A Rose Is A Rose Is A Rose

Chapter 7 Part Two Herb Fitch Based on The Thunder of Silence by Joel S. Goldsmith
Now, we have the Sermon On The Mount saying, Judge not, that ye be not judged, and this would seem to be, a very simple statement which has been interpreted on a moral basis. Were beginning to see as we study mystical truth that it is far deeper than a moral statement. The moment we judge, we are giving a sense of power, to that which has no power. As we judge an evil to be present of any kind, even a slug in the garden, as an evil, we are judging a second power. Judge not, that ye be not judged! Now when we have discovered a second power, we have discovered the untruth, the lie, and we are ensnared in that lie and the lie judges us. There is only God power and therefore to see a second power which needs to be judged as evil, this simple statement which has been interpreted to be a moral code is another way of bringing to our attention the cosmic illusion. You know about the cosmic camera that photographs your consciousness, and every belief that you have comes right back to you as a form condition or circumstance of your life. It's only your own consciousness out pictured. Just as the dog could read the thoughts of the man, the dog could also read the thoughts of those who had animosity in their hearts, or harm in their minds, and instantly would leap, without the man having said a thing, the snake would coil, the skunk would respond to threats of violence. This man found he could even live with a skunk and he said after study of the habits and

qualities of the families of skunks that he worked with, truthfully, he said, I find there are very human beings who could be elevated to the high rank of being called a skunk. He said they havent the slightest juvenile delinquency, their habits are beautiful and pure, their motives are pure and he found this to be the truth of every animal, their motives are perfectly pure and they all learn how to live in the now, instantly. But it is the consciousness of man coming back as the appearance of that animal, as the anger of that animal, as the fear of that animal which is nothing more than the mirror of our own consciousness. Now, we give qualities to things that the things do not have. You admire the rose and someone else says it gives me hay fever. He gives it a power it does not have, but he thinks the power is in the rose, whereas it's in his consciousness. How it came into his consciousness could be heredity, environment, education, experience, psychological factors, but there it is in his consciousness, not in the rose. Now we turn around and give those same powers of evil as those other things. Some people can eat anything and never get fat, why? We think it's because of their digestive system, it isnt, it's because of their consciousness. Other people can look at food and get fat, why? Because of their consciousness. And so it is with tobacco, alcohol, food; we give them the qualities we think they have, but it is nothing more than our consciousness externalized coming back, as the addiction, or the gluttony, or whatever it is to food, tobacco, theres nothing moral about this, it's simply a revelation that the mind plays tricks. Now you remember in this chapter, we have this woman, who is very angry about her husband. The only time he gets out of bed is to take her pay check in the morning, when she comes home, or the evening she comes home from work. He stays in bed everyday, 2

everyday of the week until she comes home with that paycheck, then he takes it, and he gets liquor with it. He doesnt work, and so she cant find any way to break him of that. Finally she goes for a spiritual healing, to Joel, and he says the trouble is youre the alcoholic. Shes astounded, Hes the one doing all the drinking and Joel's telling her, shes the alcoholic? Well, youre giving power to the liquor, you think it's evil dont you? Yes I do. Do you think itd be okay if he drank ginger ale instead? Yes I do. So you think ginger ale is good and liquor is evil? Right. But your husband doesnt think so, he thinks liquor is good, so one of you has to give in, one of you is wrong. Now youve tried every other way, why dont you try it my way, and she says, Whats that? Well give him all the liquor he wants and dont stand in his way. Shes completely perplexed, but shes tried everything even sits in the outer office to think it over and finally says okay I guess Ill try it, I dont understand it, but what have I got to lose? Then she does. She gives him her pay check when he wants his liquor, Get all you want, she said, and hes perplexed now. The outcome of course is that he says he doesnt want any more. Ultimately it isnt the stuff they used to make; it's lost its punch. And Joels conclusion about the whole thing is this, they dont suffer from alcohol because it's something evil, they dont have alcohol in their homes for that reason. They suffer from the fact that they think it's going to do them some good and it doesnt, and when they learn it cant do them any good, they lose the desire for it. He said, when you learn that tobacco cant do you any good you will lose the desire for it. When you learn that other foods cannot do you any good, you will lose the desire for them. And hes showing us that we endow power to inanimate things, even dollar bills. If you read the chapter, he tells you to meditate. He said put a dollar on your desk, look at it, now think about it, what's it good for? It's dead, it's lifeless. Why do we worship

