Your Faith Is Your Fortune
| Chapter 3 |
THE PRINCIPLE OF TRUTH
Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. – John 8:32
“Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free”.
The truth that sets man free is the knowledge that his consciousness is the resurrection and the life, that his consciousness both resurrects and makes alive all that he is conscious of being.
Apart from consciousness, there is neither resurrection nor life.
When man gives up his belief in a God apart from himself and begins to recognize his awareness of being to be God, as did Jesus and the prophets, he will transform his world with the realization, “I and My Father are one” [John 10:30], but “My Father is greater than I” [John 14:28].
He will know that his consciousness is God and that which he is conscious of being is the Son bearing witness of God, the Father.
The conceiver and the conception are one, but the conceiver is greater than his conception. Before Abraham was, I AM. Yes, I was aware of being before I became aware of being man, and in that day when I shall cease to be conscious of being man I shall still be conscious of being.
The consciousness of being is not dependent upon being anything.
It preceded all conceptions of itself and shall be when all conceptions of itself shall cease to be. “I AM the beginning and the end”. That is, all things or conceptions of myself begin and end in me, but I, the formless awareness, remain forever.
Jesus discovered this glorious truth and declared Himself to be one with God, not the God that man had fashioned, for He never recognized such a God.
Jesus found God to be His awareness of being and so told man that the Kingdom of God and Heaven were within [Luke 17:21,23].
When it is recorded that Jesus left the world and went to His Father [“He was received up into heaven”, Mark 16:19, Luke 24:51], it is simply stating that He turned His attention from the world of the senses and rose in consciousness to that level which He desired to express.
There He remained until He became one with the consciousness to which He ascended. When He returned to the world of man, He could act with the positive assurance of that which He was conscious of being, a state of consciousness no one but Himself felt or knew that He possessed.
Man who is ignorant of this everlasting law of expression looks upon such happenings as miracles.
To rise in consciousness to the level of the thing desired and to remain there until such level becomes your nature is the way of all seeming miracles. “And I, if I be lifted up, I shall draw all men unto Me” [“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me”, John 12:32]. If I be lifted up in consciousness to the naturalness of the thing desired, I shall draw the manifestation of that desire to me.
“No man comes unto Me save the Father within Me draws him” [John 6:44], and “I and My Father are one” [John 10:30].
My consciousness is the Father who draws the manifestation of life to me. The nature of the manifestation is determined by the state of consciousness in which I dwell. I am always drawing into my world that which I am conscious of being.
If you are dissatisfied with your present expression of life, then you must be born again [John 3:7]. Rebirth is the dropping of that level with which you are dissatisfied and rising to that level of consciousness which you desire to express and possess.
You cannot serve two masters [Matthew 6:24, Luke 16:13] or opposing states of consciousness at the same time.
Taking your attention from one state and placing it upon the other, you die to the one from which you have taken it and you live and express the one with which you are united.
Man cannot see how it would be possible to express that which he desires to be by so simple a law as acquiring the consciousness of the thing desired.
The reason for this lack of faith on the part of man is that he looks at the desired state through the consciousness of his present limitations. Therefore, he naturally sees it as impossible of accomplishment.
One of the first things man must realize is that it is impossible, in dealing with this spiritual law of consciousness, to put new wine into old bottles or new patches on old garments [Matthew 9:16,17; Mark 2:21,22; Luke 5:36-39].
That is, you cannot take any part of the present consciousness into the new state. For the state sought is complete in itself and needs no patching. Every level of consciousness automatically expresses itself.
To rise to the level of any state is to automatically become that state in expression. But, in order to rise to the level that you are not now expressing, you must completely drop the consciousness with which you are now identified.
Until your present consciousness is dropped, you will not be able to rise to another level.
Do not be dismayed. This letting go of your present identity is not as difficult as it might appear to be.
The invitation of the scriptures, “To be absent from the body and be present with the Lord” [2Corinthians 5:8, 1Corinthians 5:3, Colossians 2:5], is not given to a select few; it is a sweeping call to all mankind. The body from which you are invited to escape is your present conception of yourself with all of its limitations, while the Lord with whom you are to be present is your awareness of being.
To accomplish this seemingly impossible feat, you take your attention away from your problem and place it upon just being. You say silently but feelingly, “I AM”. Do not condition this awareness but continue declaring quietly, “I AM – I AM”. Simply feel that you are faceless and formless and continue doing so until you feel yourself floating.
“Floating” is a psychological state which completely denies the physical. Through practice in relaxation and willfully refusing to react to sensory impressions, it is possible to develop a state of consciousness of pure receptivity. It is a surprisingly easy accomplishment. In this state of complete detachment, a definite singleness of purposeful thought can be indelibly engraved upon your unmodified consciousness. This state of consciousness is necessary for true meditation.
