Think good and goodness shall belong
   Within the temple of your heart;
Think joy and every robin's song
   Shall be your spirit's counterpart;
Think peace and the exquisite swing
   Of ordered stars shall steady you;
Think love and every living thing
   In beauty shall be born anew.
Think Truth and the eternal law
   Your never failing guide shall be;
Think life and every breath you draw
   Shall add a prayer of ecstasy;
Think hope and buried seeds shall lift
   Rich harvests from the willing sod;
Think praise and it shall be your gift
   To share with men the grace of God.

   —Vivian Yeiser Laramore

1. The revelation, "As he thinketh within himself, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7),1 was given to Solomon long ago, but even now men only realize its truth when they open their minds to the Spirit of wisdom which inspired the statement.

2. That there is a force called "thought power"—consciousness—is universally admitted. Hypnotism, mesmerism, thought transference, mental suggestion, and various other well-known evidences of this invisible force prove it. Years ago, Franz Mesmer demonstrated that under certain conditions one mentality could control another. In all living forms there is a mental force moving from one consciousness to another consciousness, and from mind to body. 2

3. Advanced scientists have demonstrated that this mental force, which is really the action of Spirit (Divine Mind) working as the creative power of God,3 builds organic structures in animals and in men. In men, this movement of ideas in mind is known as "thinking."4 While Divine Mind provides the power and substance that builds, man as a self-conscious being uses his thought to direct the power to shape and form substance.5

4. Biologists (including Lamarck and Darwin) called attention to the constructive power of desire. The protoplasmic cell desires the light and it sends forth its impulse. This impulse gradually builds an eye. A species of deer feeds in a country where the leaves it likes grow on the high branches of the trees and the constant reaching for its favorite food builds cell by cell the neck of the giraffe. Fishes desired to fly in the air above the water and they developed wings and became birds. 6

5. That the brain cells are directly affected by mental pictures was proved by Professor Elmer Gates in the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, DC. Guinea pigs were kept for a time in enclosures where certain colors predominated; later, dissection of their brains showed a large increase in the size of the color area of the brain compared with that of the same class of guinea pigs kept in other enclosures. When desire attaches to man or animal to a sufficient extent, the impulses, emotions, and thoughts attendant on such desire are mighty and constructive enough to rearrange and rebuild brain cells in preparation for the reception of the coming fulfillment of the desire.7 Bodily construction is brought in this way, cell by cell, into a state of manifestation. At the Smithsonian Institution the perspiration of men in various mental moods was analyzed and experiments were made with the resultant salts. The perspiration of a man in an angry state was analyzed, and the salts were of an unusual color. A small portion was put on the tongue of a dog; rigors and other evidence of poisoning resulted.

6. At Harvard University experiments were made with a student who was stretched perfectly balanced on a horizontal board. When the student was told to imagine that he was running a foot race, the board sank down at the feet, and when a problem in mathematics was being worked, the balanced board sank down at his head. This proved that the thought force greatly influenced the flow of blood.

7. All these facts prove not only that thought flashes between mind and mind, but also that Spirit—Divine Mind—builds the structures through which it operates.8

1. so is he. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s teaching of correspondence—that the higher and lower realities affect one another according to the activity of our mind—is a foundational metaphysical doctrine that predates what we now know as mental science.
2. there is a mental force moving from one consciousness to another. Our thoughts are not private. They affect not only our body, but also other people.
3. Spirit defined as God's power to create.
4. Thinking defined as the human ability to move ideas created by God.
5. Human beings direct God's power, shaping and forming our world.
6. Fishes desired to fly ... and they developed wings and became birds. The lesson shifts from thinking to desire. All sentient life has desire and all desire, good and bad, is formative. But that does not necessarily make it moral. For desire to be moral, it would be “desire in the heart," metaphysically interpreted by Emily Cady as "God tapping at the door of your consciousness with His infinite supply” (Lessons in Truth [original edition], Lesson 5—Faith).
7. in preparation for the reception of the coming fulfillment of the desire. Denials, metaphysically interpreted. Also, a scientific explanation of Catherine Ponder's Vacuum Law of Prosperity.
8. Spirit—Divine Mind—builds the structures. The main point of this lesson is: Our thoughts are formative, but they only have power within a structure provided by God.

8. There is only the one Mind,1 but we find three distinct ways in which this Mind functions in man. For convenience, we may speak of them as

• (a) the Superconscious or Christ Mind.
• (b) the conscious phase of mind
• (c) the subconscious phase of mind.

9. In man are all the ideas of Divine Mind, and this realm of divine ideas functioning in man is called the Superconscious or Christ Mind.2 It is the realm from which man draws the ideas that enable him to do abstract thinking, and as the realm of perfect God ideas it remains unaffected by the mental activities directed toward external objects. It is through the Superconscious or Christ consciousness that man is able to respond to the ideals in God consciousness,3 as ideas of Divine Mind. Through meditation and prayer divine ideas are transmitted from the Superconscious to the conscious phase of mind and thus man becomes aware of them.4

1. There is only the one Mind. "My mind is one with the Mind of God", Hypatia Hasbrouck, Handbook of Positive Prayer.
2. Superconscious or Christ Mind. The human capacity that distinguishes human beings from animals.
3. through the Superconscious ... able to respond to the ideals in God consciousness. Superconsciousness is not God consciousness. God consciousness is transcendent, accesible to human beings through the Christ Mind.
4. Through meditation and prayer. "True prayer is conscious communion with God, or a common union of the human consciousness with the Father within, the principle of Absolute Good. Unity's method of prayer is the Silence and it is reached through orderly steps in thinking and feeling." (UCS/Series 1, Lesson 1—Prayer, "What is true prayer?").

10. Through the conscious, phase of mind (intellect or thinking faculty) we know ourselves as individuals and take cognizance of the world about us. Through this phase of mind we keep in contact with physical manifestations. The conscious phase of mind absorbs the life of the senses, works both inductively and deductively; reasons and analyzes on the mental plane (intellect); wills or chooses what it will make a part of the individual consciousness. It is called the "objective mind" because it is largely concerned with the outer world, the world of objects, but we may receive into this conscious phase of mind the inspirations (ideas) and revelations of Spirit,1 and the choice lies with us2 to make this knowledge practical, habitual.

1. we may receive into this conscious phase of mind the inspirations (ideas) and revelations of Spirit. Intuitions and revelations of Spirit may appear directly to the conscious phase of mind, as they do in the subconscious phase. Dreamwork is also not necessarily limited to the subconscious phase of mind.
2. the choice lies with us. The principal task of the conscious phase of mind is to make decisions.

