You will find tonight to be a very practical and yet a very spiritual hour, for I am going to speak to you of the Creator.
In Paul’s letter to the Romans he said: “All the invisible things of God are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.” Man is called upon to look at the made, in order to discover the invisible God.
How? By questioning himself. Look around you and try to remember when there was nothing to support your belief in the present, but you had a thought and dreamed a dream that one day you would have what is now yours. If you can remember, you have found the Creator to be your own wonderful human imagination. Could that be God?
Now, in the very next verse Paul claims: “Although they knew God they did not honor him as God.” Having found the relationship between the things seen and the imaginal act, do you honor your imagination as God? Or do you turn to images resembling mortal man, birds, animals, or reptiles and believe that they are the cause because they seemed to aid in bringing your unseen act into being?
If you turn and think something on the outside is the cause of your good fortune (or your misfortune) you are giving up the truth about God for a lie, and worshiping the thing created instead of the Creator. Rather, you should relate your outer world to an imaginal activity within. If you do not accept the fact that God is the cause of everything in your outer world, then you do not honor your imagination as God. Read this wonderful revelation in the 1st chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans, verses 20 through 25.
Stop for a moment and see if you cannot relate the world round about you to an imaginal act. Then honor your imagination as God. Do not continue to simply acknowledge that your thoughts create your reality, but accept those thoughts for what they are, and that is God in action. And do not give your creative power over to a mortal man, believing he was the cause of your good fortune (or misfortune). Man is God’s image . . the created, and not your imagination . . the Creator.
The Bible begins on this note: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Here we see that God created the within, (for we are told that heaven is within and God is in his heaven) and he created the earth, which is without. How did God bring the earth into existence if it is on the outside and He is in heaven on the inside? By the act of movement: “The spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Here we find that motion is the cause, that without motion it is impossible to bring forth anything. And how does God move? Through the act of imagining.
Now, motion can only be detected by a change relative to a fixed frame of reference. What would you do to move from where you are now and what you are now, to where you want to be? Would your friends see a change in you? Would your outside world look different? Take time to sort out your desire, and when it is clearly defined move in your imagination. How do you know you have moved? By mentally looking at your world and seeing its change.
While sitting here in the Women’s Club in Los Angeles, you can put yourself on Union Square in San Francisco, where you will see the St. Francis Hotel. Turn around and look at the other side of the square. Then walk down Market Street, and as you look in the shop windows feel you are there by thinking of Los Angeles as 500 miles to the south. If you are seeing the familiar objects of San Francisco, and Los Angeles is 500 miles away, are you not there?
Now, you can’t be double-minded. “Let not the man think he will receive anything from the Lord if he is double-minded, for he is nothing more than a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.” If my desire is to be in San Francisco, I must sleep this night as though I were already there. And as I am falling off to sleep, I must think of the place which I formerly knew to be my home (which is Los Angeles) as 500 miles to the south of me. That is a motion, and without motion it is impossible to bring anything forward into this world. This is true of everything, for in the beginning God created the inner and the outer, then He moved and creation began.
Everything is within you and can be brought into being by this simple technique. Desiring to visit my family in Barbados, I slept in New York City as though I were in Barbados and thought of New York City as 2,000 miles to the north. Then I received a letter from my brother justifying the trip and enclosing a draft to cover my personal expenses. I had not written my brother to ask him for this money, but while I was physically sleeping in New York City and imagining myself in Barbados, my brother had the impulse to write and give me reasons why I should come home. I hadn’t been there in twelve years and the family needed me to complete the link. He justified his letter; justified the draft and justified the expenses he would incur, while I . . without a nickel . . simply imagined I was already in Barbados.
I knew exactly what I had done, and I believe that all things are made by God and without him is not a thing made that is made; so I have found God to be my human imagination. Now, am I going to fall into the trap and not honor him as God but turn to an image resembling a human being and say he was the cause of my trip? Am I going to give credit to my brother who sent me the draft and notified the steamship company to issue me a ticket? Or am I going to remember the God that I discovered? This is what Paul is asking everyone who reads his letter. Having found God, are you going to honor him as God? Or are you going to exchange the truth about God for a lie?
Nothing has ever happened to you that you did not set in motion in your imagination. I tell you: you can be anything you want to be, but when you voice your request, your desire must be genuine. You must so want it that you are willing to remain faithful to your change in position. You cannot assume you have your desire for one little moment and then return to your former state, for if you do you are a double-minded man and will not receive anything from the Lord (as told us in the Book of James). If you want to be successful in business, you can. I don’t care how many creditors you owe, or what the bank says you have; if you assume success and persist in that assumption you cannot fail. This is the law by which everyone lives.
