PART 1

CHRIST IN YOU

First lesson

A VOICE FROM THE HEIGHTS

I AM obliged to use your words and modes of expression, but I must say at the beginning that they are wholly inadequate to convey spiritual truths. I long to help people who seem to be in the same mistaken conditions in which I once was, for man does not know himself.

We will consider together something of the truth of being, the most essential and the first of all things. You are not the outward and visible form, this is the feeblest and the most distant likeness of your real self. I will explain by illustration.
When an artist paints a picture, he does not put on canvas the reality, he gives you simply a copy of that which is within himself. The real picture is on the spiritual plane and exists there much more truly than on the canvas, the real picture remains forever, the canvas does not. No poet can give you his true poem. He does his best to convey something of its beauty, something of its life, but even then it is far removed from his ideal. That, too, is on the plane of reality.

There is a vast amount of creative energy working in and through the material plane. Like the picture and the poem, this energy is invisible to you. We want you to distinguish between reality and shadow. The physical plane, or plane of the senses, is a shadow, a faint imitation of the spiritual and the only real. Your work is to show forth higher laws, to live and breathe entirely from the plane of spirit, to create anew from the very centre of all life, to make one the kingdom of earth and the kingdom of heaven. You are not to think of yourself and the universe now visible to you as real. It is this that constitutes the difference between us.

We have entered into a larger consciousness of God, whereas you are content with the shadows of things. Just think how all your finest thoughts seem to vanish with the passing of great minds from your midst, yet this is not the case, as you will discover when you awake to the knowledge of a life that ever progresses from the unreal to the true. When this consciousness permeates the whole human race you will be lifted to a higher plane, for growth is simply a larger consciousness.

Heaven is not a place, but a consciousness of God. God cannot be thought of as a personality since God is all and in all. The Absolute is above and beyond the conception of finite mind, yet infinitely meek and lowly, filling all space. As you emerge into this all-pervading love, the true life becomes manifest and is always the answer to the deepest and highest aspirations of the soul. It is love fulfilling itself. Thank God for NOW. Learn first and thoroughly that you have been, and will be forever. Your present condition is an opportunity for spiritual advancement. Make the most and the best of your life now.
 

Second lesson

FREEDOM BY UNDERSTANDING

IT is wonderful to realize that we are one great and unlimited whole. At one time I could not understand this. Your Scriptures tell you that all things are open to the eyes of God. How slowly we learn that God and man are one. Do away with your limitations. Stand out free in the strong life of God. You are like children with your walls and partitions, your churches and chapels. We too wonder why we were so long learning the things that have since become quite clear to us. God is all life, seen and unseen. Millions on the material plane are in bondage, yet all the time the doors stand open. You will long to tell them this when you come to us. We are permitted to come to you at some cost, only do believe what we say, and act upon it.

We want to help you to live your real life.

Begin by obedience to the dictates of the spirit within yourself, it will lead you into truth. This is not easy, as man is always hedged about by a false personality, a Satan of the senses—this shadowy nothing must be cast behind us, for it is of the senses and would deceive humanity. It is sometimes like an angel of light, so much does falsity imitate reality, you can always distinguish it from the spirit, however, if you remember what I say. The Voice of Christ is fearless, all powerful, the voice of a conqueror, the voice of the shadow of good suggests limitation, sickness, death. Hold fast to the All-good, the only real.

We worship God through Jesus Christ. There is no other way, and there never has been, except in name. One title for God is Father, and it is the best we know, but it becomes much more comprehensive as we grow in the knowledge of God. You have the power of a great victory within you and God is continually speaking. In Him we live and move and have our being.

Many who are working among the downtrodden and degraded ask: “How is this?” “And why?” We would tell them that every created being must work up and through every necessary phase, evolving from the lowest point of created life.
Yet we know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of Man cometh. Often in the deepest darkness of experience illumination arises changing the whole aspect and environment. The soul at once recognizes that only through this period of apparent degradation and ignorance can it evolve. Make the most and the best of every experience, you will thank God for them all. Do not weep with those who weep, but help them by a mighty love, pure as a mother’s, for in the love of a mother is the unselfishness of God.

Learn to become unselfed.

You are not an atom, you are the whole. Every true unselfish life lifts the race nearer the Godhead. We are finding channels everywhere, teaching all over the earth by secret ways. Above all things, walk by the spirit of God, as you do this more and more you will become conscious of harmony in your surroundings. Keep your hearts full of love to God and to all men, and we will teach you much. If you do not understand what we say, wait, we will teach very simply, but we beg you to realize our teachings in your lives.

