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March 22 , 2006
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Welcome to Conscious Living, our newsletter designed to share our current activities and growth, along with articles and information that we hope will be supportive and encouraging in your efforts to live each moment with more joy and satisfaction.
The leading article in this month's newsletter is another essay by Steve Roberts entitled, "Ruthless Saints". Steve is always guaranteed to get your attention and the way he begins this month's offering is no exception. Steve is a regular contributor to our newsletter and his new book, Cool Mind, Warm Heart - Adventures With Life's Biggest Secret is available now on the website. We have discovered another author who may possibly be the founder of the new thought movement. Her name is Emma Curtis Hopkins and she was the teacher of many influential voices including Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, founders of the Unity School of Christianity, H. Emilie Cady, author of the Unity textbook "Lessons in Truth," as well as Frances Lord, Annie Rix-Militz, George Edwin, Malinda E. Cramer, co-founder of Divine Science, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, New Thought poetess, Elizabeth Town; and Ernest Holmes, founder of the Church of Religious Science. We've included an excerpt from one of Ms. Hopkin's books in this newsletter and we recommend it highly for an inspiring discussion of the power of our thoughts and desires. Don't forget to visit our new section of the website entitled "Prosperity" for a growing collection of thoughts, suggestions, quotations and affirmations on the topic of success and prosperity. One of the great challenges for us as we walk the path toward greater awareness, is how to integrate our concepts regarding money and wealth into our sense of spirituality. In this new section, we are addressing these issues in detail. One of the new articles you'll find in this newsletter and also on the "Prosperity" section of the website is our latest installment from Diane Harmony entitled "Gratitude". There have been quite a few additions to the website since our last newsletter. We've added lots of beautiful new images of saints, sages and gurus of all religions, free audio versions of "Imitation of Christ" by Thomas a Kempis and "Practicing The Presence of God" by Brother Lawrence and a wide collection of new inspiring E-books. All the details are below. As we discussed last month, there are tremendous changes going on in the background here at CLF, and in the very near future, you will be seeing a totally new CLF website - it's got everything that is good about the current site, but with many wonderful new additions including huge amounts of streaming audio and video, including the presentation of full-length feature films. We can't wait to share it with you - but as in all things, we practice patience. Finally, we want to remind you to visit the "Prayers" section of the website. Many people in need have sent emails requesting your prayers. By taking a few moments to read their request and send a positive thought their way, we have made manifest some of the blessings we constantly receive. As always, we are so grateful to all of you who visit our website, and contribute through your generous donations, purchases, emails and article submissions. I am confident that this wonderful year will continue to be extraordinarily special. Thank you for letting us share it with you. William Simpson |
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Ruthless Saints by Steve Roberts
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Given the choice of spending Christmas with Christ or Hanukkah with Hitler, a ruthless saint might opt for the latter…. Here’s one measure of how the world is heading in a positive direction. Fifty years ago the epitome of the circus was Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey. With its lion tamers, dancing bears, trick horses, performing elephants, monkeys on bikes, and seals bouncing beach balls on their noses, the implicit message was “Man Over Beast.” Even the aerialists, tightrope walkers, jugglers, fire-eaters, knife-throwers and human pretzels were an example of “Man Over the Beast Within.”
Today, the epitome of the circus is Cirque du Soleil. Its implicit message is “The Celebration of Humanity.” Indeed, Cirque leaves most churches in the dust when it comes to inspiring the integration of body, mind and spirit—the criteria for living as a whole person.
I find it revealing to play the game, “If I Were a (fill in the blank).” If I were an automobile, I’d be a 1957 Chevrolet convertible, black with a fiery red interior. Maybe in every man there is a teenage boy still lusting for those wheels that first represented both the fullness of his spirit and the emptiness of his purse.
If I were a woman from another era, I’d be Sojourner Truth, who, come to think of it, was herself black with a fiery red interior. An illiterate slave powered by a fierce relationship with the divine, she became one of the most inspiring and influential citizens of 19th century America.
And, if I were a present-day organization of any kind, I would actually be two: Alcoholics Anonymous and Cirque du Soleil.
