To you who read, I speak.
To you, who, through long years and much running to and fro, have been eagerly seeking, in books and teachings, in philosophy and religion, for you know not what Truth, Happiness, Freedom, God;
To you whose Soul is weary and discouraged and almost destitute of hope;
To you, who many times have obtained a glimpse of that "Truth" only to find, when you followed and tried to reach it, that it disappeared in the beyond, and was but the mirage of the desert; To you, who thought you had found it in some great teacher, who was perhaps the acknowledged head of some Society, Fraternity or Religion, and who appeared to you to be a "Master," so marvelous was the wisdom he taught and the works he performed; only to awaken later to the realization that that "Master" was but a human personality, with faults and weaknesses, and secret sins, the same as you, even though that personality may have been a channel through which were voiced many beautiful teachings, which seemed to you the highest "Truth;"
And here you are, Soul aweary and enhungered, and not knowing where to turn To you, I AM come.
Likewise to you, who have begun to feel the presence of that "Truth" within your Soul, and seek the confirmation of that which of late has been vaguely struggling for living expression within;
Yes, to all you who hunger for the true "Bread of Life," I AM come.
Are you ready to partake?
If so, then arouse yourself. Sit up. Still your human mind and follow closely My Word herein spoken.
Or you will turn away disappointed once more, with the aching hunger still in your heart.
I!
Who am I?
I, Who speak with such seeming knowledge and authority?
Listen!
I AM You, that part of you who IS and KNOWS; WHO KNOWS ALL THINGS,
And always knew, and always was.
Yes, I AM You, Your SELF; that part of you who says I AM and is I AM;
That transcendent, innermost part of you which quickens within as you read, which responds to this My Word, which perceives Its Truth, which recognizes all Truth and discards all error wherever found. Not that part which has been feeding on error all these years.
For I AM your real Teacher, the only real one you will ever know, and the only MASTER;
I, your Divine SELF.
I, the I AM of you, bring to you this My Message, My living Word, as I have brought to you everything in life, be it book or "Master" to teach you that I and I alone, your own True Self, AM The Teacher for you, the only Teacher and the only God, Who is and always has been providing you not only with the Bread and Wine of Life, but with all things needed for your physical, mental and spiritual growth and sustenance.
Therefore that which appeals to YOU, as you read, is MY Message, spoken to your outer human consciousness from within, and is but a confirmation of that which the I AM of you always knew within, but had not yet translated in definite, tangible terms to your outer consciousness.
Likewise, all that ever appealed to You, coming from some outward expression, was but the confirmation of My Word already spoken within. The outward expression was the avenue or means I chose at the time through which to reach and impress your human or self consciousness.
I AM not your human mind, nor its child, the intellect. They are but the expression of your Being, as you are the expression of My Being; they are but phases of your human personality, as You are a phase of My Divine Impersonality. Weigh and study carefully these words.
Rise up and free yourself now and for always from the domination of your personality, with its self-inflated and self-glorifying mind and intellect. For your mind henceforth must be Your servant, and the intellect Your slave, if My Word is to penetrate to your Soul consciousness.
I AM come now to your Soul consciousness, which I have quickened expressly in preparation for the reception of My Word.
Now, if you are strong enough to bear it; If you can put aside all your private personal fancies, beliefs and opinions, which are but the rubbish you have gathered from the dumping grounds of others;
If you are strong enough to cast them all away; Then My Word will be to you a source of endless Joy and Blessing. Be prepared to have this personality of yours doubt My Word as you read It all along the way; For its very life is threatened, and it knows it cannot live and thrive and longer dominate your thinking, your feelings, your going and coming, as of old, if you take My Word into your heart and permit It there to abide. Yes, I AM come to you now, To make you conscious of My Presence; For I have likewise prepared your human mind so that it can, in a measure, comprehend the meaning of Me. I have been with you always, but you did not know it.
I have purposely led you through the Wilderness of books and teaching, of religions and philosophies, keeping ever before your Soul's eye the vision of the Promised Land; feeding you with the manna of the Desert, that you might remember and value and long for the Bread of the Spirit.
Now I have brought you to the river Jordan that separates you from your Divine heritage. Now the time has come for you consciously to know Me; the time has come for you to cross over into Canaan, the land of Milk and Honey.
Are you ready?
Do you want to go?
Then follow this My Word, which is the Ark of My Covenant, and you shall go over dry shod.
Now I have purposely not stated clearly all the how and why of these things; for I have reserved for you, when you call upon Me so to do, and are capable of receiving it, an inspiration from within with a far more comprehensive vision of the unfoldment and development of My Divine Idea, and Its final perfected expression, than is herein pictured.
If I were here to tell the real meaning of My many manifestations, before you were consciously capable of experiencing its Truth, you neither would believe My words, nor could you comprehend their inner application and use.
