"A class in metaphysics (spiritual principles), it should be
needless to remind ourselves, is never a finishing course - even
though it is clearly so considered by many class-taught
students. Practically speaking, it can be but a step
forward. A very big step it may be, big enough to prove a
turning point in our lives - if we make it so. What it amounts
to depends upon what we bring to it and what we do with that which we
get out of it. In other words, it is always a matter of
individual demonstration (results)." - Arthur Corey, More Class
Notes, 1962
The most important truth most students who study spiritual principles realize is that our study is a seeking of a greater realization of our relationship to G-d/Life/Truth/Spirit. And the second most important truth we realize is that we shall never fully comprehend the Infinite for our human mind can only embody a finite measure of that which is infinite in nature. Yet, with our mind fully and completely open to realizing and experiencing more and more of the nature of Spirit, we shall find ourselves and our life experience transformed into something more wonderful than we could have ever expected prior to beginning our journey of seeking that which is seeking us.
It is, in a perfect sense, this seeking, this curiosity, this wanting to experience more joy ... that brings forth the greater into our mind, our heart and our soul. As we begin to make a greater demand on ourselves to leave behind what was and instead focus on what is and what this is can be, at this level of elevated thought, G-d-Intelligence begins to correspond to our thoughts, contemplations and meditations - the awakening of our soul.
Arthur Corey writes in his chapter on "Practicality" that "it is wonderful to have our heads in the clouds but let us keep our feet down to earth. Let us not be dreamers, but doers of the Word (Truth). The ubiquitous tendency to shy away from the demands upon us by taking refuge in an insular realm of fantasy has plagued so many (modified) from the start. With serene smile, escapists resort to statements in place of demonstration, giving a stone for bread in the glib clichés and facile sophistries with which we are all-too-familiar. One is not dwelling in the absolute because he talks in the absolute. Practicality is our keynote, and I know of nothing more important to be said at this juncture than this:
You are obliged to start out from right where you are at the moment. How you got here, in belief or otherwise, is entirely irrelevant. The fact is: here you are. You are not going to be able to disregard things as they seem to be, including yourself as you appear to be currently. If we waited to become saints, there'd be no practitioners (serious students)!
.... How can we establish the transfiguring Truth, if such it be? Why, through thinking. Thinking is the open door to living realization. There is no esoteric mumbojumbo about this ascension. It is just a common-sense, straight-forward turning to Reality as divinely mental in the ultimate. The enforcement of divine law through Mind's realization, elementary in its simplicity, primeval in its uncomplicated naturalness, should require nothing in the way of unique, or even rare, personal gifts. The ability to find God at hand must belong to everyone on earth as a common heritage - if there is any hope or promise for humanity."
Mr. Corey certainly lays it out very powerfully. Thinking, thinking, thinking of G-d brings us to discover more and more of G-d and the Good naturally. All the old arguments made by people who "think" they know what G-d wants for us ... what G-d demands of us ... or what G-d says about anything are merely a waste of energy to counter. The evolution of mankind's thinking from the Bhagavad Gita to the Torah to the Old Testament scriptures to the Gospels to the New Testament of the Bible to the evolved thought of today, would be a startling confusion to those who lived prior to each evolved thought or realization of Truth revealed in each succeeding incarnation of Truth embodied by mankind.
And so we realize that we cannot hold onto the old and still expect to realize the something greater ... "don't pour new wine into old wine skins" the Master Mind Jesus stated. We can't embody the greater if we insist on hanging onto the old ... the old thoughts ... old beliefs ... old self-depreciations, etc. We discover more of G-d and the Good with our mind open, free of judgment, free of anxiety, free of duality, free in the spirit of discovering.
AND SO IT IS!
Keep the faith!
Rev. Henry Bates
The most important truth most students who study spiritual principles realize is that our study is a seeking of a greater realization of our relationship to G-d/Life/Truth/Spirit. And the second most important truth we realize is that we shall never fully comprehend the Infinite for our human mind can only embody a finite measure of that which is infinite in nature. Yet, with our mind fully and completely open to realizing and experiencing more and more of the nature of Spirit, we shall find ourselves and our life experience transformed into something more wonderful than we could have ever expected prior to beginning our journey of seeking that which is seeking us.
It is, in a perfect sense, this seeking, this curiosity, this wanting to experience more joy ... that brings forth the greater into our mind, our heart and our soul. As we begin to make a greater demand on ourselves to leave behind what was and instead focus on what is and what this is can be, at this level of elevated thought, G-d-Intelligence begins to correspond to our thoughts, contemplations and meditations - the awakening of our soul.
Arthur Corey writes in his chapter on "Practicality" that "it is wonderful to have our heads in the clouds but let us keep our feet down to earth. Let us not be dreamers, but doers of the Word (Truth). The ubiquitous tendency to shy away from the demands upon us by taking refuge in an insular realm of fantasy has plagued so many (modified) from the start. With serene smile, escapists resort to statements in place of demonstration, giving a stone for bread in the glib clichés and facile sophistries with which we are all-too-familiar. One is not dwelling in the absolute because he talks in the absolute. Practicality is our keynote, and I know of nothing more important to be said at this juncture than this:
You are obliged to start out from right where you are at the moment. How you got here, in belief or otherwise, is entirely irrelevant. The fact is: here you are. You are not going to be able to disregard things as they seem to be, including yourself as you appear to be currently. If we waited to become saints, there'd be no practitioners (serious students)!
.... How can we establish the transfiguring Truth, if such it be? Why, through thinking. Thinking is the open door to living realization. There is no esoteric mumbojumbo about this ascension. It is just a common-sense, straight-forward turning to Reality as divinely mental in the ultimate. The enforcement of divine law through Mind's realization, elementary in its simplicity, primeval in its uncomplicated naturalness, should require nothing in the way of unique, or even rare, personal gifts. The ability to find God at hand must belong to everyone on earth as a common heritage - if there is any hope or promise for humanity."
Mr. Corey certainly lays it out very powerfully. Thinking, thinking, thinking of G-d brings us to discover more and more of G-d and the Good naturally. All the old arguments made by people who "think" they know what G-d wants for us ... what G-d demands of us ... or what G-d says about anything are merely a waste of energy to counter. The evolution of mankind's thinking from the Bhagavad Gita to the Torah to the Old Testament scriptures to the Gospels to the New Testament of the Bible to the evolved thought of today, would be a startling confusion to those who lived prior to each evolved thought or realization of Truth revealed in each succeeding incarnation of Truth embodied by mankind.
And so we realize that we cannot hold onto the old and still expect to realize the something greater ... "don't pour new wine into old wine skins" the Master Mind Jesus stated. We can't embody the greater if we insist on hanging onto the old ... the old thoughts ... old beliefs ... old self-depreciations, etc. We discover more of G-d and the Good with our mind open, free of judgment, free of anxiety, free of duality, free in the spirit of discovering.
AND SO IT IS!
Keep the faith!
Rev. Henry Bates
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