DEMONSTRATION
“Divine Love is now setting in order all the events of my life, and is proving to me daily and hourly that I am God’s child.”
Demonstration is the living out of what we realize within. The Truth of Being realized must outpicture in bettor living and better bodily conditions. Webster tells us that to demonstate is to make evident, to prove by deduction, to establish beyond a doubt. This being true, it naturally follows that there nust be a living, conscious, intelligent factor in Creation, capable of recognizing that which is demonstrated. What is that factor? We find that because of what soul is, as the self of the Ego that demonstration comes to it as a legitinate result of faithful, persistent application of the Truth of Being to the incidents of daily living. Thus, we see, that demonstration is a process in consciousness, whereby soul proves to itself that “There is a divinity that shapes our ends, rough hew then as we will.” It also satisfies itself that there is power in the Word, and that this power may be liberated and become effective as a healing potency, simply by the faithful speaking of the Word.
Through self understanding, soul demonstrates to its own satisfaction that its divine possibilities may be actualized and successfully applied to the healing of disease, the abolition or wiping out of poverty and overcoming all the limitations of mortal sense. Soul finds by blessed experience that the Truth of Being may be utilized as a working hypothesis, and is a reliable basis for action in all the undertakings in life, be they great or small. The aim of all study and effort is to become well-rounded, well-balanced, that we may maintain our mental equilibrium under all circumstances, and meet all tests as master, just as God’s child should do.
Because of our relation to the Pawer Itself, we are warranted in meeting every difficulty with the conscious power to solve it, or demonstrate over it in the might of the Inner Man. In order to carry out this purpose, it is not enough to know the Truth theoretically alone, for demonstration necessitates practical application of what we knew intellectually. Theory and practice must go hand in hand to insure accomplishment. We must use the Truth back of the fact to tunnel through it, and discern its meaning. It has gone into a proverb that facts are stubborn thing, but when interpreted according to the “Science of Being” we see clearly that they have a rightful place in the economy of existence, and serve a wise purpose. A truth and a fact are two sides of the same thing, and the one can be used to demonstrate over the other. The Truth is, prior to the fact, and has power to solve and dissolve it.
The ultimate of Self-Knowledge, is Self-dominion and the end and aim of existence is the overcoming of the lesser natures or the propensities and tendencies that belong to the human. We realize more and more that existence is a God-given opportunity to acquaint ourselves with God through knowing the Image of God or Generic Man.
As experiences multiply, we find that the paramount office of the growing soul is to eliminate the innocent mistakes of the infant Adam, or wipe out of consciousness our “original sin” which was mistaking the mask for the man, or the instrument for that which uses it. We are immortal now, but this does not suffice. We must make immortality a conscious possession before it becomss a saving factor in the working out of our salivation. We have to volitionally “put off” mortality and “put on” immortality, before we can come into our kingdom, for recognition and appropriation are conditions that must be met before we can come into our own, consciously, and truly manifest our divine heredity, existence, with its varied experiences and seeming vicissitudes should be regarded as just an opportunity for finding out what we are in Reality and what we call time is simply a process of self-recognition or the finding of the Christ in ourselves.
Truly the way to Self Mastery is not on flowery beds of ease, but comes only through patient, persevering effort and a continual “putting off” of earthly beliefs and opinions, and a faithful “putting on” of what in cur hearts we know to be the truth of cur being.
Our destiny is involved in our origin and demonstration will not be complete until the end is like unto the beginning. We came forth from the Father, and came into the world. We go backward in attainment, that is, we go back to the Father, thus completing the circle of existence and fulfilling our destiny.
By many, the term demonstration is limited in meaning, and confined to the betterment of a physical condition or improvement of environment, but the more enlightened student of Truth gives it a broader significance, and perceives that it includes more than mere temporary relief from a sense of pain or discomfort. Alleviation of suffering is good as far as it goes, and is a kind of demonstration, but is not sufficiently far-reaching in its effects to remove the cause and thus prevent a recurrence, — such, is a partial relief and does not include wholeness.