AA is a story for another time, except to say that it is among the most important fellowships on earth, since addiction is at the heart of much, if not all, human misery. Alcohol is merely one of its more deadly expressions. Others include power, beliefs, anger, work, play, eating and blame. AA is a useful benchmark for those who would recover from any addiction. In fact, it’s just possible that AA’s operating principles are up there with the Declaration of Independence as an inspired framework for human liberation. The proof of AA’s power is found solely in the millions of people it helps to live sober—one day at a time.
The proof of Cirque’s power, to me anyway, is that I can’t watch it without crying.
Here are hundreds of the planet’s most exceptional performers and everyone who gives them life, all striving to convey a vision of dignity, joy, depth, a world without limits, jubilation, playfulness, breaking the bonds of ignorance, overcoming indifference, etcetera, etcetera—and, needing to open themselves perhaps more completely than they ever imagined possible in order to even approach pulling it off. Of all the reasons we love a circus, are any more indelible than those moments when we find ourselves, heart in mouth, wondering, “How did they ever do that?” Cirque du Soleil is masterful at arousing our imagination to ask that question time and again, as if Cirque’s only mantra were the one I’ve known a saint to use: more and better. And now, the spirit of that mantra has given birth to programs created by people who are, you might say, “offspring” of Cirque de Soleil. One of them is Normand Latourelle, architect of the astonishing Cavalia: A Magical Encounter Between Man and Horse.
Cavalia (which took six years and $27 million to create before it opening in 2003) is a spectacle of myth, magic and poetry, as if a dream from our childhood has suddenly and all-but-unbelievably come to life, involving Lord of the Rings costumes, daring acrobatics, original music, projected images and more than 60 performers, half of them horses.
The human/horse relationship in Cavalia is as far removed from the historic “show ’em who’s boss” philosophy of training as a duck is from a dill pickle.
Kindness, trust and positive reinforcement are what persuade mature stallions to work together in total freedom—without a trace of tack—in the presence of lighting, music, and more than 1800 spectators, as the horses’ human partners leap on and off them in ways only world-class gymnasts can.
All the while, the universe is beating its drum, calling us all: “Ho! This unfathomable beauty is who you really are.”
Although you wouldn’t necessarily know it by the barbaric choices we humans make everyday in the name of goodness, our collective evolution over the past few thousand years has been a continual, and actually relatively speedy, awakening of consciousness.
According to a monk friend of mine, about 1500 years before Jesus, Moses preached an idea revolutionary for the time: “Don’t kill your brother.” When Jesus came along, he advised something that was, for his time, equally radical: “Love your brother.” Today, we’re gulping at another notion: “You are your brother.” That’s a pretty big shift in just 3500 years, but such is the nature of our unfolding.
Cirque du Soleil is an example of life near the leading edge of that unfolding. Yet Cirque is not unique. Many organizations are home to people I like to call ruthless saints. Given the choice of spending Christmas with Christ or Hanukkah with Hitler, a ruthless saint might opt for the latter, not because he or she feels that Hitler is God-like, but because lighting the menorah with the Führer would oblige them to grow their love much more than singing Silent Night with the Prince of Peace. Ruthless saints are men and women engaged in a practice of deepening their attunement to the unconditional possibility of the universe. They are uncompromising in assessing the extent to which their life expresses that attunement. One sign on their fridge says, “No Blame.” Another says, “Everyone is Our Teacher.”
The growing number of ruthless saints is the real proof that the world is moving in a positive direction. And the best news is you might meet one anywhere.
In the mirror, for instance. To find out more about Steve or read a chapter from his book, click Here. Steve Roberts is the author of Cool Mind Warm Heart, a collection of essays, stories, and photographs of stone sculptures he builds on his Vermont farm. He can be found on the web at CoolMindWarmHeart.com and at TheHeartOfTheEarth.com. |
| Gratitude by Diane Harmony |
“GRATITUDE is the GIFT of being thankful. In living an Abundant Life, giving this GIFT becomes the prayer of the heart that opens your life to the riches contained in it.” So begins the chapter on this powerful GIFT in my book 5 GIFTS for an Abundant Life. It is a wonderful spiritual practice that I invite you incorporate into your daily life.
The power of GRATITUDE is unleashed when we are thankful for everything and everyone in our lives…and I mean everything and everyone. Why? Because out of an attitude of GRATITUDE, we create and “altitude” from which to behold our lives. When we are thankful, we are connecting with the heart of a situation or person. Thus the act of being grateful gives us the wings to transcend the personality or circumstance, and live in the Love that is back of it all. The truth is that it is impossible to give the GIFT of GRATITUDE and entertain any other feeling or emotion at the same time.
