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Lessons In Truth
Lesson 10
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[Lessons In Truth]
[Emily Cady's Works] [Unity on the Web Home Page]
Finding the Secret Place
Lesson Ten
1. How to seek the secret place--where to find it--how to
abide in it--these are the questions that today, more than
at any other time in the history of the world, are engaging
the hearts of men. More than anything else it is what I
want. It is what you want.
2. All the steps that we are taking by speaking words of
Truth and striving to manifest the light which we have
already received are carrying us on swiftly to the time
when we shall have consciously the perfect mind of Christ,
with all the love and beauty and health and power which
that implies.
3. We need not be anxious or in a hurry for the full
manifestation. Let us not at any time lose sight of the
fact that our desire, great as it is, is only God's desire
in us. "No man can come to me, except the Father that sent
me draw him" (Jn. 6:44). The Father in us desires to reveal
to us the secret of His presence, else we had not known any
hunger for the secret, or for Truth.
4. "Ye did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed
you, that ye should go and bear fruit" (Jn. 15:16).
5. Whoever you are that read these words, wherever you
stand in the world, be it on the platform preaching
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the gospel, or in the humblest little home seeking Truth,
that you may make it manifest in a sweeter, stronger, less
selfish life, know once and forever that you are not
seeking God, but God is seeking you. Your longing for
greater manifestation is the eternal energy that holds the
worlds in their orbits, outpushing through you to get into
fuller manifestation. You need not worry. You need not be
anxious. You need not strive. Only let it. Learn how to let
it.
6. After all our beating about the bush, seeking here and
there for our heart's desire, we must come right to Him who
is the fulfillment of every desire; who waits to manifest
more of Himself to us and through us. If you wanted my love
or anything that I am (not that I have), you would not go
to Tom Jones or to Mary Smith to get it. Either of those
persons might tell you that I could and would give myself,
but you would have to come directly to me, and receive of
me that which only I am, because I am it.
7. In some way, after all our seeking for the light and
Truth, we must learn to wait, each one for himself, upon
God for this inner revelation of Truth and our oneness with
Him.
8. The light that we want is not some thing that God has to
give; it is God Himself. God does not give us life or love
as a thing. God is life and light and love. More of Himself
in our consciousness, then, is what we all want, no matter
what other name we may give it.
9. My enduement of power must come from "on
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high," from a higher region within myself than my present
conscious mind; so must yours. It must be a descent of the
Holy (whole, entire, complete) Spirit at the center of your
being into your conscious mind. The illumination we want
can never come in any other way; nor can the power to make
good manifest.
10. We hear a great deal about "sitting in the silence." To
many it does not mean very much, for they have not yet
learned how to "wait. . .in silence for God only" (Ps.
62:5), or to hear any voice except external ones. Noise
belongs to the outside world, not to God. God works in the
stillness, and we can so wait upon the Father of our being
as to be conscious of the still, inner working--conscious
of the fulfillment of our desires. "They that seek Jehovah
shall renew their strength" (Is. 40:31).
11. In one of Edward Everett Hale's stories, he speaks of a
little girl who, amidst her play with the butterflies and
birds in a country place, used to run into a nearby chapel
frequently to pray; and after praying always remained
perfectly still a few minutes, "waiting," she said, "to see
if God wanted to say anything" to her. Children are often
nearest the kingdom.
12. When beginning the practice of sitting in the silence,
do not feel that you must go and sit with some other
person. The presence of another person is apt to distract
the mind. Learn first how to commune alone with the Creator
of the universe, who is all-companionship. When you are
able to withdraw from the outside and be alone with Him,
then sitting with
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others may be profitable to you and to them.
13. "Sitting in the silence" is not merely a sort of lazy
drifting. It is a passive, but a definite, waiting upon
God. When you want to do this, take a time when you can,
for a little while, lay off all care. Begin your silence by
lifting up your heart in prayer to the Father of your
being. Do not be afraid that, if you begin to pray, you
will be too "orthodox." You are not going to supplicate
God, who has already given you things "whatsoever ye
desire" (Mk. 11:24 A.V.). You have already learned that
before you call He has sent that which you desire;
otherwise you would not desire it.
