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//section Title Page

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The Twelve Powers of Man

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//section Introduction

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JESUS prophesied the advent of a race of men who would sit
with Him on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel. This book explains the meaning of this mystical
reference, what and where the twelve thrones are, and what
attainments are necessary by man before he can follow Jesus
in this phase of his regeneration. Regeneration follows
generation in the development of man. Generation sustains
and perpetuates the human; regeneration unfolds and
glorifies the divine.

It is not expected that beginners in the study of
metaphysical Christianity will understand this book. It
deals with forces that function below and above the field
of the conscious mind. The average religious thinker knows
nothing about the subconscious mind and very little about
the superconscious; this book presupposes a working
knowledge of both.

This book aims to clear up the mystery that ever envelops
the advent, life, and death of Jesus. To the superficial
reader of the Gospels His life was a tragedy and, so far as
concerns the kingly reign that was prophesied, it was a
failure. Yet those who understand the subtlety of the soul
and supremacy of Spirit see that Jesus was conqueror of a
psychic force that was destroying the human race.

Jesus was the star actor in the greatest drama ever played
on earth. This drama was developed in the celestial realm,
its object being to inject new life into

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perishing men. The full significance of this great plan of
salvation cannot be understood by man until he awakens
faculties that relate him to the earth beneath and the
heavens above.

It had long been prophesied that the time was ripe for the
advent on this planet of a new race, and there had been
much speculation as to the character and advent of the
superman. Herein is set forth the metaphysical idea of the
spiritual quickening of man on the human plane and his
transformation into the divine: not by a miracle or the
fiat of God, but by the gradual refinement of the man of
flesh into the man of Spirit. As Paul taught, "This
corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must
put on immortality."

Jesus was the "first-fruits" of those who are coming out of
the mortal into the immortal. He was the type man, the
Way-Shower, and, through following His example and taking
on His character as a spiritual-minded man, we shall come
into the same consciousness.

Spiritual discernment always precedes demonstration,
consequently more is taught in this book as a possibility
of attainment by man than has been demonstrated by any man
save Jesus. Those who feel that they are ready for the
great adventure in the attainment of eternal life in the
body here and now should not be deterred because there are
no outstanding examples of men who have risen to this most
exalted degree. Through mental energy, or the dynamic power
of the mind, man can release the life

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of the electrons secreted in the atoms that compose the
cells of his body. Physical science says that if the
electronic energy stored in a single drop of water were
suddenly released its power would demolish a six-story
building. Who can estimate the power stored in the millions
of cells that compose the human body? The method of release
of this body energy and its control are mystically taught
by Jesus. He was transfigured before His apostles, "and his
face did shine as the sun, and his garments became white as
the light." Before His crucifixion He had attained such
mastery over His body cells that He told the Jews that they
might destroy His body and "in three days" He would "raise
it up." He demonstrated this in the resurrection of His
body after it had been pronounced lifeless. When He
disappeared in a cloud He simply unloosed the dynamic atoms
of His whole body and released their electrical energy.
This threw Him into the fourth dimension of substance,
which He called the "kingdom of the heavens."

The dynamic energy that man releases through prayer,
meditation, and the higher activities of his mind is very
great, and if not controlled and raised to the spiritual
plane, may prove a source of body destruction; if carried
to the extreme, it may even prove a cause of soul
destruction. "Be not afraid of them that kill the body, but
are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is
able to destroy both soul and body in hell." This one who
is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna is the

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personal self or selfish ego that is in man.

The electronic energy in man is a form of fire, which is
represented by Gehenna. This electronic fire must be used
unselfishly. If used to further the selfishness of man it
becomes destructive, through the crosscurrents that it sets
up in the nervous system.

We do not encourage those who still have worldly ambitions
to take up the development of the twelve powers of man. You
will be disappointed if you seek to use these superpowers
to gain money (turn stones into bread), control others
("the kingdoms of the world . . . All these things will I
give thee"), or make a display of your power ("If thou art
the Son of God, cast thyself down"). These are the
temptations of the selfish ego, as recorded in the 4th
chapter of Matthew, which Jesus had to overcome, and which
all who follow Him "in the regeneration" have to overcome.

Unspeakable joy, glory, and eternal life are promised to
those who with unselfish devotion strive to develop the Son
of God consciousness. All the glories of the natural man
are as nothing compared with the development of the
spiritual man. The things of this world pass away, but the
things of Spirit endure forever. In his flesh body man may
be compared to the caterpillar that is the embryo of the
butterfly. In its undeveloped state the caterpillar is a
mere worm of the earth, but it has, infolded within it, a
beautiful creature awaiting release from its material
envelope. Paul visualized this when he wrote in Romans
8:22, "For we know

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that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now. And not only so, but ourselves also,
who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves
groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, . . . the
redemption of our body."

Jesus, the Great Teacher, gave many lessons for our
instruction, the greatest and most mystical being The
Revelation of John. Here He showed Himself to John as He is
in His redeemed body. He stood in the midst of seven
lights, which represent the seven ideas of Divine Mind
ruling in the restored earth. "One like unto a son of man,
clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about at
the breasts with a golden girdle. And his head and his hair
were white as white wool, white as snow; and his eyes were
as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto burnished brass,
as if it had been refined in a furnace; and his voice as
the voice of many waters. And he had in his right hand
seven stars: and out of his mouth proceeded a sharp
two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth
in his strength."

This description of the appearance of Jesus is partly
symbolical, because John did not himself understand the
full import of the powers that were being exercised by the
spiritual man, whose words were so clean-cut that they
appeared to John as a two-edged sword; whose eyes were so
discerning that they seemed a flame of fire; whose voice
was like the rippling of many waters. Language is poor and
bare when one seeks to describe the glories of

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the spiritual state. Comparisons within the comprehension
of the reader are necessary, and they but tamely tell of
the superhuman man and his powers.

However, this pen picture by John of what he saw when he
was lifted up "in the Spirit on the Lord's day" gives us a
glimpse of what the redeemed man is like, and what we shall
attain when we "awake, with thy likeness."

It should be thoroughly understood that this sight of Jesus
that was given to John was not a vision of a man who had
died and gone to heaven up in the skies, but it was the
opening of John's eyes to existence in what may be termed
the fourth-dimension man. We use this term fourth dimension
because it is the name given to a state of existence that
popular material science says must be, in order to account
for the effects that are being expressed on every side. It
is also called the interpenetrating ether, which is not to
be understood as something material, or as being matter,
but as something having properties far more substantial
than matter. Through the application of mathematical
principles scientific men are proving the existence of the
spiritual side of Being. This does not refer to the
psychical realm in which undeveloped souls rest while
awaiting reincarnation. Many people take it for granted
that soul realms and spiritual realms are identical. But
these stand to each other as moonshine and sunshine. Jesus
called the interpenetrating state of being the kingdom of
heaven, or, in the original Greek, "the kingdom of the

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heavens." He said that it was like a treasure hid in a
field, which, when a man discovered it, he would sell all
that he had to buy. The majority of Christians believe that
they are going to this heaven when they die, but Jesus does
not teach that the dead go first to glory. On the contrary,
Jesus teaches that death may be overcome. "If a man keep my
word he shall never see death." Paul taught that Jesus
attained victory over death. "Christ being raised from the
dead dieth no more." "Let not sin therefore reign in your
mortal body, that ye should obey the lusts thereof: neither
present your members unto sin as instruments of
unrighteousness; but present yourselves unto God, as alive
from the dead, and your members as instruments of
righteousness unto God."

The Psalmist writes:

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"What is man, that thou art mindful of him?

And the son of man, that thou visitest him?

For thou hast made him but little lower than God,

And crownest him with glory and honor.

Thou makest him to have dominion over the works of thy
hands;

Thou hast put all things under his feet."

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With the mind of the seer, Ralph Waldo Emerson says:

"Great hearts send forth steadily the secret forces that
incessantly draw great events, and wherever the mind of man
goes, nature will accompany him, no matter what the path."

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//quote

Verily I say unto you, that ye who have followed me, in the
regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of
his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging
the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath left
houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or
children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a
hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life.

--JESUS

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//section Contents

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PAGE

Introduction ... 3

CHAPTER

I The Twelve Powers of Man ... 15

II The Development of Faith ... 24

III Strength--Stability--Steadfastness ... 34

IV Wisdom--Judgment ... 41

V Regenerating Love ... 52

VI Power--Dominion--Mastery ... 61

VII The Work of the Imagination in Regeneration ... 71

VIII Understanding ... 83

IX The Will Is the Man ... 97

X Spiritual Law and Order ... 110

XI Zeal--Enthusiasm ... 130

XII Renunciation ... 142

XIII Generative Life ... 161

Question Helps ... 175

Index ... 189

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//section Chapter 1

The Twelve Powers of Man

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THE SUBCONSCIOUS realm in man has twelve great centers of
action, with twelve presiding egos or identities. When
Jesus had attained a certain soul development, He called
His twelve apostles to Him. This means that when man is
developing out of mere personal consciousness into
spiritual consciousness, he begins to train deeper and
larger powers; he sends his thought down into the inner
centers of his organism, and through his word quickens them
to life. Where before his powers have worked in the
personal, now they begin to expand and work in the
universal. This is the first and the second coming of
Christ, spoken of in the Scriptures. The first coming is
the receiving of Truth into the conscious mind, and the
Second Coming is the awakening and the regeneration of the
subconscious mind through the superconscious or Christ Mind.

Man expands and grows under divine evolution as an
industrial plant grows. As the business expands, it is
found that system is necessary. Instead of one man's being
able to do the work with the assistance of a few helpers,
he requires many helpers. Instead of a few helpers, he
needs hundreds; and in order to promote efficiency he must
have heads

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for the various departments of the work. Scripture
symbology calls the heads of departments in man's
consciousness the twelve apostles.

Each of these twelve department heads has control of a
certain function in soul or body. Each of these heads works
through an aggregation of cells that physiology calls a
"ganglionic center." Jesus, the I AM or central entity, has
His throne in the top head, where phrenology locates
spirituality. This is the mountain where He so often went
to pray. The following outline gives a list of the Twelve,
the faculties that they represent, and the nerve centers at
which they preside:

Faith--Peter--center of brain.

Strength--Andrew--loins.

Discrimination or Judgment--James, son of Zebedee--pit of
stomach.

Love--John--back of heart.

Power--Philip--root of tongue.

Imagination--Bartholomew--between the eyes.

Understanding--Thomas--front brain.

Will--Matthew--center front brain.

Order--James, son of Alphaeus--navel.

Zeal--Simon the Cananaean--back head, medulla.

Renunciation or Elimination--Thaddaeus--abdominal region.

Life Conserver--Judas--generative function.

The physiological designations of these faculties are not
arbitrary--the names can be expanded or changed to suit a
broader understanding of their full nature. For example,
Philip, at the root of the

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tongue, governs taste; he also controls the action of the
larynx, as well as all vibrations of power throughout the
organism. So the term "power" expresses but a small part of
his official capacity.

The first apostle that Jesus called was Peter. Peter
represents faith in things spiritual, faith in God. We
begin our religious experience, our unity with Divine Mind,
by having faith in that mind as omnipresent, all-wise,
all-loving, all-powerful Spirit.

Faith in the spiritual man quickens spiritual
understanding. Peter believed that Jesus was the Messiah;
his faith opened his spiritual discernment, and he saw the
living Christ back of the personal mask worn by Jesus. When
asked, "Who do men say that the Son of man is?" the
apostles, looking upon personality as the real, said: "Some
say John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah,
or one of the prophets." Then Jesus appealed to their own
inner spiritual understanding and He said: "But who say ye
that I am?" Only Simon Peter answered: "Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered,
"Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of Hades [the grave] shall not prevail
against it. I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom
of heaven."

Spiritual discernment of the reality of man's origin and
being is the only enduring foundation of character. It was
to this faith in the understanding of the real being of man
that Jesus gave power in earth and heaven. It was not to
the personal Peter that Jesus gave the keys to His kingdom,
but to all

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who through faith apply the binding (affirming) and loosing
(denying) power of Spirit in the earth (substance
consciousness). Right here and now the great work of
character-building is to be done, and whoever neglects
present opportunities, looking forward to a future heaven
for better conditions, is pulling right away from the
kingdom of heaven within himself.

People who live wholly in the intellect deny that man can
know anything about God, because they do not have quickened
faith. The way to bring forth the God presence, to make
oneself conscious of God, is to say: I have faith in God; I
have faith in Spirit; I have faith in things invisible.
Such affirmations of faith, such praise to the invisible
God, the unknown God, will make God visible to the mind and
will strengthen the faith faculty. Thus faith (Peter) is
called and instructed spiritually.

