And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Revelation
The Light Emanation of Eternal Purpose
In the Beginning the Real Image of you was created and Light gave it birth! This Light was the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. This Light was the Christ by whom all things were made, the emanation of eternal purpose, the Son radiance from the heart of Cosmos.
The heavenly Image is the thought God used as blueprint plan,
As architectural demand upon the universe To fabricate and design A perfect man, a holy sign,
Symbol of the Flame encased in form.
The dual Paraclete reborn.
As Holy Spirit manifest in men,
This is the visit of our God again To world that ’waits the dawn.'
The fires of creation burned brightly on that memorable day when, born out of the flaming consciousness of the Creator, the spirit of man danced for joy and the morning stars sang together. The fiat of the Almighty rang clear: Go forth, sons and daughters of the infinite Mind, Go forth to fulfill thy immortal destiny!
It was God-Good whose vital energy revealed the glowing face of his potential, as billions of Spirit- sparks spiraled through Cosmos,* trailing clouds of glory and chanting, “Lo, I AM come to do thy will, O God !” 2 And so the Spirit of man was born, and so God was borne in man, and so the soul descended into form and took dominion over the earth . 3
Contemplating the wonder of its origin and its fiery destiny, the soul hears the triumph of the ages echoing in the sweet symphony of the Father-Mother God: “I AM Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End .” 4 Contacting the rejuvenating cycles of the very center of Being, the soul is infused with a new burst of Life! Apprehending the flame of its internal greatness, like unto the Flame from whence it came, it no longer fears immersion in the baptismal font of the sacred fire. Nay, it pursues total identification with God and the universe.
Suspended within the dimensions of time and space, the soul touches Reality; and body and mind are electrified with a burst of light and holy awe. Beholding past, present, and future—as though standing atop the moving train of life—the truth dawns upon the outer mind: the living potential of the soul is not related to name, to genealogy, to flesh and blood, or even to the world to which it is tethered. The humble as well as the great can possess it. Those of lowly
and high estate can “mount up with wings as eagles ” 5 and win their immortality.
The dominant aspect of the Spirit is its universal availability. The Spirit enlivens the soul and enables each Life expression to come forth from the tomb of the synthetic image and to live. Wherever there is a receptive heart—a receiving center, an identity that can relate a universe within to a universe without— there Spirit makes contact and rushes in to fill the chalice of being with light, energy, and hope. This is the theme of immortal Life to which the soul is the rightful heir.
“I AM come that all might have Life, and that they might have it more abundantly !” 6 This statement of cosmic purpose gains meaning for the individual— wherever he is, whoever he is—as he realizes that the abundance of his life consists not of the things of the world that he possesses . 7 It is enough to know that God has made him. His Father is the Eternal One who stretched forth the Pleiades, whose harmony fills all space and turns the radiant spheres in their appointed rounds. He is a son of God; and as long as he is willing to claim his identity through the Real Image, he will know what it means to live in the consciousness of Reality and to be a “joint heir with Christ .” 8
“I AM come that all might have Life, and that they might have it more abundantly!” The fiat of the Master Jesus is intended to be fulfilled in every part of Life. As universes expand, the sons and daughters of God increase the abundant Life, apprehending the Real Image and evolving thereby the microcosmic kingdom.
By cosmic law the offspring of the Most High are intended to experience the abundant Life—to experience the abundant consciousness of God-Good expressed in myriad orbs which, like themselves, are also made in His image and likeness. As their sensitivity to
the Real Image of other sons and daughters of the Flame heightens (simultaneously as their empathy with the synthetic image lessens), the joy of universal sharing, of mutual givingness, is discovered; and souls become one with each other, even as they are one with Him in the abundant Life.
With feet upon the ground and hands reaching for the stars, the soul, attuned to its fiery destiny, is filled with the love of cosmic purpose. There is meaning to life: it will find the way; it will discover the master plan; it will come to know the why, the whence, the wherefore. With a sigh of relief and a glow of gratitude for just being, it lifts a mighty prayer to the Infinite:
Lord God of Hosts, Lord God of Hosts— Thou who hast strung out the Pleiades And gladdened eyes of little child—
The wise and foolish all are Thine,
The cruel and the mild;
There is no greater urge or goal Than holding freedom in the soul Of all the world and every man!
Let us do, then, what we can And daily make an effort greater;
By God’s great love let all walk straighter On the Path as Freedom’s friends—
Beauteous hearts who will defend Value line and worthy mission By the power of Christ-decision.
Christ before me, light my way!
Christ behind me all the day!
Christ above me as I pray!
Christ within me lives today!
Freedom’s flame where’er He goes—
Holy Spirit, like a rose Opening its tiny bud;
Its scent releases all Thy love And hallows mind and being all—
By Love’s great service For which I call . 9
The Spirit: Birthless, Deathless, Eternal
According to the record in the Book of Genesis, man was created in the image of God. If God is a Spirit and man was made in his image, then man is also a Spirit, pure and holy in his sight. Like his Creator, he has both conscious self-awareness and unlimited cosmic potential; and, like his Creator, he is able to reach the realm of the miraculous.
The destiny of the real man, therefore, cannot be aught but spiritual. Possessing the latent Cosmic Consciousness of the One in whose likeness he was made, man is truly blessed with immortal opportunity. One with his Creator, he is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. Ever in contact at inner levels of his being with all others who were also made in the image of immortal Spirit, he is yet involved in the ritual of becoming, through his mastery over the cycles of time and space in Matter.
Whereas the soul is the living potential of God which man by his intelligent use of free will can immortalize, the Spirit is that permanent atom of Being which is birthless, deathless, and eternal. While man may lose his soul and become a castaway , 10 the Spirit is inviolate—birthless in the sense that it had preexistence in the Mind of God even before it separated from the Great Fiery Ovoid; deathless in that its identity is preserved as an individualized focus of the Flaming One that never dies; eternal in that it is forever an idea in the Mind of God.