“Thank you, God” (or “Spirit” or “Universe” or what ever you choose to call that Power that is greater than we are) are three of the most important words you can use during your day. By giving thanks – for the food you are about to eat; the traffic on the freeway; the rude salesperson; your partner for a gift; your child for helping you – you express a form of prayer that allows you to witness the Divine in it all, while at the same time saving yourself from spending energy on less desirable emotional responses. What a way to live!
AND, there’s another bonus in giving this GIFT of GRATITUDE. Giving thanks for what we would like more of in our lives actually sets up the vibration of receptivity for that desire to manifest. By being grateful for that which has not yet shown up in form, we “move from perceived limitations into the passion of possibilities, without attachment to “how” our good is to be manifested,” I write in the 5 GIFTS book. It’s so simple.
And so I give you the GIFT of GRATITUDE. Please accept it and remember; the way to increase its value is to give it at every opportunity. You will soon realize a profound Truth: By giving this GIFT you name your entire life a Blessing.
Diane Harmony is the author of the best selling book, 5 GIFTS for an Abundant Life: Create a Consciousness of Wealth, and founder of Universal Harmony, Inc., an organization dedicated to igniting the awareness within each of us that we are the Abundant Love of God. You can learn more about Ms. Harmony and her books, listen to an excerpt from her audio CD, or purchase either of them, by clicking Here.
News: More Health Care Products - Hand Made Soap!
What's important about soap being hand made? Hand made soap retains precious vegetable “glycerin” - a natural humectant which attracts moisture to your skin. Did you know that glycerin is removed by commercial soap manufacturers for use in their 
more profitable products like lotions and resold to the consumer to combat the effects of drying soap? Not with hand made! Your skin will be naturally soft and nourished.
Hi! My name is Erin and I'm the owner of Kapow Soap, which is now available on the Conscious Living Foundation website.
Every batch of Kapow Soap is brewed by hand (by me!) in the time honored “Kettle Method”. This means big pots, wooden spoons and lots of arm muscles! There is much preparation all leading to the thrilling moment when I pour the temperature perfect lye or ‘sodium hydroxide’, into the hot oils melted in my kettle and watch as the magic begins! Immediately, the hand stirring phase (with the handed down Frankie spoon!) gets under way. I stir and stir, thinking peaceful wishes, expansive thoughts, and simple prayers for the friends and strangers who will find sudsy enjoyment in the bars to come! Something specific for each batch!
Around 12 minutes, when the mixture begins to “trace”, time becomes of the essence. Precise action is required so the soap doesn’t cool prematurely! With one last stir, I add crushed botanicals and put the soap “to bed” - pour the creamy liquid into molds to be kept cozy under layers of warm woolen blankets (for 20 hours) to allow the soap to continue the process on its own.
Next the lids come off! I gently remove the firm soap and place it on my curing shelves where it spends 
another 24 hours in the open air.
And at long last – I hand cut the blocks of soap into fresh fragrant bars with my custom wooden soap cutter and trim them to perfection! I’m always tempted to grab a few bars and jump into a bath right there and then! Of course it’s best to wait a couple of weeks to let retained water evaporate out of the bar, but … sometimes a girl can’t help herself! You've got to find out more about our products - click Here to see our complete selection!
In addition to our soaps, we continue to offer our new weight loss products which include a wide range of meal replacement shakes with essential nutrients, multi-vitamins and herb concentrates - all in a delicious selection of flavors. In addition we're offering protein powders, soup mixes, a cell activator to increase your ability to absorb your vitamins and minerals, protein bars, teas, phytonutrients, Omega 3 fatty acid supplements, fiber powders, and a variety of other healthy additions to your diet. Take a look Here for complete details.
The Healthy Heart section offers a great selection of products including antioxidants, vitamins, herbs, and healthy snacks. To see the complete collection, click Here.
Visit us throughout the month for a continuing evolution of our health care products section. Please send us an email at telling us what kind of health products you would like to see next.
News: Special Discounts Continue - Buy 1, Second at 1/2 Price -
Our holiday discounts were very popular, so we have decided to continue them a little while longer. If you've been thinking about purchasing books and recordings that support your personal and spiritual growth, now is the perfect time - take advantage of our special discounts and save money while, at the same time, you substitute more meaningful entertainment for that which is readily available on TV and radio - but which rarely uplifts.
