The Creative Use Of Imagination - CHAPTER 7 RIGHTEOUSNESS

The Creative Use Of Imagination - CHAPTER 7 RIGHTEOUSNESS

CHAPTER 7 RIGHTEOUSNESS 

If you have an objective and fail to achieve it you have sinned, for you have fallen short of your desire. But if you have no desire, you are incapable of sinning. The righteous man, however, being conscious of already having fulfilled his objective, cannot sin. 

In the Book of Daniel we are told to "Break off your sin by righteousness." This has nothing to do with any church or ritual, for righteousness is right thinking. In the Book of Genesis the story is told of Jacob's desire to increase his wealth. Lifting his eyes in a dream he beheld the spotted lambs, the ring-striped goats and cattle. Then he said, "I will hold onto my righteousness and not let it go. So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come." 

Follow Jacob's example. Lift up your eyes with a controlled imagination and see what you want to see. Believe in your vision and your faith will make it solid and real in your manifested world. While sitting in your chair, you can assume the state of consciousness you desire to possess even though your reason and outer senses deny its reality. Then, as Jacob, you can say, "My righteousness shall answer for me in time to come." Jacob knew that he could not become perverse and turn from the new state but that if he maintained a consciousness of having what reason denied (including the law of genetics), he would achieve his goal. 

God the Father is not a man, but the dominant idea that you serve. The enemies of that idea are those of your own household — your own thinking. Hold a dominant idea in your consciousness and, in a way you do not know your righteousness (right thinking) will cause the desired state to externalize itself in your world. 

A Pharisee is one who conforms to all manmade laws; one who strictly observes the Levitical law of "outer purification." Now we are told, "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. But seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." 

True righteousness is consciousness. We confuse the word and seek righteousness as a thing, but the consciousness of being is the magnet that draws a thing to it. Permeate your consciousness with the feeling of being the man (or woman) you want to be and your righteousness will bring it about. 

You cannot inherit Christianity, rather you adopt it. As you come into its inner conviction, you become cleaner and more noble. Christ taught righteousness in his law of identical harvest saying, "As a man sows, so shall he reap." Taken psychologically, a state of consciousness sown within the mind, will be harvested without as external events. And, in like manner, as long as you remain sowing your present state of consciousness, you will continue to encounter similar events in your life. 

Walk, conscious of the feeling that your wish is fulfilled, and you will never sin by missing the experience of fulfillment. But you cannot turn away and return to your former state. We are all the prodigal son who went astray. But we are told that when he came to his senses he turned around and entered his Father's house, at which time he was given the fatted calf, the robe, and the ring. When you observe who you are in consciousness and come to your senses by turning to your Father (the state desired), it will be given unto you. 

Watch your reactions to life and you will discover where you stand psychologically. If your reactions are unlovely, you are walking in the mud and mire, feeding the swine. But when you turn within to the Father of all life and enter the state you desire by assuming its fulfillment, your actions will be lovely. Persist and you will move out of the mud and mire and enter the kingdom of the wish fulfilled. 

There is no such thing as righteous indignation, for the wrath of man cannot work righteousness. Nothing so unlovely as righteous indignation could be right consciousness! My goal is to be one who expands in consciousness, for I am a teacher and I must ever grow as a teacher. This is my aim and I must remember it morning, noon and night. I must persist in this state as it externalizes itself in my world. 

There is a story told of a little blind girl who had five brothers. The brothers, trusting their senses went out into the world and lost their way, while the little girl, unable to trust her senses wove a thread of gold. Attaching one end to her finger, she tied the other to the sun and never lost her way. You, too, can learn to trust the light of consciousness by holding onto the thread that is your aim and not allowing yourself to become enmeshed in the evidence of your senses. 

Remembering your desire, you will not get lost like the five brothers as you will not be concerned with what others are doing, but simply walk conscious of being the one you want to be. No power can keep you from your goal when you are conscious of already having attained it. 

You are told to, "Seek first the kingdom and its righteousness and all these things will be added unto you." The kingdom of heaven is within you. Turn within and you will find the power to produce what nature and your outer senses deny. Test yourself by controlling your thoughts, by seeing only what you want to see and hearing only that which contributes to the realization that your world is as you want it to be. 

If you will keep controlling your world in your imagination until the one sensation crowds out all other ideas, your right consciousness will answer for you and your dream will become your reality. But, if you don't feel fulfilled, you can easily be diverted and miss your mark. 

The Bible's teaching is one of rising higher and higher in consciousness until rebirth occurs. There is but one purpose in life, and that is to rise higher and higher on the vertical bar of the cross. 

Knowing the state you desire to express, walk as though you are now expressing it. "No man, having put his hand to the plow, looks back." In other words, once you have moved into the new state, do not look back at the old state or you will become as Lot's wife. She looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt which is a preservative. The moment you look back at your former state, you re-enter it, as all states exist, preserved in your imagination and ready for occupancy. 

The kingdom of heaven is a higher state of awareness; a step above where you now stand, and each higher level is reached by a change of attitude for the better. There is not a problem that cannot be resolved by a change of consciousness. And that which requires a state of awareness to produce its effect can never be effected without that state. It is the height of folly to expect security while being conscious of insecurity. On the other hand, you cannot be insecure if you walk conscious of being secure. 

You don't have to "pull strings" to get what you want, all you need do is walk in the consciousness of already having it. For an assumption, though false, if persisted in, will harden into fact. Don't try to be a better man but try to be better at something. Most metaphysical students have no aim, claiming God knows best. But, I ask you, how can this be when you and God, your Father, are one? 

Human nature wants the thing to come first with belief to follow. But I say, you must assume the consciousness of already having (or being) your desire before the sign that you have it can appear. Signs follow; they do not precede. Seek the conscious feeling of having already reached your goal, and the sign that you have achieved it will follow. You don't get things and then become righteous; righteousness is right seeing. Always claim the level above the one you are now on by dying to your present level, for your Father's house has many mansions. Let go of your present mansion and reach for the one you seek!