The soul is a drop in the vast ocean of Being, a cell in the Body of God. The Spirit-spark that ignited its potential was endowed with the Life-giving Image
of the Divine One and contains the creative potential of its Source. Thus the soul came forth from the Spirit to preserve in form the geometric energies of a higher world unsung.
“The Ocean could have chosen to remain the Ocean; but, by separating the tiny luminous drop from the Whole and holding it up to the glorious rays of the sun of illumination, a new ocean was begun. And so the individual consciousness was given dominion over his own world. And so man, made in the image of his Creator, also became a creator .” 11 Why creation “in the beginning,” if not to evolve the Creator’s intent? Why destiny, if not that Deity be established in you? Why man, the manifestation, if not to become all that God is?
Long ago the Master Jesus declared himself to be the Son of God, and truly he was. The Sadducees and the Pharisees found fault with his statement, saying, “He blasphemes!” Jesus did not remain silent on this issue. He spoke to them with the authority of the Law, “If he [Moses] called them gods to whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken, say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest, because I said, I AM the Son of God ?” 12
Through communion with his Real Image, Jesus was able to acknowledge his oneness with his Source- even as the everlasting stream that issues from the fountain of Life sings all the day, “I and my Father are one! I and my Father are one! I and my Father are one!” Through this intimate awareness of his own Real Image—that Spirit of the living God, that essential Identity of every man and woman which makes all one under the canopy of Christ—Jesus was also aware of your Real Image.
Yes! The Son of God who declared, “Before Abraham was, I AM ,” 13 also knew your own Divine
Identity that existed before the worlds were framed; and he was not afraid to proclaim it for you and for all—yea, to give his very life, if necessary, in order that the Real Image might live.
You are a child of the Light,
You were created in the Image Divine,
You are a child of Infinity,
You dwell in the veils of time.
You are a Son of the Most High!
I AM is the name of the Father,
I AM is the name of the Son,
I AM is the Spirit Most Holy—
Ye all are clothed by the One.
He will guide and guard you forever,
He will carry you far in his arm,
He hides himself from the clever,
He enshrines the poor with his charm.
God lives in your soul, the image of Self—
To know it will change your view.
God lives in the Light that shines from within, He breaks his bread with the few.
He hears our calls and answers,
His love is the Light of men.
Accept, then, his understanding—
Your wonderful way to win.
I AM is the name you must call on—
’Tis Being so broad and true.
For the narrow confinements of selfhood Can only hide from view
The Face of Forever in heaven Unfolding within the soul.
His bread is the precious leaven To raise us all to our goal . 14
The true teachings of Christ restore the soul to its lost estate, to its rightful place in the cosmic peerage of the sons and daughters of God. They free man from the shackles of a false theology that weighs him down with the weight of sin. In the chambers of the night where death is sweet relief and misericord the arm of fate, a single ray of hope filters through the darkened sky: the Angel of Deliverance trumpets no mournful cry, but the prolonged note of victory for each one. And the shell is broken—the degradation of that serpentine lie “In sin did my mother conceive me .” 15
Man has not correctly understood the immaculate concept that relates each conception in reality to the Divine. “That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God ” 16 is also spoken to each mother and father who can accept the injunction of the Most High as their opportunity to become cocreators with divine Perfection, thus sharing in the joy felt by Mary as the Mother of one whose glory was of “the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth ,” 17 immaculately held in heart and mind. Through the understanding of the immaculate conception of the sons and daughters of God, each man and each woman can raise high his head to behold the Sun glory from whence he came. Each pilgrim on the shore of life can look up and live.
Let the condemnation of the father of lies be upon his own head and upon his own generation! “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord .” 18
Man’s origin is in God. Where, then, original sin? Only in the synthetic image that is no more. There is no sin in the generation of the sons and daughters of God. There is no shame in the regeneration of the soul and the soaring of the Spirit from the center of God’s Being to the periphery of universal manifestation. As in heaven the Father-Mother God brought forth their
firstborn Son, the Christ, the Real Image in you all, so on earth the son of God comes forth through father- mother flames who await in veils of flesh the coming of the first ray of the dawn.
Life in heaven and on earth Is sacred still;
Life, the Spirit of God, his worth,
Does work his will.
Where’er the radiance of his Flame Does kindle spark.
Cosmic arrow’s aim
Heightens Perfection’s mark.
Spirit endows creative love To sweetly flow—
No thought the image mar Above Nor here below.
For Life’s sacred bark Sails on forever free,
And none shall break the arc Of our blest liberty.
God the Macrocosm, Man the Microcosm
Individual life is the doorway to the Infinite. Thus the admonishment was written on the ancient temple walls: “Man, know thyself!”—which is to say, “Man, know thy Self as God!” To know the Real Self is to know God—God, not as the tyrant that so many dread, that some have forsaken and others have proclaimed as dead, but God as the Geometry of Divinity (G-O-D), the Geometry of your Divinity.
The control of consciousness leads to the knowledge of Self, and the knowledge of Self leads to greater and greater control of consciousness. Such
control must necessarily involve the discipline of mind and heart as well as the harnessing of one’s energies. This is accomplished through the correct apprehension of your Real Self, which may also be called the Superconscious Ego. The relationship of the Superconscious Ego to the ego, which yet identifies with the synthetic image, depends, therefore, upon one’s acquaintance with the Real Self. “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: 19 . . . that ye may know that I AM Lord [that the I AM is the Lord ].” 20 In our examination of Reality, then, let us first consider this relationship of the Superconscious Ego to the ego.
Just as it appeared to Kipling that “East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,” 21 so it seems there is no meeting ground between the Superconscious Ego and the ego, between the Real Image and the synthetic image. Yet both are present in man until the hour of his perfectionment when he experiences total reunion with Reality.