Also, if you're considering buying a gift for a friend or loved one, why not select gifts that can genuinely make a difference in their lives? So often, we make purchases that are just fillers - not really knowing what to buy. This time, give books and CDs that will continue to inspire and encourage throughout the year.
We make buying even easier with our "Second 1/2 Price" special discounts. Buy any of our selected products at the usual price and buy another great book or CD at 1/2 price. Click Here to see our great selection of best sellers and favorites. They include audio versions of your all time favorites, perfect to listen to while driving or exercising.
Deepen your practice of the techniques that bring new joy and hope into your life - and give the gift of a deeper spiritual life and increased personal growth.
| News: Lots of New Photos of Saints and Sages To Download For Free |
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We have just added quite a few new images, so don't forget to take a look and see what's new - just click Here! |
Let's share the gifts for which we are most grateful:
joy, wisdom, love and the means to increase them in our lives.
Click Here for our special discounts.
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More Quotations on Success and Abundance - and An Affirmation |
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- We've just added a complete new page of inspiring quotations on success and abundance on the website - |
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"Obstacles are those frightful things you can see when you take your eyes off your goal." - Henry Ford "There is no one giant step that does it. It's a lot of little steps." - Peter A. Cohen "Some of us have great runways already built for us. If you have one, take off. But if you don't have one, realize it is your responsibility to grab a shovel and build one for yourself and for those who will follow after you." - Amelia Earhart "Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody is watching." - Mark Twain "What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve." - Napoleon Hill "There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure." - Colin Powell "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." - Ralph Waldo Emerson "Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance." - Samuel Johnson "The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will." - Vince Lombardi "The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been." -Alan Ashley-Pitt "Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them - a desire, a dream, a vision." - Muhammad Ali "Dwell not on the past. Use it to illustrate a point, then leave it behind. Nothing really matters except what you do now in this instant of time. From this moment onwards you can be an entirely different person, filled with love and understanding, ready with an outstretched hand, uplifted and positive in every thought and deed." - Eileen Caddy "Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act upon must inevitably come to pass!" - Paul J. Meyer
Affirm: I am increasingly abundant, prosperous and successful. My cup runneth over with riches, wealth and every good gift of a generous God. I am designed to joyfully receive countless untold blessings and bounty through my relaxed willingness to receive. (If you hesitate to make this affirmation, take the opportunity to look closely at what obstacles lie within you - and to remove them.) |
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For a large variety of inspiring quotations, click Here.
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Often those of us who are trying to apply spiritual principles in our lives on a regular basis, have a seeming conflict with the ideas of success and prosperity. Is it possible to be ever more attuned to Spirit and at the same time have increasing material prosperity and success? These are the issues we attempt to address in the Prosperity section of our site.
In partial answer to these questions, we offer the free, complete recording of Wallace Wattles famous book, "The Science of Getting Rich". You can download, at no charge, the audio book, and e-book versions of this classic masterpiece by visiting our Prosperity and Success page, Here. In addition, we are now offering in the "Downloads" Section of our site, complete spoken word audio recordings of "Practicing The Presence of God" by Brother Lawrence and "The Imitation of Christ" by Thomas a Kempis. Just click Here to download your new audio books for free. |
Let's share the gifts for which we are most grateful:
joy, wisdom, love and the means to increase them in our lives.
Click Here for our special discounts.
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New Delicious Vegetarian Recipes:
News: New Book "India Unveiled" by Robert Arnett
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To read more about Smita and her wonderful book, click Here. |
Let's share the gifts for which we are most grateful:
However, the most complete expression of his approach to living is contained in his masterwork "Byways To Blessedness". This book is the most complete, detailed and in-depth expression of James Allen’s inspirational vision of the path to conscious evolution. As "As A Man Thinketh" was the introductory course to his thoughts and wisdom, "Byways To Blessedness" is James Allen's Master's thesis. Ours is the only complete audio version of this work available anywhere. This four CD unabridged recording contains the keys to personal happiness, prosperity, health and spiritual growth.
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News: Hundreds of New Nature Photos To Download For Free
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When nothing else will work, taking a brief walk outside, sitting in the park, or just admiring beautiful flowers can often reduce stress and give us a break from our routine. However, sometimes, we don't have the opportunity to go out and get back to nature.