14. You know better than to plead with or to beseech God
with an unbelieving prayer. But spending the first few
moments of your silence in speaking directly to the Father
centers your mind on the Eternal. Many who earnestly try to
get still and wait upon God have found that, the moment
they sit down and close their eyes, their thoughts, instead
of being concentrated, are filled with every sort of vain
imagination. The most trivial things, from the fixing of a
shoestring to the gossipy conversation of a week ago, chase
one another in rapid succession through their minds, and at
the end of an hour the persons have gained nothing. This is
to them discouraging.
15. This is but a natural result of trying not to think at
all. Nature abhors a vacuum, and if you make (or try to
make) your mind a vacuum, the thought images of others that
fill the atmosphere about you
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will rush in to fill it, leaving you as far away from the
consciousness of the divine presence as ever. You can
prevent this by beginning your silence with prayer.
16. It is always easier for the mind to say realizingly,
"Thy will is being done in me now," after having prayed,
"Let Thy will be done in me." It is always easier to say
with realization, "God flows through me as life and peace
and power," after having prayed, "Let Thy life flow through
me anew while I wait." Of course prayer does not change
God's attitude toward us, but it is easier for the human
mind to take several successive steps with firmness and
assurance than for it to take one big, bold leap to a point
of eminence and hold itself steady there. While you are
thus concentrating your thoughts on God, in definite
conversation with the author of your being, no outside
thought images can possibly rush in to torment or distract
you. Your mind, instead of being open toward the external,
is closed to it, and open only to God, the source of all
the good you desire.
17. Of course there is to be no set form of words used. But
sometimes using words similar to the first few verses of
the 103d Psalm, in the beginning of the silent communion,
makes it a matter of face-to-face speaking: "Thou forgivest
all mine iniquities (or mistakes); Thou healest all my
diseases; Thou redeemest my life from destruction, and
crownest me with loving kindness, now, now, while I wait
upon Thee." Sometimes we may enter into the inner chamber
with the words of a familiar hymn; as:
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Thou art the life within me,
O Christ, Thou King of Kings;
Thou art Thyself the answer
To all my questionings.
18. Repeat the words many times, not anxiously or with
strained effort, not reaching out and up and away to an
outside God; but let the petition be the quiet, earnest
uplifting of the heart to a higher something right within
itself, even to "the Father in me" (Jn. 14:11). Let it be
made with the quietness and assurance of a child speaking
to his loving father.
19. Some persons carry in their faces a strained, white
look that comes from an abnormal "sitting in the silence,"
as they term it. It is hard for them to know that God is
right here within them, and while in the silence they fall
into the way of reaching away out and up after Him. Such
are earnest men truly feeling after God if haply they may
find Him, when all the time He is near them, even in their
very hearts. Do not reach out thus. This is as though a
seed were planted in the earth, and just because it
recognized a vivifying, life-giving principle in the sun's
rays, it did nothing but strain and stretch itself upward
and outward to get more of the sun. You can see at a glance
that by so doing it would get no solid roots in the earth
where God intended them to be. The seed needs to send roots
downward while it keeps its face turned toward the sun, and
lets itself be drawn upward by the sun.
20. Some of us, in our desire to grow, and having
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recognized the necessity of waiting upon God in the
stillness for the vivifying and renewing of life, make the
mistake of climbing up and away from our bodies. Such
abnormal outstretching and upreaching is neither wise nor
profitable. After a little of it, one begins to get cold
feet and congested head. While one is thus reaching out,
the body is left alone, and it becomes correspondingly weak
and negative. This is all wrong. We are not to reach out
away from the body even after the Son of righteousness. We
are rather to be still, and let the Son shine on us right
where we are. The sun draws the shoot up as fast as it can
bear it and be strong. We do not need to grow ourselves,
only to let the Son "grow" us.
21. But we are consciously to let it; not merely to take
the attitude of negatively letting it by not opposing it,
but to put ourselves consciously where the Son can shine on
us, and then "be still, and know" (Ps. 46:10) that while we
wait there it is doing the work. While waiting upon God, we
should, as much as possible, relax ourselves both mentally
and physically. To use a very homely but practical
illustration, take much the attitude of the entire being as
do the fowls when taking a sun bath in the sand. Yet there
is something more than a lax passivity to be maintained
through it all. There must be a sort of conscious, active
taking of that which God gives freely to us.
