Edna Lister’s Lectures 1960

























Greater Healing as Miracles

Edna Lister speech outline; January 5, 1960, Tacoma, Washington.

In 1918, a funny little woman with a two-year-old boy started homesteading in Idaho. She began studying a correspondence course on healing by principle, but the only miracle she ever witnessed was that her own eyes were healed.

That little woman was me. I just knew that God did the work, if you love Him enough. Since that time of study, study, study, practice, practice, practice, I’ve learned one thing: Perfect practice makes perfect.

From Rome to modern China, governments have matured from feudalism to federations, and have always collapsed when the balance of power shifts through revolution. A revolution revolves around a new idea, serves to stir up old crystallization, to break down the old patterns and ways of thinking.

St. Paul started a real revolution when he wrote to St. Timothy, “I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” — 2 Timothy 1:6-7. You must keep your gifts stirred up or turn into a pillar of salt, which represents a hardening of ideas and arteries.

The world has now moved into a new Christed Order. We are finishing what Paul started under Jesus, and are facing the finale of the greatest upward spiritual movement of all civilizations. We are in the middle of a boiling melting pot called revolution. We are our brothers’ keepers because the love, wisdom, and faith of God declare it so.

The I AM of Christ consciousness has now reached beyond revolving and stirring up to the stage of harmonizing everything and everyone into a perfect whole, all working together, holding together as one. We also have the secret weapon of all ages now, a weapon that is changing the balance of power for all time to come. We have the ability to declare a thing healed and good, and so it is. We can resurrect all good from the past and ascend now.

Recently, I discovered that I’ve been working for a Federation of Nations for twenty years. The League of Nations was emotional, the United Nations is mental, but the Federation will be a spiritual brotherhood.

What has this to do with miracles? How can we have miracles? “I am” is the most common name in the world, the most powerful words God ever gave to humanity. Nothing can change you. You are I AM forever and ever.

I AM believes to see and causes all powers of the universe to move into action now. I AM love. I AM love for you now. I AM declares you healed, a miracle. I AM declares this a miracle year for you. I AM builds your tomorrow for you. Tomorrow is yours in beauty because I AM builds it now, today. I AM loves you.

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A New Technique for Living

Edna Lister article; The Prayer Circle Newsletter, March 1960, Washington, D.C.

The new age of atomic power and jet engines makes many unusual demands upon both our time and our energy. To become more alive and alert in our daily living, life compels us to learn to do multiple thinking. The only way we can keep up with life’s new demands is to change our old patterns for new patterns jet-powered to fit into this mechanical age of speed.

Last year’s technique for simple daily living is not good enough. You must decide upon a new technique for everything you do. Your approach to each day’s problems must apply old and tried laws in new combinations, new formulas.

You have the ability to think of many things at once, but you must exercise it constantly for good results now. Multiple thinking easily becomes a habit with practice by applying all you know to everything you do.

To use the same old formulas this year as last year’s could lead to boredom and a “What’s the use?” attitude toward life. To outline new techniques in applying law to your daily living moves you up from the “field of force” into the “field of Light,” the realm of miracles. You then become the very essence of inexhaustible Power instead of exhaustible force and physical weakness.

Under jet-propelled multiple thinking, the Power of God moves through you to create new ways to express love joyously, faith steadfastly and to radiate the glory of God in visible ways called miracles.

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What Is a Miracle? (a)

Edna Lister outline; Buffalo Psychology Club, May 6, 1960, Buffalo, New York.

From early times, men thought a miracle was some mysterious setting aside of laws by some arbitrary god with the visage of a bearded man holding a club. However, God does not rule His universe by whim or fancy.

Everything that exists in form is formed of God’s one substance in either a higher or lower rate of vibration. Metaphysicians have long known that a miracle is but an acceleration of law operating under a raised, expanded vibration of substance. The physical body, your body, is composed of cells, molecules, atoms, electrons, and of infinitesimal life sparks called soul substance.

Miracle is God’s name as He operates in His own perfection. His is always a way of miracles. Miracle is another name for perfection. So, to have a miracle, your name must become Miracle. To become a miracle is to become great in God’s dual kingdom of outer appearances and inner reality. As a miracle, you are more than adequate where you are. A great soul is one who is adequate to every situation life can offer. To be great means to be thrilled with every moment of every hour, every day, right where you are.

God has given you the gift of making a miracle of whatever area you occupy. A miracle of renewal is occurring in your body right now, modeled after whatever pattern you choose. What is your pattern for this month? God needs your greatness. You need God’s greatness. You need life and love, and to be enthralled with the greatness of God’s glory.

How often have you said, “I AM loves you”? How many situations and people do you continue to drag along or carry on your back? So, to declare, “I am become a miracle of perfection, a miracle of life, a miracle of Light, a miracle of glory,” builds it with the eternal substance and according to the glory of your soul.

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Edna Lister transcript; Buffalo Psychology Club, May 6, 1960, Buffalo, New York. Scribe: Edna Bender.

To get an answer to problems or anything else, your mind has to be as smooth as water is on a still night. Therefore, the first great and very great necessity for expression is to learn never to indulge a whining “Why?” which is nothing more than self talking. If you can peevishly ask “Why” about something that you are required to do, you lack acceptance. Refusing to accept is the whole difficulty, whether you are in a very outer circle, where you still talk about control or manipulation, instead of letting a miracle appear, or an initiate in the innermost order of mysteries.

At times you can experience a soul illumination from the Source under prayer, but the rest of the time you only think you are praying, just thinking about praying, thinking about ascending, thinking about getting ready to accept. To be in a state of grace is to be in a state of accepting truth. Two statements will take you to the Source, no matter where you stand, or what kind of a day it is. You stand and hold for two seconds, and say, “This is good. Let there be Light,” and “I AM loves you.”

If you declare anything good, God will work it together for good, but He cannot if you say it is evil. If you love God enough, love principle enough, if you are dedicated enough, only one answer applies. You never need to say, “I don’t know what to do,” which is the greatest lie you use to kid yourself. Just say, “This is good. Let there be Light,” and wait upon the Lord.

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” — Matthew 6:33. The Oversoul, which is absolute perfection, is the healer. Conscious mind thinks abortively when influenced by the subconscious, which holds all the negatives, the detriments of previous lives. You are supposed to be conscious of the Oversoul, which is in contact with all Power and Light all the time.

You are in the kingdom of heaven right now, you just lose awareness of it. The simple little statement, “I AM loves you,” is magical. Just the words make you aware of the kingdom of heaven and of being in it. You don’t need a great ritual — you just become it. This is a cure for enemies. You can say, “I AM loves you right now where you are. I love you where you are.”

A miracle is an acceleration of natural law. Substance can only be raised or lowered in vibration. If you lower it enough, you create crystallization or worse, paralysis. You are to direct and control the release of Power through you, and the only way is to move up where God is and love Him enough. More metaphysicians are believing in Jesus the Christ as the Son of God than ever. Even if they believe he was just a good man, living by law, they can raise the vibration of their own soul substance through that degree of faith.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” — John 1:1. In the beginning, the Word was the one substance. You can raise the vibration of crystallized cells only under dedication to love and the cohesive universal substance from above. Anything earth can produce will yield where the love is love and not just thinking about loving. When it does not yield, a poverty of love has led to a poverty of the purse. When you love God enough, He is the miracle. Perfection is another name for a miracle. When you love God enough, His Light, Power, and glory move in to create a miracle, which is God expressing as complete perfection. This is the most beautiful experience you can imagine.

Everyone must be adequate to holding the foot of ground on which he stands. Everyone is able to be equal and adequate in that one place. As a matter of choice, you can stand and say, “I do choose God. I want this healing. I want this position. I know that I do.” When you love God enough and are one with Him, you have a healing, a miracle in the twinkling of an eye. When you comprehend a law, all you think you know about a law, you will be there by stepping one notch higher.

I wish the words could be put upon my lips once and for all to wipe away the barriers. Most people just think they are praying, so their prayers just simmer. Move up where the greatness of God possesses you. It is so simple, so easy when you stop fussing and fretting and asking “why.” As you express love, a flash of Light moves forth, but you must look up in consciousness to find it, and you must give up idle words. “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:22 in every word you speak.

Everything God created, He can recreate. What has been done can be done and is done. You are your own blockade. God never put a barrier in anyone’s path, yet your every idle word does. Say, “This is good. I AM loves you. I am a miracle of life.” It becomes a delicious delight to give God a problem and watch to see the way He works it out. When you love God enough, you will become enthralled with life, but you may not use idle words.

What will you do? Whom will you serve? Miracles are so wonderful — God shows His touch of perfection and what He can do when you ask with all your love. How great is your all? All Light, all love, all faith, all glory? How much of you is in that all? If you have a doubt or a fear, part of you isn’t in it.

The greatness of God needs you to be great. Right now this world is ascending. He is not losing it. The earth will be one great brotherhood, and you can suffer your way to it or go in joy, by a vivid, flaming imagination that never gives in to the outer appearance. Where the vibration has lowered, ignore it. My sense of God’s greatness, the greatness of the law, the greatness of the Power makes the law working through me great. How do you make your place great? By loving God more every day.

Thinking, “Why has this happened to me?” is the ogre with a club. What will “little me” do about it? Do not ask why, just get busy and clean up the mess! How stupid it is to let the actions of others push you to speak idle words. You may not have done the act but you created the inner form of it with idle words. There are no problems in the world, just inadequate people fumbling. Don’t be one of them.

The first step is to ascend to the greatness of God’s Power and accept the need to become its transformer. What you can dream of doing for yourself is part of “all these things shall be added unto you.” Thank God that He has made the price great, that people can’t get into the kingdom of heaven for nothing. God deserves the best. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be.” — 1 John 3. But it does appear that we shall be great!

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What Is Healing? (a)

Edna Lister outline; May 17, 1960, Cleveland, Ohio.

What is healing? Healing is the direct result of being able to move from a lesser vibration or state of consciousness to a higher vibration with a correspondingly higher state of consciousness. Therefore, physical healing involves more Light, more Power, and more substance moving into the body.

What is principle? Principle is the absolute, unchangeable, undeviating, immutable foundation upon which all universes are based and established. In all the universe, only two things can be done to substance: you raise the vibration or lower the rate of vibration of substance. A lowered vibration condenses substance. A raised vibration expands substance. A low, condensed substance often results in illness, while a raised, expanded substance results in good health.

For example, were you to put several chunks of ice in a cooking pot and turn on the burner, it would begin to melt the ice, first causing it to simmer, then to boil, steaming furiously. Healing consists of exactly this process — raising the rate of vibration of substance as ice to water to vapor.

All healing first takes place in the mind and soul. Every soul is made up of three phases of the One Divine Mind: The subconscious mind functions at the level of the animal-like creature state of instinctive intelligence and desire. The conscious mind works best as conscious intelligence and conscious desire when not interfered with by the subconscious mind. The super-conscious mind functions at the creator level of divine intelligence and desire, and of Wisdom and Love.

Soul is the you that can say, “I AM,” and that uses its function as mind to think. Every soul is made up of several phases of functioning: The appetitive soul deals primarily with the body’s metabolism using instinctive intelligence and desire. It does not think but compares and infers, and prefers to deal with what it regards as plausible and reasonable. The rational soul deals with conscious logic, reason, discernment, discrimination, and discretion. It deals in facts and seeks answers, not guesses. The Oversoul deals with the Love principle as intuition, and with the Wisdom principle as illumination. It leads you into loving and thinking as God does. The Supreme Oversoul operates as absolute knowing and comprehension. It never leaves the radiance of the Presence and speaks to you as the Voice of the Eternal.

You could say that healing is a case of “mind over matter,” but it is more accurate to say that healing is a case of “soul over matter.” The problem resolves into the question of “Which part of your mind are you letting run the show?” The conscious mind is supposed to begin with logic, using facts to state premises, analysis to tear apart faulty reasoning, and applying synthesis to make accurate deductions. The subconscious mind begins with a pseudo-reasoning based on induction by comparing prior experiences and adopting the one that seems most plausible. We call this “specious reasoning.” Reason deals with probabilities, but logic deals with absolutes.

Logos is the appeal to reason, relying on logic and reason, and using both inductive and deductive reasoning. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” — Isaiah 1:18. This verse is the Lord, speaking the Word, the Logos. Inductive and deductive reasoning are polar opposites, like sins of scarlet and being white as snow. Inductive reasoning takes a specific case or set of facts, then draws generalizations or conclusions from them. Deductive reasoning begins with a generalization, then applies it to a specific case. In either case — inductive or deductive — you must base your reasoning on a solid foundation of facts and reliable evidence.

Now we reach the realm of study called psychosomatic, which is a compound word made up of the Greek words psyche and soma — soul and body. Modern definitions do not include the word “soul,” so psychosomatic has come to mean the action and reaction of the mind on the body. Before you can comprehend the scope of healing, you must understand the three phases of soul and mind upon themselves and upon each other. Then you must fully understand the relationship and interaction among the soul, the mind, and the body. You cannot understand yourself without some knowledge of these interrelationships.

All healing is based primarily upon the great principle of the spoken Word, or upon the third emanation, called the Logos or Word, the Holy Spirit, and the Son. This is true in every degree from highest to lowest, for example, in hypnotism. Hitler, as all those who are greedy for power, relied upon mass hypnotism through the cadence of his speech, to extract money and accumulate power from others. Every word spoken on radio or spoken and printed on TV, creates a mental image repeated and inflected to create a certain desire. The repetition of the verbal or visual image is what hypnotizes. It sounds diabolical and is evil when abused. Yet no healing is possible without using this principle, which is called the “power of suggestion.”

The most powerful expression of the power of suggestion ever used is, I AM THAT I AM. These words hold the entire Magna Carta, the framework of law for the universe. The most powerful of this principle you can make is to declare, “I AM loves you.” This expression is perfect when used for another in a completely non-interfering way. No personality may enter into it from either end of the line of Light, whether speaker or hearer, simply the words spoken from a higher state of consciousness. This requires the strict restraint of self.

What are the laws of restraint? “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” — Matthew 25:40. “If ye break one of the least of my commandments and teach men so, ye shall become the least in the kingdom.” — Matthew 5:19. So restraint is not force of will so much as it is compassion in action. The “least in the kingdom” is mindless because it, the appetitive soul, has made its way up out of many lives and myriad experiences. If you love God enough, you could not bring yourself to hurt anyone.

Eight stages lead to the final loss of intelligence in man. All such loss begins with giving away “a piece of your mind” until what mind you have left is filled with impressions, repressions, suppressions, complexes, illusions, delusions, hallucinations, and obsessions. Within these eight categories lie all limitations to be found in the subconscious mind.

1. Impression. An impression is a marked influence or effect on feeling, sense, or mind; an often indistinct or imprecise notion, or remembrance. The soul stores all impressions in the subconscious mind. Impressions may be pre- or post-natal, which the embodied soul registers during gestation or after birth into the body. The mother’s emotions and state of mind during pregnancy can powerfully impact the soul as it builds its body. The soul registers impressions throughout the life, and is usually unaware of their full effects.

Healing the subconscious mind of the urgings of appetitive soul is a must. You will be unable to heal yourself if anything negative is left in the subconscious. You must burn up the dross or the dross will burn out your body!

2. Repression is the psychological act of excluding impulses or desires from consciousness until the soul has no conscious recollection of it. Repression is caused by external events, and is a defense the soul uses to avoid painful experiences by repressing and negating them.

3. Suppression is the soul’s effective attempt to stop thinking about negative things, or to try to gain control over undesirable thoughts, ideas, and desires. Suppressions can result from fear, doubt, fear of being laughed at, or of being punished. Appetites and desires are the most common suppressions.

4. Complex. A complex is a group of related ideas with a strong common emotional tone. They usually operate at the subconscious level, significantly affect attitudes and behavior, and are at the core of many basic drives and conflicts. Complexes are usually born from one of three roots — envy, jealousy, and the desire to possess. A complex starts as just one fear, but piles on more fears until it covers the soul’s whole life.

5. Illusion falsely ascribes reality to what the soul sees or imagines. An illusion can deceive or mislead the soul intellectually, emotionally or spiritually. Illusion is a skewed perception that causes misinterpretation of its actual nature.

6. Delusion is the inability to distinguish between what is real and what only seems to be real, often as the result of a disordered state of mind. The greatest of all delusions is that of one’s own grandeur and greatness.

7. Hallucination consists of sensory impressions that are the product of disordered senses, such as mental illness or drugs. An hallucination is born of some fact that fear exaggerates. Hallucination can also spring from hatred and a desire for revenge.

8. Obsession is invasive continual thoughts, pictures, or urges that result in significant fear, or distress. The obsession holds all negative emotions, permits nothing else to enter, and is the final stage of no mind. This is the reason for the law, “Guard the portals of your mind.”

The conscious mind is not in itself the “thinker,” but is that phase of mind filling the atoms, molecules, and cells of the brain that the Oversoul uses for thinking. Oversoul also uses the soul faculties of logic, reason, discernment, discrimination, and discretion seated at the crown of the head, and it uses all other faculties from there.

All illness is projected up from the subconscious mind, which must be cleansed before you can fully ascend. How? The first step is “If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.” — John 14:14. Do you believe this? Make up your conscious mind backed by your super-conscious Oversoul. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” — Hebrews 11:1. You can have confidence in the fact that faith is the substance of life sparks for your healing and renewing. Faith is enough when you back it with the love of God — then you know what has to be healed and how to do it.

So, use powerful suggestions day and night until your perfect love of God lifts and casts out all fear. When lesser suggestions arise from the subconscious, just use higher suggestions to overcome, to conquer, to resurrect the little self, recondition the appetitive soul, and ascend. Sometimes healing is a process. Sometimes healing is an act. Form new habits! It’s as simple as that!

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What Is Healing? (b)

Edna Lister transcript; May 17, 1960, Cleveland, Ohio. Scribes: Ruth Johnson, Irene White, Virginia Whitehead.

What is healing? To some, healing pertains to the physical body only, to others, healing also applies to their affairs, and to a few, healing includes harmony of body, mind, and soul. So, we may consider healing in many aspects, all of which are true and equally important. Yet the seemingly varied aspects of healing, the ways in which people view healing, ultimately resolve into a single unity that we recognize as God, the Source of all Light and life. You must start at the Source to understand the true nature of healing and how it works out here in the world.

Before you can understand healing, you must first grasp the idea of fundamental principle, which is the absolute, unchangeable, undeviating, and immutable foundation upon which all universes are based and established. That absolute principle is the unitary ideal comprised of the truth, beauty, and goodness of the One God as All Light.

What is the depth, breadth, and height of your soul’s conviction regarding the immutability of God the One as divine principle? When your conception encompasses everything and reaches the Source of All Light, you will be able to say, “My conviction is unshakable because I know that all is One, and nothing can change God’s principle.”


“All is One, and nothing can change God’s principles.”


Write this on a card, repeat it until you memorize it, and live by it without hesitation or lapse. For this is your life’s foundation of truth—all is One, and nothing can change principle, certainly not man’s puny ego-centered will or his selfish desires, fractured and splintered as they are. Yet healing cannot coexist with the enslavement of bondage to self-rule. If self refuses to let the healing Light enter then it cannot. God rules healing, and to be healed, you must let God rule you—your desires, your thinking, and your imagination. Self has no power over you other than what you give it.

The essence of healing is the Light of God applied as divine love and Power, which is greater than any lesser mundane power that can be inverted or used as evil. Every would-be dictator or worldly ruler flourishes briefly, then fades because self seeks to rule in the place of God’s Light, which is impossible. If a tyrant or evil-doer refuses to be healed while in a body of flesh, he must be removed and his influence absorbed in Light. Pray for Light to permeate the world’s dictators so that the effects of everything they do shall be withdrawn, lifted from earth, and healed.

“I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.”—Psalm 37:35-37.

If enough Light moves through you, it will heal you, but the source of healing is founded in divine principle. When you arise in the morning, consciously breathe your rational soul into your body and let the River of Life flow through you. As it does, its Light heals you perfectly and makes you strong.

One of the basic truths of integrity is that healing is the direct result of being able to move from a lower to a higher rate of vibration of substance in form, and from a lower to a correspondingly higher state of consciousness. As members of the Elect, we have chosen God and He has chosen us to heal life itself of all phases of darkness, to satisfy Him. Your Father’s desire for you is all good, and His will for you is that you live in absolute perfection. “I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.”—Genesis 17:1. Have you gained that fine point of realization of this as eternal truth?


“Your Father’s desire for you is all good.”


Perfection is your natural estate. Anything short of perfection is a lesser creation, an unnatural state. Just an ordinary state is a circumstance or condition. An estate can be an inheritance. Your natural estate includes your heritage as a son or daughter of the Supreme Father. The prefixes, e- and ex-, indicate “out, away, out of” or “outside.” Perfection is the state of being of the Godhead, the Source. Your natural estate is to be as nearly like the Father, in the image and likeness of His supreme perfection, as is possible right now.

The greatest gift you can bring the Father is the perfect, unwavering consciousness that He wishes you to have all good things now, and to walk before Him in perfection. Then you can easily and steadily work toward creating all good for yourself and others through the one Mind, the one Substance, and the one Power of God. Daily He pours out this wealth as manna, as your daily bread, your sustenance and nourishment for growth in every dimension.

God the Father, God the Mother, and God the Son are relative personalized expressions of the One God of absolute principle. God is absolute principle first, foremost, and always. However, the religious mystics and metaphysicians have personalized God in order to better understand how we relate to Him and how we can apply His principles and laws to our own lives. This fulfills our need for a personality to whom we can relate.

Wisdom, Love, and the Logos are the absolute principles that later express as the supreme personalities of the Father, the Mother, and the Son in manifestation. They also become the supreme principles of Mind, Substance, and Power, the fundamental foundation principles of the manifest or physical universe. God is the essence of both principle and personality; this is not a duality but a statement of the unity of truth.

Knowing how principle differs from law is essential to healing. Principle governs, regulates, and controls the universe as created by the Supreme Father wielding supreme principles. He then derives laws from those principles to govern, regulate, and control the actions of individual creators. Laws vary in their degrees from the unqualified absolute to the uttermost qualified relative, and in their kinds of governance, named for the realm in which they operate. You are most familiar with the common physical laws, such as gravity, but you and your life are also ruled by laws of body, mind, and soul, emotions, thinking, morality, and ethics.


“All healing depends on how you apply principles and laws.”


All healing depends on how thoroughly you apply these principles and laws, which are the only tools or ingredients you have or need to use for all healing. Further, they are available in whatever phase you need: Mind to think and plan to reach your goal, Power to direct and control your plan to success, and Substance to become form according to the blueprint you create with the flame of your desire. Let these verses, which are spiritual laws, form the basis of your understanding of the laws of mind for healing:

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”—Philippians 2:5.

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”—Philippians 4:13.

“Your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”—1 Corinthians 2:5.

“The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.”—1 Corinthians 2:14-16.

The Principles of Expansion and Contraction. You can learn to discern the truth of healing in all its phases. Start with this truth: In all the universes, you can do only two things to universal substance—you can either raise or lower its rate of vibration. Thus, substance is amenable to only these two laws, which you can and must apply in both the physical and metaphysical realms of being. The law of expansion permits you to raise the rate of vibration of substance, physical or spiritual, and substance expands. The law of contraction permits you to lower the rate of vibration to contract or condense substance. These two laws are completely scientific in their nature and no one may alter or change them to suit any individual opinion or whim.

Expansion and contraction begin as absolute universal principles, inevitable and invariable in their action. You cannot change universal substance, but you can lower its rate of vibration to condense it, or raise its rate of vibration to expand it. Therefore, you can see that any physical illness is due to the metaphysical operation of the law of contraction, lowering the rate of vibration and crystallizing substance. A low, condensed rate of vibration in substance or consciousness results in crystallization and finally illness. A raised, expanded rate of vibration results in good health.


“A raised, expanded rate of vibration results in good health.”


These facts dictate that physical healing is simply a matter of inflating the atomic mental body with more Light, more Power, and more soul substance by using the metaphysical heat of joy consciousness. A natural illustration of this principle is raising the temperature of ice to steam. All substance expresses some degree of consciousness, from merely recording experiences to the highest logical functioning. Physically, ice and steam are both water, the same substance in different states of unconsciousness, in different phases of being or expression, in different rates of vibration The following statements express this concept in Mind at various levels:

The scientist would say, “Principle manifests as different rates of vibration.”

The metaphysician would say, “Principle manifests as different states of consciousness.”

The philosopher would say, “Principle manifests as different phases of being or expression.”

The pure white Light of the Christ is the high, positive pole of healing action. The white heat of joy is the one Mind, Substance, and Power as the River of Life flowing throughout creation. To precipitate the white Light of the Christ from its highest inner to its lowest outer activity, you must lower its rate of vibration to condense substance into visible form. When you lower substance’s rate of vibration to its lowest outer form, it becomes “ice,” some hardening or sclerosis in the physical body. Crystallization into solid ice is the opposite, negative pole of healing action. Though hard and lifeless, ice is still composed of Mind, Substance, and Power, the ingredients that underlie all creation. The healing alternative then is raising the lowest rate of vibration and expanding substance until it becomes invisible to the physical eye.

This is the basis for all healing: The white Light of the Christ can always melt anything reduced to a state of crystallized ice, and can, by raising the rate of vibration, cause it to vibrate and throb with the fullness of life. Expansion overcoming contraction—on so simple a basis does the concept of healing rest. Intellect cannot alter this truth, but you can apply it to all outer conditions and circumstances.


“The white Light of the Christ can always melt anything.”


You can err and lower substance’s rate of vibration two ways, by wrong, intellectually negative thinking and planning, or by letting the negative “little self” of appetitive soul direct and control your thoughts. You can contract and condense substance’s state of being until it reaches the “ice” stage, expressing as a complete paralysis of mind, body, or affairs. Conversely, you can thaw substance reduced to ice and recreate it into a perfect physical body or organ. All it takes is positive right thinking and planning while the appetitive soul serves the rational soul as it does the positive, right directing and controlling. Thus, you may revitalize and quicken your affairs into renewed life.