CLF wants to give you the alternative of bringing nature into your workplace, computer room or home. We have just added over 350 new photographs of nature, including a collection of wonderful photographs taken with the Hubble Space Telescope.
So don't miss this opportunity to see the wonders of the earth and the universe, at absolutely no charge - just click Here!
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News: New Audio CD - Discovering Spirit - Informal Talks and Guided Meditation (2 CD Set)
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Let's share the gifts for which we are most grateful:
joy, wisdom, love and the means to increase them in our lives.
Click Here for our special discounts.
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Scientific Christian Mental Practice by Emma Curtis Hopkins (Selections From Chapter One)
For a brief biography of Ms. Hopkins along with additional quotes, click Here. |
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"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." -- Philippians 2:5 THE STATEMENT OF BEING
We will consider the first lesson. It is the first idea with which mind everywhere, in all ages, has begun when proclaiming that outside of, and greater than any power exhibited by anything in nature, or in man, is a being called God. The first lesson in Truth is the word "God." Have you ever heard that there is a marvelous power in every word? It contains its own potentiality. You can see that if every word contains its own potentiality, then that word which all the world agrees contains the greatest power must be the greatest word. Plotinus (A.D.250) lost himself seven times in a trance of ecstasy by thinking over the word "God" in his mind. God was the beginning of all. God is the presence of all. The use of the word by Plotinus, Porphyr and Spinoza did not solve the mystery of existence for them, however. They yielded to death and feebleness, even falling into sickness sometimes, like other men and women. There was something lacking in their teaching, something lacking in their understanding of God, for the ideal of God is told as, "My words are life unto those that find them and health to all their flesh." Jesus Christ had quite a different idea from these men, even though they loved the name of God so devoutly. "In my name preach the gospel, in my name heal the sick." "If a man keep my sayings he will never see death." What name was that which Jesus Christ used, which had such omnipotent energy that even when it was spoken it would heal the sick and raise the dead? The Name is within every mind. If it is spoken it will be like letting loose the electricity which the physicist stored in batteries. It has been taught from the remotest times that we have the Name stored within us as concealed energy. It can perform twelve great works, by our words, whenever we use it, even without very close relation to it. If we were to use that Name directly it would instantly work all the miracles recorded of all the mighty men of old. The speaking of words for performing cures is an ancient custom. The Zend-Avesta tells us that it is by the Divine Word that the sick are most surely cured. Sometimes the word is thought in the silent mind. It is not always by the repetition of our words that the cures are wrought. It is by the whole lines of reasoning. The study of the lines of reasoning which bring out your healing power is called the study of metaphysics. The word, metaphysical, means "above and away from the physical." Thoughts are ideas. We study ideas. But ideas bear an important relation to each other. They make a course of reasoning. Some people study mathematics to train their mind to logical processes. But the study of mathematics does not make thoughts and words powerful to heal the sick. Some people have believed that there is a magical power in numbers just as there is great potency in words. Cornelius Agrippa of Cologne (1486), ascribed to numbers an efficacy. But no mathematician is a healer because of his mathematics. He must use the Healing Word, or the reasoning which brings down somewhat of the power of the Healing Word. You may be filled with wonder as to what the Healing Word or Name can be. It certainly is not the word "God", for these men who used that word continually were not mighty healers. Spiritual Science does not tell you the Name. It gives you the most direct reasoning which the word "God" brings out, and consequently gives the best healing power of any line of reasoning in the world. There are twelve points of doctrine put forth in these lessons in plain terms. All the time you can trace other points of the same doctrine, finer and more subtle, streaming under them like fires from purer altars of meaning than words can kindle. The very finest fires of meaning I cannot tell you in words; you must be of an esoteric or spiritual nature to read them while I am talking. We call metaphysics the Science of Life, because to know pure metaphysics is to renew the life and make dcath and accident impossible. We call metaphysics the Science of Health, because to know metaphysics is to be perfectly well and free from liability to sickness or disease of any kind. We call metaphysics the Science of Strength, because to know metaphysics is to be strong beyond any strength you have ever dreamed of. Nothing is too hard for those who are strong with the strength of metaphysics. We call metaphysics the Science of Support, because whoever studies the science finds his support coming to him in a new way, and he cannot come to actual want, no matter who would have failed if they had been put in his place. The prophecy of Jeremiah and of