THE SICKLE

INTRODUCTION

That a misconception is responsible for ninety, if not one hundred, percent of all
the ills, troubles, suffering, etc., of this life can be logically proved.
That a misconception could be handed down for thousands of years and only
occasionally perceived as a misconception seems incredible, but such is a fact, for
a misconception has been handed down from the father to son, as actual truth,
for the past nineteen centuries, and not until the last fifty years has the
magnitude of this misconception been fully revealed.

Those who have had the courage previously to dispute this age-long mistake,
have been called unbelievers, lost sheep, etc.
The misconception of which I speak, is that regarding God and man, and their true
relation to each other.
To state merely that there is a misconception without pointing it out clearly so
that all may understand, is to but partially do the good of which one is capable.
Had not this misconception been hidden under the cloak of religion, thinkers, no
doubt, would have unearthed this father of all lies and destroyed it with self-
evident truth; but whenever a thinker, in his search for truth, intruded upon the
so-called confines of church or religion, he was subtly made to understand that
his research must be abandoned insofar as it assailed the religious tenets of the
church.

Progress in all other lines of endeavor, was permissible, but religious doctrines
must ever be those of our forefathers, regardless of crudity or errors.
A few, possessing the courage born of conviction, made known their discovery of
the truth, only to meet with ridicule. Nevertheless, the advanced ideas
promulgated by these few, are today bringing forth their fruition in a higher
understanding of Cause and effect, God and man. No doubt these sincere thinkers
were greatly handicapped in telling plainly what they had discovered because of
the ridicule heaped upon them, and because they feared they would be
misunderstood.

This book is written for the express purpose of destroying the age-long
misconception regarding God and man, and I claim no special mission from a
personal God, neither do I claim to have been especially inspired by such a
God.This book is the outcome or fruit of years of study of the most advanced
thought of this and writers, who wrote of the primal Cause or God, have
contributed to my enlightenment to the point that this book became possible.

Every system and theory advocated by these various writers promising help or
enlightenment regarding the power of Mind or thought was conscientiously
tested in actual application. The wheat in each instance was slowly sifted from the
chaff by actual demonstration and carefully garnered, the chaff discarded.
I have experimented in this metaphysical work with as much care as any chemist
ever exercised in his most painstaking tests.

Every experiment in my work has been carefully watched and noted and, after
years of conscientious study and practice, a sure foundation has been acquired,
and also ability to present the facts on which this foundation rests, so clearly that
anyone willing to apply himself as diligently to this study as he would to the study
of music or mathematics, can gain an understanding of the Science of Life. He can
demonstrate what he has learned of this Science only so far he has progressed in
his knowledge, the same as would be true of music or mathematics.

In the Science of music, the fruit or effect of one’s musical knowledge is shown in
the harmony that flows from pen, voice or instrument; and in the Science of Life,
the fruit or effect of one’s understanding is shown in the harmony, health and
love that one can bring into one’s life through the application of right thought.

You are not asked to blindly believe or accept what I have written in this book. In
fact, to blindly accept or believe is a detriment to the believer.
You are asked to use your reasoning powers, and to put into actual application
the much or little understanding that you may gain by reading and studying this
book. The results or blessings received from a conscientious study and right
application of the truth (true thought) herein contained will be sufficient proof to
convince the most skeptical, if he approaches the work with an honest
determination to prove the truth or error of what is herein written.

CHAPTER 1
EMPTYING OUT
You cannot add to a vessel already to full. First you must empty the contents,
then there will be room for the new.
This statement applies equally as well to the mentality of the individual as to a
vessel. It is illustrative of the fact that an individual who believes that what he
knows is the truth, even though it be error, will not accept the actual Truth when
presented to his mentality. Therefore I have found in my metaphysical work that
it is first necessary to show the individual that which he believes to be truth, is in
reality error, before the actual Truth can be accepted or understood by him. The
individual mentality having been emptied of the error that filled it, is ready to
have Truth take the place of the error.
Jesus of Nazareth was the greatest metaphysician of all time, and the same error
in the mentality of the people in the time of Jesus, and which filled it so
completely that there was no room for actual Truth, is in the mentality of the
people today. As this error pertains to Life, God, and man (the reflection or image
of God), it is the direct reason for the inability of humanity, even to this day, to
understand the actual truth of Life when it is presented.
Truth is always mental. It is the knowing of actuality or fact.
Error is always mental. It is delusion or self-deception.
The way to become free from an illusion or delusion is to become aware of the
facts regarding it, and then the delusion, or self-deception, vanishes and the
corresponding fact takes its place in the mentality.
To disillusion mankind of an error that has been viewed as truth since the world
began, seems almost an impossible task. Nevertheless, one universal delusion
that had stood for centuries as truth, has been destroyed through the light of
reason and experience, namely, that the earth is flat; so why may not another
universal delusion be banished through the same means?

It is the desire of the writer to prove to the reader of this book that the beliefs
which ate responsible for the ills and poverty in this world are but delusions.
To do this it will be necessary to gain and retain the interest of the reader that he
may be induced to read carefully and thoughtfully the matter presented. This will
tend to clear a vessel hitherto filled with erring human beliefs.
Another factor in proving that ills and poverty are but delusion rests upon the
consent or refusal of the reader to accept the facts presented,—whether he is so
blinded by old beliefs and superstitions as to be unwilling or unable to think for
himself and is satisfied to abide by what his father believed before him, or is open
to conviction.
It will also depend upon the ability of the writer to state clearly the truths which
he wishes to impart, in order that the student may grasp an understanding
readily.
The vital error of mankind is the beliefs regarding their God and man.
The almost universal belief is that the Creator and ruler of heaven and earth is a
personal God, presumably sitting upon a throne, reigning much as would a human
king.
For thousands of years those who have found themselves in trouble or ill health
prayed and pleaded, and some have virtually groveled at the feet of a so-called
almighty, personal God, begging for mercy, though unaware how this terrible God
had been offended.
Some, never having received an answer, have tried to console themselves with
the thought that it was God’s will that they must suffer. Others have claimed
positive answers to their prayers and have maintained this despite the Bible
teaching that God is no respector of persons, and despite the manifest fact that if
what they claim is true, this personal God respects the prayers of a certain few of
His children and disregards others. Either the Bible teaching is wrong or these
friends are self-deceived.
Is the Bible Teaching at fault?

