Chapter V
At one time, conversation led on to a point where one of our party asked where hell was and what the devil meant. Jesus turned quickly and said, “Hell or the devil has no abiding place except in man’s mortal thought. Both of them are just wherever man places them. With your present enlightenment, can you place either in any geographical position on earth? If heaven is all and surrounds all, where could hell or the devil be placed ethereally? If God rules all and is All, where could either be placed in God’s perfect plan?
“If we take the science of things, we know there is a legend told here that all the heat and light and many other natural forces are contained right within the earth itself. The sun, of itself, has no heat or light. It has potentialities that draw the heat and light from the earth. After the sun has drawn the heat and light rays from the earth, the heat rays are reflected back to the earth by the atmosphere that floats in the ether. The light rays are drawn from the earth in about the same manner and are reflected back to the earth by the ether. As the air extends only a comparatively short distance, the effect of the heat rays varies as you leave the earth’s surface and ascend toward the outer limit of the atmosphere. As the air becomes less dense, there is less reflection; consequently as you ascend into the higher altitudes the heat becomes less and the cold increases. Every heat ray, as it is drawn out and reflected, drops back to the earth, where it is regenerated. When you have reached the limit of air, you have reached the limit of heat. It is the same with the light rays. They are drawn from the earth and reflected back by the ether. As this ether extends much farther from the earth than the air, the light rays extend much farther before they are all reflected. When you have reached the limit of ether, you have reached the limit of light. When you have reached the limit of heat and light, you have reached the great cold. This cold is far more solid than steel, and it presses down upon the ether and the atmosphere with almost irresistible force and holds them together. Hell is supposed to be warm and his Satanic Majesty abhors cold; so you could not find any lodging place out there for them.
“Now that we have disposed of them above, let us take the other scientific legend and go below. According to this legend, the earth a short distance from the surface is a molten mass. It is so hot that it will melt any substance. This molten mass at the center revolves more slowly than does the crust at the outer, and the belt where the two meet is the place where the natural forces are generated and there, again, the hand of God rules all. So there is no place for His Satanic Majesty or his home there; for, if he attempted to live in either the hottest or the coldest place, he would find it very uncomfortable, since cold will consume as well as heat. We have searched every place and we can not find him a home; so we must assume that he is right where man is and has all the power that man gives him.
“It was only the personal adversary that I cast out. Do you think for a moment that I would cast the devil out of any man and then allow him to enter a heard of swine that cast themselves into the sea? I never saw the devil in any man, save he brought him there himself. The only dominion I ever gave him was that which man himself gave him.”
Later the talk led to God and one of our party said, “I would like to know who or what God really is.” Then Jesus spoke and said, “I believe that I understand the motive of the question you would like to clear up in your own mind. It is the many conflicting thoughts and ideas that are puzzling or disturbing the world today without reference to the origin of the word. God is the principle behind everything that exists today. The principle behind a thing is Spirit; and Spirit is Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient. God is the one Mind that is both the direct and the directing cause of all the good that we see about us. God is the source of all the true Love that holds or binds all forms together. God is impersonal principle. God is never personal except as He becomes to each individual a personal loving Father-Mother. To the individual He can be a personal, loving, all- giving Father-Mother. God never becomes a great being located somewhere in the skies in a place called heaven, where He has a throne which He sits upon and judges people after they die; for God is the Life itself and that life never dies. That is but a misconception brought about by man’s ignorant thinking, just as so many malformations have been brought about and you see them in the world around you. God is not a judge or a king who can intrude His presence upon you or bring you before the bar of justice. God is a loving, all-giving Father-Mother, who, when you approach, puts out His arms and enfolds you. It does not matter who or what you are or what you have been. You are His child just the same as when you seek Him with a true heart and purpose. If you are the Prodigal Son who has turned his face from the Father’s house and you are weary of the husks of life that you are feeding to the swine, you can again turn your face to the Father’s house and be certain of a loving welcome. The feast ever awaits you there. The table is always spread, and when you do return, there will not be a reproach from a brother that has returned before you.
“God’s love is like a pure spring that gushes from a mountain. At its source it is pure but as it flows on its course it becomes clouded and polluted until it enters the ocean so impure it does not even resemble that which emerges from the source. As it enters the ocean it begins to drop the mud and slime to the bottom and again rises to the surface as a part of the glad, free ocean, from which it again can be taken up to refresh the spring.
