Marines' Memorial

Tonight’s subject is “The Pattern Man.” Paul, in his final letter to Timothy, -- when he felt that he was about to depart this world, he wrote Timothy, and he said: “Follow the pattern of the sound words which you have heard from me. Guard the truth which has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.” Paul’s Letters were written twenty-odd years before any other part of the New Testament. The earliest Gospel is Mark; that came twenty-odd years after the Letters of Paul. It was in Paul that the entire story unfolded itself. Paul said: “When it pleased God to reveal His Son in me, I did not confer with flesh and blood.” To whom would he turn? And he spent his last days, as told us in the Book of Acts, expounding the matter to them, “trying to convince them about Jesus, then from the law of Moses and from the prophets. And some were convinced by what he said, while others disbelieved.” He found the Pattern. Like every one, we are looking for a man, -- some strange being coming out of space to save humanity; and he was one of those who looked for a man. Then he found it was not a man, but a pattern that was buried in man; that God had prepared the way for His sons to return, and the “way” is buried in man as a pattern. When that pattern unfolded in man, then the one in whom it unfolds realized Who the Coming One really was.1138 ¶1

If you take the 39 books of the Old Testament; although they are written across the centuries, they form one book, and events that are widely separated in time are welded into a pattern, and that pattern unfolds within the individual, forming what we call in Scripture “Jesus.” Jesus, then, is the pattern. I call Jesus the Pattern Man. The first one to use the word “Jesus” is Paul. The first one to use the word “Christ” is Paul. He speaks of Jesus Christ. Well, “Jesus” has the same root as the word “Jehovah,” -- the Lord God Jehovah, the same root as that of Jesus; and the word “Messiah” and the word “Christ” are one and the same. So, when he speaks of Jesus Christ, he is speaking of the Lord God Jehovah and His Messiah.1138 ¶2

Now, where did he find it in the Old Testament? In the Second Book of Samuel, the 7th chapter, we read these words: “Go to my servant David, and say to David, ‘When your days are fulfilled, and you lie down with your fathers, --’” which is a euphemism for “Death” -- when you are dead and you are buried with your fathers, your forefathers, “‘I will raise up your son after you, who will come forth from your body, . . . I will be his father, and he shall be my son.’” Here He tells David that He is going to raise up a son that will come forth from his body, and that He the Lord will be the father of that boy. That son will call Him “Father.”1138 ¶3

Now, everyone was looking for the physical descent of someone called David, because they did not understand the great mystery of Scripture. David symbolizes Humanity. The whole vast world of man is symbolized as David, and he will raise up out of man That which will be the Son of God. Well, you are a man. I am a man. Regardless of our sex, generically we are all Man, whether you be male or female; so, I will raise up out of Man a son that will come forth from his body, but I will be his father, not the man out of which he is raised! I, the Lord, will be his father.1138 ¶4

Well, how on earth would you know this unless it happened to you? You can hear it from others, as they heard it from Paul, -- as you are hearing it from me.1138 ¶5

In the early church Paul was known as the Apostle, -- not just an apostle, but the Apostle, as though there were no others, because Paul -- whoever Paul was; but Paul is that state that everyone must reach. When he reaches that state called “Paul,” then it happens in him, and he is sent to tell it. So, he tells it, hoping to convince those who will listen to him, concerning this great mystery. “And some were convinced by what they heard, while others disbelieved.” He used Scripture to persuade them. He showed them in Scripture what he really meant. As it unfolded in him, then he took Scripture, and this is what it meant.1138 ¶6

For in me something was raised, but it wasn’t another; it was myself. I found myself buried in myself. When I rose in myself, I came out of this thing you call a man; so the son was raised out of man, which is David.1138 ¶7

Now, that which came out is my very Being! I came out. And then in time -- in the not-too-distant time after coming out, here I found Humanity personified as the David out of which I came. And Humanity then became my son, but I then was the Father. He simply raised up Himself out of Man. It was the Father who was buried in Man. He raises up out of Man Himself. So that man who was raised can say, “I and my Father are one.” So, “when you see Me, you see the Father,” for: “I and my Father are one.” We are not two. First there is a father and then a son, and then it is David. -- The whole of humanity personified will come out as David.1138 ¶8

So, the pattern is buried in man, and God has prepared the way through that pattern for Himself to return. It was God Who came down into humanity. It is God who actually became as we are, that we may be as He is, because it is God who is buried in man.1138 ¶9

Now you may say: “Will he suffer as I have suffered?” Well, we are told in Scripture: “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.” Well, someone said to me: “After all, he bore my disease, and he took upon himself my infirmities? It is I who suffer. I am suffering -- not any other.”1138 ¶10

And they repeated it: “I am suffering.” Well, who do you think God is? What is His name forever and forever? Is it not revealed in Scripture, “My name forever and forever is I AM”? And when you go to the people of the world, called Israel, and they ask you: “What is His name?” say to them: “I AM. That is who I AM. This is my name forever.” So, you say that you are suffering, and not God? You have a false god when you say, “I am suffering, but He is not.” Who is He? His name is I AM. He isn’t pretending that He is you. If He pretended that He is you, that would be God masquerading under a veil of flesh -- masquerading as a man. He’s not masquerading as a man; He became man -- actually became as you are, that you may be as He is.1138 ¶11

So, when He raises up His son through the body, it is you that He raises. And to show you that you are God, He has one more marvelous experience. There are four Mighty Experiences: The first one, He raises up in you as you. That one is simply one side of the coin. The same night that you awake within yourself is the night that you are “born from above.” As you are told in Scripture, “You cannot enter the kingdom of heaven unless you are born from above. You must be born again.” So, that is told you. So, the first night that you awake within yourself, that same night you are “born from above.”1138 ¶12

Then He unfolds in the next great drama which comes about 139 days later -- in my own case it did; so I would say approximately five months later this thing happens, when actually you realize what came out. He raised himself, because it is God. If God is a father, then God has a son. Then you find His son; and in finding His son as your son, -- now you know who He raised up. At first you are aware of being John, if your name is John. And that’s who came out. Then, five months later, when He raises up now His son and you are the father of that son, then you know who actually He raised. He raised Himself as you! So, there is only God buried in Humanity; therefore there can only be God to be raised. And if God is a father, He has to raise up His son; so the son is made to say in Scripture, “Thou wouldst not leave my soul in hell.” “Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.”1138 ¶13

So, here out of man comes the meaning of His promise: “I will raise up your son after you, when you lie down with your fathers.” I will be His father, and He shall be my son! So, when you are raised up, you think then: “Am I now the son?” No, not yet. You are the Father, but you do not know it yet; and then 139 days later another explosion of the mind, and this time He raises up the son. But He first raises Himself. You are the Self. Then He raises the son, and you are the father of that that He now raises. Therefore, you are God the Father!1138 ¶14

Every one is going to experience it! I don’t care what you have done or what you are planning to or what you are doing now; it’s irrelevant. You may have a dream that you are a billionaire, -- well, that is all right. It will all pass away. It means nothing. You may have the dream of being the greatest scientist in the world and bring something into the world completely unknown to man, and receive all the plaudits of the world. It will pass away. It means nothing.1138 ¶15

