Chapter 1 - Reality
Itself
The secret of reality is
found
when we turn from the superficial to Absolute, from the many to the One
- from a finite to the Infinite.
If one affirms this or
denies
that, he is not free. He is not free if he applies the Truth to
something which is not real. THE SELF IS FREE AS IT IS. When one
perceives this momentous fact, and identifies himself as this Self, he
is free.
For nearly a century it
has
been proclaimed: Change the mind! Change the thought! Change the
belief! Alas, what has not been seen is that all such directions
pertain to those who believe they have a mind of their own, separate
from the Divine. Regardless how many changes are made in personal
minds, thoughts and beliefs, not until one identifies himself as DIVINE
MIND, will his need of healing and regeneration cease.
Identifying oneself as
the
Divine—letting go all other identification—spontaneously one comes into
possession of Wholeness, Harmony and Blessedness which are REALITY
ITSELF.
We are Reality—we are
not
ideas or expressions of It. The great mistake is to believe we can have
knowledge of Truth without being Truth, and that we can be expressions
of God, yet not be God. The fact is, whatever is included in the
Infinite IS the Infinite.
Deliverance comes
through
SPIRITUAL REVELATION. It comes as though a door opened into another
world where we know Spiritual things spiritually.
Here, in our Real Being,
we
are the Divine alone.
Attempting to apply
Truth to
discordant thoughts, things or conditions, by means of individual
thinking, binds one to the belief of SEPARATENESS. Let him rise out of
this belief first of all.
Instead of studying how
to be
healed, how to become wealthy and satisfied through means of achieving
or overcoming, one 's supreme desire should be to accept Reality alone.
In clear, correct teaching, Van Der Leeuw gives his view of Reality,
and what is demanded of us, in his Conquest of Illusion as follows:
In our real Being, we
are a
Reality which has never begun and which will never end, a Reality which
is unchanging. We should this very moment pierce through the veil of
time and enter Eternity. The depth of the Eternal is in every instant
of time, and we shall find it if we shall but abandon illusion and
enter Reality. We need not wait for some glory to come, the glory is
here now, if we will but realize it.
Here in the world of the
Real,
in a divine simplicity, we experience ourselves as that Eternity , in
the light of which fears and hopes are superfluous. We are freed from
the entanglements of illusion with its problems, and from our vain
attempt to solve them. We no longer seek immortality. We are Eternal.
Divine Mind is
independent of
any personal mind, thought or belief. Inevitably, the fact must be
faced. The Divine cannot be found by way of DEMONSTRATION. Perfect
Divine Mind and imperfect finite mentality can never be unified or
harmonized. All efforts in this direction are in vain.
In the Kingdom of God
there is
no room for a single finite mind; no place for one personal effort; or
even the smallest human desire. What a pity that one would remain as
outside the kingdom — rather than to remember the lesson of the
prodigal son, to humble himself, and abandon the belief of separateness
altogether.
The Truth says: "I thank
Thee,
O , Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things
from the wise and prudent, and hast them revealed unto babes." (Luke
10:21)
Like the learned
Nicodemus,
the wise and prudent are always right in their own eyes, certain about
the things of this world — familiar with the latest news of the day,
keeping up with the times. But what a price to pay! Continually they
think and live as separate beings, outside the Kingdom.
Babes, like “the wise
virgins”
(Matthew 25:2), are equipped with INNER ILLUMINATION, continually
dwelling in Light of the Eternal — enjoying the Peace and Happiness
none can take away, because they are REALITY ITSELF.
The Message of the
Absolute
cannot be put into a system of healing or regeneration. It prescribes
no solution for working out problems in a separate, human existence.
The Absolute takes us into the Real, where we experience living Reality.
Duality is not here —
cause,
effect, purpose, sin, sickness nor death. The Rhythm of Being is ours —
we are It.
Many are not
experiencing
Life, radiant and perfect, because they are identifying themselves with
a mind and thinking of their own ,— not the Mind of God.
Demonstration has been a
great
boon, but we must not stop here. We are destined to rise above
demonstration altogether, in order to experience Revelation – the
prerequisite to REALITY ITSELF.
There is an unfailing
way. The
Heart—the medium of contact between ourselves and our Reality—is
destined to know and comprehend spiritual things. The Divine Promise
remains ever-operative: "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall
see God."' (Matthew 5:8)
Chapter 2 - The
Kingdom
Of The Self
WHO but the ONE can know things as they are? Who but the ONE can be
illumined? To be the One—the Real and the Eternal—is our only means of
realizing Heaven.
The world one seeks is THE KINGDOM OF THE SELF. Only a personal thinker
attempts to create his own heaven. His ways leave him where they find
him — in a belief of human existence. Here, in this belief, the
illusion of separateness and personal achievement begins and persists.
Entrance into Reality through progressive states of consciousness—which
keep one in constant labor and strife—is unachievable and hopeless.
Such practices keep one on the threshold where he can but touch the
fringes of Eternity, but never find himself IN the Kingdom.
The metaphysical idea that one 's harmony depends upon his individual
thinking may seem attractive and practical to those who would improve
their human existence through higher states of consciousness. The vital
question is: are we living in Real Existence now or are we living in a
relative existence which we can alter by our thinking? What is the
difference between Real Existence and relative existence?
