1921
FIRST of all, let us consider: Who is it that has dominion? The answer is this: You and I have dominion or each individual has within his nature the power and the ability to rule and to govern himself by and through his dominion over his thoughts. We should be crowned heads, not of Europe, or of Boston, but of ourselves. I am in receipt of hundreds of letters a month, all containing the same questions; How can I obtain dominion over sickness, discouragement, lack, sorrow, ignorance, sin? And the answer in the final analysis is the same for all,—get an understanding of Life, and then apply this understanding to your individual need. It is to tell you something of the how to gain this dominion, this true sense of thinking, feeling and living, that I write this book.
To begin with, if you really want good to come to you, then you will make a place for it. You must make yourself worthy of it, for the spiritual law is that like attracts like. You must understand that metaphysical science is the study of Life or true . living and if you want healing from this science then you must be ready and willing to follow its law and its rule.
When you go to a doctor of medicine and put yourself in his care, you expect to follow his directions, to take the medicines which he prescribes, eat the food that he recommends and follow his advice without question. Now, when you approach the science of healing which is not physical but which is meta-physical, you must also be willing to follow the rules laid down in this science if you wish to get its results in healing. The science of metaphysics is wholly mental, that is, it deals wholly with sense and thought. When one goes to a doctor of medicine for treatment the doctor examines the body and then gives directions regarding the care, treatment, etc., of the body.
Now, in metaphysics it is the reverse. You may tell your ailments and your troubles
to the meta-physician the very same as you would have related them to the medical physician but the meta-physician does not examine the body. From your conversation with him, and from the disorder that you tell him is manifested in your body, he is able to give you the metaphysical diagnosis of your case and to give you a prescription which, if you will follow in your thinking and living, will restore the sense of health and harmony to your mind which in return will be visibly manifested in the body. Contrariwise, if you do not endeavor to conform your thinking and feeling to that which is good and right and true, it is most likely that you will continue to think the very wrong thoughts that caused your trouble and not have your desire for healing fulfilled.
For instance, suppose that an individual goes to a metaphysician for help and says, “I am hardly able to get around; there is poison in my body, pain in my limbs, etc., etc.”, relating what some medical doctor has told him and which he believes are the effects of the poison in his body. The metaphysician, after carefully listening to the patient’s statements of his case, does not ask, “What have you been eating lately that has thus poisoned your body?” but he asks, “What are you thinking that results in the manifestation of poison in the body?”
Suppose that the patient insists that he is thinking good thoughts only and that he has the right feeling for everyone. The understanding healer is not deceived by the statements of the patient for he knows that thought is cause, and that there could be no ill result unless there was some error of thought indulged in by the patient, though the patient may not consciously recognize that any sick thought is wrong. The healer explains this and also administers mental treatment to the patient, which is silent true thought, and the patient continues under his care for several days or weeks with no apparent change manifested. The patient may be a student of Truth and may insist that he is living and thinking to the best of his understanding and becoming discouraged because he is not helped, he may wander from one Mind healer to another, telling the same story to each, gaining no lasting relief, and finally saying that Christian Science has not healed him despite the fact that he has been faithful, and has given it a good trial.
Now, what is the matter in a case of this kind? It may be this: Secretly the patient does have a sense of enmity against another; it may be in the form of jealousy or bitterness or condemnation or as previously stated, the error may be merely unrecognized sickly thinking, but whatever the specific form of erring thought may be, it is contrary to love and perfection, the divine Law, and because this individual will not admit his error and cease it and does not know how to correct his thinking and feeling, these wrong thoughts will continue to poison his sense of Life and this erroneous sense will continue to be manifested upon his body as illness, according to the law of Nature, Life.
There have been thousands of instances where sickness was the result of willful wrong thinking and feeling; others where the error was not recognized; and more where the metaphysician was not himself possessed with enough actual love and understanding of Life to teach and waken the patient to the right sense of his mental need and thereby heal him.
You may say, “Yes, but I know of cases which were healed in a few treatments yet the patient did not mend his ways (thoughts) at all.” It may seem this way on the surface, but it is not true else there would be no science to Life and no law governing Life.
In the years past there have been cases healed because of the faith of the patient; he has gone to the healer filled with the mental conviction that he would receive his healing, and even though he was sinful in thought and in living and would not seek to make correction or restitution, he was entirely cured (freed) at that time from his trouble. But what happened? Was Truth (the true Law) defeated? Truth says: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts;” but, this individual, you say, did not forsake his erring thoughts and still he was healed. No, he was not healed (made whole), made immune from that and other ills.