God is everywhere evenly present and available in all His parts, qualities, potentialities, attributes, and substance. Substance is the primordial essence of Light as the life sparks of which all things are made. If God is everywhere evenly present and available in all His perfect substance, how can you have an illness, a malformation or a malignant growth? No ice state of substance in outer form, or state of consciousness is too crystallized to be hopeless. God has given substance the power to become. God has given the living soul the power of conscious direction and control.

The soul’s phases of the mind that was in Christ Jesus. All healing springs from the desire to be whole. Man, in desiring to be healed, must first and always apply his mind to think and plan for the perfect result in every department of life. Every living soul has three phases of the one divine Mind. Psychology calls them the subconscious, conscious and super-conscious aspects of mind. The subconscious mind is the most primitive, animal-like level of instinctive desire and intelligence. The urges of eating, sleeping, and procreating rule it.

The conscious mind begins with the creature state of conscious desire and conscious intelligence. Conscious mind is not a creative thinker, although memory and comparison are among its functions. It is the evolving creature mind, which soul develops into true rational intelligence by gaining experience over time.

The super-conscious mind is the creative mind that has never been touched by matter. It is divine Wisdom as intelligence and divine Love as desire expressing as the Christed I AM consciousness of the Oversoul. Super-conscious mind functions as the faculties of apperception, intuition, and illumination. Mind is a functioning aspect of the soul.

Man is also three phases of soul expressing as personality, the synthesis of emotional experience with unfolded, developed intellect. Appetitive soul refers to what you express as plausible instinctive intelligence and instinctive desire. Appetitive soul has evolved upward from many lives and myriad experiences. It uses physical cells and desire body molecules as its vehicle.

The rational soul correlates the conscious choices of intellectual intelligence and of personality, which you exercise through your mental faculties. The rational soul uses the desire body molecules and mental body atoms as its vehicle. Notice the overlap on either side of the rational soul’s function: appetitive soul can influence the rational soul’s function in a regressive way as a contraction in consciousness. Conversely, the Oversoul can affect the rational soul’s function in an expansive and progressive way as an ascension of consciousness.

The Oversoul expresses the Love and the Wisdom principles as the soul qualities of intuition and illumination, which are also soul faculties. Oversoul uses mental body atoms for comprehension and creative thinking, applying all mental faculties, including logic, reason, discernment, discrimination, and discretion, which function from the frontal lobes of the brain.

By accomplishing the highest degrees of soul conquering of self, you may earn a fourth phase of soul, known as the Supreme Oversoul, but only under the Christos Degree. When you ascend to the Supreme Oversoul, it expresses through you as apperception, or cosmic consciousness, which we also call Christed consciousness, the mind that was in Christ Jesus.

The psychosomatic dimension of healing. Psychosomatic is a term fabricated in the 19th Century from two Greek words, psyche or soul, and soma, or body; its meaning has shifted since then to describe the interaction of mind and body. So the world defines psychosomatic as “of, relating to, concerned with, or involving both mind and body; of, relating to, involving, or concerned with bodily symptoms caused by mental or emotional disturbance.” In the psychosomatic realm of study you learn the action, reaction, and interaction of the phases of mind, and the relationship between the soul as mind and the body. You cannot understand yourself without some knowledge of these dimensions of consciousness. Unless you understand yourself, you cannot heal yourself or help anyone else to find healing.


“You must speak the Word for healing to occur.”


A pioneering Mystic bases all healing primarily on the great principle of the spoken Word, the third emanation, the Holy Spirit, the Son. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”—John 1:1. No healing can occur without the use of this principle of the spoken Word, which includes hypnotism and the power of suggestion. On the lowest level, the power of suggestion includes mass hypnotism as propaganda slogans, and mantras of evil such as “Heil Hitler.” Hitler, as all those who are greedy for power, relied upon mass hypnotism to extract money and obedience from the population. The constant synchronized parades and goose-step marching were all adjuncts to hypnotism.

You may make suggestions for healing, but only with no hint of personality entering the spoken Word vibration. Suggestions are words spoken as Light from a high state of consciousness. The power of suggestion includes hypnotism, which in its purest form is good. Every word printed or spoken, whether in person, on television or radio, forms a picture that creates desire for the good. When good words are repeated, they hypnotize the self to follow only the Light, and to listen only to the soul’s dictates.

Speak the Word! Declare, “This is good. I am loves you into perfect strength! You are healed!” Such declarations as these are the most positive applications of the power of suggestion, which is perfect expression when it is completely impersonal and not interfering. We who walk the Via Christa practice dynamic nonresistance, which requires restraint. The laws of restraint are familiar to us all: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”— atthew 25:40. If you love God enough, you would not consider hurting anyone.

Healing Your Mind

“Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. —Matthew 5:19. The “least in the kingdom” is mindless. Consciousness regresses through eight stages before it loses intelligence. Within these stages lay all subconscious fears and limitations. Remember this law of mind: You can give away a “piece of your mind” until nothing remains but impressions, repressions, suppressions, complexes, illusions, delusions, hallucinations and obsessions.

An impression is “the effect which objects produce on the mind.” Thus we say, the truths of the gospel make an impression on the mind; they make no impression or a deep and lasting impression. The heart is impressed with love or gratitude. We lie open to the impressions of flattery. An impression is an image in the mind, a vague idea, a slight, indistinct remembrance, consciousness, or belief. Impressions, prenatal and postnatal, are the results of influences passively received on the senses or mind. You can have an impression of what you think the other fellow means by his tone of voice, facial expression, and posture. Examine your impressions carefully and in the clear light of day to determine whether they are valid, false, or a mere association lacking substance.

Repression is “the act of subduing; a check; restraint.” Repression is the use of force, the mechanism by which you restrict and control feelings, ideas, impulses, etc. By controlling emotional reactions and burying them from the conscious mind, you cause the feeling you are repressing to grow in the darkness of the unconscious. Repression especially applies to relationships where you fear expressing your feelings, thus burying fear, resentment, hatred, and similar psychic states.

Suppression is “the act of suppressing, crushing or destroying; the act of retaining from utterance, vent or disclosure; concealment; as the suppression of truth.” Suppression is the mechanism by which you seek to control what you or society considers to be unacceptable ideas or impulses. Suppression is much more forceful control or keeping secret your personal appetites and desires, caused by doubt or fear of being laughed at, or of being punished. Suppression leads to addiction to the thing you fear. All addictions are aimed at banishing the fear and conflict.

A complex is “composed of two or more parts or things; composite; assemblage; collection; complication. A complex is a group of interrelated ideas that form, or are viewed as forming, a single whole; an integration of impulses, ideas, and emotions related to a particular object, activity, etc., largely unconscious, but strongly influencing the individual’s attitudes and behavior.” Complexes are born of self-pity arising from envy, jealousy or the desire to possess. A complex multiplies fear until fear becomes the individual’s response to life.

Illusion is defined as “a deceptive appearance; a false show, by which a person is or may be deceived, or his expectations disappointed; mockery.” An illusion is a false idea or belief, something that appears to exist or be a particular thing but does not actually exist or is in reality something else; a belief or opinion not in accord with the facts; an unreal, deceptive, or misleading appearance or image; a false perception, conception, or interpretation of what one sees, where one is, etc.; the misleading image resulting in such a false impression. Illusions are usually misapprehensions involving the spoken Word. More subtle is the illusion born of being unable to discern a particular phase of truth at all.

Delusion is defined as “the act of deluding; deception; a misleading of the mind; false representation; illusion; error or mistake proceeding from false views.” A delusion begins as a false, persistent belief maintained in spite of evidence to the contrary, ranging to a belief held in the face of evidence to the contrary, that is resistant to all reason. Delusions are self-deceptions, the heaviest of which are delusions of grandeur and greatness where you deceive yourself into believing everything you hear, whether flattery or criticism, applies to you.

An hallucination is “the experience of seeing something that is not really there because you are ill or have taken a drug; the apparent perception of sights, sounds, etc., that are not actually present, which may occur in certain mental disorders.” Hallucinations, while generally regarded as seeing or hearing what is not there, are born of some fact that is then exaggerated out of proportion by a concatenation of fears, hatreds, revenge motives, and all manners of underlying emotional distortions that end in psychoses.

Obsession is “the act of besieging; the first attack of an evil spirit antecedent to possession.” Obsession is the fact or state of being obsessed with a persistent idea, desire, or emotion, especially one that cannot be gotten rid of by reasoning. Such a persistent idea or impulse that continually forces its way into consciousness is often associated with anxiety and mental illness; as the act of an evil spirit in possessing or ruling a person. A state of obsession holds all negative emotions, where nothing else enters. It is the door to the final stage of no mind. Obsessions include manias and phobias.

Mania is “the excitement manifested by mental and physical hyperactivity, disorganization of behavior, and elevation of mood: the manic phase of bipolar disorder; excessive or unreasonable enthusiasm.”

Phobia is “an exaggerated, usually inexplicable and illogical fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation; exaggerated fear of or intolerance or aversion for.”

How to cleanse your subconscious mind. Your self projects all illness from the subconscious mind, which is the garbage dump of buried feelings, emotions, thoughts, ideas and every negative reaction you have ever experienced then pushed away. You must cleanse the subconscious level of mind because not only do these old fears project themselves into the conscious mind, they will eventually burn out the body if you ignore their symptoms.

How do you cleanse the subconscious mind? The first step is to “Ask anything in my name.” Do you believe this? Make up your conscious mind, backed by your super-conscious mind, and Oversoul. “In the name of Jesus the Christ, I AM now cleanses me as Light. This is good. Let there be Light.”


“Faith is the pipeline for healing Light.”


What determines who is healed? The soul’s faith. “Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.”—Matthew 9:29. The soul who can respond to that appeal can seek God in devotion and faith. Believe in God as personality and as your faith. Your soul confidence must be born of faith, which is the substance of life sparks for healing and renewing. Faith is enough when backed by the Love of God and your confidence about what must be healed and how to do it. Eventually, you shall hear, “According to your faith, let it be done to you.”

Unconsciously you can slip into old patterns. The noblest thoughts can run along the surface while the subconscious runs on a subway of its own fears, using imagination for its picture-building, which proves that you can live on two levels at once. Be like a ship’s captain: He usually stays in the pilot house but he also must inspect the hold and cargo. He still carries on at the bridge, either by locking the wheel in place or by placing a responsible officer in charge. Lock the wheel of your ship to the Love of God. The officer in charge is your faith of God steering while you inspect the ship’s hold.

Usually healing is a process, and sometimes healing is an instantaneous act. You must form new habits—it’s as simple as that. You must recondition your appetitive soul. The treatment is sublimation. When lesser suggestions arise from the subconscious, just use these higher suggestions to redirect your consciousness—“I am conquering self. I am overcoming all obstacles of self. I am resurrecting the little self.” Use powerful suggestions day and night until your perfect Love of God lifts you and casts out all fear!

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What Is a Miracle? (c)

Edna Lister outline; May 24, 1960, Cleveland, Ohio.

When man’s greatest need-to-have reaches up and meets or touches God’s desire-to-give, the result is a miracle. When man’s prayer reaches a point of fervency high enough to reach through to the Source, it calls a great bomb of Light, equal to the need, down from the Source. When you pray and ask in Jesus’ name, your request becomes a spiritual bearer bond or sight draft, payable on demand—“If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.”—John 14:14.

The fervency of the prayer also determines the size of the lighter needed to ignite the bomb of Light, and creates the fuse from the bomb to the need. The Light, as Power and Substance, rides down the fuse of Light to change, to transform, to lower into visibility the perfect miracle to meet the need for healing, whatever the sight-draft has been! This bomb of Light contains all the ingredients to start into action the “cells” in a body, a business, a government, anything.


“All prayer produces a miracle.”


Any spot devoid of God’s life, when filled instantly by the faith of God, is a miracle. A miracle is the difference between speed and delay, fast or slow. A speedy miracle is an act, a speeding up of time to “right now.” A slow miracle is a process. All prayer produces a miracle. A low vibration results in a slow process. A high vibration results in a speedy miracle. The elapsed time between the prayer and the explosion is determined by the prayer’s rate of vibration. Fervent prayer is a high, fast rate of vibration, but a cool prayer is a low, slow rate of vibration.

Your outer physical sheath is composed of cells. The desire body consists of molecules. The mental body is composed of atoms. The spiritual fire body is made of electrons. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”—Hebrews 11:1. The substance of faith is the life spark, the finest grade of substance. In a miracle as an act, the substance of faith reaches the outer instantaneously. When the miracle is a process, the substance of faith slowly penetrates through each of the soul’s bodies or sheaths.

The Oxford English Dictionary includes among its definitions for a miracle, “a remarkable specimen of impudence.” Impudence, like presumptuous, implies boldness: “I dare to step out on faith because my soul has that vision.” Thus, you can say that a miracle is “a remarkable act of daring to ‘believe to see’,” and step out on the pure faith of God. And this is the greatest gift man can bring to the altars of God. You can achieve this degree of faith only through prayer of deep devotion. A prayer of devotion is the essence of two things: Surrender of self, which is a preparation for prayer, and forgiveness for others, which must be the opening quality of your prayer.

The four stages of forgiveness. All prayer must be based on forgiveness, but forgiveness has four stages: First is forgiveness of self. Self objects at first, saying, “Father, I know not what I do, but don’t tell me yet! I can’t bear to know now. Let me hide a little bit longer.” Some souls slide too far along the downgrade and can’t climb back up without help. They will not seek help or allow help. “I must do this all alone. I must work this out by myself, on my own.” Their prayers are in between hot and cold, spewably lukewarm. Here you may dream of going down an endless stairway whose steps are shaped like piano wires.

At the second stage of forgiveness, the soul says, “Father, I’ll forgive him, but he’d better not do it again! He’d better leave me alone, otherwise I’ll tell him off!” Prayers are a bit warmer here because the self is almost ready to surrender to soul.

In the third stage of forgiveness, the soul says, “Father, You forgive them.” At last! self seriously considers letting God in. Prayers are gaining in fervency! This stage ends when self surrenders fully.

Finally, in the fourth stage of surrender, the soul says, “Father, forgive me lest I cause my brother to stumble.” When the full faith of God moves in to possess you, you waste no more time in self-gratification, self-indulgence, or self-satisfaction. You stop spending lives going up and down the “sawdust trail,” being “lost” and being “saved.” Instead you repent as you climb the stairway of life’s tests and trials, knowing they mirror the great circular staircase of initiation, which by climbing you earn the degree of “By their fruits ye shall know them.”

From a self-centered humility and meekness, which anchors your soul to earth, you ascend to the humility and meekness of spirit, which anchors you to the Source. Thus, you become a rock of faith upon which God can build a citadel of strength. Humility and devotion of heart are the only points of breakthrough to awaken the sleeping giant within. Then you become the full servant of God who closes the mouths of lions, knowing that Light will melt, absorb, and change any condition. You act, but without demanding anything. Instead you speak the Word to make decrees of faith, thinking, picturing, and letting to create form from the invisible!

Faith is your only conducting rod to carry your prayers to the Source. Your soul’s fervor determines the strength and height that you can reach! The stronger your faith, the longer your conduction rod. The higher your prayers reach, the greater the bomb of light released, the speedier the results, the more wonderful the miracle.

The Elect are never rebuked, reprimanded, or chastened—we are just given opportunities to make God our most precious gifts of self while learning courtly expressions and attitudes from heavenly sources.

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What Is a Miracle? (d)

Edna Lister transcript; May 24, 1960, Cleveland, Ohio. Scribes: Ruth Johnson, Irene White, Virginia Whitehead.

What is a miracle? When you have asked the right question, you are in sight of the answer. When you are ready and have extended your consciousness high enough, you do receive the answer to prayer. However, you cannot get to the truth of this without being in balance. Paul Tillich said that you cannot understand a miracle from a horizontal position. When man’s greatest need to have reaches up and touches or meets God’s greatest desire to give, the result is a miracle. Life itself is God’s desire to give, and to express is why you are here.

When all your outer efforts and assistance have failed, ascend high enough to reach the Source of Power that gives the miracle. You could say all prayer reaches up to open the way! What is a healing? A high vibration of expanded substance. What is illness or financial trouble? A low vibration of condensed substance. Under a high vibration of expanded substance, you have a healing.

When man’s prayer reaches a point of fervency high enough to reach through to the Source, it calls down from the great Source a bomb of Light equal to the fervency of the need. Every need you put into prayer is a sight draft upon the Power.

Daniel_Lions_Den_Riviere

Daniel in the Lions’ Den
Briton Rivière, 1872

“Daniel was not lion-conscious when he prayed.”

Picture Daniel in the lions’ den. Daniel was talking to God, conscious of nothing else in his heart or mind. Daniel was not lion-conscious when he prayed, so the Light was great enough to scare the lions. Your prayer must go above earth and your needs. Think of God, not your need. God causes your fervency. If you have a thought of need, or if you picture a need, you adulterate your prayer.

When your fervency and love of God are great enough, they reach the Source and you have the same results as Daniel. The difference between him and you is that he pulled away from the need. This is overcoming the gravity of need. If you still feel the pull of the need, you are still earthbound. Those who do not overcome earth’s gravity remain skull bumpers and ceiling bumpers in prayer.

When this bomb of Light, equivalent to a sight draft, touches the substance of prayer, it forms a mold that is filled with God’s substance. Prayer that goes high enough to reach the Source, is the lighter for an explosion. Prayer is the builder of molds, and the carrier of your faith.

The minute the Light of God enters in, your prayer is answered. Your mold becomes visible at the end of a path of Light, Power, and Substance. Your prayer-mold will be filled as you ascend in joy to the Source. This bomb of Light contains all the ingredients to start into action the cells of the body or activity in the affairs.

The absence of healing comes from a spot devoid of God’s full life. A miracle is natural law speeded up so that any void is filled instantly with the faith of God. You must set aside time and space to have a miracle. Only by the faith of God, in its completeness of fervency, can you reach into the timeless, spaceless faith of the Source. A miracle is the difference between speed and delay. A miracle speeds a process into a completed act.

Don’t make a production of entering the Silence. Move up! Love God enough! Act up! Mere process attracts events and thoughts to distract you and keep your consciousness under your skull. The act of a miracle is to say. “Father, move in! Here I am! I love You!” and to ride on out to the Source in your soul’s exaltation.

All your life you have been using words to enter the Silence. They have records of all our lengthy prayers in the Hall of Records, prayers we have to listen to over there. You can release enough love by helping others to erase those records. You don’t need a process of words to take you back to God. Just go in love and kneel at His feet. Praise God in all you do on three levels at once. Go about your business and tell God you are always looking and listening, waiting for the next miracle.

When you ask for a miracle, pray and thank the Father for its fulfillment in His way and in His time. Process will result in a miracle, but it is slow. Some miracles are speedy, some are slow according to the fervency with which you ask. Process is a low vibration. Action is a high vibration that sets aside time and space. The elapsed time between prayer and the explosion of Light is determined by the rate of vibration of the prayer, low or high.

A slow miracle is a process. A slow miracle for the body on earth means your prayer fervency has not yet reached the point of an explosion. The fervency of prayer determines the speed with which it produces results. The action within a physical body is the same under a slow process or speedy miracle.

The outer physical sheath is composed of cells, the desire body of molecules, the mental body of atoms, and the spiritual body of electrons. Beyond that are the life sparks. All detriments of the subconscious manifest in the desire body. All your power and glories manifest in the mental body. The highest vehicle is the fire body, composed of electrons. When the explosion of Light takes place it sends enough Power down to inflate the mental and desire bodies.

A million tiny sight drafts to the Father mean a million small prayers that finally fill the fire body and may stay there. When it seeps through into the mental body, you feel a little better. When it touches the desire body, you add fervency to the prayer, but you still have to see to believe. A miracle is instantaneous, the opposite of this. The substance of faith is the life sparks. The finest grade of life spark substance does the healing.

All healing of the physical depends upon the inflation of the atomic body through praise and the three higher breaths. To step out on faith is an act of daring. Presumption is to dare to step out on faith based in soul vision. A miracle is a remarkable act of daring to believe to see and to step out on the pure faith of God. The Oxford English Dictionary notes that a miracle is a “remarkable specimen of impudence.” God will not be mocked, but He loves it when you dare. You must be taken out of the class of fear to dare to be impudent enough for a miracle.

Faith is the greatest gift man can bring to the altars of God, and you can achieve that degree of faith only through prayers of devotion. A prayer of devotion is the essence of two things, surrender and forgiveness. You cannot pray to the Source without using surrender and forgiveness, and their depth depends upon your fervency. You must give love enough to cover every debt you have charged to others.

Surrender is how you prepare for prayer. Forgiveness of others must be your prayer’s opening quality. You become selfless through surrender to become a servant of all the Power. The quality of your prayer depends upon whether you are willing to forgive enough to forget your enemies. When you think of your enemies, it is a process. You are under process when you think of negative things to pour love upon. But to surrender, to give love for, to forget—such soul consciousness precipitates the explosion of Light.

You need to master the four stages of forgiveness to prepare for a miracle: The first stage is forgiveness of self, and getting rid of self-blame. “Father, I know not what I do, but don’t tell me.” This is the “I’ll try” stage. “Let me hide a little longer. No, I won’t ask for help. I must work this out alone.” Here you may dream of going down a long stairway with an abyss below. You climb on the composite vibration of the quality of prayer at a Sunday service, Bible study, or prayer meeting.

The second stage is forgiveness of others. “Father, I’ll forgive him, but he’d better not do it again.” Prayers are warmer here because they bring in forgiveness and the need to forgive. This is the stage of beginning to give love for, and the resentment is coming to the surface to be skimmed off. Here you are getting warmer, to the point of surrender.

The third stage of forgiveness is “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing to me”—or it may be to their mother, son, etc. Here your prayer is gaining in fervor, but you sometimes have to call upon help or you may retrogress.

The fourth stage of forgiveness is the full surrender of self, and quality of having forgiveness. “Father, forgive me, lest I cause my brother to stumble.” Here you know and faith possesses you.

Going through these four stages is a series of small acts until you reach the stage Job had when he said, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.”—Job 13:15. There is no way-station for self-gratification or self-satisfaction. From self you move into humility and meekness of Spirit, which anchors you to heaven, and you become a citadel on earth, a sleeping giant that can burst forth into life.

You may not demand anything after you make a decree of faith that you are ready to be promoted, find a new position, or have a miracle. Think, picture, and let! Ask once, then think about and picture it while you let your prayer mold fill. Faith is the only conducting rod to the Source for prayers. Your fervor determines the height you will reach. The stronger your faith, the longer your conducting rod. The higher your prayers reach, the greater the bomb of Light released, the speedier the results, the more wonderful the miracle.

Remember, the Elect are never rebuked, reprimanded, or chastened. They are just given opportunities to make to God their most precious gifts of self. They are given the opportunity of learning courtly expressions and courtly attitudes from heavenly Sources.

Ask yourself, “How much time have I given to moving up to God since last Ascension Day?” Salvation is free. You can ride through the Gates by believing in Jesus the Christ but you will open no more new brain cells, and this will require more incarnations to do so.

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How Do I Help Myself? (a)

Edna Lister lecture outline; May 31, 1960, Cleveland, Ohio.

An outline of God as principle begins with the absolute emanations becoming fundamental principles, primary and secondary laws, and finally, five categories of expression familiar to us all: psychology, metaphysics, science, philosophy, and mysticism. Fundamental principles and laws are absolute and abstract. Secondary laws are concrete and relative.

Emanations are the Mind of God, thinking and planning how to fill a Sphere great enough to hold all the universes for one great Day of Manifestation. The Mind of God uses fundamental principles, absolute and abstract, to govern, control, and supply substance for a whole Day of Manifestation.

The thinking and planning took as long a time as the great Day in duration. God had to know where and how to send us forth and then get us back within a certain planned time. He had to plan a supply train from the Source for Creation, and the method for how to keep substance cleansed and purified to be reused infinitely.

Certain primary laws regulate all Power going into action as energy in the creation of form. Primary laws are the earliest original principles, the first rank in any series of laws designed to regulate Power, to turn it on or off. All laws of being branch from these absolute and abstract primary laws.

Secondary laws, which are concrete and relative, apply to visible and material forms and embodied souls. They are laws of doing, modified from absolute fundamental principles to govern the expression of conscious intelligences, and to suit their times and states of growth.

How do I help myself? Blind faith is out! We must know in this Christed Age and must understand in order to help ourselves intelligently. Everyone is weary, and so tired of blundering in the dark—we want to know. To help ourselves, we must have an understanding of the five categories of expression that govern how man relates to God.

Psychology deals with man’s relationship to God and to his fellow man. Metaphysics deals with the study of the mind, substance and power that are forever changing and becoming.

Science deals with gaining knowledge of absolute principles and laws directly. Absolute and abstract principles and laws cannot be modified, but scientists learn more by measuring them and proving how they work scientifically. The scientific method is to observe, question, form a hypothesis, predict the result, test the prediction, and to reproduce the results.

Philosophy is the love of wisdom, and philosophers seek to gain greater knowledge of the ultimate Reality behind all things through the study of principles, absolute and abstract.

Mysticism explores the Mind of God as the personalization of the Godhead, and as relative personality—the personalities directing and maintaining order throughout the universe. Principle as Wisdom can think and plan, but must order, control, and nourish as personality, which also sends substance to where it is needed.

What are mysteries? Today’s wonder drugs, atom bomb, jet engines, and 1,001 mechanical marvels were mysteries before they were discovered or invented. Everything unknown is still a mystery, but is no longer a mystery when known. All mysteries are contained in the personality of God. The mysteries were in God’s Mind when He planned Creation in the beginning. When God’s Mind, expressing as man, unfolds the ideas behind the mysteries they are no longer mysteries. You can unfold all mysteries by knowing and applying the laws of God with scientific exactness.