something thats dead? Because it can buy things. What are you going to do with that dollar, who gave you that dollar, where did it come from, sit and think about it a moment he said, just dwell on that dollar and pretty soon you realize youre giving power to some thing that is dead. What about the power behind that dollar, what about the power of Spirit? Does it depend on dollar bills? Does Spirit need dollar bills before it pushed forth what we call oranges from a tree, before it pushed forth the glories that we witness with our naked eyes? What dollars put the sun in the sky, or the fish in the sea or the birds in the air, and the lily, it neither toils nor spins but its glory is for all to see? We give power to the physical world and spiritual consciousness tells us, the physical world is nothing more than the out picturing of the world consciousness. My kingdom is Spirit, my kingdom is permanent, my kingdom is indestructible, my kingdom has no growing roses that will die no persons who will be born, suffer and pass on. My kingdom has no fat people or thin people. My kingdom has no addictions to food, to liquor, to tobacco. My kingdom is a complete total release in the perfect Self, and so we are told to learn how to move, live, have our being in reality. If you remember this chapter falls in the second section of the book which is taking us from Unreality to Reality. But behind all this, behind the statement, judge not, that ye be not judged, judge righteous judgment, there is a great secret that we all must by now know. And that secret cannot come into your consciousness while youre admiring a flower which you consider a reality, while you are glued to materialism. You see, were being taught to enjoy the material world while we crucify it in our consciousness. For unless we crucify the material world in consciousness, we will never experience the spiritual universe. We will never walk in the kingdom of heaven on earth and

behind all this, the Lords Prayer, the voice of existence speaking through dog and man, the knowledge that there is a power that is maintaining a perfect infinite rose at all times, behind all this, is the subtle leading you to the fact that you must learn to live by that voice, by that Word, by revelation. For the Lord's Prayer is telling you only the power of revelation from within, is power. Browning's poetry is telling you only the power of revelation from within is reality. Walking through the leaves of a rose, through the petals right through the stem, right through the earth, into infinity, you find there is a place where Spirit expresses, where you stand, just as it expresses where a rose stands, and then revelation to you becomes a living Word. You live by the Word, the Word of the Infinite Voice, expressing in you as the infinite perfection of being. This is the purpose of judging not. This is the purpose that is manifest when you learn to rest without judgment, for only without judgment are you in the unconditioned consciousness and only the unconditioned consciousness is a habitation for the activity of perfect spiritual law. Now finally, all of this may register with you in a certain way. In a glimpse of light you know, that youve been told that only the kingdom of God is real, all else is misperception. You are being told that you are walking now in that kingdom and when you have caught the impact of that, then your consciousness determines to walk constantly in the kingdom in spite of every appearance. You have decided to be a witness, to the presence of the kingdom of god, looking neither to the false in form, that is good or the thoughts in form that are not good. Living in the awareness, that this now, here, is the kingdom of God and I will look and judge not. What shall I judge? Shall I judge God, shall I judge the Spirit, is there anything else present? And if nothing else is

