N all-controlling law underlies, permeates, A and governs all things. This all-controlling law is based upon a self-conscious, self-existing, all-pervading, active and hence omnipotent intelligence or Unity. This selfexisting Unity is God. There is an inner Essence that animates and gives form to all that is in existence. All things therefore come from Divine Being, God, and God alone.n7337 ¶1
The Divine Essence that lives in and animates each thing is the life of each thing. God then is the Infinite Being, the Infinite Spirit of Life which fills all in existence with Himself alone, so that all is He, since He is All. God and God manifest is all there is.n7337 ¶2
Divine Being, God, then, is the one and only Life. We cannot say truly that God has life, for as God is life, so we also then are Life— Life manifesting itself in the form in existence that we denominate by the term body. Thus it is that your life and mine in its reality is one with the Life of God.n7337 ¶3
One cannot truly say then that man has a spirit, because he is Spirit, Spirit manifesting while here in this physical, material universe— related to it—through the instrumentality of a physical, material body. The former permanent and eternal; the latter changing and transient. We never could have been nor ever can be other than Divine Being. Truly then in Him we Live and move and have our being. “I am thine own Spirit,” are the words that the Infinite Intelligence by means of the inner voice is continually speaking to every human soul. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion.” Man therefore is essentially Divine, part and parcel of the Infinite Life, and so essentially good, and with the divine attributes and powers potential within him. It is ours to live in this consciousness after we once realise it, and thus to allow the God consciousness to fill us and to flow through us in all phases of our human existence.n7337 ¶4
In his great work: “The Education of Man,” Friedrich Froebel has said: “It is the destiny and life-work of all things to unfold their essence, hence their divine being, and, therefore, the Divine Unity itself—to reveal God in their external and transient being. It is the speciai destiny and life-work of man, as an intelligent and rational being, to become fully, vividly, and clearly conscious of his essence, of the divine effluence in him, and, therefore, of God; to become fully, vividly, and clearly conscious of his destiny and life-work: and to accomplish this, to render it (his essence) active, to reveal it in his own life with self-determination and freedom.n7337 ¶5
“Education consists in leading man, as a thinking, intelligent being, growing into selfconsciousness, to a pure and unsullied, conscious and free representation of the inner law of Divine Unity, and in teaching him ways and means thereto. . . . By education, then, the divine essence of man should be unfolded, brought out, lifted into consciousness, and man himself raised into free, conscious obedience to the divine principle that lives in him, and to a free representation of this principle in hisn7337 ¶6
Along this same line the highly illumined German philosopher, Fichte, has said: “God alone is, and nothing besides him—a principle which, it seems to me, may be easily comprehended, and which is the indispensable condition of all religious insight. . . . An insight into the absolute unity of the Human Existence with the Divine is certainly the profoundest Knowledge that man can attain... .”n7337 ¶7
In showing then how universally Divine Being incarnates itself in human Life, and how its attributes are inherent there, he says: “From the first standing-point the Eternal Work becomes flesh, assumes a personal, sensible, and human existence, without obstruction or reserve, in all times, and in every individual man who has a living insight into his unity with God, and who actually and in truth gives up his personal life to the Divine Life within him, precisely in the same way as it became incarnate in Jesus Christ.”n7337 ¶8
Speaking, then, of the great fundamental fact of the truth that Jesus himself perceived and gave to the world, and also of the manner whereby he came into the perception of it, he says: “Jesus of Nazareth undoubtedly possessed the highest perception containing the foundation of all other Truth, of the absolute identity of Humanity with the Godhead, as regards what is essentially real in the former. His self-consciousness was at once the pure and absolute Truth of Reason itself, self-existent and independent, the simple fact of consciousness.”n7337 ¶9
Ordinarily we are at life from the wrong | side. We are giving our time and attention ~ to the external features of life, when we should be giving our time and attention to the inner life, that is always and with an absolute precision, determining the outward—and thereby live a more natural, orderly, harmonious, and abundant life. What evidence have we of this? The lives of all the prophets, seers, sages and saviours in the world’s history. The lives also of many among us to-day, and in increasing numbers, who are conscious of and who understand the Science of Being, and whose lives are governed and therefore moulded by its laws.n7337 ¶10
The world’s supreme example of this is Jesus of Nazareth, he who became the Christ, and thereby the Saviour. Jesus concerned himself absolutely with one thing—the inner life. “I and the Father are one,” hence his Christ consciousness. He never recognised for a moment that he had any life outside of the life of God— the Father—was his term. “The words I speak unto you I speak not from myself: but the Father abiding in me doeth His work. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or believe me for the very work’s sake.” And to those before him he said: “Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.” Notice that he did not say, Jesus. He never speaks of his life in any other connection than as one with the Father’s life.n7337 ¶11