When a center loses its power it should be baptized by the
word of Spirit. We are told in the Scriptures that Philip
went down to Gaza ("the same is desert"), and there
baptized a eunuch. Gaza means a "citadel of strength." It
refers to the nerve center in the loins, where Andrew
(strength) reigns. "Lo now, his strength is in his loins."
Gaza is the physical throne of strength, as Jerusalem is
the throne of love.

The back grows weak under the burden of material thought.
If you are given to pains in your back, if you become
exhausted easily, you may know at once that you need
treatment for freedom from

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material burdens. Eliminate from your mind all thought of
the burdens of the world, the burdens of your life, and all
seeming labors. Take your burdens to Christ. "Come unto me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest."

We are pressed upon by ideas of materiality. Thoughts make
things, and the material ideas that are pressing upon us
are just as substantial in the realm of mind as material
things are substantial in the realm of matter. Everything
has origin in thought, and material thoughts will bring
forth material things. So you should baptize and cleanse
with your spiritual word every center, as Philip baptized
the eunuch of Gaza. Baptism is cleansing. It always
represents the erasing power of the mind.

When the baptizing power of the word is poured upon a
center, it cleanses all material thought; impotence is
vitalized with new life, and the whole subconsciousness is
awakened and quickened. The word of the Lord is there sown
in the body, and once the word of the Lord is sown in any
of these centers--the cells of which are like blank
phonograph records--they take the thought that is given
them, and send it through the whole organism. The baptism
of strength goes to the uttermost parts of the body, and
every one of the twelve powers, under the divine law, feels
the new strength.

James, the son of Zebedee, represents discrimination and
good judgment in dealing with substantial things. James is
the faculty in man that wisely chooses and determines. It
may be in the matter of

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food; it may be in the matter of judgment about the
relation of external forces; it may be in the choosing of a
wife or a husband--in a thousand different ways this
faculty is developed in man. The spiritual side of the
James faculty is intuition, quick knowing.

James and John are brothers, and Jesus called them "sons of
thunder." These brothers preside over the great body brain
called the solar plexus, or sun center. James has his
throne at the pit of the stomach; and John, just back of
the heart. They are unified by bundles of nerves and are
metaphysically closely related. Whatever affects the
stomach will sympathetically affect the heart. People with
weak stomachs nearly always think they have heart trouble.

Jesus called those two apostles "sons of thunder."
Tremendous vibrations or emotions that go forth from the
solar plexus. When your sympathies are aroused, you will
find that you begin to breathe deeply and strongly, and if
you are very sympathetic you can feel the vibrations as
they go out to the person or thing to which you are
directing your thoughts. All fervor, all the high energy
that comes from soul, passes through these centers.

Bartholomew represents the imagination. The imagination has
its center of action directly between the eyes. This is the
point of expression for a set of tissues that extend back
into the brain and connect with an imaging or
picture-making function near the root of the optic nerve.
Through this faculty you can project an image of things
that are without, or

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ideas that are within. For instance, you can project the
image of jealousy to any part of your body and, by the
chemistry of thought combined with function, make your
complexion yellow, or you can image and project beauty by
thinking goodness and perfection for everybody. Bartholomew
is connected directly with the soul, and has great power in
the pictures of the mind. Jesus saw him under a fig tree, a
long way off, before he was visible to the natural eye. Do
not imagine anything but good, because under the law of
thought combined with substance it will sooner or later
come into expression, unless you head it off, eliminate it
by denial.

Man has faculties of elimination, as well as of
appropriation. If you know how to handle them you can expel
error from your thought body. The denial apostle is
Thaddaeus, presiding in the abdominal region, the great
renunciator of the mind and the body. All the faculties are
necessary to the perfect expression of the man. None is
despised or unclean. Some have been misunderstood; through
ignorance man has called them mean, until they act in that
way and cause him pain and sorrow. The elimination, by
Thaddaeus, of the waste of the system through the bowels is
a very necessary function.

Thomas represents the understanding power of man. He is
called the doubter because he wants to know about
everything. Thomas is in the front brain, and his
collaborator, Matthew, the will, occupies the same brain
area. These two faculties are jointly in occupation of this
part of the "promised land." Like

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the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, their inheritance in
undivided.

James, the son of Alphaeus, represents divine order. His
center is at the navel.

Simon, the Cananaean, represents zeal; his center is at the
medulla, at the base of the brain. When you burn with zeal
and are anxious to accomplish great things, you generate
heat at the base of your brain. If this condition is not
balanced by the co-operation of the supplying faculties,
you will burn up the cells and impede the growth of the
soul. "For the zeal of thy house hath eaten me up."

Judas, who betrayed Jesus, has his throne in the generative
center. Judas governs the life consciousness in the body,
and without his wise co-operation the organism loses its
essential substance, and dies. Judas is selfish; greed is
his "devil." Judas governs the most subtle of the "beasts
of the field"--sensation; but Judas can be redeemed. The
Judas function generates the life of the body. We need
life, but life must be guided in divine ways. There must be
a righteous expression of life. Judas, the betrayer of
Jesus, must in the end be cleansed of the devil,
selfishness; having been cleansed, he will allow the life
force to flow to every part of the organism. Instead of
being a thief (drawing to the sex center the vital forces
necessary to the substance of the whole man) Judas will
become a supplier; he will give his life to every faculty.
In the prevailing race consciousness Judas drains the whole
man, and the body dies as a result of his selfish thievery.

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It is through Judas (the desire to appropriate and to
experience the pleasure of sensation) that the soul (Eve)
is led into sin. Through the sins of the sex life (casting
away of the precious substance), the body is robbed of its
essential fluids and eventually disintegrates. The result
is called death, which is the great and last enemy to be
overcome by man. Immortality in the body is possible to man
only when he has overcome the weaknesses of sensation, and
conserves his life substance. When we awaken to the
realization that all indulgence for pleasure alone is
followed by pain, then we shall know the meaning of eating
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or pleasure
and pain.

If you would build up your faculties under the divine law,
redeem Judas. First have faith in the power of Spirit, and
then speak to Judas the word of purity. Speak to him the
word of unselfishness; baptize him with the whole
Spirit--Holy Spirit. If there is in you a selfish desire to
exercise sensation, to experience the pleasures of sense in
any of its avenues, give that desire to the Lord; in no
other way can you come into eternal life.

These twelve powers are all expressed and developed under
the guidance of Divine Mind. "Not by might, nor by power,
but by my Spirit, saith Jehovah of hosts." You must keep
the equipoise; you must, in all the bringing forth of the
twelve powers of man, realize that they come from God: that
they are directed by the Word of God, and that man (Jesus)
is their head.

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//section Chapter 2

The Development of Faith

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FAITH has an abiding place in man's consciousness. This
place of abiding is described in the Scriptures as the
"house of Simon and Andrew." A house is a structure that
some person has built for a home. A man's house is his
castle. Perhaps generation after generation is born and
reared in the same house. The house where a great genius
was born is preserved with care, and it is visited year
after year by those who are devotees of the one who
expressed some great thought, art, or discovery. If the
barn cave at Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, were found,
it would become the most famous shrine in the world. The
importance that we give to the places where great men and
women were born is founded on the centralizing power of
thought. All structures are thought concentrations.
Constructive thinking ultimates in the construction of
places of abode. Savages do not build houses or cities,
because they do not think constructively.

In the time of David the Children of Israel were nomads.
The consciousness of indwelling Spirit had not been born in
their minds, and could not, in consequence, be formed in
their bodies. That the time was ripe for a more
constructive state of mind is set forth in these words of
Jehovah, in II Samuel 7:5, 6:

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//quote

Shalt thou build me a house for me to dwell in? for I have
not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up the
children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have
walked in a tent and in a tabernacle.

//text

After receiving this message, David, the drawing power of
love, began gathering material for Solomon's Temple.
Jehovah told David that he could not build the Temple
because he was a man of war. The temple of God is man's
body ("Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit"), but if
man has not complied with the law of permanent body
building, he is like the nomadic Children of Israel; he
goes from body to body and from tabernacle to tabernacle.

//quote

Except Jehovah build the house,

They labor in vain that build it.

//text

The tents and the tabernacles that the Children of Israel
built for Jehovah represent the transitory bodies of flesh.
The Lord has merely "walked" in these flimsy temples; they
have not afforded an abiding place for Spirit, because of
their unsubstantial character. The underlying weakness of
the tent body was its lack of faith in the inhabiting soul.
A new consciousness of the indwelling spiritual substance
and life was necessary, and a man was chosen to bring it
forth. This man, named Abraham, represents obedience and
faith. His original name was Abram, which means "exalted
father." The name is identified with the highest cosmic
principle, the all-pervading, self-existent spiritual
substance, which is the primary source of the universe.

Abraham was tested again and again, to the end

//page 26

that he might be strong in faith. His great test of faith
was his willingness to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac in
the mountain of the Lord. "And Abraham called the name of
that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the
mount of Jehovah it shall be provided."

This incident is intended to show the necessity of a man's
giving up that which he considers his dearest possession
before he can realize the divine providence. The incident
takes place in the mount of the Lord; that is, in a high
spiritual understanding.

The law of giving and receiving pertains to the realm of
ideas; one must give up personal attachments before one can
receive the universal. If a parent idealizes a child, loves
it so dearly that its pleasure is first in his
consciousness, the spiritual development of the parent is
impeded. Then, before the love of God (which is the supreme
thing) can fill the heart, there must be a sacrifice of
human love. If like Abraham one is faithful and obedient
and willing to give to the Lord his most precious
possession, there is always a receiving or providing
equivalent.

When Abraham was willing to sacrifice his beloved Isaac,
the Lord stayed his hand; his attention was directed to a
ram in a thicket nearby, and he was directed to sacrifice
the animal upon the altar, in place of the child. Here is
illustrated an often misunderstood law of sacrifice or
renunciation. We do not have to give up our cherished
things, if they are

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real, but the error that prevents their full expression
must be destroyed. The ram (which represents the resistance
and opposition of personality to the complete expression of
Truth) must be sacrificed.

"Give, and it shall be given unto you" is the statement of
a law that operates in every thought and act of man. This
law is the foundation of all barter and financial exchange.
Men scheme to get something for nothing; but the law, in
one of its many forms, overtakes them in the end. Even
metaphysicians, who above all people should understand the
law, often act as if they expected God to provide
abundantly for them before they have earned abundance. It
is an error to think that God gives anybody anything that
has not been earned. The Holy Spirit comes upon those who
pray in the "upper room." The "upper room" corresponds to
the "mount of Jehovah." It is the high place in
consciousness where man realizes the presence of Divine
Mind. The greatest work that one can do is to strive to
know God and to keep His law. God pays liberally for this
service and the reward is sure. Faith is built up in
consciousness under this law.

"Faith is assurance of things hoped for." When there has
been an aspiration and a reaching out for the spiritual
life, the faith faculty becomes active in consciousness.
The prayer of supplication is impotent--the prayer of
affirmation is immediately effective.

Intellectual faith admits doubt, and hope of fulfillment in
the future; spiritual faith includes unfailing

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assurance and immediate response. These two attitudes of
faith are often observed acting and reacting upon each
other. Peter started to walk on the water in spiritual
faith, but when he saw the effects of the wind he was
afraid, and began to sink. Then the I AM (Jesus) gave its
hand of spiritual power, the wind ceased, and there was no
longer any doubt of faith's ability to rise above the
negative consciousness.

The first and greatest disciple of Jesus was Peter, who has
been universally accepted by the followers of Jesus the
Christ as a type representing faith. Before he met Jesus,
Peter was called Simon. Simon means "hearing," which
represents receptivity. We understand from this that
listening to Truth in a receptive state of mind opens the
way for receiving the next degree in the divine order,
which is faith. Jesus gave Peter his new name and also its
meaning: "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build
my church."

Faith in the reality of the invisible builds a real,
abiding substance in mind and in body. All kinds of ideas
grow quickly when planted in this rich substance of the
mind. Jesus also called this substance of faith the
"earth," and He said to Peter, "Whatsoever thou shalt bind
[affirm] on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever
thou shalt loose [deny] on earth shall be loosed in
heaven." In all His teaching Jesus emphasized that the
ruling forces of both heaven and earth are in man. "The
kingdom of God is within you." "All authority hath been
given unto me in heaven and on earth." "Is it not

//page 29

written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?" When we
understand the omnipresence of Spirit (God) we quickly see
how simple and true this beautiful doctrine of Jesus is.

There is but one real faith; the avenue of expression
determines the character and power of faith. Trust is a
cheaper brand of faith, but trust is better than mistrust.
As a rule, people who merely trust in the Lord do not
understand all the law. If they had understanding they
would affirm the presence and power of God until the very
substance of Spirit would appear in consciousness--and this
is faith established on a rock.

