The Author, Daniel Boone Herring, has studied the Christine dialogues of the Four Gospels of the Christian Bible for over forty years with but one object in view, to wit: to discover, if possible, the mode of mentation of the different characters in the drama, making especial effort to grasp the significance of it all as relates to himself, here and now. Shakespeare said: “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players.” The author conceived of these dialogues as being the script of a mighty drama, cosmic in its ultimate significance and particular in its relation to the person. The author has endeavored to catch just what was in the minds of the characters as they spoke. He has, in fact, studied the whole as an actor would study the script of a play in which he was to play a part, and in which he might be called upon at any moment to play any one of the parts. With this background of the author’s mental slant at the story, the following is submitted. Forty years study of one subject is apt to yield something useful.

—Daniel Boone Herring

I. How Mind Surgery Releases The Individual

JESUS said that he had received an anointing from the Lord to release those who were held in bondage: I bring to you who read, the following which I hold aloft as a light to lighten those who sit in darkness, even that light which lighteth every man who cometh into the world; for there is but one Light, the light of Truth.

Huxley has defined science as “codified common sense.” In short, if a thing works it is scientific.

Science has another unwritten law of its own, and that is that the phenomenon which has the ability to persist, gives evidence by that ability of its scientific aspect.

The Bible has persisted thousands of years, while every other literature has changed many times; this ability of the Bible to persist and retain its integrity of thought is evidence that, in its own field, it is scientific.

The Christine story as found in the Four Gospels is the basis of the Lessons herewith presented, but it is presented with the distinct understanding that no theological interpretation is undertaken, but that it is applied rather to the solving of daily, human problems by the use of a scientific principle of mind, revealed through the constant searching of the drama for the “key” to its use in the business of living, and has nothing whatever to do with the theory or anticipation of death, doctrine or dogma.

The individual, who is the unit of humanity at large, finds himself in need of some mental motive power which will “release” him from the bondage of many concepts, which have proven to be not only of no avail, but actually harmful in their use and application.

These Lessons Teach the Law of Life

Hence, the fundamental premise of this instruction is to teach the individual the laws of life rather than an effort to compel the multitude to experiment with theories about life.

Jesus took one ignorant fisherman and in three years instructed him so well that he became the greatest apostle of doctrine the world ever knew, and founded the whole structure known as the Christian Church.

If three years’ instruction of one individual can so influence the whole world, the importance of the individual to society is easily seen.

“Mass psychology” is being used in this day and is a favorite indoor pastime. It is time, however, that the individual who has aspirations to be free should avoid all manifestations of mass psychology and direct his thought toward the Cosmic Vision and receive instruction from that indwelling Presence which Jesus said would teach him “all truth.”

That this is an individual phenomenon and cannot be taught in groups, is so well known as to require no elucidation here. To illustrate: Sir Isaac Newton did not get the gravitational formula from a textbook, nor did he receive it while in an audience listening to someone talk. Alone, he addressed an intelligent inquiry to the all-informing Intelligence and he received an intelligent reply, a formula which “works.” And, Jesus said that it would be by its “works” that you should know a thing is true.

If It “Works” It is True

If a thing “works” it must be scientific, although its formula may not yet be reduced to a definition; and, since science is merely codified common sense, we must look to those mental attitudes which will produce the result we seek rather than be led into the acceptance of theories which some person exploits for his own personal benefit.

The tendency today is to utterly ignore anything unless it has a large following. We worship numbers instead of God, and the mere fact that a great many people follow some certain concept means that they are victims of “mass psychology” rather than that the concept is true or helpful.

Every idea which has ever advanced the world has been rejected by the “best people” at the time it was promulgated, while the “people” followed after the crowd, who saw no value in anything unless it had a large following.

The “best people” were convinced that the world was flat and thought Columbus a fool and a charlatan.

The “best people” thought Jesus a mad man and killed him because he introduced an idea which required a change in their habits of thought and action.

The “best brains” in the industrial world thought Henry Ford was crazy when he began to pay all his help five dollars per day and they prophesied the destruction of our industrial scheme because of it.

We start this study, then, in the understanding that we are to accept the idea presented whether it be popular with the crowd or not, and if there be any virtue in it, apply it, and, if it works, you shall know that it is true and scientific, and its formula, as far as its usefulness to you is concerned, will be revealed to you.

The One Startling Fact About Jesus’ Teachings

The one startling revelation of the teachings of Jesus lies in the fact that they are diametrically opposed to all other teachings.

All other teachings seek to instruct the one to be taught in the art or science of living amongst people; in short, they are treatises on social conduct.

Jesus teaches the individual how to relate himself to God.

Mankind as a social body is in a state of constant change. Such a thing as stability is impossible, as the past forty years bear witness. Industrially, socially, mentally we move so rapidly that no law can be devised to hold us at any one given point.

But God never changes; He is the same yesterday, today, tomorrow and forever.

The individual who is instructed only in the art of association with his fellow man will find that he needs must revise his scheme of things every day or get left behind or out of normal adjustment to his environment.

Jesus taught that if one were instructed in how to relate himself to God, he would find himself related to unchanging and unchangeable principles of life, and that this cosmic relationship would automatically solve the everchanging social relationship.

The Cosmic Vision Which Solves All Problems

For this reason, the author makes no effort whatever to deal with social or moral concepts, but confines himself to the presentation of a mental law which enables the student to, first, relate himself mentally to the Cosmic Vision, and then apply that sense of unity and oneness to his social and physical life in such a manner as to solve the problems which vexed him before.

In the Christine dialogues, the different characters gave evidence of being mentally bound to different codes of conduct; their minds were bound by mental laws to a trend of thought called “tradition,” and there was no mental escape from the bondage to these concepts. It was to enable mankind to free itself from this mental bondage that this mighty drama of human life was acted upon the world’s stage.

They had been taught through a carefully devised and scientific psychological law to think in a certain way, and if they dared think differently and tell it, they were punished; if their conduct showed a departure from this way of thinking, they were “stoned to death.”

The world is no different today. The psychological laws used by those who were in authority have not changed, for they are eternal.

The people of the world are under bondage to certain ideas which have been imposed upon them, and mental bondage is infinitely worse than physical slavery.

New Thought is seeking to open the door of individual minds and show them the way out of bondage, and this treatise is an effort to give the individual a method of applying certain fundamental, eternal and unchanging laws which will enable the individual, as such, to escape from this mental prison house of self-condemnation, helplessness, sickness, poverty and inertia.

A Revolutionary Concept

Every atom of visible, material substance when scientifically examined, is found to be kept in motion by intelligence. Intelligence is evidence of mind in motion.

Regardless of what infinitude we explore with the telescope, we find evidence of intelligent control. Regardless of what disappearing minuteness we explore with the microscope, we find the same evidence of intelligent control.

There is but one possible conclusion: The universe is controlled by intelligence, and intelligence is an action of mind, hence God must be mind.

This is the ultimate conclusion reached by all the seers of all the ages.

If God is mind, then it follows that you who read must be a mental creation.

If God is mind and the universe is governed by intelligent action of that Mind, then the laws of God must be mental laws.

This concept, once accepted, rationalized in the individual mind until it accommodates itself to what that individual knows, feels and believes, is the “Immaculate Conception” as far as that individual is concerned.

For, the mental gestation which this revolutionary idea will start in the mind of that person, is that divine alchemy which is recorded in the Christine story as the “overshadowing of the Holy Ghost,” the divine creative mother principle of mind is at once impregnated with a living idea and that idea will, by its own spirit and law, so change the cellular construction of the brain, spinal cord and finally the tissue of the physical body of the one in whom it is implanted, that it will actually, and as a biological fact, “become flesh.” An-idea is the invisible mental concept which ultimates in a word —the Logos of creation. This concept, once incorporated into the flesh, becomes the psychologically supreme idea, and becomes the center of mental gravity and draws every other idea of consciousness into itself. “If ‘I’ be lifted up I draw all men unto me.”

The Idea That Banishes All Fear of Death

This mental exaltation of the idea of life as related to the individual, has the power to, first, relieve the consciousness of that individual from the fear of death; and the fear of death is the basis of every other fear known.

Being Mind, the individual at once knows that he can never be buried in a grave. You cannot bury your thought in a hole in your back yard. Relieve the individual from this fundamental fear and life at once assumes an entirely different meaning. Once identified in the Cosmic Mind, it occurs to you that the Cosmic Mind which governs every atom of matter, occupies every point of space and acts every instant of time, is your parent. “Call no man on earth your father, for one is your Father.”

It occurs to you that this Cosmic Mind creates mental images of itself and the individual is that image—and likeness. Like father like son.

It occurs to you that life is incessant creation. “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” “Whatsoever things the Son seeth the Father doing, the Son doeth also in like manner,” hence new courage, new hope is born—you can act upon your environment, you need not submit to any tradition or anybody’s thought— you have the power and freedom to go direct to the fountain head of all wisdom and commune at any time as did Sir Isaac Newton. “All that the Father hath is yours.” . . . Ask and you receive.

The one unchanging law of intelligence is response. If you ask of the Cosmic Intelligence a fish—it cannot respond with a serpent. By its own law, its response must be like the demand.

II. Attaining Natural Vision

THIS series of Lessons on Mind Surgery seeks to reveal to the mind of the individual the mental laws used and demonstrated by Jesus of Nazareth.

The word “vision” indicates that the first step is to get a vision, that is to form in the mind a mental picture of the idea involved and set forth.

It is difficult for many to get a mental picture of an idea, yet quite easy to get a mental picture of a thing.

The illustrations here used to assist the reader to get this mental picture, are commonplace enough, and have been used countless times, yet they are just as vital now as when first used, simply because they are true; and that which is true never grows stale or old.

The word “vision” instantly calls to the mind the objective organ of vision, the eye. It is with the eye that we see the objective world.

Vision Defined

Vision is said to be the ability to see with the eye and comprehend with the mind.

I rearrange this definition somewhat for the purpose of clarification. We shall define “vision” as the ability to see with the physical eye and correctly interpret with the mind what we see.

To illustrate: One person will see with the physical eye every evidence of poverty about him. He will interpret what he sees with the physical eye as evidence of his continued poverty.

Another person in the same environment will see the same things with his physical eye, but will correctly interpret it in terms of discovering something in what he sees which can be turned into abundance. In the first case the person did not correctly interpret with his mind what he saw with his eyes; whereas, in the second case, the person did correctly interpret with his mind what he saw with his eyes. Hence, the importance of getting this definition fixed in consciousness, so I shall repeat it here. Vision is the ability to see with the eye and correctly interpret with the mind what is seen with the eye.

In a quarter of century of metaphysical practice, I have found that at least three-fourths of those calling upon me for help, suffer from eye defects and wear glasses; all wish to be rid of them.

In treating these people, I have had the usual success which means that about ten per cent of them were enabled through metaphysical treatment to discard their glasses. But, more astonishing, and of more importance in this treatise, those who wore glasses were much more difficult to handle; it was much more difficult to get a new idea into their minds than it was to get a new idea into the minds of those who did not wear glasses. Here we see the interaction between mind and the flesh it inhabits.

Clear Physical Vision Precedes Clear Mental Vision

One who cannot get clear physical pictures to his mind through his physical organ of sight, finds it difficult to get clear mental pictures into his mind. I know that many will call my attention to the marvelous mental development of blind persons—but that has nothing to do with this chapter and will be taken up later and at the proper time.

The point I wish to make here is that the mind acts with greater freedom in forming mental pictures of ideas when the physical eye makes clear pictures of objective things.

This is true because eighty per cent of all our knowledge comes to us through the visual sense, that is, through vision.

With the knowledge of the law of “Seeing” as set forth in this chapter, I am convinced that instead of ten per cent of responses I shall be able to get at least seventy-five per cent of responses in the future. (This new method has not been used by me over a sufficiently long period of time to have accumulated accurate data.)

I shall use first the story of James J. Hill, familiar to you all. James J. Hill had a mental picture in his mind of the western prairies covered with towns and cities. He “saw” (with his mind) these cities so vividly that he could actually see the smoke rising out of factory smokestacks, he could see trains moving along the rail lines, could hear the engine bell ringing, and hear the whistle of the engines as they came into the towns. Here was a man who refused to incorrectly interpret what his physical eyes saw. For, be it known, his physical eyes saw evidences of poverty on every hand and the prairies were covered with tribes of hostile Indians, and he had no money. He is called the “Empire Builder.” Why? Because he had the ability to correctly interpret what his eye saw—opportunity to do something which had never been done before.

There Is Only One Source of Ideas

James J. Hill did not get his “idea” from any textbook—none contained any such idea—he got the idea” from the same place Sir Isaac Newton got the gravitational formula—the all-enfolding Intelligence, the Cosmic Vision of Creativeness.

The law of gravity acts when conditions are furnished which will permit it to act.

The law of gravity cares not who you are nor your present condition, whether rich or poor, young or old, black or white, French or English, German or Scandinavian—if you hold some article in your hand and let go of it the law of gravity manifests its presence and its power.

The law governing vision is just exactly like that. This chapter is devoted to giving the student a method of attaining to natural physical vision to the end that the inner seeing quality of the mind and the outer seeing ability of the physical eye may be co-ordinated and act without conflict.

I thoroughly believe that if every person who reads this article and is able to grasp the mental picture of the idea set forth will practice it, he will discard his glasses within a year without effort.

I have discovered and am endeavoring to set forth in these chapters a law that cannot fail any more than the law of gravity can fail.

Did it ever occur to you that if there be laws of chemistry, laws of physics, laws of electromagnetism, there is a law of mind? There is—it is the creative law, the one immutable unchanging law.

Do not make the mistake of thinking that nature will tolerate any substitutes. Mind is mind—you cannot substitute matter for it nor it for matter.

Matter and Mind

Everything in the universe has its place and its uses; so-called matter is that upon which mind acts.

You will never be able to substitute a mental attitude for a physical fact—do not waste time trying to do so for it will lead to many phobias and mental distortions.

Just as the law of gravity acts of itself when the conditions are furnished which permit it to act—just so the law of vision will act when the conditions are furnished which permit it to act.

You—you who read these lines—are an individual collection of mental concepts enclosed within the house of your physical body. Or, as Jesus put it: “Know ye not that ye are gods, and the spirit of the Most High dwelleth in you?”

Sit in front of a window, facing the window (in the middle of the room is best) and look out of the window.

What do you see with the physical eye? You see those objects which are within your range of physical vision. But, the visional sense of your mind unconsciously builds the picture of the neighborhood which completes the circle of which you are the center. You are always the exact center of your universe.

What Happens When You “See” An Object?