The problem of duality, of good and evil tendencies in man, is one that must be squarely faced; for although our souls are an essential part of his Spirit, we find that for a time our existence is confined to the bonds of flesh. The meeting ground between our Real Self, that high ideal we aspire to become, and the synthetic image we have accepted in its place is to be found in the Super Ego. Also known as the Christ Self, the Super Ego is the mediator of our duality who stands at the crossroads between God and man. A comparison which will help each one to understand these three levels of his consciousness—(1) the Superconscious Ego which is aware of Reality, (2) the ego which is aware of unreality, and (3) the Super Ego which is aware of both—is that of the Macrocosm and the microcosm.
We understand the Macrocosm to be the entire warp and woof of creation, known and unknown, visible and invisible, stretching forth and holding within its framework the entire schema of universes, galaxies, stars and sun systems, planets and monadic worlds within worlds. We understand the microcosm to be man himself—the epitome of the creation confined within a framework of individuality. Examining the origin of these two words, we find that the prefix macro is taken from the Greek macros , meaning long or great; micro is taken from the Greek micros, meaning little; and cosm is a derivative of kosmos, meaning world. Thus, we speak of the Macrocosm, the “great world,” and of the microcosm, or “little world.”
The Macrocosm can be illustrated by drawing an imaginary circle of infinite size, which we shall call the Body of God and into which we shall place all that he has created, both spiritual and material, including the Spirit and soul of man. Whereas literally billions of spiritual-material universes are contained within the infinite circle of the Macrocosm, which itself endures forever as a perfect idea in the Mind of God, the microcosm is the circle which God has drawn around his Spirit-sparks in the desire to impart individuality to the infinite parts of the infinite Whole.
Each microcosmic world is a cell in the Macrocosm, a crystal fragment of the Greater Crystal, reflecting a portion of his glory. Each man is a manifestation of God (a manifest action of God), the image of the higher Cosm reflected in the lower cosm. The key to infinity is won through the mastery of the lesser self (the microcosm) by the power of the Greater Self (the Macrocosm). This is the power of the Superconscious Ego over the ego, of God the Macrocosm over man the the microcosm. Through man’s correct use of the
sacred gifts of Life, including free will, his consciousness in the microcosm can identify with the fullness of God’s consciousness in the Macrocosm. But first it is essential that he learn how to make the contact, how to establish and maintain his relationship with the Superconscious Ego.
The figure-eight pattern is used to illustrate the principle of exchange between the macrocosmic world Above and the microcosmic world below. At the nexus, the point where the lines in the figure eight cross, the virtues of the Greater Reality of oneself, of the Superconscious Ego, flow downward into the microcosm, and the aspirations of the lesser reality of oneself, of the ego, flow upward into the Macrocosm. This exchange is accomplished through the consciousness of the Christ, the Super Ego, who, positioned in the center of the cross, is the agent of the alchemical transformation that takes place between the energies of God and man.
The principle underlying this process is easily understood if one compares it to that of a Silex coffee maker. When the water boils in the lower pot, the pressure of the steam forces it to rise into the upper receptacle where it combines with the coffee. When the pot is removed from the heat, the brew descends to the lower part, ready for serving.
In man it is the heat of fervent desire to become Godlike which causes his energies to rise into the upper sphere of his identity. There they mingle with the ingredients of perfection and are transformed into an elixir of liquid light. The vacuum that is created through the giving of one’s all to the Reality of one’s Highest Self forces the return of a portion of the Spirit of Reality into the empty vessel of one’s consciousness; and so the purified energies descend. The superiority of the Higher Self can thus be evoked and retained by
the strong desire of the lower self to manifest the larger potential of being.
The Higher Self is the Real Man who dwelleth not in temples made with hands, 22 whose house is eternal in the heavens, 23 and who is, in effect, like unto God, everywhere present. The lower self is that portion of individuality which cannot be called the Real Man because it is yet in the state of becoming the Whole—wholly one with the Real Self. The lower self is that portion of the Real Man which dwelleth in the body temple, finite in the earthly house, confined to time and space.
“Understand thy Highest Self, then, as the God of very gods,” says the Master of the Temple of Illumination. “As you face this concept, the lower self falls upon its knees [the ego surrenders when the soul consciousness accepts the Real Self as God]. As the Christ, the eternal Mediator, bows to the Father, Good becomes All-in-all [Good becomes the Higher Self expressed in the lower self], Man enters the sudden stream of overcoming Self-realization. He fears no merge, for he sees that the blackened image of the synthetic self that has sought to cast down his immortal birthright is not real! Therefore, he quickly replaces it with the Divine Image and humbly holds himself in the consciousness of the son who awaits his divine inheritance.” 24
The Invasion of the Microcosmic Circle
So saturated with the smoke of illusion have the garments of man’s consciousness become through the centuries of his involvement with mortality, that there is no possibility for the penetration of his being by the pranic winds of the Holy Spirit unless he first sheds
his mourning garb and puts on the clean white linen of the wedding garment.
Mankind’s rejection of the promptings of the Real Self and his failure to become acquainted with the Superconscious Ego have resulted in the damming of the flow of Life between the Macrocosm and the microcosm. The consequence of this cutting-off of the vital energies from the source of Reality is the ego impoverished, emaciated, and self-destroyed—a mere skeleton of that which man is destined to become, of that which he already is in his Real Image.
Jesus referred to those who by their own free will had thus separated themselves from the fountain of eternal Life in the heart of the Macrocosm as “whited sepulchers, full of dead men’s bones.” 25 Of these saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.” 26
Thus the “living dead” know not their plight. The invasion of the microcosm has taken place so gradually that man knows neither the hour nor the day when his consciousness slipped into the mist of the synthetic image. Having gradually replaced the Real with the unreal, he fears not his loss, he senses not his doom; he knows not that his soul requires salvation.
