In The Beginning

The Greeks went back to chaos. The Buddhists went back to the great nothingness, the great emptiness. The Christian goes back to “the VOID.” “The earth was without form and void.” From this point of the unformed, was all things made that were made to appear.

When the great Revelator, Jesus Christ, said, “Be­fore Abraham was I AM,” He went back to a point beyond any form or shape of human thinking. He went back to the FATHER. The Father was not a man—but the great VOID out of which all things came into being. It is the glory Ihad with thee be­fore the world of John Smith appeared.

As the child takes its bucket to the sea and brings .back the formless sea in the shape of the bucket, so Jesus inferred that “Whatsoever” He asked the Fa­ther—whatsoever shape o f consciousness He took to the FATHER, or SEA would be filled, or stepped down to a point of visibility. As the SEA which the child brings back in the shape of a bucket will only remain in that shape as long as the bucket holds it—so did Jesus know that when the thing was re­leased in consciousness, it would return to the ONE again, to be reshapened anew by the ASKING con­sciousness.

There could be no begging the sea to get into the shape of the bucket—and hence, there could be no beseeching and affirming that the FATHER take the shape of health, or happiness, or money. Theconsciousness would have to present That shape to the FATHER— and that too, without the slightest question as to whether it were possible or not.

Any questioning as to whether it could or could not happen would only mar or destroy the shape of consciousness. Repetition would destroy the essential faith. Any beseeching and begging and treating would show the hypocrisy of man, endeavoring to impress God with his spirituality—as if God, who created you, is not well aware that you are pure spirit, andas if He did not know the “NEED” before you asked. Small wonder, then, that the instructions were after this fashion: “When yea pray, believe that yea RECEIVE.” This is not done at the insistence of will power. Any will power is an indication that you do not believe, but hope by the force of human thought to make God do something He has notalready done.

When you enter into prayer after this fashion, it will be from RECOGNITION—-and not from the standpoint of hypocrisy which imagines it can do things with God. Psychology is not prayer.

Once a thing has taken shape and form, it is finished. Nothing can be added or taken from it, as it were. It cannot be reshapened any more than a vase, after it has come from the kiln, can be re­fashioned. Healing does not take place on the body —the new shape o f consciousnessautomatically brings with it the new shape o f manifestation.

No wonder, then, Jesus left all form behind and entered into the placeof unformed Spirit. What He told the Father in secret was called from the house­top. He could do nothing with the “dead” child. “I go to awaken him.” Jesus was not an overcomer– -and yet today there are thousands trying to over­come sin, disease and death. Jesus left the pictures behind when He went to the Father with His shape of consciousness. No wonder, then, Lazarus came forth and was unbound of the grave clothes.

Beyond the picture of you, there is that from which you say you sprang, your father—and back of him, his father—and back of him, his father—but after you have played with this childish assignment long enough, you realize that back of the first so­ called father is THE FATHER.When we want to get into the flow of it, we will see what Jesus meantwhen He said: “Call no (not any) man your Fa­ther.” Now this takes on a definite meaning, for the various shapes and forms that you have called father are not THE Father—but manifestations of THE Father.

If you partake of the qualities of your personal father, you will have all his foibles and beliefs to handle. If the sea were to become the same quality as the water in the bucket which has been left to stand for months or years in the same shape, it would surely be dead.

We find, then, that going to the Father is going to the INFINITE SOURCE of all substance—and whatsoever Jesus asked was called from the house­tops. “Call upon Me and I will answer you” takes on a different meaning. Dip your bucket into the sea and carry away the exact measure you have ac­cepted as a reality—not what you hoped for—not what you tried to demonstrate— but what you AC­CEPTED AS A REALITY!

Back of every manifest thing is that something, the Power, which is not subject to the laws of the mani­fest, but upon which the manifest thing is dependent.

Why, then, will man persist in taking thought and repeating words. A whole symphony is in a single note. A complete revelation could be in a single word, IF it were heard.

When you pray—it is not with words or argument, but with PURERECOGNITION—and could you but wait a split second, you, too, couldsay with Jesus, “Thank You Father” for the finished thing, and the signs would automatically follow.

 

Walter C. Lanyon