This is the only reality: God redeeming Himself. God ventured into death. This world is the world of death. Everything dies. It appears, it waxes, it wanes, and then it vanishes. Everything in this world comes in, grows, wanes, and disappears. But that which I am talking about is forever. Eternity came down into Time and buried itself in Time -- in man. And He is buried in man. Then in the fullness of time He redeems Himself through a pattern.1138 ¶16

So, Jesus of Scripture is the Pattern Man! The eternal pattern. There is no other way to the Father. He said, “I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life; no man cometh unto the Father, except by me.” There is no other way.1138 ¶17

So, when people tell me: “Can it be in this religion, or that religion, or the other religion, or in something other than this?” I reply: “There is no other. There is only one way to the Father, and that way is through this Pattern Man. And Jesus Christ is the Pattern buried in every man.”1138 ¶18

Well, Jesus is the Lord God Jehovah -- God the Father. And Christ is His Son, the Messiah called David. And David calls him “Father,” calls him, “My God,” calls him, “my Lord.” So, he said, “How did David call me? He called me in Spirit.” “Well, what did he call me? He called me, ‘my Lord.’” Read it in Scripture. “What think ye of me?” And they answered, “The son of David.” The son of David, -- “Then why did David In the spirit call me, ‘my Lord’? If David thus calls me, ‘my Lord,’ how can I be his son?”1138 ¶19

He is my son, and he symbolizes Humanity, for I, the Pattern Man, -- I am buried In every child born of woman, regardless of his race, regardless of his nationality, regardless of anything -- I am buried in every one.1138 ¶20

And in every one, in the fullness of time, I will rise, and will awaken in man as the man in whom I awaken. He will know it at that moment when I awaken in him; he will simply know that something happened. He will know that he came out of his own skull, which was to him a tomb. He came out of that skull, and he was “born from above”; but he is bewildered. He tries to tell others, and they have no ears to listen to him, for to them he has some strange hallucination. It’s not what they were looking for. “So, don’t bring me any nonsense,” they will say.1138 ¶21

Thus, he spent every day from morning to evening just simply expounding the matter to them, trying to testify to them concerning the Kingdom of God, trying to convince them concerning Jesus. Well, they never heard of Jesus, for the word “Jesus” came into the language only through Paul. But he knew “Jesus” meant “Jehovah.” He’s trying to convince them of the reality of this Self-existent Being called Jehovah. He named it “Jesus.” YOD HE VAU is the root of it. And then some were convinced by what he said, because he used Scripture. Well, the only Scripture he could have used in those days was the Old Testament, for there was no New Testament.1138 ¶22

The first books of the New Testament are the 13 Letters of Paul, and they preceded the next book of the New Testament by at least twenty-odd years, which is the Gospel of Mark. That book was written twenty-odd years after these Letters of Paul. And Paul’s first letter is Galatians. In Galatians he tells us, “When it pleased God to reveal His son in me --” The preposition is “in,” not “to,” -- but “in me.” “-- I did not confer with flesh and blood.” To whom could I turn? A Freudian? To one who studied with Jung or one who studied with Adler? What could they tell me? What on earth could any man in this world tell me if he is going to rationalize based upon his concept of Jung or Adler or Freud or any other doctor? They do not know.1138 ¶23

Well, here, the whole thing is buried in man. So, just imagine someone who knew his Old Testament backwards, he had committed it to memory, he knew it; a learned man was Paul. And then he studied and studied but couldn’t find it. He couldn’t find the answer as he studied it. But, then, it erupted within him. That tree had never yet borne fruit, and suddenly the Tree of Life began to unfold within him, and the fruit unfolded within him. Well, he is the Tree of Life, and he is bearing fruit, -- he is bearing a son; and the son is Humanity calling him “Father”.1138 ¶24

I say to you, what I’ve told you tonight and will continue to tell you to the ends of time, -- I see no other reason for my being here, other than to tell my experience. I was sent, as he was sent, -- whoever he was. He was called by the word “apostle” because he was sent. That is what the word “apostle” means; one who is sent. You don’t volunteer. You don’t do it for yourself. You can’t send yourself. You are sent. You are called and sent. So, to be called is also to be sent. I was called into that assembly and sent.1138 ¶25

At the moment, I did not know why I was sent. I only knew I was sent. Then came the experience thirty years later. That’s why I was sent, in preparation for the experience, that I simply may take the barnacles off this ship and set it once more straight, even though there are only a few to hear it.1138 ¶26

What does that matter? There were only a few who heard him, if you read Scripture carefully, -- just a few. At the end of his days, he spent the time in his own little home from morning till night; and those who would come, he simply took Scripture and showed them where what happened to him was foretold In Scripture.1138 ¶27

But no one reading Scripture could have seen it that way, for trained as they were, they were looking for a man -- some unique man to come from without, and were told that, by some miraculous, fantastic way, was the leader of men, and that he would save man, -- as Hitler said he would and as Stalin said he would, and Karl Marx said he would. They were all “outside” saviors. There is no “outside” savior. The Savior is within you. He is buried within you as a pattern; and when the pattern unfolds, it is not another unfolding, it is you unfolding. He unfolds in you as you. You are the one who finds himself awakening within your own grave, which is your skull. It is you who comes out of that skull like one being born. It is you who stands before Humanity personified as the son called David, and he calls you -- not another; he calls you “Father.”1138 ¶28

Then you read Scripture, and in Scripture David calls God “Father,” fulfilling what God said he would do. He said, “I will raise up your son after you. He shall come forth from your body. I will be his father, and you shall be my son” ; and then David is made to say: “I will tell of the decree of the Lord: he said unto me, ‘Thou art my son, today I have begotten thee.’” So, the whole thing unfolds, and you go back and read Scripture -- you have read it before. How on earth could any man ever have understood it until in the fullness of time it unfolded within him? When it unfolded in a man, that man knew what Scripture intended all along. Then you tell it to those who are still looking for some external savior, and they are still looking for him; so they turn their backs upon you, and they will not believe you.1138 ¶29

This is a repeated pattern over and over and over. Some believed -- a few believed, but others disbelieved. I’ll find that until the ends of my days.1138 ¶30

He returns to Timothy and tells Timothy to “follow the pattern of the sound words --.” He took the entire 39 books and events widely separated in time, and he brought them together to form the pattern. He found some in the early parts of Genesis, and then some in the Book of Samuel; then he found some in the Book of Psalms, in Jeremiah; he took these patterns and wove them together, and they all unfolded within him.1138 ¶31

There was a promise in the beginning. He found that in the early parts of Genesis. He promises a child -- a child that would prove something. That’s the son coming, just a son. Then he tells you: “Here’s another sign: As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” That is in the Book of Exodus. And, then, that happens to you. “To me in this same manner?” Yes, it’s going to happen to you. It happened to me. Like a fiery serpent I was lifted up; and here is something that recorded it thousands of years ago. The whole thing is contemporary. It is an eternal drama that is taking place. One is drawn into that eternal drama, and then it unfolds within him.1138 ¶32