Is there truth or reason in the assertion that one receives an answer to his prayers
an another does not?
Can we dismiss this by saying that one did not pray alright?
This personal God is said to have power to read the human heart. Ought not
sincerity and honesty of purpose to prove as effective in one case as in the other?
We might contend that dishonest intent in the one case may be responsible for
the lack of response, but suppose the case is that of a mother praying for the
recovery of her only child? Surely in such a case there can be only honest intent
and yet no answer consoles this mother’s breaking heart. Let us examine into this
human belief in a personal God (for belief it is), and see if we cannot get at the
truth of the matter.

There is as much common sense in pleading with a personal God to help you as
there is in your looking up to the heavens when you pray, for both are
nonsensical. The Scriptural teaching is that the real God is a changeless God and
that He governs all wisely and well. When you pray and beseech this personal God
to help you, are you not in reality trying to make a changeless God change His
mind, or decree, in your favor?
If you are sick or in trouble by the decree of God, then God must become a
changeable God to grant your prayers for reliefs. If, on the other hand, you claim
that God did not decree or make you sick, then you are asserting that God is not
the all-power or sole Creator, for your charge that some other has made or
created your sickness.

A minister, a very good and devout man, came to my house. Every time he
mentioned the word “God,” he rolled his eyes upward and looked at the ceiling.
I asked him, “ Do you believe that God is up in heaven?”
He answered, “ God is everywhere, but His throne is up in heaven.”
I asked, “Is this why you look up toward the sky when you mention his name?”
He answered, “Yes, I always look up to God and His throne when I speak His name
or pray.”
I asked, “You also believe that the devil is below?”
He answered, “He must be, for there is no place for him above.”
I remarked, “You also know that the earth revolves each twenty-four hours,
therefore how can you be sure that you are not looking toward the devil when
you look up and pray, for it is self-evident, because of the turning of the earth,
that the devil would be up at least twelve hours of each day.”

As the common sense of my statement gradually reached the reason of this good
man, the confusion and fear on his face were pitiable to behold. His further
comment on the subject was a feeble attempt to quote Scripture in support of
the theory that God was up and the devil down.

True it is that God is up and the devil down but not up in space or the reverse.
Likely everything else in the Bible, the words “up” and “down” must be
understood in their mental, i.e., spiritual sense. God is up, but this “up” is not up
in the blue sky, but up in the scale being,—up toward perfect intelligence, while
the devil is down, toward ignorance. Ignorance is hell, and in ignorance (in hell), in
erring human belief, we will surely find the only devil there is.

Sheol, Hades, Hell are words that have been as much misunderstood and
misinterpreted as have God, man and heaven. The error in interpretation arose
from the attempt to make the definition of these words fit a place, when they
pertain to a mental state. Hell or Hades is not a place, it is a state of mind. Hades
is a Greek word and means “not to be seen,” but the mental meaning of the word
“seen” must be used to arrive at the true meaning. Webster defines the word
“see” as “understood.” The word “seeing” is also defined as “understanding.”
Thus we see that the mental or metaphysical meaning of the word Hades is that
which is, “not to be understood.” In other words, a state of mind that lacks
foundation in fact, an illusion.

We know that there is no death, that death is but a passing from one state of
mind to another, and not to a place of everlasting harp-playing, called heaven, or
the still more preposterous place of eternal punishment, called hell. Theology is
fast letting go of the idea of a place called hell, and with more enlightenment,
theologians will also relinquish the idea of heaven as a place and will realize that
heaven is a perfected and harmonious state of individual Mind.

The word Hades literally means “that which is in darkness,” in other words, a
mental darkness in which ignorance (erring belief), has been given the place
which should have been given to understanding, which is mental light.

Hell, as commonly understood, has nothing to do with death or the transition.

Hell is a concrete mental state of not knowing, of supposition believed to be
truth. Heaven is a concrete or settled mental state of knowing the facts of
existence with their resultant harmony. Therefore, actual knowledge of facts,
Intelligence, Mind, True Consciousness, Truth, is God, and the resulting mental
harmony and health is heaven.
Let us take another view of this personal God or personal Ruler belief.

Human belief says that if we have been good Christians on this earth we shall be
rewarded by being allowed to go to heaven where God is supposed to be seated
upon a throne, and seated upon His right side is Jesus, His only son. At least, the
Bible states that God said, “This is my only begotten Son.” This statement does
not say that “This is my only son,” as all Christians have been led to believe, for
John denies this when he says, “Now are we the sins of God.” If Jesus were God’s
only son, we would not be sons also.

Jesus was the first and only individual mentality on the earth to be wholly
begotten by Mind, understanding,—the remainder of humanity by the method
which human belief erringly deems necessary. So Jesus was not the only son, but
was the only son (individual) conceived (begotten) through (God) right
understanding alone.

If there is an all-powerful personal God, who made me and made me imperfect,

so that I fell by the wayside, the fault is His, not mine. It will not do to say that He
made me in this way to test my merits or worthlessness. He had the power to
make and should have made me perfect enough to stand the test.

At any rate, if this personal God is all-knowing, as our religious teachers inform us,
He must have known at the time that He made me whether I could stand the test
or would fall by the wayside, and why did He not perfect the works of His hands?

In mentally viewing this personal God seated upon His throne, we might also
mentally view the vast multitude, of those who have gone before, crowding, to be
near God and Jesus.
This world, we know for a certainly, has endured six thousand years. How many
more years matters little. Think of the millions of people who have passed to the
so-called other side. It would only be reasonable to assumed that at least one half
of these millions have reached the promised land, even if the other half have not.

Now imagine the throne of God, surrounded by this throng, and that your time to
pass to the Great Beyond had come. How far in the distance do you suppose you
would be with these millions, who have passed on before you, between you and
the throne of God? Do you imagine that under these conditions you would have
an opportunity to get near enough to God to see him? I think I should much
prefer a powerful telescope to the proverbial harp if that old theory were right.

Friends, where has our reasoning ability been all these many years?
Methinks I hear some ask, “Do you believe there is no God?”
Oh yes, there is a God, a very good God. I will tell you of Him later. You will
remember, we are now merely emptying the mentality of the human error and
will later fill this empty space with Truth, the veritable God. You know Jesus said
that God is Truth.

Human belief says that the church is the house of God. Human belief also
contends that God governs the lightning and the wind, as is evidenced by the
prayers offered to a personal God for safety from the lightning and the
devastating wind.

Is it not rather remarkable that this personal God should so forget Himself as to
permit His lightning to strike His own house and destroy it, or so careless as to
allow His tornado to wreck it?

That God was displeased with some of the members of that particular church, and
for that reason permitted its destruction is not believable.
When an entire city is destroyed by fire, are the homes, stores and factories alone
burned, and are so-called houses of God unharmed? Why is not your own home
as much the house of God as any other building?

