CHAPTER 15 THE FEELING OF "I"
CHAPTER 15 THE FEELING OF "I"
Your journey into this world of decay and death began with your feeling of "I" and where you place that feeling, there you live. You can place your feeling of "I" in the mud of negation or on the lovely ground of positive assumption. Your feeling of "I" is always with you. It is your slave and your savior, for wherever you go, there "I" am also.
The 9th Chapter of Numbers begins with Moses being given instructions by the Lord as to how to erect a tabernacle, or tent of testimony and move it across the desert. He was told: "During the day a cloud will cover the tabernacle, and at night it will have the appearance of a pillar of fire. Whenever the cloud rises, the children of Israel must journey to the place where the cloud settles down, there the people must remain. It may rise once a week, once a month, or longer, but when it ascends, the children of Israel must journey."
Now, a tabernacle is an elongated place of worship which is movable and covered with skin. You are that temple (tabernacle), and the spirit of God dwells within you as your "I." A cloud is a garment of water (or psychological truth) which covers the "I" and that to which it testifies. The cloud does not move in time but is lifted up by the "I" it covers. According to my senses, "I" am now in the Palace Hotel. Let me lift the cloud from my testament by withdrawing the feeling of "I" from the evidence of my senses and move by placing my "I" in a predetermined state, and my whole world moves with me. Clothing myself in feeling, the cloud covers me as I testify to the state I have just entered. At this moment, you may have placed your feeling of "I" in an unlovely state and, unless you lift that cloud which covers you, you are anchored there and are incapable of changing the circumstances of your life. Now, this lifting of the cloud and placing your feeling of "I" in a more desirable state involves a death, for when the cloud rises, it breaks (or kills) the cycle of recurrence you have been on.
Motion can be detected only as a change of position with respect to another body, and all motion spoken of in scripture is psychological. Every state exists in this psychological land from which your "I" journeys. All you need do is extract your "I" from where it is now and place it in your predetermined state. But how will you know you have moved? By using a frame of reference. While sitting quietly in your chair, you can lift your cloud by placing the feeling of "IF" in an entirely different psychological state. No one can see this motion, for yours is a spiritual journey. While in the state, look for confirmation of your move on the faces of people there. Are they surprised to see you? Are they happy for you? A little jealous? Look, until you see the expressions on their faces. If there is a change in your feeling of "I," you will find an automatic alteration in your usual expression of life.
During the day, you wear your garment of truth (the cloud); but the moment you begin to meditate, the brain grows luminous. This is the pillar of fire by night. Remember, "I AM the truth," and wherever you place your feeling of "I," there you must abide.
In the 34th Chapter of Deuteronomy we are told that Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Nebo, and there to Pisgah which is opposite Jericho, where he was shown all the land that was his. The word "Moses" means "to draw out." He is not a man but your creative power which can draw out of you any state you have placed your "I," struck the rock, and produced the water.
The word "Moab" means "mother/ father" which is your "I AMness." In your present state, your Moab may be saying, "I am beaten," "I am sick," "I am impoverished." But "Nebo" means "to prophesy your longing by the feeling of I." "Pisgah" means "to contemplate." When you enter your desired state, observe your Jericho, for it will have a fragrant odor as that is what the word "Jericho" means. Having risen in consciousness, remain in your chosen state until you have a reaction that satisfies you. A violent reaction produces a horrible odor, while a lovely reaction indicates Jericho and a lovely odor. You see, Jericho is not a place in the Near East, but a state which produces the thrill of accomplishment within you.
In the 14th Chapter of the Book of John, Jesus speaks to Peter saying, "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and take you to myself that where I am, you may be also."
This is not a man speaking to another, but self speaking to self. You are Jesus (Imagination) telling yourself that there are unnumbered states of awareness for you to enter, and you are inviting self to choose the state you wish to inhabit. After selecting the state, imagination will go and prepare it for you so that you may come again (as you must) , for wherever you abide in imagination, there you shall reside also in the flesh. If you believe what I have told you, determine to change your feeling of "I." There is no power that can keep you from realizing your dream, but you! And no man can compel you to enter any state. You have the power to select your state and enter it, thereby making it alive or, leave a state, thereby killing it. The decision (and its consequences) is yours and yours alone. The day you can become an observing "I," watching your reactions and seeing the observer and the thing observed as two distinct beings, you will know you can enter any state and it will outpicture itself. You will know that all the mansions of your Father's house are yours.
I AM (consciousness) contains the whole of creation, and out of I AMness comes imagination. Where there is no consciousness, there is no imagination. When you enter a state, your I AM is having a psychological experience. When you think about a state, you have a subject and its object; but when you experience a state, you have unification.
Tonight, mentally look at your day. Can you remember those you saw this morning? If your reaction to them is the same as it was earlier, then you have not changed your feeling of "I." Your friends and relations are your frame of reference. Use them in your journey. The command in the 1st Chapter of Joshua is: "When you start, turn not from it to the right hand or to the left that you may prosper wherever you go, for I, the Lord your God, am with you." Therefore abide in the state you desire until your whole being is permeated with its reaction that you may reap its reward. "I," your consciousness, am with you, and I AM the Lord, your God.
Thee teaching of truth deals with the feeling of "I," for only through feeling can change come about. If you continue to have the same reactions, you have not changed your feelings. Your world forever conforms to your inner assumption. Remember your aim a thousand times in the course of a day. Notice your thoughts in regard to it, and break all unlovely ones. If you are not successful, it is because you not practicing this truth and applying this law.
"You are the temple of the living God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you. What has a believer in common with a non- believer? Come out from them and separate yourself from them, and I will welcome you." Come, let us live on the mountaintop!
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