11. The subconscious phase of mind is often termed the "subjective mind," because it functions as instinctive desire, as habit, and is the storehouse of memory; it is the feeling faculty often referred to as "the heart." The subconscious controls the vital physical functions; never sleeps1 or rests; never tires. It reaches infallible conclusions from given premises, but since it works deductively, it is incapable of testing the validity of these premises. It has no power of choice. All our past conscious thoughts are stored up in this great submerged mind, and are organized into faculties, habits, states of mind, dispositions, kindred thoughts clustering together and forming moods and temperaments. Its functioning is not confined to the brain but extends to every cell of the body. It stores not only the total of each individuals thought, but the inherited race thoughts and beliefs that the individual soul has accepted. The subconscious phase of mind is a channel for the activity of the creative power of God. Our bodies and our environment are built according to the thoughts, suggestions, and impressions given to the subconscious, whether these patterns are perfect or imperfect, according to Truth or based on error.

12. The subconscious phase of mind is like a treat army of well-trained soldiers; the conscious phase of mind is like the general in command who gives to the army the plans to be carried out. We can also understand to some extent the actions of the conscious and subconscious phases of mind by observing the process by which a child learns to play the piano. He is taught how to hold his hands and how to strike the keys, but at first, he finds it somewhat difficult to control the movements of his fingers. He must practice daily. What is the reason for this practice? Simply that he learns to concentrate his thoughts on his fingers, consciously making right movements. These thoughts in time become subconscious, and in playing, the fingers come to be directed and controlled by the subconscious. In his first months, and possibly in his first years of practice, the pupil can perform only by keeping his conscious phase of mind centered on the work; but later he can play with ease and at the same time carry on a conversation with those about him. This is possible because the subconscious has become so thoroughly imbued with the idea of right movements that it can direct them without demanding the whole attention of the conscious phase of mind.

13. The subconscious phase of mind cannot take the initiative; it depends on the conscious phase of mind for all its impulses. It carries out only what is suggested to it by the conscious phase of mind, but these suggestions it carries out faithfully.2 The conscious phase of mind could not exist without the help of the subconscious; although the former might be sound asleep, deranged, or hypnotized, the subconscious can and does carry on the bodily functions. The subconscious also readily takes suggestions from other sources than its own conscious phase of mind when the conscious phase surrenders to another mind or is not on guard. It is the close relation between the conscious and the subconscious which makes right thinking so important.

14. Man's organism is controlled mainly by the subconscious. Circulation, breathing, digestion, assimilation, heartbeat are all involuntary activities controlled by the subconscious, However, these are not out of reach of the conscious phase of mind, as is commonly supposed. The subconscious continually receives new impulses from the conscious phase, thus we have only to change the character of the conscious thought3 to effect a corresponding change in the subconscious feeling.

1. The subconscious ... never sleeps Do not confuse the subconscious phase with sleep.
2. it carries out faithfully. The principal task of the subconscious mind is expression.
3. we have only to change the character of the conscious thought. Note there is no mention of cleansing. Healing requires change, but it can proceed without conscious understanding of the error thoughts residing in the subconscious phase of mind.

15. If we have been following a certain line of thought and action until it has become a strong current flowing deep in the subconscious, we should not be discouraged if we are not able to change it at once. Some of these deep thought currents have entered the consciousness from the general race thought; some have come in directly through the belief in flesh inheritance. The statement with which this lesson opened, "As he thinketh within himself, so is he" (Prov. 23:7) means that as a person thinks down in the very depth of his subconscious, so will he experience or manifest in his life. This is the reason why we do not always seem to manifest what our thoughts seem to be. We consciously think one thing and manifest another because the subconscious has not yet received the new impulse from the thinking faculty (conscious)1 but is carrying out the old impulse, the new one not yet being strong enough to change the present thought currently working within.

16. This is where the life work of Jesus Christ for the human race proves its worth. Man had believed in error, given much attention to it, built the belief of it into his subconscious, until he had set going adversely the force of his subconscious thought with such power that he was unable to change the direction of this force and to right himself. Jesus came and introduced into the race consciousness an intelligence and a power that were sufficient to change the thought currents of man so that righteousness and Truth might be established in place of error and ignorance.2

17. If man had always kept the connection between his consciousness and the Superconscious or Christ Mind, he would never have been lost in ignorance. He always had had the formative power of thought to shape and form substance.3 If all his thinking and feeling had been based on the perfect ideas in Divine Mind, he would have kept his first estate of perfection. It would have been impossible for him to fall into sin. "Sin" is missing the mark of perfection, falling short of the standard of the perfect idea of man as imaged by God. "As he thinketh within himself, so is he," and if man had always thought Truth, his expression would have been perfect.

1. the subconscious has not yet received the new impulse from the thinking faculty (conscious). According to Charles Fillmore, this may be because conscious mind has preempted subconscious mind in receiving divine ideas from Superconscious mind. He writes, The subconscious mind is the vast, silent realm that lies back of the conscious mind and between it and the superconscious. To one who does not understand its nature and its office, it is the "great gulf fixed" between his present state and the attainment of his highest desire, his good. The subconscious may be called the sensitive plate of mind. Its true office is to receive impressions from the superconscious and to reproduce them upon the canvas of the conscious mind. Man, however, having lost the consciousness of the indwelling Father as an ever present reality, has reversed the process and impresses the subconscious. (Keep a True Lent, 87).
2. Jesus came and introduced into the race consciousness an intelligence and a power. Being set free from the grip of error thinking is not to satisfy God, but to enable human beings to change.
3. If man had always kept the connection between his consciousness and the Superconscious or Christ Mind. By breaking ignorant currents in subconscious thought, our power to shape and form substance is set free.

18. Jesus came,1 a light in the world, to reveal the way back to the Father through the Son, or the indwelling Christ, which is the Superconscious2 in every man—"Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). For the true atonement (at-one-ment), the conscious thinking and subconscious feeling must be consciously one with the Superconscious or the divine ideas that make up the Superconscious; this is the only true salvation for man. When the conscious thinking and the subconscious feeling3 are functioning in harmony with the Superconscious,4 all ideas are used in right relation and the results are always good.

1. Jesus came. Jesus, in this paragraph and in the next paragraph, refers to Jesus of Nazareth.
2. the indwelling Christ, which is the Superconscious. From the previous lesson, we know Superconsciousness as the first in the Human Trinity, which is Spirit, soul and body.
3. the conscious thinking and the subconscious feeling. Conscious and subconscious phase is second in the Human Trinity: soul.
4. functioning in harmony with the Superconscious. Atonement is perfect harmony of Spirit and soul.