To him, only in conscious union with God was there reality. He spoke therefore always of that which he knew and that which he himself had realised and seen. It was what we term “practical experience.” He proclaimed the truth of no law or principle the operation of which he himself was not the demonstration. He therefore spoke with power and authority. “He spoke as one having authority, and not as the Scribes,” we are told. He never claimed for himself anything that he did not proclaim, and in a very definite way, was for all mankind. His realisation and his power, he said repeatedly, were the same for all who came into this same realisation of their oneness with the Father’s life. kn7337 ¶12
Necessarily it is true that if a man teaches truth, or a truth, it is not only for those with whom he comes directly in contact, but for all time and for all people. The truth he taught applies to us in exactly the same way that it applied to his immediate disciples and followers, and those who heard him then. He never violated or superseded law; he could not—but he knew and he effectively used law. He found the Kingdom of Heaven in divine self-realisation. He taught us the same. We know the results of his life. He taught explicitly that there would be the same results in all other lives that are founded on this same guiding force that directed his life. “He that believeth on me,” he said—and shows it by living the same life—‘“the works that I do shall ye do also; and greater works shall ye do, for I go unto the Father.”n7337 ¶13
The surprising thing through all the ages, and the surprising thing to-day, is that we don’t get the inner, the real meaning of the life and the ministration of Jesus. We have missed the one essential thing his life stood and will forever stand for. Traditional Christianity has all along been teaching primarily the imitation of Jesus. Jesus would have us drop this, for faith in and the realisation of the Christ in ourselves,n7337 ¶14
SS if we would enter into a greater fulness of life and power. He taught nothing in regard to | the observance of anything in connection with his own individuality or person. In fact he was often grieved, and he continually rebuked even his disciples when they would fail to grasp his inner meaning, and interpret many of his sayings as applying to his own person. In fact what cared one of his supreme insight and his great impersonal outlook for this? He is totally unworthy of admiration or of any following as a teacher if he did.n7337 ¶15
It is truly as Fichte has said: “If any man be truly united with God, and dwell in him, it is altogether an indifferent thing how he may have reached this state; and it would be a most useless and perverse employment, instead of living in the thing, to be continually repeating over our recollections of the way. Could Jesus return into the world, we might expect him to be thoroughly satisfied, if he found Christianity actually reigning in the minds of men, whether his merit in the work were recognised or overlooked; and this is, in fact, the very least that might be expected from a man who, while he lived on earth, sought not his own glory, but the glory of him who sent him.”n7337 ¶16
The Kingdom of God and His righteousness is not only what Jesus intended to teach; but it is clearly and unmistakably what he did teach. In more than thirty places we findn7337 ¶17
Jesus explaining to his disciples his special mission—to preach the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. “He went about through cities and villages, preaching and bringing good tidings of the kingdom of God. . . .” “But he said unto them: I must preach the good tidings of the kingdom of God to other cities also, for therefore am I sent... .” “And he sent them forth to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. . . .” “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all nations.”n7337 ¶18
And what did Jesus mean by the Kingdom of God, or as he now and then expressed it, the Kingdom of Heaven? His own words in direct answer to this are: “Neither shall they say, ‘Lo here’ or ‘Lo there’ for, behold the kingdom of God is within you.” He therefore taught what he himself had found, that the conscious union with the Father’s life was the all-inclusive thing. “In Him we live and move and have our being.”n7337 ¶19
And then he says, and this is the great hope and inspiration for those who would live by the Spirit—“Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” He was speaking directly of things pertaining to the physical, the material, the daily life. Again, then, it is the one all-inclusive thing which brings all other things in its train. It is the great Principle of life, and all other things follow, and inevitably follow, as matters of detail, It is the half trusting, half believing attitude, that brings unsatisfactory or no results. But nothing is surer or safer than Deity, if we but fully trust it. When we come into this divine self-realisation we are manumitted from many things, and among them the thing we call sickness or disease.n7337 ¶20