Therefore, as I begin to awaken in you a realization that I AM within, and more and more cause your human consciousness to become an Impersonal channel through which I can express, will I gradually reveal to you the Reality of My Idea, dissipating one by one the illusions of the ages which have hidden Me from you, enabling Me thereby to manifest through you My Heavenly Attributes of Earth in all their humanly Divine perfection.
I have herein given you but a glimpse of My Reality, but just to the extent that that which has been revealed becomes clear will more be opened up unto you from within, and far more wonderful than this now seems to you. For My Idea within, when It finally and completely shines through Its mantle of flesh, will compel you to worship and glorify Me far above all that your human mind and intellect now conceive of as God.
Before you can become conscious of all this and can truly comprehend it, you and your human personality must make it possible for Me to reveal it, by turning within to Me as the One and Only Source, bringing to Me your measure absolutely empty of self, and with mind and heart as simple and trusting as those of a child. Then and then only, when nothing of the personal consciousness remains to prevent My filling you full to overflowing with the consciousness of Me, can I point out to you the glories of My Real Meaning, for which this whole Message is but the outer preparation.
The time has now arrived, however, for you to comprehend somewhat of this. Enough has been revealed to prepare you for the recognition of My Voice speaking within.
Therefore, I shall now proceed as if you realize I AM within, and that these Truths which I voice through the medium of these pages are but to impress more strongly upon your consciousness those phases of My Idea which you could not clearly receive direct.
That which herein appeals to you as Truth is consequently but a confirmation of that which My Idea has heretofore been struggling to express from within.
That which does not appeal and which you do not recognize as your own, pass by, for that means I do not desire you to receive it as yet. But each Truth I voice herein will go on vibrating until It reaches the minds I have quickened to receive It; for every word is filled with the potent power of My Idea, and to minds that perceive the Truth hidden therein this Truth becomes a living Reality, being that phase of My Idea they are now worthy and capable of expressing.
As all minds are but phases of My Infinite Mind, or parts of It manifesting in different forms of mortal nature, when I speak through the medium of these pages to your mind and to other minds, I AM but speaking to My mortal Self, thinking with My Infinite Mind, pushing forth My Idea into earthly expression.
Just so will You soon be thinking My Thoughts, and be conscious that I AM speaking within directly to your human consciousness, and you will then no longer have to come to this or to any other of My outer Revelations, either spoken or written, in order to perceive My Meaning.
For AM I not within You, and AM I not You, and are You not One with Me, Who live in and express through the consciousness of all minds, knowing all things?
All that remains for you to do is to enter into the All-consciousness of My Mind and abide there with Me, even as I abide within My Idea in Your Mind. Then all things shall be Yours, as they now are Mine, being but the outer expression of My Idea, and existing only by reason of the consciousness I gave them when I thought them into being.
It is all a matter of consciousness - of your conscious thinking. You are separated from Me only because you think you are. Your mind is but a focal point of My Mind. If you but knew it, what you call your consciousness is My Consciousness. You cannot even think, much less breathe or exist without My Consciousness being in you, - Can you not see it?
Well, then, think, believe you are I, that We are not separated, that We could not possibly be separated; for WE are ONE, I within You, and You within Me, Think this is so; determinedly image it as so; and verily the moment you are conscious of this, that moment are you with Me in Heaven.
You are what you believe you are. Not one thing in your life is Real or has any value to you only as your thinking and believing has made it such. Therefore, think no more you are separated from Me, and abide with Me in the Impersonal Realm, where all Power, all Wisdom, and all Love, the threefold nature of My Idea, but await expression through You.
Now I have spoken much of this, and have apparently said the same thing more than once, but in different words. I have done this purposely, presenting My Meaning in different lights, that you might finally be brought to comprehend My Divine Impersonality, which is in Reality Your Impersonality.
Yes, I have repeated and will continue to repeat many Truths, and you may think it tedious and unnecessary; but if you will read carefully you will find that each time I repeat a Truth I always add something to what has already been said, and that each time a stronger and more lasting impression is made upon your mind.
This done, My purpose has been accomplished, and you will soon come into a Soul realization of that Truth.
If you receive not such impression and still think such repetition a useless waste of words and time, know that your intellect only is reading, and that My real meaning has altogether escaped you. You, however, who do comprehend, will love every word, and will read and reread many times, and consequently will receive all the wondrous Pearls of Wisdom I have held in reserve for you. These words and their message will be to you hereafter merely a fount of inspiration, or a door through which you will be enabled to enter into the Impersonal estate and to hold sweet communion with Me, your Father in Heaven, when I will teach you all things you desire to know.
I have been picturing the Impersonal estate from many viewpoints, in order that it may become so familiar that you can unerringly distinguish it from all inferior states, and may learn to dwell consciously in it at will.
