God is individual consciousness. This means that God is your consciousness and mine. God is the consciousness of the individual you and of the individual me. God is the consciousness of all being. Looking at the human scene you would never believe this because it is so impossible to believe that God consciousness can be aware of all of the sins and diseases, lacks, limitations, wars, panics, depressions, that are always on the face of the earth. You have yourself wondered why if there is a God there can be so much of discord in the world, and yet the answer has always been known. In these old religious orders and fraternal orders it has always been known how to bring harmony into individual experience. And here and there in the scriptures of the world we have been told, if we were not told the full truth, we were told near enough to it so that we could have encompassed the balance ourselves. Even when we were told the truth we were not told how to make truth available or tangible in our experience, and this necessarily is an individual experience. And now we are going back to these ancient wisdoms and revealing what these ancients knew that made their lives harmonious, fruitful -- even though they did so little for the people of their day regardless of which age we speak of -- and, of course, how little we are doing for our generation, and for the same reason -- the immediate lack of receptivity and the power of inertia that keeps this world from making the effort necessary.

The very first and most important truth of all is that every bit of good has to come forth from your own consciousness. Those who do not receive this truth always believe that they could pray to a God and under certain circumstances that God would answer the prayer and give the one who prayed that for which they were praying. Of course, there never was a syllable of truth in that entire teaching, regardless of when it was taught, where, or by whom. And the fact that all of this praying has gone on these thousands of years without being answered must be its own proof. But always this has been truth, that whatever of good is to come forth in the experience of an individual or group or nation, must come forth from the consciousness of an individual.

Now this sets aside the masses from the masters. The masters knew -- the masters of the Hebrew world, the masters of the Christian world, the masters of the Orient -- have always known that it is a matter of "ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free". They have always known that whatever is to be brought forth in your experience must come forth from your own consciousness. And, of course, a master is one in whom inertia is not operating to any great extent because they can abide in the Word twenty hours a day, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, and when necessary twenty-four. And there is no power to prevent it, not even the power of sleep.

Now here is exactly what the situation is -- in ordinary human life we are acted upon by universal beliefs -- they may be theological beliefs, they may be medical beliefs, they may be scientific beliefs -- but they are beliefs, they are not truths. However, these will act in our experience just as if they were the truth until such time as we ourselves know the truth and thereby become free.

Let me explain this for just a moment. The human being awakens in the morning and immediately gets busy about their days activities -- dresses, eats, leaves for business, works, shops, is busy all day, returns in the evening, eats, talks, plays, retires -- and all of this while what the Master calls 'this world' is acting upon them. If it is a particularly nasty day there are germs about and he may come home with a cold or a fever. If there is crowded traffic there may be an accident or upset nerves. Or if there is some contagion or infection about, this may occur in his experience. On the other hand, there may be a big business boom, and from this he may prosper. There may be a period of wonderful weather and from this he may benefit. Always whether for good or for evil the world is acting upon the human being. And all the human being can do is wonder whether it will be good today or bad. Whether it will be up or down, rich or poor, healthful or not. The human is not to blame for this. The human has not been taught that it is the activity of our own consciousness that determines the harmony of our own lives.

Now you are being told a wisdom that has been known to the few throughout all ages --that truth maintained in your consciousness -- your consciousness maintained active in truth brings forth harmony. In the Master's words "if you abide in the Word and let this Word abide in you, you will bear fruit richly." If you maintain truth active in your consciousness, you are praying without ceasing. And the activity of truth in your consciousness will come forth as harmony, wholeness, completeness, perfection. When you do not entertain this Word, maintain it in your consciousness, then you are "as a branch of a tree that is cut off and withereth." Therefore, it is you yourself that determines what your life experience is to be. Remember that as a human being you have no such choice. You were never taught this. The power of inertia is at work. At most you were taught that if you were faithful in your church going that God would look graciously upon you, if not in this world then in the next. Or if you obeyed the Ten Commandments. Well you have lived long enough to know that some of the nicest people in the world haven't had good in this life, and hardly dare expect it in the next.

But the point is -- and this is truth -- that you can bring a degree of harmony into your experience in every department of life. The degree is always dependent on the degree of your devotion to this work of maintaining truth active in your consciousness. You may accept this as a statement of truth, that your mind imbued with truth becomes the law of harmony unto your experience and unto the experience of all those who come within range of your consciousness. Also, a mind not occupied with truth is quickly filled with the beliefs of the world -- universal beliefs for which you are not responsible -- universal beliefs which were here ages before you appeared on earth and merely plague you because you are on earth, as it will plague all those of the future who are not taught that it is an activity of truth in their own consciousness that maintains the harmony of their lives. One exception to this is that in proportion as we introduce more and more of truth into human consciousness the next generation will be born with less of inertia, with less of world beliefs to overcome.

God functions as individual consciousness when consciousness is imbued with truth.

And what we are going to do and for the rest of this class, we are going to bear witness to this specific truth. We are going to do it in many ways. Let us start with one facet of truth. You will remember that last night we took the first one -- God speaking to you says, "Son, thou art ever with me and all that I have is thine." Now this one particular passage must become active in your consciousness for weeks, for months, probably for two or three years, until the world's belief is overcome within you that says first of all that you are separate and apart from God, secondly, that you lack for something.

You see two world beliefs that can forever keep you in poverty. The first is that you are separate and apart from God, and the second that you can lack. Now just think, "Son, thou art ever with me", is a complete contradiction to the world belief that you have become separated from God and are perhaps trying to find your way back. Or that perhaps some sin of omission or commission has separated you from God and you cannot find your way back. Or that you have not been active in religious or spiritual work and that you have become separated from God. See how many world beliefs operate in your consciousness that eventually convinces you, that you and God are as far apart as the heaven and earth, and how are you ever going to get together. Whereas, the truth reveals that "I and my Father are one", "Son, thou art ever with me", "The place whereon thou standest is holy ground". Just the remembrance of these passages would begin -- WOULD within not too long a time if faithfully held to, bring to you again the conscious realization, it is true -- where I am, God is, where God is, I am, because from everlasting to everlasting I and my Father ever have been one. I and my Father have been indivisible, inseparable, and the mere fact that I have accepted a world belief of separation, has never separated us.

"I and the Father are one," and this truth need only be realized, maintained in consciousness, until something within gives -- human resistance, human disbelief, human doubt gives. And all of a sudden we are interiorly flooded with an assurance, "I have never left Thee", "Before Abraham was, I have been with Thee and I will never leave Thee", "I will be with Thee until the end of the world".

And then you realize, how could I have so forgotten scripture. These are the words that the Master was crucified for giving to the world. No religious teaching before him ever so completely revealed this to the world or to mankind. He revealed it fully and paid the price. It is being revealed to you again fortunately. We have come so far along in civilization that it is unlikely that any teacher will be crucified or persecuted for revealing this truth to you, although they may be misunderstood and slandered. But it is up to you in that event to know whether or not you have been told the truth -- demonstrable truth -- truth to which you can bear witness in your experience.

Do you see that by neglecting these passages of scripture and leaving them out of your mind that you have left your mind open to all of the suggestions that the world can pour in? Whereas, if you maintain this truth, if you abide in this truth, if you dwell in this truth, live and move and have your being in the truth that "I and the Father are one", and that this is an everlasting relationship, so that the place whereon I stand is holy ground, and there are no human laws or human beliefs of a physical or mental nature that can separate me from the love of God, or the Presence of God, or the Power of God, and then maintain this in the face of all appearances to the contrary.

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