I like to repeat it in this manner: If you can conceive of an action -- a simple action that is forever taking place, like an eternal command, -- something to be done absolutely and continuously. It’s like -- well, the imperative passive mood; something that is done absolutely, but at the same time continuously, without reference to the completeness of the action or the incompleteness of the action, without reference to its duration, without reference to its repetition, without reference to its position in time. It is simply taking place in Eternity. And then you are drawn by this like a magnet; and as you are drawn into it -- because it is a simple act talked about in Scripture, the action unfolds within you, for it is already in you. You are drawn into it, and it unfolds within you. You are the one having the experience. You don’t see it as something on the outside. You are experiencing the action.1138 ¶33

And when the whole thing unfolds within you, you go back to Scripture, and then you see that this is what was said anyway. This is what was prophesied would happen, but you thought it was going to happen to another. I thought it happened two thousand years ago to one called Jesus. Now I see that Jesus is a pattern. Jesus is the Pattern Man buried in every man; and when that pattern unfolds in man, man is Jesus!1138 ¶34

Well, Jesus is the Lord, -- the Lord God Jehovah. So, there is no room for another god. There is only God. So, when asked, “What is the greatest commandment in the world?” he replied: “Hear, 0 Israel. The lord, our God, the Lord is one. There is no greater commandment.” You can’t have two gods -- only one. But one God becoming us unfolds in us, and we are that one God!1138 ¶35

So, in the end, we are all one; for if the same son calls you “Father” that called me “Father,” are we not one? You are not going to have another son. You are going to have the same son -- the identical son calling you, “Father.” Well, if he calls you, “Father,” and he really is your son, and he has already called me, “Father,” and I know he is my son; then you and I, though we differ in identity, -- we still are one. We simply are only one. “Hear, 0 Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one.” There can’t be a second god, or other gods. But in the end, everyone in this world will form “one body, . . . one spirit, . . . one Lord, . . . one God and Father of all.”1138 ¶36

Now, this is far more important than to tell you how to make a million, which is a simple thing for you if you really want it and you are willing to give the time to it. Those who came here tonight, thinking that that would be part of tonight’s talk, -- then for your benefit, I will tell you a story. I have repeated it unnumbered times, but I will tell it again if you are here for that purpose:1138 ¶37

Your own wonderful human imagination is the being that I speak of when I speak of God. When I say, “God became as we are, that we may be as He is,” I am speaking of your imagination. And you cannot get away from your imagination. “And by Him all things were made, and without Him was not anything made that was made.” That’s your imagination.1138 ¶38

There isn’t a thing in this world that you see now and call it a fact that wasn’t first only imagined: the building; the clothes you wear; the chairs on which you are seated; this little mike; -- everything was first only imagined, and then executed.1138 ¶39

Well, if all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made, -- good, bad or indifferent, try to find some other maker than your own wonderful human imagination. Try to find it. You may say: “Edison did it” -- in his imagination; “Einstein did it” -- in his imagination. Show me one other instrument other than the human imagination that conceived anything in this world, and that is God. “If all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made,” then you conclude that He must be the human imagination. So, I tell you, your own wonderful human imagination is the God of Whom I speak! That is the Being that actually will awaken within you.1138 ¶40

But, now, to get things in this world, assume that you are. “All things are possible to Him.” Assume that you are the man that you want to be -- or the woman that you want to be. And, although at the moment of your assumption your reason and your senses deny it, if you dare to persist in that assumption as though it were true, that assumption -- in a way unknown to your rational, conscious mind -- will harden into fact. It knows how to actually build that series of events necessary to make it so in your world.1138 ¶41

If you really want to be what you call “secure”, -- say, in finances, dare to assume that you are secure, and live as though you were; sleep as though you were; and then it will happen in your world that will cause you to leave your present environment and move on into the state that you have assumed.1138 ¶42

If you wait for things to change before you dare to assume, you will wait forever. Circumstances cannot change of themselves. You change them by changing your concept of Self. To attempt to change the world before you change your own imaginal activity is to struggle against the very nature of things.1138 ¶43

Now, you say: “Well, I am reaping these things in my world, and I didn’t make them.” No, -- you have forgotten the blossom time. What you are now reaping is simply the fruit of some forgotten blossom time. You have a very faulty memory. We all have. We can’t remember when we set in motion what we are now reaping as a harvest; but everything in our world was once planted as an imaginal act, and it has not a physical cause, -- it has an imaginal cause. Every natural effect in this world has an imaginal cause, and not a natural cause. A natural cause only seems; it is the delusion of a faulty memory, because man cannot remember the blossom time when he actually set it in motion.1138 ¶44

If you will try that, then if you came tonight to hear something more practical, then that is the practical side of this teaching.1138 ¶45

But may I tell you, I consider that what is most profoundly spiritual is most directly practical. For, if you really give all your attention to this pattern, “and set your hope fully on this unveiling of The Christ you,” it will be far more profitable than seeking to become rich in the world. If this thing should only unfold within you, then the world is yours. You don’t have any desire for the fantastic claims that people make in this world.1138 ¶46

So, if you really give all your attention to the hope, as Peter said, -- “Set your hope fully upon the glory, upon the grace that is coming to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” If Jesus Christ is already in me, as told me in the Letters of Paul, then I can only wait for the unveiling of that Jesus Christ within me. And this is the hope that makes it wisdom to go after the burdens of this long, dark night of time.1138 ¶47

So, you find yourself in pain, find yourself limited by some infirmity for a little while; bear in mind: “He took upon Himself our infirmities and bore our diseases.” And His name is I AM. So, when you say that I am doing it all by myself and He is not bearing it with me, remember: His name is I AM. And I AM, which is the real name of God, became as limited as you are, and now bears your infirmities and your diseases; and He does the suffering.1138 ¶48

But in the end, He will awaken in you as you, and you will be the Lord Jesus; and your son will bear witness of your fatherhood, and He is the Messiah in Scripture, as told us in Samuel and told us in the Psalms. And when you meet him, his name is David. You are the Lord Jesus, and David called you -- the Lord Jesus -- “my Father.” He calls you, “my Lord.” He calls you, “my God,” for that is the story of Scripture.1138 ¶49

Man has been completely educated out of it and he brings his prefabricated misconceptions of Scripture to a message of this nature. Well, it doesn’t dovetail with what he has been taught; therefore, he goes away saying, “I didn’t hear it,” or “I don’t care for it.”1138 ¶50

He still wants his external god to whom to pray; and if his prayers are not answered, then he will say to himself that God did not think it wise to grant his prayer, -- in spite of the fact that we are told whatever we ask for will be granted. He didn’t say if it was good for you; he just said you should ask for it, but he made this statement: “Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and you will.” Read it in the 11th chapter of the Book of Mark. “Whatever you ask, believe that you have received it, and you will.” “If we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know we have obtained the request made of Him.” Read that in the First Epistle of John, the 5th chapter, 15th verse.1138 ¶51

These are statements made by the Awakened Man. Therefore, if the prayer is not answered, you are praying to a wrong god. But if you know that the God to Whom you pray is your own wonderful human imagination, then instead of begging, you appropriate. You appropriate the state; so I call it the subjective appropriation of the objective hope.1138 ¶52

What is my objective hope? Well, I appropriate it subjectively. I “go within” and I simply appropriate it. I simply assume the feeling of my wish fulfilled. I appropriate it; and if my wish fulfilled were true, how would I see the world in which I live? And then do everything to make me see it as I would see it if it were: see the people in my world as I would have to see them, and let them see me as they would be compelled to see me if what I am doing is an actual external fact. If they know me and I know them, and something happens in my life that becomes public knowledge, -- well, then, they would know it. Then let them see me as they would have to see me if it were true.1138 ¶53

