How I Used Truth - Lesson 8 - Annotation 1
What is meant by the statement, "holding to the Truth"?
1. By this familiar statement, we mean holding words in mind that declare the reality of God, a person, a situation, or a thing until the meaning of the ideas back of the words becomes clear to our consciousness (thinking and feeling). Developing an awareness of Truth is like planting seeds in soil. Like any seeds given the right growing conditions, these seed-ideas of Truth will bring forth a harvest "after their kind" in mind, body, and affairs.
Dictionary meanings of the word "hold" include: "to retain in one's keeping; to keep or observe ... to maintain . . . oneself firm or steadfast through ... to remain . . . faithful ... to maintain a grasp on, or connection with, something." "Holding to the Truth" means maintaining a grasp on or connection with the Truth itself.
However, there is a point in our spiritual development when the seed-ideas of Truth must be released in our consciousness (mind) to do their work. Otherwise they will remain unproductive and will not accomplish that which we desire. We cannot hold only to the words but must let the ideas back of them quicken us to inner or outer activity, or both.
"When a Pharaoh's tomb was opened, some grains of wheat were found that had lain there for three thousand years. Had they been planted and their yield replanted for all that three thousand years, the wheat would have fed all the people of the earth. They fed no one because they were not put to use" (Soul Power 89).
This example illustrates the fact that it is possible to grasp the intellectual perception of Truth so tightly that ideas are not released. Thus they are not allowed to accomplish their good work in mind, body, and affairs. Once a seed begins its unfoldment through the activity of the life force (or life principle) its outer covering is discarded. So it is with words of Truth. To hold the actual words too tightly is to accept them only intellectually. It is the "letter [that] killeth," but the Truth back of the words is the "spirit [that] giveth life" (II Cor. 3:6).
The chapter covering this lesson opens, on page 80, with these words:
"There is a perfect passivity that is not indolence. It is a living stillness born of trust. Quiet tension is not trust. It is simply compressed anxiety."
If our desire for Truth and for the right outcome of any situation is too tense there is a danger of "holding to the Truth" in a way that causes tension. If we are "holding to the Truth" with a sense of anxiety concerning the answer to our prayer, then we are not knowing that God is in charge. Learning to "let go and let God" is important to our study and expression of Truth. When we "let go and let God" we are releasing everything erroneous or limited from our thinking and feeling and letting our consciousness be open and receptive to the inspiration of God ideas. We are letting God take over, as it were. An attitude of indolence, on the other hand, shows a lack of interest. The passivity we seek to attain in consciousness is that which causes us to be quiet, peaceful, yet alert and attentive to the guidance of God, to the "still small voice" (I Kings 19:12) within.
It makes no difference what the form of the outer difficulty is, be it a healing need for the body, one of lack, a problem in human relations, or a need for guidance in making a decision. We are to "hold to the Truth" that God is our life and health, our abundant supply, the love that harmonizes all situations, the sure wisdom and inner guidance in all decisions, large and small. But the meaning of the words must be revealed in our consciousness so that we may rightly "hold to the Truth" in all conditions. Thus we are able to manifest health and wholeness, abundant supply, harmony in all relationships, and right action in all our activities.
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Preceding Entry: Explain the meaning of the Scripture (text, page 79) : "To this end was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil [evil]" (I John 3:8).
Following Entry: What is a "treatment"? What heals all disease and lack?
