| Dear Friends, This week's quote is from spiritual awareness class entitled, CC 53, which was published in Volume 3 of The Living Light Dialogue. This quote begins with a question from a student, which is in italics.
"How does one determine the aspiration of one's soul?"
"'How does one determine the aspiration of one's soul?' My friends, soul aspirations are not known by what we call a mental body or a mind, because they are of soul substance. Now, for example, the mind—and we have discussed this before—the mind is a dual vehicle: it is in a constant process of accepting and rejecting. It is in a constant process of analyzing. Now, when you take that which is finite to analyze that which is infinite, you're not going to find the essence of truth itself. And this is why the statement has been made that, "When of thy mind thou seekest to know the truth, / On the wheel of delusion thou shalt traverse [Discourse 1]."
Now, truth expresses in a multitude of ways. Truth is one. It is constantly and continuously individually perceived. That is why, my friends, when we make the statement that we have truth, what we are stating is that we have accepted the facts, the patterns, that are in our own mind and, to us, of course, that is a truth.
Truth, it is stated, is like a river: it continuously flows. It is not something that you can grasp and you can hold and you can state that it is yours. Because, my friends, in doing that, you've brought it into limitation and stagnation. You see, a wise man is ever open: he is ever ready and willing to change. He is ever ready and willing to accept that what he has accepted in the past is in the process of change, because man is in a constant process of change. All of form is in a constant process of change. And mind is an effect of form. Therefore, things of the mind are not permanent. Things of the mind are not stable. Things of the mind are not eternal. Now truth—I am sure we will all agree—truth, to be truth, is eternal. And so how does man perceive truth? He can only perceive it with the part of him that is eternal, and that we understand to be spirit.
To try to perceive truth with any other part of your being is only to guarantee discouragement and disappointment. Therefore, my friends, let your eternal spirit express itself. Let your mind accept the divine law that governs creation, that governs form, that it will ever change, for it is its very nature."
Some, but not all, of the early teachings that are rather like parables, like the teaching from Discourse 1, are discussed in later classes. And I find such discussions very helpful because often my understanding of that teaching is quite different from that of the teacher. But those discussions are not only helpful for a broader understanding, they are also helpful in showing how to work with these teachings, for it is up to the students to make the effort to study and apply, ever considerate of the teaching that we get out of a thing what we put into the thing and not one iota more.
And, of course, even though the teacher is offering a perspective of a parable or teaching, there could also be many other perspectives for that teaching.
But change does not have to be traumatic or involve emotional upheaval. It can be the fresh breeze of reason if we pause, if we are not over-identified with the judgments that we often believe that we are. When we make the conscious effort to affirm that we are something greater than the thoughts of our mind, we establish the law to experience that.
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Sincerely yours, Russell Fitzgerald Vice President |
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