Disease or any bodily ailments can have no lasting place in such a life. As one grows in this consciousness they will be pushed out before it. There can be no illness of Spirit, and if through wrong thinking and errors in living, illness or disease has gotten a foothold in the body, it will disappear as spirit predominates, and harmony of spirit, mind and body is then restored. “The divine Life, always perfect, strong and vigorous, begins to flow through his body from centre to circumference until the entire body is charged with a fulness of life which is felt even by others who come in contact with him. This is Divine healing: and the time required for the process of complete healing depends, not upon any changeableness of God—for God knows no time but the eternal now—but entirely upon the ability of the person to recognise and trust the Power which worketh in him.”n7337 ¶21
The healing that Jesus did, and that his followers for many years after him did, and the healing that is done to-day, has been and is done, through the operation of the same eternal law—the ability to arouse within the one to be healed, the realisation of the power and perfection and wholeness of the divine omnipotent Life within him. Now and then we are told that Jesus could do no mighty works in certain localities “because of their unbelief.” So far as the law is concerned there is no reason why there should not be the same powers of spiritual healing among us to-day, as there have ever been in the world’s history.n7337 ¶22
Among the attributes that this higher realisation of life brings or more fully perfects, are wisdom, insight, power, an understanding of the power and results of faith, love, hope, charity, mental and physical poise, bodily health and vigor. All of these, moreover, grow by using.n7337 ¶23
All things pertaining to the body, to the physical life, become subservient to the life within. Not that the physical is not important. It is very important; but it takes naturally its proper subordinate place. It is to be developed to its highest perfection and powers and used; but it is never to rule except to the detriment of the one ruled by it. The grosser appetites and desires fall away; all become finer, and in proportion as they do, a keener enjoyment always follows. That is why excesses always have to be paid for with heavy and sometimes with frightful costs. They never pay. It is the middle ground that brings always true and lasting pleasure and satisfaction. It is perhaps nature’s law, God’s law, the law of our own being driving us always along the lines of higher unfoldment and development.n7337 ¶24
In true growth and development there is never any giving up: for what we gain is always of far greater value even for real enjoyment than that which we leave. There is then never a giving up, but a falling away. “The Body of Man is the Sacred Temple of the Soul —to be cherished with care and affection, not defiled by neglect and hatred—to be strengthened by self control, not weakened by unbridled desires and excesses—to be fed properly, not surfeited with luxury, nor starved by the stress of poverty and asceticism.” It is thus that the body becomes continually finer in its texture and form, sound and whole in its functions, and always a more fit instrument for the use of the life whose instrument it is.n7337 ¶25
The strength that is engendered in us through this realisation many times enables us, when it comes to the practical affairs of life, to hold on, as William James in his splendid little book, “The Energies of Men,” says,—Until we get our second wind. He holds that we have what may be termed a second wind in our spiritual and mental life kindred to that which we have in connection with physical exertion; that we have springs of resources and power within us that ordinarily are never tapped.n7337 ¶26
It enables us likewise to strike a better balance between the contemplative and the active outer life. We of this Western world are, in the main, in no danger of being not sufficiently active and practical. We need some of the Oriental’s meditation and contemplation, the same as he needs some of our physical or material activity. To strike the balance between the two, gives unquestionably the more ideal life. Contemplation to be followed by activity and creative effort,* brings a balance to life that would otherwise be one-sided and productive of one-sided results, which always means loss in some form.n7337 ¶27
A recognition and a use of the spiritual realities and spiritual powers potential in each life, does not, as some are inclined to think, pre-n7337 ¶28
*The work of an eminent contemporary German philosopher, Professor Rudolf Eucken, of the University of Jena, has some very interesting and valuable thoughts along this line. Divine self realisation followed by creative effort—action—may, in a word, be said to be the basis of his philosophy of “Activism.” The “Spiritual Life,” as the supreme reality, is at the centre of his thought. “Religion,” he says, “rests on the presence of a divine life in man; it enfolds itself through the seizure of this life as our own nature. ... But the full vivification of the divine in man and the gaining of a new plane of life can never happen without a recognition and an assimilation or the side of man... . In this sphere there is no placa for any mechanical instillation, and there is ne growth possible without our own accommodating spirit.”n7337 ¶29
clude the proper use of all natural, material agencies and helps that can in any way aid in a symmetrical and well balanced life. Take it in the matter of health or healing for example: while I think the spiritual powers within us are more powerful and therefore effective in the healing line, when we are able to use them fully, than the use of any external agencies, as by the use of drugs or any other agency of materia medica, it is nevertheless true that we are not always able at any particular time, on account of not having yet developed sufficiently the ability to use them, to effect the cure we desire.n7337 ¶30
