the tide turns West—which it could not do, it isolates itself in its own consciousness from the current, and it then no longer realizes itself as the ocean, but as a lone drop of water.

In like manner, man as a part of humanity or of God separates himself only by thinking himself separate—for he along with all men comprise humanity; and as humanity is God’s means of expressing Himself, each man then is as vitally necessary to Him as is all humanity, for without all men God could not fully express Himself.

Those of the “I Am” consciousness know that man can never really be apart or separate from God. God is above, below, through, around, in man, and IS man. And yet man can seemingly separate himself from God, using the very gifts the Father gave him to accomplish it—the power of thinking and of free will and choice. God left man free to do and believe whatever he wills. And the mysterious part is that whatever man believes is absolutely so to him—as long as he believes it. And then with his creative power of being in God’s likeness, he brings forth that which he believes. And if it is not the truth of his being, he, like the drop of water, is going contrary to the current and finds himself presumably cut off from his all-supply of Good.

The story of the Prodigal Son shows that clearly. He went so far away that he was no longer conscious of being his Father’s son, and when he suddenly remembered it he had to turn back. And the other son, too, evidently had not realized his entire heritage, for though he was in the consciousness of his Father’s House he had not taken advantage of all its riches. He had overlooked the wealth of Love and had not made his at-one-ment with It; anger and resentment against his brother prevented Its expression in his life. But the Father, unable to show anything but Love, merely reminded him that all was his.

Man must ever prove his God-nature, and it should not be done halfway. He can not assert his authority in Power and forget it in Love. It must be a Love that loves another as his self, because he knows that other is himself; a Love that takes in all, though they be related by flesh and blood, by law, or not at all; that loves regardless of race, color, or religion; a Love that forgives all, because understanding the Oneness of All, or the Allness of the One Life, and knows that there is nothing or no one to forgive—for All is One.