So, the subjective appropriation of the objective hope is prayer. You don’t beg any one. Don’t ask anyone. You simply appropriate it.1138 ¶54

For, if He is in me, where would I go to ask Him? As we are told, “Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?” Then test yourselves to see if you really realize it. Put yourself to the test. If I say, “Jesus Christ,” and your mind jumps on the outside to something other than yourself, you have failed the test, for you are told: “Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you? -- unless, of course,” said he, “you fail to meet the test!” Well, you have just had the test. So, when I use the words, “Jesus Christ,” and something on the outside comes to you, you have failed the test, for Jesus Christ is in you.1138 ¶55

If I go to Him in my prayer, where would I go but to myself? He became as I am, that I may be as He is. He actually became me. He is in me as my own wonderful human imagination, for “by Him all things were made, and without Him was not anything made that was made,” so I go within and appropriate the state. So, the subjective appropriation of my objective hope is my prayer.1138 ¶56

And having appropriated it, I drop it, as I would the seed into the earth. The seed must fall into the earth and rot before it can be made alive. Well, just drop it, and then in its own good time it will come into harvest.1138 ¶57

It takes an interval of time between my appropriation and its fulfillment; so having done it, I drop it, and go about my “Father’s business” appropriating other states -- not only for myself, but for “myself pushed out,” which I call “others.” For, in the end, there is Only One.1138 ¶58

One day we will know that you and I are one, for you must be the same Being that I am, though we are individualized, and we will remain individualized. But you must be the Being that I am, because you are the Father of my son. How on earth could you be the Father of my son and not be as I AM?1138 ¶59

So, I will know you -- know you in Eternity as who you are, a friend; I will know you as my brother, but I will also know you as God. Every one, in the end, I will know as God -- the Only God, but I will know them as my brother and know them as my friend. All will be God.1138 ¶60

Not one will be lost, -- in spite of all that is said to the contrary. There is no hell waiting for you. There is only an infinite body of Love -- an infinite body of Perfection, which one day you will wear; and wearing it, nothing can remain in your presence that is imperfect. As you walk by -- as you glide by, everything will be molded in harmony with the perfection that is springing within you.1138 ¶61

You do not need a realm called Heaven. You are Heaven. The body you will wear will be perfect, and in its presence nothing can remain imperfect. And that’s Heaven! So, if you went into the hell of hells, it would be automatically and instantaneously transformed into Heaven.1138 ¶62

So, you don’t need love; all you need is the Body of the Risen Lord within you. And when He rises within you, that body is an infinite body of Love and Perfection.1138 ¶63

So, here the Pattern, I know from experience, is buried in man. It’s the way of escape from the world of death into the world of Eternity. And that Pattern was built into man before the foundation of the world.1138 ¶64

He prepared the way for His own escape; and when the time is fully come to depart this world, as Paul said, “The time for my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness,” and now Paul is about to depart.1138 ¶65

But in his departure he spends his time from morning to evening expounding the matter to them, trying to convince them about Jesus, trying to testify to the Kingdom of God, and using Scripture to support his argument -- both from the law of Moses and from the prophets. And some believed what he said and some disbelieved; and everyone who comes into this same state of consciousness where the Pattern unfolds within him is going to find the same crowd, some believing and some disbelieving, until one day it happens in them; and they too will be confronted with those who will believe them and disbelieve them.1138 ¶66

And it will go on and on until the end when all are redeemed.1138 ¶67

When all are redeemed, it is by the one Pattern; so I say there is no other way of redemption. When people tell me diets will do it or meditation will do it or this other -ism will do it, or some other savior, -- there is no other savior. The Savior is a Pattern, and the Pattern is in man, and it’s called in Scripture “Jesus.” There is no other way. “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” “I am the resurrection and the life.” “No one comes to the Father, except by me.”1138 ¶68

The one speaking in these quotations is the Pattern Man, and until this Pattern unfolds in man, he remains in the world of death. Well, when it unfolds within him, he is that which unfolds within him. He is the Lord Jesus. Jesus is the Lord God Jehovah. And because He is the Father, there must be a son; and the son stands before him, which is the sum total of Humanity with all its experiences personified, and that infinite beauty is called David. He is the David of Biblical fame, and he calls you “Father.”1138 ¶69

Now let us go into the Silence.1138 ¶70

Last night after the meeting a lady asked me if I would touch on what I said earlier about who saw Him. He appeared first to Peter, and then to the Twelve, then to five hundred, and then to James, then to the Apostles, and finally to Paul. Well, I will touch it just briefly, for her sake.1138 ¶71

When He appears, it is simply the man in whom the Pattern has awakened. It is that man, whether you call him by a Biblical name or by any other name, -- anyone in whom the Pattern of Redemption awakes is that man called “Jesus.” But you may know him in this world as George or Peter or Neville, or any other name.1138 ¶72

I know in my own case they must now start. It has already started. Those who see me in spirit as the Being that I am claiming that I am -- I am claiming it only because it has happened in me. I am not speculating. I am not theorizing. The whole thing has unfolded itself in me.1138 ¶73

There is a gentleman here tonight whose wife had this experience this week and wrote me this letter. She says, “I had this wonderful experience where you gave this banquet. It was beautifully done and very formal. On your right sat one who seemed to have been, or should have been, an apostle. He was well dressed. I sat to your left. I knew the truth of what he was saying, but he was hysterical, because it struck him funnily. He told you that he had a dream that you were Jesus Christ, and then he started to laugh in a strange, disbelieving manner; and he kept on laughing as he repeated the dream that he had.”1138 ¶74

She said, “I knew that the dream that he had was true, and in spite of the fact that it was a dream, he didn’t think it true. He disbelieved it completely. But I knew it was true.”1138 ¶75

Well, that’s Scripture. She is a lady. In the end of the Book of Luke it is the woman who comes to the Apostles, and it is the woman who said, “He is risen,” and the apostles thought it an idle tale, and they did not believe it. There’s your story. She believed it, and she was not judged among the apostles. He was judged among the apostles, the man who sat at my right, the honored position at the table, and did not believe it.1138 ¶76

The apostles named in Scripture were not sent until after. They were told, “Remain in the city until you are imbued with power from above.” They had not yet received the gift of the Holy Spirit; so they could not be sent.1138 ¶77

So, they are coming. One after the other are coming to make that number. First He appears to Peter. Well, I told you who was Peter in my case -- a little girl 8 years old, Maylo. She was the one who saw the thing in detail. Then came others. Now they are gathering.1138 ¶78

No bragging about it. If it happened in me, it happened in me. There is not a thing I’ve done to warrant it. It’s Grace. It is a gift -- unwarranted, unearned. It is God’s gift. Grace is God’s gift of Himself to man which man did not earn. He did not merit it. It’s a gift. So, no one can brag.1138 ¶79

So, if it happened in me, which it has, I cannot brag; but I do know there must be witnesses to confirm that it did happen in me. And his wife -- he is sitting right here; his wife was one who actually witnessed it this past week.1138 ¶80

