The Mystery of Power

What is power? Is it a quality brought into existence in the individual life by the touch of a magic wand? Where is the mystery of the powerful life? Is this mystery to be revealed only to the few? Power is an inherency of infinite Life. The sons of God are inherently powerful, because Father and Son are one. To many people it is a mystery that we do not demonstrate that power which we are. Let us set about to fathom this mystery. Power lies within ourselves; we do not find it in outer things. It must become a realization. The worthwhile life is the powerful life. What do we mean by the term worthwhile? The life, so lived from day to day that each day brings the richest possible returns, is the life worthwhile. What do I mean by the richest possible returns? The best accomplishment, the truest attainment, the highest realization, that each one in his stage of development is capable of reaching, are the richest returns. How shall we accomplish, attain, and realize our best? There is only one way -- in right use of present attainment.

The day worthwhile is the one that is dedicated to the giving of our best, so that when the time of quiet comes at its close and we think over the day’s work, we see that the hours have been spent in service, accomplishment, and unfoldment into greater realization. Let us come to the close of day with such assurance of God’s presence and power that we are richly blessed in consciousness.

How shall we live the day so that it will bless us? To get the best out of each day we must put our best into it. We must carry into the day the right attitude toward the events of every hour. The power within us is the divine gift, and endows us with the greatest of all blessings, the opportunity to express. Our highest duty is to make sure that what we put into the day is the best there is in us to give.

When I say that we must have a right attitude towards the events of the day, I mean that we must react toward the process of life spelled with a small p with the same faith, love, and joy that we do toward Process, spelled with a capital P. Let us have faith in the external experience, seeing it as an expression of law. If we are willing to take our best to the day’s experiences, we shall carry away from them a richness of insight, a fullness of consciousness, a satisfying awareness that, after all, these were good. Let us keep the prayer of affirmation always in our hearts and on our lips:

"Father, we have the faith to meet every experience, be it positive or negative, apparently ill or good, with the quiet confidence and poise that only communion with Thee can possibly give to the sons of God."

"How," do you say, "shall I react toward the experiences of the day with love?" Love is an attitude that we establish through sensing the unity of all life. If we truly love, we see that the events of the day belong to us; in fact, these bring us a message from the Father. We hear the voice of Spirit saying, "Here is my right place, and I can fulfill with fullness any obligation that the law reveals as mine." Then, shall we meet our work with love, the consciousness of unity which shows us that the external is by law, and not by chance. We have little difficulty in thinking of the internal or spiritual process, as the God-Process. Remember, first and last, that all is one; hence shall we not think of the outer as the Process manifesting in human experience?

There are those who have the attitude of faith and love, but they fail to live joyfully. Of all the lights that shine from the human face or from any other God-Expression joy shines farthest out to sea. It is the light of the world. The gloomy man is not the powerful man, because the light of God within him is not shining forth. Let there be joy -- -joy in the inner Process; joy in the events of the day, the outer process.

The man who goes to his day’s work enriched with the attitude of faith, love, and joy is the strong man whose influence has been felt in the uplifting process of the world through ages of progression. He is the one who rejoices to run the race of progress. He is the one who meets the day in the spirit of a man out on a divine adventure. He is one with the best in all experience. His days might be likened to those spent in a gymnasium; tests of strength present themselves. He rejoices because the power to meet these tests with integrity and completeness is within him -- his God heritage, as the son of Power. He does not falter before the most difficult tasks; he rejoices in the power that he has to meet the tasks well; and his day abounds in good for himself and for others.

In order to keep the triune attitude of faith, love, and joy in the inner and in the outer, we must have a right philosophy of life, a scientific method of procedure, and a deep religious experience. Since these are the elements that combine to bring a realization of power, let us consider them well. What constitutes a true philosophy of life? The philosopher is a lover of wisdom; the philosophy of the ages is the story of man’s search for the meaning of life. He who loves wisdom never leaves it behind him; he applies it to the day’s experiences as Jesus, who taught the true philosophy of life during his ministry, did. Jesus showed us that there is one Father, and that all men are brothers; also that principle is the foundation of all true living. His was the wisdom of the ages, and his life exemplifies the meaning of the attitude of faith, love, and joy applied to daily living.

Let us work out in our own lives the Jesus philosophy. His working basis was unity, brotherhood, if you will. Have you ever thought of living as a privilege? That is what Jesus did. The days bring us opportunities for the realization of our sonship in service and of meeting experience in the spirit of unity. The morning light of every day is a call to go forth with poise, faith, love, joy, to meet the day with its experiences -- all good if we but understand.

He who would live powerfully must have a scientific method -- a way by which he can carry his ideals of Fatherhood and brotherhood into action. Many great souls have seen the unity of life, but they have not attained to the realization of it. God’s ways are certain; he is working out the good of the whole. He is doing it by law or method. “Order is heaven’s first law.” Since unity is the basic principle of universal expression, let us base our living, our thinking, and our doing upon this law. When we live true to basis the hard experiences of the external pass away, and our days grow restful, free, and full of joy. That which we experience in the spirit of unity cannot limit us.

The first two steps, then, toward the realization of power are an attitude of faith, love, and joy, and a true method, the practice of those qualities which are the basis of our attitude. Method means practicing the Presence continually; in other words, it means seeing all men as brothers and all life as one. All men are members of one family, and the family name is Christ. Jesus and Paul used the Christ method. It is true that there are in this family many prodigals; but these may go home as soon as they are tired of the husks, for the Father’s attitude is one of expectancy.

