Chapter 12: Contact with the Christ Mind

Chapter 12: Contact with the Christ Mind

Page 98

WE MAY TAKE it for granted on the basis of many Scripture passages that all of us who accept God as an associate in life are consciously in intimate contact with the Holy Spirit. However it will strengthen our faith and greatly add to the effectiveness of the Holy Spirit in its work with us if we understand its character and the law under which it co-operates with us in the development of mind, body, and affairs.

Theologians differ in their conceptions of the Holy Spirit. Some define it as a principle, but the majority refer to it as "He"; that is, as the third person of the Trinity. In the Scriptures it is named variously. In Genesis 1:2 it is spoken of as "the Spirit of God" moving upon the face of the waters. We read in Job 33:4:

"The Spirit of God hath made me,
And the breath of the Almighty giveth me life."

Bible authorities (Scofield, for example) say that wherever the name El Shaddai occurs in the Hebrew Scriptures it should have been translated "Nourisher" or "Strength-giver," which in Hebrew is the feminine name for God. This verse may be read:

"The Spirit of God hath made me,
And the breath of the mother giveth me life."

Page 99

In Psalms 104:30 it is written, "Thou sendest forth thy Spirit." The Spirit is omnipresent, as revealed in the Psalms 139:

"Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?
Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?"

Read all this psalm for a comprehension of the universality of the Holy Spirit's work in the creation of man and his evolution.

The Holy Spirit in Divine Mind corresponds to our thought in our minds. God is Mind; God's idea of His creation is His Son, and this Son (idea), executing the plans of God (the original Mind) corresponds to our thinking in its work of devising plans. We may ideate without restriction, but when we come to the execution of our ideas we have to respect certain laws, which we sometimes consider restrictions. So we can ideate the unlimited Divine Mind, but when this Mind is brought into our world or consciousness it is limited to our conception of it.

With a clear understanding of the relation that ideas bear to their manifestation, we can approach God with confidence; then we have access to the real, unlimited creative ideas, and we co-operate with the Holy Spirit and get greater results. We can thus lay hold of a healing or a prosperity thought and confidently affirm that in mind we are quickened and made whole; that we are prospered, and that we are successful in all our ways, because we are working with and through the whole Spirit of God,

Page 100

the Holy Spirit of wisdom and love.

In Matt. 22:45 Jesus asked the Pharisees,

"What think ye of the Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying,

"The Lord said unto my Lord,
Sit thou on my right hand,
Till I put thine enemies underneath thy feet? (Psalms 110:1)

"If David then calleth him Lord, how is he his son?"

This lesson, which Jesus gave to His disciples, brings out clearly the relation that the universal or Jehovah-Mind bears to the personal or Christ Mind. This also suggests that David was not the forebear of Christ, but that the Lord or Christ of David existed before the human person was born. It follows that the Christ in Jesus existed before the personality. This is true of all of us. Christ is the spiritual mind in every individual, and the spiritual mind is the offspring of the universal or Jehovah-Mind.

When Paul said, "Until Christ be formed in you," he referred to the development in man of the super-mind.

All the divine perfection that exists in the universal Jehovah-Mind can be brought into direct contact with its image and likeness, the Christ, imprinted in the beginning in each individual. As he develops spiritually man releases, rounds out,

Page 101

and fully expresses that divine perfection which is potentially in his soul.

The affirmation of any good statement of health puts us in conscious contact with the Christ Mind universal and quickens and releases the energy stored up in the subconscious mind, and the process of rejuvenation begins its work. This renewal of man's youth through the recognition of Jehovah confirms Psalms 103:

Bless Jehovah, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless his holy name.
Bless Jehovah, O my soul,
And forget not all his benefits:
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities;
Who healeth all thy diseases;
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction;
Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
Who satisfieth thy desire with good things,
So that thy youth is renewed like the eagle.

All those who in faith have persistently applied this law of spiritual acknowledgment of the Christ have received benefits that bear witness to the fact that man can overcome sin, sickness, and old age and rise out of the race belief in human limitation, and finally attain eternal life as Jesus attained it.