Faith words should be expressed both silently and audibly.
The power of the spoken word is but slightly understood,
because the law of the Word is not rightly observed. The
Word is the creative idea in Divine Mind, which may be
expressed by man when he has fulfilled the law of
expression. All words are formative but not all words are
creative. The creative word lays hold of Spirit substance
and power. Physical science hints at this inner substance
and energy, in its description of the almost inconceivable
power inherent in the universal ether. We are told that the
manifest forces, such as heat, light, and electricity, are
but faint manifestations of an omnipresent element which is
thousands of times greater than these weak expressions.

Radio is opening up a new field of activity in the use of
the spoken word. A newspaper article on the wireless
telephone says:

//page 30

//quote

Do you happen to know that a single word spoken in Lower
Broadway, New York, among the skyscrapers, could break
every pane of glass in adjacent buildings and create a
disturbance that would be felt for a mile in every
direction?

The human voice, transformed into electrical energy for
wireless transmission, develops 270 horse power. The power
of ten men is equal to one horse power. The human voice
electrified for wireless purposes is equivalent to the
power of 2,700 men. In the various processes that step up a
voice for radio transmission across the Atlantic ocean, it
becomes 135,000 times more powerful than when uttered by
the person sending the message.

Thus, starting with an initial energy of 1/1,000 of an
electric watt, the voice is boosted by a powerful station
until it is intensified 100 million times.

//text

If the spoken word can be mechanically intensified a
hundred million times, how much greater will be its power
when energized by Spirit! When Jesus said with a loud voice
to Lazarus, "Come forth," He must have made contact with
the creative word referred to in the 1st chapter of John,
because the results showed its life-giving character. When
He healed the centurion's servant by His word sent forth on
invisible currents, He said that the work was done through
faith. So faith must boost the spoken word even more than a
hundred million times, as evidenced by its marvelous
results. That the word of faith has an inner force, and
that this force rushes forth and produces remarkable
transformations in the phenomenal world, is the testimony
of thousands who have witnessed its results.

Jesus said: "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard

//page 31

seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to
yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be
impossible unto you." He knew about the great spiritual
machinery that the word of faith sets into action. He
illustrated how man spiritually developed could by faith
control the elements, quell storms, walk on water, retard
or increase the growth of life and substance in grains,
trees, animals, and men.

The ponderous dynamos that generate electricity to light a
city are set going by a touch on a button. There is a
button in the mind of man that connects him, through faith,
with almighty energy. When the word of faith is spoken to
large tumors and they melt away, is not the transformation
equal to the removal of mountains? When a paralyzed limb,
or a lifeless organ, is quickened and restored to natural
functioning, is not that quickening a raising of the dead?

It is not necessary that the one who touches the button of
faith shall understand all the intricate machinery with
which he makes contact; he knows, like one who turns the
electric switch, that the light or power will spring forth.
The faith center, the pineal gland, opens the mind of man
to spiritual faith. Merely affirming the activity of this
superpower will quicken it in consciousness. Jesus said, "I
speak not from myself: but the Father [faith] abiding in me
doeth his works."

The transformers of electricity are paralleled by the
transforming power of mind. That if a man

//page 32

sanely believes he can do a thing he will eventually find a
way to do it is an accepted axiom of psychology. The mind
generates an energy that contacts the universal energy, and
causes circumstances and events to fall into line for the
attainment of the latent ideal. John came crying in the
wilderness of mortal thought, "Repent ye"; that is, change
your mind. Paul discerned a like necessity, hence his call:
"Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind."

When people see the possibilities that follow a right
change of mind, they will crowd the halls of metaphysical
teachers as they now crowd moving-picture shows. When it is
clearly understood that doubt, fear, poverty, disease, and
death--every thought, good or bad, that men have
expressed--have existence through mind we shall see a
shifting of consciousness and a radical change in thought
and word by everybody of sane mind. Then we shall ask for
the true source and find it, as did Paul, who said: "Have
this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." It was
not Jesus but the mind in Jesus that did the great works.
He was the center of faith that transformed the mighty
creative forces of Being (which are active in the universe
through the mind and brain of man) into a form of force
usable in His environment. Tap this inner reservoir of
faith, and you can do what Jesus did. That was His promise;
its fulfillment is the test of a true follower.

"By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death
. . . By faith Noah . . . prepared an

//page 33

ark to the saving of his house . . . By faith Abraham,
being tried, offered up Isaac . . . By faith Moses, when he
was born, was hid three months by his parents . . . By
faith the walls of Jericho fell down . . . And what shall I
more say? for the time will fail me if I tell of Gideon,
Barak, Samson, Jephthah; of David and Samuel and the
prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought
righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of
lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the
sword, from weakness were made strong, waxed mighty in war,
turned to flight armies of aliens. Women received their
dead by a resurrection."

//page 34

//section Chapter 3

Strength--Stability--Steadfastness

//text

//quote

WHEN the strong man fully armed guardeth his own court, his
goods are in peace: but when a stronger than he shall come
upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him his whole
armor wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.

//text

Jesus gave the foregoing illustration of a strong man's
being overcome by a stronger. The incident is mentioned in
three of the Gospels, those of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It
is usually interpreted as illustrating in a general way the
overcoming of evil, but the peculiar identification of the
strong man in his court (or house), and the necessity of
overcoming him, hint at a deeper significance. One who has
studied man as an aggregation of personalities readily
identifies the "strong man" as one of the twelve foundation
powers that make up the manifest man. Among the apostles of
Jesus the strong man is designated as Andrew, brother of
Peter. The Greek meaning of Andrew is "strong man."

The development of the natural world from coarser to finer
types in vegetable life and in animal life is paralleled in
many respects in the unfoldment of man. The source of
everything is in the realm of ideas; a knowledge of this
fact, coupled with faith

//page 35

in the working power of the unseen, makes man greater than
all other expressions of Divine Mind. However, knowledge of
the law of mind evolution does not relieve man of the
necessity of refining and transmuting the various types of
man that he has brought forth, and of which he is the
epitome.

The Jehovah man is constantly making the Adam man and
breathing into his nostrils the breath of life. The Adam
man exists in the subconsciousness as a multitude of men:
The wise man and the foolish man, the kind man and the
cruel man, the loving man and the hateful man, the stingy
man and the generous man, the hungry man and the full man,
the happy man and the troubled man, the weak man and the
strong man, the good man and the bad man, the live man and
the dead man, the poor man and the rich man, the timid man
and the courageous man, the sick man and the healthy man,
the old man and the young man, the erratic man and the sane
man--these, and a thousand other types of man as active
personalities, occupy the consciousness of every human
being. Every male has within him the female and every
female has within her the male. This fact is admitted by
physiology, substantiating the Genesis record of the ideal
creation of man as "male and female," and his expression in
Adam and Eve as the male and female in one man. The fact
was corroborated by the Great Teacher when He said, "Have
ye not read, that he who made them from the beginning made
them male and female?"

The "strong man fully armed," referred to by

//page 36

Jesus, is the strength and stability in man. In the natural
man he is manifest as physical strength, but in the
regeneration he is overcome and his possessions are divided
or given to the other faculties as a nucleus around which
the higher forces gather. The "stronger than he" who takes
away the "whole armor" in which the strong man trusted is
spiritual strength. The overcoming of Goliath by David
illustrates the mastery of the spiritual over the material.
Goliath trusted in his armor, which represents the
protective power of matter and material conditions. David,
spiritual strength, had no armor or material protection.
David's power was gained by trust in divine intelligence,
through which he saw the weak place in Goliath's armor.
Direct to this weak place, with the sling of his
concentrated will, he sent a thought that shattered the
forehead of the giant. This incident shows how easy it is
to overcome the seemingly strong personal and material
conditions when the mind of Spirit is brought into action.

David was sure of himself, because he had slain the lion
that had killed his sheep. The lion is the beast in man;
when overcome, or, rather, transmuted to finer energy, this
lion becomes a mighty soul strength.

The life of Samson, as set forth in Judges, shows the
different movements of strength in human consciousness, and
its betrayal and end. Samson did all kinds of athletic
stunts, but was finally robbed of his strength by Delilah,
a Philistine woman, who

//page 37

had his head shaved while he slept on her knees. Hair
represents vitality. When the vital principle is taken away
the strength goes with it. The body is weakened by this
devitalization and finally perishes. Eve took away the
strength of Adam in like manner, and every man who gives up
the vital essence of his body for the pleasure of sensation
blindly pulls down the pillar of his temple, as did Samson.

Supreme strength as demonstrated by Jesus can be attained
by one who trusts in Spirit and conserves his vital
substance. The strength of Spirit is necessary to the
perpetuation of soul and body and to the overcoming of
death. "For there are eunuchs, that were so born from their
mother's womb: and there are eunuchs, that were made
eunuchs by men: and there are eunuchs, that made themselves
eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake."

The body has many "brain" and nerve centers, through which
the mind acts. Consciously we use only the brain in the
head. We should think through every cell in the organism,
and consciously direct every function in building up the
body. When one has attained the mastery of these various
bodily functions through thinking in the brain center that
stores the vital energy of each particular faculty, then
all deterioration ceases and the body is perpetually
renewed.

The strength here discussed is not physical strength alone,
but mental and spiritual strength. All strength originates
in Spirit; and the thought and the word spiritually
expressed bring the manifestation.

//page 38

"The name of Jehovah is a strong tower."

We grow to be like that which we idealize. Affirming or
naming a mighty spiritual principle identifies the mind
with that principle; then all that the principle stands for
in the realm of ideas is poured out upon the one who
affirms.

"Be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might"
is a great strengthening affirmation for ourselves and for
others. Be steadfast, strong, and steady in thought, and
you will establish strength in mind and in body. Never let
the thought of weakness enter your consciousness, but
always ignore the suggestion and affirm yourself to be a
tower of strength, within and without.

The development of man is under law. Creative Mind is not
only law, but it is governed by the action of the law that
it sets up. We have thought that man was brought forth
under the fiat or edict of a great creative Mind that could
make or unmake at will, or change its mind and declare a
new law at any time; but a clear understanding of ourselves
and of the unchangeableness of Divine Mind makes us realize
that everything has its foundation in a rule of action, a
law, that must be observed by both creator and created.

Man's development is not primarily under the physical law,
because the physical law is secondary. There is a law of
Spirit, and the earthly is but the showing forth of some of
the results of that law. We begin our existence as ideas in
Divine Mind; those ideas are expressed and developed and
brought

//page 39

to fruitage, and the expression is the important part of
the soul's growth.

Evolution is the result of the development of ideas in
mind. What we are is the result of the evolution of our
consciousness, and that consciousness is the result of seed
ideas sown in our mind. When Froebel, the great teacher of
children, began his primary school, he thought a long time
before he gave it a name. One day the name came to him, "a
children's garden"; so he called his school a
"kindergarten." Froebel may not have seen the connection,
but in naming his system of educating the children of men,
he was true to the plan given in Genesis 2:8. Humanity is
the garden of God, of which the soil is the omnipresent
thought substance.

Jesus says that the seed is the word; He gives
illustrations of the various places in which the seed is
sown, and the results of the sowing. The seed, or Word of
God, is sown in the minds of men; these seed ideas go
through many changes, and they bring forth a harvest
according to the capacity of the receiving soil. If you
will to do the will of God, the exercise of your will in
God-Mind strengthens your will power. If you have faith in
things invisible, the faith seed is growing in your mind
and your faith will be increased. Every word or idea in
Divine Mind is sown by man in his mind, and is then brought
forth--according to man's receptivity. "Whatsoever a man
soweth, that shall he also reap." So all the faculties that
exist in Divine Mind (the twelve pillars of the temple of
God) are in this way

//page 40

expressed through the mind and the body of man.

Some have claimed that the Bible is a work on physiology.
So it is, but it is far more; it treats of spirit, soul,
and body as a unit. That is the reason why those who have
studied the Bible from a merely physiological standpoint
have not understood it. They have looked for descriptions
of flesh and bones. In truth those things have no active
existence without accompanying life and intelligence; and
the Bible sets forth this fact in many symbols.

Jesus, the Great Teacher, who knew what was in man, began
His evolution with Spirit. He is the "only begotten Son of
God"; He is the type that you should strive to follow, not
only in spiritual culture and in soul culture, but in
physical culture. If you would bring forth the very best
that is in you, study the methods of Jesus. Study them in
all their details, get at the spirit of everything that is
written about this wonderful man, and you will find the key
to the true development of your soul and your body. If you
will carry out His system, there will be revealed to you a
new man, a man of whom you never dreamed, existing in the
hidden realms of your own subconsciousness.