When you can consciously dwell in it so that My Words when and wherever spoken can always find lodgment and understanding in your mind, then will I permit you to use certain faculties I have been awakening in you. These faculties will enable you more and more clearly to see the Reality of things, not only the beautiful and lovely qualities in the personalities of those about you, but their weaknesses, faults and shortcomings, as well.
But the reason you are enabled to see these faults and shortcomings, is not that you may criticize or judge your brother, but that I may arouse in you a definite resolve to overcome such faults and shortcomings in your own personality. For, mark you! - You would take no note of them in others were they not still in your self; for I within, then would not need to call them to your attention.
As all things are for use, and use only, let us study the use you have hitherto made of other faculties, gifts and powers I have given you. You must realize by this time I have allowed you all things. All you have, or are, be it of good or evil, of blessing or suffering, of success or failure, of riches or lack, I have allowed you or attracted to you. - Why? For USE - in awakening you to a recognition and acknowledgment of Me as The Giver.
You could not honestly acknowledge Me as such until you knew I AM, The Giver. Your personality, in fact, had become so engrossed in trying to get rid of or to exchange many of the things I had given you for other things you thought were better, that of course you could not even dream, much less acknowledge, Me, Your Own Self, as The Giver.
Possibly you do now acknowledge Me as The Giver, as the Inner Essence and Creator of all things in your world and in your life, even of your present attitude toward these things. Both are My doing, for they are but the outer phases of the process I AM using in the expression of My Idea of your inner Perfection, which Perfection being My Perfection is gradually unfolding from within you.
As you more and more realize this, will the true meaning and use of the things, conditions and experiences I send be revealed unto you. For you will then begin to glimpse My Idea within, and when you glimpse that Idea will you begin to know Me you own Real Self.
Before you can truly know Me, however, you must learn that all things I give you are Good - and that they are for use, My use, - and that you personally have no interest in or actual right to them, and they are of no real benefit to you, only as you put them to such use.
I may be expressing through you beautiful symphonies of sound, color or language, that manifest as music, art or poetry, according to human terminology, and which so affect others as to cause them to acclaim you as one of the great ones of the day.
I may be speaking through your mouth or inspiring you to write many beautiful Truths, which may be attracting to you many followers, who hail you as a most wonderful preacher or teacher.
I may even be healing through you diverse diseases, casting out devils, making the blind to see and the lame to walk, and performing other marvelous works which the world calls miracles. Yes, all these I may be doing through you, but of absolutely no benefit is any of it to you personally, unless you use and apply these harmonies of sound in your every spoken word, so that to all hearers they will seem as the sweet music of heaven; and unless your sense of color and proportion so manifests in your life that only kind, uplifting, helpful thoughts flow from you, proving that the only true art is that of seeing clearly My Perfection in all My human expressions, and of allowing the quickening power of My Love to pour through you into their heart, picturing to their inner vision My Image hidden therein.
Likewise no credit attaches to you, no matter what wonderful Truths I speak or works I perform through you, unless you, yourself, live these Truths, daily, hourly; and make these works serve as a constant reminder of Me and My Power, which I ever pour out freely for you, My Beloved, and for all, to use in My Service.
You, to whom I have apparently given none of such gifts and who deem yourself unworthy and not yet advanced enough to serve Me in such ways, to you I would say:
Just to the extent that you truly recognize Me within and seek in real earnestness to serve Me, just to that extent will I use you no matter what your personality, no matter what its faults, tendencies and weaknesses.
Yes, I will cause even you who thus seek to serve Me to do many wondrous things towards the quickening and awakening of your brothers to a like acknowledgment of Me. I will cause even you to influence and affect the lives of many of those whom you contact, inspiring and uplifting them to higher ideals, changing their way of thinking and their attitude towards their fellows and therefore towards Me.
Yes, all you who seek to serve Me, no matter what your gifts, will I make to be a vital force for good in the community, altering the mode of life of many, inspiring and molding their ambitions and aspirations, and altogether becoming a leavening influence in the midst of the worldly activities in which I will place you.
You at the time will probably know nothing of this. You may even be still longing to serve Me, and hungering for a more intimate consciousness of Me, thinking you are doing nothing, are still making many mistakes and failing to live up to your highest ideals of Me; not realizing that this longing and hungering is the avenue through which I pour forth My Spiritual Power, which being wholly Impersonal, is used by you, unconscious of its being I within you using it, to bring about My Purpose in your heart and life and in the hearts and lives of My and Your other Selves.
So, as you finally grow into the realization of all this, as you surely will, and prove it by the practical use of all you have in My service, will I gradually give you the strength and ability to consciously to use Impersonally My Power, My Wisdom, and My Love, in the expression of My Divine Idea, which is eternally striving to manifest through You Its Perfection.
