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Your Faith is Your Fortune

Chapter 27

A FORMULA FOR VICTORY

Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you. – Joshua 1:3

The majority of people are familiar with the story of Joshua capturing the city of Jericho.

What they do not know is that this story is the perfect formula for Victory, under any circumstances and against all odds.

It is recorded that Joshua was armed only with the knowledge that every place that the sole of his foot should tread upon would be given to him; that he desired to capture or tread upon the city of Jericho but found the walls separating him from the city impassable.

It seemed physically impossible for Joshua to get beyond these massive walls and stand upon the city of Jericho. Yet, he was driven by the knowledge of the promise that, regardless of the barriers and obstacles separating him from his desires, if he could but stand upon the city, it would be given to him.

The Book of Joshua further records that instead of fighting this giant problem of the wall, Joshua employed the services of the harlot, Rahab, and sent her as a spy into the city. As Rahab entered her house, which stood in the midst of the city, Joshua – who was securely barred by the impassable walls of Jericho – blew on his trumpet seven times. At the seventh blast, the walls crumbled and Joshua entered the city victoriously.

To the uninitiated, this story is senseless.

To the one who sees it as a psychological drama, rather than as a historical record, it is most revealing.

If we would follow the example of Joshua, our victory would be similarly simple.

Joshua symbolizes to you, the reader, your present state; the city of Jericho symbolizes your desire, or defined objective.

The walls of Jericho symbolize the obstacles between you and the realization of your objectives. The foot symbolizes the understanding; placing the sole of the foot upon a definite place indicates fixing a definite psychological state.

Rahab, the spy, is your ability to travel secretly or psychologically to any place in space. Consciousness knows no frontier. No one can stop you from dwelling psychologically at any point, or in any state in time or space.

Regardless of the physical barriers separating you from your objective, you can, without effort or help of anyone, annihilate time, space and barriers.

Thus, you can dwell, psychologically, in the desired state. So, although you may not be able to tread physically upon a state or city, you can always tread psychologically upon any desired state. By treading psychologically, I mean that you can now, this moment, close your eyes and after visualizing or imagining a place or state other than your present one, actually FEEL that you are now in such a place or state. You can feel this condition to be so real that upon opening your eyes you are amazed to find that you are not physically there.

A harlot, as you know, gives to all men that which they ask of her. Rahab, the harlot, symbolizes your infinite capacity to psychologically assume any desirable state without questioning whether or not you are physically or morally fit to do so.

You can today capture the modern city of Jericho or your defined objective if you will psychologically re-enact this story of Joshua; but to capture the city and realize your desires, you must carefully follow the formula of victory as laid down in this book of Joshua.

This is the application of this victorious formula as a modem mystic reveals it today:

First: define your objective (not the manner of obtaining it) – but your objective, pure and simple; know exactly what it is you desire so that you have a clear mental picture of it.

Secondly: take your attention away from the obstacles which separate you from your objective and place your thought on the objective itself.

Thirdly: close your eyes and FEEL that you are already in the city or state that you would capture. Remain within this psychological state until you get a conscious reaction of complete satisfaction in this victory. Then, by simply opening your eyes, return to your former conscious state.

This secret journey into the desired state, with its subsequent psychological reaction of complete satisfaction, is all that is necessary to bring about total victory.

This victorious psychical state will embody itself despite all opposition. It has the plan and power of self-expression.

From this point forward, follow the example of Joshua, who, after psychologically dwelling in the desired state until he received a complete conscious reaction of victory, did nothing more to bring about this victory than to blow seven times on his trumpet.

The seventh blast symbolizes the seventh day, a time of stillness or rest, the interval between the subjective and objective states, a period of pregnancy or joyful expectancy.

This stillness is not the stillness of the body but rather the stillness of the mind – a perfect passivity, which is not indolence but a living stillness born of trust in this immutable law of consciousness.

Those not familiar with this law or formula for victory, in attempting to still their minds, succeed only in acquiring a quiet tension, which is nothing more than compressed anxiety.

But you, who know this law, will find that after capturing the psychological state which would be yours if you were already victoriously and actually entrenched in that city, will move forward towards the physical realization of your desires.

You will do this without doubt or fear, in a state of mind fixed in the knowledge of a pre-arranged victory.

You will not be afraid of the enemy, because the outcome has been determined by the psychological state that preceded the physical offensive; and all the forces of heaven and earth cannot stop the victorious fulfillment of that state.

Stand still in the psychological state defined as your objective until you feel the thrill of Victory.

Then, with confidence born of the knowledge of this law, watch the physical realization of your objective.

... Set your self, stand still and watch the salvation of the Law with you...

Your Faith Is Your Fortune

Chapter 24

CLAIRVOYANCE

Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember? – Mark 8:18

True clairvoyance rests, not in your ability to see things beyond the range of human vision, but rather in your ability to understand that which you see.

A financial statement can be seen by anyone, but very few can read a financial statement. The capacity to interpret the statement is the mark of clear seeing or clairvoyance.

That every object, both animate and inanimate, is enveloped in a liquid light which moves and pulsates with an energy far more radiant than the objects themselves, no one knows better than the author; but he also knows that the ability to see such auras is not equal to the ability to understand that which one sees in the world around about him.

To illustrate this point, here is a story with which the whole world is familiar, yet only the true mystic or clairvoyant has ever really seen it.

SYNOPSIS

The story of Dumas’ “Count of Monte Cristo” is, to the mystic and true clairvoyant, the biography of every man.

I
Edmond Dantés, a young sailor, finds the captain of his ship dead. Taking command of the ship in the midst of a storm-swept sea, he attempts to steer the ship into a safe anchorage.

COMMENTARY Life itself is a storm-swept sea with which man wrestles as he tries to steer himself into a haven of rest.

