MANIFEST MAN, personal man, began evolving the ideal man, that is, "putting on Christ," ages and aeons ago. We are now nearly midway in this evolution. The age of this evolution might be determined if we could count the trillions of cells in our body where are inscribed the experiences we had in the ages we have lived. However we know by inspiration and analogy that our conscious creation began with this earth. If science says the earth has been two billion years in evolving, that is our age. When the morning stars were forming we were here.
He who reads the "signs of the times" discerns spiritually that we are now in the midst of a race transition in which we are taking a very pronounced upward swing in the development of the ideal man implanted in us in the beginning. A new concept of God, man, and the universe is upon us. We must realize all this and go upward with the mighty urge
for higher things. Will God take us up to an imaginary heaven in a chariot of fire, or do we use our mind to lift ourselves heavenward? "God helps those who help themselves" holds good in the heavens as in the earth. We begin right where we are to bring forth the kingdom of God within us. Every problem of life can be successfully solved if we begin with the use of the I AM on the various planes of mind. It is not we alone; it is when we realize that we can connect ourselves with the Father-Mind and prove what Jesus said--"I speak not from myself: but the Father abiding in me doeth his works"--that our potential almightiness begins to appear.
If you are given to worry and anxiety, think about the fearless confidence and trust of the Spirit. This will at once relieve your mind of the thoughts that have stirred you, and the power of the Spirit will begin its work of straightening out your affairs. If you are overwhelmed with material work and the call of the outer world, stop and concentrate in the I AM and say: "I am Spirit. I do not believe in matter or material conditions. I have power, because I know that all power is in Divine Mind. Divine Mind now sets my thoughts and all my affairs in divine order, and I rest in the confidence and peace of the kingdom within."
You can have a well body, but you must begin to build it with your word. Instead of laying up weak and sick words in your body, begin now to
speak words of strength and health--and keep at it. Do not look at what has been. Lot's wife tried that, and she never got beyond the past. Clear out of your mind all rubbish about disease, and you will find that none has any lodgment in your body. The thought makes the body and determines the condition it lives in. Thoughts of health are living, eternal things, and they work with the irresistible power of almightiness to tone up the organism to their own high state of harmony and capability.
There is but one way to establish harmony in the home, and that is to establish it first in the individual. It is the law of Spirit that we must be that which we would draw to us. If we would draw to us love, we must be love, be loving and kind; if we would have peace and harmony in our environment, we must establish it within ourselves. We must faithfully and persistently deny the appearance of that which seems to be inharmonious and silently and faithfully affirm the omnipresent peace, love, and harmony that we want to see manifested. That which we hold in consciousness will be made manifest for us, therefore we should not hold the thought of anything that we do not want to see appear.
There is a relation between thinking and eating, and as you grow spiritually the character of your food and all that pertains to eating may have to be changed in conformity with the new order of things. If you will leave meat and all animal products out of
your food you will see a change for the better. But above all, keep your thought mastery and do not be controlled by appetite. Do not fear to eat. Eat with thanksgiving and bless your food.
If you are looking to mental science alone for help you are certain to be disappointed; "for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved" than the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus' teaching is something deeper and farther reaching than mere mental science. It is not something that works things out for us in the personal but is a power that transforms the whole man.
Here is what Judge Troward said on this subject:
Just in proportion as a person yields willingly and obediently to the transforming process does he
demonstrate the Truth. All that pertains to self must be put away as fast as it is revealed, and that which is of the universal, the Christ, must take its place.
Be still and witness the salvation of the Lord. You doubtless fully know that this stillness in the secret place of the Most High is not mental torpor, but a quiet tranquillity that holds itself in an equipoise of spiritual security. You have done your part when your true word has gone forth. Now rest at the center and say: "It is well; Thy work is sure; I am satisfied." Do not argue with anyone, nor discuss the matters that you have submitted to Spirit; simply say, "All is well; it is finished."
Every man who accomplishes things sees first in his mind what he wishes to do. He puts away all doubt. It makes no difference how small or how large the thing you want to do may be; if you have an unlimited confidence in your ability to do it, you will do it. Nothing can in any way impede or defeat you. Faith is the highest expression of belief or confidence. It is that something in man which says: "I believe in the possibilities of things that I cannot see. I believe in the possibility of Divine Mind doing in this age, right now, everything that was ever done in any age." When we believe this and hold to it, putting aside all doubt and whatever suggests failure, the thoughts of faith begin to accumulate substance, and fulfillment follows.