//page 41

//section Chapter 4

Wisdom--Judgment

//text

WHICH is the greater, wisdom or love? After long study of
the analysis of love given by Paul in the 13th chapter of I
Corinthians, Henry Drummond pronounced love to be "the
greatest thing in the world." His conclusion is based on
Paul's setting forth of the virtues of love. Had wisdom
been as well championed as love was, the author of "The
Greatest Thing in the World" might not have been so sure of
his ground. It goes without argument that love wins when
everything else fails, but, notwithstanding her mightiness,
she makes many blunders. Love will make any and every
sacrifice for the thing that she loves; on the other hand,
she is enticed into trap after trap in her blind search for
pleasure. It was this kind of love that caused Eve to fall
under the spell of sensation, the serpent. She saw that the
fruit of the tree was "pleasant to the eyes." She followed
the pleasure of life instead of the wisdom that would have
shown her how to use life. Ever since we have had pleasure
and pain, or good and evil, as the result of Eve's blind
love.

What kind of people would we be if Eve and Adam had been
obedient to the Lord of wisdom, instead of obeying the
sense of love? This is one

//page 42

of the biggest questions that anyone can ask. It has been
debated for many, many centuries. It has a double answer.
Those who get the first answer will claim that it is
correct, and those who get the second answer will assure
you that there can be no other conclusion. The question
hinges on one point, and that is: Must one experience evil
in order to appreciate good? If it were possible for man to
know all the wisdom and joy of the Infinite, he would have
no necessity for experience with the opposite. But do we
have to have pain before we can enjoy pleasure? Does the
child that burns its hand on a hot stove have a larger
consciousness of health when the hand is healed? Has it
learned more about stoves? Unnumbered illustrations of this
kind might be given to show that by experimentation we
learn the relations existing between things in the
phenomenal world. But if we apply this rule to sciences
that are governed by absolute rules, it becomes evident
that there is no necessity for knowing the negative. To
become proficient in mathematics it is not necessary that
one make errors. The more closely one follows the rules in
exact sciences, the more easily and successfully one makes
the demonstrations. This goes to prove that the nearer one
comes to the absolute or cause side of existence, the
greater is one's understanding that wisdom and order rule,
and that he who joins wisdom and order rules with them.

God knows that there is a great negative, which is a
reflection of His positive, but He is not conscious of its
existence. We know that there is an underworld

//page 43

of evil, in which all the rules of civilized life are
broken, but we are not conscious of that world because we
do not enter into it. It is one thing to view error as a
thing apart from us, and quite another to enter into
consciousness of it. In the allegory of Adam and Eve, the
man and the woman were told by wisdom not to "eat" (not to
enter into consciousness of the fruit of the tree of
knowledge of good and evil). But the pleasure of sensation
(serpent) tempted them, and they ate.

Sensation, feeling, affection, and love are closely allied.
Sensation is personified in the Edenic allegory as the
serpent, the most subtle of the beasts of the field (animal
forces alive in substance). The subtlety of sensation in
its various guises is in its pleasure, the thrill that
comes when mind and matter join in the ecstasy of life.
When the desire for the pleasures of sensation is indulged
and the guiding wisdom ignored, a realm of consciousness is
established that regards the material universe as the only
reality. The Lord, the knowing side of man, talks to him in
the "cool of the day." In the heat of passion and the joy
of pleasure, man does not listen to the "still, small
voice," but in the "cool of the day," that is, when he
cools off, he reflects, and he hears the voice of wisdom
and judgment saying: "Where art thou, Adam?"

The "great day of judgment"--which has been located at some
fateful time in the future when we all shall be called
before the judge of the world and have punishment meted out
to us for our sins--is

//page 44

every day. The translators of the Authorized Version and of
the American Standard Version of the New Testament are
responsible for the "great judgment day" bugaboo. In every
instance where judgment was mentioned by Jesus, He said "in
a day of judgment," but the translators changed a to the,
making the time of judgment appear a definite point in the
future, instead of the repeated consummations of causes
that occur in the lives of individuals and nations. We know
that we are constantly being brought to judgment for
transgressing the laws moral and physical. Yet back of
these is the spiritual law, which the whole race has broken
and for which we suffer. It was to mend the results of this
law breaking that Jesus was incarnated.

When we awaken to the reality of our being, the light
begins to break upon us from within and we know the truth;
this is the quickening of our James or judgment faculty.
When this quickening occurs, we find ourselves
discriminating between the good and the evil. We no longer
accept the race standards or the teachings of the worldly
wise, but we "judge righteous judgment"; we know with an
inner intuition, and we judge men and events from a new
viewpoint. "Knowledge comes but wisdom lingers," sings the
poet. This pertains to intellectual development only. When
man kindles the inner light, he speaks the word of
authority to his subjective faculties. Jesus represents the
Son-of-God consciousness in man, to whom was given dominion
over all the earth. The Son-of-God man is wholly spiritual,
and he uses

//page 45

spiritual thoughts, words, and laws in all that he does.

When Jesus called the Twelve, He spoke silently to the
faculties that preside over and direct the functions of
mind and body. When He called Peter, James, and John, there
was in His consciousness a quickening of faith, judgment,
and love. These three apostles are mentioned more often
than His other apostles because they are most essential in
the expression of a well-balanced man. Andrew (strength)
was also among the first few called; he represents the
stability that lies at the foundation of every true
character.

"James the Just" was the title bestowed by historians upon
the first bishop of Jerusalem. There were many Jameses
among the early followers of Jesus, and there is some doubt
as to whether James the Just and James the apostle are
identical.

An analysis of man in his threefold nature reveals that on
every plane there is a certain reflective and discerning
power of the mind and its thoughts. In the body,
conclusions are reached through experience; in intellect,
reason is the assumed arbiter of every question; in Spirit,
intuition and inspiration bring the quick and sure answer
to all the problems of life. Jesus was the greatest of the
teachers of men, because He knew all knowledge from the
highest to the lowest. He did not blight the senses by
calling them "error" (because they are limited in their
range of vision), but He lifted them up. He took Peter,
James, and John up into the mountain, and was

//page 46

transfigured before them. When we realize the spiritual
possibilities with which we are indued by omnipotent Mind,
we are lifted up, and all the faculties that we have
"called" are lifted up with us. "I, if I be raised on high
from the earth, will draw all to myself" (Diaglott).

Wisdom, justice, judgment, are grouped under one head in
spiritual consciousness. Webster says in effect that the
ground of reason in judgment, which makes conclusions
knowledge, is found in the connecting link that binds the
conceptions together. In religion there is the postulate of
a judgment through direct perception of the divine law.

Solomon (Sol-o-mon), the sun man, or solar plexus man, when
asked by the Lord what He should give him, chose wisdom
above riches and honor; then all the other things were
added. Solomon was also a great judge. He had a rare
intuition, and he used it freely in arriving at his
judgments. He did not rest his investigations on mere
facts, but sought out the inner motives. In the case of the
two women who claimed the same infant, he commanded an
attendant to bring a sword and cut the child in twain and
give a half to each woman. Of course the real mother begged
him not to do this, and he knew at once that she was the
mother.

The appeal of the affectional nature in man for judgment in
its highest is in harmony with divine law. We have thought
that we were not safe in trusting our feelings to guide us
in important issues. But spiritual discernment shows that
the "quick-knowing"

//page 47

power of man has its seat of action in the breast. The
breastplates worn by Jewish high priests had twelve stones,
representing the twelve great powers of the mind. Ready
insight into the divine law was the glory of the high
priest. Jesus is called the high priest of God, and every
man's name is the name Jesus, written large or small,
according to his perception of his Son-of-God nature.

Intuition, judgment, wisdom, justice, discernment, pure
knowing, and profound understanding are natural to man. All
these qualities, and many more, belong to every one of us
by and through his divine sonship. "I said, Ye are gods,
and all of you sons of the Most High!" the Christ proclaims
in us all. Paul saw Christ waiting at the door of every
soul, when he wrote: "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise
from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee."

A quickening of our divine judgment arouses in us the judge
of all the world. "The wisdom that is from above is first
pure, then peaceable." When we call this righteous judge
into action, we may find our standards of right and wrong
undergoing rapid changes, but if we hold steadily to the
Lord as our supreme guide, we shall be led into all
righteousness.

Many persons doubt that there is an infinite law of justice
working in all things; let them now take heart and know
that this law has not worked in their affairs previously
because they have not "called" it into activity in the
creative center of the soul. When we call our inner forces
into action, the universal

//page 48

law begins its great work in us, and all the laws both
great and small fall into line and work for us. We do not
make the law; the law is, and it was established for our
benefit before the world was formed. Jesus did not make the
law of health when He healed the multitudes; He simply
called it into expression by getting it recognized by those
who had disregarded its existence. Back of the judge is the
law out of which he reads. This fact is recognized even by
those who are intrusted with the carrying out of man-made
laws. Blackstone says that the judgment, though pronounced
and awarded by the judges, is not their determination or
sentence, but the determination and sentence of the law. So
we who are carrying forward the fulfillment of the law as
inaugurated by Jesus should be wise in recognizing that the
law in all its fullness already exists right here, waiting
for us to identify ourselves with it and thus allow it to
fulfill its righteousness in us and in all the world.

"I am the vine, ye are the branches." In this symbol Jesus
illustrated a law universal to organisms. The vine-building
law holds good in man's body. The center of identity is in
the head and its activities are distributed through the
nerves and the nerve fluids to the various parts of the
body. The Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ represent the
twelve primal subcenters in man's organism. A study of
man's mind and body reveals this law.

Even physiologists, who regard the body as a mere physical
organism, find certain aggregations of

//page 49

cells which they have concluded are for no other purpose
than for the distribution of intelligence. To one who
studies man as mind, these aggregations of cells are
regarded as the avenues through which certain fundamental
ideas are manifested. We name these ideas the twelve powers
of man, identified in man's consciousness as the Twelve
Apostles of Jesus, having twelve houses, villages, cities,
or centers in the body through which they act.

Wisdom includes judgment, discrimination, intuition, and
all the departments of mind that come under the head of
knowing. The house or throne of this wise judge is at the
nerve center called the solar plexus. The natural man
refers to it as the pit of the stomach. The presiding
intelligence at this center knows what is going on,
especially in the domain of consciousness pertaining to the
body and its needs. Chemistry is its specialty; it also
knows all that pertains to the sensations of soul and body.
In its highest phase it makes union with the white light of
Spirit functioning in the top brain. At the solar plexus
also takes place the union between love and wisdom. The
apostle who has charge of this center is called James.
Volumes might be written describing the activities by which
this power builds and preserves man's body. Every bit of
food that we take into our stomachs must be intelligently
and chemically treated at this center before it can be
distributed to the many members waiting for this center's
wise judgment to supply them with material to build bone,
muscle, nerve,

//page 50

eye, ear, hair, nails--in fact every part of the organism.
When we study the body and its manifold functions we see
how much depends on the intelligence and ability of James,
who functions through the solar plexus.

When man begins to follow Jesus in the regeneration he
finds that he must co-operate with the work of his
disciples or faculties. Heretofore they have been under the
natural law; they have been fishers in the natural world.
Through his recognition of his relation as the Son of God,
man co-operates in the original creative law. He calls his
faculties out of their materiality into their spirituality.
This process is symbolized by Jesus' calling His apostles.

To call a disciple is mentally to recognize that power; it
is to identify oneself with the intelligence working at a
center--for example, judgment, at the solar plexus. To make
this identification, one must realize one's unity with God
through Christ, Christ being the Son-of-God idea always
existing in man's higher consciousness. This recognition of
one's sonship and unity with God is fundamental in all true
growth. Christ is the door into the kingdom of God. Jesus
once spoke of the kingdom as a sheepfold. If man tries to
get into this kingdom except through the door of the
Christ, he is a thief and a robber. We can call our twelve
powers into spiritual activity only through Christ. If we
try to effect this end by any other means, we shall have an
abnormal, chaotic, and unlawful soul unfoldment.

//page 51

Having identified oneself with God through Christ, one
should center one's attention at the pit of the stomach and
affirm:

The wisdom of the Christ Mind here active is through my
recognition of Christ identified and unified with God.
Wisdom, judgment, discrimination, purity, and power are
here now expressing themselves in the beauty of holiness.
The justice, righteousness, and peace of the Christ Mind
now harmonize, wisely direct, and surely establish the
kingdom of God in His temple, my body. There are no more
warring, contentious thoughts in me, for the peace of God
is here established, and the lion and the lamb (courage and
innocence), sit on the throne of dominion with wisdom and
love.