In speaking to a very devout man regarding a crippled and helpless child, I asked
him whether in his opinion that innocent little child could have done anything to
merit such a punishment from an almighty God? He replied earnestly that it was
his belief that the child was not crippled because of anything it had done, but that
it was God’s method of inflicting punishment upon the parents.

Now in what respect does this so-called enlightened man’s conception of his God
differ from that of his heathen brother?

Would a God, who, the Bible teaches, is kinder that any earthly parent, avenge
himself for wrongs committed by the parents, by inflicting life-long torture upon
their innocent child?
Such theories have outlived their time, and the mind of mankind must be cleared
to make room for the true and good God.

I have either read, or heard a story told of two little orphan boys who were
making their living by selling papers, running errands, etc. Jim and Tim were their
names, I believe, and they had been chums and companions in misery for a
number of years.
One day as Tim was returning to the attic which they called home, he saw a large
crowd at a near-by corner.

Tim elbowed his way to the center of the throng and there on the ground lay the
mangled and dead form of little Jim, his chum.
A clergyman among the bystanders walked over and lifted the sobbing boy who
had thrown himself beside his chum. Endeavoring to console him, he said,
“Remember, my boy, that it is God’s will that your little friend depart this life, for
God governs all!”
The tears ceased flowing and looking up at the friendly minister, the little street
waif asked, “Do you mean that it was God’s will that my chum be killed?”
The minister answered: “All thing are done by the will of God.”
Little Tim gazed at the form of his chum lying still in death, and looking up quickly
exclaimed, “If God killed little Jim, then I say Damn Him, even if he kills me too!”

Was the minister right when he intimated that the crushed and dead form of little
Jim was the result of the will of God? If so, little Tim was right when he damned
Him.
The minister was wrong. Jesus said that “God is Life,” and Life is the opposite of
death and has nothing whatever to do with death. God is not a personal ruler, but
is the primal element.

Thus far I may not have succeeded in emptying your mentality of the erring belief
in a personal God, but I feel certain that what I have written has caused you to
think as you never thought before, and it may have caused you to doubt the
correctness of your belief in a personal God.
I know that some will say, “But I am sure that I know the true God, for I have had
answers to my prayers, thus proving that I know Him.”

In the Bible we read about a woman who had been ill for many years, and who
said, “If I can but so much as touch the hem of his garment I know that I shall be
healed.”
Note the wonderful and intense faith of this woman. She was absolutely certain in
her own mind that if she could but touch the garment of Jesus she would be
healed.
By much endeavor and crowding, this woman came near enough to Jesus to
touch his garment and she was instantly healed.

Did Jesus turn to this woman and say, “I saw your efforts to get near me and
because of your faith in me I have healed you?”
No, he did not say anything of the kind, although this is the impression that nearly
all humanity has gained from the reading of this incident of healing. On the
contrary he said, “Woman, thy faith hath made thee whole.” In plain words this
means: “Woman, do not thank me, I had nothing to do with your healing. It was
your own faith that healed you.”
Jesus did not say, that because this woman had faith “in me,” He healed her. Not
at all, but He did say in substance, “Your own faith that you would be healed by
touching my garment found fulfillment in manifestation when you were able to
touch it,” and this explains the answers, said to have been received, by those who
have prayed to personal God.
They received according to their own faith and also because of this faith; and the
man who receives no answer from a personal God, fails because he does not
expect to receive them (has no faith in receiving).

Faith, pure and simple, with no personal God in it at all, is what produces these
answer. That is why the same person may at one time pray to a personal God and
apparently get an answer, and the next time find that this personal God turns a
deaf ear to his prayer. The second time there was not enough faith in the
expectancy to change the thought conditions in his mentality, hence there was no
change in external conditions, but he thought that for some inscrutable reason
that whereas God answered the first prayer, He did not wish to answer the
second.

If you are beginning to doubt and are in fear of losing your personal God, do not
worry but keep on reading. It is not my intent to leave you Godless, but on the
contrary I wish to acquaint you with the true God; a God that has nothing is ever
present; a God that is Love; a God who will prove your greatest helper in times of
stress.

Further on in the book I shall point out to you the true God and I shall endeavor to
prove to you that He is the only real God. At present, we must not forget that we
are still engaged in our emptying-out process so that later there may be room for
the acceptance of the true God.

Having so far dealt almost entirely with the error of belief in a personal God, I
shall now point out some of the delusions under which nearly all are laboring in
regard to man.
To begin with let me ask, “Are you a physical or a mental being?”

Human belief says that you are a physical being with a soul inside, which soul, at
the point called death, deserts the physicality and thereafter the physicality or
body is dead.
Human belief says that brain formulates thought,—that you think with your brain.
Human belief says that you see with your eyes, that you hear with your ears, that
you speak with your vocal organs, etc.

Let us first examine the belief that you are a physical being with a soul inside.
Which is the “you” in this case? Are you the body or are you the soul inside?
According to human belief, the soul deserts the body at the point called death.
To illustrate: Here is John Doe, well and happy. A few days later John Doe
becomes ill and so-called death ensues. The soul is said have deserted the body
and to have passed away or over the other side. Do we now say that John Doe is
still with us, but that his soul has passed to the other side? No. On the contrary
we say that John Doe is gone but that his body is still with us.
Now which was John Doe,—the body or the soul?
Human belief says that it is the brain that formulates thought.
In the body that the soul left behind, the brain still remains. If it can formulate
thought, why does it not now continue to think and show the effects of
consciousness?
With the body or physicality that the soul left behind, it also left its eyes and its
ears and its so-called organs of speech. Therefore, if the brain can think, the eye
see, the ear hear and the vocal organs talk, why do not these organs still perform
their duties?
If the belief that it is the brain that can think, the eye see, the ear hear, the organs
of speech talk, is correct, then poor John Doe must enter heaven, deaf, dump,
blind and mindless, for according to human belief he has left the organs that can
see, hear, talk, and think, behind.
Which is John Doe, the soul or the body, and which died?

If the life of John Doe was in and of the body, and the body died, then John Doe is
dead, and must remain dead, for the body disintegrates.