The moment man turns his attention from the pure, flowing radiance of his True Self, he forfeits the protection of the Light focused through the lens of its perfect image. Whereas the circle of the Macrocosm is perfect, hence inviolable, the circle of the microcosm
is incomplete unless it reflects the circle of the Macrocosm. The microcosm is intended to mirror the Macrocosm; thus the transfer of the Real Image to the soul occurs naturally when the soul is allowed to absorb the patterns that are released from the plane of the Superconscious Ego in place of those that originate in the plane of the ego.
The invasion of the microcosmic circle can occur only when men relinquish their right to both conscious and subconscious control of their energies and worlds by admitting, in place of the perfect ideas of God, the thoughts and feelings of the mass synthetic consciousness. Filling, as it were, brightly colored balloons of myriad shapes, these thought and feeling forms —which can be seen at astral levels by those who are clairvoyant—are actually floating grids and force- fields of the mass mind.
The invasion of the microcosm, then, takes place in the following manner: First, man opens the lens of his consciousness to imperfect images, which are sometimes seen and sometimes felt. Second, he allows his attention to focus upon them, whether consciously or unconsciously. Third, over his attention flow the energies of the Macrocosm, filling the molds of the synthetic patterns that make his world vulnerable to the influences of a synthetic society. By thus misdirecting the energies of the Macrocosm, man sustains imperfection in the microcosm.
This acceptance of hypnotic suggestions that pass through the atmosphere from one human being to the next—unless checked—results in the violation of man’s being. Thus the microcosm is bombarded with a flow of race memory patterns which enter man’s world sometimes on the surface of his mind and then again at subterranean levels of consciousness. These are magnetized by the presence of similar vibrations—
similar imperfect thought and feeling patterns—which he has previously admitted, either consciously or unconsciously.
When man is ignorant of this fact and he fails to maintain vigilance in affirming his immutable Reality, he suffers the consequence of being the target of imperfect emanations. These enter the subconscious mind and are recorded there until by an act of will he invokes the divine power that will erase every unrighteous and unlawful marking in his Book of Life.
“Just as there are cosmic rays of a benign influence that continually shower the world of the individual,” explains another of mankind’s teachers, “so there are subtle emanations coming from other life- streams which also reach his world. One might compare these emanations to a moving belt on which egglike containers are conveyed into the consciousness or form of the lifestream. When these containers are ruptured and divested of their contents—whether those contents be of good or ill—a penetration of the substance of man’s four lower bodies (see Chapter Four) almost certainly occurs.
“This accounts for the strange feelings that people sometimes have which they recognize to be foreign to their natural disposition, yet over which they seem capable of exercising little control. These feelings are the result of the very subtle penetration of their form and consciousness by emanations or projections of energy sent from others, either consciously or unconsciously.
“Now, those who suffer from mental disorders such as paranoia (wherein delusions of persecution and of one’s own greatness are experienced) often send forth erratic charges of desultory energy which carry sharp and jagged patterns. When these are dislodged from one human form and driven into another.
they can do serious damage unless they are controlled. Therefore, it is essential that the initiate learn how to protect himself against the penetration of his substance and form by any and all harmful influences .” 27
Manifest Immortality: Putting On the New Man
By the law of free will, each man is the authority for his own world and has the right to determine that which shall be admitted to his sphere of consciousness. Inasmuch as the thoughts and feelings of the synthetic image—his own as well as those that are abroad in the world—are the mortal enemies of his Real Image, man must keep the watch upon the wall of being, ready at any moment to sound the alarm and summon his forces to defend the citadel of his consciousness.
Ignorant of the divine decree that has made him the arbiter of his destiny, man often allows the pressures of the thoughts and feelings of the masses to close the door to the best side of himself. Regarding his life as the product of fate or the whimsy of an unjust god, instead of realizing that it is the product of his own thoughts, words, and deeds, man fails to exercise his opportunity in the microcosm to polarize the energies of God-Good. Instead, he waits for things to “happen”; to him life is a spectator sport, and while he watches the world go by, he allows himself to be rubber-stamped with those synthetic images that deny his expression of the Real Man—the great, God-free, God-created Image, in all of its light and buoyancy and unlimited potential.
The original covenant of the Law established between God and man—the very principle which makes possible the interchange between the Macrocosm and the microcosm—secures man the full protection of
cosmic law, if he will obey the commandments of God and “keep himself unspotted from the world .” 28 The breaking of the first commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me,” and the second which is like unto it, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. . ,” 29 nullifies this covenant between God and man and shatters the hourglass pattern that once enabled the sands of righteousness to flow freely between Creator and creation— between the Ocean and the drop.
As Gideon threw down Baal’s altar , 30 so man must tear the veil from the synthetic image; once and for all the idol he has placed upon the altar of being must be shown for what it is and then broken. Through absolute devotion to the living God, man must determine to joyously manifest his own immortality, to be peace and purity in action, and to achieve the great cosmic dream of God which the Real Self will never withhold. In thought, in word, and in deed, man must determine to keep his sacred covenant with his God by allowing only the impressions of the Real Image to pass through the gate of his consciousness. All else is idolatry.
But devotion and determination are only the first steps. Man must have knowledge and a sword. The sincere may well ask. How is the mandate of perfection to be fulfilled? Did God really intend that man should pursue a perfect standard in an imperfect world?