//page 52

//section Chapter 5

Regenerating Love

//text

WE CANNOT get a right understanding of the relation that
the manifest bears to the unmanifest, until we set clearly
before ourselves the character of original Being. So long
as we think of God in terms of personality, just so long
shall we fail to understand the relation existing between
man and God.

Then let us dismiss the thought that God is a man, or even
a man exalted far above human characteristics. So long as
the concept of a man-God exists in consciousness, there
will be lack of room for the true concept, which is that
God is First Cause, the Principle from which flow all
manifestations. To understand the complex conditions under
which the human family exists, we must analyze Being and
its creative processes.

Inherent in the Mind of Being are twelve fundamental ideas,
which in action appear as primal creative forces. It is
possible for man to ally himself with and to use these
original forces, and thereby co-operate with the creative
law, but in order to do this he must detach himself from
the forces and enter into the consciousness of the idea
lying back of them.

In Scripture the primal ideas in the Mind of Being are
called the "sons of God." That the masculine

//page 53

"son" is intended to include both masculine and feminine is
borne out by the context, and, in fact, the whole history
of the race. Being itself must be masculine and feminine,
in order to make man in its image and likeness, "male and
female."

Analyzing these divine ideas, or sons of God, we find that
they manifest characteristics that we readily identify as
masculine or feminine. For example, life is a son of God,
while love is a daughter of God. Intelligence is a son of
God, and imagination is a daughter of God. The evidence
that sex exists in the vegetable and animal worlds is so
clear that it is never questioned, but we have not so
clearly discerned that ideas are also male and female. The
union of the masculine and feminine forces in man is most
potent in the affectional nature, and that these forces
should endure and never be separated by external causes was
laid down as a law by Jesus. He said, as recorded in Mark
10:6-9:

//quote

From the beginning of the creation, Male and female made he
them. For this cause shall a man leave his father and
mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall
become one flesh; so that they are no more two, but one
flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let no man
put asunder.

//text

We should clearly understand that each of the various
ideas, or sons and daughters of God, has identity and in
creation is striving with divine might to bring forth its
inherent attributes. It is to these ideas, or sons and
daughters, that Being, or Elohim, says: "Let us make man in
our image, after our likeness" (Gen. 1:26).

//page 54

Spiritual man is the sum total of the attributes or perfect
ideas of Being, identified and individualized. This man is
the "only begotten" of Elohim. Jehovah, or I AM THAT I AM,
is the name of this divine man. He was manifest as the
higher self of Jesus, and in the Scriptures is called the
Christ. Jesus named Him the "Father in me"; in the book of
Matthew, He called Him "Father" more than forty times.
Christ is our Father; through Him, Elohim or original Being
brings forth all human beings. It was Jehovah, or I AM,
that formed Adam out of the dust of the ground and breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life. Breathing is the
symbol of inspiration. Jesus breathed upon His disciples,
and said to them: "Receive ye the Holy Spirit."

Three primal forces of Being are manifest in the simplest
protoplastic cell. Science says that every atom has
substance, life, and intelligence. This corresponds with
the symbolical creative process of Jehovah, as described in
Genesis 2:7. The "dust of the ground" is substance;
"breathed" refers to the impartation of intelligence; and
the "living soul" is the quickening life. These three
constitute the trinity of the natural world, in which the
body of man is cast. When one understands the creative
processes to be the working of the various principles of
Being in the development of man, many inexplicable
situations are cleared up. God cannot bring forth without
law and order. To produce a man, there must be a
combination of forces that at some stages of soul evolution
may seem to work

//page 55

against one another; but when one understands that the
great creative Mind brings forth under law, reconciliation
and consistency are found where in-harmony and
contradiction seemed dominant.

Of all the daughters of God, love is undoubtedly the most
beautiful, enticing, and fascinating. She is by nature
exceedingly timid and modest, but when roused she is bold
and fearless in the extreme. Mother love is as strong as
life and will make every sacrifice to protect offspring.
This whole-hearted, self-sacrificing aspect of love
indicates a spirit deeper and stronger than the animal or
the human, and we are forced to admit that it is divine.
For this reason mother love is exalted to first place in
our analysis of the great passion. But mothers should take
heed lest they incorporate human selfishness into the
divine love that is expressed in and through them.

The most popular expression of love in the world is the
love between men and women. Here also love is
misunderstood, and for that reason she has been forced to
act in ways that are unnatural to her. She has also been
compelled to do things that are abhorrent to her, yet under
the compelling power of man's will she could not do
otherwise. Right here is a crying need for a purer judgment
of love and her right adjustment in the most sacred
relation existing between men and women. Love is from God,
and it is given to man in its virgin purity. It is the pure
essence of Being that binds together the whole human
family. Without love we should lose contact

//page 56

with out mother earth, and, losing that, we should fly off
into space and be lost in the star dust of unborn worlds.
"Gravity" is mortal man's name for love. By the invisible
arms of love we are held tight to earth's prolific bosom,
and there we find the sweetest home in all the universe.
All love of home is founded on man's innate love for this
planet. When John Howard Payne wrote "Home, Sweet Home," he
was inspired by mother love to sing of the only abiding
place of this race--our dear mother earth.

The original Eden of the human family was planted by God on
earth, and it is still here. Its prototype is within the
human soul, but we have not entered it, because we have not
understood the relation that love bears to the original
substance of Being, out of which all things are formed.

It is no great task to tell of the higher aspects of love,
but who will champion love submerged in human consciousness
and smothered with selfishness? You say: "This is not love,
but passion and lust." But we should remember that we have
laid down, as a foundation principle, that God is love,
and, as there is but one God, there can be but one love.
This being true, we must find place in the creative law for
every manifestation, regardless of its apparent
contradictions of the righteousness of First Cause.

Love is submerged or cast down to sense consciousness
between men and women in the marriage relation, and great
misery floods the world in

//page 57

consequence. This marriage should be a perpetual feast of
love, and so it would be if the laws of love were observed.
Courtship is usually the most joyous experience that comes
to men and women, because love is kept free from lust.

If the laws of conjugality were better understood, the
bliss of courtship would continue throughout all the years
of married life and divorces would be unknown. It is a fact
well known to psychologists that the majority of
estrangements between husbands and wives result from the
breaking of sex law. This sin that ends in feebleness and
final disintegration of the physical organism is
symbolically pictured in the so-called fall of man, in the
early chapters of Genesis. Adam and Eve represent the
innocent and uneducated powers of the masculine and
feminine in every individual. The serpent symbolizes
sensation, which combines with life and substance in all
living organisms. The desire for pleasure, and for a
seemingly short and easy way to get wisdom, tempts the
feminine, and she eats, or appropriates. The masculine also
eats. In the "cool of the day" (after the heat of passion
has cooled off) they both find that they are naked. They
have had pleasure with pleasure as the only object, which
is contrary to the law of Being. All things should be done
with a purpose, with pleasure as a concomitant only.
Pleasure lends zest to all action, but it should never be
exalted to the high place in consciousness.

Sex indulgence for mere pleasure is an eating or

//page 58

appropriating of the pure substance that pervades the whole
nervous system, which is appropriately compared to a tree.
This excess of pleasure is sooner or later followed by
equal reaction, which is destructive, and the body cries
out in pain. The pleasure we call "good," and the pain we
call "evil." Here, in a nutshell, is an explanation of
eating of the tree of the "knowledge of good and evil."

When the substance in the organism is conserved and
retained, the nerves are charged with a spiritual energy,
which runs like lightning through an organism filled with
the virgin substance of the soul. When in the ignorance of
sensation men and women deplete their substance, the rose
of the cheek and the sparkle of the eye fade away. Then the
kiss and the touch that were once so satisfying become cold
and lifeless.

In the conservation of this pure substance of life is
hidden the secret of body rejuvenation, physical
resurrection, and the final perpetuation of the whole
organism in its transmuted purity. (John saw Jesus in this
state of purity, as described in Revelation 1:12-16.) No
man can in his own might attain this exalted estate, but
through the love of God, demonstrated by Jesus, it is
attainable by everyone. "For God so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on
him should not perish, but have eternal life."

Regeneration is not possible without love. As through the
union of the male and female elements the new body of the
infant is brought forth, so

//page 59

through the joining of the creative forces of Spirit by
souls attuned in love the new body in Christ is speedily
formed. The work can be done through individual effort, and
there must always be continuous constructive action between
the masculine and feminine faculties of soul and body; but
the anointing with the precious love of the divine feminine
is necessary to the great demonstration. The woman who
anointed the head and feet of Jesus "loved much," and Jesus
said that which she did would be remembered wherever the
Gospel should be preached in the whole world. This
symbolical representation of pouring into the masculine the
pure love of the feminine is a guide for all women. All
over the world the submerged love of the feminine is crying
for release from the sensual dominance of the masculine.
The remedy is: Anoint man's head (will) and his feet
(understanding) with the Christ love, and he will be
purified and satisfied. Not a word need be spoken to bring
about the change. If in quietness and confidence the
presence and the power of divine love are affirmed, the law
will be fulfilled.

Love submerged in sense still retains the remembrance of
her virginity, and repels and resists the onslaughts of
lust. Some of the most terrible ills are brought upon the
body by the misuse of love. This is not the way of freedom;
through a steady and firm holding to the one Presence and
one Power will the son of man be lifted up, as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness.

//page 60

Wisdom and love combined are symbolically described in
Scripture as the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the
world" (A.V.). But now men and women are studying the laws
of Being, and in some degree are striving to observe them
in the marriage relation. Instead of submerging love in
lust, the children of light retain their virgin purity and
go hand in hand toward the dawn of a new order, in which
there will be a bringing forth of the multitude of waiting
souls in a way which is now hidden, but which will be
revealed when love is lifted up.

//quote

Call it not love, for love to heaven is fled

Since sweating lust on earth usurp'd his name;

Under whose simple semblance he hath fed

Upon fresh beauty, blotting it with blame;

Which the hot tyrant stains and soon bereaves,

As caterpillars do the tender leaves.

Love comforteth like sunshine after rain,

But lust's effect is tempest after sun;

Love's gentle spring doth always fresh remain,

Lust's winter comes ere summer half be done;

Love surfeits not, lust like a glutton dies;

Love is all truth, lust full of forged lies.

--Shakespeare

//text

//page 61

//section Chapter 6

Power--Dominion--Mastery

//text

MAN DOES not exercise the power of his spiritual nature,
because he lacks understanding of its character and of his
relation to the originating Mind in which he exists. From
Divine Mind man inherits power over the forces of his
mind--in truth, power over all ideas. A quickening from on
high must precede man's realization of his innate control
of thought and feeling. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a
quickening of the spiritual nature, which is reflected in
intellect and in body. When one understands the science of
Being, one is prepared to receive this baptism and to
utilize it along deeper lines of thought. Jesus had taught
His apostles and followers, and they were prepared for the
baptism that they received on the day of Pentecost.

"Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon
you." Power is essential to the work that Jesus Christ
expects His followers to do in the great field of humanity.
The command is: Go to every nation and preach the gospel.
Man should apply the power of the word to his individual
redemption, and he should speak the redeeming word of
Spirit to the multitudinous thought people of his own soul
and body.

//page 62

Among the apostles of Jesus, Philip represents the power
faculty of the mind. The word "Philip" means "a lover of
horses." In physical activity the horse represents power;
the ox, strength. Each of the twelve fundamental faculties
of man has an ego that reflects, in a measure, the original
man idea in God. In the body consciousness the twelve
apostles, as egos, have twelve centers, or thrones, from
which they exercise their power. The will expresses its
dominion from the head; love, from the breast; and power
(the ego whose character we are analyzing in this writing),
from the throat. Power is one branch of the great tree; in
Genesis it is named "life." The body of the life tree is
the spinal cord, over which the motor system, with branches
to every part of the organism, exercises its nervous energy.

The power center in the throat controls all the vibratory
energies of the organism. It is the open door between the
formless and the formed worlds of vibrations pertaining to
the expression of sound. Every word that goes forth
receives its specific character from the power faculty.
When Jesus said, "The words that I have spoken unto you are
spirit, and are life," He meant that through the spoken
word He conveyed an inner spiritual quickening quality that
would enter the mind of the recipient and awaken the
inactive spirit and life. When the voice has united with
the life of the soul, it takes on a sweetness and a depth
that one feels and remembers; the voice that lacks this
union is metallic and superficial.

//page 63

Voice culture may give one tone brilliancy, but every great
singer has the soul contact. But higher and deeper still is
the voice of one who has made union with Spirit and who can
say with Jesus: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my
words shall not pass away."

