Joseph S Benner - The Imperial Life

Finding me. You, who have studied carefully all that has been said herein, and who think you have gotten a glimpse of me, but yet are not sure, come close and listen with your soul to what I now have to say. Be still and know I am God. If you have learned to be still, if you have studied and meditated upon this I as God within you, if you are able to distinguish it from the personal I, and are conscious at times of being able to step outside, as it were, of your personality and view your human self as it is, see all its petty faults and weaknesses, its base selfishness, its animal appetites and passions, its childish desires and foolish pride and vanities. If you can do all this and have seen these things with clear vision, know then at those moments you have been one with me in consciousness, that it was your real self, I within you, permitting you thus to see with my eyes the reality of things. At those moments you were freed from your personality and were dwelling in my consciousness, call it cosmic, universal, spiritual or impersonal consciousness as you will, for you could not have seen these things in yourself except through impersonal eyes, my eyes. Again, if you will look back you will recall many times when you felt strongly impelled to do certain things, some of which you did with perfect results, others of which you argued against, your intellect reasoning you into different action, and often with failure, disappointment or suffering as a result. This impelling consciousness was only your real self, I within you, at such moments guiding you, distinctly telling you what to do. At those moments you were hearing with your spiritual ears, my ears, and when you impersonally obeyed, success and satisfaction followed, but when you personally thought you knew better, discomfiture, regret and unhappiness resulted. Again, there have been moments when you have felt approaching events, or the nearness of unseen persons, or inharmonious vibrations when contacting others. This is only the real you feeling with your spiritual or impersonal body, whose consciousness, did you but know it, is ever on the alert to protect and warn and advise you regarding all outer things, conditions and events. The best and surest way you may know me is when selfless love fills your heart, and there is a strong compelling urge to help someone, to heal their ills, to relieve their suffering, to bring them happiness, to point out the true way, that is the actual feel of me within you, pushing the personality aside, using your mind and body for the purpose I created them, as avenues for the expression of my real nature, which is perfect love, the Christ of God, the one vitalizing, quickening, life-giving, strengthening, healing, all supplying, all informing power in the universe. All this is pointed out to you, in order to impress upon you that it is I, in your spiritual body, the perfect body within, where I dwell, who am always thus talking to you, advising you, teaching you, warning and helping you, in all the affairs of life, yes, in every little detail. If you will but turn to me, and will carefully watch for and study these impressions which you are receiving every moment, and will learn to trust them, and thus to wait upon and rest in me, putting all your faith in me, verily I will guide you in all your ways, I will solve for you all your problems, make easy all your work, and you will be led among green pastures, beside the still waters of life. Ah, my child, if you will but spend one-tenth of the time and energy you have wasted in seeking without among the husks of human knowledge and human teachings, in earnest, determined efforts directed within to find me, if you will devote but one hour each day thus to me alone, imagining and practicing the presence of me within you, I here promise you that you will not only soon, very soon find me, but I will be to you an exhaustless fount of such wisdom and strength and help as your human minds now cannot possibly conceive. Yes, if you will but seek me thus, making me first in your life, never resting until you do find me, it will not be long before you will become conscious of my presence, of my loving voice, speaking constantly from out the depths of your heart. You will learn to come to me in sweet communion, and you will find yourself abiding in my consciousness, and that my word is abiding in you, and that whatever you desire will in seemingly miraculous ways be done unto you. This abiding continually in me may be difficult at first, for the world, the flesh and the devil are still presenting evidence to your consciousness, but you will become accustomed to the use of my impersonal eyes, and will soon be able to see into the reality of things, even into the reality of these seeming lords of the earth, then you will find you are dwelling in a wondrous new world, peopled with angelic beings, using the flesh bodies of their human personalities merely as vehicles, or instruments, or clothing, in which to contact the earthly conditions and experiences they have created, in order to develop the soul qualities necessary for the perfect expression on earth of my idea. To your eyes then there will be no shadows, no evil, and consequently no devil, for all is light and love, freedom, happiness and peace, and you will see me in all, in each being some attribute of me, in each animate thing some phase of me, and you will need only to let my love shine from out your heart, and it will illumine for you the real meaning of all that you see, then the great realization will come that you have found the kingdom of God, that you are walking in it, that it is right here on this earth, that