Therefore will you soon see that your human personality, with all its faculties, powers and possessions, which are in reality Mine operating and manifesting through you, is likewise for My use wholly, and that true success and satisfaction can never be found except in such use.
For such use develops, as the planted seed develops the harvest, the ability consciously to use all My Spiritual faculties in the final perfect expression of My Idea, which can be expressed only through your human personality.
Now, in order that you may learn to know Me, so that you can be sure it is I, you own True Self, Who speak these words, you must first learn to Be Still, to quiet your human mind and body and all their activities, so that you no longer are conscious of them.
You may not yet be able to do this, but I will teach you how, if you really want to know Me, and are willing to prove it by trusting Me and obeying Me in all that I now shall call upon you to do. Listen!
Try to imagine the "I" who speaks throughout these pages as being your Higher or Divine Self, addressing and counseling your human mind and intellect, which you will consider for the moment as being a separate personality. Your human mind is so constituted that it cannot accept anything which does not conform with what it has previously experienced or learned, and which its intellect does not consider reasonable. Therefore, in addressing it, You are using such terms and expressions as will most clearly explain to your intellect the truths it must understand before the mind can awaken to the consciousness of your meaning.
The fact is, this "I" is yourself, your Real Self. Your human mind has heretofore been so engrossed with the task of supplying its intellect and body with all manner of selfish indulgences, that it has never had time to get acquainted with the Real You, its true Lord and Master. You have been so interested in and affected by the pleasures and sufferings of your body and intellect, that you have almost come to believe You are your intellect and body, and you have consequently nearly forgotten Me, your Divine Self.
I AM not your intellect and body, and this Message is to teach that You and I are One. The words I herein speak, and the main burden of these instructions, is to awaken your consciousness to this great fact.
You cannot awaken to this fact until you can get away from the consciousness of this body and intellect, which so long have held you enslaved. You must feel Me within, before you can know I AM there.
Now, in order that you can become wholly oblivious of your mind and its thoughts and your body and its sensations, so that you can feel Me within, it is necessary that you studiously obey these, My instructions.
Sit quietly in a relaxed position, and, when wholly at ease, let your mind take in the significance of these words:
"Be still!- And KNOW- I AM God."
Without thinking, allow this, My Divine Command, to penetrate deep into your Soul. Let whatever impressions that come to your mind enter at will without effort or interference on your part. Note carefully their import, for it is I, within, through these impressions, instructing you. Then, when somewhat of their vital significance begins to dawn upon your consciousness, speak these My Words slowly, imperatively, to every cell of your body, to every faculty of your mind, with all the conscious power you possess: "
Be still! - and KNOW- I AM God."
Speak them just as they are herein written, trying to realize that the God of you commands and demands of your mortal self implicit obedience. Study them, search out their hidden potency. Brood over them, carry them with you into your work, whatever it be. Make them the vital, dominating factor in your work, in all your creative thoughts.
Say them a thousand times a day, Until you have discovered all My innermost meaning;
Until every cell of your body thrills in joyful response to the command, "Be Still," and instantly obeys;
And every vagrant thought hovering around your mind hides itself off into nothingness.
Then, as the Words reverberate through the caverns of your now empty being;
Then, as the Sun of Knowing begins to rise on the horizon of your consciousness; Then, will you feel the swell of a wondrous strange Breath filling you to the extreme of all your mortal members, causing your senses almost to burst with the ecstasy of it; then, will there come surge after surge of a mighty, resistless Power rising within you, lifting you almost off the earth; then, will you feel within the Glory, the Holiness, the Majesty of My Presence; And then, then you will KNOW, I AM, God.
You, when you have felt Me thus in such moments within, when you have tasted of My Power, hearkened to My Wisdom, and know the ecstasy of My all-embracing Love, no disease can touch, no circumstance can weaken, no enemy can conquer you. For now you KNOW I AM within, and you always hereafter will turn to Me in your need, putting all your trust in Me, and allowing Me to manifest My Will.
You, when you turn thus to Me, will always find Me an unfailing and ever-present help in time of need; for I will so fill you with a Realization of My Presence and of My Power, that you need only Be Still and allow Me to do whatever you want done heal your ills and those of others, illumine your mind so you can see with My eyes the Truth you seek, or perform perfectly the tasks which before seemed almost impossible of accomplishment. This Knowledge, this Realization, will not come at once. It may not come for years. It may come tomorrow.
It depends upon no one but You; Not upon your personality, with its human desires and human understanding;
But upon the I AM of you - God, within.
Who is it that causes the bud to open into the blossom?
Who causes the chick to burst its shell?
Who decides the day and the hour?
It is the conscious, natural act of the Intelligence within, My Intelligence, directed by My Will, bringing to fruition My Idea and expressing it in the blossom and in the chick.