When we understand this power of the word, we have the key
to the perpetuity of sacred writings. According to
tradition, all the writings of the Bible were destroyed but
they were restored by Esdras, who, "remembered in his
heart" and rewrote them. Modern discoveries in the realm of
mind in a measure explain this mystical statement. We know
now that every word that man utters makes an imprint in the
astral ethers, and that, when there is consciousness of God
life in the mind of the speaker, all his words become
living identities and are perpetuated. Anyone who develops
sufficient spiritual power may enter this book of life
within the cosmic mind and read out of its pages.

The mind and the body of man have the power of transforming
energy from one plane of consciousness to another. This is
the power and dominion implanted in man from the beginning.
According to Scripture, "God said, Let us make man in our
image, after our likeness; and they shall have dominion
over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heaven,
and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" (Gen. 1:26;
Lesser translation). Paul corroborates

//page 64

this statement by calling attention to the glory of man's
inheritance:

//quote

Having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know
what is the hope of his calling, what the riches of the
glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what the
exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe,
according to that working of the strength of his might
which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the
dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly
places, far above all rule, and authority, and power, and
dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this
world, but also in that which is to come.

//text

In the kingdom of God within man's consciousness, the power
faculty plays an important part in controlling the
expression of the many emotions, inspirations, and
thoughts. The voice is the most direct avenue of this
expression, when man has dominion over the emotions and
feelings from which the original impulse arises. The power
of love makes the voice rich, warm, and mellow. Man can set
love free in his soul by cultivating a loving attitude
toward everybody and everything; he may add strength by
silently speaking words of strength to each of the apostles
sitting upon the twelve thrones within. Power swings open
all the doors of mind and body. When one feels vital and
energetic, the voice is strong and vibrant and brilliant.
When one is sorrowful, the body weakens and the voice
betrays its lack by its mournful intonation. Through the
vibrations of power in the throat, one can feel the power
of unity with the higher self more quickly than in any
other way. This reveals that ideas rule

//page 65

the man, Jesus affirmed: "All power is given unto me in
heaven [mind] and in earth [body]" (A.V.). When Jesus made
this affirmation He undoubtedly realized His innate
spiritual dominion, and when He consciously attuned His
spiritual identity to mind and body, there was a conscious
influx of power, and His hearers said that He "taught them
as having authority, and not as the scribes."

In the process of regeneration the consciousness of power
ebbs and flows, because the old and the new tides of
thought act and react in the conscious and the subconscious
realms of mind. However, when a disciple realizes his unity
with Omnipotence, he is but little disturbed by the changes
that go on in his mind and his body; he knows that his
spiritual dominion is established, and that firm conviction
expresses itself in firm words. Jesus said: "Heaven and
earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."
Here is the evidence of spiritual power united with the
idea of eternity. This union destroys the thought of years
and declining power, and when awakened in those who have
believed in age it will transform them and make all things
new for them.

Every great vocalist has had inner spiritual power as an
abiding conviction. This is strikingly illustrated in the
indomitable persistency and power with which the famous
singer, Galli-Curci, overcame obstacles. In the early
stages of her career she was discouraged by opera critics.
They told her that she could never make a success, but she
persevered; and so she finally mastered every defect of her
voice. This

//page 66

is a wonderful lesson to those who are apparently meeting
with discouragements, who are tempted to succumb to
circumstances and conditions in body and in environment.
Take the words of Paul, "None of these things move me"
(A.V.), and make unqualified affirmations of your spiritual
supremacy.

Some metaphysical schools warn their students against the
development of power, because they fear that it will be
used in selfish, ambitious ways. It doubtless is true that
the personal ego sometimes lays hold of the power faculty
and uses it for selfish aggrandizement; we can readily see
how what is called the Devil had origin. To be successful
in the use of the power of Being, one must be obedient in
exercising all the ideas that make man. If there is an
assumption of personal power, Lucifer falls like "lightning
from heaven," and the adverse or carnal mind goes to and
fro in the earth. The casting out of these demons of
personality formed a large part of the work of Jesus, and
those who follow Him in the regeneration are confronted
with similar states of mind and find it necessary to cast
out the great demon selfishness, which claims to have power
but is a liar and the father of lies.

No disciple can do any great overcoming work without a
certain realization of spiritual power, dominion, mastery.
Without power, one easily gives up to temporal laws,
man-made. The psychic atmosphere is filled with thoughts
that are not in harmony with Divine Mind. These psychic
thoughts are legion, and to overcome them one must be

//page 67

on one's guard. Jesus said, "Watch." This means that we
should quicken our discernment and our ability to choose
between the good and the evil. "And why even of yourselves
judge ye not what is right?" This wisdom of Spirit is man's
through the all-knowing and all-discerning power of Spirit
within him, and he need never fear going wrong if he
listens to his divine intuition. "Ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free." But man can never be
free until he declares his freedom. Jesus said "I am from
above." It is the prerogative of every man to make this
declaration and thereby rise above the psychisms of mortal
thought. Then do not fear to develop your power and
mastery. They are not to be exercised on other people, but
on yourself. "He that ruleth his spirit, [is more powerful]
than he that taketh a city." Alexander cried because there
were no more worlds to conquer, yet he had not conquered
his own appetite, and died a drunkard at the age of
thirty-three. Today men are striving to acquire power
through money, legislation, and man-made government, and
falling short because they have not mastered themselves.

Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world," yet He set
up a kingdom in the world greater than all other kingdoms.
In its beginning His kingdom was a very small affair, and
the wise and the mighty laughed to scorn the proclamation
that He was a king. Yet He was every inch a king. His
people have been slow to follow the laws that He
promulgated for His kingdom, but men in every walk

//page 68

of life are beginning to comprehend the vital integrity of
His edicts, they are seeing that there can be no permanent
peace or even civilization on earth until the Golden Rule,
laid down by Him, is adopted by nations in commercial and
in all other relationships. Businessmen are teaching the
precept of Jesus, "All things therefore whatsoever ye would
that men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them,"
as fundamental in commercial success. Everywhere we hear
them talking co-operation instead of competition.
Commercial seers are discerning the dawn of a new day, in
which good service instead of big profits will be the goal.
Here we see the coming of the Christ "as a thief in the
night." The night of ignorance and destructive competition
is being burned out.

It follows that every kind of human industry must be
carried forward by a power that recognizes the divine law.
Man is the power of God in action. To man is given the
highest power in the universe, the conscious power of
thought. There is a universal creative force that urges man
forward to a recognition of the creative power of his
individual thought. This force is elemental, and all its
attributes come under the dominion of man. When he
co-operates with divine principle, man sits on the throne
of his authority and the elemental force is subject to him.

But the power and the authority that are to rule in the
kingdom of heaven are dependent on man's authority and his
rule in the earth. Jesus said to Peter: "Whatsoever thou
shalt bind on earth shall

//page 69

be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on
earth shall be loosed in heaven." If man binds or controls
the appetites, passions, and emotions in the body (earth),
he establishes ability and power to control the same forces
in the realms universal, out of which the heavens are
formed. When he attains a freedom in the expression of the
qualities inherent in soul and body, he expands in power
and can set free the elements universal and restore
equilibrium between heaven and earth, or Spirit and matter.

When enough people have attained this power, the "new
heaven and . . . new earth" (described in the 21st chapter
of Revelation) will appear. It will not be necessary for
anyone to wait for the full complement of overcomers, the
mystical 144,000 who are to rule the new world, but each
individual who complies with the overcoming law may enter
into power with Jesus. It should not be overlooked by the
elect that the Scripture reads: "He that overcometh shall
inherit these things." To overcome and sit with Jesus on
His throne means that man must overcome as He overcame.
Jesus overcame the world, the flesh, and the Devil. To
overcome the world one must be proof against all its
allurements of riches and honor. To overcome the flesh one
must spiritualize the five-sense man until material
consciousness is raised to spiritual consciousness in
feeling, tasting, seeing, hearing, and smelling. This
change will ultimate in man's complete mastery of the body
and in its final redemption from death.

The Devil is the personal ego who has in his freedom

//page 70

formed a state of consciousness peculiarly his own. When
man lives wholly in the consciousness that personality has
built up, he is ruled by the carnal mind, which is the
Adversary, or Satan. In the mystery of the cross is hidden
the overcoming of Satan. The crucifixion of Jesus is the
symbolical representation of the crossing out (destruction)
of the carnal mind (Satan) in the redeemed man's
consciousness. Christ was not killed on the cross, neither
was the body of Jesus destroyed. The "ghost" that Jesus
gave up with His last breath was mortality. It was the
personal, mortal consciousness that cried, "My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me?" (The god should be spelled with
a small g.) The personal-concept God fails to save its
worshiper.

When the I AM identity, which is man, becomes so involved
in its personal affairs that it ignores God, I AM lays hold
of the body and rules all the bodily functions. When this
rule is broken by the power of the Christ or supermind,
there is a crucifixion. It may seem that Jesus is being
crucified, but this is seeming only. Death comes to the
Judas consciousness, which "hath a devil" (A.V.), but the
body, being closely connected with this usurping mind,
passes through suffering and apparent death. This is no
more than appearance, because the higher principle, the
Christ, resurrects the body and transmutes it into higher
spiritual substance, where it enters into harmony or
heaven. The climax of man's power and dominion is set forth
in the resurrection and ascension of the type man, Jesus.

//page 71

//section Chapter 7

The Work of the Imagination in Regeneration

//text

WHEN THE faculties of the mind are understood in their
threefold relation--spirit, soul, body--it will be found
that every form and shape originated in the imagination. It
is through the imagination that the formless takes form. It
is well known that the artist sees in mind every picture
that he puts on canvas. Man and the universe are a series
of pictures in the Mind of Being. God made man in His image
and likeness. Man, in his turn, is continually making and
sending forth into his mind, his body, and the world about
him living thought forms embodied and indued with his whole
character. These images are formed in the front brain, and
clothed with substance and life drawn from subcenters in
the body.

Very intellectual people, concentrating the intensity of
their thought in the head, fail to connect with the
substance, life, and love centers in the body, and their
work, although it may be very brilliant, lacks what we term
"soul." The thought creations of this type seldom live
long. Where the thought form and its substance are evenly
balanced, the projected idea endures indefinitely. Jesus
was a

//page 72

man thoroughly conversant with this law, and every idea
that He clothed has lived and grown in wisdom and power in
the minds of those who make union with Him in faith and
spiritual understanding. He said: "Heaven and earth shall
pass away: but my words shall not pass away."

Among the apostles, Bartholomew represents the imagination.
He is called Nathanael in the 1st chapter of John, where it
is recorded that Jesus saw him under the fig tree--the
inference being that Jesus discerned Nathanael's presence
before the latter came into visibility. This would indicate
that images of people and things are projected into the
imaging chamber of the mind and that by giving them
attention one can understand their relation to outer
things. Mind readers, clairvoyants, and dreamers have
developed this capacity to varying degree. Where
consciousness is primary in soul unfoldment there is
confusion, because of lack of understanding of the
fundamental law of mind action. Forms are always
manifestations of ideas. One who understands this can
interpret the symbols shown to him in dreams and visions,
but lack of understanding of this law makes one a psychic
without power. Joseph was an interpreter because he sought
the one creative Mind for guidance. "And Joseph answered
Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God will give Pharaoh an
answer of peace." When Pharaoh told him the dream about the
fat kine and the lean kine, Joseph at once gave the real
meaning of the dream; he understood the metaphysical law.
The

//page 73

early Christians had understanding of this law. The same
law is in existence today and can be used more effectually
by us, the reincarnated followers of Jesus, because mind
and its modes of action are now better understood.

The Spirit of truth projects into the chamber of imagery
pictures that, rightly understood, will be a sure guide for
all people who believe in the omnipresence of mind.
Everybody dreams, but the great majority do not attempt to
interpret the handwriting on the wall of the mind, or they
take their dreams literally and, because the dreams do not
come true, consider them foolish. Through ignorance of the
law with which imagination works, man has made imagination
a byword. We look upon imaginary things as trivial, yet we
know that through the imagination we can produce wonderful
changes in the body. Studying this law, we find that the
character of both soul and body is determined by the
imagination and its associated faculties. Paul referred to
this power of the imagination when he wrote:

//quote

But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the
glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from
glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.

//text

There has been much speculation about the method that Jesus
used to impart spiritual understanding to His apostles and
other early Christians, who were wonderfully illumined. It
is true that the Twelve apostles had His personal
instruction, but it was apparently preparatory only; the
thorough training

//page 74

was to follow. Jesus promised that the Spirit of truth
would, in His name, come as teacher, guide, and instructor.
He did not say how Spirit would guide and teach those who
believed in Him; we gain this conclusion from their
experiences in the new school of life to which He
introduced them.

