III. I, Life, God.
1914 original text, YOGeBooks typeset transcription; original text extent only
III. I, Life, God.
If that which you have read has awakened a response within, and the Soul of you yearns for more,—then you are ready for what follows.
But if you still question or rebel at the seeming assumption of Divine authority for what is herein written, your intellect telling you it is but another attempt to beguile your mind with cunning suggestion and subtle sophistry,— then you will receive no benefit from these words; for their meaning is as yet hidden from your mortal consciousness, and My Word must come to you thru other avenues of expression.
And it is well if your personality with its intellect impels you thus to question and rebel against authority you do not yet know to be
18 thus to rebel; for your personality with its proud sense of individuality is still needed by Me to develop a mind and body strong enuf that they can perfectly express Me. And until you have become prepared to know Me it is the mission I have given your personality thus to question and rebel. But once you recognize My authority, that moment the undermining of the authority of the personality has begun, and the days of its dominion are numbered, and you will more and more turn to Me for help and guidance.
Therefore, be not dismayed and read on, and mayhap the recognition will come. But know that you can read or not, as you choose; but whichever you do it is really I Who choose, and not you.
For you, who seemingly choose not to read further, I have other plans, and in due season you shall learn that whatever you do, or like, or desire, it is I leading you thru all the fallacies
19 finally awaken to their unreality and then turn to Me as the one and only Reality. Then these words will find a response within:
“Be still!—and KNOW,—I AM,—GOD.”
Yes, I AM that innermost part of you that sits within, and calmly waits and watches, knowing neither time nor space; for I AM the Eternal and fill all space.
I watch and wait for you to be done with your petty human follies and weaknesses, with your vain longings, ambitions and regrets, knowing that will all come in time; and then you will turn to Me, weary, discouraged, empty and humble, and ask Me to take the lead, not realizing that I have been leading you all the time.
Yes, I sit here within, quietly waiting for this; yet while waiting it was really I Who directed all your ways, Who inspired all your thoughts and acts, impersonally utilizing and manipulating each so as eventually to bring you and My
20 recognition of Me.
Yes, I have been within always, deep within your heart, I have been with you thru all,—thru your joys and heartaches, your successes and mistakes, thru your evil-doing, your shame, your crimes against your brother and against God, as you thought.
Aye, whether you went straight ahead, or strayed aside, or stepped backward, it was I Who caused you so to do.
It was I Who urged you on by the glimpse of Me in the dim distance I permitted.
It was I Who lured you aside by a vision of Me in some bewitching face, or beautiful body, or intoxicating pleasure, or over-powering ambition.
It was I Who appeared before you in the garb of Sin, or Weakness, or Greed, or Sophistry, and drove you back into the cold arms of Conscience, leaving you to struggle in its shadowy grasp; until you awakened to
21 inspiration of the new vision tore off My mask.
Yes, it is I Who cause you to do all things, and if you can see it, it is I Who do all things that you do, and all things that your brother does; for that in you and in him which IS, is I, My Self.
For I AM LIFE.
I AM that which animates your body, which causes your mind to think, your heart to beat; I AM that which attracts to you pain or pleasure, be it of the flesh, the intellect, or the emotions.
I AM the Innermost, the Spirit, the animating Cause of your being, of all life, of all living things, both visible and invisible; and there is nothing dead, for I, the Impersonal ONE, AM all that there is. I AM Infinite and wholly unconfined; the Universe is My Body, all Intelligence there is emanates from My Mind, all the Love there is flows from My Heart, all the Power there is, is but My Will in action.
The threefold Force, manifesting as all Wisdom, all Love, all Power, or if you will, as together all forms and is back of and in all expressions and phases of life, be those phases creative, cohesive or destructive, is but the manifestation of My Self in the act or state of Being.
Nothing can Be without manifesting and expressing some phase of Me, Who AM not only the Builder of all forms, but the Dweller in each. In the heart of each I dwell; in the heart of the human, in the heart of the animal, in the heart of the flower, in the heart of the stone. In the heart of each I live and move and have My Being, and from out the heart of each I send forth that phase of Me I desire to express, and which manifests in the outer world as a stone, a flower, an animal, a man.
Is there nothing, then, but this great I? Am I to be permitted no individuality for myself? I hear you ask.
22 that is not a part of Me, controlled and ruled eternally by Me, the One Infinite Reality.
As for your so-called individuality, that is nothing but your personality still seeking to maintain a separate existence.
But soon you shall know there is no individuality apart from My Individuality, and all personality shall fade away into My Divine Impersonality.
Yes, and you shall soon reach that state of awakening where you will get a glimpse of My Impersonality, and you will then desire no individuality, no separation for yourself; for you will see that is but one more illusion of the personality,
23