Are there any other questions, please?1138 ¶81

Tonight’s subject is Power. I do not mean the power of Caesar, I’m speaking tonight of the power of God, for here in this world of Caesar I think all nations would admit that this land of ours is by far the greatest power in the world of Caesar: economic power and military power. And here we are, against a tenth-rate nation, and find on our hands the longest war in our history. We say we have an objective and that we have the means to achieve it, but we are unwilling to use the means that we have. Well, then, modify the objective to fit the means that we are willing to use. That belongs to the world of Caesar. If we do not modify the objective to fit the means we are willing to use, then cut bait and forget it, and forget the so-called “saving face.” But I am not speaking of that kind of power. I am speaking of the power of God, which is called in Scripture, “Jesus Christ.” Paul defines Christ as “the power of God and the wisdom of God.” Here we find wisdom and power exalted and personalized as God’s companion in the creation of the world. That power is your own wonderful human Imagination. That’s the power of God! That is Christ. As far as I am concerned, that is Jesus Christ of the Scriptures.91 ¶1

Now, tonight we are talking about this power. The earliest gospel is Mark, and the first words we find on the lips of this power are: “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Now, the word repent as we use it in the world is not what Scripture means when we use it here. We mean to feel remorse, regret. That hasn’t a thing to do with the word repent. It’s the Greek “metanoia,” a radical, but radical, change of attitude, a radical change of mind. Can I see an objective, and then everything tells me: well, I can’t realize it? Well, do I have the power to realize an objective? I tell you, we have; we have the power. Well, what is the deeper meaning of power but effectiveness in achieving one’s purpose in life! Well, so I have a purpose. Do I have the power? I tell everyone: Yes. You can imagine the end, can’t you? Can you imagine what it would be like if it were true? Can you feel what it would be like if it were true? Well, then, that is power! Now, can you be persistent in it? Can you remain faithful to that end as though it were true? Now, I don’t care what the objective is. You have the power to achieve it if you know this power is the power of Christ. For all things are possible to him.91 ¶2

He is personified in Scripture. Let us go back and see how they first personify him. You’ll read it in the 8th chapter of the book of Proverbs, the 22nd verse through to the end, the 36th verse, and these are the words: “God possessed me in the beginning of his way, the very first of his acts of old.” One translation has it: “He created me.” That’s not a good translation. I can’t say I create my capacity to think. I can develop it, but it was with me in the beginning. I can’t say I created my capacity to imagine; it was with me. I may not imagine correctly, but it was with me. So, God possessed me in the beginning of his way, the very first of his acts of old, before He brought forth the universe, before he laid out the foundations of the earth, I was beside him like a little child. I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, delighting in his inhabited world. Now, my sons, listen to me, he who finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord, but he who misses me, injures himself. All who hate me love death. You read these words in the 8th chapter of Proverbs.91 ¶3

Here he is personalized as a little child, God’s companion in the creation of the world. When you read it, it doesn’t make sense, but I tell you from my own personal experience, having practiced the art of repentance and having experienced the birth from above with the little child, I know exactly what the prophet meant when he was inspired to write those words.91 ¶4

One day you will encounter this creative power in you, personified as a little child. The whole vast world has completely misunderstood it and thinks it is a little child wrapped in swaddling clothes that was found by the shepherds two thousand years ago. That’s a sign of the birth in man of the creative power of God. So God is actually bringing forth his creative power in man, and when it is brought to birth in man so that man actually becomes part of the creative power of the universe, the sign of his birth – the sign of his awareness of it – is that of a little child. So, here I was like him; I was beside him like a little child when he brought forth the universe. So, as in everyone, in bringing me forth as part of the creative power of the universe, the sign of my arriving at that point is symbolized in the birth of a little child. When I find the child, I have found life. Now I have life in myself. I’m no longer an animated body; I am a life-giving spirit. If I miss it, I injure myself. “All who hate me love death.”91 ¶5

Now, this world is the world of death. So you tell the story to the world, and the majority would rather have the building across the street or this building – something to them that is secure – than to know of a power. Take the building away, destroy the building, but leave me the power to recreate it. Don’t take from me the creative power, but take all the things I create. The world would rather have the things created than the power to create. And so “Those who hate me, they love death.” They are in love with the whole vast world that decays. Well, everything that is built today gradually fades. It comes into the world, it waxes, it wanes, and it vanishes. But leave me the power to bring anything into this world, and take from me – if you will – anything that I bring into the world. But don’t take from me the creative power, that I may actually create anything in this world.91 ¶6

Now, what does he mean by repentance? It means this: it tests the individual’s ability to enter into and partake of the nature of the opposite. I see someone, and they are behind the eight-ball financially. They have to pay rent, they have to buy clothes, feed themselves, and maybe they have obligations to society – others to feed, others to clothe. They may be a father or a mother. And I meet them, and they are not employed. Now, it tests my ability to put them into the state where they are gainfully employed. I bring them before my mind’s eye, and I represent them to myself as gainfully employed, and to the degree that I am self- persuaded of the reality of what I am seeing and hearing and doing – to that degree they become exactly what I am doing, all in my imagination. Well, if tomorrow or in the immediate present they actually conform outwardly to what I am doing inwardly, I have found the creative power.91 ¶7

I try it again with another one. I try it with yet another one and I keep on trying, and it works. Well, then, I tell it, and ask everyone who will listen to me and believe it to try it. See if you can’t exercise that same power in you. It’s not a different power. There’s only one Christ. There aren’t numberless little Christ’s running around the earth, only one Christ, and that Christ is your own wonderful human Imagination. So, if I exercise my Imagination and it proves itself in performance, and then you exercise your imagination and it proves itself in performance, it’s the same imagination – individualized as Neville, individualized as you, regardless of your name. Then you share it with another, and you tell it to others. Well, if I can tell it to the point where they are persuaded to try it, and in trying it, it proves itself in the testing, then we have found him.91 ¶8

So when you read in Scripture, “I have found him,” – found whom? “I have found the one of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’” Well, the word “Jesus” simply means what “Jehovah” means; it means “salvation.” It means, “to save.” If I save someone from poverty by putting him into a state of affluence, well, then, that’s Jesus. I am exercising the same power. If someone is unwell and I represent him to myself as being the embodiment of health and he conforms to it, then that’s Jesus. He saved him. From what? From being unwell! Well, if I try it and try it and try it and it proves itself, what does it matter what others think? What does it matter what anyone thinks about what I am talking about? I only know that it proves itself. It works. Well, if it works, then try it.91 ¶9

So this is the power of which I speak, not some peculiar little thing on the outside. You don’t buy it. It’s innate. You exercise it. So, you are told to repent, in the beginning of the exercise of the power, and when you reach a certain degree of intensity, that power is born. It is born in you and then personified as a little child, and you actually feel yourself coming out of your own skull. And here is a little child wrapped in swaddling clothes, and it is your child. Now, you didn’t form some little child in your head. The child is a sign of your birth from above. It’s a sign of your arrival into the creative stream of God. You are now one with the creative power of God, and there’s only God, nothing but God. “Man is all Imagination, and God is man, and exists in us and we in him.” The creative power of God is man’s Imagination. That is actually Jesus Christ himself. There is no other Jesus Christ. So all of a sudden you find that this is what the world is talking about. They have put him on the outside and made some little god of him, when he is housed in everyone.91 ¶10

