Your Faith Is Your Fortune

By the Same Author

Your Faith . •

AWAKENED IMAGINATION; THE SEARCH THE LAW AND THE PROMISE THE POWER OF AWARENESS

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Your Fortune .

SEEDTIME AND HARVEST

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FREEDOM FOR ALL* FEELING IS THE SECRET*

NEVILLE

PRAYER, THE ART OF BELIEVING* OUT OF THIS WORLD* RESURRECTION*

*These five books are included in one volume titled RESURRECTION

DEVORSS Publications

Copyright © 1941 by Neville All right s reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes.

ISBN : 0·87516-078·6

Seventeenth Printing, 1993

DeVorss & Compan y, Publish er P.O. Box 550 Marina del Rey , CA 90294 Printed in the United States of Ameri ca

CONTENTS CHAPTER 1. Before Abraham Was 2. You Shall Decree

3. The Principle of Truth 4. Whom Seek Ye? 5. Who Am I ? 6. I Am He 7. Thy Will Be Done 8. No Other God 9. The Foundation Stone 10. To Him That Hath 11. Christmas 12. Crucifixion and Resurrection 13. The I'm-Pressions 14. Circumcision 15. Interval of Time 16. The Triune God 17. Prayer 18. The Twelve Disciples 19. Liquid Light 20. The Breath of Life 21. Daniel in the Lions' Den 22. Fishing 23. Be Ears That Hear 24. Clairvoyance-"Count of Monte Cristo" 25. Twenty-third Psalm 26. Gethsemane 27. A Formula for Victory

PAGB

9 11 16 26 35

45 54 59 62 66 70 76 82 87 91 97 101 106 118 121 124 129 133 137 144 148 156

Your Faith

Is Your Fortune

MAN'S FAITH IN GOD IS MEASURED BY HIS CONFIDENCE IN HIMSELF

BEFORE ABRAHAM WAS Verily, verily, I say unto you before Abraham was, I AM.-John 8:58. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." In the beginning was the unconditioned awareness of being, and the unconditioned awareness of being became conditioned by imagining itself to be something, and the unconditioned awareness of being became that which it had imagined itself to be; so did creation begin. By this law-first conceiving, then becoming that conceived-all things evolve out of No-thing; and without this sequence there is not anything made that is made. Before Abraham or the world was-I AM. When all of time shall cease to be-I AM. I AM the 9

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

formless awareness of being conceiving myself to be man. By my everlasting law of being I am compelled to be and to express all that I believe myself to be. I AM the eternal No-thingness containing within my formless self the capacity to be all things. I AM that in which all my conceptions of myself live and move and have their being, and apart from which they are not . I dwell within every conception of myself; from this withinness I ever seek to transcend all conceptions of myself. By the very law of my being I transcend my conceptions of myself, only as I believe myself to be that which does transcend. I AM the law of being and beside ME there is no law. I AM that I AM.

YOU SHALL DECREE So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.-Isaiah 55: 11. Man can decree a thing and it will come to pass. Man has always decreed that which has appeared in his world. He is today decreeing that which is appearing in his world and he shall continue to do so as long as man is conscious of being man. Nothing has ever appeared in man's world but what man decreed that it should. This you may deny; but try as you will you cannot disprove it for this decreeing is based upon a changeless principle. Man does not command things to appear by his

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YOU SHALL DECREE

words which are, more often than not, a confession of his doubts and fears. Decreeing is ever done in

sonal principle of life which made all things is personified as God. This Lord God, creator of heaven and earth, is discovered to be .man's awareness of being. If man were less bound by orthodoxy and more intuitively observant, he could not fail to notice in the reading of the Bibles that the awareness of being is revealed hundreds of times throughout this literature. To name a few: "I AM hath sent me unto you." "Be still and know that I AM God." "I AM the Lord and there is no God." "I AM the shepherd." "I AM the door." "I AM the resurrection and the life." "I AM the way." "I AM the beginning and the end."

consciousness,

Every man automatically expresses that which he is conscious of being. Without effort or the use of words, at every moment of time, man is commanding himself to be and to possess that which he is conscious of being and possessing. This changeless principle of expression is dramatized in all the Bibles of the world. The writers of our sacred books were illumined mystics, past masters in the art of psychology. In telling the ·story of the soul they personified this impersonal principle in the form of a historical document both to preserve it and to hide it fromthe eyes of the uninitiated. Today those to whom this great treasure has been entrusted, namely, the priesthoods of the world, have forgotten that the Bibles are psychological dramas representing the consciousness of man; in their blind forgetfulness they now teach their followers to worship its characters as men and women who actually lived in time and space. When man sees the Bible as a great psychological drama with all of its characters and actors as the personified qualities and attributes of his own consciousness, 'then-and then only-will the Bible reveal to him the light of its symbology. This Imper-

The day man does this he will know .that he and his Father are one but his Father isgreater than he. He will know that his consciousness of being is one with that which he is conscious of being, but that his unconditioned consciousness of being is greater

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1 AM; man's unconditioned awareness of being is revealed as Lord and creator of every conditioned state of .being. If man would give up his belief in a God apart from himself, recognize his awareness of being to be God (this awareness fashions.itself in the likeness and image of its conception of itself), he would transform his world from a barren waste to a fertile field of his own liking.

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

YOU SHALL DECREE

than his conditioned state or his conception of himself.

I became conscious of being it. I am still conscious of being it. And I shall continue to be conscious of being it until that which I am conscious of being is perfectly expressed. Yes, I shall decree a thing and it shall come to pass.