“You can see and talk with God at any time, just as you can with father, mother, brother, or friend. Indeed, He is far closer than any mortal can be. God is far dearer and truer than any friend. God is never wrought up, nor angry, nor cast down. God never destroys, nor hurts, nor hinders one of His children or creatures or creations. If God did these things, He would not be God. The god that judges, destroys, or withholds any good thing from his children or creatures or creations is but a god that is conjured up by man’s ignorant thinking; and you need not fear that god unless you wish to do so. For the true God stretches forth His hand and says, `All that I have is yours.’ When one of your poets said that God is closer than breathing and nearer than hands or feet, he was inspired by God.
All are inspired by God when that inspiration is for the good or the right and all can be inspired by God at all times if they only will.
“When I said, `I am the Christ, the only begotten of God’, I did not declare this for myself alone, for had I done this I could not have become the Christ. I say definitely that, in order to bring forth the Christ, I, as well as all others, must declare it; then must live the life, and the Christ must appear.
You may declare the Christ all you will and, if you do not live the life, the Christ will never appear. Just think, dear friends, if all would declare the Christ then live the life for one year or five years, what an awakening there would be. The possibilities cannot be imagined. That was the vision that I saw. Dear ones, can you not place yourselves where I stood and see as I saw? Why do you surround me with the murk and mire of superstition! Why do you not lift your eyes and minds and thoughts above these and see with a clear vision! Then you would see that there are no miracles, no mysteries, no pain, no imperfection, no inharmony, and no death, except that which man has made. When I said `I have overcome death,’ I knew whereof I spoke; but it took the crucifixion to show these dear ones.
“There are a great many of us joined together to help the whole world and this is our lifework. There have been times when it has taken our combined energies to ward off the evil thoughts, of doubt and disbelief and superstition that have nearly engulfed mankind. You may call them evil forces if you wish. We know that they are evil only as man makes them so. But now we see the light growing brighter and brighter as the dear ones throw off the bonds. The throwing off of these bonds may for a time sink mankind into materiality; but even so, it is a step nearer the goal, for materiality does not hold one as superstition and myth and mystery hold one. When I stepped upon the water that day, do you think that I cast my eyes downward into the great depths, the material substance? No, I fastened my eyes steadfastly on God Power that transcends any power of the deep. The moment I did this the water became as firm as a rock and I could walk upon it in perfect safety.”
Jesus stopped talking for a moment, and one of our party asked. “While we are talking, does it not hinder you from going right on with your work?”
Jesus answered and said, “You cannot hinder one of our friends here for a moment and I believe I am included as one of them.”
Someone spoke and said, “You are our Brother.” Then Jesus’ face lighted up with a smile as he said, “Thank you, I have always named you Brothers.”
One of the party then turned and asked Jesus, “Can all bring forth the Christ?” He answered, “Yes, there is but one end of accomplishment. Man came forth from God and he must return to God. That which from the heavens descended must again ascend unto heaven. The history of the Christ did not begin with my birth; neither did it end with the crucifixion. the Christ was when God created the first man in His own image and likeness. The Christ and that man are one; all men and that man are one. As God was his Father, so is He the father of all men and all are God’s children. As the child has the quality of the parents, so the Christ is in every child. For many years the child lived and realized his Christhood, his oneness with God, through the Christ in himself. Then began the history of the Christ and you can trace this history back to man’s beginning. That the Christ means more than the man Jesus goes without contradiction. Had I not perceived this, I could not have brought forth the Christ. To me this is the pearl without price, the old wine in new bottles, the truth which many others have brought forth and thus have fulfilled the ideals that I have fulfilled and proved.
“For more than fifty years after that day on the cross I taught and lived with my disciples and many of those I loved dearly. In those days we gathered at a quiet place outside Judea. There we were free from the prying eyes of superstition. There many acquired the great gifts and they accomplished a great work. Then, seeing that, by withdrawing for a time, I would be able to reach and help all, I withdrew. Besides, they were depending upon me instead of upon themselves; and, in order to make them self-reliant, it was necessary for me to withdraw from them. If they had lived in close association with me, then could they not find me again if they desired to do so?
