How To Live Life And Love It
	God-Consciousness Versus Sense-Consciousness <  Previous Contents Next  >

PUPIL: Then if our truly fine desires are the desires of God Himself trying to manifest in and through us as individuals, in some particular way, why are there so many misfits in life? Why are there so very few who are doing, really doing, just what they would like to do? Why are there so very, very few living the life they truly wish to live? Why? Why? Why? Surely God can fulfill His own desires.

MASTER: Unless ALL things are possible to God then nothing is possible to Him. God has projected each human forth from Himself, each of us possessing an individual mind, for the sole purpose of manifesting Himself and His glory through us. Verily the MIND of man IS the SON of God! The Son has been given absolute liberty. Each can always make of his life, for a time at least, whatsoever he may choose. Man already possesses everything that God had to give him! Each person can make or mar his own picture, exactly as he wishes. By nature man is free to draw from the Ever-Present Parent Mind anything, and all things, that he requires to fulfill his desires. If this is not true then God's highest creation, man, is a mere nothing, an automatic something like a clock which when once wound will run until it runs down. Man IS, however, God's own idea in flesh. The Intelligent Life in man is man's Divine Father! Man is already perfect and complete, IS made of the same essence as his Father (God)!

There is only one reason why every mortal does not manifest and reproduce the Life, Love and Beauty which we see brought out in such radiance and perfection in all of Nature, manifested in Nature to the extreme point where mechanical and automatic actions can bring them. But we as individuals have a Law of Being that is somewhat different in one way from that which governs the other creatures that are of the world we call Nature. For us that are human the only perfect reproduction of Life, Love, Power and Beauty that we can ever know must come from Liberty. That is to say we have freedom of choice that is commensurate with that of the Originating Life-Spirit Itself. In other words we as individuals have the LIBERTY of accepting or rejecting either good or evil, exactly as we may choose them. And the choice that we make results from the state of our consciousness. If we are God-conscious, we ARE gods. But if we are sense-conscious only, then we are creatures of darkness, of illness, of poverty, of loneliness, and all other things that are undesirable. "Choose ye well, therefore, whom ye will serve!" God-consciousness or sense-consciousness, which?

PUPIL: You have given us a powerful and illuminating "dose" here. Already we have a whole lesson. But I still do not see why God's highest creation, man should ever reject any of the good things of life.

MASTER: IF man really understood the Law of his own Being, he never should reject the good things. But there are FEW who fully understand this Law, which is a wide-open door to ABSOLUTE FREEDOM! Most people believe that the "law of their being" (purposely spelled without capital letters) is a law of limitation rather than a LAW OF ABSOLUTE LIBERTY! Man "does not expect to find the starting point of the Creative Process reproduced in himself; so he looks to the mechanical side of things for the basis of his reasoning about Life.

Consequently his reasoning leads him to the conclusion that Life is limited because he has assumed limitation as his premise; and so, logically, he can not escape from it (limitation) in his conclusion." Here in this wonderful quotation from Troward you have the WHOLE STORY of limitation. Here Troward shows most clearly that is all a MATTER OF CONSCIOUSNESS! And so the tragedy results because man in his dense ignorance ridicules the idea of TRANSCENDING the law of limitation, forgetting completely (if indeed he ever learned it) that THE LAW can include all of the lower laws so fully as to completely swallow them!

PUPIL: From what you say it would seem that man's only reason for knowing limitation of any kind is his own lack of understanding. Is man to blame because he does not know?

MASTER: No man is to blame for what he does not know. But surely all persons will suffer because of NOT USING WHAT THEY DO KNOW! And they shall keep right on suffering until, like small children, they learn from experience.

PUPIL: It seems "strange," to say the least, that each of us must learn to find his own fuller Life in his own way. Why did not God COMPEL His idea (man) to understand from birth that Life is Joy, and Joy is Freedom, etc.?

MASTER: Please THINK for just a minute! Would there be ANY FREEDOM, ANY LIBERTY, in that kind of person? Such an individual should be a mere automaton with no sense of LIBERTY at all! God forbid that any of us, His children, become robots!

PUPIL: It seems to me that most people feel life is entirely made up of a constant round of prosaic and homely activities which we are obliged to follow: To the shop, or office we go. We toil and slave, and go home again, all worn out and cranky. We sleep, maybe, then arise to repeat it all again for years until in God's mercy we die. There can be no real joy in that kind of life; but to most of mankind that is all. Still this is NOT all, is it?

MASTER: Indeed that is NOT all, not even for the darkest and most limited of persons. However dark, spiritually and materially, a person may be, deep down in his soul there is a conviction that Life holds his desires fulfilled somehow, somewhere, sometime! He feels also that IF HE ONLY KNEW HOW HE COULD FIND A WAY! Some feel that the real joy of LIBERTY can come only after putting off the body at death. This is NOT the case, however, EVERYTHING THAT LIFE (GOD) HAS TO GIVE IS HERE IN OUR MIDST, AND RIGHT NOW!

As we humans advance in knowledge, either from study or experience, or both, we overcome one law of limitation after another BY FINDING THE HIGHER AND GREATER LAW of which all lower laws are but PARTIAL expressions. At length we see clearly before us, as our ultimate goal, this Truth: "Nothing less than the PERFECT LAW OF LIBERTY -not liberty without Law, which is anarchy -but LIBERTY ACCORDING TO LAW!" When man learns the Law of his own Being, he will specialize it in all of his ways and will have found his true place. Thus will he bring INTO FORM all of the desires of his heart; then will he know the REAL ART OF LIVING!