But did the blossom and the chick have anything to do with it?
No, only as they submitted or united their will with Mine and allowed Me and My Wisdom to determine the hour and the ripeness for action, and then only as they obeyed the impulse of My Will to make the effort, could they step forth into the New Life.
You may, with your personality, try a thousand times a thousand times to burst through the shell of your human consciousness.
It will result only, if at all, in a breaking down of the doors I have provided between the world of tangible forms and the real of intangible dreams; and the door being open, you then no longer can keep out intruders from your private domain, without much trouble and suffering.
But even through such suffering you may gain the strength you lack and the wisdom needed to know that, not until you yield up all desire for knowledge, for goodness, yes, for union with Me, to benefit self, can you unfold your petals showing forth the perfect Beauty of My Divine Nature, and throw off the shell of your human personality and step forth into the glorious Light of My Heavenly Kingdom.
Therefore I give you these directions now, at the beginning, that you may be learning how to recognize Me.
For I here promise you, if you follow and strive earnestly to comprehend and obey My instructions herein given, you shall very soon know Me, and I will give you to comprehend all of My Word wherever written, in book or teaching, in Nature, or in your fellow man.
If there is much in what herein is written that seems contradictory, seek out My real meaning before discarding it.
Do not leave a single paragraph, or any one thought in it, until all that is suggested becomes clear.
But in all your seeking and all your striving, let it be with faith and trust in Me, your True Self within, and without being anxious about results; for the results are all in My keeping, and I will take care of them. Your doubts and your anxiety are but of the personality, and if allowed to persist will lead only to failure and disappointment.
If that which you have read has awakened a response within, and the Soul of you yearns for more, then you are ready for what follows.
If you still question or rebel at the seeming assumption of Divine authority for what is herein written, your intellect telling you it is but another attempt to beguile your mind with cunning suggestion and subtle sophistry, then you will receive no benefit from these words; for their meaning is as yet hidden from your mortal consciousness, and My Word must come to you through other avenues of expression.
It is well if your personality with its intellect impels you thus to question and rebel against authority you do not yet know to be Mine. It is really I Who cause your personality thus to rebel; for your personality with its proud sense of individuality is still needed by Me to develop a mind and body strong enough that they can perfectly express Me. Until you have become prepared to know Me it is but natural for your personality thus to question and rebel. Once you recognize My Authority, that moment the undermining of the authority of the personality has begun. The days of its dominion are numbered, and you will more and more turn to Me for help and guidance.
Therefore, be not dismayed. Read on, and mayhap the recognition will come. But know that you can read or not, as you choose; but if you do it is really I Who choose, and not you.
For you, who seemingly choose not to read further, I have plans, and in due season you shall learn that whatever you do, or like, or desire, it is I leading you through all the fallacies and illusions of the personality, that you may finally awaken to their unreality and then turn to Me as the one and only Reality. Then these words will find a response within:
"Be still! - and KNOW - I AM God."
Yes, I AM that innermost part of you that sits within, and calmly waits and watches, knowing neither time nor space; for I AM the Eternal and fill all space. I watch and wait for you to be done with your petty human follies and weaknesses, with your vain longings, ambitions and regrets, knowing that will come in time; and then you will turn to Me, weary, discouraged, empty and humble, and ask Me to take the lead, not realizing that I have been leading you all the time. Yes, I sit here within, quietly waiting for this; yet while waiting it was really I Who directed all your ways, Who inspired all your thoughts and acts, impersonally utilizing and manipulating each so as eventually to bring you and My other human expressions to a final conscious recognition of Me.
Yes, I have been within always, deep within your heart. I have been with you through all, through your joys and heartaches, your successes and mistakes, through your evildoing, your shame, your crimes against your brother and against God, as you thought.
Aye, whether you went straight ahead, or strayed aside, or stepped backward, it was I Who brought you through.
It was I Who urged you on by the glimpse of Me in the dim distance. It was I Who lured you by a vision of Me in some bewitching face, or beautiful body, or intoxicating pleasure, or overpowering ambition.
It was I Who appeared before you within the garb of Sin, or Weakness, or Greed, or Sophistry, and drove you back into the arms of Conscience, leaving you to struggle in its shadowy grasp; until you awakened to its impotence, rose up in disgust, and in the inspiration of a new vision tore off My mask.
Yes, it is I Who cause you to do all things, and if you can see it, it is I Who do all things that you do, and all things that your brother does; for that in you and in him which IS, is I, My Self. For I AM LIFE.
I AM the Innermost, the Spirit, the animating Cause of your being, of all life, of all living things, both visible and invisible. There is nothing dead, for I, the Impersonal ONE, AM all that there is. I AM Infinite and wholly unconfined; the Universe is My Body, all the Intelligence there is emanates from My Mind, all the Love there is flows from My Heart, all the Power there is, is but My Will in action.