Take my message to heart. The God spoken of in scripture is seated right here. He is in everyone as their wonderful human imagination. When you say, “I AM,” that’s God. If, right now you are assuming that you are other than what reason says you are and I ask you, “Who is imagining?” you would say, “I AM.”
At that very moment you have spoken God’s name and all things are possible to God. So without the consent of anyone you can move from where you are to where you would like to be by a simple change of attitude. But your move must be fixed so that when you wake or sleep you remain in that attitude, for the state to which your thoughts constantly return constitutes your dwelling place, and your world is forever externalizing your dwelling place.
Now, all the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen by the things that are made, so when they come into your world you can recognize your own harvest. You will bring it in anyway, but . . unaware of what you have been doing you have exchanged the truth about God for a lie. How? By exchanging the immortal God who is your own wonderful human imagination, for an image of a mortal man. Because a man was instrumental in aiding you to bring your desire to pass, you think he is the one who caused it, when that is a lie. If tonight you inherit a fortune don’t think that the one from whom it seemed to come was the cause. No. Preceding that event you assumed wealth. He was only the instrument, the actor playing his part in giving you the money. It could have come from a total stranger. You don’t need a wealthy uncle, aunt, or grandfather.
In my own family, my brother Victor befriended a man who, at the end of his life, left a very large sum of money to him. Victor had a consuming desire to have money and he never had a divided mind. He wanted wealth more than anything and believed that money was power. He was tired of poverty and, dreaming wealth, his world was populated with people bringing opportunities to make more and more money. Now if Victor forgets the cause, he will turn from the immortal God to an image resembling a man and claim that he was the cause of his fortune, when it is not so at all.
I say to everyone: you can be anything you want to be, but you cannot be double-minded. You are told, “Let no one believe that . . having looked into the mirror, turns away and forgets what he looks like . . that he will receive anything from the Lord, for the double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.”
Many a person will say they want something today, but forget about it a week later. I am not speaking about some little magical thing where you can wave a wand and your desire will suddenly appear. This law is based upon a principle. If you want something, you can have it, but you must be willing to give up what you are now in order to be what you want to be. That is the only price you pay. No sacrifice is required outside of giving up the state in which you find yourself and moving into the state where you want to be, for they are only states.
Remember, without motion it is impossible to bring anything forth, for everything lives in an invisible world. Do you know someone who would congratulate you if they heard good news about you? Bring them into your mind and allow them to congratulate you.
Now, the power of any imaginal act is in its implication. If he is congratulating you on your good fortune, then you must have already received it, so accept his congratulation as a fact. Do that and you have subjectively appropriated your objective hope. Hoping that one day he will know of your good fortune and congratulate you, you have gone ahead in time, entered the state and allowed him to congratulate you.
Now, go about your business and when you think of him, let him know (in your imagination) that he knows of your good fortune and that the day will come when it will be externalized. And when it does (and he will know of it) he will congratulate you on your good fortune on the outside, just as he did first on the inside.
In the Book of Romans, the 4th chapter, the 17th verse, Paul tells us: “God calls things that are not seen as though they were seen and the unseen becomes seen.” How does he do it? By the act of movement. I move and that which was invisible becomes visible. I see you now, but you have told me your desire. It is invisible, but by the act of movement I can see your face radiantly happy because your desire has now taken on life and substance. I have moved, and in so doing I see you differently.
Now, if I move from that I am into what I would like to be, you will still be my friend; so in my imagination I let you see me as you would have to see me if things were as I want them to be, and there I remain. I can’t be double-minded and let you see me in my former state, but must persist in my new state until it becomes natural and out pictures itself in my world.
This is true of everything you do, I don’t care what it is. If you want to be known, you will be, regardless of the fact that you start your assumption with nothing to support your claim. Simply dare to assume that you are, for your assumptions . . although denied by your senses . . if persisted in will become externalized facts in your life.
A friend recently told me that he started his little restaurant in Oahu with only $180 in the bank and many debtors. This was just a few years ago. Tonight the estimated value of his business is over $100,000, and he is contemplating expanding into San Francisco. I know this gentleman well. Born and raised an ardent Catholic, in his mind he is still a Christian, but he does not follow Catholicism any more. When he heard my words he believed them, applied them, and things worked. Then he forgot and remembered again and forgot again.
Now he is remembering, and I hope this time that the memory is permanent. He started his business in a very small manner, maintaining his conviction that it was a success, and things happened to make it so; but they were not the cause. His success was caused by his imagination. When things were beginning to go slow he would remember the law. He remembered that the negative things which were happening were caused by his thoughts so he changed them, and now has this wonderful opportunity for expansion.