It is possible to impart Truth through direct inspiration,
but this requires a student with a development of mind
superior to the average, and Jesus sought converts in every
walk of life. So we find that the simple and universally
intelligible avenue of visions and dreams, the work of the
imagination, was adopted as an important means by which the
believers were instructed and called together. In fact, a
large part of the work of the early church was carried
forward by this means.

Saul was converted by a vision. Jesus appeared to him in
person and rebuked him for his persecution of the
Christians, told him that He had a work for him to do, and
gave him directions as to his future movements.

//quote

And as he [Saul] journeyed, it came to pass that he drew
nigh unto Damascus: and suddenly there shone round about
him a light out of heaven: and he fell upon the earth, and
heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am
Jesus whom thou persecutest; but rise, and enter into the
city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the
men that journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing the
voice, but beholding no man. And Saul arose from the earth;
and when his eyes were opened, he saw nothing; and they led
him by the hand, and brought

//page 75

him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and
did neither eat nor drink.

//text

Those who look to the Holy Spirit for guidance find that
its instruction is given to all who believe in Christ, and
they are often drawn together by direction of the inner
voice, or by a dream, or by a vision. Saul, after beholding
the blinding light of the spiritual realms, needed to have
his sight restored. The brightness, or high potency, of
Jesus' glorified presence had confused his intellectual
consciousness, and this had brought about blindness. He
needed the harmonious, peace-giving power of one who
understood the inner life, and this was found in a certain
disciple named Ananias. The Lord said to Ananias in a
vision:

//quote

Arise, and go to the street which is called Straight, and
inquire in the house of Judas for one named Saul, a man of
Tarsus: for behold, he prayeth; and he hath seen a man
named Ananias coming in, and laying his hands on him, that
he might receive his sight. But Ananias answered, Lord, I
have heard from many of this man, how much evil he did to
thy saints at Jerusalem: and here he hath authority from
the chief priests to bind all that call upon thy name. But
the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen
vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and
kings, and the children of Israel: for I will show him how
many things he must suffer for my name's sake. And Ananias
departed, and entered into the house; and laying his hands
on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, who
appeared unto thee in the way which thou camest, hath sent
me, that thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with
the Holy Spirit. And straightway there

//page 76

fell from his eyes as it were scales, and he received his
sight; and he arose and was baptized; and he took food and
was strengthened.

//text

The Lord's appearing to Saul, with the conversion of the
latter, is considered one of the great miracles of the
Bible, but the experience of Ananias is seldom mentioned.
Yet we are told in this text that the Lord appeared to
Ananias and talked to him, just as He had appeared and
talked to Saul, and there was apparently no difference in
the real character of the incidents, except such be found
in the mental attitude of the participants. Saul was
antagonistic and full of fight. Ananias was receptive and
obedient; he doubtless had received this sort of guidance
many times. From the text we readily discern his spiritual
harmony. He knew the reputation of Saul and protested
against meeting him, but the Lord explained the situation
and Ananias obeyed.

Today disciples of Jesus who are obedient and receptive and
believe in the presence and the power of the Master and the
Holy Spirit, are everywhere receiving visions and dreams.
They are being drawn together and are helping one another
to recover from the discords and inharmonies of life. Never
before in the history of the race has there been so great a
need for spiritual instruction as there is now, and this
need is being met by Jesus and His aids in a renaissance of
early Christianity and of its methods of instruction.

//page 77

Spirit imparts its ideas through a universal language.
Instead of being explained by words and phrases as used in
ordinary language, the idea is formed and projected in its
original character. This system of transferring
intelligence is called symbolism. It is the only universal
and correct means of communicating ideas. For example, if
one wished to tell about a procession that he had seen, and
could mentally picture it so that others could see it, how
much more complete the communication than descriptive
words! The mind formulates into thought images every idea
that arises in it, and then tries to express it in
language, which is nearly always inadequate. The French
say: "Words are employed to conceal ideas." As the early
disciples of Jesus had to learn that the symbol represents
the idea rather than the thing, so modern disciples,
following the same line of instruction, should not allow
the intellect to materialize their dreams and visions;
although they may be puzzled, like Peter, subsequent events
will bring to them a clearer understanding of the lesson.

In the 10th chapter of Acts, we read:

//quote

Peter went up upon the housetop to pray, about the sixth
hour: and he became hungry, and desired to eat: but while
they made ready, he fell into a trance; and he beholdeth
the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending, as it
were a great sheet, let down by four corners upon the
earth: wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts and
creeping things of the earth and birds of the heaven. And
there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter;

//page 78

kill and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have
never eaten anything that is common and unclean. And a
voice came unto him again a second time, What God hath
cleansed, make not thou common. And this was done thrice:
and straightway the vessel was received up into heaven.

Now while Peter was much perplexed in himself what the
vision which he had seen might mean, behold, the men that
were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon's
house, stood before the gate, and called and asked whether
Simon, who was surnamed Peter, were lodging there. And
while Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto
him, Behold, three men seek thee.

//text

Peter was still bound by the Jewish teaching that there was
no salvation for any except those of his faith, and this
vision was to break the bondage of such narrowness and show
him that the gospel of Jesus Christ is for all people. In a
vision the Lord had already instructed Cornelius, the Roman
soldier, that he should send certain of his servants to
Joppa and fetch Peter to Caesarea.

Some advocates of flesh eating make the mistake of giving a
literal interpretation to Peter's vision, holding that the
Lord commanded him to kill and eat "all manner of
fourfooted beasts and creeping things of the earth and
birds of the heaven," and that God has cleansed them and
thus prepared them for food for man. If this view of the
vision should be carried out literally, we should eat all
fourfooted animals, including skunks, all the creeping
things, and all birds of the air, including vultures. We
know, however, that the vision is to be taken

//page 79

in its symbolizing meaning. Peter was to appropriate and
harmonize in his inner consciousness all thoughts of
separation, all uncleanliness and impurity, narrowness,
selfishness--the thoughts that bring diversity and
separation.

We have within us, bound in the cage of the
subconsciousness, all the propensities and the savagery of
the animals. In the regeneration these are brought forth
and a great reconciliation takes place. We find that there
is really nothing unclean, except to human consciousness.
In the original creative idealism of Divine Mind,
everything was made perfect and sanctified and pronounced
"very good." But God did not tell man to eat everything
because it was good in its place.

//quote

And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding
seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every
tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you
it shall be for food.

//text

When man has regenerated and lifted up the beasts of the
field, he will carry out the injunction given to the
original Adam and name them "good."

Man's body represents the sum total of the animal world,
because in its evolution it has had experience in nearly
every type of elemental form. These memories are part of
the soul, and in the unregenerate they come to the surface
sporadically. Sometimes whole nations seem to revert from
culture to savagery without apparent cause, but there is
always a cause. These reversions are the result of

//page 80

some violent wrenching of the soul, or of concentration, to
the exclusion of everything else, on a line of thought out
of harmony with divine law. When the soul is ready for its
next step in the upward way, a great change takes place,
known as regeneration. Jesus referred to this when He said
to Nicodemus: "Ye must be born anew." In one of its phases
the new birth is a resurrection. All that man has passed
through has left its image in the subconsciousness, wrought
in mind and matter. These images are set free in the
regeneration, and man sees them as part of himself. In his
"Journal," George Fox, the spiritual-minded Quaker, says:

//quote

I was under great temptations sometimes, and my inward
sufferings were heavy; but I could find none to open my
condition to but the Lord alone, unto whom I cried night
and day. I went back into Nottinghamshire, where the Lord
shewed me that the natures of those things which were
hurtful without, were within the hearts and minds of wicked
men. The natures of dogs, swine, vipers, of Sodom and
Egypt, Pharaoh, Cain, Ishmael, Esau, etc. The natures of
these I saw within, though people had been looking without.
I cried to the Lord saying, "Why should I be thus, seeing I
was never addicted to commit those evils?" And the Lord
answered, "It was needful I should have a sense of all
conditions, how else should I speak of all conditions?" In
this I saw the infinite love of God. I saw also, that there
was an ocean of darkness and death; but an infinite ocean
of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness.
In that also I saw the infinite love of God, and I had
great openings. As I was walking by the steeple-house side
in the town of Mansfield, the Lord said unto me, "That
which people trample upon must be

//page 81

thy food." And as the Lord spake he opened to me that
people and professors trampled upon the life, even the life
of Christ was trampled upon; they fed upon words, and fed
one another with words; but trampled under foot the blood
of the son of God, which blood was my life: and they lived
in their airy notions talking of him. It seemed strange to
me at the first, that I should feed on that which the high
professors trampled upon; but the Lord opened it clearly to
me by his eternal Spirit and power.

//text

In the regeneration man finds that he has, in the part of
his soul called the natural man, animal propensities
corresponding to the animals in the outer world. In the
pictures of the mind, these take form as lions, horses,
oxen, dogs, cats, snakes, and the birds of the air. The
visions of Joseph, Daniel, John, and other Bible seers were
of this character. When man understands that these animals
represent thoughts, working in the subconsciousness, he has
a key to the many causes of bodily conditions. It is clear
to him that the prophets of old were using symbols to
express ideas, and he sees that to interpret these symbols
he must learn what each represents, in order to get the
original meaning.

According to Genesis, the original creation was ideal, and
through man the ideal was given character and form. Adam
gave character to all the beasts of the field: "and
whatever the man called every living creature, that was the
name thereof." To the spiritually wise it is revealed that,
when man is fully redeemed, he redeems and purifies and
uplifts the animals in himself. The animal world will go

//page 82

through a complete transformation when the race is
redeemed. As Isaiah says, "the wolf and the lamb shall feed
together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox." Some
even go farther than this, and say that in the millennium
there will be no necessity for animals; that they are, in
reality, the dissipated forces of the human family and that
when those forces are finally gathered into the original
fount in the subjective, there will be no more animals in
the objective; that in this way man will be immensely
strengthened and a certain connection will be made between
the so-called material and the spiritual.

//page 83

//section Chapter 8

Understanding

//text

REFERENCE to the dictionary shows the words wisdom,
understanding, knowledge, and intelligence to be so closely
related that their definitions overlap in a most confusing
way. The words differ in meaning, but various writers on
the mind and its faculties have given definitions of these
words in terms that directly oppose the definitions of
other writers. There are two schools of writers on
metaphysical subjects, and their definitions are likely to
confuse a student unless he knows to which class the writer
belongs. First are those who handle the mind and its
faculties from an intellectual standpoint, among whom may
be mentioned Kant, Hegel, Mill, Schopenhauer, and Sir
William Hamilton. The other school includes all the great
company of religious authors who have discerned that Spirit
and soul are the causing factors of the mind. Compilers of
dictionaries have consulted the former class for their
definitions, and we have in consequence an inadequate set
of terms to express the deep things of the mind. Even
Christian metaphysicians who belong in the second
classification have no clear understanding of the two great
realms of mind; first, that in which pure ideas and pure
logic rule; and second, the realm in which the

//page 84

thoughts and the actions of the mind are concerned with
reason and the relation of ideas in the outer world. It is
only in the last half century that large numbers of
Christians have discerned that Jesus taught a metaphysical
science.

Poets are natural mystics and metaphysicians, and in their
writings we find the safest definitions of the names used
to represent the actions of the mind. Poets nearly always
make the proper distinction between wisdom and
understanding. Tennyson says, "Knowledge comes, but wisdom
lingers." Spiritual discernment always places wisdom above
the other faculties of mind and reveals that knowledge and
intelligence are auxiliary to understanding. Intellectual
understanding comes first in the soul's development, then a
deeper understanding of principles follows, until the whole
man ripens into wisdom.

//quote

'Tis the sunset of life gives me mystical lore,

And coming events cast their shadows before.

//text

The writings of the Hebrew prophets are good examples of
original inspiration, which is wisdom. Solomon was famous
for his wisdom. Jehovah appeared to him in a dream and
said: "Ask what I shall give thee." Solomon replied: "Give
thy servant therefore an understanding heart to judge thy
people, that I may discern between good and evil." Pleased
because Solomon had asked for wisdom instead of riches and
honor, the Lord said:

//quote

Behold, I have done according to thy word; lo I have given
thee a wise and an understanding heart . . . And I

//page 85

have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both
riches and honor . . . And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it
was a dream.

//text

It was after this occurrence that two women appealed to
Solomon to decide which of them really was the mother of
the child that they both claimed.

//quote

And the king said, Fetch me a sword. . . . And the king
said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the
one, and half to the other. Then spake the woman whose the
living child was unto the king, for her heart yearned over
her son, and she said, Oh, my lord, give her the living
child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, It shall
be neither mine nor thine; divide it. Then the king
answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no
wise slay it: she is the mother thereof. And all Israel
heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they
feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in
him, to do justice.