The threefold Force, manifesting as all Wisdom, all Love, all Power, or if you will, as Light, Heat, and Energy " that which holds together all forms and is back of and in all expressions and phases of life, is but the manifestation of My Self in the act or state of Being.
Nothing can Be without manifesting and expressing some phase of Me, Who AM not only the Builder of all forms, but the Dweller in each. In the heart of each I dwell; in the heart of the human, in the heart of the animal, in the heart of the flower, in the heart of the stone. In the heart of each I live and move and have My Being, and from out the heart of each I send forth that phase of Me I desire to express, and which manifests in the outer world as a stone, a flower, an animal, a man.
Is there nothing, then, but this great I? Am I to be permitted no individuality for myself? I hear you ask.
No, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that is not a part of Me, controlled and ruled eternally by Me, the One Infinite Reality.
As for your so-called individuality, that is nothing but your personality still seeking to maintain a separate existence.
Soon you shall know there is no individuality apart from My Individuality, and all personality shall fade away into My Divine Impersonality. Yes, and you shall soon reach that state of awakening where you will get a glimpse of My Impersonality, and you will then desire no individuality, no separation for yourself; for you will see that is but one more illusion of the personality.
Yes, I know the many mixed thoughts that have been crowding into your mind as you read, the doubts and eager questionings, the vague fear that imperceptibly changed into a growing hope that this glimmering of My Meaning, which has begun to penetrate the darkness of your human intellect, may shine brighter so you can see clearly the Truth which you instinctively feel is hidden beneath My Words.
Again I say, this I AM speaking herein is the Real Self of you, and in reading these words it is necessary that you realize it is You, your own Self, that is speaking them to your human consciousness, in order fully to comprehend their meaning.
I also repeat, this is the same I AM that is the Life and Spirit animating all living things in the Universe, from the tiniest atom to the greatest Sun; that this I AM is the Intelligence in you and in your brother and sister; and that it is likewise the Intelligence which causes everything to live and grow and become that which it is their destiny to be.
Perhaps you cannot yet understand how this I AM can be, at one and the same time, the I AM of you and the I AM of your brother, and also the Intelligence of the stone, the plant, and the animal.
You will see this, however, if you follow these My Words and obey the instructions herein given; for I will soon bring to your consciousness a Light that will illumine the deepest recesses of your mind and drive away all the clouds of human misconceptions, ideas and opinions that now darken your intellect, if you read on and strive earnestly to comprehend My Meaning. So listen carefully.
I AM You, the Real Self of you, All that you really are. That which you think you are, you are not. That is only an illusion, a shadow of the Real You, which is I, your Immortal, Divine Self. I AM that point of consciousness focalized in your human mind which calls itself "I". I AM that "I", but that which you call your consciousness is in reality My Consciousness, thinned down to suit the capacity of your human mind. It is still My Consciousness, and when you can drive from your mind all its human misconceptions, ideas and opinions, and can cleanse and empty it utterly, so that My Consciousness can have a chance to express freely, then you will recognize Me and you will know that you are nothing being only a focal center of My Consciousness, an avenue of medium through which I can express My meaning - in matter.
Perhaps you cannot see this yet, and of course cannot believe it until I fully prepare your mind by convincing your intellect of its truth.
You have been told that each cell of your body has a consciousness and an intelligence of its own; that were it not for this consciousness it could not do the work it so intelligently does. Each cell is surrounded by millions of other cells, each intelligently doing its own work and each evidently controlled by the united consciousness of all these cells, forming a group intelligence, which directs and controls this work; this group intelligence apparently being the intelligence of the organ which the cells comprising it form.
Likewise, there are other group intelligences in other organs, each containing other millions of cells, and all these organs make up your physical body.
Now, you know You are the Intelligence that directs the work of the organs of your body, whether this directing is done consciously or unconsciously; and that each cell of each organ is really a focal center of this directing Intelligence; and that when this Intelligence is withdrawn the cells fall apart, your physical body dies and exists no more as a living organism.
Who is this You who directs and controls the activities of your organs, and consequently of each cell composing them?
You cannot say it is your human or personal self who does this, for you of yourself consciously can control the action of scarcely a single organ of your body.
It must then be this Impersonal I AM of you, which is You, and yet is not you. Listen!
You, the I AM of you, are to Me what the cell consciousness of your body is to your I AM Consciousness.
You are a cell, as it were, of My Body, and your consciousness (as one of My Cells) is to Me what the consciousness of one of the cells of your body is to You.
Therefore, it must be that the consciousness of the cell of your body is My Consciousness, even as your consciousness is My Consciousness; and therefore We must be One in consciousness the cell, You and I.