19. Jesus Christ is the Savior of the race1 because the principle He represents2 unfolds the whole consciousness as perfectly united,3 and as perfectly attuned to the Universal Mind, the Father-Mind. Jesus Christ restored to mankind the awareness of God's perfect ideas which man had forgotten. His teaching shows how to transform, or redeem, man's thoughts from belief in sin, evil, and death as realities and direct them toward righteousness and life. This positive doctrine causes men to think for themselves, and in right thought lies saving power. Jesus was the greatest teacher because He proved His teachings; He made them more than theory. As ignorance was the cause of the "fall of man," the obvious remedy is knowledge of Truth and the practical application of this knowledge which alone can set man free. What is impossible to man in the gross darkness of ignorance becomes a possibility in the light of the understanding that Jesus brought to men. He showed the way into the realm of perfect ideas,4 and when man thinks in this realm, all the results of his shaping and forming of substance will be perfect.5

1. Jesus Christ is the Savior of the race. If any incarnation were less than divine we were still without reasonable basis of hope. But unless at least one incarnation were transcendently divine, there were no assurance of a transcendental attainment. (Imelda Shanklin, Selected Studies, 15)
2. the principle He represents. Jesus Christ is far more than a highly evolved human being. He is a divine principle, sent by God.
3. unfolds the whole consciousness as perfectly united. Aligning with Jesus unifies our soul and restores its wholeness.
4. He showed the way into the realm of perfect ideas. Jesus is a divine pattern for our thinking.
5. when man thinks in this realm, all the results of his shaping and forming of substance will be perfect. Demonstration, covered in the next paragraph.

20. When the quickening power of Spirit comes upon us, it reaches to the depths of our subconscious and sets free the energies which were bound in error thought.1 Then we can readily reach and mold with our conscious thinking all the conditions which have hitherto seemed beyond our power.2 Many of the subconscious thought currents have come from race beliefs—the average, commonly accepted thoughts of our fellow men. Things that most persons take for granted, that are commonly accepted without question, the subconscious acts upon, thus causing, them to become manifest and increasing our belief that they are true.

21. The belief in flesh inheritance, accented by the "objective mind," becomes impressed on the "subjective mind" and becomes a fact of our outer life. The subconscious phase of mind, working deductively,3 draws conclusions that the "objective mind" (conscious phase) may have failed to deduce from the acceptance of the idea, and thus effects are produced. In like manner, other inferences are drawn and effects produced from accepted beliefs which are perfectly logical, but which we are not conscious of because we have not reasoned out logically the result or deduction from the belief.

22. The conscious phase of mind acts, the subconscious phase reacts; the conscious phase makes the impression on the subconscious which in turn produces the manifestation; the conscious phase of mind decides what is to be done, and the subconscious does it. When the conscious phase of mind learns to listen to the Superconscious and then feeds the subconscious phase divine ideas in right relation,4 the subconscious reproduces them and a harmonious life results.

1. the quickening power of Spirit ... sets free the energies which were bound in error thought. Conscious thinking of the Christ principle permits Spirit to reach subconscious thinking.
2. Then we can readily reach and mold with our conscious thinking all the conditions which have hitherto seemed beyond our power. Conscious thinking, in harmony with subconscious feeling, now has new capabilities.
3. The subconscious phase of mind, working deductively. "Intuition is a spiritual faculty and does not explain, but simply points the way." Florence Scovel Shin, The Game of Life and How to Play It, chapter 8, Intuition or Guidance.
4. When the conscious phase of mind ... feeds the subconscious phase divine ideas in right relation. Wisdom (capacity to see and understand divine ideas) and Order (capacity to place divine ideas in a structure) are the key to a harmonious life.

23. Ideas in Divine Mind must be brought out in the consciousness of each individual through the power of his thought. The "image" or Christ man is the perfect-man idea, the composite of all divine ideas such as life, substance, intelligence, faith, love, power, strength, and order. Jesus, the expression of that perfect-man idea, is an organized entity in which are brought forth in mind and in form, all the ideas existing in the Father-Mind.1 Then man, created in the image of God, shows forth the nature of God, and thus God's likeness appears in actuality as well as in the ideal or reality.

24. Man "builds" his manifest body2 by thinking about life in all its essentials. If we think about life from a limited point of view our body will express the limitations. The subconscious controls the body manifestations, and this "subjective mind" is very sensitive and very fertile. Every thought that is accepted and believed takes root like a seed and brings forth "after its kind." If true thoughts of life are the seeds sown in its fertile soil, the results will accord with Truth; but if thoughts of death or lack of life are held, the latter will be brought into manifestation. We must know that life is omnipresent; that It does not "come and go." There is no such thing as life's passing, or its growing less. Life is here in all its fullness, but we can manifest only as much of it as we are conscious of, and the extent of our consciousness depends on the ideas, thoughts, and beliefs we hold about life. Since we manifest according to the character of our thoughts, it is very important that we think only Truth about life.

25. The substance idea should be well established in our consciousness by true thoughts about substance. From the wrong or limited concept of substance arises the mistaken belief concerning the material universe. It would seem that one of the hardest things for us to grasp is the idea of God as the one substance of all creation. Because of our limited thoughts we have drawn a sharp line between so-called "matter" and Spirit. Not discerning the one pure, spiritual substance that penetrates and permeates all things,3 we think we see lack of intelligence and life in many things — the things we call "matter." We think of our body as only material, because we do not really understand the one substance out of which all things are created. The human mind conceives that substance is something that can be seen only with the physical eyes, touched by human hands, cognized by the five senses, and terms this substance "material." From this belief of substance as being something solid and tangible to the senses—from this limited concept of the nature of substance—has arisen the belief in materiality, form, as being the "real."

26. Spirit is invisible to physical eyes, and intangible to the senses; substance is the underlying essence of Spirit or Truth; it is the great, undifferentiated whole, the "principle of good" which is lasting and enduring, and in which "we live, and move and have our being" (Acts 17:23). Substance is the spiritual medium or Mind essence through which all the ideas of Divine Mind are expressed and brought into visible form; it has been termed "the body of God" which we, as individualizations, of God or Mind, are to appropriate through our own mind and on which we are to "feed" in thought4 in order to satisfy our every need, regardless of what the need may be.

27. Substance is the passive or Mother side of Principle, the very essence of Being, while the "God said"—the movement of substance into expression—is the active or Father side.5 In us, substance is still passive while the movement of our consciousness through thinking and feeling is the active phase which handles substance. When substance is viewed by the five-sense man as "matter," it has been differentiated and made into specialized forms through concepts that have been projected into it by man. Through meditation and prayer on what we term the attributes (ideas) or qualities of God, the ideas of Divine Mind are breathed into our human consciousness. We train our individual mind to recognize the omnipresence of substance and are thus purged of a concept of "matter" as being something apart from substance. To further overcome the wrong belief in what is called "materiality," all our thinking should conform to the truth that there is no absence anywhere of life, substance, and intelligence.6 The belief in poverty is overcome by the understanding of omnipresent, spiritual substance as available to all.

