Eric Butterworth Speaks: Essays on Abundant Living #54
Delivered by Eric Butterworth on August 22, 1975
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Often we say of someone, “What a mind he has! How wonderful it would be if I could have a mind like that!” In saying this, we assume that some people have great minds and some have simple minds in the same way that some are rich and some are poor, some are healthy and some are sick. Most people accept this as simply the way things are. Personally, I reject this concept entirely.
I don’t believe that God makes people rich or poor, healthy or sick, smart or ignorant. I believe that He created us all as expressions of His limitless life, substance and intelligence. Certainly, we are all on different levels of unfoldment. But there is a greatness within us, a wholeness within us, a creativity within us... right now! No one can predetermine how long it will take that greatness to unfold, nor can they say that it is impossible to do this or that. “It is not yet manifest what man shall be.”
I’m not saying that you need to become a star of the “Met” or a U.S. Senator. I am saying, however, that you are a unique expression of the infinite, and that you have the power and ability to project your uniqueness into full and perfect expression. You have all the mind power you need to become what you want to be.
We often talk about positive thinking in these essays; those who have tried it have discovered that it requires much discipline. It is easy to think positively about finance, for instance, when you have a bulging bank account. The real task is to “think rich” when you’re not sure where the next meal is coming from. Our message today may make this easier, however, because a positive self-image results from realizing the mind power within, where there is a perception of the whole man and a feeling of guidance, inspiration, and spiritual poise.
Basically, there are three phases to this puzzling thing called “Mind”.
1) Conscious mind is the waking mind; it is all that you are thinking and feeling right now. It is your intellect, your ability to reason, your logical powers and your decision making faculty.
2) Subconscious mind is the memory mind, the aspect of mind that handles all the involuntary functions of the body like a giant computer. The subconscious mind stores up the memory of experiences, it digests attitudes and feelings, and it sometimes harbors negative poisons that conflict with the smooth operation of the system. Often, students of what is called “mental science” stop here. They try to program this phase of mind to bring about changes in conscious experience. This is somewhat effective, but it leaves out the greatest area of mind—that which forms the connecting link between your thought and the Infinite Mind of God.
3) Superconscious mind is not a different chamber of the brain. It is God-mind at the point of you. It is God-mind expressing as your mind. You see it as inspiration, guidance, creativity—that which knows your needs and which is seeking to fulfill them.
Paul says, “Do not let the world around you squeeze you into its mold, but let God re-mold your mind from within.” This is the real key to healing, overcoming, and growth of any kind.
Dr. Carl Jung gives a fantastic insight into this phase of mind. He says that it contains not only all of the knowledge that it has gathered during the life of the individual, but also all the wisdom of the ages—all that has been expressed and experienced, all that will ever be unfolded in the ages to come.
The further we explore the superconscious, the more we understand the phenomena we experience, and the more effective our prayer process becomes. As Charles Fillmore says, “There is in man that which, when opened, will place him in direct contact with universal knowledge and enable him instantly and continuously to draw forth anything that he may wish to know.”
This puts education into an entirely new light. It indicates that the process of learning is not one of cramming the brain with facts, but of discovering new areas of consciousness within. Truth is an inner process and revelation. A teacher cannot give you the truth, he can only provoke you, disturb you and goad you to the point at which something happens within you. And that inner happening is the action of the superconscious mind.
Most people don’t really take time to think. Most that passes for thought is simply reacting to other thoughts—modifying, accepting or rejecting them. This leads us to consider the importance of meditation. Through regular periods of silence, when we get still and let the superconscious function of the mind fill and thrill us with freshness and newness, then we are really thinking creatively. More than we know, we become creative people because we begin to think things into expression. As Emerson says, “Inspiration is the continuation of the divine effort that built the man.” This is the great idea that few have discovered.
Whenever you are involved in any project, you need to come to the point when, having assembled all the information available, you let go. When you have deduced all the facts on paper, you then need to turn from deduction to induction, from information to inspiration, and from tuition to intuition. To put this another way, get still and see what the Father has to say...let the superconscious work for you. Take the work of your hands and breathe life into it. This is true creativity.
Most highly creative or intuitive persons have found difficulty in explaining their own experiences, and therefore they have been at a loss to cite the reasons for their success. Seemingly, their “flashes” of creativity or genius have been “fortuitous”.
The important thing to know is that great inspiration, the great flow of superconscious activity, comes to the mind that has been conditioned to receive it. To become this receptive, we must know that mind itself is creative. There is a Christ Mind within us which knows. We only need take time to listen.
Great inspiration, such as Beethoven getting a flash in which he hears a whole, hour-long symphony as if it were one great chord, comes after the individual has immersed himself in a subject and acknowledges his faculty for inspiration.
Actually, the great inspiration of the poet or scientist is more the intense desire to create than it is the finished product. The creative person is not so much one of greater ability as he is one who has an unusual determination to use his abilities to accomplish what he wants to do. Great creativity is not so much a special ability as it is a deeper desire to understand and an intense and unwavering urge to discover and achieve.
Creativity in our lives is the practical application of the superconscious mind. Believe that you are one with God-mind. Believe that God-mind in you, as you, knows your needs even before you ask. So, getting still is not asking, but just becoming aware. Once you are aware...then move! Let your feet direct you according to divine prodding.
Emerson challenges us to discard our old ways of thinking and to embrace what we call the superconscious mind. We need, he says, to “discard our human traditions, take our bloated nothingness out of the way of the divine circuits, lie low in God’s power, and learn that Truth alone makes men rich and great.”
© 1975, by Eric Butterworth