Isaiah comes to pass to whoever studies metaphysics without blundering in his reasonings. "Bread shall be given him, his waters shall be sure." We call metaphysics the Science of Defense or Protection, for no ill can come nigh the dwelling of one who puts his trust in the principle taught by this science. "His place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks." This science of Life, Truth, Love, Substance and Intelligence is for all who look into it profoundly. Outside of metaphysics the world is seeking for for its life by physical performances; working at machinery, books, commerce, cooking, washing, eating, governing one another, employing one another, killing and using animals, wearing flesh and bones into the grave to make a living. But the whole system of living by material efforts is wrong. "Turn unto Me, for why will ye die?" said the Spirit. Death is the reward of hard effort to live by material actions. If you will look into the Science of Spirit you will see that your life is meant to be sustained by the Science of God and not by the science of matter. God is Spirit, therefore it is the Science of Spirit which we are to study when we open the reasoning with the word "God." God is the name for that Intelligence which out of its own substance bestowed upon you that intelligence you now have. Intelligence is Mind. Thus it is plain that by opening our study with the word "God" we are beginning the study of Mind. By Mind alone we are taught we are to live and be strong. By Mind alone we are supported and defended. The further on we get in the Science, the more confident we become that it is by the words that proceed from the mouth of God that we are to live. Jesus Christ taught this. He was ministered by angels, and said: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." This means that God has a way of giving freely from His Mind words that will make alive. Jesus Christ told the people that His words were Life. He spoke of the manna which the Jews had eaten while wandering forty years in the wilderness as being so far from the real bread that the Jews all died. He showed over and over again that the Word is a bread that will keep life in the body forever. "He that eateth of this bread shall live forever." As nearly as possible, the twelve lessons which we now begin will take the absolute meanings of the words of Jesus Christ. If we take the absolute meanings, dear friends, we are obliged to say that our life needs no material or physical effort to keep it forever. It needs only the true Word of God. It is not profitable to say that our life needs no material support. It is only profitable to say that our life does need the Word of God. The Word of God IS Truth. God works only in Truth. We may throw true words down into the arena of human life and their power will be God's power. The power of God is freedom. Jesus Christ said that all who knew Truth would be free. What do you want to be free from? Sin, sickness, death; all the evil men fear is contained in these three words. From these the Word of God sets absolutely free. Miracles of healing have been worked by thousands of men and women who taught true words concerning God in some of the statements we find set forth in order by Spiritual Science. Each lesson has this healing strength. Keep your mind open and free to receive that lesson which fits your own disposition best. No matter what type or character you are or what disposition of mind you have, I tell you that one of these lessons strikes your key-note, and by speaking over and over the words which that one lesson explains, you will let the fire of your own native healing gift from Jehovah kindle health within your own body and in those of all your neighbors. Elisha cured a terrible case of leprosy by one of these lessons. It was probably the second lesson. He raised the Shunamite woman's child to life by one of these lessons. It was probably the third lesson. He increased the loaves of bread to feed a hundred men. This was the fourth lesson. He would not have called it the fourth lesson, but he would have felt in his mind all the strength of the fourth lesson as we have it. The first lesson finds out what your mind is seeking and names it. Can you name now just exactly what your mind is seeking? You would soon be set on the right track for finding what you are seeking if you could name what you want. The naming of what the mind of the whole world is seeking is the first statement of Jesus Christ, and is the first lesson of Moses. It is the foundation thought, even in the minds of the insects. It is the GOOD. Are you not seeking Good? Why do you move your right hand? You move it to get your Good. Why do you breathe? You breathe to get your Good. Why do the stones lie still and wait? They are waiting for their Good. Why does the fly? It flies for its Good. Everything moves and waits for its Good. So you see that the Good draws everything. The Good which you and I want governs everything we do. Therefore the Good which you are seeking is your God. Spinoza was called the God-intoxicated man, because he spoke the word God so much. I am convinced that if he spoken the word Good, instead of the word God, he would have come into a nearer relation to his God. Moses says that God (Good) created. The Good which are seeking created you. Just that Good which you want is the combination of words which brought you forth. The honest statement that "My Good is my God" has the power to set the mind to a key which is nearer to its normal tone than it is now thinking. John said that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God. He also said that out of the Word all things were made and without