II
On Dantés is a secret document which must be given to a man he does not know, but who will make himself known to the young sailor in due time. This document is a plan to set the Emperor Napoleon free from his prison on the Isle of Elba.

COMMENTARY

Within every man is the secret plan that will set free the mighty emperor within himself.

III
As Dantés reaches port, three men (who by their flattery and praise have succeeded in worming their way into the good graces of the present king), fearing any change that would alter their positions in the government, have the young mariner arrested and committed to the catacombs.

COMMENTARY

Man in his attempt to find security in this world is misled by the false lights of greed, vanity and power.

Most men believe that fame, great wealth or political power would secure them against the storms of life. So they seek to acquire these as the anchors of their life, only to find that in their search for these they gradually lose the knowledge of their true being. If man places his faith in things other than himself, that in which his faith is placed, will in time destroy him; at which time he will be as one imprisoned in confusion and despair.

IV
Here in this tomb, Dantés is forgotten and left to rot. Many years pass. Then one day, Dantés (who is by this time a living skeleton) hears a knock on his wall. Answering this knock, he hears the voice of one on the other side of the stone. In response to this voice, Dantés removes the stone and discovers an old priest who has been in prison so long that no one knows the reason for his imprisonment or the length of time he has been there.

COMMENTARY

Here behind these walls of mental darkness, man remains in what appears to be a living death. After years of disappointment, man turns from these false friends, and he discovers within himself the ancient one (his awareness of being) who has been buried since the day he first believed himself to be man and forgot that he was God.

V
The old priest had spent many years digging his way out of this living tomb only to discover that he had dug his way into Dantés’ tomb. He then resigns himself to his fate and decides to find his joy and freedom by instructing Dantés in all that he knows concerning the mysteries of life and to aid him to escape as well.

Dantés, at first, is impatient to acquire all this information; but the old priest, with infinite patience garnered through his long imprisonment, shows Dantés how unfit he is to receive this knowledge in his present, unprepared, anxious mind. So, with philosophic calm, he slowly reveals to the young man the mysteries of life and time.

COMMENTARY

This revelation is so wonderful that when man first hears it he wants to acquire it all at once; but he finds that, after numberless years spent in the belief of being man, he has so completely forgotten his true identity that he is now incapable of absorbing this memory all at once. He also discovers that he can do so only in proportion to his letting go of all human values and opinions.

VI
As Dantés ripens under the old priest’s instructions, the old man finds himself living more and more in the consciousness of Dantés. Finally, he imparts his last bit of wisdom to Dantés, making him competent to handle positions of trust. He then tells him of an inexhaustible treasure buried on the Isle of Monte Cristo.

COMMENTARY

As man drops these cherished human values, he absorbs more and more of the light (the old priest), until finally he becomes the light and knows himself to be the ancient one. I AM the light of the world.

VII

At this revelation, the walls of the catacomb which separated them from the ocean above cave in, crushing the old man to death. The guards, discovering the accident, sew the old priest’s body into a sack and prepare to cast it out to sea. As they leave to get a stretcher, Dantés removes the body of the old priest and sews himself into the bag. The guards, unaware of this change of bodies, and believing him to be the old man, throw Dantés into the water.

COMMENTARY

The flowing of both blood and water in the death of the old priest is comparable to the flow of blood and water from the side of Jesus as the Roman soldiers pierced him, the phenomenon which always takes place at birth (here symbolizing the birth of a higher consciousness).

VIII

Dantés frees himself from the sack, goes to the Isle of Monte Cristo and discovers the buried treasure. Then, armed with this fabulous wealth and this superhuman wisdom, he discards his human identity of Edmond Dantés and assumes the title of the Count of Monte Cristo.

COMMENTARY

Man discovers his awareness of being to be the inexhaustible treasure of the universe. In that day, when man makes this discovery, he dies as man and awakes as God.

Yes, Edmond Dantés becomes the Count of Monte Cristo. Man becomes Christ.

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Your Faith Is Your Fortune

Chapter 22

FISHING

They went forth, and entered into a ship, and that night they caught nothing. – John 21:3

And He said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. – John 21:6

It is recorded that the disciples fished all night and caught nothing. Then Jesus appeared upon the scene and told them to cast their nets again, but, this time, to cast them on the right side. Peter obeyed the voice of Jesus and cast his nets once more into the waters. Where but a moment before the water was completely empty of fish, the nets almost broke with the number of the resulting catch [John 21:3-6].

Man, fishing all through the night of human ignorance, attempts to realize his desires through effort and struggle only to find in the end that his search is fruitless. When man discovers his awareness of being to be Christ Jesus, he will obey its voice and let it direct his fishing. He will cast his hook on the right side; he will apply the law in the right manner and will seek in consciousness for the thing desired. Finding it there, he will know that it will be multiplied in the world of form.

Those who have had the pleasure of fishing know what a thrill it is to feel the fish upon the hook. The bite of the fish is followed by the play of the fish; this play, in turn, is followed by the landing of the fish.

Something similar takes place in the consciousness of man as he fishes for the manifestations of life.

Fishermen know that if they wish to catch big fish, they must fish in deep waters; if you would catch a large measure of life, you must leave behind you the shallow waters with its many reefs and barriers and launch out into the deep blue waters where the big ones play.

To catch the large manifestations of life you must enter into deeper and freer states of consciousness; only in these depths do the big expressions of life live.

Here is a simple formula for successful fishing.

First, decide what it is you want to express or possess. This is essential.

You must definitely know what you want of life before you can fish for it. After your decision is made, turn from the world of sense, remove your attention from the problem and place it on just being, by repeating quietly but with feeling, “I AM”.