Now, let me show you from my own experience what I know about this law. I can waste power in the world of Caesar. We’re doing it by the billions every year with our little war and all the nonsense we have in the world. This power you can’t waste. You can misuse it, but you can’t waste it. I can misuse it every moment of time by imagining unlovely things about people, unlovely things about myself, and I can use it hatefully – but I can’t waste it. I’ll show you why you can’t waste it.91 ¶11

One night, many, many years ago, I suddenly became aware of two beings. I am the one perceiving them so there are three, but I am the perceiver. Here above me stands the most beautiful woman imaginable, an angel – an angel of beauty and of everything. She was lovely! And below me was the most monstrous thing that man could ever conceive, covered with hair like an ape, but it could speak. It spoke gutturally. I looked at it, and then it looked at me and pointed to this beautiful, angelic being, and it called this woman, “Mother.” Well, I was so annoyed with this monstrous thing that I pummeled it. It gloated. It loved violence; it fed on violence. Every time I was violent, it became stronger. And this beautiful thing, glowing…but this one is calling it “Mother.” And suddenly, as I was beating this thing, I realized: why, this is the embodiment of all my misspent energy, as this other one is the embodiment and personification of every noble thought I’ve ever entertained.91 ¶12

I looked at this thing; I had no one with whom I could swear. I felt a compassion I have never known before. I looked at this monstrous thing and realized it is but the result of my own misused energy. It never should have been given birth. And I said to myself, “I’ll redeem you, if it takes me eternity.” I pledged myself to redeem it, and do you know what happened? At that very moment, before my eyes, the whole thing withered. The monstrous thing, the embodiment of power – horrible-looking thing – it all got smaller and smaller and smaller, and left no trace of ever having been present. But as it got smaller and smaller and disappeared, the energy returned to me! I felt infinite power. I felt like I would have done anything for the power to return to me. It wasn’t wasted; it was misused, but not lost. “Nothing is lost in all my holy mountain.”91 ¶13

So, you can’t lose the power. You can misuse the power, but you can’t lose it. But you are confronted one day with a monstrous thing like that. I knew exactly what I did. You won’t wait to redeem him. At the very moment that you pledge yourself and you mean it, “I’ll redeem you if it takes me eternity” – at that moment that monstrous thing withers. It gets smaller and smaller, and this other one glows; it becomes radiant like a star. She is the embodiment and the permanent personification – getting ever greater – of your own wonderful thoughts. Every lovely act of yours feeds her. Every ignoble act of yours feeds him, and they walk with you. This one whispers the lovely things, encouraging you to be noble, and this other one whispers the violent things. If you are at the crossroads as to what you should do, this one wants to be fed. He can only feed on violence, and this other one can only feed on the lovely, noble thoughts of man. And man creates them!91 ¶14

You see your own creation, and it’s all the same power of your own wonderful human Imagination. From then on, you know who you are. You are a creative power, and you go out to change everything in your world to make it conform to something lovelier. And you don’t do it on the outside; you do it on the inside. You do it all in your Imagination. Imagination is God, and there is no other god! His name is “I Am” forever and forever and forever. That’s God!91 ¶15

And yet, when you do meet the personification as your own Imagination, you see a man, and that man is Infinite Love. You will also meet him in another garment, and he is Infinite Power. He is Infinite Wisdom. And you will realize that the being that you really are is a protean being. He plays all the parts. When you meet him, his fundamental being is love, but he also is power, and you see him as power. And he also is wisdom, and you see him as Wisdom. And you don’t have to ask any questions as to: “Who are you?” It’s so obvious that you stand in the presence of Infinite Power, or Infinite Wisdom, or Infinite Love. And you know the truth of these statements of Scripture when it says, “God is love.” You stand in the presence of God, Infinite Love – and it’s a man! Our scientists tell us of an impersonal force. This is not impersonal. This is very personal. God is a man. “Thou art a Man God is no more Thy own humanity learn to adore,” For everything here is God, and God being man, his every attribute is personified. So when you meet God as power, it’s man. Meet him as wisdom − it’s man. Meet him as love − it’s man.91 ¶16

So I tell you, this power of which I speak is right here in your own wonderful human Imagination. Don’t turn to another. Don’t turn to anything on the outside. It’s all within. “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.” And God is in his heaven. If I turn within, where do I turn? I turn to my own wonderful human Imagination, and then I imagine what I want as real in my world and persuade myself that it’s true. To the degree that I am self-persuaded, it becomes true. It actually clothes itself in what the world calls reality, but the reality is not the visible thing they see. The reality is the unseen state, which I have imagined. You take the oak. Cut it down. It renews itself by the invisible state. The little lamb – you slay it with the knife, but the reality of that lamb, that form that is forever, is unseen by man.91 ¶17

So, here, in this wonderful world of ours, you have the power. You don’t need financial power. That won’t do it. You can’t buy health. You can’t buy respect. Oh, you can buy it for a little while, but they don’t really respect you. Let the money go, and they don’t respect you. You don’t need anything in the world of Caesar to buy what you want. “Come,” we are told, “buy it without price, without money.” When he says, “Buy it without price,” then, you see, it’s not Caesar’s coin that you use. You use your own wonderful human Imagination.91 ¶18

I’ll give you this story. A friend of mine down south, he went to this barbershop. There were four barbers. He went to the boss barber first. And after about three visits the barber couldn’t take him this day, and he took the fourth one – the last chair. He rather liked the way this man cut his hair. He got to talking to him, and he realized the man loved barbering – he loved it. That is all my friend needed. “You really love it?” He said, “I just love it. I wouldn’t do anything else but cut hair. I just love it.” Now, this is what my friend did. He imagined that man the head of the shop. He didn’t consult him, he didn’t consult the boss barber; he didn’t consult anyone – just this one. He liked him. He imagined that he was the head of not this shop, but a shop. Six weeks later the barber decided (the owner) to unload the shop. How he raised the money, my friend never told me, but he bought the shop and moved from the fourth man, the low man on the totem pole, to the boss barber. In the last year, this one so loved it he came here to this city about two months ago. There was some meeting here, a contest among barbers. He brought two of his barbers with him. One was committed and couldn’t come that day. He brought two. They took back – out of five prizes, they took back four. He won two − a first and a second, and two of his barbers won two seconds. He just entered another contest of the entire region (that is, the seven western states) and he won it, plus a thousand dollars. The big plaque is now on his wall, all because of my friend’s use of Imagination!91 ¶19