present than the allness of Spirit, what shall I judge? My judgment is automatically the denial of the allness of Spirit because I cannot judge God, and God is all. What shall I judge? When I judge, I have denied the allness of God and I suffer from that judgment. For that reason, that is how, the truth of the statement, when you judge you will be judged, comes to pass. Now, we come to something then, that each of us has to come to individually. A place, a conviction, a decision, that I will awaken in the morning in the Kingdom of God. Where there is nothing to judge, nothing to condemn, not even anyone to forgive, for all is the Invisible Spirit of God. And so, a person is a person is a person, name it and that's all. Theres nothing more there. A rose is a rose is a rose, that's all. Dont give it qualities, dont even think that it is expressing divine qualities, but rather, know that only divine qualities are expressing, impersonally. Now, you come to this then, you are removing from your consciousness, the belief that there is anything other than the Spirit of God on this earth. Think back a moment, isnt that what Jesus was teaching, isnt that why he had a problem getting this across to the disciples who were mired in materialism, men who only knew about fishes and nets, and who he later trained carefully to go forth and teach, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, that Spirit is here? Youre looking out and seeing bondage to one nation. Youre looking out and seeing pollution over here, over there youre seeing fires and floods and hurricanes and earthquakes. Give them a name if you will, an earthquake is an earthquake is an earthquake period. But no qualities, pollution is pollution, is pollution, but no power. God is power, Spirit is power, Spirit is not polluted.

This is the other side of the coin. Once we have been able to rise above the belief in material beauty, as real, we can rise above the belief of material imperfection as real. There are no polluted streams in our Father's House, but God is all, Spirit is all. Now this then becomes that consciousness which lives in Him which abides in Him. No, no, I cannot accept a polluted stream, Spirit is all, a stream is a stream is a stream, nothing more, it has no qualities of its own; I will not endow it with a power of pollution. It has only that power if I give it that power and I refuse. All is Spirit and any power I give to anything is a false power, it is nothing more than my consciousness of false power externalized as a polluted stream. It is world consciousness, coming forth as the imperfections called war, over-population, under nourishment, famine, poverty, disease; none of these exist, for this is the kingdom of God. Go forth and preach the gospel, of faith in the unseen, not by sacrifice, but by knowledge that Spirit is all. Now I have a little Bible for myself, which you may like to share with me. This little Bible is the Spirit Itself, the Living Spirit which is a living continuous Bible, and it speaks this way; you may find a response in yourself. The Spirit says this is heaven now, right where I stand heaven is, right where you stand heaven is and it will never change, it will always be heaven. It will always be the Infinite Spirit and only the Infinite Spirit, where you are. That is your name, that is my name, it is the name of the rose, it is the name of the wolf, it is the name of a hyena, of the coyote, of the ant, of the worm, of the giraffe, of the elephant, it is the name of all that appears as form, the Invisible Spirit. Spirit is the substance where to human sense the form appears. Once we have accepted this, then we can move further in that direction. In fact, I find it necessary now, to move in that direction at the instant of awakening

in the morning. I must walk in the kingdom of God. There is no other place, and therefore if I walk in another place, I walk in unreality and all that can walk in unreality is an unreal person, and it's rather stupid after all these years, to be an unreal person walking in unreality, when the teaching of the Master is so vividly clear, that the kingdom of heaven is here, it is the Invisible Spirit and only one who wishes to live in that Spirit can be in reality. I know it because God is here, and where God is, heaven is, God is here. This must be God's kingdom and in God's kingdom, there is only perfection, reality, in spite of what may appear. Behind the mist of matter and conditions, shines the light of perfect reality, untarnished, indestructible, independent of time, space, human thought, and power. Reality is here, now unchallenged; I am that reality. And this should be the echo in your heart; I am that reality. Each of us, is that I which is saying, I am that reality. When this becomes your conviction, you will find youre in the One Self, the One Power, which recognizes no second self, no second power, perfect, unchallenged, unopposed, the infinite indivisible One, independent of time, space, matter, human thought and power. I, and that I is the I of you, I am Infinite Spirit, Infinite Mind, Infinite Body, Infinite Life, Infinite Power, Infinite Perfection, all that reality is, I AM, without opposite. This is the new consciousness, which makes all things new, maintaining the integrity of what I am. I remain free of the tyranny of human thought, undivided, unseparated, the perfect Self, the tree of life Self expressing, never descending into the divided thought of the knowledge of good and evil. Were removing the Adam and Eve consciousness, in the belief that there is a good rose bush and one not so good, never in the division in the belief in both good and evil.