 
Third lesson

CHRIST THE LIFE

THE voice of spirit is far-reaching. It is the expression of omnipresence and is both near and far. It knows nothing of space, but for the present we must deal with beginnings. Perhaps it would be as well to help you at your present stage of unfoldment. It is absolutely necessary that you should have times of quiet, that you should come out from the business of life for a part of each day. If you were to wait in silence, holding the attitude of growth and steady development, thinking above all else of the kingdom of God, your condition should not be one of strain or of blank nothingness, avoid both these extremes—the result would be of the highest value to yourself and to all around you.

Hold in your heart, the true place of understanding, a stillness which is alive, like the heart of the rose. The God powers within you would assert themselves, crooked things would become straight, rough places plain. All smallness and discord quietly but surely would drop away and have no longer any power. To spirit, stagnation is impossible. The creative energy is constant activity within. All outside energy is waste and hindrance. As you quietly wait upon God, the breath of life renews each particle of the body by its silent, orderly activity.

We are not able to tell you of future events, but we can indicate their trend, for each individual makes the future by the thoughts and acts of the present. You are today the result of your past. You may be hopeful, as your present thought will be fully realized in the future day. Hold the positive attitude in all that you undertake for spiritual development, knowing that God never falls. This holds you above the sense plane, and you immediately function from the spiritual, substantial, and only real. All must be finished before the Christhood of the race is complete—complete, unselfish, impersonal. Loving God and loving man, all may enter into unity. The evolution of spirit through the material is the work of creation. It is God that worketh in you now. Rejoice that you have this knowledge, and give the utmost for the highest. Live in spirit, breathe and walk in the innermost heart of yourself.

I want you to give some part of the day to this silent growth, thus bringing poise and balance into your whole being. I repeat this, as it is so necessary, so pregnant with results. First, you will be conscious of good sound judgment, a better understanding of your neighbour, and clear insight. Afterwards, the result in your body will be realized, for in the silence the heart of flesh will have become one with the heart of spirit, and thus you bring about perfect circulation of the blood.

You can understand how highly important this is when I tell you that the brain is fed by the spirit, a finer element has become ruler over the grosser, and the spirit of the living God breathes through the outer body of flesh. I am making this clear in order to emphasize the necessity for quiet. Later, you will not need this as you will command at all times and in all places heeding neither environment nor discord.

Do not seek love—give it. This is nourishment. Will you give ear to this? Take what is your right from your Father. He who brought you to this very moment of your lives is speaking in your hearts. Awake, thou that sleepest. Christ shall give thee light.

Fourth lesson

PRAYER

PRAYER is to us the breathing of the breath of life. It is the strongest spiritual element in all worlds. I think we may now discuss the subject of prayer—as I see you have used this powerful weapon to some extent ignorantly. You say to someone in trouble: “I will pray for you,” or you wish to help someone, say, in Australia. You know your wish is one with God’s will, and you desire to bless with your whole being—but how do you send forth this God-energy? The prayer is often sent with the false idea of great separation, to a God afar off. It is never lost, but prayer of this kind enters into the vibrations most in accord with itself.

Although something is done in this way, the person you wanted to help is not helped to any great extent. Remember, Jesus spoke to the maid alone, when He entered the room, saying, “Talitha cumi,” and you too must be definite, clear, positive. Enter into your closet, the innermost of yourself, and there see the perfect will of God accomplished for your friend—this is simple faith—and never see or hear anything else. Restfully, and without strain, see victory in the name of Christ Jesus.

Now I will tell you what takes place when you speak from the God-centre of your being. In the strength of your calm assurance, false vibrations are withered entirely. There is neither darkness nor depth where God is not, and you bring the troubled spirit into touch with God instantly. We have seen this many times. You cannot estimate the value of true prayer. To us it seems as if you were like children set down in a great power house, not knowing the importance of the switches and electric forces around you, waiting for knowledge, yet ofttimes blind and deaf.

I use your language so that you may understand, but words fail to express spiritual realities. Your faith in God is your life and power.

With true prayer you shall ask what you will, and remember, nothing is yours unless you take and possess. We have never known true prayer to fail. Do not cast your care upon an outside God and wait for results. God being within you, the answer is not distant from the desire. The spirit within is one with God and Christ, how then can God be afar off? I have given you this advice for those who have special need, but I would have you pray always: “Thy Kingdom come” in every heart and life. For he who knows God in his own heart and in farthest space is at one with all nations, north, south, east, and west. In your love and prayer include them all. Live in the thought of love toward all, and your life will become one unceasing prayer, a constant going forth of God.

We would help to give you poise, that you may live always and only in the central life, dwelling on the plane of spirit, the only reality. Have done with shadow and illusion—enter into rest. Cease from time limitations. Remember our first lesson—You always are, and you always will be. Try to realize this now. Rest from your anxieties and live in the eternal. The blessing of God is with you always and forever.
 