If the life of John Doe is the soul, and the soul died, then also is John Doe dead.
Did anything die? I will answer this later. We are still emptying out.
When John Doe became ill, was it his body, or his soul, or John Doe himself, that
became ill?
If it was John Doe’s body that was ill, how did John Doe find it out?
Did his brain discover the illness and announce it to him? If so, since it is now left
behind, on what is he to rely for information regarding his arrival in heaven?
If it was John Doe’s soul that was ill, then why did the physicians doctor his body?
If it was John Doe himself who was ill and died, then John Doe is dead. The Bible
teaches that the true God is the God of the living, not of the dead.
If it was John Doe himself who died, and the body has life of its own, why did his
body seem to die at the same time?

Was it John Doe who had life and gave it to the body?
Are there three distinct individualities, namely John Doe, his soul, and his body?
Or is John Doe only the name given to a particular soul and body?
If so, did both the soul and the body die, or, as is generally believer, did the body,
only, die and the soul live on?

If the body of John Doe died and his soul lived on, the John Doe is only half dead.
If John Doe’s body had life of its own, and subsequently lost it, then part of God is
lost; for Jesus said that God is Life, and therefore Life must be God. If part of Life
can be lost, part of God must be lost, and this, reason tells us is impossible.

If, on the other hand, John Doe’s soul is his life, then he loses his soul when loses
his life.
What is the trouble here? It seems that the further we go with this line of
reasoning, the deeper is the confusion.

The answer is plain. Error has no basis, no foundation. Therefore, the more we
reason from an erring viewpoint the deeper the mystification and the greater our
confusion, and it is a basic error to suppose that a personal God created a body
and breathed a soul inside of it.
In reading, critically, the second chapter of Genesis, it will be discovered that in
this chapter the writer of Genesis has carefully depicted the erring human belief
of God and creation, in contradistinction to the true God and true creation, as
carefully set forth in the first chapter of Genesis.
The student whose attention is called to this point will see plainly that two
distinct creation are chronicled in Genesis. The first creation is narrated in the first
chapter, closing in the introduction of the second chapter. It is plain that those
who arranged the chapters of the Bible did not understand what was written
there, or they would not have included the end of the first in the beginning of the
second.

Having ended the narrative of the true creation, the writer of Genesis plainly
states that a mist arose and watered the whole face of the ground.
This mist is a mystification or self-mesmerism, and this self-delusion affected the
whole human race, for the Bible states that it “watered the whole face of the
ground.” Genesis, chapter 2: verse 6.

Next, the writer proceeds to state the nature of this delusion, namely, that
mankind is laboring under the belief (mental mist) that a personal God took
ground (matter) and molded the form of a man and then breathed into the
nostrils of this mud-man the breath of life. This is exactly the delusion under
which mankind is laboring to this day. It is this error which is mainly responsible
for all the ills and troubles of the human race.

It is surprising that our learned theologians did not discover long ago that this
second creation, made of ground, contradicted the first creation wherein it is
stated that God made man in His image and likeness. That the image and likeness
of Spirit could not be its opposite, ground or matter, is self-evident.

I would recommend all seekers to refer to the Bible, and see for themselves the
line of demarcation at the point of the “mist” between the true and erring
creation.
It will be well to note that the true creation consisted of good only, for God
pronounced all that He made “very good”; Genesis, chapter 1; verse 31. In the
very next verse it is plainly stated, “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished,
and all the host of them,” whereas shortly after the beginning of the second or
false narrative He is supposed to have cursed the very ground from which He
made His mud-man, and He condemned this mud-man to till this soil, and to live
by the sweat of his brow. This shows plainly that the mud-man was not the work
of His hands, for God would not curse that which He had really made.

To the present day this supposed curse holds away, for all mankind, clinging to
the sense of matter as substance, condemns itself through this illusion to cultivate
this accursed matter (ground) to maintain life.

Hoping that what I have thus far pointed out has sufficiently cleared your
mentality so that actual Truth may be place, I will now endeavor to point out the
reality of life, God. CHAPTER 2

GOD

Who or what is God?

Is it possible to definitely determine who or what is the primal Cause or Creator of

all?
I shall give you the results of my years of reasoning on the subject, and leave the
question to you, whether my decision is correct and conclusive as to who or what
the primal Cause or Creator is.
According to reason, revelation and the Scriptures, that which was first must have
been the primal Cause or Creator. I think there is no question of this in the mind
of any Christian.
Then, if we can discover the substance and nature of the first cause, we shall have
fathomed the mystery,—have found the God or Creator of all.

Will you now cast your thought back in the past as far as your reason will allow
you to go, and see if you can possibly discover anything which could have existed
before consciousness?

If there was anything before consciousness, what was there to recognize it?
Without consciousness there can be no sense, and without sense, everything is
blank.
I think you will admit that there could have been nothing prior to consciousness.
If you still retain the idea that God is a person or a personal God, and that He
existed prior to consciousness, then, I ask, “Did he exist prior to His own
consciousness?” If so then there must have been a time when God was
unconscious or lifeless (dead).

If you maintain that God is a person and possesses consciousness, then, I ask,
“How much of this personal God would remain if you dispossessed Him of His
conscious?”
Suppose that it were possible to destroy all consciousness, would anything but a
blank remain? Even your personal God would be a nonentity without
consciousness.
Jesus of Nazareth knew more of God, more of Life, than any individual who ever
trod this sphere, and he taught that God is Life, that God is Truth.
He did not say that the Father of all is a person, or a personal God, but that Life
itself is God and therefore the primal Cause or Creator of all, and Life and
consciousness are one.
Life, Existence, Consciousness, Being, are one and the same, as can readily be
proved. No Life, no Consciousness. Where there is Consciousness, there is Life,
Existence, Being.
Destroy all being and you would at the same time destroy all Life, Existence and
Consciousness. But, rightly understood, Life is deathless and cannot be destroyed,
an so with all true Being, Existence and Consciousness.

Life, Being, Existence, Consciousness, may go through a transformation or

transfiguration (unfoldment), which is erringly called death but in reality this is
not death, for there is no death.

Perhaps you still believe there is death. To make this matter more clear I ask,
What dies? Does the body die? No, the body cannot die, for the body never had
any life of its own to lose. Does the soul die? No, else the grave would end all.
Does the mentality die? No, for without mentality there would be no mind, and
without mind there would be no consciousness, and without consciousness there
would be nothing, and so the death of the mentality would be extinction.

That so-called death does not end our being, was the substance of that supreme
demonstration of Jesus, who endured the cross, the most public so-called death,
to prove to a doubting world that Life is deathless and continues on after passing
through a transformation, or so-called death.