It would seem that when one is sick the important thing is fo get well, at least to all sane minds, and to get well in the quickest possible way by the use of whatever agency or agencies will accomplish this result. We must always remember, however, that there is never any permanent cure without finding and removing the cause that has brought the illness about.n7337 ¶31
“Our whole spiritual life,” says Eucken, “is an indefatigable seeking and pressing forward. In selfconsciousness the framework is given which has to be filled; in it we have acquired only the basis upon which the superstructure has to be raised. We have to find experiences in life itself, to reveal something new, to develop life, to increase its range and depth. The endeavour to advance in spirituality, to win through struggle, is the soul of the life of the individual and of the work of universal history.”n7337 ¶32
His greatest works, now to be hadin English, are: “The Truth of Religion,” “Religion and Life,” “Then7337 ¶33
Life of the Spirit” (G. P. Putnam’s Sons) and “Life’s Purpose and Life’s Ideal” (London: A. & C. Black),n7337 ¶34
There is no reason why we should not use every agency that God has placed in the world and at our disposal, that will minister in any way to our needs. Who shall say that if a certain property is inherent in a certain herb it is not intended for our use if we are able to discover its use and if occasion requires?n7337 ¶35
“But it is a material agency,” says one of a certain habit of thought. So is water a material agency, and water, in addition to being one of the prime necessities for the proper functioning of the body, can be used as a remedy in certain bodily ailments. Many make use of it as a remedy with great effectiveness. So in regard to various other “material” agencies.n7337 ¶36
At the same time we must remember that the chief use of any of these is to remove obstructions, in order that nature, which has wonderful restorative powers if unimpeded, can do her work. They of themselves can do no healing. All healing is done—invariably done—by the action of the [ife-forces within.n7337 ¶37
Why should there not be a combination of the two methods wherever both can be used to advantage? It is simply a matter of common sense. The only one I would keep clear of, is the one, to whatever school he may belong, who is too narrow, or bigoted, or ignorant, to study and to get the best from all, and to use it to its fullest.n7337 ¶38
As is true in regard to water, so it is likewise true in regard to pure air—and an abundance of it. Full, deep breathing, if rightly understood, constitutes one of the greatest tonics, and even stimulants to the body, and with no bad after results, as some types of stimulants almost invariably carry.n7337 ¶39
One reason why we are not so uniformly healthy as we might be, and why we have so many bodies with depleted nerve force, even to the extent of nervous breakdowns, is that our life has become so artificial. We have taken ourselves too much away from God’s natural “material” agencies of health—an abundance of pure fresh air, and water, simple and bodybuilding and sustaining foods,—and not too much of it, and the less of flesh foods the better,—direct contact with the earth, sufficient of exercise—play or work—out in the open.n7337 ¶40
This recognition of the Source of our power gives us that proper element of humility and hence of simplicity that is always an inherent characteristic of every well balanced life. Why? Because we then realise that in ourselves we are and can do nothing deserving of any special recognition or praise; but it is the Power that dwells and that works within us. On the other hand, it redeems us from that debasing and weakening type of humility that must of necessity be absent when we once fully realise the Source of our life and strength.n7337 ¶41
This higher realisation frees us also from the j fear in so many lives, and in some even the terror, of what we term death—either in connection with ourselves or those near and dear to us, as well as from undue sorrow in connection with the departure of the latter. For Spirit there can be no such thing as death. There is a change, a cessation of activities here, and the dropping of the physical body. But when we look at the matter at all rationally, and in the light of the knowledge imparted to us by various inspired ones, we cannot conclude otherwise than that this is a gain, if we have lived at all in accordance with our higher leadings while here.n7337 ¶42
Weare living the eternal life now as much as we ever will or ever can live it. The only Heaven we will ever have is the one we realise,n7337 ¶43
| make, and carry with us. We determine always our own condition—Heaven or Hell—here andn7337 ¶44
| hereafter. It was the teaching of one of the most highly illumined and valuable men who has lived in the world, Emmanuel Swedenborg,* that at that time there will be no one to judge us for our own acts; our own life is itself our judge. Our life here determines absolutely the condition of our life there. It _ is simply a matter of sequence. We commence there exactly where we leave off here. All mental and spiritual growth and enfoldment, that is, our real character, is what we take with *Heaven and Hell: Emmanuel Swedenborg.n7337 ¶45
us. According as we are rich or poor in that here, it will determine for us our state there.n7337 ¶46
