THE SUBCONSCIOUSNESS
MOST OF US have had to meet and deal with some of the subconscious holdings. Most of us have had so many years of arduous training in mortal beliefs, in the convictions of the intellect and senses, that we have very fixed subconscious states of mind, which have their correspondences in the activities of the soul and in the physical structures.
Wherever beliefs in materiality, in the power of disease, or in adversity of any sort have been allowed to settle back into mind, and result in formations of flesh or in functional activity, it takes great illumination—and not only illumination but earnest, constant identification of ourselves with Jesus Christ and His wonderful humility and obedience, and with the spiritual knowledge of mastering the physical elements—to dissolve and overcome and reform these beliefs. But as long as there is in our subconscious mind (our memory and habits of thinking) that which does not chord with Truth (God, good, the only presence and power in all and through all), we keep meeting it in some form or other, and we shall be obliged to keep using Truth and the power God has given us to change our mind if we are to cast out the old and establish a new order.
So long as we remember experiences that were unhappy, as we saw them once and still see them and speak of them, we shall be unable to demonstrate joy and real prosperity and health in our life. Because of lack of understanding these seemingly unkind things at the hands of others have made negative impressions upon our soul. And whatever has been impressed upon our soul will work out in our body and our affairs. Because the activities of the mind in its contacts with Divine Mind and also with the world of appearances and the minds of others, build the soul, which in turn forms the body through which it carries out its impressions and the urge from within; the soul’s desires and impressions also make the conditions under which we live.
Understanding this law of mind action will help us to see just why we have the experiences we have, and why we have the reactions to them that we have, and why it is so important to keep going to God-Mind for more light and love and life and substance. We have power to change our soul’s impressions, our subconscious, through the indwelling Christ mind, and so change our body and its functioning and also the conditions about us.
It gives us renewed strength and confidence to realize that every thought of Truth that enters our mind is taking up its abode in our subconsciousness and is working itself out in our flesh as harmony and radiant health. Our body temple is the fruit of our mind. The truths that we hold in mind redeem and heal our flesh.
In Spirit and in Truth we are now and always every whit whole. By getting false thoughts out of the way, and keeping the image and likeness of wholeness ever before our mind’s eye, and trying to feel that we are healed, health becomes irresistible and it is bound to manifest.
When a soul is encouraged to develop the mental faculties and to open the heart to a great feeling of love for humanity, it just naturally opens up the subconscious door that allows it to peer into the past. For before we are entirely free from the shortcomings and the ignorance of the race mind, we must awaken to the fact that these things exist and that we are connected with them, until through the Jesus Christ mind we swing clear of them and establish ourselves in a consciousness of life and light and freedom and love.
Now, we do not attain this place of life and light and freedom and love by allowing the soul to dwell upon these shadowy things of the past or by trying to recall the experiences through which we have come. Should we dwell upon such things, we should sink back into them. We must begin at once to rejoice in the light that is come to redeem our subconsciousness from the shadows of error and fear and superstition and mistakes. The race mind with which we are connected because of common experiences and beliefs suggests that we know not whence we come, nor where we go, nor yet how to direct our way along the path. Looking at life through this limited thought, it does seem gray, and we appear to grope our way and to leave much undone. But there is a new and wonderful way to view life; Jesus Christ lived so eagerly the light that came to Him day by day that life ceased to be a gray mystery to Him. He saw Himself and others in a new light. He understood why He had been born into the world. He knew where He was going. In fact, He knew that He was not going anywhere, in the sense of separation and distance, from us. He knew that He was merging Himself with the race mind so that He might abide with us and bring us into the same wonderful light in which He dwells.
When we cease to think shadows and lack of knowledge and begin to call to mind the teachings of Jesus Christ, we shall find the light shining for us. We shall not care to peer into the past, nor to recall its experiences. We shall know that all that measures up to the mark of helpfulness will abide with us. We shall be content to realize that when our growth makes it necessary for us to have something out of the subconscious, it will come without disturbing us, without depressing us.
The sensitive soul sympathetically attuned to the mind and feeling of humanity suffers greatly, when the mental vision opens, at exposing the soul to contact with the experiences of mankind during the past. For this very reason it is imperative that each Truth student should prayerfully seek to enter into the Jesus Christ consciousness of the omnipresence of God, the good. When we can look at life, present and past, through eyes that see only God and good, we can keep our poise. We see not frenzy of ignorance and anxiety, the mists of seeming failure, the gray of lack of love and wasted life. Rather we see the warmth and light of the great solar system that is of creative Mind’s planning and that keeps working the miracle of growth; we see the radiance of the Son of God shining through the Son of man and men everywhere, perhaps a little here, a little there, but shining surely to bring forth the fruits of His planting.
We are the children of the Creator of this wonderful universe.
I do not believe that the lily feels the terrors of darkness down at the bottom of the pond, nor does it allow the mud and water that shut out much of the light to keep it from appropriating the good that is provided for it, and pushing surely and intelligently upward to the freedom and light that were there for it long before the bulb began to swell and to burst. I am sure that the lily is “conscious” only of the foods in the earth and the warmth and helpfulness of the sun and air.
I am sure that if we allow the intelligence within us to appropriate only the good and that which keeps us looking up, we too shall be conscious of good only, and we shall grow just as perfectly as the lily.
I am sure that if we do as Jesus suggested, turning to the Holy Spirit (the whole Spirit of God) and seeking to know the good only, we shall grow just as surely and as perfectly into the Christ consciousness as Jesus did. I do not say that we can take our frequently translated Scriptures and depend upon them entirely for our instruction and guidance. But we may depend always upon the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ, which is ever here with us, to give us whatever we have need of from time to time.