28. God is omnipresent, therefore intelligence is omnipresent. In all our thinking, the one all-knowing Mind should be recognized. When we fail in this recognition, and think of our self or of others as ignorant, separate beings, we are using our subconscious thought power to bring ignorance on the earth. We must stop believing in and thinking about ignorance, and instead put into all our thoughts the idea of intelligence. All men and all women are the offspring of the one Mind and are intelligent with the intelligence of Spirit.7

29. The idea of love, when introduced into consciousness and established there by persistent thought, will overcome all tendencies of an opposite character. It will also free us from the selfishness and bondage of a limited, personal expression of love. The love that is so mighty in its transforming power is the universal Christ love, which extends beyond the limitations of human relationship and recognizes the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. The idea of love toward all beings, love of the Lord or law, of the universe, Jehovah of the divine order of things that protect us, makes us divine beings and brings our thoughts into divine order.8 When we look on the law as something to be obeyed, something that is to make us do something that we do not want to do—something that takes away all our pleasure—we are "missing the mark" and thinking error thoughts. When we look on the law as our divine opportunity, our privilege, our freedom, our entrance into all that is good, we are thinking in harmony with Truth.

30. Thoughts of power and of strength build us up in the consciousness of might, mastery, authority, and dominion. When we realize our birthright through the Christ Spirit,9 we no longer feel helpless, a victim of circumstance, but take our stand as the master of our fate.

31. Order, which begins as an idea in Divine Mind, adjusts all things in harmony.10 One definition of order is "system; a plan or method by which things or ideas are interrelated." Order is that faculty of mind which relates ideas to one another, putting them in their proper place and in right relation, so that the operation of all ideas is governed by the law of the good of the whole. When order has its rightful place in our consciousness,11 our mind, our body, and our affairs come into the divine harmony which prevails throughout God's universe.12

1. Jesus, [an]expression of ... all the ideas existing in the Father-Mind. Jesus is an "expression," the second phase of the metaphysical meta-narrative: Mind, Idea, and Manifestation.
2. Man "builds" his manifest body. Human beings are a "manifestation," the third phase of the metaphysical meta-narrative.
3. Not discerning the one pure, spiritual substance that penetrates and permeates all things. Substance is the spiritual essence of divine ideas. When divine ideas are manifested, all things are imbued with spiritual essence.
4. are to appropriate through our own mind and on which we are to "feed" in thought. We can appropriate divine ideas by feeding on the substance of things manifested in the material realm.
5. Substance is the passive or Mother side of Principle, the very essence of Being, while the "God said"—the movement of substance into expression—is the active or Father side. Mother is God's expression of divine ideas. Father is the manifestation of God within each human being, known as the Christ Mind, the Superconsciousness, and as Spirit. Metaphysically, Mother (an Idea) is a higher order of being than Father (a manifestation).
6. there is no absence anywhere of life, substance, and intelligence. The fundamental difference between Mary Baker Eddy's Christian Science and the Fillmore teachings. Emilie Cady originally agreed with Mary Baker Eddy that "There is no reality, life or intelligence in matter." (Lessons in Truth, Original Edition, Denials, denial #2). At some point the Fillmore editions reversed this to state that all things have life, substance and intelligence.
7. All men and all women are the offspring of the one Mind and are intelligent with the intelligence of Spirit. The first of four paragraphs focusing on divine powers in human beings (intelligence, love, power, and order). This paragraph, dealing with intelligence of Spirit, is notable because it is an early sign of feminism in the Unity Correspondence Course. It is the only reference expressing "all men and all women." Vera Dawson Tait was the last Unity editor of the course lessons.
8. The idea of love ... makes us divine beings and brings our thoughts into divine order. Love precedes both power and order, which are discussed in the next two paragraphs.
9. When we realize our birthright through the Christ Spirit. Spirit empowers the soul and strengthens the body.
10. Order... adjusts all things in harmony. Christian Science and Unity are "harmonial religion ... [a form of] piety and belief in which spiritual composure, physical health, and even economic well-being are understood to flow from a person’s rapport with the cosmos.” Sydney Ahlstrom, A Religious History of the American People 1019.
11. When order has its rightful place in our consciousness. As we establish harmony in conscious and subconscious phases of mind with Superconsciousness.
12. our mind, our body, and our affairs come into the divine harmony which prevails throughout God's universe. We become "in tune with the infinite."

"Search me, O God, and know my heart:
Try me, and know my thoughts" (Psalms 139:23).

32. The heart is the storehouse of all that man has ever experienced;1 it is his subconscious. "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalms 46:10). When we are still, we have power to plant the ideas from the Superconscious or Christ Mind in the conscious phase of our mind and then into the subconscious phase of mind. Only in the silence can we still the clamoring of the five senses2 and connect the phases of our mind (conscious and subconscious) with the Superconscious, the source of all God-ideas.

33. The "objective mind" is a name used for the conscious phase of mind or thinking faculty. It is the medium of expression, giving forth that which it receives either from the interior (Superconscious) or the exterior (world of form). It is only by stilling this phase of mind to the outer world, bringing it into submission, that we are able to hear the "voice" from within, able to establish contact with the Superconscious or Christ Mind. The divine ideas of the Superconscious are then transmitted by the conscious or thinking phase of mind to the subconscious or "habit mind";3 in this way, divine ideas become a definite conscious part of our mind or consciousness and ultimately are manifested in the outer world.

34. All constructive thought takes place in the silence, when we lay aside the confusion, the conflict, the distractions of life and listen to the "still small voice" (I Kings 19:12) that guides us into the true way of living. By putting aside the noisy, persistent objectives of persons and things, and in the silence coming into the very presence of God (Truth), we can get a true realization of what Truth is. In this place of stillness or communion with God, we can say with the astronomer Kepler, "O God, I am thinking Thy thoughts [ideas] after Thee";4 and with the Psalmist, "In the multitude of my thoughts within me Thy comforts delight my soul" (Psalms 94:19). "How precious also are thy thoughts unto me" (Psalms 139:17). When we think from the standard of divine ideas, we think the "thoughts" of God, and vain, ignorant thoughts no longer lodge within us. "Let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts" (Isaiah 55:7). We accomplish this by being still, and consciously entering into the one pure Mind and drawing on its ideas for all our conscious thinking. These right thoughts then become subconscious, and the whole mentality is established in righteousness.

