WISDOM AND DISCRIMINATION

WISDOM AND DISCRIMINATION Paper No. 57 September, 1933

In this Paper we are going to give you the benefit of some very unusual and illuminating letter recently received.

They will show you how some of your Brothers in the Work are progressing, enabling you to see what came to them while in the Higher Consciousness, and which we hope will inspire all who read to make greater efforts to bring your outer consciousness more and more back into your Christ Consciousness and help it to abide there, so that it can similarly receive from you there.

By this time all must see that is the goal. We have done about all we can to get you to know what is the Christ Consciousness. These letters will help. But we find that some do not yet know that You—the REAL You—and the Christ are One, and that You must learn to talk to your human minds, even as Jesus talked to His Disciples, and as the I Am speaks throughout The Impersonal Life. Those of you who have not persisted in doing what was stated in the first part of Paper No. 54, until you had proved for yourselves what is suggested therein, have missed the biggest thing that can come into your life.

It should not be necessary to tell you this again—you lovers of The Impersonal Life, but it seems that some of you have missed this great joy because you have not persisted in doing what you were urged in the second chapter of the book—saying those magical words “a thousand times a day, until you have discovered all My innermost meaning.”

In reading the following illuminating words, we urge that you stay with each thought in them until all the truth hidden therein becomes clear. May they spur you on to greater and more determined efforts to find and abide in your Christ Consciousness.

Dear Friends:
After making a rough draft of the answers to the questions in Paper No. 45, I set about typing them. It took me several days to find the time to finish, and when I did I was no longer satisfied with them. Not that I was ever truly satisfied, but then it seemed the best I could do; now it doesn’t seem so. Of course I can see (and did then) that I have fallen short of the perfect answers in most every question. You will be able to see from them as I do that my difficulty lies in translating into action the Truths I know. That is probably the case with all, and still, with the Light that has been given me, it seems I should have reached the goal by now. Yet I know I have sought only the Kingdom, and that no efforts of ________ (her given name) could have hastened her growth, since I am growing her as fast as she can bear it.

From my present point of view it seems I have written many words, when a few simple statements would have contained the necessary truth. Also I see much of self in the answers—desires, aspirations toward Spirit, it is true, but indicating lack of realization of the Good which is here and now. Of course that is the True Consciousness, and I do abide in it often; but the answers will serve to show you how I shift from the highest to the less high.

I see so clearly now, it seems I could never forget again; and perhaps the writing has served to eliminate much of the false consciousness. That may be the secret of the answers helping so much, as was intimated in Paper No. 47. Anyway I have formulated a few simple supplementary statements, not answers to the questions, but which will further indicate the consciousness in which I strive to abide permanently.

I know that I am not separate, and never have been separate; that I am God, and nothing else; that even in the outer, God is All that I am. I understand how to the pure all things are pure; that All is Good, the difference being merely in degree of ripeness; and I find no fault anywhere since all degrees have their place and purpose.

I understand the Mystery of Giving; that everything is mine to give, for I am All there is; that there is nothing to get, for I have All there is; that giving is Life, and getting is Death; and that what I wish to destroy I call to me, and what I would keep I give away. I understand the Mystery of Possession and Use; that All that the Father hath is mine to use, when I can see that All that I have is the Father’s and is for use in His Service.

I understand Freedom through Non-resistance; that it is in no way dependent upon externals, but upon the acceptance and use of all that comes; that only through the sense of slavery can the consciousness of Freedom be achieved; that I am always free to choose, and yet can choose only that for which I am ready. I understand Freedom through Desirelessness; that there is nothing to desire, since All that is desirable is eternally mine; that the moment I desire even God, that moment have I put Him from me; that all desires, for evil and good alike, are bondage and have in them Death; but that to know Desire aright, is to understand that it is the indication of the Will of God, the promise of the Good of His forthcoming Purpose.

I understand the purpose of Suffering, the joy of dying in the self, of victory through Nothingness; I know the blessedness of Vicarious Suffering and Death, and how through it Salvation is won for others.

I know that all Paths lead to God; that each soul is his own Path; and that all phases and forms of Truth are good and necessary.

I know something of the Mystery of Regeneration, and the Sacred Fire; the positive and negative of the marriage union; the purpose and necessity of the complementary qualities of the two halves of one Whole; also of the male and female in the individual; of the True Mate within; and of the Spiritual Marriage of the Purified Soul and Personality with the Christ within.

I understand that Death is the Angel of God, Who is All Life in all things, even in death; that nothing that is, can die; therefore the only true death is of that which never was—the self; that the body must die, while the self lives, but when the self has died, the body shall have Eternal Life.

Dear Friends:
I have sought to change the three Prayers, saying them as I would say them while in the Christ Consciousness. Of course, in the transposition, they cease to be prayers. The human mind prays to an Infinite Source, from which it thinks it is separate. In the transposing, the Divine Mind expresses Its Will, Its Wish, Its Plan for that portion of Itself that dwells in the sense of separation, duality and finiteness.

I AM THAT I AM.

