IV. APPLICATION
Mrs. C. L. Baum
Studies in Divine Science
The Colorado College of Divine Science
Denver, Colo., 4th ed., 1924.
“There is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.”
In beginning this lesson take the above statement into the silence, so that you may come into the unity of the spirit and feel there is nothing but love in the universe, that we are all one in the eternal Presence. There is only one God and God manifest, and the inspiration of the Spirit giveth you this knowledge. It is just as necessary to receive the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in order to hear, as it is to give forth the truth; as important to hear as it is to speak. For if we do not have inspiration to hear and receive words others speak, they fall on deaf ears; but when we are inspired to hear, all truth will come to us as an inner revelation. In reality there is but one to speak and one to hear. Repeat often “The inspiration of the Almighty giveth me understanding.” No matter what your work may be, the Spirit within you will give you understanding to do it well if you turn to that Spirit in perfect faith. If we have lacked understanding it is because we have not turned to the Spirit within us but have relied on objective aid. As we turn to this Spirit we find that our work becomes easy, because the Spirit is constantly giving us understanding to meet every problem. There is nothing that the Spirit cannot supply, no disease which the Spirit cannot heal; no problem which cannot be solved when we are inspired by the Spirit. There is nothing too low or too humble for the inspiration of the Almighty to help us solve. It is only because we work ignorantly without the inspiration of the Almighty that we fail. Divine understanding never fails. Truth never fails.
What should be the object of our lives after we take up the study of Truth? The object and purpose of every life should be to live in accord with Good, or God. That is what we are here for. Jesus said: “For this cause came I into the world, that I might bear witness to the truth,” and each soul can make this same statement. We are not here to get, but to realize the eternal truths which are in God. This should be the main object of our lives from this moment. As we do this; as we realize God-Presence; as we bear witness to the truth of our real nature, we shall come into peace. The fullness of Good is potentially in every living soul. It is not absorbed from the external; it is unfolded by the universal law of growth. We have the Christ within us, and we are to unfold that Christ. We in our true eternal state are perfect. The Christ within us is Truth, and when we know this we shall go forth from glory to glory. We do not create this glory, this consciousness; it is all there to be realized. We do not create God within us, nor the perfect life and substance; we simply discover these.
I hear you say, “How am I to do this? Make it so simple that I too may come into this consciousness.” There are three steps by which we unfold into this consciousness.
First: By recognizing God, infinite Good, everywhere. This is our basis.
Second: By claiming this divinity within ourselves; by claiming all the attributes of God as belonging to us. What God is, we are.
Third: By manifesting outwardly or in the visible, what we know ourselves to be in the invisible. As we know our divinity we make it manifest.
Now God is Life, Love, Truth, Intelligence, Perfection, and since God is omnipresent, then all that God is, is everywhere present. But no one has seen Life. We see its manifestation everywhere, we see its activity; but we do not see Life itself. No one has ever seen electricity; but we see all about us its activity, its manifestations. No one has ever seen wisdom; but we have seen the manifestations of wisdom. We do not see the mind, the intelligence which brought forth the wisdom; but we recognize the invisible by its manifestation always.
People say they will not believe in anything they cannot see, yet they are at all times believing in things they have never seen. We have to believe in infinite Presence and power because we see its manifestation everywhere. We never see that which produces the visible, so the only way we can recognize this great silent invisible Presence is through its outer manifestation.
We are willing to recognize the Divine Mind as a great First Cause. We do not see the external as the real cause. We do not see the external as the cause of any action. We formerly believed that the body was a cause; that it was constantly creating conditions of health or of disease; but now we know that this is not true. We know that Mind is the only creative power in the universe. The primal cause of activity is Mind, yet we do not seem willing to say that Mind is the only power working in our lives and bodies. Yet in truth Mind is the only power working in our lives today. If our environment is filled with love, peace and harmony, we may know that it is because in our silent thought and outer words we are conforming to the principle of peace, love and harmony that is the reality of the universe. If, however, our environment is inharmonious, we may know that the change must come through an inner change of thought. Fear contracts and love expands, so as we change in our thought we find love expanding where before fear was contracting. That is why it is so necessary to keep our thoughts in peace and harmony, in order that love may show forth in our environment.