//text

The foregoing is a fine example of intuitive knowing.
Instead of indulging in the usual taking of testimony and
the various methods of proving the case by witnesses,
Solomon appealed directly to the heart and got the truth
quickly. No amount of exoteric testimony would have
accomplished what the appeal to love brought forth at once.

Although it is sometimes difficult to determine between
pure knowing and the quick perception of the intellect, the
decision can always be made truly, based on the presence of
the affectional nature.

Great philosophers in every age have testified to the
activity of a supermind quality, which they have

//page 86

variously named. Socrates had it. He called it his daemon.
Plato named it pure reason. Jesus called it the kingdom of
the heavens.

In an article by M. K. Wisehart, printed in the American
Magazine for June, 1930, entitled "A Close Look at the
World's Greatest Thinker," Professor Albert Einstein is
quoted as saying:

"'Every man knows that in his work he does best and
accomplishes most when he has attained a proficiency that
enables him to work intuitively. That is, there are things
which we come to know so well that we do not know how we
know them. So it seems to me in matters of principle.
Perhaps we live best and do things best when we are not too
conscious of how and why we do them.'

"He spoke of the great extent to which intuition figures in
his work, and gave me to understand that the ability to
work by intuition is one that can be acquired in any walk
of life. It comes as the result of prolonged effort and
reflection and application and failures and trying again.
Then, in the end, one knows things without knowing how one
knows them! And I gathered that the Professor meant to say
that no man knows anything until he knows it in this
thorough, instinctive way.

"People frequently ask Professor Einstein whether, as a
scientist, he believes in God. Usually he answers: 'I do
not believe in a God who maliciously or arbitrarily
interferes in the personal affairs of mankind. My religion
consists of an humble admiration for the vast power which
manifests itself in

//page 87

that small part of the universe which our poor, weak minds
can grasp!'

"In a discussion, when the Professor is impressed by the
correctness of his own views or those of another, he will
suddenly exclaim: 'Yes! So it is! It is just! It must be
so! I am quite sure that God could not have made it
different!' For him, God is as valid as a scientific
argument.

"At one time, after prolonged concentration upon a single
problem (it lasted for nearly four years), the Professor
suffered a complete physical collapse. With it came severe
stomach trouble. A celebrated specialist said: 'You must
not get out of bed! You cannot stand on your feet for a
long time to come.'

"'Is this the will of God?' queried the Professor
instantly. 'I think not! The voice of God is from within
us. Something within me tells me that every day I must get
up at least once. I must go to the piano and play! The rest
of the day I will spend in bed! This I am prepared to
accept as the will of God!'

"And with the will of God, as set forth by Einstein, the
specialist had to be content. Every day the Professor got
up, put his bathrobe over his night-shirt, and went to the
piano to play.

"I asked many questions to elicit the lessons of his
experience that might be of most use to the rest of us. I
learned that he reads little. 'Much reading after a certain
age,' he says, 'diverts the mind from its creative
pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain
too little falls into lazy

//page 88

habits of thinking, just as the man who spends too much
time in the theaters is apt to be content with living
vicariously instead of living his own life.

"'I have only two rules which I regard as principles of
conduct. The first is: Have no rules. The second is: Be
independent of the opinion of others.'"

So we find that there is in man a knowing capacity
transcending intellectual knowledge. Nearly everyone has at
some time touched this hidden wisdom and has been more or
less astonished at its revelations. It certainly is a most
startling experience to find ourselves giving forth logical
thoughts and words without preparation or forethought,
because we nearly always arrive at our conclusions through
a process of reasoning. However, the reasoning process is
often so swift that we are likely to think that it is true
inspiration, especially when we have received either the
reflected uplift of other wise ones or the baptism of the
Holy Spirit. This quickening of the intellect is the
John-the-Baptist or intellectual illumination that precedes
the awakening of the ideal, the Christ understanding. Some
Truth students become so enamored of the revelations that
they receive through the head that they fail to go on to
the unfoldment of the One who baptizes in "Holy Spirit and
in fire." The Old Testament writers had a certain
understanding of the first and the second opening of the
mind to spiritual Truth; Isaiah said:

//quote

The voice of one that crieth, Prepare ye in the wilderness
the way of Jehovah; make level in the desert a high way for
our God.

//text

//page 89

Elijah had intellectual illumination, and the Israelites
were taught that he would come again as a forerunner of the
Messiah, Jesus said that Elijah had come again in the
personality of John the Baptist:

//quote

I say unto you, that Elijah is come already, and they knew
him not . . . Then understood the disciples that he spake
unto them of John the Baptist.

//text

The history of the Israelites is a sort of moving picture
of man's soul and body development. When we understand the
psychology of the different scenes, we know what we have
passed through or will pass through in our journey from
sense to Spirit.

Intellectual understanding of Truth, as given in the first
baptism, is a tremendous step in advance of sense
consciousness, and its possession brings a temptation to
use for selfish ends the wisdom and the power thereby
revealed. When Jesus received this baptism He was "led up
of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the
devil" (personal ego) before he could take the next degree
in Son-of-God consciousness.

But Jesus knew that the illumination of the personal is not
the fulfillment of the law, and He rejected every
temptation to use His understanding for selfish ends.

Unless the disciple is very meek he will find the mortal
ego strongly asserting its arguments for the application of
the power of Spirit to personal needs. The god of mammon is
bidding high for men that have received the baptism of
Spirit, and many

//page 90

sell out, but their end is dust and ashes. No man can serve
two masters; one cannot serve both God and Mammon.

When we discover in ourselves a flow of thought that seems
to have been evolved independently of the reasoning
process, we are often puzzled about its origin and its
safety as a guide. In its beginnings this seemingly strange
source of knowledge is often turned aside as a daydream;
again it seems a distant voice, an echo of something that
we have heard and forgotten. One should give attention to
this unusual and usually faint whispering of Spirit in man.
It is not of the intellect and it does not originate in the
skull. It is the development, in man, of a greater capacity
to know himself and to understand the purpose of creation.
The Bible gives many examples of the awakening of this
brain of the heart, in seers, in lawgivers, and in
prophets. It is accredited as coming from the heart. The
nature of the process is not explained; one who is in the
devotional stage of unfoldment need not know all the
complex movements of the mind in order to get the message
of the Lord. It is enough to know that the understanding is
opened in both head and heart when man gives himself wholly
to the Lord.

This relation of head and heart is illustrated in the lives
of John the Baptist and Jesus. They were cousins; the
understanding of the head bears a close relation to the
wisdom of the heart. They both received the baptism of
Spirit, John preceding Jesus and baptizing Him. Here the
natural order of spiritual

//page 91

illumination is illustrated. Man receives first an
intellectual understanding of Truth which he transmits to
his heart, where love is awakened. The Lord reveals to him
that the faculty of love is the greatest of all the powers
of man and that head knowledge must decrease as heart
understanding increases.

However, we should remember that none of the faculties is
eliminated in the regeneration. Among the apostles of
Jesus, Thomas typifies the head, representing reason and
intellectual perception. Jesus did not ignore Thomas's
demand for physical evidence of His identity, but respected
it. He convinced Thomas by corporal evidence that there had
been a body resurrection; that He was living, not in a
physical or ghost body, but in the same body that had been
crucified.

Jesus plainly taught that He had attained control of the
life in the body and could take it up or lay it down. We
may construe the death and the resurrection of Jesus in
various ways, many of them fanciful and allegorically far
removed from practical life, but the fact remains that
there is good historical evidence of the physical reality
of the Resurrection in its minutest detail.

Spiritual understanding shows us that the resurrection of
the body from death is not to be confined to Jesus, but is
for all men who comprehend Truth and apply it as Jesus
applied it. He had the consciousness of the new flood of
life that comes to all who open their minds and their
bodies to the living

//page 92

Word of God, and He knew that it would raise the atomic
vibration of His organism above the disintegrating thought
currents of the earth and thus would save His flesh from
corruption.

When Jesus told the Jews what He discerned, they said that
He was crazy ("hath a demon"). One who teaches and
practices the higher understanding and reality of man's
relation to the creative law is not sane--from the
viewpoint of mortal man.

When the higher understanding in Jesus proclaimed, "Verily,
verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my word, he shall
never see death," they took up stones to cast at Him. This
startling claim of the power of the word of Truth to save
one from death is beyond all human reason, and it is
resented by the material thoughts, which are as hard as
rocks.

Jesus did not let the limited race thought about man keep
Him from doing the works of Spirit. He knew that the light
of Truth had arisen in His consciousness and He was not
afraid to affirm it. He went right ahead healing the sick
and teaching the Truth as He saw it, regardless of the
traditions of the Hebrew fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. He kept the light shining in His consciousness by
being loyal to it and by making for Himself the highest
statements of Truth that He could conceive. The Christ Mind
speaking in Him said: "I am the light of the world."

Spiritual understanding is developed in a multitude of
ways; no two persons have exactly the same experience. One
may be a Saul, to whom the light

//page 93

comes in a blinding flash, while to another the light may
come gently and harmoniously. The sudden breaking forth of
the light indicates the existence of stored-up reservoirs
of spiritual experience, gained from previous lives. Jesus
saw that Saul had a spiritual capacity that, turned into
right channels, would do great good; so He took some pains
to awaken in Saul the true light and thereby restrain the
destructive zeal that possessed him. "He is a chosen vessel
unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings, and
the children of Israel."

The spiritual nature develops in man as the other
attributes of his character develop. "As he thinketh within
himself, so is he" is a statement of the law that has no
exception. Man develops the capacity to do that which he
sets out to do. If one makes no start one never goes.

//quote

In idle wishes fools supinely stay;

Be there a will, then wisdom finds a way.

//text

No one ever attained spiritual consciousness without
striving for it. The first step is to ask. "Ask, and it
shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it
shall be opened unto you." Prayer is one form of asking,
seeking, and knocking. Then make your mind receptive to the
higher understanding, through silent meditations and
affirmations of Truth. The earnest desire to understand
spiritual things will open the way and revelation within
and without will follow. In Daniel 10:12 it is written:

//page 94

//quote

Fear not, Daniel; for from the first day that thou didst
set thy heart to understand, and to humble thyself before
thy God, thy words were heard: and I am come for thy words'
sake.

//text

Daniel humbled himself in the presence of the universal
Mind, and thereby opened his understanding and made himself
receptive to the cosmic consciousness. Daniel and his
companions were superior in wisdom and understanding to all
the native magicians and seers in the whole Babylonian
realm. The Scriptures say that God gave Daniel knowledge
and skill in all learning and wisdom, and "Daniel had
understanding in all visions and dreams." Cultivate purity
of mind and body, and you will open the way for the higher
thoughts, as did Daniel. He "purposed in his heart that he
would not defile himself with the king's dainties, nor with
the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the
prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself."

Spiritual understanding is developed in the feminine realm
of the soul. This development is pictured in Acts 16:14:
"And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of
the city of Thyatira, one that worshipped God, heard us:
whose heart the Lord opened."

Thyatira means "burning incense"; it represents the intense
desire of man for the higher expressions of life. When this
inner urge comes forth with power (seller of purple), the
Lord opens the heart and we receive the heavenly message,
like the disciples who said one to another: "Was not

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our heart burning within us, while he spake to us in the
way, while he opened to us the scriptures?"

//quote

Wisdom consisteth not in knowing many things, nor even in
knowing them thoroughly; but in choosing and in following
what conduces the most certainly to our lasting happiness
and true glory.--Landor

Knowledge dwells in heads replete with thoughts of other
men, wisdom in minds attentive to their own.--Cowper

She [knowledge] is earthly of the mind, but wisdom heavenly
of the soul.--Tennyson

Create in me a clean heart, O God;

And renew a right spirit within me.

--Psalms 51:10.

For wisdom shall enter into thy heart,

And knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul.

--Proverbs 2:10.

But the path of the righteous is as the dawning light.

That shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

--Proverbs 4:18.

A tranquil heart is the life of the flesh;

But envy is the rottenness of the bones.

--Proverbs 14:30.

My son, forget not my law;

But let thy heart keep my commandments.

--Proverbs 3:1.

Trust in Jehovah with all thy heart,

And lean not upon thine own understanding:

In all thy ways acknowledge him,

And he will direct thy paths.

--Proverbs 3:5, 6

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Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,

And the man that getteth understanding.

For the gaining of it is better than the gaining of silver,

And the profit thereof than fine gold.

She is more precious than rubies:

And none of the things thou canst desire art to be compared
unto her.

Length of days is in her right hand;

In her left hand are riches and honor.

Her ways are ways of pleasantness,

And all her paths are peace.

She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her:

And happy is every one that retaineth her.

Jehovah by wisdom founded the earth;

By understanding he established the heavens.

--Prover