A month later or a year later or it may be years later there came a day when that trouble or perhaps some other trouble came to him. Again the patient goes to the healer for help but this time there is no response. Why? Because his sin (wrong thought) was not forgiven (recognized and corrected) in the first place, and he was cured for the time being through blind faith on his part and now comes the day (mental unfoldment) when he must waken to the law of Life if he would be whole (healed). Had the mental healer himself understood Truth clearly he would have made it plain to the patient at the start that evil thinking results in so-called bodily diseases and that the only positive antidote is harmony producing thoughts such as love, patience, kindness, goodness, etc.; had the healer done his part in the beginning and the patient also done his, the help would have been permanent. Years ago there was more blind faith evidenced by the public in mental healing than there is today.
That day seems to be passing, and now comes the period of mental unfoldment when an intelligent understanding of metaphysical science is being ushered forth into universal consciousness. Mental enlightenment, intelligent reasoning, asking and answering questions is fast taking the place of blind belief and blind acceptance and this change is a wonderful and satisfying proof of progress.
It must be clearly understood that the body has no intelligence of itself; the belief that the cells are intelligent and because of this respond to right thought is not scientific. The body is not intelligent; it cannot think, move, feel nor act without the individual mentality; the body is the effect of Intelligence, the result or the manifestation of Life. If you build a house, the house that you build is not intelligent, but is the effect of conscious thought. If we have a sinful thought or a fear thought or an ignorant thought or feeling, in due time this false sense of life is manifested on the shadow (body). We call the thought that is in the mind an idea, and when we see what is called disease on the shadow or body we have been taught that it is a thing, yet really it is but the ill thought or the wrong idea of the mentality made visible.
If you do not like the embodiment or wish to change its form you surely know that it would be a waste of time and effort to attempt to make a change in the shadow itself; however, there is a way in which you may cause the shadow to change, and this way is to make a change in the object that is casting the shadow. If you cut off a limb from a tree you cannot find’ this limb longer in the shadow of the tree; so, “if you remove from your mind thoughts of sorrow or hate or fear you will also cause the shadow, your body, to show forth the change that has taken place in your mentality. I speak not from theory but from experience and from understanding.
Now what was happening when the individual visited the healer and the disease was apparently removed from the body after a few treatments yet the patient had not been told to “sin no more” and he went forth and lived his life apparently as before, yet without the same result of disease manifested ? Simply this: When the patient went to the healer he believed that he would be healed, that is, he went in full faith that the practitioner could and would heal him, and because of the changed belief he commenced to feel improved from the start. Directly he feels better he has the mental conviction “I am being healed”; he tells others how much better he is feeling, and for the time being this thought is uppermost in his mind, “I am feeling well,” or “I am getting my healing,” and so the shadow, his body, shows forth the change of thinking.
Instead of showing forth the disease which the patient had been constantly thinking and feeling, the body now shows forth the great change that has taken place in the mentality, namely, the lack of disease or the absence of the disease. But after a time, it may be days or years, the patient takes all now as a matter of course, and no longer are the thoughts of health uppermost or paramount in his mind; again the thoughts of hate or fear or mental depravity of truth and love which were the original causes of his trouble become paramount in his thinking, and then comes the day when disease is manifest again.
There is no longer any mystery attached to the healing work of metaphysics. If you wish to be well through Mind alone, and to remain healed and well, then you must pay the price; there is no other way. This price is,—know Truth (true thought); love Truth; live Truth (learn to apply true thought to daily living). This is the only sure and perfect way in metaphysical science. If you wish to be relieved from so-called disease, yet you are not ready to pay this price, then do not whine or complain if you do not get your healing under metaphysical treatment. Ignorance binds many, fear binds as many more, yet Understanding can be gained which will heal both ignorance and fear in the individual mentality. This understanding gives us our dominion.
Experiences may be hard lessons to us yet these experiences are necessary at times. It may take the trial to develop our courage, strength and faith, but the joy that comes with overcoming (dominion) is greater than any other sense of joy on earth. The hymn says: “Nearer my God to Thee, nearer to Thee; e’en though it be a cross that raiseth me.” It takes the “cross” to raise many. It is the cross of sorrow, sickness, trouble that turns many to the healing Truth that otherwise would not seek it at that time. As Truth or true thought is the healer, we can all begin from just where we find ourselves and raise our thinking to God, the standard of perfection; then shall we find that our trials have been blessings.