22. Let me see if I can make it plain. We first withdraw
ourselves bodily and mentally from the outside world. We
"enter into thine inner chamber,
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and . . . shut thy door" (Mt. 6:6) (the closet of our
being, the very innermost part of ourselves), by turning
our thoughts within. Just say, "Thou abidest within me;
Thou art alive there now; Thou has all power; Thou art now
the answer to all I desire; Thou dost now radiate Thyself
from the center of my being to the circumference, and out
into the visible world as the fullness of my desire." Then
be still, absolutely still. Relax every part of your being,
and believe that it is being done. The divine substance
does flow in at the center and out into the visible world
every moment you wait; for it is an immutable law that
"every one that asketh receiveth" (Mt. 7:8). And substance
will come forth as the fulfillment of your desire if you
expect it to. "According to your faith be it done unto you"
(Mt. 9:29).
23. If you find your mind wandering, bring it right back by
saying again: "It is being done; Thou art working in me; I
am receiving that which I desire," and so forth. Do not
look for signs and wonders, but just be still and know that
the very thing you want is flowing in and will come forth
into manifestation either at once or a little farther on.
24. Go even beyond this and speak words of thanksgiving to
this innermost Presence, that it has heard and answered,
that it does now come forth into visibility. There is
something about the mental act of thanksgiving that seems
to carry the human mind far beyond the region of doubt into
the clear atmosphere of faith and trust, where "all things
are possible" (Mt. 19:26). Even if at first you are not
conscious of having
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received anything from God, do not worry or cease from your
thanksgiving. Do not go back of it again to the asking, but
continue giving thanks that while you waited you did
receive, and that what you received is now manifest; and
believe me, you will soon rejoice and give thanks, not
rigidly from a sense of duty, but because of the sure
manifest fulfillment of your desire.
25. Do not let waiting in the silence become a bondage to
you. If you find yourself getting into a strained attitude
of mind or "heady," get up and go about some external work
for a time. Or, if you find that your mind will wander, do
not insist on concentrating; for the moment you get into a
rigid mental attitude you shut off all inflow of the Divine
into your consciousness. There must be a sort of relaxed
passivity and yet an active taking it by faith. Shall I
call it active passivity?
26. Of course, as we go in spiritual understanding and
desire, we very soon come to the place where we want more
than anything else that the desires of infinite wisdom and
love be fulfilled in us. "My thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith Jehovah. For
as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my
thoughts than your thoughts" (Is. 55:8).
27. Our desires are God's desires, but in a limited degree.
We soon throw aside our limitations, our circumscribed
desires (as soon, at least, as we see that more of God
means more of good and joy and happiness), and with all our
hearts we cry out in the silent
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sitting: "Fulfill Thy highest thought in me now!" We make
ourselves as clay in the potter's hands, willing to be
molded anew, to be "transformed into the same image" (2
Cor. 3:18), to be made after the mind of the indwelling
Christ.
28. We repeat from time to time, while waiting, words
something like these: "Thou art now renewing me according
to Thy highest thought for me; Thou art radiating Thy very
self throughout my entire being, making me like to
Thyself--for there is nothing else but Thee. Father, I
thank Thee, I thank Thee." Be still, be still while He
works. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith
Jehovah of Hosts" (Zech. 4:6).
29. While you thus wait, and let Him, He will work
marvelous changes in you. You will have a strange new
consciousness of serenity and quiet, a feeling that
something has been done, that some new power to overcome
has come to you. You will be able to say, "I and the Father
are one" (Jn. 10:30), with a new meaning, a new sense of
reality and awe that will make you feel very still. Oh! how
one conscious touch of the Oversoul makes all life seem
different! All the hard things become easy; the troublesome
things no longer have power to worry; the rasping people
and things of the world lose all power to annoy. Why?
Because, for a time, we see as He sees. We do not have to
deny evil; we know in that moment that it is nothing at
all. We no longer rigidly affirm the good from sense of
duty, but with delight and spontaneity, because we cannot
help it. It is revealed to us as good. Faith has
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become reality.