Mysticism deals with God as personality. Philosophy deals with God as principle. Science is the hub of the wheel, and deals only with the realm of form. Scientists recombine various forms of substance to create different forms. Metaphysics deals with the expression of substance in form, e.g. your body. We use metaphysics to modify principle into secondary laws, and to apply those laws to daily living in a practical way. Psychology was originally the philosophical study of the soul, but has become the science of dividing the embodied soul (as the mind and personality of God) into parts or phases for the purpose of analysis to aid us in understanding both God and man.

Academic psychology is the heir to Plato’s Academy, and deals with the absolute and abstract primary laws to discover man’s relationship to the Source. Practical psychology deals with the concrete and relative secondary laws governing substance as soul that is visible as form, to discover man’s relationship to man, and how to coordinate and integrate the soul and the self in a perfect relationship among man’s various phases of being.

Eventually, all souls must work under three great unmodified principles to apply secondary laws in their lives.  

Equilibrium

Harmony  Balance

Equilibrium, harmony, and balance coordinate your mind, emotions and imagination as perfect knowing, which is a blend of spiritual seeing and hearing. This blend, called “knowing,” in turn creates a perfect physical coordination of nerves and muscles with spiritual seeing and hearing. Physical coordination depends on how your nerves and muscles respond to your eyes and ears—this is the Light as Power doing the work.

The Power doing the work is the combination of equilibrium, harmony, and balance coordinated in the embodied soul. When the embodied soul slips from his “high place” he first closes out the harmony, then equilibrium, the highest balance, and finally, balance. The soul must bring all these parts into their proper relationships for coordination, which is under number.

The fundamental principles we are dealing with here are Light, color, tone as the Word, number, and form, which is called by its name. Unless you have coordination under these principles, your form (body) is off! Harmony is under Love and relates to the color principle. Equilibrium is under Wisdom and relates to tone. Balance is under Power, relates to number, and influences your vital energy.

What ails man? After coordinating perfectly under these principles, he lets his doubts and fears—“How did I do that?” “Can I do it again?”—demote him from the soul level to the earth level. He closes door on the three higher degrees of breath named love, wisdom, and power as energy. The whole process of maintaining your personal equilibrium, harmony, and balance is learning to “Let go and let God.” Let the Light do the work as Power. Apply all secondary laws through surrender of self. Become what you are doing; be absorbed in it without thinking or trying, and never descend in consciousness!

How do you descend in consciousness? The conscious mind learns about the subconscious being full of past memories and impressions. The conscious mind accepts law, makes a stand and declares a complete cleansing. It feels good, just perfect. Then comes a test and you flop! Your reaction is “This must be my old subconscious, not me!” So you make the subconscious the scapegoat and soon blame it for all is your laziness and indifference. Then you say, “Why does God let this happen to me?” Next you expect God to come down and do the work for you! Some even think that they are lifting the world’s debts! Never descend in consciousness! Don’t even question this proposition. How do you not steal? You just don’t!

As you lift appetitive soul, it begins trying to rule from the old seat of will between the eyes. If you continue blaming it, it drops back to the solar plexus in the Land of Egypt. On the way down, it rules from the pons at the top of the spinal column, which causes intense pain at the base of the skull and behind the eyes. The eyes are always affected when you are blaming, escaping responsibility, or using appetitive soul as the scapegoat. A film, created by years of escaping and blaming, can cloud your eyes. Pain around head, like a crown of thorns, indicates the appetitive soul is unhappy and getting ready to descend to Egypt.

The treatment to help yourself to stay up is to stand straight with your abdominal muscles pulled in, and to use your arms to scoop out and up! Say, “Here I am Father! Please lift this Father. This is so good. Clean it up forever. Move in Father! Possess me as Thine. Take all of me up. Lift me up. Hold me up. Use all of me, heart, mind, soul and body in Thy service.”

The Father moves the Light-as-Power in, a little at a time, as much as the cells can take, as fast as possible. The higher the Power you’ve been releasing, the greater the danger in a drop. You must be o’ershadowed! Praise is self-help! Praise is a treatment! Spiritual health is the rhythmical acceleration of the vibration of the atomic structure of the cells of your body, in perfect coordination with the Power, in love and law.

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How Do I Help Myself? (b)

Edna Lister lecture transcript; May 31, 1960, Cleveland, Ohio. Scribes: Ruth Johnson, Lotus Landis, Irene White, Ross Whitehead, Virginia Whitehead.

The fervency of your prayer determines the quantity and quality of your miracles. The higher you go, the more tests you will face. If you always love God fervently, you need no tests because you would not let go. So, if you are still being tested, you have not yet reached that high point of freedom.

You must know how to help yourself, and to do so you must begin at the Source of All Light. The Emanations, absolute Wisdom, Love, and the Logos of Power, form three fundamental principles, Mind, Substance, and Power. Fundamental principle is the unchangeable controlling Power of God in action. From such absolute fundamental principles we derive all primary laws, which we then modify into many relative laws. We apply principles and laws either in an instantaneous act of surrender or through a process of increasing devotion.

You, as a creator, must take three steps before anything can come into being. First, you must desire to create. Then you must plan your creation from beginning to end. Finally you must direct and control all your powers and abilities toward the execution of your plan.

In the beginning, God the abstract absolute, desired to create. Before the Emanations, the Mind of God thought and planned a Source sphere immense enough to hold all universes for a great Day of Manifestation. To plan a universe, metaphysically, you postulate a dot, expand it through plane and solid geometry to three-dimensional form, then into four-dimensional expression.

The Emanations are three great waves of Wisdom, Love, and Power sent from the Source to the ends of the universe and back to the Source, unceasingly. Wisdom is the thinking, planning Mind of God that establishes the molds for Creation. Love is God as substance, nourishing and sustaining all the molds that Mind creates. Power activates the plans of Mind and fills the molds with substance. The Emanations contain God’s Divine Plan of Creation for the universes to grow, to mature, and to be enfolded in a Night of Rest and Assimilation. The Plan of Creation included our body-forms, made in the perfect image and likeness of God’s design for us.

God’s first aspect is the principle of Wisdom, the sovereign Mind of God. Mind is a fundamental principle, abstract and absolute as omniscience. The thinking and planning stage of Creation lasts as long as does a great Day of Manifestation, mystically said to be 49 x 49 x 42 billion years. The Book of Genesis speaks of six days of creation, and we are in the seventh. God had to think and plan time so the universes would unfold properly. He had to plan space to determine how much universal substance He would require to fill the postulated universe. Thus, the metaphysical dot expands into a time-space sphere filled with all the substance required for subsequent manifestation.

Mind planned the governing and controlling body of principles for supplying the substance of which God forms all things. How much substance do you need to fill a mold without causing it to burst? God had to know how to send and retrieve us within a planned time. God made it impossible to lose even one life spark. He did not guarantee that individual identity would return, but the life sparks would. He had to plan a supply train of substance from the Source for Creation and a way to cleanse, purify and reuse that substance.

All primary laws deal with government and control, and are thus the controlling and governing power of God in action as fundamental principle. Primary laws are laws of being. They regulate all Power acting as energy and all substance for physical creation. Among the original series of primary laws was the protective mechanism for regulating Power, turning it on and off, the laws of expansion and contraction. God must regulate energy as the active kinetic phase of potential Power. Thus, to be able to turn heat on and off is protective.

This regulating principle works in your life, too. When you experience the highest form of bliss, then misuse soul substance in the tiniest slip—Oversoul withdraws, and you wonder where God went. Why did Oversoul withdraw? Because you could not endure the degree of Power. Its high rate of vibration would burst the atoms of your physical heart. Misuse of soul substance is due to inner conflict, a contest between subconscious and conscious mind that causes heart trouble. The Power inherent in the Oversoul could burst the heart center of the soul in conflict with the self.

How is the Power of the Oversoul regulated and controlled? If your body cannot take the full Power of the Oversoul, your Guards “cone” you with a barrier of Light before you go to sleep, which regulates Power for your protection. I AM THAT I AM is the great principle that descends Light direct from the Source into solid, concrete, relative form. I AM is Oversoul’s name and THAT is from the Source direct. It grows until you become a shaft of Light-as-Power from the Source itself and become relative I AM, like unto the Source.

Secondary laws deal with expression, doing, and action. They apply to living souls and visible, material things. Secondary laws are concrete and relative. Relative means related to the same form. A beginner cannot study abstract philosophy without some preparation, so we modify secondary laws from absolute, abstract primary laws to suit the states of individual conscious intelligence, and the times and phases of growth of civilizations and nations. Secondary laws may not set aside fundamental principles or primary laws.

The world asks, “Why, why, why should I struggle to make such an effort?” Blind faith is out! Everyone is weary and tired of blundering in the dark. Everyone wants to know! You must understand to be able to help yourself intelligently. You apply law to lift appetitive soul taints, an ever-changing process. Thus, you study, grow, and become. The world cries, “What am I doing wrong?” What is wrong is their application or non-application of law, sins of omission and commission, adultery, or dilution of law. One can so color a modified law with negative desires, opinions, and prejudices that it no longer acts positively, but reacts negatively.

On the path of ascension, you apply the purifying process. You study to help yourself and others. You study and grow under five categories of expression that reveal your relationship to God—psychology, metaphysics, science, philosophy, and mysticism.

Psychology describes your relationship to God first and then your relationship with other people. It deals with God’s Mind and personality in man as man.

Metaphysics is the study of universal substance, which becomes. Substance descends from the Source to become visible. All universal substance must be lowered to the fourth dimension to become a miracle. What you desire then becomes visible under prayer.

Science is the study of absolute principle, which recombines substance under law to create new and different forms. Since fundamental principles and primary laws are absolute, exact and unmodified, scientists can measure and prove their physical expression. However, while scientists may hypothesize about fourth dimensional matters, it usually cannot measure or prove them. For instance, you can cure a bacterial infection with a pill or an injection, but many other diseases are psychosomatic—only a change of heart or mind will cure them. Faith is the proof of your miracles.

Philosophy relates to the “love of wisdom” and knowledge. It is the study of abstract principle, the ultimate, absolute reality behind all things. Philosophy studies God as principle.

Mysticism describes the Mind of God as personality, which orders all things and provides universal substance as nourishment and sustenance. Principle can think and plan as Wisdom but personality must order, control and nourish. Personality sends universal substance where it is needed. Mysticism involves God as personality. Philosophy describes God as principle. Science is like Jacob’s ladder—scientists, mystics, philosophers, metaphysicians, and psychologists all use science to go back and forth between personality and principle, between heaven and earth, between the visible and the invisible. Science is at the hub of the wheel of life.

As we integrate all these phases of truth, we face the mysteries. What are the mysteries? God’s personality contains all mysteries. All things unknown are mysteries. The Wright brothers flew the first successful airplane in 1903 and just 44 years later Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier. Today’s wonder drugs, atomic bombs, jet engines, etc., were all mysteries at the beginning of the 20th Century. We understand them when we reveal their underlying principles. They began as mysterious ideas and plans in God’s Mind, yet they are no longer mysteries when Mind as man unfolds them. The whole universe is the unknown becoming known. We can unfold the mysteries through scientific exactness in knowing and applying the laws of God.

We use metaphysics to modify the primary law of substance into secondary laws and so cause substance to take different forms. Thus, metaphysics enable us to conceptualize lowering the rate of vibration of substance until it expresses as form. You can metaphysically modify all primary laws into secondary laws that you may then apply to every day, practical living. Knowledge of metaphysics gives you the background beyond physical science that enables you to take God as Being and make this abstract fundamental principle real to students.

Psychology describes the Mind and personality of God expressing as man, and is the line of demarcation between the soul as mind and personality. Psychology is the science of dividing the soul as mind into understandable parts and phases for analysis. We use it to aid us in understanding God and man, and how we function on earth. We apply psychology to cleanse personality of taints. In one sense, we may seem like dual beings, combining the principles of the Father of Wisdom and the Mother of Love. You must be the Father and Mother within yourself. All seven mystery schools teach this. However, this puts you on a teeter-totter of instability. Life exhausts you unless you add the Son’s joy and Power to stabilize yourself into balance.

You must understand yourself to help yourself. Jesus’ philosophy was “Heal thyself. Socrates and Plato called this “Know thyself.” You cannot know or heal yourself until you understand yourself, so it pays to memorize these five categories of expression. How can I help myself if I do not know these things? Helping myself is working out my own salvation, which I cannot do unless I know my relationship to God. God did not create hate. Man exercised self-will and inverted His substance into hate and the darkness known as the “void.”

Academic psychology relates to absolute, abstract primary laws to discover man’s relationship to God, the universal Source. Practical psychology deals with the concrete, relative secondary laws that govern substance becoming visible, as an embodied soul, for example. We use psychology to study man’s relationship to man and man’s inner relationship with himself to coordinate soul and self.

You may understand yourself in this trinity: God, man, and myself. You function on three levels: appetitive soul and subconscious mind, rational soul and conscious mind, and Oversoul and super-conscious mind. Soul uses mind as its tool of expression. Appetitive soul uses the subconscious to rebuild and protect the physical body as its metabolism. Rational soul uses the conscious mind through the mental faculties of logic, reason, discernment, discrimination, and discretion.

Oversoul functions from the Source and uses super-conscious mind to maintain your contact and adoration before the Throne of God. The most important function is a perfect relationship between the Oversoul and super-conscious mind. You must work under three unmodified fundamental principles—equilibrium, harmony, and balance—to apply secondary laws in your life. If you do not work under these principles while using practical psychology, they remain unmodified, unavailable for your use.  

Equilibrium

Harmony    Balance

Equilibrium is the “state of equal balance among all parts of a complex unity.” Harmony is the “combination or adaptation of parts, elements or related things, to form a consistent orderly whole in agreement, accord and congruity.” Balance means “stability or steadiness due to the equilibrium prevailing among all forces of a situation, to bring or to maintain in equilibrium.” High balance under the Emanations, then, is maintaining harmony and equilibrium.

These principles coordinate mind, emotions, and imagination as perfect knowing, which is a blend of spiritual seeing and hearing. Imagination is the most unruly faculty, and emotion is the only unruly phase. You cannot see or hear spiritually without this coordination of nerves and muscles. Soul knowing forms a rod of power from the inner to the outer and coordinates nerves and muscles with the higher faculties of spiritual seeing and hearing. Functioning as Power is simply a coordination of mind, imagination, emotions, seeing, hearing, nerves, and muscles. Power is usable by you right now as kinetic energy, which is the Power doing the “greater works.” You cannot have perfect health without this overall coordination.

The law of words is accuracy: “Obey the law and live.” Use words as creative tools in harmony with the Holy Spirit. God is Spirit and you may not tempt Him with inaccurate words. Accuracy is the keynote of harmony. Therefore, for more beautiful speech, seek greater accuracy in using words. When you begin to slip with sharp words, anger, or resentment, you upset your coordination with harmony. The law says, “Agree with God and adjust to man.” Oversoul always agrees with God. You, the rational soul, must adjust your appetitive soul to agree with your Oversoul, or you lose equilibrium, a vibration that originates in the harmony of being on the right chord of life. Otherwise, you lose your outer balance. Balance is standing firm and steady, not wobbling around weak-kneed.

The fundamental creative principles are Light, color, tone, number, and the Word (name) of form. You can inhale seven degrees of breath as One through your crown vital center with each physical breath you draw. The four lower breaths of faith are the substance of all that is. The three higher degrees of breath include:

Harmony as Color and Love
Equilibrium as Tone and Wisdom
Balance as Number and Power

Your faith, to inhale the three high Power degrees of breath, must be conscious of the Holy Spirit in action. If you lack coordination as equilibrium under these principles, you are out of harmony, your body form goes off balance, and illness results. After coordinating perfectly you may think, “Can I do it again?” Doubt enters, you descend beneath your skull in consciousness, and close the crown center to the three higher degrees of breath.

The whole process of helping yourself is learning to let go of inner conflict and to let God, as all the Power, do the work. You have perfection when you function as this unified coordination. How do you reach the high point of coordination to attain your goals? By becoming an extension of God, by doing as He would do—without the conflict of fear of failure, of just trying, or of thinking that second-guesses itself. Your mind then becomes an extension of the Mind of God. The whole process is spiritual. Let your soul tell your self, “I never descend from my high place. I become absorbed in Light. I am the Light. I am now God’s Power doing this.” You must be the Mind, Substance, and Power of God doing the work for which He created you.

You must know yourself to help yourself. Conscious mind coasts along well-satisfied until it learns of the subconscious and its vast storehouse of memory. From the moment conscious mind accepts responsibility, makes a stand, and declares complete cleansing of the subconscious, impulsive appetitive soul poses a constant series of choices between self and God, between acceptance and repudiation of law. Your conscious mind may accept the subconscious and declare, “I am good! I am perfect! I am going up!” Rational soul, using conscious mind, always declares a challenge to your old spiritual debts. So they arise to be met, tests come, and you usually fall on your face.

Then impuslive appetitive soul offers excuses—“This isn’t my responsibility. It’s just my subconscious. Why does God let this happen to me when I have prayed so hard?” Appetitive soul presides as self-centered will at the solar plexus, using twisted reasoning to justify itself. As you lift appetitive soul, you ascend. Fully ascended, the faculty of will uses the pineal body as its seat of action. If this happens before you cleanse your soul taints, it’s dangerous because your tests are not finished. Subconscious mind uses the mystic third eye and appetitive soul may then taint what you see and hear unless you lift self will completely.

You see clearly and open your soul’s memory records after appetitive soul completely ascends. However, appetitive soul will drop from the pineal into the pons of the medulla oblongata under self-centered will, causing headaches and affecting the eyes. Blaming others is escaping responsibility, and it forms a blurry film over the eyes, the “grease” and “dirt” of a thousand years. Pain around the eyes means appetitive soul is unhappy because it sees signs of sinking again. You must keep lifting your taints of self so you do not slide down the “greased pole”1 when you are tested.

A good treatment for helping yourself is to yank your appetitive soul back up just as soon as it slides. Stand straight, extend your arms as high as you can and declare, “Father, move in and possess me!” Reach out, scoop all soul substance you have misused as blame and declare, “Father, let this be lifted, ascended and purified.” Do this for others, too. If you descend, do it all again and say, “Father, let this be cleansed forever. Use me, Father, heart, mind, soul, and body in thy service.” Power enters as fast as your heart center can take it. Guardian Angels must monitor the heart center of every soul who is low in consciousness. Spiritually stated, physical health is the rhythmic acceleration of the atomic vibration in physical cells, perfectly coordinated with power, in love and with law in harmony.


1^ Climbing a greased pole is a metaphor for the difficulty of reaching the top in one’s career. Benjamin Disraeli used this metaphor in a well-known quote after becoming Britain’s Prime Minister in 1868, “I have climbed to the top of the greasy pole.”

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How Do I Apply Law to My Life? (a)

Edna Lister lecture outline; June 7, 1960, Cleveland, Ohio.

Most people never consider what the difference between human nature and the soul is, or between the creature and and the creator. Have you ever considered that the appetitive soul is as much a part of God as is Oversoul? In terms of your soul, you are immortal now.

Since we first learned of psychology and of the psyche, many people have used the subconscious mind as a scapegoat, a whipping boy, an excuse, and an escape from further personal responsibility on a par with “Oh, it’s only human nature. It’s just my subconscious” (appetitive soul). Some folks go so far as to let their subconscious mind become an imaginary rival of God! One woman talks to it and gives it identity, saying, “Now you know you are positive. You’re doing better all the time”—laughing and blithely moving on to her next foolish word or action.

We have learned from psychology that the subconscious mind is a one-third part of who you really are already. To some this is an instant offense. It interferes with their idea of riding to heaven on the coattails of the Lord Jesus. It interferes with their desire to do as they please and to enjoy life while they have it. It is anathema to the indifferent and lukewarm souls. Therefore, psychology must be wrong! They simply can’t be held responsible or accountable for all the subconscious mind does and says.

As you study you find that you have an Oversoul that uses super-conscious mind, a rational soul that uses conscious mind, and an appetitive soul that uses the subconscious mind—all are functioning parts of the whole soul. To leave the appetitive soul—subconscious mind out of soul casts it off and out as something you’re not responsible for is like leaving your eyes, ears, tongue, arm, or any other part of the body out of the healing. You might as well say, “My hand will be healed someday! My eyes will be healed someday, when I have time to bother.”

You can pray for help and have a miracle without knowing anything about law, not even knowing that faith operates under law or is law in action. Then, later, you can pray again, have no miracle, and search until you find out about the perfect laws governing miracles.

The first law to learn and apply is: You have never been out of the kingdom of heaven. You have no place else to go—wherever you go you are in the kingdom now. You can’t be any more “inner” than you are right now. To doubt this is as if you stood in your own living room crying, “God, where’s my home?” When you feel lost, you are not holding to this first law of life. You are already down in a ditch. You are at home. You are living at home. You are being at home. You do not have to go around declaring “Now I am home. Lord, keep me in my home.”

You do not leave an arm or a leg out on the front porch. When you leave the appetitive soul out as a separate entity with a life of it own, this is exactly what you are doing. The appetitive soul is even more a part of you than the arm or the leg. Where do you want the appetitive soul, in or out? When you leave it out, you are drawn and quartered because it’s always trying to get in. Its only way is to become pestiferous and inject its nonsense into everything that happens, just to be counted “in.” You don’t call on God when your leg is dirty. You don’t ask, “Why has this come to me?” You wash it yourself and make it clean! You get busy yourself and scrub it clean to make it a fitting part of your body!

How do you cleanse the appetitive soul? How can you apply law to this? “Seek ye first the kingdom of God,” by declaring “I AM now makes me whole. I AM now cleanses me as Light.” If you dare to look back and excuse your self after this first cleansing, you allow appetitive soul to become a pacesetter for your life, dictating at every turn. Self loves to rule. It loves to hold onto the reins by confusing you. Once Light descends, you may permit no looking back! Looking backward means falling down. The heights of ascension do not make you dizzy, but looking back does.

The law to apply here is, “Here, Father! Please cleanse this fully.” Every time appetitive soul reaches up, wash its face! If you look backward, you lower the vibration of your life sparks’ activity until sometimes you could reach the state of consciousness known as the “void,” the dazed “I don’t care.” “I’ll never trust God again. He’ll have to show me now!”

Progression comes under the application of definite laws to daily living. Five laws will bring you to that high point of contemplative receptivity necessary for all progress. To expand into infinity you must first hear about your need for law under the great law of attraction. Second, you must receive the law under the law of expansion. Third, you must accept the law under the law of suction. Fourth, you must apply the laws you learn under the law of contraction. Fifth, you must ascend higher on the law under the law of repulsion.

These five laws rule nature in its operation, and you must live in accordance with them to reduce friction and conflict in your mind, heart, body and affairs. Under attraction you draw your own to you through love. Under expansion you forgive, and begin to give more than you take. Under suction you grow selective, by clinging to your ideals rather than following the crowd. You are able to hold fast to God, and the kingdom of heaven. Under contraction, you coordinate all the laws you have learned and apply what you know to what you do. You grow wise in what to reject as the not-good under the law of repulsion. A narrow line separates running from what you do not like and avoiding the not-good.

How does praise fit into all this? Praise is the only thing that will create a burning desire to comprehend, to get into action, or to conquer. Only praise can cause desire to act, to build the pipeline of determination from God’s storehouse of potential Power to carry kinetic, active energy to fill your prayer molds with substance. Under contraction you can erect the greatest of all false gods! Either you obey the laws of agreeing with God and adjusting to your fellow man, or you crystallize. You tend to draw back from conflict, to mind your own business. “What is that to thee? Follow thou me.”—John 21:22.

Under repulsion, you grow wise in what to reject as the not good! Or you cut out what you dislike until you have nothing. If you apply repulsion in wrong way, you may lose too much and close out your good. For instance, if you are afraid to receive praise you are not applying the second law, to receive, under the law of progression. Down underneath, hidden away in this fear, is the memory that you have used self-praise. Somewhere, sometime you’ve been too “good” to mix with others and have given self the credits for being so “wise.” Then you fear that self-praise will rear its head.

Make praise your next step up! Instantly return it to the giver as praise for his kindness, etc. Praise the giver of praise for discernment beyond the mere appearance of things. Feel grateful to God for using you. Inside be thanking God in gratitude that His Light is breaking through everyone’s crust of self.

Praise is a great treatment, both ways, to give and to receive. Praise, given as a self-application of law unfolds a glory called humility, the humility of a great unconquerable faith, the rock to which your loved ones may cling. It builds a citadel of glory before the world. It is the one law of challenge to darkness that devours and consumes the darkness instantly.

Praise is the secret of the art of expansion. You can’t see law! But where you apply law to everything you do you can see and feel its results. Failure to have miracles is due to your use or lack of use of the “lost” word, which is GOOD. You can use this one mighty Word day and night until you establish the habit of immediately saying, “This is good! Let there be Light!” “This is good” is tantamount to saying, “I believe to see,” which supersedes the law of “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”—Mark 9:24. This is a cure for fear and doubt. Declare, “I am the truth. My I AM consciousness is now building new eyes, new ears, (new anything). My I AM consciousness is now wide awake.”

Your body is now indivisible because you can’t cut spirit. Your body is now spiritual, made of the One Substance of the life sparks—indestructible and immortal now. Your business is to rearrange them into your soul’s desires! How? Just declare, “As oil mingles with oil, as water mingles with water, as air mingles with air, as spirit mingles with spirit so does my life mingle with the Life of God.”

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How Do I Apply Law to My Life? (b)

Edna Lister transcript; June 7, 1960, Cleveland, Ohio. Scribes: Margaret Pratt Doan, Ruth Johnson, Lotus Landis, Irene White, Virginia Whitehead.

We all attend classes to comprehend the laws we think we already know. Our work has primary, intermediate, occult, metaphysical, and mystical levels. Our topics of discussion now are psychology and metaphysics, yet we cannot really separate them from the five categories of expression—psychology, metaphysics, science, philosophy, and mysticism. You can interpret every Bible verse on one of these five levels. You apply these categories in everything you do, consciously or unconsciously. For example, affirmations and declarations are metaphysical. I AM statements combine philosophy with mysticism. Each of the five categories has a subcategory related to the physical body.