There are many who have studied metaphysical science, and not gaining a comprehensible understanding of the subject are not able to advance as they would like nor are they able to instruct others; there are thousands who call themselves Christian Scientists and yet they cannot tell Science when they read it. They read a book which states Science correctly and clearly and yet because this book does not state Truth to conform to their blind belief of Truth, they say that the book is not true Science. If we have any real understanding of Truth, it enables us to recognize truth without a label. It is for us to know whether a book states Truth scientifically or not and we know this through our understanding of Science and not through any label at all. You should gain a sense of dominion, become an independent thinker; get out of prison and ask questions. You will never know the full joy of living; you will never realize the true sense of freedom and dominion until you are a free and independent thinker. This is your birthright. It was the wonderful Paul who said: “I was free born”; are you free? do you think for yourself on this great question of Truth and Life?
Do not be afraid to read books; read such books as are enlightening, instructive, uplifting. If you get but one idea of God or self that gives you new hope or a larger understanding, then the book has served its purpose as far as you are concerned. The time has come for us to open our eyes, to see for ourselves and no longer gaze through the eyes of another; if we let others do our thinking we are in darkness. Get away from old beliefs that bind and hold and keep you in mental unrest.
You will never understand the meaning of dominion until you are through with idols, such as ceremony, ambition, creeds and authority. Someone who understands Truth sent this verse to me.
“He is a slave, no matter the breed,
Whether bound by a chain or bound by a creed.”
The cry of the hour is freedom. The thinkers of today are seeking freedom from all limitations, freedom from all restrictions, freedom to speak and to act upon ones own understanding of right; freedom to act out one’s own sense of principle and justice, in simple words—freedom to be oneself. Be grateful and willing to accept Truth no matter where you find it or who gives it to you. Truth is Itself whether a black man or a white man utters it; whether a Baptist or Christian Scientist speaks it; whether a church member or an independent thinker writes it. This takes away all sense of personality attached to Truth and makes Truth universal and unlimited. Dear seeker of Light, claim this wisdom and this dominion and this freedom that is ‘rightfully yours. Leave the limited view for the sense of the universal; leave the narrow, prejudiced, cramped outlook for the vision of the infinite.
Each of us is individual. You cannot fill my place nor can I fill yours; everyone has a calling and no one can fill that calling but himself, therefore do not insist upon doing the work of another nor let anyone undertake to do the work that you should do yourself. Do not mind the opinion of anyone, for as you must have discovered opinion is changeable; today opinion praises one and tomorrow it blames that same one. A standing alone is the only mental position that gives complete satisfaction, a standing alone with God, the omnipresent and universal principle of right and of good.
If you believe something simply because another said it, where is your individuality?. Gain an understanding of Life for yourself, then you will know whether another is stating the science of Being correctly or not. All the wisdom that is given to the wisest is also given unto you, but no more; wisdom is universal and unlimited, like the air that we breathe. We can stand upon the summit of a hill and breathe in the invisible air that is full of sweetness of growing things, that is so clear and so pure that the very consciousness of feeling and breathing it exhilarates and inspires us, and yet no matter how much of the air we breathe in or how long we remain up on the hill we know that we are taking nothing away from anyone else, that the air is infinite, unlimited, universal, free. So also is infinite wisdom, love, joy, harmony, Life, Truth, Understanding.
Be yourself, your wonderful, glorious Self; speak, live, act all the Truth that unfolds to you today. If you are progressing, your perception of Truth is constantly unfolding, enlarging, and as you live up to the light that you see today, more light (understanding) will appear to you tomorrow. If your thought is not unfolding, enlarging, then surely there is something wrong and you are not rightly working out your own salvation. When you know that you are thinking right, then stand; better to have the whole world believe you to be wrong when you know yourself that you are right than to have the world believe ‘ you right when you, yourself, know that you are wrong.
Look to no one for blame or for praise;*, look to the “Spirit within” you for approval; herein lies the greatest peace, the greatest joy, the sweet satisfaction that one can ever know. To “leave all for Christ” means that you must do this; leave all thought or fear of public or individual opinion blame or praise for the inner sense of peace and rest and glory; this sense is the spiritual sense or the Christ-consciousness.
We are our own weavers in this great loom of Life and the threads are our thoughts whether good or bad. You cannot therefore be too careful of what you are thinking. If you send out a thought of criticism or unkindness or censure or hate toward another, how foolish you are! Do you not stop to consider that the thought that you are thinking is a thread that you are weaving in your own loom of life (your own experience)? The thoughts that you think, the thoughts that you speak, the thoughts that you feel, these thoughts comprise the world in which you live and move and have your being. The universe of Mind is big, yes, it is so big that it is infinite, yet you are not consciously living in this infinite universe; we live merely in the world of our own thinking and feeling. When you become convinced of this simple yet stupendous fact, then will you waken to the true sense of living, and when you get this true sense of infinite world and infinite Life then have you broadened your mental horizon so that you will begin to live away from the limited into the unlimited; away from the personal into the universal; away from the sense of body into the sense of Soul, the sense of Being.