When man discovers his consciousness to be the impersonal power of expression, which power eternally personifies itself in his conceptions of himself, he will assume and appropriate that state of consciousness which he desires to express; in So doing he will become that state in expression. "Ye shall decree a thing and it shall come to pass" can now be told in this manner : You shall become conscious of being or possessing a thing and you shall express or posesss that which you are conscious of being. The law of consciousness is the only law of expression. "I AM the way." "I AM the resurrection." Consciousness is the way as well as the power which resurrects and expresses all that man will ever be conscious of being. Tum from the blindness of the uninitiated man who attempts to express and possess those qualities and things which he is not conscious of being and possessing; and be as the illumined mystic who decrees on the basis of this changeless law. Consciously claim yourself to be that which you seek; appropriate the consciousness of that .which you see; and you tOO will know the status of the true mystic, as follows: 14

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THE PRINCIPLE OF TRUTH

"Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." The truth that sets man free is the knowledge that his consciousness is the resurrection and the life, that his consciousness both resurrects and makes alive all that he is conscious of being. Apart from consciousness there is neither resurrection nor life. When man gives up his belief in a God apart from himself and begins to recognize his awareness of being to be God, as did Jesus and the prophets, he will transform his world with the realization, "I and my Father are one but my Father is greater than I ." He . will know that his consciousness is God and that

which he is conscious of being is the son bearing witness of God, the Father. The conceiver and the conception are one, but the conceiver is greater than his conception. Before Abraham was I AM. Yes, I was aware of being before I became aware of being man, and in that day when I shall cease to be conscious of being man I shall still be conscious of being. The consciousness of being is not dependent upon being anything. It preceded all conceptions of itself and shall be when all conceptions of itself shall,cease to be. "I AM the beginning and the end." That is, all things or conceptions of myself begin and end in me, but I, the formless awareness, remain forever . Jesus discovered this glorious truth and declared Himself to be one with God, not the God that man had fashioned, for He never recognized such a God. Jesus found God to be His awareness of being and so told man that the Kingdom of God and Heaven were within. When it is recorded that Jesus left the world and went to His Father it is simply stating that He turned His attention from the world of the senses and rose in consciousness to that level which He desired to express. There He remained until He became one with the consciousness to which He ascended. When He returned to the world of man He could act with

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THE PRINCIPLE OF TRUTH Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you fre,e.-John 8:32.

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

THE PRINCIPLE OF TRUTH

the positive assurance of that which He was conscious of being, a state of consciousness no one but Himself felt or knew that He possessed. Man who is ignorant of this everlasting law of expression looks upon such happenings as miracles. To rise in consciousness to the level of the thing desired and to remain there until such level becomes your nature is the way of all seeming miracles. "And I, if I be lifted up, I shall draw all men unto me." If I be lifted up in consciousness to the turalness of the thing desired, I shall draw the manifestation of that desire to me. "No man comes unto me save the Father within me draws him, and I and my Father are one." My consciousness is the Father who draws the manifestation of life to me. The nature of the manifestation is determined by. the state of consciousness in which I dwell. I am always drawing into my world that which I am conscious of being. If you are dissatisfied with your present expression of life, then you must be born again. Rebirth is the dropping of that level with which you are dissatisfied and rising to that level of consciousness which you desire to express and possess. You cannot serve two masters or opposing states of consciousness at the same time. Taking your at': tention from one state and placing it upon the other,

you die to the one from which you have taken it and you live and express the one with which you are united. Man cannot see how it would be possible to express that which he desires to be by so s~ple a.law as acquiring the consciousness of the thing desired. The reason for this lack of faith on the part of man is that he looks at the desired state through the consciousness of his present limitations. Therefore, -he naturally sees it as impossible of- accomplishment. One of the first things man must realize is that it is impossible, in dealing with this spiritual -law of consciousness, to put new wine into old bottles or new patches on old garments. That is, you cannot take any part of the present consciousness into the new state. For the state sought is complete in itself and needs no patching. Every level of consciousness automatically expresses itself. To rise to the level of any state is to automatically become that state in expression. But,. in order to rise to the level that you are not now expressing, you must completely drop the consciousness with which you are now identified. Until your present consciousness is dropped you will not be able to rise to another level. Do not be dismayed. This letting go of your present identity is not as difficult as it might appear to be. The invitation of the scriptures,

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YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

THE PRINCIPLE OF TRUTll

"To be absent from the body and be present with the Lord," is not given to a select few; it is a sweeping call to all mankind. The body from which you are invited to escape is your present conception of yourself with all of its limitations, while the Lord with whom you are to be present is your awareness of being. To accomplish this seemingly impossible feat you take your attention away from your problem and place it upon just being. You say silently but feelingly, "I AM." Do not condition this awareness but continue declaring quietly, "I AM-I AM." Simply feel that you are faceless and formless and continue doing so until you feel yourself floating. "Floating" <,is a psychological state which completely denies the physical. Through practice in relaxation and wilfully refusing to react to sensory impressions, it is possible to develop a state of consciousness of pure receptivity. It is a surprisingly easy accomplishment. In this state of complete detachment a definite singleness of purposeful thought can be indelibly engraved upon your unmodified consciousness. This state of consciousness is necessary for true meditation. This wonderful experience of rising and floating is the signal that you are absent from the body or problem and are now present with the Lord; in this

expanded state you are not conscious of being anything but I AM-I AM; you are only conscious of being. When this expansion of consciousness is attained, with in this formless deep of yourself, give form to the new conception by claiming and feeling yourself to be that which you, before you entered into this state, desired to be. You will find that within this formless deep of yourself all things appear to be divinely possible. Anything that you sincerely feel yourself to be while in this expanded state becomes, in time, your natural expression. And God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters. " Yes, let there be a firmness or conviction in the midst of this expanded consciousness by knowing and feeling I AM that, the thing desired. As you claim and feel yourself to be the thing desired you are crystallizing this formless liquid light that you are into the image and likeness of that which you are conscious of being. Now that the law of your being has been revealed to you, begin this day to change your world by revaluing yourself. Too long has man held to the belief that he is born of sorrow and must work out his salvation by the sweat of his brow. God is impersonal and no respecter of persons. So long