Your one mind functions in three phases—subconscious, conscious, and super-conscious. You have no permanent personal identity unless you coordinate these phases. Discoordination in any area leads to mental confusion and causes you nothing but trouble. You, as an embodied soul, function in three phases of soul—as an appetitive soul, a rational soul, and as an Oversoul dwelling in a body. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16) is a purely mystical statement that describes God’s personality as man. God fills your temple with life sparks but it is your job to purify them and to keep them clean.

To demand, “God, cleanse my subconscious” is offensive. To admit you are responsible for your “human nature” may offend lukewarm appetitive soul, but it never offends God. Subconscious mind is one-third of a descended creator god’s mind, and you have a conscious and a super-conscious portion as well. Rational conscious mind enfolds your conscious identity, the world, and that “mind which is in Christ Jesus.” Rational consciousness uses the mental faculties and is used by Oversoul’s super-conscious mind.

Since psychology first taught us about the psyche and subconscious, humanity has used the subconscious as a scapegoat, a whipping boy, and as an excuse to escape further personal responsibility. People prove this with such statements as “It’s only my old subconscious talking. I didn’t mean it. It’s just human nature.” Your “human nature” keeps impulsive, selfish “little me” as a spoiled child in your house. You need to ascend and talk to God, not to your subconscious. When you talk to the little self, you build it into a false god. Subconscious mind has no separate identity, only what you give it. When you make the subconscious a scapegoat, you give it identity, power, and life from your own consciousness and soul substance.

Popular psychology is anathema to the indifferent, lukewarm soul who “feels” others cannot hold him responsible for what his subconscious mind does or says. Given sufficient identity and substance, the subconscious little self easily becomes an imaginary rival of God, blithely laughing toward its next foolish action.

To overlook appetitive soul in your calculations as unneeded, to cast it off, or consider it not responsible is like ignoring any part of your body in healing. “Someday my eyes will be healed and perfect” leaves your eyes out of the kingdom of perfection. You may as well say, “My heart is healed today. My eyes will be healed on the day I have time to bother.” You are perfect and you must let it manifest. “My eyes are already perfect. Let this perfection be manifest.”

When you enter the house, you do not leave an arm or leg on the porch. Appetitive soul is just as much a part of you as your Oversoul, and regarding it as separate with a life of its own is equally foolish. You must decide where you want appetitive soul, in or out? To ignore appetitive soul leaves you drawn and quartered because it is always trying to be included. Its only way of getting in is by becoming pestiferous and injecting nonsense into everything you do. It is your responsibility. If your hands were dirty, you would not ask God to make them clean—you would wash them yourself! Declare, “I lift this appetitive soul to become perfection now. ’I AM’ now cleanses as Light.”

The fact that you are fully responsible for little me’s subconscious actions instantly offends some people. It interferes with their expectation of riding into heaven on Jesus’ coattails. Forgiveness of sins does not mean God pays your debts. Forgiveness means God extends you enough Love-as-substance on credit to pay your gravity debts to Light. How do I apply law to myself? I judge myself. I make each day a day of judgment.

Faith is law in action. Faith is precise principle and operates under exact law. Faith is exact law in action. You can pray for help, have a miracle yet know nothing about law. Later you may pray, have no miracle and blame God. You prayed fervently with faith and praise the first time, Power descended, and God healed you. The second time you were just a “ceiling bumper.” Great faith and fervor in prayer can bring a miracle, but you need more than just words. You must comply with fundamental primary law and have faith in the kingdom of God. You must know law and be law to have a miracle every time. Full knowledge of law empowers you to ascend.

What law do I apply? The first law to apply is “Seek ye first the kingdom.” You must hold your mind on the kingdom of heaven to touch the hem of His garment. Your fervor touches the hem—not your need, but your fervor. Include everything in your kingdom of perfection when you pray. Do not anticipate what you will do after the miracle comes; that diverts your intensity and no miracle results. You must know God and how He operates. Don’t waste time wishing you had studied or knew more about law. Don’t waste time thinking about it, think about the Father. Lift it to the Father, saying, “Father, move in and possess me now!”

You can never be outside God’s kingdom is a corollary to the law of omnipresence, a primary law based on fundamental principle. Those who are unaware of this law want to be “converted” so they can feel safe and secure. You have no place else to go. Wherever you go, you are in the now. You can have no “inner” other than where you are right now. Don’t waste time thinking about being in the kingdom. Where else could you go? “If I dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall Thy hand lead me and Thy right hand shall hold me.”—Psalm 139:9-10.

Declare, “I know I am in the kingdom of heaven here and now.” To doubt this is as if you were to feel foreign at home, a stranger—like standing in the living room and asking God, “Where is my home? Please lead me home.” When you feel lost or alone, you are not holding to this first law of life. Our Father is just upstairs. You are now in the kingdom of heaven. “I am at home in the kingdom, being and becoming in the kingdom, here and now.” This is the most important law to know and to apply. It is always ready to work instantly when you are conscious of it.

What is common sense? Allow no nonsense from negative appetitive soul. When subconscious little me hands you negativity, it talks nonsense. You are working for common sense, which is most uncommon. Common sense is the application of modified secondary laws. Metaphysics lets you apply law to suit your needs. When you learn how to sense the application of law in a particular way, you see how it applies generally.

How do I cleanse appetitive soul? How do I apply law to this? Seek first the kingdom of heaven, stand and say, “I AM now cleanses me with Light, fills me with Light, and makes me whole.” First, ascend and speak these declarations. To say such things as, “I’ll bite my tongue off before I say that again” are idle words that challenge your appetitive soul. Appetitive soul bites off little chunks of you every time you dare look back and excuse self, which is how people crystallize the subconscious and make appetitive soul the pacesetter for their lives, dictating at every turn. Appetitive soul houses memory in subconscious mind and it loves to rule, holding you in bondage through confusion. Appetitive soul can provide remarkably plausible rationalizations. It can answer all your questions with, “It won’t matter just this once.” It does matter if you do it even once.

Arise in the morning and say, “I am in the kingdom of heaven now. Father, let Light move through me. I AM shall never miss an opportunity today.” You have no excuse for muddling your mind; it must be clear. Seek first the kingdom. Keep your conscious eyes on the Light. Don’t take time to ask why little me did this or that. Scrub appetitive soul’s face immediately. Just look up and say, “Here I am, Father, move over. I’m coming!”

“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.”—Matthew 6:22. You can climb to any height without getting dizzy if you do not look back. Once Light descends, you may not look back or fall from the heights. The heights don’t make you dizzy, looking back and down do. Remember Lot’s wife. A backward glance turned her into a pillar of salt. When you look into the past at what is old, the vibration of your life sparks lowers to the point of an unconscious “void,” that place of hopeless apathy. It is consciousness lowered to “I don’t care. I’ll never trust God again. You’ll have to show me.” If you forget law and look back, don’t wallow in it. Repent as you go. Ascend and say, “I am rich in God!” to reach that place of strength above the void.

When you have applied every law you know and still get nowhere, then look around to see what you’ve missed. Don’t add difficulty after difficulty. You have only blessings or curses. “I don’t like” something is a negative. Bless everything with “This is good,” and become the law of “What is that to thee? Follow thou me.” Apply the law of God and call any negative thing Holy Communion when it touches the body.

Five Laws of Nature in Action. All progress occurs when you apply definite laws to your pattern for daily living. These five laws will take you to your highest point of contemplative receptivity, which is esstential if you want to progress. Stand in the Light, contemplate the Light, and receive Power: This is a philosophical statement of principle. These five metaphysical laws extend from “hearing about it” to ascension into becoming Christed. To expand into infinity, into Christ consciousness, you must:

HEAR under the great law of ATTRACTION
RECEIVE under the great law of EXPANSION
ACCEPT under the great law of COHESION
APPLY under the great law of CONTRACTION
ASCEND under the great law of REPULSION

These five great fundamental principles act as five primary laws of nature. They are a Tree of Life, a coordination of entire categories of law. Hearing, receiving, acceptance, application, and ascension are secondary laws. They represent the Light, the Power as energy immediately available to you. How do you apply these laws to your life? Flow with them. Coordinate yourself with them until you unfold the knowledge of their operation in you and as you.

You hear under the law of attraction. “Mine own come unto me” under the law of attraction. You attract what you send out, your proverbial chickens, which then come home to roost. You can apply this law of attraction by drawing your kingdom of earthly creations home to the kingdom of heaven through love. Once you hear a law, you must apply it until you become that law. To hear a law, then to ignore or forget it attracts every old vibration associated with that law to come home to roost. When you finally become a law, you no longer need to think about it.

A negative application of attraction is a guilt feeling that attracts every guilt feeling in the neighborhood. Remember the parable of the man whose unclean spirit was cast out (Matthew 13:43-45). He was lonely and attracted seven spirits more wicked than the first. Guilt is nothing more than a cheap demand for approval under God. Indulgence in a personal sense of guilt (which is pure self-indulgence), is reflected by others, especially children, as lack of respect for the one who feels guilty. Doubting that God can use you for perfection is unbecoming, which is why you say, “This is good. Let there be Light!” no matter how ugly the situation.

You receive under the law of expansion. You receive to grow and learn under the law of expansion. Here you are at home in your kingdom of heaven. You open, receive love, and expand under the love of family and friends. Forgiveness is the greatest factor in ascension under the law of expansion. Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?” Jesus told him seventy times seven! to forgive is to give love for. “I must give to receive.” After giving another a metaphysical scrubbing, tell him how glorious he is. as the Light shines, he expands. On expansion’s negative side are exaggeration and wild, unruly imagination. You can get in trouble when your enthusiasm becomes forceful. Breaking law is easier on an expansion vibration because you tend to forget attention to details.

You accept under the law of suction (cohesion). You grow selective, accepting or drawing in only the good under the law of suction or cohesion. Suction is cohesion and without it you could not hold together. Cohesion draws the River of Life to you and draws you into it. You learn to apply cohesion under the Initiation of the Hellespont at a river below the Hall of Olympus in the Mental Realm. You take this initiation at night, while your body is sleeping. You jump into the river’s churning waters, which flow both ways at once. If you fear it, the law of suction causes you to fall back into your body. If you jumps in fervor, the law of cohesion carries you to the foot of Mt. Olympus.

On the negative side of suction you meet down drafts and updrafts of thoughts and emotions that may suck you in. Suction is how you are drawn into an argument or into situations in which you have no desire to participate. Soul vampires work under the law of suction, then feed on the anxiety they create in you. Fear or insecurity may draw you into a negative financial deal. Suction is also called the law of clinging. How do you apply this? Do not cling to the past. Cling to your ideals; hold fast to God and the kingdom of heaven.

You apply under the law of contraction. You apply law under the law of contraction. Here you coordinate all the laws you have learned and apply what you know to what you do, which is the great law of agreeing and adjusting. Agree with God that this is good and adjust to others without arguing. “What is that to thee? Follow thou me.” — I mind my own business.

On the negative, detrimental side, contraction may paralyze you into inaction. Here you can erect the greatest of false gods to worship. Even the virtue of silence can become a false god if you say nothing when another needs help. Apply law and stand on principle always. Pay no attention to criticism or praise, whether others blame you or butter you up with flattery.

You ascend under the law of repulsion. You grow wise in what to reject as the not-good under the law of repulsion. A narrow line separates running from what you do not like and avoiding the not-good. Repulsion can cause some to drive others away by saying, “I don’t like.” Some cut off family and friends to be left alone so they can be “free,” which breaks the law of personal responsibility. When you cut a person off on the outer, you are twice as responsible for him on the inner. Put him on a cloud in God’s hands. “I am my brother’s keeper.” You cease to respond to earth gravity and ever seek the Light under the law of ascension.

If you apply repulsion wrongly, you may “love too much,” which covers a fear. Fear of having no one praise you comes under the second law of receiving. One who wants praise but is uncomfortable when praised, has given self the credits in the past. He fears that self-praise may rear its ugly head again.

Praise is one of the greatest things that can happen to a soul. Even when given with tongue in cheek, accept it and be gracious—your graciousness expands the giver, regardless of his motive. Hand his praise back, polished for his discernment of the Light and his unfoldment. Give it as a precious commodity, his own soul substance. When you accept praise, do so as if it came from God. Bless anyone who praises you. Thus, praise, when you accept it, unfolds humility in you, an aspect of great unconquerable faith, a citadel, a tower of strength. Praise is a challenge to darkness when you expand into greater comprehension and see how the law works.

Failure to have a miracle is due to the “lost word” in your life, which is “Good.” Establish the habit of saying, “This is good. Let there be Light.” Say, “This is good. Let there be Light. I believe it to see. Lord, help my unbelief. I am truth. I am building truth. I am building new eyes, ears, etc., and I take you into the kingdom of heaven with me.”

Your body is now indivisible. It is the One indestructible spiritual substance, the life sparks, immortal now. It is your business to rearrange the life sparks of your body into your souls’ desires now—your eyes, hearing, etc., into a new pattern. “As oil mingles with oil, as water mingles with water, as air mingles with air, as Light mingles with Light, so does my life mingle with the life of God!”

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Is It Right to Ask for Myself? (a)

Edna Lister outline; June 14, 1960, Cleveland, Ohio.

The word “character” represents soul expression and freedom of soul. What is it? Character is compounded of those virtues you have already developed and perfected, and then express in one life. You have three mediums of expression. First is your hands, which reveal your practical use of the virtues you have already developed. The second is your head, which reveals your scientific balance of the virtues you have developed. The third is the heart, which reveals your soul expressions from past lives while you are gaining new experience.

Character must be threefold in expression. 1. Character must be molded in the image and likeness of God, of Deity. 2. Character must become immortal and lasting, expressing as the soul’s impulses, emotions, and mental processes. 3. Character must become the Revelator, revealing the secrets of the soul to the external world through facial expressions (e.g., a poker face), the language of the eyes, the tones of voice, the handwriting, the choice of words expressions and phrases, and how you walk.

A soul who is destined to become a child prodigy comes to the right chosen parents knowing he will be supervised. He starts from birth with all his original faculties already developed and ready to unfold. The neurons of his brain, which are like switching stations, are all ready to be interconnected.

Physiognomy Lithographic drawing illustrating the relation between human physiognomy and that of the brute creation, by Charles Le Brun, 1619-1690.

The first three faculties a child develops are mimicry, memory, and perception—the instinctive capacities, which you can read in the hands. The second three faculties developed are imagination, reason, and judgment—the intellectual capacities, which you can read in the physiognomy and phrenology of the head. The third set of three faculties are will, intuition, and illumination—the spiritual capacities, which are the child’s soul expression. These nine faculties represent the number of the creator o’ershadowed by the Godhead. The first six faculties represent the double trinity signifying the creator embodied on earth.

Pythagoras and Plato were the first ancient philosophers to teach that number is the language of the mysteries as they may be revealed on earth. For example, this equation 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 = 45 = 4 + 5 = 9, represents man’s expression as a descended creator on earth. We call this expression "personality," and it shows as the soul expresses its individuality. When the soul expresses no character, the self is its only personality (as shown in the lithographic drawing above).

facestudy The equation 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10 reveals that the mouth is a circle, representing the Unity of Oneness with the All That Is. Ten is the number symbolizing man as an individualized creator. As noted before, character represents soul expression and freedom of soul, represented on earth by the five senses—seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and feeling, the sense of touch. The mouth is the organ of the four-in-one—tasting, drinking, eating, and talking. The soul most often creates spiritual debt by misuse of the four as shown below. The Three are Mind, Substance, and Power, which the embodied soul may misuse by “falling” into the sensory experience of the Four worldly elements—Fire, Air, Water, and Earth. This is the true explanation of the fall of man expressed symbolically.

The Three

Fall into the Four

Seeing and hearing are man’s two organs for good. The sense of smell helps the soul to guard against evil. The soul must conquer any bondage to the senses before it can coordinate and focus its spiritual powers. There are seven openings in the face and head—two eyes, two ears, two nostrils and the mouth—all of which serve the physical senses. The seven openings also represent seven sets of seven. Seven times seven equals forty-nine, which in turn is four plus nine equals thirteen (7 x 7 = 49, which in turn is 4 + 9 = 13), which symbolizes the Via Christa, the Path of the Christ. All mysteries behind these seven times seven function through the openings in man’s face and head.

Seven Sets of Seven
  7 7 Seven Days in the Week
  6 7 Seven Planets of the Ancients
  5 7 Seven Gates of Jerusalem
  4 7 Seven Words of Christ from the Cross
  3 7 Seven Candles Before the Throne
  2 7 Seven Flames of Creation
  1 7 Seven Lords of Creation

“And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”—Genesis 3:22-24.

facestudy-cross The head represents the Garden of Eden. When you look into the face of man, you behold the Tau Cross (Τ). The mouth represents the tomb. An angel with a flaming two-edged sword must guard the entrance to the Garden of Eden. The tongue symbolizes the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Feeling, or touch, is the fifth physical sense, and you can have no soul freedom until this sense is freed from appetitive soul. All other senses are based in the head, the Garden of Eden, which was originally considered to be heavenly because it is the part of man that is closest to heaven. The head holds the higher creative centers of the soul, the pineal body, the pituitary gland, and the hypothalamus. The sense of feeling (touch) is most closely related to desire, which must be lifted from the Land of Egypt, below the solar plexus, to mate with will, seated at the forehead, in the Garden of Eden.

“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”—Genesis 2:7. The word “Spirit” has a numerical value of 37, which reduces to a value of ten (37 = 3 + 7 = 10 = 1), which becomes a one, symbolizing the soul of man standing upright in the Garden of Eden.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord.”—Deuteronomy 6:4. “And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.”—Zechariah 14:9. God is the Source of All That Is. God is One. One represents God as the All from the beginning of every creation to the ending thereof, forever One. The number two is one unit added to the first, and two is the number representing the first thing in physical form through which spirit can operate. You must add one unit for each successive thing that is created.

God breathed the Breath of Life, which was spirit = 1, into Adam’s nostrils = 2, and he became a living soul = 3. Adding one to two becomes three. Puzzling? Let us unfold this mystery: One is God. Two is you, the duality of self plus soul. The only way to reach balance is by adding yourself to God to become the stable three. This is why the number three symbolizes personality and perfected personal expression. We may also state this as one (1) is the creative principle added to two (2), the transmutative principle, equals three (3), the expressive principle. One, the creative principle, must forever multiply and increase. Two, the transmutative principle must forever change its form. Three, the expressive principle, must forever press forth, or pour forth. So spirit expressing through form must evolve and ascend higher into perfected personal expression.

Four (4) and seven (7) are closer in relation to each other than any other two numbers. Further, the multiplied product of either one equals the other digit!
  4 x 4 = 16 = 1 + 6 = 7.
  7 x 7 = 49 = 4 + 9 = 13 = 1 + 3 = 4.
  4 + 7 = 11 the number symbolizing Mastery. 11, a master number, is never reduced.
  4 x 7 = 28 = 2 + 8 = 10 = 1 + 0 = 1 signifying Oneness.
These equations illustrate the oneness of four (the number symbolizing service) and seven (the number symbolizing the Priest who ministers and serves).

May I ask for myself? You can’t be yourself unless you know yourself. You can ask amiss only when you do not know yourself! Living life without having a hand on your ship’s tiller is dangerous. Grasp the tiller and the rudder goes to work. Only then can you steer a straight course. A vague personality results from being unmoored, living by self, drifting along on an uncharted course. Each great emotional upheaval or emotional jag will toss you to another place, usually down. Thus, you become the victim of a phone call, the doorbell, a tone of voice, or a sharp word. Today’s belief becomes tomorrow’s pet aversion when you are only seeking and searching on the outer. This creates a restless, unstable self. “Know thyself” really means know the difference between they self and thy soul!

If you have allowed your emotional life to become a morass of inhibitions and complexes, you won’t be able to ask the right questions because you won’t know how. When the soul’s qualities are using faculties through form as a medium of pure soul expression, you can’t ask amiss.

Plan tonight for your first state of consciousness tomorrow morning. Turn on the heat! Now! Tonight! In the morning, first thing, take a deep breath. Put on your rose colored glasses! Think of your most joyous day! Think of your worst favorite’s good points. See if you have overlooked any recent miracles! Then say, “I am now become that Power, I AM! Let the Power possess me! Let love use me. Let love create through me.”

Do not concentrate on self or what it needs or wants. Surrender self instead. Waste no time, effort or soul substance in wondering what you did wrong! Only self consciousness, that is the self’s consciousness, wastes time wondering “What have I done wrong?” Or “I’ve been disobedient.” “I” is self-conscious. God already knows all of your weaknesses and your strengths. Go up and say, “Here I am Father! Let Power fill all my creative molds!” See each prayer mold clearly at least once a day. How do you do this?

Let’s say you need money, extra cash to pay bills. One practice is to put every purse, wallet, or billfold on your bed, open side up. Stand and see them, not empty, but visualize them as being full of bills until you can see them in your mind’s eye anytime with just a thought. Practice wading in bills up to your knees for a few seconds, increasing the time until you can feel them brushing against your legs. Keep at it until you know you have created invisible prayer molds for God to fill.

Then say, “Let these molds be filled now.” After that just say, “Thank you, Father for filling my perfect molds!” a thousand times an hour! Clear your mind of “me,” then “see.” Use this same prosperity treatment for your loved ones! It circles earth, condensing as butter does from cream in a churn, and returns to fill your molds.

Use this treatment for health and it returns to you as strength! Your declaration collects unto itself all your “orphan” life sparks and magnifies itself, accelerates itself into a miracle. Remember, praise and rejoicing are divine activities that remove road blocks! Rejoice day and night to keep the road open for the miracle’s return. It’s always better to say, “Let my molds be filled now. Thank you that my molds are filled!” This is not little me-asking, this is soul-asking!

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Is It Right to Ask for Myself? (b)

Edna Lister lecture outline; June 14, 1960, Cleveland, Ohio. Scribes: Ruth Johnson, Irene White.

Character is the soul’s expression of freedom, the freedom to express your soul qualities. Character is what you develop and express of the soul’s virtues in one lifetime. You have three basic mediums of outer expression—your hands, which represent all practical uses of the virtues; the head, which represents your scientific use of the virtues; and the heart, which represents the soul’s expression of the virtues from all past lives, while you gain new experience in this life.

Character is the sum of the moral, ethical, and mental qualities that distinguish a person, his moral excellence and firmness, his mental or moral constitution. Character expresses moral qualities that are strongly developed or strikingly displayed. The soul’s true name expresses its true character. “I will write upon him my new name.”—Revelation 3:12.

Character must be threefold in expression. First, you must mold character in the image and likeness of God, being as God is, doing as God does insofar as it is possible for you to do so. Second, character must become immortal and lasting in its expression, by lifting and sublimating self until the soul directs and controls all subconscious impulses, emotions, and mental processes. You make mistakes until you do. A man can shoot hate from his eyes; you can offend another with a shrug of your shoulders. You can best lift emotions by observing the law of “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”—John 12:32. Your mental processes can be false or true. You can have clarity and delusions about the same subject. So, you must mold emotions, impulses, and mental processes into a character that is in the image and likeness of God.

Third, character must express as the “Revelator,” revealing the secrets of the immortal soul to the external world through the language of the eyes, the tones of voice, the handwriting, the choice of words (expressions and phrases chosen either to offend or to please), and the carriage or walk. You can tell how a person feels about himself in relation to the world by the way he walks.

A soul with a high destined mission comes as a child to parents who will properly supervise his spiritual growth. He begins at birth with nine of the original 44 faculties developed and ready to unfold. The already developed brain cells are ready to open when a stimulus touches the child from the outer world. A child can telepathically communicate when he is two years old as the nine basic faculties interconnect themselves when stimulated by outside impulses. Parents of such a child should live by law, because such children awaken to their full potential only under the right outer conditions. When the parents fail, it is counted as one of earth’s tragedies.

The first three faculties to unfold are mimicry, memory, and perception, which are instinctive capacities, related to appetitive soul as subconscious mind development. They show in the hands and may be read through palmistry. All three stem from being made in the image and likeness of God. Mimicry is how you imitate the actions and speech of those around you. You have an unlimited capacity for memory but you must develop it to be usable. Perception gives you the ability to look right through the outer appearance and to know what you know, as soul-knowing, rather than what you see, which may be an illusion.

The next three faculties to develop are intellectual capacities—imagination in 3- to 4-year-olds, reason in 4-year-olds, and judgment. The child must be taught reason and judgment so they may learn how to balance imagination. These faculties are related to rational soul or conscious mind development. They appear on the head and may be read through phrenology, the study of the contours of the head.

Imagination is the mental faculty you use to form images of external objects or concepts of conditions not present to the senses. It is the highest creative faculty of the mind. Reason adapts thought or action to some goal. You use reason to grasp a concept prior to experience, as distinguished from understanding after the fact. Reason is the relative application of principles as laws to gain understanding. Judgment is the ability to make prudent decisions, and is closely related to discretion, the faculty that governs knowing when to speak and when to remain silent.

Understanding, intuition, and illumination are spiritual faculties or soul capacities. They depend on how greatly the soul expressed through the Oversoul in past ages. Their potential may be found in the astrological chart. Understanding is the insight you gain by applying your mental faculties. The prophet Daniel did this at age nine. The quickest way to understand anything is to stand under the Light as you study the problem. Intuition is immediate mental apprehension without the intervention of any reasoning process. It is absolute soul-knowing without suspicion or rationalization. Illumination is the soul faculty attained when Light penetrates and permeates every cell of the brain until you can truly see and know spiritually.

These three sets of faculties total nine, the number of the creator o’ershadowed by the Godhead. Six is the number of the Father-Mother as a creator, using the creative tools on earth. Nine is the number of the Brotherhood of Man under God, the first and ultimate Creator. This may be expressed as 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 = 45 = 4 + 5 = 9. Nine is the number of man’s expression as a descended creator god on earth, as all compassion, all brotherhood, becoming as the Universal Creator. This expression, which is visible in the outer world, is called personality. Where no character expresses, you have only the self as personality.