This sense is not gained in a moment, and those who have caught but a glimpse of it are striving to gain a deeper hold upon it; if we would enlarge this sense, we must continue in constant practice, as a soldier of Truth, constantly thinking good, declaring good, believing in good, standing for good. Live the life; nothing else will do; nothing else will completely satisfy; nothing else will be of any lasting benefit. In order to gain this sense of peace and of dominion, you must begin to train your thoughts. Stop and think of this fact: You are a King. Your mind is your Kingdom; Your thoughts are your servants.
Suppose that there was a King who had thousands of servants employed to keep him happy, prosperous and well; suppose that a servant came to him and expressed an evil thought or came with a thought of dishonesty or revenge or disrespect, would the King waste words with him? No. He would discharge him at once.
If you will try this method for even a day you will be surprised at the quick and wonderful results that it brings you. For instance, bearing in mind that you are King and that your servants are your thoughts, we will suppose that a servant (thought) comes to you saying: “You may well be sad and sorrowful now that your dear one has passed away and you are separated from each other forever.” Are you going to reply to this servant, “Yes, I know that it is true and my life is ruined and my joy is gone” ? No. Turn to that servant (thought) at once, and say to this servant: “You do not speak the truth about life and I do not believe in you. The word death signifies a cessation of Life and this cannot be; that which once lived never ceases to express Life; it is the soul or the individual himself that lives and this soul or individual never ceases to live; I am separated from him in belief only, but we cannot be separated in Mind, that is, nothing can or does keep us from thinking of one another; and when I enter the same plane of progressive consciousness as he, I will see him again. Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions,” meaning that there are many states of consciousness in the infinite Nature, Life, and those who have passed through transition have merely entered another “mansion” where love and joy and feeling and form mean more to them than ever before. There is therefore no actual separation, the same Presence and Power and Truth and Love blesses and loves and heals and unfolds “there” as “here” and the consciousness of this fact brings not tears to me but great joy and comfort.” The “unfaithful servant” therefore departs and already even while you have been thinking these right thoughts, angels are ministering unto you, not one but many good and true servants (thoughts) have taken the place.
Another servant comes with a different report, saying, “You are sick; certain organs of your body are diseased.” Are you going to reply, “Yes, you speak the truth; you are a true servant”? No. Send such a servant (thought) away from you at once into utter darkness, for such a servant (thought) comes not from Truth unto you. The life of every organ of your body is God, the One Presence and the One Being. The very power that you have to move and to breathe and to Be, this power is God, and this power is changeless and omnipresent. Fill your consciousness (Kingdom) with thoughts (servants) of peace and calm and courage and keep your mental gaze away from the visible appearance of disorder, which is but a seeming, erroneous and temporary state of manifestation, and hold your mental vision steadfast to the absolute, the changeless and harmonious state of Nature and Being. Thus you will find servants (thoughts) that will tell you of health and harmony and •> peace in your Kingdom.
And, what of the servants (thoughts) that come to you with reports of accidents, evil, trouble, discouragement, fear, etc. ? Thrust them out of your kingdom, for they have no rightful place with you. Refuse to entertain them and instead, think the reverse thoughts. Claim your power, your dominion, your strength, your divinity, your life of harmony and peace, and these right thoughts that you think, they will establish the Kingdom of Heaven within you here and now. This self training, this sense of mastery and mental dominion cannot be gained in a few hours or days but is a matter of mental growth and unfoldment. I would not have you believe that I have attained, but that I am attaining, as Paul says: “I die daily”, which means that all of us who are good soldiers should let evil servants (thoughts) die or fade out of our thinking day by day. Strength and power comes with our every effort if we are earnest and persistent and if we really and truly love the good alone. The fulfillment is back of every right and true desire else the desire would not unfold to you. It is your infinite Nature, God, that unfolds all good desire to you, and hence the fulfillment is possible.
Some say, “If I could only get over this fear I would be all right,” others, “It is my quick temper that bothers me,” others, “If I did not worry so,” and so on. This is where we must exercise our dominion.
Such wrong thinking must be cast out. When you feel such thoughts as fear and worry, deny them admittance to the
Kingdom of your mind which is the Kingdom of God. Conquer these unruly thoughts in the secret, in the silence of your own soul. Stand a ruler instead of a slave. Go to work in real earnest not to be beaten by any opposing thoughts. There are only the limitations to us that we make ourself. Dissolve all foolish and wrong beliefs with the power of intelligence and reason. Nothing can put you down unless you put yourself down. Do not be governed but be ruler of yourself. Bring your servants (thoughts) under subjection to you, the Ruler of your kingdom.