This man has a terrific control of this power. He is an advertising agent. About, I would say, in the early part of this year, his boss said to him, “This is our best account, and I don’t want to lose it. But you know the industry today. It’s on the skids, and we must do something to pull it out.” Well, he sat down and said, “If imagining creates reality, my only problem will be to face these men who believe themselves so wise, and persuade them to let me go all out with my campaign from the premise that it is already an accomplished fact. I can’t advertise that this thing is possible. I’ve got to say it has been tried and proven in my ads.” He worked out the entire thing. When these twenty men, all multi-millionaires (for this is one of the huge industries of the world, this is an international industry) – when he worked the entire thing out and presented it to these twenty men on the board, they thought themselves above all this. They were ethically above all things. Their moral code would not allow it, but my friend persuaded them that this is how the law operates, that imagining creates reality. “So if you want something created, leave it to me. I will take your desire and make it something that is already a fact. You voice it.” The first quarter of this year that industry not only arrested the motion downward, but turned it around, and their profits – not their gross – their profits for the first quarter of this year were seventy-five million dollars more than the first quarter of last year – seventy-five million more. I am speaking of a net profit. Now these wise men, with their wonderful ethical codes − they allow it! They saw the money in the bank. They saw all these things, and their so-called ethical moral code went through the window because they saw another principle, which they did not know. His competitor (I saw the letter) – his competitor in the advertising field wrote the boss, my friend’s boss. He said, “You know, I take my hat off to you. You use a principle that we have always used in our work,” (which was a darned lie; he never did it at all). He said, “I know exactly what you did.” He’s trying to fish him out to find out what he is doing, and in this letter he makes the claim that he actually knew and had always used it, “And no one can work for our concern unless he is aware of this principle and lives by it. We aren’t concerned about his religious background. He may be a Catholic, Protestant, Jew, or an atheist, but he has to live by this principle.” Well, I saw that letter. The man was fishing, just fishing to get the one who really conceived it to come forward and tell him what he did.91 ¶20

Well, here is the same one in the barbershop. He goes there every Saturday morning by appointment, and the boss barber waits for him right on the dot. Every Saturday he is right there for this chap. He loves him, and he took him from the low man on the totem pole and pushed him right up. He realized the man likes cutting hair. That’s what he likes; he just loves it. All right, then, be the best. If you like it, be the very best in the trade.91 ¶21

Tell me what you want. Maybe you want to be a wife, or “give me a home.” What’s wrong with that! My mother never went to work. She just had ten children and lived at home with her full complement of servants. My sister never worked, so she lives at home with her servants. My wife worked until I could afford to keep her. The day I could afford to keep her, I said, “Now, you stop,” so she stopped. That was almost two years after we got married. Two years afterwards I could afford to keep her, so, “From now on, you don’t work,” and so she hasn’t gone back to work. So, tell me what you want, and then let me persuade myself that what you really want, you have. To the degree that I am self-persuaded you have it, you’ll get it. If I can’t persuade myself, then I have failed, but I haven’t misspent the energy, because I tried it lovingly. So, any time you use your imagination lovingly on behalf of another, you use it wisely. Even if you didn’t succeed in producing the results that you were seeking, you used it wisely.91 ¶22

You will not, then, encounter the monster that I did, but the chances are, everyone in his unknowingness built that monster, for everyone has started to misuse the energy, and it forms itself into this horrible, horrible thing. Did you ever sit down and wonder, “Where on earth did that thought come from?” It wasn’t a lovely thought. It came from a thing that you build, that misspent energy, a monstrous being that one day will meet you on the threshold and confront you, and you have to redeem it, because Christ must be redeemed. And although he is the redeemer, he also is one to be redeemed because he is only energy. He’s power. Infinite creative power is Christ, the power of God.91 ¶23

So the power of which I speak is your own wonderful human Imagination. That’s God. So when I tell you that “Man is All Imagination, and God is Man, and exists in us and we in him.” “The Eternal Body of Man is the Imagination, and that is God himself – the Divine Body Jesus, and we are his Members.” Well, everyone can imagine, therefore all are members of the one body. So this is that one spoken of in the 8th chapter of Proverbs: I was beside him like a little child. “Find me, and you find life. Miss me, and you injure yourself. Hate me, and you love death.” So, the one who finds him is born from above, and “unless ye be born from above, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God.” And the birth from above is simply symbolized in that of a little child wrapped in swaddling clothes. It’s not some little event that took place two thousand years ago once and for all. It is taking place!91 ¶24

You start it with repentance. Repent, and believe the story of the Gospel. And “to repent” is simply to challenge you, to test you. Can you take a man from the lowest point in the barbershop and make him the boss? Can you represent him to yourself as one who is really in charge, who loves it and you love him? Well then, try it! So, he loved him, brought him into his mind’s eye as the one who really was important in his life, and the man simply rose suddenly to the highest place in his shop, and now in the entire western area has won all the prizes. And this one, in his advertising agency, he can write his own ticket today. The boss said to him, “What do you want?” The boss gives him – well, I would say three or four times a year – a huge big unsolicited bonus check. He wants to keep him. My friend has no desire to quit, but the boss is so eager to hold him, he gets one bonus after the other. And my friend? All right, he’ll take it. Why shouldn’t he?91 ¶25

So, I ask everyone here to try it. Don’t just listen to it, but try it. You are the operant power; it doesn’t operate itself. And so when I know what I should do, well, then, I do it! Go to sleep tonight. All right, how am I sleeping? In what state of consciousness am I sleeping? As someone who is unwanted? All right, then I’ll rise tomorrow to find myself unwanted. Ignore the facts of life and assume that you are wanted. Ignore the facts of life and assume that you are affluent, and see how things work in your world. It will all come your way. You are creating out of a power that is infinite, and you don’t need any contacts in the world. You don’t need to know the right people or anything else in the world. All you need to know is Christ, and Christ is your own wonderful human Imagination! What else do you need to know but Christ!91 ¶26

So let no one tell you: he’s out there and he looks like this. There is no personal representation in Scripture concerning Jesus Christ. Not one little thought is mentioned concerning what he looks like. Yet our churches have hundreds and hundreds of paintings, no two alike. Each tells you that is what Jesus looked like. He looks just like you. As you are told in Scripture, “It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know this much: when he does appear, we shall know him.” Why? “We shall be like him,” just like you when he appears. So, let no one tell you that he looks other than you, because that’s not Christ. And yet in spite of the 2nd Commandment, “Make no graven image unto me,” we have all these little indulgences that people buy, and they bow before it. And they call that Christ, something made with the human hand, and then they forget the maker and worship the thing made. Don’t forget the creator! The creator is your own wonderful human Imagination. Whatever you create is less than you, the creator. So, you can create a fortune. All right, they take it from you – you can create another one. So, whatever you can make, you can keep on making it if they take it from you. This is the power of which I speak.91 ¶27

I am not speaking of any earthly power. Many a man this night – last year I was in Barbados for a few months, and my brother (who has made quite a fortune) was talking about these men, and he didn’t realize what he was saying. He mentioned five men, all multi-millionaires, and he got through telling me how they worked so hard and they did all this and had all this money. I said, “Vic, you admire them?” “Why, certainly! They’re powerful.” I said, “What’s powerful? You just painted five biographies for me, word pictures of five men. The last one you painted is only sixty-three years old. He has, you tell me, about twenty-five million, and they have to tell him when to eat. He doesn’t know – doesn’t know his name, doesn’t know anything. And, all of a sudden they put the food in his mouth, and they say, ‘chew,’ and he chews, and he keeps on chewing forever until they say, ‘swallow,’ and he swallows. And you call that a man? So, he has twenty-five million. So, what! And the others – they gave all their time toward making money, just making things, and everyone you have mentioned and defined for me, I wouldn’t put my worst enemy (if I had one) in his place. So, he has money, but he is totally unaware of the fact that he has one nickel. So he has twenty-five million, and that’s what you call a man? That’s not my concept of a man. I am telling you something entirely different, Vic. You have lots of money, and it may never happen to you. So you have millions, too. Do you want to be like that? All these fellows are demented. They gave their entire life to the making and amassing of things, and they started to worship things. Don’t you start worshiping things! You start worshiping God and only God, and God is you own wonderful human Imagination, and don’t you forget it. So, this building is yours. Suppose it burns tonight? So what? You know what you did to build it. Build another one. Tomorrow you may have the whole thing burn flat. So don’t be concerned about what you have accumulated as things in the world. Find God and worship only God, and God is not on the outside. You’ll never see him on the outside.91 ¶28

