O, That I Might Find Him

        MAETERLINCK symbolizes happiness by a blue bird and causes the seeker to go the world over searching for it, only to return home worn and tired to find the blue bird in his own garden. 

        Thousands of people make yearly pilgrimages to various shrines thinking to get a glimpse of something mysterious and to feel His Presence. All of these people in story and in fact are but pictures of yourself. One day you, too, come to realize the isness of God and the realization that he is everywhere present, even in hell “if I make my bed in hell thou art there.” It is safe to say that the man in hell who becomes conscious of God’s presence changes hell to heaven. Certainly God is in heaven. 
        If you think you are in hell today, remembering this one redeeming feature about it– God is there– transforms it into heaven, here and now. 
        The knowledge of the allness of God is an “Open sesame” to the King’s treasures. What glorious gifts are poured into your lap by the God of the all-good universe. Awake!  Awake! Awake! God is not gained through books. God is. You are a dweller in a God universe. 
        Everything is God in manifestation. Could there be more than all? 
        If you want to see God and serve him, serve your fellow man. ‘Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of these, ye have done it unto me.’ 
        ‘I am Alpha and Omega'” Can there be more than all? What about the belief of two powers– one good and the other evil ? 
        Begin to see God in everything that lives, and you will carry with you a fairy wand that will transform one hell and devil after another into a heaven and an angel. 
        ‘I will never leave you.’ Fear not, once you recognize this God of the all-good universe you will never again lose the Truth of life. 
        Small wonder the Kingdom of Heaven is given unto the child. A child can believe in all good happening without questioning as to the how and why; but the wise and prudent try to square God by man-made laws, and fail.  Even though they write long dissertations on the atonement and quote the Scriptures from end to end, yet they miss him. ‘The wisdom of man is foolishness in the eyes of God.’  How could it be otherwise when you realize that ‘My ways are not your ways’? The ways of the Spirit for bringing good into manifestation are far beyond the fondest hopes of man’s reasoning. In Spirit there is always a way for things to happen that is absolutely impossible to the man of the circumstance world. 
        You are told that you cannot add one cubit to your stature by taking thought. Why try, then?  Why not listen to the law which says, ‘When the inspiration of the Almighty has come unto you, it shall lead you into all things and will teach you all things.’ The inspiration of the Almighty is the God dwelling in the midst of you, and has nothing to do with reason.  Reason flees before the inspiration of the Almighty, for inspiration upsets all its laws. The natural operation of the law of God is to the sense man mysterious and supernatural. 
        Why take thought, then? When you come into oneness with the Truth God you find a new law operating within you the law of intuition, the law of inspiration. And somehow things keep on happening at the right time, despite the sense testimony which says ‘ impossible.’ 
         When you see God in a patient, you bring forth what is called a healing, but in Reality you do nothing but recognize a fact of Being. 
        Every man is your teacher, since God is in every man. See to it that you are not deceived into believing that teachers come with a blare of the trumpet and a great noise. The porter who opens the temple doors may have a greater message for you than he who stands at the altar. 
        Open your eyes and ears, for God is speaking to you constantly through thousands of avenues. 
        Away with the feeble idea of this or that great one, who is sitting on a self-created throne puffed up with spiritual pride!  There is none great except God.  You are free; walk, then, as a free man, not as a slave. Walk with boundless freedom, for you have come to understand the Ever-Presence of God here and now. When you take the ‘no thought’ road that Spirit offers you, it means infinitely more than just drifting about day-dreaming. That you are taking no further thought of things and appearances does not mean that you suddenly cease all activity and drift through life. Just the reverse is true you become active with a newness of purpose that accomplishes. This activity will not be restrained by the circumstance world which calls attention to the purse, the scrip, and the robe. You are free, and if you dare to follow the Voice of Truth you can go your way unhampered, untrammeled, and free. You are traveling the high-road of peace, and may walk and talk with God in everybody and see him in everything. 
        You are untrammeled, free, only so far as you give the world its freedom. Whatever bondage you see for another, you first see for yourself. God is one and not indivisible. You are but a point in consciousness where this expression comes into visibility. You are a distributor of good, a speaker of the Word. You seek no more the light outside yourself for you are the light and you are the way, and no more will you seek the way by favour or force. You are your own way, and it is well with you now. 
        Day after day slips over the brink of eternity, filled with glory, filled with freedom for you are new-born, and a thousand years are as a day. You are free, free, free. You have seen the Christ. You have found him in everything and in yourself as well. You are through with criticism, condemnation, and judgment. You are now born into the kingdom that is here and now not an illusion, not a theory but a living, pulsating consciousness of Heaven within. 
        ‘Where there is no vision the people perish.’ There is no vision in the reason world, for that world calls vision unnatural, unreal, and impossible; but you have caught the vision; you have seen the Christ dwelling in the temple of your body; and you have recognized your true self and have great peace. 
        And now, instead of begging God to give you personal things, meditate in breathless adoration on the isness of everything. Peace is yours and nothing can take it from you, and if you stay in continual peace all things that are necessary to sustain this peace will be forthcoming, without struggle and without telling God how much you need them. You are the prince of peace. 
         All of this beautiful peace and calm does not produce lethargy. It is not merely sitting supinely waiting for something to happen; it is expression. It is a newer and finer activity which comes to you, and saves you all the lost motion and fatiguing effort to get your own. Your own shall come unto you when you recognize what your own is. The great difference between understanding and belief is that one rests in peace and follows the Voice of Truth, while the other goes struggling through life trying to psychologize things and money out of the universe. 
        Because you have ceased the mad hunt after Christ and found him in yourself, you do not hide yourself away to the mountains. He is no more in the mountains than he is in the crowded city streets. Going into the silence is not a trick that has to be practiced in a certain place. It is possible anywhere, at any time. It is only the recognition of God as present. 
         A new and holy mission comes to you. You are the bringer of light, the bringer of joy, the collector of smiles, the speaker of the word, and the giver of good. You go out to give; you go out to ‘speak no evil nor to listen to it.’  Why should you listen to that which you know is untrue? No, not even for the false sense of sympathy! You are free. You are at peace.

 

Walter C. Lanyon