As your attention is removed from the world round about you and placed upon the I AM, so that you are lost in the feeling of simply being, you will find yourself slipping the anchor that tied you to the shallows of your problem; and effortlessly you will find yourself moving out into the deep.

The sensation which accompanies this act is one of expansion. You will feel yourself rise and expand as though you were actually growing. Do not be afraid of this floating, growing experience for you are not going to die to anything but your limitations.

However, your limitations are going to die as you move away from them for they live only in your consciousness.

In this deep or expanded consciousness, you will feel yourself to be a mighty pulsating power as deep and as rhythmical as the ocean. This expanded feeling is the signal that you are now in the deep blue waters where the big fish swim. Suppose the fish you decided to catch were health and freedom; you begin to fish in this formless pulsating depth of yourself for these qualities or states of consciousness by feeling “I AM healthy” – “I AM free”.

You continue claiming and feeling yourself to be healthy and free until the conviction that you are so possesses you.

As the conviction is born within you, so that all doubts pass away and you know and feel that you are free from the limitations of the past, you will know that you have hooked these fish.

The joy which courses through your entire being on feeling that you are that which you desired to be is equal to the thrill of the fisherman as he hooks his fish.

Now comes the play of the fish. This is accomplished by returning to the world of the senses.

As you open your eyes on the world round about you, the conviction and the consciousness that you are healthy and free should be so established within you that your whole being thrills in anticipation.

Then, as you walk through the necessary interval of time that it will take the things felt to embody themselves, you will feel a secret thrill in knowing that in a little while that which no man sees, but that which you feel and know that you are, will be landed.

In a moment when you think not, while you faithfully walk in this consciousness, you will begin to express and possess that which you are conscious of being and possessing; experiencing with the fisherman the joy of landing the big one.

Now, go and fish for the manifestations of life by casting your nets in the right side.

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Your Faith is Your Fortune

Chapter 20

THE BREATH OF LIFE

Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. – Genesis 2:7

As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all/Just as you don't know how the breath of life enters the limbs of a child within its mother‟s womb, you also don't understand how God, who made everything, works. – Ecclesiastes 11:5

And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him. 1Kings 17:17

And he (Elisha) went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm. 2Kings 4:34

But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them. – Revelation 11:11]

Did the Prophet Elijah [and/or Elisha] really restore to life the dead child of the Widow?

This story, along with all the other stories of the Bible, is a psychological drama which takes place in the consciousness of man.

The Widow symbolizes every man and woman in the world; the dead child represents the frustrated desires and ambitions of man; while the prophet, Elijah [and/or Elisha], symbolizes the God power within man, or man’s awareness of being.

The story tells us that the prophet took the dead child from the Widow’s bosom and carried him into an upper room. As he entered this upper room he closed the door behind them; placing the child upon a bed, he breathed life into him; returning to the mother, he gave her the child and said, “Woman, thy son liveth” [“See, thy son liveth”, 1Kings 17:23 and 2Kings 4:36].

Man’s desires can be symbolized as the dead child.

The mere fact that he desires is positive proof that the thing desired is not yet a living reality in his world.

He tries in every conceivable way to nurse this desire into reality, to make it live, but finds in the end that all attempts are fruitless.

Most men are not aware of the existence of the infinite power within themselves as the prophet.

They remain indefinitely with a dead child in their arms, not realizing that the desire is the positive indication of limitless capacities for its fulfillment.

Let man once recognize that his consciousness is a prophet who breathes life into all that he is conscious of being, and he will close the door of his senses against his problem and fix his attention – solely on that which he desires, knowing that by so doing, his desires are certain to be realized.

He will discover recognition to be the breath of life, for he will perceive – as he consciously claims himself to be now expressing or possessing all he desires to be or to have – that he will be breathing the breath [sic!] of life into his desire.

The quality claimed for the desire (in a way unknown to him) will begin to move and become a living reality in his world.

Yes, the Prophet Elijah [and/or Elisha] lives forever as man’s limitless consciousness of being, the widow as his limited consciousness of being and the child as that which he desires to be.

Your Faith Is Your Fortune

Chapter 18

THE TWELVE DISCIPLES

And when He had called unto Him His twelve disciples, He gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. – Matt. 10:1

The twelve disciples represent the twelve qualities of mind which can be controlled and disciplined by man.

If disciplined, they will at all times obey the command of the one who has disciplined them.

These twelve qualities in man are potentials of every mind. Undisciplined, their actions resemble more the actions of a mob than they do of a trained and disciplined army. All the storms and confusions that engulf man can be traced directly to these twelve ill-related characteristics of the human mind in its present slumbering state.

Until they are awakened and disciplined, they will permit every rumor and sensuous emotion to move them.

When these twelve are disciplined and brought under control, the one who accomplishes this control will say to them, “Hereafter I call you not slaves, but friends” [“Henceforth I call you not servants for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you”, John 15:15].

He knows that from that moment on, each acquired disciplined attribute of mind will befriend and protect him.

The names of the twelve qualities reveal their natures. These names are not given to them until they are called to discipleship.

They are: Simon, who was later surnamed Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Canaanite and Judas [Matthew 10; Mark 1; Mark 3; Luke 6].

The first quality to be called and disciplined is Simon, or the attribute of hearing.

This faculty, when lifted to the level of a disciple, permits only such impressions to reach consciousness as those which his hearing has commanded him to let enter. No matter what the wisdom of man might suggest or the evidence of his senses convey, if such suggestions and ideas are not in keeping with that which he hears, he remains unmoved. This one has been instructed by his Lord and made to understand that every suggestion he permits to pass his gate will, on reaching his Lord and Master (his consciousness), leave its impression there, which impression must in time become an expression.

The instruction to Simon is that he should permit only dignified and honorable visitors or impressions to enter the house (consciousness) of his Lord. No mistake can be covered up or hidden from his Master, for every expression of life tells his Lord whom he consciously or unconsciously entertained.