Fifth lesson

THE TRUTH OF BEING

THERE is nothing in life you need fear. You will become sure that you are safe at all times and in every place. This realization will reveal to you how much you have understood of the truth of being. Nothing can affect your real individuality. We want these lessons to help you to enter into your own now. It is wrong to hope and expect grace only at some future time.

Realize that spirit is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient. What is there to wait for? Let me state here—spirit cannot be less than the greatest. You have been trying to make statements from without. Let all your affirmations come from within, suggested only by the inward voice. Let every other sound and sense be silent before it. Let this spiritual highest you take possession of your mortal body. The only things that have ever really helped you to a higher knowledge of God have come from within. You must be true and faithful to the Word that speaks. Thoughts are the outbreathings of this Word, the first cause of all. We can only help you to help yourself. Remember all through these lessons that nothing helps from without unless it receives recognition from within. The spirit is always revealing Christ, the whole and complete Saviour in you, the hope of glory or gloriousness. Your entire will, thought, and brain is led by this holy invisible guide into knowledge of all truth. The moments of healing and growth have been when all the unquiet voices of the senses were hushed and silenced, when all personalities had ceased to touch you, when you had learned to be still. Then God spoke in His Holy Temple. Oh that you would rest from your false thinking and BE!

Your present phase is a training ground, and you can do there what would be out of place and difficult here—just as you would find it difficult to learn the lessons of childhood when you are adult. Many loved ones who dwelt with you in the flesh have entered into the larger sphere to watch and pray with you. Listen to Christ Jesus the divine Man, and you will understand that His words are for you and have new meanings. That you may have life in all its fulness, that your bodies may be perfectly whole, that you may be safe from harm and accident, that the worst enemy may be conquered, even death itself, before you reach the thin veil which divides us: all this and more will be revealed to you, for all the works of God are “very good.”

Tonight when you rest, do not allow the senses to suggest weakness or weariness, instead, allow your spiritual atmosphere within and without to enfold and invigorate you, until you are conscious of spiritual conquest before you sleep. Your whole body will be renewed by this holy baptism and your awakening in the morning will be a triumph and a joy. The effect of this is a sweet cleansing of mind and body. So much is done during the hours of sleep and darkness. We pray that you may truly say: “Awake or asleep, I am still with Thee.” Cease from worry.

Sixth lesson

GOD ALL IN ALL

ALREADY you are entering into a wider understanding. There are many who have gone on, yet in ignorance of much with which you are familiar. So far we have clearly stated the first fact—Who are we? Indestructible spiritual beings. The living knowledge of this alters your whole mental attitude towards sin, sickness, and death. Now we approach with reverence and humility our next consideration—Why am I?

The whole answer is contained in one sentence: You are, because God is, but as man is still blinded by false sense, I will endeavour to speak from your own standpoint. In the place where you are, there is a work of the highest importance to be done, and no one else can do your work. God has brought you to this time and place in order to carry out perfect laws.

You may never be known to the world, but your work shall stand forever. By your own indwelling spiritual forces you will spiritualize and make real the plane of shadow and confusion. Working from the same spiritual standpoint, there will be no separation between us and you. In reality, there is no division. Your world sense of fear is the only barrier between us. This is a falsity, and belongs to ignorance and chaos. You are just where you are for the doing of God’s perfect work. Hold an attitude of receptivity of heart and mind.

All the good around you exists forever, and can never change or be lost. It is spoiled to you because your eyes have opened to good and bad. The good is the only real. The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, working from the very heart of God the Creator. Your work the angels might envy, for in so far as you are true to your unlimited and spiritual nature, you are creative. We earnestly watch and pray for the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven upon earth. It will be the awakening from shadow to substance, from confusion to order, from weakness to power—but above all else, to the wholeness or unity of life. Realize that your work is the highest—work that you have undertaken to do from the beginning. I would here recommend that you begin with your immediate circle, as the very next step must be the right one. See and know only the good in those nearest to you. Speak to them, recognizing the highest Self. Your trust shall beget in them new hope. In every detail of your life know only the good, which in very truth is the only real. Do not be cast down by appearances, but rather maintain an attitude of steadfast hope towards all who seem at a low stage of development, seeing always the goal to which they also shall attain, as for yourself, work with everything that makes for good. Your reason for being on the earth now is to help with this very work. There are helpers all around you. God is love incarnate. Peace is in your hearts and lives now. Behold, I make all things new.

“Christ in You: Lessons 1-6” is an extract from Christ in You by Anon.