Chapter 8
Ascending and Descending Currents of Life
This subject includes a very broad consideration of both man and the universe. Our electricians tell us that everything, even the smallest cell in the visible world, is polarized. Each has its positive and negative poles, through which flows that invisible something called “electricity.” All bodies are built up and sustain their form through this polarity. The earth is that kind of a magnet, and if for one moment the electrical flow stopped everything would disintegrate.
In soul also we find polarity. Man’s mind is polarized. If the mind were not polarized there would be no ascending or descending currents of life. When the laws of mind are understood, men know how to control the currents in the body, and by mentally moving upon words, combined with the life forces in the organism, they gain that control which Jesus Christ demonstrated.
In this study the real instructor is within the man. You could tell me about conditions existing in nature, in other men, and in the cells and atoms of the universe, and I might understand intellectually and yet have no realization of the truth. This is the intellectual system taught in our schools, but it is not the method of instruction that will lead to understanding of the life forces in the universe and man. If we are part of the universe, and its energies are constantly flowing through and about us, we must lay hold of them with our conscious minds and souls and be obedient to the law through which they are moved. The life in us must chord with the Universal Life. In order to bring this about we must enter into that state of consciousness in which the ascending and descending currents of life are felt by the individual and over which he has attained mastery.
The life of Jesus Christ has more than a historical interest, and when he said, “I am from above, ye are from beneath” he must have referred to states of consciousness within himself. He was the type man developing within, and all his experiences were therefore symbolical of the changes that go on in all men while they are coming out of sense into spiritual consciousness.
We find in ourselves two states of mind, two currents of life—one apparently coming from below, the other from above. The positive is from above and is spiritual; the negative is from below and is material. It is for us to choose which we will identify ourselves with. If the I Am identifies itself with the current from beneath, it attaches itself to the material world, and comes to know and feel in material sense. But if the higher Self is affirmed, spiritual identity is realized and the meaning understood of the statements of Jesus—”I am from above,” “He who hath seen me hath seen the Father,” “I am the Christ of God.” By thus making definite and conscious union with the Father through Christ, man will know his spiritual relation to God and come into a new world. Jesus talked to the positive pole of his being, and it proved to be God. If we talk as he talked we will get the same results.
In this new-age discovery of the soul of man, we hear much about “vibrations.” What shall we do with this subject? Every thrill we feel is evidence of vibratory forces. We live in a sea of vibratory energy, and we can poise ourselves in that sea where we will. All vibrations are polarized in affirmations. All vibrations are manifestations of I Am statements. The Word of the Spirit (and all things are primarily Spirit) sets up vibrations, and you can have any kind of effect in body and your mental field by polarizing yourself in positive or negative words. But if you give yourself up to the race currents from below, instead of poising yourself in the Spirit above, you will be swept off your mental feet, and fall like a motorless aeroplane.
When Jesus said to the Jews, “Ye are from beneath, I am from above,” he was talking to a people who considered themselves descendants of an elect race through human ancestry. They affirmed Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to be their fathers. They were in darkness, having no understanding of the spiritual fatherhood of man. They were thus engulfed in the current from beneath. No one will ever realize that he is from above until he affirms that he is Spirit and from above, and lays hold of spiritual power with the I Am.
The negative life currents from below will tell you how weak and how sinful you are, but the Spirit from above will make you feel your dominion and authority. When the I Am centers itself in Spirit, spiritual power is brought into consciousness and a new circulation of life force is set up in body. The blood moves with a strong, steady, equal flow through the arteries and veins, and a new whole man, perfectly poised and balanced, results. This is the new creature in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus is the name of the Higher Man, spiritual man. That man is expressed through the person in I Am statements.
A new kingdom is being set up in the earth, and it must include all people. It begins in the individual consciousness and spreads from one to many, in unity and perfect obedience to Spirit. The affirmations of the natural man are centered in personality, and through ignorance he resists the Spirit. But true words, affirmed in the power of Spirit, will cleanse speedily all sins of ignorance and errors, and effects of sins, in the body. When with your affirmations of Truth you call down the currents from on high, you begin to feel a new life thrilling your mind and body. If there should be a temporary reaction, and the old sins seem to return with new power, do not give up to self-condemnation and regret and remorse, but take advantage of the law of complete repentance and forgiveness. You are saved through Christ Jesus, which means that you are saved through the real man demonstrated. Having once discerned that the Spirit has entered into you, lifted up and cleansed you, stick to it, and when the “accuser,” the adverse state of mind, comes up and tells you that you are a sinner, rebuke him and say: “I am not a sinner. I never did sin; I cannot sin. I am from above.” You thus identify yourself with the spiritual man, who never sinned nor fell short in the least degree. Adam sinned, but he was not the spiritual man. Adam was self-consciousness, which had the breath of life breathed into him by the Lord God, spiritual I Am. If you affirm your identity with the pure, sinless, spiritual man, instead of with Adam, your sins are all cleansed, and they shall have no power over you. What does the forgiveness of the Lord Jesus Christ mean, if you are not to accept it as final and abide in it?
Machinists are very careful to keep all the bearings of their machinery well oiled that there may be no friction or wear of the parts. The body is a very fine piece of machinery, and its oil is love. If your joints creak, pour freely into your consciousness the oil of love. Love is from above. If you send a current of love through your body and environment your liver will work right, your stomach will be healed, and you will feel the thrill of life to your very finger tips. This is the redemption of the body. It is bringing consciousness of the kingdom into the soul and body. Thus the outer shall be as the inner, the below as the above, and the will of God be done in earth as in heaven.