Through fervent invocation to the Spirit of Reality, the Real Image of God can be drawn down from the great reservoir of the Macrocosm into the pool of the microcosm. Allowing the energies of his two worlds to flow freely over the figure-eight pattern,
man finds a unique transformation taking place: as the energies from the microcosm enter the Macrocosm, they take on the image or qualification of the Real Self. These purified energies then return to the microcosm via the figure eight to reestablish in the world of form man’s original identity which was his “in the beginning.” This is the ritual of putting off the old man and putting on the new, “renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him .” 31
Jesus taught his disciples this law and how to make it work through the power of the spoken Word and the name of God, I AM. He gave them the following transfiguring affirmations which all can use to magnetize the love of the one great Source of Life that unlocks the living, breathing potential of the soul:
I AM that I AM
I AM the Open Door which no man can shut I AM the Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world I AM the Way I AM the Truth I AM the Life I AM the Resurrection I AM the Ascension in the Light I AM the Fulfillment of all my needs and requirements of the hour I AM abundant Supply poured out upon all Life I AM perfect Sight and Hearing I AM the manifest Perfection of Being I AM the illimitable Light of God made manifest everywhere
I AM the Light of the Holy of Holies I AM a Son of God
I AM the Light in the Holy Mountain of God
When man speaks the name of God in this manner, as an affirmation of his true Being, he is acknowledging in the microcosm the macrocosmic potential of his Real Image. He is demonstrating the principle of cosmic coexistence—of the Spirit of God dwelling in the soul of man. He is proving the fact that right where he is, right where he has self-conscious awareness, there God can be experienced. The name of God releases the power of the Macrocosm wherever it is spoken in the microcosm; and man becomes more Godlike as he says, “Where I AM, there God is, and where God is, there I AM.”
What is in a name? Everything! In the name of God is the Light of man’s being whereby the microcosm puts on the Macrocosm and the “soul doth magnify the Lord .” 32
Each time man speaks the word “I AM,” he is offering his energies to the Real Self and he becomes progressively more real; for the law of cycles assures him that he will receive in turn more than he has sent out. “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days .” 33 The creative potential of the energies that descend from the Macrocosm for man’s use in the microcosm increases as the energies which ascend from the microcosm are purified. “And every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure .” 34
“Little by little,” the Apostle said, “the Christ is formed in man”; little by little the synthetic image is replaced by the Real Image. “Precept upon precept, line upon line ,” 35 man awakens from the dream of mortality to the living awareness of his immortal identity as a son of God; and the tides of illusion that have been running against his spirituality are reversed in their course.
Vestiges of the Synthetic Image Replaced by Real-Eye Magic
Although our souls are imbued with the knowledge and the spirit of overcoming victory, we see all around us vestiges of the synthetic image working together to tear down the magnificent Reality of man. Hereditary and environmental influences, together with the mortal sense of limitation molding social and educational patterns, permeate every facet of man’s thinking and existence. As a result of this veritable maelstrom of conflicting forcefields, he is often confused as to the real purpose of life.
Living in this twentieth century, with all of its burgeoning materialism, scientific wonder, and intellectual challenge, man does not appreciate nor does he feel any need to pursue his mystical Reality. Everywhere the mingling of the natural with the artificial makes him wonder whether he is a mechanical creation or the mere product of a biological evolution or—dare he hazard the guess—a son of the Most High God.
Even though he knows that the span of his earthly life is comparatively short and filled with pit- falls and temptations, man seldom concerns himself with what will happen when the curtain is drawn on the final act and he must retire to the wings until he is cast in another role in another life. Entertaining instead a warped sense of immortality, he may look to his offspring for a continuation of his personality; he may seek to live in the memory of the race by erecting monuments to personal achievement; or, conditioned by erroneous doctrine, he may remain satisfied in the belief that another has already secured his immortality for him.
Paul, writing to the Corinthians, said, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God .” 36 What,
then, is the purpose of the creation of flesh and blood? It is written that the Lord God clothed Adam and his wife with coats of skins . 37 Is man mere flesh and blood? Or is he much more? Is he but an animal among other animals? Or is he simply an energy system as some modern physicists have suggested?
Every now and then one in a crowd steps to the periphery of the human jungle and sees that he is trapped in a maze of synthetic images which sooner or later he will find are all calculated to divert his attention from his Real Image. He feels like an animal in a cage. Not knowing where to go, he roams the streets of his consciousness in search of understanding, crying, “Who am I? What is all this for?” Surrounded on every side by the pressures and demands of worldly life, he loses what little faith he may have had in the great universal Reality of true Being. In times of stress he finds it even more difficult to apprehend who or what he really is.
The cause of man’s little faith lies in the fact that his senses are dulled by the drone of the appearance world. Without the vision of the higher way, he perishes in the “sub-ways” of greater suburbia. Whether his lack of the abundance of the “good life” is in material things, in human happiness, health, or success, he unquestioningly pursues the goals set up by a synthetic society. While he dresses his form in the height of fashion, his soul takes on the black mourning garb of sackcloth and ashes. He does not realize that the greatest crisis of his consciousness is the spiritual impoverishment of his soul. Not finding the answers to his questions, there is nothing to do but lose himself in the human jungle. Sliding down the negative spiral of the mass consciousness and the blank acquiescence of the crowd, he once again becomes despondent.
The vital idea of man as Spirit, created by God in his own image and coexisting now and forever with him, is the first fresh wind of hope that lifts him out of the socket of sense impressions, of billboards, neon signs, and bawdy “flicks” and provides a method in place of a madness whereby he can pass through the portals of Reality and discover the laws that will enable him to master the world that has thus far mastered him.
Crossing the threshold, man enters for the first time the realm of the Real Image; he breathes deeply of the air of freedom for which his soul has always longed. The weight of the world drops from his shoulders—all of his worries and his concerns, all that has ever kept him from the real truth about himself. Having emptied the cup of worldly desire, he sees clearly that the hunger of the real man of the heart will never be satisfied until the cup of his soul’s consciousness is filled with the knowledge of the vital truth of eternal Life. He drinks the elixir of freedom handed to him by angel ministrants; he dines at the Lord’s table; and he is fed the heavenly manna that quickens his mind and charges every cell of his body and consciousness with newness of life and purpose.
