How I Used Truth - Lesson 11 - Annotation 10
How do we seek directly from the "Fountainhead," and how does its supply come to us?
10. We seek directly from the "Fountainhead" -- which is God -- through prayer, and the supply comes to us in the form of divine ideas. The first chapter of Lessons in Truth 1:30 deals with God as the "Fountain-head." The second Annotation for that lesson goes extensively into the subject (Lessons In Truth Lesson 1 Annotation 2).
In this lesson we are considering the process that enables us to "seek . . . directly from the Fountainhead" (How I Used Truth 114). This process is prayer. What is it that we seek? We seek health, harmony, prosperity, success, peace, joy, and all the myriad expressions of God's good for ourselves and for others. However, back of every condition is an idea seeking expression. If we would have the good we seek, we must first become conscious of the divine idea that is back of our desire. Ideas are the causes or the starters of all creative action and produce results in the manifest world. By turning to God in prayer we become acquainted with the character of divine ideas; we learn their value, and the manner in which they are to be applied in our life to bring forth satisfactory results. Divine ideas, as the spiritual patterns for every type of good, await our use so that when "planted" in the mind may bring forth, through affirmation, a harvest of good in mind, body, and affairs.
"You want to be yourself, and you can be yourself only by living out your own life and finding its issues at the Fountainhead. . . . God is a special, personal Father to every one of His children, and from no other source can they get Truth" (Jesus Christ Heals 98).
If we seek health because the body seems to be manifesting ill-health, then it is a greater consciousness of the life-idea that we really seek. As we commune with God in the silence of our own soul, we become conscious of God as life, of ourselves as heirs to this life. As our consciousness of life expands it is not difficult to dissolve or erase (by denial) belief in the cessation of life.
"A conscious union with the natural life forces lying within and back of all the complex activities of man gets right to the Fountainhead, and the results are unfailing if the proper connection has been made" (Jesus Christ Heals 80).
Should the dominant need at any moment be that of harmony with those among whom we live or work, then seeking the "Fountainhead" will bring us the idea of love that can harmonize all situations. Letting God-love flood our whole being makes of our consciousness a magnet of love that can adjust a situation and attract harmony. Desiring prosperity and success, we seek ideas of abundance and order from the "Fountainhead." Through prayer God reveals Himself as the source of all abundance, and as the unfailing power of success in any venture. We no longer interpret prosperity as merely a multitude of outer things, but as the enrichment of consciousness that enables us to speak the word for the fulfillment of any need, whether outer things or inner qualities. Through contact with God in prayer we come to realize that success in any undertaking is but the normal expression of divine order. With our desire to succeed come all the necessary ideas concerning the steps we are to take, so that what we do may be in divine order.
"God prospers us when we give the best that is in us and do all things unto Him, acknowledging Him in all our affairs. This is a sure way to success, and when success does come we should realize that it resulted from the work of Spirit in us, because we made ourselves channels through which the Christ Mind could bring its ideas into manifestation" (Mysteries of Genesis 308).
If it is harmony that we seek, the realization that our supply is in the form of ideas causes us to turn in prayer to God, Divine Mind, the Fountainhead, as the source of harmony. What we gain in the precious moments spent in the Presence convinces us that peace and joy can never be found outside of ourselves, but are vibrant, living ideas to be contacted within. We let the Spirit of truth reveal true peace and joy. Thus we open ourselves to the inspiration of God that "breathes" ideas into our consciousness (thinking and feeling). These ideas in turn cause or start the creative action that results in harmony in our manifest life.
Perhaps one of the most significant things that seeking the "Fountainhead" does for us is making us dependent upon God, yet independent of anything outside of ourselves (in the sense of thinking of any person or thing as the source of our help, our peace, or our joy) . Our text (How I Used Truth 114) makes this very clear in the last paragraph of the lesson, of the entire book:
"Cease now and forever to lean on anything less than the Eternal. Nothing less can give you peace."
Such an attitude does not separate us from our fellow man. As a matter of fact, it brings us even closer to all men in consciousness Having recognized the Fatherhood of God and our dependence upon Him, we look with love and compassion on others, for we recognize that all of us are brothers in Spirit. It is only as we turn in prayer to the "Fountainhead" of all good that our oneness with God is fully revealed to us and we feel the inspiration of His ideas of life, love, faith, peace, power flooding our consciousness, ready to be expressed in our human contacts.
No matter how deep the darkness
On the path that must be trod,
There is always faith and courage,
There is always love -- and God.
The stars still shine above us,
And the hand that guides their way
Is the hand of our loving Father,
Who is leading us day by day.
The Eternal is still unchanging,
And Truth comes shining through;
For only the real has power,
And only the good is true!
—Evelyn Gage Browne; Best-Loved Unity Poems.
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Preceding Entry: Explain the distinction and relation between "revelation" (text, page 108) and "inspiration" (text, page 112) as used in this lesson.
Following Entry: What is the difference between spiritual understanding and intellectual understanding?
