Jesus told us that we should seek the kingdom of God first.

Jesus was able to heal others because he had first healed himself. He was able to direct others because he had first received direction from the Divine Source within himself. He was able to tell others about the kingdom of God because he lived in it. The starting point, then, of our new outlook on life must be that we have direct access to an Intelligence that can guide us, a Life Force or Energy or spiritual Something that can heal us, and a Law of Mind that we can use. This is the starting point.

We may call this faith, hope, religion, or spiritual enlightenment – they all mean the same thing. The starting point is to recognize that we are one with God here and now, and to come to realize that there is a Law of Mind that can bring any desired result about, provided it is constructive. When we were children, we had this natural belief, and as we grew up and met experiences that denied the simple faith of the child, we got farther and farther away from the inward center of the child until finally our frustrations accumulated, and, like the pigs, we refuse even to try again. So we have to start all over and experience some kind of a new birth, a real and actual conversion.

Probably this has been the power and the vitality of every religion the world has ever known, for no matter what form they have taken, they have all believed in something greater than the human. Basic religion, rightly understood, is more than a sentiment. It is more than just some happy attitude or outlook toward life. It is more fundamental than this. It is a blending of the human forces that surround us, a conscious union of the soul with its Source, an at-one-ment with God.

We all need a religion, a faith that will rekindle within us the hope that has been lost, the fire that has been extinguished, the light that has dimmed. We should not be afraid of religious convictions or look upon them as weak or without meaning. For a man without the hope born from faith, the conviction coming