When Simon, by his works, proves himself to be a true and faithful disciple, then he receives the surname of Peter, or the rock, the unmoved disciple, the one who cannot be bribed or coerced by any visitor. He is called by his Lord Simon Peter, the one who faithfully hears the commands of his Lord and besides which commands he hears not.

It is this Simon Peter who discovers the I AM to be Christ, and for his discovery is given the keys to heaven, and is made the foundation stone upon which the Temple of God rests.

Buildings must have firm foundations and only the disciplined hearing can, on learning that the I AM is Christ, remain firm and unmoved in the knowledge that I AM Christ and beside ME there is no savior.

The second quality to be called to discipleship is Andrew, or courage.

As the first quality, faith in oneself, is developed, it automatically calls into being its brother, courage.

Faith in oneself, which asks no man’s help but quietly and alone appropriates the consciousness of the quality desired and – in spite of reason or the evidence of his senses to the contrary continues faithful-patiently waiting in the knowledge that his unseen claim if sustained must be realized – such faith develops a courage and strength of character that are beyond the wildest dreams of the undisciplined man whose faith is in things seen.

The faith of the undisciplined man cannot really be called faith. For if the armies, medicines or wisdom of man in which his faith is placed be taken from him, his faith and courage go with it. But from the disciplined one the whole world could be taken and yet he would remain faithful in the knowledge that the state of consciousness in which he abides must in due season embody itself. This courage is Peter’s brother Andrew, the disciple, who knows what it is to dare, to do and to be silent.

The next two (third & fourth) who are called are also related.

These are the brothers, James and John, James the just, the righteous judge, and his brother John, the beloved.

Justice to be wise must be administered with love, ever turning the other cheek and at all times returning good for evil, love for hate, non-violence for violence.

The disciple James, symbol of a disciplined judgment, must, when raised to the high office of a supreme judge, be blindfolded that he may not be influenced by the flesh nor judge after the appearances of being. Disciplined judgment is administered by one who is not influenced by appearances.

The one who has called these brothers to discipleship continues faithful to his command to hear only that which he has been commanded to hear, namely, the Good.

The man who has this quality of his mind disciplined is incapable of hearing and accepting as true anything – either of himself or another – which does not on the hearing fill his heart with love.

These two disciples or aspects of the mind are one and inseparable when awakened.

Such a disciplined one forgives all men for being that which they are. He knows as a wise judge that every man perfectly expresses that which he is, as man, conscious of being.

He knows that upon the changeless foundation of consciousness all manifestation rests, that changes of expression can be brought about only through changes of consciousness.

With neither condemnation nor criticism, these disciplined qualities of the mind permit everyone to be that which he is. However, although allowing this perfect freedom of choice to all, they are nevertheless ever watchful to see that they themselves prophesy and do – both for others and themselves – only such things which when expressed glorify, dignify and give joy to the expresser.

The fifth quality called to discipleship is Philip.

This one asked to be shown the Father. The awakened man knows that the Father is the state of consciousness in which man dwells, and that this state or Father can be seen only as it is expressed.

He knows himself to be the perfect likeness or image of that consciousness with which he is identified.

So He declares, “No man has at any time seen My Father; but I, the Son, who dwelleth in His bosom have revealed Him; [“No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him”, John 1:18]; therefore, when you see Me, the Son, you see My Father, for I come to bear witness of My Father” [“If ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also: and from henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him”, John 14-7; “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me: or else believe Me for the very works‟ sake, John 14:9-11].

I and My Father, consciousness and its expression, God and man, are one.

This aspect of the mind, when disciplined, persists until ideas, ambitions and desires become embodied realities. This is the quality which states “Yet in my flesh shall I see God” [Job 19:26].

It knows how to make the word flesh [John 1:14], how to give form to the formless.

The sixth disciple is called Bartholomew.

This quality is the imaginative faculty, which quality of the mind when once awake distinguishes one from the masses.

An awakened imagination places the one so awakened head and shoulders above the average man, giving him the appearance of a beacon light in a world of darkness.

No quality so separates man from man as does the disciplined imagination.

This is the separation of the wheat from the chaff. Those who have given most to Society are our artists, scientists, inventors and others with vivid imaginations.

Should a survey be made to determine the reason why so many seemingly educated men and women fail in their after-college years or should it be made to determine the reason for the different earning powers of the masses, there would be no doubt but that imagination played the important part.

Such a survey would show that it is imagination which makes one a leader while the lack of it makes one a follower.

Instead of developing the imagination of man, our educational system oftentimes stifles it by attempting to put into the mind of man the wisdom he seeks. It forces him to memorize a number of text books which, all too soon, are disproved by later text books.

Education is not accomplished by putting something into man; its purpose is to draw out of man the wisdom which is latent within him. May the reader call Bartholomew to discipleship, for only as this quality is raised to discipleship will you have the capacity to conceive ideas that will lift you beyond the limitations of man.

The seventh is called Thomas.

This disciplined quality doubts or denies every rumor and suggestion that are not in harmony with that which Simon Peter has been commanded to let enter.

The man who is conscious of being healthy (not because of inherited health, diets or climate, but because he is awakened and knows the state of consciousness in which he lives) will, in spite of the conditions of the world, continue to express health.

He could hear, through the press, radio and wise men of the world that a plague was sweeping the earth and yet he would remain unmoved and unimpressed. Thomas, the doubter – when disciplined – would deny that sickness or anything else which was not in sympathy with the consciousness to which he belonged had any power to affect him.

This quality of denial – when disciplined – protects man from receiving impressions that are not in harmony with his nature. He adopts an attitude of total indifference to all suggestions that are foreign to that which he desires to express. Disciplined denial is not a fight or a struggle but total indifference.