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THE PRINCIPLE OF TRUTH

as man continues to walk in this belief of sorrow, so long will he walk. in a world of sorrow and confusion, for the world in its every detail is man's consciousness crystallized. In the Book of Numbers it is recorded, "There were giants in the land and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and we were in their sight as grasshoppers." Today is the day, the eternal now, when conditions in the world have attained the appearance of giants. The unemployed, the armies of the enemy, business competition, etc., are the giants which make you feel yourself to be a helpless grasshopper. We are told we were first in our own sight helpless grasshoppers and because of this conception of ourselves we were to the enemy helpless grasshoppers. We can be to others only that which we are to ourselves. Therefore, as we revalue ourselves and begin to feel ourselves to be the giant, a center of power, we automatically change our relationship to the giants, reducing these former monsters to their true place, making them appear to be the helpless grasshoppers. Paul said of this principle, "It is to the Greeks (or the so-called wise men of the world) foolishness; and to the Jews (or those who look for signs) a stumbling block"; with the result that man continues

to walk in darkness rather than awake to the realization, "I AM the light of the world." Man has so long worshipped the images of his own making that at first he finds this revelation blasphemous, but the day man discovers and accepts this principle as the basis of his life, that day man slays his belief in a God apart from himself. The story of Jesus' betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane is the perfect illustration of man's discovery of this principle. We are told, the crowds armed with staves and lanterns sought Jesus in the dark of night. As they inquired after the whereabouts of Jesus (salvation), the voice answered, "I AM" ; whereupon the entire crowd fell to the ground. On regaining their composure they again asked to be shown the hiding place of the savior and again the savior said, "I have told you that I AM, therefore if ye seek me let all else go." Man in the darkness of human ignorance sets out on his search for God, aided by the flickering light of human wisdom. As it is revealed to man that his I AM or awareness of being is his savior the shock is so great he mentally falls to the ground, for every belief that he has ever entertained tumbles as he realizes that his consciousness is the one and only savior. The knowledge that his I AM is God compels man to let all others go for he finds it impossible

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to serve two Gods. Man cannot accept his awareness of being God and at the same time believe in another deity. With this discovery man's human ear or hearing (understanding) is cut off by the sword of faith (Peter) as his perfect disciplined hearing (understanding) is restored by (Jesus) the knowledge that 1 AM is Lord and Savior. Before man can transform his world, he must first lay this foundation or understanding. 1 AM the Lord. Man must know that his awareness of being is God. Until this is firmly established so that no suggestion or argument of others can shake him, he will find himself returning to the slavery of his former belief. "If ye believe not that 1 AM He, ye shall die in your sins." Unless man discovers that his consciousness is the cause of every expression of his life, he will continue seeking the cause of his confusion in the world of effects, and so shall die in his fruitless search. "I AM the vine and ye are the branches." Consciousness is the vine and that which you are conscious of being is as branches that you feed and keep alive. Just as a branch has no life except it be rooted in the vine, likewise things have no life except you be conscious of them. Just as a branch withers and dies if the sap of the vine ceases to flow

towards it, so do things and qualities pass away if you take your attention from them; because your attention is the sap of life which sustains the expression of your life.

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WHOM SEEK YE?

Today there is so much said about Masters, Elder Brothers, Adepts and initiates that numberless truth seekers are being constantly misled by seeking these false lights. For a price, most of these pseudo-teachers offer their students initiation into the mysteries, promising them guidance and direction. Man's weakness for leaders, as well as his worship of idols, makes him an easy prey of these schools and teachers. Good will come to most of these enrolled students; they will discover after years of awaiting and sacrificing

that they were following a mirage. They will then become disillusioned in their schools and teachers, and this disappointment will be worth the effort and price they have paid for their fruitless search. They will then tum from their worship of man and in so doing discover that which they are seeking is not to be found in another, for the Kingdom of Heaven is within. This realization will be their first real initiation. The lesson learned will be this: There is only one Master and this Master is God, the 1 AM within themselves. "I AM the Lord thy God who led thee out of the land of darkness; out of the house of bondage." I AM, your awareness, is Lord and Master and besides your awareness there is neither Lord nor Master. You are Master of all that you will ever be aware of being. You know that you are, do you not? Knowing that you are is the Lord and Master of that which you know that you are . You could be completely isolated by man from that which you are conscious of being; yet you would, in spite of all human barriers, effortlessly draw to yourself all that you were conscious of being. The man who is conscious of being poor does not need the assistance of anyone to express his poverty. The man who is conscious of being sick, though isolated in the most hermetically

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WHOM SEEK YE1 I have told you that I AM; if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way.-John 18:8. As soon then as he had said unto them, I AM they went backward and fell to the ground.John 18:6

T YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

WHOM SEEK YE?

sealed germ-proof area in the world, would express sickness. There is no barrier to God, for God is your aware':' ness of being. Regardless of what you are aware of being, you can and do express it without effort. Stop looking for the Master to come; he is with you always. "I AM with you always even unto the end of the world." You will from time to time know yourself to be many things, but you need not be anything to know that you are. You can, if you so desire, disentangle yourself from the body you wear; in so doing you realize that you are a faceless, formless awareness and not dependent on the form you are in your expression. You will know that you are; you will also discover that this knowing that you are is God, the Father, which preceded all that you ever knew yourself to be. Before the world was you were aware of being and so you were saying "I AM," and I AM will be, after all that you know yourself to be shall cease to be. There are no Ascended Masters. Banish this superstition. You will forever rise from one level of consciousness (master) to another; in so doing you manifest the ascended level, expressing this newly acquired consciousness. Consciousness being Lord and Master, you are the

