Spiritual Interpretation of Scripture
| Chapter - Spiritual Sense of Truth
Regardless of the human effort we put into any enterprise, if it is not backed by spiritual awareness, all we can expect from it is limited fruitage. There is a vast difference between statements of truth and Truth itself. A statement of truth is what you declare: Truth itself is what is imparted to you from within your being. Statements of truth are read in books; Truth itself is what you discern between the lines. Shankara, probably 800 B.C., wrote: "If the supreme truth remains unknown, the study of scripture is fruitless; the study of the letter alone is useless; the Spirit must be sought out by intuition." The human mind claims to be a builder, to be a power, claims that it can do things for us. For generations the world has gone on trying to build humanly, and all it has accomplished is limitation. To insure the safety, security and prosperity of our existence, we have to come into the consciousness -- the conscious awareness -- of the presence of God. Without this awareness, it is just as erroneous to make statements like, "God will help me; Got is everpresent and does help me," as it is to forget to make those statements. The statements themselves have no power. The human mind making such statements does not even believe in them. There must be an actual awareness of the presence of God. This must be felt within your own being. "I can of mine own self do nothing" is as high a declaration as can be made. It shows forth the absolute nothingness of even a great man like Jesus. "My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me" -- "The Father within me, He doeth the works" -- "Except the Lord build the house" -- there must be an actual consciousness of the presence of this infinite divine spiritual Power acting within or really as your being. In Acts 1:21 to 26, we come to a place where Judas has committed suicide and a successor is going to be appointed to fill his place in order that there may still be twelve disciples. The eleven are met together for the purpose of electing the twelfth. The prayer is then uttered. "Thou Lord, show which Thou hast chosen." The decision was left to God. Here is your cue for successful living. Realize that you are but the instrument through which or really the being as which God acts. In every detail of your life turn to the one Mind, God, in order that you may be rightly governed. In the recognition that all decision is with God, you have taken a step in making practical a revealed truth of Scripture. Many believe they are turning to God when actually they turn to a God they ignorantly worship. To avoid this error, you need to know God as the Mind of you, the consciousness of the individual. You have received the revelation of God as the Reality of your being; therefore, in turning to God you are not running to some far off Deity, but to the infinite intelligence of your own being. You are putting your human, limited self aside so that this infinite Mind, which is God, your own Mind, may make its works manifest. There are times when we make statements that are subject to misunderstanding. First, none of the statements, none of the affirmations, none of the denials we can make are helpful; because they are actions of the human mind and there is no power in them. "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat" -- "Pray without ceasing" -- " Know the truth and the truth shall make you free." These all seem contradictory. Yet, "take no thought" does not mean do nothing, for we bring into consciousness our oneness with God by taking thought. But it does mean not to take thought in the sense of making something happen, or using our thought as a power to bring something about that we desire. Our taking thought is a realization of a truth that is already true. Our praying without ceasing, or knowing the truth, is not declaration made to bring something about, to heal something, to enrich some one or improve some one. These are rather reminders of that which is already true. That is why, when we get past the stage of just making affirmations to make something happen, we are much busier and we work harder than ever before. When we had a problem and turned to statements, we kept up those statements until the problem was met, then we had a period of rest. But in this higher consciousness, there are no periods of rest, it is a twenty-four hour job of knowing the truth -- not declaring the truth to make something true, but a constant realization of that which already is. We do not take thought about demonstrating an automobile or a house or a healthy heart or eyes or ears: that would be taking thought for the physical, or realm of effect. We must take no anxious thought for what we eat, drink or wear, but at all times we must pray without ceasing. We must know our true identity: this is to pray. Begin by knowing that "I and the Father are one"; that the inner Power is with us at all times to make the crooked places straight and the rough places smooth. Be conscious of your oneness with God -- conscious that God is the Mind of the individual, whether that individual is you or some one else you have in thought. We do this throughout the day, or when some immediate problem is on the scene. We do not let our thought dwell on fears or doubts, nor on the fact that the progress today may not be as rapid as we expected. Keep thought: stayed on Thee"; pray without ceasing. We must maintain within our consciousness the realization that all that the Father has is mine. The divine Mind, the creative Principle of the universe, is the one Mind, which is my Mind, the Mind of my neighbor, the Mind of my friend, and far and above all, it is the Mind of my enemy too. Only that universality of Mind will enable me to say, "the Lord is building my house; the Truth is making my demonstration." The statement that "I and the Father are one" does not mean that a human being is God. If so, Jesus would not have said, "I can of mine own self do nothing." But God is the Mind, the Life and Soul of me and I am not a human being. That which the world calls a human being is a false concept that it is beholding of me. What I see of you, which appears to be human, represents my concept of God, the one Life, the one Soul. If I am not beholding that, I am beholding God erroneously, the one Life erroneously, the one Soul and Spirit finitely. The purpose of writing is not for one person to teach another. There is only one Mind and it is a sharing of the unfoldment that is coming through as that one Mind. There is not one person sitting up on a higher level of understanding than another. There is in reality no such relationship in all the world as teacher and student. Mortal mind would love to set up teachers or "saviours" and take potshots at them. Mind is revealing its truth, the reality of its being to all of us simultaneously. This writing is merely a concession to our seeming ignorance of the fact that Mind is as effective in the silence as in the written word. God is the all of you -- anything else is illusion. That means, that since God is all there is of you, there is not a discordant note within range of your voice. Let yourself look, not at a human being, but through to the Soul of him and say, "There is God." In this vision, there is no one too short, too tall, too stout, or too anything. Niagara Falls is still Lake Erie, when it is falling over the cliff: the name is merely a designation for that particular spot in that body of water. There is no such thing as "man" that is just a name given to God where God becomes visible and visibly understood. There is no place where God ends and man begins. In that sense, God is the Life of you, the Soul of you, the Spirit of you. In the reality of me, I am God, but what you see sitting in a chair is but the transparency through which God is appearing. The eyes are called the window of the Soul -- Soul is God. In this way, we are not apt to exalt humanhood. Whatever of life, love, intelligence there is flowing through any individual is God and is necessarily greater than the individual, but yet One, just as sun and sunshine are one. Return to "Spiritual Interpretation of Scripture" Book Menu Page |
Psm. 127: 1 -- "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it."