Now then, youre in the consciousness called Eden. Eden is your new consciousness, and in this Eden I accept no intrusion. I accept no thought form, no denial of the present perfection in all that is here. Now and forever I redeem even the tiniest stray thought; perfection never can have an opposite. Divine glory alone exists here; where you are, where I am, and now, the unselfed Infinite is being. To the clamoring mind I am deaf, to problems I am blind, to discords I remain undefended, I am reality, the unreal can never challenge life. On my mountain top of reality I stand, when I can longer stand there, I rest, in breathing precious spiritual consciousness until my Soul is restored. I see no evil, no inequalities, no cruelties. I witness only Self daily, suspending all human judgment in all things, letting Self define Self. And so, I move slowly from self to self, from person to person, from person to thing all being Self, holding this divine thread. Every relationship must be threaded through this divine eye, invested with spiritual substance and significance and this is the bread that I cast without interruption. Now this is my living Bible, weaned from what the Spirit has spoken, and what the Master has taught, and although it is like trying to walk an invisible white line, it can and will be done, for this is the direction that the Father intimated when he said, Be ye perfect as your Father, which is in heaven. And this, therefore, is the direction we learn we must walk at all cost, daily without ceasing. And every time we fall off that white line, what of it, what of it? We can always go back, until eventually, we can walk that white line blindfolded and defenseless, in the knowledge that in the kingdom of God I need no defense against anything in this world, neither the virus nor the accident, nor the lack, nor the pain, nor the suffering. I need no

defense because they cannot be where God is realized, and ultimately you see, they are dissolved through that realization. Finally, were coming to a place where we can depend on the one invisible power to be the only. It is the power of love, the power of perfection, the power of perfect spiritual law, ever functioning as the Holy Ghost in our midst, showing forth as you, me, the rose, the dog the tree; one life expressing. As I accept that, I am true to the Father which says, Even the least of these my brethren is myself, one Self realized as the only and ever perfect. Now, theres really no one who is trying to follow this, who will not find a response in the Infinite. You cannot walk in the Spirit, without the power of the Spirit manifesting where you walk. At the very moment that you accept this to be the kingdom of God, the law of that kingdom functions where you stand and you break the karma of thousands of years of ignorance. There is no other place, there is no other time, there is only the kingdom of God, and we who are learning to live in it consciously, accepting no other are finding the fruits of that kingdom falling all around us, in every way. And mostly in the glory of the relationships with others who are walking the same path, even those not in the path feel the splendor of it. A rose is a rose is a rose, just an image of the mind, for God is ever the allness of this universe, and that universe comprises, of all who have walked this earth before us, all who will walk the earth after us, all are the Invisible One Spirit called God. Id like to come again to what Ive called the new Lord's Prayer; youll see it this way:
Our

Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name, Thy

kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, and then

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all that follows is the result of the oneness that is established in the realization that this is the kingdom of God. And so, when you say, Where I appear only God is, and where my friend appears only God is, and rest in that knowledge, you have done more that recite the Lord's Prayer, you have accepted it and it is your living acceptance of the Lord's Prayer which brings you into the kingdom of God on earth, where the will of the Father is now being done. This is a living Lord's Prayer. It is the fulfillment of what the Lord's Prayer purported to do. It is bringing you to the place where you say, All that the Lord's Prayer says I agree with, I accept and therefore this is now the kingdom of God where I stand. His will is being done, and only his will, for his is the power, his is the glory, here on earth now. His is the will and power of the Spirit and there is no other power. Then you become the living Lord's Prayer. That is your way, it is your life, it is your oneness with the Infinite now. That power that we accept is the power of perfection, active on every square inch of this entire universe now, in spite of what human eyes may judge. We are in righteous judgment, which is no judgment. The knowledge that God is here now, functioning perfectly, and on this we stand forever. This is the seed from which resurrection blossoms forth. I recommend that meditation for you, as a simple immediate way, to readjust your consciousness so that you know youre standing, in your Fathers kingdom at all times. Being true, to his Omnipresence, Omnipotence and all knowing, accepting therefore that perfection is invisible everywhere, now. Dont go seeking good, accept it, and it will manifest, in your life, in every form it can. Happy day after Valentine's, see you next week...

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THE END

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