Thou, O blessed manifestation of Myself, and thou, My children of the Higher Consciousness,—hear this My Holy Plan. Draw thou in consciousness with My other Blessed Sons deep within where I Am, where self exists not, and where thou may be One with and abide with Me in Eternal Truth.

Seek thou to open wide thy hearts and let out the Great Love, that I AM may possess thee utterly, may rule, motivate and inspire thy every thought, word and act, merging thee completely into My Love; thereby enabling thee to love as I Love, to see as I See, to hear as I Hear; to commune with, to be with, and to work with Me face to face, consciously, at will, at all times and on all planes; so that thou may know with My Understanding all things thou seeks and needs to know.

Be cleansed of all sense of self and of separation from Me, so that My Holy Spirit, My I AM, may enter and henceforth live My Life, do My Will, be I AM in thee, without let or hindrance of any kind for evermore.

Beloved children, as thou goes forth again into the outer consciousness, take with thee My Wisdom to light and direct thy way; My Will to strengthen and sustain thee; and My Love to surround, protect and fill thee; so that thou may ever see Me, may feel Me, may know Me. May be truly One with Me, everywhere, in everything, and in every one of My manifestations. Seek thou from My Bountiful Being, beloved ones, the many Blessings that await.

Come thou wholly unto Me, so that I may make thee into perfect instruments for My Use on earth. For My Name’s sake, I bid thee, Come, and receive, and Be One with Me.

I AM the Good Shepherd, My sheep shall not want.

I make My earth centres of mind to abide in My Consciousness; I lead them beside the waters of My Spirit.

I glorify the Soul, and lead it in the Paths of Righteousness. Yea, though My earth forms walk in the shadow of the Valley of Death, yet the Soul fears no evil, for I Am within it, and My Rod and My Staff shall support and comfort it.

I prepare a Feast of Spirit before it, when confronted with the appearance of want and great evils. I anoint its head with the Oil of Illumination; I fill it to capacity with the realization of My Power.

Surely Goodness and Mercy will follow it all the days of its expression; for I shall endure it with the Power of My Spirit forever.

I AM, the Father of all. I AM, Eternal Bliss, even though My children, separate from Me in consciousness knows it not. Holy Am I, for in My Name all liveth, moves and have their being. My Righteousness sustains them. My Plan is being done on earth as it is in Spirit.

Receive ye this day thy Spiritual Heritage. Thy sins are forgiven thee, as thou forgives those that sin against thee.

And be not led into doubting I AM; but resist ye all that appears to be not of Me.

For I AM the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory of all Attainment. For ever and ever. AMEN.

Last evening, while making a copy of the three Prayers to send to you, the thought ran through my mind. “I have written the Prayers as I would speak them were I the Lord.” And with no effort at all my mind believed and accepted the thought that that was just who I AM.

Whereas, for weeks and months I had been still, had concentrated, had willed to believe, had meditated and used affirmations—all with no visible effect upon consciousness, except fatigue and disbelief; now, in the simple act of copying, with not too much attention placed upon the actual meaning, some subtle power of suggestion had been at work, and with no strain or effort the mind simply gave in and believed and fully realized.

“Why, yes, of course, I AM, God.”

And I experienced that I am not my body, not an individual, am not here on earth. And my wife and child are not My wife or My child. I have never married. Only the thought of Myself as an individual born of earth married another thought of Myself as a woman born of earth. Neither wife nor child know who I AM. They probably shall always look upon Me as husband and father. But I Am not what they think, and never have been.

I Alone AM. No past, present or future is of Me. My illusionary wife does hold in her consciousness the belief that I am her husband, that I should provide a home, food, clothes, life insurance for her illusionary body.

In experiencing that I Alone AM, there ceases to be any desire or consciousness of wants, needs, or of lacking anything. As I am not matter, or know not things, they have no place in my existence or my consciousness. Sometime back I had another experience. I cannot say whether it was an alternating dual consciousness or not. In this experience I recognized that I Am the Father. And at the same time that I Am also an individual. Also I Am the whole of humanity. But My greatest and highest Reality is that I AM God, un-manifest. In My true status as Father of mankind, I cannot help but look upon all men with compassion, understanding, forgiveness. Rather than seeing individual men, some good, some bad, recognizing good and evil, I see a movement in the consciousness of the human race that cycle after cycle brings it nearer to My state of Knowing and Being. All men are doing as well as can be expected of them in the state of development in which each one now is.

That part of Me, which is conscious of being man, is doing and giving the best it can. In time, through growth and development, all separated and isolated units will advance to the degree where all will be conscious of Me and of our Oneness. And during the time of such progression of these different parts of Me going in and out of the flesh, experiencing different conditions in various environments and in different personalities, there is no Divine Wrath on My part. Considering what they are, they are doing the best they can.

Some of the time during this experience, I was the Father; some of the time I was one of mankind, an individual. And for the acts or sins I committed in the individual consciousness, I, the Father, did not hold My self guilty. The I-individual was doing the best I could, considering I was I-individual conscious. Sometime the I-individual will reach the place where I will always be I-the Father conscious.

Dear Friends:
Yes, I have a different consciousness than I had in the past, and am realizing that the Kingdom of Heaven is right here on earth, and that we may live, move and have our being in it—if we choose to do so. Either we do, or we do not—there is no half-way measure—no use trying to grasp material things with one hand and the Kingdom of God with the other.

