The Impersonal Life

When Jesus was sent word by Mary and Martha that their brother Lazarus, whom Jesus loved, was sick, He said to His disciples:

“This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.”

Then He stayed two days in the place where He was with His disciples before going to see Lazarus. In the meantime Lazarus died, and as Jerusalem was fifteen furlongs away, when they reached there he had been in his grave four days.

Evidently Jesus knew this, for He said to His disciples: “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that I may awake him out of sleep.” The disciples thought that he meant it was just ordinary sleep.

From Jesus’ first statement it is apparent that He purposely let Lazarus die, for He wanted by means of this experience to teach His disciples as well as Mary and Martha and all who afterwards learned of it a great lesson, and we will try to point out that lesson to you.

“When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met Him, but Mary stayed in the house.

“Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.

“Jesus said unto her, Thy brother will rise again.

“Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

“Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

“She said unto him, Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.”

In every one of us there are the Mary and Martha qualities—the Martha quality that sits at home and mourns and condemns when someone or something dear has been taken away from us; and the Martha quality that goes back to the Lord, knowing that by prayer and asking God everything will be made right again.

There is also that in every one of us which hears such prayers and, if we listen carefully, it will say, “I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And he that liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?”

The Higher Self, the Comforter, the Christ within, ever says this to His disciples, to those who love Him and turn to Him in their sorrow and need. For is He not their life, their health, their strength—everything that they are? He is their Real Self, the real Spirit animating their bodies, their minds and their souls. They are nothing without Him—are in a way dead, or as Jesus said of Lazarus, are sleeping, and He alone can awaken them.

You, who think you have found the Christ, hear these His words and believe; for He is the resurrection and the life, and if you live in Him and believe in Him, you will never die. We will prove this to you later.

When Jesus came to Lazarus’ grave which was a cave, and a stone lay upon it, He said,

“Take ye away the stone.

“But Martha said unto Him, Lord, by this time he stinketh; for he hath been dead four days.

“Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee that if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?

“After they had taken away the stone, Jesus lifted up His eyes and said,

“Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always; but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.

“And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

“And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.” (The foregoing quotations from the 11th chapter of St. John).

Everyone is weighed down with the stone of belief that he has to die, and before anything can be done for him that stone must be taken away.

But even the Martha quality in us hesitates to believe that death can be conquered; that lie is so old that it stinks in the consciousness, poisoning even our faith and trust in God.

But the Christ, our Real Self, who knows, ever repeats, “If thou believest that I alone am, and that the body of flesh is only the garment I put on and off at will, you that see the glory of God.”

With the lie about having to die removed from our consciousness—a stone that has weighed us to the earth for ages, our purified and uplifted minds can say in the freedom of the new vision that is then ours,

“Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard me; and I know that Thou hearest me always; for Thou knowest the inmost desires of my heart, even inspiring in me such desires. But before I was dumb, for I did not understand; but now I know that whatever Thou inspirest me to do, that can I do, for it is Thy purpose to do through me.”

And likewise did Jesus offer a prayer to His Father in Heaven, His Higher Self, thanking Him “for that which was to be done through His agency; this being chiefly to impress those who stood by that they might learn that God was working through Him.

For think you that Jesus did not know that Lazarus was not dead, but that he was really sleeping? Think you that through His uplifted consciousness He could not see the soul of Lazarus just as he was at that moment in the real world of the soul; could not see Lazarus sleeping there after this transition, as is the case with most souls after four days, giving them time to regain inner strength after the depletion of their vital forces caused by sickness? Remember, all this sickness and death was only a belief of the old mortal consciousness, and sleep was the means whereby it would be freed from this belief of such devastating belief.

Of course Jesus knew all this and could see Lazarus just as he was in the inner realm of being, invisible to all eyes but His. Because of the deep sleep into which Lazarus’ soul had fallen, Jesus, in order to awaken him, called to him with a loud voice,

“Lazarus, come forth!”

But Jesus did something more than call to him. He also knew where Lazarus’ spirit was. Even as when our physical bodies sleep, our souls retire within our homes in the soul realms, so when our souls sleep our spirits retire within our homes in the spiritual realms. Jesus had first to recall Lazarus’ spirit back into his soul body, and thus awaken his soul, and then He had to recall his spirit and soul back into his physical body.

