Natural and Supernatural

     Everything that has to do with spirit has been label—Supernatural.  Therefore it has been entirely out of the reach of the so-called natural man.  Yet things that your forebears thought supernatural are today perfectly natural.  Formerly man thought that lightning was an evil power with which God punished evil-doers.  Today a three year old child handles lightning with impunity; and though only vaguely understood, it now seems quite natural to press a button or turn a switch and cause it to do all sorts of wonderful things.  Jesus came with a conscious knowledge that the so-called supernatural law which apparently had been used only to work “miracles,” was a perfectly natural capacity of the awakened man.  In other words, He knew that within man; lay this Christ consciousness—this Permanent Identity, this Father with—which was the point of contact between God and man.  The moment He ascended to this consciousness He was able to release this so-called supernatural power with the same ease that a child could flood a skyscraper with light by merely throwing a small switch.  Time and space are virtually eliminated by the use of electricity—a man can throw a switch in Washington, D. C., and flood with light an exposition on the West Coast.  Time and distance are nothing to him.  He does not have to make a bigger effort because he is not in the proximity of the Fair.  He does not have to work himself up emotionally; he merely has to pull the switch.  And so is it with the God-Power, only more so; and that is why your word when spoken in Washington, D. C., is picked up and made manifest in China just as easily as if the person affected were in the same room.  We have long ceased to wonder at the thousand and one miraculous things performed by electricity, because it has become a natural thing, an automatic thing—and this is the precise altitude at which Jesus function—He found the Supernatural natural.

     We know now perfectly well that the radio might as well have been used in Jesus’ time, as far as the principle is concerned.  No one recognized it, so it was not manifest.  It is the same with all spiritual power—until it is recognized and thereby given a channel of expression, it remains invisible.

     In the Bible there are dozens of instances of the prophets hearing voices from afar, at odd and sundry times.  Today through the use of radio, this does not cause even a flurry of emotion—you take it as a perfectly natural thing.  Things that were denounced as rank heresy in former ages are found to be indispensable aids in the present time.

     So thoroughly familiar with the Law was Jesus that many of His sayings are fraught with surprise at the lack of comprehension.  In the case of Lazarus, He actually wept when He was told that he had died.  Having been so long in the household of Lazarus, explaining this supernatural natural law, He could scarcely believe that such gross ignorance of it was still there.  Martha even said to Him, “Lord, if you had been here, our brother would not have died,” showing that she looked upon Jesus as a worker of miracles, and utterly failed to understand His teachings which said,  “Go thou and do likewise”…indicating that He recognized this power as the prerogative of every man.  We, therefore, are not taking anything from the glory of Jesus when we make the assumption of this God-Self in us, but rather we are actually carrying out His plan.

     The human mind is loathe to part with the mysterious, and so we find it arguing even against the teaching of Jesus, after having had many magnificent proofs.  Again we return to the Lazarus situation—Jesus said, “He is asleep, I go to awaken him.”  Did they believe it” Even when said by Jesus?  They did not, but they immediately began to explain all the old human laws that had set in which would make this utterly impossible.  “He has been dead four days, the body is putrefying, it is impossible.”  And so the old human thought denied its God again, and found somethingimpossible, while in the next breath it would be affirming, “All things are possible to God.”

     Do you believe?  Mary and Martha didn’t, even when they were told by Jesus Himself.  In other words could you possibly take your good if it came to you, or do you know also that “He has been dead four days”—with plenty of evidence to back it up?  In other words, do you believe?  You think —yes, but when faced with the actual impossible situation, you are looking for a miracle; you are not anticipating any natural-supernatural manifestation.

     Nothing can be done with the teachings of Jesus until He is understood to be a truth-sayer and not a liar, and until the assumption is made, that “As He is, so are we, in this present world.”  Dare you to make this assumption—you poor, down-trodden worm of the dust—or you arrogant peacock, strutting your importance and fame in your make-believe world.  Jesus asked always, “Believest thou that I am able to do this?”  And you must answer for yourself.

     Just as a man who handles electricity intelligently and causes it to do all sorts of fantastic and interesting things, is not doing a supernatural thing, so a man who becomes conscious of his God-self is not doing a supernatural thing, because whatever he does at that elevation is perfectly natural, no matter how it may mystify the man “whose breath is in his nostrils.”

     “Nothing is impossible to Me,” is a law as natural and as probable to the consciousness which enters into a recognition of its true Identity as any natural law is to the so-called natural man.  To five thousand people Jesus showed the law of precipitation as a natural thing.  He knew that when a man was hungry he should be able to eat, because in reality he was fed spiritually and clothed spiritually; but until man knew this he came under the so-called  “natural law” which said, he should earn his living by the sweat of his brow.” It is wonderful when you, the reader, discover that you are fed and clothed spiritually.  It means just this, that you will never want again.  “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Do you begin to see why you are told to take the journey without thought of the purse, the script, the robe, etc.?