You cannot now consciously direct or control a single cell of your body; but when you can at will enter into the Consciousness of the I AM of you and know its identity with Me, then you can control not only every cell of your body, but that of any other body you might wish to control.
What happens when your consciousness no longer controls the cells of your body? The body disintegrates, the cells separate, and their work for the time being is finished. But do the cells die or lose consciousness? No, they simply sleep or rest for a period, and after a while unite with other cells and form new combinations, and sooner or later appear in other manifestations of life, perhaps mineral, perhaps vegetable, perhaps animal; showing that they still retain their original consciousness and but await the action of My Will to join together in a new organism to do the work of the new consciousness through which I desire to manifest.
Then apparently this cell consciousness is a consciousness common to all bodies, mineral, vegetable, animal, human, each cell fitted perhaps by experience for a certain general kind of work?
Yes, this cell consciousness is common to every cell of every body, no matter what its kind, because it is an Impersonal consciousness, having no purpose other than doing the work allotted it. It lives only to work wherever needed. When through with building one form, it takes up the work of building another, under whatever consciousness I desire it to serve.
Thus it is likewise with you.
You, as one of the cells of My Body, have a consciousness that is My Consciousness, an intelligence that is My Intelligence, even a will that is My Will. You have none of these for yourself or of yourself. They are all Mine and for My use only.
Now, My consciousness and My Intelligence and My Will are wholly Impersonal, and therefore are common with you and with all the cells of My Body, even as they are common with all the cells of your body.
I AM the directing Intelligence of All, the animating Spirit, the Life, the Consciousness of all matter, of all Substance. If you can see it, You, the Real you, the Impersonal you, are in all and are one with all, are in Me and are one with Me; just as I AM in you and in all, and thereby am expressing My Reality through you and through all.
This will, which you call your will, is likewise no more yours personally than is this consciousness and this intelligence of your mind and of the cells of your body yours.
It is but that small portion of My Will which I permit the personal you to use. Just as fast as you awaken to recognition of a certain power or faculty within you and begin consciously to use it, do I allow you that much more of My Infinite Power.
All power and its use is but so much recognition and understanding of the use of My Will. Your will and all your powers are only phases of My Will, which I supply to suit your capacity to use it.
Were I to entrust you with the full power of My Will, before you know how consciously to use it, it would annihilate your body utterly.
To test your strength and more often to show you what the misuse of My Power does to you, I at times allow you to commit a sin, so-called, or to make a mistake. I even permit you to become inflated with the sense of My Presence within you, when It manifests as a consciousness of My Power, My Intelligence, My Love; and I let you take these and use them for your own personal purposes. But not for long - for, not being strong enough to control them, they soon take the bit in their teeth, run away with you, throw you down in the mire, and disappear from your consciousness for the time being.
Always I AM there to pick you up, after the fall, although you do not know it at the time; first straightening you out and then starting you onward again, by pointing out the reason for your fall; and finally, when you are sufficiently humbled, causing you to see that these powers accruing to you by the conscious use of My Will, My Intelligence and My Love, are allowed you only for use in My Service, and not at all for your own personal ends.
Do the cells of your body, the muscles of your arm, think to set themselves up as having a separate will from your will, or a separate intelligence from your intelligence?
No, they know no intelligence but yours, no will but yours.
After a while it will be that you will realize you are only one of the cells of My Body; and that your will is not your will, but Mine; that what consciousness and what intelligence you have are Mine wholly; and that there is no such person as you, you personally being only a physical form containing a human brain, which I created for the purpose of expressing in matter and Idea, a certain phase of which I could express best only in that particular form.
All this may be difficult for you now to accept, and you may protest very strenuously that it cannot be, that every instinct of your nature rebels against such yielding and subordinating yourself to an unseen and unknown power, however Impersonal or Divine.
Fear not, it is only your personality that thus rebels. If you continue to follow and study My Words, all will soon be made clear, and I will surely open up to your inner understanding many wonderful Truths that now are impossible for you to comprehend. Your Soul will rejoice sing glad praises, and you will bless these words for the message they bring.
Now you may not even yet know I AM, or believe that I AM really you, or that I AM likewise your brother and your sister, and that you are all parts of Me and One with Me.
You may not realize that the Souls of you and your brother and sister, the only real and imperishable parts of the mortal you, are but different phases of Me in expression in what is called Nature.
Likewise you may not realize that you and your brothers and sisters are phases or attributes of My Divine Nature, just as your human personality, with its mortal body, mind and intellect, is a phase of your human nature.
No, you do not realize this yet, but I speak of it now, that you may know the signs when they begin to appear in your consciousness, as they surely will.
In order to recognize these signs, all that now follows must be considered carefully and studied, and should not be passed by until My meaning, at least in some degree, is grasped. Once you fully understand the principle I here set down, then all My Message will become clear and comprehensible.