Now, what is this phenomenon called eyesight? Just why is it that you “see” the objects through that narrow slit of a window? Here is the why of it: You do not actually ‘ ‘see’ ‘ a single object. These objects refract light rays; these light rays impinge upon your physical eye which ends in a tiny point called the “well”; this “well” is a projection of your brain and a picture is made upon your brain of the object.

Physical “seeing” then is merely the act of opening the shutter of the camera of your eye, which makes a picture of the object, and this picture is recorded on your mind.

You will “see” then, from this, that “sight” is the act of letting the light rays make a picture on your mind.

God said, “let there be light, and there was light.”

Hold an article straight out from the body in front of you, now—LET GO. What have you done? You have unconsciously said: “Let the law of gravity act” -—and it did act.

How To “See” Successfully

Now hereafter, instead of trying to “see’ objects, just relax mind and eye muscles and let the light rays falling upon that object make a picture on your mind.

I am sixty-one years of age, wore glasses for twenty-five years and discarded them within six weeks after this idea got into my mind. I now see perfectly and without effort any object toward which I .set my physical and mental eye, for they are co-ordinated and there is no conflict between the mental fact and the physical fact. I tried every known metaphysical treatment before without result. I repeat, nature will tolerate no substitution. What God hath made he hath made and since he is Infinite Intelligence he acted intelligently when he made it.

Remember this: No man can break a law of God; could he do so he would be greater than God. You cannot even bend a law of God—his laws are omnipotent.

Everyone knows that hydrogen and oxygen combined one and two make water. Everyone knows that water frozen becomes ice.

Ice is useful, even necessary. H₂O cannot be substituted for ice. Everyone knows that water is necessary to life—ice cannot be substituted for H₂O. Nature will tolerate no substitutes.

Hence, in getting the cosmic vision of yourself, remember that your mind is like the hydrogen and oxygen—it is absolutely indestructible, and absolutely unpollutable.

You may combine hydrogen and oxygen and produce water. You may pollute that water with a hundred filthy things, and then when frozen the “ice” will be polluted—but the essential and enduring part of that ice has not been polluted. Remember this.

If you can see with glasses, you can see without glasses, for if you can see at all your physical organ of vision is unhurt.

Stop from “trying” to “see” objects and let the cosmic rays of light refract from the object and make the picture on your mind. This requires both the mind and the physical eye. No substitutions will effect a result. Use your mind for that for which it was designed—to think free of tradition or inhibition—and use your physical eyes for the purpose for which they were designed, to merely act as a shutter of a camera to let the light rays in.

“I Will; Receive, Thy Sight”

The healing of blind Bartimaeus, recorded in the Christine dialogues, symbolizes this awakening of the mind to the cosmic fact of vision. This story is found in every language, either written into their record or transmitted by the spoken word; it is as cosmic a fact of life as the sun. It is that moment of time when the individual, as such, awakens to his cosmic relationship.

The sum of all Jesus taught may be summed up in these words: “The Father and I are one.” God is not one person or thing and you another person or thing—you are one in essence and in fact.

“Whatsoever the Father doeth do thou in like manner.” The Father (Cosmic Mind), “sees” himself in manifestation.

Jesus said, “Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” He meant, spiritual unfoldment begins at the top. Physical structures are built from the ground up—but your mind perfects itself from the top down.

Get the perfect mental picture of your relationship to God and hang onto it. Think free—do not permit anyone to argue you out of it. They cannot if you keep your mouth shut about your “vision.” Jesus said of such things, again and again: “See that thou tell no man.” The secret of all spiritual growth is in secrecy. All growth starts in secret. It is holy, an overshadowing of the Holy Ghost upon your mind—it is too sacred to discuss even with those nearest and dearest to you; it does not concern anyone on earth save yourself and God.

When you open your eyes and let the light rays make a picture of some object on your mind, it is God himself sitting in his house looking out upon his world. If God can see, then you can. This is the cosmic vision of “seeing.” If it fails, then the sun will not appear tomorrow!

III. To Heal The Mind of The Fear of Death

JESUS said: “I came that they might have lire, and have it more abundantly.” At no time does this story indicate that Jesus taught anything about death or any supposed condition after death. Knowing that there was no such thing as an absence of life at any place in the entire universe, how could he have taught anything about death, about that which was not?

Life is continuous, incessant creation. The principle of life, awareness or individualized consciousness, is continuous without a single break in its intelligent manifestation. Forms change either through conscious command or through natural, evolutionary processes, but life is continuous and could not be broken for a single instant of time without destroying it in its totality.

This chapter is written with the intention of healing the mind of the fear of death

This was what Jesus had in mind when he said: “I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” Life over a few years of physical embodiment, hampered by the hypnosis of fear of oblivion, is not abundant life, regardless of how high the estate reached in that brief span.

There are just as many phases or degrees of life as there are people; and likewise, there are just as many phases or degrees of what we call death as there are people.

Death is an absence of “awareness of being.” Sleep, then, is just as much death as any other form of unconsciousness. It is a degree of unawareness or unconsciousness.

Instead of the word death, we may substitute the word “unconsciousness.” Any time your conscious mind is not functioning fully, there is a degree of ‘unconsciousness.” A fit of anger will cause a degree of death or unconsciousness.

Every manifestation of any degree of life, whether it is by comparison going through a degree of death or unconsciousness or not, can be awakened and will be awakened.

Who Are Dead?

In the Christine dialogues those whose minds could not mentally “see” anything save objective forms, were considered the “dead.” Jesus said they “were in the tombs”; also he said that these should come forth when they heard the voice of the son of God.

Nicodemus was a teacher of such as these and Jesus told him that he must be “born again.” Born how, when? Born through the process of mental expansion into a new concept of his relationship—or as Jesus said it, “Born of spirit.” Spirit is life; then life itself is that energy which persists in extending self-knowledge, and which causes all the phenomena called the various and varying degrees of life. When comparing extreme opposites of manifestation, one is called aliveness and the other is designated death.

To the alert, swiftly moving fox the sloth is dead. To the cultured, learned person the illiterate is dead. Neither death nor life is in the atom. Life is in and of itself; it selects any and all substance it desires and projects itself into that form for use. When through with it, the form is discarded like an old automobile.

Nothing is ever lost. When you burn coal you release the energy known as heat; the heat dissipates itself from your immediate environment but it is never lost; it is a permanent part of the universe until it is again changed into some other form.

While an individual’s mind is still in such a state of being as to mentally “see” only visible forms, he is under an evolutionary (natural) law; all processes are accomplished for him and (by comparison with living folks) he is of the “dead.” He is in the tomb. It was such as this of whom Jesus spoke when He said: “Unless (or except) a seed fall in the ground and die it hath no life in it.”

This is a part of the Cosmic process wherein the spirit, or life itself, loses its self-conscious identity and sleeps (comparatively) until the resurrection or the awakening process takes place, which is, again, being “born again.”

Consciousness of Life Brings Freedom

Life more abundant, real livingness, begins when the mind is enabled to conceive the idea of being a part of Life’s manifestation, hence a permanent fixture in the universe. To know this is life eternal.

It is utterly impossible for me or anyone else to give you this concept—it cannot be transmitted, it can only be known. Every person came into this world alone. We all got here one at a time—and we shall all go hence one at a time and alone. No two ever go together—it is a path which has to be traveled alone. Two shall be in the field, one is taken, one is left.

No group or congregation can ever, by any conceivable plan, get this concept together and at once —but each congregation or group may each, individually, one at a time, conceive this truth as being true of themselves. Hence, Jesus never organized any church, nor authorized any church. His address was to the individual and the individual alone.

What Jesus taught concerns no one save the individual and his God. Hence, in reading this book, keep in mind that it makes no attempt to teach anything which concerns the reader and any other person—its effort is to teach the student his or her relationship to the God within himself.

It is not a horizontal line of thought; it is a perpendicular line of thought—you no longer look away, you look up.

As far as this book goes, there are no dead save the living dead; those who walk about, eat, sleep, work, play and whose minds are wholly unaware of the eternity of that spirit which animates them. These are the dead—and there are none other.

Hence, we deal with life. We can readily see that even those we designate as the “dead”‘ are alive—they are in a process of growth. You would not expect to see a year-old baby exhibit the degree of intelligence you would look for in a mature person; neither would you try to “save” the baby. You trust the creative process in the baby; you know somehow that the life within its body will evolve its body. Then let us drop entirely out of our consciousness the word “death”— those phenomenal manifestations which an ignorant and hypnotized world has called death are but a process of life.

How can you expect to get well (if you are ill) until that which you call illness passes away? “Passed away” is the express on used to designate one who has died. It is only by the passing of an undesirable condition that a new condition may be born; for be it remembered that no two things can occupy the same space on any plane of being. If you have an idea in your mind which distresses you, the only remedy is in letting that idea die; hence death (so called) is not only a process of life, but is the one absolute essential to life more abundant.

The Bible teaches that all life proceeds out of oblivion or “darkness.” In Genesis we read: “The spirit of God moved upon the face of the deep and the world was waste and void (dark) and God said: Let there be light.” Out of darkness came light—at the command of self-conscious Being.

Also it was chaotic—out of chaos comes order by command of self-conscious Being.

It makes no difference where you are on the path of unfoldment—you are alive forevermore. Your one hope and your one business in life is to grow toward more abundant life.

To do so consciously is the work taught by Jesus.

How to Find More Abundant Life

As long as your mind “sees” only objective form, as long as you accept without question traditional thought, you are subject to your environment; but if you will order your thought according to the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth you shall know the doctrine. The spirit of truth this practice of mentation invokes, reveals to you, day by day, the elements of a new relationship and you will soon be able to command the light as a self-conscious being, and out of the chaotic elements of your old consciousness (made possible by the law of death) you will bring order. Order is heaven’s first law. No growth is possible until order has been established.

Out of the mental darkness of your prison you will see the light, and this light will reveal the shadows which all your lifetime have frightened you and made of you a craven who was all the time the son of God.

‘‘Behold I stand at the door and knock, if any man will arise and open unto me I will enter and sup with him and he with me.”

Cosmic Vision contemplates that a Living Presence stands at the door of your consciousness and knocks for admission—you—you must arise and open, and—if you do so open the door of your mind to receive this inspiration, it will enter your mind and partake of your substance and you shall partake of its substance and its substance is light—even the light of truth.

It would be utterly silly for you to sit in your basement and affirm that light would enter—but it is utterly simple to get up (arise) and go out into the sunlight. Nature—Life—tolerates no substitutes. There is, as we all agree, but one primal substance; but it arranges itself into multiple conditions of use and in this arrangement no substitution is possible.

You know better than to try and substitute water for the air you breathe—if you try it you will drown. You know you cannot wash your face in air—it is made to breathe. You use each element in its right relationship until you get into metaphysics, then you attempt to substitute one element for another and right here is the reason you do not demonstrate.

You ask, but you ask amiss; you try to substitute a mental attitude for a physical fact and it won’t work.

Use your mind as mind, for the purpose for which it was created, to think yourself free from limitations, inhibitions, traditional trends of thought, and then use every other element in your nature for the purpose for which it was created.

Your present estate is of importance only as you so order your thought as to see each element in its right relationship. Admitting that you are physically ill, you wish to get well; all right, your first effort must be toward getting your mind rightly ordered toward that mind which is now well.

The Unconquerable Method That Jesus Used

Of what avail is it to look to the thoughts of men for relief when common sense tells you that it was from this source that your distresses come? Why not turn at once (repent) and let your mind be acted upon by the one, whole, complete, entire mind of Christ?

How do you accomplish that? Study the story, read the lines, learn to think in the ordered, unconquerable method Jesus used.

This story is the most interesting, the most fascinating, the most revealing story on earth. It is a drama, a word picture of the Cosmic Vision, of the Cosmic Character, Christ, manifesting as Jesus of Nazareth; every detail is of importance. He utilized every element of his being. To him, Judas was selected with as much care as John or Peter. He utilized the earth and the water in doing his healing work. He despised nothing and no thing. Every manifestation was used by him to bring out the supreme idea he dramatized.

The supreme idea he thus dramatized was the idea of the cosmic relationship of the individual.

He taught you (and me) that each person is the only begotten son of God; that you who read contain within yourself life, not a piece of it, not some portion cut off and set aside for your use—but the whole stream of life flows through you incessantly.

Science has lately agreed that every atom in the universe is completely changed and renewed every twelve months—the oldest possible age to which anyone can attain on this earth is one year—twelve months. Nothing ages save your mind, and it ages for want of exercise. Any organ unused will atrophy. When you accept traditional thought, it means that you are letting others think for you. The minute you think you can get along without your mental daily dozen, you are on the skids for the mental inertia called a degree of death—for the more you allow others to think for you the more unaware or unconscious you become, while the more conscious the thinker who does your thinking becomes. You are simply donating the cells of your brain to them to think with and through. What do you aspire to be, a brain cell for someone who died hundreds of years ago, or a self-conscious God?

If you do insist upon being merely a cell of protoplasm for others to use in their thinking processes, for goodness’ sake donate your brains to the living Christ and let him think through you. It is infinitely more profitable. And, when this Risen Son of God begins to think through you he will awaken you to life more abundant.

(The next chapter deals with fences, mental fences, and will bring vividly to your mind the processes by which you have been fenced off for others’ purposes and it will show you the door through which you may escape.)

IV. Your Mental Fences

A COLORED man was once asked why he objected to the building of a fence around the cemetery.

He replied: “I’se allus noticed that a fence was something to keep something in or to keep something out. I never knew anyone in a cemetery who tried to get out and I never knew anyone outside a cemetery who wanted to get in, so I don’t see no reason fer buildin’ no fool fence.”

It is not true that we, each, as individuals, build the mental fences which limit our growth, for these fences were built centuries ago when fences were really needed and have been handed down to us as hereditary mental habits of thought.

Our parents begin on us when we are babies, with no mental weapons of defense, no reasoning faculties and no way of protecting ourselves. But the fact remains that we, as individuals, have to get out of them, for, by the time we arrive at an age of reason, we discover that we are enclosed in the area fenced off for us by our parents. We can still love our parents because we realize that they, too, were victims and knew no better.

We have our fences to protect our theory of morality; our ideas of right and wrong; our system of society and government; our religion; our philosophy of life; our concept of truth; our notions of God and the universe; the past and future. And the one and only effect these fences have upon our individual lives is to limit us.

Fences are positive things. They are certain prescribed limits beyond which we dare not pass for fear of our own condemnation. Fences limit our growth^ physical, mental and spiritual. They keep us from’ getting what we desire. They are clouds between us and the sunshine. They cover the face of God himself.