A working philosophy and a scientific method are requisite to the one who would live a worthwhile life; but there is still something bigger. Men may see the meaning of experience, and practice the truly scientific method in thinking and doing, but they must take one more step in order to live the life of power; there must be a religious experience. This is fundamental in all worthful living. If mankind is persistent, and true to the vision of oneness, there comes the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is the basic experience; without it life is cold and mechanical. Hold to your philosophy; train your thinking; but think and act so that the great religious experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit will come upon you. As we live faithful to the divine trust, and practice steadfastly, persistently, and consistently the Presence of God in our daily experiences and in our thinking, we come to the great moment in which the Holy Spirit descends upon us as it did upon them of old. Our lives are transformed. In that great moment we are fully conscious of God’s Presence; we stand in the realization of this consciousness. Life is manifestly wonderful, glorious, free, and rich every day and all days.

True attitude and right method are necessary; it is well to keep our affirmations true to principle. This is a means to an end. The end is illumination which means inner vision -- perfect seeing. Remember we cannot put on the Holy Spirit, although we may use the words -- descend upon us, because our fathers used them to express what we are meaning now: a realization of the presence and power of God within and without. Baptism -- and we say that we are baptized of the Holy Spirit -- is an inner realization. We are baptized in the name or nature of God, the Father, and of the Eternal Son. We rise to the heights; we stand with Jesus on the Mount of Consciousness, and experience the baptism of the Spirit which shows us that God is All.

Glorified by the baptism of the Spirit we go forth powerfully equipped to meet life. The day is filled with God. This is the secret of power; it is the only way to attain. We are not speaking here of personal power, the power of domination. This is not The Power. Power that has its source in individual formulation is temporary power. It blesses neither the possessor of it nor his associates. True power is the realization that God is the only power. The powerful man is the man who has made his unity with God and man. There arises from this inner realization of the unity of life a mighty radiation which we call power. It is the power that Jesus demonstrated. It is the power that will raise the world. The man who radiates this kind of power has a great influence upon his fellow men; he does not identify with their weaknesses, but he blesses them with his consciousness of their strength. To those who think of themselves as weak he gives courage, as Jesus did. He refuses to recognize weakness as our heritage, but he helps those who cannot rise alone. Jesus fed the multitude spiritually and physically; he demonstrated power on every hand, because he realized that of himself he could do nothing, but that the Father worked through him. What Jesus did we can do, if we consecrate our lives to acknowledging God in all our ways -- to practicing the Presence without ceasing.

Jesus applied the principle of unity in every experience of the day. He blessed not only those whom he touched in person, but he is blessing the world after nearly two thousand years. He was conscious that the Father was doing the work, and that his responsibility was consecrated cooperation. Jesus taught us that in the consciousness of God we can do all things.

He accepted the principle of Omnipresence, and lived his life in accordance with it. Are there those who wish to follow in his footsteps? Let us suppose that there is someone young in this thought who wished to live the Christ life. I would say to him, "Keep the faith; be consistent; practice integrity; keep up the simple practice of affirming the Presence moment by moment." The exercise of affirming is uplifting; it sets the trend of our thinking in the right direction. We often think that because we have studied for five, ten, or fifteen years, we may let go a little now and then and not be so watchful of our thinking. I have studied for thirty-six years, and I find that as surely as I think that I know a great deal, and can afford to be less faithful, I come up against experiences that make me turn to my simple exercises of the affirmation that wisdom, strength, love, power, and joy are God’s intent for me.

If we wish to live a rich day, before rising in the morning, let us set the thermometer of our thought for the day. Many of us feel that we have not the time. We have time for our other appointments; what about the one with God, which should be kept first? The early morning is the time to set the hands of my thought-watch at Truth. Every moment is my moment to think the right thought -- yes, it is; but the moment of solitude which morning affords may not recur in the course of the day. It is precious; let us use it, and look out upon the day as a process of progressive action, saying to ourselves. "Every moment of this day is filled with good, with joy, and with abundant supply."

The day is rich with blessings to the one who sees his relation to God. His is the day of power. The day of power makes rich returns, for it is based upon an endeavor to realize God’s Presence in every event and experience of the hours.

Each one of us has the little things that often require more wisdom and power to meet than do the big things. The mother, the housekeeper, the business man, the teacher -- all who serve have their difficulties. How are these difficulties to be met? Shall we let the day with its experiences shape our thinking, or shall we by our thinking shape the events of the day? Think well on this before rising. We may be irritated or we may be peaceful. Which shall it be? Choose carefully, because today is forecasting tomorrow. As we live by Principle we meet the big things and the little things with poise and power, and build character for every day. Do not become identified with the wrong condition that confronts you; make it right first; then make your unity with it.

Moment by moment we live; moment by moment we think. If our thinking is optimistic, constructive, and right, and our doing is consistent with it, we shall find the day an opportunity for development. A day met with faith, love, and joy is the best preparation for the next day. Make the day worthwhile; make it a day of activity and of overcoming, and tomorrow will be richer as a result of your attitude today. So let us pass through life making the days worthwhile to ourselves and to others certain that the law is perfect at every point, rejoicing in the good of the whole, and as a consequence, realizing heaven every day. Thus shall we pass on into the open court, the place of freedom and power. With the morning light let us consecrate ourselves to living true to the principle of unity, to practicing the scientific method of thinking, and the great religious experience shall be ours. Jesus says, "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you."

Why have men believed that power was mysterious?

It is simply because they have not known what power is. The mystery is in ourselves. The solution is in ourselves -- that is, in our realization that all power in heaven and earth is ours, if we understand the Source of power.