Master Magician conjuring that which you are now conscious of being. "For God (consciousness) calleth those things which be not as though they were": Things that are not now seen will be seen the moment you become conscious of being that which is not now seen. This rising from one level of consciousness to another is the only ascension that you will ever experience. No man can lift you to the level you desire. The power to ascend is within yourself; it is your consciousness. You appropriate the consciousness of the level you desire to express by claiming that you are now expressing such a level. This is the ascension. It is limitless, for you will never exhaust your capacity to ascend. Tum from the human superstition of ascension with its belief in masters, and find the only and everlasting master within yourself. "Far greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world." Believe this. Do 'not continue in blindness, following after the mirage of masters. I assure you your search can end only in disappointment. "If you deny me (your awareness of being ) I shall deny you also." "Thou shalt have no other God beside ME." "Be still and know that I AM God." "Come prove me and see if I will not open you the windows of Heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

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WHOM SEEK YE?

Do you believe that the I AM is able to do this? Then claim ME to be that which you want to see poured out. Claim yourself to be that which you want to be and that you shall be. Not because of masters will I give it unto you, but, because you have recognized ME (yourself) to be that, I will give it unto you for I AM all things to all.

pear gigantic; in his blindness he cries out for masters to help him fight his giant problems.

Jesus would not permit Himself to be called Good Master. He knew that there is but one good and one master. He knew this one to be His Father in Heaven, the awareness of being. "The Kingdom of God" (Good) and the Kingdom of Heaven are within you. Your belief in masters is a confession of your slavery. Only slaves have masters. Change your conception of yourself and you will, without the aid of masters or anyone else, automatically transform your world to conform to your changed conception of yourself.

Jesus tried to show man that salvation was within himself and warned him not to look for his savior in places or people. If anyone should come saying look here or look there, believe him not, for the Kingdom of Heaven is within you. Jesus not only refused to permit Himself to be called Good Master, He warned his followers, "Salute no man along the highway." He made it clear that they should not recognize any authority or superior other than God, the Father. Jesus established the identity of the Father as man's awareness of being. "I and my Father are one but my Father is greater than I." lAM one with all that I am conscious of being. I AM greater than that which I am aware of being. The creator is ever greater than his creation.

You are told in the Book of Numbers that there was a time when men were in their own eyes as grasshoppers and becauseof this conception of themselves they saw giants in the land. This is as true of man today as it was the day it was recorded. Man's conception of himself is so grasshopper-like that he automatically makes the conditions round about him ap-

"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." The serpent symbolizes man's present conception of himself as a worm of the dust, living in the wilderness of human confusion. Just as Moses lifted himself from his worm-of-the-dust conception of himself to discover God to be his awarness of being, "I AM hath sent me," so must you be lifted up. The day

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you claim, as did Moses, "I AM that I AM," that day your claim will blossom in the wilderness. Your awareness is the master magician who conjures all things by being that which he would conjure. This Lord and Master that you are can and does make all that you are conscious of being appear in your world. "No man (manifestation) cometh unto me save my Father draw him and I and my Father are one." You are constantly drawing to yourself that which you are conscious of being. Change your conception of yourself from that of the slave to that of Christ. Don't be embarrassed to make this claim; only as you claim, "I AM Christ," will you do the works of Christ. "The works I do ye shall do also, and greater works than these shall ye do, for I go unto my Father." "He made himself equal with God and found it not robbery to do the works of God." Jesus knew that anyone who dared to claim himself to be Christ would automatically assume the capacities to express the works of his conception of Christ. Jesus also knew that the exclusive use of this principle of expression was not given to Him alone. He constantly referred to His Father in Heaven. He stated that His works would not only be equaled but that they would be surpassed by that man who dared 32

WHO M S EE K

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to conceive himself to be greater than He (Jesus) had conceived Himself to be. Jesus, in stating that He and His Father were one but that His Father was greater than He, revealed His awareness (Father) to be one with that which He was aware of being. He found Himself as Father or awareness to be greater than that which He as Jesus was aware of being. You and your conception of yourself are one. You are and always will be greater than any conception you will ever have of yourself. Man fails to do the works of Jesus Christ because he attempts to accomplish them from his present level of consciousness. You will never transcend your present accomplishments through sacrifice and struggle. Your present level of consciousness will only be transcended as you drop the present state and rise to a higher level. You rise to a higher level of consciousness by taking your attention away from your present limitations and placing it upon that which you desire to be. Do not attempt this in day-dreaming or wishful thinking but in a positive .manner. Claim yourself to be the thing desired. I AM that; no sacrifice, no diet, no human tricks. All that is asked of you is to accept your desire. If you dare claim it, you will express it. 33

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Meditate on these. "I rejoice not in the sacrifices of men. Not by might nor by power but hymy spirit. Ask and you shall receive. Come eat and drink with. " outpnce, The works are , finished. All .that is required of you to let these qualities into expression is the claim -1 AM that. Claim yourself to be that which you desire to be and that you shall be. Expressions follow the impressions, they do not precede them. Proof that you are will follow the claim that you are, it will not precede it. "Leave all and follow me" is a double invitation to you. First, it invites you to turn completely away from all .problems and, then, it calls upon you to continue walking in the claim that you are that which you desire to be. Do not be a Lot's wife who looks back and becomes salted or preserved in the dead past. Be a Lot who does not look back but who keeps his vision focused upon the promised land, the thing desired. Do this and you will know that you have found the master, the Master Magician, making the unseen the seen through the command, "I AM THAT."