Matthew, the eighth, is the gift of God.

This quality of the mind reveals man’s desires as gifts of God.

The man who has called this disciple into being knows that every desire of his heart is a gift from heaven and that it contains both the power and the plan of its self-expression.

Such a man never questions the manner of its expression. He knows that the plan of expression is never revealed to man for God’s ways are past finding out [Romans 11:33].

He fully accepts his desires as gifts already received and goes his way in peace confident that they shall appear.

The ninth disciple is called James, the son of Alphaeus.

This is the quality of discernment. A clear and ordered mind is the voice which calls this disciple into being.

This faculty perceives that which is not revealed to the eye of man. This disciple judges not from appearances for it has the capacity to function in the realm of causes and so is never misled by appearances.

Clairvoyance is the faculty which is awakened when this quality is developed and disciplined, not the clairvoyance of the mediumistic séance rooms, but the true clairvoyance or clear seeing of the mystic. That is, this aspect of the mind has the capacity to interpret that which is seen. Discernment or the capacity to diagnose is the quality of James the son of Alphaeus.

Thaddaeus, the tenth, is the disciple of praise, a quality in which the undisciplined man is woefully lacking.

When this quality of praise and thanksgiving is awake within man, he walks with the words, “Thank you, Father”, ever on his lips.

He knows that his thanks for things not seen opens the windows of heaven and permits gifts beyond his capacity to receive to be poured upon him.

The man who is not thankful for things received is not likely to be the recipient of many gifts from the same source.

Until this quality of the mind is disciplined, man will not see the desert blossom as the rose. Praise and thanksgiving are to the invisible gifts of God (one’s desires) what rain and sun are to the unseen seeds in the bosom of the earth.

The eleventh quality called is Simon of Canaan.

A good key phrase for this disciple is “Hearing good news”. Simon of Canaan, or Simon from the land of milk and honey, when called to discipleship, is proof that the one who calls this faculty into being has become conscious of the abundant life. He can say with the Psalmist David, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over” [Psalm 23:5]. This disciplined aspect of the mind is incapable of hearing anything other than good news and so is well qualified to preach the Gospel or Good-spell.

The twelfth and last of the disciplined qualities of the mind is called Judas.

When this quality is awake, man knows that he must die to that which he is before he can become that which he desires to be.

So it is said of this disciple that he committed suicide, which is the mystic’s way of telling the initiated that Judas is the disciplined aspect of detachment.

This one knows that his I AM or consciousness is his savior, so he lets all other saviors go.

This quality – when disciplined – gives one the strength to let go.

The man who has called Judas into being has learned how to take his attention away from problems or limitations and to place it upon that which is the solution or savior.

“Except ye be born again, you cannot in anywise enter the Kingdom of Heaven” [“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”, John 3:3]. “No greater love hath man than this, that he give his life for a friend” [“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”, John 15:13].

When man realizes that the quality desired, if realized, would save and befriend him, he willingly gives up his life (present conception of himself) for his friend by detaching his consciousness from that which he is conscious of being and assuming the consciousness of that which he desires to be.

Judas, the one whom the world in its ignorance has blackened, will, when man awakes from his undisciplined state, be placed on high for God is love and no greater love has a man than this – that he lay down his life for a friend.

Until man lets go of that which he is now conscious of being, he will not become that which he desires to be; and Judas is the one who accomplishes this through suicide or detachment.

These are the twelve qualities which were given to man in the foundation of the world.

Man’s duty is to raise them to the level of discipleship. When this is accomplished, man will say, “I have finished the work which thou gavest Me to do. I have glorified Thee on earth and now, o, Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own Self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was” [John 17:4, 5].

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Your Faith Is Your Fortune

Chapter 17

PRAYER

When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. – Matt. 6:6

What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. – Mark 11:24

Prayer is the most wonderful experience man can have.

Unlike the daily murmurings of the vast majority of mankind in all lands who by their vain repetitions hope to gain the ear of God, prayer is the ecstasy of a spiritual wedding taking place in the deep, silent stillness of consciousness.

In its true sense prayer is God’s marriage ceremony. Just as a maid on her wedding day relinquishes the name of her family to assume the name of her husband, in like manner, one who prays must relinquish his present name or nature and assume the nature of that for which he prays.

The gospels have clearly instructed man as to the performance of this ceremony in the following manner:

“When ye pray go within in secret and shut the door and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” [Matthew 6:6].

The going within is the entering of the bridal chamber. Just as no one but the bride and groom are permitted to enter so holy a room as the bridal suite on the night of the marriage ceremony, likewise no one but the one who prays and that for which he prays are permitted to enter the holy hour of prayer. As the bride and groom on entering the bridal suite securely shut the door against the outside world, so too must the one who enters the holy hour of prayer close the door of the senses and entirely shut out the world round about him.

This is accomplished by taking the attention completely away from all things other than that with which you are now in love (the thing desired).

The second phase of this spiritual ceremony is defined in these words, “When ye pray, believe that ye receive, and ye shall receive”.

As you joyfully contemplate being and possessing that which you desire to be and to have, you have taken this second step and are therefore spiritually performing the acts of marriage and generation.

Your receptive attitude of mind while praying or contemplating can be likened to a bride or womb for it is that aspect of mind which receives the impressions.

That which you contemplate being is the groom, for it is the name or nature you assume and therefore is that which leaves its impregnation; so one dies to maidenhood or present nature as one assumes the name and nature of the impregnation.

Lost in contemplation and having assumed the name and nature of the thing contemplated, your whole being thrills with the joy of being it. This thrill, which runs through your entire being as you appropriate the consciousness of your desire, is the proof that you are both married and impregnated.