We fence our feelings with the fetters of formality and dare not express ourselves. Having eyes, we dare not see, and having ears, we dare not hear, knowing all the time that we can see and hear and Ponging all the time to both see and hear.

How We Imprison Ourselves

We imprison ourselves in time and space and dare not move for fear of trespassing. We divide “here” and “there,” not realizing that there is no place but here, and that here is there when we arrive, but can never be other than there until we do.

We divide time into “then” and “now,” not realizing the obvious that the only time we can possibly enjoy or live is now, the only time we can ever use is now and that this now is absolutely unlimited in its constant renewal.

Thus we enslave ourselves, our souls enchained to the ball of fate, and we cannot decide so simple a thing as our diet without getting outside advice. Finally we build a shrine to the god of doubt in his temple of fear, knowing not that faith in action bridges all gulfs and makes all journeys safe. We thus dope ourselves with mental narcotics, not from necessity, but because our parents told us that it was right; and we are afraid to chance our poor sense of security and take a chance on independent thinking for ourselves.

So we find ourselves circumscribed and circumstanced, fixed in mind and fettered in body, absolutely convinced that we are feeble and infirm, helplessly dependent on somebody else or some other thing to save us. Just look at the array of fences which face us! There they are. Look at them! ”Thou shalt”, “Thou shalt not”, “Thou canst not”, “Thou durst not”, “Thou art too poor”, “Thou art too old”, “Heredity, Bad Luck, Environment, Not strong enough, you are too young, you are too old, you are sick anyway, you never had a chance, It’s too late now, what’s the use”? What palliatives, what narcotics. We accept from— well, from whom? ”They say.” Who is this great god, “They Say”? He is the only god who actually gets worshipped.

The command of the great god, “They Say” is;

“You can and you can’t,
You shall and you shan’t,
You will and you won’t,
You’ll be lost if you do,
And damned if you don’t.”

Overseas I was a member of the Twenty-Seventh Engineers. Our slogan was: ”It cant be done but here it is.” Whose word is it you obey? As though all the tests and experiments of life had been accomplished and finished!

You don’t dare do this and you don’t dare think that. As though the tree of knowledge still bore forbidden fruit.

“Repent ye,’’ which means turn about, about face. Returning from France we had colored troops aboard. Coming up the channel in New York harbor, a colored boy snapped into attention as he passed the Statue of Liberty, and saluting he addressed her thus: “Woman, if you all ever specs to see dis niggah again, you shore goin’ to make about face.’’ He meant he was going to stay on land hereafter.

“About face.” The clock of time will never run down, there is no hurry, you have been here a long time and will be here a long time yet. We are living in a universe fenced only by infinity. This is the only fence the mind of man need see, and by a trick of vision it recedes as you approach it so you need never worry about what you will do when you get to it.

God Gives Us Room

The corral of God is of such proportions that everyone and everything finds plenty of room inside it. Infinite life, infinite space, infinite love, infinite law and order, infinite possibility—these are the things with which God furnishes us and with which he fills the place we live and move and have our being.

Life does not mean to “have and to hold.” Life means to be and become. Man is limited only by his mental concepts; God has placed no limitations upon his creations or his resources. To discover this, means that you are being born again, born into freedom out of bondage, born into health out of disease, born into abundance out of limiting poverty, born into manhood and womanhood out of automatic robots who jump and jerk and die when others speak the word of command.

We may learn through the experience of others, but we grow only through our own.

Happiness is the fruit of growth; there is no other way to happiness; and growth is just a synonym for self-expression and expression is just a synonym for that which comes outward from within.

Let us cease, then, from seeing limitations in any direction. Let us cease from the senseless effort to get things, and begin to act like gods instead of robots. Let us begin to see what we can give, and start the limitless well of refreshment within our own souls to flowing outward.

Did you ever hear of an oak tree going back into an acorn? Well, our effort to get things and put things inside of us is just the same kind of a violation of the law of growth as it would be if the oak tree tried to “get” what was outside of it inside of it and then crawl back into the acorn.

The law of life is expression of the livingness at the center to an ever-widening circumference without.

Mental Growth

Mental growth works just exactly like physical growth. Once, you were a single cell of protoplasm, the mind in that single cell expanded outward—expressing itself just as the life in the acorn expanded outward expressing itself. Keep that mind of yours doing likewise. Here is an illustration of what Jesus meant when he said: “The Father worketh till now and I work”—and—”Whatsoever things the son seeth the Father doing, the son doeth also in like manner.”

Jesus saw the Father expressing himself outward, giving his life, his wisdom, his substance to each manifestation of life. We reverse this order and seek to get the whole universe either in our minds or in our bank. Then we cry out and whine and dope ourselves with the mental narcotics of self-justification rather than to face about and live. We are afraid of the great god “They Say.” Surely that would be wonderful, but—what would people say? The great god “They Say” is the modern Moloch—not only children are sacrificed to it—but all; honor, happiness, well-being, health, love—the modern Moloch takes all; demands all and the more he gets the more he demands; he is insatiable.

“Awake, thou that steepest, and arise from the dead and Christ shall shine upon thee.”

Today, this moment, loose yourself from every limitation, realize if only for a second that you are the child of Life itself, you are the product of all that has gone before, your heritage is the sum of all that is or ever will be. Tell yourself that you, too, are the first fruits of them that slept.

Immortal man, dreaming, thinking man, questing soul,
Why standest thou gazing,
Asking amiss,
Knocking at closed doors,
Trusting not thyself,
The voice within that whispers Truth,
The “I” that KNOWS,
The cause that affects,
The POWER within the ego,
The God that laughs at reason’s failures,
THAT IS YOU?
ARISE! Stand forth! Thou art cause and effect,
And, therefore, thine own lawgiver.
Thou art cause and consequence, therefore
Thine own judge
Who must accurately interpret the laws thou hast made
And exalt or enslave thyself.

Get A New Slant At Yourself

Get a new slant at yourself today, a new evaluation. Examine this conscious, growing, ever-changing, creative something which is you, which contains and combines a little of everything in the universe into one co-ordinated unit, functioning as an individual, charged with cosmic energy. It changes moment by moment, yet it never grows tired of growing, but rejoices in growth; it never loses its identity, its personality, its individuality, but is always and ever recognized as the embodiment of you.

Make an inventory of yourself, yourself, your SELF. Take a little journey around about yourself and discover what you are and what your relationship to the cosmos is. Do not let any person or group or philosophy or religion tell you who you are or what you are— determine that for yourself.

Look about and within you and sense the infinite possibilities lying dormant waiting for your strong word of command to awaken them to action. Learn a little about the limitless substance in which you swim like a fish in the sea, yielding, obedient, eager to spring forth into the form you command. You are a king. Act like one—but first you will have to learn to think like one. And, whoever heard of a king letting dead people think for him?

The great marriage feast described in the Christine dialogues, where Jesus turned the water into wine, is the wedding of mind and matter, the union of the two, the exhibition of the fact that mind has acted upon the substance which takes form.

Mind and Matter

If there be something which “acts” it is possible only because there is something upon which it can act— Life, Nature, tolerates no substitutes. Use your mind to think with. Use matter to shape and model and form into what you desire. The sculptor sees more than a block of marble—with his creative imagination he “sees” (mentally) the figure of a divine form, he uses his mind for the thing it was designed to do—then he lays hold of the marble and with his hands he shapes it. Again we see symbolized the wedding in Galilee, the wedding of mind and matter.

Cease from calling God a fool and telling him by your mode of thought that he has made a million mistakes and you are trying to help him straighten them out. You have acted like a baby long enough— grow up. Awaken, repent—turn about—face the other direction awhile and see how refreshing it will be.

The mental code you are following, the mental habits you have established, were given when men thought the world was flat and square, and that the Creator could be placated with a roast lamb. This is the age of awakening. Every scientific achievement shouts to the one conscious of cosmic vision, ”awake, thou that steepest, and arise from the dead.”

This is the age of the resurrection, the age of arrival at a destination, the destination of mental freedom. What Moses did for the children of Israel, what Lincoln did for the black man, New Thought is doing for all who will accept it—announcing their emancipation.

This day, by my own soul’s law I loose myself from bondage.

V. Mental Photography

IF YOU look through the finder of a camera, you will see that the image of the thing you are seeking to photograph appears on the ground glass inverted. That is, the house or whatever you are looking at appears upside down.

Just why this is so is difficult to explain, but the cause is of no importance compared to the fact that it is so.

The human eye is a camera; science has proven this beyond doubt or question. Its operation is identical to the operation of the camera, and the process of “seeing” an object follows the scheme of photography to complete detail. First, there is the “pointing” of the lens or the finding of the object to be photographed, which is just looking at a thing. Next, the shutter is opened, the image is fixed on the plate and the photograph completed by being established as memory in the mind.

The human eye takes millions of pictures every twenty-four hours, in natural colors, develops them and files them away in orderly sequence with such accuracy that no filing system ever devised equals it.

Why We Invert Ideas

Since eighty per cent of all knowledge gets to our consciousness through the visional sense, the mind has established an automatic habit of inverting every idea which contacts it.

Take the matter of physical ill health for instance; the human mind inverts this object and begins to seek for a “cause” of the ill health. When the human mind begins to seek for a cause of ill health, it is inverting the normal, natural, scientific law of thought process.

So it is in every human concern—the instant anything is said to have gone wrong, one will begin to look for the “cause” of the disturbance. This habit of mind in humanity is the reverse to Life’s processes because at the time you do it you are “looking backward.” Whatever ails you is an effect, it is the result of a process, and whatever caused it must of necessity be backward from where you are in time.

Imagine if you can (or will) what would happen if Nature were to try and reverse its order in time?

“Whatsoever things the Son seeth the Father doing, the Son doeth also in like manner.” It behooves us to begin at once to study the instructions given by the Carpenter of Nazareth as if they made sense instead of accepting the theology of them as conceived by people who lived centuries ago.

Jesus Never Used an Inverted Mental Process

There is no more scientific treatise in the world than the straightforward, simple instructions given by Jesus.

Whatever you “see” Nature doing you see God doing, for God is in Nature. If you seek sonship, study Nature and observe her general principles and follow them in your mental processes. You will be emulating a supreme Intelligence for a supreme Intelligence is in and through every atom of Nature’s substance, every point of space and every instant of time.

In metaphysics and psychology, as in materia medica, this fundamental mistake is made. Those who have gone forward in the mental sciences have just followed the general practice of those who had gone before, never stopping to study the subject to a sufficient degree of intentness to observe this fact—that Jesus never used an inverted or reversed mental process.

All, the sum total of all that anyone ever gets from diagnosis, is the theory of indefinite information. Medical journals tell us that less than twenty per cent of all medical diagnosis proves itself to have been right. If this is true of the medical profession, what do you imagine might be the percentage in mental and psychological diagnosis?

Jesus must have been seeking to impress this upon our minds when he told us not to judge by the appearance; he must have known that, by a trick of mental reaction, the uninstructed human mind inverted everything it saw.

He said, judge “right” judgment. If you “see” an inverted image on your camera finder, your mind grasps the fact that it is an inverted image. Transfer this action of your mind so that when you “see” (mentally) appearances of poverty, sickness or sin, your mind grasps the fact that what you see is inverted; right it; that is, judge righteous judgment; turn it upside down and it will be right side up.

The literature of the world is filled with abnormal psychology. There are those who cram and crowd into stuffy court rooms and sit all day to listen to, and stare at, people whose inverted thinking has gotten them before the public. Oh, you say, you don’t do that! Wait a minute—I can’t see you from here, and 1 do not accuse you—but think.

It is perfectly obvious that if you desire to re-establish health in your body that you will make a start in that direction by engaging your mind in the study of healthy subjects and healthy objects. What the cause may be is of no importance whatever to you; what you desire is to get well.

The Bible Teaches How to Think—STRAIGHT

It is obvious that if your business is sick, that you will make a start toward making it healthy by a study of the subject of success and the observation of successful enterprises. If your mind is disturbed by any sort of disturbance, it is obvious that you will make a start toward normal, mental functioning by engaging your mind in the contemplation of a healthy mind. This old world produced one healthy mind; a full description of the rules of mental health are contained in the textbook he left. This book is called the Four Gospels of the Christian Bible.

The prophet said: “When thou art cast down thou shalt say, there is a lifting up.” The writers of the Old Testament were better psychologists than we are today. The entire Bible is a scientific textbook on psychology—there is not anything else in it save psychology, that’s all it is about, that’s why it was written; to teach people how to think,—straight.

I do not believe it wise for anyone to undertake to teach psychology until he has been in the depths and has worked his passage out of distress by the application of psychological laws. One thing is sure and certain: once down you will never get up unless you rightly apply the laws of mind, which is psychology. Each teacher ought first to try his system and theories on himself; if they “work,’’ then experiment on the other fellow (if he asks you to).

Job talked just this way according to the record, so I have precedent for my speech, if any demand it. Also, the book of Job is good reading, and the most vitally impressive and majestic language ever written; also, it is a description of the use of psychological laws by which man works himself out of distress into peace and joy and power.

Back to the subject of diagnosis: The mental law invoked when we diagnose is the one and only law there is. Mind flows like a river. Man can divert a river from its bed and cause the water to flow in any direction he pleases. When you point your mind at an object, you divert its flow in that direction. After you find the “cause” of your trouble, then your attention is fixed at that point and the river flow of your thought is dammed up there, thus increasing the power of its flow at that point.

How Jesus Used This Law of Thinking

This young man from Nazareth knew the law of mind and he kept his mind pointed toward the Father all the time. And not even the tradition of his people could divert it one second. In the Temple his parent sought to divert his mind’s river-flow backward into the channel of tradition, but he said: “Know ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?”

Jesus is and was the Savior of the world because he taught the world a method of mentation, a system of thinking to be used by the individual whereby the individual could, under his own steam, solve his own problem. “Every man shall bear his own burden.”

Rodin immortalized the world’s greatest character when he sculpt “The Thinker.” It has been said that kingdoms tremble when a thinker is born, and well they may. One thinker can turn the tide of human thought out of its accustomed channel and divert its majestic sweep into greener fields at will.

Those who can think, exploit those who know nothing of thought processes— “ye bind heavy burdens upon their shoulders,” accused the Man of Galilee. May we not covenant within ourselves to begin this day to look up steadfastly and refuse to let our mighty river-flow of thought be diverted into inverted mental pits?

We can if we will.
You will if you try.
You’ll try if you wish.

Choice is All Important

As in all cases, the problem is up to the individual to whom it is presented. Man’s freedom exists only in his absolute mental freedom to choose.