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WHO AM 17 But whom say ye that I AM?-Matt. 16: 1~. "I AM the Lord; that is.my name; and my glory will 1 not give to another." "I AM the Lord, the God of all Flesh." This I AM within you, the reader, this awareness, this consciousnes of being, is the Lord, the God of all Flesh. I AM is He that should come; stop looking for another. As long as you believe in a God apart from yourself you will continue to transfer the power of your expression to your conceptions, forgetting that you are the conceiver. The power conceiving and the thing conceived are one but the power to conceive is greater than the conception. Jesus discovered this glorious truth when he declared, "I and my Father are one but my Father is greater than I." The power conceiving itself to be man is greater than its conception. All conceptions.are limitations of the conceiver. 35

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

WHO AM I?

"Before Abraham was, I AM." Before the world was, I AM. "

Be still and know that I AM God. Yes, this very I AM, your awareness of being, is God, the only God. I AM is the Lord-the God of all Flesh-all manifestation. This presence, your unconditioned awareness, comprehends neither beginning nor ending; limitations exist only in the manifestation. When you realize that this awareness is your eternal self you will know that before Abraham was, I AM. Begin to understand why you were told, "Go thou and do likewise." Begin now to identify yourself with this presence, your awareness, as the only reality. All manifestations but appear to be; you as man have

no reality other than that·which your eternal self, I AM, believes itself to be. "Whom do you say that I AM?" This is not a question asked t wo thousand years ago. It is the eternal question addressed to the manifestation by the conceiver. It is your true self, your awareness of being, asking you, its present conception of itself "Wh'0 d0 you believe ' your awareness to be?" This' answer can be defined only within yourself regardless of the influence of another. I AM (your true self) is not interested in man's opinion. All its interest lies in your conviction of yourself. What do you say of the I AM within you? Can you answer and say, "I AM Christ"? Your answer or degree of understanding will determine the place you will occupy in life. Do you say or believe yourself ;>to be a man of a certain family , race, nation, ~tc.. Do you honestly believe this of yourself? Then life, yo~r true self, will cause these conceptions to appear ill your world and you will live with them as though they are real. " I AM the door." " I AM the way." "I AM the resurrection and the life." "No man or manifestation cometh unto my Father save by me." The I AM (your consciousness) is the only door through which anything can pass into your world. Stop looking for signs. Signs follow; they do not

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Consciousness precedes all manifestations and is the prop upon which all manifestation rests. To remove the manifestations all that is required of you, the conceiver, is to take your attention away from the conception. Instead of "Out of sight out of mind," it really is "Out of mind out of sight." The manifestation will remain in sight only as long as it takes the force with which the conceiver-I AM----:originally endowed it to spend itself. This applies to all creation from the infinitesimally small electron to the infinitely great universe.

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WHO A M I?

precede. Begin to reverse the statement, "Seeing is believing," to "Believing is seeing." Start now to believe, not with the wavering confidence based on deceptive external evidence but with an undaunted confidence based on the immutable law that you can be that which you desire to be. You will find that you are not a victim of fate but a victim of faith (your own). Only through one door can that which you seek pass into the world of manifestation. I AM the door. Your consciousness is the door, so you must become conscious of being and having that which you desire to be .and to have. Any attempt to realize your desires in ways other than through the door of consciousness makes you a thief and a robber unto yourself. Any expression that is not felt is unnatural. Before anything appears, God, I AM, feels itself to be the thing desired; and then the thing felt appears. It is resurrected; lifted out of the nothingness. I AM wealthy, poor, healthy, sick, free, confined were first of all impressions or conditions felt before they became visible expressions. Your world is your consciousness objectified. Waste no time trying to change the outside; change the within or the impressian; and the without or expression will take care of itself. When the truth of this statement dawns upon you, you will know that you have found the lost

word or the key to every door. I AM (your consciousness) is the magical lost word which was made flesh in the likeness of that which you are conscious of being. I AM He. Right now lam overshadowing you, the reader, my living temple, with my presence, urging upon you a new expression. Your desires are my spoken words. My words are spirit and they are true and they shall not return unto me void hut shallaccomplish where unto they are sent. They are not something to be worked out. They are garments that I, your faceless, formless self; wear. Behold lI, clothed in your desire, stand at the door (your consciousness) and knock. If you hear my voice and open unto me (recognize me as your savior) I will come in unto you and sup with you and you with me. lust how my words, your desires, will be fulfilled is not your concern. My words have a way ye know not of. Their ways are past finding out. AUt,hat is required of you is to believe. Believe your 'd esires -to be garments your savior wears. Your belief that you are now that which you desire to be is proof of your acceptance of life's gifts. You have -opened the door for your Lord, clothed in your -desire, to enter the moment you establish this belief. When ye pray believe that ye have received and it shall be so. All things are possible to him who

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WHO AM I?