As you return from this silent meditation, the door is once more opened upon the world you had left behind. But this time you return as a pregnant bride.

You enter the world a changed being and, although no one but you knows of this wonderful romance, the world will, in a very short while, see the signs of your pregnancy, for you will begin to express that which you in your hour of silence felt yourself to be.

The mother of the world or bride of the Lord is purposely called Mary, or water, for water loses its identity as it assumes the nature of that with which it is mixed; likewise, Mary, the receptive attitude of mind, must lose its identity as it assumes the nature of the thing desired.

Only as one is willing to give up his present limitations and identity can he become that which he desires to be.

Prayer is the formula by which such divorces and marriages are accomplished. “Two shall agree as touching anything and it shall be established on earth” [Matthew 18:19].

The two agreeing are you, the bride, and the thing desired, the groom.

As this agreement is accomplished, a son bearing witness of this union will be born. You begin to express and possess that which you are conscious of being.

Praying, then, is recognizing yourself to be that which you desire to be rather than begging God for that which you desire.

Millions of prayers are daily unanswered because man prays to a God who does not exist.

Consciousness being God, one must seek in consciousness for the thing desired by assuming the consciousness of the quality desired. Only as one does this will his prayers be answered.

To be conscious of being poor while praying for riches is to be rewarded with that which you are conscious of being, namely, poverty.

Prayers, to be successful, must be claimed and appropriated. Assume the positive consciousness of the thing desired.

With your desire defined, quietly go within and shut the door behind you. Lose yourself in your desire; feel yourself to be one with it; remain in this fixation until you have absorbed the life and name by claiming and feeling yourself to be and to have that which you desired.

When you emerge from the hour of prayer, you must do so conscious of being and possessing that which you heretofore desired.

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Your Faith Is Your Fortune

Chapter 16

THE TRIUNE GOD

And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness. – Gen. 1:26

Having discovered God to be our awareness of being and this unconditioned changeless reality (the I AM) to be the only creator, let us see why the Bible records a trinity as the creator of the world.

In the 26th verse of the first chapter of Genesis, it is stated, “And God said, Let Us make man in Our image”.

The churches refer to this plurality of Gods as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

What is meant by “God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit” they have never attempted to explain for they are in the dark concerning this mystery.

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three aspects or conditions of the unconditioned awareness of being called God.

The consciousness of being precedes the consciousness of being something. That unconditioned awareness which preceded all states of awareness is God – I AM.

The three conditioned aspects or divisions of itself can best be told in this manner:

The receptive attitude of mind is that aspect which receives impressions and therefore may be likened to a womb or Mother.

That which makes the impression is the male or pressing aspect and is therefore known as Father.

The impression in time becomes an expression, which expression is ever the likeness and image of the impression; therefore this objectified aspect is said to be the Son bearing witness of his Father-Mother.

An understanding of this mystery of the trinity enables the one who understands it to completely transform his world and fashion it to his own liking.

Here is a practical application of this mystery.

Sit quietly and decide what it is you would like most to express or possess. After you have decided, close your eyes and take your attention completely away from all that would deny the realization of the thing desired; then assume a receptive attitude of mind and play the game of supposing by imagining how you would feel if you were now to realize your desire.

Begin to listen as though space were talking to you and telling you that you are now that which you desire to be.

This receptive attitude is the state of consciousness that you must assume before an impression can be made.

As this pliable and impressive state of mind is attained, then begin to impress upon yourself the fact that you are that which you desired to be by claiming and feeling that you are now expressing and possessing that which you had decided to be and to have.

Continue in this attitude until the impression is made.

As you contemplate, being and possessing that which you have decided to be and to have, you will notice that with every inhalation of breath a joyful thrill courses through your entire being.

This thrill increases in intensity as you feel more and more the joy of being that which you are claiming yourself to be.

Then in one final deep inhalation, your whole being will explode with the joy of accomplishment and you will know by your feeling that you are impregnated by God, the Father.

As soon as the impression is made, open your eyes and return to the world that but a few moments before you had shut out.

In this receptive attitude of yours, while you contemplated being that which you desired to be, you were actually performing the spiritual act of generation so you are now on your return from this silent meditation a pregnant being bearing a child or impression, which child was immaculately conceived without the aid of man.

Doubt is the only force capable of disturbing the seed or impression; to avoid a miscarriage of so wonderful a child, walk in secrecy through the necessary interval of time that it will take the impression to become an expression.

Tell no man of your spiritual romance. Lock your secret within you in joy, confident and happy that some day you will bear the son of your lover by expressing and possessing the nature of your impression.

Then will you know the mystery of “God said, Let Us make man in Our image”.

You will know that the plurality of Gods referred to is the three aspects of your own consciousness and that you are the trinity, meeting in a spiritual conclave to fashion a world in the image and likeness of that which you are conscious of being.

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Your Faith Is Your Fortune

Chapter 15

INTERVAL OF TIME

Let not your heart be troubled;
ye believe in God,
believe also in Me. In My Father‟s house are many mansions;
if it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself;
that where I am, there ye may be also. – John 14:1-3

“Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also”.

The ME in whom you must believe is your consciousness, the I AM; it is God.

It is also the Father’s house containing within itself all conceivable states of consciousness.

Every conditioned state of consciousness is called a mansion.

This conversation takes place within yourself.

Your I AM, the unconditioned consciousness, is the Christ Jesus speaking to the conditioned self or the John Smith consciousness.

“I AM John”, from a mystical point of view, is two beings, namely, Christ and John.

So I go to prepare a place for you, moving from your present state of consciousness into that state desired.

It is a promise by your Christ or awareness of being to your present conception of yourself that you will leave your present consciousness and appropriate another.