Do not think that you need let go your faith in order to gain understanding; the right kind of faith culminates in understanding. Develop more and more faith in yourself, in the God within you. Faith in good, brings peace and keeps the mind receptive to good. Without actually understanding the why and the wherefore of thought (Mind) but through a pure, unbounded faith and the soul’s conviction that right and truth are omnipotent, I have passed through the sea of erring thoughts which divided, and I walked on dry land (succeeded) when it appeared to others a miracle; I have seen mountains of error disappear almost in a moment which seemed unsurmountable to those not believing in divine Power; and so I say, keep your faith, your soul’s conviction in divine Might and Right and add to it an intelligent understanding of Life and learn how to apply the laws of Mind, God, to everyday life.
Be persistent in your right thinking, feeling and living; you may not reach the goal of your desire all at once and you may more than once seemingly fall on this mental journey from ignorant sense to an intelligent understanding of God, but this is no reason for you to give up the fight, lose your faith nor stop your effort. Rise with renewed faith and endeavor and by and by you will accumulate more understanding and power, more strength and courage and you will not pause in your mental progress so often. The birds of the air in their long flights pause to gain rest and strength and then take up the flight again. In our search for this absolute Truth we are each blazing our way through the forests of public opinions, so-called material laws, church-doctrines, constantly holding uppermost in thought our birthright of dominion and power, our divinity and perfection. In this journey of mental unfoldment there are paths rough and stony; paths full of pitfalls and valleys; there is but one path that is straight and narrow.
This path may not look so attractive to us as we start on its way, it takes faith and persistence and tremendous endeavor to hold it, but dear friend it does pay in the end; this path is the path of right thinking and right living. It may be with bleeding footsteps that we enter it, and the path may seem dark at first, but if we hold fast to right thinking these very thoughts will throw a light on our way and soon we will be rested and strengthened, health and harmony will become more and more apparent in our experience and we will know that we are on a sure footing, the only Rock of true Salvation, the one-Way. Be vigilant; be patient; be loving; be strong. Consider the lilies how they grow, how they unfold a petal at a time, so have patience, for patience must have her perfect work, and how much more should we who are the highest order of Consciousness unfold our selfhood in all glory, harmony and simplicity.
When you limit yourself to a mortal and material sense of life, you cannot help but manifest that sense of limitation. All things that appear to you as manifestations of God, good, at a certain stage of mental unfoldment were forever within your Mind to be expressed. This is the secret of demonstration, believe that you have already received in Nature the thing that you desire. When you find peace and poise in the realization of completeness, perfect Being, you are in heaven. All that is real is infinite Life and its infinite manifestations now and here. Millions have material or physical concepts of body but this does not change Nature’s sense of the true body; millions believed the earth to be flat but this belief never created a flat earth. Nothing can change the facts of Life, God.
Some may tell you that you are seeing this universe upside down, that you are looking through blue glasses; do not worry about it, for your common sense tells you that it is not so. All manifested Nature represents God, Life, Love in either masculine, feminine or neuter qualities. I am aware that many Scientists hold to the belief that we are humans or human beings; that this universe is an illusion or a counterfeit universe; that our bodies are mortal and counterfeit. We will never gain the true sense of dominion if we hold to these wrong ideas of Life and self. Let us reason together. There is a beginning to this science of Life, that is, we begin our reasoning with some definite and established facts such as the following: God is the one and only Creator; All creation was finished and was good; God is all and hence all must be God. If we wish to build rightly, then we must build upon this foundation. We should not think that we have to wait until we pass to the “next plane” before we see God’s creation; nor that we are humans now but by thinking certain thoughts we will evolve into spiritual beings. We are all spiritual beings now living in a spiritual universe, and we should think from this viewpoint. Since God is intelligence or Mind, then, God is the name given to the intelligent mental element; this mental element,—God, is ever being expressed or unfolded in the visible; all visible Nature, therefore, is the visible proof of the invisible, thinking, Life-element,—God.
Now, when you look upon a tree for instance, do you see the real tree, do you see a counterfeit tree, or is there such a thing as a tree present at all? Do you see a thought of God, or do you see a thought of mortal mind, or are both you and the tree illusions? It is time that you apply your common sense and reason to this matter and break away from all mysterious nonsense that is taught and written on this subject.
The life of the tree is God, the invisible mental element. We do not see this life, of course, any more than you can see my life or I can see your life; but there is a real tree as there is a real you and I and the way that we see a tree is the right way for us to see it at this stage of mental unfoldment; the error lies in believing that the tree is a material growth, instead of a mental expression.