Choice is perfect consecration; the use of the mind’s pointing ability to hold the vision steadfastly upon its goal and not waste its mighty energy looking backward, seeking causes. The man in jail cares nothing whatever about “why” he got there—he is more normal than the teachers—what concerns the man in jail is: “how to get out.” He is looking outward and upward, not downward and backward.

If you go to a restaurant and the waiter offers you beef stew, pork chops, lamb roast and fried fish you choose which one of these articles of food you will eat. At the moment you choose, your mind is in a state of perfect consecration for that thing and that time. You can apply this power to anything, at any time and e any place and it will always work for it is a psychologically supreme power of mind. It is the exercise of your one and only kind of absolute freedom.

There is no direction worth looking in or at and n subject worth your while save the direction of up war and onward and the subject of your own soul’s growth and expansion.

You may think this is a “selfish” attitude of mine —let us see. Supposing I call on you and ask for water; can you give me water if you do not have the water? Supposing I ask you for money; can you give me the money unless you have the money? You can give nothing unless you have that for which I ask. Get something yourself first—then you shall have something to give. Do you know why Jesus is the savior of the world? Because he saved Jesus of Nazareth. All life leads to this necessity: “Physician, heal thyself.”

Our first duty and necessity is to first instruct ourselves. The same God is in the other fellow, and the other fellow is entitled to grow into his own peculiar stature. No two snowflakes are alike, yet all are water frozen, no two human beings are alike, yet all are life manifesting.

It is useless and a violation of life itself, to seek to make a hundred million people just alike; it will work with automobiles but not with humans.

VI. Awake, Thou That Sleepest!

“The light of the body is the eye. . . but if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness.”—Matthew 6:22-23.

“For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?”—Matthew 7:9-10.

HE attempt to interpret the above in terms of poetic fancy and account for this language on the basis that it was an oriental flower of imagery has led mankind into all sorts of darkness, doubt, fear and confusion regarding the most scientific principle there is in the science of mind.

The fact is that herein is stated, in exact words, a most powerful and scientific principle of thought.

The divine unity of all substance is stated here in terms of man’s mental dominion and power and the ease with which he may connect his mind with that invisible substance which permeates the whole universe and which is intelligently waiting, eager to be acted upon and eager and able to come forth into whatever form man desires.

The greatest servant in the world is this divine essence; this substance which is the very esse of God himself, unformed, without shape, void, waiting, quiet, still, like a pool of clear crystal water in a mountain fastness , pure, virgin, divine substance.

This is the substance which is, like the hydrogen and oxygen, absolutely unpollutable; it is that “sea” of substance into which every known form returns and which is of such transcendental purity and virginity that nothing can pollute it.

The One Universal Substance

The ocean is a symbol of this sea of spiritual substance. Regardless of how many corpses are cast into the sea, regardless of how much sewage and decomposed matter man casts into the ocean, it retains its purity; it is too mighty to be polluted by what man can do to it.

This mighty sea of spiritual substance is called in Latin, “mare,” meaning the sea; it is the word from which we get the name “Mary;” it is that substance of which Paul spoke when he said it was the substance from which all things came forth.

If you go to a telegraph office to send a telegram, you may watch the operator touch his key and you know that the very words you have written are being sent across the continent to their destination. All you can see with your physical eye is the action of the operator as he touches his key; but your mind grasps the fact that there is an invisible energy pulsing through wires which carry those dots and dashes to another point where they are correctly interpreted into their right meaning, and your thought is thus transmitted to another.

Your mind is the telegraph key; you are the operator; this sea of substance is the receiving end oi your message. There is a direct line of connection between your mind and the Holy Mother substance; and this substance receives every impulse of thought or imagery you send out. If you send out a demand for causes of ill health—you receive the thing you ask —the name of the cause; but—what then? If you send out a demand for a knowledge of health in your body— how can you receive anything less than health? An inexorable law is involved.

What your mind demands is given you. No more .... no less.

Your physical eye is the window through which light is received into the mind from without. Its counterpart, your spiritual eye or the ability to “see” with the mind, is the eye which receives light from within.

If your physical eye is ever looking for sin, sickness, trouble, poverty, faults in yourself or others (all darkness) it means that you are forcing your inner eye to seek the same thing from the inner side of life. And this is what Jesus means in this dialogue—that if your mind is looking for the negations of life that your whole body (spirit, soul and body and world) will be full of darkness.

Not because of any moral reason—but because it is the nature of this invisible substance to do exactly what it is told to do. It cannot act of itself—it stands waiting to be acted upon by the sons of God who are those who know their birthright and who will apply the law to get what they want.

The most astounding revelation any person ever receives is the utter simplicity of obedience of this ocean of substance in which he floats like a fish in water, completely submerged in it, in which we live and move and have our being. It is the most obedient servant in the universe; from it comes the mighty energy man has harnessed and which he calls electricity. It will adapt itself to any conceivable thing the imagination can devise. It springs forth instantly as vital, energizing, radiant health in every cell of the body, if the mind directs its mental and physical eye toward it and asks health.

If the mental and physical eye directs its vision toward this invisible essence and seeks parasites, germs, infection, disease, poverty—it responds to that demand with the same joyous simplicity of obedience, for it has no direction of its own—it acts exactly like electricity —the energy known as electricity springs forth joyously to light your house or to kill a man in an electric chair— it simply obeys man’s demands upon it and does whatever is required of it in simple obedience.

Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise to the knowledge of your supremacy of power and dominion.

The Law of Response

The one and only law of intelligence is response. If your child asks bread, do you give him a stone? No, your intelligence responds to his intelligence and you give him what he asks. If your child asks a fish, do you respond with a serpent? No, your intelligence responds to his intelligence and you give him what he asks.

If your intelligence asks of Life’s Substance the name of the cause of your disease, can it respond by giving you health? No, it cannot respond in any way or degree save in that way and degree in which you ask. “Ask and ye shall receive” is not just a group of nice sounding words—it is the formula of life—a statement of the exactitude with which the divine essence flows forth into form to meet the demands of mankind.

The words of Jesus mean just exactly what they say. Any and every effort to “interpret” them merely confuses the mind—they are not to be interpreted—they are to be accepted just as they are written down.

Suppose you were to attempt to interpret the gravitational formula, what confusion would ensue! The gravitational formula is to be accepted just as it stands. Nothing can be added to it, nothing can be taken away from it; it is entire, complete, sufficient as it stands.

Herein we sense our responsibility in our mental operations, especially toward others.

Every time we “suggest” a negation to one whose mind accepts our mental image, we cause his mind to make a like demand upon this waiting esse and he receives the thing we ourselves have suggested to him.

There is no address we dare make to any living soul other than: “The Christ in me beholds and greets the Christ in you.”

How Jesus Healed

The work of Jesus was to address the ever-radiant son of God in every one—here was the secret of his power to heal. He judged nothing save the wholeness, the superlative degree of spiritual completeness in every one. His vision was so fixed upon the Father’s presence in every atom of matter, in every point of space and in every instant of time, that his word acted instantly upon all substance; even the waves obeyed his strong words of command; even the apparently dead Lazarus stood forth, radiant and alive, at his strong recognition of the Allness of life. The man with the apparently withered arm had merely a withered spot in his mind, and Jesus vivified that atrophied brain spot with his strong realization of the presence of God there. If this living presence of God Almighty is in every atom of matter, how can a single cell of your body be filled with anything less than that living presence? Can you locate that Presence and find its activity in your body if your mind demands of the universal servant that it find germs, parasites, causes of disease?

You can see that it is no longer necessary for you to be acted upon by the hypnosis of suggestion from those who seek the causes of disease. To hold this mental image of this living, radiant life in every cell of your body causes all other conditions to drop out and off your body; because this living presence of God’s wholeness is a cosmic fact of your being and has more power than the hypnosis of ignorant men.

This instant of time, as you read these words, this radiant, risen, Son of God stands within every cell of your brain calling, “awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead.” Life is ever calling to you to arise from the grave and experience the cosmic fact of the resurrection. The resurrection is not a historical fact of one man only—it is a continuous and constant fact of the entire universe. Everything is being resurrected all the time; not an instant in time when something or someone is not being resurrected from the grave of non-recognition and non-est-ness.

Open thou thine eyes and see. Sight is not a physical fact first—the cosmic vision or inner sight is the one supreme fact, and the outer eye is merely a manifestation of this inner fact.

If you can see with glasses, you can see without them, for the organ of physical vision is that tiny point of the brain which projects itself forward and terminates at the back of the eyeball. If enough light gets through your front eye to cause any sort of vision whatever, the real organ of physical sight is unhurt and can see.

New Thought is the modern action of the indwelling Christ; it is calling to hundreds of thousands of people everywhere to awake, to stand forth, to awaken themselves from the hypnosis of fear, to “see” with the inner eye of mental understanding the folly of fear; to see that doubt is itself a hypnosis; that the whole universe is a living, throbbing, intelligent presence, awaiting the strong words of command and authority of its children. This spiritual substance is like the air in a toy balloon —it is constantly exerting a pressure to get out. You are the point through which it can pass from “void’’ into form. It will take any form you demand.

The Cosmic Vision

This cosmic vision has been called in certain secret societies the “all seeing eye.” There is but one vision, one eye; it is the eye of consciousness and it looks forth through the physical eyes of every living creature from man to the tiniest insect. That is why it is the all seeing eye.

If God can “see” and you realize that God sits within your physical body as a house, and looks out through the window of your physical eye, then your physical eye will open miraculously and the light of truth will stream into your mind from within and the light of the sun will stream into your mind from without and you will proclaim as did blind Bartimaeus: “Whereas I was blind now I see.”

Doubt is not your fault—it has been imposed upon you for centuries; you have been hypnotized and told that you were sinful, blind, diseased, impoverished, helpless: “Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead and Christ shall shine upon thee.”

The sum total of man power of the entire world does not equal the power of God Almighty in you.

There is no power outside of you equal to the power within you.

You need not submit to mental slavery one minute from now. I proclaim for you that you are free from the bondage of mental slavery, that you are awake from the hypnosis of fear and doubt.

“If any ‘two’ agree on earth concerning anything which they shall ask it shall be done of my Father in heaven.” All it requires to be free this minute from doubt and fear is to agree with me—now.

In the name and the power of the Living Presence of God Almighty in and through every cell of your body—you are free.

Your mind is awake, alert, conscious of its power to see your relationship to the Cosmos; the cosmic vision is open within your soul and every cell of your marvelous and beautiful body is radiant and alive with the spirit of Christ.

VII. “All that the Father Hath is Mine”; The Divine Protection

THAT there is a divine wisdom guiding the destiny of mankind no one dares deny in this day and age; that this divine wisdom does not always protect the individual is just as self-evident.

But the fact that history shows mankind is progressing according to a definite plan, should prove to the individual the possibility of securing this divine protection for himself if he can learn how to let it act.

The lightning flash revealed to man that there was such a general principle in nature as electricity, and when man learned how to obey the laws of its manifestation the individual was placed in a position where he could, as an individual, benefit from its power.

Hence, we see that humanity’s progress is an unfolding of a general principle under divine protection, and as we learn the laws of its manifestation the individual may learn how to apply it to his own uses.

Jesus said: “All that the Father hath is mine.” Every atom of matter shows intelligence; the Father to whom Jesus referred must have been an intelligent being, and if intelligent, then the Father must be Mind.

Intelligent Mind just naturally would protect its own manifestation; with such degree of intelligence as we have we seek to protect ourselves, do we not? Indeed, so much so that self-preservation is said to be the first law of our nature. How much more so then would the Infinite Mind seek to protect its own expression? And there is no other conclusion at which we may arrive as thinking beings than that we are the offspring or manifestation of this Infinite Intelligence.

Reduced to its last analysis life is a mental phenomenon. Your life and my life is the sum of our mental reactions to both inner and outer stimuli; what we think of and about things is up to us and the net result of our decisions in these matters constitutes the mental phenomenon we call life and it is either successful, happy, onward—or else it is a failure, miserable, downward.

How You Are Protected

Here is a simple illustration, homely in the extreme, but vital in its power to impress itself upon the mind, which will make a mental picture of this divine protection so real to you that you need never again fear what reactions in your mind can do to you.

Take a jug and fill it with water. Now pour the water out, and while you are pouring the water out of the jug let some one else try and pour water into your jug. They will find it impossible.

Your mind is like that jug of water with this one difference: at the center of your being is the infinite intelligence, the infinite mind of God; and this is your source of all mental activity. This is what Jesus meant when he said: “All that the Father hath is mine.” He knew that the “Father” was mind and the contents of mind is ideas—hence, all ideas are the Father’s and all there is of them belong to anyone who will recognize them and use them.

At the center of your being is a well of living refreshment. You may draw endlessly from this well and thus by the simple act of thinking about anything you can constantly pour water out of your jug and no one can get any water into it while you are thus pouring something out of it.

How To Make Your Thoughts Into Realities

The next time you have any thought in your mind, either suggested from without, from memory, telepathy, sound, words, or from within, just start thinking outward about something—anything. If you have selected a particular line of thought, then think about that; for the more you think about the thing you desire the more power is generated to bring that thing to you as objectified manifestation.

When you do this you are pouring water out of your jug—and no power on earth can get anything into your mind while you are pouring mental energy out of your own mind as thought.

This is the divine protective device God has given you for your own protection from the multitudinous hypnosis to which mankind is subjected through his ignorance.

I have known this treatment to heal persons of obsessions of years’ standing. This treatment must be used by the patient himself—the teacher or healer may induce its action, but its continued action is up to the patient himself (as far as I have yet discovered).

Maurice Maeterlinck, in his “Life of the Bee,” speaks about the apparent intelligence of the individual bee, but remarks that in the sum of what the hive does, it is self-evident that the individual bee is governed by a superior intelligence which he names the “Spirit of the Hive.”

Mankind is like a beehive; individuals exhibit what appears to be great intelligence, yet every man acknowledges a superior intelligence. Even Jesus, himself, acknowledged this superior intelligence whom he called the “Father”; and he attributed all his mighty works to the operation of this living presence. He said repeatedly: “I of myself can do nothing, the Father abiding within me doeth the works.”

In the matter of the bees, we see that while they were just running around wild they had to select their place of habitation, laboriously build their nest, make wax and then gather their nectar. As soon as man discovered that the bee was doing something useful and that the product of his labor was of use to man (a higher intelligence by comparison), then man began to do something for the bee; man began to do all the heavy work, man began to construct houses or hives for the bee; man even went so far as to relieve the bee of the necessity of making wax; man makes the wax and places it in the hive so that all the bee now has to do is to gather the nectar. To my mind, here is a perfect illustration of the fact that the minute you or I begin to co-operate with the creative laws of Mind and begin to do something of use to this all enfolding Intelligence, this all enfolding Intelligence begins to do all our heavy work; and is this not exactly what Jesus promised when He said, “seek first the kingdom within and all these things shall be added unto you”? Does not man “add” all these things to the life of the bee?

