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Christian Healing
Lesson 3
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[Christian Healing]
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Lesson Three
Manifestation
1. As a rule, religious people are not scientific. They
think that religion and science are separated by a gulf,
and that the scientific mind is spiritually dangerous.
Science, to them, is associated with Darwin, Huxley, and
other students of natural law who have been skeptical about
the accuracy of the Bible from the standpoint of natural
science, and whom, because of this skepticism, they brand
as infidels. Hence it has come to be almost heresy for a
good Christian to think about his religion as having a
"scientific" side.
2. By science we mean the systematic and orderly
arrangement of knowledge. This definition does not confine
science to the facts of the material world. There is a
science in Christianity, and it is only through the
understanding of this science as a fundamental of
Christianity that the Christ teachings can be fully
demonstrated in the life of man. To fail to understand the
science upon which spiritual understanding rests is to fail
in nearly every demonstration of its power. Paul says: "I
will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the
understanding also."
3. There is a gulf between the high spiritual understanding
and the material manifestation. It is only by bridging this
gulf that science and religion can be reconciled. The
bridge needed is the structure that thought builds. When
Christians understand
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the science of thinking, the power of thought to manifest
itself, and how the manifestation of thought is
accomplished, they will no longer fear material science;
when material scientists have fathomed the real nature of
the living force that they even now discern as ever active
in all nature's structures, they will have more respect for
religion.
4. Both the religionist and the physicist incorrectly hold
that the Bible is a historical description of man's
creation. Beginning with the very first chapter of Genesis,
the Bible is an allegory. It is so regarded by the majority
of Hebrew scholars, and they certainly ought to know the
character of their own Scriptures. Paul was a Hebrew, and
thoroughly versed in the occultism of spiritual writings;
he said, referring to the story of Abraham and Sarah,
"Which things contain an allegory." Hebrews almost
universally claim that the story of the Garden of Eden,
Adam, Eve, and the serpent is symbology.
5. In the face of these facts, it seems strange that
orthodox Christianity should insist that the Bible is a
literal history. It is this literal viewpoint that has
stood in the way of true spiritual understanding. Read in
the light of Spirit, the 1st chapter of Genesis is a
description, in symbol, of the creative action of universal
Mind in the realm of ideas. It does not pertain to the
manifest universe any more than the history of the
inventor's idea pertains to the machine that he builds to
manifest the idea. First the problem is thought out, and
afterward the structure is
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produced. So God builds His universe. This is explained in
the 2d chapter of Genesis, which says that God "rested . .
. from all his work," and yet there were no plants of the
field, "and there was not a man to till the ground." "And
Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man
became a living soul."
6. Only through perception of the mental law by which ideas
manifest from the formless to the formed can we understand
and reconcile these two apparently contradictory chapters.
In the light of true understanding everything is made
plain, and we discern just how Divine Mind is creating man
and the universe: first the ideal concept, then the
manifestation.
7. The six days of creation, as described in the 1st
chapter of Genesis, represent six great ideal projections
from Divine Mind, each more comprehensive than its
predecessor. The final climax is reached in the sixth
degree, when that phase of Being called man appears, having
dominion over everything, or every idea, that has gone
before. This ideal man, who is made in the "image" and
"likeness" of Elohim, is the epitome and focal center
around which all creation revolves; hence the one important
study of man is the mind of man. In mind is the key to all
mysteries, both religious and material. When we know how
mind manifests from the ideal to the so-called real, we are
no longer in the
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dark, but have that Truth which Jesus said would make us
free.
8. There is but one man. On the spiritual side of his
being, every man in the universe has access to that man,
eternally existing in Divine Mind as a perfect-man idea.
When man appreciates this mighty truth and applies it in
his conscious thinking, all manifestation becomes
harmonious and orderly to him, and he sees God everywhere.
9. A right understanding of the divine law of creation
reveals man as a necessary factor in God's great work.
Through man, God is forming or manifesting outwardly that
which exists in the ideal. In order, then, that the
creation shall go on and be fulfilled as God has designed,
man must not only understand the law of mind action in his
individual thought, but he must also understand his
relation to the universal thought. Not only must he
understand it, but in his every thought he must consciously
cooperate with divine ideals. Jesus understood this law and
repeatedly claimed that He was sent of God to carry out the
divine will in the world. This commission is given to every
man, and man will not have satisfaction in life until he
recognizes this universal law; until he becomes an
obedient, willing co-worker with Divine Mind.
10. Spiritual man is I AM; manifest man is I will. I AM is
the Jehovah God of Scripture, and I will is the Adam. It is
the I AM man that forms and breathes into the I will man
the "breath of life."
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When we are in the realm of the ideal, we are I AM; when we
are expressing ideals in thought or in act, we are I will.
When the I will gets so absorbed in its realm of expression
that it loses sight of the ideal and centers all its
attention in the manifest, it is Adam listening to the
serpent and hiding from Jehovah God. This breaks the
connection between Spirit and manifestation, and man loses
that spiritual consciousness which is his under divine law.
In this state of mind the real source of supply is cut off,
and there is a drawing upon the reserve forces of the
organism, the tree of life. It is in this experience that
man is described as being driven out of the Garden of Eden,
or the paradise of Being.
11. Every idea projects form. The physical body is the
projection of man's idea; we carry the body in the mind.
The body is the fruit of the tree of life, which grows in
the midst of the garden of mind. If the body-idea is
grounded and rooted in Divine Mind, the body will be filled
with a perpetual life flow that will repair all its
imperfect parts and heal all its diseases.