Numbers have various types of significance, depending on whether you apply their mundane, philosophical or Kabbalistic meaning. Kabbalah teaches that each letter of the alphabet is the name of a state of being or a form of substance. Each letter is also a number, whose sacred mystical value is also an energy state. Mundane numerical values reveal the soul’s necessary path of experience and earth lessons:

The Mundane Significance of Numbers

  1 Individuality
  2 Duality
  3 Trinity
  4 Service
  5 Freedom to Express Self
  6 Creatorship
  7 The Lonely Thinker
  8 Power
  9 The Universal Brotherhood of Man

The Philosophical Significance of Numbers

  1 The Soul standing upright in the Garden of Eden
  2 To Agree and Adjust, the Duality of Inner and Outer
  3 Perfected Personal Expression
  4 Foursquare Foundation of Service, Servant of All Power
  5 Freedom to Choose to Ascend under Law
  6 The Cosmic Father-Mother
  7 The Priest as Protector
  8 Power to Integrate Your Earth with Heaven
  9 Man as a Universal Creator

The philosophical significance of numbers reveals the soul’s Path of Destiny. To do that, use the philosophy of numbers to unfold the letters of the soul’s earth-name this way:

  1 C, O, S, U
  2 D, G, J, L, P, Q, T, V, X
  3 A, B, F, H, I, K, N, R, Y, Z
  4 E, M, W

Character has a numerical value of 23, the number of the freedom of the soul (23 = 2 + 3 = 5). Thus, character is the soul’s expression of freedom under law, the freedom to express your soul qualities. Character is what you develop of the soul virtues and express in one lifetime.

The 44 soul faculties. A faculty is the power to perform any action, any natural or specialized power of a living organism, the power to do some particular thing, a skill to develop by practice. This is not arbitrary. God has given you faculties to use now—you may change and expand them as you grow.

The faculties fall into one of three classes—physical-material, mental, and spiritual. Emotional traits are a subclass under physical-material. These so-called “feelings” contain the three life urges (eating, sleeping, and mating) and all propensities. An urge is an impelling motive, force or pressure of creature consciousness, the desire of instinctive intelligence. A propensity is an inclination to action, a habit, a tendency of mind. Propensities are an expression of creature consciousness and of the appetitive soul.

The spiritual faculties. The spiritual faculties must follow principle in their expression. They must be unchangeable, immutable, “deathless, ageless, and abiding.” Three sets of three or nine faculties are dedicated to Spirit. Each of these nine can be broken into three to which they correspond—wisdom, love, and power; faith, comprehension and joy; and knowing, understanding, and peace. Spiritual faculties lead the soul into becoming greater.

The mental faculties. The mental faculties include logic, reason, and will; discernment, discrimination, and discretion; and courage, strength, and endurance, which is learning obedience. The spiritual and mental faculties are called the tools of the creator servant. Mental faculties relate to the soul ascending.

The physical-material faculties. The five physical senses—hearing, seeing, speech, feeling, tasting—form the basis of prophecy and the faculty of intuition. Why? A faculty is an aptitude, a natural ability or skill learned by practice, such as the ability to make friends. If you have no intuition, you can have no prophecy. Physical-material faculties relate to doing. For example, you cannot have intuition without being the five wise virgins with oil in their lamps. When you turn the physical senses downward, you are like the five foolish virgins with no oil in their lamps, those who were caught sleeping. This means you’re just existing, not living, and subject to every wind that blows.

All faculties operate now as a process in your body. The quality and quantity of your soul faculties depend on what you do with all the Light, Life, Power, Mind, and Substance of God flowing through you on every breath you take. Many souls refuse to continue to ascend from this point because they begin to recognize how difficult it is to become a Master of all personal responsibility.

The three sets of three faculties total 27 faculties in all: 2 + 7 = 9. Nine is the number that God writes on the forehead of a soul who has chosen to dedicate himself to the creation of the Brotherhood of Man under God the Father. This is invisible to ordinary sight but visible to the clairvoyant. 2 x 7 = 14 = 1 + 4 = 5. The number five expresses character, which represents soul expression, and as soul freedom on earth. We have five physical senses: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and feeling. The mouth is the organ of the four-in-one for tasting, eating, drinking, and talking. This is expressed as: 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10. For ten, add zero to one, which symbolizes the soul of man standing upright in the Garden of Eden. Ten is the spiritualized individual, man as an individual creator, unity, expressing as a personality on the outer. Ten signals the end of one cycle and the beginning of another.

The Three

Fall into the Four

The three (Mind, Substance, and Power) fall into the Four earthly elements: fire, air, water and earth. 3 + 4 = 7.

facestudy-cross The head is your Garden of Eden. Your tongue is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the midst of the garden. Spiritual powers must be coordinated and focused as you use your tongue for creative speech. Look into the face of man and behold the Tau cross (T). The diagram (left) represents the seven openings in the face and head (two eyes, two ears, two nostrils and the mouth). It forms a Tau cross, which represents the sublimated self.

  Seven Sets of Seven
  7 7 Seven Days in the Week
  6 7 Seven Planets of the Ancients
  5 7 Seven Gates of Jerusalem
  4 7 Seven Words of Christ from the Cross
  3 7 Seven Candles Before the Throne
  2 7 Seven Flames of Creation
  1 7 Seven Lords of Creation

All mysteries behind these seven times seven function through the seven openings in man’s face and head. These 7 x 7 = 49 = 4 + 9 = 13, revealing the Via Christa, the Path of Christ, the Path of Ascension. If you slide down the greased pole1 on this, it becomes the path of death in consciousness.

facestudy-cross This diagram (right) shows a triangle that takes in the hypothalamus, the pineal body, and the pituitary gland. This triangle-shaped area also takes in the heart of the eleven-petaled lotus that arises from the pineal body and pituitary gland. The mystical “third eye,” the seat of will and the lens through which Light shines, is just on the line; the eyes are below the line. A medial line runs back and forth just above the ears that takes in the “piano strips,” the organs of Corti, where tone registers, and the eustachian tubes of the ears. The eyes and ears are your organs for seeing and hearing, your faculties for good. You must see His creations as good, and you must lift any tone that is off-key.

Your sense of smell is your guard against evil. You have heard people say, “Something is rotten in Denmark” or “I smell a rat!” It is true, evil does have an odor. People carry metaphysical “infection” in their auras, not just as germs or viruses in the body. Keep your aura filled with Light. Light tolerates nothing but itself. Wherever you go, remember to charge the buildings, and your transportation, car or bus, with Light—fill them to brim and overflow.

“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord.”—Psalm 19:14. The words the mouth speaks can destroy a soul’s integrity faster than anything else, even the physical misuse of the creative fire. The mouth is a circle representing unity and oneness. It is the first place the embodied soul misuses creative Power, which explains the misuse of the Three-as-One of Mind, Substance, and Power falling into the four elements of outer expression.

The mouth represents the tomb, the equivalent of the pit in the mysteries of the Great Pyramid at Giza. You can bury yourself fathoms deep spewing idle words from your mouth, just as you can dig a grave with your teeth by eating an improper diet. You must resurrect your soul from the tomb of the dead self, so you are required to cross out self’s idle words at the mouth. Now you hold the flaming two-edged Sword of Truth to guard the entrance to the Garden of Eden, the lips. The tongue represents the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. When you tear people and situations down, you learn and speak only the evil from the Tree of Knowledge. If you have learned the good, lines of Light run from your forehead to the points of your shoulders {the acromion, where the shoulder connects to the collarbone} to ignite the flames of the Holy Spirit under the highest inspiration.

The sense of feeling, touch, is seated in the solar plexus and uses the whole body through the skin. You can have no true and perfect freedom until you lift the sense of touch. The principle of desire rules both touch and feeling. You must lift and ascend desire from the solar plexus to the higher creative centers (the pineal body, the pituitary gland, and the hypothalamus) in the brain to mate with will in a marriage of the Lamb. The other senses are seated in the throat, brow, and crown centers in the Garden of Eden, which contains the spiritual and soul organs of expression, expressing in the face for all to see. Man was driven from the Garden of Eden. Now we must earn our way back.

The only way to condense substance into visible form is to add one and one. 1 + 1 = 2 = which is the first physical form through which Spirit operates. This may be expressed as: 1 = God breathed the Breath of Life as Spirit into 2 = Adam’s nostrils and 3 = he became a living soul. 1 + 1 + 1 = 3 or personality, which is why three is the number of perfected personal expression under occult law. God must breathe the Breath of Life into your nostrils for you to become a living soul.

One (1) is the creative principle added to two (2), the transmutative principle, to equal three (3), the expressive principle. The creative principle must forever multiply and increase. The transmutative principle must forever change its form. The expressive principle must forever pour forth and press forward as the Spirit of the Living God. Spirit, expressing through form, must evolve and ascend as higher perfected personal expression. Spirit has a numerical value of 37 = 3 + 7 = 10 = 1, or one rational soul plus all beginnings, forever One. 1 + 0 = 10 or one rational soul plus unity in all endings.

Four and seven are closer in relation than any other two numbers. The multiplicity of either equals the value of the other: 4 x 4 = 16 =1 + 6 = 7, the Priest; or 7 x 7 = 49 = 4 + 9 = 13 = 1 + 3 = 4, symbolizing service. 7 + 4 = 11 or mastery (never reduce 11, 22, 33, etc.); 4 x 7 = 28 = 2 + 8 = 10 = 1, Oneness or Unity. A Priest (7) living by the laws of character must be masterful. This represents the unity of four in service, and the Priest in seven.

May I ask for myself? You can’t be yourself unless you know yourself. You can ask amiss only when you do not know yourself! Living life without having a hand on your ship’s tiller is dangerous. Grasp the tiller and the rudder goes to work. Only then can you steer a straight course, but first you must know where you are going. What are your ears hearing? What are your eyes seeing? You may focus on evil only for an instant to declare it good for lifting. Declare, “Thank You, Father, that Light covers my ears and eyes.” You can ask, but if you color your asking with emotions, you will get nowhere. You cannot ask correctly while you are still full of a mass of inhibitions, leftovers of not knowing yourself.

Develop a character chart to determine if you are expressing your soul’s qualities through the faculties and form as a medium of pure soul expression. Then you cannot ask amiss because you are asking from the soul, not from the emotions and selfish pseudo-intellect of the solar plexus. Every soul was originally charted with God. “Know thyself” is a law that means to know your soul. When you do not know yourself, each great emotional upheaval or jag tosses you to a lower plane. You become the victim of a phone call, the doorbell, hasty words, a tone of a voice, or a lifted eyebrow. If these things bother you, you make yourself a victim. Today’s beliefs become tomorrow’s pet aversions when you lack consistency. You never feel restless or unstable when you know yourself and your charted course. A vague personality results from being unmoored or sailing an uncharted course. Lift, and have compassion for the uncharted persons you meet.

Plan tonight for tomorrow morning’s first state of consciousness. Turn on the heat now so you do not go low in the night. The subconscious has only one way of eliminating repressions—by dreams that confuse and lower your consciousness. Practice soul communication! Turn on the heat! Declare that Light from the River of Life flows through during the night to absorb anything hidden in your subconscious. Zipper yourself into a blanket of Light so you do not drip Light from the tips of your toes; otherwise, you dissipate your energy and the Light moving through. Go to sleep on a cloud of Light.

In the morning, seek the kingdom of heaven first and Light descends. While still lying in bed, stretch into a five-pointed star. Breathe yourself back into your body, saying “Your Name! Move into your body now!” Take seven deep breaths. Put on rose-colored glasses so that when evil appears you are instantly ready to say, “Here it is, Father!”

Think of the most joyous day you’ve ever had. If you still have “worst favorites,” praise two or three good points about each while you are dressing. Glance around to see if you have missed a small miracle in the past week. Declare, “I am that Power! I am that joy! Let the Power possess me. Let love use me today. Let love create through me today!”

“I will” expresses self-consciousness. I AM expresses soul-consciousness. Declare, “Let Power fill all my creative prayer molds today!” Visualize each prayer mold clearly at least once a day. Never use force-demands such as “I want this.” Never create negatives such as “What have I done wrong?” If you ask why or tell the Father about yesterday’s guilt or disobedience, you waste time, effort, and soul substance.

A good prosperity treatment is to put every purse or billfold you have on the bed, opened in rows, visualizing until you see each one overflowing with bills. See yourself walking through bills to your knees wherever you go. Declare, “Let these molds be filled now! Thank you, Father, for filling these perfect prayer molds!” Say this a thousand times an hour. After you have cleared your mind of ”me,” see for your loved ones. As you do, the vibration you release circles earth, condensing as it circles and returns to fill your prayer molds. Use this treatment for health and it returns as strength. It collects all your “orphan” life sparks, magnifies itself and becomes a miracle.

Day and night, rejoice and hold the door open for a speedy return. If a door closes, know that God has planned a better place and has another door ready to open to you. Rejoicing is divine activity. Without rejoicing you create a roadblock in consciousness. Rejoice! I AM, the soul is asking, not the “little me” of self.


1^ Climbing a greased pole is a metaphor for the difficulty of reaching the top in one’s career. Benjamin Disraeli used this metaphor in a well-known quote after becoming Britain’s Prime Minister in 1868, “I have climbed to the top of the greasy pole.”

Top ↑


Is Faith Enough? (a)

Edna Lister outline; June 21, 1960, Cleveland, Ohio.

The Three Emanations

Fall into the Four Elements

The three emanations fall into the four elements of earth, water, fire and air. All of this is composed of the substance of faith: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”—Hebrews 11:1. Faith is all substance, visible and invisible. Is God everywhere evenly present and available? Do I believe this? Do I know this now? Am I sure? Can any part of God be left out of faith? You may see everything as faith, yet faith only functions through its own particular brain station.

Just to know about faith is not enough! When you use all faith, it is enough, but not just one part. Faith includes the substance of everything else. You must know what it is, how it works, where to find it, and how to use it! Otherwise, it never gets beyond the “It works for me sometimes” stage! So finally you begin to see what faith really is. Faith is the Light in action as the life sparks of the spiritual substance that becomes, not the mind behind it that thinks, plans, and controls.

The Light as the Three Emanations
Father of Wisdom

Mother of Love   Son of Power

The Three as One Light Become the Four as Form

The Four Elements

Earth, Water, Fire, and Air

Light is the three emanations—Wisdom, the Father, Love, the Mother, and Power, the Son. From the Three, the Four come forth into expression. Most familiar to us are the symbolic elements—earth, water, fire, and air—as the:

The Square of Creation
Sq-Creation


The first set of four principles. Beginning at the Source and moving outward, the first set of four principles are color, tone, number, and form, which is also called the Word or the name principle.

Four Principles

Color, Tone, Number, and Form

There are many sets of four, at least 22 sets, one set or phase of four assigned to each of the 22 Yetzirah Paths on the Tree of Life. The 22 Paths correspond to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and the 22 possible interpretations of every verse in the Bible. Each Yetzirah Path ascends higher. If you think or feel that you do not understand this, remember that a sphere of Light, filled with the substance of God, hovers above your head. Create a mental storeroom filled with brightly lighted pigeon holes; sort what you don’t yet understand into them, and wait to see a higher interpretation and relationship to the Source unfold. It will be revealed when you have ascended to it.


The second set of four principles. The second set of four includes the body vehicles for the tribes of the Elect—ranging from the most rarified grades or degrees of substance to the densest—the spiritual fire body, the mental body, the desire body, and the physical body.

The Elect descended in the beginning to the twelve Golden Cities of God in the first Wheel of Ezekiel, what is called the Zodiacal Path. The “physical” vehicles of that age were ethereal, not heavy as the bodies we wear now.

Body Vehicles

Spiritual, Mental, Desire, and Physical


The third set of four principles. The third set of four is composed of the first degree of substance in which the life sparks are combined in degrees of discernible form—electrons (and all other subatomic particles), atoms, molecules, and cells. The substance is gaining mass and becoming heavier.

Life Sparks Combined to Form

Electrons, Atoms, Molecules, and Cells


The fourth set of four principles. The fourth set of four represent Mind in action through the senses — hearing, smelling, feeling, and tasting. Seeing is not included here because it belongs to the Source of All Light (see more on this below). The Elect partake of the mind that was in Christ Jesus, which they use to arrange sensory input into patterns that will serve them as they become fully embodied.

Mind in Action

Hearing, Smelling, Feeling, and Tasting


The fifth set of four principles. The fifth set of four is the most familiar to us as the classical elements the ancients recognized and named—earth, water, fire, and air. Abstract and symbolic as well as concrete, the elements come into expression when the planet is ready to be inhabited. They provide all the building blocks for physical creation, and for the Elect to use in constructing their body vehicles.

The Four Elements

Earth, Water, Fire, and Air


The construction of body vehicles was designed to integrate the soul’s sensory apparatus within the body vehicle that most closely corresponds to and supports its function. The construction of the vehicles proceeded according to an increasingly more complex degree of pattern, as shown in the order below:

Light as the Life Sparks Encases Subatomic Particles
The Supreme Oversoul

  Seeing   Comprehension


The Spiritual Fire Body Encases
The Oversoul and Super-Conscious Mind
Color

Electrons  Hearing


The Mental Body Encases
The Rational Soul and Conscious Mind
Tone

Atoms Smelling


The Desire Body Encases
The Appetitive Soul and Subconscious Mind
Number

Molecules Feeling


The Physical Body Encases
The Appetitive Soul and Subconscious Mind
Form or The Word as Name

Cells Tasting


The Seven Trinities of Creation
Macrocosm
Wisdom Father
Being

Love Mother  Logos Son


1st Absolute Trinity
Wisdom
The Face

Love  Logos


2nd Supreme Trinity
Mind

Power as Potential  Substance as Faith


The Six Sources

1st Relative Trinity: Air
Light

Color  Tone


2nd Relative Trinity: Fire
Mind

Power  Substance


3rd Relative Trinity: Water
The Creative Word

Becoming Number  Becoming Form


Microcosm: Earth
The Soul Trinity of Creative Doing
The Oversoul

Rational Soul  Appetitive Soul


OR

Being Becoming the Square of Creation

sq-creation

Light is Divine Mind in action as faith. Faith is spiritual substance that becomes. Light is the three emanations forming the gestating place for all universes. A gestating place in this instance describes a cosmic womb for the growth and expansion of ideas and principles. It is the three emanations as the macrocosm—Light as the Father of Wisdom, the Mother of Love, and the Son or Logos—OR Being becoming the four, the Square of Creation—as color, tone, number, and form. This illustrates how Light is the beginning of the four material elements—air, fire, water, and earth. These are the five most important creative sets from the Source of principle.


The Elements as Symbols of Consciousness

Spiritual substance becomes ashes and water on the material plane. Spiritual substance becomes smoke and vapor (or mist) on the mental plane. Spiritual substance becomes fire and gaseous essence on the spiritual plane.

1. Earth is the Material Symbol of Consciousness. Practical understanding is built upon knowledge gained through many diverse and bitter experiences. Earth gives solidity to the soul’s nature, sincerity, and practicality according to the soul’s present plane of consciousness. If you let the influences of your worldly earth life affect your consciousness indiscriminately, it will have a disproportionately negative effect on your material-physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual dimension of life.

2. Fire is the Material Symbol of Spirit. “The Lord thy God is a consuming fire.”—Deuteronomy 4:24. “Our God is a consuming fire.”—Hebrews 12:29. God as spiritual substance must move (or act) and manifest as, in, and through a physical medium or form. Sometimes spiritual substance seems to be destructive, and you may think, “Can this be?” No, for God destroys only to be constructive. Fire will burn down old forms, and burn out old ideas. You experience travail of soul and many trials by fire when you take the series of initiations called the burning sands of the desert.

He who says, “Let us do evil, that good may come.” (Romans 3:8)—his damnation is just. “All things work together for good to them that love God.” (Romans 3:28)—if you mix them together right. Have you the nerve? What does it take? For example, on a cold day in the mountains we often burned wood in the wood stove to keep warm. By doing that we destroyed one thing to benefit another, which is how good may come from destruction. What gives warmth? Electric current, gas, coal, wood—we use all these to produce the energy we need to stay warm—yet misuse of all these means has at times destroyed homes and bodies.

Christ said, “No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”—John 14:6. “No man (material consciousness) cometh unto the Father (spiritual consciousness), but by me (Christed soul consciousness).” “He that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. I am the door of the sheep.”—John 10:2,7. When you ascend in consciousness to the Source, an Emanation of Christ Light flows from the Logos, the Word of spiritual flame.

3. Air is the Material Symbol of the Infinite Power to which everything must respond. Fire, representing spirit on earth, cannot function without air. Air is present in everything, earth, fire, and water. Air is the symbol of the All, from which all is created. Each thing, grade, or vibration below holds all above within itself.

When air is set in motion, it becomes wind, a great force, a physical power. Air is also a symbol of the power of intuition over fire as inspiration. Air condensed into water has same influence as power over fire, that intuition from the Heart of Being has over inspiration, which causes the intellectual faculties to “look up.” Air whips fire into a consuming blaze.

4. Water is the Material Symbol of Divine Mind, and of man’s emotional life expressing on three planes—ice, water, and vapor. Water overpowers fire as fire boils water away in an endless up and down interplay. The heat of the emanations of fire causes ice to melt into water. The fire of Spirit causes water to rise to untold heights as vapor. Water vapor consists of near-invisible life sparks. The water element has the widest range of obvious activity of any of the four elements. The medievalists term the sigil for water as that of “old age” or of an “old soul.”

Water is the symbol of divine mind substance and when fanned by air, it reaches the vibration of the Christ mind, whipped into divine activity of visions, creative ideas, and the expression of soul qualities. When fanned by cold intellect, it will become agnostic, crystallized into opinions and prejudices, some very silly, stupid notions. Water, when ruled by its lower emotional life, will wreck itself in material-physical expressions and creations.

Faith is the great coordinator of all this. Faith as principle is man’s expression of hope, of his aspiration on earth. Faith challenges the soul to “believe to see.” Faith as the pioneer is the bold unwavering conqueror.

Top ↑


Is Faith Enough? (b)

Edna Lister transcript; June 21, 1964, Cleveland, Ohio. Scribes: Ruth Johnson, Irene White.

Is God everywhere evenly present and available? Do I believe this? Do I know this now? Am I sure? Can I leave anything out of faith? Any part of God? “God is everywhere evenly present and available in all His parts, potentialities and qualities” is a metaphysical statement of faith in God’s omnipresence. No particle anywhere in the universe is lacking God. He is present and available in all the life sparks of substance that fill the emanations, endowed with the Light from the Source of All That Is. The Father of Wisdom, the Mother of Love, and the Son of Power fill the universe held within a magnetic wall that radiates from the Source. Everything consists of life sparks.

God gives the soul the power of conscious direction and control over substance, the primordial essence of which God has made all things. God gives substance the power to become. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”—Hebrews 11:1. Faith is unconscious life sparks in inanimate objects. However, “Faith, if it hath not works, is dead.”—James 2:17. Therefore, the soul’s expression of faith must be conscious. Just to know about faith is not enough. You must know what faith is, how it works, where to find it, and how to use it. What happens between your asking and God’s fulfillment of prayer? Whatever you ask for, you must visualize, picturing the substance of it as a physical, emotional, or mental possession.

How do I visualize? You must have an image in mind before you can ask, which is visualizing. If you imagine in a fuzzy way, no Light can engrave the image on your brain cells. “Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”—Matthew 21:22. When you ask in his name, believing, you will have it. Like so many of the Master’s statements, those that seem so mystical are the most practical. The minute you picture it, it is in your possession. People visualize in three ways. Some build a mold, over-love it, then do not want it when they get it. Many build a mold of belief, fill it with doubt, and let it go before they get it. Successful people build their creative prayer molds with love and wisdom then hold in faith until it comes.

Is faith enough? Yes. Faith must be enough because it is all wisdom, love, power, and joy. These are enough but they cannot remain static as just “words” and do anything. You need action. Faith with works is faith in action, in expression. Belief is passive, and inadequate unless you actively express your faith. You must put Mind into action as your expression to convert your beliefs into one bundle of faith that you put into action. Mind must act upon faith in a creative, all-inclusive way. When you use and put all faith in action, it is enough.

Love your creative prayer mold; otherwise, faith, as you are using it, will not be enough. Faith will not work for you unless you know what it is and how it works. Until then, you will have a “sometimes” faith—“I don’t know what I’ve done wrong! It worked before, why doesn’t it work now?” You must visualize properly and love its mold enough. Faith builds the mold, love sustains it, and praise keeps the filling action going. Love the people connected with your prayer mold. Love it because you already have it spiritually, mentally, and emotionally; otherwise, you starve it.


“Faith is Light in action as spiritual substance.”


Faith is one name of spiritual substance but it is not the Mind that creates and acts. Faith is Light in action as spiritual substance. Light is One as the emanations. Faith is Light in action as spiritual substance that becomes. Faith is the life sparks energized to become whatever you visualize, ask for in love, and declare. Love is the adhesive, cohesive Power of the universe that brings the life sparks together and inflates them to become solid, visible form. Love is in faith but the embodied soul, which has the power of conscious direction and control, must express love. Nothing becomes visible without enough love.

How three becomes four. “The three falls into the four” is an ancient mystical expression. Three is the number of perfected personal expression. Four is the number of service. From three, the four come forth into expression. How do you apply this? The Word is the Emanation of the Logos and of the joy, surrender, and selflessness that takes us to the Source. Use the Word! Use joy. Use surrender. Use selflessness.

The absolute fundamental principle of Light is derived from the emanations. Light subsequently manifests as four fundamental principles—color, tone, number, and named as form. Light is the Three-as-One—the Father of Wisdom, the Mother of Love, and the Son of Power, expressing as Mind, Substance, and Power, as One Light. There are many sets of four. One phase of four applies to each of the 22 Yetzirah Paths of the Tree of Life.