The tree that you look upon is individual and has consciousness and intelligence; the visible tree that we see is omnipresent proof of the idea, tree, held in the infinite Consciousness; the tree that we see today may not be the full expression or the complete expression of the idea of tree in Consciousness but it is right and real and true at this period of Life unfoldment. To illustrate: A man forms an idea of a house in mind and works out every detail mentally; then, consistent with the idea he begins to externalize the house that he already built or conceived in consciousness.
Suppose that someone walked past the house one day as it was in the midst of construction; we will say that the foundation is finished, the sides are up, the roof is completed but the windows have not been placed, the floors have not been laid, etc. Now, what would you think if this passerby paused and looking at this house said, “Pooh, that is only a counterfeit house!” or “That is not a real house,” or “That house is but delusion,”? How foolish and how stupid you say, yet, my friend, it is just as gross ignorance to call this earth and all its manifested wonders and glories unreal, untrue and counterfeit. The manifested errors are unreal, untrue and counterfeit, but not the good, the beautiful and true manifestations of this Life. Paul said that we know of the invisible through the visible, and as we consider all the marvels of the heavens and the earth we can but exclaim with the Psalmist, How wonderful and how glorious are the works of thy hands!
This book is altogether too small to deal more fully with this much abused question, but I wish to add that those who teach that all manifested Nature on this plane is not real, but counterfeit, and that in heaven (ultimate understanding) we will know the ideas without any form or shape, color or body, do not yet comprehend the fullness of infinite Nature, Life. If a thing had neither form, shape, color nor body, it could not be cognized. To be sure Mrs. Eddy said: “Thought will finally be understood and seen in all form, substance and color, but without material accompaniments.” The solution to this riddle is that she does not mean without any accompaniment as is the popular belief, but that we will no longer view the accompaniment (color, form, etc.) as material but as spiritual.
A person wrote me as follows: “How can I consider my body spiritual when I know that I was conceived in sin by material parents?” Another writes: “My practitioner tells me that when a baby is born it is only more matter coming into the world.” Oh, Christian Science! What crimes are committed in thy name! Waken dear seeker, and learn that there is no matter, that all birth is spiritual birth from the coming of the blade of grass to that of a baby boy or girl. The babe is not more matter coming into the world but more God coming into this world of expression, more Life coming from the universal into the individual. Never think for one moment that you were conceived in sin, but understand that all individual life is the result of Mind (thought) and hence is spiritually and naturally conceived, born and manifested on this plane.
Many make of their troubles a great wall so that it is almost impossible for them to look over it. It puts us in mind of the verses of Stevenson wherein he tells of the little boy who lived in a garden which was surrounded by a high wall, so high that he could not look over it; for a long time the boy did not know and never even guessed that there was anything beyond that wall, because the wall was all that he saw. But, one day he chanced to climb the cherry tree which grew in the garden, and, lo and behold, he was able to view over the wall, and what a sight he beheld! A new world lay before his vision,—the river that made a “looking-glass for the sky,” the roads, the people, the flowers and “pleasant places”; oh, what joy and wonder was his!
It may be with you, dear friend, that you are looking at the wall instead of over the wall; if you continually look at what you call your troubles, the past experiences, the present seeming sickness, lack or sorrow, you erect a wall in your thinking and each thought that you think of this kind only makes the wall more solid appearing and higher. Stop right now looking at this wall, and look over the wall, into the great realities of Being, the facts of Life, and what is the vision? Why, you behold God, Mind, unfolding Itself! You see the One-
Power holding all in perfect order and rhythm. You see the One-Life perfect in action, form and being. You see divine Love radiant with joy and delight over its own harmony of Being. Now, continue to hold your mental attention to this vision of Soul, hold it there until you get the feeling, the conviction that this vision of the real, of the true of the eternal, of the changeless, of the perfect is the one and the only true vision that perfect Life contains. Quicken your faith, strengthen your hope, inspire your courage until you are satisfied that no matter what the seeming, it is after all only a seeming. It has neither reality nor power, and hence you need not be afraid, and soon you will feel that your faith in this vision of Soul, the Truth of Being, your understanding and your love will become stronger and stronger, and when you think again of the wall you are encouraged to find that it is not nearly so solid or so high; and it is not long before it has disappeared entirely. The tree into which we climb we may well call the “Tree of Life,” the Mind of right thinking, as it is from this tree, only, that we can mentally view the. absolute. The aim of each of us should be to constantly climb higher, for the higher we climb the more wonderful, the more permanent and glorious is the vision.
