VII.

MAN AND HIS POWERS.

WHAT MAKES YOU MAN--THE CONSCIENCE OF THE ALL-WISE--HEALTH THE HIGHEST GOOD--ABUNDANCE SECONDARY-LIVE IN CONSTANT AND CONSCIOUS CONTACT WITH THE GREAT INDEPENDENT SUBSTANCE AND BE IDEAL!

The universe is a Great Being, who is seeking happiness in and through the forms which he creates from his own substance; and of all these forms, man alone has power to enter into intelligent relations with the Creator. To state it in other words, the great intelligence is seeking happiness in you, and you have power to co-operate intelligently with him in the search. That is what makes you man; the power to work with God in the search for happiness. And if this Great One seeks your happiness, it must be your most permanent and perfect happiness; that is, your highest good; for being conscious of all that there is to be conscious of, and knowing all that there is to know, he is all-wise; and we cannot think of the all-wise as seeking anything less than the highest good, or as being satisfied with anything less than the highest good.

As far as your physical body is concerned, the highest good that can come to you is unquestionably perfect health. The notion that there are circumstances under which pain and sickness are better for man than perfect health must take its place among those superstitious beliefs which have been exploded and discredited. Pain and sickness may be good for man if he takes them rightly, but perfect health is always far better if he takes that rightly; and it is a self-evident proposition that God can find complete delight in man only as man is completely whole. The Great Intelligence, then, seeks perfect health and wholeness in you; and the substance of the Living One, filled with life and power, presses upon you on every side, seeking to impart life and power to you, but you being a portion of that great intelligence, are supreme within your own personality, and so you will have health or not as you receive and recognize this health of God, If you fail to recognize and receive the All-health, and if you recognize disease within yourself, you prevent God from reaching you; and you form within yourself that which you recognize as existing. If you continuously recognize the perfect health of the Intelligent Substance, in which you live and move and are, and of which you are a part, you cannot be otherwise than well.

It is another self-evident truth that man’s highest good demands that he should have the use of all the things he is capable of using in order to live all the life he is capable of living. Man’s highest good, and his real happiness can be attained only when he has abundance for every physical and mental need. Just as it is true that God cannot fully delight in you if you are physically sick, so it is true that he cannot find happiness through you if you are mentally or physically starved, or lacking the essentials for life, growth and enjoyment. Happiness consists in living fully; and God can live fully in you only when you have everything to live with. So, the desire of the Great One for you must be that you shall have abundance.

But here again you are supreme within yourself. What if God presses abundance upon you, and you persist in recognizing only privation and poverty? If that be the case, you will remain poor in the midst of abundance, as millions of people are doing; and to be poor, or in want is to oppose the will of God, who seeks happiness in all, and for all. We are parts of himself, and what can he do when his will is opposed and his bounty rejected by a part of himself?

The solution of man’s problems of health, wealth, and growth can be reached when man unifies himself with God, the Great Intelligent Spirit, Substance, who seeks life and happiness in man; and man can unify himself with God only by constantly recognizing God; by considering and acknowledging God, and by looking to God in prayer. The prayer of faith is really an affirmation; and an affirmation is the recognition of an existing fact. When you live in constant and conscious contact with the great intelligent substance you can have no sickness; and his desire for happiness in you will cause the exertion of that mighty will-pressure to bring to you all the things that make for your highest good. The man who can completely unify himself with the divine substance becomes a center toward which the divine will impels every desirable thing; and that man will not, and cannot, lack for anything.

The universe is a Great Being; an intelligent substance, occupying space and using time. His desire leads Him to create forms from His own substance, and in these forms He seeks happiness. Man has but to unify himself with this Great Being to secure the supply of every need, and the gratification of every desire. Man only needs to learn how to pray and how to work.

=Transcriber’s Notes=

Perceived typographical errors have been silently corrected.

New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.