One Light Emanates as the Three
Wisdom

Love Power

To summarize, the One Light emanates from the Source of All Light. From the Source, four fundamental principles in action flow into manifestation as color, tone, number, and name structure and identify all creations as they reach form. This first set of four principles falls under the category of mysticism, which is related to the fire element.

The second set of four—the fire body, the mental body, the desire body, and the physical body—falls under the category of philosophy, related to the earth element, or God as Wisdom. These bodies are the vehicles of the embodied souls. The physical body, the outer sheath, reflects what goes on in the emotional, mental, and soul bodies. Your outer physical sheath is the sum of your thoughts, imaginings, and desires of the past and of this life.

The third set of four—electrons, atoms, molecules, and cells—falls under the category of science, the hub of the wheel, and it includes all the different combinations of substance as life sparks. Each level combines the life sparks that preceded it to express and to manifest as form.

The fourth set of four—hearing, smelling, feeling, and tasting—falls under the category of psychology, related to the water element, which is God as both Mind and personality in action as man. The fifth set of four—fire, air, water and earth—falls under the category of metaphysics, related to the air element, and constitutes the soul’s freedom. These form the platform of principle on which you stand, and the process of lowering the rate of vibration of substance and condensing it.

Earth is the Material Symbol of Consciousness. You build earth’s life-lessons, the sources of your practical understanding, on all the knowledge you gain through many, often bitter, experiences. Earth, the material symbol of consciousness, gives the mental nature firmness and stability. It represents the soul’s sincerity and practicality, according to its present level of consciousness. Earth is the most condensed level of substance that you can form into solid objects. The influences of earth life can profoundly affect your material, mental, and spiritual life, and quite negatively if you induct from the world, from a low point in consciousness.

Spiritual substance becomes symbolic “ashes” and the water element on the material plane. Your body produces fatigue, food, and emotional ash, which it adds to the bloodstream for disposal. You need plenty of liquids, fruit juices and water, at least two quarts a day, to counteract these wastes. Reports say that several herbal teas may cleanse the effects of atomic radiation; peppermint tea works directly on the brain cells.

Spiritual substance becomes “smoke” as vapor or mist on the mental plane. When you speak the Word to lift the effects of evil, the evil itself ascends as smoke. Idle words and all negative expressions create a heavy grey smoke that blots the aura of lights and colors. Positive expressions form a “mist” that waters the Garden of Eden.

Spiritual substance becomes “fire” as gaseous essence on the spiritual plane. Moses and the burning bush perfectly illustrates this principle — “the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.”

Fire is the Material Symbol of Spirit. “The Lord thy God is a consuming fire.”—Deuteronomy 4:24. “Our God is a consuming fire.”—Hebrews 12:29. God is Spirit. God as spiritual substance must manifest in and use a physical medium or form. How do you apply this in a practical way? When you are ready for spiritual substance to manifest as a new car, apartment, home, etc., you can say, “What I have now” (here you name what you need) “is beautiful but I’m ready to be promoted. Let Spirit work through this physical medium (equipment, body, situation, etc.) for good.” When God moves as Spirit, something is being saved. He moves only to be constructive.

Sometimes spirit seems destructive, but can this really be? No. Only the appearance is destructive. On a cold day, you may use electricity to burn fuel, such as gas, coal or wood, to produce the good of warmth. Yet, misuse of any of these could and has destroyed homes and bodies. Fire destroys old forms, and burns out old ideas. All travail of soul comes through trials by fire—usually the burning sands of the desert—which is how you become the purified gold of spirit. “All things work together for good to them that love God,”—Romans 8:28—if you mix the ingredients right. Name it Good and put it on a cloud of Light. “I AM loves you. I AM loves this and brings it to perfection now.” Have you the nerve? Do you have what it takes?

You must coordinate your life of faith. Christ said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”—John 14:6. “No man (material consciousness) cometh unto the Father (spiritual awareness), but by me (soul consciousness).” “He that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. I am the door of the sheep.”—John 10:2,7. Soul consciousness springs from an emanation of Light. It is a spiritual flame from the Source that becomes the individualized soul, as an expression of God.

Air is the Material Symbol of Infinite Power. Air symbolizes the infinite Power to which everything must respond. Fire, representing spirit on earth, cannot function without air, which is its fuel. Air is present in every other element: earth, water, and fire. Air is the symbol of the absolute All” from which you create all relative form. The law of correspondence—As above, so below—informs us that each thing, grade, or vibration below holds all above within itself. Air, set in motion, becomes wind, a physical force of potentially great power. Air also symbolizes the power of intuition over fire, which is inspiration; air whips fire into a consuming blaze. The power of intuition from the Heart of Being ignites inspiration and causes the mental faculties to “look up” to God in fervent enthusiasm and expectancy.

Water is the Material Symbol of Divine Mind. Water symbolizes both God’s Mind and man’s emotional life expressing in three phases — ice, water, or vapor. Water may overpower fire, yet the emanation of fire as heat causes ice to melt into water again. The fire of Spirit raises water’s vibration to untold heights, into vapor, into the life sparks. The interplay is an endless circuit. The water element has the widest possible range of obvious visible activity of any of the elements. In the alchemists’ terms, water signifies “old age” or an “old soul.” Water represents both Mind and substance. Using the air of Mind, you fan water into divine activity as visions, creative ideas, and as expression of soul qualities as Christed consciousness. When fanned by cold intellect, water becomes agnostic ice crystallized into opinions, prejudices, and silly, even stupid notions. When you allow water to rule the lower emotional life, it wrecks your material-physical expressions and creations.

Being Becoming the Square of Creation

sq-creation

Light is the source of vision. One Light, the Three-as-One manifesting as the life sparks, forms all the subsequent trinities of manifestation. Light is the Source of comprehension and vision; you cannot see without Light. Seeing is God in action as you.

Color is the source of hearing. The principle of color rules the electrons that compose the sun centers and the fire body, which encases the Oversoul or super-conscious mind, the seat of soul-consciousness. You hear on an electronic vibration. One would think hearing should come under tone but because hearing is next to Light (seeing), it must be the highest vibration under the Three. Hearing colors life. You can raise the vibration of ice only by heating it; thus, hearing comes under fire. You must burn away the dross of crystallization.

Air carries tone and it registers on the piano strips, the organs of Corti, over the eustachian tubes of the ears. The nostrils are definitely connected to the organs of Corti where you register tone. You can raise the vibration of the eustachian tubes, set the electrons and protons dancing, and the deaf will hear. Deep grief and wanting to escape life causes 90 percent of deafness; such souls will always have trouble hearing until they get out of the ice stage into the Light stage for healing. Love, acting through faith, brings healing.

Tone is the source of smelling. The principle of tone rules the lotus centers and the atomic mental body, which encases the rational soul or conscious mind. The seat of will is centered above the nose, just above the eyebrows. The sense of smell is closely connected with seeing. You can sometimes see what you cannot smell and smell what you cannot see. When the atoms have collapsed, your sense of smell fades. Use your sense of smell but keep your nose out of other people’s business!

Number is the source of feeling. The principle of number rules the vital centers and the molecular desire body, which encases the appetitive soul or subconscious mind. This is the seat of emotional “feeling” as well as physical sensation.

Name (Form) is the source of taste. The principle of name, as the spoken Word, produces form. Name rules the auric sheath of Mother blue, which acts as a cushion to absorb shock to the cellular physical body. The Word becomes flesh as the physical sheath, which is the seat of self-consciousness, a shell, a projection of your emotions, imagination, and thoughts. You may neither repudiate the physical, nor should you give it too much negative power. Never speak demeaningly about it — “this ugly old body.” The physical sheath protects the soul bodies. The whole point is to ascend and lift self-consciousness to soul-consciousness and back to Light as God-consciousness.

The four attributes of Power. Quantity, quality, quickness and quietness are called the Four Qs of Power. Q has a numerical value of eight, the number of Power and of tying earth to heaven. These four attributes of Power are available now for your use as you surrender to and become the servant of all Power.

Quantity operates under the principle of inaction or inertia. Quantity, in relation to the physical body, governs the instinctive capacity in matter under the principle of form, operating as conservation of energy. Quantity is the guiding principle of life among those who live from urge to urge. Quantity, applied to the mental life, refers to the capacities of perception, memory, and abstraction. You see an idea before you think it because its beauty and goodness attract you. An abstraction is an idea stripped of its beauty, which better describes a subtraction. Rationalization is the abstraction of thought. By rationalizing, you can strip an idea of its beauty to your soul’s vision until nothing is left.

Quality operates under the principle of action. Quality determines the nature and virtue of mind as used by soul — the intellectual capacity of mind that governs the mental faculties of imagination, reason, and judgment. Soul acts to develop these qualities in mind. Quality is therefore cumulative in that its character intensifies over time.

Quickness operates under the principle of reaction, and describes the mental characteristics of being mentally alive, alert, and aware. Quickness determines the mind’s inspirational capacity for illumination, which governs poised desire, inspired thinking, and God-consciousness.

Quietness operates under the principle of counter-action. Counter-action is a response of divine Mind ascending from darkness to Light through intuition. Quietness is the intuitive capacity that governs the faculties of intuition, realization, and comprehension. Quietness is a place of poise and calmness, God’s Heart Center of Being, the Center of All Light. Instantly lifting darkness is the right use of the principle of counter-action.

Your faith coordinates ascension. Faith is the great coordinator of ascension. All religions, from the lowest to the highest, are based on inspiration, aspiration, devotion, and faith. Faith inspires you to look up, to aspire to something greater than self. When you find this universal goal, you express faith in it and faith-full devotion to it.

Faith, the principle of omnipresence, is man’s expression of hope and aspiration on earth. Faith challenges the soul to “believe to see.” Faith, as the pioneering spirit, creates a bold, unwavering conqueror. Faith carries you from God as Light into outer expression as form and back to God again. You can have faith in yourself because you are the faith of God. Now you can trust God because you trust yourself.

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How Do I Wait Upon the Lord? (a)

Edna Lister outline; June 28, 1960, Cleveland, Ohio.

How do I wait upon the Lord? Use this statement—“I Arise! I go into my room of light, prepared for me in my Father’s House. I wait upon the Lord as I stand in the Light coming from above, while I work out my salvation here, below.”

To “wait” means to be a good waiter, to pay attention, to be considerate in your giving, to be good, to make others happy, to be concerned with your relationship to God first, and to compare yourself to Him.

Stand under the Light! All too often people dislike what they see in the Light, run out into the darkness — and everything is dark when you turn your back on the Light — then run back into their room and all is Light again. The secret is—Do not come out! Instead, face upward and work from your room in the House of the Lord.

According to Thomas Kepler’s edited edition of Theologica Germanica: The Way to a Sinless Life, in Europe, during the period of 1305 to 1417 A.D., the Popes were the puppets of France. Pope Clement V moved to Avignon in 1305; Pope Gregory XII moved the Papal Court back to Rome in 1378. The Schism finally ended with the election of Pope Martin V in 1417.

Two vital groups rose from the Great Schism1: The Brethren of the Common Life, which published The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas à Kempis, and the Friends of God, who published Theologica Germanica anonymously because they considered the ideas, not the persons, as most important.

Three Degrees on the Way to a Sinless Life

The Theologica Germanica treats three degrees by which man emerges from “sin to salvation,” being, in effect, a spiritual ladder. We compare this with nine of our Via Christa Degrees.

The first degree is Purification, which includes remorse for sin, confession of sin, and reconciliation of life. The second degree is Enlightenment, which includes avoidance of sin, living by virtue and good works, and bearing trials and temptation. The third degree is Union, which includes pureness and integrity of heart, love, and meditation on God.

Purification corresponds to the Neophyte initiation, Rebirth, to be born again, and to awakening the pituitary gland. Remorse for sin includes repentance, contrition, and your acceptance of responsibility. First, you begin to hear about being responsible, but acceptance is deciding to do something about being responsible. This awakens the higher function of the pituitary gland, and the faculty of intuition begins to develop.

Confession of sin is “This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” — Philippians 3:13-14. So confession involves no grieving or wasting of time, but lifting all weight of the past as you move up and ascend in consciousness. Reconciliation of life requires that you agree with God and adjust to man to surrender self. This compares with the Disciple’s initiation of Baptism by Water in which Spirit descends to rest upon the soul.

Enlightenment is the second degree, which consists of avoidance of sin, living virtue and good works, and bearing trials and temptation. Enlightenment awakens the pineal body, which is necessary because illumination must shine through it. Avoidance of sin is to “Abstain from all appearance of evil.”—1 Thessalonians 5:22, including using idle words. If you abstain from idle words, soul illumination will move in to fill the void.

Living virtue and good works is always keeping your eyes on the Light and obeying the law of surrender. “This is good. Let there be Light.” Bearing trials and temptation is being steadfast, and having fortitude and courage. The Adept’s initiation is the Baptism by Fire, which includes the burning sands of the desert.

Union is the third degree, which includes pureness and integrity of heart, love, and meditation on God. Union signals the opening of the parathalamus bodies in the brain. Pureness and integrity of heart requires the crucifixion of self-will, choice between the world and the soul. The Via Christa requires purity of the heart, mind, and purpose, which leads to the Resurrection of soul and the crowning with the white wings of the Christ. Love, as the Christ in me salutes the Christ in you and we are free. Christed “I AM consciousness loves you.” Love is the “open sesame” to life.

The third initiation is meditation on God. On the Via Christa, this involves ascension and comprehension of the greater works, until you can say, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”—Psalm 23:6. How do you hold to this vow of waiting? The Word conditions your life. Life cannot condition the Word. Neither you nor your desire, imagination, nor choice can condition the Christed I AM consciousness, because it IS! I can condition my body to pain, or I can condition my body to health. It’s easy to conquer pain, but not so easy to conquer the cause of the pain!


1^ The Great Schism of 1378—1417 resulted from the removal of the papacy from Italy to France in 1309. Feuds among the Italian cardinals and their allies among the Italian nobility led to Pope Clement V (1305—14) moving the papal residence from Rome to Avignon in southern France. French interests came to dominate papal policy and the popes, notorious for their luxurious way of life, commanded scant respect. An attempt to return the papacy to Rome was followed by schism as two rival popes were elected by the cardinals, Urban VI by the Roman faction and Clement VII by the French faction. The period of popes and rival antipopes lasted until the Council of Constance (1417) elected Pope Martin V of the Roman party and deposed his French rival. The division of the papacy discredited the Church and was criticized by those demanding reform, notably Wyclif. (Oxford Reference)

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How Do I Wait Upon the Lord? (b)

This Edna Lister transcript; June 28, 1960, Cleveland, Ohio. Scribes: Margaret Pratt Doan, Ruth Johnson, Irene White.

How do I wait upon the Lord? I ascend. I enter my room of light, prepared for me in my Father’s House. I wait upon the Lord as I stand in the Light descending from above, while I work out my salvation here on earth.

The keynote of waiting is action not apathy. To wait means to be a waiter, to pay attention, to give courtesy and service with consideration. “I make myself good and the other fellow happy. I give God the consideration of my love. I pay attention with my Oversoul, always remaining consciously plugged in above.”

If you intend to stand in the House of the Lord, you must be concerned with your relationship to God. “I compare myself with God. Standing in the Light, I see my taints and run from my room of Light into the darkness.”

When you turn your back on the Light, all is darkness, so you must run back to the Light. God never said you cannot return 99 times or as often as necessary. All you need to do is to keep reaching for the Light. Keep at it. Say, “Here I am! Let Light cleanse me, Father!” Do not leave your room of light. Work from your room of light in the House of the Lord.

The Babylonian Captivity and the Great Schism

History calls the period from 1305 to 1417 the Babylonian Captivity of the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican was embroiled in political struggles. Edward I of England, author of the Magna Charta, and Philip IV of France, openly defied the Pope and undermined his temporal power. The French king dominated the papacy at Avignon. In 1378, Pope Gregory XI moved to Rome after he received prophetic admonition from St. Bridget of Sweden and St. Catherine of Siena. At Gregory’s death in 1378, the Great Schism 1 began, which lasted until 1417.

The papal court returned to Avignon, France, under the anti-Pope Clement VII. The disgust of the Christian peoples was unanimous. The Order of Spiritual Franciscans revolted, demanding that the churches return to purity. The Lollards, renegade English priests headed by Thomas Wycliff, began preaching their “heresies.” These are some events that gave birth to the Reformation. Two vital religious organizations arose. The Brethren of the Common Life in England, Holland and Germany, produced the volume, Imitation of Christ. The Friends of God became the anonymous authors of Theologia Germanica in about 1350.

Three Degrees on the Way to a Sinless Life

According to the teachings in Theologia Germanica, you emerge from sin to salvation by three degrees, Purification, Enlightenment, and Union, which form a spiritual ladder corresponding to nine of the mystical 33 Via Christa Degrees.

The First Degree is Purification, which includes three steps—Remorse for Sin, Confession of Sin, and Reconciliation of Life. In comparing these degrees with our Via Christa Degrees, Purification corresponds to the Neophyte’s Rebirth initiation, to be born again, and to awaken the pituitary gland.

Remorse for Sin. Sin is missing the mark. You must live way up there in consciousness and maintain your contact with God, otherwise you will feel remorse. Remorse for sin includes the use of the faculty of intuition.

Repentance, contrition, and acceptance are where you begin to “hear about it.” Then you accept your responsibility to do something about it. Intuition awakens as you apply your mental faculties of logic, reason, discernment, discrimination, and discretion. Turn quickly and take it into the House of the Lord. Ascend in consciousness and say, “I ascend. Father, hold me. Use me. I stand under the Light.”

Confession of sin is “This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”—Philippians 3:13-14. Waste no time grieving, but lift as you ascend in consciousness.

Reconciliation of life means to seek first the kingdom of heaven so all things may be added. We learn to love our enemies, we begin to agree and adjust, surrender self and eliminate inner conflicts. This includes the Disciple’s initiation, Baptism by Water, which is the Spirit of God descending with a new robe for your soul. The initiation is for pureness and integrity of heart, mind and purpose.

Integrity is a virtue. A virtue is or represents an absolute principle and abstract law. Integrity means honor above all things, which involves the crucifixion of self-centered will and selfish choices for emotional desires, thinking, and imagination. You can go wrong only on one of these three.

The Second Degree is Enlightenment, which includes three steps—Avoidance of Sin, Living of Virtue and Good Works, and Bearing of Trials and Temptations. Enlightenment awakens the pineal body so that illumination may shine through.

Avoidance of sin is to “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:22. The first thing to avoid is using idle words. Do this and illumination will descend.

Living virtue and good works means always keeping our eyes on the Light. We serve and obey all the laws we know, especially the law of complete surrender of self. The greatest virtue is to declare, “This is good.”

Bearing trials and temptations means being steadfast and having the fortitude and courage to stand and hold. This includes the Adept’s initiation, the Baptism by Fire and the burning sands of the desert that each soul must cross alone. Here you experience real trials by fire for the soul’s purification. Quick, give it to the Father and it ascends to become Light.

The Third Degree is Union, which includes Integrity and Purity of Heart,Love, and Meditation on God. Union opens the parathalamus bodies in the brain, which, in conjunction with opening the pituitary gland and the pineal body, can cause difficulty in the higher creative centers of the golden bowl, the head. Toxins are purged from the soul’s memory record through sinus problems and headaches.

You attain and can maintain integrity and purity of heart as you live by the hallmark of Oversoul, “Honor above all things.” Here you face choice and separation of desire, thinking and imagination, and the crucifixion of self-will, which is the only place you can go wrong. Salute Christ in all things and be free.

Love is the “open sesame” that opens the spiritual world to your soul. You can bury a soul under suspicion or resurrect him with love. Resurrection is the Priest’s initiation, which is the union of personal I AM with God’s universal I AM that gives your Christed crowning. To declare, “I AM loves you,” invokes the full Power of God. The white Wings of the Christ grow from the collarbones over your ears and curl in like fans.

The third initiation is meditation on God or ascended comprehension of the greater works, where you dwell in the House of the Lord forever. This is union with God, but you cannot hold union with God without meditation. Waiting upon the Lord is meditating upon God while you work out your outer personal plan of salvation. This is doing the “greater works.” At night, you can ascend to a cloud of Light, contemplate your higher body and you will be there.

How do you wait upon the Lord? Your words condition your life. Life cannot condition your words. The Word conditions your life. Life cannot touch you. Christed I AM consciousness cannot be conditioned by little self, imagination, desire, or choice. Oversoul I AM simply is.

People can condition their bodies to pain if they choose. An escape artist can ache himself sick to avoid something unpleasant or a task they want to shirk. Or you can condition your body to health. What is your desire? How very simple it is to heal pain—stop enjoying it. How very difficult it is to heal the cause of pain. You constantly recondition yourself either to pain or to glory.

You can condition mind with these statements: “I AM now fills me with Light. I AM now sees me whole. Here I am Father, move in and possess me, cleanse me. I am now at home. I am now in the kingdom. I am the Love of God, I AM. I am the Wisdom of God, I AM. I AM loves you. I AM THAT I AM.”


1^ The Great Schism of 1378—1417 resulted from the removal of the papacy from Italy to France in 1309. Feuds among the Italian cardinals and their allies among the Italian nobility led to Pope Clement V (1305—14) moving the papal residence from Rome to Avignon in southern France. French interests came to dominate papal policy and the popes, notorious for their luxurious way of life, commanded scant respect. An attempt to return the papacy to Rome was followed by schism as two rival popes were elected by the cardinals, Urban VI by the Roman faction and Clement VII by the French faction. The period of popes and rival antipopes lasted until the Council of Constance (1417) elected Pope Martin V of the Roman party and deposed his French rival. The division of the papacy discredited the Church and was criticized by those demanding reform, notably Wyclif. (Oxford Reference)

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Is Praise Necessary? (a)

Edna Lister outline; July 5, 1960, Cleveland, Ohio.

Without praise there is no life activity. It becomes only a life lived on the fifth breath, which is the breath of the earth—stone and sand, just a pulsing of life sparks—each whirling on in its own, growing more static, and ever less and less.

The foundation or primal book of the Kabbala is called the Sepher Yetzirah, or “The book dealing with Creation.” It is not an introduction to the Kabbala, rather it is a key to the study of the Kabbala.

“In thirty-two mysterious Paths of Wisdom did Jah, the Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, the Living Elohim, the King of ages, the merciful and gracious God, the Exalted One, the Dweller in eternity, most high and holy—engrave his name by the three Sepharim—Numbers, Letters, and Sounds. Ten are the ineffable Sephiroth. Twenty-two are the Letters, the Foundation of all things; there are Three Mothers, Seven Double and Twelve Simple letters.”—Sepher Yetzirah

Sepharad (סְפָרַ֑ד). Mentioned in Obadiah 1:20 as the place of captivity of certain “captives of Jerusalem,” but no clear indication is given of locality. Many conjectures have been made. The Targum of Jonathan identifies with Spain; hence, the Spanish Jews are called Sephardim.—International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

In the Kabbala, the three Sepharim are named as Number, Writing, and Speech. Therefore the foundations of all things are contained in the ten numbers of the Sephiroth and in the 22 letters of the Sepharim. Of these 22 letters, three are Mothers, seven are double, meaning that they are pronounced two ways, hard or soft, and twelve are simple, meaning that they are pronounced only one way. A Christian Kabbalist would add that three are the Mother principle, seven are double, both Father and Mother, and twelve are simple, single, neuter, signifying the Son.

Our numerical system is based upon the ten (10). The ten numbers are ten divine Lights through which Light, the absolute essence of God, is released on earth as Light through the tips of your ten fingers. In studying these numbers, remember that straight lines symbolize the masculine principle, and curved lines the feminine.


The Symbolism of Numbers

 1-one  One represents standing upright, the circle made straight, 0 = 1, a rod of Power.
 2-two
 Two represents the Mother added to the Father, the feminine to the masculine.  Two represents the Father and Mother strands of life, not the cells, the sperm and
 ovum, but the seeds of life that are created in the solar plexus every 28 days of
 the lunar month. The two (2) has the same significance that the joined six and
 nine have in the symbol for Cancer (69), which represents gestation. The two (2)
 represents the seeds of life moving up to the brain’s higher creative center for
 outer creations. Really two (2) is two ones added together (1 + 1 = 2), as the
 straight “F” is bent figuratively into a curved “M”.

 3-three
 Three represents another unit added, the Holy Trinity of outer expression. The
 Mother of Love (curved lines) holding Creation, the Father-Mother-Son,
 together.

 4-four
 Four represents the pituitary gland and feminine intuition. The soul begins
 embodied life with the four lotus petals of intuition open, but the four petals of
 illumination are still closed. All eight of these petals must be open or you can’t
 receive even a hunch from the subconscious mind.

 2-4s
 Two fours facing each other create a pine tree symbol, which is the sign of all
 petals of intuition and illumination open, and freedom from earth.

 Jupiter
 Jupiter’s symbol is the sign of joy. It integrates the (2) as the exalted moon
 uplifted, plus the cross of ascended service.

 open-4
 The open four represents the open consciousness of a joyous soul who
 fervently expects all good.

 4-four
 The earthy four represents a boxed-in consciousness that grudgingly expects
 the drudgery of labor, and work always done in hard ways.

 5-five
 Five represents soul expression, and the feminine foundation of masculine
 strength — a three-quarters full moon pressing forth and reaching toward
 the stars of the Source.

 saturn
 Saturn’s symbol combines the soft curves of the feminine joined with a bolt of
 Power striking to heat the metal of soul so it may be forged. Saturn represents
 the soul’s ability to protect its own. You know true freedom only when soul is
 ruling your life.

 6-six
 Six represents the double Trinity, the seed of the Mother ready to create, and
 to nourish and sustain all it touches. The Mother is hidden in the mysteries
 of creation above. The Father hidden in the mysteries of creation here below.
 Six (6) represents the protective Mother reaching up.

 7-seven
 Seven represents the Priest, the full Power of the Father as the eunuch, with
 the Power flowing straight down. This is the protective Father watching over
 all His creations. The symbol for seven (7) represents a hook, signifying that
 the Father never lets go, but maintains His hold on your soul while Power is
 being released through you.