You may have heard of that wonderful story of the lion and the sheep, but it is so very pertinent that I will relate it now and bring out some of its deep lessons. At one time, so the story runs, there was a baby lion that lost its mother in the great forest and wandered away out into the open fields. It came to a mother sheep which had recently lost her baby lamb; the sheep and the cub made friends at once and the mother adopted the cub as her own offspring.
As the cub grew, it took on the qualities of its foster mother; it learned through her to be gentle, to be timid and ever to be afraid of dogs. Time went on; the cub, though matured, still continued to manifest the mental characteristics of the sheep instead of the character of the lion which actually it was. One day, for you know there is always the “one day,”—a wonderful thing happened. It was in the evening while stillness was creeping over the earth,—that wonderful hush of Nature.
The sheep-lion was standing still looking off into the distance, off to the horizon where the great forest stood, when out of the forest came a great lion; he came forth into full view so that his wonderful form was strongly outlined upon the glowing horizon. The sheep-lion stood spell-bound; something held his gaze to that majestic form in the distance. Presently, the great lion gave out a call, a deep roar, and then something wakened in the heart of the sheep-lion, something touched him, and the lion in him came forth. Spontaneously, there swelled the answer within him, and in joy he uttered back the cry, not the sound of the sheep, but the roar of the lion. Giving his foster-mother a look of farewell he bounded off fearless, away toward the great forests and to the mighty lion,—his own home and natural element.
Now, let us carry this lesson of Life into our own experience and see how it works out. We have all of us been educated more or less to believe ourself other than what we actually are. As Christian Scientists we have been taught that we have no power of our own; that we have no mind of our own;
that we cannot think; that we have no life, no intelligence, but that we are mere image or reflection. We believed this; we curbed all desire to roam out into the great forests of independent ideas; we settled right down passively and submitted ourselves to be ruled and governed by others; we were told not to read certain books and to read certain other books, to follow certain rules and book of rules and we listened and obeyed. The sheep no doubt told the cub that the dogs would hurt him, and the cub, not knowing his own power believed it.
One day, we somehow wandered into a bookstore where we had been warned not to enter, and, taking up a book, we commenced to scan its pages. The contents held our attention; we read that we are greater than we had been taught we are. It sounded wonderful; it pleased us at once, and in our hearts we only wished that it were true. We read that we should not be limited by what anyone else says or does, but that we should wake up and do our own thinking; that we actually have mentality and that we can think; that we have life, that we have power. With great joy we clasp the book to us and take it to a teacher or a friend whom we believe far ahead of us in understanding, but what is our dismay to be told that the book is false teaching, and we are admonished to burn it, to destroy it at once. In other words we are told that we are sheep, and sheep we must remain.
Disappointed beyond words, we go away and a shadow falls over our thinking; the spark of light is blotted out for the time and darkness seems blacker than ever. We follow what the teacher said; we burn the book, but the thoughts that we read in that book we find we cannot destroy; they cling to us; we can think of nothing else. Later, someone else comes across our path and tells us that the book was true science, and urges us to go back and get another copy and study it again. We decide to disobey the teacher; we read the book again, and as we do, something touches us, the mind in us awakes! We find that we are not a servant, nor a mere image; we find that our substance is actually Life, Truth, Love. And we come into our own.
According to the story, the cub was a lion all the time that it believed itself to be a sheep; so we were and always have been Spirit even while we believed ourself to be a mere shadow or reflection or image.
It was Mrs. Eddy who said: “The final understanding that we are Spirit must come.’’ (First edition «S. & H. page 7.) Her words are now fulfilled. Also she said in the same book; “We are Spirit, but, not knowing this, we go on to vainly supposing ourself body, and not Soul.” We are not sheep; we are not servants but Masters.
There is a law of Nature, God, which cannot be set aside by any individual nor any book of rules. The law is this: We are each individual and we must each express our individual self, the self that the Nature in us is. The rambler in the rose garden climbs the wall; the honeysuckle gives forth exquisite fragrance; the grape vine bears grapes while the potato plant yields potatoes. Is there one of us that dare order the Climber to cease shooting over the wall and to behave like the American Beauty at the side of it? Do you not understand that the Nature of the individual being must be allowed self expression and not be suppressed by religious by-laws? That there is but one Ruler, one Law-Maker over this whole universe and this is God, the one-Life- Nature, the infinite and indivisible and universal Spirit? How wonderful! With what rejoicing should we live and let others live in this universe of all God.
When we hear of the commotion among the churches today it brings to mind the story of the two drunken men who were riding out on their horses; one of them toppled off his horse and fell into the creek with a splash. He called out to his pal, “Say, Pete, I heard somethin’ drop, what was it?” It is a bad thing to be drunk on whiskey, but it is also bad to be drunk on theology and authority.