35. In prayer, in silence, we write upon the tablet of our heart the divine law. That is, we give to the subconscious phase of mind the word of Truth, and since it carries out with unfailing certainty whatever ideas or concepts are given to it, its cooperation in the demonstration of Truth is assured. This is what the prophet Jeremiah foretold when he said, "I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (Jeremiah 31:33). In Proverbs 16:3 we see the injunction given as, "Commit thy works unto Jehovah, and thy purposes shall be established." Thought initiates the action, and the action in turn establishes the thought.5 This we have seen in the illustration of the child learning to play the piano. The right thought is first given to the fingers, and by right action this thought is fixed in the subconscious. So if we commit our works to the Lord (law of our being); if we persistently do the right thing, carry out the right thought, the thoughts will by actual doing become established in the subconscious, and we shall do easily and naturally what we know is right. In this way we may be assured that we are "bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" (II Corinthians 10:5).

36. THOUGHTS

Thoughts of God, so splendid, high!
Thoughts of good that satisfy,
Thoughts of Truth, enduring still,
Thoughts of light set on a hill inspiration's height,
Thoughts of peace both day and night,
Thoughts of love that cast out fear,
Thoughts of life right now and here,
Thoughts of strength and thoughts of health,
Thoughts of plenty and of wealth—
May Such thoughts fill all my mind—
Thought for self and all mankind.

—Frank B. Whitney

1. The heart is the storehouse of all that man has ever experienced. Our subconscious phase of mind has unlimited capacity to store information. But our conscious phase has only a limited capacity to store and process ideas.
2. the clamoring of the five senses. Stilling the five senses frees up some capacity in our conscious phase of mind.
3. divine ideas of the Superconscious are then transmitted by the conscious or thinking phase of mind to the subconscious or "habit mind." In stillness, the conscious phase becomes an open channel from Superconsciousness to the subconsciousness phase.
4. "O God, I am thinking Thy thoughts [ideas] after Thee". In stillness, the conscious phase "think God thoughts." At that point, we have moved from metaphysics to mysticism. Emilie Cady, Lessons in Truth, Original Edition, Bondage or Liberty—Which?
5. Thought initiates the action, and the action in turn establishes the thought. The action of conscious thought will eventually establish another action of subconscious thought.

1. Thinking is a process by which the human soul (i.e., the mind or consciousness) is able to handle abstract ideas so as to form a mental "picture" or pattern. Once solidified in man's mind (subconscious as well as conscious) this pattern becomes a magnet or a "mental equivalent" that is the nucleus for the outer structure. The structure will bear the character of the mind pattern of the individual doing the thinking.

"Thought is the process in mind by which substance is acted on by energy, directed by intelligence. Thought is the movement of ideas in mind" (Metaphysical Bible Dictionary, Thought).

(Note: Added reference of value is Lessons in Truth Lesson 3 Annotation 3.)

The creative power of God (Spirit, Divine Mind) in its action builds all structures, whether they be structures of consciousness, living organic structures of men and animals, structures of plant life, structures in the mineral kingdom, or structures "made" by man using spiritual substance in various forms. The power that provides for the building of any structure comes from God. In the first chapter of Genesis (Gen. 1) we find an allegorical description of the great creative Mind at work. Charles Fillmore in Mysteries of Genesis 12 states:

"The record portrays just how divine ideas were brought into expression. As man must have an idea before he can bring an idea into manifestation, so it is with the creations of God. When a man builds a house he builds it first in his mind. He has the idea of a house, he completes the plan in his mind, and then he works it out in manifestation. Thus God created the universe. The 1st chapter of Genesis (Gen. 1) describes the ideal creation."

The process of building all structures, whether they be on the spiritual, mental, or physical planes, follows the pattern of the Holy Trinity — Father, Son, Holy Spirit — or Mind, Idea, Expression — producing manifestation. The Word of God is the composite idea of all the elements of divinity and creation. This Word is the active agent of Spirit, guiding and directing the action so that the consciousness on earth may be the same as it is in heaven; that the abstract may be made concrete. "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:10). The resources used in the building of any structure are life, substance, and intelligence. Life (movement, animation) and substance (unformed essence containing the idea of the form) work with intelligence (light, understanding, wisdom, the knowing quality of the species) to bring forth divine ideas into form.

"Since man is the offspring of God, made in the image and likeness of Divine Mind, he must express himself under the laws of this great creative Mind. The law of manifestation for man is the law of thought. God ideates: man thinks. One is the completion of the other in mind" (Mysteries of Genesis 12).

The creative power of God moves ideas into expression and manifestation as consciousness, things, conditions, and circumstances. In the structure of human consciousness, the active agent of man is thought (thinking and feeling) and the spoken word of human beings.

When manifest man (a human being) desires a certain condition in his body or in his world, he consciously directs his attention toward it; he thinks about it with the conscious phase of his mind; he feels with his emotional nature (subconscious phase of mind); he speaks the word, silently or audibly, and the manifestation comes forth. Spirit is the power that does all things; but man by his thinking, feeling, spoken word (the formative power of thought) directs the creative power of God (the Word of God) to build structures, thereby producing conditions, circumstances, and things in his world according to his own beliefs and level of soul unfoldment. "All structures are thought concentrations" (The Twelve Powers of Man 24).

2. The Superconscious is the Christ Mind; the I AM; the God Presence in every man.

We refer to man's threefold nature as spirit, soul, body. The first phase — spirit — is called by many names—Christ, I AM, divine center, the "Father within," Lord, law of our being, and Super-conconsciousness. While Divine Mind is the realm of divine ideas for all creation, this Mind indwells us as the Superconscious or Christ Mind, and is thus the realm of divine ideas for us individually. The Superconscious is the realm of pure knowing.

The term "superconscious" indicates that the Superconscious Mind is above our conscious phase of mind (thinking, reasoning, or intellect) and our subconscious phase of mind (feeling, emotion, or the heart). These two activities of our soul or mind are the users of the ideas of the Superconscious or Christ Mind.

Man responds to the ideals of God by turning to the Superconscious or Christ Mind and laying hold of the ideas that make up his divine inheritance. Without movement of ideas in mind there could be no consciousness. The use of the ideas by our thinking and feeling will be determined by our stage of soul unfoldment, and by the needs of mind, body, and affairs.

3. The conscious phase of mind is the thinking faculty, the reasoning phase, the realm of conscious knowing in the individual soul. It is often termed "the intellect." In this phase, man chooses, examines, judges, analyzes, wills, selects, decides, forms, deducts, rejects, accepts, and concludes, as he deals with the ideas received from the Superconscious.