As all causation is mental, it follows that inner renewal must precede outward renewal, so a complete demonstration must include regeneration, or a new birth. Paul said: “The body is transformed through the renewing of the mind” (Rom. 12:2). Paul was an adept in the mysteries of Spirit, and comprehended the nature of spiritual man and the closeness of the relation between the physical and metaphysical. Paul recognized the office of the natural body, and its relation to the spiritual body, back of it, and lost no opportunity to emphasize the power of mind over matter, and establish harmony between the Being, Soul, soul-body, and shape. Being is the Image of God or the Lord in Heaven, and brings forth all that is derived from its Source. Being is conditioned by nothing in the universe, and is relative only to Principle, which it expresses. Creation will never be complete until the CREATED brings forth all that it contains so that the potential will become the actual and the invisible be made obvious to understanding, thus preparing the way of the Lord.
TruthUnity note: Note that the author regards has combined what are known as the two metaphysical trinities, Mind-Idea-Expression and Spirit-Soul-Body, into Being-Soul-soul-body-shape.
Existence is simply the sense of being and begins with the Adam soul. That which we see with the natural eye is not the created, but the formed, or the product of the “power to think”. These, the created and formed are both legitimate factors in Creation and because of thist there is perfect harmony between them.
In the problem of life, Being is the Number, and Person is the figure zero. The latter in itself, is nothing and its value depends wholly upon where we place it what it is to us.
We are not to ignore the shape, but give it the proper value, and place it in our consciousness where it rightfully belongs in the divine order. It is all right if we see it for just what it is, and use it instead of being used by it, regarding it in the true light as the “working model” or instrument by means of which the God-likeness is to be made manifest.
TruthUnity note: For Person/Shape, refer to Diagram 1: Cause-Effect-Person-Likeness Chart.
Being is the store—house of Opulence Itself, and because of our relation to our Source as the Divine Son, we have access full and free to all that is stored therein, and have a right to draw upon it consciously for all that the Father hath is ours, here and now by divine inheritance. But in order to reap the benefit of our birthright, we have to meet the conditions by recognizing that it is there for us, awaiting action on our part, and then we must further claim and take whatever growing soul seems to need. Spiritual verities stored in Being are already ours, but we have to meet the conditions of conscious possession before we can demonstrate over the seeming lack.
The Lord restoreth my soul. He is not only my Source, but my ever-present, unfailing Re-Source.. The ultimate of soul is the realization of its individuality and the appropriation of what is potential therein, as a possibility to be evolved through self-knowledge. The faults and limitations of mortal sense are to be overcome and for this undertaking, human strength will not suffice. We have to call upon the name of the Lord and ask help of the Christ who is our savior from sin, our Redeemer, whose Father will refuse Him nothing. The fruit of man’s likeness to God is the Christ. The son of man is the lesser man, involved in man’s humanity while the son of God is the evolution of man’s divinity. The son of God is ruler of the son of man, and must master the limitations of man’s man wnich includes the removal of unlikeness to the Perfect One. The Exodus from Egypt to the promised land begins when we change our self-idea, or when we give up the natural for the spiritual and turn our faces heavenward.
TruthUnity note: Note that the Christ is the fruit of our likeness to God.
Spiritual Perception (our Moses) leads us “up and out” of bondage to where wre can see the promised land or get a glimpse of our divine possibilities, but Joshua, our Understanding takes us into its blissful realm. Solomon chose wisely, when he asked above all things for a wise and understanding heart. But there is a peace that passeth understanding which is the power to know or realization and demonstration, and demonstration is not complete until we have come into a heartfelt knowledge of the Truth that makes us free. We are apt to confound revelation with demonstration, but there is a difference between apprehending the Truth of Being as a theory, and the conscious embodiment of It as a working hypothesis in the problem of existence. We apprehend far more than we comprehend, but when we know the Truth consciously, and positively, our understanding cannot be shaken by any suggestion of mortal sense, for our feet are planted upon a rock. We are not immune from the assaults of the sense man through intellectual belief, or theory only, but demonstration comes through the practical application of the Truth we have made ours through embodiment. It is the Truth we know for ourselves that which we consciously appropriate and incarnate that renews the mind and transforms the body. A little knowledge or a superficial understanding of the Truth of Being is a dangerous thing. It is like using electricity before we know the nature of it or the laws governing its action. In order to be free indeed, we must “let” sweet Spirit of Truth lead us into all Truth that we may know the whole Truth which is to have eternal life.