That he had passed through a transformation of some kind can be seen in the
Scripture statement that he walked with two of his disciples on the way to
Emmaus and that they did not recognized him. Later they did recognize him but
not because of his form, but because of the things he said to them.
The Scriptures state that God is alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, and
Jesus said, “God is Life.” So Life is the beginning and the end of all. If the
beginning of all is Life, and the end of all is Life, then Life is without end.
Therefore, we have the Scriptural statement that God is the God of the living and
not of the dead (of those who believe in death).

It cannot be stated too often nor urged upon your thought too strongly that God
is Life, and that Life an consciousness are one and the same. This is true regarding
Being and Existence, for, no Consciousness, no Life, no Being, no Existence.

The Bible, when correctly understood, is a compilation of the writings of various

individuals who were attempting to explain the truth of Existence to the extent of
their understanding of it. Occasionally, one of these writers sought to make
matters more clear by using another word to denote the primal or first Cause.

Abraham used the word “Almighty” to express his conception of the primal
Cause. He used this word because his understanding of Existence enabled him to
see that the creative first Cause was the all and only power. He realized that all
that existed was because of this first Cause, hence he named it the Almighty.

Abraham makes no mention of its being a personal Creator or God. It was only
natural that the pronoun “He” rather than “She” was used to designate the all-
power after. It was personalized, for in those early days, the female was little less
than a slave, and the male always the master, thus to speak of God as “He”
seemed more fitting to his thought of the Creator.

The primal Cause is as much “She” as it is “He,” and in fact as much “It” as He or
She. Moses realized this, as is shown in the first chapter of Genesis, where he
wrote, “And God said: Let Us Make man in our image.” Here it is an “Us” which
makes or creates the image, and the statement is, “in Our image,” and not “in my
image,” as a purely personal God would have said.

The word Spirit is frequently used to designate God, or the primal Cause. Often
during the time when I was under the theological belief in a personal God I
wondered how God could be a person and Spirit also, for this always seemed
incredible to me, but, like millions of others, I was told that there were many
thing about God which I was not supposed to understand. Thus the truth that was
seeking expression through my reasoning mentality was pushed aside by me, and
I again erringly accepted the idea that God was a person. In fact, the mental
picture of God which I carried in my mind when I thought of Him or prayed to
Him, was the picture of a beautiful human countenance.

This picture I gained as a child from seeing a beautiful fresco (presumably of

Jesus) in a church, and though I never saw this picture after I was nine years old, I
can still vividly recall every detail.

We frequently say of those who have departed, “His spirit has left him and
ascended to God.” We note that when his spirit left him, his life left him. Was his
spirit his life? Are they two or, one? If they are one, then we said in substance,
“His life left him,” and as life is God, it is as though we had said, “His God left
him.” Rather shocking, is it not, to have you God leave you at the point of death,
just when you need Him most and most expected to meet Him?
“‘Tis the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing.” ‘Tis the spirit that is
the animating substance, the Life of the individual, and if the Spirit ever really left
the individual, that individual would be annihilated; but the truth is that the
individual and his Life cab never be separated, for they are one and the same.

Paul said, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” The mind of
Jesus was his consciousness, so Paul’s words really mean, “Let the same true
consciousness be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”
Thus Paul practically introduced the word Mind as another name for the primal
Cause.
It will be remembered that it was shown that Consciousness, Life, Being and
Existence were one and the same, for to remove one removes all.

The Mind which was in Jesus was the true Mind, the true Consciousness, the true
Life, the true God, the spiritual sense of life; not the erring human sense of life
that mankind believes to be life, not the life that believes it can die, but the true
sense of Life in which there is no sense of its opposite, death.

Jesus obtained of became possessed of this correct understanding of Life,

because from very childhood his mother, the Virgin Mary, has taught him the real
truth about Lie; namely, that the mental element or consciousness is the creator
of all, and also explained to him the erring sense of life that all mankind
possessed. With this correct viewpoint regarding Life, given him as a child, Jesus,
through many years, reasoned and applied his reasoning to the problems of Life,
and thus proved to himself conclusively that Mind (the mental element) through
its right thought was the veritable Creator, and was and is the primal and only
Cause; and he then demonstrated the Truth that Mind is Life and is deathless, in
the crucifixion.

The mother of Jesus, through much study of the Scriptures and aided by the
discoveries of her cousin Elizabeth and her husband Zacharias, the high priest,
became convinced that the veritable God or Creator of the Scriptures was Mind
(the mental element), and she proved her convictions to be correct when she
mentally conceived and gave birth to Jesus.
Some may not agree with what I have written, and may say that God gives us life
and supplies us with life, and that this is all that He does. If this theory is correct,
then our lives do not at all depend upon ourselves, and we have nothing
whatever to do with our lives. Therefore when God ceases to supply us with life.
He virtually kills us, for according to Webster the word kill means “to deprive of
life.” Such theories are fast finding their place in the waste basket together with
the assumption of an ever burning and eternal hell. Life itself is God, and to
remove all Life would be to remove all Mind, all Consciousness, all Being, all
Existence, proving conclusively that Mind is Life, Consciousness; and we have seen
that Consciousness was and is the beginning, the Alpha, and also that
Consciousness must be the end, the Omega, for as long as there is existence or
Life, Consciousness will be found, therefore Life ends in Life and not in death. In
other words, when once the individual consciousness has become self-conscious,
or conscious of self, this conscious knowing never ceases, though through erring
belief it may bring on a mesmeric semblance to death. This will be found to be
only temporary and will last only as long as the mesmeric belief lasts. Life is
endless.

CHAPTER 3

MAN

What is man?

The Bible states that God made man in his image and likeness. If this is correct,
man is the image of God.

In the preceding chapter we determined that God is Consciousness, Life, Mind.

Therefore man is the image of Consciousness, of Life, of Mind.
Man is the image of Mind, or a mental image. Webster defines a mental image as
“an idea; a representation of any thing to the mind; a conception.” Then man is
presumably a mental conception.
To state that man is idea would also be correct.
Webster defines “idea” as “that which is seen: hence, form, image, model of any
thing in the mind; that which is held or comprehended by the understanding.”
Man is God’s idea of Himself. Man is Mind’s idea of Itself. Man is God’s expression
of Himself. Man is Life’s expression of Itself. God is entity or Being. Man is
identity, or that by which Being is identified. Man is the visible effect of the
invisible Cause or God. The word man used in the general sense is the identity of
conscious being; thus man is body in a general sense, and is the objective state of
Mind or Life,—is the likeness of the image or thought held in the Mind.