the Word was nothing made. Paul said that a veil is forever over the face when the Word is read because so many untruthful things have been spoken of God. If you take the word God for your starting point, you will not start so near the foundation feeling of your mind as you will if you take the word GOOD. "I am seeking my Good, therefore I am seeking my God." The devout poet who wrote, "I was athirst for thee, the living God," would have found healing power beginning to stream forth into his life like a fine white fire if he had struck his lyre to the chord, "I seek my Good. My Good is my God." Therefore in the Science of Mind you may take for your first idea one word. It is the word "Good." In the science of words you may take the word Good and let it lie before you like a great white stone. It has a revealing power which the word "God" has not. John, the Revelator, speaks of the white stone. The white stone is a word. The word is Good. It is the name of what you want. It is the nearest approach to expressing what is in our mind that Science has thus far given us. It is evident that Science will give us the inner stone if we use the outer stone wisely. As we acknowledge that the Good we are seeking must be our God, because it pulls and pushes us all the time to see if we cannot come nearer to it, we must find ourselves better and better satisfied. The acknowledgment that "I am seeking my Good, and my Good is my God," is telling a simple truth. It is so simple that the tiniest child can say, "I am seeking my Good, and my Good is my God, because it draws and pushes and moves me on." The child who tells this simple truth is telling aloud what the little stones are whispering without words, and the little baby who lisps this simple truth will be fed and clothed by the ever drawing closer and closer to him of his Good. If I should take the unspoken sentence which lies like a hidden jewel under the jagged covering of your thoughts about the things you do not like, I would read it, "There is Good for me and I ought to have it." There is nothing but has in itself the conviction that there is Good belonging to it that it ought to have. The prince reels from the banquet hall, seeking the Good he believes he ought to have. The thief runs from the daylight seeking the Good he thinks he ought to have. But none of them speaks the simple truth about his movements. If any one of them did he would come nearer to finding his Good. God, the Omnipotent Good, works through the word of Truth. Get to speaking the word of Truth from the first to the last statement, and God will be found working for you and through you, with almighty power. The first name of God is Good, and the first name of the Good is God. "There is Good for me and I ought to have it," says the unconscious instinct of the worm crawling at your feet. When you look at the worm and tell the truth about it, why it moves and why it keeps still, you will be in league with its life. It will feel your unity with it. When you look at a drunkard, or miser, you will say he is seeking his Good. His heart will be better satisisfied the instant you speak out what his unspoken instinct is feeling. He does not say so. If he should say so his life would come nearer to being a satisfying one. The moment anybody speaks out the Truth of his life he has spoken the Omnipotent Principle. The unconscious truth is that there is Good for me and I ought to have it. Nothing can kill that unconscious feeling. It is indestructible. It is omnipotent. Thus the Omnipotent Truth is kept hidden in the stillness of the mind of man and the mind of the rocks. The Omnipotent Truth shall not be hidden in the stillness any longer, and the satisfaction of the living things will come when they are told that the reason they move, or do not move, is for one Good. In the Scriptures we read, "Prove me. . .and I will pour you out a blessing." "In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He will direct thy paths." To acknowledge God is to admit we are seeking our Good. It is well to give one day a week to acknowledging that we are seeking for our Good. We tell what our Good is. Is not our Good the free life we want? Do we want a burdened, obstructed, hampered life? Out of the word Good name a good which is Good to you. (If you found this selection interesting, send us an email and we'll include the rest of the chapter in our next issue of the newsletter.) |
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All Contents Copyrighted, 2006, The Conscious Living Foundation
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One of the most popular sections of our website is our gallery of saints, sages and gurus of all religions. In addition, we are also adding photographs of holy sites and shrines. 
ever written about the country. The stunning photography and engaging text with an insightful portrait of its people, landscape, and diverse culture, truly captures the essence of India, one of the oldest continuously surviving civilizations on earth.
are emphasized in this absorbing book set in India. The book is based on a charming true story about a boy who found the author’s lost wallet and could not understand why he should be rewarded for doing the right thing!
There are twelve doctrines of Jesus Christ, This is to say that the one method of Jesus Christ is presented in twelve statements or settings. A diamond has many polished facets and it takes them all to make it shine in its full beauty. The truth has many ways in which it can be expressed and all are required if some people are to believe in its beauty and brightness. Each of the twelve lessons sets forth the whole doctrine in its own way.