Man has built colleges and schools and written millions of books to teach us how to do this and that; we know how to destroy by aerial, self-propelled motors a whole city; we know how to encompass the earth and the sea and the air; we know how to harness the mighty Niagara’s power but we have never yet taken time to learn how to think. And for two thousand years the textbook on how to think has been lying around almost unopened.

Cosmic Laws of Thought Are Revealed in the Bible

In the Four Gospels of the Christian Bible is the full text on how the individual can think according to cosmic laws which cannot be set aside.

If you will fix this definition of yourself in your mind and ponder it and not talk to anyone about it for one year, you will be utterly amazed at the complete change it will make in your life for the better; amazed at the tremendous forces it will release in your life and affairs; amazed at the manner in which life will reveal its inner meanings to you; amazed at the way in which your eternal questionings will be answered satisfactorily.

God is Mind; hence the sum and the originating consciousness. I am an expression of that consciousness; all of that consciousness is mine if I let it flow outward into the world through my mind.

There is absolutely no limit to the amount of electricity in the world. The more dynamos made and set into motion, the more electric energy flows forth into action and use. Mind is just exactly like electricity in this respect. The more mental energy you release from your own mind the more comes forth from within your mind. If you can imagine a dynamo with the power of speech it would not be difficult to hear it say just what Jesus said: “I of myself can do nothing, the electric energy within me doeth all these marvelous works.” The dynamo would be recognizing its rightful place in the scheme of things and stating it. Jesus was acknowledging the rightful place of man in the scheme of things—and He stated it. He saw that the power which flowed forth through Him into the world as action was the power of God’s infinite mind; and He taught us that it was this mental attitude and acknowledgment that made it possible to do these mighty works. The whole Bible tells us to make this acknowledgment. We are told “to have no other Gods before me.” Me is the first personal pronoun of self-conscious being. Hence it must be mind speaking.

Mind Is Energy

Mind as energy is just like electricity—it does not care whether it is being used to light a house, run a carpet sweeper, raise an elevator or kill a man—its one and only law of being is to flow where it is directed. This is why moral and social laws are necessary and why the secret doctrine was kept secret from humanity in general for so many ages. Only those whose moral natures had evolved to a point where they had no desire to hurt or destroy might learn of them—but man’s effort to protect mankind from the wrong use of this force was useless, for the law protects itself and the instant any individual starts to misuse the law it departs from him.

This action in consciousness is described in the Bible as the Cherubim and Seraphim who stand and protect the tree of life lest man lay hold of it to his hurt.

Mind, per se, the Infinite Consciousness that we call God, cares for his body just as you care for your body. You do not purposefully harm yourself. The unity and integrity of the Whole is what makes it essential that each part of the Whole serve the rest of the Whole in order to find that mode of expression of the infinite Mind which yields that sense of godhood which satisfies.

But, the one point I wish to emphasize here is that this so-called spiritual law, this law of Mind’s expression, is not man’s moral law.

Man’s effort to frighten us into being “good” has made him lie tremendously about the whole thing for we have been taught that God punishes us for infractions of man’s moral code. This is too silly to need further comment. Does electricity punish you if you get crossed up with it or does electricity merely express its nature? Answer this and you answer all moral questions.

This shows us the power of our own minds to forgive ourselves for all past condemnation. Jesus said: “But, to prove that the son of man (that is, you) has the power to forgive sins on earth I say unto you, arise and go into thy house”; and the man arose and went into his house—healed of the palsy. This man was simply paralyzed with self-pity and self-condemnation and this mental action had reacted into his motor nervous system and paralyzed his nerve centers.

Freeing Yourself From Bondage

In freeing yourself from bondage, you are to understand at once that every time you think backward you are trying to get water into the jug—and what you are seeking to accomplish is to get some water out of the jug.

Self-condemnation plays no part in the life toward mastery. Create new conditions—you cannot, by any conceivable possibility, redeem past conditions. This is why Jesus said: ‘‘Let the dead bury their dead.”

This total non-recognition of the past is what blots out our so-called sins and makes us whiter than snow.

Here is a method of attainment which cannot fail if practiced:

Every time a fear, a doubt, any sort of self-condemnation or the condemnation of others enters your mind, immediately sit down and place the palms of your hands over your eyes like a cup. This makes perfect blackness in front of your physical vision. Then mentally proclaim: By the inherent power of God’s spirit in me I blot this out of my mind.

Then relax and think a moment, “I am a jug of limitless mental energy and refreshment. I have the power to direct my thought toward anything I wish.”

Then again blot out all physical and mental pictures by cupping the hands over the eyes and on that mentally black space envision the thing you desire. Hold it just long enough to get a clear picture—then start your thought to pouring out of your mind about the desired thing.

There is no need to strain; keep relaxed; the work is done for you remember. It is not through stress or strain it is “by my spirit saith the Lord of Hosts.” It is by your thus furnishing the conditions which permit it to act that the goal is attained.

The dynamo does not have to stretch and strain; it keeps relaxed. Thought is the process of letting an idea and all its attendant mental activities flow outward.

The jug does not have to strain; the law of gravity does the work for it, pulls the water out of the jug whenever the jug is turned upside down thus furnishing the conditions which will permit it to act. Remember always that the law acts in and of itself—you don’t have to push it along. Electricity flows out from a dynamo—no one has to push it out—it flows in and of its own power for that is its nature. It is the nature of infinite intelligence to flow outward into expression; and you were created for the purpose of letting it do just that. Let things be done for you. Let life happen. Let your thought flow outward and no harm can come to you either from within or without. This is the divine protection. God co-operates with man when man co-operates with God. All life is this co-operative interaction between God and man.

VIII. How to Use Mind Surgery

MIND Surgery is not just a series of articles written by the author as a writer would write a story or a conventional thesis. It is the net result of over forty years of study, experiment and classification of demonstrated fact in the mind of the author as well as the correlative demonstrations in the lives of thousands of others who have come to him for help during that time. For this reason the author conceives that in Mind Surgery he is presenting a new and revolutionary concept of the Christine teachings, new from the conventional or theological standpoint, and, since these teachings of Jesus are conceived to be pure psychology, this thesis is an entirely new concept as regards the theory and practice of all forms of mental science coming generally under the head of psychology.

Modern mental research has fallen into a common pit in which it is trying to get itself out, but in which it finds itself imbedded as within quicksand and the harder it struggles the more deeply it becomes involved. I refer to the habit of analysis, diagnosis and the multiplication of names and terms to ultimate confusion so that no layman can grasp the significance of simple statements and few specialists even know the nomenclature.

Why We Use Few Terms In Mind Surgery

Consciousness, subjective, objective, subliminal, superconsciousness, and the practice names of psychiatry, psychoanalysis, psychophysicist, etc., are terms, the comprehension of which have no doubt been aids in our study of mental phenomena, but there comes a time when the leaders and teachers of mental science must call a halt to this multiplication of terms or else take their science so far away from the layman as to render it useless to him. In the last analysis, we certainly are not about the business of perfecting a new, specialized science and adding another distinct branch to the healing profession; but, contrarily, we must be about the business of the Nazarene, bringing forth a light which all can see and understand, without specialized study. Our address must be to humanity at large, for if we address but a few “instructed” in the mysteries of scientific nomenclature, we shall reduce ourselves and our science to the plane of a medical journal, which is gibberish to any save a trained physician. Hence in Mind Surgery we use as few of these identifying phrases and terms as we can and make our idea clear, for we conceive that life is a synthesis, life is the sum of its parts, not any of its parts exclusively, and by the same token humanity is the sum of its individuals and any address to be cosmic in its name and use must be an address to anyone who can read, and also to all who cannot read but who can hear and understand the language spoken.

Physical surgery addresses itself to any who have need, and in mental surgery or Cosmic Vision (which is the same thing), we address ourselves, not to any isolated or special group, but to all.

The Supreme Idea In Cosmic Vision

Mind Surgery is written around the one supreme statement made by Jesus, to wit: “The Father and I are one.”

Oneness is unity. If any two things are one, they must be alike, alike in essence and essentials, even though limitless differentiation may evolve out of that one life, the oneness and integrity of the internal unity may easily be conceived. No two snowflakes were ever discovered alike; yet each is a drop of water frozen; before the freezing process each drop of water is identical—it is the freezing process which produces the differentiation.

Each individual is different in its manifestation from each other individual; but, it is the solidification process of physical birth which produces the differentiation.

Every religion, every philosophy in the world, is written around this theme: The unity and oneness of the person with his Creator. That it is a mental act of unification they attempt to teach, is proven by the fact that in all of them faith is the essential to success, and faith is an act of the mind—hence the whole phenomena must be mental.

This is why science has done so much for religion, because it has proven the presence of an intelligence within the atom and in space. Intelligence is mind in motion and it is not difficult to have faith in ourselves, in God, in our destiny and in all future estates, once this idea becomes rationalized in our own minds.

One who believes and trusts life knows immediately that he is not a creature of chance thrown upon the shores of life without his own volition, and then buffeted by circumstance and environed by an angry God and a vicious devil, to say nothing of the unkindness of his fellow man. He knows his destiny is sure, upward, progressive, and that regardless of where he may be or to whence he may go, he will always be under the operation of orderly laws, always in the presence of life and always guided into such activities as will promote his growth and welfare.

How To Establish The Sense of Unity With The Father

He who inhabits the eternity of the universe neither slumbers nor sleeps and to Him we may all consign ourselves without fear as the Nazarene did upon the cross when he said: “Father, unto thee I consign my spirit.” This mode of thinking about the Infinite will, in time, establish a sense of unity or oneness with life itself. To steadfastly direct our thought toward this All-Infolding, All-Informing Intelligence is to drop out of our minds all lesser concepts. And, this “dropping out” process substitutes the Cosmic Vision for the lesser vision; it also operates like surgery; it cuts out the offending group of concepts without recourse to diagnosis, analysis, or any other named mental operation— it is an all-inclusive act of the mind, and, since the cosmic concept is the one and only power in the universe, and since the Cosmic Idea is supreme on earth (“I have overcome the world”) then there is no need to discover or name any specific kind of mental attitude which offends us, but, lumping them all together, present them to this infinite and ever present mind. This “contact” is like casting a pail of dirty water into the ocean—the wholeness and purity and virginity of the ocean absorbs it into itself and is not harmed in any way, but the pail of water is benefited beyond computation for it is made white as snow, cleansed and is every whit whole.

This is the evidence I have gathered throughout the years of the efficacy of the psychology taught by Jesus, if it be used simply and without curiosity, criticism or condemnation. Once catch the mental picture of this vast sea of consciousness in an ever-evolving movement into form, and the. bursting of the commonest and tiniest seed becomes a miracle of such transcendental beauty that our hearts almost stand still in its presence. Once catch the mental picture of yourself as coming forth from this one supreme mind and taking form through natural processes of solidification like the hydrogen and oxygen atoms come into form through combination and solidification, and you at once see your indestructibility.

The Miracle That Is Everywhere

No matter where you turn or at what you look, you see a miracle—the miracle of materialization of invisible mind into form; you see what is meant by the Holy Ghost, you see that it is a materialization of the whole of life, whole, hence “holy”—the whole of life’s essence and character is materialized into your physical form.

Try now, this moment, to be quiet and to think backward in your own physical history—at the moment of conception what were you? What was it in that tiny cell which knew how to gather together substance, and form your body into a unified materialization consisting of hundreds of sextrillion of cells? Can you not see this mighty mind of the infinite pushing itself, outward from this center within your own body? Cannot your mind conceive how this Infinite Life is whole, entire, perfect in and of itself? What is required to let this mighty Life come forth? Can mind, that which is intelligent, come forth into perfect manifestation if its channel is blocked by ideas of imperfection? Can an imperfectly instructed person understand or transmit or manifest perfect knowledge? Certainly not.

Then here we see the gist of Jesus’ teachings when he said to us: “Be ye therefore perfect even as your heavenly Father is perfect.” We have been taught to believe that this “perfection” of which he spoke was to act morally according to the church’s concept of morals. It is evident, however, that Jesus was telling us that mind had a definite law of being which caused it to “see what it tried to see.” And here is the fallacy of diagnosis, analysis, etc., if carried too far. “Seek and ye shall find” is a warning to us to seek only that which we conceive to be perfect, and to look (with our minds) only for perfection. Are we looking for perfection when we look for disease germs, when we look for causes of mental aberrations? Evidently, if we wish to make what we term a demonstration in our own lives, we shall have to turn aside from diagnosis and begin to apply the teachings of the world’s greatest Physician, the world’s greatest Psychologist and the world’s greatest Demonstrator of what he taught.

Cosmic Vision and Jesus’ Teachings

Mind Surgery is, in this respect, revolutionary; it will, no doubt, call forth many dissenting opinions; for a trend of thought once established upon any scientific basis, is difficult to turn aside or change and can only be accomplished by the effort of the individual who applies the new system and when he finds that it works, his testimony will bear witness to the fact that a principle is involved which cannot be changed. I do not present this thesis as my own; I represent it to be the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, but stripped bare of everything save its mental significance to the individual.

In our study and application of any science, we must start with the truth constantly before us that “authority” does not constitute truth. Authority is good, necessary and right in every sense of the word; but we must get away from the thoughtless acceptance of everything told us, merely because the authorities tell us it is so. The best medical authority in the country told me I would die within three months—but I am still alive. Had I been a nonthinker, I would doubtless have accepted the authoritative statement which amounted to a sentence to death. One doctor said 1 had one chance in a million. I promptly told him that was all the chance 1 wanted or needed. My mind was unified with life and as I lay on my hospital bed I refused to form any judgments about my condition from the appearances about me or in my own body— I kept my mind glued to the fact that life was indivisible, unhurtable, eternal, and that it flowed through my body endlessly; that it had formed my body from a single cell and still lived in the body it had thus formed and that if it could build the body in the first place it could rebuild it if I would “let” it. In this way I placed no obstruction before the gentle flow of Life; and it rebuilt my body and is still rebuilding it. Nothing can defeat omnipotence. In fact, nothing wants to defeat it.

The whole world is in travail waiting for the coming of the sons of God who will recognize perfection as inherent within every atom of matter, every point of space and every instant of time.

How to Get Rid of Undesirable Conditions

There is positively no denial known to the mind of man equal in power to the denial of simple nonrecognition.

Drop out of your mind any condition and that condition drops out of your life.