     Notice the surprise of Jesus when many of the five thousand who were with Him when He showed them the law of precipitation came again and asked Him for bread.  His answer to them is one of the greatest revelations in all of the scriptures:  “You seek me after the loaves and fishes, and not the miracle” (law), showing clearly that He had fully expected them to understand the naturalness of His bringing forth that substance.  It is perfectly amazing when we see what this man Jesus was attempting to give to the world, yet most of us, like these gluttonous onlookers, want demonstrations instead of understanding and revelation.  It is recorded in one place that even His disciples asked for bread after they had seen the law.  (Had experienced the miracle of the loaves and fishes.)  Do you understand now why the “Awake thou that sleepest and Christ shall give thee light” is so important?  It says “Awake, open your eyes.”  Jesus was standing before a group  of people who apparently were physically awake, yet He said,  “Ye have eyes and see not, and ears and hear not, lest it should enter into your hearts, etc.”

     You are not told to argue with the Power.  If you want fine clothes, you are told how to get them very easily; but I find nothing in the Law which says, “Sit down and think about a red hat, and see a red hat, and handle a red hat, and maybe you will get a red hat.”  More than likely it will not go with anything you have to wear, and by the time you bring out a red dress to go with it, the red hat is worn out, and by the time you get another, red is out of date—and so the old squirrel cage process of taking thought goes on.  It never goes anywhere except where it started.  Yet you are told how to clothe yourself beautifully, if necessary, by simply considering the lilies—it seems rather silly, doesn’t it?  Child’s play—or maybe you think it is horse-play, and that is all it is on the human thought-taking plane.  Looking at lilies or even considering them will get you nowhere until you understand what is back of the command.  “They toil not, they spin not, they gather not into barns, and yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like these.”  Why?  It is wonderful when you begin to see the natural-supernatural law that is functioning here, and if a lily can fulfill its mission so beautifully and so naturally, even to the envy of a Solomon, how much more should you— “Oh ye of little faith!”

     When man begins to see the naturalness of the spiritual law, he will also see that anything he asks for in that nature, will be perfectly natural to him and not supernatural.  When you ask for anything in the name—that is, merely the letters and phonetics of the name—nothing takes place; but when you ask in the name-nature, things happen just as when you sign your name to a check—your name is no good unless you have the nature to do it, and then it produces results.   

     There were many things which Jesus said He could not tell us because of our unbelief.  In fact it has been most difficult for most of us even to accept as true the things that He did tell us.  He did not say He would not tell us these wonderful new laws and revelations, but that He could not at that time, because we would not believe in them as natural.  So there is something wonderful awaiting you when you finally enter into your closet and shut your door.  It seems to me that the time has just about come for us to know some of these higher things, so that we may “go through” even though “ten thousand fall at our right hand.”  Do you understand what I am talking about?  “You are hid with Christ in God.”

     This all brings us to a lovely sense of the Now, where we actually begin to speak in the present tense and the first person, and in some degree at least begin to experience the Kingdom here at hand and the naturalness of a so-called supernatural law.  Amazing things are said to us, they almost take our breath away when we hear and see them, such as, “Go in and possess the land.”  Hadn’t you better go back and read that one over again?  That “Go in and possess the land?”  Do you hear it”—Go in and possess the Consciousness, without asking permission of anybody for anything—do you hear?  Do you believe?  It is for this that a man will “sell all” and “buy the pearl of great price.”  He will get rid of all his beliefs in leaders, books, organizations, and will follow after the Christ.  He is then through with the idea that someone is coming who will show forth a lot of new miracles.  He will glimpse, at least faintly, the fact that he is to be the miracle-worker as far as his life is concerned.  He must make this assumption.  He must find it natural to do the supernatural, and gradually he will find himself doing many things which he formerly thought were miracles, but which now seem quite natural. The mystery of Godliness is its simplicity.

     As you begin to see how natural this supernatural law is, you will see that fear of life is absorbed into a reverence of this glorious power made so plain to us by Jesus.  Just as on the human plane, fear of lightning was transmuted into a respect for the laws of electricity.  “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”  Do you hear?  The reverence for this Law which is to operate through your temple-body into manifestation is absolutely necessary, it is too precious to be discussed with the man “whose breath is in his nostrils,” and who is still looking for signs and wonders.  The coal of fire is placed on your lips, and you will not “Cast that which is holy to the dogs.”

     As modern business debunks false methods, so the coming of Jesus takes away all mysteries surrounding life, bringing supernatural law (which has seemed to be peculiar to a group of religious characters and prophets) down to a natural basis, so that the man in the street can operate it with the ease of a child.  It is so amazing when you think that all a man must do to see this glorious power in manifestation is tobelieve!

 

Walter C. Lanyon