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Let us open up through sweet simplicity the understanding of men to the doorway of Self. Self is not the image that appears, that seems to be, that masquerades behind the name of an individual or his personality. Self is not the mask, nor is it the karmic record filled with undesirable qualities which man in his heart repudiates.
In the seeming struggle between good and evil, there are negative forces that seek to hide from the eyes of man his Real Image and to glorify the pseudoimage. This they do in order that they may control men by warping their motives and by surrounding them with fear. But the key to escape is simple. If you will remain steadfast in a childlike sense of wonder and trust in God, we can this day dispel all doubt and fear from your consciousness, regardless of your intellectual level.
You must understand first that the image that appears is not real; second, that the image that does not readily appear but that is real is often hidden; and third, that this hidden image is the image that God did make and that he saw was good.1 The subtle forces of the serpent that roam the planet - whether they act through a fraudulent theology, through psychopolitical treachery, or through an invasion of the minds of men, producing obsessions - will continue to downgrade the individual by amplifying his supposed or actual errors, and they will continue to seek to hide the beautiful image of God in which each man was made.
We propose to restore the individual sense of dignity and worth as one of the first steps in finalizing man's understanding of himself. It is not that we would say of the evil that men have done, it is no cause for punishment. The word has clearly stated, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."2 But men should understand that the law was written for positive reasons. When God said, "As ye sow, so shall ye reap," he referred to the law of givingness and service whereby a star of minute proportions could attain to a greater glory by permitting a greater measure of the glory of God to flow through his consciousness. This is the only means whereby the gifts of the eternal kingdom may be permanently retained.
The world is full of condemnation. Mankind do not understand that when they condemn one another they also condemn themselves, nor do men understand that condemnation is a tangible misqualification of God's energy, nor do they realize that when they laugh at one another they are actually laughing in the dark at God who is in the light. For God dwells in the inner light of every man,3 and those who speak against the veiled prophet that abides within as the hidden man of the heart4 speak out of the darkness of themselves against the light. That they know it not and are ignorant is no excuse.
In teaching you to understand yourself, we must remove from your eyes the scales of injustice that have traduced your immortal reality.
You are a child of the light,
You were created in the image divine,
You are a child of Infinity,
You dwell in the veils of time,
You are a son of the Most High!
To ray your light and to serve
Is to do the will divine,
By being the living Word.
No darkness can long endure
Before the radiant light.
The truth will make you secure
And ready your soul for flight -
The ascension is the goal.
As Jesus rose from the sod,
He inspired man to enfold
Himself in the mantle of God.
I AM is the name of the Father,
I AM is the name of the Son,
I AM is the Spirit Most Holy -
Ye all are clothed by the One.
He will guide and guard you forever,
He will carry you far in his arm,
He hides himself from the clever,
He enshrines the poor with his charm.
God lives in your soul, the image of Self -
To know it will change your view.
God lives in the light that shines from within,
He breaks his bread with the few.
He hears our calls and answers,
His love is the light of men.
Accept, then, his understanding -
Your wonderful way to win.
I AM is the name you must call on -
'Tis being so broad and true.
For the narrow confinements of selfhood
Can only hide from view
The Face of Forever in heaven
Unfolding within the soul.
His bread is the precious leaven
To raise us all to our goal.
Won't you understand, then, that as your Real Self has no part in these karmic records, in these personality traits, in this sense of struggle and separation, so you must be alive forevermore. As Jesus said to John upon Patmos, "Behold, I AM alive forevermore ... and have the keys of hell and of death,"5 so the development of the deathless consciousness of your Creator will enable you to build for eternity.
The work you do is not for a moment. It is not for a family you will lose or who will lose you. It is not for a course that will be won or for a diploma earned. These are pinnacles in time. These are but passing landmarks on the road to an ever transcending reality, for the work of the Father and of the Father through the Son is for eternity.
Understand thy Highest Self, then, as the God of very gods. As you face this concept, the lower self falls upon its knees. As the Christ, the eternal Mediator, bows to the Father, Good becomes All-in-all. Man enters the sudden stream of overcoming Self-realization. He fears no merge, for he sees that the blackened image of the synthetic self that has sought to cast down his immortal birthright is not real! Therefore, he quickly replaces it with the divine image and humbly holds himself in the consciousness of the son who awaits his divine inheritance.
These simple phrases, meditated upon again and again, will reestablish the currents of the ascension flame within the fabric of the soul. These gentle graces, thought upon with utter devotion, will take the sting out of the battle of life and they will balance the service of the man of great spiritual attainment with that of the man who is just beginning. As it was spoken long ago, "But many that are first shall be last; and the last first."6 Until men merge with their divine image and with their divine inheritance, they should not look to the matter of who is free from karma and who is not, who has more karma and who has less karma. For the way of overcoming is strictly a matter of consciously realizing that one's living identity is the deathless, birthless, eternal God.
Through identification with this Eternal God, the lodestone of the Presence becomes the magnet that focuses energy and purpose in the individual monad, drawing him ever upward in the great sounding stream of universal progress. A God is born. "Ye must be born again."7 No longer wedded to the changing, shifting sands of personality, of frustration, and of struggle, man understands himself as one with his own beloved I AM Presence.
But a note of caution must be sounded here. No one must use his Presence as a cudgel to harm other men or others upon the Path. No one must say, my Presence is over your Presence. For the Presence of all life is one, and the delicate interaction between the souls of men that is a development of the power and wisdom of the Presence always exudes the perfect activity of divine love.
Yet as part of the forte of heavenly wisdom that becomes the treasure of the individual seeker upon the Path, it would be well if he would understand clearly that he must put an end to the sense of struggle that he has developed between himself and differing ideologies, concepts, and personality traits of others. This does not require one to become aloof from humanity, nor do we suggest that you fail to consider politely and sincerely the statements of others as they may be functioning on the Path below the level of the divine. Rather do we recommend that you establish your relationship with others on the basis of your relationship with the Christ.
Let none construe our remarks to mean that you should presume to judge or to condemn other men, for your judgment rests with the Eternal. Your faith rests with God. Your hope rests there and your future. When you commend your life and your thoughts unto him, you automatically free the lower self from the converging and diverging lines of karmic force and you draw into your unascended consciousness the beautiful qualities of the Presence that fulfill, step by step, the necessary and lawful requirements that lead to your ultimate freedom in the light.
Oh, if only the students would grasp this principle! And then if they would reread this series until they have made it a part of the inner instruction that is written in the heart, they would find it much easier to manifest the freedom of genuine happiness in fulfilling their divine plan.
Lovingly, in the light of daily progress, moving onward to perfection I remain