(Back) Accusation of League With Beelzebub Christ's Family Seek to Take Him Home (Next)
This is a series of lectures given by Mr. Edward Rabel, member of the faculty of S.M.R.S.
Winter semester 1976 - 2nd. Yr. Class. Part of Lecture 13 given on February 9, 1976
Matt. 12:38-45 pp. 83-84 of transcript.
(Ed develops here the incident contained in verses 43-45, about unclean spirits.)
Here Jesus makes an interesting statement that has often been misinterpreted and a lot of people have used this to attack our teachings about the use of denial. (Read Matt. 12:43-45).
The challenge here was, well, we use denial to get rid of erroneous beliefs and negative attitudes or states of mind, and then this goes out from us but only to come back into the same consciousness that did the denying; so that we shouldn't deny. But there is something overlooked, if that is the reason for it, when you use denials correctly you do not project evil spirits from you out into race consciousness; denial dissolves error consciousness, it first neutralizes it, disintegrates its form and then dissolves its very substance within you and there is no projecting out into the ethers or out into race consciousness. In fact, it is to prevent it from doing that that we use denials, so that this evil spirit gone forth out of the man simply means my projecting of it out into the ethers, not my denying it, my projecting it out into the mental and emotional atmosphere of my planet into the suggestible minds of other people and what we send out from consciousness comes home to roost with increased intensity of its original character. You send a blessing of love and peace and healing out of you, you project it out and it too will return unto you with seven of its brothers and sisters. In other words, its benevolent blessing producing intensity has been increased by the fact that you are sharing it, see? This is affirming, and blessing, and praying for others, but Jesus uses the negative side of this coin.
In the chapter on Judgment and Justice in Christian Healing there are some good thoughts about this business of what to do about judging another. How to do it rightly without having this sort of thing happen to you. Let's see I see something in you which I must disapprove of, or I must make a decision about how to handle you or what to do about you and it is not very good. In that chapter, if you read it carefully, you will see that Mr. Fillmore again presents an opportunity for choice; this is so typical of him. You can either choose, he says, to judge with human judgment. This would be vindictiveness, with the desire to punish, and so forth; if that happens, that is the sort of thing which will occur, that vindictiveness, that desire to punish, that disregard for subconscious motivation in that wrong-doer. In the subconscious motivation that we often don't even admit exists in our human judgments; nevertheless, as we judge, so it will come home to roost with increased intensity. Mr. Fillmore gives this alternative, and he quotes Jesus very lavishly before he uses his own words, he says, "judge him in the Christ," that is, judge him in Principle, he says this is very different from that reacting with judgment in the human way. In other words, whatever your judgment must be, it is done within your awareness of the Principle of Christ being the only real judge for each person and that that Principle, that Judge, will never be vindictive or harsh or disregard the hidden motivations and judgment which arises from such a consciousness of judgment protects the judge from this very thing, from projecting out the harsh and vindictive, non-understanding type of judgment; but you judge a person within principle, that is you know, you understand that he is a child of God, he is under the universal laws and that what he has done, he has done for reason of what he interpreted as necessity in his soul, and that all the laws of justice and of rightness and of Truth will work in this particular case. It is a very profound teaching there, but it has worlds of meaning within it and certainly it will prevent a deplorable thing like this to happen.
One more point about this. Many students have felt that the teaching of this statement by Jesus has almost all to do with warning to follow up denials with affirmations. But I do not see that in here. They base that interpretation on the fact that the house that the evil spirit left is described as being empty, swept and tarnished. Do you think that by using an affirmation, then the house is not in that condition? That empty house simply means to be receptive. Of course, we do teach following denial with affirmations but I do not think that is what Jesus had in mind in this particular teaching. This is something that we have tacked on to it later.
Text of the original transcript from the second paragraph of page 83 through the second paragraph of page 84.
Transcribed by Nita Strauss on September 25, 2013