Drop out of your mind the image and thoughts of any person and that person drops out of your world. No person can possibly remain in your consciousness if your mind drops his image and thought of him out of itself by mere non-recognition.

This is what Jesus meant when he told Satan to get behind him. He made no fight, he did not diagnose, he did not analyze, he turned away from. Turning away from is called “repentance” in religious terminology.

Repentance is the first mental movement in changing a life or character—to turn away from those thoughts, habits and practices which have caused sorrow.

Turning away from does not mean to meditate upon or to diagnose or to analyze. It means just exactly what it says—turn away from—forget—the denial of non-recognition.

Ideas, concepts, are the cause and root of all conduct and conditions, mental, physical and material—any change must be initiated by a dropping out of mind the old habits of thought and action. Turning away from them mentally is the method and is called repentance, and, in this thesis, the Cosmic Vision, for, if you turn away from one set of ideas and lay hold of another set of man-made ideas you are no better off than before; but, to turn away from your present condition to the Cosmic Vision, or the cosmic concept, is to drop all the world’s foolishness out of your mind and is the only safe shift man dare undertake. “Look unto Me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth,” says the Cosmic Consciousness. Look away from the world to God.

You cannot look two ways at once any more than you can travel two ways at once.

IX. The Metaphysical Impasse

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,’) full of grace and truth.”—John 1:14.

HERE is a statement copied verbatim from a metaphysical publication: “I deny that I am material or the flesh ... I am spiritual ... I dedicate myself to spiritual things and am no longer a part of things that are unspiritual, impure, unholy.”

Here the writer falls into the same old impasse; he has a good, all powerful god who or which is (to his mind) ‘‘spiritual” and a very, very bad old devil of coequal power (or greater) who is placed in opposition to his good god. This devil is “impure,” “unholy,” “unspiritual.”

This metaphysical writer places the reader in the arena: The reader’s mind becomes the arena wherein is a combat between a good god and a bad devil—and, according to the implication, the devil has a shade the best of it at this writing for all the effort is directed toward the devil that is “impure,” “unholy,” ‘‘unspiritual,” etc.

Modern metaphysicians often follow the theological method of interpreting any statement in the Bible which suits their purpose while ignoring all the rest of the statements.

How Life Is Expressed

In the Bible text quoted at the beginning of this article, we are having explained to us a process of expression of the cosmic life. The invisible mind stuff organizes itself around a nucleus and forms itself into a materialization of its own substance, and this formed body is what they are talking about when they talk about “flesh.” God, Himself, consummated His creation in humankind by doing this; Jesus was flesh and—after His resurrection He took particular care to explain that what He presented to His disciples in the closed and locked room was positively not a wraith or spook but was flesh, the very flesh which had been born out of his mother’s womb.

The point: The instant your mind accepts as true (of yourself) an idea that any part of you is “unspiritual,” “unholy,” or “impure,” you have cut God in two and named one part bad.

If God is “immanent,” filling all space and in every atom of matter and every point of space and every instant of time—then anything or piece of anything you call “bad,” unholy, impure or unspiritual, places you in a mental impasse; one balances the other. You can not go in two directions at once and your mind can not see two directions at once, and this placing of two values before your mental vision results in stopping your mind from progressing until that impasse is broken down.

It is stated in the Bible that God is “too pure to behold iniquity.” Supposing God were to “see” both good and evil, what sort of a universe do you suppose we would have as an abode? What the author is seeking to do is to introduce to your mind the evident and obvious mode of cosmic thinking.

The word “holy” is a contraction of the word “whole;” and unholy means nothing save that the thing being described is not complete.

If you lose a wheel off your automobile, your automobile is “unwhole” or “unholy” until that wheel is replaced where it belongs. It is not enough to place the lost wheel in the back seat—it must be placed where it belongs. That act of replacement makes your automobile again “holy” or whole—complete. All its parts are in their right places.

God As Supreme Mind

Man, through the help of so-called material science,^ is slowly awakening to the fact that God is a supreme Mind and that its mode of manifestation is to project ideas into its own substance and materialize its substance around these ideas until they take form; and this form constitutes the limitless differentiation of Being which we call God and nature and mankind.

Matter is mind in motion and solidified or materialized into comparative density; comparative because by comparison your mind is not visible while your body is visible, but both are the same substance and the same-thing and one part or condition can not by any possible chance be either “impure,” “unholy,” “unspiritual” or essentially different in any way, shape or manner from the other part—for all is one.

If you have ever read thoughtfully the sayings of Jesus you will recall that he said this very same thing. He said: “Who hath seen me hath seen the Father.” He knew that flesh was spirit and spirit was flesh; there is no separation and there can be none; it is even unthinkable as an idea to a mind not bound by the hypnotic spell of theology and fear.

If you see your flesh, you have seen God manifesting in that form you call your body. If you have seen a cabbage or a carrot or a tree or a rose, you have seen God manifesting in that form. No man can duplicate the rose; its tiny stalk contains a sublime and supreme intelligence; inside its body there is a complete water works system, a glue factory, a perfume factory where sweet odors are distilled; a paint factory where colors are mixed and combined to tint the petals that lovely hue.

Which is the more satisfying, the more energizing, the more sane and normal method of thought, to look for, seek and discover this perfection of God in everything you see and in every person you know, or to be looking for and seeking the mental aberrations, the parasites of disease, the sinfulness and wickedness of the world about you? Answer that question for yourself and to your entire satisfaction before proceeding with this reading.

Your Ideals

And, whatever you do, keep your decision to yourself. Never expose your baby ideal to the mob to be crucified. Never cast your pearls of idealism before swine to be trampled under foot and then be rended asunder by their fierce criticism. Your inner ideals of yourself and God are too sacred to be discussed with anyone. They concern no one on earth save you —and God.

A new ideal is exactly like a new baby; no one would ever think of putting a day old infant out on the street to hustle for himself. Your newborn ideal is just like that; it requires the loving and tender care of its parents, and your mind and emotions are its parents and, if cared for, it will in time “become your flesh” and dwell with you. Jesus said: “If a man love me, he will keep my words:” (ideas in his heart and mind) “and only Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” John 14:23. What can this mean except just what it says? These ideals of

Jesus constantly entertained in the mind finally, by a process of cosmic projection, become active through a cellular reconstruction in your body and you objectify the acts of the idea whose impulse was generated in your own mind.

If God is immanent, (and he is) and if this infinite Intelligence occupies every atom of matter, (and it does) if this infinite Activity of life itself is in motion projecting Itself into living form in every instant of time, then what is there to deny? Why create (in your own consciousness) an opposing force, why generate in your own thought world any ‘‘impure,” “unholy,” “unspiritual” power to disturb your life and cause a contest within your soul?

Resistance and Opposition Defined

Do you know what makes it possible for an airplane to get off the ground? It is the resistance of the wind. Take this resistance away and your airplane motor might whirl as furiously as it could but the plane could not rise.

What is it makes it possible for your “I” to rise from the negation of mental inertia to the heights of mental exhilaration and clear vision? It is the resistance of the negative mind stuff of the world—hence, even what you have been taught to fight as evil is the very element which enables you to rise in consciousness.

But, does the aviator fight with the air resistance? He does not, he uses it for the purpose for which it was placed there.

Hence, when those mental attitudes which distress you become active in your mind, things this writer quoted above calls “impure,” “unholy,” “unspiritual,” etc., if you deny their existence you take away from yourself the element necessary to proceed.

On the other hand, if your mind can grasp the significance of the mental law involved, if you see this mental activity as the aviator sees the air in front of his plane, and use it to rise upon to greater heights, you have solved the aeon old mystery of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

If you will read the account in Genesis, you will see that Jehovah stated when they ate this fruit that “they have become as one of us. “ A knowledge of both poles of being constitutes godhood, whereas merely “seeing” good and evil constitutes the metaphysical impasse, the dead spot in consciousness where no progress can be made.

There is all the difference in the world between having a knowledge of good and evil and merely “seeing” good and evil. When you merely “see” evil you fight it; when you have a knowledge of good and evil you use it.

“Good” and “Evil”

It has been stated that so-called “evil” is positive good; for out of its action comes good. Every student of human nature knows this to be true. What we call “goodness” is negation, quiescence, stillness, nonaction, the rest period when nothing is accomplished save the indrawing of forces to again project themselves into form and action. Life is incessant creation and creation occurs because of an action between two poles of being called male and female, good and evil, sweet and sour, light and darkness, up and down, east and west, north and south, white and black, etc. But creation is intelligent action and intelligence cooperates or acts intelligently—it never fights; it does not have to. Thus, a knowledge of good and evil, sweet and sour, up and down, east and west, black and white is the basis of every science on earth and explains every law we use, in physics, chemistry, law, drama, photography, medicine, surgery, education and architecture.

If a carpenter approached a pile of building material on a vacant lot and began denying the existence of the building material he would be doing exactly what the metaphysician does when he denies that he is material or flesh—he would be rendering useless (by his own mental attitude) the material placed there for him to build into a house.

The carpenter does nothing of the sort, however; he lays hold of this material and begins to fabricate it into the sort of a house he wants.

Has it never occurred to you that Jesus chose Judas with great skill and care? Had it not been for Judas you would never have heard of Jesus. Every drama has not alone its hero, but opposite to him we find the villain—why? There would be no action were it otherwise.

Steinmetz had a Judas—it was a terrible physical deformity; he used it and the world knows of him by the works this Judas made possible.

In your own life God has furnished you with all the material you can use—there are both poles of being— those mental states which seem to resist and which you have been hypnotized into thinking were ‘‘impure,” unholy,” “unspiritual,” “evil,” are just as necessary as any other part of your being and without them the world will never hear of you.

Use Every Element of Life

Do not try to discount the usefulness of every element of life you touch, for it is all from the Creator and wisely provided for your use.

To run away from some condition is impossible— there is but one way and that way is to fabricate, out of that condition, the perfection you desire “seeing” the negation merely as material to be used. And remember, it is neither good nor evil—it just is.

To “see” mentally the finished product of perfection you desire, continuously, and “see” the material merely as material, is the work of a God.

It is the use of both elements of life which makes them “as one of us,” a right use of the knowledge of good and evil, up and down, black and white, sweet and sour, east and west, work and play, day and night, etc.

Thus we see the Cosmic Vision, we sense a glimpse into the cosmic processes which continuously create and incessantly recreate, producing ever and always an ever expanding manifestation of infinitude in individualized forms of self-conscious being, rendering alive and vital and vibrant every atom of matter and every point of space and every instant of time; proclaiming eternity as here and now present and man as supreme in power and dominion over all his works.

It is a common saying that every saint is a perfected sinner. It takes courage (of a sort) to be a sinner—but that very courage develops strength of character and this strength, turned into a different channel, makes that sinner an outstanding character on the other side of the ledger of life.

There is nothing in your nature with which you need quarrel; all of it is there for you to use. Regardless of what others call it or name it; it is the only material you have out of which to construct the character which is you.

X. The Release—Let There Be Light

BACK of all degrees of consciousness is the universal, cosmic urge “to be more.”

Every human being has behind his or her consciousness the sum of Cosmic Consciousness. Each one’s mind is like each point on the inside of a steam boiler; regardless of the degree of unfoldment the pressure from within is equal at every given point.

There is no such thing as a greater degree of urge or inner pressure in any one person; you who read have within you the same degree of contact with God, or with the Cosmic Consciousness, as Jesus of Nazareth had. He, like you, and each one of us, touched the Cosmic Consciousness at his interior, God-point. He realized his complete unity with that which was within, hence he manifested a greater degree of its power and wisdom.

You, I, most of us, realize our complete unity with disaster, distress, poverty, “bad” (?) luck, sin, death and helplessness.

It is all a matter of realization of what you are united to or with. Realization is not a mental attitude, neither is it a mode of thought; realization is the net result of long continued thought.

Every actuality (objectified fact) on earth came forth after there had been much need and much thought about it. To illustrate: Once we rode in ox-carts; there was felt a great and common need for faster transportation and this need caused thought in individual minds. The sum of this thought found a means of expression or manifestation through some one person’s mind who had the mental vision to “see” himself using a better mode of travel, and so the rubber tired buggy was finally brought forth. Once started, this accumulation of mental energy found other new ways of travel and we had the steam railroad, the automobile and now the airplane.

The point I make is that all these things came forth to fill a need and after much thought.

Creative Thought

In dealing with the freeing of the individual mind, we have to consider these things, for the same law holds. In this thesis I present a radically new idea to you; it will require that you feel the need of it and then that you think about it—alone. This process of thinking about the idea will rationalize the idea with what you already know and feel to be true, and as this rationalization goes on the process is like leaven in bread dough— it has the effect of making it (the mind) rise, just as the yeast has the effect of making the bread dough “rise.” This is called the “chemistry” of the mind and when understood and applied purposefully becomes what has been called the “Divine Alchemy.”

Jesus, in one parable, likened the kingdom of heaven to three measures of meal into which a woman placed three cakes of yeast, Here he was showing how the divine alchemy worked—one measure for the mind, another for the emotions and another for the physical body. First the idea is accepted into your objective mind; after some thought, the idea disappears from objective consciousness and it begins to work in the subjective part of the mind and ultimates as a “feeling” or shows forth as an emotion about the idea; then the motor nervous system begins to change its character of cells and the whole body cell structure rearranges itself to accommodate itself to the idea; thus the Word becomes flesh, and dwells “among” us.

The Secret of Creating

There is but one Life Principle. It is its nature to express itself. This expression is what we lump together and call creation.

All creation then, is an expression of that one life. Man is an individualized point of expression of that one life in self-conscious being. Like the air in a toy balloon, this one life is ever seeking to more fully express itself, seeking to escape, presenting at every point of expression (escape) a steady, unwavering pressure to get out.

Think of a toy balloon and yourself as a tiny form on its side, connected on the inside with the air within, and you have a crude picture of what your right relation to the One Infinite Mind of God is.

You can see from this illustration that all the power there is within is yours if you will let it out. Its one and only way of getting out is through your mind. This is true because you are mind and it is mind and only mental action can represent it; recognition is its first law for all its self-conscious beings; hence the first commandment is that “thou shalt have no other gods before me.’’ Recognition of this indwelling, intelligent Presence is the first move of the mind toward freedom from conditions and mental bondage.

Again, you are commanded not to make any “graven image” of this one infinite intelligent Mind—how can you, once you know what it is? You cannot draw a picture of anything unless it is reduced to a three dimensional form; and this one infinite Mind is formless. It is your work and mine to give it form.

This one infinite Intelligence has certain mental qualities; they are love, life, order, faith, understanding, imagination, will, wisdom, harmony, power, strength, enthusiasm. These are great general principles of life; they constitute your twelve faculties of mind; they are the twelve disciples of Jesus, and like Jesus we have to call these forth into being through use. The water in the well will not refresh you unless you draw it forth.