30. Do not be discouraged if you do not at once get
conscious results in this silent sitting. Every moment that
you wait, Spirit is working to make you a new creature in
Christ--a creature possessing consciously His very own
qualities and powers. There may be a working for days
before you see any change; but it will surely come. You
will soon get so that you can go into the silence, into
conscious communion with your Lord, at a moment's notice,
at any time, in any place.
31. There is no conflict or inconsistency between this
waiting upon God to be made perfect, and the way of
"speaking the word" out toward the external to make
perfection visible. Waiting upon and consciously receiving
from the Source only make the outspeaking (holding of right
thoughts and words) easy, instead of laborious. Try it and
see.
32. Clear revelation--the word made alive as Truth to the
consciousness--must come to every man who continues to wait
upon God. But remember, there are two conditions imposed.
You are to wait upon God, not simply to run in and out, but
to abide, to dwell "in the secret place of the Most High"
(Ps. 91:1).
33. Of course I do not mean that you are to give all the
time to sitting alone in meditation and silence, but that
your mind shall be continually in an attitude of waiting
upon God, not an attitude of clamoring for things, but of
listening for the Father's voice and expecting a
manifestation of the Father to your
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consciousness.
34. Jesus, our Master in spiritual knowledge and power, had
many hours of lone communion with the Father, and His
greatest works were done after these. So may we, so must
we, commune alone with the Father if we would manifest the
Christ. But Jesus did not spend all His time in receiving.
He poured forth into everyday use, among the children of
men in the ordinary vocations of life, that which He
received of the Father. His knowledge of spiritual things
was used constantly to uplift and to help other persons. We
must do likewise; for newness of life and of revelation
flows in the faster as we give out that which we have to
help others. "Go, preach. . .Heal the sick. . .freely ye
received, freely give" (Mt. 10:7,8), He said. Go manifest
the Christ within you, which you have received of the
Father. God works in us to will and to do, but we must work
out our own salvation.
35. The second indispensable condition to finding the
secret place and abiding in it is "my expectation is from
him":
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"My soul, wait thou in silence for God only;
For my expectation is from him."
--(Ps. 62:5)
"Truly in vain is the help that is looked for from the
hills, the tumult on the mountains: truly in Jehovah our
God is the salvation of Israel" (Jer. 3:23). It is good
that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the
salvation of the Lord.
36. Is your expectation from Him, or is it from books, or
teachers, or friends, or meetings, or societies?
37. "The King of Israel, even Jehovah is in the midst of
thee" (Zeph. 3:15). Think of it; In the midst of you--at
the center of your being this moment while you read these
words. Say it, say it, think it, dwell on it, whoever you
are, wherever you are! In the midst of you! Then what need
for all this running around? What need for all this
strained outreaching after Him?
38. "Jehovah thy God is in the midst of thee (not God in
the midst of another, but in the midst of you, standing
right where you are) a mighty one who will save; he will
rejoice over thee with singing" (Zeph. 3:17). You are His
love. It is you that He will rejoice in with singing if you
will turn away from people to Him within you. His singing
and joy will so fill you that your life will be a great
thanksgiving.
39. Your Lord is not my Lord, nor is my Lord your Lord.
Your Lord is the Christ within your own being. My Lord is
the Christ within my own being.
40. There is one Spirit, one Father of all, in us all,
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but there are different manifestations or individualities.
Your Lord is He who will deliver you out of all your
troubles. Your Lord has no other business but to manifest
Himself to you and through you, and so make you mighty with
His own mightiness made visible; whole with His health;
perfect by showing forth the Christ perfection.
41. Let all your expectation be from your Lord. Let your
communion be with Him. Wait upon the inner abiding Christ
often, just as you would wait upon any visible teacher.
When you are sick "wait thou in silence for God only" (Ps.
62:5) as the Most High, rather than upon healers. When you
lack wisdom in small or large matters, "wait thou in
silence for God only," and see what marvelous wisdom for
action will be given you. When desiring to speak the word
that will deliver another from the bondage of sickness or
sin or sorrow, "wait thou in silence for God only," and
exactly the right word will be given you, and power will go
with it, for it will be alive with the power of Spirit.
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