The wisdom, then, of giving the greater portion of one’s time and life while here to the things that are permanent, to the things that once gained are gained forever, rather than primarily to the things we soon leave behind and cannot possibly ever take with us, is obvious. A man, then, may be very wealthy here and he may pass on and begin as a pauper there. Or, he may be wealthy here and he may begin wealthy also there. It depends upon what he has made his chief concern while here.n7337 ¶47
As Christians we go to church, and sing hymns, and listen sometimes to interesting expositions, and sometimes to very able discourses: but we refuse the one fundamentai thing that Jesus’ life and teaching gave to the world. True worship is daily living—daily living in the consciousness of the God within. It does not depend upon times or occasions or ceremony or places. God in the human soul! and the soul is always as near to God, and God is always as near to the human soul, in one place as in any other.n7337 ¶48
The consciousness of God in the soul of man is the substance of the Christian, as it is also the substance of all religion. “But the hour cometh,” said Jesus, “and now is” (since I have revealed to you the real spirit of truth), “when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be His worshippers. God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” Again he said: “By their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” And still again—“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word and believeth on Him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation: but is passed from death unto life.”n7337 ¶49
When we say that religion should occupy an important place, or that it should be the chief concern in life, we do not speak a sentimental, a weak, or a meaningless thing. One moreover, who thinks he hasn’t room for it, or time for it, or is too scientific, or learned, or practical for it, is generally filled with a consummate conceit, born of ignorance or of prejudice, and therefore of weakness. Observe and see. It is rather as Dr. Patton, formerly president of Princeton University, once said to a class of graduates: “Religion is the goal of culture, and the educated man must stand in some relation to God. He must have some philosophy of human life, some theory of society.”n7337 ¶50
So if we would win the best, we must early get rightly related to the Source of Life, and in the degree that we preserve our right relation to it life flows on in a natural, orderly manner, and with a continually increasing unfoldment and growth. The sayings of some of the old prophets seem truly to be inspired, when we look at them in the light of the truth we are considering. “The Lord in the midst of thee is mighty.” “Acquaint now thyself with Me and be at peace, thereby shall good come unto thee.” “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” “Commit thy way unto the Lord: trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass.” “Thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.”n7337 ¶51
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee,” has been and perhaps will be for ages to come, the sustaining force of thousands of lives. Perhaps no greater truth in a single sentence has ever been uttered in the world’s history than this.n7337 ¶52
Ruskin was the prophet when he said: “I do verily believe that the world will come, finally, to understand that God paints the clouds and shapes the moss-fibres, that men may be happy in seeing him at his work, and that in resting quietly beside him, and watching his working, and—according to the power he has communicated to ourselves, and the guidance he grants in carrying out his purposes of peace and charity among all his creatures, are the only real happinesses that ever were, or will be, possible to mankind.”n7337 ¶53
God in us, the Life of us and ever with us every one, working always in conjunction with us for our good, in the degree that we open ourselves to and work in conjunction with it, is the central idea of the New-Old Thought that has brought beauty of life and newness 07 power to countless numbers already, and will continue to do so to increasing numbers for ages yet to come.*n7337 ¶54
As a working philosophy or religion or life principle, it seems to me sufficient for any life. For those who have the time or the inclination for the study of various philosophical and religious systems, they will undoubtedly be found of interest and value. If I am not mistaken, nowever, the real seeker after truth in its practical relations to life, even after he has gone through them all, will return to this as the fun-n7337 ¶55
*It is estimated that in America, in England, and in Germany there are several millions of people interested, and many of them profoundly interested, in various lines of philosophical, metaphysical and religious thought whose common underlying principle is the eminence and the transcendent power vf the Divine Life as it is realised, and becomes ee rs a dominating force, in the individual humann7337 ¶56
The confines of a small volume do not allow any adequate statement of its principles or laws, or of methods as to their application. In a little book, “The Greatest Thing Ever Known,” and in a larger book, “In Tune with the Infinite,’ by the same author, a more detailed presentation of the matter fs made.n7337 ¶57
damentally basic principle. It is a question then whether it is not well to get founded on it before starting on the various researches.n7337 ¶58
Certainly there are some types of minds that are easily led into various vagaries that cunning minds have devised, and who get all at sea and stranded, so to speak, and then wander without rudder or compass, hopeless and despairing indefinitely, for whom it would be exceedingly well to get launched upon this great truth before they set out.n7337 ¶59