Just when it seems that his cup can contain no more, he is conducted into an oval chamber where others are already gathered to hear one whom he will come to know as simply “the Old Man of the Hills.” The Master is speaking: “. . . The basic fact that I am ‘I’ and not another leads to the realization that the real T which ‘I AM’ has a peculiar individuality, a peculiar raison d’etre. Beholding Life in the Macrocosm and in the microcosm, everywhere he turns, man is confronted with the inexplicable gift of identity. What to do with this gift, how to use it wisely and well, will become
more and more apparent as he climbs the highest mountain of the Ascended Masters’ teachings.
“Now you shall be given a basic and vital key, which, if properly used, will enable your aspiring mind to leave the vestiges of the synthetic image in the foothills as you make your way up the narrow trail, seeking higher Truth. This key is the faculty with which your own soul or solar consciousness was endowed by the Spirit. This key is that real-eye magic which you must make your own.
“One of the greatest gifts of identity, which the conscious [outer] mind little dreams of, is this latent ability to realize the image of the eye. This science of the immaculate concept is practiced by every angel in heaven. It is that law which is written in the inward parts of man, known by his very heart of hearts, yet dim in the memory of his outer mind. It is based on the visualization of a perfect idea which then becomes a magnet that attracts the creative energies of the Holy Spirit to his being to fulfill the pattern held in mind.
“Having seen what he is in Spirit and what is the potential of his soul, man must retain that image of Reality in his thoughts and feelings, for the Image is a natural repellent to all that opposes his Reality in manifestation. This he does through the real eye of his soul—his inner eye that knows as it sees and sees as it knows.
“The eye magic of the soul is the 1-mage or image of Reality which man plants in his consciousness and waters with the pure energies that flow freely from the Macrocosm. The increase of the abundant Life that follows is the Lord’s, or the Law’s; for those who follow the scientific principle of the real-eye magic find that they are rewarded by the same. As Saint Paul said, ‘I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase .’ 38 And so God is expressed impersonally
in the outworking of his immutable laws, all of which are corollary to the one great law of Being in Cosmos. The science of the immaculate concept, then, is the knowledge of how to use pure ideas to transform the world of the microcosm into a macrocosmic wonder— as Above in God, so below in man.
“Beauty and Truth have a geometry all their own, a symmetry that allows the energies of God to flow freely through their ideations and then to coalesce in form. Pure ideas and noble forms are the archetypal patterns of the Real Image; they are seeds of Light which, when planted in the subconscious and conscious domains of the fertile mind, bring forth after their kind.
“Without these kernels of Light, rooted and nourished in the very substance of his soul, man cannot hope to express perfection in his world. Each one is a lodestone of God-desire to become without, all that which is within. Each one is a magnet that attracts from God Above to man below the creative essence of the universe. And if these monads be abundantly scattered throughout his consciousness—each one a nucleus of Reality, each one a forcefield of fervent faith, hope, and charity—then man can indeed look to outpicture (bring forth) in the microcosm that which he has thought to be ‘the impossible dream, the unreachable star.’
“Each time the soul beholds the sun, the clouds, the wind in the trees, a rose, a perfect leaf, a pebble, or a wave and then tucks the design in the folds of memory, he is adding to his treasure of those perfect ideas which are the building blocks of his Reality. Each time the fingers of his mind trace the lines of a Michelangelo, the strokes of a Raphael, the movements of a symphony, the cadences of a ballet, the formations of the birds that cross the sky, the soul takes in the
patterns of the Mind of God on which hang the entire schemata of his microcosmic universe.
“Beholding the universe and even our own planetary home, we observe how Nature upholds the law of perfection and shrugs off imperfection. Truly, the very stones that cry out 39 in praise of the Christ do uphold more earnestly than man his mandate ‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect .’ 40 How beautifully the Lord has placed all around us in the natural kingdom these links to eternity and to the invisible world of realities which we perceive only in the substance of things hoped for—these precious evidences of things not seen!. . . ” 41
Thus, after alternate periods of living in the synthetic world and then in the real, man comes to the feet of the Masters of Wisdom where he learns that Life is to be found only in reverence for all that lives. Returning to the abode of his own thoughts, he seeks to recapture the realization of that unity which he now knows must exist within the heart of the universe and even within the heart of a cell. He begins to turn within to tap the reservoirs of Nature. He must explore the unknown as well as the known!
The Discovery of the Real Self in the Natural Order
The Ray
I AM beholding
Nature where’er I look.
The Tree of Life I shook—
And tumbling down,
Visions of Source reveal
Sunflowers God’s radiance steal.
Shells of restless tides reveal The golden ratio In universes twinkling from afar.
Life in me beats freely.
I see a tree or man Walking into Reality
As robin’s egg in spring,
Holding Cosmos all inside.
Does bring to mind a sun.
The warmth of love from Above Makes me sing of Source Far greater than I understand.
And covering land, I see
A million snowflakes blending bland Into a million faces,
Daisies in the field of earth Gazing spherelike.
A billion grains of sand, of worth Do lead me to a sunbeam,
Raylike with its Light,
A Golden Thread—
From heart to mountain height
Does lead me to my Home delight Where each ray ne’er alone Does find aright The palm of God, our goal—
Perfection bright.
Dazzling white!
Serenity—
The balm of Victory!
The universal Mind of God has spun a blueprint of Light that blazes just behind the screen of Nature, and he has endowed the natural order with a wisdom which man calls instinct or intuitive knowledge. Right where he is, man can begin to penetrate the natural order and to discover there and beyond, in the blueprint of Light, the knowledge of the Real. Through communion with the Spirit of God in Nature, he can
learn to identify with his invisible Self, with the powerful spiritual consciousness that is his birthright.
If he would know Truth, man must go to Nature’s archives where Truth is indelibly written. But alas, even here error has been superimposed, layer upon layer. Therefore he must record and discard, record and discard, record and discard. Through scientific research he must demand empirical proof as well as supersensory verification of his findings. He must reexamine all hypotheses in the light of his expanding knowledge about himself.