You will see himself within, because can you see “I Am”? You can see, “I am a man.” You see the man reflected. You can say, “I am a poor man,” and see the man reflected in the eyes of those who know he is poor. And you can see every concept you hold of self – but the conceiving being you don’t see. That’s God! My concept of myself may be this, that, or the other. The concepts will be reflected in society, and men will tell me who I am conceiving myself to be – but no man knows who I really am! I, the conceiver, they don’t know, but they know what I’ve conceived myself to be. My bank balance will tell the banker what I have conceived myself to be in the financial world. All these concepts – men will see concepts, but they can’t see me, the conceiver. Well, don’t forget the conceiver – that’s God! And that being is your own wonderful “I-Am-ness.” That’s God, and there never was another! There never will be another.91 ¶29

So, God is bringing forth his own being, because he is buried in us. And he is bringing it up into the stream of creativity, so that the same one being – God – is infinite in potential. But God is not infinite in actual fact, because then he would be dead! He couldn’t expand. He couldn’t go beyond what he is. So, God is ever expanding. There’s no limit to expansion; there is only a limit to contraction. He took upon himself that limit when he became Neville. That was the limit of contraction, the limit of opacity. Now, he breaks the shell by my exercising within me the law of repentance. And so I exercise my Imagination, and then he breaks the shell. There’s no limit now to expansion, no limit to translucence. There was only the limit, which he placed upon himself, which was the limit of death – which is opacity and contraction. So God is infinite in potential, and everyone here is going to join that wonderful stream of creativity and be one with God!91 ¶30

Now, when you hear it, don’t just hear it and forget it. Try it. Put it to the extreme test, and then tell another, and have the other tell someone else, and spread the good news. This is called “the Gospel,” for the word gospel simply means “good news.” It’s the good news about God: how God became man that man may become God. Well, if God’s name is “I Am” – I know I say, “I am.” It’s the core of my being. I can say, “I am sick,” but I can get over sickness. But I can’t get over being “I Am.” I can get over being rich and become extremely poor, but I can’t get over being “I Am!” So he actually became the core of my being. That’s the center.91 ¶31

Well now, that’s my being. Well, if that is God, and that’s my being – well, he became me! God actually became me that I may become as he is. He took upon himself this limitation that I may become what he is (which is infinite) and expand forever.91 ¶32

So, you try it tonight. Try it with anything in this world. The unmarried, if you desire to be married – what symbol in the world would imply that you are married? A little band? In this western world a little band around this ring finger – not around any other finger – around this finger. It doesn’t have to be the biggest aspidistra in the world, just a plain little gold ring. If you wore it there, it would imply you’re married. Sleep tonight as though you wore one. Don’t put your physical thumb on it; put your imaginary thumb on it, and feel it in your imagination. You can do it! Feel a ball. Can you feel it? Then feel a piece of silk. Feel this, one after the other. Can you discriminate between all these different sensations? If you can discriminate between this and a tennis ball and a baseball and a piece of silk, then you can’t discriminate between nothings. They must exist. Though unseen by your eyes they still must exist! So, if I can discriminate between these unseen objects, these objects, though unseen, must be real. Well, now take that and put it there, but feel when you wear it, that you are proud of the one who put it there. You don’t have to see what he looks like. When it’s put there, you’ll be proud of his name, to bear it, and you’ll be proud of him. Just put it there.91 ¶33

Do you know why I know that? My wife did it. She did it! Actually, she did it. One day she was in the presence of a so-called sensitive, and this one said to her, “Why did you take off your wedding ring?” She said, “I am not married.” “Oh,” she said, “don’t fool me. You took off your wedding ring.” She said, “But I’m not married.” She said, “I’ll even tell you his name,” and she started off with Neb –Neba – Neva – she didn’t quite get it but she was coming very, very close to it. She was actually sensing what my wife in consciousness was feeling. When I first met her, I wanted her. The very first day I knew her I wanted to marry her, but I was entangled. Was I entangled! But, by this law, I disentangled myself. Without hurting anyone, I disengaged myself from all these complexities so that I could actually legitimately say, “Will you marry me?” But in the meanwhile she was wearing the ring. I hadn’t yet put it there, but she allowed me to put it there and slept as though I had put it there.91 ¶34

So I tell you unmarried ladies, if you desire to be married (maybe you don’t) – if you do, that’s the way to do it. And he’ll come out of the nowhere. You don’t have to go and buy anyone or try to meet the right people. Usually when you try to meet the right one, he’s always the wrong one. So don’t go searching. Those who go searching for love only make manifest their own love-less-ness, and the love-less never find love. Only the loving find love, and they never have to seek for it. You draw them; they come to you.91 ¶35

So here, this is the power of which I speak: the power of the universe. The power that created and sustains the universe is resident in you as your own wonderful human Imagination. That’s God! Don’t forget it. I know it’s difficult, when man has been trained to believe in an external God. And he goes to church and gets on his knees and he prays to an external God. And he goes home at night – maybe he does say his prayers, and he gets down on his knees and prays to an external God. All right, maybe that’s a nice thing for someone to do, but I tell you: he isn’t out there at all. You won’t be criticized for it, but he is within you – very personal, may I tell you. He is very, very personal, and within you.91 ¶36

When you are told in Scripture, “Of the Rock that begot us, we are unmindful,” and that seems to be all a figure of speech, but how true that thing is! One night sitting in the silence (rather, it was an afternoon) I was thinking of nothing in particular, and suddenly before my eyes came this force. It was an enormous force. As I looked at it, it fragmented itself, broke into numberless little pieces, and then it reassembled itself. As it reassembled itself it was not into a force, but into a man seated in the lotus posture. I’m looking at this man, all seated now, perfect man. As I looked at him, I’m looking at myself. Here I am, the perceiver, observing myself seated in the lotus posture, in this deep, deep meditation, and as I become aware that I am looking at myself, it began to glow, and it glowed and glowed and glowed. When it reached the intensity of luminosity it exploded, and then I returned to this level. Where did I see him? Within me! That being is meditating this. This is but a projection of itself in the world. And when he wakes within me, completely wakes, I am he. God actually became me that I may become God! And he’s put me through all the paces, allowing me to make all the mistakes, to make a monster like the thing that I talked about earlier. I made that, and I made the lovely one, and he allows it in his meditation. He is the dreamer in me, and he is dreaming this, and dreaming everything that I dream in this world. And when he awakes, this will cease to be, and I am he and he is God!91 ¶37

So, I tell you, go out and try it. Begin tonight. I’ll make you this promise; if you try it faithfully, he will not fail. Now, let us go into the Silence.91 ¶38

Good. Now, are there any questions, please? Make it a full evening.91 ¶39