However, Jesus knew He could not do the latter without the Father’s aid, but with His assistance, which He knew would be given Him, He could do anything—for had not the Father inspired Him to do all that He was doing? He confidently called to Lazarus to come forth, knowing that the Father deep within Lazarus’ spirit would hear and empower Lazarus to transcend the law of matter or of mortal mind, rise out of his soul sleep, once more enter the idea of his body consciousness and thus revive this old fleshy garment.

This actually resulted in response to Jesus’ call. Lazarus rose up out of the grave in which his body had been lying, came forth with a napkin. These wrappings symbolized the doubts and fears that still enfolded him in his mortal consciousness.

So the Christ of us must command all our faculties to “loose him and let him go”—to loose the mind of these lies and let it be free to know the truth that there is no real death. The soul can never die, for it houses the spirit; it can sleep; it can withdraw from the brain mind; but as the soul is not consciousness it will always exist, whether in a physical body or out of it.

The lesson Jesus sought to teach us was that the flesh and even the brain mind are of no importance and have no power, only as the I Am, the Christ, endued them with power and gave them their life. Jesus let Lazarus die in order that He could teach the world, the glory of God, is superior to all limitations of the flesh and of the mind responsible for it, and especially that self; and that when anyone knows his Sonship, his Christ nature, he can command his soul, and through the grace of God, his soul, or his consciousness, will come forth from its sleep, re-enter the body and rise out of the grave of its old mortal beliefs and be free henceforth to live its true soul life.

You will note that in these words we have given you the personal application and have shown what you can do in the raising and freeing of your own soul, as well as that of another—when you are in your true consciousness as a Son of God, as was Jesus, and which we have taught you how to enter.

This proves that in that consciousness you are the resurrection and the life, that you are always the risen life from which soul and body consciousness derive all their sustenance; and that when you can get your mind to come “up” of its own free will and live in your consciousness, it can never die, nor can its outer expression, the body; for even it then has no sense of separation, but is also partaking of and abiding in your consciousness, which being God’s consciousness is the only consciousness.

But this also shows how you can in that same consciousness see, even as Jesus saw, that one recently deceased—no longer than four days, can be similarly awakened and recalled to physical life,—providing that your mind has the same place that Jesus had, the same sense of oneness with Him as had Jesus God, which is the natural consciousness of every Christed soul.

Read the above over many times and ponder it well. There is so much of vital moment in it all that we urge every disciple to stay with it, day after day, until all its wonderful meaning becomes clear and a living part of your consciousness. When this is accomplished we promise that some remarkable things will happen to you.

In the foregoing article and the one on the Crucifixion, we have pointed out to some very great truths, and we have explained their operation sufficiently so that all who are ready to make the sacrifice of self can use these truths to free themselves from the darkness, confusion and suffering now manifesting everywhere in the world, and which before they are removed will grow many times worse.

Where have we been leading you? To the Kingdom? Why? Not just to free you from the results of your own sins and those of the world, but that you may know the truth and receive your divine heritage as a Son of God; and then will turn about and use your human instrument to help us and all our Brothers in Christ to lead as many others as possible out of the darkness into the Light.

You in your human self are nothing, but as a soul awakening into the consciousness of your true being and thus becoming another channel through which the Light can be poured for the freeing of the world, are of very great importance in the work we have to do.

The time is growing very short. The great battle is on—in the inner realms. Can you not see the strenuous and unceasing warfare for the souls of men that is now being waged everywhere? Everyone is being tested—and tempted as never before in the history of the world. Every possible pressure is being brought to bear upon men’s minds day and night by the forces of darkness—everything that can tempt and lure them away from the teachings of their parents, from the following of their higher instincts, and from their love of goodness and purity.

Need we point you to the agencies being used,—to the newspapers giving their front pages and scareheads to murderers, notorious gangsters and criminals and their activities; to the jazz types of music; to the cubist and futurist trends in art and architecture; to the widespread drinking and bootlegging and all that accompany evils; to the movies and theatres specializing in underworld, racketeer and sex plays; to the magazines following in line, with scores of new cheap ones being devoted entirely to such subjects?

Constantly through these agencies are suggestions being poured into the minds of the people, and unconsciously almost all are finding themselves being pushed into doing things which, if they stopped and reasoned it out, they would never of themselves think of doing.