No mere dogmatic speculation must substantiate his probe into Reality, for his very existence is at stake. Explorations of the past were based on a set of conceptual relations and experience patterns that have been antiquated by a higher science and a higher religion. Therefore, he must base his investigations upon the truth of immortal Being, which every son of God holds to be self-evident; his proof must be found in the natural order of the universe that is reflective of the omnipresent One; his data must be collected from Nature, from the intuitions of the heart, and from the thunderings of Sinai that declare irrefutably, “I AM WHO I AM—I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE.”
God is not dead! But unless man holds awareness of being alive in God, he himself is dead! Let him seek, then, to live to apprehend universal purpose and to invoke assistance from extraterrestrial sources. Are there those who can aid him on earth? Are there highly evolved beings, angels, and wise men of the ages who are qualified to assist him in his search? If earth is populated with the visible creation of God in imperfect form, does it not follow that heaven is populated with a creation of perfect form and perception?
In attempting to prove the existence of his own Reality, man echoes the observation of Descartes,
“I think, therefore I am.” But well might the premise be reversed: “I AM! therefore I think.” In any case, thinking and being are both primal factors of identity. Without these factors there is no basis for existence or self-conscious awareness. Both originate not in man but outside of him. Man cannot cause himself to be; neither can he cause himself to think; but through the misuse of free will he may cause himself not to be and not to think.
Scientists may create animal and even human life in a test tube, but they will never be able to create the substance out of which all things are formed—“the stuff that dreams are made of.” They will only be able to transform energy from one of its myriad manifestations to another—never to create or destroy it. Although they wrest the secrets of Nature, they must still bow before the Creator of all energy and life. The fact that something cannot come from nothing leads the seeker for Reality to probe the cause behind the world of effect in which we live.
Now, when we consider that by definition creation implies creator, even as effect implies cause, whether some choose man as creator while others see only God as Creator does not matter; for man is destined to become a co-creator with God. The fact that man can create does not disprove the existence of the Supreme Creator, nor does it make His existence unnecessary. On the contrary, the fact that it is necessary for man to create only confirms the great principle of Being, that in order for man to be, to think, or to create, someone had to do so before him. That One was fully known by him who declared, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” Therefore he created. And he left a record for the ages—for all who would go and do likewise.
Sometime, somewhere, in the evolution of every soul, the great Source of being makes known to it
its preexistence. The Real Image antedates all being, thinking, and creation in form. It is the blueprint of each one’s identity; it is the identity of each one’s blueprint. It is the cause behind the effect we see in manifestation; yet it can become that effect even as God’s energy is continuously undergoing transformation throughout the spiritual-material universe.
The search for the pattern of existence is an individual matter. It must be accomplished by everyone who would be master of himself and his world. We suggest that the seeker proceed from the basis of known facts taken from the world of effect and that from these he induce the unseen realities of the world of cause. His assumptions might well be the following:
1. that man was created by a Being greater than himself (our orientation with life tells us that the lesser must proceed out of the greater)
2. that man was fashioned after an image held in the consciousness of his Creator even as the clay must resemble the idea held in the mind of the potter
3. that the Creator could not create anything unlike himself even as all species generate after their kind
4. that if one can determine the true nature of the creation, he can thereby induce the true nature of the Creator
5. that man in his present state is not reflecting the Real Image, but rather has taken on the synthetic image
6. that one can discover the true nature of man in the synthetic image only insofar as any original work of art can be detected in a copy
7. that he must, therefore, look to Nature to discover the secrets of man and his Creator that cannot be traced in the synthetic image
8. that the archetypal patterns found in Nature reflect a vast geometry, a natural order of selection, and a
law of the survival of the fittest that point to a standard of perfection
9. that the standard of perfection reflected in Nature is the basis of the entire creation that we perceive in the world of effect, including man.
A study of Nature reveals the scientific accuracy of its processes and the exhaustless skill of the Mind that conceived it. Without further elaboration of the wonders of the material universe, which may be investigated through any of the branches of the physical sciences, we shall make our final generalizations regarding Creator and creation based on the testimony of the natural order:
A. that the Creator of man and his physical environment transcends the creation both in expressed consciousness and planned infinitude; that his nature, being transcendental, is capable of transcending itself and is ever reaching for a more expansive manifestation of his own expanding Identity. Because of this inherent ability to transcend being, we call the Creator a Spirit, and his creation, endowed with the same attribute, we call spiritual. Man is a Spirit-spark who, like his Creator, continually gathers unto himself more of the fires of creation
B. that the one quality which can be consistently applied to Creator and creation, regardless of all material evidence to the contrary, is that of perfection. The perfection of which we speak is synonymous with goodness and includes all virtue and wisdom, all science and truth: its presence is universal and all-powerful. Inasmuch as the Creator includes the infinite qualities of perfection within the vast reaches of his Identity, man has access to these qualities as he invokes them within the confines of the microcosm. As he does so, he is putting
on the Real Image, becoming a co-creator and fulfilling the command “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect”
C. that the purpose of creation was to expand the Creator’s Identity (his kingdom) through the objectification of his Self-awareness. Through the creation the Creator gains expression. The sons of God are therefore outposts of the Mind of God, receiving and transmitting waves of creative energies which manifest fragments of the one creative Mind. Man is the objective realization of the Mind of God. His is the form that provides expression for the Formless One. Man in his pristine state is the image of Reality.
Using the foregoing assumptions and generalizations as the basis for his investigations, the seeker should proceed to examine the evidence which confirms his hypotheses as well as that which tends to refute them. Then, like Job, he will have to draw his conclusions and make his own determination. Will he accept the trials and tribulations of human existence as proof either that God does not exist or that he is an unmerciful tyrant? Or will he see them as a chastening—self-imposed—that is the design of an impersonal law, formed by a personal God who desires to draw his children closer to the Real Image?