Jesus warned us not to lay up treasure in a material way but to be "rich toward God," as taught in the 12th chapter of Luke. Jesus was rich toward God in that He knew how to release the creative substance implanted in Him from the beginning.

Page 102

This same substance is within every one of us; when released, it makes contact with the universal substance, and invisible currents of supply begin to carry their riches to us. It is not necessary that we understand scientifically all the activities of the pent-up substance in our minds, although we shall eventually understand every step of the way.

A simple word of blessing poured out upon that which we have or that which we can conceive as possible for us as sons of the all-providing God will at least begin to release the superabundance of Spirit substance, and we shall have an inner confidence and faith in the providence of our Father.

Jesus warned us not to be anxious about temporal needs but to pray, believing, and to bless and give thanks; then right in the face of seeming insufficiency we should be enabled to demonstrate plenty. Jesus illustrated this when He showed how giving thanks in a devout consciousness for this inner substance would multiply the apparently insignificant resources (the five loaves and two fishes) until they became sufficient to meet the hunger of more than five thousand persons.

A textbook on the redemption or reconstruction of man should cover every phase of human character. Human egotism should be repressed; man's spiritual identity exalted. Remedies for the greatest evils of humanity should be given plentifully, and the lesser

Page 103

evils minimized.

Our Scriptures, plus the guidance of "the Spirit of truth" recommended by Jesus, form such a textbook for Christians. In this combination is found instruction fitted to the needs of the multitude. The timid and fearful read, "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not affrighted, neither be thou dismayed: for Jehovah thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."

How an inflated personal ego usurps and finally destroys the spirituality of one who once was anointed king of Israel is illustrated in the life of Saul. The stimulation of the spiritual ego is forcefully taught and demonstrated by prophets and great religious leaders. It is written in the Psalms 82:6:

"I said, Ye are gods,
And all of you are sons of the Most High."

Jesus reiterated this and was denounced by the Pharisees because He declared, "I and the Father are one."

Christian metaphysicians have discovered that man can greatly accelerate the growth in himself of the Christ Mind by using affirmations that identify him with the Christ. These affirmations often are so far beyond the present attainment of the novice as to seem ridiculous, but when it is understood that the statements are grouped about an ideal to be attained, they seem fair and reasonable.

The spiritual man is clothed by the aspirations,

Page 104

the thoughts, and the acts of the natural or physical man. It is here, in this realm of so-called matter, that character is formed. By faith, prayer, meditation, and inward resolutions man identifies himself with the spiritual man and forms in both mind and body the things affirmed. There was no visible evidence of Jesus' unity with the Father when He affirmed, "I and the Father are one." His disciples said, "Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us." So we find that we must be true to our ideas, and clothe them with an assumption of their tangibility even before they have appeared. We must pray, believing that we have received and we shall receive.

States of mind established in the consciousness gather to themselves vitamins, cells, nerves, muscles, the flesh itself. To see oneself in mind spiritually courageous, strong, and healthy will instill health in the primal elements of the organism, which in due season will work to the surface in a perfect body.

We must all learn to look to the mental man for causes. For example, no one but a metaphysician knows the origin of disease germs. The physician takes it for granted that disease germs exist as an integral part of the natural world; the metaphysician sees disease germs as the manifested results of anger, revenge, jealousy, fear, impurity, and many other mind activities. A change of mind will change the character of a germ. Love, courage, peace, strength, and good will form good character and build bodily

Page 105

structures of a nature like these qualities of mind.

The same general law is carried out in everything with which man has to do. Financial success or failure depends on the attitude of mind active in both those who achieve success and those who fall under the negations of failure. To attain prosperity, think about prosperity, industry, and efficiency. Fill your mind to overflowing with thoughts of success; realize that the fullness of all good belongs to you by divine right. To this add a feeling of happiness and joy and you have the recipe for abundant and lasting prosperity.