This wonderful experience of rising and floating is the signal that you are absent from the body or problem and are now present with the Lord; in this expanded state you are not conscious of being anything but I AM – I AM; you are only conscious of being.
When this expansion of consciousness is attained, within this formless deep of yourself, give form to the new conception by claiming and feeling yourself to be that which you, before you entered into this state, desired to be. You will find that within this formless deep of yourself all things appear to be divinely possible. Anything that you sincerely feel yourself to be while in this expanded state becomes, in time, your natural expression.
And God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters” [Genesis 1:6]. Yes, let there be a firmness or conviction in the midst of this expanded consciousness by knowing and feeling I AM that, the thing desired.
As you claim and feel yourself to be the thing desired, you are crystallizing this formless liquid light that you are into the image and likeness [Genesis 1:26] of that which you are conscious of being.
Now that the law of your being has been revealed to you, begin this day to change your world by revaluing yourself. Too long has man held to the belief that he is born of sorrow and must work out his salvation by the sweat of his brow. God is impersonal and no respecter of persons [Acts 10:34; Romans 2:11]. So long as man continues to walk in this belief of sorrow, so long will he walk. In a world of sorrow and confusion, for the world in its every detail is man’s consciousness crystallized.
In the Book of Numbers it is recorded, “There were giants in the land and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and we were in their sight as grasshoppers” [13:33].
Today is the day, the eternal now, when conditions in the world have attained the appearance of giants. The unemployed, the armies of the enemy, business competition etc. are the giants which make you feel yourself to be a helpless grasshopper.
We are told we were first in our own sight helpless grasshoppers and because of this conception of ourselves were to the enemy helpless grasshoppers.
We can be to others only that which we are to ourselves.
Therefore, as we revalue ourselves and begin to feel ourselves to be the giant, a center of power, we automatically change our relationship to the giants, reducing these former monsters to their true place, making them appear to be the helpless grasshoppers.
Paul said of this principle, “It is to the Greeks (or the so-called wise men of the world) foolishness; and to the Jews (or those who look for signs) a stumbling block” [“For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men”, 1Corinthians 1:22-25]; with the result that man continues to walk in darkness rather than awake to the realization, “I AM the light of the world” [Matthew 5:14; John 8:12].
Man has so long worshipped the images of his own making that at first he finds this revelation blasphemous, but the day man discovers and accepts this principle as the basis of his life, that day man slays his belief in a God apart from himself.
The story of Jesus’ betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane is the perfect illustration of man’s discovery of this principle. We are told, the crowds armed with staves and lanterns sought Jesus in the dark of night.
As they inquired after the whereabouts of Jesus (salvation), the voice answered, “I AM”; whereupon the entire crowd fell to the ground. On regaining their composure, they again asked to be shown the hiding place of the savior and again the savior said, “I have told you that I AM, therefore if ye seek Me, let all else go” [John 18:8].
Man in the darkness of human ignorance sets out on his search for God, aided by the flickering light of human wisdom.
As it is revealed to man that his I AM or awareness of being is his savior, the shock is so great, he mentally falls to the ground, for every belief that he has ever entertained tumbles as he realizes that his consciousness is the one and only savior.
The knowledge that his I AM is God compels man to let all others go for he finds it impossible to serve two Gods. Man cannot accept his awareness of being as God and at the same time believe in another deity.
With this discovery, man’s human ear or hearing (understanding) is cut off by the sword of faith (Peter) as his perfect disciplined hearing (understanding) is restored by (Jesus) the knowledge that I AM is Lord and Savior.
Before man can transform his world, he must first lay this foundation or understanding. “I AM the Lord [and there is none else”, Isaiah 45:5].
Man must know that his awareness of being is God.
Until this is firmly established so that no suggestion or argument of others can shake him, he will find himself returning to the slavery of his former belief.
“If ye believe not that I AM He, ye shall die in your sins” [John 8:24].
Unless man discovers that his consciousness is the cause of every expression of his life, he will continue seeking the cause of his confusion in the world of effects, and so shall die in his fruitless search.
“I AM the vine and ye are the branches” [John 15:5].
Consciousness is the vine and that which you are conscious of being is as branches that you feed and keep alive. Just as a branch has no life except it be rooted in the vine, likewise things have no life except you be conscious of them.
Just as a branch withers and dies if the sap of the vine ceases to flow towards it, so do things and qualities pass away if you take your attention from them; because your attention is the sap of life which sustains the expression of your life.
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