When the word man is used to denote genera or in a generic sense, then man is
the highest type of Mind or Life. The highest type of Mind is the reasoning,
rational mentality; the mentality which is capable of subjective thinking; the
mentality capable of forming subjective images of thought and arriving at mental
convictions through conscious reasoning; thus externalizing these thought images
in the objective state as objective things. It is the conscious identity of Being, or
the mentality capable of consciously understanding that It Itself is Mind, Life or
Being.

Some writers of metaphysics use the word “man” in both these senses and make
the mistake of not fully pointing out the particular sense in which they have used
it, and the result has been confusion to the minds of students.

When “man” is used in its generic sense, it is used to denote a particular genera.
Just as the generic term “canine” is used to designate the dog family, so man, in
the generic sense, denotes all humankind or mentalities capable of thinking
reasonably, rationally, and deductively, from cause to effect, and not in an
inductive way, as does the dog or horse, which are of a lower order of life or
mentality.
The use of the word man in the generic sense pertains to that part of Being which
we name the Soul or Spirit.
In this generic man we have the conscious identity of Being, the highest type of
individual mentality, or Mind or intelligence.

The use of the word “man,” in a general sense, pertains to the objective state of
Being (the body or effect), in contradistinction to Soul (the Cause), the mentality
of the individuality, which mentality is the conscious individuality of Being, while
the body or embodiment of this individual mentality is the visible likeness or
identity of the conscious Being or mentality.
And God said: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”; Gen. 1:26.
Millions have read this statement but how many have stopped to reason it out?

The very seeming incongruity of this statement should have attracted attention.
Image, in a general sense, means likeness; and likeness, in a general sense, means
image. Thus in a general sense the statement would read, “God made man in his
image and image, or likeness and likeness.” Expressed in this way, the true sense
of the statement is not clear.
Webster defines image as “an idea; a conception.”

If Mind is God, the Creator of all, then we can perhaps fathom the meaning of the
statement in Genesis.

Mind, the primal substance, thinks. Its thought culminates in an idea and an idea
is an image in the Mind itself. This image in the Mind is the subject of its thinking,
and is, at the point of the Mind’s conviction, externalized, embodied or
objectified; and so we have an internal image and an external image or likeness of
the thoughts of Mind. Therefore, God made man in His image and likeness.
Jesus used the word Life to denote God and you will have much less confusion of
thought if you will supply the word Life where the word God is used, if the
meaning seems obscure.
God, Life, manifests Itself first, as thought in the Mind, and next as idea or object,
that is, the idea is objectified or embodied. The objects of Life have no separate
life of their own. All Life is from the universal Life, or primal element. The objects
of Life are the objective state of Life, but have no initiative of their own. The
action, feeling, and form that we seemingly see in any object, including the body
of so-called human beings, is not in or of these bodies, but is the result or effect
of the conscious part outside the body which is properly named Mind, Soul or
Life.

The use of the word Life instead of God to denote the Creator makes many
statements plain which are otherwise obscure. For instance, “Man is the name of
a certain genera of Life, in fact the name of the highest or most perfect genera of
Life.” The name canine is also a generic term and denotes a lower order of Life.

If I had used the word God instead of Life, the statement would read, “Man is the
name of a certain genera of God, the name canine is also a generic term and
denotes a lower order of God,” and this would be correct although confusing to
the beginner, as it seems to give the sense of God’s many.

I think now the generic use of the word “man” can readily be understood, and
also how there can be a genera in God or Life.

Man, the highest type of Mind or Life, is not merely an idea. He, or She, is Life or
Mentality individualized, organized and classified; each being one complete
intelligent consciousness, or individual Life. I did not say separate or personal Life.
I said individual Life. You cannot separate Life. It is indivisible. The word individual
does not mean personal, but indivisible or inseparable.
CHAPTER 4

YOU

What are you?

So far in this work I have given an explanation of the primal Cause or God, and
also of man, in both the generic and general sense, but the most vital question is,
What are you?
Are you a soul and body after the human sense? If so, are you primarily a soul or a
body? That is, does your soul govern your body and is the body the servant of the
soul, or is the soul the servant of the body?

At so-called death does the body leave the soul, or does the soul leave the body?
According to Human belief, the soul leaves the body. Are you the body or the
soul?
When the soul leaves the body, is the individual still here? I am sure you will
agree that when the soul leaves the body at the point called death, the individual
is gone. Does not this prove that the individual is soul, and not a bodily being?
When the soul leaves the body, the life leaves it also, thus proving that the soul is
the life of the body. Then you, the soul, are the life of your body. Now, I ask, at so-
called death, what died?

The Soul, the you, the Life, must be one and the same, for when one departs they
all depart. The Soul, you, did not die. Why? Because it is Life itself. The body did
not die. Why? Because it never was alive. The life that appeared to be in the body
belonged to Soul, and is the Soul, and is you.
Webster defines soul as, “Spirit; essence, life; animating principle or part.” Some
metaphysical writers use the word Soul as a synonym for God, or Life, or Spirit,
and this is its correct use.

The Soul is the Life, the Cause. The body is the embodiment or effect.
The Bible teaches that God is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, in
other words, the all; therefore, the statement that God is all is correct.

Do you agree with the statement that God is all? Think carefully, for an admission
may lead you deeper than you care to go, yet the statement is absolutely true.
Jesus said that God is Life. Then Life is all.

Can there be more than all? Does not “all” include everything?
Now then if God is all, and “all” includes every real thing, then you are God or
nothing. Which are you?

Startling? Rather. Blasphemy? No, It’s the Truth, and I shall proceed to prove it so
conclusively that you will not he able to gainsay it.
One of the accusations against Jesus was, “because that thou, being a man, makes
thyself God.” In other words, he claims to be God.

Most Christians are willing to admit that Jesus was God, or that he was the son of
God, at least. Jesus was born of a so-called human mother, the same as we all are.
What changed the order of Nature that he alone should be born God, and the rest
of us only human beings?
We read in John, chapter 10, verse 33: “The Jews answered him, saying: For a
good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou being a
man, makest thyself God.”
This verse carries the fundamental error of the entire human race, “because that
thou, being a man.” This supposition that each of us is a man, the servant of God,
is the root of all our lack of dominion and helplessness. It is your body which is
man, and the servant of you, the Mind.

What authority in Scripture is there for the supposition that you are man?
In Genesis we read: “And God made man in His image and likeness.” It does not
say: “And you are that man.” Neither does it say that God made you, a man, in his
image and likeness. That man, the image and likeness spoken of in Genesis, is
You, rather than your body, is purely conjecture.

Now let us consider the answer that Jesus gave to the Jews who accused him of
making himself God. John 10, 34th verse. Jesus answered them, “Is it not written
in your law, I said, ‘Ye are gods.’” Here is the plain statement of the Master that
the Hebrew law stated that all are gods.