 8-eight
 Eight, with its x in the middle, ties earth to heaven, representing an integrated
 circuit. The x-cross represents the Son, the Holy Spirit, crossing out darkness.
 Eight is the Father-Mother number of powerful, power-filled service.

 double-nine
 The eight’s lower crescent symbolizes the o’ershadowing wings of the dual
 Father, Mother hidden.

 double-six  The eight’s upper crescent represents the upholding arms of the Mother,
 Father hidden.
 9-nine
 Nine represents the Father’s seed about to descend, ready to unfold all
 Creation. Nine (9) is the number of perfect man marking the forehead of the
 soul in the desire body.

 9-nine-back
 When the arms of the nine are facing outward, they are ready to receive.
 When all is enfolded once more, the arm of the nine is made straight with
 a zero (0) added to make it ten (10), the number representing the spiritualized
 soul received again unto the Source.


The Kabbala says: “God is superlative in his Unity, there is none equal unto Him: what number canst thou place before One.” The philosopher says, “He, the absolute is not one! He is before anyone!” The Bible says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” — Exodus 20:3. The Great Light called Kether the Crown is not the Source of the emanations but that point from which God the Father (and the hidden Mother) said, “Let there be Light.” This Light formed the molds for the six days of Creation, but not the Thrones and Crowns of the 36 Rulers of the Decans. With the “Let there be Light,” the number One was formed, and with it the first three letters — Aleph, Mem, and Shin. Letters represent the qualities and attributes of God releasing Power, but have no power in themselves.

The Three Mothers. Aleph, Mem, and Shin are the Mother numbers shown in the innermost triangle below. Aleph, which is air, pushed forth Mem. Mem is water, which contained Shin, the fire. All three letters were begotten of the Mother principle with the Father principle as the underlying foundation.

3-7-12 In the center triangle, Aleph is written as א and spelled as אָלֶף. Aleph’s gematria (numerical value) is one (1). Mem is spelled מֵם. In Hebrew, Mem, like Kaph, Nun, Pe, and Tzadi, has a final form, sofit, used at the end of words. In this case its shape changes from מ to ם. Mem’s gematria is 40/600. Shin is spelled as שִׁין, but is pronounced two ways, “s” שׁ, and as שׂ, “sh.” Shin’s gematria is 300. The second shin in Issachar (יִשָּׂשכָר) is written with no dot because it is always silent when second in a double S.


The Seven Double Letters. Points on the seven-pointed star hold seven letters called “double” because they are pronounced two ways (two voices), aspirated and unaspirated, namely: פּ ת, רּ ר, פּ פ, כּ כ, דּ ד, גּ ג. They serve as a model of softness and hardness, strength and weakness. The seven represent the seven nerve plexuses and vital centers in man, and seven great principles. Each, to create, must be dual as both “Father and Mother.”

The seven double letters symbolize wisdom, riches, fertility, life, power, peace, and grace. They also signify the antitheses to which human life is exposed. The opposite of wisdom is foolishness; of riches, poverty; of fertility, sterility; of life, death; of power, servitude; of peace, war; and of beauty, deformity. The seven planets are Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon. The seven gateways in man (male and female) are two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, and the mouth.


The Seven Double Letters

 # Name  Letter  Nerve Plexus  Vital Center  Symbol
 בֵּית  2  Vet בֵית|Bet בֵּית  Sacrum Plexus  Sacral Center  House
 גִּימֶלְ  3  Gimel גִּימֵל|Djimel גִימֵל  Lumbar Plexus  Splenic Center  Camel
 דָּלֶת  4  Dalet דָּלֶת|Daleth דָלֶת  Solar Plexus  Navel Center  Door
 ךּּ/כּ 20/500  Kaf כַּף|Khaf כַף  Cardiac Plexus  Heart Center Fist
 ף|פֵּ 80/800  Pe פֵּה|Fe פֵה  IX Cranial Nerve  Throat Center  Mouth
 רֵישׁ 200  Resh רֵ|Resh ר  Optic Chiasm  Brow Center  Head
 תּו 400  Tav תּ|Thav ת  Hypothalamus  Crown Center Tau Cross T


Beth: The sacrum plexus and sacral vital center is the seat of the creative fire. Gimel’s camel has two humps, symbolizing the solar and lunar creative fire channels along either side of the spine. Dalet’s door opens onto the outer world. Kaf’s fist, a clenched hand, opens and closes like the pulsing of the heartbeat. Pe’s mouth holds the power of the voice. Resh’s optic chiasm holds the power of vision. Tav’s hypothalamus holds the Power of Keter, the Crown of Creation.

The Twelve Simple Letters. Points on the twelve-pointed star consist of twelve simple letters, meaning that they are pronounced in only one way.


The Twelve Simple Letters

 Number  Sign  Function  Symbol
 5 He הֵא  Toleh|Aries  Sight Window
 6 Vav וָו  Shaur|Taurus  Hearing  Peg or Hook
 7 Zayn זַיִן‎  Teomaim|Gemini  Smell  Weapon
 8 Het חֵית  Sartan|Cancer  Speech  Enclosure
 9 Tet טֵית‎  Arieh|Leo  Nutrition  Serpent
 10 Yod יוֹד  Betolah|Virgo  Coition  Hand
 30 Lamed לָמֶד  Meoznaim|Libra  Doing  Ox Goad
 50 Nun   Akrav|Scorpio  Walking  Fish
 60 Samekh ְסָמֶך  Qoshet|Sagittarius  Anger Prop
 70 Ayin עַיִן  Ghedi|Capricorn  Laughter  Eye
 90 Tsadi צַדִי  Deli|Aquarius  Thought  Fishhook
 100 Qof קוֹף  Dagim|Pisces  Sleep  Ears|Back of Head


Progression through the initiatory degrees comes under the application of definite laws to daily living. Five laws will bring you to that high point of contemplative receptivity necessary for all progress. To expand into infinity you must first hear about your need for law under the great law of attraction. Second, you must receive the law under the law of expansion. Third, you must accept the law under the law of suction. Fourth, you must apply the laws you learn under the law of contraction. Fifth, you must ascend higher on the law under the law of repulsion.

These five laws rule nature in its operation, and you must live in accordance with them to reduce friction and conflict in your mind, heart, body and affairs. Under attraction you draw your own to you through love. Under expansion you forgive, and begin to give more than you take. Under suction you grow selective, by clinging to your ideals rather than following the crowd. You are able to hold fast to God, and the kingdom of heaven. Under contraction, you coordinate all the laws you have learned and apply what you know to what you do. You grow wise in what to reject as the not-good under the law of repulsion. A narrow line separates running from what you do not like and avoiding the not-good.

How does praise fit into all this? Praise is the only thing that will create a burning desire to comprehend, to get into action, or to conquer. Only praise can cause desire to act, to build the pipeline of determination from God’s storehouse of potential Power to carry active kinetic energy to fill your prayer molds with substance. Under contraction you can erect the greatest of all false gods! Either you obey the laws of agreeing with God and adjusting to your fellow man, or you crystallize. In a period of contraction, you tend to draw back from conflict, to mind your own business. The law to apply is “What is that to thee? Follow thou me.” — John 21:22.

Under repulsion, you grow wise in what to reject as the not good. Or you cut out what you dislike until you have nothing. If you apply repulsion in the wrong way, you may lose too much and close out your good. For instance, if you are afraid to receive praise you are not applying the second law, to receive, under the law of progression. Down underneath, hidden away in this fear, is the memory that you have used self-praise. Somewhere, sometime you’ve been too “good” to mix with others and have given self the credits for being so “wise.” Now you fear that self-praise will rear its head.

Make praise your next step up! Instantly return it to the giver as praise for his kindness, “How wonderful of you to say so!” Praise the giver of praise for discernment beyond the mere appearance of things. Feel grateful to God for using you to uplift others. Inside be thanking God in gratitude that His Light is breaking through everyone’s crust of self.

Praise is a great treatment, working both ways, to give and to receive. Praise, applied to yourself as a law, unfolds a glory called humility, a great unconquerable faith, the rock to which your loved ones may cling. It builds a citadel of glory before the world. It is the one law of challenge to darkness that devours and consumes the darkness instantly.

Praise is the secret of the art of expansion. You can’t see law, but when you apply law to everything you do you can see and feel its results. Failure in having miracles is due to your use of the “lost” word, which is GOOD, the one mighty Word you can use day and night until you establish the habit of immediately saying, “This is good. Let there be Light.”

“This is good” is tantamount to saying, “I believe to see,” which supersedes the law of “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” — Mark 9:24. This is a cure for fear and doubt. Declare, “I am the truth. My I AM consciousness is now building new eyes, new ears, new anything.” “My I AM consciousness is now wide awake.”

Your body is now indivisible because you can’t cut spirit. Your body is now spiritual, made of the One Substance of the life sparks — indestructible and immortal now. Your business to rearrange them into your soul’s desires! How? Just declare, “As spirit mingles with spirit, as oil mingle with oil, as water mingles with water, as air mingles with Spirit so does my life mingle with the Life of God.”

The seven double letters represent the seven vital centers in man and seven great principles of being.


The Seven Double Letters, Vital Centers, and Principles in Man

 Letter  Symbol  Center  Principle
 Beth  House  Sacral Center Conquering self: “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” — Revelation 2:7.
 Gimel  Camel  Splenic Center Faithfulness: “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” — Revelation 2:10.
 Dalet  Door  Navel Center Repentance: “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.” — Revelation 2:17.
 Kaph  Fist  Heart Center Hold Fast: “He that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron.… And I will give him the morning star.” — Revelation 2:25-28.
 Pe  Mouth  Throat Center Be Watchful: “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.” — Revelation 3:25-28.
 Resh  Head  Brow Center Hold Fast Thy Crown: “Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.” — Revelation 3:11-12.
 Tav  T Cross  Crown Center Be Zealous and Repent: “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne.” — Revelation 3:19-20.


Beth, the Church of Ephesus, deals with the first steps in conquering self. “These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” — Revelation 2:1-7.

The soul must make its Exodus from the Land of Egypt, enter the Promised Land, then ascend to paradise, which is the Garden of Eden, everything above the collarbones. At the base of the skull, the medulla oblongta serves as the trunk of the Tree of Life in the cerebellum, which coordinates sensory input with muscular responses. The tongue represents the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and is in the mouth, which is called the Tomb allegorically. Just above the pons, the medulla oblongata holds the platelets that carry toxic leftovers from past misuse of law. The cerebellum’s Tree of Life holds the entire history of the soul coded onto the platelets. Beth is archetype of House, in this case, the House of Aries, whose propensity is escapism — every time an unwelcome memory platelet is released, the Aries soul will try something else to escape it.

Gimel, whose symbol is a Camel, represents the splenic vital center and the Church of Smyrna: “These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.” — Revelation 2:8-11.

You receive a crown of life for your faithfulness. The first death is the loss of your physical equipment, the outer body sheath. The second death is the desire for good destroyed by misuse of the creative fire. Any perversion of desire crystallizes it into indifference, lukewarmness, and an “don’t care” attitude. You lose the desire body when you no longer have whirling lotus centers and vital centers. The House of Taurus is the epicurean sensualist, whose propensity is pleasure first and as the greatest good.

Dalet whose symbol is the Door, rules the solar plexus and navel vital center. As you awaken the pineal body’s function, it develops a white sand-like hormone that when electrified by illumination feeds the pituitary gland, which in turn feeds the whole body through the thyroid, and parathyroid glands. Over time, this reawakens or quickens the thymus gland above the heart. The thymus, called the architect of the immune system, grows throughout childhood but begins to atrophy at puberty.

Dalet represents the Church of Pergamos: “These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges; I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate. Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.” — Revelation 2:12-17.

The action of the endocrine glands and the quickening of the thymus (described above) create the “hidden manna,” and the “new name” is the Christed I AM consciousness. This mirrors the duality of the House of Gemini, whose propensity is to scatter the soul’s resources on the world of appearances, while forgetting the truth of reality.

Caph symbolized by the Clenched Hand, rules the cardiac plexus and the heart vital center. It represents the Church of Thyatira: “These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass; I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star.” — Revelation 2:18-28.

“Power over the nations” includes “twelve” organs and the endocrine and central nervous systems. The “morning star” is knowledge of the mysteries. The “rod of iron” refers to the red blood cells balanced with the white lymphocytes for perfect health. “The life of the flesh is in the blood … it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” — Leviticus 17:11. The vessels “broken to shivers,” are old ideas whose hold is broken and changed. Caph’s influence extends over three Houses — Cancer, Leo, and Virgo. Cancer rules the stomach and the soul faculty of assimilation; its propensity is to clutch and cling until what it loves dies of being possessed. Leo rules the heart and the soul faculty of compassion; its propensity is extreme possessive jealousy. Virgo rules the lungs, and the soul faculty of inspiration; its propensity is manipulative love that is determined to change the loved one into what it desires.

Pe, symbolized by the Mouth, rules the IX cranial nerve (the glossopharyngeal) and the throat vital center. The throat represents the Power of the spoken Word. The mouth forms the “O,” the circle of unity, but it also represents the Tomb because idle words of the mouth can kill your creations. Pe represents the Church of Sardis: “These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.” — Revelation 3:1-5.

Although misused life sparks of soul substance may be resurrected from the abyss, purified and returned to the soul, losing too many to redeem is disastrous. To “blot out his name” is the loss of the soul’s identity. “Watch, I will come on thee as a thief” and take away little you have left! Pe rules the House of Libra, which represents balance, and of Scorpio, which rules death. Libra’s propensity is living vicariously through others and appropriating their accomplishments as their own. Scorpio’s propensity is “rule or ruin” and they use the lash of cutting remarks until the death of love ends the relationship.

Resh, symbolized by the Head, rules the optic chiasm and the brow vital center. Resh represents the Church of Philadelphia: “These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.” — Revelation 3:7-12.

Resh rules the House of Sagittarius, the final gate of fire, which is also known as the Gate of Ascension. Among the Jews it is the Gate of Repentance that always remains open, even when the other eleven gates are closed from Yom Kippur to Rosh Hashanah. The “key of David” opens the all seeing eye the higher creative centers in the brain. The soul initiations under the Houses of Libra and Scorpio lead to mastery of the soul over the self. The House of Sagittarius is dedicated to fulfilling the vow of the Priest, which is more rigorous than those of the earlier Houses, and the tests there are more subtle. For example, the conquering soul will have won the “crown of life” in the House of Taurus for lifting and sublimating the creative fire, but in the House of Sagittarius, he is tempted to let it go. When sufficient Light permeates the higher creative centers to water your Garden of Eden, and you have conquered enough self to hold them open, the Master will write upon you his new name because you now wear the white Wings of the Christ.

Tav represents the Tau Cross, the Τ, the crown vital center, and the Church of Laodicea: “These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” — Revelation 3:14-21. The House of Capricorn is the Gate of the Gods descending to earth, and so is also called the Gate of Descension, Gate of Man. The only way to open the “door” of the Garden of Eden is to listen for the call of the Oversoul: “I stand at the door, and knock.” When you open to your own Oversoul you invite the Christ consciousness in to share life with you. Christ, in turn says, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame.” He says, “in my throne,” not “on my throne” because when you “have the mind of Christ,” you dwell with him in Wisdom, Love, Power, Joy, and, Glory.

Top ↑


Is Praise Necessary? (b)

Edna Lister lecture transcript; July 5, 1960, Cleveland, Ohio. Scribes: Margaret Pratt Doan, Ruth Johnson, Lotus Landis, Virginia Whitehead.

Praise is one of the greatest, most beautiful experiences that can happen to any soul. Accept all praise gracefully as if it came from God. Expand on praise and make it your next step up. Bless anyone who praises you; return praise to the giver. “You are seeing the Light.” Even when offered sardonically, praise expands the giver, despite his motive. Return his praise brushed and polished for his unfoldment and discernment of Light. It is a precious commodity, his soul substance. Praise, when accepted, unfolds a glory called humility, which is an aspect of unconquerable faith. It is a citadel, a rock and tower of strength.

The law of praise challenges darkness. When you praise, you expand and ascend into a greater comprehension of law. You cannot see law but you see its results as a miracle. Failure to have a miracle is due to your use or failure to use the lost word, which is “good.” You lose the word when you do not use it. Establish the habit of saying, “This is good.” Say, “I am good. This is good. I believe to see. Lord, help mine unbelief. I am truth. I am living truth. I am building truth. I am building new eyes, new ears, a new heart (or whatever you need) and I take you with me into the kingdom of heaven.”

Your body is indivisible, indestructible spiritual substance, the One Substance of the life sparks, immortal now. It is your business to reorganize and rearrange your life sparks into the new pattern of your soul’s desires. Stand and say, “As oil mingles with oil, as water mingles with water, as air mingles with air, as Light mingles with Light, so does my life mingle with the life of God.”

Without praise, life has no activity, you live on the fifth degree of breath in a trance-like state of suspended animation, a pulsing of life sparks, each whirling at its proper rate, the same as you find in sand or stone. Some adolescents daydream and often slip from their bodies on the fifth breath as the Light of the Oversoul star begins to descend. The fifth degree of breath is the rate of vibration that fakirs, adepts, and trance mediums use for out-of-body experiences. To reach this level requires a reduction of atomic activity and becoming static, which is the beginning of death. The fifth degree of breath operates on the principle of contraction, as an opposite to ascension. If you do not praise and expand, you contract and grow less.

The Principles of Contraction and Expansion

Saturn represents the principle of contraction, which holds all within it, like a picture frame. You either obey law and agree with God and adjust to man under a Saturn vibration, or you crystallize. You apply the law of contraction to grow wise in right choice and knowing what actions to repeat. Under contraction you often “draw in your horns” and mind your own business.

The law of repulsion operates under the contraction principle. The most extreme expression of contraction is crystallization (a physical example is how evaporated sea water leaves a residue of salts). Your consciousness crystallizes only when you use contraction to repudiate lessons, which cuts your vibration until we become nothing. Repulsion misused as repudiation is the greatest of false gods.

Joy and praise are high, fast rates of vibration that operate and fill your prayer molds with substance under the principle of expansion. The planet Jupiter represents expansion and joy. Praise is the only activity that creates burning desire to comprehend, to act, to conquer. Only praise can cause desire to act, to build the pipeline of determination from God’s storehouse of potential Power to transfer kinetic energy to fill your prayer molds with substance. All Power is released under the expansion principle.

Equilibrium and balance. You tend, under an expansive Power release, to break laws intended to help you maintain equilibrium. However, if you over-apply the law of repulsion, you may lose too much and close out your own good. You do reach balance under these principles and laws. If you fear to receive praise, you are not applying the law of progression under the law of ascension. The memory of having used self-praise is hidden in the subconscious as fear of receiving praise. Once burned, the soul fears self-praise will rear its head again. Carried too far, this fear-memory breeds repression under the contraction principle.

You can ascend on praise. Make praise your next step in ascension. Instantly return praise to the giver as praise for his kindness, thoughtfulness, or concern. Praise the praise-giver for discernment beyond the appearance of things. Feel grateful to God for using you to lead others to praise, which expands them. Inside, be thankful to God in gratitude that His Light is breaking through everyone’s crust of self. Praise is a great treatment for both giver and receiver.

Praise, applied to yourself as law, unfolds a glory called humility, a rock of unconquerable faith to which your loved ones may cling. It builds a citadel of glory before the world. Unconquerable faith is the one law of challenge that devours and consumes darkness instantly. You cannot see law but when you apply it to all you see and do, you can discern its results. This leads you into righteousness, which is the application of your highest vision to everything you do.

Kabbalah: Expansion, Contraction, and Equilibrium

Studying Kabbalah opens the mysteries of the principles of expansion, contraction, and equilibrium. The foundation or primal book of Kabbalah is the Sepher Yetsirah, the Book of Formation or Creation. It is not an introduction to Kabbalah. It is a key to the study of Kabbalah. Sepher means to count or number, book or volume, border or frontier, sphere; it is the Hebrew root of the English words, cipher and sapphire. From sepher is derived Sepharad, originally the name used in the Bible for Spain. Today the term Sephardim describes Spanish, Portuguese and North African Jews. Sephard describes a high, occult house that always studied the Wisdom of God and preserved Kabbalah.

The Sepher Yetsirah begins: “In thirty and two most mysterious (occult) and wonderful paths of wisdom did God, the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, the Living God, King of All, God Almighty, engrave his name.” When you engrave your name on a thing, you take responsibility for it. Engraving His name revealed God’s responsibility for His creation. He had a plan and a method. God lifts evil through the prayer of man, who is His creation; prayer ascends evil as smoke to be absorbed. Kabbalistic work has ten paths of numbers (Sephiroth) and 22 paths of letters (ספרים Sepharim). We must integrate these with the 32 Paths of Initiation; they relate to physical glands, plexus centers, and to the desire body vital centers. This represents 32 steps of the Via Christa Degrees, which God gave to Abraham.

The text continues: “He inhabits eternity and Holy is His Name, which has created the universe by three Sepharim” (ספרים spheres). These are: Sephir (סְפִיר), that which is numbered, counted, weighed or measured, represents substance in form. Sepher (ספר), that which is written or symbolized, represents Wisdom in action. Sopher (סופר), that which is spoken or told, represents the personality of God in man as Power. By these three, all creation came into being. These three words derive from the same Hebrew root (ספר‎) but are pronounced differently, according to their vowel points.

The foundation of all things is contained within the ten numbers of the Sephiroth and in the 22 letters of the Sepharim. Of the twenty-two letters, three represent the Mother principle as they flow from the Source, yet represent the Father as they return. Seven are double, pronounced two ways, hard or soft, representing the Father and Mother acting together. The remaining twelve are single, simple letters pronounced only one way, representing the Son. Our numerical system is based on ten. With ten you begin a new decan or cycle. The ten numbers are divine Lights that release the absolute essence of God on earth. For example, each of your fingers sends forth Light.

God gave Abraham these symbols because He meant for us to have them. In the following, straight lines are masculine and represent the Father; curved lines are feminine and represent the Mother.


The Symbolism of Numbers

 1-one  One represents standing upright, the circle made straight, 0 = 1, a rod of Power.
 2-two
 Two represents the Mother added to the Father, the feminine to the masculine.  Two represents the Father and Mother strands of life, not the cells, the sperm and
 ovum, but the seeds of life that are created in the solar plexus every 28 days of
 the lunar month. The two (2) has the same significance that the joined six and
 nine have in the symbol for Cancer (69), which represents gestation. The two (2)
 represents the seeds of life moving up to the brain’s higher creative center for
 outer creations. Really two (2) is two ones added together (1 + 1 = 2), as the
 straight “F” is bent figuratively into a curved “M.”

 3-three
 Three represents another unit added, the Holy Trinity of outer expression. The
 Mother of Love (curved lines) holding Creation, the Father-Mother-Son,
 together.

 4-four
 Four represents the pituitary gland and feminine intuition. The soul begins
 embodied life with the four lotus petals of intuition open, but the four petals of
 illumination are still closed. All eight of these petals must be open or you can’t
 receive even a hunch from the subconscious mind.

 2-4s
 Two fours facing each other create a pine tree symbol, which is the sign of all
 petals of intuition and illumination open, and freedom from earth.

 Jupiter
 Jupiter’s symbol is the sign of joy. It integrates the (2) as the exalted moon
 uplifted, plus the cross of ascended service.

 open-4
 The open four represents the open consciousness of a joyous soul who
 fervently expects all good.

 4-four
 The earthy four represents a boxed-in consciousness that grudgingly expects
 the drudgery of labor, and work always done in hard ways.

 5-five
 Five represents soul expression, and the feminine foundation of masculine
 strength — a three-quarters full moon pressing forth and reaching toward
 the stars of the Source.

 saturn
 Saturn’s symbol combines the soft curves of the feminine joined with a bolt of
 Power striking to heat the metal of soul so it may be forged. Saturn represents
 the soul’s ability to protect its own. You know true freedom only when soul is
 ruling your life.

 6-six
 Six represents the double Trinity, the seed of the Mother ready to create, and
 to nourish and sustain all it touches. The Mother is hidden in the mysteries
 of creation above. The Father hidden in the mysteries of creation here below.
 Six (6) represents the protective Mother reaching up.

 7-seven
 Seven represents the Priest, the full Power of the Father as the eunuch, with
 the Power flowing straight down. This is the protective Father watching over
 all His creations. The symbol for seven (7) represents a hook, signifying that
 the Father never lets go, but maintains His hold on your soul while Power is
 being released through you.

 8-eight
 Eight, with its x in the middle, ties earth to heaven, representing an integrated
 circuit. The x-cross represents the Son, the Holy Spirit, crossing out darkness.
 Eight is the Father-Mother number of powerful, power-filled service.

 double-nine
 The eight’s lower crescent symbolizes the o’ershadowing wings of the dual
 Father, Mother hidden.

 double-six  The eight’s upper crescent represents the upholding arms of the Mother,
 Father hidden.
 9-nine
 Nine represents the Father’s seed about to descend, ready to unfold all
 Creation. Nine (9) is the number of perfect man marking the forehead of the
 soul in the desire body.

 9-nine-back
 When the arms of the nine are facing outward, they are ready to receive.
 When all is enfolded once more, the arm of the nine is made straight with
 a zero (0) added to make it ten (10), the number representing the spiritualized
 soul received again unto the Source.


The number one (1) symbolizes the individual standing upright in the Garden of Eden, the higher creative center. One is a circle made straight that represents creative fire ascending the rod of Power in man, the spine. It is the number of individuality.

The two (2) symbolizes the Mother, a feminine unit added to the masculine, the Father bent into the Mother. Two represents two seeds of life created in the solar plexus, which ripen once a lunar month. The symbol (69) represents the seeds of life, the Father o’ershadowing the Mother. One seed (6) ascends to the higher creative center and waters the Garden of Eden, the brain. The other seed (9) descends to the lower creative center, the sacral center to gestate and create form. Both seeds of life then ascend to the higher creative center to direct and control the outer, physical creative centers under prayer and ascension.

