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April 2001
EMMA ONLY
So as you name another error, flesh, and say it
is nothing, and has no reality. You tell why flesh is the shadow that
declineth, and name with positive distinctness what is real substance.
Never till we call all flesh and all matter as it appears, the unreal,
and boldly declare Spirit, which is invisible, as all - just as Jesus
of Nazareth did, saying, "all flesh profiteth nothing, Spirit is
all" - can we begin to prove to others and to ourselves how
divine we are in origin.
The Egyptian Balthazar, being made to speak a thought that has run
unchanged through the centuries whenever the devout have opened vision
to things of the Immortal said, "There is a kingdom on the earth,
though it is not of it, - a kingdom wider than the bounds of the
earth, though they were rolled together as finest gold and spread by
the beating of hammers. Its existence is a fact, as our hearts are
facts, and we journey through it from birth to death without seeing
it; nor shall any man see it till he has first known his own soul; for
the kingdom is not for him, but for is soul. And in its dominion there
is glory such as hath not entered into imagination - original,
incomparable, impossible of increase."
Yet we may see it. We may speak of it till it dawns upon our sight.
For we may know our own Soul.
Then we are like transformed ones, for we have gotten a taste of the wisdom of the Mind that is God. Then we
understand, and look, talk and act more spiritually.
People watch the shadow cast by their belief - that which they call
their body. They see it go through changes. They say it is born, it
experiences, it dies, and perhaps lives again in a more real form in a
new kingdom. They wonder and marvel at it. They talk of its changes.
They never seem to be quite satisfied as to its final disposition -
what becomes of it. Of course not! Bodies are only shadows of belief;
and what becomes of shadows?
These people are as if they watched a cloud-shadow in summertime. We
look down upon the grassy field and see a long shadow flitting over
it. We say - Oh! see that long strange shadow! how queerly it acts! We
give chase to catch and examine it. But it is gone! If we had looked
up at the cloud itself, we should know why the shadow disappeared. The
real cloud has ascended, or been absorbed into the sun-rays. If we
watch the cloud we can see what becomes of it; we can understand its
movements. We are not so baffled and discouraged by them as by the
shadow and its doings.
Now we are a ray-flash from the Mind that is God. The name of our self
is Soul - Understanding - Mind. We, as understanding, cast a shadow.
The shadow of understanding is belief. Belief casts a shadow. The
shadow of belief is flesh and other material things. Belief watches
its own shadow and says they do strange things. The longer it watches
them the more puzzled and baffled it gets. But when belief knows that
they are but as shadows, and then declares the true Substance or names
it, that Substance, which is Understanding, shows forth as judgment
faculty in the place of belief.
Then, when we understand, we know the Good. We are at one with it by a
state of mind. And this is the atonement - the at-one-ment, of one
mind, of the Science of Mind. We are partakers of the atonement when
we have understood that all is Mind.
Then we are lifted above the ills and miseries of daily cares. We see
the great world slip by us and say to all things - You shall know only
the good to me - You shall work only blessedness to me - You shall be
servants to do good to all the children of earth.
While we are outside this recognition that there is but one Mind, of
which we are each a thought, there is the belief of homesickness and
wandering and restlessness, even in the mind of the most prosperous
and successful. Understanding is rest. Belief is restless, and the
shadow of belief, body, more restless still. Restless people are
absorbed in thinking about their body, or some pride of the heart, or
ambition for selfish greatness.
Raymond Lully, born on the island of Majorca in 1200, said,
"there is nothing the mind so longs for as to get reconciled to,
or one with God." This is to get into harmony with; and to get
into harmony with, we must understand. Thus, understanding of mind is
atonement. Men think it is houses and lands, power and learning they
need to satisfy them. But no! None of these things will satisfy. On
the death-bed they moan with terror, or tell of their eagerness for
reconciliation with the Eternal Mind.
. . .You prove this existing union by declaring it - acknowledging it.
Let the shadow of understanding, which is mortal intellect, call
spiritual understanding its substance by positive insistence. Then it
flashes down into all your ways, and you forget sorrow and misfortune
and littleness.
. . .The day is at hand, and now is, when a Science of Religion will
be reasoned out treating of the relation of the finite mind to the
infinite, and of body to soul. It will be taught in the new church
that shall guide and control the coming age; in fulfillment of
prophecy. It will at first be unwelcomed, derided by the strong laws
of the sciences in vogue and favor; but with heaven for its beams and
rafters, and its foundations set into the rock of Everlasting Truth,
it shall stand unshaken. All who enter in at its gates do so by their
own choice. Whosoever will, may partake of its Word. And the Word will
lead to sweet peace all who speak it. The word of it, which we speak,
is the Comforter promised, which shall lead into all Truth. Therefore,
"Apply thine heart to understanding", for "My words are
life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh".
Class Lesson 1888.
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