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Prior
to studying the science of mind I had never thought much about
“Mind” although I had discovered that Spirit is the Life within
all things from the teachings of the great mystics. Being
someone who wants “proof” of the truth, it didn’t take too much
research and observation to realize the truth that there is a
spirit within all living things. Life Itself gives us evidence
of this as we tune out perceptions based on knowledge alone.
When we think of the spirit of the thing we
realize that each individual life expression as a unique
character and personality; true for plants and animals as well.
This truth gives new meaning to the words in the Book of Isaiah
“besides Him (Spirit) there is none other, there is no thing.”
So, we know that Spirit is Life in infinitely individualized
expressions. Yet, though we may know that Spirit is Life; not
only Life but our own individual life can we not eliminate the
fear of death? For many, the answer is not so much.
In reading one of Robert Monroe’s books on “out
of body” experiences, I came across the statement that once
someone has an out of body experience that lose the fear of
death as they have experienced life outside of the physical
body. It would be terrific if this were so but I am skeptical.
We live in a world, that is, we live in the Collective
Consciousness that accepts “duality” as a reality. In our
conscious mind we may be able to declare that there is no
duality; not G-d and something else, no devil, no hell, etc.
The Power of the Subjective Mind, that is the part of our mind
that is conditioned by the Collective Consciousness will too
often cause us doubt; which is low-level-fear.
From the writings of H. Emile Cady:
“When we say
there is but one Mind in the entire universe, and that this Mind
is God, some persons, having followed understandingly the second
lesson and recognized God as the one Life, one Spirit, one
Power, pushing Himself out into various degrees of manifestation
through people and things, will at once say, "Yes, that is all
plain."
But someone else will say, "If all the mind there
is, is God, then how can I think wrong thoughts or have any but
God thoughts?"
The connection between universal Mind and our own
individual minds is one of the most difficult things to put into
words, but when it once dawns on one, it is easily seen.
There is in reality only one Mind (or Spirit, which
is life, intelligence, and so forth) in the universe; and yet
there is a sense in which we are individual, or separate, a
sense in which we are free wills and not puppets. Man is made
up of Spirit, soul, and body. Spirit is the central unchanging
"I" of us, the part that since infancy has never changed, and to
all eternity never will change. soul, or what metaphysical
Christians call "mortal mind," is the region of the intellect
where we do conscious thinking and are free wills. This part of
our being is in constant process of changing.
In our out-springing from God into the material
world, Spirit is inner --- one with God; soul or mortal mind or
intellect is the clothing, as it were, of the Spirit; body is
the external clothing of the soul. Yet all are in reality one,
the composite man --- as steam, water, and ice are one, only in
different degrees of condensation. In thinking of ourselves, we
must not separate Spirit, soul, and body but rather hold all as
one, if we would be strong and powerful.
Mortal mind, the term so much used and so
distracting to many, is the intellect, which gathers its
information from the outside world through the five senses. This
mortal mind has no way of knowing truth from falsehood. It is
what Paul calls "the mind on the flesh" in contra-distinction to
spiritual mind, and he flatly says: "The mind on the flesh
[believing what the carnal mind says] is death [sorrow, trouble,
sickness], but to set the mind on the Spirit [ability to still
the carnal mind and let the Spirit speak within us] is life and
peace." (ancient scriptures).
The Spirit within you is Divine Mind, the real mind.
Without it, the human mind would disappear, just as a shadow
disappears when the real thing that casts it is removed. Man
then, is Spiritual Mind, mortal mind, and body.”
Ms. Cady does an excellent illustration of the One Mind/Spirit
as it is expressed in mankind. This is the “cause” of instinct
in both humans and animals. Instinct varies with the individual
just as consciousness varies. It is not that we don’t all have
the same instincts or consciousness but that we filter both our
instincts and consciousness with our thoughts and beliefs. Some
will tell us that we all arrive in this world with the same
perfection of Spirit in our consciousness but this can hardly be
true as this is not our first incarnation and our instincts and
consciousness must have been shaped in part by experiences in
prior incarnations. This is why individuals in the same family
with similar environmental experiences react to Life so
differently. This, unfortunately, comes to our attention with
some of the most horrible actions of people in our society.
The great Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote:
“All our
progress is an unfolding, like a vegetable bud. You have first
an instinct, then an opinion, then a knowledge, as the plant has
root, bud and fruit. Trust the instinct to the end, though you
can render no reason.”
Just as the “shadow disappears when the real
thing that casts it is removed” is truth. The thing that casts
the shadows of doubt and fear on our mind, our spirit, is our
willingness to accept the opinions, concepts, ideas and beliefs
of the Collective Consciousness, as the truth about us and our
relationship to that which we call G-d; that which is imposed
upon us as a reality that is simply too often as false as the
belief that the Earth is flat.
Keep the Faith!
Henry Lee Bates
(Reverend Dr.)
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