"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." (Revelation 3: 20-22). "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (I Corinthians 3: 16). Inspiration can sometimes come in the oddest ways. Here's an example: My husband's alarm clock goes off at 5:30 a.m., but he has a snooze-alarm, on the top of the clock, which allows him to shut off the alarm for ten minutes before it goes off again. He does this two or three times, until he's ready to get up at about 6:00 a.m. I try to sleep until 7:00. Now, sometimes he forgets to shut off the alarm completely when he gets up, so it goes off after he's left the room. At that time, and if he hears it, he comes back into the room to shut it off. Today, he didn't hear it, so I called to him to tell me which of the numerous, unmarked buttons behind the clock actually shuts off the alarm. He called back to me, "I'll get it." Wanting to solve this minor disturbance to my sleep once and for all, I responded, "No, it's better for me to know." Once I mastered the morning alarm, I couldn't get back to sleep. Instead, the words, "it's better for me to know" triggered something in me. I realized that knowing anything is the key to independence in just about every human endeavor. The more we know, the less dependent we are on others to take care of our needs and problems. In fact, knowledge of things pertinent to our daily experience is necessary, not just to minor glitches (like an alarm on auto-pilot) but also to major problems, such as illness, or lack of supply. Our very freedom in life has to do with knowing the spiritual truth about man and the universe, for as Christ Jesus told his disciples and followers, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:32). Healing disease claims and discords of every name and nature, as demonstrated by the Master, was definitely shown to be among our freedoms under God's will and spiritual law. But this freedom is tied to our having a knowledge of what is true; and knowledge of truth is tied to an understanding of what is spiritual. The wonderful thing about actually knowing any spiritual truth, that leads to freedom from disease and lack, is that it has an immediate effect in our human experience. This effect, or physical adjustment, is what we call healing. It is a restoration of the wholeness and harmony of being by transformation (altering physical form). But this knowing must be more than our attempt to know; it must be a solid conviction--a realization of spiritual truth in the face of material misrepresentations of truth--before any positive effect takes place. First a realization, or light, must dawn in consciousness of some spiritual fact; then the adjustment occurs physically. For instance, a knowing-realization of the spiritual facts of our everlasting health, results not only in an adjustment of our beliefs about law and health, but also a healing is then experienced in our earthly, physical bodies. Likewise, a realization about infinite Spirit, (the divine Intelligence) being our only real source of supply, immediately brings human supply of whatever is needed, first to our thought, then to the formation or creation of whatever form is required. Thus, truth becomes of the utmost importance to us. And here is the good news: Since all truth has its source in God, the infinite Intelligence of the universe, then as God's image and likeness, all truth actually dwells within each of us. This fountain of all truth isn't 'out there in the great somewhere'; it's within every single one of us, child or adult, and we are at one with this fountain. The somewhere of this fountain of knowledge is at the deepest center of our consciousness. It was always there, even before we made our appearance, here, on this human plane; but it's like having a gold mine in our back yard…first we must know that it's there, then we can benefit and make withdrawals from it. In the Book of Psalms, David obviously knew of the divine thoughts reaching him from within his own conscious being when he wrote: "Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward:…" (Psalm 40: 5). These Godly, spiritual thoughts can be distinguished from all others, because they bring a sense of peace, freedom and joy. Spiritual thoughts never give us a necessity for evil--for destruction against others, for sickness, or for lack of any kind. They always uphold the spiritual truth, that good, alone, exists in God's everlasting kingdom--a kingdom that is invisibly, ever-present with us. The apostle Paul once said, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." (Phil 2:5). This 'mind' or divine knowing within is sometimes called the Christ Consciousness, since it was the divine consciousness which was demonstrated by Jesus the Christ, as native to us all. It is from this Christ Consciousness or Christ-Mind that the infinite truth of God proceeds, flowing out from us, first into our own conscious awareness, and then into whatever form or expression we commit it to in the world. Awareness of the spiritual facts of being, of Spirit's laws controlling all true being, cause and effect, begin at once to result in spiritual demonstrations of physical healing and abundance of supply. Our spiritual self has no need of healing, being it's always at one with its source, safe and whole in God's keeping. But the material body and substance (form) we seem to be does need correction, to allow our God-ordained health to be expressed upon our human sense of body, while we're using this form to express our being. So how do we tap into this fountain of truth and knowledge within that is waiting and ready to flow out into our awareness? Here's a current example of how the knowledge of spiritual truth concerning life and health begins, at once, to transform the physical body's sense of health:
Since truth doesn't have to come to us from anywhere else, (because it flows forever out from the fountain of God within our innate, spiritual consciousness) we're never dependent upon other people for truth. It depends upon God's presence with us, and God's presence alone. This we always have. Other people, however enlightened, aren't the source of truth; even the enlightened ones have received truth from the divine Intelligence within their own being--that infinite fountain of all knowledge, within us all. These prophets and seers have only shared with the rest of us, what they've seen and heard from within--from Immanuel, or God-with-us. So, let me repeat this one, very important point about spiritual truth and the individual: While studying the truth of being which others have written, like Mary Baker Eddy, (the founder of Christian Science) and Joel Goldsmith (a Christian Scientist for many years, who later founded The Infinite Way movement), we don't want to miss the deep, universal message which these enlightened ones, and Christ Jesus and other prophets presented: namely, that being isn't physical; it's really spiritual in body, soul and mind, and that the kingdom of God, including all truth of spiritual being, dwells within each of us--within the one divine consciousness and only true mind that is with and in everybody. In our own true mind, our own spiritual consciousness, we'll find the exact truth we need to meet any threat of harm. Truth isn't something another has more than we, ourselves. Truth doesn't belong to any one; it belongs to every one. The truth of spiritual existence over our bodies, our divine rights, our right places, our abundant supply, is already known by our own Christ identity--our higher self. True, in this human condition, our memory of this selfhood seems to be mostly, though not all, wiped away. But acceptance of the fact of spiritual selfhood allows it to be expressed again, as the truth takes dominion over every falsity and claim of evil in our lives. So, by all means, study whatever revelations of spiritual truth that others have found and published; but don't let people, instead of God, become an oracle of truth for you as an individual--the oracle of truth is the Christ-Mind within your own being. This has been the true oracle, or source of truth, for all revelators throughout time. Don't ignore the fact that the wonderful, spiritually enlightened individuals in the world, past and present, are leading us to the Christ of our own being, and not to themselves. They want us to learn of the Christ Self within and practice it. They want us to awaken and go home. Just repeated readings of their writings, without our own practice of it, is getting stuck in a rut that will go a tiny way, and then nowhere. That's because reading alone isn't insight, comprehension, or realization. Reading is merely listening to someone else's thoughts and opinions, which, although often imbued with divine wisdom, is still only the channel, and not the source, of this wisdom. People who share with us the spiritual insights they've found are always the channel but never the source of spiritual truth. God alone is the fountain head; the principle of all. Therefore, when facing some threatening situation, instead of running to find truth in some book, frantically trying to remember some truth someone else wrote, or trying to remember a phone number of some practitioner to call who might know the truth you need…become still. Then, in this stillness, go directly to the Christ within your own being. It's better for you to seek out the source within your own true, spiritual being. It's also better to know your real self…to awaken and let out your own knowing. Start acknowledging this inner presence of the Christly identity (spiritual selfhood). Meditate and talk to the divine self within regularly, even when not facing some crisis, to let it guide you and bring you back into the understanding of all spiritual truth. Spend time, every day, in quieting all human thought, so you can hear the voice within. Then, when suffering some illness or lack, if this consciousness within leads you to a certain statement written in the Bible or other source book, or if it leads you to call a certain individual, then is the time to pursue it, because divine Intelligence has led you to it. A book doesn't know your precise need of a moment…it isn't alive to know. Nor does another person know all the particulars of what you might need. But God is alive, and as close to you as anything or anyone can get. And if you need a book, or a statement of truth written in some book, God, the divine Intelligence within, will lead you precisely to it, with no guess-work. But just reading and studying another's enlightened revelations, over and over again, will never let you experience your own. If you miss this all-important point about your individual responsibility to put on your true identity, spiritual healing will be a lovely, metaphysical concept for you much of your life, but you'll always depend upon other people to do your healing for you. In spiritual actuality, we don't have to study anything for truth. I remember hearing a story, long ago, of a woman who knew only English, and was hypnotized. Under the spell of hypnosis, she was told that she could speak fluent Russian. She proceeded to do so, verified by several others around her who spoke Russian well. Upon awakening from her hypnotic state of consciousness, she denied, once again, any knowledge of other languages. She didn't remember her demonstration of Russian. This incident shows that consciousness is a tricky deceiver. We seem, to our human evaluation, to think on several levels. But spiritually viewed, this reveals that we have a well of knowledge within our own being, seemingly at an unconscious level, that can even be tapped by yielding up, to another, the convictions of our conscious mind. Once our own, limiting beliefs are out of the way, we become capable of knowledge, within us, we didn't know was there. I've read, through the years, of other demonstrations, such as this, where people unlearned and unschooled in mathematics, have solved intricate mathematical equations while under the same, hypnotic states, showing an infinite source of knowledge and intelligence within consciousness, held hostage by their own--and humanity's--beliefs. Once we understand that all knowledge has its source in God's intelligence, and since this divine consciousness is within each of us at our point of oneness with God, the tricks and demonstrations of hypnosis aren't that remarkable. On this human level of conscious being, we've just forgotten who we really are--God's spiritual children. All languages proceeded from God; all mathematics too. In fact, if we grasp the concept of God's divine intelligence as the only Creator, we can see that the omniscience (all knowledge), the omnipresence (everywhere present), and omnipotence (all cause and effect, law, power) belong to God, and to Its images and likenesses forever. That's what's really worth knowing!
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