Man is such a slave to time that, if after he has appropriated a state of consciousness which is not now seen by the world and it, the appropriated state, does not immediately embody itself, he loses faith in his unseen claim; forthwith he drops it and returns to his former static state of being.

Because of this limitation of man, I have found it very helpful to employ a specified interval of time in making this journey into a prepared mansion.

“Wait but a little while” [Job 36:2].

We have all catalogued the different days of the week, months of the year and seasons. By this, I mean you and I have said time and again, “Why, today feels just like Sunday” or “-Monday” or “-Saturday”. We have also said in the middle of Summer, “Why, this feels and looks like the Fall of the year”.

This is positive proof that you and I have definite feelings associated with these different days, months and seasons of the year. Because of this association, we can at any time consciously dwell in that day or season which we have selected.

Do not selfishly define this interval in days and hours because you are anxious to receive it, but simply remain in the conviction that it is done – time, being purely relative, should be eliminated entirely – and your desire will be fulfilled.

This ability to dwell at any point in time permits us to employ time in our travel into the desired mansion.

Now I (consciousness) go to a point in time and there prepare a place. If I go to such a point in time and prepare a place, I shall return to this point in time where I have left; and I shall pick up and take you with me into that place which I have prepared, that where I AM, there ye may also be.

Let me give you an example of this travel.

Suppose you had an intense desire. Like most men who are enslaved by time, you might feel that you could not possibly realize so large a desire in a limited interval. But admitting that all things are possible to God, believing God to be the ME within you or your consciousness of being, you can say,

“As John, I can do nothing; but since all things are possible to God and God I know to be my consciousness of being, I can realize my desire in a little while.

How my desire will be realized I do not (as John) know, but by the very law of my being I do know that it shall be”.

With this belief firmly established, decide what would be a relative, rational interval of time in which such a desire could be realized.

Again, let me remind you not to shorten the interval of time because you are anxious to receive your desire; make it a natural interval. No one can give you the time interval. Only you can say what the natural interval would be to you. The interval of time is relative, that is, no two individuals would give the same measurement of time for the realization of their desire.

Time is ever conditioned by man’s conception of himself.

Confidence in yourself as determined by conditioned consciousness always shortens the interval of time.

If you were accustomed to great accomplishments, you would give yourself a much shorter interval in which to accomplish your desire than the man schooled in defeat.

If today were Wednesday and you decided that it would be quite possible for your desire to embody a new realization of yourself by Sunday, then Sunday becomes the point in time that you would visit.

To make this visit, you shut out Wednesday and let in Sunday. This is accomplished by simply feeling that it is Sunday. Begin to hear the church bells; begin to feel the quietness of the day and all that Sunday means to you; actually feel that it is Sunday.

When this is accomplished, feel the joy of having received that which on Wednesday was but a desire. Feel the complete thrill of having received it, and then return to Wednesday, the point in time you left behind you.

In doing this, you created a vacuum in consciousness by moving from Wednesday to Sunday. Nature, abhorring vacuums, rushes in to fill it, thereby fashioning a mould in the likeness of that which you potentially create, namely, the joy of having realized your defined desire.

As you return to Wednesday, you will be filled with a joyful expectancy, because you have established the consciousness of that which must take place the following Sunday.

As you walk through the interval of Thursday, Friday and Saturday, nothing disturbs you regardless of conditions, because you predetermined that which you would be on the Sabbath and that remains an unalterable conviction.

Having gone before and prepared the place, you have returned to John and are now taking him with you through the interval of three days into the prepared place that he might share your joy with you, for where I AM, there ye may also be.

Your Faith Is Your Fortune

Chapter 14

CIRCUMCISION

In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands; in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by circumcision of Christ. – Col. 2:11

Circumcision is the operation which removes the veil that hides the head of creation.

The physical act has nothing to do with the spiritual act.

The whole world could be physically circumcised and yet remain unclean and blind leaders of the blind.

The spiritually circumcised have had the veil of darkness removed and know themselves to be Christ, the light of the world.

Let me now perform the spiritual operation on you, the reader.

This act is performed on the eighth day after birth, not because this day has any special significance or in any way differs from other days, but it is performed on this eighth day because eight is the figure which has neither beginning nor end.

Furthermore, the ancients symbolized the eighth numeral or letter as an enclosure or veil within and behind which lay buried the mystery of creation.

Thus, the secret of the operation on the eighth day is in keeping with the nature of the act, which act is to reveal the eternal head of creation, that changeless something in which all things begin and end and yet which remains its eternal self when all things cease to be.

This mysterious something is your awareness of being. At this moment you are aware of being, but you are also aware of being
someone.

This someone is the veil that hides the being you really are.

You are first conscious of being, then you are conscious of being man. After the veil of man is placed upon your faceless self, you become conscious of being a member of a certain race, nation, family, creed etc.

The veil to be lifted in spiritual circumcision is the veil of man.

But before this can be done, you must cut away the adhesions of race, nation, family and so on.

“In Christ there is neither Greek nor Jew, bond nor free, male nor female” [“…a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all”, Colossians 3:11].

“You must leave father, mother, brother and follow me” [“If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple”, Luke 14:26].

To accomplish this you stop identifying yourself with these divisions by becoming indifferent to such claims. Indifference is the knife that severs. Feeling is the tie that binds.

When you can look upon man as one grand brotherhood without distinction of race or creed, then you will know that you have severed these adhesions.

With these ties cut, all that now separates you from your true being is your belief that you are man.

To remove this last veil, you drop your conception of yourself as man by knowing yourself just to be.

Instead of the consciousness of “I AM man”, let there be just “I AM” – faceless, formless and without figure.

You are spiritually circumcised when the consciousness of man is dropped and your unconditioned awareness of being is revealed to you as the everlasting head of creation, a formless, faceless all-knowing presence.