12. When man realizes that there is but one body-idea and
that the conditions in his body express the character of
his thought, he has the key to bodily perfection and
immortality in the flesh. But "flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God." The "flesh and blood" here
referred to is the corruptible-body idea that men carry in
mind. When we get the right idea of the origin and
character of the body,
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the corruptible will put on incorruption and our bodies
will be raised from the dead, as was the body of Jesus.
"Neither was he left unto Hades, nor did his flesh see
corruption."
13. The resurrection of our bodies from the dead begins in
our minds. We must change our ideas about the body, and
hold to the truth of its origin and destiny as conceived of
God, in whose mind its real being exists. The spiritual
body of man is the conception of Divine Mind, the creation
of Spirit for us. Our work is to make this spiritual body
manifest.
14. When we have the right understanding of creation, and,
with the help of this understanding, begin the redemption
of the body, the Spirit of God quickens the inner life of
the whole organism, and we know that the promise in Acts
2:17 is being fulfilled in us: "In the last days, saith
God, I will pour forth of my Spirit upon all flesh."
15. The problem before man in the present race
consciousness is how to get back to the "Father's house,"
in which is inexhaustible abundance. As it is by an
exercise of the free will inherent in us that we separate
ourselves from the Father, so it must be through that same
faculty that we again make conscious union with Him. We
must realize the foolishness of living in that most
external realm where only the husks of things are, and upon
which we would fain satisfy ourselves, but cannot. Then let
us turn our attention within; by traveling for a season in
that
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direction we find the source and substance of life.
16. This turning within, after one has for a long time been
looking without, is no easy matter. The mind that has been
trained to the standards of the formed universe is often
slow to grasp the formless. But there is a state of
consciousness in the soul that has, through ages of
experience, learned about this formless world and is at
home in it. Our dreams, visions, and spiritual experiences,
of which we seldom speak, come from this inner realm. So it
is found that we have a household waiting for us on the
subjective side of our being, and its welcome is worth all
the effort of our seeking it. "We seek a country from which
we came forth," Paul said in substance.
17. Individualize yourself in the highest degree by
affirming that in Spirit and in Truth you are all that God
is. This is true of man in his spiritual nature, and he
must claim the supreme inheritance before he can enter into
the mighty mental and spiritual forces that are released
from the kingdom of God within man. No one enters the
kingdom of God, and sits upon the throne and abides there,
until he has the courage and fearlessness to proclaim
himself joint heir with Jesus. Then he must prove his
dominion by his purity of motive, an unselfish devotion to
Truth universal, and a steady industry and patience in
overcoming the limitation of his own sense consciousness.
18. Man's true identity is as the perfect-man idea
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in Divine Mind. This idea has no mind separate from the one
universal realm of ideas. Man must establish himself in the
one and only Mind. He came forth from it, and his whole
existence depends on it; then why should he not consciously
make the mental connection that will establish in himself
the harmony and order on which all existence depends?
19. Nearly all religious systems aim to bring about this
unity between God and man, and many of them are quite
successful in their methods. We owe much to the church, to
the education and the help that we have received directly
and indirectly through the efforts of spiritual-minded
people in all ages. The Truth has pressed upon them, and
they have demonstrated it up to their highest understanding
of it. We are now in a fuller degree of enlightenment
concerning the spiritual laws that govern man and the
universe, and consequently we can more definitely and
scientifically apply the methods for spiritual development
that, in religious systems, are usually followed through
faith. To your faith you can now add understanding.
20. One's getting back into the Garden of Eden, or taking
possession of the Promised Land, is a conscious entering
into the subjective part of one's own being. In divine
order the will acts upon the body center from within; in
the average person this action is through reflection from
without. In practice we live outside our body instead of
within it. This gives us a very slender hold upon it, and
it is in consequence
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weak and likely to slip away from us on very slight
pretexts.
21. Man should constantly affirm: I AM, and I will
manifest, the perfection of the Mind within me. The first
part of the statement is abstract Truth; the second part is
concrete identification of man with this Truth. We must
learn the law of expression from the abstract to the
concrete--from the formless to the formed. Every idea makes
a structure after its own image and likeness, and all such
ideas and structures are grouped and associated according
to their offices.
22. All ideas pertaining to power group themselves about
structures impregnated with power. Such ideas are not
attracted to ideas of love. Love has its group, and it
builds its structures in a place apart. We have observed
certain of the manifest centers in our body; we have
recognized and named them as the seat of emotions, as the
expression of characteristics supposed to exist in the
soul. Love is universally recognized as expressing itself
through the heart, and intelligence as expressing itself
through the head.
23. In the study of Mind and Spirit, these inner centers of
consciousness are concentrated on until they respond to the
I will and become obedient to it. By this method man finds
that he can control and direct every body function and
perpetuate it.
24. This is the "regeneration" of the New Testament, a
process of body refinement to the point of
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physical immortality. Jesus called this estate "the
regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of
his glory."
"I AM" REALIZATIONS
(To be used in connection with Lesson Three)
1. "I AM THAT I AM."
2. I am identity demonstrated.
3. I AM THAT I AM, and there is no other besides me.
4. I am one with Almightiness.
5. I am the substance of Being made manifest.
6. I am formed in the perfection of the divine-idea man,
Christ Jesus.
7. My body is not material; it is spiritual and perfect in
all its being.
8. Centered and established in the one Mind, I am not
disturbed by the falsities without me.
9. My identity is in God, and my work is to establish His
kingdom within me.
10. I can do nothing of myself, "but the Father abiding in
me does his works."
11. I am striving in all my thoughts and ways to make the
image and likeness of God manifest in me.
12. My "life is hid with Christ in God."
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