it is manifesting all around you, that you have been living in it all the time, but you did not know it, that instead of being without in some far off place, it is within your own being, within every other being, the innermost inner of all manifested things. In other words, it will be found to be the reality of all things, and that all outward seeming is but the shadow of this reality, created by man's misconceptions and his belief in his separateness from me. When you have found the kingdom, you will likewise find your place in it, realizing now that you are in truth one of my divine attributes, that your work was all laid out for you from the beginning, and that all that has gone before has been but a preparation and a fitting of your human personality for that work. Your whole soul will leap with joyful anticipation that after all these many years of wandering, you have at last returned to my home, and can now enter into my real life, one in consciousness with me and with your other selves, all working to bring about the final perfect expression on earth of my divine idea. You to whom the reading of this has brought memories of previous joys and whose soul has quickened in response, do not leave these words until you have gotten from them all I have to tell you. Be still and listen to my inner voice, and learn of the glories that await, if you are able to see with impersonal eyes and hear with impersonal understanding. However, if this reading brings to you your first vision of my reality within you, setting in motion, by this partial realization of me and my kingdom, high vibrations which lift you into a temporary spiritual ecstasy, and you resolve to try to abide always in this consciousness of me and always to obey me, do not be discouraged should you fail when immediately thereafter an occasion comes to test the sincerity and strength of your resolve. It is only by your trying and failing and realizing keenly your lack of strength and ability to rest and trust in me, that I can quicken in you the consciousness of my divine powers ever waiting to manifest through you. These high vibrations are only the arousing into action of certain soul qualities and their corresponding faculties which must be awakened before I can manifest such powers. And naturally when such soul qualities are aroused, they meet active opposition from certain other qualities which heretofore held undisputed sway in your nature and which must be overcome and brought under subjection and then lifted up into their true service before the soul qualities can freely express. And this opposition should and will strengthen and test and perfect the expression of these soul qualities, for you must be capable of withstanding every attack from without before you can fully manifest all my divine powers pushing forth from within. Know that I am manifesting these powers in you just as fast as you can bear it and be strong. The mistake you make is in trying to grow yourself. I am the tree of life within you. My life will and must push forth, but it will do it by gradual and steady growth. You cannot come into your fruitage before you have grown to it. Remember, my life is all the time building you up into the perfection of health and strength and beauty that must express outwardly as it is even now expressing within. You who have begun to realize I am within but have not yet learned to commune with me, listen and learn now. You have learned to be still and you have perhaps felt my presence within. If so, realizing I am there, ask me a question. Then, with a silent earnest prayer to me for an answer, but without anxiety, care or personal interest, and with an open mind, wait confidently for the impressions that will come. Should a thought come in answer that you recognize as what you have heard or read somewhere, cast it out immediately and say, No. Father, what do you say? Other thoughts may come from other human sources, but if you are alert you will recognize them as such and refuse to accept them. Then, if you persist in asking me, you will finally get an answer that you will feel is really from me. Thus it will be at first, when you have learned to distinguish my voice from all other voices and can keep your personal interest wholly suppressed, then you will be able to hold silent communion with me at will, without interference from others' ideas, beliefs and opinions. And you can ask any question you wish, or another can ask you any question on any problem on which they need help, and I will that moment place in your mind the words to speak, either silently to yourself or audibly through your tongue to the other. You, my beloved, who have consecrated yourself to me and are bending every effort to find union with me, but instead have found apparently that every prop of the world's support has been withdrawn or is being withdrawn, and that you are without money and without friends and know not where to turn for human help, learn, my blessed one, that you are very, very close now, and that if you will only continue to abide in me, letting my word abide in and guide you, resting and trusting absolutely in my promise, I will very soon bring to you a joy, a fulfilment, a peace that human words and human minds cannot possibly picture. For you have obeyed my commands, and you have trusted me, and have sought first my kingdom and my righteousness, and therefore will I add all other things unto you, even those the world has denied you. You, my dear one, who likewise have consecrated yourself to me, but who are still holding to some of the world's standards, being unable to let go and trust wholly to me, you to whom, therefore, I have permitted failure, disappointment, even poverty, in order to let you learn the false value of all worldly things, their impermanence, their lack of power to provide happiness, their having nothing to do with my real life, you, dear child, who do not yet see this and whose heart is full of anxiety and fear because you do not see where tomorrow's bread is coming from, or the money for next week's rent, or for the past due mortgage, listen once more to my words long since given to you in the Sermon on the Mount. Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for the raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, being interpreted his consciousness, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Take, therefore, no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Do you need any more definite commands, or any more definite promise than these? You who have consecrated yourself to me, and call yourself my disciple, listen, have I not always provided everything? Have you not ever been in need, but that I always appeared with help just at the right moment? Has there ever been a time when things looked dark, that I did not bring light? Can you, with what you know now, look back over your life, and see where you could have ordered it better? Would you exchange your spiritual understanding for the earthly possessions of anyone you know? Have I not done all this, despite the fact that you have been rebelling and refusing to listen to me all your life? Ah, my children, can you not see that money, home, clothes, food, and their acquirement are only incidents, and have nothing to do with your real life? Accepting as you make them real, by thinking into them so much importance, and letting me remain only a side issue? If it becomes necessary for you to be deprived of the things of the world, that you may learn the truth, that I am the only important thing in life, that I must be first if you truly love me, I permit this, that real and lasting happiness and prosperity can be yours. This applies to you also, my child, you who have lost health, have lost courage, have lost all hold of yourself, and after weary years of seeking without from earthly physicians and remedies, following faithfully every instruction and suggestion given, in order to regain the life you have lost, you who have turned finally within to me, with the faint hope that I may be able to help you, know, my little one, that you too must come in complete surrender to me, the one and only physician who can heal you, for I am the life omnipotent within you, I am your health, your strength, your vitality, not until you can feel me within, and know I am all this to you, is real and lasting health for you to experience. And now, my child, draw close, for I am now going to tell you the means of obtaining all these things, health, prosperity, happiness, union, peace. In the following words lies the great secret, blessed be you who find it. Be still, and know, I am God, know I am in you, know I am you, know I am your life, know all wisdom, all love, all power abides in this life, which is flowing freely through your entire being now. I am the life, I am the intelligence, I am the power in all substance, in all the cells of your body, in the cells of all mineral, vegetable, and animal matter, in fire, water, and air, in sun, moon, and stars, I am that in you, and in them which is, their consciousness is one with your consciousness, and all is my consciousness, through my consciousness in them, all that they have or are is yours for the asking. Speak to them then in my name, speak in the consciousness of your oneness with me, speak in the consciousness of my power in you, and of my intelligence in them, speak, command what you will in this consciousness, and the universe will rush to obey. Rise up, oh aspirant for union with me, accept now your divine heritage, open wide your soul, your mind, your body, and breathe in my breath of life, know that I am filling you full to overflowing with my divine power, that every fibre, every nerve, every cell, every atom of your being is now consciously alive with me, alive with my health, with my strength, with my intelligence, with my being, for I am within you, we are not separated, we could not possibly be separated, for I am you, I am your real self, your real life, and I am manifesting myself and all my powers in you now. Awake, rise up and assert your sovereignty, know yourself and your powers, know that all I have is yours, that my omnipotent life is flowing through you, that you can take of it and build with it what you will, and it will manifest for you as health, power, prosperity, union, happiness, peace, anything you will of me. Imagine this, think it, know it, then, with all the positiveness of your nature, speak the creative word, it will not return you void, but know, beloved, that this cannot be until you have come to me in complete and utter surrender, until you have given yourself, your substance, your affairs, your life into my keeping, putting all care and responsibility upon me, resting and trusting in me absolutely. When you have done this, then will the above words quicken into active life my divine powers latent in your soul, and you will be conscious of a mighty force within you, which, just to the extent that you abide in me, and let my words abide in you, will free you entirely from your dream world, will quicken you fully in spirit, will make all the way clear for you, supply all things you desire, and lift trouble and suffering from you forevermore. Then will there be no more doubts and questionings, for you will know that I, God, your very self, will always provide, will always point out the way, for you will have found that you and I are one.