The statement “Ye are gods” does not mean that we belong to a God, a personal
God, as some try to teach. It means just what Jesus said it meant, and that is why
he reminded them that it was written in their Jewish law.

The words of Jesus (“If he called them gods unto whom the word of God came;”
John 10, verse 35) have the same meaning as the words of the early students and
healers, immediately following the crucifixion. He said, “When once thou hast
gained the crown of righteousness (right-mindedness) thou hast become God.”
The words in braket appear in the original writing and were not arbitrarily
supplied by me. This early writer gives us the true meaning of the word
righteousness as right mindedness or understanding, having nothing to do with
the sanctimonious significance the word usually carries.
Only the understander of Life is righteous or right-minded.

St. John, the divine, also expressed the same thought as shown in this quotation:
“Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should
be called the sons of God; therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew
Him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what
we shall be; but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him.” In
other words, John said that at present we considered ourselves the sons of God
or of the family of God, but that we did not yet understand our ultimate.
However, of this one thing we might be certain, that when we arrived at the
correct understanding of God, we would find ourselves identical with God, or
actually God.
The word “like,” according to Webster, means equal in quantity, quality or
degree, not merely the image, form or likeness, but identical.

The statements of all three of these metaphysical teachers imply the same thing,
that when we actually come to understand what God or Life is, we shall find that
we are that Life or God.

Some Bible students may assert that in the very next verse Jesus does not claim to
be God, but merely states, “I am the Son of God.” We know that throughout all
Life that which in infancy is a son, may become a father at maturity. It is true that
I am my father’s son. It is equally true that I am the father of my son. While at one
time Jesus merely said, “I am the Son of God,” at another, when Philip questioned
him, he virtually claimed to be the Father, for he said, “He that hath seen me hath
seen the Father;” and again he stated that, “I and the Father are one.” As this
question of the Father and the Son will be fully taken up in another chapter of this
book we will now continue trying to ascertain who and what you are.
I made the statement that God is all,, and cautioned you about admitting this,
unless you were willing to admit all that it implied. If God is all, then you are God,
for there cannot be all, and you besides. If you are not God, and yet are
something, then God is not all, is not Alpha and Omega as the Bible teaches.

If I had no further proof to offer that you—your mentality—are God, you might
well say that I left the issue much in doubt, but I have further proof.

Do you believe that Jesus taught that “God is Life?” If you are a Christian, I believe
you do.
God is Life and therefore Life is God. Can anything but Life live? You must see that
only Life can live. Now ask yourself the question, “Do I live?” To answer truthfully
you will need to answer, “Yes.”

Having admitted that Life is God, that nothing but Life lives, and being convinced
that you live, you must be Life or God, for that which lives is Life, and Life is God.
Need we any further proof than this? Do not mistake that which you see of Life,
for Life. That which we see in the objective is the expression or objective state of
Life. Life itself is the invisible mental or conscious part of the thing which we see.
One great metaphysical teacher understood the thought of the great Paul in his
reference to the mind that was in Christ Jesus. This teacher said, “Either all is
Mind or all is matter. Which is it?”

It is evident that matter, as matter, is not conscious and cannot think and it is also
evident that mind is conscious and does think. If there he but one creative
element, that creative element must be Mind and not matter, for without the
ability to think there could be no ability to create.
It is evident then that if there is but one element, either mind or matter, that one
must be mental.
The primal element is Mind. This element is the Cause or Creator of all and is that
which we have been pleased to call God, “Mind is God,” said this great
metaphysical teacher and the statement is correct.

Admitting that Mind is God, I ask you, can anything but Mind think? Do you or can
you think? If so, does not this prove conclusively that you are Mind, God? I am
sure that you will soon have to admit that you are God and not man as you
formerly supposed. You cannot avoid the issue by saying that you merely reflect
thought, or think God’s thoughts after Him, for you would need to think to do
even this, and as nothing but Mind can think, this would prove that you are Mind.

In the preceding chapters I have said that if we discover that which was first, we
discover God. It was found that there could have been nothing prior to
consciousness, for, no Consciousness, no Life, no thing.

Then Consciousness is yet another name for God.

Let us see where this will lead us. Are you a conscious being? You must be or you
could not be conscious of what you are now reading.
Can anything but consciousness be conscious?
If Consciousness was first, and therefore is the primal Cause or God, and you find
yourself conscious, and nothing but Consciousness can be conscious, then it is
evident that you are Consciousness, or God.

From all of this, you must, if you draw a correct deduction, conclude that you are
God and not merely man, the image of God, as you formerly supposed.
Man is the image of God, the embodiment, the body of God; but the mentality,
the real you, is the God or Cause of which the body is the image or embodiment.
Ignorance of this has made of the so-called human race, a race of the most abject
and helpless slaves imaginable.

All humanity has two relentless masters, neither of which actually exist, namely, a
personal God and a personal devil. The first is supposed to bless, but more often
is said to have cursed. The second is supposed to furnish the fire and brimstone
for those whom the first has cursed. If this were true, we would have God and the
Devil in partnership.
If a so-called good man loses his life or his money, it is supposed to be the will of
God. If a so-called bad man loses his life or money, the devil is said to have led
him astray and is supposed to be responsible.

According to this blind theory, the first or personal God is a more inhuman ruler
than the second, for he punishes and kills the good j while the second, or devil,
punishes or kills the evil, or those only who actually deserve to be punished, thus
making the devil more just than God.

It must not be presumed that each individual is a separate God, for this is not
correct. God is one and all.

God is all Life, and it takes all of Life to make all of Life. Your Life, the conscious
part of you, the You, is not a separate and distinct Life by itself. It is an
inseparable part of a complete whole.

God is individuality (not separable) and because God or Life is individuality, the
image or objective state of Life is individualized, but each individualized thing has
its Cause and source in the one indivisible Life, in the primal and only element,
Mind.
To clear up this important matter, we will use another word, namely,
understanding. To understand is to know, to comprehend. To have understanding
implies intelligence and enables one to distinguish between right and wrong, the
true and the false.
Two times two are four. This is Fact, it is Wisdom, it is Understanding. It is
universal, yet each individual may be in possession of this same understanding
which does not diminish or become separated because all partake of it, nor yet
does it grow larger because more become possessed of it, for it still remains four.
Each mentality seems to possess it separately, yet it cannot be divided into parts
and it is one with the universal understanding.
Thus it is with Life. It is a fact, it is Truth, it is Wisdom or Knowing, it is
understanding. It cannot be divided, though all may possess it. One may even
possess all of Life, all of Wisdom, yet this does not deprive anyone else from
possessing all of it at the same time. Life is mental. Like the multiplication table,
any one may possess it in part, but this does not separate this part from the
remainder. One may possess the whole of the multiplication table, yet this does
not in any manner deprive anyone else from possessing the whole of the table
also. The table is mental, it is Spirit, it is true consciousness, it is true thought, and
true thought is Truth. John said, “And the Word is God,” meaning that Truth, the
true thought (Word), is mental, is Mind or God.