It can’t be done.

I can see that we can enjoy every “material” thing spiritually—but not spiritual things materially.

It is wonderful!

WISDOM AND DISCRIMINATION

And now we wish to talk with you about Wisdom and Discrimination, the highest attainments of the human soul and which can be acquired only through the fullest unfoldment of the Love Consciousness.

What is Wisdom? It is Divine Knowing, the Knowing of your Christ Self. What is Discrimination? It is the ability to listen and know unerringly when the Christ Self speaks and to know His meaning and will for you. Have you gained that Knowing, and are you absolutely sure when your Christ Self speaks and that you understand His meaning?

If not, then you can see how important it is that you gain the ability to retire into the consciousness of your Christ Self at will, there to see with His eyes and to know with His understanding what is necessary for you to know.

There are no surer teachings how to do this than those given in The Impersonal Life, supplemented by those in the Papers. Therefore we urge one and all who are not now studying it to get out the book and in the light of the consciousness you are now in, to go over it again slowly and carefully, listening to what the Loving One within says while you read.

Remember, it is the chief textbook of this Work and that because of your interest in its truths were you invited to journey with us to the Kingdom, in order that you might prove these truths and build them into your consciousness and life.

We are receiving letters constantly from new and old students in the Work, saying that in the book is contained all Truth, and that one needs no other teachings—if he follows faithfully and always obeys what is so plainly shown therein must be done—to attain union with God and to work in His Kingdom.

The lessons in the Papers are only to help make its teachings clearer to those who have not the patience or the persistence to stay with those in the book until they have made their truths a part of their lives.

This being so, maybe if you will now turn to it, with the help and the greater understanding received during the past four years, you may find in it just what is needed to give the final push that will enable you to reach the Kingdom and walk through into Its Glory and Blessings.

If you can only realize it, few even now are able fully to comprehend the great significance of its Message, which is first, to bring your human mind into a full recognition of You, its Divine Teacher—the Comforter within; and second, to teach it without the peradventure of a doubt when You speak, and not when self or some other voice that is seeking to mislead and deceive you.

This, we are finding, is the great need at this particular time; for as disciples approach the Kingdom, the enemy becomes more subtle and more determined in his efforts to prevent them reaching it. On the other hand, it is absolutely necessary that every soul be so cleansed of every taint of self, and at the same time will have gained sufficient Wisdom and have developed the faculty of Discrimination, that nothing can tempt them, cause them to doubt or be misled in any way from the straight and narrow path that leads to the Kingdom.

Remember, you cannot enter and abide in the Kingdom until you have met and conquered every temptation that the enemy can bring to you, and you may be sure there will be brought everything that will thoroughly test your Wisdom, Discrimination and Strength of Will, as well as prove that there are no qualities of self still remaining.

And be not dismayed or discouraged at failure, for every failure is but to show you what you still lack and to give you the opportunity to study self the more, so as to learn how better to discipline and prepare it for the next test. Only thus can you gain the strength and what else is needed to withstand all the assaults of the enemy.

Try to understand that the entering and abiding in the Kingdom is for those only who have thus fully proven themselves—yea, it is for those only who have mastered self, so that it has become their loving and obedient servant.

Such are called Masters for that sole reason.

Yet to be Master of self is not sufficient. It must come first; but it is not all—self must lose itself, must merge into the Christ Self, and become One with You, a Son of God.

Those who have not truly found that Self, that All-loving, All-wise Something within, which always knows and will always point them the true way, when they can make self and its desires stand aside so they can listen and hear what Its quiet, gentle voice says, have failed to gain something most precious, something greater than all the occult powers of the greatest adept in the world. For they have not yet found the Comforter, the Blessed Christ within, Who knows all things, has all powers, and will lead them unto all Truth.

It is He alone that leads all true disciples to and establishes them in the Kingdom.

Many are turning to occult orders and teachings these days, because of the wonderful things in them held out, the attaining of marvellous powers, and the teaching of them how to become adepts. But do you remember what Jesus said of John the Baptist, the great Adept?

“Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist; notwithstanding he that is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.”

Think long and carefully on these things.

Then again, there are more than a few who are teaching today, giving out messages claimed to be coming from the Christ within, and even from Jesus, our Blessed Lord and Master, who are either fooled by invisible intelligences using such teachers to serve their own sinister ends, or who are woefully self deceived, because of lacking Wisdom and Discrimination—the ability to know that quiet, loving Voice within, the Voice of Him Who knows not material things, but knows their unreality and that they are only the creations of self, which to the Christ Self have no existence. His interest is only in the soul, and in the soul’s good; and His teachings and help will be given only for the soul’s strengthening and blessing.

Until one knows that Voice and can get quiet enough to hear it, one can easily be fooled; and many are being greatly fooled these days, and many more will be fooled in the days to come—until through disillusionment, suffering and sorrow they unfold their Christ Nature, gain sufficient Wisdom and acquire Discrimination, thereby entering into the Impersonal Love Consciousness—that of the Comforter Within.