Month: May 2021

Christianity is a spontaneous expression of the vital, creative Spirit, which cannot be confined in forms of any kind. As human consciousness develops, there is a steady progression from purely external, toward purely internal conceptions of truth. The untutored mind associates it largely with the exterior aspect of things facts, events and appearances. The educated mind of the conventional type commonly identifies it with opinions, beliefs, thoughts; but even those are only semblances of truth, not its absolute Substance. Manifestations of the Truth are not restricted to the Biblical record,…

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For centuries men have wasted their efforts in sectarian strife, because of the assumption that Jesus intended to inculcate a theological system or scheme of intellectual beliefs in some way essential to a realization of the spiritual life. Had his intention been such, he would most assuredly have taken care to deliver to the world the doctrines of this scheme in some definite, unmistakable form, so that they would have been intelligible to all men alike, beyond the peradventure of a doubt, instead of clothing his ideas, as he did,…

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Even the desire to prolong his earthly career until the precepts he had been inculcating in his disciples had become more firmly established in their lives as the spirit of prudence and policy, which too often dictates the course of moral and religious endeavors, would have suggested, did not induce him to abandon his sublime purpose. Instead of encountering the opposition of the Jews by publicly teaching in Judaea, he could easily have retired to some less frequented locality where, unmolested by his enemies, he might have instructed his disciples…

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7.CHRISTIANITY. As the light of this nineteenth century is reflected back over the historical narrative of the New Testament, the fragmentary incidents there recorded grow luminous with a suggestiveness which enables us now to restore, in its original perfection, the Christian philosophy of life, after it has reposed for centuries beneath the surface debris of traditional interpretations; just as the paleontologist is able to reproduce the complete likeness of some extinct species, by the aid of a few scattered fossil impressions. It was impossible for men to be conscious of…

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One finds in his orchard a wild, gnarly apple tree producing sour, unpalatable fruit. He cuts off the top, and grafts shoots of some choice variety on to the old trunk. The whole appearance of the tree is thereby altered. Henceforth it yields foliage and fruit of a new order. The wild variety does not develop into the cultivated, neither does the material consciousness grow into the spiritual; they are quite independent of each other. Not until one assumes the spiritual view-point, and begins life anew from its level, will…

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If, then, one is to satisfactorily determine or control his experiences, he must have access to the key to all experience, the basis of all that is thought or perceived the spiritual consciousness; for all definite mental states and thoughts are evolved from it, as are forms of matter from the ether. It is only from this subjective viewpoint that we are able to perceive the unity and true relations of objective phenomena. In proportion to the degree in which we realize this consciousness, are we able to work changes…

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The world in general still continues to assiduously pursue the clumsy, crude, roundabout, cart before the horse method of realizing ends, in spite of the magnificent example of Jesus and the early Christians, and the marvelous achievements that attended their adoption of the reverse method. “Narrow is the gate and straightened the way [spiritual consciousness] that leadeth unto life, and few be they that find it.” Jesus rejected the objective method in toto. He healed only such as were inwardly receptive to the Truth in a degree sufficient to enable…

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It is not sufficient to hold in mind and emphasize specific thoughts of good, definite personal ends, or objects of selfish desire. That is why so many who long to attain to the higher life go faltering, stumbling, and halting along, beset by all kinds of perplexing problems, apprehensive lest they shall fail to reach the goal. The spiritual consciousness is a soul atmosphere not one of many states of mind to be sought after, but the very mind substance itself, out of which grow all subjective states and their…

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In the spiritual consciousness lies the potency of the fulfilment of one’s desire, not only subjectively, but also objectively; for the subjective and objective factors in the case are blended together. “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” “All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them.” To be actuated by this Spirit, is to…

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Every man who desires to know the Truth, Reality, Spirit, must assume the spiritual standpoint without waiting to find it through an intellectual process of reasoning; it cannot be revealed by any such method, since it lies on an entirely different plane. He must once for all discard that method and cease trying to discover it in that way. When one cultivates the intuitive faculty, and lives according to its affirmations, its efficiency increases, like the grain of mustard seed which grows into a mighty tree. When one looks steadfastly…

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Out of this cosmic, spiritual substratum, this fundamental type of consciousness, arises a multitude of individualized experiences, just as myriads of leaves, each endowed with peculiar characteristics of its own, spring from a common source, the life of the tree. The forms through which this personal aspect of consciousness is expressed, appear and disappear; but deeply hidden beneath every superficial expression lies the eternal, spiritual consciousness, ever the same, the ground of immortality in every human being. To realize immortality is the supreme desire of every man the end toward…

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Intuition is the supreme court of our Being, from the decisions of which no appeal can be made. However, for him who first discerns the Truth, Reality, Spirit, intuitively, the intellect and the senses furnish invaluable sidelights which add immeasurably to its appreciation. Their echoes are like the overtones or harmonics accompanying the fundamental tone heard when any string of a musical instrument is struck or caused to vibrate. No man in whose consciousness the light of truth is entirely diffused, by the refracting power of the intellect, into separate…

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Inasmuch as one’s own consciousness is the prime factor in the creation of his outer world, if he would live in one superior to that which he now enjoys, he must set about transforming his consciousness; and it matters not how radical the change in his view-point may be, it will effect a corresponding regeneration of his outer world, as surely as the image in the mirror corresponds to the figure of the body that stands before it. His attention, then, should not be directed, primarily, toward changing those specific…

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Spirit is not an entity or substance existing apart from matter, concealed from view, waiting to be revealed to mortals at death. On the contrary, it is ever-present Reality, independent of time and space not a reality, or a particular kind of reality, but Reality itself; the absolute, ideal Principle or Essence of things, about which all conceivable qualities and attributes are predicable; unalterable, formless, undifferentiated, unconditioned; neither describable nor comprehensible, but simply appreciable. By many, the spiritual realm is conceived to be a sort of extension of, or adjunct…

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