The three (3) represents another unit added to form the Holy Trinity of perfected outer expression. The three is formed of two partial circles, not complete but on the ascending side of life. Three represents the Mother of Love on the rod of Power upholding, nurturing and sustaining creation, the Father, Mother, and Son holding together.

The four (4) represents the feminine intuition of the pituitary gland. Everyone born in this age, with the exception of creatures, has eight petals of intuition open on the love side of the sixteen-petaled lotus. By age four the wisdom petals on the other side are open. As you ascend, you open the illumination petals of the pineal body on the wisdom side. In a developing child, as a wisdom petal opens, an intuition petal usually closes, which protects the child who would otherwise see spiritually under intuition without wisdom and could fall from balance. Light must ascend from the solar plexus to the pituitary to enable even a hunch. Four symbolizes the pineal body and pituitary gland both open to wisdom (illumination) and love (intuition). Thus, the principle of four opens the pineal and pituitary by elevating thinking and imagination to illumination and intuition.

The Jupiter symbol represents the cross of ascended service and the exalted moon of love and compassion. The earth four is fully closed, representing a boxed-in consciousness that considers its work as labor without joy. This is learning it the hard way. Jupiter’s way is easy under love and compassion.

The four fully open at the top symbolizes joy, represented by Jupiter. A state of joy invokes the Power that comes through Jupiter. Joy and praise open the pineal body, pituitary gland, and parathalamus bodies to fill your Oversoul star with joy.

Five (5) is the number of soul expression. Five is Saturn gathering Power to strike with a bolt of lightning to make the gold of Spirit soft and malleable for reforming into perfection. Five represents the soul’s ability to protect its creations and to grow through freedom to choose one’s own path in life. You must unfold the mysteries of the 54 Companions of Perseus1 to understand all the Greater Mysteries. The symbol is the same as for Saturn, the soul standing on a three-quarters full moon with three-quarters of the pituitary open. Tilted to the right it represents the soft feminine aspect of gestation or holding.

Six (6) is the number of the double Trinity. Six is ready to nourish and sustain all it touches. The seed of the Mother of Love is ready to create and is waiting for the Father of Wisdom. Six represents the gestating, mothering and nourishing of a child. The mystery of six is the Father hidden, while the mystery of nine is the Mother hidden. The loop of the six represents an uplifted arm; the circle below represents the protecting, encircling arms of the Mother.

The number seven (7) represents the fully powerful Father as a Eunuch-Priest. Power descends directly from the protective Father to o’ershadow all His creations. The seven is a hook representing the Father holding and releasing Power.

The number eight (8) is masculine and feminine with both curved and straight lines, representing the Father and Mother, and heaven and earth. The upper crescent illustrates the everlasting wings of the Mother; the lower crescent illustrates the arms of the Father. This represents the mysteries of the Holy Spirit. X represents the Son as the Holy Spirit crossing out darkness. Eight symbolizes the Three-as-One, and is the Power number, denoting powerful protection.

Nine (9) is the Father planning to descend, ready to enfold all creation. It is the number on the forehead of the perfect man in Revelation: 144,000 = 1 + 4 + 4 = 9. Nine is the Father, (96) is the Father and Mother facing outward, protecting and nurturing their creations. When you enfold all, the nine again becomes a straight line and the ten

God the One Becomes God the Many

Kabbalah says, “He, the Absolute, is not One; He is before One.” God is always One expressing as the Many, which is why the Bible says “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” The great Light called Keter the Crown is not the Source of the emanations but that point where the Father-Mother said, “Let there be Light!” to open the 12th Cosmic Magnitude.

Three Mother letters. “Let there be Light” was the first foundation of divine Mind formed by the Mother letters, Aleph (א), Mem (מ) and Shin (ש), which are qualities and attributes representing God releasing Power. Aleph: Air as rarified life sparks concentrated in molds. Mem: Air pushed forth Mem, the waters. Shin: The waters contained Shin, the fire. These letters are all begotten of the Mother principle (Love-as-Substance) with the Father principle (Wisdom-as-Mind) underlying in the background. It took air, fire and water to form the whirling ball of gas that was earth initially. Three planets are feminine: Pluto through Aleph, Venus through Mem and Terra through Shin.

Seven double letters represent the vital centers in man. you can use or pronounce these doubles two ways, hard or soft, positive or negative, diurnal or nocturnal. This may be expressed as: 2 x 7 = 14. The 14th Path is one of Choice and Separation. All the vital centers represent choices and separations. Either you choose positive virtues or you go wrong. The soul can enter the body only through the top of the head; a possessing entity can enter only through the solar plexus. Each vital center is dual, the Father and Mother in equal parts. The Father portion is crystallized in some, the Mother portion in others. God forms all His creations according to perfect methods and processes on the framework of absolute logic and reason.


The Seven Double Letters

 # Name  Letter  Nerve Plexus  Vital Center  Symbol
 בֵּית  2  Vet בֵית|Bet בֵּית  Sacrum Plexus  Sacral Center  House
 גִּימֶלְ  3  Gimel גִּימֵל|Djimel גִימֵל  Lumbar Plexus  Splenic Center  Camel
 דָּלֶת  4  Dalet דָּלֶת|Daleth דָלֶת  Solar Plexus  Navel Center  Door
 ךּּ/כּ 20/500  Kaf כַּף|Khaf כַף  Cardiac Plexus  Heart Center Fist
 ף|פֵּ 80/800  Pe פֵּה|Fe פֵה  IX Cranial Nerve  Throat Center  Mouth
 רֵישׁ 200  Resh רֵ|Resh ר  Optic Chiasm  Brow Center  Head
 תּו 400  Tav תּ|Thav ת  Hypothalamus  Crown Center Tau Cross T


Twelve simple letters, pronounced only one way, each represent a cosmic division. Read the symbolism in these charts. For instance, Capricorn is often able to execute on earth what the other signs begin but are unable to complete.


The Twelve Simple Letters

 Number  Sign  Function  Symbol
 5 He הֵא  Toleh|Aries  Sight Window
 6 Vav וָו  Shaur|Taurus  Hearing  Peg or Hook
 7 Zayn זַיִן‎  Teomaim|Gemini  Smell  Weapon
 8 Het חֵית  Sartan|Cancer  Speech  Enclosure
 9 Tet טֵית‎  Arieh|Leo  Nutrition  Serpent
 10 Yod יוֹד  Betolah|Virgo  Coition  Hand
 30 Lamed לָמֶד  Meoznaim|Libra  Doing  Ox Goad
 50 Nun   Akrav|Scorpio  Walking  Fish
 60 Samekh ְסָמֶך  Qoshet|Sagittarius  Anger Prop
 70 Ayin עַיִן  Ghedi|Capricorn  Laughter  Eye
 90 Tsadi צַדִי  Deli|Aquarius  Thought  Fishhook
 100 Qof קוֹף  Dagim|Pisces  Sleep  Ears|Back of Head


1^ Read more about Perseus the Greek hero; to read about the constellation Perseus go here: Perseus Constellation: Facts About the Hero.

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What Is Virtue? (a)

Edna Lister lecture outline; July 12, 1960, Cleveland, Ohio.

Virtue is acting under honor, loyalty, responsibility, faith, and love. A virtue gives the embodied soul life, color, tone, and number when exercised. Virtue is the exercise of every talent with which you are endowed, all focused upward as soul vision.

The first three Emanations and their corresponding colors are,

The Emanations
Father of Wisdom: Yellow

Mother of Love: Blue Son of Power: Red

All the potential powers of the Three-as-One Father, Mother, and Son are available to the soul, according to the soul’s degree and kind of development. The Father of Wisdom’s potential power is the yellow ray, which thinks and plans the patterns and molds for creation and causes the life sparks to perform smoothly.

The Mother of Love’s potential power is the blue ray, which nourishes and sustains life as the life sparks begin their first vibration, like a continuous wave undulating through it as it flows.

The Son of Power’s potential power is the red ray, which vitalizes, quickens and opens motion as a whirling in the clusters of life sparks within a pattern or mold, causing them to move with kinetic energy.

Twelve cardinal virtues rule each division of the Zodiac. Each cosmic division contains virtues to become and twelve negatives to overcome. The following listing provides a basis for divine speculation and pondering on the virtues, and their corresponding taints and initiations. This list is by no means exhaustive; note that some virtues appear under more than one division.


The Virtues and Taints in the Zodiacal Divisions

 Sign  Virtues  Taints
 Aries Active, awareness, confident, courageous, determined, enthusiastic, faithful, honest, optimistic, origination, passionate, planning, productive, and receptive Aggressive (overly), easily angered, bad manners, overly competitive, comparisons, dismissive, impatient, impulsive, moody, rash, rebellious, rude, short-tempered, undisciplined
 Taurus Conservative, constructive, development, devoted, energy, faithful, fertile, organizational, patient, practical, reliable, responsible, stable, steadfast, strength, and accumulates substance Bullheaded, expectations, inflexible to change, greedy,lazy, must see to believe, insecurity, materialistic, stagnation, stubborn
 Gemini Affectionate, aspiring, communicator, conciliatory, control, curious, endurance, execution, intellect, inspiring, inventive, judgmental, just, rationalization, and sociable Easily bored, idle words, inconsistent, indecisive, indiscrete, lies, nervous, poor listener, self-blame
 Cancer Compassionate, emotional, empathetic, gestator, imaginative, intuitive, loving, loyal, patient, persuasive, and tenacious Bitterness, clingy, complaining, crabby, defensive, irritable, insecure, manipulative, moody, pessimistic, possessive, sentimental, suspicious, sympathetic, and whiney
 Leo Cheerful, choice (and separation), creative, dramatic, encouraging, enthusiastic, faithful, generous, humorous, loyal, passionate, powerful, sovereign, and warm-hearted Arrogant, domineering, egoistic, extravagant, inflexible, jealous, lazy, possessive, pride, self-aggrandizing, self-centered, self-indulgent, stubborn, treachery, vain
 Virgo Analytical, attention to detail, capable, common sense, commitment, craftsmanship, discrimination, duty, hardworking, imagination, intelligence, kind, loyal, modest, practical, and service Overly critical of everyone, doubting, excuses, fussy, habit-driven, meticulous, pessimistic, self-righteousness, shyness, sloppy, worry, workaholic, worry-wart
 Libra Balance, cooperative, diplomatic, fair-minded, gracious, honor, integrity, loyalty, partnership, reason, sharing, social, and understanding Avoids confrontation, bad manners, indecisive, carries a grudge, narcissistic, self-justification, self-pity, trouble-maker, unreliable, unrighteous judgment
 Scorpio Appropriative, brave, calculating, desire-driven, determined, emotionally cool, logical equilibrium, fierce, true friend, leader, mastery, passionate, resourceful, and responsible All or nothing, cold, distrusting, easily bored, easily frustrated, jealous, manipulative, vengeful, secretive, stubborn, and violent if violated
 Sagittarius Accumulative, ascending, completes tasks, comprehension, conquering, curiosity, ethical, generous, honest, great sense of humor, idealistic, inspirational, integrity, just, moral, will-power Brutally blunt, demanding, esthetic snob, impatient, impulsive, insensitive, know-it-all, moralistic, overpromises, pretentious, tactless
 Capricorn Applies skills and talents, consolidation, disciplined, duty, executive, good manager, humility, order, protection, responsible, reverence, self-control, and transfiguration Condescending, controlling, demanding, envy, expects the worst, a know-it-all, self-righteous, unforgiving
 Aquarius Altruistic, apperceptive, forgiving, harmony, humanitarian, idealizing, independent, intuitive, original, unifier, visionary, zealous Aloof, easily bored, emotionally distant, extreme introversion, insensitive, intellectual snob, stubborn, temperamental, uncompromising, unsocial
 Pisces Apprehensive, artistic, compassionate, eliminative, gentle, illuminating, insightful, interpretative, intuitive, musical, realization, renunciation, vision, wise Desires to escape, fearful, guilt-driven, impractical, indiscriminating, inferiority complex, introverted, melancholy, overly trusting, easily a victim or a martyr


Cosmecology: How the Planets Express the Degrees

First Octave: Diatonic and Chromatic Scales

 Planet  Tone  Color  Energy
 ♂ Mars  Do  Red  Iconoclastic
 ☉ Sun  Re  Orange  Constructive
 ♀ Venus  Mi  Yellow  Integrative
 ☾ Moon  Fa  Green  Mutative
 ♄ Saturn  Sol  Blue  Cohesive
 ♃ Jupiter  La  Indigo  Expansive
 ☿ Mercury  Ti  Violet  Climactic


Mars’ energy is iconoclastic, to live and to grow. The Sun’s energy is constructive, as warmth for life to draw upon. Venus’ energy is integrative, for the creation of ideal beauty. The Moon’s energy is mutative, for the creation of desire within its proper boundaries and forms. Saturn’s energy is cohesive and stabilizing, to form in an ideal manner. Jupiter’s energy is expansive, to create joy, and to release the soul from its body, which is the highest joy vibration. Mercury’s energy is climactic, to tear down the old form and change it into the new ideal, especially mentally. The vibration of the planet Mercury, also called quicksilver, contains the power of change. The element was named for the Roman god Mercury, known for his speed and mobility.


Second Octave: Diatonic and Chromatic Scales

 Planet  Tone  Color  Energy
 ♅ Uranus  Do  Light Red  Elevative
 ♆ Neptune  Re  Light Orange  Penetrative
 ♇ Pluto  Mi  Golden Yellow  Permeative
 Vulcan Virgo  Fa  Light Green  Molding
 Ceres  Sol  Rose Violet  Lifting
 Terra  La  Pink Orchid  Holding


Uranus’ energy is Aquarian, elevative to uplift and to rend veils. Neptune’s energy is Piscean, penetrative, to reveal mysteries and to create brilliance. Pluto’s energy is Scorpionic, permeative, to release Power to raise the life sparks in rocks, plants, animals, and to prepare earth for ascension. Vulcan’s energy is Virgoan, scintillant, molding the soul for perfected personal expression. Ceres’ energy is Libran, poised and uplifting to create beauty of the soul. Earth’s energy is gravitic holding power, to hold all gained for the use of all, which is the reason it’s so hard to let earth go.

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What Is Virtue? (b)

Edna Lister lecture transcript; July 12, 1960, Cleveland, Ohio. Scribes: Ruth Johnson, Lotus Landis, Ross Whitehead, Virginia Whitehead.

Virtue is acting under honor, loyalty, responsibility, faith, love, and all 144 faculties of the soul. A virtue states or is based on a primary law. Virtue is the exercise of every God-given faculty or talent, all turned upward as soul vision. Virtue is essential for a minister to become. The world does not bother working at becoming; it just says “I’ll try.” Try implies an unconscious disbelief in your freedom; it admits and presupposes an obstacle or an uneeded condition. Trying is just a “belief in,” not a knowing faith. The subconscious feeds a “trying” attitude and lulls your conscious mind. Doing transcends trying.

Virtue is the process of thinking of beautiful things, divine speculation. What is the difference between curiosity and divine speculation? You can be idly curious about another’s business, questioning where he is on the path. Idle curiosity shrinks your horizons, molds and consciousness to death. To fill your molds requires vivid imagination, burning desire and acting as if you already have what you desire.

Jesus describes how the soul virtues operate: “The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. And he spake many things unto them in parables … And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.” — Matthew 13:1-16.


“Divine speculation is the application of certain virtues that expand consciousness up and out of a horizontal focus.”


Divine speculation is the application of certain virtues that expand consciousness and lift you up and out of horizontal focus. This is why Jesus could say, “Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.” — Luke 12:48. You may ponder a spiritual dream-vision and divine speculation makes the meaning clear, but rationalization kills it. Divine speculation leaves no room for rationalization. Rationalization has its place, but if you let the subconscious fasten onto your doubts, fears, and detriments under the surface, your state of consciousness degenerates. The world is a perfect example of this. It is better to do and get your teeth kicked in than to rationalize.

God gave us the faculty of reason to use as just appraisal. When you use mere rationalization, it quickly becomes criticism and negative judgment. Put your secrets in a good vessel. You have a witness whenever you are with another. It’s your responsibility to discern whether he is a sieve or would misrepresent what you say. “Let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.” — Matthew 5:37. Agree with God and adjust to such a person.

Each emanation contains Wisdom, Love, and the Logos, operating in Creation as Mind, Substance, and Power. The potential powers of virtue in expression are personalized under the Father, Mother, and Son. Each life spark particle of substance contains Wisdom, Love, and the Logos. Wisdom and Love fill the Logos, or Power in its potential phase, which becomes the first absolute phase of Power.

The Father’s virtue is Wisdom, symbolized by the yellow ray of thinking and planning. Wisdom causes the life sparks to flow smoothly like a river to fill all space with Mind. The Mother’s virtue is Love, symbolized by the blue ray that nourishes and sustains the life sparks as they begin their first vibration of pulsation. Love is a continuous undulating wave moving through space as substance. The Son’s virtue is Power, symbolized by the red ray that vitalizes and quickens the pulsing life sparks and initiates motion. Joy causes the life sparks to whirl in clusters and move from their potential phase of Power to the vibration of kinetic energy. Power as Light opens the vibration of color.

Twelve cardinal virtues rule each sign of the Zodiac. Each cosmic division contains virtues to become and twelve negatives to overcome. The following listing provides a basis for divine speculation and pondering on the virtues, and their corresponding taints and initiations. This list is by no means exhaustive; note that some virtues appear under more than one division.


The Virtues and Taints in the Zodiacal Divisions

 Sign  Virtues  Taints
 Aries Active, aware, confident, courageous, determined, enthusiastic, faithful, honest, optimistic, origination, passionate, planning, productive, receptive Aggressive (overly), easily angered, bad manners, overly competitive, comparisons, dismissive, impatient, impulsive, moody, rash, rebellious, rude, short-tempered, undisciplined
 Taurus Conservative, constructive, developer, devoted, energy, faithful, fertile, organizational, patient, practical, reliable, responsible, stable, steadfast, strength, saver Bullheaded, expectations, inflexible to change, greedy, lazy, must see to believe, insecurity, materialistic, stagnation, stubborn
 Gemini Affectionate, aspiring, communicator, conciliatory, control, curious, endurance, execution, intellect, inspiring, inventive, judgmental, just, rationalization, and sociable Easily bored, idle words, inconsistent, indecisive, indiscrete, lies, nervous, poor listener, self-blame
 Cancer Compassionate, emotional, empathetic, gestator, imaginative, intuitive, loving, loyal, patient, persuasive, and tenacious Bitterness, clingy, complaining, crabby, defensive, irritable, insecure, manipulative, moody, pessimistic, possessive, sentimental, suspicious, sympathetic, whiney
 Leo Cheerful, choice (and separation), creative, dramatic, encouraging, enthusiastic, faithful, generous, humorous, loyal, passionate, powerful, sovereign, and warm-hearted Arrogant, domineering, egoistic, extravagant, inflexible, jealous, lazy, possessive, pride, self-aggrandizing, self-centered, self-indulgent, stubborn, treachery, vain
 Virgo Analytical, attention to detail, capable, common sense, commitment, craftsmanship, discrimination, duty, hardworking, imagination, intelligence, kind, loyal, modest, practical, and service Overly critical of everyone, doubting, excuses, fussy, habit-driven, meticulous, pessimistic, self-righteous, shy, sloppy, workaholic, worry-wart
 Libra Balance, cooperative, diplomatic, fair-minded, gracious, honor, integrity, loyalty, partnership, reason, sharing, social, and understanding Avoids confrontation, bad manners, indecisive, carries a grudge, narcissistic, self-justification, self-pity, trouble-maker, unreliable, unrighteous judgment
 Scorpio Appropriative, brave, calculating, desire-driven, determined, emotionally cool, logical equilibrium, fierce, true friend, leader, mastery, passionate, resourceful, and responsible All or nothing, cold, distrusting, easily bored, easily frustrated, jealous, manipulative, vengeful, secretive, stubborn, violent if violated
 Sagittarius Accumulative, ascending, completes tasks, comprehension, conquering, curiosity, ethical, generous, honest, great sense of humor, idealistic, inspirational, integrity, just, moral, will-power Brutally blunt, demanding, esthetic snob, impatient, impulsive, insensitive, know-it-all, moralistic, overpromises, pretentious, tactless
 Capricorn Applies skills and talents, consolidation, disciplined, duty, executive, good manager, humility, order, protection, responsible, reverence, self-control, and transfiguration Condescending, controlling, demanding, envy, expects the worst, a know-it-all, self-righteous, unforgiving
 Aquarius Altruistic, apperceptive, forgiving, harmony, humanitarian, idealizing, independent, intuitive, original, unifier, visionary, zealous Aloof, easily bored, emotionally distant, extreme introversion, insensitive, intellectual snob, stubborn, temperamental, uncompromising, unsocial
 Pisces Apprehensive, artistic, compassionate, eliminative, gentle, illuminating, insightful, interpretative, intuitive, musical, realization, renunciation, vision, wise Desires to escape, fearful, guilt-driven, impractical, indiscriminating, inferiority complex, introverted, melancholy, overly trusting, easily a victim or a martyr


How do the virtues function in their divisions? For example, although energy is an aspect in all the divisions, energy is prime under Taurus, so the soul is responsible for functioning energy as a virtue in Taurus. Balance, which is prime under Sagittarius, entails justice under Libra, and associates balance with justice in physical materiality and in man’s relationship to man.

Equilibrium, under Scorpio, deals with the soul’s relationship to God’s Wisdom, Love and Selflessness. You need equilibrium to pass from balance in Libra over the Scorpio abyss to the Source. You express the love of the mother of earth under Cancer, but Love as the Mother of Heaven under Sagittarius.

The Logos is God in action as the emanations and is the Word of God. The Logos is the foundation of logic. Reason is a functioning of the faculties. Reason, o’ershadowed by logic, reaches out, gathers facts and fits them into place. Logic reflects absolute principle as the Word.

Logic and Light are the central realities. Light functions from the center out into the cosmic divisions, as does the sun in the center of the solar system. So does logic; in other words, logic functions in a different way in each of the twelve divisions. You apply the virtues in descending order through the great principles of Light, color, tone, number, and form, also called name. Virtues give the soul perfect life, Light, color, tone, and number when exercised.

Unless you do classify these virtues correctly, you will confuse yourself. For instance, with the mental faculties of logic, reason, discernment, discrimination, and discretion — if you put Light on the bottom, you will ask why logic is above reason in that category. Look up in consciousness and out of this world until you see it in photographic memory — this is essential. Apply this and you will see a two-edged sword over your head, cutting away your past muddled thinking.

Cosmecology is the science that considers the earth in its relation to cosmic phenomena.


First Octave: Diatonic and Chromatic Scales

 Planet  Tone  Color  Energy
 ♂ Mars  Do  Red  Iconoclastic
 ☉ Sun  Re  Orange  Constructive
 ♀ Venus  Mi  Yellow  Integrative
 ☾ Moon  Fa  Green  Mutative
 ♄ Saturn  Sol  Blue  Cohesive
 ♃ Jupiter  La  Indigo  Expansive
 ☿ Mercury  Ti  Violet  Climactic


Mars’ energy is iconoclastic, to live and to grow. The Sun’s energy is constructive, as warmth for life to draw upon. Venus’ energy is integrative, for the creation of ideal beauty. The Moon’s energy is mutative, for the creation of desire within its proper boundaries and forms. Saturn’s energy is cohesive and stabilizing, to form in an ideal manner. Jupiter’s energy is expansive, to create joy, and to release the soul from its body, which is the highest joy vibration. Mercury’s energy is climactic, to tear down the old form and change it into the new ideal, especially mentally. The vibration of the planet Mercury, also called quicksilver, contains the power of change. The element was named for the Roman god, Mercury, known for his speed and mobility.


Second Octave: Diatonic and Chromatic Scales

 Planet  Tone  Color  Energy
 ♅ Uranus  Do  Light Red  Elevative
 ♆ Neptune  Re  Light Orange  Penetrative
 ♇ Pluto  Mi  Golden Yellow  Permeative
 Vulcan Virgo  Fa  Light Green  Molding
 Ceres  Sol  Rose Violet  Lifting
 Terra  La  Orchid Pink  Holding


Uranus’ energy is Aquarian, elevative to uplift and to rend veils. Neptune’s energy is Piscean, penetrative, to reveal mysteries and to create brilliance. Pluto’s energy is Scorpionic, permeative, to release Power to raise the life sparks in rocks, plants, animals, and to prepare earth for ascension. Vulcan’s energy is Virgoan, scintillant, molding the soul for perfected personal expression. Ceres’ energy is Libran, poised and lifting to create beauty of the soul. Earth’s energy is gravitic holding power, which is the reason it’s so hard to let earth go.

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Edna Miriam Lister
1884 – 1971
The original Christian Pioneering Mystic,
Platonist philosopher, American Idealist, Founder, Society of the Universal Living Christ, minister, teacher, author, wife, and mother.


Edna Lister


References

We use many online sources of definition, the most common of which we abbreviate as shown:
American Heritage Dictionary (AHD),
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia (CDC),
Merriam-Webster Dictionary (MWD), Oxford English Dictionary (OED), and
Webster’s American Dictionary, 1828 (WAD).

The Compact Edition of The Oxford English Dictionary: 2 vols. Oxford University Press, 1971.

Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, s.v. “Premise.” Merriam-Webster.com. Accessed June 1 2021.

Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, s.v. “Syllogism.” Merriam-Webster.com. Accessed June 1, 2021.

The Holy Bible. King James Version (KJV). This work is in the public domain.


Kepler, Thomas Franckforter. Theologica Germanica: The way to a Sinless Life. Cleveland and New York: World Publishing Co., 1952.

Ortony, Andrew. s.v. “Greased Pole,” Metaphor and Thought. Cambridge University Press, 1993. ISBN 9780521405614.

Oxford Reference. “Great Schism.” Oxford Reference. [June 9, 2021.]