a perfect passivity which is not indolence but a
living stillness born of trust in this immutable law
of consciousness.

Those not familiar with this law or formula for
victory, in attempting to still their minds, succeed
only in acquiring a quiet tension which is nothing
more than compressed anxiety. But you, who know
this law, will find that after capturing the psycho-
logical state which would be yours if you were al-
ready victoriously and actually intrenched in that
city, will move forward towards the physical realiza-
tion of your desires. You will do this without doubt
or fear, in a state of mind fixed in the knowledge of
a pre-arranged victory.

You will not be afraid of the enemy because the
outcome has been determined by the psychological
state that preceded the physical offensive; and all
the forces of heaven and earth cannot stop the vic-
torious fulfillment of that state.

Stand still in the psychological state defined as
your objective until you feel the thrill of Victory,
Then, with confidence born of the knowledge of this
law, watch the physical realization of your objective.

. . , Set your self, stand still and watch the
salvation of the Law with you. , . .
160

289.98

Neville

Your faith is your fortune

[18501943] (1993)

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