As the realm of choice, the conscious phase of mind declares "I am I" and "You are you"; "I will" or "I will not." It is in this phase of consciousness that man may be conscious of himself as an individual identity, even thinking himself to be separate from God, from other human beings, and from other forms of life. But quite the reverse of this belief in separation is also possible, for the conscious phase of mind is capable of realizing that although man is a unit in himself, he is always one with his Creator, God, Divine Mind. Thus, he comes to the realization that he is also one with all human beings as his spiritual brothers, and one with all other forms of life. "One God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all" (Eph. 4:6).

It is the function of the conscious phase of mind, or intellect, to discriminate between the general and the specific; to note differences as well as similarities in persons, religions, sciences, things, circumstances, and conditions. This phase of mind makes man a rational human being, enabling him to do rational thinking. It is this phase that allows man ultimately to know himself to be the son of God. Through this function man may look out on the world of appearances, but he may also focus his attention on the divine Presence, Spirit, within himself. As he consciously handles the ideas to which he is heir, he may examine the how and why of life.

It is in this realm that concrete thinking is done, based upon the abstract ideas of the Superconscious. The conscious phase deals mostly with the present outlook, and because of free choice very often its judging is done from appearances instead of "righteous judgment" (John 7:24).

4. The subconscious phase of mind is the feeling nature of each individual, as well as the receptacle of mental images (patterns) stored "in the beginning" (Gen. 1:1). Thus we term it the seat of memory. The concrete result of our subconscious records shows forth as the physical or human body. As the lesson has already emphasized, the subconscious phase of mind handles the involuntary activities of the organism.

The subconscious is the secondary cause, the reactive phase of mind in the individual. We call its action "the formative power of thought" as it works in substance to bring forth conditions in man's body and affairs according to the suggestions given it by the conscious phase of mind. Charles Fillmore refers to this activity of the subconscious as "secondary thinking"; when feeling takes over, there is a type of instinctive "thinking" that is the movement of ideas held in the feeling phase of the mind (subconscious).

5. The conscious phase of mind (objective) and the subconscious phase of mind (subjective) are related in much the same way as the master is related to the servant. The conscious phase takes the initiative, and impresses the subconscious with divine ideas, right thoughts, or the reverse, and the subconscious will carry out the suggestions faithfully. The conscious phase sends its directives to the subconscious which must accept them and carry them out, because the subconscious has no power of its own to do its own selecting.

The conscious phase acts, but the subconscious reacts; the conscious phase makes the impression, but the subconscious produces the manifestation; the conscious phase decides what to do, and the subconscious phase does it.

Often man is pulled up short by some condition which has become unbearable. Then he may learn through study and inspiration that he has been sending wrong directives into his feeling nature, the subconscious phase of mind. If he so chooses, he may use denials to cleanse the subconscious of the erroneous beliefs that have lodged there. Then he may use affirmations of Truth to refill the subconscious with true ideas from the Superconscious or Christ Mind. The conscious phase of mind records its directives, as sound is recorded on a tape; the subconscious faithfully "plays back" exactly what has been recorded.

6. The so-called involuntary actions are those that are controlled by the subconscious; such actions as raising and lowering the temperature of the body, making cell changes, looking after the action of the heart, the circulation of the blood, taking care of the salivary and gastric juices, superintending the breathing, digestion, assimilation, and elimination of food.

As the lesson material has already stated, the subconscious cannot take the initiative, but it carries out faithfully the plan back of every cell of the body, the true functioning of every organ, nerve, tissue unless interfered with by the conscious phase through fear or ignorance. When the conscious phase of mind interferes with the normal functioning of the body, then the subconscious must compensate in an instinctive way and this often results in disease or illness. When the conscious phase accepts the guidance of the Superconscious or Christ Mind, then it can give right directions to the subconscious. This allows the involuntary functions to carry on their normal work of sustaining and maintaining the body in health.

7. One may take conscious control of the involuntary functions of the biological, fleshly body through the conscious phase of mind to the extent of correcting any bad habits or inharmony which may be manifesting. When the Superconscious Mind guides the conscious thinking, it does not in any way interfere with the normal work of the subconscious. This conscious control by the conscious phase of mind, through retraining of the subconscious sphere, is the true way to healing, and much of this work can be done by affirmations. As we come more fully under the dominion of the Superconscious, the conscious phase gains understanding as to how to direct the inner functions of the body. Under spiritual guidance, the conscious phase of mind can impress the subconscious with new habits.

It is important that we remember that man is a focal point in Universal Mind. Therefore, each of us must seek divine guidance to find the true pattern for bodily operations. When we know our body to be primarily the "temple of God" we can, through the process of denial, erase the imperfect concepts and beliefs held in the subconscious, replacing them through affirmations with the truth about the body.

When something comes to our attention that is not measuring up to the proper standard of living, our business is to make the correction, to take conscious charge of the thought currents and direct them in the way they should go to produce that which is higher and better than the present mode in which they are functioning. This means giving the subconscious better patterns from which to work.

8. The "heart," as used here, represents the subconscious phase of mind, the feeling nature, the storehouse of memory and experience. The heart of anything is the part nearest the center, the more essential part of any body system — the place where life activity is carried on. "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Prov. 23:7 A.V.) may be interpreted, "As a man believes in his heart or subconscious, so does he live or experience." The subconscious holds the memory of the sensations and the responses made as feelings, to conditions that were presented and through which the body passed as experiences on the evolutionary path. The sum of man's feelings in regard to these experiences constitutes his emotional nature. If the heart is filled with unhappy memories of lack, sin, sickness, sorrow, and death that he has passed through in connection with those near and dear to him, these beliefs harbored in the subconscious will act as causes to reproduce like experiences again and again until they are cleansed from consciousness.

9. As the lesson brings out, many of the subconscious thought currents have come into the individual's subconscious phase of mind through the race thought. Man has viewed himself as a separate, independent entity; he has looked at his environment with its thunderings, lightnings, solid earth, seas, wild animals, forests, and the like, and he has been overwhelmed by the stupendous proposition that he faced.

The desire to live is incorporated in every cell of our fleshly, biological body by God, our Creator. However, until we discover the presence and power of God in us as the same life that is immanent in all living things, even in all inanimate things, we feel ourself to be a separate entity. Then comes the feeling that we must cope, mostly by struggle, with our environment in order to make it yield to us that which is necessary for the sustenance of our body.

As men (mankind as a species) increased in numbers, they pooled their interests, learned a method of communication with each other (speech), and formed judgments based on the physical senses and past experiences. Thus the race consciousness (subconscious of mankind as a whole) is impressed with the commonly accepted beliefs about what is necessary for man in order to live. Negative beliefs from the race consciousness accepted by the individual become "mental equivalents" in his subconscious that produce similar living conditions, until they are superseded by better and higher ideas.