Cosmic Vision

All these twelve great cosmic qualities of being we see exhibited in nature; hence nature becomes a great book of life, by the study of which we can “see” as the Cosmic Mind sees or we may catch the cosmic vision.

In a certain secret order there is a symbol of the “all seeing eye”; it represents God—there is but one eye in the universe, it is this “single” eye of which Jesus spoke; every creature which can see has a pair of eyes but back of every pair of eyes is this one seeing quality of this one infinite intelligent Mind, and this one mind sees singly through these multitudinous organs of physical vision, thereby seeing all things at all times. It is exactly like you and your two eyes; you organize what you see with both your eyes. Merely multiply this idea and you will readily see how God sees simultaneously all there is to see (objectively) through the millions of eyes of all his living creatures.

Every time you catch the mental perspective of the whole of things you are seeing (in part) as God sees; you are widening your mental horizon; you are practicing the cosmic vision like a person practices playing a musical instrument. Every time you exercise, that is, use any one of the twelve cosmic qualities of your mind you are exercising your GODHOOD; and at those times it is not you “but the Father within” who is doing the work at hand. Every use of love, wisdom, order, etc., is the Cosmic Character, God, infinite Intelligence coming forth into manifestation. Does this concept not make you feel the nearness, the absolute, your actual oneness with God?

A savage who has never seen a mirror, were he to walk up to one, would see his own image in the mirror, yet he would not know that it was his image, he would instantly think he saw another savage warrior and probably hurl his spear at his own image.

Later, when that savage was taught what the mirror was and its use, instead of fighting what he saw in the mirror he would delight himself in its use.

The Eternal Quest for Truth

Man’s eternal quest has been for the light of truth; nothing satisfies him until he finds it. This theme is the theme of all the religions and philosophies on earth as well as the theme of the world’s greatest epic poems; it is the theme of the Holy Grail; it is the theme of the Old Testament stories, of the Gospel story; it is the theme of your life and unconsciously you have been on this quest all your life.

As a baby your first curious, intent, wondering look was an effort of the mind to grasp the meaning of what you saw; you started on this quest the moment you were born. Later, you start consciously upon this quest; our educational system is nothing but an effort to help us in our search for the light of truth about what we see.

At first we are all like the savage; we look into the mirror of life and see ourselves and, not liking the aspect of what we see, we hurl our mental and physical energies against the image we see reflected.

For it is an established fact that what we see in our world is a reflection of what we are inside.

Later, as we begin to sense the miracle of life, the wonder of life, the transcendental beauty of life, the tenderness and loveliness of life, we begin to “see” that life itself is just a mirror, and learning what it is and how to use it we delight ourselves in its use.

Yourself and Your World

All those who “fight” so-called sin are like the savage; they are merely untutored and when they see their own inner selves reflected in the mirror of the world they fight. This is all right, a necessary part of the evolution of the individual, and is not to be criticized or otherwise considered save to know that back of that action is the one infinite, supreme Intelligence evolving a self-conscious being to a place where he can consciously cooperate with the cosmic wholeness.

Every individual may be perfectly certain of the finely organized economy of this cosmic Wholeness. As long as any form persists it fulfils a cosmic need.

Each one is like a tiny part of a spherically shaped soap bubble: destroy any one tiny part and the whole collapses.

Life is a great economist; it never duplicates; it tolerates no atom which is not and does not fulfil a cosmic need. Think of it! You are as necessary to God as God is to you; He needs you—you. The cosmos depends upon you. Have no fear then of what men may say about you—God is saying: “Thou art my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.”

Does the potter quarrel with the clay? Does the mechanic quarrel with his material? Does the carpenter quarrel with the lumber under his hand? God has no quarrel with you or anyone—the nature of infinite intelligence is to love, to express itself in orderly progression. We are all clay in the potters hands and by perfectly orderly processes we are unfolding and may know that each is an ever unfolding manifestation of Infinite Life, Infinite Beauty, Infinite Power, Infinite Wisdom and Infinite Growth.

Vision

As your mental vision expands and improves your physical vision will expand and improve because your physical organ of vision, your eyes, are nothing but projections, protuberances, of that part of your brain which functions the mental vision.

Any use to which you put your mental quality of vision throws life forces into the protuberance, because it quickens the cells of that part of the brain which is the base of the physical eyes.

You have doubtless seen flying fish. They were not made that way—they “evolved” that way. Any fish swimming near the surface of the water will look up at the light above him. This urge for every living creature to “look up” is universal.

Looking “up,” the fish “sees” birds flying in the air above him; seeing this often, he tries to imitate the bird’s motions; this throws life forces out into his fins; this life force increases the length of the fins by continued use. Finally, the fins get so long that he experiments and finds he can fly in the air above the waters.

This action is not peculiar to the fish—it is normal and natural to the whole creation. It is the evolutionary urge; everything on earth grows up. Seed planted in the ground comes in contact with a silent all powerful force of life and each tiny blade contains so much of this upward pushing life that it overcomes the force of gravity and grows upward.

The Resurrecting Power

There is on earth this mighty, uplifting, silent power; it is the resurrecting power which raised the body of Jesus from the grave.

It is a mental power because it is the action of the supreme Mind.

To unify yourself with this Power through mentally seeing it and acknowledging it is the work we are presenting herewith.

We conceive it to be the teaching of Jesus reduced to its least common denominator of expression and stripped of all the theology with which it has been covered and smothered for centuries.

That it “works” we bear witness. This unification of your mental processes with the cosmic processes is set forth in Mind Surgery for no purpose whatever save to release your mind from bondage. However, we have discovered that in those whom we have taught this idea, their bodies become healthy, their minds clear, their affairs orderly and they begin to really enjoy life for the first time. We do not present it in any way as a method of physical healing, nor as a method of getting rich, nor as a method of attaining to any power over your fellow man; we present it simply and only as a course in mental training which will ultimate in your mental freedom.

There are as many degrees of unfoldment toward this Christhood as there are persons, but all are potentially that. To perceive the possibility of it is to receive your sight. Once perceived, there is no power on earth or in heaven which can divert the growth thus started; for, “All that are Christ’s are God’s and no one can snatch them out of the Father’s hand.’’ There is no turning back any more than in nature. You see a seed thrusting its shoot up through the earth and you know that shoot cannot turn back and again become a seed, Nature never reverses itself and all nature is growth upward and onward. Herein is hope, new courage, new vision, new life, life more abundant as promised by the Nazarene.

XI. Actual Mind Surgery

THE vitalizing power of thought in its reactions into the organs of the body is too well established at this time to require any enlargement here; we accept it as an actual fact which has been demonstrated times without number.

We have been taught in our school-rooms the physiology of the body and by our medical schools we are informed of the multitudinous diseases to which each and every one of these organs is subject.

Medicine and surgery have developed specialists who specialize in the treatment of each group, such as eye, ear, nose and throat specialists, optometrists, gynaecologists, obstetricians, etc., etc.

We have been taught to look upon our physical body as something which is doomed to disease, something which at last is doomed to death, but which, during life, must be constantly and carefully guarded and, even then, it will be out of order most of the time.

About everyone you meet has studied “symptoms” which have been broadcast and suggested through the printed page, until they can describe as accurately as a medical diagnostician the exact degree of their “disease” (?) and the particular organ affected, the probable outcome and the course of treatment they are using.

Most everyone you know will, if you tell them you have a pain somewhere, instantly diagnose your case for you and offer a treatment of some sort or recommend some doctor who can cure you or recommend some nostrum which will alleviate your distress.

This mental habit is so well known that every reader will recognize it at a glance.

How Mind Surgery Works

Mental surgery is designed to cut this mental habit out of the mind of the individual who is reading this page.

There is no effort made to heal your body, and there is no claim made that there will be any healing—the effort is directed toward changing your mode of thought about your own physical body.

I will bear witness, however, that general healing of the body invariably follows the acceptance of this concept of your body; and 1 account for this on the basis of the well-established fact that thought reacts upon the body structure and either frees the organic mind, so that it is unhampered in doing its work of reconstruction of the body, or else consciously directs the life forces into reconstructive effort.

Go out in your yard with a hatchet and cut a slash in the side of a tree, then sit down and watch what happens. Instantly the natural healing process of nature begins to heal that which was wounded. There is, then, a healing spirit and intelligence in nature which knows how to heal anything which is hurt. Anything, including your physical body. The healing process of nature could accomplish no healing if you remained there and kept hitting or cutting at the wound in the tree; nor could it accomplish any healing if you kept putting some medicine or chemical substance in the cut—the healing spirit in nature can do its perfect work only if it is left alone.

Now, how is a perfect body constructed by nature in the first place? It must be an intelligent action which does this marvelous work of building a physical body from a single cell. What is the cosmic vision of this process? We cannot say that we know; yet by studying nature we can arrive at a conclusion.

It is self-evident that this single cell contains within itself, not alone the intelligence necessary but the power needed; and that the effect of this intelligence and power acting upon that cell is to expand outward toward a circumference, and to continue this expansion until the body is formed and contained within its own circumference, thus being capable of physical identification. When this process is completed, the body is forced out of its environment. It becomes a self identifying, objectified form of invisible life forces.

Neither the parents nor any other person does this act of expulsion which we call birth; this is accomplished by the power to expand contained within the body itself.

This physical form then continues to expand until it reaches its limit or becomes mature or adult—then the mental forces within this body begin to expand just as the physical body began to expand, and this expansion is accomplished by and through personal experiences and the mental reactions thereto.

How Ideas Are Born

Ideas are received into and contained within a mental womb, just as the physical cell was received into and contained within a womb, and the gestation and birth of an idea follows exactly the conception, gestation and birth of a physical cell.

Hence, I proclaim that if you will accept into your mind this new concept of your physical body, this concept, being obviously the cosmic concept of itself, will be thus, through acceptance, conceived within the womb of your mind, gestation will then proceed according to a cosmic law, and this idea will be born as actual fact in your flesh in due time. The acceptance of this cosmically supreme idea into your mind has the effect of casting out all other concepts, thus performing what I here call an act of mind surgery.

As the big and fierce animals run the small and nonfighting animals out of the jungle, so this supreme idea will chase all lesser ideas out of your mind. There is no denial and no affirmation.

Here is the supreme idea: There are hundreds of billions of cells in your physical body. Each separate cell is like a tiny balloon, filled to bursting with cosmic life seeking to get out to the circumference of your physical body. This life is incessantly renewed from within.

Your physical body, then, instead of being an aggregate of physical organs subject to disease and death is nothing more than hundreds of billions of little cells filled with an ever-expanding life of God. Infinite Intelligence, Infinite Power, Infinite and Eternal Life are inside of every one of the cells of your body. Each separate cell is filled to overflowing with this river of life. This life is perfect at the center of each separate cell. If the life stream becomes polluted before it reaches the circumference, it is because you have poured the sewage of negative fear into its pure stream as it passed outward toward the circumference.

Determined to never again pollute this stream of life —this Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world—you refuse to entertain any other thought about your physical body from this minute on, save this:

Every cell of my beautiful and marvelous body is filled and thrilled with the resurrecting life and spirit and power of Christ. God immanent, God’s life within me, flows outward and radiates itself into perfect health.

XII. Life Cannot Be Defeated by You or Anyone

THE lesson Jesus brought to light was this one fact: “that the world, with its self-created illusion of an opposing force named the Devil, could not defeat Life.

He dramatically set forth in his teachings and in his life, and demonstration of life in spite of crucifixion, that Life itself could not be defeated.

Man had misinterpreted the phenomena of his own being, and the phenomena of nature which environed him, until he had imprisoned himself in a mental prison house, peopled with fear and doubt and suspicion of God himself.

Be perfectly sure that if any thought of yours, any act of yours, could defeat the purpose of Life, that you, yourself, would be mightier than God.

If you could, by any thought or act of your own, defeat the purpose of creation, then you would be greater than God.

Be perfectly sure that if the sum of all humanity could, at any time, by its collective and accumulated acts, have done anything to defeat the purpose of Life, mankind would have become greater than God himself.

In this inability to defeat Life, lies all our hopes, and it makes of the message of the Nazarene the supreme teaching of all time.

Remember that Jesus did not succeed because of anything humanity did to assist him, but he succeeded in spite of all humanity- did to defeat him.

Undefeatable Life is Waiting to Help You

Had it been otherwise, there would have been no message in his life; his effort would have been futile. His teachings are to let you know that you may succeed, not because of anything humanity does to assist you, but that because of that undefeatable Energy and Life of omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence within every cell of your body, you can succeed in spite of anything humanity can do to you.

Back of you, inside every cell of your body, is this unconquerable, undefeatable Life of Almightiness. Keep this in mind and you will never know defeat.

It is this fact of being which caused Jesus to tell you that, “Greater things than these shall ye do.” He knew that the works which he did were only instruction and those who came after him should use this instruction to do mightier works than he accomplished.

Once this fact of being is taught to one generation of children, the world will make more progress within that generation than it has made in the past fifty generations.

Mankind is just awaking to the truth which this lowly Carpenter of Galilee taught; it is being learned through the personal effort of individual minds to grasp and understand the significance of these great principles of life as set forth in the Four Gospels of our Christian Bible.

The Bible is the world’s best seller; more copies are sold every year than the year previous; more are in demand. Even the youth of the country are studying this great text-book of the science of Life; and there are many agencies which are setting forth in non-religious, non-biased and non-doctrinal terms the mighty truths He taught.

Every word spoken which directs the mind of the reader or listener to the hope of mental freedom, is the word of “Him that sent me,” and it is being demonstrated in the lives of many individuals that it was truly spoken when He said: “Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall never pass away.”

The Power of Words

Truly did He say; “My words are spirit and they are life.”

The life-giving power of words which express cosmic truth and cosmic facts of being, are becoming common knowledge today through the efforts of those few men and women who have the boldness to proclaim (even as He had the boldness to proclaim) that God was undefeatable, that life was eternal and unconquerable, and that love was the basic law of the universe and every living creature would be compelled by the necessity of self-preservation to come into conscious knowledge and use of the law of Love.

The universe is a friendly place; there is nothing anywhere within it to fear; its law is to love, to heal, to make whole, to complete in the without the perfection which eternally exists within. Hence, “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” It is unavoidable, no single one of His children can stray out of the path of His mighty, undefeatable love.

