by Imelda Octavia Shanklin
THE SCRIPTURES make it plain that creation came by the word of God.
One who expects mysteries fails to comprehend the law of creation. The action of the law is not complex, but simple. "God said ... and it was so." As direct as human speech can present it, the method of the Creator is laid before us. The alpha and the omega of the ideal creation is the word of God.
The ideal creation is a state of spiritual perfectness. It is everlasting. It is a presence out of which man develops the world that he inhabits. The material heaven and the material earth can pass away; they are in a continuous process of change, of passing away by passing from one to another condition of materiality. But the spiritual creation will never pass away, being the work of God. Out of it will be drawn new heavens and new earths — the works of man.
The power by which we act upon the spiritual creation is the same power by which creation came. The power is the word. The word of God is infinite because it is always the same. Our words are finite because they are inconstant. The spiritual creation never changes, being the form of God's immutable word. Our world is continuously changing, being made in the form of our fickle words.
Our world is constituted of all that we hold in consciousness, and words react upon consciousness. It is possible for our whole world to change in the "twinkling of an eye," as Paul hints. Change is certain; the thoroughness and the rapidity of change correspond to the effectiveness of the transforming agency. When we speak a new word, our world is changed somewhat. If we reiterate the new word, the change is strengthened. A new word may have the power radically to change our world, to change it instantly. But the remaking of our world rarely is instantaneous. Our mind swings from the good that we hope to manifest and again contemplates the nongood which we hope to expel from our world. This is why the remaking of our world is a slow process. But the change is not necessarily slow. The measure of our belief is indicated by the effect of the re-creating word. "God said ... and it was so."
Consciousness acts in denial and in affirmation. A denial of a belief or of a condition begins a separation between us and the thing that we deny. A repetition of the denial widens the gap between us and the thing that we deny. If the denial is deliberately and consistently reiterated we can produce a full separation between us and any state from which we wish to be set free.
An affirmation unites us to the thing that we affirm. A repetition of the affirmation strengthens the consciousness of our union with the thing affirmed. Affirmation persistently made, for a definite purpose, absolutely convinces us of the presence and the reality of what we affirm. Then that which we affirm begins to appear in our world.
When denial and affirmation are not directed by Spirit, they produce a world filled with defeats, sorrows, sufferings, and unappeased longings.
When denial and affirmation are committed to the wisdom of God, they remake our world after the model of God's perfect world. They spiritualize our understanding of life, and then for us all things take on the nature of God's creation.
That our mind makes our environment is taught by the Bible and by clear-visioned souls who are not mentioned in the Bible. Aside from these assurances, so much concrete proof has been collected that we dare not challenge the accuracy of these statements: What we deny, leaves us; what we affirm, comes to us. What we say, we are; what we claim, we possess.
Any man can make his world over, if it does not suit him as it now is. The work is done by Spirit in the words that hold recreating ideals, and by no other agency.
Any man can heal his own body, if it is not in the perfection of health that he desires. The healing work is done by Spirit in words of health, and by no other power. The man must cease to speak of sickness as a fact or as an experience. If he has been in a long sustained consciousness of sickness, he must separate his mind from the belief that sickness has a place in his life, and he must unite his mind to the consciousness of omnipresent health. He must say:
"I am not going to be sick; I am not sick. I am going to be well; I am well, now. I am healed with the wholeness of God."
Any man can transform conditions of poverty into conditions of plenty. To do this he must use the word of abundance in his business associations; he must keep that word at the fountain of consciousness, from which flows his thought currents. He must separate his mind from the world-wide belief in poverty, and he must unite himself to the consciousness of plenty. He must say:
"I am not going to be poor; I am not poor. I am going to have plenty; I now have plenty. God is my supplier and my supply."
Any man can change an unpleasant environment into a pleasant environment. To do so, he must change the words that he has been using in connection with his environment. He must separate himself from a consciousness of in-harmony, and he must unite himself to a consciousness of harmony. For "hard" he must say "easy"; for "dispiriting" he must say "inspiriting." He must sever connection with what he does not want, and he must join himself to what he does want. He can do this by denying in-harmony and affirming harmony. He must say:
"There is no presence or power of evil in my world. God, the omnipresent, omnipotent good, is my companion and my environment."
The word that makes our world new, that heals our body, that brings supply, that transforms environment, is God's word. When by denial we separate ourselves from what God has not created, we refuse to use words that do not originate in God's word. When by affirmation we connect with what God has created, we are preparing the way in us for the fullness of God's word.
Because of our willingness and our effort to exemplify the perfectness of God's ideal, we are permitted to say that we remake our world, heal our body, demonstrate supply, and establish harmony in our affairs. But always the good that supplants the nongood is the work of God's word, finding an outletting channel in us. Our good word is a forerunner of God's perfect word, a John the Baptist making straight the path of the Lord before Him.
For the coming of whatever good the holy One desires in us, let us use the word of good. In this way the word of God will be brought closer to us daily, and life will become increasingly a consciousness of the divine presence.
O word of God, omnipotent and beautiful, speak Thy all-saving name in me.
COMMUNION
I will tell Thee all my thoughts. I will speak face to face with Thee, as friend to friend.
My most secret desires I will declare freely to Thee. I will even search within myself, that I may find and present to Thee whatever the depths of my heart may treasure. This will I do, that my soul may be made all clean.
I will listen for Thy words to me, as the flower roots listen for the spring rain.
Thy voice is as the music of a starlit night to my hearing. It is the song of the warm south wind in the fragrant pines. It is the cooing of the babe to its mother's smile.
Thy voice is as the voice of the robin when his long northward flight is ended and he sings from the high bough of the maple tree at the red sunrise.
I will send my mind to Thee, running to meet Thee, to learn what I may do in obedience to Thy thought for me.
Thy speech is to me such joy as never poet knew or harpist felt. My soul is rapt in an ecstasy of devotion at Thy most casual word.
The voice of the beloved in the ears of the lover is not so sweet as Thy whisper to me, when in the stillness of immortality Thy understanding reaches my understanding.
Long have we spoken, the one to the other. From that bright morn in which time was given birth, to this present moment, my words have flown to Thee, Thy words to me.
My thoughts melt into Thy thoughts, and peace possesses me as the air possesses space.
I know Thy heart and Thou knowest mine; not two hearts, but one.
—Imelda Octavia Shanklin
What Are You?
By Imelda Octavia Shanklin
By Imelda Octavia Shanklin
Are you trying to find the true meaning of life and your relationship to God and the universe? What Are You? satisfies such seeking and shows you how to make your life what you wish it to be, how to bring your hidden powers to light and put them to work in your affairs. This book in Keratol binding is priced at $2.
Lee's Summit, Mo.
PRINTED U.S.A. R.8.3M-2-59.RE-W