“The cross was, in the beginning, the symbol of the greatest joy the world ever knew. The foundation of the cross is the place where man first trod the earth, therefore, the mark that symbolizes the dawn of a celestial day here on earth. If you will trace it back, you will find that the cross disappears entirely and that it is the man standing in the attitude of devotion, standing in space with arms upraised in blessing, sending out his gifts to humanity, pouring all his gifts forth freely in every direction.
“When you know that the Christ is the fitting life within the form, the rising energy that the scientist glimpses, yet does not know whence it came; when you feel with the Christ that the life is lived so that life may be given freely; when you learn that man is obliged to live by the constant dissolution of forms, and that the Christ lived to give up the thing that the body of sense craved, for the good that he could not at the moment enjoy—you are the Christ. When you see yourself a part of the greater life but willing to sacrifice yourself for the good of the whole; when you learn to do right without being affected by the outcome to help; when you learn freely to give up physical life and all that the world has to give (this is not self-abnegation or poverty, for as you give of God you will find you have the more to give, although at times duty may seem to demand all that life has to give. You will also know that he who will save his life shall lose it) then you will see that the pure gold is at the deepest part of the furnace where the fire has fully cleansed it. You will find great joy in knowing that the life you have given to others is the life you have won. You will know that to receive is to give freely; that, if you lay down the mortal form, a higher life will prevail. You have the glad assurance that a life thus won is won for all.
“You must know that the Great Christ Soul can go down to the river and that the stepping into the water but typifies the sympathy you feel for the world’s great need. Then you are able to help your fellow men and not boast of virtue; you can pass out the bread of life for the hungry souls that come to you, yet that bread never diminishes by the giving; you must press on and know fully that you are able to heal all that come to you, sick or weary or heavy laden, with the word that makes whole the soul; you are able to open the eyes of those blinded either from ignorance or from choice. It does not matter how low the blinded soul may be, he must feel that the Christ soul stands beside him and he must find that you tread with human feet the very ground he treads. Then you will know that the true Unity of Father and Son is within and not without. You will know that you must stand serene when the God without is put away and only the God within remains. You must be able to withhold the cry of love and fear as the words, `My God, my god, why have you forsaken me?’ ring out. Still, at that hour you must not feel alone for you must know that you stand with God; that you are nearer to the heart of the loving Father than you have ever been before. You must know that the hour you touch the deepest sorrow is the hour in which your greatest triumph begins. With all this you must know that sorrows cannot touch you.
“From that hour your voice will ring with a great, free song, for you fully know that you are the Christ, this light which is to shine among men and for men. Then you will know the darkness that is in every soul that cannot find a helping hand to clasp as he journeys on the rugged road before he finds the Christ within.
“You must know that you are truly divine and, being divine, you must see that all men are as you are. You will know that there are dark places you must pass with the light that you are to carry to the highest and your soul will ring out in praise that you can be of service to all men. Then, with a glad free shout, you mount to your very highest in your union with God.
“Now you know that there is no substitution of your life for other lives or of your purity for others’ sins; but that all are glad, free spirits in and of themselves and of God. You know that you can reach them while they cannot reach each other; that you cannot help giving of your life for the life of each soul, that it shall not perish. Yet you must be so reverent of that soul that you will not pour into it a flood of life unless the life of that soul opens to receive it. But you will freely pour out to it a flood of love, life, and light, so that when that one does open the windows the light of God will pour in and illuminate him. You will know that in every Christ that arises, humanity is lifted one step higher. Then, too, you must know full well that you have everything that the Father has; and having all, it is for all to use. You must know that as you rise and are true, you lift the whole world with you; for as you tread the path it becomes plainer for your fellow men. You must have faith in yourself, knowing fully that that faith is God within. Finally, you must know that you are a temple of God, a house not made with hands, immortal in the earth and in heaven as well.
“Then will they sing of you, `All Hail, All Hail, He comes, He comes, the King; and lo, He is with you always. You are in God and He is in you.'”
Jesus arose, saying he would be obliged to leave us, as he was to be at the home of another Brother in the same village that evening. The whole company arose. Jesus blessed all and, with two of the gathering, walked from the room.