In order to realize Truth and to demonstrate it
you must live it. If anyone appears careless, simply deny it and affirm order and harmony. Allow nothing in the external to disturb your poise and dominion. That is the way of love. When you refuse to see negative things they will disappear, and you will be surprised to see how you will change. Your mind, body, and affairs are the expression of your thoughts, so if you are not happy, change your mental habits. This may not seem practical to you at first, but if you will faithfully practice the Golden Rule and send only thoughts of love to everyone, you will witness practical results. You can cultivate the habit of seeing the good, the true, the bright side of every subject, and then with your friends you can bring this side out in conversation, thus keeping yourself positive and poised, and at the same time sowing the seed of Truth in the minds of others.
The "leading of the Spirit" is not something mysterious. When you open your mind to the wisdom of God in the silence, you should claim in faith that you have received, and trust that the Spirit does guide you. "Christ Jesus . . . was made unto us wisdom"; and the more you affirm that Christ is your wisdom the more you will realize the order and harmony that result from the directing power of divine wisdom. But do not be surprised and disappointed if everything does not work out according to your old ideas. The all-seeing Mind should not be judged by the dim and short vision of the mortal. What may
at first seem to you failure may prove to be a clearing away of rubbish that will open the way in mind to a larger life.
Jesus showed by His life and teachings that it is the will of God for men to be well. A clear understanding of this is necessary if one wants to demonstrate health. Where there is a belief that God wills sickness and suffering, His love and power are shut out of consciousness. Spiritual healing depends on faith, and there cannot be faith while the mind is holding thoughts directly opposed to the possibility of healing. It is therefore very necessary to dwell much on the love and power of God so that a steady, unwavering faith may be established.
The subconscious realm of mind is the realm that contains all past thoughts. First, we think consciously and this thought becomes subconscious, carrying on its work of building up or tearing down, according to its character. The subconscious mind cannot take the initiative, but depends on the conscious mind for direction. When one is quickened of Spirit, one's true thoughts are set to work and the subconscious states of error are broken up and dissolved. In one's daily silence and communion with God, thoughts from the subconsciousness come into the conscious realm of mind to be forgiven and redeemed. Flesh heredity is denied and inheritance from God affirmed, which enables man consciously to draw divine ideas from the one Mind. These ideas are established
in consciousness and the whole mentality is at one with Christ, the divine-man idea.
All wisdom is implanted in us by divine intelligence, which is another name for God. In the degree that we awaken to the consciousness of our inherent wisdom, in that degree we are responsible to the Father and are required to render unto Him the fruitage of our wisdom. All of us unfold according to our understanding and realization. Whether our understanding is small or large, we must measure up to or demonstrate that which has been given us. "To whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required."
The phrase "body of Christ" has a threefold significance. First, as regards its application to the body of Jesus, in Matthew 26:26, 27 Jesus called the bread He had blessed His body and the wine His blood. Out of this came the symbolic rite of the Lord's Supper. All symbols are useful to the extent that they point man to the realities for which they stand. When this reality is discerned the symbols are understood. Jesus dwelt continually in the consciousness of being the very substance and life of God. "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." Through the conscious realization of His oneness with God His body became a "body of life," spiritual substance, His blood the life of God. This is the body and blood He gave as a "ransom for many"; the understanding that the Christ body comes not by the
grave but through our daily realization of the omnipresence of substance and life and our union with it.
Secondly, the words "body of Christ" refer to man's spiritual body. "Until Christ be formed in you." When we appropriate words of Truth, "eat them," so to speak, we partake of the substance and life of Spirit and build the Christ body. This is partaking of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, the true sacrament that vitalizes the body by renewing the mind. Every student of Truth builds the Christ body as he constantly abides in the Christ Mind through daily meditation upon words of Truth.
Thirdly, the phrase "body of Christ" applies to the group of people who find perfect unity in Spirit, free from all the limitations and authority of creed. Such a group is free from bondage to the letter and subject only to the Spirit of truth. Jesus Christ is the head of this body, and its members are joined through a recognition of universal Spirit. This "body of Christ" is sometimes referred to as the "church of Christ." This latter term is commonly misunderstood in that many sects call themselves the "church of Christ," each believing they are the chosen of God. God is not partial and does not choose. Man exercises that privilege, and if he chooses to conform to the "law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" he becomes a member of the church of Christ and is recognized by the Father. There is unity only in Spirit, and "God is Spirit." All personal opinions upon which
creeds are based disappear before the spiritual understanding that the only real unity is the body of Christ, His church. All who measure up to the Christ standard, forsaking everything pertaining to the personal, limited self, bringing forth the unlimited fruits of the Spirit, are members of this body, the "body of Christ." Through this body is to come the "restoration of all things, whereof God spake by the mouth of his holy prophets that have been from of old."