I say: everything is possible to anyone who knows who he is. The average person does not know God, for if he did he would honor his imagination as God. Those who know God have discovered that when they imagine a state something happens and it takes form in their world. You might have read in yesterday’s paper about this young lady who had watched television, read the papers, and listened intently to the radio tell of the many murders which were taking place around her and she became frightened.
For two months she slept with a knife under her pillow, resolving to use it if necessary. Then, one night, she heard a sound coming from the kitchen. She saw a shadow and felt a knife at her throat. A tall blonde man, about 6’2″ with hair to his shoulders and was about 190 pounds said: “Take off your pajamas.”
As she got out of bed all of the thoughts she had imagined came into her mind. She reached under her pillow, grabbed the knife and began to stab him all over his back until he ran for his life. Everything she had imagined came to pass. She may not relate it, but not a thing happens by accident. This is a world of law. The most horrible events must be imagined first. This is also true for the most beautiful things, as everything is first imagined, be it good, bad, or indifferent.
Paul tells you that God is found by seeing the phenomena. “All of the invisible things of him are clearly seen from the beginning of time.” How? By the things that are made. The lady made her scene. Could that be God? Yes. Did God not say: “I kill, I make alive, I wound, I heal. I do all things and none can deliver out of my hands?” This is not a being on the outside speaking, but the imagination who is the Lord and there is no other God. Don’t you say: “I AM?” That’s He. So now that you have found God, honor him as God. When what you have imagined happens, honor your imagination as God.
At the present time you may think of God as someone up in the sky, but not in your imagination. You know you are capable of unlovely acts, but cannot believe God could do such a thing; yet I say God . . your imagination . . is capable of killing, making alive, wounding, and healing.
Ask the lady who was stabbing the man and she would answer: “I AM.” That’s His name. And who held the knife to her throat? Would not the man reply: “I AM?” He had to imagine that, too, for the drama took place with a knife, not a gun. The man had to imagine what the consequences would be if he was not successful and so the drama, which took place in the world was caused by God within Man, and there is only one God.
If you have a genuine desire, voice it then move mentally. You can move on the outside many times and not change. You must move within and view the world from already being the person you want to be. If you do, you have moved from where you were to your desire’s fulfillment.
The motion is mental, all in your imagination. Now, if the desire is genuine, regardless of what the world will do, remain in that state and you will bring it into visibility. It is impossible, however, without motion, to bring anything from an invisible state into an outer, visible one. Everyone can do it because everyone has an imagination which is God, and without him not a thing is created, and whatever is created is done by God whether it be good, indifferent, or evil.
Take me at my word. I have introduced you to the creator of your life. Now that you know him don’t be like the Romans Paul spoke of, who knew God yet did not honor him as God, but exchanged the immortal God for an image resembling [Him], and the true knowledge of God for a lie therein, serving the creature rather than the creator, who is the imagination.
If you will but control what you are imagining, not a thing is impossible to you. And you will discover that when you find God, your values change. You will no longer worship things, rather you will worship God, the creator of the things. It is so thrilling to imagine something for a friend and watch it come into being, then to give thanks to the one who did it within you.
When you thank God, you worship God and serve God. When your friend gives you the good news that he has what you had imagined for him, thank him for telling you; but your real thanks will go to God, for . . having found him, you now honor him, knowing he will never let you down.
You don’t have to burst a blood vessel when you imagine. Just let it be so. Knowing your request is genuine, imagine it as already accomplished and then trust him implicitly. This has nothing to do with any moral or ethical code, but your trust in God. Knowing that when you imagine, God is acting and God is faith, trust him to bring it to pass for he will, and in a way you could never devise.
If you want something don’t ask yourself if you are qualified, but is your request genuine. Do not concern yourself as to how and when it will happen, simply assume that you are there already and in a way that no one knows it will take place. Your business will grow, your family will grow, everything will be as you have imagined.
You can stand perfectly still and so move that you can be seen at the point in space where you have imagined you are. I have done it. Wanting my sister in Barbados to see me although I was physically 2,000 miles away, I moved in my imagination, and when she entered the room of her son she saw me lying on the bed. She wrote me that very day and told me of her experience, so I know that all things are possible, for you and God are one.
Take me at my word. It is impossible without motion to bring anything into being, and the motion is within you. Knowing exactly what you want, view the world from the premise that you have it. If the world remains the same you haven’t moved. Only when it can be seen after the change, can you know you have moved.
Now, continue thinking from the new state, for motion can be detected only by a change of position relative to another object. A friend is a good frame of reference. Looking at his face, let him see you as he would if your desire were fulfilled. He would see you differently, would he not? If he is one who would congratulate you, accept his congratulations. Extend your hand mentally and feel the reality of his hand. Listen and hear the reality of his words of congratulations. Then have faith in your unseen reality, for if you do, no power can stop it from coming into your world.
Now let us go into the Silence.