10. We sometimes think one thing but manifest something different because the outpicturing in our body, life, and affairs is the result of the sum of all our thinking, feeling, acting (present and past, conscious and subconscious, good or bad). The thinking of the moment has not had sufficient time and spiritual impetus to work through the subconscious (feeling nature) into the manifest realm.

The conscious phase of mind (intellect) and the heart (subconscious phase) must work together in order to bring forth a harmonious manifestation. "Realization precedes manifestation" (Jesus Christ Heals 39). Usually some time is required for an idea to work itself into the subconscious. Realization is not possible until the two phases of mind agree and accept the idea, so that it may blossom into the desired manifestation. Many instantaneous answers to prayer have been reported, but in such cases the work has already taken place in the mind so that realization is ready to bring forth the manifestation.

We need to remember that the conscious thought is not the sole determining factor in producing, changing, and improving manifestation; the entire consciousness must be taken into account through a process of growth, unfoldment, and development. No conscious thought is ever wasted, however, even though it may not appear to produce an instantaneous manifestation.

"The fulfillment ... in the world of activities may take moments, hours, days, years, centuries ... Do not think because you do not get an instant response to your prayers that they are not answered. Every sincere desire and every effectual prayer . . is fulfilled, and will be made manifest whenever material limitations permit!l (Jesus Christ Heals 7).

When the conscious and subconscious phases of mind are in harmony with the Superconscious or Christ Mind (divine ideas), we will no longer think one thing and manifest another.

11. Jesus Christ can be said to be the Saviour of mankind because He sought in His ministry to draw every man's attention to his own divine creation, and to the "saving grace" or love of God. As WayShower, Jesus pointed the way for every man to seek within for the "Father who is in secret" (Matt. 6:6). Jesus became the manifestation of the principle that combines the Son of God (Christ) and Son of man (Jesus). Paul refers to this as "the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Col. 2:9). The Jesus Christ principle unites the Superconscious, the conscious, and the subconscious spheres of man's being, making them one. This is the true "atonement."

Christ, I AM, is the seed idea or divine pattern of God which is implanted in every man, and contains all the elements of the God nature. Jesus represents the understanding use of this pattern; thus the Jesus Christ principle is the combination of the pattern and its application. Jesus, the Man of Nazareth, is the Way-Shower; He showed mankind the way to the understanding of man's relation to God, and the manner in which each man must unfold the Christ pattern within himself. Jesus taught God's Ideals which man in his belief in separation had forgotten. When put into action, Jesus' teaching transforms and redeems man's consciousness from all belief in the reality of sin, evil, poverty, and death, directing his thought current to righteousness. It is this "tuning in" with the Almighty One that "saves" man. Thus it is not difficult for us to understand why Jesus Christ is the Saviour of mankind, both in a general way as the Teacher who pointed the way, and in an individual way as the indwelling principle in every man.

12. The original root meaning of the verb atone was "to make at one," by reconciling differences between those who had been at variance. Metaphysically, the "atonement" is the blending and harmonious functioning of the Superconscious (realm of divine ideas in man, the realm of pure knowing), the conscious (thinking, reasoning faculty, the intellect), and the subconscious (realm of feeling, emotions, the heart).

Men in an unenlightened state of knowing have felt themselves separated from goodness by looking upon God as "a holy Being" separate from them; feeling their iniquity (inequality) in not being able to measure up to His standard of holiness. However, Jesus of Nazareth taught at-one-ment. "I and the Father are one," He said (John 10:30). In spite of what man thinks, feels, does with his inheritance of good, the important Truth taught in these lessons is that God and man are one.

Jesus, the Man, taught the relationship of God and man as Father and son. He showed men their likeness to God, emphasizing their inherent God nature. He encouraged them to claim and prove this oneness (at-one-ment) as He had done. He instructed them how to put away all their limited beliefs in sin and lack by the use of denials and to claim their divinity, their oneness, by affirming it to be true.

Jesus did not make the atonement for us — He showed us how to reestablish the ideal in which we were created. Each of us must therefore put into action the mental laws that can bring about the atonement through working out his own salvation.

"If man is the son of God, he must be that son right now; sonship must be just as real, just as omnipresent, as the health that God has revealed through His Word. How shall man reveal his sonship to himself and to others except by claiming it; by declaring that he is not a son of mortality, but a son of God" (Talks on Truth 143).

13. It is very important to think the Truth about life, "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Prov. 23:7 A.V.). The "heart" refers to the subconscious, as explained in Annotation Eight of this lesson.

As we interpret life consciously and subconsciously, so we shall live life each day. If we interpret life positively, then the results in our daily living will be harmonious and will move in divine order; if we interpret life negatively, we will bring like conditions into our daily experiences.

Because of ingrained limited beliefs in the race consciousness that life begins with birth in a form and ends with the death of that form, we need to know and think the Truth about life. There are too many mistaken beliefs in regard to "the other side," too many delusions that the body is an "obstruction" and that life out of the body, in an "unobstructed universe," is where man learns the way to live. There are too many who believe that the body is like an old coat that must be discarded, instead of seeing it as the "seamless robe" of righteousness that we are to wear "forever more."

No one can attain a consciousness of eternal life for the whole man so long as he clings to the belief that the immortality of the soul is made possible by "sacrificing" the body, thus attempting to separate man's trinity of spirit, soul, body.

Another teaching that needs to be cleared away is the belief that being a Christian (that is, seeking to live the Christ life) inevitably ends in martyrdom.

Until such time as we prepare the way for eternal life by getting rid of hampering beliefs in the subconscious, we are still imprisoned. As we believe in our heart, so we will interpret life, and the wrong approach to life causes us to experience confusion, frustration, sickness, poverty, and failure.

14. Materiality has reference to corporeal existence in contradistinction to the spiritual; this does not mean that which is wrong, but rather that which is formed, visible, or cognizant to any of the five senses. It is when we accept the belief that only the material is real that we need to "overcome the belief in materiality."

Many persons believe that the biological, fleshly body of man is the man. They believe that each corporeal or flesh body has a separate mind of its own, due to the action of the five physical senses in bringing information to the brain, where it is stored up for use. This belief is due to the teaching of primitive fleshly ancestors who had no higher knowing. Those who have such beliefs give their attention and interest largely to gratifying the appetites, passions, desires, and comforts that the fleshly body demands; therefore they are ruled by unenlightened sensation.