believes. Make the impossible possible through your belief; and the impossible (to others) will embody itself in your world. All men have had proof of the power of faith. The faith that moves mountains is faith in yourself. No man has faith in God who lacks confidence in himself. Your faith in God is measured by your confidence in yourself. I and my Father are one, man and his God are one, consciousness and manifestation are one. And God said, "Let there be a firmament. in the midst of the waters." In the midst of all the doubts and changing opinions of others, let there be a conviction, a firmness of belief, and you shall see the dry land; your belief will appear. The reward is to him that endureth unto the end. A conviction is not a conviction if it can be shaken. Your desire will be as clouds without rain unless you believe. Your unconditioned awareness or I AM is the Virgin Mary who knew not a man and yet, unaided by man, conceived and bore a son. Mary, the un.. conditioned consciousness, desired and then became conscious of being the conditioned state which she desired to express, and in a way unknown to others became it. Go and do likewise; assume the consciousness of that which you desire to be and you, too, will give birth to your. savior. When the annunciation

is made, when the urge or desire is upon you, believe it to be God's spoken word seeking embodiment th rough you. Go, tell no man of this holy thing that you have conceived. Lock your secret within you and magnify the Lord, magnify or believe your desire to be your savior coming to be with you. When this belief is so firmly established that you feel confident of results, your desire will embody itself. Ho w it will be done, no man knows. I, your desire, have ways ye know not of; my ways are past finding out. Your desire can be likened to a seed, and seeds contain within themselves both the power and the plan of self-expression. Your consciousness is the soil. These seeds are successfully planted only if, after you have claimed yourself to be and to have that which you desire, you confidently await results without an anxious thought. If I be lifted up in consciousness to the naturalness of my desire, I shall automatically draw the manifestation unto me. Consciousness is the door through which life reveals itself. Consciousness is always objectifying itself. To be .conscious of being or possessing anything is to be or have that which you are conscious of being or possessing. Therefore, lift yourself to the consciousness of your desire and you will see it automatically outpicture itself.

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WHO AM I?

To do this you must deny your present identity. " Let him deny himself." You deny a thing by taking your attention away from it. To drop a thing, problem or ego from consciousness you dwell upon God -God being I AM. Be .still and know that I AM is God. Believe, feel that I AM; know that this knowing one within you, your awareness of being, is God. Close your eyes and feel yourself to be faceless, formless and without figure. Approach this stillness as though it were the easiest thing in the world to accomplish. This attitude will assure your success. When all thought of problem or self is dropped from consciousness because you are now absorbed or lost in the feeling of just being I AM, then begin in this formless state to feel yourself to be that which you desire to be, "I AM that I AM." The moment you reach a certain degree of intensity so that you actually feel yourself to be a new conception, this new feeling or consciousness is established and in due time will personify itself in the world of form. This new perception will express itself as naturally as you now express your present identity. To express the qualities of a consciousness naturally you must dwell or live within that consciousness. Appropriate it by becoming one with it. To feel a thing intensely, and then rest confidently that it is,

makes the thing felt appear within your world. "I shall stand upon my watch and seethe salvation of the Lord." I shall stand fimly upon myfeeling, convinced that it is so, and see my desire appear.

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"A man can receive nothing (no thing) except it be given him from Heaven." Remember heaven is your consciousness; the Kingdom of Heaven is within you. This is why you are wamedagainst calling any man Father; your consciousness is the Father of all that you are. Again you are told, "Salute no man on the highway." See no man as an authority. Why should you ask man for permission to express when you realize that your world, in its every detail, originated within you and is sustained by you as the only conceptional center? Your whole world may be likened to solidified space mirroring the beliefs and acceptances as projected by a formless, faceless presence, namely, I AM. Reduce the whole to its primordial substance and nothing would remain but you, a dimensionless presence, the conceiver. The conceiver is a law apart. Conceptionsunder such law are not to be measured by past accomplishments or modified by present capacities for, without taking thought, the conception in a way unknown to man expresses itself. 43

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Go within secretly and appropriate the new consciousness. Feel yourself to be it, and the former limitations shall pass away as completely and as easily as snow on a hot summer's day. You will not even remember the former limitations; they were never part of this new consciousness. This rebirth Jesus referred to when he said to Nicodemus, "Ye must be born again," was nothing more than moving from one state of consciousness to another. "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do." This certainly does not mean to ask in words, pronouncing with the lips the sounds, God or Christ Jesus, for millions have asked in this manner without results. To feel yourself to be a thing is to have asked for that thing in His name. I AM is the nameless presence. To feel yourself to be rich is to ask for wealth in His name. I AM is unconditioned. It is neither rich nor poor, Strong nor weak. In other words, in HIM there is neither Greek nor Jew, bond . nor free, male nor female. These are all conceptions or limitations of the limitless, and therefore names of the nameless. To feel yourself to be anything is to ask the nameless, I AM, to express that name or nature. "Ask whatsoever ye will in my name by appropriating the nature of the thing desired and I will give it unto you."

"All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made." This is a hard saying for those trained in the various systems of orthodox religion to accept, but there it stands. All things, good, bad and indifferent, were made by God. "God made man (manifestation) in his own image; in the likeness of God made he him." Apparently adding to this confusion it is stated, "And God saw that his creation was good." What are you going to do about this seeming anomaly? How is man going to correlate all things as good when that which he is taught denies this fact? Either the understanding of God is erroneous or else there is 'something radically wrong with man's teaching.

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I AM HE For if y,e believe not that I AM, ye shall die in your sins.-John 8:24.

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

1 AM HE

"To the pure all things are pure." This is another puzzling statement. All the good people, the pure people, the holy people, are the greatest prohibitionists. Couple the foregoing statement with this one, "There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus," and you get an impassable barrier to the self-appointed judges of the world. Such statements mean nothing to the self-righteous judges blindly changing and destroying shadows. They continue in the firm belief that they are improving the world. Man, not knowing that his world is his individual consciousness outpictured, vainly strives to conform to the opinion of others rather than to conform to the one and only opinion existent, namely, his own judgment of himself. When Jesus discovered His consciousness to be this wonderful law of self-government He declared, "And now I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through the truth." He knew that consciousness was the only reality, that things objectified were nothing more than different states of consciousness. Jesus warned His followers to seek first the Kingdom of Heaven (that state of consciousness that would produce the thing desired) and all things would be added to them. He also stated, "I AM the truth." He knew that man's consciousness was the truth or cause of all that man saw his world to he.