Then, unveiled and awake, you will declare and know that – I AM is God and beside me, this awareness, there is no God.

This mystery is told symbolically in the Bible story of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. It is recorded that Jesus laid aside his garments and took a towel and girded himself. Then, after washing his disciples’ feet, he wiped them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Peter protested the washing of his feet and was told that unless his feet were washed he would have no part of Jesus. Peter on hearing this replied, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head”. Jesus answered and said, “He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit” [John 13:1-10].

Common sense would tell the reader that a man is not clean all over just, because his feet are washed. Therefore, he should either discard this story as fantastic or else look for its hidden meaning.

Every story of the Bible is a psychological drama taking place in the consciousness of man, and this one is no exception. This washing of the disciples’ feet is the mystical story of spiritual circumcision or the revealing of the secrets of the Lord.

Jesus is called the Lord. You are told that the Lord’s name is I AM – Je Suis. “I AM the Lord that is my name”, Isaiah 42:8. The story states that Jesus was naked save for a towel which covered his loins or secrets. Jesus or Lord symbolizes your awareness of being whose secrets are hidden by the towel (consciousness of man). The foot symbolizes the understanding which must be washed of all human beliefs or conceptions of itself by the Lord.

As the towel is removed to dry the feet, the secrets of the Lord are revealed.

In short, the removing of the belief that you are man reveals your awareness as the head of creation. Man is the foreskin hiding the head of creation. I AM the Lord hidden by the veil of man.

Your Faith Is Your Fortune

Chapter 13

THE I’M-PRESSIONS

And as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. – 1Cor. 15:49

Your consciousness or your I AM is the unlimited potential upon which impressions are made.

I’m-pressions are defined states pressed upon your I AM.

Your consciousness or your I AM can be likened to a sensitive film. In the virgin state, it is potentially unlimited.

You can impress or record a message of love or a hymn of hate, a wonderful symphony or discordant jazz. It does not matter what the nature of the impression might be; your I AM will, without a murmur, willingly receive and sustain all impressions.

Your consciousness is the one referred to in Isaiah 53:3-7.

“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not”.

“Surely He hath borne our grieves, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted”.

“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed”.

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all”.

“He was oppressed, and He was afflicted,
yet He opened not his mouth:
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter
and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb,
so He openeth not His mouth.

” Your unconditioned consciousness is impersonal; it is no respecter of persons [Acts 10:34; Romans 2:11].

Without thought or effort, it automatically expresses every impression that is registered upon it. It does not object to any impression that is placed upon it for; although it is capable of receiving and expressing any and all defined states, it remains forever an immaculate and an unlimited potential.

Your I AM is the foundation upon which the defined state or conception of yourself rests; but it is not defined by, nor is it dependent on, such defined states for its being.

Your I AM neither expands nor contracts; nothing alters or adds to it. Before any defined state was, IT is. When all states cease to be, IT is. All defined states or conceptions of yourself are but ephemeral expressions of your eternal being.

To be impressed is to be I’m-pressed (I AM pressed – first person – present tense). All expressions are the result of I’m-pressions. Only as you claim yourself to be that which you desire to be will you express such desires.

Let all desires become impressions of qualities that are, not of qualities that will be. I’m (your awareness) is God and God is the fullness of all, the Eternal NOW, I AM.

Take no thought of tomorrow; tomorrow’s expressions are determined by today’s impressions.

“Now is the accepted time” [2Cor. 6:2, Isa. 49:8]. “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” [Matthew 4:17]. Jesus (salvation) said, “I am with you always” [Matthew 28:20]. Your awareness is the savior that is with you always; but, if you deny Him, He will deny you also [Matei 10:33; Luca 12:9]. You deny Him by claiming that He will appear, as millions today are claiming that salvation is to come; this is the equivalent of saying, “We are not saved”.

You must stop looking for your savior to appear and begin claiming that you are already saved, and the signs of your claims will follow.

When the widow was asked what she had in her house, there was recognition of substance; her claim was a few drops of oil [4Kings 4:1-6]. A few drops will become a gusher if properly claimed.

Your awareness magnifies all consciousness.

To claim that I shall have oil (joy) is to confess that I have empty measures.

Such impressions of lack produce lack.

God, your awareness, is no respecter of persons [Acts 10:34; Romans 2:11]. Purely impersonal, God, this awareness of all existence, receives impressions, qualities and attributes defining consciousness, namely, your impressions.

Your every desire should be determined by need. Needs, whether seeming or real, will automatically be fulfilled when they are welcomed with sufficient intensity of purpose as defined desires.

Knowing that your awareness is God, you should look upon each desire as the spoken word of God, telling you that which is.

“Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?” [Isaiah 2:22].

We are ever that which is defined by our awareness. Never claim, “I shall be that”. Let all claims from now on be, “I AM that I AM”. Before we ask, we are answered. The solution of any problem associated with desire is obvious. Every problem automatically produces the desire of solution.

Man is schooled in the belief that his desires are things against which he must struggle. In his ignorance, he denies his savior who is constantly knocking at the door of consciousness to be let in (I AM the door).

Would not your desire, if realized, save you from your problem?

To let your savior in is the easiest thing in the world.

Things must be, to be let in.

You are conscious of a desire; the desire is something you are aware of now.

Your desire, though invisible, must be affirmed by you to be something that is real.

“God calleth those things which be not (are not seen) as though they were” [Romans 4:17].

Claiming I AM the thing desired, I let the savior in.

“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” [Revelation 3:20].

Every desire is the savior’s knock at the door.

This knock every man hears.

Man opens the door when he claims, “I AM He”. See to it that you let your savior in.

Let the thing desired press itself upon you until you are I’m-pressed with nowness of your savior; then you utter the cry of victory, “It is finished” [John 19:30].

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