Mind and brain are not synonymous. God as the Life Principle activates all corporeal forms. Manifest man as a self-conscious entity has as the center of his being the life, intelligence, and substance of Spirit, which are his to use. Thinking is the process by which the ideas inherent in Mind substance are made active and released into daily living. All true thinking is for the purpose of knowing Truth in order that we may interpret life correctly. We then come to experience the eternal good which the one creative Mind or Spirit planned or willed for the entire universe, man included.

A materialistic conception of life can never truly interpret it. To realize the Truth is to be in harmony with the one creative Mind. If we would live a wholesome, happy life, the work that confronts us is to correct the misconceptions held in the subconscious. Through spiritual discernment we are able to perceive, receive, and conceive our true being or nature. It is only through spiritual insight and spiritual thinking that we can see ourself and the universe as God expressing Himself, and thus overcome the belief in materiality as being the real.

15. It is vital that we hold ourself and others as being in the one all-knowing Mind, for that is our true place as sons of God, and the only way in which we are able to claim our inheritance of good. "In him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28).

"Hold" as used here means to judge or consider ourself and others as being expressions of the one creative Mind which is the source and cause of all that appears in the manifest sphere of action. There is no other source that can inspire and guide each individuated unit except Spirit or Divine Mind. Through "that I AM" each human being is identified with the one creative Mind. A conscious recognition of this enables us to unite ourself in consciousness with all other human beings and know that each one is a focal point expressing God Mind to the extent of his present ability to interpret life.

When we know that we are projections of Divine Mind, we are allowing this one creative Mind to express itself through creation according to its perfect plan.

16. All thought may be brought into harmony with divine law — the law of absolute good — through the unifying power of divine love.

"Thought" as used here means all the desires, sense perceptions, feelings, concepts, beliefs, Ideas and associations of ideas, judgments, and opinions.

"Love, in Divine Mind, is the idea of universal unity. In expression, love is the power that joins and binds in divine harmony the universe and everything in it" (Christian Healing 130).

As the quality or idea that joins, love attracts all that is needed to bring about harmony between people and in all situations. Love, as a law itself, fulfills all the divine laws (Rom. 13:8), because love is the great harmonizer. If one's thoughts are confused, chaotic, unhappy, fearful, love can change them to harmony, happiness, faith, courage, and understanding. When one has sought for an answer to his prayers, or a way out of his problems, and he discovers the Truth, it is only the quality of love for Truth, for God, that can enable him to harmonize his thinking and feeling. If you want to be "transformed by the renewing of your mind," you will need love to give the strength and courage needed to make the change from limited, materialistic thinking to spiritual thinking.

17. Mastery and dominion are part of man's divine inheritance as a son of God, belonging to him as the image-likeness of God. Mastery and dominion are exercised as we lay hold of the power of God. "Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit has come upon you" (Acts 1:8).

Dominion over the earth is not something that is to be acquired through physical evolution. Man is created with dominion over the earth and told to subdue it. Man's "earth" is primarily the human consciousness wherein he has established beliefs in "good" and "not good." Man is to accept his dominion through knowing that he is God's representative on earth, the very image of God. Then he must claim his divine mastery by taking control of his own consciousness, and showing forth the likeness of God.

Jesus said, "But when the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory ... he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left" (Matt. 25:31,33). Every human being has within his consciousness the "sheep" and the "goats" which represent two types of thoughts. The thoughts, desires, and feelings that are on the positive, spiritual side are the "sheep," while the stubborn, selfish, resistant, fearful, anxious, and greedy thoughts, feelings, and desires are the "goats." These latter are to be denied or crossed out of the human consciousness where they are causing friction. When man becomes master over his own thinking and feeling, he comes into the glory of the Father.

We learn to demonstrate mastery and dominion when we are able to discern between the earth (consciousness) and the world (appearances), and consciously separate the "sheep" and the "goats" within ourself by our spoken word of authority. We learn to deny the "not good" and affirm the "good," thus freeing ourself from belief in the reality of evil and its power over us.

18. "Order is Heaven's first law," said Alexander Pope. The kingdom of heaven is consciousness being carried forward and upward according to the highest ideas of which humanity as a whole is conscious. This consciousness is termed "Christ consciousness" because it implies a state of peace and security in each individual who has so controlled and systematized his mental sphere that he has dominion over it.

Order is that faculty in man's consciousness that adjusts each idea in its proper place, relating ideas to each other and relating them to the whole so that there is no friction, all working happily and joyously together for the good of the whole. Thus we may say that order is made up of right relationships — order is that which produces balance.

Order, then, must have first place in Divine Mind as well as in man's consciousness, for only as ideas, persons, events move in an orderly way will the harmony or "heaven" come forth into manifestation. The first movement of order in man's consciousness must be to relate himself to God, to "seek ... first his kingdom" so that man may, in an orderly way, lay hold of the ideas that are his divine inheritance.

19. The realization of Truth cannot come to a mind that is not still, but is concerned with the exterior world. A divided mind cannot receive the revelations of God; these come only to a mind that is still, that is alert and concentrated on the "still small voice" (I Kings 19:12). Truth is the vision, the ideal we perceive through soul insight, and if the "sight" is turned outward it is not insight. When the soul is still, we are offering God a listening and a heeding attitude. We will then receive the true guidance that can help us to go about our business in the outer world.

Prayer is the line of conscious communion between us and our Creator. In the "Secret place of the Most High" (Psalms 91:1) within our own being, we appropriate the divine ideas that belong to God consciousness. It is in this "secret place" of prayer that we learn that the will of our Father is for our highest good. Only in the stillness can the full revelation come to our soul. For prayer to be effectual, we need to abide in the realization that our true place is in the one creative Mind, where all is peace and harmony. Therefore, we must learn to keep silence before God; to still the false reports of the senses that impinge on our consciousness, so that we may listen to the "still small voice" that will teach us all things — even the deep things of God.

20. Every atom of our being has within it God's law of life. Even doctors are astonished at the marvelous way in which the various parts of the body function and are renewed; God's law is indeed in our "inward parts." Because the involuntary functions of the body are carried on by the subconscious, that phase of mind has to have the intelligence to handle bodily functions. God has "written" or inscribed His intelligent laws of life upon our heart or subconscious so that it may carry out its work. If the thinking or conscious phase does not give true patterns to the subconscious (heart), then by the law of mind action the subconscious will manifest the untrue patterns — until such time as the conscious phase of soul turns to the Superconscious for right directions to pass on to the subconscious. Then we are "transformed by the renewing of [our] mind" (Rom. 12:2), for we have become obedient to the inspirations of the Superconsclous and have impressed spiritual ideals upon the subconscious. The heart will then faithfully carry out the true law inscribed upon it.