Jesus realized that the world was made in the likeness of man. He knew that man saw his world to be what it was because man was what he was. In short, man 's conception of himself determines that which he sees his world to be. All things are made by God (consciousness) and without him there is nothing made that is made . Creation is judged good and very good because it is the perfect likeness of that consciousness which produced it. To be conscious of being one thing and then see yourself expressing something other than that which you are conscious of being is a violation of the law of being; therefore, it would not be good. The law of being is never broken; man ever sees himself expressing that which he is conscious of being. Be it good, bad or indifferent, it is nevertheless a perfect likeness of his conception of himself; it is good and very good. Not only are all things made by God, all things are made of God. All are the offspring of God. God is one. Things or divisions are the projections of the one. God being one, He must command Himself to be the seeming other for there is no other. The absolute cannot contain something within itself that is not itself. If it did, then it would not be absolute, the only one. Commands to be effective must be to oneself. "I AM that I AM" is. the only effective

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I

AM HE

command. "I AM the Lord and beside me there is none else." You cannot command that which is not. As there is no other you must command yourself to be that which you would have appear. Let me clarify what I mean by effective command. You do not repeat like a parrot the statement, "I AM that I AM"; such vain repetition would be both stupid and fruitless. It is not the words that make it effective; it is the consciousness of being the thing which makes it effective. When you say, "I AM," you are declaring yourself to be. The word that in the statement, "I AM that I AM," indicates that which you would be. The second "I AM" in the quotation is the cry of victory. This whole drama takes place inwardly with or without the use of words. Be still and know that you are. This stillness is attained by observing the observer. Repeat quietly but with feeling, "I AMI AM," until you have lost all consciousness of the world and know yourself just as being. Awareness, the knowing that you are, is Almighty God; I AM. After this is accomplished define yourself as that which you desire to be by feeling yourself to be the thing desired: I AM that. This understanding that you are the thing desired will cause a thrill to course through your entire being. When the conviction is established and you really believe that you are that

which you desired to be, then the second "I AM" is uttered as a cry of victory. This mystical revelation of Moses can be seen as three distinct steps: I AM; I AM free; I really AM! It does not matter what the appearances round about you are like. All things make way for the coming of the Lord. I AM the Lord coming in the appearance of that which I am conscious of being. All the inhabitants of the earth cannot stay my coming or question my authority to be that 'which I AM conscious that I AM. "I AM the light of the world," crystallizing into the form of my conception of myself. Consciousness is the eternal light which crystallizes only through the medium of your conception of yourself. Change your conception of yourself and you will automatically change the world in which you live. Do not try to change people; they are only messengers telling you who you are. Revalue yourself and they will confirm the change. Now you will realize why Jesus sanctified Himself instead of others, why to the pure all things are pure, why in Christ Jesus (the awakened consciousness) there is no condemnation. Awake from the sleep of condemnation and prove the ' principle of life. Stop not only your judgment of others but your condemnation of yourself.

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Hear the revelation of the enlightened, "I know and am persuaded by the Lord Christ Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself, but to him that seeth anything to be unclean to him it is unclean," and again, "Happy is the man who condemneth himself not in that which he alloweth." Stop asking yourself whether or not you are worthy or unworthy to claim yourself to be that which you desire to be. You will be condemned by the world only as long as you condemn yourself. You do not need to work out anything. The works are finished. The principle by which all things are made and without which there is not anything made that is made is eternal. You are this principle. Your awareness of being is this everlasting law. You have never expressed anything that you were not aware of being and you never will. Assume the consciousness of that which you desire to express. Claim it until it becomes a natural manifestation. Feel it and live within that feeling until you make it your nature. Here is a simple formula. Take your attention from your present conception of yourself and place it on that ideal of yours, the ideal you had heretofore thought beyond your reach. Claim yourself to be your ideal, not as something that you will be in time but as that which you are in the immediate present. Do this, and your present world of limitations will

disintegrate as your new claim rises like the phoenix from its ashes. "Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's." You do not fight against your problem; your problem will only live as. long as you are conscious of it. Take your attention away from your problem and the multitude of reasons why you cannot achieve your ideal . Concentrate your attention entirely upon the thing desired. "Leave all and follow me." In the face of seemingly mountainous obstacles claim your freedom. The consciousness of freedom is the Father of freedom. It has a way of expressing itself which no man knows. "Ye shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourself, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord wit h you." "I AM the Lord. " I AM (your consciousness) is the Lord. The consciousness that the thing is done, that the work is finished, is the Lord of any situation. Listen carefully to the promise, "Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: Set yourself, stand still, and see the salvat ion of the Lord with you." With you! That particular consciousness with which you are identified is the Lord of the agreement. He will without assistance establish the thing agreed upon on earth. Can you, in the face of the

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army of reasons why a thing cannot be done, quietly enter into an agreement with the Lord that it is done? Can you, now that you have found the Lord to be your awareness of being, become aware that the battle is won? Can you, no matter how near and threatening the enemy seems to be, continue in your confidence, standing still, knowing that the victory is yours? If you can, you will see the salvation of the Lord. Remember the reward is to the one who endures. Stand still. Standing still is the deep conviction that all is well; it is done. No matter what is heard or seen, you remain unmoved, conscious of being victorious in the end. All things are made by such agreements, and without such an agreement there is not anything made that is made. "I AM that I AM." In Revelations it is recorded that a new heaven and new earth shall appear. John, shown this vision, was told to write, "It is done;" Heaven is your consciousness and earth its solidified state. Therefore, accept as did John-"It is done."