Mrs. Eddy said that material organization has its perils and she was right; also, she said, “Continued organization hinders spiritual growth, and should be laid off”; this many of us have proven true. Some of her other sayings are these: “When material organization has done its work the purely Christ method of teaching and preaching must be adopted.” (Misc. Wr.)
“We have no need of creeds and church organization to sustain or explain a demonstrable platform, that defines itself in healing the sick and casting out error. (S.& H.lst ed.)
Let those who would drink of the living, healing waters of Life gladly surrender all false sense of self as sheep following a bellwether regardless if that bell-wether is a certain religion or by-law. Think and reason for yourself, for the time for this thinking has come, and become mentally attuned to the demands of the Infinite, that you have dominion and are no longer slaves. Surrender your moods of selfishness and prejudice and accept enlightenment and understanding so that not only in theory but also in practice you will be a follower of the Master teacher.
It is righteousness (right thinking), forgiveness, patience, love for Truth, repentance that brings the divine atmosphere and the crown of rejoicing. Endeavor to keep your peace of mind at all cost. Remember, “he that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city.”
In the realm of infinite Life there is nothing material for all is of and from
Mind. All that appears to be physical or material is really mental and metaphysical. In this ocean of infinite Life everything is finding its natural expression on this plane. Become conscious of the One-Life manifesting itself in all real being; the One- Actor acting through all real things; the One-Mind unfolding through all individuality its own ideas; the One-Love throbbing in every heart.
Stand on the hill-top or in the valley, walk through the forest or across the meadow and listen to the voice of the Father-Life speaking unto you:
“The mountains and the valleys show forth My strength and My stability; the waters and the land speak to you of the infinite capacity of My ideas unformed and formed; the flowers and the trees tell you of My love and My sense of beauty; the sun, moon and stars assure you of My radiance and My glory; the birds of the air convince you that thought can always be uplifted into the true sense of being; the animals give forth My mental characteristics such as strength, innocence, wisdom, confidence and so on; the tiny cloud that moves in the heavens to the revolving of the earth and the holding of the great planets in position is proof to you of My existence, My power, My activity, My greatness. Does not the very air that you breathe inspire you over the science of Being ?
“Behold thy life! Your individual being is not separate from Me but is Myself in that individual state of being. You are individual in your thinking but your life element is My life element; My mental element is your mental element; My substance is your substance—thus is your life eternal, your true Mind divine and your love transforming. I am Alpha and Omega, the only real Cause and effect, the Supreme and the Only, the universal and the individual. Nothing opposes Me for I am the ALL, and you are an individual particle of Myself, ye in Me and I in you.”
Beloved, your love for Me and the unfolding of your reason and understanding will reveal to you your infinite possibilities glories and dominion, yea, the realities of your Being.”
REMEMBER
Remember to love and to love abundantly and freely. Love purifies, cleanses and heals. Love the wonderful science of your Being and let it inspire you to press on and to achieve.
Remember to be grateful and to express your gratitude. If you fail to express your love and your gratitude to those who have pointed the Way to you and to those who have helped you, you are like the plant that has not yet blossomed but still selfishly holds its perfume in the undeveloped bud.
Remember that all that loves rightly manifests divine love; all that lives rightly manifests the One-Life; all that thinks rightly manifests the true Mind.
Remember to lay down all sense of burden for infinite and adorable Life is not a burden bearer. Love your work and it becomes play.
Remember that you are a link in this great chain of infinite Being. Life would not be complete without you.
Remember that the unfoldment of your soul is the only growth worthwhile. Life will become a success to you when you become a success to yourself.
Remember that thinking good, speaking good, feeling good is true prayer. As Emerson says: “Prayer is the contemplation of the facts of life from the highest point of view; It is the soliloquy of a beholding and jubilant Soul; It is the Spirit of God pronouncing his works good.”
Remember to love right thought and become inspired with its wonder and power. “My words (thoughts) shall never pass away.” Right thoughts are the active force of Mind (God), use them freely and thus love for right thinking will become natural and spontaneous.
Remember the harder the lesson the greater the need for a strong faith and a pure love and a clear understanding, and also the greater is the blessing when we have succeeded.
Remember, Some feet will tread all heights now unattained. Why not thine own? Press on! Achieve! Your dominion is ever within thee, waiting your command to set you free.
It is because I have received much enlightenment upon the subject of metaphysics during the past few years that I desire to share this enlightenment with others who are hungry and thirsty for an intelligent and reasonable understanding of Life. I will be very glad to help any honest seeker who may choose to write to me; also I will gladly supply anyone with the names of such books as have contributed to my mental enlightenment.
—The Author.
The End