The modem Job must cast aside unwanted ideas, but he must also exercise care that his rejection be not abrupt. He may bypass unfruitful endeavors of the past, but he must also approach with reverence his own Reality. He must perceive that the hand of his Creator has not left him comfortless or without the fruit of honest labor. The intellect must not be allowed to force the issues or to override the heart; for the inductive and intuitive faculties of the mind and heart working together will provide the missing link in this
The Real Self-Mastery of the Natural Order
the greatest discovery of the ages—the discovery of the Real Self in the natural order.
Men have always rejected inventions that have broken the comfortable pattern of the norm, laughing at those who have probed the unknown and then made practical their findings. Yet there is an inner sense in man that reaches out to discover how he may become more than man—how he may become more real. And in his quest for Reality, he is willing to follow any clue, any hunch, even the promptings of the inner voice that will not let him rest until he has wrestled with the angel and pried the secrets of the universe.
The Real Self-Mastery of the Natural Order
“Two thousand years ago when Christ walked upon the waters of the Sea of Galilee,” explains Saint Germain, “his demonstration was a manifestation of the natural law of levitation, operating within an energy framework of cohesion, adhesion, and magnetism—the very principles which make orbital flight possible. The light atoms composing the body of Christ absorbed at will an additional quantity of cosmic rays and spiritual substance whose kinship to physical light made his whole body light, thereby making it as easy for him to walk upon the sea as upon dry land.
“His body was purely a ray of light shining upon the waters. The most dazzling conception of all was his ability to transfer this authority over energy to Peter through the power of Peter’s own vision of the Christ in radiant, illumined manifestation. By taking his eyes temporarily from the Christ, however, Peter entered a human fear vibration and vortex which immediately densified his body, causing it to sink partially beneath the raging seas. The comforting hand of Christ,
extended in pure love, reunited the alchemical tie; and the flow of spiritual energy through his hand raised Peter once again to safety.
“The further example of the Master Jesus releasing a flow of energy—as in the case of the woman who touched the hem of his garment without his knowledge aforehand—shows the impersonal love of God which responds equally to the call of faith from any of those creatures he has fashioned so wonderfully and so purely in the supreme hope of absolute cosmic freedom for all.” 42
The Nazarene Master, possessing the power to change the water into wine, to heal the sick, and to raise the dead, disappeared from the midst of those who sought to harm him. He walked upon the water and prepared food for his disciples on the shore, saying, “Come and dine.” At the close of his mission, he not only raised his body by the power of the resurrection flame, but forty days later he exhibited the most dramatic of all accomplishments: he rose into the air in the glory of the ascension. Surely this was a victory of victories. This was a demonstration of mastery over substance, passion, and prejudice; this was triumph over life and death. This was the Real Self- mastery of the natural order whose laws he first discovered and then demonstrated.
As he rose into the air and was received out of mortal sight, a cloud of radiant light veiled his Real Image from those who had not severed their ties with the synthetic consciousness. But all heard his parting words, “Lo, I AM with you alway, even unto the end of the age,” 43 * signifying the continuity of his mission
to the present day and beyond. The life of Jesus was an example of the manifestation of the Real Image in the life of one man. Think what a different world it would be if greater numbers were able to refute the synthetic creation through the realization of that Real Image!
The tracings of the intent of God for every man to earn this selfsame immortality are nowhere more significantly revealed than in the latent or subconscious memory of a perfection he once knew. If man can realize the cumulative effects of his misdirected acts and perceive the consequences of his selfishness that has encased his soul in a mold of unworthiness, he can also perceive the great freeing power of heaven. He can contemplate the power of the wind of the Holy Spirit to blow through the chinks of his mind and to inspire the very substance thereof to glow with the fervor of possibility.
Once he realizes his present potential, man no longer strings his energies as skull-shaped beads of inevitable death upon the strands of time, crowded into jagged space. He knows that he is with God, a Spirit, the commander of his destiny—and of time and space. He knows that he wields all power in heaven and earth because the Father has given it to him, 44 and he obediently accepts the covenant which stipulates that in the use of this power he must exercise prudence and responsibility and that he must live by the Golden Rule.
Now he considers the possibility of the ascension for himself. Eternal Life is a goal that is attainable. He grovels no more in the condemnation of sin or the desire to do unworthy deeds that serve the cause of the synthetic image. He reaches toward the Light; he raises his head; his eyes seek the face of the Infinite.
Chapter 2 • Your Real Image
As a follower of the Light of regeneration upon earth, he comes to the place where as an adept, a follower of the Master himself, he can do “the works that I do. . . and greater works.” 45
As the master of his destiny, man becomes more than man. He becomes the Real Image and he understands at last the meaning of the words “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness unto the Truth of my Real Self!” 46
Beloved Mighty I AM Presence,
Thou Life that beats my heart.
Come now and take dominion.
Make me of thy Life a part.
Rule supreme and live forever In the flame ablaze within;
Let me from Thee never sever.
Our reunion now begin.
Ail the days proceed in order From the current of Thy power,
Flowing forward like a river,
Rising upward like a tower.
I AM faithful to Thy love ray Blazing forth light as a sun;
I AM grateful for Thy right way And Thy precious word “Well done.”
I AM, I AM, I AM adoring Thee.
O God, You are so magnificent.
I AM, I AM, I AM adoring Thee.
Moving onward to perfection,
I AM raised by Love’s great grace To thy center of direction—
Behold, at last I see Thy face.
Image of immortal power,
Wisdom, love, and honor, too:
Flood my being now with glory.
Let my eyes see none but You!
O God, You are so magnificent.
I AM, I AM, I AM adoring Thee.
O God, You are so magnificent.
My very own Beloved I AM, Beloved I AM, Beloved I AM.
Chapter Three
A Heap of Confusion