I

AM HE

Here is an analogy that might help you to see this mystery. Suppose you entered a motion-picture theatre just as the feature picture came to its end. All that you saw of the picture was the happy ending. Because you wanted to see the entire story you waited for it to unfold again. With the anti-climactic sequence the hero is displayed as accused, surrounded by false evidence, and all that goes to wring tears from the audience. But you secure in the knowledge of the ending remain calm with the understanding that, regardless of the seeming direction of the picture, the end has already been defined. In like manner go to the end of that which you seek; witness the happy end of it by consciously feeling you express and possess that which you desire to express and possess; and you, through faith, already understanding the end, will have confidence born of this knowledge. This knowledge will sustain you through the necessary interval of time that it takes the picture to unfold. Ask no help of man; feel, "It is done," by consciously claiming yourself to be, now, that which as man you hope to be.

All that is required of you who seek a change is to rise to a level of that which you desire; without dwelling upon the manner of expression, record that it is done by feeling the naturalness of being it. 52

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"Not my will, but thine, be done." This resignation is not one of blind realization that "I can of myself do nothing, the Father within me he doeth the work," When man wills he attempts to make something which does not now exist appear in time and space. Too often we are not aware of that which we are really doing. We unconsciously state that we do not possess the capacities to express. We predicate our desire upon the hope of acquiring the necessary capacities in future time. "I AM not, but I will be." Man does not realize that consciousness is the Father which does the work, so he attempts t o express that which he is not conscious of being. Such

struggles are doomed to failure; only the present expresses itself. Unless I am conscious of being that which I seek, I will not find it. God (your awareness) is the substance and fullness of all. God's will is the recognition of that which is, not of that which will be. Instead of seeing this saying as "Thine will be done," see it as "Thy will is done." The works are finished. The principle by which all things are made visible is eternal. "Eyes have not seen nor ears heard, neither hath it entered into the hearts of men, the things which God hath prepared for those who love the law." When a sculptor looks at a formless piece of marble he sees, buried within its formless mass, his finished piece of art. The sculptor, instead of making his masterpiece, merely reveals it by removing that part of the marble which hides his conception. The same applies to you. In your formless awareness lies buried all that you will ever conceive yourself to be. The recognition of this truth will transform you from an unskilled laborer who tries to make it so to a great artist who recognizes it to be so. Your claim that you are now that which you want to be will remove the .veil of human darkness and reveal your claim perfectly; I AM that. God's will was expressed in the words of the Widow, "It is well." Man's will would have been, "It will be well." .

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THY WILL BE DONE Not my will, but thine, be done.-Luke 22 :42.

YOUR FAITH IS YOUR FORTUNE

THY WILL BE DONE

To state, "I shall be well," is to say, "I am ill." God, the Eternal Now, is not mocked by words or vain repetition. God continually personifies that which is. Thus, the resignation of Jesus (who made Himself equal with God) was turning from the recognition of lack (which the future indicates with "I shall be") to the recognition of supply by claiming, "I AM that; it is done; thank you, Father." Now you will see the wisdom in the words of the prophet when he states, "Let the weak say, I AM strong," Joel 3: 10. Man in his blindness will not heed the prophet's advice; he continues to claim himself to be weak, poor, wretched and all the other undesirable expressions from which he is trying to free himself by ignorantly claiming that he will be free from these characteristics in the expectancy of the future; Such thoughts thwart the one law that can ever free him. There is only one door through which that which you seek can enter your world. "I AM the door." When you say, "I AM," you are declaring yourself to be, first person, present tense; there is no future. To know that lAM is to be conscious of being. Consciousness is the only door. Unless you are conscious of being that which you seek, you seek in vain. If you judge after appearances, you will continue to' be enslaved by the evidence of your senses. To

break this hypnotic spell of the senses you are told, "Go within and shut the door." The door of the senses must be tightly shut before your new claim can be honored. Closing the door of the senses is not as difficult as it appears to be at first. It is done without effort. It is impossible to serve two masters at the same time. The master man serves is that which he is conscious of being. I am Lord and Master of that which I am conscious of being. It is no effort for me to conjure poverty if I am conscious of being poor. My servant (poverty) is compelled to follow me (conscious of poverty) as long as I AM (the Lord) conscious of being poor. Instead of fighting against the evidence of the senses you claim yourself to be that which you desire to be. As your attention is placed on this claim, the doors of the senses automatically close against your former master (that which you were conscious of being). As you become lost in the feeling of being (that which you are now claiming to be true of yourself) the doors of the senses once more open, revealing your world to be the perfect expression of that which you are conscious of being. Let us follow the example of Jesus who realized, as man, He could do nothing to change His present picture of lack. He closed the door of His senses

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against His problem and went to His Father, the one to Whom all things are possible. Having denied the evidence of His senses He claimed Himself to be all that, a moment before, His senses told him He was not. Knowing that consciousness expresses its likeness on earth, He remained in the claimed consciousness until the doors (His senses) opened and confirmed the rulership of the Lord. Remember, I AM is Lord of all. Never again use the will of man which claims, "I will be." Be as resigned as Jesus and claim, "I AM that."

NO OTHER GOD I am the first, and I am the last; and beside

me is no God.-Isaiah 44: 6. I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out

of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Thou shalt have none other Gods before me. -Deut. 5 :6, 7. "Thou shalt have no other God beside me." As long as man entertains a belief in a power apart from himself, so long will he rob himself of the being that he is. Every belief in powers apart from himself, whether for good or evil, will become the mould of the graven image worshipped. . The beliefs in the potency of drugs to heal, diets to strengthen, moneys to secure, are the values or money changers that must be thrown out of the power he can then unfailingly manifest that quality. This understanding throws out the money changers 58

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Temple. "Ye are the Temple of the…