When we recognize and accept Perfect Self and Being to be the only
Self-hood there is—and identify ourselves as this Selfhood—we are
living in Real Existence now. Our experience is spontaneous
Consciousness. Thoughts of a human self and human existence do not come
to us here.
When one does not accept Perfect Self and Being to
be the
only Selfhood there is—and does not identify himself as this Perfect
Self, inclusive of Perfect Consciousness—apparently he lives in another
state called human, finite or relative existence. Here, in the
relative, both good and evil appear — right and wrong, life and death,
personal will, personal mind and thinking.
No real war exists to correct human or material existence. Any
self-created harmony in material experience is as unreal as relative
experience itself.
One may be happy in a dream, yet the dream itself be naught. All
systems and mental practices of healing deal with human or relative
experience.
The Absolute deals with the Real, the True and the Eternal. The
Absolute identifies us as Spirit, Life — the Self-existent and
Self-complete. The Absolute identifies us as Light in which is no
darkness at all; as Harmony in which is no discord; and as Life in
which there is no death.
How can we escape the experience of sickness and death unless
identified as That which cannot be sick or die? That which is Eternity
Itself? To make such identification, we must of necessity confess
Divine Consciousness, Divine Being and Divine Existence to be the ONE
and the ALONE. This means that we must take leave altogether of the
belief that there is something about ourselves which is personal,
something which we must change, heal or purify.
The remedy which metaphysics prescribes is the silencing of human
discord with Divine Harmony—though retaining the belief that one is now
living as a human being in a human existence. The Absolute—identifying
us as the Real, the Perfect and the Eternal now—spontaneously reveals
our existence as in the Real world now.
Wholeness and Harmony—the Real and Everlasting—can never be
demonstrated in a human existence.
Wholeness and Harmony are realities of the Spiritual Real World,
belonging to us in Real, Spiritual existence only.
Identified as INDIVIDUAL CONSCIOUSNESS, one cannot see, hear or
understand the language of Spirit — the Real, the True, the Absolute.
Individual consciousness can never be raised to Divine Inspiration and
Understanding, despite ambitious effort to the contrary.
From the standpoint of the relative view—which includes the belief that
there are two states of existence, the Spiritual and a material—one
considers consciousness and what it is conscious of. With mental
treatment, he strives to bring the state of the Real into his human
affairs—to synthesize the Spiritual and the material, the Perfect —
Real and the imperfect — unreal.
Alas, many discover their most heroic attempts in this direction prove
futile and end in failure. If only they would see that this is their
SIGNAL to let go the belief that they can apply the Truth of the true
World to the imperfections of another existence!
"The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the
flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other." (Galatians 5:17)
"Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God." (Corinthians 15-50)
If only one would turn completely from the world of mind [flesh] — how
soon he would hear the Voice of Spirit, and Its words of living Truth!
The instant one stops struggling with the ghost of separateness, and
identifies himself as the Real alone, that instant LIGHT glows within
his Heart — the Heart which has been the unknown to him, lo, these many
years.
New Hope, new Faith, Love and Peace now steal over him like a soft,
cool breeze after a scorching day. He does not need to know how he
finds himself drinking of living water, even though until now he has
been unaccustomed to it. It is natural.
Soon he is knowing Reality without thinking personally — a thing he
never before believed possible. Instead of accepting a finite
existence—which destines him to spend his days in overcoming, creating,
destroying, becoming—he now aspires to realize more of Life in its
Reality, more of the Self in Its Beauty — Love Purity.
I AM the Eternal Self, Absolute, Omnipotent — established from Eternity
- Pure, Whole, Free. The Self is all there is of me — my Mind, World,
Body, Existence. Perfect, Glorious Self-hood is my full and complete
Reality, taking care of Its infinite Manifestation always. Its
government is Everlasting, Secure, Perfect, Intransmutable. It is
totality, the Forever One as All.
No linear measurement is Here, no spatial distance.
The
end is as the beginning; the farthest away as close as the nearest at
hand. Every Identity, Creature and Thing is the Life and the Existence
which is the One as a Whole.
The One Supreme Being is the Manifest, and the Manifest is the One
Supreme Being. No differences are here, no separateness. The ONE is
everyone and everything, and everything and everyone is the ONE, in
ever-abiding Love, Rhythm, Glory.
Identified as this Consciousness, it is as though we had never imagined
ourselves elsewhere, and had never attempted to impersonate another.
Our Love, our Faith, and our Heart 's devotion do not deviate from this
One as our very Self Itself.
Self-Illumination, such as this, is ours—not as though It were One, and
we another—but by virtue of the fact that I AM this Consciousness, in
Its entirety and fullness, here and now.
I AM all of Mary - I AM all of John.
There is no personal ego at al — no personal thinker, no personal
thinking, no personal body or personal existence.
I AM TOTALITY - I AM ALL.
Perfect Consciousness — God — cannot be sick, ignorant, grieved, in
danger or limitation. Confine yourself to Reality Itself. Instead of
praying for or giving a treatment to a certain "Mary" or "John " accept
no mind no being but God. You will then realize treatment to be
superfluous. You will lose every vestige of doubt and fear. You will BE
the Self, seeing and knowing the Self.
When we sit in light, we are not in darkness. When we identify
ourselves as the One-Being, we no longer think as a separate
consciousness. We are Reality which is — GOD.
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