PUPIL: Can anyone who will learn from Life, either by study or experience, that the Creative Energy, with ALL that it has to give, is an Ever-Present, Responsive Quality of Life? Then can one really materialize, really bring into outward form, his most secret and sacred desires! That would be the art of living sure enough.

MASTER: THE LAW OF LIFE IS CHANGELESS FOREVER! It is always calling to you in these words, or in ones like them: "Come unto ME! Learn about ME! Through ME ALL things are possible unto you because WE, YOU and I, are eternally ONE! I am LIFE! I am Creative; I am always Responsive to the thoughts and emotions with which I am impressed by you! I am MIND! The Law of Mind is MY law! Because this is true it is Truth also that 'AS YOU THINK IN YOUR HEART SO ARE YOU!' Thinking GIVES FORM to the UN-formed Life!"

PUPIL: This is splendid! But again it is getting "heavy." May we have another personal illustration of the adaptation of this principle to everyday living as people live it? This will help, I am sure.

MASTER: All right; I am always happy to comply with such requests if they will really help you. I once knew a dentist, a very fine dentist and a good man. He confided to me one day that music was his very life, and not prosaic dentistry. He said that he was weary of being "down in the mouth all of the time."

"So," I asked, "you feel that you are not in your right place?"

"I know that I am not!" he replied.

"Just why aren't you in your right groove?" I queried.

"Because music will not yield me enough money to keep my family in anything like moderate comfort. I feel that marriage and a family are among Life's deepest joys and greatest blessings. But music is like politics; one has to have lots of 'pull' to get into the few places that will really pay for a good violinist."

"Are you sure of that?" I asked.

"Yes, quite!"

"Well, Mr. Dentist," I said, "I know a God who is All-Intelligent, All-Powerful, Ever-present, Ever-Responsive and Forever Creative! HE is also the Greatest of Master Artists, the Real Maestro! He lives forever deep within your own soul. If you will try going into Him there, if you will establish Harmony there, and will know and understand the Beauty which your music must express there, and if you will be content only with perfection there and in your music, I KNOW that you can and will reap all the reward that any one can wish for in music, just as in any other profession, art or business."

"Your words cause my hopes to soar," he said. "But how can one like me, one who knows very little about God, contact Him?"

"Go within yourself! Go through, or beneath, the confusing, bewildering, disheartening past experiences. Live wholly in and enjoy only the harmonious side of your nature, which is wise, beautiful and most powerful in all ways. Then practice, practice, practice putting that INNER Beauty and Harmony into vibration through the strings of your violin."

"But I am too old to take this up now."

"Not at all! Loving music as you do, you have kept up with your practice, have you not? Then DO TRY WHAT I HAVE TOLD YOU! Try it with faith and love in your heart. Hold them there with a determination and pride which simply will not surrender."

The dentist continued to find excuses, many of them, like so many people do, tragically enough. He did not have time, nor did he feel like it, after long, hard days at the office. He should have to give some time to his family, must have some recreation, etc., etc. But I did not hear him. I kept right on singing glowing word-notes for him, tempting him to try hard, inspiring him with courage. When he stopped finding excuses, and seemed really interested, he asked for the exact method to use. I told him the following steps:

(1) First, he must thoroughly make up his mind that his love for music, his deep passion for the expression of harmony was no accident; he must know that it was nothing less than God Himself persistently, relentlessly urging for expression through him.

(2) He should go carefully over and recite to himself the Lord's prayer, quietly but with much love and feeling, not less than twice every day, each night upon retiring and each morning when he first awakened.

(3) He should faithfully VISUALIZE himself playing, playing, playing, joyfully, harmoniously, enthusiastically playing to large and most appreciative audiences, receiving really handsome checks for his concerts, etc.

(4) After his periods of visualizing he should faithfully use some affirmation that appealed to him, that would strengthen his faith when it sagged, that would feed his high resolve, that would fan his burning urge to a holy flame.

(5) He should practice, practice, PRACTICE his music, striving always with all of his heart and soul to do much better with each rendition than he had ever done before.

Within less than one year the dentist became the musician! He was making more from his "pot boiler" concerts than he had ever made at dentistry. Within another half-year he began a national concert-tour which within a few months yielded him enough to go to Europe for additional study for two years, and to have his family with him over there. Since that time he has done nothing, professionally, but play his violin. He has not, of course, accumulated a really great fortune, but he and his loved ones have all of the good things of life that they wish, and this, combined with an abiding sense of happiness, constitutes TRUE WEALTH for any person!

PUPIL: Does this same plan apply to everyone, and the same steps?

MASTER: The SAME PRINCIPLES apply to all! The exact plan, and the steps that lead to its fulfillment, will vary a little, of course, with each specific case. But no matter what your big desire may be, your Father's dearest wish for you is the absolute fulfillment of that desire by you, by you in partnership with Him! He always LONGS to give you any and all good things! His WHOLE PURPOSE in having created you was that He MIGHT EXPRESS HIMSELF THROUGH YOU! THIS IS EXACTLY WHY HE CREATED INDIVIDUALS, and THIS IS WHY HE DOES LIVE IN AND THROUGH THEM! If we would have any of His GIFTS AS OUR VERY OWN we need ONLY to LIFT UP OUR FALLEN CONSCIOUSNESS TO THIS HOLY BELIEF and THEN WORK IN SHEER JOY AND EXPECTATION towards the LOVELY VISION WE HAVE IN VIEW!