I first give you the Key that will unlock every mystery that now hides from you the secret of My Being.
This Key, when you once know how to use it, will open the door to all Wisdom and all Power in heaven and earth. Yea, it will open the door to the Kingdom of Heaven, and then you have but to enter in to become consciously One with Me.
This Key is:
"To THINK is to CREATE," or
"As you THINK in your HEART, so is it with you".
Stop and meditate on this that it may get firmly fixed in your mind.
A Thinker is a Creator.
A Thinker lives in a world of his own conscious creation.
When you once know how "to think," you can create at will anything you wish, whether it be a new personality, a new environment, or a new world.
Let us see if you cannot grasp some of the Truths hidden and controlled by this Key.
You have been shown how all consciousness is One, and how it is all My Consciousness, and yet is also yours and likewise that of the animal, the plant, the stone, and the invisible cell.
You have seen how this consciousness is controlled by My Will, which causes the invisible cells to unite and form the various organisms for the expression and use of the different Centers of Intelligence through which I desire to express.
But you cannot yet see how you can direct and control the consciousness of the cells of your own body, not to speak of those of other bodies, even if you and I and they are all one in consciousness and intelligence.
By paying especial attention to what follows, however, you now may be enabled to see this. Have you ever taken the pains to study out what is consciousness? How it seems to be an impersonal state of awareness, of waiting to serve or to be directed or used by some power latent in and intimately related to itself?
How man seems to be merely the highest type of organism containing this consciousness, which is directed and used by this power within itself? That this power latent in man's consciousness and in all consciousness is nothing but Will, My Will? For you know that all power is but the manifestation of My Will. Now you have been told that in the beginning I created man in "My Image and Likeness," after which I breathed into him the Breath of Life and he became a Living Soul. By creating man in My Image and Likeness I created an organism capable of expressing all of My Consciousness and all of My Will, which means likewise all of My Power, My Intelligence, and My Love. I therefore made it perfect in the beginning, patterning it after My own Perfection. When I breathed into man's organism My Breath, it became alive with Me; for then it was I breathed into it My Will not from without, but from within from the Kingdom of Heaven within, where always I AM. Ever afterward I breathed and lived and had My Being within man, for I created him in My Image and Likeness only for that purpose.
The proof of this is, man does not and cannot breathe of himself. Something far greater than his conscious, natural self lives in his body and breathes through his lungs. A mighty power within his body thus uses the lungs, even as it uses the heart to force the blood containing the life it in-drew through the lungs to every cell of the body; as it uses the stomach and other organs to digest and assimilate food to make blood, tissue, hair and bone; as it uses the brain, the tongue, the hands and feet,to think and say and do everything that man does.
This power is My Will to BE and LIVE in man.
Therefore, whatever man is, I AM, and whatever man does, or you do, I do, and whatever you say or think, it is I Who say or think it through your organism.
You were also told that when man was thus possessed of My Breath he was given dominion over all the kingdoms of the earth. Which means he was made lord of the earth, the sea, the air and the ethers, and all beings living in all these kingdoms paid him homage and were subject to his will.
This naturally was so, for I, within man's consciousness and within all consciousness, AM always manifesting My Will; and I, the lord and ruler of man's organism, AM likewise the lord and ruler of all organisms in which consciousness dwells. As all consciousness is My Consciousness and It dwells wherever there is life , and as there is no substance in which there is not life, then My Consciousness must be in everything, in earth, water, air and fire, and therefore must fill all space. In fact it is space, or that which man calls space.
Then My Will, being the power latent in all consciousness, must reach everywhere.
Therefore man's will, which is but a focalization of My Will, must likewise reach everywhere; hence the consciousness of all organisms, including his own, is subject to man's direction and control.
All it needs is for him consciously to realize this, realize that I, the Impersonal Self within him, AM constantly directing, controlling and using the consciousness of all organisms every moment of every day of his life.
I AM doing this by and through his thinking. I AM doing this with and through man's organism. Man thinks he thinks; but it is I, the Real I of him, who thinks through his organism. Through this thinking and his spoken word I accomplish all that man does, and make man and his world all that they are.
It makes no difference if man and his world are not what he supposes they are. They are just what I created them to be for My Purpose.
But, if I do all the thinking, man does not and cannot think, I hear you say.
Yes, here seems a mystery, but it will be revealed to you, if you note carefully what follows:
For I AM going to teach you – man - HOW to think.
I have said that man does not think; that it is I, within him, Who do his thinking. I have also said man thinks he thinks. As this is an apparent contradiction. I needs must show you that man ordinarily, does not think, any more than he does anything else he supposes he does.
For I, within him, do all that he does; but I necessarily do it through his organism, through his personality, his body, mind and soul. I will point out how this can be.