The individual is faced with the cosmic necessity of consciously co-operating with this law; for nature goes only so far as to produce a consciously responsible being; then, that consciously responsible being must make the next step through conscious effort to co-operate with the Father. “The Father worketh till now and I work,” said Jesus, and, “Whatsoever things the Son seeth the Father doing, the Son doeth also in like manner.” Here Jesus showed the method, the modus operandi, of conscious co-operation with God.

Moses had taught the people that they could only please God through negation; “Thou shalt not” was the sum of all the laws he stated; but Jesus gave a new covenant: “Thou shalt love.” There was no negation in His teaching; instead of telling us what not to do, He told us what to do—a positive act of mind instead of a negative submission of mind.

He taught us the denial or the non-recognition of all that was undesirable; and the positive mental creation of that which was desirable.

As you think within your heart, so are you, was His admonition; that we could create conditions by virtue of the fact that our words were Spirit and were Life.

Of all the glad tidings the world has ever received, these simply stated cosmic principles of being are the gladdest.

Jesus was and is the first fruits of them that slept. He is the manifestation and exemplar of the Cosmic Vision that man is made in the image and the likeness of God; inherently whole and perfect and charged with the production objectively of that inner wholeness; and that man need not protect himself against his fellow man, but that man is, by the necessity of his being, charged with loving his fellow man.

XIII. The One Law of Demonstration Which Jesus Taught

AN electron has been proven to be a center of intelligence; so is an ant; so is a rose; so is an acorn, and so is a man. So, also, is a school, a nation or an institution.

The science of mind has proven that this indwelling intelligence is One; that is, there is but one intelligence and that one intelligence fills the universe and is the cause of all phenomena, visible and invisible. The prophet declared (seeing this) that, “The heavens declare the glory of Cod.” In short, this universal Intelligence has always been known to be God,

This being proven true, then there can be but one kind of intelligence anywhere and that must be the supreme Intelligence. In other words, the one, indwelling, supreme Intelligence, God, inhabits every atom of matter, every point in space and every instant of time.

The chief attribute of intelligence is responsiveness. Recognize the intelligence in your dog, your child, your wife or husband and you get intelligent response. The kind of response you get is determined by the kind of intelligence you recognize. Stated in another way, the degree of intelligent response you get is to be determined by the degree of intelligence you recognize.

Jesus Saw But One Intelligence

Jesus recognized but one kind or degree of intelligence, to wit: the superlative degree, the utmost, the supreme intelligence—God. He called It: “Father,” “Spirit,” “Truth,” “Life,” etc. Instead of merely seeing physical forms, he saw mentally this superlative, supreme intelligence within each and every form. He said that the existence of this superlative, supreme intelligence within each form was the ultimate truth about that form, the unchanging, unchangeable fact about it. He said that “to know this was life eternal.”

When one recognizes two degrees of intelligence, naming one “good” and the other one “evil,” he brings about a mental stalemate in his affairs; for since response is the one and only attribute of intelligence, then two equal forces operating against each other brings about inertia or nothingness.

If you recognize the intelligence of your wife, husband, friend or any other person or thing as being of any degree of intelligence less than the absolute, superlative, supreme intelligence, then you must, of necessity, receive back from that which your mind addresses, that exact degree of intelligence which you recognized.

Knowing this, Jesus said: “Be ye therefore perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Remember, he called this one, supreme, superlative intelligence, Father; He recognized nothing of intelligence save this superlative degree; then he told us to do likewise; i.e., recognize with our own degree of intelligence, ever and always, only the one, supreme, superlative degree of intelligence in whatever form we addressed—and he said that this mental attitude was “being perfect as our heavenly father was perfect.’’

The One Law of Mind’s Activity

The law which governs mind’s activity was thus stated for our benefit just as the law which governs electricity’s activity was stated by Prof. Ohm. If any electrician wishes to do any useful thing with the invisible energy called electricity, he finds that he must do so according to the law thus stated. Jesus tells you that if you wish to do any useful thing with the silent, all powerful, invisible energy called thought (action in mind), then it must be used intelligently and this formula or law of action must be obeyed. The law of mind’s intelligent responsiveness has been stated over and over. In one place, it is stated thus: “Ask and ye shall receive. Seek and ye shall find.”

“Seek and ye shall find” means what it says, no more, no less. If you wish to get well, strong, wise or rich, the address of your mind to whatever you choose to call that to which you look for the gift, must be an intelligent address. It is hardly intelligent to address God, supreme, superlative Intelligence, expecting a supreme, superlative response from it as long as you have half of its manifestation named inferior or non-intelligent; and that is what you are doing when you call anything or anyone “evil,” “bad,” “inferior” or “ill.” For you will admit that anything which exhibits itself as evil, bad, inferior or ill is not intelligent.

When Jesus admonished us to “be perfect” as our supreme superlative, intelligent Creator was perfect, he was merely restating the Hermetic affirmation: “All is good.”

Concerning Evil

If you recognize inferior or evil degrees of intelligence, then the one, supreme, superlative Intelligence must, by the law of its own intelligent Being, give you back a response in kind and in exact proportion to your recognition. From this posit Jesus told us that whatsoever things we desire when we pray, we must believe that we have them. Regardless of what it is you desire, whether health, wealth or happiness, it is most assuredly going to be intelligent. If your mind cannot “mentally see” this one, supreme, superlative Intelligence within what you desire, then you cannot comply with that statement of the law he gave, nor can you “believe” that you are going to get what you seek.

You cannot believe that you are going to get an intelligent response from an unintelligent demand, after you have learned the law and know that it operates in but one way—’ ‘as ye ask so shall ye receive, ‘‘ ‘ ‘according to your faith be it done unto you,” etc., etc.

If you admit that reason and logic as well as established scientific principles prove that every atom of matter, every point in space and every instant of time is filled with the one, supreme, superlative Intelligence, and, at the same time and with the same mental movement, within your mind admit that this one supreme, superlative Intelligence contains sin, sickness, death and lack—can you not see what you have done? You have exactly equalized two forces which are one and the same but being used by you to nullify each other. You are acting with just as much lack of intelligence as an electrician would who would wire your house for the purpose of giving you light and then ground the lead so that the electricity would flow into the ground instead of through your lamps. In this case, it would be the same energy (electricity) but used in such an unintelligent manner as to nullify itself and nothing would result from its use.

What You Demand You Receive

If, however, your tendency is to believe in sin, sickness and lack with a more positive degree of mental energy than you believe in the absence of these things, then this one supreme superlative Intelligence, in order to fulfil its own law and act intelligently, must, of necessity, bring forth for your edification that which you demand of it. For, be it remembered, if the force of your mental energy is focused upon evil, disease, or lack, that action of your mind is making a demand upon the one, supreme, superlative Intelligence of the universe and its address to every living creature is: “Ask whatsoever you will and it shall be done.”

It is high time that we, as supposedly intelligent beings, began to learn the law of mind and the law of its manifestation and use some larger degree of intelligence in handling this mighty power. Jesus taught this law and nothing else. He made no attempt to teach anything else regardless of how many people have tried to make you believe He did.

If you are failing to recognize God’s ability to act for your welfare, if you are refusing to recognize the omnipresence of this one, supreme, superlative Intelligence in every atom of matter, in every point of space and in every instant of time, then you are not an intelligent being, regardless of how many degrees or titles you may have from colleges or institutions of learning.

Are You Intelligent?

The proof that you are not an intelligent being in such a case is proven by the fact that you do believe in the power of a “lack of intelligence” because you believe in sin, sickness and lack. Jesus chided us for this lack of intelligence when he called our attention to the one, supreme, superlative Intelligence by saying: “Consider the lilies, how they grow.” The “key” to this sentence is in the accent on the word how.

Well, how do they grow? They grow intelligently— that is the answer and the whole of the answer. They bear witness to the indwelling presence of this one, supreme, superlative Intelligence. Again and again, Jesus said: “The Father abiding within me, he doeth the works.” Interpreted in terms of modern Christian psychology he said: The form you see as my physical body is composed of millions of atoms of matter and every cell is filled to overflowing with the one, supreme, superlative Intelligence which knew how to form my body from a single cell and knows how to constantly re-form it and keep it strong and young. It, the indwelling Intelligence, is greater than I, i.e., the indwelling Intelligence is wiser and more powerful than my own concept of myself; or, “The Father is greater than I.”

This mental attitude, held strongly and constantly until it becomes automatic or subconscious, is the key to all the power he had.

There is hardly any other idea presented in the entire Christian Bible. By hundreds of allegories and parables woven around personal characters and events, this idea is repeated over and over again. This consciousness of the indwelling presence of the one supreme superlative Intelligence, Jesus called the “kingdom of heaven,” and he said time and time again that it was within you, inside your physical body; in other words he told you that until your mind could locate that one supreme superlative Intelligence inside your own body that you could never locate it any other place; but once located within your own physical body, then you could not help seeing it everywhere else.

Jesus himself recognized no degree of this one supreme superlative Intelligence in anyone or anything; recognizing it only, he got superlative response from it ever and always.

When you acknowledge or recognize any degree of sin, disease or lack within your own physical body, you are saying in effect to this one supreme superlative Intelligence (God): “Father, I desire and ask that your supreme superlative Intelligence act intelligently and respond to my demand by confirming me in my lack of intelligence and show forth in my body and life this sin, disease or lack.”

Try This

The law of gravity is exact, universal, no respecter of persons and it acts for all alike, whenever anyone will furnish the conditions which will permit it to act. Right now, stop reading a moment and take hold of a book or some other object; hold it out at arm’s length; now—can you see, feel, hear, smell or taste the law of gravity? No? well then let go—its invisible, intelligent power bore witness to its presence and its intelligent willingness to do what you demanded of it.

Now, again, did the law of gravity act for you in this case because of any virtue within yourself? Because you were white, a democrat, a church member? Well, then why did it act? Simple enough. Because you furnished the conditions which permitted it to act.

All right—let’s go from here. Intelligence is just exactly like the law of gravity. It will work for you, whoever you are, wherever you are, just as soon as you furnish the conditions which will permit it to act.

The One Condition of Demonstration

What are the conditions? Recognize it. Never for an instant permit your mind to deal with any degree of intelligence—deal only and always with the one supreme superlative Intelligence, as Jesus did; then you will have sought and found the kingdom of God and his righteousness within and “all these things shall be added unto you.”

When you thus recognize nothing save the superlative degree of the one and only supreme Intelligence, you are complying with all the demands and teachings and commands in the whole Bible. You are, for instance, “Acknowledging him in all thy ways. “ You are “Making no graven image of the Lord thy God” (you cannot draw a picture, make an image, of the law of gravity). You are “Worshipping him in spirit and in truth.” You are believing that the thing you desire is already present. In fact, the whole Bible story becomes clarified to your mind, seen from this angle.

Reduced to a mental formula it amounts to this: I recognize nothing save the superlative degree of the one and only supreme Intelligence in every atom of matter, every point of space and every instant of time, within and without my physical body and all physical bodies. Intelligence cannot act in any manner save intelligently. Therefore, the whole universe serves me and recognizes me as its image and likeness. Intelligence includes, order, harmony, poise, balance, abundance, health, happiness, and power and dominion.

XIV. A Description of How I Give A Treatment

“HE SENT HIS WORD AND HEALED THEM”

I AM writing down my manner of “giving a treatment,” hoping that it may inspire others to give descriptions of their systems of work, to the end that we all may be helped in the work to which we have consecrated our lives. First, I have given my work a name—”Mind Surgery.” This name seems to fit and actually describe my methods of work; seems to describe fully how I give a treatment.

It is fundamentally different from any other method I have ever heard of at any time; different because it ignores utterly any form of diagnosis. I am not interested in what is wrong with the one I am treating. I know what is right. I ask for and read the story the student sends in describing his or her problem—but I refuse to let that picture register on my mind, because I am told by Jesus that the law of mind is: “If two of you agree as touching anything on earth it shall be done of my Father”—and—the student is coming to me to be freed from that picture which is so indelibly impressed upon his or her mind; hence I cannot afford to “agree” with him if I wish to help him. I do not “deny” the picture, nor mentally claim it to be a dream or illusion. I know only too well (from personal experience) that it is neither dream nor illusion (to him), I am not afraid of it and I do not recognize it as having any power over either me or the student. I simply look at it for what it appears to be to the student—a very real active thing now present with him from which he wishes to be free.

Then I enter into a consciousness of oneness with the Father (in me)—then I extend this awareness to include the student—(for, the Father is one)—thus I mentally locate the living, radiant, risen Christ in the student. The Christ (in him) has overcome the world. The risen Christ (in the student) has more power than the picture he sent to me. My work is done—I loose him and let him go—not back into the picture he gave of himself, but I loose him into the living presence of the risen Christ (in him). My work is done. I am joyous because I have practiced with this thing until 1 can do it in the face of any or every situation and know that the work is done. I can trust the Christ—I have introduced a mental activity in the student which is a light—a power greater than the supposed power of the picture he held of himself as being in bondage. I take no burden upon myself, assume no responsibility and ask for and claim no credit. All glory be to God who doeth the works through Jesus Christ, his Son, now risen, radiantly alive, and about his Father’s business in the life of that student. This quickening of the Living Christ in the student through my ministry cuts out his old picture as a surgeon cuts out a diseased tonsil—hence Mind Surgery. I forget the written picture the student sent me because I do not let it register in my mind substance. Hence 1 eternally salute the risen Christ in all I address.

I do this and simply this—and do it simply—no more—no less.

At this place I let go and let God do the work.

I do not choose to deal with the problem in any complicated manner, but reduce the whole thing to the utmost simplicity.

I refuse to assume the prerogative of telling God just what to do for this student— or how to do it.

I have but this one treatment; I use it for anything and everything, from the itch to poverty, loneliness, sin-soaked sensitiveness, inflated egos or deflated egos. I am assured within my own heart that God knows what he is about in every one of his children.

I recognize God as the Absolute and each one of us a ‘‘relative’’ to that Absolute. I recognize that God as the Absolute is consciously and alertly alive in every one, although that one may not be aware or alive to His presence—hence I know that the infinite love and tenderness of God overshadows every living creature.

I can utterly and do utterly trust God to do all things, and recognize no situation or negative condition as being too difficult for him to heal and handle perfectly; regardless of how hopeless the student may appear to be at the time.

I feel a sense of total satisfaction after each treatment.

God has spoken—it is done. “He sent his word and healed them.”

My decision upon the matter is final. I will not compromise nor adulterate it with any suggestion from any source whatsoever.

God either is or he is not—I choose to assume that he is.

Life proves He is. My own living experiences have piled almost mountain high the evidences of the efficacy of this method of healing and freeing people from bondage.

I rest securely in His love and send forth His word of healing power in perfect peace, knowing that God cannot fail.

“He sent his word and healed them.”

THE END