TruthUnity note: Note the very important distinction between realization and demonstration. This lesson opens with "Demonstration is the living out of what we realize within." Realization is an inner knowing.
We learn through experiences under the law but we demonstrate under the gospel. Let us “put on” the new self Idea and thus make peace with our Higher Self, or Truth Being, that we may come out of the old dispensation, and begin to live consciously in the promised land. Let us through right thinking, and true living, establish our claim to this Heavenly estate, and move into the Land of Plenty, Peace, and Power where God’s child really belongs.
TruthUnity note: The gospel, in metaphysical religion, is about full transformation. We demonstrate “under the gospel” when we are fully transformed.
By living under the old dispensation, according to a false, limited sense of self, we have reaped pain and discouragement, while by conformity to the new self Idea, a new order of things has been established, by means of which we reap health, prosperity and a living spontaneity of Joy, along with other positive mental states that fruit in healthy, prosperous conditions of body and affairs.
In the journey Heavenward, Moses (Spiritual Perception) may lead us up and out of the wilderness, but only the Joshua understanding, can lead us into the realization or conscious possession of “our own.”
To this end, let us cultivate the Joshua consciousness, and “with all getting get understanding” (Prov. 4:7) as Solomon told us to do, that the real Man may come forth and the end by like unto the beginning, and this is what demonstration includes.
Because of the nature of soul, it must press on, beyond the limitations of human ignorance and fulfill its destiny which is to become like God or “Awake in His Likeness.” It must, because of the “God-Push” and “God-Pull” consciously “lay off” the mortal and “put on” Immortality and find within the divine self satisfaction it has sought in vain in the realm of time and sense. Through bitter experiences it learns to “let go” of “things” and “lay hold” of the Spiritual Forces in such a way that when rightly used, bring the sense of power that soul instinctively desires. The rod on the ground takes the form of a serpent which bites and stings but “lifted up” or in the hand it becomes a rod of power.
The Truth perceived from the “ground” or material standpoint is very different from the “divine ray” that appears from the view-point of Cosmic Consciousness. Soon or late, we come to understand that the path to Power lies through Self-Knowledge which is bound to ultimate in Self-dominion. The soul that knows does not let desire for temporal things supplant the greater needs, but seeks first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness. In this Jacob consciousness, it sees God “face to face” and rises out of law into gospel, consciously using the Law instead of being used by it. The natural soul is used, while the enlightened or spiritual soul uses and finds within what the rational nature has vainly sought in the without.
We are all in the resurrecting state, we are rolling away the stone that has hindered our march toward Freedom and as we get a firmer grasp on Truth, our vibrations rise above materiality and the multi-colored thought currents take on a purer hue as the Christ life comes into expression. Man’s first great error or mistake is a belief in the powers or the reality of evil, and the second is the idea of matter as a reality. From the standpoint of mortal sense or the animal human, they both seem very real, but to the enlightened soul or divine human, they appear is they are, very unreal. These two delusions are the two thieves or robbers between which we are continually crucified. They rob us of our rightful spiritual realization and in this way hinder our march toward freedom. In order to come into our Kingdom, we must abandon these two basic errors, and put in their place one Power, the Good, and One Substance, pure Spirit. Our only devil is fleshly desire. To him who knows evil as negative and good as positive the misery we see in the world is not a visitation from God, but the outcome of mankind’s ignorant mistakes.
TruthUnity note: Since the author has replaced the trinity with a "quadrinity" (see Diagram 1: Cause-Effect-Person-Likeness Chart), matter is not real (it is simply a shape). From a trinitarian perspective (Mind-Idea-Expression) matter, as a manifestation of Mind-Idea is both real and good.]