The question of who or what you are is answered as follows: You (your substance)
is the primal element, or elemental Mind, God, Life, Consciousness.
Webster defines the word substance to mean, that which is real, in distinction
from that which is apparent.

You (your thought) is the subjective state of Spirit, Mind, God, Life,
Consciousness.
You (the body of you) is the visible or objective state of Spirit, Mind, God, Life,
Consciousness. Thus you see, yon are composed of, and are, the Holy Trinity, for
God is all, and there is nothing else.
CHAPTER 5

THOUGHT

What is thought?

St. John, the divine, was the most metaphysical or spiritual of all the apostles, and
he began his gospel writing with these words: “In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the
beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not
anything made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men.”

To get at the meaning of this declaration we must first discover, if possible, what
John meant by the word “Word,” for without his interpretation of it, we cannot
grasp the purport of his statement.

To do this let us examine the remainder of the New Testament and see whether
this same term is used.

In Matthew and Luke in the incident of the healing of the Centurion’s servant, we
find that the Centurion implies that if Jesus will only speak the healing word, the
servant will be healed. It is implied that Jesus sent the healing word to the
Centurion’s servant, and that the servant recovered.

We also find it used in this. sentence, “And he sent his word and healed them”;
Psalm 107:20.
What could Jesus have sent but his thought? Can you do anything to help an
absent one but think of him?
John capitalized the “Word” to denote that it was right thought (Truth), t hat was
God, in contradistinction to human belief, or erring thought.

We can now see that when John opened his Gospel by saying, “In the beginning
was the Word,” he meant that the first or primal power was right thought.
His next statement is, “And the Word was with God.” In other words, the “Word”
or right thought is in and from Mind.

Then he says, “And the Word was God.” In other words, right thought and Mind
are one and the same. Again I quote, “The same was in the beginning with God.”
In other words, right thought and: Mind coexisted at all times, past, present and
future.
His next statement is, “All things were made by him.” Every objective thing is an
externalized or objectified idea or thought, so John meant that all things that
really exist are the objective of right thought.

Following this he writes, “And without him was not anything made that Was
made.” Here is a statement, which until correctly understood, seems
unintelligible, but of all things that John said, it is most essential that we
understand this before we c an gain a true insight of the metaphysical, so that we
can determine the real from the unreal.
John meant that without him (right thought) was no real thing made. He knew
that in our present state there are many things that have the semblance of being
real but which are, according to Truth, merely the objectification of erring
imagination (erring thought), with no foundation in fact.

These were not made by “him” (right thought) and consequently are not real,
even though they have an appearance of reality.
John knew that all thought convictions have their objective state. He knew that
erring thought convictions as well as right thought convictions objectify
themselves, the difference being that the objectification of right thought is real,
having a foundation in fact, or Truth, or God; whereas the objectification of erring
thought, having no such foundation, must be untrue or unreal, because it is based
solely on untruth or illusion.

That is why Jesus spoke of evil or error as he did. He said, “He was a murderer
from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is not truth in
him.” Therefore the objective of erring thought (all evil of every nature), though
plainly visible or having an objectified state, is never real, and is at best but a
phenomenon of the erring human sense and thought. All that is made or
objectified by right or true thought is the objective of Truth, Therefore, everything
in your present existence that Is right and good is real, and made by “Him” (right
thought); and all that is evil is but the objectified state of erring human sense and
thought, and is illusion, though it may have the appearance of reality to self-
mesmerized humanity.

John’s next statement is, “In him was life;” that is, right thought and eternal Life
are one and the same.

He then writes, “And the life was the light of men.” Here John tells us plainly that
God, the Word, right thought, right consciousness, is nothing else than our own
right consciousness, for our consciousness is our life or mental light.

It might be well to add John’s last statement on this subject. He says, “And the
light shineth in the darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not.” He means
that even though this Truth is true, namely, that your own right consciousness is
your Life and the true God, yet you in your mental darkness (ignorance) do not
comprehend it.
At the beginning of this chapter the question is asked, “What is thought!” Has it
been answered?

We have ascertained that the “Word” and right thought are one and the same.
Now let us see if we can uncover more regarding thought.

Where did thought originate! If it was created, who or what created it! John said
that the “Word” (right thought) was from the beginning. Was there anything
before thought! Could the Creator or Creative element have made or formed
anything without thinking? Was the Creator before his own thought? If so, the
Creator at that time did not know Himself or anything else, for one cannot know
without thinking.

The solution of this whole matter is that Mind and thought co-exist “from the
beginning” (forever) as the primal element and its activity or power. There was
nothing before Mind and thought, as there could be nothing after Mind and
thought. It is the Alpha and Omega of all Life. Thought is not made, it is the
activity or conscious power of the primal element which element continues to
unfold forever because it is inexhaustible Nature. Mind and thought is Life Itself,
and Life cannot make anything foreign to Itself. In fact, Life makes nothing. It
continues to unfold Itself, to organize and systematize Itself. Life is intangible in
Itself, but as it continues to unfold, it continues to analyze, organize and express
or objectify Itself, and it is the objective state only that we see, or is tangible. Life
and thought are one, and are the primal element and its activity. Life, Mind,
Consciousness, through thought activity continue to rise ever higher and higher
until the ultimate of Life, namely, perfection or complete self-understanding, is
reached.

The true nature of Life, Mind or Thought is, that it is ever perfect and good, and
our life work is to find this out and prove it. The infantile, or immature individual
Life, which thinks otherwise, forms the evil which it thinks, thus giving appearance
or expression to its own erring thought, and then experiences these evils as
though they were real, through further self-deception. Thus evil will continue to
be a thorn in the flesh of the evil or erring thinker until he returns to the thinking
of the good alone, as the real and all of Life, which is Fact, or the Truth about
Nature, God.

Life or God is one Intelligence of which all are an inseparable part, and all are
unfolding perfection, the ultimate of all Being. This is done through right thought.
“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect”; Mat.
6:48.