A personal experience more clearly illustrates the point:
Some years ago, after studying along this line for some time, earnestly trying to put into application the principles I had learned, I felt that I was not manifesting as I should. I asked a teacher if she could explain the difficulty. I said, “Why is it that I do not make manifest this truth I believe in so earnestly?” She replied, “I cannot imagine your doing anything really wrong, but I believe that you are negatively good.” Her words came home to me with such force that I knew she had spoken the truth. I had been trying to overcome undesirable things in my life, but I had not been positively bringing into manifestation the qualities of the Divine. We must positively work for the truth and bring it forth in everything in our lives. A great many are not doing anything positively wrong, neither are they doing anything positively good. They may be in a state of peace because they keep their thought poised, but they are not conscious manifestations of good.
Let us not be negatively good, but let us be filled with the power of the Spirit to apply this truth. Let us love for love’s sake, to express the divinity within us. Let us manifest love, not in order to get, but that we may bear witness to Truth. When we do anything for a return we are not doing it in love. We are to do the loving thing without any thought of return. It is our nature to love; to radiate peace and harmony all the time. We are to do this in order that we may bear witness to the Truth.
The Omnipresence of good is in a positive state of harmony, health and perfection always. We show forth negative conditions because we think of them; we believe in them. They seem to be real to us. Consider for a moment the daily conditions of your life. Do you have calmness and harmony in your home? If not, turn within and make a change there. We never get anywhere by working with externals. We should bring out that which we know to be within. We must declare the truth of our divinity. We are declaring something all the time and our lives show what we are declaring. Whatever our declarations are, we may be sure they are going to bear fruit. Whatever we are sowing in thought, that will the harvest be. What we are really conscious of, we must manifest. From within, OUT, is the law.
If we wish to change all our old ways of thought and make God manifest in our lives, we begin by speaking words which we know to be the truth of our real being. We desert the old words of negation, and begin to practice the presence of God, the “I am.” We may not know it, but we have our own true name which God has given us from the beginning, and that name is “I am.” Whatever we declare in that name is made manifest to us, and we continually speak in that name. The Bible says: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” Whenever we declare a negative condition in the name of “I am” we are bringing that condition into manifestation. When we hear people say “I am sick!” we think within ourselves, How could “I am” be sick? The “I am” is never sick; is never weak; is never miserable; is never in poor health. The Spirit of God in us is always whole. We must get this impressed upon us so strongly that we shall never again take the name of the Lord our God in vain. Never couple negative statements with “I am.” Our negative statements do not change the “I am” but they make us feel sick, weak and uncomfortable.
We need to begin right at the beginning, right at the “I am” to apply truth. We go back of effect to our real being. Change in thought produces corresponding change in the external. When we dwell in thought upon the truth we necessarily express our divine nature. When we think only the thoughts of God after Him we shall have perfect harmony in our lives; then we shall so know the truth that we cannot help manifesting it. All the ills of life arise from false thinking and false speaking and they must vanish as we think and speak the truth.
STATEMENTS FOR MEDITATION.
I am now the pure and perfect child of the living God.
I am holy in every part of my being.
I am filled with the Spirit of Almighty God.
I am strong with the strength of Omnipotence.
I am established forever in endless health and harmony.
The glory of God shines round about me.
I am balanced in the Good.
I reveal my divine self in mind, thought and body.
I am pure Spirit, pure Love.
I am a living witness of the power of the Word of Truth to set free.
APPLICATION.
“Angel of the Spring-time,” said she,
“Show me where to 4sow my grain;
Shall I plant it ’round my door-step,
Or afar there on the plain?
“At thy feet!” the angel answered;
Sow at once thy nearest field;
First thy door-yard, then beyond it;
Let new fields, new furrows yield.
Fill the nearest spot with gladness,
Fill thy home with goodness sweet;
Wider fields shall ask thy sowing,
If thou first sow at thy feet.
Thus for thee shall widening harvests
Wave their manifolding grain,
Till the sixty-fold, the hundred,
Gild the door-yard and the plain.”
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Studies in Divine Science
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